REVIEW: Carnival Valor to Southern Caribbean Oct 6-13, 2013 OUR FIRST CRUISE!

[welshcorgie]

Can't wait for the rest of your review! I am so glad that you finally got to go on your honeymoon. We went on our honeymoon several years late also and while we were in it our hotel burned down. No one hurt though. I am really enjoying your review and it looks like you had a great time. Can't wait to see Valor in 3 months.

 

Kelly

[valentinebaby1]

Awesome review. Looking forward to the rest !!

 

 

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Thank you!

[valentinebaby1]

Great review so far! Lovin' all your photos. We sail on the Valor in January. Staying at the Marriott Resort on Condado Beach, which I saw in one of your photos! :D

 

I've heard good things about the Marriott, we actually debated between the Marriott or Renaissance in Condado or the Courtyard or Ritz Carlton in Isla Verde. We had several ship friends who stayed at the Marriott, and while no one had issue with the hotel itself, it seemed a lot didn't like the Condado area as much as we liked the Isla Verde area. I'm not sure why, but I do know Condado is much more congested than Isla Verde. Our only experience with Condado was dropping off our rental car, which was kind of our only stressful part of the trip since we couldn't find the location. Now I will totally admit that I have a lot of anxiety while in the car-and the more congested the traffic is, the more stressed I get. Things might have just been extra crowded at that time because of the ship leaving that day, but for whatever reason the friends of ours who stayed in Condado didn't really "like" Puerto Rico and we stayed in Isla Verde and loved Puerto Rico...but I can't really put a finger on exactly what the difference was. I think generally speaking Condado is more upscale and Isla Verde is more relaxed (and by relaxed I mean in people's attitudes and traffic, etc. Not that the area is run down or anything like that, I didn't see a difference between the 2 areas as far as that was concerned). I know a lot of people who have stayed at the Marriott and loved it, don't get me wrong, but that was the experience we had.

 

Can't wait for the rest of your review! I am so glad that you finally got to go on your honeymoon. We went on our honeymoon several years late also and while we were in it our hotel burned down. No one hurt though. I am really enjoying your review and it looks like you had a great time. Can't wait to see Valor in 3 months.

 

Kelly

Oh my goodness, I bet that was a story to tell! You'll love the Valor! And by the way, I have 2 Welsh Corgi dogs. (did you know the plural of Corgi is Corgwn? I totally didn't know that and thought it was interesting when I read it. Random fact for ya! lol)

[saltybones]

Great review!

 

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[hancogran]

Fantastic review... love all your pictures! We've done the Southern itinerary from San Juan 4 times now, but never visited any of the places you've mentioned. I've definitely made notes of what to see on our next visit to San Juan. Thanks for all the detailed information and for this wonderful review. I'm sure you had a fantastic cruise.. can't beat those ports. :)

[ch27088]

Thank you for sharing your review with us. Sorry you had a rocky start to your vacation, but glad it got better.

[pghsteelerfan]

The hotel is 12 floors total. I must have read your review or someone else posted about waiting for the ship at 5:30 am. I mentioned that to my husband awhile back, but I didn't think he'd even remember about waking up early to see it. I'm not even sure if he went to bed and woke up to look for it, or if he just stayed up, but I think he found some website to track the boat so he knew when to look for it or something. Glad you're enjoying the review and photos!

 

Yeah, that was me waiting for the ship at 5:30AM. LOL!!! So glad you were able to see her come in. On the last night on Valor after leaving St. Maarten, we went past St. Thomas at around midnight. On our previous cruise in 2010, we had an 11:00AM in St. Thomas and were passing Puerto Rico about two hours before that. DH checked the cabin TV channel the next morning that showed the path the ship took after we arrived in San Juan and we sailed in circles during the night, so I'm sure it was Valor that you were able to see.

[MarriedInStThomas1807]

Loving the review! It got me interested in the helicopter ride! How much was it? I've looked online and can't seem to find any prices. Thanks :)

[Marinewife05]

Great review so far! We are going in March. We'll be staying at the Hilton. I'm wondering if it was the one in your pic!

 

 

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[marshalltp]

Great review so far! We are going in March. We'll be staying at the Hilton. I'm wondering if it was the one in your pic!

 

 

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We are also staying at the Caribe Hilton. She has an aerial picture of it from the Ocean side, in Post #41 - last picture.

[valentinebaby1]

Great review!

 

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Thank you!

 

Fantastic review... love all your pictures! We've done the Southern itinerary from San Juan 4 times now, but never visited any of the places you've mentioned. I've definitely made notes of what to see on our next visit to San Juan. Thanks for all the detailed information and for this wonderful review. I'm sure you had a fantastic cruise.. can't beat those ports. :)

 

The cruise was fantastic, and I'd do this itinerary again in a heartbeat! Several others from our roll call had done it before. I was surprised at how different each of the ports really were and how much the was to do! We could do this cruise again several times and not repeat anything!

[michiganredrose]

I noticed that about my roll call too. About half the people have already done this cruise at least once, some more than once.

 

Can't wait for the rest of the review. Glad you had a good time.

[valentinebaby1]

Thank you for sharing your review with us. Sorry you had a rocky start to your vacation, but glad it got better.

 

After the initial freak out at the airport, it got much better! Because this trip was so monumental to us, and the first time we had ever planned anything like this, I felt a lot of pressure that it had to be just right. I second guessed all the decisions we made, from our cabin location to our excursions, all of it...so rather than even being excited in the few days leading right up to the trip, I was feeling stressed out and worried. When the money issue happened it just put me over the edge. But after my mini-meltdown, I was perfectly fine!

 

Yeah, that was me waiting for the ship at 5:30AM. LOL!!! So glad you were able to see her come in. On the last night on Valor after leaving St. Maarten, we went past St. Thomas at around midnight. On our previous cruise in 2010, we had an 11:00AM in St. Thomas and were passing Puerto Rico about two hours before that. DH checked the cabin TV channel the next morning that showed the path the ship took after we arrived in San Juan and we sailed in circles during the night, so I'm sure it was Valor that you were able to see.

 

I didn't see the path we took from St Maarten back to San Juan, but the strange thing was that was the fastest we ever traveled. I'm not sure what time we actually docked though. I don't know why we were traveling so much faster than the rest of the trip, to go such a short distance too. We felt the waves the most that night, but I'm not sure if it was because of the speed or because of weather, but the weather wasn't bad. It could be that they were trying to avoid a storm? After we fell asleep we aren't even sure what happened. We did notice one other path, I think when we were coming into St Lucia, where we went way out of the way and then back. It made me wonder if they are charged extra for docking early so they intentionally stay out at sea until it's time, or if they stay out at sea because of possible weather issues, or both. But fuel cost vs. port costs too? I'm sure they know what they're doing, lol...I was just very curious about the reasoning!

[valentinebaby1]

Loving the review! It got me interested in the helicopter ride! How much was it? I've looked online and can't seem to find any prices. Thanks :)

 

The Gustazo deal we found was for $65 per person. It was through Puerto Rico Helitours. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link for it, but it came up in a search. The regular price at the time was $130 per person, I believe. When the Gustazo came out it said for a 15-20 minute ride. Our ride was about 12-13 min...but the website now shows that same ride as 12-15 minutes for $140. So it looks like they've made some adjustments, but it was still a pretty cool thing to do. We wouldn't have paid $140 per person to do it but at $65/pp it was worth it.

 

Great review so far! We are going in March. We'll be staying at the Hilton. I'm wondering if it was the one in your pic!

 

 

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Probably the one!

[valentinebaby1]

We are also staying at the Caribe Hilton. She has an aerial picture of it from the Ocean side, in Post #41 - last picture.

 

I totally just tried to squish the bug from your siggy...lol. But I had one of those pesky gnats bugging me just a few minutes earlier...thought he came back!

 

Yes, that's the one, It sure looks like a pretty property!

[valentinebaby1]

I noticed that about my roll call too. About half the people have already done this cruise at least once, some more than once.

 

Can't wait for the rest of the review. Glad you had a good time.

 

Hubby and I have already talked about what to do on our next trip...but life has already started beating us up since we've been back and I don't see it happening financially any time in the next year or 2. But if I could handle it financially, I'd totally be a repeater!

[Alexlee]

Loving the review.... sorry you couldn't find the Luquillo beach ''balneario'' but you were just 10 mins walking to the left of it... you were exactly behind the kiosks of Luquillo were mostly people ride the jet skies and the ones that don't want to pay for the utilities such as bathrooms and showers....but I'm happy you had fun at the beach!!!! I can't wait for more pics!!!! :D

[pghsteelerfan]

I didn't see the path we took from St Maarten back to San Juan, but the strange thing was that was the fastest we ever traveled. I'm not sure what time we actually docked though. I don't know why we were traveling so much faster than the rest of the trip, to go such a short distance too. We felt the waves the most that night, but I'm not sure if it was because of the speed or because of weather, but the weather wasn't bad. It could be that they were trying to avoid a storm? After we fell asleep we aren't even sure what happened. We did notice one other path, I think when we were coming into St Lucia, where we went way out of the way and then back. It made me wonder if they are charged extra for docking early so they intentionally stay out at sea until it's time, or if they stay out at sea because of possible weather issues, or both. But fuel cost vs. port costs too? I'm sure they know what they're doing, lol...I was just very curious about the reasoning!

 

We noticed that too and couldn't believe we were already passing St. Thomas when we went out on the balcony around midnight. We checked the TV channel and sure enough, Valor was just south of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and we could not believe we were already that far. Apparently that was the roughest night for us too, but I had already fallen asleep. DH told me that ship was a rockin' and we heard the same from others the next morning. I was up at 5:30AM the morning we were scheduled to arrive in San Juan hoping to get up to deck 10 for pictures passing the fort as we came back in, but we already made the turn in toward the dock and were docked shortly after 5:30AM. My guess it has something to do with port arrival time but I'm not sure on that. Still loving your review and pictures. From your helicopter ride pictures (great pics, btw) I could see the room we stayed in at the Courtyard.

[MarriedInStThomas1807]

The Gustazo deal we found was for $65 per person. It was through Puerto Rico Helitours. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link for it, but it came up in a search. The regular price at the time was $130 per person, I believe. When the Gustazo came out it said for a 15-20 minute ride. Our ride was about 12-13 min...but the website now shows that same ride as 12-15 minutes for $140. So it looks like they've made some adjustments, but it was still a pretty cool thing to do. We wouldn't have paid $140 per person to do it but at $65/pp it was worth it.

 

I found it. Thanks! :)

[willydoit]

:D Great review and your photos are wonderful!! The Valor will be ours in 33 days, we're heading out during Thanksgiving week. Thanks for taking the time to write the review,,,and wet my appetite even more for our upcoming cruise!!:D

[cruisecrazy82]

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it! Dec 2014 is a long ways off, hope you survive the wait!

 

No worries I have a cruise in April on the Celebrity Reflection to help pass the time along ;)

[Stinger-pr]

This was the area known as La Perla, a very dangerous part of Old San Juan that apparently the police won't even enter. It looked so pretty, it's a shame it's such a bad place.

 

Come on guys, give these folk a break. It might be the "bad" part of town but mainly because it's a low income/welfare community nestled just outside the magic of the old city. It is not accurate that the police won't even enter. A lot of times you can even see municipal or state policemen talking to residents by the entrance to the community. While it's not a "hey let's go down there and mingle" part of town, if you look it up you'll see that even La Perla has an amazing history on it's own.

[windsbud]

There were many locals there, grilling, drinking and just having fun even in the rain. The rain cleared up and the water was cold and clear. It was gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not even sure how long we were there, time didn't matter. We could have stayed all day!

 

To me, that is the best way to experience a new place! As long as you are careful and aware of your surroundings, hanging with the locals is fun! I did a week in Jamaica with my best friend like that, 20 years ago. One of the best experiences of my life!

[hattack]

I really love your spirit about life and in how you shared with us your cruise adventures and the great pictures...thank you for that....now that you have your first cruise under your belt...in spite of life's challenges, you will find a way to go on another sooner then you think and it will be alot easier the second time around

 

Remember your cabin number and when you have a $1.00 play the daily Pick 4...this is a fun way to bring back positive memories from your cruise every time you play...if you clip coupons when you shop, write yourself a check with your savings and place it in your cruise fund cookie jar...any spare change put in there also...you will be surprised how quickly and quietly it adds up....12-15 months between cruises might seem like a long time, but it moves quickly

 

The best part about cruising is spending unfettered time with your spouse...we can tell by your pictures you did

[scgirlatheart]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review & pictures! The pictures are fantastic & your review is well written. We'll be on the Valor in July---so excited!