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

[CruisingSoon88]

After leaving the casino, we went and found all of our pictures. Its a good thing that we didn't like many of them. This saved us a lot of money!:D By this time my Dramamine was really kicking in. I needed a nap! You couldn't go outside or use your balcony because it was raining and really cold. So much for the sunshine yesterday. I guess we left it in Mexico. The captain announced that it would be 36 when we got to Miami in the morning. It was abnormally cold everywhere. The ship had settled down and the seas were much calmer. We got in bed and took a nap. Once again I felt drugged because of the Dramamine. I couldn't even get out of bed for dinner. We called our friends and told them to go without us. Our packing wasn't finished either. I told DH that we would pack until 9 and then go to the lido to get some dinner.

 

We finished and got to the lido at 9:10. There was absolutley nothing there. All of the lines were closed. Our capers had said that diner would be until 9:30. They lied. This was one of the biggest frustrations of the cruise. The lines were always closed before they were supposed to be. This meant that we had to eat pizza or room service because everything else was closed. I would have been ok with that but we had eaten pizza for lunch. I had really wanted one last good meal. I was not a happy camper. We got a slice thinking that surely there would be a midnight buffet. Nope. It seems that many people wouldn't make it to the dining room on the last night because of having to pack and get your luggage out. Why would they choose this night to offer less food options?:confused:

 

Of course we had to make one last trip to our favorite place, the casino. We made our last deposit and went to our rooms. Our friends came over and we took some pictures. We had kept all of our towel animals so we took pictures of our "zoo". I couldn't believe that our week was over. I had mixed emotions because I didn't want it to end, but I missed my kids and I couldn't wait to see them.

[daddybuff]

Thanks once again for the informative review. We can't wait:)

[zandk]

Sorry to hear that you had such a rainy cruise.

I would be very disappointed to miss two excursions.

My last cruise got re-routed do to a hurricane. Had

to go to the Bahamas again. Was really looking forward

to seeing a couple different islands. I hope all will be well

with my November cruise. Thanks for the great review.

I hope your next cruise is nothing but sunshine & slot

machine bells!!!;)

[metney]

DH and I talked about this when we were on the tenders. Many people were using wheel chairs and walkers that got on. The guys on the tender all gathered around them and assisted them on and off the tender. It is very steep and we wondered about someone who was paralyzed or couldn't walk at all. I would maybe talk to the shore excursion desk when you get on board. I'm sure that they have a solution as they have many handicapped guests that use the tenders. Don't worry. They'll find a way to take care of you.:)

 

That is good to know. I am always a little scared when I don't know what to expect. :eek:

[Luke gs Daddy]

Waiting to hear about how disembarkation went ?

[toolgrl919]

I'm really enjoying your review. And I must say I don't think I would be so positive in your situation, so I definitly give you a huge pat on your back. I can be very uptight & have trouble "going with the flow" when things get changed unexpectedly. haha :rolleyes:

My boyfriend & I will be on the Valor in April & I'm really looking forward to it. We went to Nachi Cocom in October while on the Liberty & it was great. We were the only boat at each of the ports so this may have helped with it being pretty deserted, no more than 10 couples there if that. After reading your experience I am a little nervous, but we dock early enough to get there before the crowds...hopefully.

[CruisingSoon88]

Sorry to hear that you had such a rainy cruise.

I would be very disappointed to miss two excursions.

My last cruise got re-routed do to a hurricane. Had

to go to the Bahamas again. Was really looking forward

to seeing a couple different islands. I hope all will be well

with my November cruise. Thanks for the great review.

I hope your next cruise is nothing but sunshine & slot

machine bells!!!;)

 

 

Thats how I tried to look at it. At least we made it to our scheduled ports. I'm sure your November cruise will be great. I have enjoyed writing this review although it has taken me longer than I would have liked. Thanks for the good thoughts. Maybe if I heard a few more bells, I could book some more cruises!:D

[CruisingSoon88]

I'm really enjoying your review. And I must say I don't think I would be so positive in your situation, so I definitly give you a huge pat on your back. I can be very uptight & have trouble "going with the flow" when things get changed unexpectedly. haha :rolleyes:

 

My boyfriend & I will be on the Valor in April & I'm really looking forward to it. We went to Nachi Cocom in October while on the Liberty & it was great. We were the only boat at each of the ports so this may have helped with it being pretty deserted, no more than 10 couples there if that. After reading your experience I am a little nervous, but we dock early enough to get there before the crowds...hopefully.

 

 

Thanks for reading! Its funny that when I have written all of it out, it does seem that we had a few hiccups. The fact is that we had a wonderful time. Sure I would have loved to have had better weather, but no one can control that. Really I gave myself a big talk before we left that I wasn't going to let the little things get to me. Probably the only thing that would have been a problem that may have ruined my outlook about the trip was if they hadn't made things right with the time mix-up on our Belize excursion. I felt that was something that someone could control. Those are the things that get to me. Trust me, I have very high expectations when it comes to vacations. Just do like I did and tell yourself that you're not going let the little things get you down.:)

 

You will have a great time on the Valor and I'm sure that your Nachi Cocom experience will be better than mine.

[CruisingSoon88]

Debarkation

 

We got up early to get ready and finish packing everything that we were carrying off. I had put out the room service card out the night before and they delivered it right on time. I was worried that we wouldn't have time to get to the buffet.(HA!HA!) They had asked us to be out of the room by 9:30. Our zone was 12 and they said that the estimated time off the ship was between 9-9:30. We went to our friends' room and took some final pictures before heading to the lido. It was 9:30 by then and they were way behind on calling the zones compared to the timeline that we were given.

 

Our friends' had not eaten yet so we sat with them while they got food from the buffet. I had filled up on cereal and a bagel so we just watched. It was so cold outside, but there were still so many people on the ship that it was hard to find a seat inside. A group got up and left so we lucked out finding a table. They finally called another group off while we sat there. Tex had made a big deal about saying not to go down before they called your group. He said that would clog the halls and force them to clear everyone and start over.

 

We decided to go to deck 5 and sit on the couches and wait. At least they were closer for when we were called. A nice couple let all of us join them and we got to talk to them for a while. This was their first cruise on Carnival having cruised Princess several times in the past. We were interested in how they thought Carnival stacked up. Our last cruise had been on Princess although 5 years ago, but we thought this cruise on Carnival had been a million times better. They said that they preferred Princess's food by just a little. I would say that they were in their mid 30's and they said that the one thing that stuck out the most was how many activities that Carnival offered. They also said that on Princess they often felt like the younger ones, but on Carnival they saw many more young people. Overall they said that they would sail Carnival again because the price was so much better.

 

They announced that everyone should be out of their cabins now. What? It was 12:00. I thought we had to be out by 9:30. I could have sept longer!:mad: The bad thing was that when the lady made that announcement, many people didn't hear her correctly and they thought that they said for everyone to get off of the ship. There was a mad stampede and all I could think about was what Tex said. Now they will have to clear everyone and start over.:eek:

 

Finally at a little after 12, they announced our zone. Before we got off, they announced for everyone else to come down. I have no idea what the hold up was. I read a review of someone who was on the week after us. They said that it was delayed because of the amount of ships there that morning. I don't know that for sure. I guess you never know so I would be worried about early flights as some have mentioned.

 

We went down to get our luggage and had no trouble finding it. DH got us a porter since I packed so many bags.:p Somehow we got in line right behind our friends as they were a different zone. The line was very long. Our porter said just stick with me. He zigged and zagged through the chaos until the lady pointed him into one of the roped lines. One of our friends is terrified of hurting anyone's feelings so he wouldn't keep up with us. They were wayyy behind us. After about 30 minutes, it was our turn in front of the agent. He asked us if we brought back any liquor. I said yes. He said how many bottles? I said 5. He said thank you. That was it!

 

Because our friends were so far behind us, we had to wait out in the cold for about 20 monutes for them.:mad: I wasn't prepared for 30 degree weather and only had a short sleeve shirt and very thin sweater on. Our porter did tell us that you are supposed to keep all of your party together. If they had been detained for any reason, we would have never known and just had to stand out there forever.

 

They finally came out and we were off to get a cab back to our car at the hotel. Due to the weather, we had to take a long route back and we had 17 hours of driving ahead. Our vacation was over.

[CruisingSoon88]

Final Thoughts

 

Despite the weather, we still had a great time. I would do some things differently next time and some things I would do all over again. It had been 10 years since I had sailed on Carnival. I was so diappointed by my Princess cruise. I thought that maybe my Carnival experience had been a fluke. It made me wonder if I really did enjoy cruising. The answer is a resounding yes! I am dying to book our next one. We will be taking our kids the next time so that will bring its own set of new challenges. Thanks to all of you, I felt very prepared and that I made the most of what was offered.

 

I did forget one part. The last night we went to the future cruise desk to buy a certificate. I know that many people have had problems using these so we only bought one. Let me tell you about something funny that happened, though. They have the sheets that have all of the upcoming cruises listed for all of the ships. DH was looking at Charleston because it is the closest port to us. He asked if that was all of the cruises that they had scheduled for 2010. I told him yes because they wanted to see how strong the bookings were before they added more in 2011. The guy was listening the whole time. We then made a comment about camp carnival saying that our youngest is too young to go. He said oh no, they take kids as long as they are 3 months or older. I said you can't even bring a baby on the ship until they are 6 months. He didn't believe me and called someone at the camp to check. Of course they told him that it was 2 and I was right. He hung up and looked at me and said 'do you work for Carnival or in this business or something?' I said no, I just read cruise critic alot!:D

 

Thanks again everyone for your advice and thanks for reading!

[Fyly]

Definitly one of the best review ! Fun unbiaised full of Info and facts!

I love your conclusion :-)

[CruisingSoon88]

Definitly one of the best review ! Fun unbiaised full of Info and facts!

I love your conclusion :-)

 

 

Thank you! Your time on the Valor will be here before you know it. You'll have to come back and share with us!:)