Review: Carnival Valor - Eastern (May 4-11, 2008)

[LorelaiG]

This was by far the very best review I've ever read. The pictures are awesome, and I can't wait to go - only 369 days. :( It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

 

How roomy were the suites? I booked a suite for me and my two sons, and we are looking forward to it.

[Cruisinini]

This was by far the very best review I've ever read. The pictures are awesome, and I can't wait to go - only 369 days. :( It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

 

How roomy were the suites? I booked a suite for me and my two sons, and we are looking forward to it.

 

Aww, you're too kind. I enjoy reading reviews the most that include pictures so that's what I tried to do. I have a few more I want to get up sometime today (inside cabin photos and panoramas of the ports) then I'll be finished.

 

We were in an inside cabin so I can't give you a good answer about the roominess of the suites. But, we were across the hall from several suites and I was able to peep in some as we walked by so I can say this... our inside cabin had enough room to walk around single file, so it was limited space but not claustrophic as I was afraid I might be... but the suites actually had some floor space and a couch and such and of course the large balcony windows I'm sure helped open up the space to look even larger.

[debster818]

We have also booke an inside (don't spend much time in the cabin anyway)

We are in the middle of the ship upper deck. Could you tell me more about the room and what it has as far as ammenities. Don't want to bring more than I have to. Thanks alot and GREAT review. Want to show my husband when he has time to sit and read it all. Thanks again

[Drew B]

This passed some time and we could go get our daily evening snack of sushi. There were always 3 different kinds: a sashimi (a rice block with a hunk of raw meat on top), a roll with rice on the outside, and a roll with the rice on the inside. They were all very good, I never had one I didn’t like. My least favorite was probably the tuna sashimi. I tried and surprisingly liked both the eel sashimi and the rolls with tofu in them.

 

Ultra-quick sushi lesson: What you had (raw fish atop rice) is actually nigiri sushi. Sashimi would be the raw fish slices alone without any rice. The rolls, either with the rice inside or outside, are known as maki.

 

All are delicious! :p

[Cruisinini]

Woot for a sushi lesson! I almost had it right, thanks for the corrections and tips! I'm relatively new to sushi but love it and I'm still learning. I try to do my part in enlightening people that sushi does not equal raw fish which I find that's what most think!!

[interestedparty]

So far an excellent review. By the way, nice legs, cruisinini (the jet ski photo). I'm loving the photos and will have to include some if I do a review for our upcoming cruise. I'll definitely keep an eye out ;) for the rest of your review.

 

creepy dude, leave the nice reviewer alone....geez:o

[Drew B]

:D

 

If you like lessons, here is a little more:

 

The rolls with the rice on the inside are called futomaki. The rolls with the rice on the inside are called uramaki, meaning "inside-out rolls". Temaki, also known as "hand rolls" are large cones made out of seaweed that are filled with rice and fillings (often raw fish). They are eaten by hand, and can often be a bit messy...

 

Although you will often see people eating their sushi with chopsticks, it is perfectly acceptable and even more proper to eat it with your hands. It is optional to use both wasabi (japanese horseradish) and soy sauce as condiments on sushi, but it considered gauche to mix the wasabi and soy together and dip the sushi in it. I do it anyway. Also, if you dip nigiri sushi into soy sauce, it is customary to dip the fish side, not the rice side into the soy. When you eat the nigiri susi, it is best to put it in your mouth fish side down (so that your tongue and therefore your taste buds are experiencing the fish rather than the rice). Pickled ginger is provided as a palate cleanser. Any time you switch from one kind of sushi to another, you are supposed to eat a bit of the ginger to cleanse your palate in preparation for the next flavor(s). Finally, it is traditional to eat each piece of sushi (whether a piece of sashimi, nigiri sushi, or slice of a maki roll) whole. You are not really supposed to eat them in separate bites. The exception is hand rolls, which are supposed to be bitten. However, I have found that some places make their sushi (particularly the rolls) so big that it is uncomfortable if not impossible to fit the whole piece in your mouth. I choose to eat it in several bites, even if that isn't the most polite method...

[TX Southpaw]

 

Well I read over on the fashion board about packing. I learned about rolling clothes which supposedly keeps wrinkles out, haha, didn't quite work out for me but they weren't terrible either. So I modified that idea and kinda made my own way and it worked out awesome! I laid all shirts flat on top of each other, folded the pile in half then rolled it all up so I had a big roll of shirts. Then repeated with other categories of clothes. The rolls were about as high as the suitcase when it was lying down so that worked out nicely. Then I shoved underclothes, swimsuits, etc in between the rolls. I should've taken a picture of what it looked like. Oh and my formal dress I gently folded and laid on top of everything last and took it out first and it got very few wrinkles.

 

What about toiletries, sunscreen, etc.? Did that get by security at the airport or did you purchase items once you got to Miami?

[flowerchild]

Great review! I'll be in the Valor in August and really enjoyed your review. We will also be on the Dolphin Encounter and I was very excited to get your perspective.

 

So sorry to hear that you did not get to Maho Beach. We are planning on visiting Marigot first, then heading over to Maho at about noon and staying until we have seen a few planes and then move on to Philipsburg. I wonder what time we should leave Maho to avoid most of the traffic?

 

Any other items on the DR menu (appetizers and such) that you would like to mention?

[Charming01]

Great Review!!!

A group of my family is going on this ship early next year, so I will get them to read your review. They are going to be really excited!:D

[Cruisinini]

Guess I'll rescue my review from the depths and answer some of your questions!! You've been so kind to post that I should be so kind as to respond!

 

@ debster818: As far as amenities here's what I recall... hairdryer that liked to suck up my hair (it's long) so I was glad I brought my own, shampoo and body wash were in the shower, the bathroom had kleenex and a basket with razors (male & female), toothpaste, a couple of samples I didn't use them but I think one was medicine of some kind. There are a bunch of shelves in the bathroom to hold stuff so I liked that...didn't need an organizer. That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

@ DrewB: Thanks for the sushi lessons, I feel like I've been enlightened. It's good to learn new things!

 

@ TXSouthpaw: I brought everything I needed but was prepared to buy if I needed anything else especially sunscreen. But, I stuck to the 3-1-1 rule (3oz or less, all of it in a 1 quart ziploc bag, 1 bag per person) and didn't have any problems going through security. I had to utilize DH's bag for some of my stuff but I was able to fit everything I needed and it was a lot!!

 

@ flowerchild:

Your plan sounds much better than ours so I really think you'll be fine. But, I have no idea about traffic, I believe I read you need to leave by about 3 I think...ask some of the folks over on the St Martin board because there are several there that have done this so they could probably give you a better answer than me.

 

I never had anything I didn't like in the DR, I'm not too picky but I do love food! I usually got soups (french onion, asparagus, chilled peach, chilled cherry, lobster bisque) for appetizers and I thought they were great. DH got a quesadilla one time and usually shrimp/seafood of whatever sort they were serving and liked it. They serve a variety of bread before or right after you order while you're waiting and those were yummy. I tried to get items I wouldn't normally eat just to try new things. I had lamb, jerked pork, chateaubriand, and DH usually got seafood and we both liked it all!! For desserts, same idea as dinner to try different things, I'm not a chocolate cake fan but DH tried the melting cake once and he liked it and I thought it was good too but preferred to try other items each night. I really loved the cappuccino pie, creme brulee, tiramisu, and the fig/date/cinnamon cake (sounds weird but delish!). I liked (but not loved) baked alaska and bitter & blanc.

[Cruisinini]

We didn’t really think about taking photos of the cabin and now I wish I had because I remember the trouble I had trying to find photos of an inside cabin. But, here are the few photos I have of our inside cabin.

 

(Below: On the right side of this photo is the small desk area with a chair and mirror. Under the TV is where the safe is and below our collection of towel animals is 3? drawers to store stuff. Where I am standing is another mirror and small area to store more stuff, underneath is where the fridge is I assume. It was locked and we never needed into it so that’s just a guess. To my left was a small table that could be moved around the room. To my right is the small hall leading to the door and there are 3 large wardrobes with more than plenty of room to store stuff on shelves or hang.)

 

 

(Below: This photo is taken from the other corner of the room looking toward the small hall area leading to the door. Behind DH is the door to the bathroom which is in the front corner of the room. You can also see a little bit more of the drawers and table I mentioned in the above photo.)

 

 

(Below: This is the bed…2 twins pushed together and a mattress on top. Yes, you can tell there’s a bump in between if you decide to lay there but it was never really that big of a bother to us.)

 

 

 

 

We attempted to take some panoramic shots at each port from the ship. DH kindly photoshopped them together for me. They’re not great quality but I think they do give a good idea of what you see so I thought it might be cool to share them as well.

 

(Below: Nassau, Bahamas)

 

(Below: St Thomas)

 

(Below: St Maarten)

 

 

 

That's all I have folks unless you have specific requests or questions. I hope you have enjoyed and found some useful/helpful info.