Valor Photo Review - West. Caribbean 8/30-9/6/09

[ciera123]

Love your review so far...I can't wait for our cruise on the Valor in May!!!

[looksandletters]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review... we're going on the Valor on the 27th!

[HUNNY BUN]

For those of you awaiting your cruise on the Valor, you will truly enjoy it!! There were 10 of us cruising togetehr last May (2008) and we had such fun. Can't wait to see the pictures from the OP!! Keep 'em coming!!:)

[Nunu]

By "scary" I meant there are a lot of transients and other questionable characters hanging around the area. (Specifically, I'm referring to behind the hotel when we walked to McDonalds the first night.) Walking as a group to Bayside shouldn't be a problem at all. You should be fine.

 

BTW: They have a lot of security at Bayside.

 

My husband reminds me that I'm so naive that I once told a transient in downtown Bridgeport CT that I couldn't help him further after I gave him all my change because all I have left are $20's. So there you go... I'm not so street smart - or any smart!

 

I agree that there are a few sketchy people in the area. Just keep walking and avoid falling for the conversations they'll try and strike up.

[amcjeep4life]

I personally don't think that a review can be too long or have too many pictures. So you just keep right on going the way you are! I've got just under 40 days to wait for my cruise on the Freedom, and reviews are what makes the time go by! Thank you so much for doing an awesome job!

[jdbmga]

We will be cruising on the Valor in July 2010 and I am enjoying your review. Can't wait to read the rest.

[singbluesilver1]

o;; be on this ship in 20 days!! cant wait to read the rest!!

[emmysmommy]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm glad to share this with all of you lucky folks who are waiting to sail on the Valor. You will not be disappointed.

 

So we were in the Miami cruise terminal and we had to go up this escalator:

 

 

Say "see ya later" to these people in the terminal below:

 

Go through this jetway thingie:

 

Stop for a close up photo of the ship:

 

And finally....

We actually made it on the ship. From arrival at the port to our toes touching the lobby, it was about 35 minutes.

 

 

What is the first thing we do.... normally, we go to the buffet to eat but we were not that hungry so we did some exploring on deck 3 where we entered the ship.

 

More to follow... I need to resize some more photos real quick.

[emmysmommy]

We checked out the Ivanhoe Theater - forward on Deck 3.

 

Someone wanted to be a star! (I was going to get on the stage for this photo but if you look closely you can see the red rope obstructing the stairs. I may be a ham but I'm not a rule breaker!)

 

Then we decided that we should check out the Lido deck.

Here's the Seaside Theater that you see when you exit the doors mid ship.

 

 

 

Even though we were not really hungry we decided to check out the buffet. (Big mistake - looking and not eating is not something that I can do very easily)

 

We went to Rosie’s diner or otherwise known as “the place where you stand in a long line and have people cut in front of you and grab things while you patiently await your turn to sample mediocre food that is served by nice friendly Carnival staff.” Actually, some of the food was pretty good (details later) and I always found more than a few items to please me and help me gain 8 pounds. However, I didn’t find too many outstanding, ‘I gotta have that again!’ items. Even the desserts didn’t thrill me too much this time but again, I pretty much finished what was on my plate so it wasn’t that bad.

 

Since we were the first group on board, there were no lines of people and plenty of seating options.

 

 

 

And good old Rosie herself:

 

More buffet to come....

[CasinoQueen]

Thank you for the review!!!

[CarribbeanTina271]

Thanks for the review so far... We will be on this same cruise in 20 days!! Can't wait..looking forward to reading more and seeing all the pics!

[jrmende63]

enjoying your review! Keep it coming! We sail next year to the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Dream.

[emmysmommy]

The buffet had many different choices that all looked delish!

 

Dessert showcase:

 

 

 

The Burrito Bar:

 

 

The Pizzaria:

 

Note: If you want a special order pizza other than the standard types they have on the menu they would be glad to make one. Just expect a 15-20 minute wait. I had to wait about 15 minutes for a Napolitana pizza. It was worth the wait - fresh and delicious. They have red pepper flakes and freshly grated parmesean cheese at the serving counter.

 

The Grill:

 

I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t make it to all of the food venues that I had wanted to try. I really wanted to try the Burrito Bar, the Mongolian Wok, the Chocolate Buffet, and the Afternoon Tea. It's just as well that I didn't eat everywhere! Who knows how much weight I could have gained.

We ate in the main dining room every night except when we ate at the Supper Club (now known as the Steakhouse?). There was just too much going on and when we returned from shore excursions it was just easiest to go to the shortest line of the buffet or order room service. I’ve eaten from the grill before but I didn’t have anything from there this time – I was trying to stay away from anything fried that didn’t have “French” in the name.

 

I have tons of food pictures that will just bore everyone so if you want to see all the photos of the cuisine you can click on the photo link in my signature for more food excitement!

[megnsamsgracie]

The buffet had many different choices that all looked delish!

 

Dessert showcase:

 

 

 

 

 

The Burrito Bar:

 

 

The Pizzaria:

 

 

 

I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t make it to all of the food venues that I had wanted to try. I really wanted to try the Burrito Bar, the Mongolian Wok,

 

I see this is called the burrito Bar in the pic.. but I didnt think they had one? I thought one side was the deli and one said was the asian? I thought the Dream was going to have a full time burrito bar and that Splendor was first??

 

And to all those yet to sail.. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! We were loyal Royals but Valor turned us on to Carnival!

[emmysmommy]

Here's the view from our table at Rosie's:

 

So there we were sitting at a table by the window and I had some chicken noodle soup and a dessert sampler of jello cubes, mango mousse something or another, and diet banana cake (uhh not so good – maybe that’s why it’s ‘diet’). My daughter had some lasagna and it looked pretty good. I don’t recall what DH ate. It has been noted here before but it is worth mentioning again, they charge sales tax for beverages purchased while in port before the ship sets sail. So wait to buy that first round of drinks for all of your buddies until the ship has set sail!

 

The buffet was getting busier and it was starting to be a competitive sport to get a table so we cleared out so someone could take our place. We went exploring as we typically do before the ship sets sail. This was our 3rd time on a Conquest class ship so we knew the layout of the lounges, dining rooms, bars, and other areas pretty well. It was a little after 1:00 when we detoured to our cabin to drop off our carry ons. The room had already been cleaned but we didn’t see our room steward.

 

Photos of room and such:

 

Category 11

 

 

 

 

 

The room was the same as the category 11 cabins that we have booked on the Miracle, Glory and Liberty.

[emmysmommy]

We went to check out Scarlett’s – we had reservations on Tuesday after leaving Grand Cayman. The restaurant is beautiful with a Southern charm reminiscent of its namesake. It is interesting that they chose Scarlett O’Hara as a theme for a supper club but why not since there is a Nick and Nora’s on the Miracle.

 

 

 

 

 

Then onto the piano bar - I literally mean onto the piano bar:

 

Next up, the aft Dining Room - Washington Dining Room. We knew our table number but they didn't have the number cards set out on the tables yet so we had to wait until dinner to see where we were sitting.

 

 

View from the upper level of dining room:

 

[BlueC5Kitten]

Keep the good review info coming...

 

I sailed the Valor in January, this year...enjoyed it, and am enjoying your review for reminescing. :)

 

Happy Cruising!

[emmysmommy]

One last photo of the dining room before we move on with our photo tour:

 

We played in the arcade for a little while. The machines take your S&S card and you will get tokens to play the games.

 

 

And then finally we found the Java Café where we got a strawberry milkshake for DD and a mocha for DH. The milkshake was $3.95 and the iced macaccino was $3.50.

 

 

 

We hung out in the American Lobby and enjoyed the piano music for awhile before deciding to go back to our room. When we got there we found all of our bags had arrived. We looked up and down the hall and strangely, we were the only ones that we could see that had received all of our bags. Cool!

 

 

I was able to unpack about ½ of our massive amounts of things before the muster drill was announced. It started around 4pm. When we were leaving to go to the Muster Drill we met our room steward Domarri from St. Vincent. He was nice enough and did his job well – no real complaints – except for trying to fulfill our request to get our 3rd beach towel for our room and he reached into a laundry bag and folded a damp dirty towel to give to me. Huh? How is that ok? I told him we would wait for a clean towel. It took an entire day to get the 3rd towel.

 

Another thing that was different this time from past cruises is that we were never greeted by name by our room steward or the dining staff. I’m fine with the friendly smile and a job well done so it is more an observation than anything.

 

Back to the muster drill….. we knew that the ship would probably leave while we were having the muster drill or immediately after so we came prepared with the camera. We heard the standard spiel advising that in the event of the need to evacuate the ship I should report to my muster station and lifeboat numbers 10, 12, 14 and 16 would whisk me and my family (women and children first) to safety with a qualified seaman at the helm. I was also assured that there would be enough food and water on the lifeboat to keep us comfy until rescue occurred. They didn’t explain what would happen should I need to use the bathroom while on the lifeboat. (I suppose some things I just shouldn’t wonder about.)

 

 

Next Sail Away!

[emmysmommy]

I see this is called the burrito Bar in the pic.. but I didnt think they had one? I thought one side was the deli and one said was the asian? I thought the Dream was going to have a full time burrito bar and that Splendor was first??

 

And to all those yet to sail.. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! We were loyal Royals but Valor turned us on to Carnival!

 

Maybe the Burrito Bar is new on the Valor. I've heard that the Spendor has one as well. Not sure about the Dream but sounds like this is a new trend. Yes, the deli is on the other side. There were all kinds of salsas and they would create made-to-order burritos. People were also getting baskets of tortilla chips from the burrito bar.

 

Alas, I will have to sail again on a ship that has a Burrito Bar so I can try it!

[OrdieJ]

Did you say Mongolian bbq? Oh boy, my mouth is starting to water. This country I am deployed in doesnt even have a McDonalds! We had Pizza Hut and Burger King in Iraq! Im going to O.D. on food. nom nom nom

[boaterette]

That was just nasty about the towel. I think I would have mentioned it to housekeeping so that he could be retrained a little bit better. I am enjoying the review.

[DarthGrady]

I see this is called the burrito Bar in the pic.. but I didnt think they had one? I thought one side was the deli and one said was the asian? I thought the Dream was going to have a full time burrito bar and that Splendor was first??

 

And to all those yet to sail.. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! We were loyal Royals but Valor turned us on to Carnival!

 

So is this supposed to be like a Moes or Tijuana Flats type of deal where they put a burrito together for you from scratch?

[emmysmommy]

Sure enough, once the drill concluded the ship started to leave port. I grabbed our life vests and ran up the 4 flights of stairs to throw them in our room and then went up to the Panorama deck (deck 10) to get some photos.

 

First we were forward:

 

 

And then we were aft:

 

And we even went out through the ‘secret doors’ on Deck 9:

 

Personally, I didn’t like being forward through the secret doors on deck 9. There should be a minimum height requirement to enjoy that vantage point since the glass topped wall is a bit high for me. I’m short (5’2”) so I had to stand on my tippy toes to get some photos. Oh well, there were a lot of other places to enjoy sail away.

 

Leaving Miami:

 

After Miami was in the distant background I went back to the room to finish unpacking. I brought some extra hangers which came in handy. (The plastic tube hangers that cost about $2 for 20.) There was plenty of closet and drawer space even with all of our stuff.

 

I checked our folio in the cabin TV to see my on-board credit balance. Well…. Carnival was missing $475 from the credit amount. I went to the Purser’s desk and they printed out my account statement that DID include the entire on-board credit amount. The staff couldn’t explain why there was a discrepancy. Lame! The entire cruise it never updated the correct credit amount on the TV folio display.

 

We had late dinner seating (8:15) in the aft dining room – upper level, table 556 in the Washington dining room. We made our way down to deck 4 (the ship’s floor plan couldn’t trip us up – we were pros at this.) and found our table easily since it was near the door. Actually, the table seemed to be a bit in the way of foot traffic since whomever was sitting near the aisle had their chair bumped frequently by people passing by.

 

 

We met our tablemates and at first were a bit confused on how Carnival matched our families up for dining. We were at a table for 8 with 2 single-mother families with children a lot younger than our 13 year old and apparently nothing else in common. HOWEVER, after 10 minutes we convinced that we would not want to dine with anyone else and thoroughly enjoyed their company every night.

 

The first night I had the chicken a la grecque which wasn’t really described in a manner that I could understand it was a penne pasta with chicken dish. It ended up being one of the tastiest main dishes that I ate for dinner.

 

Almost every night I had the shrimp cocktail for a starter. Don’t order this if you expect to have a shrimp-fest. You only receive 4 little bitty shrimp with a lot of garnishment and a small dollop of cocktail sauce. Considering the fact that it was the first of many dishes that would be set in front of me at dinner – it was as much as I probably should have anyway. The first night I also had the iceberg lettuce wedge salad. For dessert I had the crème brulee. It wasn’t as amazing as I had remembered but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

 

[emmysmommy]

That was just nasty about the towel. I think I would have mentioned it to housekeeping so that he could be retrained a little bit better. I am enjoying the review.

 

 

Yeah, and what is worse is that my DH asked the room steward for a towel and he tried the same thing with him. I didn't put it on my comment card only because I had forgotten about it.... and there were some folks that I wanted to commend for their service and one waiter in particular that I wanted to point out needed some customer service skills. More on that later.

[emmysmommy]

Here's what we had for dinner the first night:

 

shrimp cocktail:

 

Iceberg lettuce wedge:

 

Chicken a la Grecque:

 

Creme Brulee:

 

 

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake:

 

I apologize to all the WCMC fans but I decided to try this acclaimed dessert this time and I almost liked the top layer. But when I got to the goo, it was disgusting. [please don't send hate mail - this is only the opinion of someone who thinks that peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches are delish!] I am a glutton for punishment because I tried some of this again a few nights later and I liked it even less. So for me... not such a great thing.

 

Sweet and Sour Shrimp:

 

 

 

After dinner we went to the Ivanhoe Theater for the 10:30 Welcome Aboard show. Gary, who was the cruise director, kept us entertained. Gary was not too annoying and not too charming but just about right. Comedian Eddie Capone was the featured act. He was ok.

 

It was a long day and I was pooped so off to bed around midnight.

 

Holy smokes this review is going to be long! I’m only on the first day….This is going to take as long to write as it took to take the cruise! So sorry!