Carnival Valor Review 5/30-6/6 w/ Pictures

[newcruiser6]

My very lengthy review to follow. Not sure if I know how to post pictures but I'll try!

 

Background

We booked this cruise on the Carnival Valor back in February. This was my second cruise (first was Carnival Legend in 2004) and my boyfriend’s third Carnival cruise. We were a little set off from the beginning after watching the price drop to $160 per person less than we paid after final billing, which meant no on-board credit. However, we didn’t let that upset us once we boarded the Valor.

 

Embarkation Day

With an early morning direct flight from into Miami, we figured we would save the money on coming a day early and getting a hotel. So, instead, we were up bright and early and off to the airport at 5:15 a.m. to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight. We got into Miami at around 8:30, waited for our luggage, did some carry-on switcheroos, and caught our taxi to the Port of Miami for the standard rate.

 

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First View of the Valor!

 

After handing our bags to the porters, we stepped right into security at 9:30 a.m. We had zero lines at any point. Zipped through security, went up to the terminal where we were handed Zone 1 boarding passes, got our Sail & Sign cards, and took a seat to wait for the hoards of people to arrive. The lesson we learned is that we will never ever arrive between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. as the masses of people that showed up at this time were outrageous. We watched everyone form lines and take seats while we eagerly awaited Zone 1 to be called. Sure enough, right at 12:02 p.m., Zone 1 was called and we were off to board the Valor!

 

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View of the masses of people inside the terminal as we board the ship

 

We were probably right around the 20th people or so to board the ship, so we headed straight up to Lido Deck to grab some lunch. The weather was perfect, and after the buffet we snapped some pictures of the ship and the Miami skyline and then found some chairs to relax in until 1:30.

 

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When 1:30 rolled around we headed to stateroom 7405. This is a balcony stateroom close to the stairs and elevator and we loved the location. After riding the elevator from the Atrium to Lido when we first boarded, we never used the elevator again the rest of our trip. We loved that it was a quick two flights up the stairs to Rosie’s and the adult pool, and an easy 3 flights down the stairs to dinner.

 

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Our stateroom

 

We took the rest of the day easy, with some pool lounging and balcony reading. Around 5 or 6, we headed to the sushi bar for the first of our daily sushi snacks. We were assigned a table of 8 for dinner, and the first of many enjoyable dinners at 8:15. We stuck our heads into the show, but there were no seats and we weren’t very entertained, so we left.

[newcruiser6]

First Sea Day

There really is nothing better than waking up to room service on the balcony. Such a relaxing way to start the day! After breakfast, we headed towards the Lido Deck. Chairs were already very hard to come by, so we found a nice spot near the slide and parked ourselves there. After some sun and a few trips down the slide, we tried the burrito bar for lunch, and gave it two thumbs up. We went to the golf talk and then the golf club demo (which was really just an excuse to pound some balls into a net). Also played some mini golf which was fun.

 

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Water Slide

[newcruiser6]

Cayman Islands

We had pre-booked an independent excursion in Grand Cayman that would take us out on a catamaran to snorkel at a reef and go to Stingray City. The cost was only $35 per person and included transportation, which we thought was a great bargain. We took a tender over around 8:00 a.m. ship time. We had no delays and just hopped right onto the tender.

 

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Valor from the tender

 

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Pirate ship!

 

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Empty streets of Grand Cayman early in the morning

 

Since our excursion didn’t leave until 9:30 ship time, we used the extra hours to wander around town. Finally, it was time to head out, and we were loaded into a small bus to drive over to the other side of the island and board our boat. We really liked the fact that there were only around 30 people on the catamaran and two tour guides. We found them very likeable.

 

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Beautiful water

 

We motored out to Stingray City, but the guides decided it was too crowded and took us 100 yards away to the reef instead. We snorkeled along the reef for about 45 minutes, and our guide was able to briefly lure an eel out of his hiding place which was really neat.

 

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Our guide luring the eel out of the reef

 

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Nice reef with plentiful fish

 

Then we got back on the boat and headed over to a slightly less crowded Stingray City. We very quickly were surrounded by multiple rays and they came and went for the hour or so that we were there. We were given food to feed them with and the guides helped us pose for pictures. This was probably the highlight of my trip. We had originally planned on going to Seven Mile Beach for an hour or so afterwards, but we were fried, so we headed back onto the Valor instead.

 

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Sting Ray underwater

 

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Chasing a ray and a shot of a crowded Stingray City

 

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Another ray picture

 

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Our boat with the sail down

 

That evening, we won our first game of sports trivia for the week and had an enjoyable dinner in the main dining room. Afterwards, we watched Yes, Man on the Lido deck to close out our busy day.

[newcruiser6]

Roatan

 

The Valor pulled into Roatan at 11 a.m., allowing for a nice leisurely morning to sleep in. The downside to 11 a.m. docking is that everyone is awake and ready to get off the ship right at 11, which made for a pretty big crowd on the staircases. Even so, we were off the ship and into Mahogany Bay by 11:20.

 

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Pulling into Roatan

 

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Ship Wreck

 

We had pre-booked a day at Bananarama Resort, where my boyfriend could dive and I could hang out at the beach waiting for him. We walked out of the Mahogany Bay gates and quickly found the Bananarama sign. We joined CruisinCoach who had beat us there and piled into a car that would take us to the resort. Unfortunately , the car was parked in. No problem! Just jump out and push the other car out of the way!

 

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Pushing the car out of our way

 

We took the 30 minute drive to West Bay and arrived at the resort. The beach and water were spectacular. My boyfriend headed off on his dive and I relaxed in the shade and read a book. My package included a beach chair and a drink from the bar, and this made for a very relaxing day in a beautiful location. After their dive, we enjoyed a drink before heading back to the Valor.

 

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Bananarama

 

One problem with the late seating is that its right during sunset. This evening, we were able to rush upto the Lido Deck to catch sunset before dinner.

 

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[newcruiser6]

Belize

 

In Belize, we had arranged to do cave tubing with Major/Minor Tom. Our instructions clearly stated to get on the first possible tender. So we were up nice and early to go to the Eagles Lounge and get a tender sticker. We received #2 which meant we were on the first group out. The theme of this day for me was “hurry up and wait”. We waited about 30 minutes in Eagles Lounge before getting called to board our tender.

 

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Arriving in Belize City

 

After arriving in Belize City we found our group. About a dozen people had arrived for our excursion, but unfortunately there was a large group that hadn’t come. We were continuously told not to go very far because we’d be leaving any minute. This turned into a 45 minute way. Then, they hiked us over to our bus, where we waited for another 15 minutes. Finally, they turned the bus on and drove us back to the port to pick up this large group…which must have missed the memo on taking the first tender as they had #12 stickers. We were told ahead of the excursion that we would have an hour back in port after the cave tubing, however, due to continuous delays we got back 10 minutes before the final tender. As for the trip itself, it was a long, but interesting ride to the cave. We enjoyed getting to see the countryside. After arriving at the park where all of the tubing starts, we were given our tubes, life jackets, and head lamps.

 

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Cave Tubing park where all the excursions originate

 

The trip begins with a five minute hike to the river crossing. The current was pretty strong but there was a rope to hold onto if you needed assistance. At this spot we hung out for about 15-20 minutes and the opportunity to jump off some rocks into the river.

 

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River Crossing five minutes into the hike

 

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The rock we were allowed to jump off of

 

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More river crossing

 

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Getting ready to jump

 

We then continued on the 20-30 minute hike. Along the way our guide invited us to taste some termites, took us into a small cave to show us hundreds of bats on the ceiling, and pointed out some interesting plants.

 

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Hiking to the river

 

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Nice scenery

 

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Look closely and you can see the bats

 

I thought this part of the trip was very good. We got to the river and then moved incredibly slowly, with 4 or 5 other groups quickly getting their act together and departing before we did.

 

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Cave

 

Finally we linked together and took off.

 

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Entrance

 

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Cave Tubing

 

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Exit

 

The river was moving pretty slowly but there weren’t too many “butts up” moments. Our excursion went down the river in three separate chains. Our chain was the first to finish and somehow got 15-20 minutes ahead of the other two. So this meant more waiting at the end, with us nervously looking at our watches as we were the last bus in the parking lot. So overall, I thought the guides were good, but the whole operation was way too unorganized for me to recommend this tour company.

 

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That night was our second formal night. We caught a nice sunset from our dinner table.

[spunkanutter]

This is great so far, love the pictures and the review! Can't wait to see more! We're booked for our first Carnival cruise on the Valor in Sept

[newcruiser6]

Cozumel

 

For our last port of call, we had decided to not book any excursions and just take it easy. We took a taxi to Paradise Beach, which was $13. We were one of the first people there and had no problem grabbing a beach chair.

 

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Paradise Beach

 

They recently started charging $2 per person to use a beach chair. We had planned on spending the $12 per person to use the water toys, but after 5 minutes of sitting in the chairs, I didn’t think I would be staying very long as I had 20 bugs on my leg at a time! They weren’t biting or anything, so they were more of just a nuisance, but I was totally unprepared for this and grossed out. Its too bad, as the facilities there were really nice.

 

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Beautiful grounds

 

So we ended up hanging out in the water for about an hour to escape the bugs and then took a cab to downtown for $15.

 

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Downtown Cozumel

 

We strolled downtown, looking for some authentic Mexican food. We were hounded by several restaurants, but had trouble making a decision. Finally, we ended up about a block and a half off of the main street and had a local behind us who spoke very good English ask if we were looking for some local food for lunch. We said that we were, and he pointed to a small restaurant across the street and said that we needed to go to this place as its so good that the governor of Quintana Roo eats there 3 times a year. We didn’t believe him, but we crossed the street and looked at their menu. It looked good, and the prices were reasonable, so we decided to just eat there. The amazing thing was, for the hour that we dined outside at this restaurant, we only saw one other tourist the entire time – despite being so close to the main drag. Lunch was very very good, and only set us back $20 total for two meals and two drinks.

 

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Homemade Salsa

 

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Where we ate lunch

 

We then walked around downtown a little more before catching a cab back to Puerta Maya for $7.

 

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Ships docked into Puerta Maya

[newcruiser6]

Last Sea Day

 

We took things very easy on our last sea day. We were both pretty burnt so laying out in the sun wasn’t too appealing.

 

Lunchtime was the Chocolate Buffet.

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We played some trivia, did water wars (always fun to hurl water balloons at your loved ones!), entered the giant bag toss competition in the atrium, and lounged around reading and relaxing.

 

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Bag Toss in the atrium

 

We also went to our first and last show, the Legends show. I thought it was pretty entertaining and was happy with our decision to go.

[newcruiser6]

Debarkation Day

The night before we went to the purser’s desk to trade in our Zone 9 debarkation for Zone 30, as we had a 2:30 flight and didn’t want to sit in the airport all day. We were hoping to sleep in, but the announcements started coming fast and furious at 7 a.m.

 

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Sunrise in Miami

 

So we took our time getting out of the room, and made our way up to Lido deck around 8 a.m. We peaked into other rooms on the seventh deck and were able to see two different types of suites including one that had every single towel animal lined up on the sofa!

 

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Towel animals

 

We ate a slow breakfast and then laid on some lounge chairs at the main pool waiting for our zone to be called. It took about 15 minutes to get off the ship, less than 5 to get our bags, and then about 20 to clear customs (most people probably went through much quicker but our line was moving about half the speed of the others). We had booked transportation to FLL with SAS transportation and they quickly picked us up and zoomed us to the airport.

[2 Dinks]

This is an awesome review- now I really can't wait for our Oct cruise on the Valor. Could I ask what type of camera you used? We are shopping for an underwater one and are always looking for other peoples opinions. Thanks!

[newcruiser6]

A few more thoughts….

 

-Overall, we had an amazing time. It is funny to read the bad reviews people give. Its vacation! Even the things that didn’t go as well as I would have hoped were way better than a normal day in the office!

 

-Our breakfasts were split between room service on the balcony and going to Lido buffet. We were satisfied with both. For lunch, when we were on the ship we would always do the buffet or other lido deck options. The Mongolian and Burritos were really good. We weren’t as impressed with Fish & Chips. I miss the daily frozen yogurt at lunch time! Since we had late dining, we would have a sushi snack around 5:30 each day, and this was a good time to sit on the promenade and read the USA News. We ate dinner 6 of the 7 nights in the main dining room. We regretted doing the buffet on the other night as it was the same menu items but not nearly as tasty.

 

-Our room steward was fair. It took several requests to get the mini bar open so that we could put our wine in there, and our ice was refilled some days but not others.

 

-We really enjoyed this itinerary. It took me to three countries I had never been to before, and we had memorable experiences in each one.

 

-We didn't do much of the night time entertainment as the 5 minutes we watched of the first show made us think that we could find better things to do with our time. We really enjoyed Phat Cat's comedy and meant to watch the second comedian's show, but fell asleep before its start time.

 

-The ship's layout is slightly annoying in that you can't walk forward to aft on most decks, but you get used to it.

 

-On my first cruise six years ago, I was sea sick the entire time. This time around, I had the patch behind my ear and even on the two days that we were rocking around pretty good, I felt no motion sickness whatsoever. I had a small bit of dry mouth on the first day of the first patch and then no other side effects after that.

[newcruiser6]

This is an awesome review- now I really can't wait for our Oct cruise on the Valor. Could I ask what type of camera you used? We are shopping for an underwater one and are always looking for other peoples opinions. Thanks!

 

We purchased the Olympus Stylus 550 10MP refurbished online for $90. We're really happy with the quality of the pictures. The one thing we realized after the fact is that you need to keep the lens clean as you may notice the blurry spot in some pictures above water where water collected.

[2 Dinks]

Thanks-we will check that one out...your pictures were great!

[LBumb]

great job lots of great pics

[CruisinCoach]

Awesome review. Almost makes me feel like I was on the cruise with you...

 

:D

[PCDIVA]

What a GREAT REVIEW detailed and even with PICS...THANKS FOR THE EFFORTS!:)

[rdler]

I thought that was a wonderful review. We were on the same cruise. We did entirely different things than you all, but most likely that is because it was just me traveling with my 8-year old son. Rohatan, for example, for us was just an endless circular route around the ski-lift!

 

We had great fun with the ship's deep sea fishing excursion in Belize.

 

I thought it was a very good cruise. For us, embarcation and debarcation were more of a problem, but hey, there were a lot of people. And we certainly had wonderful weather!

 

I really do think Carnival could do something with the food. I thought the buffet food was just that. And I thought the food in the MDR started off okay, but got worse each successive night, although that may just be my son's and my tastes, although I thought the beef stroganoff was to die from! Ick!

 

I wish we had met you! You sound like energetic and fun folks.

 

Thanks for the review.

[carnivalcanuck]

Thanks for the wonderful review and pics! We are sailing on the Valor in October and it was nice to see a recent review :)

[chachi]

I enjoyed reading your review. You had some great photos. Thanks for sharing.

[NewYorkDenise]

Thanks for such an informative review. I'm sailing on the valor in July and can't wait. Can you tell me if you got your patch for seasickness at a local pharmacy type store. I already purchased Bonine. Me and my son have experienced seasickness, but we have never been on a ship.

 

Thank you.

[JRB-SHOES]

Hi, We were on the same cruise. I havent gotten around to post pictures yet and write my review already submerged into work. I was one of the un lucky few whose luggage was left in Miami at the port. So Im taking inventory of my items. Im in the process of uploading about 1000 pictures of my cruise though. I will post soon!

 

Oh and my daughter was the little girl that Big Tex called to the stage on the first night's show. They looped it over and over on the TV. She is so proud of that magic coin he gave her.

[newcruiser6]

Thanks for such an informative review. I'm sailing on the valor in July and can't wait. Can you tell me if you got your patch for seasickness at a local pharmacy type store. I already purchased Bonine. Me and my son have experienced seasickness, but we have never been on a ship.

 

Thank you.

 

I used a scopolamine patch, which you need a prescription for.

[newcruiser6]

I thought that was a wonderful review. We were on the same cruise. We did entirely different things than you all, but most likely that is because it was just me traveling with my 8-year old son. Rohatan, for example, for us was just an endless circular route around the ski-lift!

 

We had great fun with the ship's deep sea fishing excursion in Belize.

 

I thought it was a very good cruise. For us, embarcation and debarcation were more of a problem, but hey, there were a lot of people. And we certainly had wonderful weather!

 

I really do think Carnival could do something with the food. I thought the buffet food was just that. And I thought the food in the MDR started off okay, but got worse each successive night, although that may just be my son's and my tastes, although I thought the beef stroganoff was to die from! Ick!

 

I wish we had met you! You sound like energetic and fun folks.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

I can't remember which night, maybe the 5th?, but our entire table was less than satisfied with our food on that night. Overall, I thought the food was pretty good, but nothing memorable (other than the warm chocolate melting cake of course).

[Star1]

What company did you use in grand cayman to see the sting rays?

Thanks,

[Froufie]

Great review - and brings back lots of memories! So did you mention anything to the room steward about the ice and fridge issues? (I presume you did not tip him extra?).

 

I love breakfast/room service on the balcony (talk about being spoiled) but I do try to avoid the buffets and prefer the dining room for breakfast and lunch if possible. Like being served and I find the food is better - and no crowds to fight for a table, drinks, etc.! (altho I did not even have a chance to try the burrito bar or mongolian grill on my last trip - guess that means another cruise! :D)