Valor review May 25th

[ellenmb]

So, like I said, a little cloud cover did not deter us and we enlisted a cab to go to the beach...cheap it is (I think we paid 3.00 each plus tip)...anyway, we ended up in a cab with a couple who had been on the Island for 2 weeks...nice young couple (the girls' parents owned a condo there)...so they gave us some ideas where to go...but the cabbie had other ideas and brought us to the public beach wayyyyyyyyyyyy down on seven mile beach...anyway...we get left off and realize quickly "this isn't where we were last year" (where they had a bar and water toys) (isn't the water beautiful..even without the sun??)...we wanted to go where we were...soooo...we decided that since we couldn't soak up many rays, we could walk back down the beach to where we were last year....so we walked .....then we walked some more....then we walked even more.... LOL...we spent abou 2 1/2 hours walking slowly, enjoying the scenery...dreaming of renting one of the condos on the beach and just more or less enjoying the day until about 3 or more miles later, we ended up back where we were last year. I promptly bought a drink laid down and it began to rain...ah well...a great day so far (seriously, we really enjoyed it!) We left this beach, along with a bunch of others and got out of the general area where all the cabs were waiting...we started to walk down the street, thinking we were closer than we were to port...thank goodness a cab pulled up to us with a bunch of people in it already and we got on. It took us directly to Margaritaville so we could have a drinkie

[ellenmb]

So we finished up our drinks (it was the tail end of the day and even the bartender there was exhausted after all the Valor passenger antics). We walked slowly back to the ship soaking up the local "stuff". These two and the baby were were in the church yard and so we ended our day in Grand Cayman...This is when I start getting maudlin and all sad as I know it is going to end soon...That evening is the midnight buffet and we got there a little too late for all of the grand pics but here are a few not so good pics of some yummies

And for those of you who were on my cruise...please no chastizing if I am out of order here...I stink at remembering correct days and unfortunately when I downloaded pics to webshots, I did them out of order and this is a bigger pain than I thought it would be...lol...

On to our last day...our day at sea....We spent a good deal of time wandering "our" Valor, joining in with the partying on the Lido deck...what fun it was..."] and below is what I was looking at most of the afternoon while I watched many people do the walk for cancer? up on the top deck

(I wanted to do the "walk" but my feet were so swollen from the day before...ugh!)

[ellenmb]

We had met a young couple on our first day on the ship; they were a wonderful pair and put up with us oldsters...we ran into them alot and hubby invited them to our room for cocktails (we had to get rid of the leftover rum and vodka) the last night and sunset pics on our balcony... What a perfect way to ease into our last night...then it was rush rush because we were late for dinner (enjoying the evening on the balcony too much!)

Before we went downstairs, we met up with our wonderful steward Joseph one last time and his assistant (they were definitely worth the extra tip!!!! We had never had better for sure) We thanked him for all his fun animals and his AWESOME work and friendliness..he was so genuinely a nice guy!

All the table mates came together for dinner on the last evening (sry for the same pic..wanted to say goodbye one more time)...all of us taking pics of each other for our final memories and exchanged emails and addresses. We raced out of there (4 of us) so that we could take one more chance on BINGO...our nice new friends bought us a $20.00 ticket for our anniversary (which is in 2 months..lol)...way TOO generous...we didn't win, but all went off to the casino one last time...and said goodbye to our wonderful casino host, Olga, who by the way, would always come and cheer us on at the machines, and knew our names along with everyone at the window (and believe me...though we were there alot, we were by no means high rollers!)

[ellenmb]

Our last day arrived and we peeked over to see our pilot boat following us...the mark of a finished cruise!... and we took our last shots as we came into Miami

We were very sad to go, but we had made some plans to carry on to Fort Lauderdale Beach afterwards before we left on our 4:15 flight...We went to our final breakfast in the Dining Room, enjoying some company and sharing sadness with people we had never met...then it was off for Debarkation...OH NO>>>>>was that crazy or what???...they had us (self debarkers) stuck on lobby level for a good period of time...took all I had to keep hubby calm (he HATES crowds) but he maintained pretty well and within 1/2 hour or 45 minutes we were finally out the door and walking through to customs (it had been running really smoothly up til then according to a crew member and he said it was customs...lol...I was waiting for the blame game to begin and it did!) ...pretty easy going from there..we did wait in line, but no longer than about 10 pleasurable minutes and when we came to the customs agent, he just scanned our passports and said.."that's it, have a good day"...out the door we went to our waiting Seth who drove us to the airport (p/s...we thought we would be able to check our baggage but for those of you who don't know, you cannot check baggage more than 4 hours prior to departure so we had to leave our luggage in storage at FLL ($6.00 a bag including carryons....so that was an extra $24.00 we didn't count on...along with all the other $24.00's we didn't count on throughout the trip...lol...ah well..it was WELL worth it so I could sit on the beach stress free!) Seth then brought us to the beach where we spent a lovely (hot) lazy late morning and afternoon (the only things "negative" were that we definitely felt we had to keep a good eye on our stuff as there were several "loiterers" near where we had lit (under a palm tree ) and we had lunch across the street at a place we wouldn't go again (sry...no name for this one either...but it was EXTREMELY loud and the place next door was playing something else EXTREMELY loud as well (they weren't until we had already settled and begun to eat) so it didn't mesh...

[ellenmb]

Anyway, after eating, we were off in another cab and whisked to the airport where we ended our wonderful wonderful Valor trip. (bye bye)

 

(We won't discuss the flight from HE..!!! that we had; suffice it to say we were kissing the ground when we arrived!)...We've been home a week now and cannot believe how fast our cruise went and that it is all over until the next time...By the way, it does help that we have another planned! (But even hub said "can't we find a cheapie somewhere for a couple of days?"...that is PROGRESS!!!)

 

Thank you all for letting me relive one of the best vacations we have had! I hope it has not been too too if you know what I mean!

[ellenmb]

Hi..just wanted to see if I could put in two videos..one from one of the dinner shows (me dancing with everyone else..http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3029310520103606668BINRUh?vhost=good-times (this came out dark but not because of camera..they had turned all the lights out and only had on "ambiance" lights...hub sat out, but my tablemate, Marie was with me!) and one from the party on the Lido deck the last day at sea (hub hates to be videotaped as you may notice!) [/u]http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3036458650103606668yelSRl?vhost=good-times...believe me..if you want quiet times, you can still find them on this ship! (I found plenty) but if you want to party, don't miss out on the Lido! Ok..I promise...no more!!! just had to share..lol

Geez..I just looked at those videos and the quality stinks...they are so fuzzy..don't know why...they were NOT this fuzzy on original...it came out too big, I think...but I couldn't change that, that was just the way it saved on webshots..can anyone tell me if I did something wrong? thanks

[masdolphin]

Fantastic review, loved all of the pics of the Valor and your trip. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

[ellenmb]

Fantastic review, loved all of the pics of the Valor and your trip. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

thank you for reading it...I do not know now what I will do to pass the time??? It is too far away (my next cruise I mean)..I think I must book a short one!

[Nymaria]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to post your experience - I certainly enjoyed reading and looking at all of your pics!!! :D

[dmdiver]

Thanks again for the great review!

[ellenmb]

Thanks again for the great review!

Have a great time on the Valor...say hi to Joseph for us:) (Empress Aft area!)

[sunandseagirl617]

Ellen,

 

You did a fabulous job! Thank you so much for the review and pictures!!! We are leaving Sunday for the Valor and you made the time pass a little quicker:D

Hope to see you on a cruise soon...........

[tiger belle]

good review, Ellen...thanks for adding pics :)

[TheMainK]

Thanks for the great review! Did you get a chance to go in the piano bar. I know that there is a new entertainer in the piano bar and haven't heard anything about him.

[ellenmb]

Thanks for the great review! Did you get a chance to go in the piano bar. I know that there is a new entertainer in the piano bar and haven't heard anything about him.

I checked it out on two different evenings...it was rather quiet when I went in..he souned pretty good the first night I saw him..but the next time I remember asking hub..."what is that??"..but don't take m word on it..we were drive by's

[ellenmb]

Ellen,

 

You did a fabulous job! Thank you so much for the review and pictures!!! We are leaving Sunday for the Valor and you made the time pass a little quicker:D

Hope to see you on a cruise soon...........

thank you so much!...you know the only thing I have to suggest is that truly the Valor has so much to offer but savor what u are doing because it is impossible to get it all in....it went by way too fast..you are in for a treat!

[ellenmb]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to post your experience - I certainly enjoyed reading and looking at all of your pics!!! :D

I am looking forward to going on the Glory sometime...can't wait to see your review:)

[trinka8]

Thanks so much for posting your review. I have been dying to hear a whole review. We will be sailing the Valor October 26, 2008 and getting married on the 28th. I am so looking forward to it. Thanks again!

[ellenmb]

Thanks so much for posting your review. I have been dying to hear a whole review. We will be sailing the Valor October 26, 2008 and getting married on the 28th. I am so looking forward to it. Thanks again!

Your welcome and Thank you! ...it was a wonderful time...You are going to love it;

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

Great review. We were on the Valor in Sept and loved it.

[ellenmb]

Great review. We were on the Valor in Sept and loved it.

Had to laugh...I was looking at the threads just now and looked at this one and went..."hey...I think I wrote that one...lol...last May"....fun to see it resurface ; thank you:) P/S...that was the greatest cruise!

[floridacruzin]

Had to laugh...I was looking at the threads just now and looked at this one and went..."hey...I think I wrote that one...lol...last May"....fun to see it resurface ; thank you:) P/S...that was the greatest cruise!

 

 

Can not wait 50 + days and I am going for a repeat!!

[maxamuus]

only 32 days for me. ;)