REVIEW: Canival Valor - 5-day Cruise to Cozumel and Progresso - 11/27/2017 Departure

The following is a review from my wife:

DISCLAIMER: With a cruise (as with any vacation), the success or failure depends solely on your attitude. If you go into it with mile-high expectations and a hoity toity attitude, you are likely to be disappointed.

That being said, we went into our cruise with lots of excitement, ready to have a good time! We were travelling with myself, my husband, his parents, and our 2 children (ages 4-year and 11-month-old). We had gone three years prior on the same route, but on the Triumph with our then 18-month-old.

ROOMS: Our cabins were on the 8th floor fwd, rooms 8222 and 8251. 8222 was 2 beds and 2 bunks. We combined the 2 beds, and put down the 2 bunks, and ALSO had a crib. It was tight, but it worked perfectly fine for us. We were only in the room to nap, sleep, shower or relax. We didn't spend much time in our room at all, but when we did, it was comfortable and clean. We opted to have it turned down once in the morning (they give you an option for am, pm, or both) and Yustinus, our room steward, was friendly and attentive. Definitely liked the room a lot. Would definitely get this room again. It was an interior room so it didn't have a window or a balcony but I found it to be great since we slept HARD when we slept!

FOOD: The food was, as usual, AMAZING. Guy's burger bus was hands down my favorite, fresh burgers served daily from 12 to 6. Be sure to try the chipotle mayo, it is GOOD! Also, blue laguna cantina churns out some delicious chicken tacos during lunch. (other stuff too, but chicken taco was my fave). Their salsa bar is great to customize to your liking but beware of the habanero salsa. IT IS SO SPICY but SOOOO DELICIOUS! The breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and dinner buffet was good as usual. Great variety, always one chicken, one pork, one beef, one seafood and one vegetarian option, along with lots of sides. Lots of delicious dessert options. And always a salad bar. All in all, I give the food 5 stars. Very fresh and lots of options.

SHIP: The ship is clean and beautiful. They run a tight show on the Valor and never at any point did I feel like the boat could have been cleaner or more beautiful. There's lots to do for everyone. The ivanhoe theater is the 3 story auditorium where they have their main shows, and bingo! and other shows as well. The Washington and Lincoln dining room are also beautiful. LIDO deck is where the party is at, pools hot tub, bars and food is all on Lido deck (floor 9) Yes there is a gym, which is spectacular, and has a full spa... and the kids club is large and they have lots of activities to keep the kids busy. My daughter enjoyed going there and wanted to go more than we sent her! My husband also received a $50 credit to use at the SPA which he applied towards a $45 shave and enjoyed. He also received a $12 gift card to apply towards a professional photo, which we used towards a nice portrait of the whole family.

ENTERTAINMENT: Our last cruise (triumph) lacked in the entertainment department so I had really low standards. But I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the entertainment on this boat. They had several shows, in the main theater, they had a 70's music tribute show, a country music show, and their big show which was a rock and roll show. The rock and roll show felt lik ea REAL RR concert, i was sooooo impressed. The 70's show was also good. But the most surprising thing was the country show,w hich was my favorite. I am not a big country music fan, but I loved this show. It was entertaining and charming to say the least. They also had their first holiday show which was also cute and heart warming. In the same theater they also had bingo and a love and marriage show which is rated RRRRR (in other words, don't watch it with your MIL like I did LOL). The 18+ comedy shows were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny and so inappropriate (in a good way). Loved everything we attended, and I am very very impressed with their entertainment lineup, for sure!

All in all, I would give this cruise ship and experience a 5 stars and a 2 thumbs up. We really enjoyed ourselves, and i Highly recommend this cruise to anyone, especially families traveling with children. Other than that, I cant think of anything negative about this cruise.

OH YEAH, about the stops. Cozumel and Progresso. We did not do anything (excursions) at these ports and we were fine. We did just walk around the ports and got some souvenirs and stuff. Progresso is a bit ghetto but if you can make it to the beach, you're good. We got a 10 dollar massage which was amazing. So relaxing to get a massage on the beach and the actual beach was really pretty. all in all, a great experience FOR SURE!!

Enjoyed your report, thanks!

Great review! So happy to hear you and your family had a wonderful holiday/cruise. I am taking this sailing when Valor repositions to NOLA.

I agree that attitude is important if one is to enjoy a cruise. Glad you had that positive outlook. Thanks for the feedback!

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I was also on this cruise and had an amazing time and met some super fun people!

Thanks for the review.

Going in 43 days, so appreciate your review although cruise will not be long enough.

This pretty much is the experience we had on the Valor on the Nov. 13 sailing. I can't comment on the buffet because we never went there, but the MDR food was good compared to some other ships we have been on recently. Also, the steakhouse was great.

However, I dispute the idea that Progresso is a ghetto. It is a typical Mexican town. We've been going there for over 20 years now and have watched the tourism side develop. We have walked the town from one end to the other visiting the local market, grocery store, city hall, main church, as well as having been to the beach numerous times. The people are friendly. Yes, they will offer you cheap massages every step of the way or invite you into their restaurants, but a pleasant no will suffice. On our cruise we walked around town, made some purchases in the market where the shuttle bus drops you off and we went to La Genuina for margaritas, salsa and chips and lunch. We had a great day in Progresso. On previous visits we have done the cheap double decker tour of the area, gone to Merida, Chichen Itza, Uxmal and to the all inclusive resorts. We have never had a bad day in Progresso.

Just curious, with your young children were you able to do the shows because they were in the kids club or because the grandparents watched them?

We are going on Monday with a 2 year old and a 5 year old and both are usually asleep by 8 p.m. I don't know if I can expect them to stay up later in the kids club, or hope my parents will want to watch them.

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Nice review and I like the introduction.

Attitude is key IMHO.

Keith

I am so happy to read this review. I'm going with my daughter and two friends in February on this same itinerary on the Valor. Now I am really excited and anxious to set sail.

Thanks for the information, taking this cruise in February with my wife, and will be our first cruise. Really looking forward to it. We have an excursion planned for Cozumel, but nothing (yet) for Progreso, need to figure that one out still :)

Liked your review, am going on April 2nd

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Thanks for the great review. We will be on the 1/22 sailing. Have a great day. M

We were on the Valor for the 4 day Thanksgiving cruise and agree with you 100%. I loved that ship. We have been on many different ships and the Valor was in my top 5. Clean and beautiful. Our steward was the best ever.

I have mobility problems and use a wheelchair. I can transfer but it is difficult to walk up stairs into a bus especially if it is the steep steps on a school bus. Do they have taxis to get from the ship to the town of Progresso or is it only by bus. If only by bus, what type of bus and is there a place for a collapsible wheelchair?

This pretty much is the experience we had on the Valor on the Nov. 13 sailing. I can't comment on the buffet because we never went there, but the MDR food was good compared to some other ships we have been on recently. Also, the steakhouse was great.

 

However, I dispute the idea that Progresso is a ghetto. It is a typical Mexican town. We've been going there for over 20 years now and have watched the tourism side develop. We have walked the town from one end to the other visiting the local market, grocery store, city hall, main church, as well as having been to the beach numerous times. The people are friendly. Yes, they will offer you cheap massages every step of the way or invite you into their restaurants, but a pleasant no will suffice. On our cruise we walked around town, made some purchases in the market where the shuttle bus drops you off and we went to La Genuina for margaritas, salsa and chips and lunch. We had a great day in Progresso. On previous visits we have done the cheap double decker tour of the area, gone to Merida, Chichen Itza, Uxmal and to the all inclusive resorts. We have never had a bad day in Progresso.

Where is La Genuina? Would love to try it.

Thanks for the information, taking this cruise in February with my wife, and will be our first cruise. Really looking forward to it. We have an excursion planned for Cozumel, but nothing (yet) for Progreso, need to figure that one out still :)

May I suggest the excursion: Mexican Beer Tasting and Pub Crawl in Progresso. Went last year and hands down was one of the best excursions we have been on. If you like craft beer, this is the one to go on. Check it out--it is a Carnival excursion.

I have mobility problems and use a wheelchair. I can transfer but it is difficult to walk up stairs into a bus especially if it is the steep steps on a school bus. Do they have taxis to get from the ship to the town of Progresso or is it only by bus. If only by bus, what type of bus and is there a place for a collapsible wheelchair?

I am not certain if they had taxis going to Progresso. I didnt see any. From what I recall there certainly were steps on the bus. However, I'd be surprised if they couldn't somehow accommodate a person in a wheelchair.