Confuzzled

I am reliving our cruise from last summer through your review! Can't wait to read more!

We sailed on the Valor July 6 and went to dinner around 7:00 each night. We never had to wait to be seated. We've never had assigned dining so I can't compare service times but the only evening that seemed to have extremely slow service was at embarkation. The only times we didn't have a table for two were when we asked to be seated with others. However the 2-tops are spaced so closely together that we ended up in conversation with other people more times than not.

Thanks for the review! I did this itinerary on the Victory in 2012 and I can't wait to do it all over again in 2015 on the Valor :)

 

Was the orange zip-tie like one of those plastic ones that you can cut off with a pair of scissors? I know there is a long distance between the x-ray machines where they check for alcohol in your bag, and the table where they collect the bottles, but when I was there in 2012, they weren't using zip-ties to identify who had alcohol in their bags. Just wondering if it's those little plastic ties? What's to stop someone (ie: me lol) from cutting it off my bag once I turn the corner and I'm out of sight??

It could have been cut off with scissors I suppose, but I didn't have any. It was very heavy plastic. I don't know for sure if it was there because of the wine or not. We boarded with only two bottles so I wasn't actually sneaking it on or trying to hide it.

Thank you for posting your review. We sail on the Valor at the end of Sept and I love to read about peoples experiences.

 

I have a question about your stateroom. We have a balcony room that has the symbol next to it that is defined " two twin beds (convert to king) and Single Sofa Bed" wondering what that would look like? Your sofa looked like it was just flat .

 

Our previous Carnival cruise had a cushioned back to the sofa.

 

Also what tour operators did you use in the different ports.

 

Thanks

I think it was supposed to have a back but they didn't get our room set back up all the way before we got there, even though it was after 1:30 and they had opened the hallways. They were still working in there when we arrived at our room. We came back at 2:00 and they were just finishing. For some reason our room steward didn't board the ship until the next day and they were short-handed on our floor the first day. They did come and remove the ladder.

We booked the kayak, hike, and snorkel tour in St. Thomas through Carnival and loved it. In Barbados, we caught a taxi at the port for a city tour and a ride to the Boatyard. The tour was very mediocre, but inexpensive. We really enjoyed the Boatyard. We wanted to snorkel with the turtles using an operator from the beach but ran out of time. We wished we had skipped the driving tour and snorkeled instead. We used Treetop Adventures in St. Lucia for zip lining and had a blast. The ride over the mountain to get to Dennery is not for the faint of heart, however! In St. Kitts we used Javin for the best excusion we've ever been on! It was a very active and physical excursion with many different facets, including climbing on black lava rocks, hiking in the rain forest, and snorkeling. In Sint Maarten, we rode the ferry to the boardwalk, walked along the beach, then took a taxi to Orient Beach. Our intention was to just stay a little while and then go to Maho but we loved Orient so much we stayed all day. We stopped at a beach bar in Phillipsburg on the way back to the ship so I could taste guava berry rum and ended up being pier runners. (Along with a whole bunch of others.)

My husband will be posting more excursion videos as he has time in between his flying videos. The St. Lucia one was just a quickie he put up in a hurry. He'll be putting up a better one.

I'm glad people are enjoying the video. It makes me remember what a good time we had! (Even though I appear quite silly!)

We are equal opportunity cruisers and will go on whatever line has the price, ship and ports we want.

We are looking at short cruises out of NOLA because we could drive down and wouldn't have to pay for airfare. We might be able to fit in an extra cruise that way.

Next year, we are sailing on Sail Windjammer's SV Mandalay and SO excited!

Kris

I enjoyed the Videos! Thanks for posting. I do have a question. How much did it cost for the Corkage Fee? It is a one time fee? Or did you bring your own wine opener?

We brought our own opener and opened it in the room. It's $15 per bottle if they open it for you, which is more than we paid for the wine.

The four bottles actually represent two trips onto the ship, carrying two bottles each time. We brought the first two when we initially boarded and the second two after we toured the forts and reboarded. We also carried on a 24-pack of bottled water. They put an ugly orange zip-tie on my backpack the second time, with no explanation as to why. It stayed there until I got home a week later and nobody ever said anything to me about it so I still don't know if it was because of the wine or something else.

This was our first cruise on Carnival, previously having only sailed on NCL. We had a wonderful time and would sail Carnival again, although we did have a few issues. I want to emphasize that any negatives we experienced were FAR outweighed by positives and we would absolutely take this cruise again.

The ship: The ship was beautiful and very clean. The over-the-top decorating added to the feeling of fun. Carnival lives up to it's goal of being a "Fun Ship," with activities happening all over the ship at all times. Because of all the ports, we didn't get to experience as much on the ship as we would have liked, but loved every single port and wouldn't trade them for more sea days. Like most ships I've been on, I wish we could have walked from one end to the other without going up and down levels. I grew weary of the crowded elevators and the competitive dynamic involved with getting on and off. Also, maybe it's just me, but I had a very hard time determining which elevator was dinging and arriving and also if the arrow was pointing up or down.

Balcony room on Spa level: We had booked a guaranty and didn't get our room assignment until three days before sailing. We were thrilled with our location. It was nice to have a quiet, serene room and floor to retreat to when needed. The smell of lavender and herbs wafting through the hallways was nice. The sliding door was a big improvement over the typical balcony door. I loved being so high up and enjoyed a little sun at times. The only time we were aware of a lack of privacy was during a few sail-aways and it really wasn't an issue at all, but added to the special feeling of leaving port for the open sea. My husband, a pasty white man with precancerous lesions, had to stay inside a few times when the sun was low on the horizon on our side of the ship because he didn't want to put on sun screen just to sit on the balcony, which is only partially covered.

Food: We had some very delicious meals and some mediocre meals, but nothing bad or inedible. We experienced a bit of inconsistency in food quality. We had ATD but chose to eat with other people several times and enjoyed meeting new people or eating with those we had met during the day. I have celiac and preordered meals in the MDR every night and never got sick after eating in the dining room. I would, however, caution anyone eating at the buffet. Do not take advice from anyone but the Lido chef as to what is safe to eat. I learned this the hard way and spent my first evening sick.

Service: We were always served well and in a timely manner. Nobody was ever rude or unfriendly. Our room steward kept our room in good order and greeted us every evening as we went to dinner. Guest services responded to my issue with the gluten ingestion on Lido by immediately arranging a meeting for me with the Lido chef. However, possibly due to understaffing, we never felt the level of friendliness and attentiveness we had previously experienced on NCL. I was told by several Platinum guests we met and dined with that they were also experiencing the same thing on this cruise and assured us that it was not typical of Carnival. They said the service on most of their Carnival cruises they had been on was much better than on this particular cruise. The attendants seemed rushed and harried and unable to take the time to have a conversation. Again, we never received bad or incompetent service, so I really have no grounds for complaint, it was just not what we expected. It certainly didn't keep us from having a fabulous time!

Overall, we loved this cruise and given the itinerary and cost would do it again in an instant! The ports were incredible!

My husband videotaped a lot and will be posting videos of our excursions, as well as this one of the ship. He's already posted one of our day in Puerto Rico. I'm not sure if it's against the guidelines to post video links here of excursions that mention the operators' names. If anyone knows, could you let me know? He mostly puts up videos of airplane take-offs and landings (he's a pilot) so the cruise videos will be going up slowly.

I'm happy to answer any questions. I know I left out a lot.

Kris

Sailed on Valor to southern Caribbean last month and got so chilled inside on the ship that I was shivering even in my light sweater. I ended up buying a large heavy sweatshirt in the gift shop to layer over my shirt and sweater. I was totally jealous of the women who could wear sleeveless tops and dresses and still be warm. And I wondered if there were people in the MDR complaining about my shabby attire. I told my husband I would probably read about myself later on Cruise Critic!

I have celiac and just got back from cruising on the Valor. I did great in the MDR. But the buffet was a different story. I got very sick the first day because the woman who took me around and told me what was safe to eat was wrong about the carved roast beef. They glaze it with soy sauce according to the chef I later had a meeting with. Three different people gave me three different answers about the sauces at the Mongolian wok. I became afraid to eat at the buffet and went to guest services who arranged a meeting for me with the head Lidio sous chef. He said to call him whenever I wanted to eat in the buffet and he would help me out, not a simple or quick option since my phone was in airplane mode and the chef was very busy.

The MDR is not open for lunch so this was a problem. Fortunately I bring my own stash of gluten-free food when I travel. The MDR was great. They will take your order for the next night's dinner each night and most of it was good. The melting cake was exceptional!

Sitting in the San Juan airport right now after getting off the Valor. It was a wonderful cruise with a great itinerary and we had a blast. That being said, we definitely found the service lacking and are also looking elsewhere for our next cruise. We met several veteran carnival cruisers, one of them Platinum, who assured us this wasn't the norm for Carnival. While nobody was rude or unfriendly, the service we have experienced on NCL was vastly superior.

So, like the OP, I just got my cabin assignment two days out! Very happy with upgrade to spa deck! I might not need my earplugs this cruise!

Just got my assignment today, two days before sailing.

I'm sailing on the Valor on Sunday in a guaranteed balcony. All balconies and suites are sold out and I still have no cabin assignment. I check online several times a day. It's looking like I'll find out at the port.

This from cellular-at-sea:

"Rates are set and determined solely by your cell phone carrier—WMS has no involvement whatsoever in the retail rates your carrier charges for cruise ship roaming. For precise rates you will pay onboard, please contact your carrier’s international roaming department directly to confirm their Cruise Ship Roaming Rates for voice calls, texting, and data if applicable."

I contacted the international roaming department of AT&T directly and they told me 50 cents.

You need to remember there is a difference in what ATT charges you and the bill you will get from "Cellular at Sea". It will be on your cell bill, and ATT has no say on them. They charge any time you connect to their satellite, which is any time you are at sea, or in a foreign country. My cell company will tell me what THEIR charges are, but they have ZERO control what the ships provider charges

Have you actually gotten a separate charge from cellular at sea? If so, how much was it? The rep I taked to said I would only get charged 50 cents to send a text. Period. If you've been billed by a third party I need to call back and verify that the rep gave me accurate info.

I have AT&T and called them this morning. There is no charge for incoming texts and 50 cents for normal outgoing texts. $1.30 for photo or video texts. They will also count against any text limits in your plan. Calls are charged at $2.50/minute. And you will be charged this rate even for checking voice mail.

So happy to hear that points cover the resort fee! I read on another board a complaint from someone who had to pay separately. Perhaps it was an old thread and it's changed since then.

We just had the exact same dilemma and chose Isla Verde because the points are less. They both have excellent reviews and I'll be following this thread with interest in case we want to change our plans. Keep in mind that even with points we have to pay the resort fee.

Could you use it to upgrade your room?

We were on a fjords cruise a number of years ago.

Earlier in the day we had done the kitchen tour and some of us were given long sticks of baked bread. We were standing up by our railing and I used one of the bread sticks to wave to the people along the shore. Part of it broke off and landed on the table on the balcony below us. I often wondered if they knew how that break stick got on their table. Their balcony did not stick out any further than ours.

This made me laugh out loud!

We used them. I'll have to double check the brand. They worked great and if for some reason the people around us were as crabby as they are here, I didn't notice it. Eh, some people cruise to have fun, some cruise to be annoyed...

Lol! We had the same experience. They worked great. And we didn't have to yell. Had no idea they could annoy people. Whatever.

Incidentally, we live in the St. Louis area also.

Edited to add: Yelling during a show is rude. It's entirely possible to use a walkie talkie without being rude.

Captain Morgan!! DUH! LOL!!!

Bwahahaha!

Thanks for watching it! I figured when there were no comments that everyone thought I was troll. He's also posted videos from our excursions in Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay, but I guess I won't post anymore links and arouse any further suspicion.

I hadn't posted anything since 2009 right before we took our first cruise. We just went on our second cruise in April on the same ship, Norwegian Sky. My husband videotaped everything, including life boat drills, a tour, excursions, etc.

Kris

My husband made this video during the Biking Adventure excursion in Freeport April 24, 2012 on our Norwegian Sky cruise.

He also posted videos from Sky and will be posting more excursion videos if anyone is interested.

Kris