Valor Western Carib 4/19/2009 Review

[smch916]

Initial D-

 

I just ordered the alcohol for our cabin this morning. Just call the Bonvoyage department at 1-800-522-7648. 1 liter bottle of Captain morgan and 1 liter bottle of Stoli Vodka were $40 each.

[Ron_L]

Great review! We're sailing on the Valor this Sunday! A couple of questions:

 

1)Where can you purchase the liquor to have delivered to your room? I've looked on the gifts on carnival's website but I can't find it listed - only wine.

 

2) Last year in Cayman we took a taxi to Royal Palms at 7 Mile Beach. We're undecided on if we want to just do that again, or take a taxi all the way over to Rum Point. Was Rum Point nice enough to warrant the extra time & effort?

 

I don't know how long it would take by cab since we arrive by boat. The area was very nice and the food was good. I have never seen any info on the Royal Palms to be able to compare, unfortunately.

[RAE6]

Wonderful review Ron and although I am not going to be on the Valor...I will be cruising to some of the same ports. Thanks for the tips, but I have a quick question.

 

I know you said Belize port was a madhouse, but how long was the ship in port and did you find you had just the right amount of time or not enough?

 

I have been reading where some ships are not there long enough...thanks for your responses!

[Ron_L]

Wonderful review Ron and although I am not going to be on the Valor...I will be cruising to some of the same ports. Thanks for the tips, but I have a quick question.

 

I know you said Belize port was a madhouse, but how long was the ship in port and did you find you had just the right amount of time or not enough?

 

I have been reading where some ships are not there long enough...thanks for your responses!

 

We were in port from 8 - 5 ship time. I think that was enough time. Our excursion left from the ship at 9 and returned at about 12:30. We went into the port at about 1:30 and were back on the ship by about 4:30. In that three hours we covered all of the shops in the port area and had time for a couple of beers.

[sharilyn55]

Hi Ron.

 

We are going on the Valor for the 2nd time on May 17th. We did Goff's Cay last year when we were on the Valor. Did you find that there were individual tours in Belize that can be booked. It is such a remote island that I want to make sure that the tours there are reputable people. Don't want to get stranded on Gilligan's Island!

 

Your review and pictures are awesome. Thank you!

[Ron_L]

Hi Ron.

 

We are going on the Valor for the 2nd time on May 17th. We did Goff's Cay last year when we were on the Valor. Did you find that there were individual tours in Belize that can be booked. It is such a remote island that I want to make sure that the tours there are reputable people. Don't want to get stranded on Gilligan's Island!

 

Your review and pictures are awesome. Thank you!

 

I don't think anyone goes to Goff Caye except Carnival. I couldn't find anyone else. There are independent providers that go to other places, like Caye Caulker and Bannister Island. I talked to a couple of folks who used Coral Breeze Tours and had a great experience.

[Lisa0719]

hey Ron, great review!!! It was great meeting you guys and glad we got to spend some time with you and Amy during the captains party. I had a laugh when I saw your picture of the adult pool --- there I am with my tube and hat!!!!

[Ron_L]

hey Ron, great review!!! It was great meeting you guys and glad we got to spend some time with you and Amy during the captains party. I had a laugh when I saw your picture of the adult pool --- there I am with my tube and hat!!!!

 

It was great meeting you two as well! Thanks for sharing some of your experience with us! Maybe we'll meet on another cruise again sometime.

[KGsr]

Thanks for taking time to share thoughts and pics. Water looks great. I want to snorkel @ Roatan. Would you recommend F&F? Also, like you I would be disappointed by the crowd and herding you experienced in Belize. We are concerned about quality of service, quality of boats if we just walk up and down the shore looking for a local snorkel captain. How would you go about booking through a 3rd party (we've never been to Belize).

[Ron_L]

Thanks for taking time to share thoughts and pics. Water looks great. I want to snorkel @ Roatan. Would you recommend F&F? Also, like you I would be disappointed by the crowd and herding you experienced in Belize. We are concerned about quality of service, quality of boats if we just walk up and down the shore looking for a local snorkel captain. How would you go about booking through a 3rd party (we've never been to Belize).

 

I highly recommend Fins and Flippers! It is convenient to the dock, the people are great, the snorkeling is fantastic and it is quiet and peaceful. It was a great day!

 

Check out the Belize forum here on CC. You'll see recommendations for third party excursions. As i mentioned above i talked to some folks who used Coral Breeze Tours and had a great time.

[Ron_L]

Friday, April 24 – Cozumel.

We did not plan an excursion for Coz. We planned on visiting Chankanaab park for a couple of hours and then heading into town to walk around. When we got to the port area we took our time, looking in the shops, enjoying the scenery. At one point I noticed that there was a lot more people coming down the dock and noticed that Conquest had pulled into port as well.

 

 

We grabbed a cab for the $10 cab ride to Chank. Once there we paid the admission ($16 each but we had a $2 coupon from their web site).

We walked around for a few minutes and watched the people swimming with the dolphins. Then we went to the building to rent fins ($5 each, but you get the use of a locker, normally $3 with the fin rental). We met a gentleman named Mario who offered to take us on a snorkeling tour. He told us that there was no cost but that he would appreciate a tip if we enjoyed it. He was waiting for a few more people but when they decided to get their hair braided first he took us out alone. He had some fish food with him and he had us hold our hands in front of us a couple of inches apart and he let some food float up between our hands. The fish would swim between our hands and we were “hugging” the fish. Then he took us out to see some replica Mayan statues that were under water and a large brass Christ statue. At the Christ statue we saw a huge Grouper (at least 6 feet long). It swam away when it saw us but I got a picture of it as is swam off.

 

 

After that he took us to see an octopus. The octopus didn’t cooperate since it was deep in its cave but Mario showed me the shell that it used for a door. When I dove down and touched the shell a tip of a tentacle came out and pushed my finger away. He also showed us a lot of nice coral and colorful fish including a large angel and some huge Parrotfish.

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the tour and gave Mario a tip. He is also a dive instructor and he gave us his e-mail address in case we come back to Coz. If anyone wants his e-mail just let me know.

After the tour we snorkeled on our own for a while and then went to sit on the beach. We decided that we were enjoying the park so much that we were going to skip going to town. The park itself is beautiful and it wasn’t at all crowded. There was probably about 200 people total but we had a large stretch of beach to ourselves. We were hungry by then so we went to the restaurant that is along the beach and had a couple of beers (Dos Equis and Tecate) and some lunch. We shared an order of guacamole (excellent) and I had grilled Mahi Mahi (excellent) and my wife had chicken enchiladas with some of the best mole sauce I have ever tasted. While we were eating we were serenaded by a group of musicians. I gave them a tip so they stayed around for an extra song.

After lunch we snorkeled a little more then walked around he grounds. We found a lagoon and saw a bunch if iguanas and took a couple pictures. Then it was back to the port for a quick stop at Los Cinco Soles to buy a necklace for our daughter, a wooden vase and some local hot sauce. Most of the hot sauces were also available in the US but I managed to find two that I hadn’t seen. Then it was back onto the ship to clean up and head to dinner. I had the rack of lamb this night and it was very good. I tried the Bitter and Blanc for dessert and it was great!

We had a reservation for the supper club on Saturday night so we said good bye to Jean and I gave him an extra tip. He hugged us both and wished us a happy anniversary (we didn’t do anything special in the dining room for our anniversary, but I mentioned it to Jean when I told him that we would be eating in the supper club on the last night.

After dinner they had a big deck party on the Lido deck with dance music and margaritas followed by a midnight Mexican Buffet. We had a few things including some very good flan. By then it was about 2:00AM so we went to bed.

[Ron_L]

This is the last installment.

 

Saturday, April 25th – Another Fun Day At Sea

We slept in a little and went down to the Washington Dining Room for breakfast. We both had very good omelets. We saw Jean again and talked to him for a bit. After that we went up to the adult pool area and spent the rest of the day there. Our favorite waitress, Beata, was working the pool area that day so we bought drinks from here and I gave her some extra tip as well.

 

 

We talked for a bit and found out that she was taking a break from the University in Slovakia to see the world and learn more English. At the end of her contract she is going to finish her degree and become a teacher. For lunch I finally tried Fish and Chips. The seared tuna on watermelon was pretty good, but the fish and chips was great! I wish I had tried it earlier in the cruise.

That night we ate at Scarlett’s, the supper club, for our anniversary. The service and meal were fantastic. After we ordered the chef sent out an amuse bouche (a small appetizer) for each of us. I had a smoked duck breast with a wasabi sauce and Amy had some mushroom soup. Both were great. I then had the lobster bisque (great!) and my wife had a pumpkin something (I can’t remember what it was called) that was also great. We both had salads (mine was a very good Caesar that was prepared tableside. My wife ordered the surf and turf and enjoyed both the lobster and the filet although she said that the steak was so good that she wished that she had just ordered the filet. I had the Prime Rib Chop and it was cooked perfectly and was very tender. For dessert my wife ordered the Apple Tart and I tried the International Cheese Plate. The apple tart was beautifully presented and tasted great.

The cheeses were brought out on a large cutting board and the waitress explained what each one was. I tried some of each and also had some grapes and almonds.

 

 

Overall it was a great experience and we had way more food than we could eat.

After that we went to the Piano Bar for a bit. I don’t know the piano player’s name, but he was just OK. He had a habit of making up words when he didn’t know the right words. That was surprising. He also ended each song with the first few bars of the theme song from the TV show Cheers and would then shout “cheers!” and expect everyone to take a drink. It was cute the first time but annoying by the fourth or fifth time. We left and walked around the ship for a while.

We had planned on going to the theater for the legends show but my wife’s asthma was bothering her and we were exhausted so we had a couple of drinks and retired early.

Sunday, April 26 – Time to go home

We had put our bags outside the night before so we woke up at around 7:00 for coffee and to get ready. We left the cabin at about 8 and went up to the buffet for breakfast. Our flight wasn’t until 4:00 PM so we were in no hurry to get off of the ship. We had considered doing on of the Miami shore excursions but we had already done all of the interesting ones so we just stayed on the ship until they kicked us off. We had luggage zone 28 so we would have been among the last anyway. After getting our bags and clearing customs we went to the airport. We had lunch at the Corona Bar and Grill and flew home. We were back in our house by about 7:30 that night.

So… in case you couldn’t tell, we loved our cruise. It was our first, but it won’t be our last. We bought the future cruise certificate while on board so we’ll be cruising again sometime in the next few years.

If I can answer any questions, please let me know.

 

I have put together a slide show with some of out pictures. the link is in my signature below. If you want to see all of the pictures they are here.

[beach410]

Great underwater shots, if you dont mind, what type of camera took those?

[sophie_lou]

We were on the Valor with Ron last week and we used Coral Breeze Tours while in Belize and we had the best day ever! We chose to do the snorkeling, Bannister Beach and manatee watch. First we did the snorkeling which was fantastic. Mr. Big and his crew were fabulous and the group was only about 25 of us. They gave us excellent instruction and you could tell they truly care about the protection of the reef and the wildlife on their island as well as our safety. Lifevests were mandatory which we normally don't use but it worked out fine. We also were broken up into 3 small groups and were led by a guide which we've never experienced snorkeling that way before but in the end it was wonderful as our guide pointed out special things to see. Then we went over to Bannister Beach which was like paradise. The kids (ages 8 and 11) immediately hit the water and the water trampoline. They had a blast. They ate lunch (they have a snack bar, a regular bar, changing rooms, restrooms, volleyball, thatch-covered tables, lounge chairs). It was just beautiful. Then we went to search for manatees. They are very hard to spot as they don't surface for very long but when they do, it is a fantastic site. We ended up seeing dolphins as well which got playful around our boat so it was a success. We got back to the dock in plenty of time to make the tender back to the Valor. We had a full and wonderful day in Belize. Don't let anyone tell you not to bother getting of the cruise ship. Friends of ours heard that and regret it today.

[Ron_L]

Great underwater shots, if you dont mind, what type of camera took those?

 

It is an Olympus 1030SW

 

We were on the Valor with Ron last week and we used Coral Breeze Tours while in Belize and we had the best day ever! We chose to do the snorkeling, Bannister Beach and manatee watch. First we did the snorkeling which was fantastic. Mr. Big and his crew were fabulous and the group was only about 25 of us. They gave us excellent instruction and you could tell they truly care about the protection of the reef and the wildlife on their island as well as our safety. Lifevests were mandatory which we normally don't use but it worked out fine. We also were broken up into 3 small groups and were led by a guide which we've never experienced snorkeling that way before but in the end it was wonderful as our guide pointed out special things to see. Then we went over to Bannister Beach which was like paradise. The kids (ages 8 and 11) immediately hit the water and the water trampoline. They had a blast. They ate lunch (they have a snack bar, a regular bar, changing rooms, restrooms, volleyball, thatch-covered tables, lounge chairs). It was just beautiful. Then we went to search for manatees. They are very hard to spot as they don't surface for very long but when they do, it is a fantastic site. We ended up seeing dolphins as well which got playful around our boat so it was a success. We got back to the dock in plenty of time to make the tender back to the Valor. We had a full and wonderful day in Belize. Don't let anyone tell you not to bother getting of the cruise ship. Friends of ours heard that and regret it today.

 

Thanks! I knew someone in our roll call had used Coral breeze but i couldn't remember who it was. If we go back to belize in the future we'll definitely use them.

[scottinnh]

Ron,

 

Evidently we were at F and F and Chakanaab at the same time as you. I too was amazed at the snorkeling at F and F, it is just hard to describe.

 

I haven't had a chance to look at all your pictures yet, but you must have one of the girl in the cowboy hat and red skirt over her suit : - )

[Ron_L]

Ron,

 

Evidently we were at F and F and Chakanaab at the same time as you. I too was amazed at the snorkeling at F and F, it is just hard to describe.

 

I haven't had a chance to look at all your pictures yet, but you must have one of the girl in the cowboy hat and red skirt over her suit : - )

 

No, I don't. I guess I was too busy taking pictures of the fish :rolleyes: Did i miss something?

[falkcor]

 

We really enjoyed the tour and gave Mario a tip. He is also a dive instructor and he gave us his e-mail address in case we come back to Coz. If anyone wants his e-mail just let me know.

 

great review, and i particularly enjoyed your pics. i'm interested in his email - sounds like a good way to plan a personal excursion w/ the group, if you'd recommend him. how long was your tour? edit: my email is my user name (including cruise critic) at yahoo dot com. didn't want to post it exactly for fear of those spider bot things that take email addresses :cool:

[Ron_L]

great review, and i particularly enjoyed your pics. i'm interested in his email - sounds like a good way to plan a personal excursion w/ the group, if you'd recommend him. how long was your tour? edit: my email is my user name (including cruise critic) at yahoo dot com. didn't want to post it exactly for fear of those spider bot things that take email addresses :cool:

 

I just sent it. He spent about 45 minutes with us.

 

Edit: I must have messed up your e-mail. I used you user name followed immediately by cruisecritic. Is that right or am I missing some spaces or punctuation? You can e-mail me at rclewen at sbcglobal dot com (spider bots be darned! :) )

[sauvichick]

Thanks for the great review! Beautiful pictures!!! Can't wait until we go!

[MTcruiser]

Great review...I enjoyed reading it. Thanks

[Ron_L]

Thanks!

 

I uploaded the various videos to You Tube. They are here...

 

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=rclewen&aq=f

 

I like the sting ray videos and some of the snorkeling videos the most.

[falkcor]

I just sent it. He spent about 45 minutes with us.

 

Edit: I must have messed up your e-mail. I used you user name followed immediately by cruisecritic. Is that right or am I missing some spaces or punctuation? You can e-mail me at rclewen at sbcglobal dot com (spider bots be darned! :) )

 

i'm sorry - i realized that was kind of obscure / a puzzle when i hit 'submit reply', but i couldn't think of a better way to avoid those darned spider bots (and i'm glad you understood what i meant!) :cool:

 

my user name - falkcor (random text: see spot @ run) - at yahoo dot com

 

thanks for that. do you think he'd be interested in a larger group for a little longer, if pre-arranged?

 

edit: i just emailed you, too. thanks again.

[sylveve]

Are there any theme nights on the Valor?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started this as a live report from the Valor but my computer died and so did he live report. So, here is the blow by blow, including pictures. The first two days are a repeat from the live report except pictures have been added.

 

Saturday, April 18 – Fun Day Traveling

 

We left home at 5:30AM (!) to head to O’Hare for an 8:10 flight to Miami on United. Our flight was on time getting into Miami. For most of the flight the seat belt sign was on because of turbulence so there were a lot of people running to the restrooms when we landed! After baggage claim and a cab ride we were at the Holiday POM by about 1:30. Our room was clean so we were able to check in.

 

I chose the HI POM because I had Priority Guest Points accumulated so we could same the hotel money for aboard the ship. We ended up with a King Suite with a view of the port. Being able to see the port was nice but the suit was serious overkill for one night. The HI is an older hotel so it isn’t as glitzy as some of the newer hotels but it was clean and the rooms were comfortable. It is also right across the street from Bayside Marketplace so there are plenty of restaurants and shops nearby.

 

We walked around Bayside after dropping off our luggage and had lunch as The Knife, and Argentinian Steakhouse. The place smelled great so we decided to try it since we hadn’t had any breakfast. It was good but not great. The lunch price was $26 for all you can eat salad bar and grilled meats, fish and veggies. That also includes two beers, Sangria or a bottle of house wine. Not a bad deal, but I don’t think I would do it again. The food was tasty, but pretty much everything was overcooked since it was sitting on a hot grill until you walked up and asked for whatever you wanted.

 

That night we went to the Lincoln Road Mall in South Beach and walked around for a couple of hours. We stopped at a Cuban restaurant (Yuca) for a couple of appetizers and drinks. For those who don’t like the drink prices on Carnival, don’t go to South Beach! A Mojito was $14!

 

Sunday, April 19 – Embarkation

 

We woke up at 6:45 to watch the sun rise over the port. It was a beautiful sunrise over the Freedom of the Seas, Valor and Triumph.

 

 

 

Then we went back to sleep for another 90 minutes or so. We were at the port by 11:00 and we were zone 17. Check in was a bit of a mess. They only had one person working each of the lines and our line was at a standstill for some reason. The family who was at the counter when we walked up was there for almost 30 minutes. Finally they started taking folks from our line over to another line and we were able to check in. We met some of the folks from our roll call (we agreed to wear Mardi Gras beads to the port) and a couple of them had arrived at 9:00 and were in zone 5. Boarding went smoothly and we were on the ship and strolling on the Lido Deck by noon.

 

 

The first stop was the buffet for lunch. After hearing so much about the Reuben sandwiches on CC I had to try one. It was a good Reuben . They make it in a Panini grill and I felt that it could have been grilled a little longer so next time I’ll just ask them to keep it in the grill longer.

 

 

We also had our first Funship Special with lunch . The Funship special is good, but a little sweet for me, so I cut it with a little lemonade.

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon finding our way around the ship. We were able to get into our cabin at about 1:45 but our bags didn’t show up until about 5:30. Muster drill wasn’t bad. It took about 20 minutes.

 

After muster we went up to the Lido deck, grabbed another DOD and then went out the Secret Door for sail away. There were 5 or 6 people out their on the Lido deck and we could see another 3 or 4 people a couple of decks below. It was a nice place to be. We were the second ship to pull out (Norwegian Pearl went first) so there was a lot of yelling and cheering as we went past the Freedom and Triumph.

 

After we were out of the port we went down to see if our bags were there and unpacked.

 

We had late dinner in the Lincoln Dining Room (Lower, Table 182). Our head waiter was Jean from Haiti and he did an incredible job the whole cruise. We are sitting with a younger couple from Seattle and a couple around our age from Atlanta. Nice folks. For the meal I had a shrimp cocktail and Linguine with Italian Sausage and Amy had a salad and the Flat Iron Steak. Her steak was a little overcooked but not bad and the linguine was delicious. I had to try the Warm Chocolate Melting cake for dessert. It lived up to the reputation!

 

 

Oh yeah... we had a special visitor in our cabin that night. She said that she was looking for Freddie the Famingo!

 

 

 

After dinner we walked to the Ivanhoe theater to catch the Welcome Aboard show that was supposed to start at 10:30, but they were still selling Bingo cards and hadn’t even started the Bingo game by 10:30 so we went to check out Karaoke in the Eagles Lounge instead. It was pretty dead but we stuck around to hear a few songs. Most folks were pretty bad, which is fine since that is what makes watching karaoke so much fun!

 

By then it was midnight so we crashed.

 

[DaDivaMom]

First- Excellent review!

 

Second- Falkor have you booked for August/Sept yet? We are on the 9/13 sailing.

 

Third- to the person considering Rum Point versus Palms in GC. It is an aprox 45 minute car ride one way to RP. It would be cheaper to rent a car for the day. 75.00 bucks covers the car, insurance and a driving permit. We love RP as it is not overcrowded like the palms can be. Also there is plenty of natural shade to be had should you not be a sunworshipper. We have enjoyed the Palms before but for relaxtion we prefer RP. If you need details on renting a car let us know.