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

[pixiedust777]

Thank you for this amazing review.

Hubby and I are heading out on this cruise in 2 weeks!!

It will be our 21 wedding anniversary(our 23rd year together) and Hubby's 48th birthday.

Our 2 children are 20 and 18 and we did not "have to" get married either.

I was 20 when we got together and to this day there are people who cannot believe we are still together.

I am happy to see others " like us" who have beaten the odds:)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[SmudgeCat]

I just love your review!! Like another poster, I don't get to be on the Valor until Nov. 30 of '14, but I'm very, very lucky that I get to cruise in December of this year too. The Valor trip is a surprise for my husband- he doesn't know yet! ;) I booked it about 4 months ago and am using all my coupons, coffee change, etc., savings to pay it down by the final payment date (Sept. of next year) without him finding out. I have no clue how or when I should surprise him! :p I know he'll love it, but he's not so fond of actual "surprise" moments. Reading your review and seeing your amazing pictures has me so excited! I've only ever done Carnival-run excursions, and I think I want to try booking my own for most of this itinerary, so I can't wait to read all about how and with whom you booked. YEA!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for writing this!

 

May I ask, do you have an underwater housing for your camera, or are you using a disposable? It's been a long time since I used a disposable but I remember my pictures didn't come out well at all, and yours are so crisp and lovely. :) Thank you!

[valentinebaby1]

Thank you for this amazing review.

Hubby and I are heading out on this cruise in 2 weeks!!

It will be our 21 wedding anniversary(our 23rd year together) and Hubby's 48th birthday.

Our 2 children are 20 and 18 and we did not "have to" get married either.

I was 20 when we got together and to this day there are people who cannot believe we are still together.

I am happy to see others " like us" who have beaten the odds:)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

I love hearing about others like us too! Happy 21st to you!

[valentinebaby1]

I just love your review!! Like another poster, I don't get to be on the Valor until Nov. 30 of '14, but I'm very, very lucky that I get to cruise in December of this year too. The Valor trip is a surprise for my husband- he doesn't know yet! ;) I booked it about 4 months ago and am using all my coupons, coffee change, etc., savings to pay it down by the final payment date (Sept. of next year) without him finding out. I have no clue how or when I should surprise him! :p I know he'll love it, but he's not so fond of actual "surprise" moments. Reading your review and seeing your amazing pictures has me so excited! I've only ever done Carnival-run excursions, and I think I want to try booking my own for most of this itinerary, so I can't wait to read all about how and with whom you booked. YEA!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for writing this!

 

May I ask, do you have an underwater housing for your camera, or are you using a disposable? It's been a long time since I used a disposable but I remember my pictures didn't come out well at all, and yours are so crisp and lovely. :) Thank you!

 

We booked outside excursions for the other 4 ports, and they were all wonderful! I hope to get more posted soon!

 

Hubby and I each had cameras. Mine is a simple point and shoot, Kodak Z812 IS Zoom. His is a Canon PowerShot D20 waterproof camera. It takes decent pics in and out of the water, plus video. He's been pretty pleased with it.

[Lovefuninthesun]

It will be our 21 wedding anniversary(our 23rd year together) and Hubby's 48th birthday.

Our 2 children are 20 and 18 and we did not "have to" get married either.

I was 20 when we got together and to this day there are people who cannot believe we are still together.

I am happy to see others " like us" who have beaten the odds:)

.

 

Isn't that the truth! I was 20 when we got married, too -- we had dated since I was 16! :eek: We just celebrated our 39th anniversary! :)

[Lovefuninthesun]

I just love your review!! Like another poster, I don't get to be on the Valor until Nov. 30 of '14, but I'm very, very lucky that I get to cruise in December of this year too. I've only ever done Carnival-run excursions, and I think I want to try booking my own for most of this itinerary, so I can't wait to read all about how and with whom you booked. YEA!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for writing this!

quote]

 

Even though we have until 10/12/14 to sail on Valor, I have already booked independent excursions for 2 ports: in St. Lucia I booked the Land and Sea tour with Spencer Ambrose; in St. Kitts, I booked an island tour with Thenford Grey, Grey's Island Excursions. Info on both operators came from CCers. Neither operator thought it was weird to book so far in advance! Still investigating options in Barbados.

[jburk]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

I have a 12 yr old son with aspergers. Just today i texted dh saying how much i neeeeeeed our cruise next month. My son started jr high this year and its been rough!

 

Glad to see you had a good time!

[valentinebaby1]

Isn't that the truth! I was 20 when we got married, too -- we had dated since I was 16! :eek: We just celebrated our 39th anniversary! :)

 

Happy anniversary to another couple who beat the odds!

 

I just love your review!! Like another poster, I don't get to be on the Valor until Nov. 30 of '14, but I'm very, very lucky that I get to cruise in December of this year too. I've only ever done Carnival-run excursions, and I think I want to try booking my own for most of this itinerary, so I can't wait to read all about how and with whom you booked. YEA!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for writing this!

quote]

 

Even though we have until 10/12/14 to sail on Valor, I have already booked independent excursions for 2 ports: in St. Lucia I booked the Land and Sea tour with Spencer Ambrose; in St. Kitts, I booked an island tour with Thenford Grey, Grey's Island Excursions. Info on both operators came from CCers. Neither operator thought it was weird to book so far in advance! Still investigating options in Barbados.

 

We debated back and forth between Spencer Ambrose and Cosol for St Lucia, went with Cosol and were very happy with it...We also really considered Grey's for St Kitts, but ended up booking with Royston, which we were also very happy with...I don't think you can go wrong with any of these. In Barbados we booked a turtle snorkel with Calabaza and absolutely loved it! More on these to come!

[valentinebaby1]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

I have a 12 yr old son with aspergers. Just today i texted dh saying how much i neeeeeeed our cruise next month. My son started jr high this year and its been rough!

 

Glad to see you had a good time!

 

Oh goodness, just wait til high school :eek: Middle school was a piece of cake in comparison, so enjoy the middle school/jr high years while you can! I know you need your cruise as much as I need another one! Our son wasn't even diagnosed officially until 7th grade. I don't know how many parent teacher conferences we left from with me in tears because teachers flat out told us his "issues" were simply a result of bad parenting and lack of discipline. We began asking questions about him as far back as preschool and both his preschool and kindergarten teachers told us there was nothing "wrong" with him, that he was simply THE most stubborn child they had ever met. Both teachers told us that. His 1st grade teacher was old and cranky and told us we were just bad parents. His 2nd grade teacher was fresh out of college, but seemed to really like him and wanted to help him, and she taught him in 3rd grade as well (she moved up, and asked for him to be in her class). In 2nd grade she had him tested by the psychologist and they told us they felt he had some OCD tendencies, said he had ADHD, had some anxiety and even possibly some Tourettes tendencies, and finally said he had Oppositional Defiant Disorder. But it wasn't until 7th grade that they came up with Aspergers and ADHD, which makes a lot more sense. He's a brilliant kid, but can't apply himself the way the "system" wants him to. We came home to his 1st quarter report card, where we could count on 1 finger the number of classes that he passed. Yet his IQ is very near genius level. It's so frustrating!

[Brangwen]

Great review! Tagging for later... we did the Southern Itin on the Victory back in 2010 and are planning on doing it again on the Valor next year. :cool:

[valentinebaby1]

Great review! Tagging for later... we did the Southern Itin on the Victory back in 2010 and are planning on doing it again on the Valor next year. :cool:

 

Thanks! Hope you like the Valor as much as the Victory!

[valentinebaby1]

OCT 8, 2013-day 6

Happy Anniversary to us!

 

Hubby and I had stayed up pretty late on Monday night, and had been up pretty early every day of the trip so far, so we ended up sleeping in. We had planned to go to brunch in the dining room, but ended up just grabbing breakfast from the buffet instead. It was our first breakfast on the ship, because with our last minute change of plans on Monday, we didn't have time for breakfast. I will admit the scrambled eggs were pretty bad, but if you put enough salsa on them they were edible. We never tried the omelet station on any morning, time was always an issue with our excursions. After breakfast, we just went to hang out on the Lido deck and see what was going on there. We watched an ice carving demonstration;

 

'

 

And then the Mixology competition:

 

 

Then it was time for the Hairy Chest Competition. I had a goal in my mind that I wanted one of us to win a 24k gold plastic ship on a stick, and I didn't care how he did it (lol). They were asking for entries, and there weren't a lot of people jumping up to volunteer, so I told him to and he did. I didn't think he was hairy enough to win, but I figured it would still be funny to watch. So he signed up. Here they are waiting for further instructions:

 

 

Each of the contestants (there were 8 I think), had to make their entrance to the little stage area, where there were 3 judges. Things got a little wild and after all of the contestants were done, each judge had to eliminate one contestant.

 

 

 

 

 

[valentinebaby1]

He made it past the first elimination! "We" were one step closer to a ship on a stick! Next they had to do a little booty dance, and each judge eliminated one more contestant...The first 2 judges each made their elimination and he was still in the game! When the 3rd judge made her elimination (NOT my hubby), the crowd went wild and booed her choice. Hugo, the assistant cruise director, saved the audience choice and she had to choose another. She chose the other remaining contestant, so her choice for winner was my hubby...but again, the audience didn't agree. I felt bad for hubby at this point, because the audience wanted hubby to go, leaving the oldest guy and the youngest guy as the final 2. Audience got their way, and he was eliminated in 3rd place. So no trophy :( but he at least got a medal. And after what the final 2 contestants went through for 1st place, hubby was glad he went out in 3rd place!

 

Hubby with the 3 judges afterwards:

 

Hubby with the judges and Hugo:

 

For the rest of the cruise, he was occasionally recognized for his participation. We kept running into one of the judges and she was a riot every time she saw us! She thanked me for sharing him with her for the competition ;)

 

After that excitement was over, we headed to the Lindy Hop Bar for our roll call meet and greet! We had about 25 people sign up for it, and we each paid $12.50 for drinks for an hour. TOTALLY worth it. There were 2 bartenders, one would bring 2 at a time if you asked, so we did! I lost count of my drinks after about 12 or 13. So let's just say that made for an interesting afternoon! We met the others we had been chatting with for the past few months, and a group of us hit it off really well and made plans to meet up for dinner. I found it really interesting that we all meshed so well together. There was us, the "old" married couple, there was a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, a dating couple (who was friends with the newlywed couple and had cruised together previously), there was a same sex couple celebrating their 2nd anniversary together, and there was a set of single best friends traveling together. I only mention this because I found it interesting that there was such diversity but we were all there just to have a good time and it didn't matter! Here's a group photo from our roll call get together (hubby was not happy that I told him to squat down a bit because he jumped in after giving his camera to the waiter, but he was too tall to be in front. He looked silly, but at least we got a group shot of almost everyone. A couple left before the very end so we missed just a few):

 

 

Quite honestly, I'm not sure what we did over the next few hours before dinner. Hubby and I were pretty tipsy after the meet and greet. I think there was a nap at some point, and we might have had some more food and relaxed on the Lido deck. It's kind of a blur :rolleyes:

[valentinebaby1]

The 10 of us from the meet and greet group had decided to try to meet for dinner. We all had Your Time dining so none of us had to make any changes. We agreed on a time and got ready and headed down to the Lincoln Dining Room.

 

 

It was lobster night! We didn't have to wait very long for a table but they did give us a pager and we waited in the main lobby by the elevators. We were all seated, but it ended up being 9 of us, as one of them wasn't feeling well. Dinner was a bit rowdy and so much fun as we were getting to know our new friends! I don't know how many plates were ordered between us all, but it had to have been a lot. I had 2 lobster plus prime rib, I tried the alligator fritters and strawberry soup, and finished the night with cherries jubilee. Hubby had 3 or 4 lobsters, plus prime rib, alligator fritters, bake mushrooms and ice cream for dessert. And after all of that, a few of the wait staff came out with a piece of cake for us and sang "Happy Anniversary" to us. It was a sweet surprise!

 

 

A few from our group had already left the table to go see if they could snag a table for all of us for the comedy show. Thea Vidale was the comedienne and it was definitely an adult only show! She was hilarious!

 

 

After the show, we headed to bed since we had an early morning planned for Barbados!

 

[rendal]

Awesome review of San Juan, I haven't even thought of it yet, just started planning 2 weeks ago for Nov. 10, cannot put computer down. I am obsessed!! Now I know there are waterfalls in San Juan, and a rain forest!!! Maybe I'll stop being stressed and get excited.:o I cant wait to read the rest!

[Rainberry]

Good luck with the root canal!! It's really not so bad, the freezing sucks, but you won't feel anything after that.

 

Definitely plan to get the crown if you can soon after - it's probably the worst and most expensive part (they shave down the tooth) but i'm so glad I don't have to deal with it again!

[valentinebaby1]

Awesome review of San Juan, I haven't even thought of it yet, just started planning 2 weeks ago for Nov. 10, cannot put computer down. I am obsessed!! Now I know there are waterfalls in San Juan, and a rain forest!!! Maybe I'll stop being stressed and get excited.:o I cant wait to read the rest!

 

Well, the waterfalls and rainforest are not in San Juan, they are about 40 miles away, but pretty close! I figure that's what you mean, but just in case I wasn't clear lol

 

Nov 10 is just around the corner, lucky you!

[valentinebaby1]

Good luck with the root canal!! It's really not so bad, the freezing sucks, but you won't feel anything after that.

 

Definitely plan to get the crown if you can soon after - it's probably the worst and most expensive part (they shave down the tooth) but i'm so glad I don't have to deal with it again!

 

I have another root canal coming too, some time before the end of the year, and in order to best maximize my dental insurance I'll get the crowns after the new year. A good 1/3 of my tooth is gone, which is pretty annoying all on it's own. I'll be glad when all my dental adventures are over with!

[Big2Little4me]

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My husband looked over my shoulder and said ouch to your husband's colorful sunburn.

[valentinebaby1]

My husband looked over my shoulder and said ouch to your husband's colorful sunburn.

 

It looked worse in the photos than in person! It wasn't so bad after a day or so.

[rendal]

Can you tell me about the Marriots beach? Is it hard to get to? How much are the day passes and if you have an e-mail cd you let me know what it is or how to book this resort for the day. Love the infinity pool, on trip advisor that looks like fun!

[valentinebaby1]

Can you tell me about the Marriots beach? Is it hard to get to? How much are the day passes and if you have an e-mail cd you let me know what it is or how to book this resort for the day. Love the infinity pool, on trip advisor that looks like fun!

 

I don't know the answers to your questions, I didn't stay at the Marriott or go there so I'm not sure. I only saw it as we passed it coming into the harbor. I'd love to go there someday!

[shawne71]

Can you tell me about the Marriots beach? Is it hard to get to? How much are the day passes and if you have an e-mail cd you let me know what it is or how to book this resort for the day. Love the infinity pool, on trip advisor that looks like fun!

 

The Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino is about a 10 minute cab ride from the pier. They have a pool with a swim-up bar and a water slide. They also have a nice beach with chairs and umbrellas. We will be staying there one night in January pre-cruise. :D http://caribbeandaypass.com/#/san-juan-marriott/4555369287

[Big2Little4me]

It looked worse in the photos than in person! It wasn't so bad after a day or so.

 

Glad to hear it. Nothing ruins a good time like a itchy painfull sunburn.

 

Loving your review by the way

[rendal]

Thanks:)))