Just off VALOR 4/9/06 (Eastern)...LONG!

[missliad]

This review is very very long! I know when I was planning this cruise I loved the detailed reviews so here I go!

 

US

My fiancé (29) and I (28) on our very first cruise. We have 2 children (5 & 3yo) who stayed home with grandparents. We booked this cruise in December via an online travel agency who offered free travel insurance. I have been on CC for a long time reading and researching the cruise and trying my best to be prepared!

 

PRE-CRUISE

Arrived in FLL on Saturday night around 8pm via Southwest. SW’s luggage carousel was the very first one off the escalators, so after we picked our bags up, we exited the door, turned right and walked a ways up trying to find the Ground Transportation desk. It was actually a single brown podium - in front of it parked a black sedan and a van marked TriCounty Express. There was no one at the podium so I asked the driver and he said to just wait for someone to get there. Ten minutes later a man arrived, asked where we were headed and gave us a card with $18 written on it (per person). Besides us, there were only 2 other people on the shuttle. We headed for our destination and after dropping the first person off in Little Haiti, we arrived at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami. It was 8:30pm when we checked in and were given a room on the 10th floor overlooking the port and Bayside Marketplace. The room was huge! We didnt pay for a bayside view room, just a standard room with one queen bed ($130) but we did not complain! We headed across the street to Bayside Marketplace and ended up having dinner at Hooters. The next morning we woke up early and headed down to the Holiday Inn’s restaurant for breakfast. We got there at 9am and was glad we did as we were seated immediately, we watched the line to be seated behind us quickly grow. I had the breakfast buffet and my BF had the signature skillet, which was good. Because I signed up for the Priority Club we got $ 5.00 off our breakfast. We asked the concierge for directions to the nearest liquor store. As you exit the hotel, you turn right, go down two blocks, make another right and it is on the northwest corner of the next street - it is called Yagno Liquors. Unfortunately, it was closed and didnt open until 11am....it was only 10am, so we walked around. Straight down that same street is a 24-hour Walgreens (no liquor) but we picked up 6 bottles of Pepsi and a 6-pack of bottled water. We headed back towards the hotel, waited until 10:45 and headed downstairs to check out...MADHOUSE....I was GLAD to be on the 10th floor (the highest floor), because there are only 2 elevators and as we stopped at every floor it was obvious that people were getting upset that they could not get on with their luggage and that they had been waiting for a clear elevator for a long time...checkout was hectic...we didnt get a statement to sign for express checkout so I was told I had to come to the front desk to checkout. People who I assumed were just getting off the cruise ships were trying to check in early and a mob of people (including myself) were trying to check out. After 20 minutes of waiting, I finally got to checkout and we headed right out the door where the concierge was getting taxis for everyone. We had the taxi take us around the corner to the liquor store and then headed to the port (on a side note, our taxi driver ended up almost getting into a huge fist fight with another shuttle driver who was upset that our cab was blocking half the street and he could not maneuver around us...it was very scary). We ended up tipping our driver an extra $15 (the cab ride ended up being $15) due to the craziness he had to get into trying to take us to a darn liquor store! Arrived at the port at 11:25am and practically walked onto the ship – the longest line being the embarkation photo that you have to take — other than that line, embarkation took 20 minutes, maybe 30...a breeze. I heard from others that arrived at 1:30pm that they waited in lines for 3 hours!!!! TIP: Arrive around 11 or 11:30am.

 

 

 

THE SHIP/OUR ROOM

We entered the ship on deck 3 - the Lobby and immediately looked at our sign and sail cards - the dining time was 5:45. We requested 8pm. The Maitre D was not available until 1pm and it was only 12noon so we explored the ship. Only decks 5 and 9 go all the way through from forward to aft – deck 5 is the Promenade deck with all the clubs, bars, casino and gift shops...deck 9 is the buffet and pools. The back elevator only goes to up as far as deck 9, the middle elevators only goes as far up as deck 10 and the forward elevators are the only ones that go all the way up to the spa deck, deck 11 – we immediately went up here to the gym to sign up for the classes available - they filled up fast. We signed up for yoga, pilates and cycling (on sea days). We walked around the sauna and steam rooms and the gym hot tub....very nice! At 1pm we were the first ones on the list to request a change at the dining room and the Maitre D said that our request would most likely be granted as our names were first on the list, but we would have to go to our 5:45 sitting for the first night...no problem. We went up to Scarletts to sign up for reservations and didnt realize until later that there was a sign up table right in the Lobby next to the shore excursions desk where we boarded...oh well, gave us a chance to check out Scarletts. At 1:30 we headed to our room — we saw people trying to get to the rooms early but we didnt — the sign on the hallway door said 1:30 so we waited till 1:30. Our room was 8382, Verandah aft, a balcony room. We noticed the fridge was locked so we called to housekeeping and were told that 3pm was when our room steward would be making the rounds and meeting with everyone in their cabin – so we started unpacking and waited till 3pm. Our room steward Sephol arrived around 3:20 and told us if we needed anything to just let him know — he unlocked the fridge, and took everything out and placed them on top of the vanity and took our water and soda for us and stacked them in the fridge for us. He noticed we brought our own liquor so he made sure every morning that we had ice in the ice bucket that was in the room and that the glasses were always replaced (we were constantly taking the glasses outside our cabin and leaving them somewhere). The whole week we were always seeing Sephol and he would always greet us — he knew exactly when we werent in our room and did a great job. We saw him on the very last day as we were leaving the ship and gave him an extra $30 directly and told him how much we appreciated him...he was GREAT! The only downside to our room was being directly below the buffet area. We always heard foot steps, running, or carts being rolled around, but honestly, nothing to ever keep us awake at night. There were always crew members in the hallways cleaning and scrubbing!

 

DINING ROOM

We went to our assigned seating the first night - 5:45pm and we were at a table for 2 which was nice, but I requested a large table at 8pm to meet other people so I was a little disappointed. The next day was a day in Nassau and we didnt get the green card under our door saying that we were switched to 8pm seating until around 2pm that day. We were happy. We were seated with four other people at the 8pm dining, Washington low. Our tablemates were great! Very friendly and funny. We dined at this table every night after that except for the last night when we had reservations at Scarletts....Scarletts was excellent! Dining room food was great but the desserts were disappointing - everyone at our table seemed to think the same. The only good dessert I had was the very first night’s Chocolate Champaigne Truffle Cake....everything after that was horrible, the creme brulee had 2 pounds of sugar in it, I ordered a chocolate mousse desert that had these weird tasting pastry flakes between it. My fiancé and another tablemate ordered the cherry cheesecake and they both were amazed that cheesecake could taste so horrible. It got so bad that by the 5th night we all were ordering ice cream or sherbet because we figured, how could they mess that up?? I cant remember all the entrees I had, but I do remember looking each day on the TV dining menu and one day it said that the flourless chocolate cake would be available that night and it wasnt....I never saw it on the menu...maybe it was available the last night?? I’m not sure. Lobster tail night was a little disappointing - the lobster was a little chewy...everyone at our table ordered seconds and it was a little hotter than the first serving. Our waiter was good at making sure we were served efficiently and that we had everything we needed (silverware, more water, tea, etc.) but he wasnt particularly chatty...in fact, I don’t remember his name at all. He was nice enough, but we noticed that the table waitress beside ours would greet everyone as they came to their table and always had chocolate milk ready for the kids and would suggest items on the menu that she thought would be particularly good....we never got that....oh well. We ordered what we thought we wanted and if we didnt like it, we either didnt eat it or asked for something else. The only free drinks available in the dining room was water, iced tea, milk, coffee, espresso or cappucchino - no juice. Overall the dining room food was good and we never had bad service. There were things we ate that we didnt care for, but did not ruin our dining experience. I noticed that some of the dining room food was available in the Lido buffet dining. Not all, but some.

 

ROSIES RESTAURANT

This is the buffet located on the 9th deck. Breakfast was the same every morning – most people didnt realize there was a made-to-order omelette station in the middle of the buffet line. I didnt realize until the second to the last day that there were not only regular pancakes but banana pancakes in the buffet line...I love banana pancakes! Lunch always featured something different on the taste of the nations line. Saturday, the last day at sea had the chocolate extravaganza on the lunch line. I tried the fish & chips on the 10th floor, up the stairs – the fish was okay, the calamari was excellent, but they didnt give you a whole lot of it. The bouillabaise was excellent also! Out by the aft pool deck was the grill area — always a line for burgers, but once they started putting the burgers out, the line moved quickly. We always stopped at the pizzeria for late night pizza ---- great pizza!! I never got to get anything from the deli, but tried the ginger fried rice, noodles and spring rolls from the Asian station and they were okay.

[missliad]

ACTIVITIES

We always found something to do — my fiancé loved the basketball court with the kids, I always found a lounge chair out by the main pool to read a book with. We played bingo 3 times and never won anything :(. I entered the slot tournament and didnt win anything, but a couple we knew actually ended up winning the slot tournament. On the plane back home I spoke with a woman who happened to be on the Valor with us and she said she was dissappointed with the lack of activities and she seemed to think that a lot of the things were geared towards entertaining the kids...and there were many of them! I disagreed, there were a lot of things that I wanted to do, but never ended up doing them, so I guess it just all depends on what it is that interests you. The adult comedian (and I forget his name) on Friday night was hilarious!!!! I wished his set was longer than 45 minutes! We went to 3 shows - the nightclub express, the motown show and the very last show, the Carnival Legends. All three were excellent --- I wished we went to more, but I needed REST! We hung out in the 1 Small Step Disco most nights and the Eagles Lounge were they had the Karaoke ---- that was hilarious!

PORTS

 

Nassau: We didnt have an excursion set up so we got exited at 8am and headed into the town area...most things didnt open until 9:30 so after 40 minutes of walking around and not being able to see anything, we paid for the horse and carriage ride and got a tour of the main shopping area and a little of the surrounding area. We initially asked how long the tour was and we were told 25-30 minutes. I think it lasted all of 20 minutes, if that. It cost $30.00. I would say it was okay to do initially, but the tour went down the same street we had already walked through before we got there, so the driver pointed out things we had already seen. I could have done without this. We got dropped off and walked to the straw market that was finally open....all of the vendors pretty much sold the same items. I got a knock-off Burberry bag for $30 and we were done. We walked to the Pompei Museum and after 20 minutes in the museum it began pouring down rain. We waited awhile then left and went next door to a drug store and bought 2 umbrellas. The wind was blowing the rain around so much the umbreallas didnt help much. We started walking down and got as far as the Sbarro Pizza place, waited in there for almost an hour when the rain started to let up a bit. We then walked back to the ship. We were disappointed in the weather as we were going to go out to see Atlantis. We would love to come back again and maybe stay a little longer here.

 

St. Thomas: We had a tour lined up with Godfrey Tours. Godfrey is the best! Very friendly and very knowledgeable about the island. The boat was delayed getting into St.Thomas and the immigration line was looooooonngg...by the time we got out to Godfrey’s bus it was a little after 11 and our tour was scheduled for 10am. This meant we only got 45 minutes of shopping....yes....45 minutes. After the shopping stop he took us to the Mountaintop Lookout and Drake’s seat and another place I cant remember. Then he asked us which beach everyone wanted to go to. We dropped 4 people at Coki beach and the rest of us went to Sapphire Beach for 2 hours....GREAT BEACH! The best snorkeling! We wished we spent more time here, warning, don’t go to this beach hungry. $11 for hamburgers, $9 for hot dogs...yes, outrageous..Godfrey picked us up and took us back to the pier....a great value for only $25 per person.

 

St. Maarten: We didnt have an excursion planned here (and I heard a lot of snorkeling excursions got cancelled due to weather). We got off the ship at 8am and took a taxi to Orient Beach ($7 per person for 3-4 people, $15 for 1-2 people). We were with another couple we met on our St. Thomas tour, so we saved a bit here. We got dropped off at Bikini Beach Bar & Grill. We ended up getting lounge chairs and umbrellas on the Club Med side (nude side) because so many people were telling us that the best snorkeling was over at the very end of the Club Med side...it was! There was a sunken boat with a lot of fish around it...my fiancé even saw a barracuda! He was excited and it was the talk of the trip. We had lunch at Tex Mex — my fiancé had the chicken burrito and I had the fish kabobs...excellent food here. TIP: No one on Orient Beach takes credit cards - everything is CASH only! We ended up getting Sea Doos for one hour for $80. Me and my fiancé shared one Sea Doo and took turns driving. It was amazing! The bar on the Club Med side had 2 for 1 drinks from 12:30 to 1:30 and beers here were only $2 (The beer was Caribe - the closest thing that tastes like it is probably Corona). They have water trampolines, parasailing, everything imaginable. It started drizzling a little and we thought it would eventually rain, but it didnt. We stayed on Orient Beach all day until 4:30 and started to head out — a guy in a taxi van stopped us midway and told us he’d take us to the pier for $6 each. We had a great time in ST. Maarten!

OVERALL

We had a blast! We met so many nice people - walking by people in the hallways and having friendly conversations with everyone — meeting people in the elevators and talking with them — everyone was genuinely friendly and just there to have a great time. We loved loved loved the cruise and would cruise with Carnival again in a heartbeat. We are already talking about booking a cruise again next year with some friends we met onboard! I would definitely recommend the Valor to anyone (except maybe not during Spring Break!)

[Catrin]

Thank you SO much for an awesome review!

 

It is refreshing to hear a first timer, who obviously did a LOT of research here on Cruise Critic, have a terrific time.

I think it was all the hard work and effort planning - you got a LOT out of your week!

 

Glad you had fun!

Catrin

[JXR]

Missliad: Loved your review.

 

I am leaving on Friday for the 04/23 sailing on the Valor.

 

One small question. Do you know who was playing in the Piano Bar? Was he good?

 

Joanne

[cubdaddy]

Thank you for your review! It was a well balance and fair review. We will be sailing on the Valor again in December and can't wait. This time we are doing the Eastern like you did. We appreciate the recommendation at the islands!

[Wennfred]

Great review thanks !!!, We sailed on her in March and also had a great time, I cant wait to sail on here again.

 

Fred

[missliad]

Missliad: Loved your review.

 

I am leaving on Friday for the 04/23 sailing on the Valor.

 

One small question. Do you know who was playing in the Piano Bar? Was he good?

 

Joanne

 

I think the guy in the piano bar's name was Ron or Duane, I'm not sure - a lot of people we met said he was really good, but we never stayed long to find out. It was ALWAYS crowded though, so he mustv'e been really good!

[Adam185]

Great review. Thanks. We did the eastern itinerary on our last cruise and had a really good time. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. We are doing the same thing, leaving our 2 yo & 4 yo daughter at home with the grandparents.

[Starz723]

Was there a Guest Talent show or a "Idol" talent show, or something like that featuring guests singing?

 

Thanks for a great review. Ill be on the Valor in July and Ill be staying at the Holiday Inn as well

[poptart]

I enjoyed your review. Thanks for sharing. We going eastern on the Glory in November. I plan to spend the day at Orient Beach and really enjoyed your review of it. We did a 4x4 all day jeep excursion last time we were there and only had a short time at Orient Beach. So since we've seen the island we are looking forward to a whole day at the beach. It has the clearest most beautiful water I have ever seen.

[Hebejeebe]

Hi Misslaid - glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise. I had a couple of quick comments to add to your review:

 

Captain's Welcome Party and Past Guest Party: the Valor knows how to throw a party. They were throwing drinks at us perhaps because we were sitting towards the back near the bar. When the waiters came back from their trip they dropped any remaining drinks off at our table. When the waiters started their trip with a loaded tray they took a break and dropped off drinks at our table. Most drinks were pretty weak but we received at least 6 per person. Same party on the Miracle I couldn't get more than one.

 

Dining Room - loved the food and the service. Second level Washington Dining Room table 516 (next to a floor to ceiling window). The main starters and main courses we selected were all excellent. Deserts were hit and miss. The NY style cheesecake was inedible IMO (I don't know what went wrong with it). I liked the bread pudding style deserts although you would never know what they were from the descriptions.

 

Fish and Chips - by all means try it but go on Sunday before the crowds. As the week went by the lines got longer and the quality declined a bit IMO. Boullabase (sp?) was always excellent. Fried oysters were good but you should order 2 servings as the number of oysters sometimes varied (too few).

 

Togo Sushi - we never got to try it because we had early sitting for dinner and who has room after a four course dinner?

 

Room Service - only bad service we received the entire week. The kids got hungry around 10:15pm and wanted to try room service. We placed the order and were told it would take 45-60 minutes. Ouch. After an hour and 10 minutes I called to inquire about the status. They had lost the order and it would take another 15 minutes. By now it is getting pretty late and the thrill of room service is fading fast. It finally arrives. They got the order wrong. Bummer. I called up the Pursers desk to let them know that they needed to check on their procedures for tracking orders. They really weren't interesting in discussing ship management LOL. In other words, they blew me off (or so I thought). Next day the pursers desk called and said they had received many complaints and would I please accept 4 drink vouchers for my inconvenience. Thank you Carnival.

 

 

Ports of Call:

 

Nassau - maybe it was the poor weather but it was a wasted visit IMO. We met some folks from RCCL in St Martaan who had a visit the same day but their Captain had rerouted the ship to San Juan due to the cold front hitting Nassau.

 

St Thomas - we also did the Godfrey tour and it was a great way to get some great views of the bay and visit the beach of your choice (Coki, Sapphire, and Megans Bay). I say choice but Godfrey actively discourages anyone from chosing Megans Bay. He tells you there's really not as much to do there; the water is not as clear; and it will require a total 20 minute detour roundtrip for the other 60 people if you want to go to Megans Bay. So, if you really want to go to Megans Bay skip Godfrey and take a taxi directly to that beach. We chose Sapphire beach and it really is a very nice beach. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Ship was late to arrive because it hit something at night and bent the propeller.

 

 

St Martaan - we originally planned to rent a car but due to the relatively crappy roads on these islands we hopped in a taxi van to Orient Bay. Since we had kids the taxi dropped us off at Waikiki Beach Club (far from the nudist area). You will see a lot of topless women but few if any totally nude bathers. The beach sand was like talcum powder. Perfect day except for the sunburn.

 

We got off the boat on Sunday and the kids are already clamoring for another cruise. There were a lot of kids during Spring Break. I felt sorry for the couples looking for quiet time in the hot tubs. Oh well, kids are paying the same fare as adults so they have as much right to be there as the adults (except in the adults only tub). I didn't notice the small kids as much as the teenagers. What is it with teeny boppers these days? They dress like 25yos going to a risque night club.

 

Oh well, time to get back to reality. Sigh.

[oceanlvr1016]

GREAT REVIEW...not too long at all. I'm taking the same trip in 32 days right down to staying at the Holiday Inn. I'll take all your tips with me! Can't wait! :p

[missliad]

Was there a Guest Talent show or a "Idol" talent show, or something like that featuring guests singing?

 

Thanks for a great review. Ill be on the Valor in July and Ill be staying at the Holiday Inn as well

 

The last show on Saturday was the Carnival Legends show and throughout the week you had to audition for it in the Eagles Lounge. They auditioned for Aretha Franklin, Garth Brooks, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Britney Spears, Rickey Martin, Madonna....I think thats it, I might be missing something. The person who wins is the person who gets the loudest cheers from the audience --- by far the best show of the week, in my opinion, but there is only one showing and the theatre packs up fast!

[Hootsie]

Wow, I was on your cruise!

 

We hung out in the Eagles Lounge with Darlene and Karaoke almost every night AND had the tour with Godfrey!! Do you remember seeing us?? We had four teens. Girls ages 13, 14 and 18 and a boy 18. The boy sang "Pieces of Me" at karaoke one night and Darlene went crazy! This kid has talent (recorded a CD in NYC last summer).

 

We loved our Godfrey tour. Actually we loved everything. I just was a little bummed at how the people (adults & kids) were out of control at times. The ice cream machine late at night was a mess and the eagles kept getting broken in the elevators. Some adults were SO rude and complaining about "lines, lines, lines". Geez, we never waited long for anything and for 3000 people on the ship, I was very impressed.

[vesw01]

In St. Maarten did you have to pay anything at the Club Med side of the beach to get it - was the water trampoline free? I have read at some beaches you pay for a lounge chair. One more question - did you rent your snorkeling equipment there on the beach or bring it with you?

[missliad]

In St. Maarten did you have to pay anything at the Club Med side of the beach to get it - was the water trampoline free? I have read at some beaches you pay for a lounge chair. One more question - did you rent your snorkeling equipment there on the beach or bring it with you?

 

We never tried the water trampoline so I dont know if there was a charge or not, but it didnt seem like there was - there were signs for you to pay for the jet skis and parasailing, but I never saw anything asking you to pay for the trampolines. All the lounge chairs and umbrellas along the beach you have to pay for -- on the club med side we paid $28 for 2 chairs and 2 umbrellas. Also on the Club Med side at the very end was a shop were you could rent snorkeling equipment. They charged $12 to rent the snorkel, mask and fins and you could keep it all day. On a side note, you can buy the snorkel mouthpiece onboard the ship for $5 and then go to the beaches and just rent the mask and fins --- turned out to be much more sanitary for us!

[Hootsie]

In St. Maarten did you have to pay anything at the Club Med side of the beach to get it - was the water trampoline free? I have read at some beaches you pay for a lounge chair. One more question - did you rent your snorkeling equipment there on the beach or bring it with you?

 

My girls got on the trampoline and were told they had to pay. I believe it was $20 per hour/per person. We had no idea, so they got right off.

 

The Jet Ski (if you are interested) cost $50 per half hour and was well worth it.

[Juanita56]

Thank you for your review! It was a well balance and fair review. We will be sailing on the Valor again in December and can't wait. This time we are doing the Eastern like you did. We appreciate the recommendation at the islands!

 

Thank you so much for your unbiased review. I too will be sailing in December with a group of 16 and can hardly wait.:)

[nikita]

Thanks everyone for sharing! Great information.