Come Join The Valor Voyagers 6/12/05 Western Caribbean

[Snowball]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that sometime over this weekend I am going to ask the hosts to change the title of our roll call thread. Since our $25 deposit offer has expired, I figured we should take that out of the title. Our thread can still stay here on the Carnival board, since we are an official cruise critic group. I just didn't want you to think that you lost our thread because of the change. :)

[Randy & Carmen]

Test

[Snowball]

Wow Randy - you are fast!!! :eek: Thanks for fixing our name for us. :D

[Randy & Carmen]

[quote name='Snowball']Wow Randy - you are fast!!! :eek: Thanks for fixing our name for us. :D[/QUOTE]As per your request!....anything else?......Maybe a foo?.....HEY, I may have to come join you so you can't sail Valor before me.......lol:eek:

[newbie2cruise]

[quote name='Snowball']newbie & lhall - what are your first names? I hate calling people by their screen names - I'm not really sure why, it just bothers me. :rolleyes: Unless you would prefer that I call you by your screen names, then its ok. :)[/QUOTE]
HI I am Brook, dh is Shawn and Ds is Riley :)

[Snowball]

[quote name='lyndamr'] My boyfriends brother is on the Miracle today, I told them to give me details when they get back.

I was curious, I found some recent carnival menu's posted on other sites, do you happen to know how frequent Carnival changes its menu? I noticed the same menu on the Glory and the Legend....I thought the menu's were different depending upon the ship and chef? Do you know anything about this?[/QUOTE]
Lynda - I was just reading through our posts and realized that I never answered you. I haven't cruised often enough to know for sure, but I think that Carnival has a "core" set of menu items that are standard on every ship, then there are a few other items on there which vary from ship to ship, depending on the chef. I've never had a problem finding something on the menu that appealed to me, and I often use cruising as the perfect opportunity to try something new.

I will be e-mailing you about your kahlua secrets. I think the $12.95 was for a one liter bottle that normally goes for about $17 here, so it was still a good deal but if there is a way to get it even cheaper I am definitely interested. ;)

Please let us know what your boyfriend's mom though of the Miracle. I had a great time on that cruise, but we sailed out of Baltimore and had a slightly different itinerary than she has.

[Cruisegirl6]

Hi Debbie,

I know your very busy figured you will get back with me shortly as you did, thank you!

Ron's brother is on the Miracle, getting off today I will find out all I can.

The only reason why I asked about the menus (as you know I have been on many Carnival ships) is because somebody emailed me and told me about their menu (appetizer and main entree) was mostly seafood. I thought perhaps Carnival is gearing more to seafood dishes and the kids and I do not eat seafood. I do know that if you do not like anything on the menu we always have the option of ordering steak, I like that idea! Kids and I just love steak. :)

Email me about the kahula when you wish I have some tips you may like to hear about. Well, time for me to get out and shop for my spode chistmas tree pattern, as I sell on ebay. Gives me something to do. LOL

[newbie2cruise]

[
The only reason why I asked about the menus (as you know I have been on many Carnival ships) is because somebody emailed me and told me about their menu (appetizer and main entree) was mostly seafood. I thought perhaps Carnival is gearing more to seafood dishes and the kids and I do not eat seafood. I do know that if you do not like anything on the menu we always have the option of ordering steak, I like that idea! Kids and I just love steak. :)

I hate seafood too! there were always several choices every night that didnt have seafood. However, just order the steak of the night, they were all soooooo yummy :) I can taste the prime rib and new york strip mmmmmmm
ps I also sell on ebay, thats how I paid for my upcoming cruise :)

[Snowball]

On the Miracle the dinner menu entrees normally consisted of one fish/seafood, one beef, one chicken or pork, and one pasta. I don't think you'll have any trouble finding something.

[heather307]

My DH called Friday and booked two balcony cabins. I just hate the long wait from now to June.

[Snowball]

Heather - that's great! :D I know it is a long time away, but at least you'll have others to plan with during that time. :) Who is sailing with you? Did you pick early or late seating for dinner? You should check out our group boards too (a link is in my signature). We already started posting info on the ports of call there. Have you ever been to any of these ports before? If so, feel free to share you experiences either here or on our group board.

[Snowball]

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was nice, but flew by too fast. That's ok because I am bumming work tomorrow to spend a day with my daughter. As she gets older those mother-daughter days become even more important. Besides, we still need to get some back to school items, so hopefully we'll get all of that out of the way tomorrow.

[heather307]

I have been to all the ports except Roatan. We just went to Belize this past July for the first time. I have been to Cozumel 3x and Grand Cayman 2x. I am by no means an expert but let me know if you have any questions. Carlos & Charlies is an absolute blast! A lot of drinking leads to a lot of dancing and my husband and BIL dragging me and SIL out of there. . . .

[Snowball]

Heather - what did you do when you were in those ports before? I am still trying to decide what to do at each port, so any info you can provide would be great. Is your BIL and SIL in the other cabin you booked? Did you pick early or late seating?

I am trying to get a complete list of everyone that is booked from the t/a, that way I can see what our up to date total number of cabins is that we have booked. I'll update this post with that info as soon as I receive it.

Lynda - what are spode Christmas trees? I have been selling my old books and cds on half.com to make extra cruising money.

[heather307]

As of now, BIL and SIL are in other room. This could change. We always chose late dinner so we don't feel rushed in port. My SIL & I are late 20's, my dh and BIL are early and mid-thirty.

Belize - Coral Breezes Shark/Ray Alley Snorkel Trip
Grand Caymans- We have done Sting Ray City one trip, shopping another trip. My husband did some snorkeling off one of the public beach areas prior to our shopping last time. We had the kids and MIL & FIL that trip and our 11-month old was sick so we did not plan any excursions.
Cozumel-We did snorkeling first trip, shopping second trip and spent most of the day at Carlos & Charlies this most recent time. The last time we weren't in port that long.
This time we plan to do Coral Breezes again assuming they have some of the problems we experienced worked out. I don't know what we will do in the other ports. We will definitely hit C&C's again, especiallys since we are there until later.

[Snowball]

Well it sounds like Carlos N Charlies will definitely be a stop for us. :D Thanks for the info Heather. I am having a really hard time deciding what to do at each port. It just seems like there are so many choices, and I don't want to spend too much money on excursions if I don't have to. I will be perfectly happy to just do a little shopping then spend the rest of the day laying on a nice beach somewhere (hopefully without sand fleas! :eek: ). Hopefully I'll have this all figured out by the time our cruise gets here. :rolleyes:

[Cruisegirl6]

Debbie,

Thats what I do sell on ebay, china and crystal mainly and other items. I have a bachelor's degree but my ex wanted me to be home all the time for the children and I needed something to do so I came up with a few things and my latest that I started a year and a half ago was in ebay. Try ebay its alot better and more people know about it. People love your stuff that you sell! I sell alot of Wedgwood pieces and Spode is the name of another kind of China made in England. Christmas Tree Pattern is their Christmas China, with Christmas trees in all the dishes, glasses, etc. Its a big seller for me starting in the end of September and I make money -that all my Christmas gifts are all paid from that and extra bills I have and it gives me money to save towards the cruise. :)

Lynda

[Snowball]

Half.com used to be its own website, but it has been purchased by ebay. There are only certain things you can list there: books, cds, movies, and computer games. It is different from ebay because it is not an auction site - you set your selling price. I have done pretty well with the things I've listed on there, especially since I just started selling on there in May. Unfortunately ebay is shutting the site down in October, so hopefully I'll sell most of my inventory by then. My hubby sells stuff on ebay, but I haven't as of yet, but I may consider it after half.com shuts down. :rolleyes:

[MizzouMary]

Hello Debbie and everyone! I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer. First, I know the cruise is not until June, but I just thought of this and did not want to forget it so I thought I would ask it now. Since we are going on a group cruise, our reservations cannot be added to the Carnival Website. How will we complete the "Funpass" since it is done on-line?

Also, I am trying to put together some info. for my family and am wondering which nights will be formal on the Valor. I guess I could wait until the ship starts sailing in Dec. to ask someone firsthand, but I am too impatient! I am guessing Monday since it is a day at sea, but the only other day at sea is our last day and I have heard they normally don't have formal nights on the last night since you have to pack your bags and have them out by midnight. I don't think it will be on Friday night since we will be in Cozumel 'til 11 p.m., maybe Thursday night when we are in Grand Cayman. We will be leaving at 5:30 p.m. It looks like the Paradise had a similar itinerary through 8/22. Has anyone sailed on the Paradise? and if so, when were the formal nights?

That's all for now! :)

Thanks!!

[Snowball]

Mary - you need to use the booking number that is on your invoice that was e-mailed to you from Kevin to do the funpass system - here is a link to [url="https://funpass.carnival.com/SignIn.aspx"]Carnival's website[/url] where you can complete the funpass info.

I've never sailed on the Paradise, but I'm thinking that you are probably right about the formal nights. If you don't get a response here from prior cruisers, you might want to create a new thread on the Carnival board to find out for sure when formal nights were on the Paradise.

[Snowball]

[b][u][font=Arial]Here is the up-to-date list of everyone that is booked with our group for this cruise:[/font][/u][/b]


[b]Debbie[/b] W & Robert W --- [b]Snowball[/b] --- (early)
Lisa W, Marie W & Jasmine B --- Snowball --- (early)
Sheila R, Amy M & Carol K --- Snowball --- (early)
Daniel R & Sharon J --- Snowball --- (early)
[b]Brook[/b] B & Riley L --- [b]newbie2cruise[/b] --- (late)
Shawn L & TBA --- newbie2cruise --- (late)
[b]Sharon[/b] H & Kristen H --- [b]lhall85917[/b] --- (early)
Lance H & Stephen P --- lhall85918 --- (early)
[b]Nancy[/b] M & Gary M---[b]Nancy M.[/b] (early)
[b]Lynda[/b] R & Ronald C---[b]lyndamr[/b] (early)
Robert R & Kelly R---lyndamr (early)
[b]Mary[/b] F, Clinton F & Christina R---[b]mfinn[/b] --- (late)
Sharon R & Robert R --- mfinn --- (late)
Jessica R & Joseph F --- mfinn --- (late)
[b]Deni[/b] P & David P --- [b]yankeegirl8467[/b]
[b]Heather[/b] M & Christopher M --- [b]Heather307[/b] --- (late)
[b]Kathleen[/b] F & Emilie F --- [b]CruiserKathi[/b]
Reinhold F & Michael F --- CruiserKathi
William C & Ellen C --- ???
Kimberly S & Steven S --- ???
Stephen T & Erin T --- ???

[font=Arial]So as of right now we have 21 cabins and 45 people booked with our group!! :D I guess we don't have to worry anymore about getting the 8 cabins we need to get the group amenities. :rolleyes: I bolded the names of the cruise critic posters listed above.[/font]

[font=Arial]If you notice that anything on the list that is incorrect, please post something here and I'll fix it. If you are listed with a ???, please post here and say hi and I'll add your cruise critic name onto the list. :) [/font]

[Snowball]

Lynda - I'm not sure where you are in Florida. Are you in the projected path of Hurricane Frances?

[Snowball]

I posted this on our group board too.

Would anyone be interested in trying to get a group hotel rate for 6/11/05 - the night befoure our cruise? I was originally going to use Priceline, but figured I would call around to see what kind of group rates I could find for us. I think downtown Miami would probably have the most reasonable rates, so that's where I'm going to start out. Please let me know if you would be interested, so I can get an idea of how many rooms we would be looking to book. Thanks!

[Cruisegirl6]

Debbie,

Yes, we are in the path, I live in the Coral Springs area, Ft. Lauderdale 13 miles west of the coast, I am all prepared, my hurricane shutters going up tomorrow, have water, food, everything I need both upstairs and downstairs and a generator to keep a refrigerator cold that is if I have anything left. I am still going on that cruise!!! My ex downgraded the interior contents insurance luckily the policy renewed tuesday so I called monday and jacked up personal contents again, its in effect immediately thank goodness! My boyfriend is coming down here tonight (was originally coming to see me tomorrow as he comes down here every three weeks lives in Long Island) but he wants to be here for us and help us.

I have a feeling though the worse part is anywhere from West Palm up to Georgia borderline making Orlando more of a median target, but those things wobble, its still too unpredictable but I have learned from Andrew and Charley to be all prepared. I do expect which ever way it heads not to have power for some time. Problem being its large and a 4 and even though we may not have direct hit we will feel it. Thank you for asking and your concern!!
Lynda

[Snowball]

Well it sure sounds like you planned ahead and are fully prepared to deal with this, which is definitely a good idea. It is really nice of your boyfriend to fly down a day early so he can be there with you in case his help is needed. I will be thinking about you in the days ahead, and hoping that you and your family stay safe. Please let us know how you made out after the storm has passed, ok?