My Belated Inaugural Valor Review 12/19th Pt1

Our commute from Chicago on the Saturday evening before the cruise, started uneventfully... 7pm fl out of Ohare on TED.... a division of United...

Eventually they delayed our flight by 30 minutes.. we boarded at 7pm.. everything was going smoothly... but I did notice light flurries..out the window.. about a half hr. later we were still prepping?? This could not be a good thing.. the Pilot announces the we must wait for 49 Aussies.. who were delayed and had just arrived.. Now we know if it was your family or my family that plane would already be taxiing.. but 49 was the magic number.. 15 mintues later all of the 49 passengers were settled into seats..of course it took a bit cause many folk decided to take these seats when they appeared empty before takeoff.. The Pilot next announces we now have to wait for the luggage of these nice folks.. so it is now about 45minutes we have been sitting on the plane.. The next announcement informs us that the incoming flight had noticed some vibrations on the front landing gear. So 45 minutes more and 3 frozen JACKS ( yes they didn't work because of the freezing temps). 4th one came from somewhere.. yes it is snowing and icy now..So this whole process takes quite a bit time.. People are now mingling in the Aisle, the bathroom is busy...Finally the Pilot tells us that it appears everything looks ok. Problem is fixed and he needs to check the wings to see if the plane needs deicing. He tells us the wings look ok.. We back out and head on the long Ohare Journey down numerous runways..Suddenly the planes slows and the Pilot announces.. that he changed his mind and decided we better head back to a gate and deice..no deicing on the runway allowed in Chicago.. It is now around 10:30 pm and we have been on the plane since 7pm.. Everyone is getting grumpy. They have not even offered a glass of water..deicing takes about 45 grueling minutes.. and the Pilot lets us know its complete.. but guess what.... WE'VE USED UP A BIT OF FUEL!!

So we had to refuel..

We were originally due into Ft. Lauderdale at 11pm.. but arrived at 3:30am..

Thank goodness we were booked at the Hampton Ft. Lauderdale Airport NORTH.. which had 24 hr. shuttle service.. The gentleman arrived within 10 minutes of calling him.. It was a nice place by the way and we enjoyed the 4 hours we stayed there..

We had a private driver the next day who took us into Miami for $35..

We were fortunate to get on the ship around 11:30/12....

We actually found at least 3 other Cruise Critic folks.. I wore a BOA to identify myself...but thats another story..LOL

No problems boarding but they are strict and treat you like school children. Dont you dare get up when you are seated in the HOLDING area.. you will get yelled at.. So we couldn't even chat with our CC friends while waiting to board.

ONBOARD: We snuck a quick peek at our room Verandah 8285 Forward.. while it was being cleaned.. Good Location.. close to the Elevator/Stairs..only one flight up to Lido deck and Rosies Restaurant..Great Spot... We we received our Sign and Sail Card we noticed we did not get the 6:15 dining we expected but were now 5:45.. so less nap. We decided that was ok for the moment. Except it appears we were in the Washington dining room which is in the Aft section.. a pretty long walk.. especially in the beginning when you take the long cut since you don't know which decks go all the way across the ship. We realized the best way to get to 3 from our room was a straight shot on 8 to the aft elevators down to 3. Ok we never really bothered to study the maps..

The Washington dining room turned out to be Great. Ken the Maitre'd was nice and sang us a tune each night after dinner before our waiters got on the tables to shake their booties... Omar in the Lincon doesnt sing.. so this was an added value. If you're seated in the Washington Dining Room.. Hope that Virgilio is your waiter..He is outstanding and quite a dancer too.. His assistant Habib was wonderful too.. (well after we slipped him a 20 the last night of the cruise he finally offered us refills on our coffee LOL :D My 14year old son is already planning the next cruise.. Our table had 3 very attractive young ladies 2 who were 14 and one 13... a happy lad...

FOOD...Well Plenty of it.. thats no news.. Lobster tail, beef wellington, filet mignon,chateaubriand,Jerk pork, pasta dishes.. all excellent... they did have trouble getting meat served as ordered...sometimes medium rare came out medium well. But Virgil took care of us right away..

Desserts.. were great.. Green peppercorn ice cream?...trust us you must try it. Loved all the puddings.. Bread puddings were outstanding. creme brule..

Some great appetizers... all portions small we doubled up on our favorites.. or tried two.. I loved the Cold Soups.. the Zuchinni Soup was wonderful..try them all... The Peachy/Pink dining room was a little bright on the eyes..but you get used to it..

I will discuss Rosies.. later..

We did go to the shows... every night.. more on this in next review.. I will say do not miss the two main production shows.. they were outstanding..

A Tribute to the famous Nightclubs from the Cotton Club to Studio 54 and the other show was a tribute to the 80's... I have never seen so many Madonnas in one room..LOL..Lazers..explosions.. it was great..

MORE TO COME>> any questions..

Great review (so far) thanks for sharing it with us......

Thanks for a great review! Glad you were able to keep your humor through all the delays! We get into Miami about 11:30 the night before. Your post convinced me that we should choose an airport hotel, rather than going downtown.

I see you have a 14 year old son. Since I will be traveling with my 13 (almost 14) year old son and 16 year old daughter, can you comment on the teen club and activities?:) Any helpful hints there will be greatfully appreciated!;)

Great start Elena.....my review is already several pages back...and much longer than I wanted to do.

Glad to have met you on board and put a name with the face. I bet your son enjoyed the girls at dinner!

It made me laugh when you talked about that woman that worked in the holding area.....she was something wasn't she?!?

Sounds like you had a little better dining room service than we did....

Elena: Great review so far. Virgil was our waiter also. They were great weren't they? Floors 3 and 4 not going all the way through was a bit tricky wasn't it? We kept forgetting and had to rework our plan to get to the dining room. The 80s show was my very favorite!

Thanks for a great review! Glad you were able to keep your humor through all the delays! We get into Miami about 11:30 the night before. Your post convinced me that we should choose an airport hotel, rather than going downtown.

 

I see you have a 14 year old son. Since I will be traveling with my 13 (almost 14) year old son and 16 year old daughter, can you comment on the teen club and activities?:) Any helpful hints there will be greatfully appreciated!;)

My 14year old wasnt going to turn 15 till april.. and that didnt allow him to be with the kids 15 and up.. So it did cramp his style.. The Caboose..(see picture below) was a popular place. It is a very large and winding place dark inside.. Lots of games and air hockey where I was told one appeared to be free... They had a small dance floor with multiple tvs above and a circular bar with a Train running in circles around it.. Your son will fall into the same group as my son.. on occasion they open the activities from 12 to 17.. but the cutoff is 14.. My son did not do any of the activities like scavenger hunts...etc.. He was hunting the ladies... He did get to know some of the other teens his age.

He played lots of video games.. I had his Sign & Sail Card punched at the Pursers desk..and also his soda card. ($32) which he wore on a small string around his neck. He got quite a bit of use out of that. (of course he lost one S & S card the second day. No problem the purser replaced it in a minute! Luckily there were no unusual charges placed on it. We gave him a budget to stick to with the S&S card. He could spend $20 per day on games.. I am proud to say he never went over.. But the last night.. he was so fatigued he buys $20 in tokens comes to the cabin and says hes tired.. We MADE HIM GO DOWN AND USE THE TOKENS!!LOL Too expensive of a souviner!! :D

Great start Elena.....my review is already several pages back...and much longer than I wanted to do.

 

Glad to have met you on board and put a name with the face. I bet your son enjoyed the girls at dinner!

 

It made me laugh when you talked about that woman that worked in the holding area.....she was something wasn't she?!?

 

Sounds like you had a little better dining room service than we did....

Karen go to our own Roll call thread.. and you will see what kept my son showing up for dinner every day!!!

That crazy woman in HOLDING was very into her power over us.. I dont quite know what the difference would have been except I can only imagine they didnt want us ganging up on the escalator going up..

Let's see what other valuable info can I give that hasnt been given before.

TOURS: NASSAU... We arrived in Nassau carried in by strong winds... It was so windy.. to the native population it felt like winter.. The winds were pretty nasty.. my eyes were tearing quite a bit..

Since both my husband and son have never been here before.. I decided we were not going to spend money to see a HOTEL... Yes yes.. Atlantis is supposed to be beautiful.. But I took the online tour with my son.. enough said.. Since it definitely wasn't beach weather.. We just grabbed one of the Horse and Carriges.. parked out front.. The ride costs $15 per person for around 30 to 40 minutes... It was Kismet... our tour guide was a nice fella named ELVIS!!! My husband was sold.. My son sat up front and we enjoyed the ride...When we were through we stopped in at the Straw Market.. just for sentimental reasons.. But I was disappointed on the new location.. I have fond memories of the ladies making straw hats.. right as you got off the ship. The new market is under a huge white tent... and the winds were pretty scarey as they whipped through the market... My son picked out a fishermans cap..and I found a tshirt.. we enjoyed watching the gentleman carving wood... I remember purchasing something similiar in Jamaica...

So many straw products with Disney Characters sewn in them.. I wonder if Disney is planning on suing the ladies who make them.. lol :rolleyes: They are pretty nutsy with their copywrite issues.. as I recall from my days in the film business..

No much to buy here... but its a tradition.. I needed to hear someone call me LADY at least once...

We headed back to the ship early.. but not before actually bumping into someone from my son's H.S. who was on the Holland American ship..

They were both wearing their school sweatshirts!

On to St. Thomas.. where we had pre booked the Godfrey tour for $20 PP for 6 hours.. It was nice that we were able to take this tour with 2 other families from our Cruise Critic Roll Call.. We had a great time..but I will reprint this experience I had shopping in St. Thomas.. that I posted elsewhere..cause even I couldnt find it!

On the negative side...

Though I loved Godfrey.. I have to say that his recommended Jeweler.. (Crown Jewelers)was not as honest as I had hoped... I saw a ring, he quoted his best GODFREY price.. (this of course was not the first price he tried to sell it at.....)then I bought it... He told me he designed it.. but guess what I saw in the French section of St. Maarten.. the same ring BIGGER.. same setting even larger.. for the SAME price..

This was the Jeweler the St. Maarten tour operator recommended..

ahem.. so this leads me to believe..not only could I have purchased the St. Thomas ring around $200 cheaper.. I probably didnt even get the best quote on the bigger ring.. SAME DESIGN... Gee I wonder if they both went to the same Jewelry design school...LOL

Well.. I knew up front that no price would be the best price.. My ring is beautiful.. I love it.. and thats the bottom line when shopping on the Islands.. It is funny now that I think of it.. these fellows in the stores with their calculators out.. punching away.. when they truly know right away.. what price they can sell the ring for... the question on their minds is what is the BEST price they can sell YOU the ring for!!

I do plan on emailing a Happy New Year back to Godfrey and let him know I was unhappy with his recommendation...

So go with Godfrey but not Crown Jewelers..

So how the heck do you really spell it.. St. Martin/St. Maarten .........

Almost as bad as Chanukah, Hanukah, Hanukkah etc.etc..lol

Ok St. Martin..So Many Choices.. we decided definitely not take any ship tours.. basically price.. but honestly we were on vacation .. no matter how much research I did on this site.. Until we arrived and as a family decided what we felt like doing.. we were not going to commit..

My teenage son decided that except for a quick dip for an hour in the late day sun on St. Thomas...He was not interested in going to a beach in St. Martin. (because the water was still a bit rough even though we had 84 sunny temps..in St. Thomas..the St. John snorkel tours were cancelled.. now X's 3 or 4 ships in port at the same time.. and you can guess that Coki Beach was a mob scene.. so crowded that Godfrey actually suggested we give up getting close to the beach..we were in line already 10 minutes waiting for the other taxis to drop people off.. He actually backed up 3 blocks.. this guy is amazing.. He had told us earlier that Megans Bay was polluted at the moment.. and showed us such from on top the Mountain. So it was on to Sapphire Beach were my son got his minimal exposure to the sun.

This beach at 2:30 in the afternoon was almost empty.. really nice.. clean. With changing facilities, 2 places to get food and a pool we can use.. For some reason the Beach Guy did not charge us for chairs..)

Okay my ADD is acting up where was I.. yes in St. Martin.. So when we got off the boat we grabbed a pamphlet that was offered which described the prices for taxis and tours.. We chose the City to City tour.. so we could see a bit of Phillipsburg and the French side..too..

We went to the bus stand and started to inquire how to take this tour.. There was a woman who seemed so confused and indecisive she tied up this salesperson for a long time.. Worried that we would end up on a tour with her we asked what the price was if there were less that 8 in a van.. (8 in a van at $20 PP..for 2 1/2 hours) It is only a dollar more PP to have 5 in the van.. We found a nice newlywed couple from Montery Mexico off another ship.. and away we went.. Angie our driver was from the Dominican Republic.. and she was wonderful.. You can ask to see if you can get her...She speaks multiple languages as many do on St. Martin. My son sat up front with her and had a nice time.. It seems Angie has a 14year old son too..

Traffic was crazy.. so many tieups... but we enjoyed our tour.. She let us stop for photo ops.. and then dropped us off for about 1/2 hour on the french side.. (of course she practically pushed us into a set of three stores specifically...you just can't escape that..) This is where I found my ring bigger and cheaper by the way.. A milkshake with Hagandaz Ice cream set us back $6!! and it was tiny.. My son drank it in about 5 minutes... Bring your own drinks.. The signs there said $1 euro = $1.20 US.. The stores on the french side were filled with Shoes and fancy designer clothes.. I saw shoes that said $700 euro... ouch!!!

Angie dropped us off in Phillipsburg shopping district but did offer us the ride back to the port.. We shopped in Phillipsburg a bit.. Big purchases..$4 puka shell necklace.. a pretend Coach bag...shhhhhh... then took the water taxi ride back to the ship.. Oh yes.. she did stop at Orient Beach so we could take a peak...NOT NEAR THE YELLOW UMBRELLAS!!! Please... except for a few topless stragglers.. and some exposed cheeks...it was tame but VERY VERY VERY crowded... hardly a piece of sand open.. Not for me..

The Water Taxi Back to the ship was great!..

Loved reading your review! Do you have pictures to share??

I do have a couple questions if you don't mind....

Did the ship seem crowded? Did you go to any of the comedians or late night shows? Did you check out any of the bars/lounges? Can you tell I am excited? :p

Thanks for all your info!

Loved reading your review! Do you have pictures to share??

 

I do have a couple questions if you don't mind....

Did the ship seem crowded? Did you go to any of the comedians or late night shows? Did you check out any of the bars/lounges? Can you tell I am excited? :p

 

Thanks for all your info!

Celtic.. Glad you liked my review.. I'm trying not to discuss the same ole same ole.. as your cruise date gets closer all the reivews start to blend together..

I will be posting a bit later today the info on the Shows.. and I will post some pics.. too.. so keep checking back.. I decided to just post every thing in this same thread.. so keep coming back.. ok?? I want to get my capers so I can give you the info on the comics..etc.. I never really felt crowed except during the lifeboat drill.. and waiting in line for immigration.. but I'll tell that story later.. Because we all eat at 4 different times.. we really never had a problem taking the elevators.. I never noticed kids tying up the elevators.. actually considering we had about 1000 kids on board.. I honestly never saw them..

They did not congregate in the places we did.. my own son only sat with me for about 15minutes at the pool...more later ok??? Okay maybe I was in a FOO FOO drink haze.. :eek:

Elena: Ditto on Crown Jewelers. I got my ring there too. My size 5 ring ended up a size 3. Then the lady tried to tell me that my finger was swollen due to the heat. She sprayed my finger with Windex and tried to shove it onto my finger. Needless to say I had trouble getting it off my big blue finger. I took it to my local jeweler when I got home and for $25.00 and 10 days I can get it to be a size 5. URGGGGGGGHHHHHH! I definately wouldn't recommend Crown Jewelers.

Now Jenny you tell me.. We were on the same Godfrey tour.. in the shopping district for no more than 1 1/2 hours.. how did we go to the same tiny store and not see each other besides comparing our rings when we got back in the car...LOL...We were in a buying stupor!!! :eek:

That darn Hair Dryer... Anyone who needs more than about 10 to 15 minutes to dry their hair BEWARE! I now have carpal tunnel syndrome in my hand and wrist.. someone wicked invented those dryers... one night I had to beg my Husband to stand holding the dryer while I moved around to dry my hair.. You have to hold that darn button to keep the dryer working.. That is MEAN!!!

Also for a great view like the one on the ships forward camera which looks straight out on the ocean.. ( on your TV along with the camera aimed non stop on the LIDO DECK) go to floor 9 or 10 forward... there is a door there..we took the one on the left side.. sometimes it might have a sign about the strong wind etc.. you can go out there where you wont run into people.. maybe one or two.. and you are looking straight out.. a great place to star gaze.. either floor.. we did both.. on one you are on top of those side sections where the crew is.. and you can take a wonderful picture looking straight back all the way to the aft of the ship.. It is so beautiful at night when it is all lit up..

Hello Jenny, Elena and Karen. We had a great time on the Valor. Scarletts was fabulous and worth every $$. St Thomas and St Martaan were very beautiful, FYI, St. Martin is French and St. Maarten is Dutch. We sailed on the America's Cup which was a trip of a lifetime. Embarkation and debarkation were handled very well. We arrived at 11:30 and we were in our cabin by 12:15. Luggage did not arrive until 5 ?????? The seas Wednesday- Saturday were like a lake. We always found louge chairs on at sea days, we prefered the panorama or sports deck aft, no loud music or kids. The only negative and very negative is the customs fiasco entering St. Thomas. CCL has to seriously look at this very frustrating, inexcusably poor situation. There is no reason for CCL to put their guests through this. Stopping in St. Thomas first would avoid an unneccesary customs check, and waiting hours to get off the ship. This is my readers digest review, sorry we did not meet more of our roll call friends, Sammy where in the hell are you?

Hi Evan, that's something I forgot to put in my review. I thought the line we had to wait in was terrible to go through customs in St. Thomas. We waited 45 minutes, and I kept saying oh, it will be alot shorter for my Canadian cousins that were on board. Well..........they waited in line two hours! There were 800 Canadians on board. Or maybe it was 800 non US citizens....either way, two hours is terrible!

Glad the both of your brought up that problem.. Would you believe Gary and I were the 1ST... in line for this.. it was torture.. Being first it was surreal when they came up to all of us and said.. why dont you come back in a bit...

Well we had all been standing there for OVER an hour..by this time.. It was hot.. lots of folk hadnt eaten.. finally near the end of the ordeal they brought out cases of water bottles, and pasteries... for all of us.. They even passed out Decks of Playing Cards...

Wait, what happened? Was this going through customs to get back on the ship at St. Thomas? Or getting off the ship? I'm confused...

loved your review so far! We are sailing on March 6. I have seen many posts about the user-unfriendly blow dryers. If you bring your own from home do you need to have a converter? Also, how about irons in the rooms? thanks!

loved your review so far! We are sailing on March 6. I have seen many posts about the user-unfriendly blow dryers. If you bring your own from home do you need to have a converter? Also, how about irons in the rooms? thanks!

Hi, There was an outlet at the same desk they have the dryer in. I used it to charge my rechargable batteries.. so I think you are alright.. I did not see an iron.. Maybe someone else knows if you can borrow one..

Wait, what happened? Was this going through customs to get back on the ship at St. Thomas? Or getting off the ship? I'm confused...

Ok Here's what I recall.. we Start in Nassau.. then we go to St. Thomas.. which is reentering the US. Because of this we must go thru customs..

Our ship was late getting into port due to high winds etc.. which slowed us down.. So that was our first problem. Unfortunately our CD Josh, who had held an immigration talk the day before told us what time we should consider lining up etc.. and where the Non Us folks should go.. What they didn't do is make the announcement that we should not line up because of our lateness. Instead they waited till after most of us already rushed thru breakfast etc. and started lining up.. Then they announced we would be late arriving.. Then of course we had to wait for the customs officials to board.. It was a mess. People were lined up for almost 2 hrs. in some cases.. Once it was time to go thru the process was fairly quick. They give the US a sticker to wear off the ship to confirm you have been approved.. When we got to that point they only had one sticker for my husband so it took us a bit more to get written notes.. which caused the Carnival folks by the gangway to question us.. Totally screwey... The NoN US met in the theatre..and it took them much longer..

Oh no, what a mess! If St. Thomas was first on the itinerary, would you be able to just walk off the ship?

BTW, thank you for taking the time to post your review and answer questions!

If St. Thomas was first we would indeed just walk off the ship.. But that would be too easy right?? :p

Loved reading your review! Do you have pictures to share??

 

I do have a couple questions if you don't mind....

Did the ship seem crowded? Did you go to any of the comedians or late night shows? Did you check out any of the bars/lounges? Can you tell I am excited? :p

 

Thanks for all your info!

CELTIC..

As you can see I am a bit scattered..things keep coming to me.. I will get pictures posted.. I have a few on my tiny digital.. but I am waiting for those on my good 35mm.. will will have the pics on disc.. and will add them.. I just found all my capers.. so I will get you the names of the comics etc.. and then discuss them.. My husband went to the late night raunchy show.. so I will get his review on that..

Someone just asked about Ice being available...so I am reposting my response here.

Our steward did indeed take care of replenishing the ice.. but he also showed us where the Ice machine was in case we needed more.

BEWARE... If you see a really BIG bottle of Water next to your ICE BUCKET..Just because it is not locked in the Fridge with the Items you pay for.. IT ISNT FREE.. $4.00... Many folks we met on the cruise were surprised to see it wasn't complimentary because it is sitting on the counter..