First Post-pandemic shutdown cruise in THREE weeks! Carnival Valor NOLA-Costa Maya-Cozumel

[MistyRo76]

EEEEEKKK....I'm so excited, I can barely stand it! Three weeks from tomorrow, I'll be heading to New Orleans for a wonderful day exploring the Big Easy! And three weeks from Saturday, I'll be boarding the Carnival Valor! This will be my first cruise since the start of COVID and first overall since April, 2019 when we sailed the Paradise to Cuba! I'm leaving the hubby and kiddo at home for a long-awaited girls trip. We had originally booked to sail the Conquest to Key West and Cozumel in October, 2020...but obviously that didn't happen. when we rebooked, we decided to wait until sailing had resumed for a while in hopes of having a "normal" cruise experience. So it's taken a while...but we've almost made it! 

 

I plan on doing a comprehensive photo trip report when we get back. So if there's anything anyone wants to know about the Valor herself, post-COVID cruising changes, New Orleans, or our stops in Costa Maya or Cozumel - please ask away. I'll try to make note of questions and make sure I can get/find answers for you once we are onboard! 

[kelkel2]

That’s so exciting! Have a great cruise!

[MistyRo76]

6 minutes ago, kelkel2 said:

That’s so exciting! Have a great cruise!

Thank you! I'm sure it's going to be amazing! 🙂

[pirate4me2]

Have a WONDERFUL time! Our first one post Covid is 44 days away.....I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! 

[RenoNanaOz]

Ours is in May 2023 on the Horizon, were are doing the 8 day ABC islands!

[MistyRo76]

2 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Have a WONDERFUL time! Our first one post Covid is 44 days away.....I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! 

You're getting close too! Hope you have a great, great time! 

[MistyRo76]

2 hours ago, RenoNanaOz said:

Ours is in May 2023 on the Horizon, were are doing the 8 day ABC islands!

How fun! I did the A and the C part of that route on the Vista about 7 years ago. It was amazing! Hope to hit up the B sometime too! 

[MississippiMom]

We have Valor booked for July 2023 (BIG family cruise, originally planned for July 2020) with the same ports as you.  We love NOLA and hope you have a fabulous time there.

 

I am really interested in what you wind up doing at the two ports, especially Costa Maya (haven't been there since 2006).  I envisioned finding lots of current helpful Costa Maya info on that port board, but it really isn't very busy over there.

 

Cozumel has so many great choices that we are struggling with what to choose this time around.  That is such a common port when you cruise out of NOLA that we have been four times (maybe five).

[MistyRo76]

1 hour ago, MississippiMom said:

We have Valor booked for July 2023 (BIG family cruise, originally planned for July 2020) with the same ports as you.  We love NOLA and hope you have a fabulous time there.

 

I am really interested in what you wind up doing at the two ports, especially Costa Maya (haven't been there since 2006).  I envisioned finding lots of current helpful Costa Maya info on that port board, but it really isn't very busy over there.

 

Cozumel has so many great choices that we are struggling with what to choose this time around.  That is such a common port when you cruise out of NOLA that we have been four times (maybe five).

 

Hi! Honestly, we really chose this crew cause it went out of NOLA. I've only been there once and that was on a work trip, alone, when I was in my 20's and I stayed in a hotel out by the airport. So I literally got to see NOTHING! I wish I could come down more than just a day before the cruise to have some extra time to explore. But mom-guilt kicked in since I'm leaving daddy and our daughter to fend for themselves for six days so one day prior it is! 

 

Like you, we've been to Cozumel probably 8-10 times. At this point, we usually just do a beach day there. We used to like going to one of the busier beach clubs. But now that we're 40-somethings, we don't need to be right in the middle of the action any more. So this time we are trying out Nachi Cocum who limits their guests to like 80-85 (or around there). It's supposed to be more chill and relaxed and geared to adults vs. kids/families. 

 

I've only been to Costa Maya once or twice and that was before the big hurricane hit there and did alot of damage years ago. So the port looks alot different today then it did when I was there. We again decided on a beach day as this is really a relaxing getaway for us gals! So we're going to Jamie's at Blue Reef. They also limit capacity to around 35 people. 

 

I'll let you know how both clubs are in my trip report! 

 

[WPTNGirl]

We sailed on Valor a couple of weeks ago and left on a Saturday.  Around 9:30 or 10:00 that night we passed the Glory as she was headed back into port.  It was really cool to meet her and we were all hollering at each other as we passed.  It was in the river so we were close to each other.  Just thought I’d mention it if you were interested in seeing it.  It was a great cruise and I found nothing to complain about. Hope your sailing goes as smoothly.

[MistyRo76]

9 minutes ago, WPTNGirl said:

We sailed on Valor a couple of weeks ago and left on a Saturday.  Around 9:30 or 10:00 that night we passed the Glory as she was headed back into port.  It was really cool to meet her and we were all hollering at each other as we passed.  It was in the river so we were close to each other.  Just thought I’d mention it if you were interested in seeing it.  It was a great cruise and I found nothing to complain about. Hope your sailing goes as smoothly.

Good to know! We may be finishing up dinner around then...but maybe we'll be able to catch her and say a hello to our fellow Carnival cruisers! That would be super cool! 

[sokal]

Curious if your flying or driving from KY. Same question to WPTNgirl 

[MistyRo76]

1 hour ago, sokal said:

Curious if your flying or driving from KY. Same question to WPTNgirl 

We are flying down to NOLA. I have never driven to a cruise (19 and counting). Started when I worked for the airlines and could fly down for free...now I'm just spoiled and don't like to spend that extra two days of vacay in a car. lol 

 

Flights from Cincinnati aren't great at this time - no directs and costs were higher than I normally like to pay. We booked our airfare right when schedules came out pretty much. As I said, I like to enjoy my time away as much as possible - so we always try to fly as early as possible going down to our cruises so we can enjoy a nice day in our port city. And I don't want to get home too late coming back. After much searching of routes and costs, we ended up booking American going down to NOLA and Delta coming back. Delta is my airline of choice (I worked for a Delta subsidiary for 10 years), but their timing just wasn't great going down and it was more expensive. All in, we ended up paying about $350 for our airfare round trip, which wasn't bad. And we're getting into NOLA at 10:42 AM and will be home around 5PM the day the cruise ends. Can't do much better than that! 🙂

[Joebucks]

Some experienced cruisers love to snub their noses at these shorter cruises. I did the Valor cruise a few years ago, and it was a great energy! A day is New Orleans was fun. When they played the Saints game on the lido deck, that was definitely a good time. Enjoy!

[MistyRo76]

39 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

Some experienced cruisers love to snub their noses at these shorter cruises. I did the Valor cruise a few years ago, and it was a great energy! A day is New Orleans was fun. When they played the Saints game on the lido deck, that was definitely a good time. Enjoy!

I don't mind the shorter cruises at all....six days is kind of my sweet spot! And with this being a girl's trip and the longest I've left my kiddo for; I didn't want it to be any longer. We had initially booked the 4-day Key West/Cozumel on the Conquest, but that got cancelled due to COVID. When we finally rebooked, this one caught our eye. Always wanted to sail from NOLA! 

 

Though - I'm not a Saints fan (sorry, not sorry!). I'm a Vikings gal...and fortunately for me, they are on a bye the week we cruise, so I won't miss anything. But I do love football in general! 

[IamPEBJ]

Ill be on the Valor this time tomorrow!

[MistyRo76]

1 hour ago, IamPEBJ said:

Ill be on the Valor this time tomorrow!

Lemme know if they do BOTH the Halloween party AND the 80's party. I'm hearing mixed feedback on that! I'm packing for both just in case! 🙂

[WPTNGirl]

8 hours ago, sokal said:

Curious if your flying or driving from KY. Same question to WPTNgirl 

We used to drive and spend night in Gulfport or Biloxi the night before the cruise but last month we flew from Chattanooga on Delta the morning of the cruise.   We booked it through Carnival Fly2Fun  since it was actually cheaper than booking through Delta and we didn’t pay for the flights until we paid for the cruise.  We had no problems with any of the flights.  We’ve booked the same cruise for May and plan to book again through Fly2Fun.

[ninjacat123]

The two times I have been in Costa Maya I have gone to The Krazy Lobster and had a great time.  Looking forward to hearing about Jamie's at The Blue Reef!

[kelkel2]

On 9/29/2022 at 9:51 AM, MistyRo76 said:

EEEEEKKK....I'm so excited, I can barely stand it! Three weeks from tomorrow, I'll be heading to New Orleans for a wonderful day exploring the Big Easy! And three weeks from Saturday, I'll be boarding the Carnival Valor! This will be my first cruise since the start of COVID and first overall since April, 2019 when we sailed the Paradise to Cuba! I'm leaving the hubby and kiddo at home for a long-awaited girls trip. We had originally booked to sail the Conquest to Key West and Cozumel in October, 2020...but obviously that didn't happen. when we rebooked, we decided to wait until sailing had resumed for a while in hopes of having a "normal" cruise experience. So it's taken a while...but we've almost made it! 

 

I plan on doing a comprehensive photo trip report when we get back. So if there's anything anyone wants to know about the Valor herself, post-COVID cruising changes, New Orleans, or our stops in Costa Maya or Cozumel - please ask away. I'll try to make note of questions and make sure I can get/find answers for you once we are onboard! 

Have a great time!! We have to wait until January for ours. Yours will be here before you know it!

[sherden24]

We LOVED Nachi when we went in June. It was seriously the best part of Cozumel and we’ve gone to Cozumel at least 6 times! 

[ninjacat123]

On 10/12/2022 at 1:50 PM, MistyRo76 said:

Lemme know if they do BOTH the Halloween party AND the 80's party. I'm hearing mixed feedback on that! I'm packing for both just in case! 🙂

How was your cruise?  How was Jamie's at The Blue Reef?

[pirate4me2]

Yes, please update us @MistyRo76!

[MistyRo76]

13 hours ago, sherden24 said:

We LOVED Nachi when we went in June. It was seriously the best part of Cozumel and we’ve gone to Cozumel at least 6 times! 

Nachi was amazing! So peaceful! Someone told us there were 80 people booked there the day we were there...but it seriously didn't even feel like that many! The food was delicious, and the drinks were free flowing! 

[MistyRo76]

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

How was your cruise?  How was Jamie's at The Blue Reef?

Jamie's was 100% amazing! I don't think I saw more than 15-20 people there, if that many! We had loungers in the shade, the water was just steps away and our server Digby was the absolute best! The ceviche was maybe the best I've had - so fresh and flavorful. Digby said that the chef catches the fish right in the waters off Costa Maya. And the drinks were great. The bartender makes alot of the syrups she uses at home from scratch. I had a Hibiscus Daquiri that was so good! And another drink I had (can't recall the name) had homemade rosemary syrup in it. We took the walk up to the rooftop and checked out the pool and the views. It was beautiful! I would absolutely go to Jamie's again in the future!