Carnival Valor--tell All Thread !!!!

[OC Mom]

How good is the shampoo and conditioner provided in the shower dispenser thingy?? I am just trying to decide if I should pack mine or just use what they provide.

[Ineedavacation2]

I would suggest bringing your own conditioner at least. I have super thick, medium length hair and their conditioner didn't cut it for me. Their shampoo is "just ok".

 

I brought my own conditioner and it worked fantastic.

[OC Mom]

I would suggest bringing your own conditioner at least. I have super thick, medium length hair and their conditioner didn't cut it for me. Their shampoo is "just ok".

 

I brought my own conditioner and it worked fantastic.

 

Thanks for the tip! I have long hair (mid back) and bringing my own conditioner is probably a good idea. Thanks. :)

[LVIGGIANI]

Sailing on the Valor Oct.30th We all cant wait. Were going to the Western.

[suncruiserj]

Just got back yesterday and we had a great time!

 

The shampoo in the showers is not so great and there is no conditioner. They do have nice Lever 2000 pump soap in the shower - works great for rinsing out your bathing suit!

 

I posted a review on a new thread not knowing that this one was out there until right after I submitted mine. Wish I had known this was there before going last week! I really would have liked knowing that there was a way out on the front of the ship....

[tpelton]

THIS WAS BY FAR THE WORST CRUISE i HAVE EVER BEEN ON! THIS WAS MY 5TH. lINES WERE WAY TOO LONG, FOOD WAS BAD, WE CALLED IT THE DOUBLE WIDE OF THE SEAS!:mad:

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

THIS WAS BY FAR THE WORST CRUISE i HAVE EVER BEEN ON! THIS WAS MY 5TH. lINES WERE WAY TOO LONG, FOOD WAS BAD, WE CALLED IT THE DOUBLE WIDE OF THE SEAS!:mad:

I've heard that from many people but all cruises have lines........... i don't think there is anything wrong with the food. the food is usually all or close to the same for me. what parts of the food didn't you like? because your just not detailed enough :rolleyes: well, i'm sailing on valor july 10th and i'm sure the food won't be bad and every cruise ship you go on is going to have a line with 3,000 people sailing on it.

[suncruiserj]

I'll agree that the food was not great, nothing really stood out the whole week as being anything special. But I thought the lines were actually not so bad for the size of the ship. And I thought the decor was somewhat easier on the eye than other Carnival ships. What other Carnival have you liked better?

[ToniH]

My first cruise in 2001 was on the Imagination and hubby and I loved it so much that we were sorry we hadn't booked a 7 day.

Our 2nd was last year on the Destiny (an even bigger ship) and we loved her as well, along with the ports of call. And I can't say enough about those L-shaped cabins in the aft.

Now we are booked in another aft L-shaped cabin on the Valor for April 2006, an even bigger ship. We wanted new and so I am looking forward to sailing on her, even if she holds 3000 people. We never noticed the amount of people on the first two ships, probably because the ships got bigger each time.

We can't wait for our turn on the Valor!!!

Toni

[jcswz]

That's sad that someone had that terrible of a cruise!

 

We were on the Valor May 8 thru 15 and had a really good time. The food was good, nothing spectacular (we did not eat at Scarlets) but it was very good, and if someone could not find something they liked out of all the different choices between the restaurants, buffets, deli, grill, pizza, fish n chips or even room service, you're too picky. There was always something to do day or night, the activities were endless or you could do nothing - it was your choice. Employees were friendly - not overly friendly but pleasant and did their jobs - nothing overboard like I've read on these boards but our room was always cleaned and tidy, our dining room wait staff was pleasant and our food was hot. The man at the deli was a little scarey, slow and did not talk but the sandwiches were good. Pursers desk was always helpful and pleasant. We were in lines but again that was not that bad. It took about 1.5 hour to board, 1 hour for customs in St. Thomas and another 1.5 hour to disembark which I don't feel is that bad considering there's 3000+ people getting on and off at the same time. Our group did not go without incidents with pool chair hogs, Ivanhoe Theater chair hogs, infirmary visits and a dining room incident the last night but during the cruise we were NEVER crowded, you would NEVER know there was 3000+ people on the same ship as you. This was our first cruise and we all (20+) had a GREAT time. We're looking into booking another cruise and I would not hesitate to do it with Carnival! I'm not a Carnival advocate but I had a GREAT time of their ship!

[losuds63]

We will be sailing on the Valor ( Eastern) on 9/25/05. Any info would be helpful to us also.

 

Thanks in advance

lynyrd

Were going on the valor on 7/31/05 eastern and iam formerly from setauket ill be leaving a review when i get back....

[MamaParrotHead]

we just returned last weekend from Valor 5/22 sailing (Eastern) and I posted a review. I don't know about tricks or tips, but I can say that our cabin was nearly soundproof (even under the galley, on main deck, cabin 2412!), service was excellent, seas were tame (I think the largest swells I heard were 4', and you could really only notice it while lounging in the cabin or sitting at the bar), food was good, ship was clean, ports (except Nassau, ick) were nice. any questions, I'd be happy to answer. :)

[bigdaddynine]

Myself And Some Friends Will Be On The Sept. 4th Sailing. Thanks For All The Info Hope To See Alot More

[richfret]

So here's my 2 cents. Salied the May 8th cruise on the Valor and my wife and I enjoyed it very much. Have few criticisms and they were certainly offset by the good times. As a back ground, we consider ourselves veteran cruisers and have already booked our 8th Carnival cruise on the Liberty for March 8, 2006.

 

Doing reviews of a ship is difficult because so many things can happen that affect only your cruise. The weather can be a major factor so that one reviews says the ship vibrates while another does not. The biggest waves on our cruise were about 5 feet and that is nothing. There is SMALL section of the ship where there was considerably vibration and it had to do with the engines.

 

Judging food on a ship is like asking a person how they feel. If they are sick you are going to get lots of pain. If not, life is great. Valor food is good, at least for us. Sure you might get a cold plate or the waiter is surly during a week of cruising. Life continues and so does the food (all you want). You have so many choices that if some thing is bad just change your selection.

 

Getting on and off the ship is a drag. If any one tells you, they got on in a half hour, that is an exception. Count on one and a half hours and hope for less. The pier is terrible but new ones are being built.

 

The cabins are great. Their is more than enough room for 2 but very crowded if you have 5. We have done both. We had a king size bed (not 2 twins) and 3 large closets plus many shelves. You will enjoy.

 

Wow, I just looked at the clock and I have to go to work. I have about 10 cents more to go but got to leave. If you want to hear more, just let me know.

[Mrsdeedee]

I haven't had a chance to read all the threads but I just wanted to get my name on the board. We are booked for the Nov 20th cuise on Valor and I will be sailing with my DH and two children. We have decided to go the day before and stay at the Holiday Inn thanks to these boards. I have convinced my bogee brother(however you spell it ) to tag along. I first cuised on Victory in 2003 and I loved it. Yes we did have some minor problems but I believe a cruise is what u make it and we made it the best so we were able to have a good time anyway. I'm so excited it seems as though Nov is taking so long but then again I need time because we didn't take our kids on the last one. I too wanted a newer ship even though Victory is not that old. Anyone cruising with me?

[ToniH]

Can we get some more reviews from recent cruisers? I need a Valor fix!!

Toni

[augie]

I'd be interested to hear what time the tenders starting running at the Grand Cayman stop.

 

My wife and I will be scuba diving there, and knowing realistically what time we can expect to be on the island will help greatly with planning that!

 

Oh yeah - we're on the January 22, 2006 sailing.

 

Thanks!

[MELOWISA]

OK, here goes.. this was my first cruise in over 15 years, so here is what I thought... got back from the 6/5 Eastern cruise. All in all it was a great time. Getting on was about 2 hours+. Longer than I expected. Out of one line and wind around the corner to get in another. Seemed to never end. Once we got on everything went smoothly. Staff was extremely friendly, and the ship was very clean.

Had an upper forward balcony. Pretty quiet, however, it is directly over the Ivanhoe Theatre. You can hear the shows going on below full blast, but the good news is they are over by 11:15 and all is quiet. Room was plenty big for 4 of us. With two twin beds pushed together for us and two bunk beds for the kids. Tons of storage and room for suitcases. Ice bucket was always filled and the kids enjoyed the "towel animals".

Would highly recommend making reservations for Scarlett's supper club. It is $30pp and is well worth it. Make your reservations as soon as you can, as they get booked quickly. The buffet food was o.k. I'm not a big eater, but my dh wasn't too impressed. Not bad, but nothing to rave about. Burgers, fish & chips and pizza always a good stand by if you didn't like the buffet. If you waited a while after they started serving (45 minutes) you really didn't have a long line at all. Staff in the Washington Dining Room were all great. Food was good and they were always entertaining us.

No problem with deck chairs unless you have little ones and you want to be right next to the pool. Those went first. The slide was open every day as scheduled and the kids had a blast on it.

Getting off in St. Thomas took a while. We went to Coki Beach for snorkling and it was absouletly wonderful. Went to Orient Beach in St. Maarten. That was beautiful as well. A little more wave action and water sports available. Food and drink and some shopping. A total nude section but you can avoid that if you want. Not a fan of Nassau, just took a walk down to the straw market, but you get bothered so much, we just headed back to the ship.

Shows were good. I understand the comedian was also good even though I missed it. The 80's show on Friday night was a lot of fun.

Someone had a heart attack after we left St. Maarten, so we had to make another stop in St. Thomas about 2:00 a.m. to drop them off. It went smoothly and most didn't even know it happened.

Getting around the ship is a little tricky at first, but after a day or two you should know it like the back of your hand.

I may be one of the few, but getting off the ship was a breeze! I'm sure we were just in the right spot at the right time when they called the 9:30 group. We waltzed right off the ship. Picked out our lugguge, went though customs and out to the cab all in about 45-60 minutes. Like I said, I think we were lucky. We headed down to the lobby deck (3) about 9:00 and got in line. Waited for a while, then started moving about 9:30. Got to the cab about 10:30 or before.

Last but not least; weather was perfect. Forecast called for 60%+ chance of rain every day, every port and we never saw a drop:D

Any questions I can answer, just ask.

[Esmerelda]

I posted a review on my 05/29 honeymoon sailing of the Valor. I forgot to put the word review in the title but I had asked the host to do that later on. I don't think it was ever done. You can search and find it.

 

good day,

Esmerelda

[ToniH]

Can someone tell me how soon I can book my excursions online? I am not cruising until next April but i wasn't sure if there is a specified time period for booking. For example: you can only book 3 weeks prior to sailing.

Thanks

Toni

[lynyrd]

Can someone tell me how soon I can book my excursions online? I am not cruising until next April but i wasn't sure if there is a specified time period for booking. For example: you can only book 3 weeks prior to sailing.

Thanks

Toni

 

 

180 days out is when I was able to book mine.

[lindabelll]

Hi Bonnie,

We're traveling on the Valor on August 28 also. We will have a rockin time.

 

Lindabelll

[snista]

I have posted my review already as have many others from last week's sailing. If you seach a little you should find them on the first few pages.

 

In a nutshell...we LOVED IT!!!!

[bethysms]

At one point, someone posted a link to a word document that had the ship plans. Are those the same plans shown on Carnival's website or something better. Any pictures of the Valor's menu, capers, or etc. would be helpful. I'm excited about my cruise (june 11, 2006) as it will be our honeymoon and my first cruise. Thanks!

 

Beth

 

P.S. That original link doesn't work anymore, that's why i'm asking again.

[drk]

We just booked the Valor eastern for 12/18-12/25. Got a very good rate given the holiday timeframe. We are relatively experienced cruisers...this will be our 10th in 3 years (3rd for our daughter); 5th with Carnival. I can say 3 things about every cruise we have taken. They are all the same...they are all different...and they are all very, very good!