Just off Valor 10/16 - 10/23

[HazelSmrf]

Just a quick note, got back home a few hours ago from my first ever cruise.

 

Upon getting to the port we were advised that the itinerary had been changed due to Wilma. Our itinerary ended up being San Juan - St-Thomas - St-Maarten - Nassau. We got an ear full in line from disappointed passengers. I think I was disappointed for oh, about 5 minutes. Then I snapped out of it and told myself that I'd rather have nice weather in the eastern caribbean than have rain and cancelled ports in the western! Didn't bother me at all for the rest of the cruise.

 

I found the ship to be very clean and well kept, the staff to be friendly. We ate at the dining room 3 nights out of the week and all 3 times the food was good (admittedly I'm really not picky).

 

That's it for now, if anyone has any specific questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

 

Word of caution for canadians however: The duty paid here is so much different than the U.S., after hearing the americans talking about taking on as much alcohol as you could carry and just pay the few dollars in tax at the end, we brought back some bottles (really good prices in st-maarten, something like 8 dollars for a bottle of bacardi rum?). Anyways, for Canadians it's not "only" a few dollars of tax they tack on. They wanted an extra 60 dollars for the extra TWO bottles of rum that we had brought back with us. That's more expensive than just going to the store here and buying new bottles, so we poured out two bottles and just didnt pay the fee.

[KruznKel]

Just a quick note, got back home a few hours ago from my first ever cruise.

 

Upon getting to the port we were advised that the itinerary had been changed due to Wilma. Our itinerary ended up being San Juan - St-Thomas - St-Maarten - Nassau. We got an ear full in line from disappointed passengers. I think I was disappointed for oh, about 5 minutes. Then I snapped out of it and told myself that I'd rather have nice weather in the eastern caribbean than have rain and cancelled ports in the western! Didn't bother me at all for the rest of the cruise.

 

I found the ship to be very clean and well kept, the staff to be friendly. We ate at the dining room 3 nights out of the week and all 3 times the food was good (admittedly I'm really not picky).

 

That's it for now, if anyone has any specific questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

 

Word of caution for canadians however: The duty paid here is so much different than the U.S., after hearing the americans talking about taking on as much alcohol as you could carry and just pay the few dollars in tax at the end, we brought back some bottles (really good prices in st-maarten, something like 8 dollars for a bottle of bacardi rum?). Anyways, for Canadians it's not "only" a few dollars of tax they tack on. They wanted an extra 60 dollars for the extra TWO bottles of rum that we had brought back with us. That's more expensive than just going to the store here and buying new bottles, so we poured out two bottles and just didnt pay the fee.

 

Glad you had a great cruise:) .. sorry this struck me as funny about the duty for 2 bottles of liquor.. as per the CBSA website you are allowed 1 40oz bottle of liquor per person for 7 days.. if you bought more then that of course there will be taxes.. That has to be included in your $750 total per person for 7 days..

[HazelSmrf]

Glad you had a great cruise .. sorry this struck me as funny about the duty for 2 bottles of liquor.. as per the CBSA website you are allowed 1 40oz bottle of liquor per person for 7 days.. if you bought more then that of course there will be taxes.. That has to be included in your $750 total per person for 7 days..

 

Yeah of course I realized there would be taxes :P But everyone was saying bring more back as it's only 2 dollars tax a bottle. Turned out it was THIRTY dollars tax per extra bottle. I can get a bottle of rum here for less than 30 dollars, it would have ended up being a 40 dollar liter of liquor. Really not worth bringing ANY extra quantities of alcohol into canada.

[KruznKel]

Yeah of course I realized there would be taxes :P But everyone was saying bring more back as it's only 2 dollars tax a bottle. Turned out it was THIRTY dollars tax per extra bottle. I can get a bottle of rum here for less than 30 dollars, it would have ended up being a 40 dollar liter of liquor. Really not worth bringing ANY extra quantities of alcohol into canada.

 

No there is no sense in bringing more then the alotted amount back .. they will ding you anyway they can with the taxes.. I plan on bringing back 2 40's one for myself one for the SO and some cigs..and a few souveniers.. all adds up to $750 quite fast:eek:

[HazelSmrf]

Ooooh another thing that I just thought of. Early debarkation was open for everyone who wanted to carry off their luggage, not just american citizens. I only bring this up because I had seen it stated many times on these boards that only americans would be able to do this, this was not the case on the Valor. I didn't choose to do that (WAY overpacked) but it would have been an option. As it was, regular debarkation started at around 10am I believe, and I was at the airport at around 11 am. It went very quickly, and I got into one of those shuttle vans to the airport for 8 dollars a person (we were 2 couples and would have needed 2 regular cabs, so it was cheaper, and we had ALOT of luggage to try to squeeze into a regular cab.)

 

My final bill ended up being 750$. I was really really worried when I left if my 2000 would be enough, it ended up being plenty. I didn't book any excursions though and just got off at the ports and hired cabs to take us around.

 

In San Juan we walked around taking pictures for about an hour, and then it started to get dark (we arrived at about 5pm). We headed off to Senor Frog's and had some fun there before returning to the ship.

 

In St. Thomas we hired a cab to take us to Megan's Bay Beach (very very beautiful). After that we went back to the ship to change, and then went up to Paradise Point. Again, the views were beautiful but we were tired, it was very hot and we had to get back to the ship as we were docked at the alternate port in the middle of nowhere and it was a long cab ride back through rush hour traffic. I think spending so much time in the very crowded cab and the icky dock location makes me rate St. Thomas as my least favorite port this time. Not to say I didn't enjoy myself, I just enjoyed the other ports more.

 

In St. Maarten we elected to walk around and just shop. The deals were very good and this is the port that we got most of our alcohol/souvenirs. Got 6 bottles of alcohol for 64$ US. (Stoli vodka, Bacardi Rum, Baileys, Seagram's Whiskey, and a bottle of local rum called Old Man or something, I ended up dumping that at the border to not pay the duty fees). Well, even if I'm down to 4 bottles now (the border people let me sneak 2 extra in), still 4 bottles for 64 dollars, I'm not complaining, still came out a bit ahead. I bought a lovely white gold and tanzanite bracelet here for a very good price as well.

I really really wanted to try a beach in St. Maarten, but we were really tired from walking around shopping all day so went back to the ship early.

 

In Nassau we visited the pirate museum. If you have any children who are interested in pirates I'd highly recommend this museum, it was very nice. I wasn't feeling well this day so I went back to the ship after the museum while my husband and friends went shopping some more.

[PA Dutchman]

Where is the pirates museum located, missed that last time , going again on the 6th of Nov. Would like to check it out.

[HazelSmrf]

Walk west on Bay Street and turn onto George Street and it's right there, 10 minute walk from the port.

 

There's a map on their home page:

 

http://www.pirates-of-nassau.com/location.htm

[kageyone]

HI Hazel

Nice to hear you had a great time. WE are travelling Jan 1/06 on the Valor

(eastern carb). Couple of questions:

1) dress code for formal nights - dresses and suits and ties or is other apparel acceptable?

2) where did you eat the other times?

3) How were the shows?

4) Lots to do for the kids? or not

 

Thanks for the info on the islands and trips to take.

Any other info you can pass on about the valor and the ports w/b greatly appreciated

[funinthsun]

HI Hazel

Nice to hear you had a great time. WE are travelling Jan 1/06 on the Valor

(eastern carb). Couple of questions:

1) dress code for formal nights - dresses and suits and ties or is other apparel acceptable?

2) where did you eat the other times?

3) How were the shows?

4) Lots to do for the kids? or not

 

Thanks for the info on the islands and trips to take.

Any other info you can pass on about the valor and the ports w/b greatly appreciated

Hey kageyone,

come visit our roll call for valor, 1/1/06

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=336

 

Joan