Carnival VALOR 5 Night Cruise Review - Includes Fun-Times & Pictures!

Information About This Cruise & Me: This was my 14th cruise and my 2nd time to cruise on the Carnival Valor. This cruise was June 30-July 5, 2018 and it departed from Galveston to Cozumel & Progreso. I try to do the review in parts, by day. I took over 2500 pictures and will try to include as many as possible of the ship, food, and ports. Our cruise's itinerary was changed (port order swap) due to a medical evacuation by coast guard helicopter on the first sea day. The review is on my personal cruise blog (no ads), which is also where you can find Fun-Times and other scanned handouts from the cruise.

Here Is The Review, Photos & Fun-Times:

Review & Pictures: http://www.embarkandaway.com/carnival-valor-5-day-caribbean-cruise-review-2018.html

Funtimes Newsletters: http://www.embarkandaway.com/carnival-valor-5-day-cruise-review-fun-times.html

Feel Free To Ask Questions You Have! I will answer questions as quick as possible!

I'm definitely going to be following your review. I was on the ship for the June 25-30th, and am curious to see how similar our views of the ship are.

Thanks for posting!

I'm definitely going to be following your review. I was on the ship for the June 25-30th, and am curious to see how similar our views of the ship are.

 

Thanks for posting!

Thank you! I hope you had a great cruise on the Carnival Valor. Please let me know what things/areas of the cruise you think our perspectives were the same and different.

Our cruise director, T.J., was on his first cruise as the Valor's cruise director. Brandon got off when we boarded on the 30th. I have a feeling the entertainment stayed close to the same because the ship's entertainment director handles most of the scheduling and entertainment logistics.

Please enjoy my review and I will have more posted very soon!

Love your format - super easy to follow along!

Totally love this layout.

Following.

Great review so far. Looking forward to the rest!

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Great review, thank you for sharing

Looking forward to the review we are going on the Valor in 2019!

Great review so far... can't wait to read more.

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Thank you everyone for your nice words in the comments! I hope everyone is enjoying the review so far!

I now have posted Day 1 Part 2, which includes more ship pictures, muster station drill review, sail-a-way, first dinner, and the welcome aboard show.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

I have read some reviews that said Valor is dirty, rusty, and in need of a refurb. From your pictures, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Would you say she’s pretty worn and shabby?

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I also was on this cruise and have submitted a review which I'll post separately. I read those same comments about the condition of the Valor, and for the most part did not find them accurate. It's not the most luxurious ship I've been on, but I did not see any areas of rust of shabbiness (except the ice cream dispenser!).

I just read both parts and really like your review so far! Love the pic of the kids banana split dessert- I may have to try that on my next cruise, it does look tasty. Looks like a fun time so far.

THanks for the review.

Wow - how did you manage to get all those pictures without people in them? Everywhere we went on embarkation day was packed! Very nice.

I have read some reviews that said Valor is dirty, rusty, and in need of a refurb. From your pictures, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Would you say she’s pretty worn and shabby?

 

 

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Overall, the Carnival Valor was very well maintained. The ship's interior public areas were constantly being cleaned. On one of the outside decks, a small area and stairwell were closed for most of the cruise because Carnival was working on replacing the decking. I felt like the ship was being well maintained.

On the outside of the ship, there was a little bit of rust, but it wasn't that bad.

Wow - how did you manage to get all those pictures without people in them? Everywhere we went on embarkation day was packed! Very nice.

On the first day, I generally try and start taking pictures immediately after lunch. Most people tend to stay in the atrium or head straight to the buffet, which gives me a small window of time to explore the ship and take pictures without people.

Also, I'm looking forward to reading your review. I will be curious to see how our experiences were similar & different on the same cruise.

Hope you had a good time!

I just read both parts and really like your review so far! Love the pic of the kids banana split dessert- I may have to try that on my next cruise, it does look tasty. Looks like a fun time so far.

It is very good! And the best part is you don't have to be a kid to order it!

Loving this!! Very helpful. Thank you for taking the time and providing so much detail. Looking forward to reading more.

Very nice! I'll be going on my 2nd Valor cruise in November.

I finally got Day 2 posted! Sorry it took me a long time to get the pictures uploaded to the blog.

This is probably the biggest review I have ever seen. Nice work!

Really enjoying reading the review and viewing all the pics. Really informative. You are doing a great job

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Day 3 Part 1 is posted! I will have Day 3 Part 2 online as soon as possible.

Thank you everyone for the feedback so far. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Overall, the Carnival Valor was very well maintained. The ship's interior public areas were constantly being cleaned. On one of the outside decks, a small area and stairwell were closed for most of the cruise because Carnival was working on replacing the decking. I felt like the ship was being well maintained.

On the outside of the ship, there was a little bit of rust, but it wasn't that bad.

We just got off of the Valor on Saturday and I completely agree the ship is well maintained...she looks good, inside and out!