Carnival Valor, 9/25/11: A "pink" review of the Eastern Caribbean.... PICTURES!!!

[gapearl]

Thanks for the great review! I cannot wait until we cruise in January! :)

 

You're welcome! I had fun writing it. You're going to have an awesome time!

 

Great review! Love the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[gapearl]

I am sad your review is coming to an end. I've enjoyed it, thoroughly. I think the pink dress is my favorite, but you look beautiful in all of them. You have soooo much fun on your cruises and I think you should come with us in May. Keep cruising and writing such great reviews!!!

 

I'm sad too! It was so fun to relive my vacation. I do have a lot of fun on my cruises. Tell me when and what ship and I just might pop up! :)

 

Love, love, love your review! Just ditto to what everyone's said...you're gorgeous, love your dresses, your wit, etc. etc.!! Let's not forget the cornbread :D!! I'm going to bookmark the rest of your reviews now so I can catch up on your adventures. I feel like I've gone on vacation with you. Thanks for sharing your time with all of us and if you do start that blog please let us know! ;)

 

You're so kind to say so many nice things! Unfortunately I don't have another cruise booked at the moment. :eek: My mom and I are talking about doing Alaska next year, but that's a long way off. I usually do a cruise in February, but I'm considering a land trip instead to some place hot and south of the equator. Sorry, no more cruise reviews in the near future, but I'll definitely keep you posted on the travel blog if one gets started. Thanks for reading!

[gapearl]

DEBARKATION

It’s always a sad time when your cruise comes to an end. I had such an enjoyable week and an absolutely fantastic cruise. I was up early at 7 am and we were off the ship at 8:30 am. I always HATE that final *ding* of the sail and sign card as you exit the ship. :( Debarkation was simple and painless. We carried our bags off with self debarkation. There was no line at customs. The officer asked how many bottles of duty free I had and where I purchased them. I’ve never had them ask where they were purchased before, wonder what’s up with that? What difference does it make? :confused: I called SAS Transportation to let them know we were about to get off the ship and I called them again once we were outside. Our driver was there quickly and we shared the van with a couple headed to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. It was $15 per person. We stayed the night at the Hyatt Place South FLL Airport and flew home dark and early Monday morning.

[gapearl]

FINAL THOUGHTS

Everyone has been saying on cruise critic recently that the quality of the food has gone down. I have to admit that I agree. I never went hungry, but there were sometimes noticeable differences from past cruises. The food was good, don’t get me wrong, but I could tell there were some changes.

The buffet no longer has trays, but oversize plates instead.

 

I was looking forward to nightly karaoke, REGULAR karaoke, but there was none. They had the superstar karaoke every night with a band, but I wanted to sing it the old fashioned way.

This cruise was very diverse and had a lot of international travelers. There was a large group of 30 friends from Mexico. My dinner companions were from the Czech Republic. I also met people who came all the way from Venezula and Hungary with their families.

 

There were very few kids on board. I would guess the number couldn’t have been more than 150-200, if that.

 

I purchased $250 in funship dollars in advance. If you’re not familiar with these, you can call the Carnival Bon Voyage department and buy OBC for your cruise. This was the smartest thing I could have possibly done. It was nice having pretty much everything paid up front. I went over by only $13.28 that was billed to my credit card. I'll be doing that again for my next cruise.

 

My mom wanted to use a check to add some money to her s&s card, just enough to buy some pictures, and they don’t accept checks at guest services.

 

I mentioned decks 6 and 7 for the secret decks. You can find another secret deck on deck 10, all the way forward.

 

I took lots of tours on this cruise. I’m normally not a tour kind of person. I’m one always looking for adventure, but I did them for her. This would have otherwise been a very different review full of stories of parasailing, jet skis, and maybe even a beginners scuba lesson.

 

I love taking pictures at all the photo stations at night. If you’re interested in pictures, I recommend taking pictures at ALL of the stations. Don’t take pictures at just 1 or 2 because you like those backgrounds the best. Each photographer has their own individual style and some pictures come out better than others. Some I loved, and some I hated. You want to have plenty of options.

Well I think that’s it! I was going to scan and upload the Fun Times, but I simply don’t have the time this week to do that. I still have them so if you’re interested in anything specific, let me know and I’ll look for you. Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and for following my review!

 

My last picture of the cruise as we left the port. Buh-bye Valor. :(

 

[Shake-n-Bake]

That was an absolutely marvelous review. I loved it from beginning to end. I was on the Valor the week before you on the Western itinerary. I enjoyed the ship also. You seem to have so much fun on your cruises and it shows in your reviews. Great job!!! :D

[scgamecock]

Great review Kim! Enjoyed it and it was great meeting you on the cruise!

[cynt]

Thanks again GAPearl for the review.

 

But when I looked at the formal pics of you my eyes immediately went to your feet to check out what shoes you were wearing! LOL!! SHOE FETISH!!!:D

[gapearl]

That was an absolutely marvelous review. I loved it from beginning to end. I was on the Valor the week before you on the Western itinerary. I enjoyed the ship also. You seem to have so much fun on your cruises and it shows in your reviews. Great job!!! :D

 

Thanks for following along and reading!

 

Great review Kim! Enjoyed it and it was great meeting you on the cruise!

 

Thanks a lot! It was nice meeting you too!

 

Thanks again GAPearl for the review.

 

But when I looked at the formal pics of you my eyes immediately went to your feet to check out what shoes you were wearing! LOL!! SHOE FETISH!!!:D

 

Oh I made sure to bring plenty of cute shoes! LOL Glad you enjoyed my review!

[magic&buddy]

Thanks so much for your review. We are on the Valor on October 30th and your review has kept me sane till I leave for Miami. Thank you, thank you thank you!

[gapearl]

Thanks so much for your review. We are on the Valor on October 30th and your review has kept me sane till I leave for Miami. Thank you, thank you thank you!

 

You're welcome! I hope you have as much fun as I did!

[dewats784]

I would like to know what time of day the Chocolate Buffet was. I am a chocoholic and want to make sure I have plenty of room to try a little bit of eveything. Loved your review and can't wait to board the Valor in January!!

[gapearl]

I would like to know what time of day the Chocolate Buffet was. I am a chocoholic and want to make sure I have plenty of room to try a little bit of eveything. Loved your review and can't wait to board the Valor in January!!

 

The chocolate buffet was the last sea day at lunch, something like 12-3 pm maybe? Those hours might not be exact but that's the general time. Thanks for reading. I hope you have a fabulous cruise!

[campgroundbound]

thank you for such a great review of your cruise. we will be leaving sunday on same itinerary ,and am so looking forward to it.you let me read a lot of good options on what to do and see.thanks again

Edited October 14, 2011 by campgroundbound
wrong itinerery post ooops

[trvl4life]

I usually stay pretty quiet on the boards, but I've read all of your reviews and absolutely love them! I think I lol'd on the cornbread!:p I'm hoping to cruise on Carnival Magic next summer. If I do, I hope to come back and try to do a review like this. Thanks again for taking the time to write it. On another note, I will actually be running in the Susan G. Komen race this weekend in Dallas! That's great that you raise funds to help find a cure.

[abitaturbodog]

What a great review! Thanks for taking the time to post and good luck with your fund raising!

[Topo Gigio]

I was on the Glory from Sept 24-Oct 1 and they still have trays in the buffet restaurant.

 

We had max 25 kids/teenagers onboard! and very little young people, so it was like a bit boring for us. Disco was always empty and around 12:30 they were already calling for last call for alcohol!! we enjoyed ourselves at the casino bar. The paino bar wa salways empty too (the guy wasn't that great) went to a lot to the comedy club but heard a few of the jokes two years ago on the Dream already, but still it was cool to hear them again.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Topo Gigio

[gapearl]

thank you for such a great review of your cruise. we will be leaving sunday on same itinerary ,and am so looking forward to it.you let me read a lot of good options on what to do and see.thanks again

 

OMG You're going to have a fabulous time! Just watch out for the cornbread at the buffet. ;)

 

I was on the Glory from Sept 24-Oct 1 and they still have trays in the buffet restaurant.

 

We had max 25 kids/teenagers onboard! and very little young people, so it was like a bit boring for us. Disco was always empty and around 12:30 they were already calling for last call for alcohol!! we enjoyed ourselves at the casino bar. The paino bar wa salways empty too (the guy wasn't that great) went to a lot to the comedy club but heard a few of the jokes two years ago on the Dream already, but still it was cool to hear them again.

 

Did you go to Canada? I was considering that for next year, but I think we're gonna do Alaska instead. I'd hate to be on a cruise where all the night life shuts down by 12:30. :eek: I hear it's like that on Alaska cruises though, so I'm preparing myself. Too bad you weren't on the Valor with us!

[gapearl]

I usually stay pretty quiet on the boards, but I've read all of your reviews and absolutely love them! I think I lol'd on the cornbread!:p I'm hoping to cruise on Carnival Magic next summer. If I do, I hope to come back and try to do a review like this. Thanks again for taking the time to write it. On another note, I will actually be running in the Susan G. Komen race this weekend in Dallas! That's great that you raise funds to help find a cure.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read! I'd love to see a review of the Magic. I don't think she's on my cruise radar any time soon, so I'd love to see a review. It's very time consuming to put them together, but a lot of fun reliving your vacation. My big race is also this weekend. 13.1 miles, yikes! :eek: Good luck to you in your race!

 

What a great review! Thanks for taking the time to post and good luck with your fund raising!

 

Thank you for reading and for the well wishes! $1,300+ raised for breast cancer and counting! :)

[The_ZOO]

The lido lunch theme today was American food. Part of that buffet was cornbread, or at least Carnival’s interpretation of what they think cornbread is. I have lived in Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia. I’m 110% southern girl. I know good cornbread. I need my southern folks to back me up here.

 

This is cornbread.

 

This is also cornbread.

 

THIS IS NOT CORNBREAD!!!

 

 

 

Ok, technically it is cornbread because it’s bread with corn on top. However, you can’t put that in front of someone from the south and not expect to get flamed. Paula Deen would have a fit if she tasted this. Even without the corn on top, the bread wasn’t that good. It tasted very “doughy”, like it wasn’t baked long enough.

I’d like to make a deal with the Carnival chefs. Feel free to fly into Atlanta one day. I’ll pick you up from the airport and drive you up 85N to Peachtree Street, where our final destination will be Gladys Knight’s Chicken & Waffles. We’ll order a basket of cornbread and dish on Dancing With The Stars and you can show me pictures of your kids. On the drive back to the airport, I’ll take you around the 285 loop to This Is It Soul Food and get you a couple dozen corn muffins to snack on for your plane ride back. You’ll be back in Florida in time for sailaway. This will give you a taste of good, southern cornbread.

I never thought I’d be writing a dissertation on cornbread, but this needed to be said. :)

 

I'm from the northeast and even I know that's not cornbread, my gosh that looks gross!

[mikel24m]

OMG thats too funny and not corn bread .I thought I saw the funniest thing on the Valor last week I had to get one .A panko encrusted egg.Also known as a deep fried breaded hard boiled egg.I thought i have seen it all

[gapearl]

I'm from the northeast and even I know that's not cornbread, my gosh that looks gross!

 

No, it wasn't good. I picked at it a little bit and eventually gave up. Thanks for reading!

 

OMG thats too funny and not corn bread .I thought I saw the funniest thing on the Valor last week I had to get one .A panko encrusted egg.Also known as a deep fried breaded hard boiled egg.I thought i have seen it all

 

LOL I missed the eggs. I hope you enjoyed the Valor as much as I did. Will you be writing a review?

[rtfnl]

GaPearl: how did you do in the race?

[gapearl]

GaPearl: how did you do in the race?

 

It was last weekend. I finished in 3 hours, 1 minute, and 32 seconds! My first half marathon and I'm so proud of myself! I'm already looking for half marathon #2. Oh, and I've raised $1,325 for Susan G. Komen in the process! Thanks for asking! :)

[LadyTenorJD]

It was last weekend. I finished in 3 hours, 1 minute, and 32 seconds! My first half marathon and I'm so proud of myself! I'm already looking for half marathon #2. Oh, and I've raised $1,325 for Susan G. Komen in the process! Thanks for asking! :)

 

 

Excellent! I do want to get more involved with Susan G. Komen...my grandmother died of breast cancer back in 1989. I was just a kid then. I am so out of shape, I need to set a goal. Training for a 5K seems like an attainable goal to me.

 

Keep up the great work!

[gapearl]

Excellent! I do want to get more involved with Susan G. Komen...my grandmother died of breast cancer back in 1989. I was just a kid then. I am so out of shape, I need to set a goal. Training for a 5K seems like an attainable goal to me.

 

Keep up the great work!

 

You can so do a 5K! Start running what you can and gradually go a little bit further every run (and try to increase you speed too, if you can). I started keeping a running journal when I first decided to do this race. I'm very active and consider the gym my second home, but I've never liked running. That first run in my journal was a mile & a half and within a few months I was up to 5-6 miles. Also, keep in mind you can walk the entire race if you choose. You will have such a sense of accomplishment when you cross the finish line. Komen has lots of 5K races throughout the country and the year. Good luck to you!

Edited October 24, 2011 by gapearl