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Loved the Valor so much, we're going back!


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My family and I went on Valor in January of this year. We had a great trip; we enjoyed it so much that I'm booked again for this month! Here's a short review of our January 8th trip from Galveston to Cozumel and Progreso:

 

Embarkation:

We are about 5.5 hours from Galveston/NOLA and 6.5 hours from Mobile, but our first cruise was from Galveston, and we really enjoyed how easy it was to get in/out of. I have nothing negative to say about embark at Galveston; they really have everything together. We parked across the street at Galveston Park N Cruise. The prices are good, and we can easily wheel our luggage across the street with no shuttle. We arrived at the terminal about 10am. We had FTTF, and were among the first in line. I am an advocate of FTTF, especially if you're traveling with children. We were through security and checked in by 10:30. We were allowed to board about 11:30.

 

Stateroom:

Since we had FTTF, our cabin was available when we boarded. Our room keys were also waiting on us in our mailbox. We had an oceanview room on deck 2 (2335). No complaints about the room. Our room steward was very nice (I have forgotten his name now).

 

Pools/public areas:

We never had a problem finding an open chair to lounge in. Lots of open areas.

 

Comedy shows:

Hilarious. I'm thankful Carnival hires some hilarious comedians. I've never been disappointed with the PG shows. Now, the R rated shows get a bit disgusting sometimes, so be wary of those if traveling with parents, children, in laws, etc.

 

Serenity area:

Personally, I'm not a fan of the serenity area on any of the Conquest ships. It is too close to the loud pool area, and there is a fan that is quite noisy.

 

Camp Carnival:

My niece loved Camp Carnival. She begged to go every second of the day. She was a bit hesitant at first, but if you can convince the kiddos to give it a shot, they'll love it.

 

WiFi:

I bought the social plan for this cruise ($20 for 5 days if you prepay). It worked well enough for $20. Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, all worked. Snapchats sometimes would not send out but snaps sent in loaded quickly. It worked very well the first few days, but by the last sea day, it did not work much. Based on other internet reviews, I theorize more people use the internet in the last days of the cruise, and it slows. Also, the weather was bad that day which may have impacted it. Speaking of which....:

 

Ship stability:

We had no issues our first 4 days. You could not even tell we were moving except when we were at dinner. Our stateroom was low and mid-ship so that helped with motion. Now, the last sea day was easily the worst ship movement I have experienced. A cold front had passed through the Gulf and the ocean was extremely stirred up. We were at brunch and hit the largest wave of the day, and the entire table's contents lifted off the table about 1/2 inch. This is not really a complaint about the ship, just a warning about cruising in the winter months.

 

Dining:

The food on this ship was comparable to all the other ships I have been on. Service was comparable as well. I do find the dining experience in the evenings is a bit long. We had 6PM assigned dining and arrived by 5:50-5:55 each night, yet we did not leave earlier than 7:30 each night. I do feel for the serving staff as they are working 3-4 tables. They tried to time the courses of each table before putting in orders. This made our waits considerably longer since another table in their section showed up about 6:15 each night. We were on a cruise so it did not bother me all that much (just a general observation).

 

Cozumel:

Gosh, I love this place! There is always something new to do. For this trip, we weren't into a big excursion so we just went to Discover Mexico park. Only $20 and it was pretty neat. I'd recommend it if you want to do something, but don't want to spend a lot of money. If you have never been to Cozumel, I'd recommend it! It's very safe and easy to get around on your own.

 

Progreso:

This was my first cruise to Progreso. I had absolutely zero exceptions for this place. But, really, it is not that bad. There's a nice shopping area at the port with some good deals. One of the bars had $1 tequila shots. We ported at 9am, but hey, I'm on vacation, so I ordered 5 :p. Here's the thing about Progreso, if you don't want to spend money on an excursion, you will not enjoy Progreso. Our cruise director said they only port at Progreso for the excursions, which really makes sense if you have ever been there. At many ports, I'd say you can do an excursion on your own and be fine (like at Cozumel or Grand Cayman). But, this is one port I would not feel comfortable going on my own. We did a Merida city tour and Mayan rum tasting. I would absolutely recommend it. The tour was $50, but I price matched it beforehand, and we got the excursion for $32. The tour was just a nice drive around the city, and we stopped at the downtown square and got to walk around, buy souvenirs, take pics, etc. Then we went to a rum factory where we could buy rum if we chose. They sell the same rum at the port for about $2 more. I bought a bottle at the factory and regretted not buying more so I bought another bottle at the port. Anyway, I would absolutely come back to Progreso and do another excursion here. This is one of those ports that has so many different excursions to choose from. In my opinion, it's a shame there are no cruises here from Florida on Carnival.

 

Debark: With FTTF, it was super smooth. We waited in the midship dining room and were off the ship, cleared, and in our cars by 8:45.

 

Please ask any questions you have!

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Thank you so much for this review! My daughter and I will be sailing the Valor in a couple weeks on the same itinerary. First time on Carnival and I'm a bit anxious after reading mixed reviews. Wonderful to see the Valor getting so much love!

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Thank you so much for this review! My daughter and I will be sailing the Valor in a couple weeks on the same itinerary. First time on Carnival and I'm a bit anxious after reading mixed reviews. Wonderful to see the Valor getting so much love!

 

You’ll love the Valor. I’m sure of it :D

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