Carnival Valor March 24-29th 6 day Western Caribbean review

So we just got off of cruise on the Carnival Valor out of Galveston Texas from March 24 until March 29. We flew into Houston and stayed locally one day before one day after and took Galveston limousine to Galveston from Houston for $30 per person round-trip.

We won an inside cabin through the Facebook game myVEGAS. It’s a game that you play for free and earn gold coins to use on real travel rewards. I played this for about six months to gain enough credits to get the cruise. We just had to pay the taxes port charges and gratuity and then any extras that we wanted. Oh also our travel to and from the port.

Galveston debarkation was a breeze! We had a 12;30 to 1:30 time to get on we walked up at 12:15 and they just waved us in. We were on the ship within 20 minutes. I am very impressed with Galveston! No need for faster to the fun.

It was just my husband and I and I was kind of bummed that they were so many kids on the cruise. But it was spring break. The kids were well behaved for the most part. We tried to hang out in places where the kids wouldn’t be like the bars and occasionally the casino (we are not big gamblers).

We wanted to spend time on the serenity deck but it was so windy that it was not any fun. All of the hot tubs were hard to find room, they were packed with kids in the family areas in spring breakers who were “barely adults” in the adult areas. But I can’t complain much because we had so much fun and it was free!

We did a lot of relaxing and ended up going to all the bars and nightclubs late into the night and then sleeping in. They had amazing live bands that we really enjoyed. But they only hold shows on three of the nights (two each night) from the playlist players. On our miracle cruise they had two shows every night. The comedians were very good. I heard one was excellent but we didn’t catch his show and the other one his name was Jamie something was hilarious!

Guys burger joint was amazing! And the blue iguana had excellent food too. It was a step up from the carnival miracle that we took a year ago. I have to eat a gluten-free diet and they upgraded the gluten-free bread from tasting like baked vomit to bland and more like bread. They had gluten-free bun so I was able to enjoy the burgers.

The dinner in the evening was very good. Even with a gluten-free diet I was able to eat almost anything I wanted to that did not include breading. The service was good except for the last night when everyone decided to eat in the dining room. Service was very slow that night. And of course it was much better on port days when a lot of people skip the dining room and eight on the Lido deck.

We stuck with an interior cabin so we could save money and spend it on excursions instead. We were very pleased with the inside cabin as we are not very large people so it was easy to get around in the room. I understand if someone is bigger like a linebacker size guy and you get a balcony so you can move around better we made a few people who did that for that reason.

Room service was quick and efficient. We broke a wine corkscrew and they were quick to bring us another one. Oh and we did buy some at carnivals drinks and they were very strong! Definitely worth the eight or nine dollars you spent.

In Cozumel we went to Mr. Sanchos beach club we’re $55 per person with unlimited drinks and food. It was nice but the drinks were so weak that we drank six drinks each and did not even feel the buzz. But the weather was partly cloudy and a high of about 80 with about 50% humidity so it would feel warm and then just in time when you were feeling too hot you would get a little cloud covering it would cool off. The food was very good and we of course ate too much!

In Progreso we went to one of the Mayan ruins excursions through carnival. The bus ride was a little over an hour which gave us great time to nap off or hangovers from the night before! The Ruins were amazing and the Mexican tour guides were amazing with all of the history information about the Mayans. But it was about 90° out with the humidity it feels a lot hotter. I had a hard time keeping up even though we both work out at home. We took lots of photos and felt like this was definitely worth the $85 per person.

Both of these ports are not very picturesque from the ship. Cozumel a little nicer but Progresso was just yucky to look at and the pier was so long! It was not walkable. Also driving through Progresso was not impressive at all. The area is extremely poor and run down. You must take a taxi to get to land. And if you don’t book an excursion and you’re stuck at the beach front areas with a beach and bars and restaurants.I must say that our cruise on the miracle to the Mexican Riviera was much better as far as views from the ship. Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta are just beautiful to look at from your balcony cabin or from one of the decks or dining rooms with a view.

We did use AARP gift cards ($90 for $100 gift card) that I used to pay all of the extra expenses with and left us with $200 on our sail and signs. We only went over it by about $150. In the ports we only spent about $50 on souvenirs and did find a lot of unique items that I cannot get here in Arizona. We have tons of little stores here that sell the Mexican tchotchkes.

I also signed up for the Southwest rapid rewards credit card before Christmas and charged the $2000 in three months required to get 50,000 points. So our flight only cost $22.50 per person to book with my rewards.

The people on our ship were very friendly and we did make a few friends from going to the nightclub. And they were all about our age. We are in our early 50s. Well I think most of them might’ve been in their 40s! LOL. We even met a guy who coordinated a large group of 42 people to cruise. He offered to get us a group rate for another cruise. We gave him our information but I don’t think he can beat the free cruise through myVEGAS maybe even deals I can get directly through carnival. But we may want to sail out of Florida to the Eastern or southern Caribbean so we’ll see what he can come up with.

We have cruise carnival three times and I have been impressed all three times. I used to sell cruises for large company and I can tell you that other cruise lines are not immune from having problems with maintenance or food issues. Carnival has stepped up their game in a lot of areas in this last cruise the ship was even better than others I have been on.

Carnival is known for being the Fun ship and they truly live up to the name. If you want to be on the lively cruise carnival is the one to go on. Other cruise lines are a lot more serene (and boring IMHO) so if that’s your thing they may be a better choice.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Ask me while the info is fresh in my mind! LOL I normally write very well but I am using talk to text this morning as I am very tired from our vacation. Please excuse my bad grammar.

We didn’t take many photos on the ship because we were just relaxing and enjoying ourselves and not being photographers the whole time.

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My goodness you had a lot of fun on your free cruise. Thanks for posting.

Enjoyed your report, thanks!

I want more details on that game! I want free cruises, glad you guys enjoyed yours!

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Thanks for the review.

We leave tomorrow for the same cruise.

Thank you for posting. When we get back, got to look up that site!

Wonderful review/report.

Keith

Very nice. Thank you. I am planning a bday cruise for my dh Feb 9 2019 and am looking for all the info I can find about the Valor. It is very cool that you got such good deals for this trip.

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I want more details on that game! I want free cruises, glad you guys enjoyed yours!

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You can play it on facebook and smart phone. Look for MyVegas Slots. On Smartphone they have 4 apps. The people who get the best rewards play all four games plus slots on Facebook (free travel in Vegas and MyVegas Blackjack, Konami Slots and Pop Slots).

These are just like other smartphone game where you play for free unless you choose to purchase more credits, but not necessary. The gold coins go toward the rewards.

Good luck!

Great review, thank you. I will be sailing in October.

I want more details on that game! I want free cruises, glad you guys enjoyed yours!

 

 

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Me, as well!

We were on that cruise also, it was our 3rd free cruise thanks to MyVegas. Our first two were on Royal Caribbean but I enjoyed this cruise much more. Now I am just impatiently waiting for more cruises to be offered on MyVegas!