new to the board and crusing, a few Valor ?'s

[markmdavis]

I am new to this board and I have a few questions. Please don’t get upset if I could have found this info else where (I thought that’s what this board was for)

A bit of info about me:

I am 30 and my wife and I will be celebrating our first anniversary together aboard the Carnival Valor in June. This will be my first cruise and her third (although she has only been on two small 3-day cruises to Baja Mexico)

Casino:

I have seen that they have one electronic poker table on the Valor, but do they have any Texas hold em tournaments? If so how much is the typical entrance fee?

How long does it normally take room service to be delivered?

Will there be live T.V. on the ship? I am hopping my favorite NBA team makes it deep in the playoffs this year and would to see them play while at sea.

If I wear and sport coat and tie to dinner will I be underdressed? Do I need to buy a tux?

Are there irons in the cabins?

That’s all for now,

101 days ! and I can’t wait!

Mark

[Tenga1899]

I don't know about the poker specifically, I think I saw a tourney advertised in someone's Valor Capers a little while ago though. If I've read various threads right over the last few years, if the boat has the electronic table, they do seem to host a tourney at some point on the cruise. I will let you know for sure after my cruise, April 24th!!

 

Room service on the Sensation didnt take long at all, 10-15minutes MAX with a sandwich and soda order.

 

Live tv is on board, most of the major cable stations are on and a espn channel. They also have a sports bar, so, I think you'll be able to find your games one way or another. The only hesitation I have here, isnt the NBA playoffs on TNT? I don't remember TNT being mentioned as a carried channel, but maybe I'm way off, NBA is no college football to me so I dont follow too much ;)

 

Seems these days if you do coat and tie you'll be OVERdressed unfortunately. You'll do fine on elegant night, you wont need the tux. I like to dress nice, makes me feel better than the "slobs" ;) On non-elegant nights you'd do fine with just a nice shirt, even a polo and you'd still be OVERdressed probably lol...

 

Finally, no irons in the cabins but there are some for use (free) in the public laundry rooms that are located on most floors...

 

Anything specific for the Valor you want to know that you can't find before I sail, let me know and I'll check her out for you!! :cool:

[firefly333]

Coat and tie on elegant night is plenty, many will be less dressed up, you will be fine.

 

Sometimes room service takes a while, depends on time of day.

 

Irons will be confiscated, dont bring one, use the one in the laudry room.

[MacSmooth]

I am new to this board and I have a few questions. Please don’t get upset if I could have found this info else where (I thought that’s what this board was for)

A bit of info about me:

I am 30 and my wife and I will be celebrating our first anniversary together aboard the Carnival Valor in June. This will be my first cruise and her third (although she has only been on two small 3-day cruises to Baja Mexico)

Casino:

I have seen that they have one electronic poker table on the Valor, but do they have any Texas hold em tournaments? If so how much is the typical entrance fee?

How long does it normally take room service to be delivered?

Will there be live T.V. on the ship? I am hopping my favorite NBA team makes it deep in the playoffs this year and would to see them play while at sea.

If I wear and sport coat and tie to dinner will I be underdressed? Do I need to buy a tux?

Are there irons in the cabins?

That’s all for now,

101 days ! and I can’t wait!

Mark

Hey, here are some quick answers to your questions:

 

- Not sure about how much the entrance fee was, but I know that had at least one Texas Hold em tourney on the Valor when my wife and I were there last August, maybe two.

 

- The one time my wife got room service, it took about 30-40 minutes. Honestly, unless you want something specifically from the room service menu, it's quicker to just go to the buffet and bring food back to the room. I made many midnight pizza/ice cream runs for my wife and I.

 

- Not sure about the "live TV", my wife and I didn't watch too much of it on our cruise. We looked at some TV in our rooms, but it was mostly movies and the occassional few minutes of news (it was weird cause we were getting the local news from Denver, though we left from Miami).

 

- Nope there is absolutely no need to buy a tux unless you want to. Depending on how long your cruise is (I'm assuming its 7 since your on the Valor), you'll have 2 formal nights where a lot of people dress up. I wore a suit on the elegant night and my wife wore this colorful dress. There were some people with tuxes, but for most people it was just shirt & tie. That was on the formal nights though, the other 5 days, I just wore polo shirts and khakis/jeans.

 

- No irons in the cabin. There's an iron in the laundry rooms on each deck though.

 

Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise!

[songbird1329]

room service was very prompt -- they'd tell us "25 minutes" and be there in 15. the room service menu was limted to sandwiches, though. if you want something else you will have to venture out of the room.

 

I thought I saw Texas Hold 'em in the casino, Id guess it was a tournament -- we walked through several times but didn't play.

[markmdavis]

thanks for all the answers so far, this board is great!

 

as far as the TV coming in from denver is that still the case? if so that would be great since thats were I live.

[songbird1329]

yep, TV was from Denver.

[Froufie]

Some further info in regard to room service 'breakfast' - you will find a 'card' hanging in the cabin - if you want breakfast delivered you can complete the card indicating # of servings/etc and there also is a spot where you can put in the time (e.g 8 am - 8:15 am). Then you hang the completed card outside your cabin door before bed.

 

I found when I did this they were usually very prompt! (prepare the tip money the night before so you are not scrambling).....and sometimes early - and this also servied as a 'secondary wake up call' esp for days in port when you are getting ready to get off for an excursion.

 

The 'regular' room service menu is in the green binder on the desk/counter - and as mentioned delivery time depends on time of day and how busy they are.

 

Hope you have a great time!

 

P.S. Here's a link to my review of my recent Valor cruise!!! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1143537

[markmdavis]

Do they ever have balckjack or other casino games outside of the casino... IE on the pool deck ?

[MacSmooth]

Do they ever have balckjack or other casino games outside of the casino... IE on the pool deck ?

Funny, you should ask that. I believe they do. I saw it mentioned in the Carnival Capers during my cruise and Big Tex (our cruise director) also mentioned it during his cruise announcements. I'm not sure how frequent it was though, cause everytime I was on the Lido deck, the table (looked like a blackjack table) was covered up and in the corner.

[Antloe]

When I was on Valor I remember one night on Lido I did remember seeing a blackjack table set up by the bar. If your sailing on the Valor and celebrating your anniversary You MUST go to Scarlett's Steak house on board. Wear your sport coat and tie. Food is amazing, ambiance is romantic. You wont regret it.

[mkinmidtn]

You will love the Valor, it is a great ship. Room Service for us never took long but it was usually late late at night when we used it. DD thought it was great to be able to order room service. Hot chocolate chip cookies and milk or PBJ and milk at 1 in the morning....LOL..... but the cookies were great.:D