Carnival Valor review

The Valor is a Beautiful Ship.

Embarkation was not bad at 1 P.M. when I got on. I actually am a member of the Skippers Club which is supposed to quicker, but people on the same bus as I was on, went throught the lines quicker. Be advised any time you plan on going on a boat with 3000 people EXPECT LINES. If you don't like to wait....Don't go!!

Ship - The ship was beautiful and in great shape.I read alot of complaints about Rosie's lime green decor. I personally did not think it was that bad. My favorites were the Bronx Bar ( I am a Yankee Fan) and the Ivanhoe theater. The theater was awesome.

Another plus was the moving of the band to the second deck a first for Carnival. It allowed for more Sun chair space. Th layout was confusing at first but I was used to it after a day or two. It is very similar to the Destiny class. The One Step dance club id the best Carnival club i have ever seen and I have been on 5 ships. The Caboose Arcade was also very cool much larger than Destiny class and very well done. The shogun Casino was just like all casino's at sea. The java shop and sushi bar were cool too.

My room was a balcony room on the Lido deck. Very big and well worth it.

Food- Food was typical carnival - Excellent!! Pizza, Burgers etc.. The Lincoln Dining room food was great as well.Especially the desert!! I had the pleasure of dinig with the captain one evening which was cool. Capt. Cutugno was great!! Make sure you try the fish and chips on the second floor of rosies.

Ports-

Belize - Cave tubing!!!! Aewsomw,awesome awesome!!! My guide was Star and he was excellent. I went through Carnival simply because it take a while to get to Belize by tender and is much safer. I heard horror stories of groups of 400 people. We had 500 people go but it worked out well with just our bus.

Roatan Islands - Tabyana beach is one of the most beautiful beaches i have ever been too!!

Grand Cayman - SAD...A shadow of itself after the Hurricane. They are still recovering. 7 mile beach is still better. DO NOT GO through Carnival!! Take a cab to the Marriot and save a ton!!

Cozumel - Good time just staying on carnivals pier and hanging at Fat Tuesday's and the crazy pelican. A little annoyed with the shop keepers but oh well what can you do.

Debarkation- OK. They have a new system where you can take your own luggage off. I recommend it. I had a late flight and did the Seaquarium tour. It was ok.

Bottom line- A cruise is what you make of it!! If you want to have a good time you will.

If you have a bad time than it is your own fault!! IT'S VACATION!!!!!!

I would be happy to answer any questions

Tinman, thanks for a nice concise review! :D

nice review.....to the point I like that!!!!

thanks for the review. i'm going to the same islands and same ship. on roatan i am going to tabyana beach :) i'm a member of the skipper's club too. did you you got to scarlett's super club?

Who was the cruise director? I have read some recent reviews that talk about the guy (Brent, Brett??) being AWFUL! What did you think?

it's always appreciated when one takes the time to help others out! we'll be getting ready to leave our hotel to board her this time next week! WOO HOO!

Thanks for the great

review! More and more I am itching to book this ship for December 2006.

How was the sushi? We enjoyed it on the Conquest and it really was never too crowded. Did you go to the piano bar?

thanks again:)

What about electric outlets? Just in bathroom or anywhere else? Any new links to menus?

The director was Brent (sp)-

He was just ok. Definately not one of the best. You could barely hear him over the PA. He was how ever very entertainig during his lectures.

I did not get to check out Scarletts. I heard that it was very good though

The sushi was excellent and no wait what so ever

Only one electric outlet, (on the dresser)which was not good. I had to rotate between charging my razor, girlfriends hair dryer and laptop. Which i forgot to add the entire ship is WiFi for all you techno geeks. It was great to surf the net while relaxing on our balcony.:cool:

Not sure of links to the menu, but i did we could check the menu each day on our t.v.

I forgot to mention - THE SHOWS WERE EXCELLENT!! Check out the second show Far From Over. It was an 80's show and very good.

What was the charge for the internet? Could you connect without paying?

75 cents per min or 100 min for $50 and 200 min for $100

Can't connect w/o signing up. If you do it make sure you log off everytime.

See the person in the web cafe to sign up

who was the cruise director on the valor? did you like him/her? i believe i heard it was a guy....josh riffe?

His name was Brent. He was just ok. No tvery lively on the P.A. and decent in his shows. I heard Josh was great too. Wish we had him

I heard people say that Josh left and in a lot of reviews i read they liked him. I guess i will have brent since my cruise is july 10th :) maybe he'll be back for my cruise, probably not :rolleyes:

I heard the captain is cutugno too.

did you use the waterslide or did you like the pools? carnival pools have always been smaller but i love going down the waterslide :D

Captain Cutugno was great.

I could be wrong, but the pools seemed bigger.

I was all over the slide!! It is one of the great things about Carnival!!:D

Tinman,

Thanks for the review and yes I agree with you... a vacation is what you make of it. I've been on 4 Carnival Crusies ( Imagination, Inspiration, Celibration & Fantasy ) and have YET to have a bad time. We have a wrap around balcony and the room beside it for my family and I'm looking forward to enjoying that extended deck. Did you hear and scarry stories about people booking excuraions through other companies instead of Carnival and not being able to get off by tenders in time? I've found some very nice prices in Belize and Grand Cayman but I'm worried about missing their connection due to trender tickets. My last cruise to those places didn't have tender tickets so now I'm a little woried about going out side of Carnival for a shore excursion. Once agian thanks for the post,

Jim

Tinman,

 

Thanks for the review and yes I agree with you... a vacation is what you make of it. I've been on 4 Carnival Crusies ( Imagination, Inspiration, Celibration & Fantasy ) and have YET to have a bad time. We have a wrap around balcony and the room beside it for my family and I'm looking forward to enjoying that extended deck. Did you hear and scarry stories about people booking excuraions through other companies instead of Carnival and not being able to get off by tenders in time? I've found some very nice prices in Belize and Grand Cayman but I'm worried about missing their connection due to trender tickets. My last cruise to those places didn't have tender tickets so now I'm a little woried about going out side of Carnival for a shore excursion. Once agian thanks for the post,

Jim

Hello everyone on this thread. I haven't been to cruisecritics for a while since my cruise was back during the 1st week of April on Valor. Was our 3rd on Carnival and best yet.

To answer your question about booking excursions through other companies, we tried it this time and it was NO problem!!!!!!!!!! Cheaper too.

Pam

Tinman .... Glad you had a good cruise! Great review!

Please tell us more about FAT TUESDAY'S...(we've always gone to Carlos'nCharlies....)

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

Fat Tuesdays and the other Rest. across was a GREAT time. The fact that the boat was right there was even better!! They had cold drinks and decent food and plenty of music and dancing. I normally do Carlos and Charlies as well and had just as good a time.

tinman .... Thanks for the "Thumbs Up" on Fat Tuesday's! :p

Also, appreciate your comment on Tabyana Beach in Roatan! We enjoyed Roatan and are looking forward to returning ... just did the wrong excursion on our last port stop there.... :o

Thanks again! Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)