kimmiloulovestocruise

Great job! I had fun reading along and went through the emotions right along with you. The first few days home post cruise (or any vacation) are always difficult on me so I'm sure I know how you felt. I love the pictures of the "boys." They are so sweet! I'm sure they made coming home enjoyable. :)

Looking forward to reading your final thoughts and still waiting on that picture... Thanks for sharing your experiences on Liberty. You gave me some good ideas for our stop in St Lucia next March on Adventure OTS.

I am LOVING your review. We are sailing out of San Juan on the Adventure in 27 days! We have a few ports the same so I am excited to read those.

 

One being Barbados, one of my bucket list wants is to swim with turtles. Your pictures are amazing. What kind of underwater camera are you using? It was crazy the difference when you switched to the underwater setting.

 

I am also curious about your night pictures at sail away. You said you played with the ISO (the ship pictures prior) but I was wondering if you found a setting you really liked. Your sail away of the coast/forts are great. What settings did you use to not have motion? Did you use a tripod?

 

You do a great job including everything in your review, I wish your review was of the AOS. I am searching for all the information you included about the Liberty.

 

Speaking of the Liberty, I sailed that ship a couple years ago and it was one of my favorite ships! I would love to sail on her again.

 

Thanks again!

Xrayvin,

I too am sailing on Adventure OTS out of San Juan but not until March 2016. Only 132 days but who's counting? LOL I just started doing my research on Adventure as well. Please let us know how your cruise was!

We sailed on Jewel OTS this past April (Southern Caribbean) and it was wonderful. "Max's mom" has many Royal Caribbean reviews and some of hers were from Adventure. Her reviews are good reads, maybe you can get some of the info you are looking for from them.

Have a wonderful time!

I am officially caught up! I very much am enjoying all the pictures. You can never take too many pictures of paradise! I love your writing style and sense of humor :). Reading along is making me relive the great times we had on Valor in April 2014 and has inspired me to get out my memorabilia from my Carnival Liberty cruise from 2007. She sure is a beauty of a ship. I am also taking notes for my upcoming RC Adventure of the Seas March 2016 cruise. We will be sailing out of San Juan visiting St Thomas and St Lucia for the duplicate islands and additionally St Croix, Antigua, and Grenada. There is no place more beautiful than the Southern Caribbean!

Thanks for taking the time to write your review!

Hi Holly,

It took me a few days to get my head above water but I'm back from Carnival Valor! We landed Sunday night 8:20 and I went right back to work Monday morning. It was tough shifting gears! I'm trying to stay positive by continuing to tell myself that I am going to work hard to save for the next vacation! :)

We had a fantastic time on the cruise! Sadly we too missed a port. It was St Kitts :( The captain said it was due to high winds and strong currents but he did try 3 different times to back us in with no luck. We were extremely bummed out because like you we get bored on sea days and had nothing planned especially with it falling so late in the cruise week.

To sum it up these islands were beautiful and I am already researching future Southern Caribbean itineraries. I would definitely repeat this cruise if I had the opportunity. The boys had a blast too. My older son spent hours at club o2 (15-17 year old's Camp Carnival) and misses all his new friends. My younger son hung out with me most of the time and still hasn't stopped talking about the cool stuff he learned on the Behind the Fun tour on-board. We met some wonderful people on the ship and on the flights too.

My email address is kimmilou143@msn.com. Feel free to send me an email at your convenience and we can exchange info to find each other on facebook.

One of my friends was just over for a few minutes. One of her dearest friends suddenly passed away of a massive heart attack. I'm a photographer so we were getting images together to get to the funeral home. She got upset and started crying. Jack was laying on a table by me and when she got upset he got up went over and started nudging her. It was so sweet, like he knew she was upset and he stayed there till she calmed down. He for sure has more personality then any cat I have ever had. I love orange one's too. I have two of those, two tortoises and a white colored with silver tips. I am for sure a cat lover!!

Does your black one still have violet eyes?

I sure hope Holly is having a great time on The Liberty this week. I saw some friends today and they just got off her Saturday. They missed Half Moon Cay because of high winds.

Gracie,

Your Jack sounds like a sweetheart. As I was typing my previous sentence Mr. Panther jumped up to pay me a visit. Any "typos" can be blamed on him because he is head butting my hands as I type on my laptop. No his eyes slowly turned green when he was a kitten. He's still beautiful however.

I too hope Holly is having a great time on her cruise. That's too bad Half Moon Cay got canceled on your friends' sailing. That is definitely one of my favorite beaches and I have booked two of my previous cruises just to go back to Half Moon Cay. Four days until my sons and I board Valor! Can't wait!!

Enjoy your kitties. :) I will miss mine next week.

Kim

Was just reading you previous post about your cats. I have 6. A black one with a bad eye of course we named him Jack. I have always had black cats since I was little. This is my first male black cat though. All of mine too are rescues. I lost my 19 year old solid white deaf cat last October. It was awful. I had her since the day she was born. I am not looking for another but if a white deaf cat crossed my path she or he just may #7!! LOL

Hope you have a great cruise. Wow tomorrow, can't believe you have the time to post!! Maybe you will hit a slot machine and you can come join me on the Valor in November!!

Gracie,

My "Panther" is solid black with two single white hairs on his body. One on his chest and one between his eyes. I love black cats too and have known my cat since he was two days old. His mother (who is black/orange) had 5 kittens. 4 out of the 5 were orange/white striped and my boy was the black sheep of the family and had violet eyes once they opened. It was love at first sight and I knew he was going home with me once he was weaned. He has been a pure joy ever since.

So sorry for the loss of your white/deaf kitty. I'm sure she had a wonderful life. It's so nice to know that there are people who love their cats as much as I do. :)

Kim

Holly,

So sorry I wasn't able to jump on and respond yesterday. Hopefully right now as I type you are well on your way to that Carnival Liberty cruise. Hope you have/had a wonderful time. I will check in after my cruise and we will have a lot to talk about at that time!

I also wanted to let you know I have a photo album of the Club Med Turkoise trip on my fb page if you too have one and would like to friend me you are welcome to look at my pics. We can discuss when we return from our cruises.

Bon Voyage!!

Kim

Hi Kimmilou!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my review. This was my first and I had tossed the idea around then finally decided to do one. The main reason is because of the itinerary. Not only is it the most scenic (IMHO) but there is so much to see and do and I have never seen a Valor or Victory review that was the same. I am so happy that you found this helpful in planning your upcoming cruise. You must really be getting excited. I remember how I was before our cruise last year - drove DH nuts! :)

 

As you can see from my signature, this was our 5th cruise, 4th with Carnival and one on RC in 2000. We liked that one but Carnival is more for us. Our very first cruise was on Carnival Festivale (no longer with Carnival) in 1992 (our honeymoon cruise) and it was a very similar itinerary out of San Juan. We went to Dominica and Martinique instead of St. Lucia and St. Kitts. I had forgotten just how beautiful these islands were until I read Dirkgun's first Victory review and was sold and the Southern itinerary out of San Juan HAD to be the next cruise. We also stayed at an AI in Negril, Jamaica, for a week in 2007 and fell in love with that too and would love to do it again. How did you like the AI in Turks & Caicos? We were in Grand Turk on a cruise stop in May 2010 and liked it, but would love to stay at one of the AI's in Providenciales one of these days. Yes, I did mention GAPearl's review in mine. I read her whole review a couple of months before our cruise and it was the first review I saw of Valor on the Southern itinerary. She really does seem like a great gal and fun to cruise with and she's got some wonderful reviews. It was the other reviews that I found very helpful for ideas in planning our cruise.

 

I think your sons will love the Valor. We met a family last year that took their 16 year-old son to celebrate his birthday and I was talking to him a few times too and he LOVED it. It will be a great and fun experience for you sons.

 

Sounds like you've got some great plans in place for your cruise. We were in Trunk Bay, St. John on our Glory cruise in 2010 and loved it. I wanted to go back this time, but doing it on our own to allow more time there. DH wanted to stay in St. Thomas. We both wanted to do the Skyride to Paradise Point, but it closed down a few weeks before our trip for road construction and renovation of the building at the top. Next time. So glad you're doing a tour in St. Kitts - that is our only regret. Even though it was our rainy day, what we were able to see was just beautiful.

 

Oh the magnets, love collecting them. They are small, don't take up much space or weight and seeing them on our fridge brings back many happy memories. My magnet from St. Thomas is now broken. It's an iguana with a long tail. On of our 8 month old cats decided to get up there and get it, knocking it down to our ceramic tile floor and broke it (tail in 3 pieces and part of his foot). I super glued most of it but am still missing a piece of the tail and the foot. It's under furniture somewhere but I don't have time to go on a hunt for it. They broke two more, but it was just the magnets being knocked loose and I was able to glue those back.

 

I haven't had a chance to mention, but we are going on Carnival Liberty (Western Caribbean) this weekend and are so excited. It was last minute but after this cold, snowy, never ending winter, we had to do it. No family land vacation this year, so we decided to cruise. My only fear is that I loved Valor and the Southern Itinerary so much that I'm setting myself up for a let down. LOL!!! We've been to the Western before so we know what it's like. We are also flying down the day of, so I'm with you in worries about the flight being on time and getting our luggage. I've got most packed in my carry-on...just in case.

 

Oh, I know what you mean about that "vacation's over" part of the review. Honestly, when writing this, I felt the same way again. I've even gotten that feeling from other reviews I've gotten involved in too.

 

When we flew down to San Juan it was the day before but I had the window seat and I was able to see Old San Juan and the cruise docks but no Valor since she wasn't due till the next morning. My first glimpse was from the taxi from our hotel, but just that excitement.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to comment and share what you'll be doing on your Valor cruise. It's 10 days for you now and tomorrow you can start that single digit dance! I hope you all have a wonderful time, great weather and many happy memories. :)

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Somehow I know you will have a fantastic time on Carnival Liberty. I went on that ship in November 2007. I took a 6-day Western Caribbean to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. Every day I dream of winning the lottery and booking the Carnival Splendor repositioning cruises this fall. I believe they are each an 8-day cruise hitting some of the exotic stops on the road less traveled. Of course I would do them B2B when that dream comes true...LOL back to reality now!

I have been to Grand Turk two times on cruises and I used to subscribe to a Caribbean magazine that no longer is in existence and the magazine was geared more toward land based vacations. That is what sparked my interest in AI's. We stayed at Club Med Turkoise in Providenciales on Grace Bay Beach. I would have to say Grace Bay is one of the most perfect beaches I have ever seen. It is so easily walkable, shallow, warm, and has a zillion shades of blue. Grace Bay is on the leeward side of the island and when you are sitting on the beach looking at the water you face west and the sunsets are just amazing. One afternoon/evening we sat on the beach until the sun set and one of the resort photographers caught us on our walk back to our room and snapped a few pictures. Of course we had enjoyed a few tropical drinks and we look a little toasted in the pics but the palm trees in the background with the ambient lighting turned out to be some of the best candid pictures I have ever seen. Providenciales is quite pricey and most of the hotels are not AI however Club Med is. It is also the oldest resort on the beach. I didn't mind. I did my research on Trip Advisor and new exactly what to expect and I was content. I don't go on vacation to stare at the room. I want an awesome beach. Incidentally Club Med Turkoise has two daily snorkeling excursions out to the reef (which you can see from the beach) that is included in your AI package. Nice bonus. And, they take you to 3 or 4 different spots. The snorkeling was some of the best I have ever experienced. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I am happy to return the favor!

I am glad to hear teenagers were having a great time on Valor. This will be the 2nd cruise for my sons. The boys are looking forward to the teen clubs and I am hoping they meet some nice kids so they can enjoy the ship from a "teenager" perspective. That's one reason I love cruising on Carnival.

I too have a cat but he is too fat to get up on the fridge. He turns 10 the day we set sail on Valor. We are going to have a little celebration the Friday before. My cat "Panther" is a big part of our family. :)

Well I will keep my fingers crossed for two weeks of good weather, smooth seas, and gorgeous sunsets. On April 15th there is a total eclipse of the moon. I'm hoping to see it while on Valor if the sky is clear that night.

Hope you have a wonderful time on Liberty and I'll look forward to your review! No pressure! LOL

Kim

Hi Holly,

I just wanted to chime in and say hi. Thank you for writing this in-depth review! It was a great read and I learned a great deal of information for my upcoming Valor cruise on 4/13 (11 days Woot Woot!).

This upcoming cruise will be my 8th. They have all been on Carnival with the exception of one on Holland America. This will be my first cruise in 5 years. During my cruise drought I explored some all-inclusives in Mexico, Turks & Caicos, and the Dominican Republic. In addition I traveled to several US cities and just last month returned from a trip to Cartagena, Colombia where I happened to sit next to "gapearl" on the flight home. I believe you alluded to her Valor review early on. She's a great gal and I admire her a lot!

So...I am taking my two sons with me on the Valor. They are 17 and 14. My 17 year old is a senior in high school and the three of us are celebrating his graduation a little early by taking this cruise. I promised my younger son a cruise during his senior year as well. We are discussing a European itinerary but we have plenty of time to decide.

Here's what we have planned:

San Juan-flying in at 1pm on Southwest on the day we sail. Keep your fingers crossed that we are on-time and have luggage LOL. We are leaving that day open ended and will probably walk around and explore the city and hopefully visit one of the forts.

St Thomas-St John/Trunk Bay snorkeling through Carnival

Sea Day-the boys are planning on doing the Behind the Fun tour. I toured the bridge and culinary area on my 1st cruise on Ecstasy back in 1994 when it was free! I plan on getting some R&R up on the Lido deck.

Barbados-taking a taxi to the Boatyard and enjoying the water fun activities and swimming with the sea turtles.

St Lucia-zipline/canopy tour with Spencer Ambrose. We also visit Errand Falls which looks pretty. If it is as well run as your SA tour I know we will have a great time!

St Kitts-city highlights tour A with Welcome Tours/Beulah Mills. Gapearl did this tour and wrote about it in her review. It has changed slightly since she went last year but still looks great. It now is a half hour longer and ends at a different (supposedly nicer beach per Beulah's email correspondence).

St Maarten-Mullet Bay/Maho Beach for planes and I would like to take a taxi to Orient Beach to visit the French side.

I too collect magnets for the fridge and I also collect postcards from the places I visit. My younger son collects pins with the names of cities he visits and displays them on his travel lanyard. We look forward to doing a little souvenir shopping at each island.

All ports are new to my kids, however, I have been to San Juan and St Thomas twice on prior cruises. I'm sure they will keep me exhausted the whole week. I hope they have Wheaties at the Lido buffet breakfast!! I will need them.

I think it is fun to read about other peoples' experiences. For me it makes the whole travel experience more complete. Thanks for your enormous time commitment. Your readers appreciate it.

As a closing thought I just want to share something with you. While reading your review I was so into it and involved emotionally apparently that when you discussed packing and getting off the ship I had that sad "the vacation's over" feeling right along with you. You know...that ping you get in the pit of your stomach. I was right there with you!

Can't wait for that 1st glimpse of Valor in port in San Juan!

Fun review and good read! We board the Valor on 4/13. Can't wait...

I always go to WalMart before packing and pick up an assortment of the cheapo colorful floaties. Depending on what style you choose they range from about $ 1.00 to $2.00. My kids prefer the tube style whereas I prefer the lounge style. They are very compact for packing in your suitcase and I usually dispose of them on the ship before we disembark. This has saved us a lot of money in rentals at the various Caribbean beaches. They are cheap enough that I usually keep a stash of them in the garage for unexpected trips to the beach or an invitation to a friend's pool at home too.