Just off Valor

I will start with the good! We were worried that we would be stuck with the late dining as that is what they originally assigned us. Late dining does not work with an almost 3 year old who goes to bed about 8:30. We showed up at the Washington dining room on the first night just before 1st seating and spoke with the Maitre D’, Prasad was able to fix the problem and get us the early seating. Our servers names were Rex, Rolando and Reka, they were amazing. They really did a great job not only with the normal order taking and delivery but also helped entertain our 3 year old. They were very efficient making sure we were in and out in about an hour, which is a must when you have a little one. The dinner food and deserts were also the best that we have had on any cruise line yet. The breakfast got old fast and was not so good and the lunch marginal, burrito bar was good.

I hope the old girl treated you well.

I will start with the good! We were worried that we would be stuck with the late dining as that is what they originally assigned us. Late dining does not work with an almost 3 year old who goes to bed about 8:30. We showed up at the Washington dining room on the first night just before 1st seating and spoke with the Maitre D’, Prasad was able to fix the problem and get us the early seating. Our servers names were Rex, Rolando and Reka, they were amazing. They really did a great job not only with the normal order taking and delivery but also helped entertain our 3 year old. They were very efficient making sure we were in and out in about an hour, which is a must when you have a little one. The dinner food and deserts were also the best that we have had on any cruise line yet. The breakfast got old fast and was not so good and the lunch marginal, burrito bar was good.

Glad to see the waitstaff took such good care of entertaining your little one

Now for the bad. 1st the embarkation was the most unorganized of any cruise we have been on. The muster drill was just as bad, they should have made clear announcements of when people needed to show up. The tendering process was a major FAIL, we arrived in Belize at 8:00 am and it took until 12:30 to get off the ship! They should take lessons from the other cruise lines,DCL,NCL,RCI all were better than Carnival's embarkation/tendering process. Good news is getting off the ship when back at Port Canaveral was quick and painless!

Next bad thing! We have relatively new suitcases, this was their third cruise. The wheel was broke off of one, another has a huge tear in the fabric and one zipper was torn off. This was not cheap luggage either.

Next bad thing! They removed a light duty extension cord that met all the specs on the Carnival website??? Why ?? guess their electric system can only handle charging one Ipad at a time.

The worst problem! Our cabin and most of the ship smelled horrible of cigarette smoke to the point my sinuses would plug up within a minute of entering the room from outside on the balcony, our 2 year old ended up with an upper respiratory infection and had to see the ships doctor (she was very nice and friendly) by the end of the cruise it turned into pneumonia. We drove straight from the port to an urgent care pediatrician who confirmed pneumonia with xrays. He also explained how 3rd hand smoke can cause this.

Our balcony door would also not seal tight because of a broken handle and it only had a crappy slide latch at the top. When ever our neighbors smoked on the balcony it got pulled into our room..What somebody broke the rules and smoked on the balcony???? Repeatedly with no action taken to stop them.

I always had the mentality that no cruise could be a bad cruise and that they are what you make of them but I was proven wrong. I felt we were cruising on a floating ash tray. This may be my last cruise with Carnival!

It was a good thing that this was a port heavy cruise as it gave us a reprieve from the stench. The ship is very clean and the staff very good but the Oder is unbearable to a non-smoker.

The ship does need some TLC as it is showing wear and tear but like I said the staff work hard on keeping what they have clean.

Wow sounds like things didn't go well. Sorry!

Another plus is Camp Carnival, the staff was very caring and was arranged well. Unfortunately we only were able to utilize it for a few hours the first day.

Could you tell where the cigarette smell was coming from while you were in your cabin? That has always been one of my pet peeves (and they heavy stench of cigarettes aboard one of my last Carnival cruises was one of the reasons why I started sailing on other cruise lines).

I'm now getting ready to sail on Carnival again after a few years, specially after learning of Carnival's more stringent smoke rules. We'll be on the Valor and I'd hate to come back to Carnival only to realize that some of the issues are still there. [emoji34]

Could you tell where the cigarette smell was coming from while you were in your cabin? That has always been one of my pet peeves (and they heavy stench of cigarettes aboard one of my last Carnival cruises was one of the reasons why I started sailing on other cruise lines).

 

I'm now getting ready to sail on Carnival again after a few years, specially after learning of Carnival's more stringent smoke rules. We'll be on the Valor and I'd hate to come back to Carnival only to realize that some of the issues are still there. [emoji34]

The smell was strongest around the a/c vent and was always present in the room. The smell would get worse when our rebel neighbor would smoke on the balcony, it would get drawn in around the poorly sealed door to our balcony. (the door latch was broke and only the top slide lock held it "loosely closed". All of our clothes stunk of smoke even the ones that just hung in the closet and never worn.

The Valor is scheduled in 2016 for dry dock hopefully before your cruise and hopefully they will address the smoke stench issue.

The Valor is scheduled in 2016 for dry dock hopefully before your cruise and hopefully they will address the smoke stench issue.

I keep reading that on press releases, but according to my PVP, an actual date for the drydock hasn't been announced yet. Hope it doesn't get postponed.

We have had a series of luggage problems and they have destroyed several bags coming onto the ship (we do self assist partially to avoid further problems).

As a result we now use a rolling duffel with recessed wheels with so far good success.

Sorry that your child got ill. Hope your baby gets well soon!!

We sailed on the Valor in April. Like you, we were not impressed with the lines at embarkation. And, like you, we found the mustering drill ridiculous. Not a very good first impression! We were also not pleased with the long waits for dinner with my time dining, nor with the crowded areas largely because of all the photography set ups. There were some good things, and we had a fun cruise. But we have made the decision not to sail again on Carnival.

I am sympathize with the problems that you had. But I would not put it on just Carnival. I have done about 15 cruises, some with Royal Caribbean most with carnival. I have had good and bad experience with both of them. But the worst experience I every had was on a Royal Caribbean. That being said I have had more great experiences than anything. I can't imagine dealing with cigarette or cigar smoke an entire cruise. But I would say most that was luck of the draw. If you had not been beside another cabin that had someone that smoked in it, you would not have had the problem you did. I too have also had luggage problems. My wife and mine's luggage looked like a forklift had gone through it (this was a royal cruise). The thing about all of that is The people that handle the luggage and people that do the embankment (at least security part) all work for the port not the cruise lines.

The wheel was broke off of one, another has a huge tear in the fabric and one zipper was torn off.

I too, just returned from a really nice cruise aboard "Valor". The only problem I noted was the volume of the "music" in the atrium. They simply couldn't turn it up any louder. You could hear it clear up on Lido deck. I don't know how the folks at the Guest Services desk could hear anyone?????? It's a mystery to me why they think it should be so loud? :mad:

"SKY"

I didn't experience any of these issues in January. Maybe the ship went downhill when it switched from San Juan to FLA.

The smell was strongest around the a/c vent and was always present in the room. The smell would get worse when our rebel neighbor would smoke on the balcony, it would get drawn in around the poorly sealed door to our balcony. (the door latch was broke and only the top slide lock held it "loosely closed". All of our clothes stunk of smoke even the ones that just hung in the closet and never worn.

I'm so very sorry to hear of your experience. My family is sailing the Valor in August. Can you share what floor/room you were in? We also have a balcony room. Both myself and my daughter have Asthma. I've heard the stories of the smoke in the casino (don't gamble so plus there) and in some of the clubs. I just want to make sure what our options are prior to boarding. I do hope your little one gets better soon.

I'll be on the Valor in January and I really hope that the whole ship won't reek of smoke. This will be my mom and dad's first cruise ever and I want it to be a memorable one for them.

I too, just returned from a really nice cruise aboard "Valor". The only problem I noted was the volume of the "music" in the atrium. They simply couldn't turn it up any louder. You could hear it clear up on Lido deck. I don't know how the folks at the Guest Services desk could hear anyone?????? It's a mystery to me why they think it should be so loud? :mad:

 

"SKY"

Hard to escape canned music on most ships including serenity. Dont understand why this should be

I'm so very sorry to hear of your experience. My family is sailing the Valor in August. Can you share what floor/room you were in? We also have a balcony room. Both myself and my daughter have Asthma. I've heard the stories of the smoke in the casino (don't gamble so plus there) and in some of the clubs. I just want to make sure what our options are prior to boarding. I do hope your little one gets better soon.

We were in cabin 7371. The smoke smell in the room was bad all the time but made even worse when the neighbors smoked. All of deck 5 smells horrible of smoke, deck 4 we never really hung out at so I cant remember, deck 3 Atrium area smelled bad of smoke, the Lincoln dining room smelled as well (ate Dr Seuss breakfast ), Washington dining room was fine deck 3/4 aft as was the buffet on deck 9 aft.

The cruise would have been great without the smoke smell. We could overlook the embarkation and tendering problems, we could even look past the damaged luggage. The smoke smell really ruined the trip and caused our son to get sick which he still has a bad cough even after 4 days of 1 antibiotic on ship and 3 days of another antibiotic after the pneumonia diagnosis.

OP: did you happen to complain to guest services at any point about the balcony smoking? Just wondering if you were ignored and how many times you complained if at all.

So sorry about your child, unfortunately there will always be those trashy types that think they do not need to follow the rules just to try to prove something. The only thing they prove is how trashy they really are! No excuse for them....