Carnival Valor--tell All Thread !!!!

[oceanlvr1016]

I'm getting sooooooo excited reading all of these vacation memories. I'm sailing on the Valor, May 21, 2006, along with Buttonlvr (my sister) and Birthdaygirl (my daughter). Us girls are really looking forward to hitting the ocean! Buttonlvr and I sailed on the Imagination last May and had such a fantastic time we had to book another cruise just survive the first one ending.

[sunrise&set]

Glad you bumped this up oceanlvr - I almost forgot about this thread!

 

A few questions - I am searching for the answers but maybe this will be quicker:

 

What time is the muster drill on the Western itinerary?

 

Formal nights - are they Monday and Thursday or Monday and Friday?

 

Is Roatan a tender port??

 

Thanks so much - less than 4 weeks away!:D

[beasfriend]

Formal nights were Monday and Friday...the Muster Drill was @ 3:30...Roatan is at a dock (There is nothing at the dock - if you're not doing a tour either through Carnival or independently don't bother getting off the ship).

[geauxgirl]

I'm ready to go, this will be my 9th cruise, its still as exciting as my 1st!!

[pardoni]

Toni (original poster),

Are you still out there or did you drown in all that rain (35 days straight)? We are on the Valor March 19, 06. Flying out of SeaTac day before giving us a day to warm up our blood prior to leaving

[ToniH]

Hey Pardoni,

Yes I'm back....

No I have not drown in all the Pacific Northwest rain but I am glad that it has let up some. 30+ days of rain---geez. I feel bad for all the people whose houses are flooded and trying to dig themselves out of all that mud.

 

I have been gone a few months due to trying to get through the holidays and also hoping my April cruise would come faster if I took some time off the boards.

I still can't wait and I have 3 months to go til I sail---April 23rd..

I will now be on the boards daily getting my Valor fix..

Here's hoping everyone had a great cruise if you have already sailed her and hope you shared your cruise experience with us.

If you have one coming up, I hope you have a great time and as always, don't forget to write your reviews on this thread.

Go Seahawks!!!!!

Toni

[excalwop]

will be on the Valor cruise Nov. 26th. 2006 Western Carib.

Have cabin #6458 arf. Does anyone have any info on this cabin

How is the movement, this is our 1st cabin in the rear of a ship all others have been forward part of the ships, DW loves the movement.

Asked the rep for info on the cabin and the only thing we received was the Sq. footage Cabin 185 sq. ft. balcony 60 sq. ft. Is the balcony totaly cover, partly, or open? reason why I'm asking our last cruise we had a partal cover bal. and the lady above us would come out wearing only a open shirt and would talk with us that way knowing the view she was giving eveyone below her. The gent below us lost his glasses over the side. luckly he had a spare:rolleyes: and he complain about having a sore neck. Do'ntknow why.

 

thanks ToniH for starting this thread up. It's going to be a regular for me

 

Paul

 

Carnival Valor NOV.2006 Western Carib.

Golden Princess DEC. 2005 Southern Carib.

NCL SKY DEC.2003 Eastern Carib

NCL SKY MAY 2003 Alaska

[oceanlvr1016]

I'm on the same cruise (Valor 5/21/06) with you Geauxgirl! I was so glad when I found this thread. It's full of positive comments about the valor. Some on the review page were DEPRESSING!

[sunrise&set]

will be on the Valor cruise Nov. 26th. 2006 Western Carib.

Have cabin #6458 arf. Does anyone have any info on this cabin

How is the movement, this is our 1st cabin in the rear of a ship all others have been forward part of the ships, DW loves the movement.

Asked the rep for info on the cabin and the only thing we received was the Sq. footage Cabin 185 sq. ft. balcony 60 sq. ft. Is the balcony totaly cover, partly, or open? reason why I'm asking our last cruise we had a partal cover bal. and the lady above us would come out wearing only a open shirt and would talk with us that way knowing the view she was giving eveyone below her. The gent below us lost his glasses over the side. luckly he had a spare:rolleyes: and he complain about having a sore neck. Do'ntknow why.

 

thanks ToniH for starting this thread up. It's going to be a regular for me

 

Paul

 

Carnival Valor NOV.2006 Western Carib.

Golden Princess DEC. 2005 Southern Carib.

NCL SKY DEC.2003 Eastern Carib

NCL SKY MAY 2003 Alaska

I think my parents are in that same cabin in 3 weeks. I'll report back how it is. :)

[excalwop]

I think my parents are in that same cabin in 3 weeks. I'll report back how it is. :)

 

Sunrise&set,

 

Will be watching for your report in three weeks. Even if it is another cabin there should be some great info. Have a great trip.

Paul

[pardoni]

to all those that would like to see the Valor (and Liberty) tomorrow (besides the onboard web cams), go to http://www.kroooz-cams.com click on port cams, United States, Miami, then the Wachovia camera. It has a great view of the port and ships in dock. I think both leave at 4pm eastern.

[mojo2rusty]

I was on the Valor in December and had a blast. We hit the Lindy Hop Piano bar almost nightly. Ron was great and really kept the crowd into things. I have been on the Triumph and the Conquest prior to the Valor. The Disco was ok at times but they tend to play way to much of that stuff that is just noise. One of the guys in our group even pointed out to the DJ that when they played the 70's 80's type stuff that the place was packed and the dance floor was bustling but they would only play a hand full of songs like that then back to the pounding stuff and the place would empty. WE were in the Lincoln dining room for the late setting. Omar the materdee was by far the best I have seen on the 3 cruises we have been on.

THe food was good. The Strawberry Bisque which we were all looking forward to, was not up to the standard we have had in the past but the rest of the food was great. We did eat in Scarletts DInner club and it was well worth the extra $30. Try to chocolet desert. I'm still amazed that it was a serving for one.

We went to Saphire Beach in St Thomas and it was beautiful. I took some awsome pictures while there. We ended the day at Paradise Point to watch the sunset high above the ships pier.

In Nassau we went to the Colonial Hilton and used their beach then has lunch at Senior Frogs. It was a short shore day but enjoyable.

In St Marteen we had booked the Lord SHeffield Tall Ship. Unfortunately she had engine problems the night before and had to be put in Dry dock the day we were there. They had no way to notify us until we showed up. It was a big dissapointment since we had book it 6 months in advance. We ended up at the beach. The was the only day we had rain. And while on the beach it blew and rained quite hard. We laughed it off and decided it would have been very rough out on that tall ship with the wind and rain.

We had an interior cabin near the rear of the ship on deck 1. I probably would not book a cabin on the lower deck again. When the ship would dock it was VERY noisy.

You should really enjoy the Valor.

[salty dingo]

How was this on the Valor... anything special?

[Amandez]

I have been on 3 Cruises this past year. THE VALOR IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!

dont let anyone try to give you false hopes........dont listen to the negative reviews. My family & I sailed Eastern on 1/15/2006 thru 1/22/2006. The food, Entertainment & Ports were all worth every penny we spent. The ship is sooooo beautiful. Make sure to stay up for the 2 Midnight buffets Thursday & Friday Night. The only minor thing that happened was when we sailed out of Miami the first night was rough.....we took ginger pills and that helped. After that first night, the rest of the time was smooth sailing. Make sure to go see the midnight comedian Mike Macy. Also make sure to go see the evening shows they are all fabulous. If you have any questions I will try to answer them..

[khofgren]

Going on the Valor on February 26. Doing St. Maartin, St. Thomas, and Nassau. Really looking forward to going but feeling a little reluctant due to many reviews that are bad for this ship. Hope we will have a good time. I believe it is what you make of it (hope so anyway). Anyone else have any suggestions, reviews that would be helpful?

[snowy owl]

Hey we are going to be on her tomorrow. We are here at the Holiday Inn downtown Miami and I think we have the best room in the place. We have a suite that over looks the mall and the pier area. We saw four ships there when we got here. We had dinner at Chilli's at Bayside mall. It is right across the street. We will let you know how the trip goes when we get back.

[Cruisoholic]

My husband and I just returned from a back to back cruise on The Valor.We did The Western & Eastern Carribean.Let me know if you have any questions.

[Cruisoholic]

Hi

 

This was our first Carnival Cruise.We have sailed on other cruiselines.We are in our 50's.

 

Embarkation was slow.We arrived at the ship at 11:30 and did not board the ship until 2:00PM.

 

There were alot of people seasick the first two days.I would suggest bringing medication.

 

If you like to read sea days , bring your own books.The library is only open for one hour morning and afternoon each day. The selection is limited.Unfortuantely the schedule conflicts with alot of the other activities.

 

Check your dining reservations asap on the ship.There was alot of chaos for two nights each week.Groups traveling together were given different times and dining rooms .Some couples were not given what they requested even though the travel agent and cruiseline had their preference.

 

For some reason the ship had only one gangway open.There was always a long line getting on and off the ship.If you have an early tour leave plenty of time.

 

If you like to gamble watch for people passing out small coupon books outside the pier gate in St Martin..Inside is a coupon for $5 dollars of slots for the casino.I gambled at one of the four casinos on Front St.

 

We were 2 hrs late arriving in St Thomas due to heavy winds.There was a possibility that we would have to skip this port.If you are arranging tours make sure the money is refundable.

 

The 80's show is fantastic.It is definately worth going to.

 

Express Self Check Out was wonderful.We were called at 7:00 AM and were on the bus for The Fort Lauderdale Airport at 7:15.We had to wait for the bus to fill .We arrived at the airport at 8:15.We were able to change our 3:00 flight to 11:00 .

 

Hope this helps

Sue

[Onebusyman]

We are doing a back to back cruise in March, any special tips or tricks? We did a B2B on the Triumph 2 years ago and loved it. Did they have a letter and help in getting checked in and back on the ship? We were escorted to a VIP area and I did an embarrasing, I'm going to the head of the line dance in front of a couple hundred people in the terminial. We were 3rd and 4th persons allowed back on the ship. We had the ship to ourselfs for about an hour and half.

[oceanlvr1016]

Amandez, so glad to hear you had a great time on the Valor just a few days ago. There's been some pretty bad reviews about the cruise director. Has she improved?

[Cruisoholic]

For those traveling back to back cruises a letter will be sent to your cabin the night before Miami explaining everything.However.....you have to wait until 10:30 to get off the ship.We wanted to get off the ship earlier so we did it on our own..Big Mistake!!...It took over an hour and half to get back on the ship.We were allowed to use the Skippers Club to expedite things but there were 25 people in front of us with one very slow moving agent.At one point I left the room to find someone in charge.He then found another agent to help the crowd.

 

Rebecca is the cruise director.She is nicknamed The Voice and you will soon understand why.

 

Everyone will enjoy the food and the entertainment alot.I just had a problem with all the lines getting on and off the ship, and expecially lines at the buffet. I was told the ship was short handed some crew.Things will probably be better in time for your sailing.I missed the good selection of movies in the cabin.They did show Mr. & Mrs. Smith every day.They also showed reruns of Bewitched.There was also ABC and CNN.

 

We have sailed on over 40 cruises including four cruises since Sept.We always try to accentuate the positive.We have never been on a bad cruise.It truly is a great value for the money and a chance to escape the cold.This was our first Carnival so I have alot of experiences to compare it with.

 

We leave Thursday for a 10 night cruise out of NY on the Norwegian Dawn.I love that ship!..Then we sail on the Celebrity Constellation in March.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!!

 

 

Sue

[Darkkskyzz]

Sailing the Valor 4/16/06...would love to hear more reviews between now and then!

:)

[pagits]

We sailed on the Valor 10/05.

It was a great ship, and the service staff was exceptional. The wait staff in the dining room surpassed any other ship I have sailed on.

The shows were outstanding quality, the food was great.

I can't even dream up anything negative

As previously posted, you make the vacation, the ship just gives you the means to do it.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

We leave on the Victory on March 5. I can't wait

[mfan]

I saw a news article that Valor offers excellent wireless internet access from bow to stern. Anyone tried it? How much do they charge for using it?

 

TIA

[rjsr2000]

47 of us did the Valor in Oct..and all of us had a great time on her..had some much fun..i'm going back on here in March..dont worry about what some people say about this ship...you will have the time of your life...46 days and counting...