Carnival Valor Review: 4/28 sailing from Puerto Rico

[Rockee4055]

Jenn - I'm having a heck of a time posting pics inside of a thread, How did you do that? It appears that they only allow a certain size file.

 

Looking forward to reading your review.

[Ron_L]

Yes I do! However, most are on my other computer. I will post them in a little while. The Conrad was really nice. We stayed at the Hilton Caribe at the end of the trip and we preferred the Conrad. Be prepared though to pay a lot for taxis to OSJ or pay a ton for food on property.

 

Thanks! There's no rush. We have until December :D

 

I'm always prepared to pay a lot for food at any major hotel :rolleyes:

 

How about the area around the hotel? I've heard that there are a lot of restaurants and bars. Did you try any?

 

Also, thanks for the note on the Caribe Hilton. That's our other choice. I have a bunch of Hilton points so we're going to stay at a Hilton property.

[JennN]

DAY 3 - Barbados

 

I hope I haven't bored you all by now. I write like I talk - fast and furious so I am sorry if I have typos or am ever not clear. I blame it on being a New Yawker at heart.

 

 

Anyway, I write this part with bias as Barbados was my favorite excursion. It was an hour longer than we bargained for and it is where I got my massive sunburn on my face, but it is still my favorite excursion of the trip (and in the top 3 of all my cruises). It took a long time to convince my wife to do a catamaran tour. She thinks of them like party boats and isn't a big drinker and neither is my MIL but both agreed to do this tour. It was the priciest of them all but well worth the value! We chose the Five Star Catamaran & Turtle Encounter.

 

We have been on a number of snorkeling trips but this ranks among the top 3 in terms of food (fantastic), staff (fabulous) and time spent (5+ hours in total).

 

After a quick 5 minute bus ride from port to Tiami, we were there! Which was lucky since we got the jump seats (those extra ones in between the isle). We were worried at first because a) it looked like they were packing on too many people and b) the first stop we were going to snorkel at was a tad closer to the oil tankers than we would have liked but the snorkeling was great! The fish came right on up to you and the water was clear!

 

 

 

The turtle encounter part was ruined by another boat that kept knocking into ours and kept getting in our way. So this was the best shot we got of a turtle (lucky, we had seen them before but this boat was really annoying).

 

 

And the second part of the trip - we got to jump off the boat and into the clear waters and swim to the beach (which was packed due to it being a National Holiday). The sand was soft, the staff were friendly and while I expected very little in terms of food but it was delicious! Chicken, Fish, Rice, Mac and Cheese, Salad, and drinks were flowing!

 

 

We got back on board the boat after the beach and got to sail on it while getting our first look at flying fish. It took a long time to sail back but we enjoyed it!

 

 

It was about 6 hours+ in total, we got fed, drinks flowed freely, we got to swim in warm waters and white sandy beaches - not bad for a day's work and $100 pp!

 

If anyone is looking for an excursion, Tiami is it! We had a few minutes to shop at their shop then back on board for the 5 minute ride back. It didn't leave us much time to shop in port (maybe 45 minutes and we rushed through) but we were okay with it.

 

Again, it was my favorite excursion of the trip!

[JennN]

Jenn - I'm having a heck of a time posting pics inside of a thread, How did you do that? It appears that they only allow a certain size file.

 

Looking forward to reading your review.

 

I link to the image from either facebook (refresh the image in FB, right click and grab the link) or I use tinypic.com to upload and get a link. That way I don't have to worry about size.

[JennN]

Thanks! There's no rush. We have until December :D

 

I'm always prepared to pay a lot for food at any major hotel :rolleyes:

 

How about the area around the hotel? I've heard that there are a lot of restaurants and bars. Did you try any?

 

Also, thanks for the note on the Caribe Hilton. That's our other choice. I have a bunch of Hilton points so we're going to stay at a Hilton property.

 

I know what you mean - I am used to it for work travel but not out of my own pocket! LOL I didn't go anywhere walking distance to the hotel but on the last night to the liquor store. We didn't find anything we'd want to try and looking up the places on google didn't yield great results. Hence why we went into OSJ a lot. I found the Caribe, since we checked in on a Sunday, to be a lot busier, dirtier and louder than the Conrad. The Conrad also had a Casino. While the Caribe had more dinner options (although super pricey and not terribly good), we preferred the property at the Conrad. My wife went to the Apple store to upgrade the Mac and the pics are on there (easier to lug it on vacation with us than my heavier PC laptop).

 

I can post more on both hotels tonight.

[Ron_L]

I know what you mean - I am used to it for work travel but not out of my own pocket! LOL I didn't go anywhere walking distance to the hotel but on the last night to the liquor store. We didn't find anything we'd want to try and looking up the places on google didn't yield great results. Hence why we went into OSJ a lot. I found the Caribe, since we checked in on a Sunday, to be a lot busier, dirtier and louder than the Conrad. The Conrad also had a Casino. While the Caribe had more dinner options (although super pricey and not terribly good), we preferred the property at the Conrad. My wife went to the Apple store to upgrade the Mac and the pics are on there (easier to lug it on vacation with us than my heavier PC laptop).

 

I can post more on both hotels tonight.

 

[titanic27]

Thank you for your review, can not wait for our January cruise:D

[ucfalli]

Enjoying your review! Really want to do this trip in the future :D

[JennN]

Day 3 CONT'D

So - there was a huge difference between this cruise and the Breeze we took in December. basically, when we got on board, there weren't many cruise staff "policing" the whole "check your liquor in here" thing so we got to sneak by with quite a bit. We did check the big bottles we bought in St. Thomas (6) and another port but the smaller ones (airplane size and pints) we just brought back to the room. I am not usually a rule breaker but the first time returning in Barbados, we forgot about them and from there on in, it was a free for all (others were bringing in HUGE bottles too). No one stopped them.

 

By the time we got back on board, we headed to our room and found this from John Heald

He sent one to our MIL as well. So sweet and made us feel very special. Now we have a SoaS from all ships but The Dream...maybe in December!??!

 

We ate dinner that night in Lincoln and had our favorite wait staff (Florence rocked!). We walked the decks after dinner and were in our room using aloe and SPF to relieve our sunburns and were (mostly) asleep by 10p. I got sucked into my book and was asleep by 1a - and up at 5a when we prepared to dock.

DAY 4 - St. Lucia

I just thought this was a neat picture - while it got dark before 7p, it was all sun by 6a. And it was super hot out by the time 9a arrived and we had to head to our next excursion: Kayaking Pigeon Island.

 

Now, for me anyway, my idea of a vacation is snorkeling, drinking a tropical drink by the water and floating in the sea. But, I bent my rule to accommodate my MIL and DW and decided to reach outside of my comfort zone and Kayak. We jumped in a bus and off to the rendezvous point.

 

I will stop here to say that all of the excursions were much better managed than on any other trip. We never ran later than 5 minutes, everything was organized and overall, it just felt better managed.

 

Anyway, our guide talked to us about the island of St. Lucia on the drive over to our kayaks. She was pleasant and informative.

 

 

We got to our kayaks (my MIL, being the single person got a single kayak) and I will say that the instructor is right - being in a double (we had no choice) really does test the boundaries of a relationship.

 

We were given a brief orientation once we arrived and then told to put on a life vest and get into the water. This part of the beach was GREAT for collecting sea glass!!! The vest we had to wear was VERY hard to paddle with and kept rising on me, scratching my chin and making the back of the kayak uncomfortable. I'd recommend the smaller snorkel vests as it would have made this part of the tour more fun.

 

Yeah, this "ick" face is the face I had on thinking the paddle was a lot longer than it was. But see what I mean about the vest?

 

For some reason, we were under the impression that the kayaking would be longer. I am unsure of why but the guides, who were nice enough, made us go left from the beach, turn around and then start (we weren't turning at all during the kayak trip so I am unsure why we spent time time and energy doing this). It was a straight 15 or 20 minute paddle to the beach itself. After only one disagreement, DW and I were in sync and although our arms were burning, we did a great job!

 

Once at Pigeon Island (which isn't really an island but a peninsula), the guides gave us the option to hike (there was NO way as it was 90 degrees by 10a) up a mountain, swim or snorkel. As avid snorkelers, I will say that the snorkeling was not stellar or anything to write home about. I opted to hang out in the water and talk with other people for the hour. We were offered local bananas, water, punch and "digestive chocolates" as a snack once getting to the beach. The guides also sold alcohol, banana ketchup, hot sauce and t-shirts.

 

 

 

The beach was nothing to write home about - it was small and pretty rocky. There was a boat selling drinks and fruit that came to shore but sooner than we knew it, it was time to go. The trek back was nice with the guide asking us to share information about us.

 

 

Overall, it was a fine excursion but we expected more from the kayaking and the beach. However, it was a good time. The kayaking could have been longer but the beach was relaxing.

[JennN]

DAY 4, CONT'D

 

Once back at port, we went back on board to eat lunch and then shopped for a little while before returning on the Valor. The shopping wasn't anything hugely exciting though we found more TShirts in this port than in any other.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed St. Lucia, but it wasn't the lush tropical local (at least by way of excursions) that we hoped for. We liked seeing the Pitons and even saw dolphins as we sailed away from the island.

 

Wednesday night also meant Chef's Table for us. I've seen so much about it on CC and from people on board and heard nothing but good that we decided to do it for my MIL's 60th. Chef, knowing her culinary restrictions, even called her to ask what she could and couldn't eat.

 

We got to the lobby by 6:15 and by 6:30, Chef came to greet us. I was under the impression that you couldn't bring cameras but just not in the galley. If you aren't on a Dream class ship then you don't eat in the galley and I could have taken pictures of the yummy yummy food we got. So note to those out there contemplating Chef's Table on the Valor - BRING A CAMERA!

 

Anyway, off we went through the Washington Dining Room into the galley for a tour, some champagne and our first appetizers. Then, back through the Dining room to a private room (Betsy Ross) for the rest of the meal. My glass was NEVER empty (I must have had two bottles of wine myself) and my stomach was always full. We were presented with these menus at the beginning of the meal and I scanned it for you:

 

We had our picture snapped then onto the main courses. I don't eat raw fish but ate the Tuna - it was yummy. I didn't care for the Hen itself but the taste was great. And dessert was not up my alley. I think the Date and the Wyagu beef were my favorites though everything looked wonderful and was delicious.

 

At the end of the meal, we were given our photos:

 

It was a nice souvenir of a yummy yummy occasion. We went back to the room (or rolled back really) to change for a swim and got our invites to the VIFP party, which we were sad to learn would be during our excursion. See, after Barbados and knowing it would be hot tamales at 10a, we switched our St. Kitts excursion from a hike (gag me) to more snorkeling. But we had to do the later trek out which means not getting back on board until 5:30p - the party was at 5-5:45.

 

 

It was raining that night at sea so they put the overhead cover on the adults only pool - which was neat. No one ever swam it seemed, after 6p, but my MIL and I. People did visit the hot tub but not the pool. So it was nice to have it to ourselves!

 

[JennN]

DAY 6 - St. Kitts

We were VERY glad to have switched to a water adventure because it was about 108 at 10am in St. Kitts. We ate a leisurely breakfast in the Washington Dining Room (forget having slept in!) and then were off the ship and in port by 9:15a. This port had lots of shopping but also LOTS of people haggling you to take pictures with monkeys, for short excursions etc. They were pretty aggressive too!

 

 

 

The shopping was plentiful but many of the stores weren't open so we headed to duty free and sampled some rum at 9a, hahahaha.

 

 

The stores slowly opened up and we hit a few but the aggressiveness of the people got to us and we were back on the ship by 11a. We changed and waited to eat lunch on board before going back out for our late excursion - Sail and Snorkel Adventure.

 

If you are looking for a fun snorkeling trip, I'd look elsewhere. While the staff was friendly and the drinks plenty, the actual snorkeling site wasn't that great.

 

 

The stop is at ****tens Bay (they should totally sell shirts but disappointingly don't) which was more of a rocky coastline with no where to rest but on board the boat. The "sunken" ship wasn't sunken nor could you get near it. We jumped off the boat into the water - the rocks looked a lot closer than they actually were - after just being warned of fire coral, we questioned it. We swam out to the ship and were bothered by a ton of floating sea grass. They almost formed giant lily pads. Once out to the ship, you couldn't get close enough to see anything as the waves would have sucked you into it. It was really disappointing by way of the snorkel.

 

Though we made the best of it!

 

 

It was hard to maneuver getting back on the boat - it didn't have the usual two staircases on the back of the vessel but a deep stairwell to try to get up on. And while we met some nice people and the drinks were flowing, one of the passengers got drunk and got sick. She was just a mess (to the point she grabbed DW's towel thinking it was her own though she was nowhere near her own stuff, and started wiping all her girly bits with it...her bikini top was lowered way down and she just started passing out in different positions - standing, sitting, laying down - HOT MESS).

 

 

Again, the crew was super friendly but the excursion itself was disappointing. It was still a TON better than a hike would have been but not worth the money.

 

We got back to port, made a few beelines for t-shirts at some of the stores that weren't open earlier and made our way back on the ship in time to not be one of those people who get mocked for running to the ship before leaving the pier.

 

This was also that *rumblegrumble* extra elegant night that we were NOT looking forward to. But we went anyway since we knew the meal would be good, and it was! But we still were bitter about re-wearing an outfit and having to get dolled up!

 

We did stop to visit the shops on board and we bought our one and only Carnival picture too:

 

 

(PS - we were also able to sneak more rum onboard at 11a - no one was manning the booth! Please note, we didn't abuse the privilege either - I think we had one drink of all the bottles we had and still purchased a few on board!)

Edited May 11, 2013 by JennN

[JennN]

Before I get to the last port, a few things about the Valor to note:

 

1) What a great idea to get rid of the nasty pasta bar and replace it with Fish and Chips! It was good eating! Especially after a day in the water.

 

2) I finally waited on the 20 minute line for the Mongolian BBQ. It was not worth the hype. The beef they had just sitting out was gross to look at and even worse to eat. I loved the veggie selection and the sauces and would do it again (with mushrooms) because the proteins they had out just grossed me out and were hard to chew.

 

3) We also finally did the Bronx Bar - and I wore my Yankees tee too! Because the bar was there though, it decreased the size of the shops. I did prefer the shops on the Dream Class ships better.

 

4) It's super outdated that they still print all the pictures - When we were on the Dream they had face recognition software - where did that go? It was fantastic!!! It's such a waste of trees to print out all the copies.

 

5) I hate the shots being offered in the MDR. Hated it. I would have done one on Lido but not on elegant night of all things! It turned me off and I thought it was inappropriate.

 

6) they had a magician on board. He was nice and good but I really hate when photographers and the magician interrupt my meal. Who takes a picture with a mouthful of food? Super annoying (even though last cruise it turned out my favorite picture was taken during dinner).

 

Ok, back to the photos!

[JennN]

Thank you for your review, can not wait for our January cruise:D

 

you will love it!!!!!!!! have a blast

[JennN]

Enjoying your review! Really want to do this trip in the future :D

 

It's really worth it! You can find some good deals now in fact!

[Kfoot]

Totally luv St Kitts. Went there on a land vacation about 5yrs ago. The port was still under construction (about half of it). There's a ferry that goes to Nevis. Not sure if there's any snorkeling sites over there. Not a lover of the water like you.

[thegoodlife247]

Thank you for the great review. My partner and I would love to cruise to the southern Caribbean but airfare is steep and the valor needs some updating as you stated. Wish there were a more updated ship. We were on the dream for spring break. My 5th cruise and partners 1st. I think I got her hooked now :).

[battchief1]

Thanks for the review

[JennN]

DAY 7 - St. Maarten/St. Martin

 

DW and I have a history with this port. Long story short, the last time we were here on the Valor, we almost got arrested for failure of payment for a few things and it put a sour taste in our mouths. Never again will we not book through Carnival. But, we were willing to give it the 'ol college try and start anew.

 

So, we booked the Power Rafting Adventure - Snorkel, Shop & Beach. We thought, in case MIL didn't care for snorkeling, there would be enough to do to keep us all happy!

 

On our short walk to the boat - I overheard a Carnival staff employee say something pretty discriminatory against Puerto Ricans so I was in rare form to start. I kick myself for not saying something to him about it. I digress again...

 

We walked to the dock and got on the power raft. There were only about 15 of us and it was a perfect number - not too crowded and left us room to sit. We were told we had to wear life vests while the boat moved - and it sped! It was fun to actually get to where we were going quickly versus waiting for the wind!

 

 

We went snorkeling first, since the shops weren't open yet. Here is where I threw a mini hissy fit - they told us we HAD to wear the life vests to snorkel. Um, it's hard enough with a thin snorkel vest but a life vest? They said it was Carnival's rule. And while it is, it was THEY who didn't want to pay to buy another set of vests. After some back and fourth, we decided that once we were out of their view, we'd just take them off.

 

We swam a bit to the Tiki Hut to snorkel. It would have been a better excursion if we didn't have to wear the vests and if it was a bit later in the day because the sun wasn't really out yet and it was pretty cloudy. But overall, it was neat to see the sunken helicopter and it had a number of colorful coral.

 

 

 

After the snorkel, we went to "shop." I hate, hate, HATE Marigold. Hate it. It's a dirty area with pricey shops and I've got no time or money fo' that. Luckily, we only had to kill an hour here. Once we did, we headed back to the boat where I sampled yet another local brew (the only one I didn't get to try was Banks Beer in Barbados). The saving grace of this excursion was the next few stops.

 

We made our way to a private beach resort (La Sammana) which was truly GORGEOUS!

 

 

We got drinks from the boat and floated away with them - my idea of relaxation. The water was crystal clear and the sand super soft. I loved it. And apparently, the people here pay $1000 a night to stay! And here we got a bargain to swim!

 

After the wonderful hour at the beach, the guides took us to the airport via power boat. Yes, the airport. Apparently St. Maarten has the shortest runway for a 747 in the world. People stay at the beach right outside of it and hold on to the fence for a jet blast (youtube it) - but it was neat having the fly over and feeling the force of the plane for ourselves.

 

After that, we headed back to port. The guys offered us a ride to Phillipsburg for free but we only had 2 more hours in port so we made our way back to the ship for a quick lunch, then went back out and shopped for our infamous t-shirts and magnets.

 

 

I need to do a count of just how many tees we got but I know we bought a magnet from ever port (and rum too). DW discovered Ting (a grapefruit soda) in St. Kitts and picked up a few bottles to enjoy on our last night as well.

 

I wish they substituted the shopping with more beach time but overall, we had fun in St. Maarten/St. Martin - FINALLY! Though we're never going back to Marigold!

[JennN]

Thank you for the great review. My partner and I would love to cruise to the southern Caribbean but airfare is steep and the valor needs some updating as you stated. Wish there were a more updated ship. We were on the dream for spring break. My 5th cruise and partners 1st. I think I got her hooked now :).

 

you know, with an itinerary like this, you don't spend a lot of time on the ship! This ship, while in need of updating, wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. We still prefer the Dream class ships (we've been on the Dream and Breeze) but for this itinerary, we were willing to "slum" it. Where are you from? We paid about $325 for airfare from DC.

 

We are DEFINITELY hooked!

[JennN]

Thanks for the review

 

Thank YOU for reading it!!! :D

[MagneticMags]

Thanks for the great review! DH and I have never cruised before and are looking forward to taking this cruise (42 days to!!!!)

[Kfoot]

Luv luv luv Ting. Grew up on that in Jamaica. My drink of choice when I visit, along with the Red Stripe beer.

[JennN]

DAY 7 CONT'D

 

BOO! It was the last night of our cruise! Not to be missed, we headed to the MDR to catch our Florence (in my head, I called her Flo because she was so NOT a Flo) sing to us!

 

(she's top left on the staircase)

 

Armed with a bottle of champagne, DW went to sleep but MIL and I went 'asplorin' the ship. We stopped everywhere including the dance club (that was dead silent at 10p - not sure if it was too early or if people were packing up or drinking in their rooms or what), the big monitor with the maps to show us where we were, the upper decks to do a few walking laps around the track and our adult only pool (though in fear of having to walk around with wet swimsuits to disembark, we didn't swim).

 

 

 

After reading some more, I went to bed around 1a knowing I'd be woken up at some ungodly hour by the ship to haul our butts home.

 

I will pause here to say our cabin steward, Anthony, was super friendly and great. Towel animals every night, bed turned down, clean towels and champagne was always iced!

 

It was Sean again making announcements that morning and we headed to the Washington DR for breakfast. After a leisurely 2 hours (knowing full well we would get off the ship until 10 or 11), we headed up to Rosie's (Lido) to charge phones and wait with heavy backpacks until called. While MIL had #10, we were #27. We were called ahead of schedule, made our way down to collect our bags and were in a taxi by 10:45am, heading for the Caribe Hilton.

 

Overall, we really, REALLY enjoyed the cruise. The Valor, while needing some updates for sure, was still a great boat to sail on. The ports made it totally worth it though for us to go on her again. In ranking order of excursions, I'd say I enjoyed (from most to least):

 

1. Barbados

2. St. John's

3. Sint Maarten/St. Martin

4. St. Lucia

5. St. Kitts

 

Would I do the itinerary again? Maybe on another vessel. Having been to two of the ports twice already, getting to go on the Sunshine would get me to do it again. I think we really go for itinerary vs. ship as cruisers though.

 

Next up, our last few days in Puerto Rico. Thanks for reading!!!

[JennN]

Thanks for the great review! DH and I have never cruised before and are looking forward to taking this cruise (42 days to!!!!)

 

You will have a blast! take tons of pictures too! You will be amazed.

[JennN]

Luv luv luv Ting. Grew up on that in Jamaica. My drink of choice when I visit, along with the Red Stripe beer.

 

We were in Jamaica last cruise (it wasn't for us as a same-sex couple) but the one thing I NEEDED to do was drink a Red Stripe while in port. And I did :D