Cjh1975

I realized I posted the wrong pic for Steven Speilbergs yatch.

Here is the correct one

We woke from our nap feeling refreshed and ready to go. We decided to walk down the street hop on the water taxis and go to the beach.

Views from the water taxi

This yatch belongs to Charles Wang owner of the New York Islanders

And here's Steven Sprilbergs yatch

If you are in Fort Lauderdale and haven't don't the water taxis I recommend doing them. They take you through the waterways of FL and you get to see lots of HUGE mansions and yatchs. If you get a good employees on the taxi they will point out who some of the houses belong to such as Sonny & Cher, Scotty Pipen and others. They also sold some really good margaritas on the taxi for 5.00.

We got off the taxi and decided to go to the Bahia Cabana for some lunch and drinks.

A cool hotel we saw in our walk over to Bahia Canana. I believe it was the Sheraton. It's shape reminds me of the front of a ship

Out view from our table theBahia Cabana

I've been here before and loved their margaritas so I ordered one and a sandwich which was pretty good too

Enjoying our drinks

After we finished our beers it was time to board our plane. Diane and I got 2 aisle seats across from each other so we could chat and neither of us wanted a middle seat. When I got to my seat there was a guy sitting in in so I said, “Excuse me, you are in my seat.” The lady sitting next to him snapped at me, “How do you figure that?” to which I replied, “I have the ticket with the seat number on it.” At that point the flight attendant looked at my ticket and told the guy he needed to take his seat. Bothe the guy and girl got up and left and I sat down. Once I sat the lady in my row sitting next to the window said, “Thank you for sitting here those other two are crazy.” So I am sitting down and the guy who was sitting my seat goes and sits in Diane’s seat and the girl sits in the empty window seat in that row, which I believe was her assigned seat and the guy’s assigned seat was in the middle next to me. So now Diane has to tell him that he is in her seat and then the man states but we are traveling together and want to sit together. Diane tells him we are together too, and he replies, “Well we are married.” Once again the flight attendant has to come over and tell the guy he needs to take his seat. So he sits next to me and just to be a jerk cause he is unhappy with his seat he starts leaning over on me so I just start leaning back. Then his wife got the lady sitting next to her to switch seats with him so luckily I didn’t have to sit next to him for the flight. The wife was really rude though and says really loudly to the girl who switched seats, “Thank you for switching seats with him, you are a real woman unlike these 2 who wouldn’t switched with us.” Whatever!!!!

So we are still waiting to take off and the guy sitting in the middle seat in front of Diane turns to her and says, “I’m with them too, will you switch seats with me?” Diane told him no because she doesn’t want a middle seat. He said that he really wants to sit with his friends and that he will give her $10.00 for her seat. She declines the offer so he offers $20.00 once again he declines. Finally he offers $50.00 so she accepts. She gets up and only gives her $40.00 but she switches with him. When she sat down the ladies sitting next to her told they wouldn’t have done that but they are glad she did because the guy was annoying. All this drama and the flight hasn’t even taken off yet, it made me weary about what kind of flight this would be. We take off and are in the air and Diane gets up to go to the restroom and a flight attendant thanks her for switching seats even tough she didn’t want too and she tells Diane she will find her an aisle seat so she moves Diane up to the front of the plane to an aisle see so she ended up with $40.00 and an aisle seatJ.

After being in the air for a while there is some commotion a few aisles in front of us. A passenger had gotten sick and the poor flight attendants had to clean it up. So they clean the seat and the man sits back down for a while. Then the man goes to the back of the plane to use the restroom and doesn’t make it so he gets sick again in the aisle of the plane. Once again the flight attendants have to clean it up and they laid down a few towels over the wet carpet. At this point I just can’t wait for the plane ride to be over. Luckily I fall asleep and wake up right before we land in Fort Lauderdale. We get off the plane, grab our luggage, call the Hyatt Place for the shuttle to pick us up and walk over to the shuttle pick up area. The area where shuttles pick you up is a bit confusing to find. I guess they had moved the pick-up spot and where it had been moved to is quite a walk and it’s not marked very well. There were a few people there that weren’t sure if they were in the right place or not.

We checked in early at the Hyatt Place grabbed some breakfast at their complimentary breakfast which wasn’t that great but hey it saved us on having to buy breakfast. Then we headed up to our room and took a nap.

First a Little about me, I’m 30 something, um……..make that 40 something, ( I just had my birthday this week) from southern California. This is my 5th cruise and my second time doing this itinerary. I too this cruise with my favorite cruising pal Diane.

This cruise started off with us picking Diane up at her house and we were starving so we stopped at Del Taco. After dinner we drove to LAX and said our goodbyes to my husband and three children. There was no one waiting to check in at the JetBlue counter so check in was quick and easy. Security also wasn’t too bad, we waited maybe 5 minutes. After Security we headed to Gladstone’s for our traditional, “Let’s get this vacation started” drink.

One thing I wanted to add.... The staff on the Valor were excellent!! Mauro in the buffet was always friendly one of the head chefs we met on the behind the fun tour was super friendly and would stop to chat with us. Another chef we met on the tour was at the tasting bar every night and referef to us as "his friends" was awesome! Ivan the waiter was an awesome person I got to know and I'm glad we still chat on FB. Haynar who was not our room Stewart but chatted with us multiple times a day was phenomenal!! There is not enough kind words I can say about him. These workers and other truly enhanced our trip and made it a lot more enjoyable and I do thank them from the bottom of my heart for that. They work hard and they go out of went our of their way to make sure their guest are having a great time on the ship

I just caught up with and finished your review and really enjoyed it. I love reading reviews and am partial to reviews on this itinerary since it's my favorite. Love your pictures, especially the ones in St. Lucia. When we were there, we used Spencer Ambrose and did a Jalousie Beach Break but would love a Land/Sea tour next time. While at the beach there, the guides from the tour companies seemed to hang out together and we met Yellow Bird. I bought a conch horn from a vendor and it was Yellow Bird who taught me the technique (yes, there's a certain way, like an instrument) to blow into it to get noise. I'd love to do this itinerary again and I'd love to go to Shipwreck beach, after an island tour, in St. Kitts. We just went to Cockleshell Beach and liked it, but would love to try another. I loved seeing your pictures of Shipwreck, it looks really pretty. Thank you again for doing a review and glad you had a great trip...and so sorry about your St. Thomas pictures...I'd have been in tears.

Thanks. I read your review before I left and I loved it. I was bummed about the pics but hey just a reason to go back and take new ones :)

We met Guy and Colinda for breakfast

Lido buffet

Then we headed out on the deck to get a photo of all of us

Then we said out goodbyes.

Then we headed back to our cabin one last time and then it was time to disembark :(. We got off the ship, got our luggage, went through customs and were on a taxi headed to SJU. Check in was pretty simple, we went the ought the agricultural checkpoint, checked in and went through security fairly quickly. We then stopped at Quiznos and split and split a sandwich while we waited for our plane to board. Had a stop over in Boston. As we were landing in Boston, we could see a cruise shop off in the distance during our layover we went to Wolfgang pucks and split a BBQ chicken pizza which was really good the headed to Dunkin Doughnuts for desert. The we waited for our plane

Then we boarder our were plane and were headed to LAX. It was a pretty in eventful flight. We watched TV and slept. Then we landed in LA

Sad we were back home

We got off the plane, got our luggage and my mom was waiting there to take us home. We Dropped off Diane and made it home around 1:00am.

Well that's the end of my trip. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. If you have any questions just ask :) I'll be glad to answer them

We woke up to see we were back in San Juan :(. We got up and dressed and enjoyed the view for a bit

After that we just hung around the ship a bit them met Guy and Colinda for one last dinner. The waiters sang " you're leaving from our fun ship" and reality hit that we were leaving the next day :(. After dinner we went to the room to pack the went to the Lido to grab some popcorn at the Dive in Movie

Then we walked around the ship one last time

Then we went to the comedy show and the lady was hilarious. She did make one girl in the audience cry though. I personally think the girl was over sensitive and you shouldn't sit in the front row of a comedy show if you don't want the comedians to tease you.

After the comedy we went to the piano bat one lady time but it was really slow in there. So we went to the band play across from the casino. They were really entertaining. After that we went to get pizza one last time. I love the Quattro Formagi pizza it is my favorite ;) after pizza it was time to go to bed.

Our last towel animal

Back on the ship we grabbed something to eat, went to our room to change and I watched our last sail away from our window :(

Our taxi driver was named Jose and he was hilarious. He should is the most dangerous area if St. Maarten and told us to never, never go there! He also showed us where they have their Carnivale party, and told us how crazy it gets in the streets during Carnivale. He also asked if we wanted him to take us to buy some local beer or marijuana, we declined both offers. Jose had us laughing the whole time. He was hitting on Diane a lot too. He even gave her a business card and told her he would give her a free island tour the next time she came.

Us with Jose

Jose dropped us off and said goodbye then we walked around the shopping area for a while.

After a bit of shopping we stopped for some guavaberry colada drink sampled, I was not impressed. It was wAy tosweet for me. After that we walked back to the ship and as we were walking we heard a steel drum band so we decided to check it put. They were playin Blurred Lines. We walked over and were very impressed to see it was a youth steel drum band. They were so good and they all seemed to really be enjoying themselves. We listened for a while, Diane bought their CD, then we headed back to the ship.

After the fence we went back in the water for a while.

After swimming we decided to get another drink and sit on the wall next to the beach and just people watch. We watched the people hold on to the fence as the jets took off. It was fun to watch glasses we blowing off and one guys umbrella blew inside out. A taxi cab driver came over and asked if we would like to go back to the ship with another group to save money. We sId sure and the driver said he'd be back at 3:30 to get us. We basically just swam some more and then we decided to hang on the fence again. After that the taxi drive came back up to us and said he was changing the pick up time to 3:00 we said okay. We sat on the beach waiting for the big 4 engine Air France jet to arrive but someone said that the jet was cancelled because Air France was on strike :(. We were a bit bummed because we were really looking forward to seeing it land. The taxi cab driver then came back up to us and said we were now leaving at 2:45. We asked why and he replied, because there are no more big planes to see. We sorta just turned away and ignored him. At 2:30 he came back up to us and said, "Okay we are leaving now". We decided that we wanted to stay longer so we told him to just leave without us we would take another taxi back. He gave us a not do pleasant look and walked away. We couldn't believe how pushy he was. It turned out the other group that was going to share the taxi with us thought he was too pushy also and they ended up taking another taxi as well. So we stayed at the beach a while longer them sadly decided it was time to go back to the ship. We walked over to the taxi area and a driver came up to us and said it would be 10 per person to go back to the ship we told him we would wait for some more people to come do we could get a lower price. The taxi driver said, "you are really going to wait to save $1?" I replied, "If it's only $1 gives us the cheaper price". He did and we were on our way back to the ship.

The ship in the distace

Then we decided to go hang on the fence while one of the jets took off

Holding on the fence was crazy!! The winds were do strong! It was kind of scary. The winds were warm and I really had to have a strong grip on the chain link fence. It was an adrenaline rush.

After our drinks we went in the water for a while. The shore is really rocky so if you have water shoes I would recommend you wear them. Also the water hear is kinda rough not very good for just relaxing in the water. We stayed in the water for a while and watched the planes go by. It was really cool to see. When the planes would go overhead I would lay on my back in the water and look up and watch these huge things fly over us. After swimming we went and relaxed on our chairs for a bit then decided to get something to eat. We ordered mozzarella sticks and jalapeño poppers both we quite yummy. We sat and are and wTched the planes land. While eating we met this couple who were vacationing on the island and were staying for 4 weeks. They told is they loved st Maarten and having been coming there every year for the past 11 years. After we finished eating went back in the water.

The list of arrival times for the planes

We walked through the area with the shops and went over to where the taxis were. We took a taxi over to Maho Beach AKA Airplane Beach. Our taxi driver was named Lily and she was very informative. She gave us lots of island information. She also told us she was the youngest taxi driver on the island.

When we got to Maho Beach we paid for 2 chairs, an umbrella and a small table. I believe we paid $20 for it. I was surprised to see how small the beach was. The guy who set ip our chairs and umbrella told us that the beach was bigger but the rocks got washed in but in a few months they will wash back out and the beach will be larger again. He showed us a picture in his phone of how the beach looked without the rocks. It was amazing the difference between the two. After talking to the guy for a bit we decided to hit the bar and grab some drinks. I ordered a mango daiquiri and I believe Diane had a mudslide.

The Mango daiquiri was delish. The mudslide was good too but im more of a fruity drink kinda girl.

Our view as we enjoyed our drinks

Then the planes started coming in.

Was this pre-arranged or did you just see the boat and arranged it then? Also, you said everyone got off to feed the turtles, is this an area you can stand up or is the water deeper?

It was not pre arranged, there were guys on the beach asking if you wanted to go. We didn't feed the sea turtles only our guide did. The water is too deep to stand up.

My wife and I were in St. Lucia on the Valor on Sept. 18 and it also rained like in your pictures while we were getting into port. I wonder if this is all planned....LOL

We were there the same day :) I guess we were on the same cruise.

Thanks for taking the time to do such a detailed review because I am really enjoying it! I love all the "selfies" and other photos you post. I also like the personal details of reviews. I would appreciate it if you would please answer a few questions:

 

How did you clean up after the mud bath?? That looked pretty interesting!

 

What was the weather like for the whole cruise? It seems rainy and cloudy for most of the cruise. Was it humid?

 

What were the restrooms like at Shipwreck Beach??

 

Thanks!!!

You clean the mud off in the hot tub you kinda just swish the water all over you to rinse it off. That tides you over til you get back on the ship to shower :)

It did rain on every island except for St Thomas. But I didn't mind, It was mostly sunny and nice and warm. The comes and quickly leaves.

The restrooms were small unisex restroom, nothing fancy at all. Basically a typical beach restroom.

Thanks for reading

We woke up to watch sail in

Then we went to the MDR to have breakfast and use our free drink coupons. I had a Bloody Mary but couldn't drink it. I guess I'm not a big drinker in the morning. Then we headed off the ship

The past guest party was fun. Got lots if Shade aides and daiquiris to drink. The appetizers were so so.

The piano bar decorated for Pirate day.

After the past guest party we went to dinner then back to the room we decided to set our alam for an hour and take a power nap. Well...... Not such a good idea. We slept through the whole night :(.

Then we got on the ship and grabbed some lunch. It was International Talk Like a Pirate Day so the were playing some games. I participated in a pool game where it was guys vs girls. We had to take a towel, jump in the pool, swim across the pool, swim back, get out of the pool and squeeze the towel out into a bucket. The first team to fill the bucket wine. The girls lost but it was fun. After the game we went to the room and got ready for the pirate deck party. The deck party was kinda lame but oh well. They did a couple of line dances and it was over.

Deck party

Going back to our room after the deck party

After the deck party was the past guest party

Felipe the cruise director

As we walked up to meet the taxi driver we passed the restaurant and could smell the food it smelled delicious. we regretted setting a time for the taxi driver to pick us up because we wanted to grab something to eat and enjoy the beach longer but oh well .. Reason to come back :).

We were dropped off and decided to look around at the shops. I picked up some spices made on the island.

Some street performers

The taxi driver dropped us off at the beach and we arranged for him to pick us up at 2:00

Shipwreck Beach

We paid 20 for 2 chairs and an umbrella. When we arrived there was only two other people there. The beach had black sand and had really cool deserted beach feel to it. We relaxed in the chairs for a bit. Then went in the water. The water was clear and warm and there was a floating dock you could swim out to

After swimming I got a massage from this lady on the beach. It was an aloe massage and it was $35. For 30 mins. It was awesome and felt so good. It was relaxing hearing the sounds of the ocean as your getting a massage.

After the massage we relaxed on the chairs some more them we decided to swim some more and go lay on the floating dock. When we were on the dock we noticed that people were standing on a sand bar a ways out. So we decided to go check it out. You could see the Valor from the sand bar. While we were on the sandbar it started raining so everyone started summing to shore. Diane and I started swimming to shore but then we said why are we swimming in? We are already wet, the rain is cold but the ocean is warm. So we decided to stay on the sand bar and enjoy the ocean and rain. When it stopped raining and the sun comeback out we decided to go lay on the floating dock. It was so relaxing laying on the dock in the sun. I think I may have fallen asleep. After the laying in the dock we decided to go snorkeling. The snorkeling was really good.they had a section roped off for snorkeling. The snorkeling was really good. There were lots of fish. I saw an octopus and someone saw said they saw a starfish but I couldn't find it. After snorkeling it was almost 2:00 and it was time to get ready to go :(

Pics of Shipwreck Beach

The black sand beach

We walked to where the cabs were and told them we would like to go to Shipwreck beach. We hopped in a with a few people who were going to Cockleshell beach.

The drive to the beach.

We stopped at Timothy Hill

The right side is the Atlantic Ocean and the right side is the Caribbean Sea