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Very short Carnival Valor Review (10/17 - 10/24)

fkfad

By fkfad,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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fkfad

fkfad

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We were on the Valor 10/17 - 24 (Western Caribbean)... In brief:

 

This was our second cruise on the Valor and we enjoyed it very much!

 

Strange: We were wakened by an emergency announcement at 1:30 AM by the Captain (can't remember which night). The announcement was in code for the crew. Approximately 30 minutes later the Cruise Director sent a follow-up announcement telling us that we did not experience a power outage and that hotel services have resumed. We never found out what the emergency was, but it scared us half to death as we were both soundly asleep!

 

Embarkation: Perfect! We did not pay any attention to the "assigned check-in time." We arrived at the port at 11:30 AM, checked in (with no line) and immediately boarded the ship. Couldn't have been any better!

 

Debarkation: Horrible! We were caught in a mob of people all trying to self-assist debark... There was a lot of pushing, shoving, angry people, and no crew members to attempt to keep order. This was the worst debarkation we have every experienced (26+ cruises)!

 

Food: MDR was good with excellent service (for the most part). We had one evening where we had to wait between courses such that we asked our waitress how much longer... Note that we had Your Time Dining and always had a table for two. The buffet was good and constantly refreshed. Many times the "Regular" coffee machines were not working properly so we would go on a treasure hunt to find Regular coffee... The pizza was excellent, the burrito bar was excellent, the mongolian wok was excellent, the Fish and Chips was way too greasy!!

 

Guest Services: We had two $100 Gift Cards to be applied to our account. They made a mistake and applied one of them to someone else's cabin. They then told me that I had to show the receipts in order to get it fixed. After going back to my cabin and tearing it to pieces in search of my receipts, we realized that one of the receipts was correct and the other showed a different cabin number (two of the numbers were swapped). They took copies of my receipts and said that it would be correct within the next hour. Me, being the person that I am, went back to review my account in a couple of hours and saw that they had taken away the one $100 GC that was previously on our account. I brought this to their attention and after some research, they explained that their Accounting department got mixed up and gave BOTH GCs to this other cabin. Finally, after another hour or so and me rechecking, they got it right.

 

Entertainment: Comedians: We sent to a few Adults-Only shows and they were just OK. Singers/Dancers: Their shows were very good. I don't know how they can maintain that level of energy show after show!

 

Casino: Lost! Need I say more?!?

 

Ports: Cozumel and Belize -- heavy rains (all day)! Roatan -- we went with Bodden Tours to Paradise Beach Club. The service was excellent, the food good (and reasonably priced) and the snorkeling was awesome!!! We will go back there again the next time we are there! Costa Maya -- took the shuttle ($3 per person) to Blue Bay...another great place to spend the day! Service was excellent and the snorkeling was also nice!

 

Overall: Can't wait to go again!!!!

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fkfad

fkfad

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Is it a long walk to Bodden Tours, we have a couple of elderly ladies who may have to take the taxi once you get outside the red building?

 

It could be a considerable walk for elderly ladies... You have to walk out of the port, up stairs, to the top of a hill, then on the way down the hill will be a group of individuals waiting to prey on you to sell you a tour... Bodden Tours will be holding up a big sign, very easy to spot... Note also that many people were convinced that it is dangerous to walk out the port gates, therefore, not too many people were taking this walk. It was just fine, however, we didn't see any reason to be concerned about your safety...

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crewsweeper "Live from...." Rare

crewsweeper

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Thanks for the review. especially coming from experienced cruisers who've been on the ship before. I would agree that Fish n Chips tend to be greasy. But how was the ceviche or the oysters?

 

Did you do the Steakhouse? Any tips on where to search first if a regular coffee machine is out? Or should I just pack the old standby VIAs and grab the hot water? Did the coffee bar have decent cappuccino mid morning (only time to drink it:D) or did the officer corp hog the coffee bar?

 

Spa? Gym?

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fkfad

fkfad

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Thanks for the review. especially coming from experienced cruisers who've been on the ship before. I would agree that Fish n Chips tend to be greasy. But how was the ceviche or the oysters?

 

We didn't try the ceviche or oysters...

 

Did you do the Steakhouse? Any tips on where to search first if a regular coffee machine is out? Or should I just pack the old standby VIAs and grab the hot water? Did the coffee bar have decent cappuccino mid morning (only time to drink it:D) or did the officer corp hog the coffee bar?

 

Also, we didn't do the Steakhouse... I was always able to find regular coffee way in the back of Rosie's... Never got cappuccino but did see quite a few officers socializing around the coffee bar... :-)

 

Spa? Gym?

 

Also didn't visit the Spa or the Gym... LOL

 

Sounds like we didn't do anything! We spent time in the hot tubs and pools, the Serenity area (which was very nice), played ping pong a couple of times (which was impossible given the wind), watched several Dive-In movies (the weather was awesome at night), and went to many of the shows (all of which were entertaining)...

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fkfad

fkfad

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For dinner in the MDR, were the American Table/American Feast menus used?

 

I apologize, but I didn't pay much attention to that... Some of the main choices that were offered included braised short ribs, baked polenta with mushrooms, chateaubriand, grilled shrimp, etc. The menus also included a "Didja ever.." section for unique choices such as escargot....

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fkfad

fkfad

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Do you recall which movies were playing? We'll be boarding her Saturday and just curious as to what movies are available.

 

Pitch Perfect 2

Jurassic World

Ant Man

Cinderella

Inside Out

 

(these are the one's I recall)...

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SSBrickNJ

SSBrickNJ

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You said debarkation was the worst....people leaving the ship with their bags...self help. We've only cruised twice. Both times w/ Royal C. We always checked our bags. Do you know ( or does anyone know) what the "checked bags" experience is like on the Valor?

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fkfad

fkfad

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You said debarkation was the worst....people leaving the ship with their bags...self help. We've only cruised twice. Both times w/ Royal C. We always checked our bags. Do you know ( or does anyone know) what the "checked bags" experience is like on the Valor?

 

Sorry, I can't help you with this... We always do self-assist... Maybe someone else will see this and provide you with a reply...

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murph1031

murph1031

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You said debarkation was the worst....people leaving the ship with their bags...self help. We've only cruised twice. Both times w/ Royal C. We always checked our bags. Do you know ( or does anyone know) what the "checked bags" experience is like on the Valor?

 

Two weeks ago when we got of the ship, we had no problems at all. We had FTTF so we checked our bags and picked them up. There was very few people, not sure if this was because we had FTTF or just luck.

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murph1031

murph1031

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Murph1031....What did you like about FTTF? How did it work to your advantage and was it worth the money you spent on it?

 

 

it was worth every penny. arrived at port around 11.30 line was crazy long, entire length of pier. asked if we should be in that line and was told no. we followed the lady all the way past the line. to cut a long story short we where sitting in our room at 12.15. Customer service desk no wait at all.And like i stated above off the boat in about 20 minutes. It didn't save us anytime in ports because we had no tender ports.

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Bugman

Bugman

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Enjoyed your review. You sound like the same kind of cruisers as we are. Very laid back. You mentioned that you had any time dining. Which dining room did you have and how was the experience. We had done any time dining 2 times and each experience was different. On the Dream, we had to wait 15-20 minutes each night. On the Pride, we walked right in to a table.

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fkfad

fkfad

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Enjoyed your review. You sound like the same kind of cruisers as we are. Very laid back. You mentioned that you had any time dining. Which dining room did you have and how was the experience. We had done any time dining 2 times and each experience was different. On the Dream, we had to wait 15-20 minutes each night. On the Pride, we walked right in to a table.

 

We were assigned the Lincoln Dining Room and the longest we ever had to wait was less than 10 minutes (which only happened one time)... The service was always great and we were always given a table for two as requested. Note that we are pretty early diners (6:00ish), which could have been the reason for no (or short) lines...

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Bugman

Bugman

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We were assigned the Lincoln Dining Room and the longest we ever had to wait was less than 10 minutes (which only happened one time)... The service was always great and we were always given a table for two as requested. Note that we are pretty early diners (6:00ish), which could have been the reason for no (or short) lines...

We too, usually dine at 6:00pish. On the Dream, the line began forming at 5:30 every night.

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