Valor Review 1/3/2010- 1/10/2010

[CruisingSoon88]

Ok I would love to have one of those great picture reviews like giftcard recently did. The sad fact is that I am way behind on technology and have no idea how to put pictures on here. Bear with me as I will have to try and fit this in as I am still doing laundry all of these days later. LOL

 

A little background. We are a married couple in our mid 30's. This was my 3rd cruise overall and my second on Carnival. DH has about 4 previous with Carnival and 6 with Princess. We took another couple that were cruise newbies. This trip was to celebrate our 5 year aniversary and we left our 1 and 4 year old sons at home. We drove to Miami from TN as this is where my family lives that kept our children.

 

We stayed at the LaQuinta Inn Miami airport east location. This was based off of recommendations from this board. They also allowed us to park there free of charge for the entire week of the cruise. A shuttle to the port was included, but we had to cab back there afterwards. I was pleased with this hotel overall. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean and was a good price especially considering the free parking. I would stay there again.

 

We should have seen this night at the hotel as an omen. After the 14 hour drive to Miami, we were exhausted. We got dinner at the Bennegan's(sp.?) next door (don't go there it was awful!!) and then we went to bed. About 1 am the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building. There was a terrible smell. We found out later that it was so cold for Miami standards that night that someone turned their heat on. Since it is used so infrequently, the dust and build up was smoking causing the smell and alarm. After a short while, we went back in and crashed again. Tomorrow was the big day that I had been anxiously awaiting. Finally!

[agmakar]

Ok I would love to have one of those great picture reviews like giftcard recently did. The sad fact is that I am way behind on technology and have no idea how to put pictures on here. Bear with me as I will have to try and fit this in as I am still doing laundry all of these days later. LOL

 

A little background. We are a married couple in our mid 30's. This was my 3rd cruise overall and my second on Carnival. DH has about 4 previous with Carnival and 6 with Princess. We took another couple that were cruise newbies. This trip was to celebrate our 5 year aniversary and we left our 1 and 4 year old sons at home. We drove to Miami from TN as this is where my family lives that kept our children.

 

We stayed at the LaQuinta Inn Miami airport east location. This was based off of recommendations from this board. They also allowed us to park there free of charge for the entire week of the cruise. A shuttle to the port was included, but we had to cab back there afterwards. I was pleased with this hotel overall. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean and was a good price especially considering the free parking. I would stay there again.

 

We should have seen this night at the hotel as an omen. After the 14 hour drive to Miami, we were exhausted. We got dinner at the Bennegan's(sp.?) next door (don't go there it was awful!!) and then we went to bed. About 1 am the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building. There was a terrible smell. We found out later that it was so cold for Miami standards that night that someone turned their heat on. Since it is used so infrequently, the dust and build up was smoking causing the smell and alarm. After a short while, we went back in and crashed again. Tomorrow was the big day that I had been anxiously awaiting. Finally!

 

 

AND???? Speaking of cliff hangers... :p

[CruisingSoon88]

Embarkation

 

I had heard some bad things about the Miami port. Many had complained that it was confusing among other things. We did not have this experience at all. We arrived at the port at 10:30 am. A porter took our bags and in to customs we went. The lady did tell us that we should have signed our passports(totally missed that line), but no big deal. As they scanned our carry on, they asked us about our wine that was packed. I had packed them in those gift cylinder wine carrying cases to protect them. I'm not sure if this was what the problem was or not. We just had to take our case over to the table and the guy came and took the wine out of the cylinders. He said something about getting paperwork, but the lady at the scanner asked him to see them and said that we were fine and didn't need paperwork. One bottle was just slightly larger than a normal bottle of wine. I should also say that we had a bottle of champagne in another backpack and nothing was said about that. You counted right, we took on three bottles and no one said a thing.:cool:

 

After customs, we went to the next area. We were given a loading zone card(zone 3). We filled out our slips that said that we weren't sick and then were directed to the self check in kiosks. They were very easy to use. We went straight to the agent to get our sail and sign cards. Never at any time did we wait in line. We just always walked right up to the next step. The agent said that it would be about an hour until we could board. It was actually sooner. We got on board before 11:30. Yay!:D

[jdbmga]

Can't wait to hear more. We are cruising on the Valor in July.

[cawagner]

We stayed at the LaQuinta Inn Miami airport east location. This was based off of recommendations from this board. They also allowed us to park there free of charge for the entire week of the cruise. A shuttle to the port was included, but we had to cab back there afterwards. I was pleased with this hotel overall. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean and was a good price especially considering the free parking. I would stay there again.

 

I never knew that, I checked their website and didnt see any deal like that? :confused: I saw one for other locations like Port Canaveral...is this something you had to call them and ask? Let me know because that sounds like a deal, especially since I think parking is $20/day at Miami port

[cruisingbajan]

Nice review so far. Waiting anxiously for the rest.:)

[WAcruisers]

Can't wait to read the rest!

[pebbledot]

We are driving down to Miami also. Have checked a few hotels and the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport has a shuttle and free parking. I called the hotel and they quoted $12 per person suttle which beats $20 a day in port plus our cruise leaves on a Sunday so parking may be an issue at the port.

[CruisingSoon88]

I never knew that, I checked their website and didnt see any deal like that? :confused: I saw one for other locations like Port Canaveral...is this something you had to call them and ask? Let me know because that sounds like a deal, especially since I think parking is $20/day at Miami port

 

I did read this on their website. Just maybe call and talk to them because it wasn't anything special that they offered, just part of your room rate. For the record, we paid like $85.50 for the night with AAA. Thats why I thought it was a great deal considering the port parking fees.

[canner2u]

Ohhh do not stop now, am enjoying your review so far. Ok, I admit it, I am a review junkie, but hey there are worse things to be addicted to.

 

Am not sure if you are going to upload pics to webshots or something like that, but if you do, could you please let us know, would love to see them.

[CruisingSoon88]

Day 1

 

We walked on board and entered at the lobby on deck 3. I thought the ship was vey pretty and not quite so over the top as I had expected. It had been 10 years since my last Carnival cruise on the Fascination. Everyone always talk about how Carnival ships are a little more gaudy, but I really thought this ship was pretty tamely decorated.

 

Next we were in search of food. Up to the Lido we went. Hundreds of threads were running through my head. The burrito bar is always busy, the fish and chips are great and plenty of seats up there, the Mongolian wok is open for not very many hours a day. My mind was in overdrive as I tried to decide what to eat first. I felt a sense of duty to share all of my "insider information" with our travel mates. They weren't interested in any pre- cruise infromation seeking so it was all up to me.

 

I started with the Mongolian grill because we were among the first on the ship so there really weren't any lines anywhere. My plate also held a few other things from the buffet. I'll be honest, I was very disappointed with the Mongolian grill. It really had absolutely no flavor. DH had a different sauce and even got extra spicy, but still just a plain noodle taste. We didn't try it again the rest of the week.

 

A trip upstairs to the fish and chip were next as I had to hold back the need to try everthing that I had heard about right then at the very first meal. I ordered the salmon with watermelon and the seafood ceviche. They were both good, but I still needed to try the fish. I sent our friend upstairs to get the fish and we all shared a sample of everything. All agreed that everything was good. Our friend loves salmon so he enjoyed it the most.

 

After eating, we wandered around the ship a little while. By then, the doors were open to the room hallways. Each couple had an aft wrap cabin. We had 8488 and they had 8455. I LOVED our room. The balcony was HUGE! I know that there is much debate and opinion about which desk is the best to have an aft wrap. After seeing the balcony layout for eack deck, we all agreed that we liked deck 8 the best. You got the best of both worlds with the aft view as well as having the most side view. I was happy that our friends loved their room also since I talked them into booking it.

 

We met our room steward, Victor, and he was very nice. We asked for the mini bar to be emptied, ice, and extra hangers. He was happy to accomodate especially with the lttle extra tip;) Our service all week was wonderful and we loved our animals every night. Victor seemed to be a little more skilled at them than our friends' steward.

 

Next up was a trip to the spa to enter for the raffles. We thought about doing a tour, but decided not to stay for it. We looked around some more before heading up to the deck to watch sail away. Then it hit me that the best place to watch from would be through the secret doors. Off we went to find the right floor as I really couldn't remember. After striking out on 8, we found them on 7. There were signs that said not to open the doors due to wind, but we were rebels and went out anyway. We weren't alone, but there weren't many others out there. My friends were impressed.

 

We watched as long as we could until it was time to go back to the spa to see if we had won anything. You must be present to win. No such luck. Oh well at least I knew to try.

 

Dinner will have to wait as duty calls....

[Fyly]

I am enjoying reading your review. I love how you compare your mental notes from what you read here and what you were facing in reality.

I am travelling in 51 days, and I know I will be doing the same.

 

Céline

[CruisingSoon88]

Can't wait to read the rest!

 

Ohhh do not stop now, am enjoying your review so far. Ok, I admit it, I am a review junkie, but hey there are worse things to be addicted to.

 

Am not sure if you are going to upload pics to webshots or something like that, but if you do, could you please let us know, would love to see them.

 

I am enjoying reading your review. I love how you compare your mental notes from what you read here and what you were facing in reality.

I am travelling in 51 days, and I know I will be doing the same.

 

Céline

 

Thank you all. I'm trying to finish it asap. It's driving me crazy being in my head. I keep thinking oh yeah I can't forget to talk about this or that. LOL

[marymount]

Going on Valor next month, I must have missed something...what and where are these "secret doors" and why is it so exciting??

[LetsCruiz]

Going on Valor next month, I must have missed something...what and where are these "secret doors" and why is it so exciting??

 

Well they really aren't secret doors, but not many people cruising know about them. On the valor if you go all the way forward on Decks, 6 or 7 you can go out onto a open deck. I had a OV cabin on deck 6 forward that over looked this deck...it was fantastic. Just had to be careful to close the curtains!! HA

 

If you look up from these decks, you can see into the bridge (kind of). This deck is as far forward on an outside deck one can be.

 

Great Review...I love the Valor been on her twice and going back in 59 days!!! But still like to read others reviews!!!

[Froufie]

Thanks for posting your review and sharing all the details of your cruise!

 

I am counting the seconds!!!!

[CruisingSoon88]

Before we got ready for dinner, we headed to the fun shops for the free liquor tasting. I'm not sure that it was worth the long wait, but we did get to try some new things.

 

We were assigned to the Washington dining room lower section. Our table was a booth for 4 so we were happy to be alone, but we would have been fine at a larger table, too. Our waiter was Stephen, though we would have never known his name if he hadn't been wearing a name badge. He was not very friendly to say the least. He never introduced himself and he never really spoke to us. I have to apologize for not remembering what I ordered for diner each night. I do know that I asked for both the shrimp cocktail and a caesar salad and he rolled his eyes at me. All four of us ordered a cappuccino that came about 20 minutes after we finished dessert. Stephen came by and asked us basically what we were waiting on. We told him that we hadn't gotten our cappuccino and he just made some excuse and walked off.

 

The best part of the night was the warm chocolate melting cake!!!:D Add me to the list of the addicted. I also asked for two scoops of ice cream after someone on here said to do that. Once again, they were right on with their advice. Two scoops is the perfect cake to ice cream ratio.

 

We left with our bellies full of great food, but a bit of a bad taste in our mouth about our waiter. The casino was calling so off we went.

 

I must start about the casino by saying that we love to gamble. We both play the slots and a good bit of black jack. The only thing that I miss after having kids is the ability to go on gambling vacations. Not exactly a family friendly hobby. Any opportunity to play is a great treat for us. We spent more time in the casino on this cruise than anywhere else.

 

The casino itself was pretty decent in size. Much bigger than the Princess ship that we were last on. I was happy with the variety in slots. The smoke was really bad at peak times. Our friend is pretty sensitive to the smoke so there were times when she couldn't go on deck 5 at all. We are night owls and prefer to be there later after the adult comedy shows and such. Most of the time we played between midnight and 3am when they closed. They did have machines that were marked no smoking, but I saw many people smoking at these machines as well. There were no non smoking tables that I ever saw.

 

We played for a while and then headed off to our room. Our sleep had been interrupted the night before by the fire alarm and we were pretty beat. We spent a little time on our balcony, but it was still a little cool so we went to bed. We were so excited to be able to sleep as long as we wanted the next day. You know that with kids those days of sleeping until 11:00 just don't happen anymore. Finallly a chance to sleep without anyone waking us up!

 

It was a good first day.

[Sdallnct]

Nice review so far! Didn't know any of the local hotels offered free shuttles. Good to know for future trips.

 

We loved the Valor as well (as you can see in my blog/review by clicking on the link in my signature).

 

Look forward to reading more!

[apdchief]

What was the minimum bet on the blackjack tables?

 

Before we got ready for dinner, we headed to the fun shops for the free liquor tasting. I'm not sure that it was worth the long wait, but we did get to try some new things.

 

We were assigned to the Washington dining room lower section. Our table was a booth for 4 so we were happy to be alone, but we would have been fine at a larger table, too. Our waiter was Stephen, though we would have never known his name if he hadn't been wearing a name badge. He was not very friendly to say the least. He never introduced himself and he never really spoke to us. I have to apologize for not remembering what I ordered for diner each night. I do know that I asked for both the shrimp cocktail and a caesar salad and he rolled his eyes at me. All four of us ordered a cappuccino that came about 20 minutes after we finished dessert. Stephen came by and asked us basically what we were waiting on. We told him that we hadn't gotten our cappuccino and he just made some excuse and walked off.

 

The best part of the night was the warm chocolate melting cake!!!:D Add me to the list of the addicted. I also asked for two scoops of ice cream after someone on here said to do that. Once again, they were right on with their advice. Two scoops is the perfect cake to ice cream ratio.

 

We left with our bellies full of great food, but a bit of a bad taste in our mouth about our waiter. The casino was calling so off we went.

 

I must start about the casino by saying that we love to gamble. We both play the slots and a good bit of black jack. The only thing that I miss after having kids is the ability to go on gambling vacations. Not exactly a family friendly hobby. Any opportunity to play is a great treat for us. We spent more time in the casino on this cruise than anywhere else.

 

The casino itself was pretty decent in size. Much bigger than the Princess ship that we were last on. I was happy with the variety in slots. The smoke was really bad at peak times. Our friend is pretty sensitive to the smoke so there were times when she couldn't go on deck 5 at all. We are night owls and prefer to be there later after the adult comedy shows and such. Most of the time we played between midnight and 3am when they closed. They did have machines that were marked no smoking, but I saw many people smoking at these machines as well. There were no non smoking tables that I ever saw.

 

We played for a while and then headed off to our room. Our sleep had been interrupted the night before by the fire alarm and we were pretty beat. We spent a little time on our balcony, but it was still a little cool so we went to bed. We were so excited to be able to sleep as long as we wanted the next day. You know that with kids those days of sleeping until 11:00 just don't happen anymore. Finallly a chance to sleep without anyone waking us up!

 

It was a good first day.

[CruisingSoon88]

Nice review so far! Didn't know any of the local hotels offered free shuttles. Good to know for future trips.

 

We loved the Valor as well (as you can see in my blog/review by clicking on the link in my signature).

 

Look forward to reading more!

 

I read your review and enjoyed it very much as well:)

 

Like I said, I found out about the LaQuinta on these boards myself. I thought it was too good of a deal to be true until I saw it on their website and called them. Actually you sign in for a time to leave on the shuttle when you check in. We were in the lobby the next morning at our assigned time. Somehow there was a mix up and they never came for us. The guy in charge of the transportation paid the $24.00 for us to get a taxi out of his pocket. We didn't care as long as they got us to the ship!

[CruisingSoon88]

What was the minimum bet on the blackjack tables?

 

They had a special the first night for $3.00 minimum bets. The rest of the time it was $5.00.

[nieciez]

They had a special the first night for $3.00 minimum bets. The rest of the time it was $5.00.

 

That's good to know...my DH likes to play the low limit BJ tables.

[amcjeep4life]

We were on the Freedom in November, and there were few more times that the blackjack limit was at $3. We played the most then, as we are cheapskates at heart. :p Someof the tables were $5, and others were $3, you just had to look. Good luck!

[CruisingSoon88]

1st Sea Day

 

We were in our blissful, uninterrupted sleep when DING DONG. You know that familiar sound followed by Big Tex. It was only 9:45. Are you kidding me?? Ok, we are truly night owls and we didn't get in bed usually until after 3 am. I was not a happy camper!!:mad: We hadn't even put our card out for room service because they said that the lastest that they would deliver it was 10:00 and we had no intentions of being up that early. I know that a lot of you are probably morning people and don't understand. Trust me, I don't like to be up before 10 any more than you like to be up past 12. It's just the way that I'm wired. Oh well.

 

After some time on the balcony, we got dressed and wondered around the ship some more. I should mention that we did use our bungee cord to keep the balcony door open. (Don't worry it was too chilly for the air to be on)I did also use my clothes pins to keep the shower curtain from attacking me and to tie it back so I could shave my legs using the toilet as a place to prop my foot. My friend was very appreciative for this cruise critic tip as she couldn't figure out how to get her legs shaved until I gave her some of my clothes pins.:D

 

We headed to the casino to try to qualify in the slot tournament. We gave up trying to get on the board for the finals after DH tried twice and I tried 3 times. It was still fun for $20 per try. You also got a raffle entry for each time you tried. The winner of the raffle won the wild card spot in the finals. You had to be present when they did the drawing to win, though.

 

The art auction was our next stop. We went just to browse the art, but mostly for the free champagne. The line was FOREVER. You had to stop at a table and get a bidding number before they would let you in. This slowed things considerably. We finally got in and walked around a little while. By the time we left, we had been there about 30 minutes after it started. No one had gotten any champagne and we had to get back to the casino for the wildcard drawing.

 

No such luck in the drawing so we went to have tea in the Washington dining room. I had never a real tea time experience. It really was fun and something that you should make an effort to do at least once. We had great cucumber sandwiches, scones, and crumpets. Dessert was a yummy chocolate and fruit cake.

 

We were still hungry so we went to the Lido for some late lunch. I got a few things from the buffet and went upstair to the fish and chips. I tried the calamari fritters. They were WONDERFUL! Easily my favorite thing at the fish and chips.

 

I should also mention that the weather was still a little cool and very overcast. This kept us from spending any time by the pool.

 

We skipped the captains celebration and just spent some time resting up before dinner.

[CruisingSoon88]

This was the first formal night so we got dressed and went to get pictures. It was funny because the photographer kept telling us in the group picture to get closer. Us girls were facing each other in the middle and we had a couple of ahem obstacles that prevented us from getting closer. The boys got a big kick out of it and swore that we would be buying that picture for sure.

 

We arrived at our dinner table and there was our wonderful unfriendly waiter. No conversation once again. We tried to explain to our friends how a waiter on a ship should act. They agreed that his behavior was rude no matter what the setting. This was lobster night, of course. Unfortunatley, it wasn't very good. The shrimp that came with it was great, but the lobster not so much. I would have loved to have some lemon with it, but our waiter just practically threw our dishes down and ran. He never cleared our empty plates, either. One night we still had soup bowls when they brought dessert. He was just awful!

 

This night we ordered our cappuccino before we ordered dessert. We figured that would give the assistant more time to get it there with our dessert. I got WCMC once again. DH ordered his with two scoops of ice cream this time also. Our waiter didn't bring it, though. Instead of saying I'm sorry and going back to get it, he told DH "I owe you a scoop tomorrow". What? We got our cappuccino about halfway through dessert. It had been almost 35 minutes since we ordered it.

 

Our friends avoid confrontation at all costs so they were reluctant to say anything to the maitre d'. They agreed that I could ask to be moved as long as they didn't have to be there. I stopped on the way out that night. The maitre d' listened as I explained our complaints. He was very apologetic and moved us to a table upstairs with two other couples. Thanks again cruise critic. I wouldn't have known that was possible if I hadn't read it on here.

 

We went and played at the casino a little before the adult comedy show. This was at midnight and I suggest you get there about 30 minutes early to get a good seat. This night was Percy Crews. He was very funny. We all had a great time.

 

The lure of the casino called again even though we had an early excursion the next day in Grand Cayman. I regret this decision a lot as I will explain later. Finally we got back to our room and in bed about 3:30 again. We had to get up at 6:30.