Carnival Valor Review A Quick Getaway

Good day fellow CC friends. We're back safe and sound from our Memorial day cruise aboard the Valor. We came. We saw. We conquered. This was BFs theme throughout the cruise. He was a virgin and wanted to test out the waters. Im a die hard cruiser and he's trying to figure out what's all the fuss about. So sit back relax and let me take you on a short jorney.

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We board the Valor on 7/10 for our anniversary. We've never been on the Valor, any tips/suggestions about the ship? Any suggestions on things to do at the ports?

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Looking forward to your review! We sail on Valor next month!

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Sounds like its going to be a very fun review thanks.

This cruise came about over MLK weekend. The BF and I were in Galveston enjoying a long weekend at Moody Gardens. Excellent resort by the way for a getaway. This happened to be the weekend where all the ships into Galveston were delayed a day or 2 due to fog.

We were driving along the street the takes you to the port. As we approached the top of the bridge HOLY SMOKES the port was full of ships. U get a ship. U get a ship. It was unbelievable. Being the cruise nut that I am I started screaming, laughing and spreading my joy of seeing 4 ships in port. I was stoked!!!

BF is side eyeing me and shaking his head in my outward appearance of pure excitement. We get closer to the ships and I start talking fast and explaining the different ships. Ok you see the red whale tail. That's a Carnival ship. Yada yada yada. Now see the blue anchor on that smoke stack thats Royal. Yada yada yada. This went on all the way down that main street parallel to the port. I was in heaven and he could tell.

About a week or 2 later. He shocks the begeesie out of me and says I'm ready to book a cruise. WHAT THE WORLD!!! Let me hurry and find one before he changes his mind. You see the BF is an introvert. It took him a few weeks to process what he saw over MLK weekend. While I was screaming and acting a nut, he was processing. LOL!!

He wanted something short and close to home. So the Valor over memorial day weekend wss the winner.

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My dad decides he needed a vacation. He's been ill the last 12 months. So this weekend getaway was just what he needed. Dad it's going to cost you double. Do you want to take anyone with you? Dad said he'll check and see if his baby brother wants to cruise. Even at 74 and 72 its cool to see my uncle as the baby brother of 9 kids. My dad still bosses him around. COMEDY!!! Uncle Bo said yes he could go on the cruise. So it was set and the deposits were paid in February.

I started hunting for a cool excursion that the fellas would love. I go to Cozumel every few months via cruising. Nachi Cocum, beach, lounge chair, free food and drinks. I'm good. But the senior saints (my dad and uncle) and the BF needed activities.

I thought maybe deep sea fishing. They love fishing. So I scoured the internet and found deep sea fishing and snorkeling at Chichicharters.com. I read the reviews and for the most part they were spot on.

I contacted them and made a reservation. They emailed me with the details and a link to place the deposit. Easy peasy. Let me add they were a pleasure to work with from start to finish. The instructions are very detailed. Who, what, where, when why, how? All answered.

Deposit sent and reservation accepted.

Im a hotwire and priceline junkie. I never pay full price for a hotel room. NEVER EVER! So I start searching for a hotel room in Galveston for that Wednesday night. I setup a couple of alerts for price drops. About 3 weeks before the cruise Im perusing on hotwire and a 4 star hotel in Galveston East and Harbor area appears at $80/night. I do a quick search on betterbidding.com to narrow down possible selections. They were favorable so I went for it.

It turned out to be The Tremont House. Excellent hotel for $80/night. BAM!! SCORE!!!

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Fast forward to Wednesday, May 24. I wake up leisurely and throw my toiletries in the suitcase. I also decide I could use a haircut. Looking back BIG MISTAKE!

I live in a suburb of Dallas. My beautician is in Dallas about a 40 minute drive. I didn't feel like making that drive so how hard could it be to find someone local to give me a trim. REAL HARD!

After two failing attempts I finally landed this guy who trimmed me up fabulously! Thanks INKY!!! Yep that was his nickname. LOL!! But this escapade set me back a couple of hours.

BF calls around noon and says he's on his way. I call dad and uncle and tell them to meet me at my house pronto. I get my behind out of Catos and hightail it home.

About 2ish we're on the road headed south on I45.

Gotta make our obligatory stop at Buccees.

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Interesting! Following along.

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Thank you for the review and if you have menus, fun times ect. please share thanks in advance.

UPGRADE!!!! Yep that's what we received when we arrived at The Tremont House.

Shout out to Natalie. She went over and above the call of duty. She said let me put you in rooms close together. I said no that's not necessary. She said does that mean you don't want to be close to the other room. I said YES! LOL!!

She said let me see what I can do. This is what she did.

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Presidential Suite!

It was a huge one bedroom suite i.e. apartment.

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This vacation is starting off GREAT!!!

BTW I'm taking these photos with my Samsung galaxy seven. I didn't take a lot of pics and once we got on the ship I kind of forgot to take pics. So my apologies. Im also at work typing this review on the aforementioned Galaxy 7. Ignore typos and fat finger mistakes.

Dad and uncle were tired and needed to rest. It was still daylight so we headed down to the Seawall.

We made our Wally world stop. And then our favourite stop Fishtails for some ICE CREAM!

Back to the Tremont for some shut eye.

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Im too EXCITED TO SLEEP. We were up and walking the pier around 6 or 7ish.

And then we saw this.

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Following along!

Yep the Carnival Valor was making her presence known. She was creeping down the ocean thoroughfare to port at the Galveston port. And boy were we excited. Even the BF had moments of sure pleasure when he saw our home for the next 4 nights.

So we left the pier and who do we see the Sr saints rounding the corner. I guess they couldn't sleep either. LOL

We stopped at the cafe in the TH and had frittatas. They were pretty good at $11 each plus you got fruit.

The SS made it back as we were finishing breakfast. Dad tries to scold me for not picking a hotel with free breakfast. Free breakfast or free suite upgrade. Free suite upgrade will win every time.

So yesterday when I checked in Natalie at reservations asked me why I was here and made small talk. I told her we were cruising. She asked if I had already purchased cruise parking. I told her no we were just going to park down the street at the port parking garage. She said if we valet, $18.40 we could park at their long term parking at hotel galvez for FREE. She said it would save me $70.

Are you serious?

Yes!

Book it!

She asked me what time I wanted the free shuttle ride to the port l said 1030am. She called HG, reserved our time slot and said its done.

Free suite upgrade!

Free parking!

Free shuttle ride to port!

So after breakfast and a little nap. We had been up since 5ish. We packed up our stuff, called for the car and headed over to hotel Galvez.

It was super easy. So after the drive over to HG, they checked the shuttle list, we were early so we waited a few minutes. They loaded us up and off we went to the port. 10 minutes tops.

If you are not in a hurry I highly recommend this option for parking if you stay at the TH or HG. They're sister properties. Did I mention it's covered garage parking? Yep. SCORE!!

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WHO LET THE ROOKIES OUT?!?! WOOP! WOOP!

That's how I felt during the entire registration process at the port. There were maybe 3 or 4 families ahead of us in line to register. 2 minutes later they wave us over to the counter.

Hi welcome. Your passport pic didn't come out right. We need another pic. Ok np.

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Great start and awesome pictures!!!!

Patiently waiting for more.

lol

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Can't wait to read more.....

Ok lets see where was I? Registering at the port. So the lady took my pic and proceeded to check everything.

She then says you will have to go to guest services to add your money.

Me nope we'll go to another line. Standing in guest service line on day one not going to happen.

She said I can't let you go to another line. I'll get my supervisor.

Me puzzled look on my face. Ok get a supervisor.

She comes back and ask us to follow her to another computer. She logged on and was able to complete the registration and add our cash to our account.

This fiasco took 20 minutes or so. We finish and don't see the SS. Where could they be. They're still with their lady registering. You've got to be kidding me.

Dad what's going on?

She's new and didn't know how to add cash to our accounts. She had to ask her supervisor.

They finish up and we go to zone 2 and have a seat. We wait 20 minutes or so and they start calling diamond and platinum members. A few minutes later they call zone 2.

BF doesn't like taking pics. I was shocked when he said lets take a pic. Cool! Snap snap. Pic turned out pretty good so we purchased it on the second day of the cruise plus a frame for $6.95.

I must admit I really miss the BONG! That was my official sound that my cruise has started.

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Next up LUNCH!!!!

It took my BF a little while to "process" all the food was included. LOL! But by day 2 he was in love with Guys.

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Enjoying your review. Haven't been on Valor, but living in Houston you never know

Love the food pics! Please keep them coming! I'll be on the Valor this September and I'm eager to hear about the food options!

Thanks for the review.

Loving this review:)) we leave in 8 days!!! And have yet to book our hotel :/

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