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Valor 12/4/2011 - First Time Cruiser's Review!

LamenLaur

By LamenLaur,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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glass56

glass56

Posted
Posted
Saturday 12/10/2011 – Sea Day

Today was a relaxing day for us. We had breakfast in the Washington Dining Room and caught the magic seminar afterwards in the Lobby. I got to assist in one of the card tricks, so that was neat. We went to the Lido for lunch and this is where they were having the chocolate buffet. I wasn’t thrilled with what they had. It was one of the moments where you wanted a piece of chocolate cake, but they didn’t have just that. They had the more gourmet cakes. They did have a chocolate fondue, however!

 

We had our last dinner on the ship and said our goodbyes to Wilbur, Roy and Marija. We participated in the Gender Showdown in the Ivanhoe Theater and of course the girls won! I will let my husband tell you how we won, because he was sitting in the audience while I was making an ass out of myself on stage :p We stayed for the Big Screen Trivia (they played theme songs and you had to guess what movies they were from) and Beat the Game Show Host. We ended the night playing slots in the casino and listening to Robert again on guitar.

 

Sunday 12/11/2011 – Debarkation

We docked in POM around 6:30am. We picked to do the self-assist debarking (we carry off our own luggage) and I tell you that’s the way to go. If you want them to take your luggage, you’re called by zones and could be waiting a long time. We left our room to grab breakfast around 8:00am and we were off the ship by 8:30am waiting to go through customs. I think that we waited about twenty minutes to get through the line.

 

We did witness an unfortunate event while waiting in line. There was a couple in front of us waiting for customs. The woman had a blue bag that she dropped from about a foot off the ground and it started leaking. There were two bottles of alcohol in there. The bottle of tequila broke and started leaking. I tell you it was STRONG because I got a headache within a few minutes from the smell lol. The man was not happy at all. She was trying to apologize and you could tell he was furious. I'll let my husband go into further detail about this incident :eek:

 

We got to the airport and we got put on standby for the earlier flight (10:45am) back to Newark. Regardless if we got on or not, our bags were going on the earlier flight. It turns out that we didn’t get on, so we were taking our normal one at 1:10pm. If I could send my bags on an earlier flight every time, I would absolutely do it. When we get to Newark, we went to the QOH desk and picked up the bags without having to wait at the baggage claim.

 

We can't wait to cruise with Carnival again next year :D We'll need to beat our record of two ships on a stick and eight medals!

 

I was also in that same line with the SPILL!!! I was with my son and his wife and sister in law!!! We were behind the couple that offered their drinking water bottles to help!! I agree the smell was very strong!!! Also we had number one zone for getting on the ship!!! Great cruise!!

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BriLam

BriLam

Posted
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Thanks to all for the comments. Lauren was always eager to write down a quick summary of the day's transgressions to prepare for writing this after the trip and I really enjoyed recounting the trip in my head when putting my part together. It's nice to see people enjoyed reading!

 

What a small world re: being the two groups in line behind us! I told Lauren numerous times that, considering the ship is fairly big with a lot of people, it never, ever felt that way to us. I could have sworn there were 50 people on the ship, max. It's obviously not the case, but we kept seeing the same people over and over and over. And that's a good thing; it was like seeing friends again and again. We'd have a memory of each family when we saw them. "Oh, that's the couple from the marriage show." Or, "oh, we were dancing with them in the disco." Definitely a plus.

 

I was also in that same line with the SPILL!!! I was with my son and his wife and sister in law!!! We were behind the couple that offered their drinking water bottles to help!! I agree the smell was very strong!!! Also we had number one zone for getting on the ship!!! Great cruise!!
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Sandoo

Sandoo

Posted
Posted
Below is what I e-mailed to our family members who wanted to keep in touch with us :)

 

How to use the online forum

  1. Go to www.carnival.com
  2. On the top right of the page, click on ‘Community & Buzz’
  3. In the middle-right of the page, click on ‘Login to FUNVILLE’ and a window will pop up
  4. You will need to create a user name and password
  5. In the middle-right of the page, click on ‘Forums’
  6. Scroll down until you see the section titled ‘User Groups’
  7. Under that section, click on the link for ‘Currently Onboard’
  8. Look for the column titled ‘Thread’ and follow that down until you see your family's post. (We named ours 'Lauren and Brian take the Caribbean' so it was easy to spot. You can also have the family bookmark this page on the internet so it brings up the page immediately without having to go through the above steps).

  9. On the right side of the screen, click the button called ‘Post Reply’. This will bring you to a screen to write what you want. Once finished, click ‘Post Message’ and it will take you back to the posted message.

 

 

We were wondering whether you had to buy time on the computer in order to use the online forum.

Thanks!

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  • 8 months later...
vegadog2

vegadog2

Posted
Posted
Friday 12/9/2011 –Roatan

So to start things off, I had heard so many negative things about Mahogany Bay. We wanted a slow, relaxing day so we booked the ‘Relax on the Beach’ package through Carnival. This included a clam shell, two loungers, two water floats and rides on the chair lift. I have to tell you, we had such a great day.

 

We were supposed to be docked by 7:00am, but it didn’t happen until 7:45am. It was pouring on the way in, so we didn’t know what to expect from the day. We got down to the beach around 8:30am and took the chairlift. It was nice because you got to see a lot of views that you wouldn’t get walking the path in. We rented one set of snorkel gear and were shown to our clam shell. Like I said, pre-booking was the way to go. A few hours later there wasn’t an open lounge in the house. After relaxing and reading for a while, we made our way down the long pier all the way to the left. We were told that the best snorkeling was out there and they were right. Snorkel to the way left of the pier and not in the sectioned off swimming area. I saw so many beautiful fish. One was this gorgeous Angel Fish that was as big as my head. There are a lot of rock formations out there that are worth checking out.

 

We grabbed some food and sodas from the restaurant behind the chairs. They also have waiters walking around for you to order drinks from. I caught a good half hour nap before we made our way back to the ship. The sky wasn’t looking too great, so I knew rain would be coming eventually. As soon as we got into our room there was a downpour. I feel bad for those who got caught in it. We didn’t leave on time due to some stragglers taking their sweet time back to the ship. The last one on was a younger girl who didn’t really make an effort to hurry. The people were clapping and yelling at her from their balconies to get moving. So funny.

 

I completely forgot what we had for dinner this night, but I'm sure we had the cake for dessert! We caught Bingo, because the Fun Times said the winning amount was $1,000. Well, it turned out that you would only win up to $1,000 off your Sign & Sail Card balance. What crap lol. Don't write one thing and get people excited when it isn't what they though it was :p We stayed for the Liar's Club, which stunk. There is a panel of three employees where one of them was given the right answer and the audience had to guess whose answer was right. It wasn't fun, so we left after the first question. We caught the hypnotist show and it was absolutely hilarious. We definitely got a good laugh!

 

I have really ENJOYED Your review. We will be sailing on the legend in 4 weeks .

especially was interested in snorkeling off the pier in Roatan. Can you please thee me how far from the pier the rock formations were ? How deep was the water ? Thanks so much.

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LamenLaur

LamenLaur

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I have really ENJOYED Your review. We will be sailing on the legend in 4 weeks .

 

especially was interested in snorkeling off the pier in Roatan. Can you please thee me how far from the pier the rock formations were ? How deep was the water ? Thanks so much.

 

Thank you very much!

 

I want to say that they started within 15 feet or so from the pier and the water wasn't too deep....maybe 15-20 feet. I would love to go back there to snorkel again!

 

Have a terrific trip!!! :D

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AmberTeka

AmberTeka

Posted
Posted
- I was very glad we decided to stay on the ship instead of venturing out to Belize. It was nice having one more day on the ship and, honestly, there wasn't anything that made me want to make the trip off the ship. And after my Grand Cayman tender experience, I was thrilled not to have to worry about doing it again. I did consider taking advantage of the situation and taking the tender to port and just walking around, but seeing photos and hearing reports of what the area was like changed my mind. It was funny hearing some folks come back, hear we didn't go off the ship, and tell us they should have done the same. Bottom line is we were happy with our decision, and that's really all that matters. When I read some folks here saying you should never skip a port or should never do xyz when in a certain port because that's not experiencing the country properly, I just shake my head.

 

- One of my favorite parts of the ping pong tournament occured after I made it to the semifinal round. I am not a big ping pong player by any means, but I can hold my own. So I get to the semifinals and see the person I am going to play practicing with someone else. I then saw the other two playing to get into the finals and they were both excellent, excellent ping pong players. So I thought to myself, "Okay, I'll win my game since my opponent looks so-so like me and then get my arse handed to me in the final." So we start our semifinal game and do one practice round and I still believe what I thought earlier. We then actually start playing and this guy starts serving hardcore, just like the two in the other seminfinal game were. HE'S A RINGER!!! I then proceeded to get my arse handed to me anyway, but one game earlier than expected. It was still a ton of fun.

 

- I'm big on geography, so I was excited to kick some butt in the trivia game. Then I heard the questions, which I was also assuming was "name this capital" or "name the state between New Jersey and Connecticut" or something along those lines, and didn't even bother trying to participate.

 

- I'm not big on smoking, but it bothers me less because I don't have asthma as Lauren does. I don't think it was labelled as well as it could have been (or we just didn't notice the signs) because we actually ate lunch in a smoking area on the Lido and had no idea why people were smoking around us. Then it was pointed out we were in a smoking section.

 

- I have to say, I was expecting a great experience from the steakhouse and was disappointed. That's not to say I didn't like it at all, I did, I just thought the food would be better. I've had some excellent steaks in my years (which aren't that many) and this steak was far from it. It was quite fatty and the taste just wasn't there, even with the five-spice rub I chose (and I usually get my steaks with some sort of rub on it). I also wasn't impressed by the appetizers. Dessert doesn't count since I don't really eat it as it's too sweet for me, but I did taste what Lauren ordered and it was quite good. Bottom line is, I'm not sure if I'm just used to excellent steaks when I go to a true steakhouse or if we caught this place on a bad night, but I wasn't thrilled. That said, I'd definitely give it another shot.

 

- Not sure if the clubs get busier as it gets later, but we were there close to midnight, I believe, and it was quite empty. Still, we had a nice time busting out our moves like Jagger.

 

Was Trivia too hard or too easy? DH loves to cruise..and play Trivia. He is a Jeopardy Devotee.

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LamenLaur

LamenLaur

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Was Trivia too hard or too easy? DH loves to cruise..and play Trivia. He is a Jeopardy Devotee.

 

Some was really easy and some was really. It depends on your specialty and what not. There's definitely something for everyone! I love Jeopardy too!

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Crusin Hogs

Crusin Hogs

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Best review I have read in awhile . Was on the Valor last year , Tip for your next cruise . We have been onboard as early as 11:30 , you can go by your room ,just to drop off your carry on bags. Even if the "Big" doors in the hallway is closed , They don't want you to hang around in room while they are cleaning , but dropping off bags ,is ok

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LamenLaur

LamenLaur

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Best review I have read in awhile . Was on the Valor last year , Tip for your next cruise . We have been onboard as early as 11:30 , you can go by your room ,just to drop off your carry on bags. Even if the "Big" doors in the hallway is closed , They don't want you to hang around in room while they are cleaning , but dropping off bags ,is ok

 

Thank you very much!

 

Thanks for the tip! We actually purchased the Faster to the Fun program because one of the items was that you get into the rooms sooner. We'll see how that goes in December!

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

Posted
Posted

 

Everything listed on the menu you can get. You can also order multiple times too! The link to their website is:http://www.cozumelnachicocom.net/. The thumbnail pictures below don't let you see things too well, so I can e-mail you the full size pictures if you want to see them! Private Message me your e-mail address and I'll send them your way :)

 

 

Are you still able to email the menus? If so, can you email me the larger size? mitsubishigirl19 at hotmail dot com

 

Thanks :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
msmaj4700

msmaj4700

Posted
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I am planning the first cruise for my husband and I (Carnival Liberty Western Caribbean 3/23/12). We are also celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. I just want to say thank you for your review. It answered a lot of questions, your had pictures, and I got the wife's point of view and the husband's.

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  • 3 years later...
showmomberry

showmomberry

Posted
Posted

I just stumbled on your review and just want to say THANKS.... were cruising in august, first time on carnival and your review has been so helpful!!

 

I loved the grand cayman tour information!! Have printed and put with our cruise documents....

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BriLam

BriLam

Posted
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Thanks very much for the kind comments. Really glad the review was useful to you.

 

It's funny...Lauren and I were just talking last night about a potential trip on the Vista next year after not having cruised since we were on the Liberty in 2012. Then you replied to this trip report...maybe it's a sign! :eek:

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