Valor Review March 7, 2010

[dkb363]

We're leaving in a week to go on the Valor. I'm enjoying your review. Quick question - you used SAS transportation from FLL to Miami at $15/person. How did you arrange that? Ahead of time. Were they there or did you call them.

Thanks.

[apdchief]

We're leaving in a week to go on the Valor. I'm enjoying your review. Quick question - you used SAS transportation from FLL to Miami at $15/person. How did you arrange that? Ahead of time. Were they there or did you call them.

Thanks.

 

Go to there web site ridesas.com and fill out the form. You will get an e-mail back with instructions. Very easy all we did is once we landed and got our luggage called the cell phone number given and he met us outside in about 5 minutes. Their vans are very comfortable and they tow a small enclosed trailer for the luggage. Same thing when we got off the boat.

[luvz2cruze22]

Hey! Have you joined our Roll Call yet? I don't know if we've been introduced! Come check us out, we have a good group of Cruise Critics hitting up this cruise now :D

 

 

I haven't joined the roll call. This may be a stupid question but how do I do that? I've been reading the boards for a while but have just now starting participating. I would love to meet more people going on the cruise!

[Poohbear75]

Go to the roll call board scan down until you find your cruise date and enjoy. We will actually be on board with you so hope to get to meet you in person . Cant wait. Seven more weeks.

[apdchief]

Day 4 - Roatan

 

Hard to believe that it was wednesday already. We were not due to arrive in Roatan until 11am. We took our time in the morning and enjoyed room service and our balconies. Had a late breakfast at Rosie's. Jon and I went up top to watch as we pulled into port. I can see why if it is really windy that they won't dock at Mahogany Bay. It is a very narrow channel to maneuver the ship into the bay area and to make matters worse they back in. Nice job by the Captain or whoever was operating the ship. This is us backing into the dock, to the right you will see the beach area. There is a footbridge or you can take the ski lift over from the dock. This looked very nice although we did not go to this beach I spoke to several that did and they enjoyed it.

 

 

 

It was sunny and very hot and humid. We had planned a private tour of the island and had booked with rony's tours. $100.00 for the day for the 5 of us. Rony had instructed us where to meet him. It was about a 5-10 minute walk to the main gates to Mahogony Bay. They will not let private vendors into the area to pick people, but at the end of the day they will allow them in to drop off.

 

I have to say that Roatan is a gorgeous island that has not been developed yet. We met our guide, who was Rony himself. Rony is 27 and a native of Roatan. He also worked on a cruise ship for I think he said 3 years. He has several other guides that work for him. Rony was excellant throughout the day keeping us entertained and as a vast knowledge of his island.

 

Our first stop was the iguana farm. It was $8pp and $4 for children to get in. Well worth it. There were probably a couple hundred iguana's running around as you walked in and you could feed them. They were so used to people that they would gather around you to eat. You could touch them, my 4 year old had a blast.

 

 

Unfortunately. I have to stop for now but will pick-up here later.

[metney]

I was on the same cruise. Wasn't the weather WONDERFUL! I need to do a review too. :)

[apdchief]

Roatan Part 2

 

The iguana farm also had a few other caged animal and an area by the water that had various fish and sea turtles. After the iguana farm we did some sight seeing and a little shopping. There are some very nice homes on the island. Rony was telling us how the natives eat the iguana, not sure if he was kidding or not. Next stop was the Monkeys. It was $5 to get in and you got a personal guide that took you around. The main attraction was the monkeys. You could go inside the cage with them and they would sit on your shoulders and you could touch them. They also had other animals and birds.

 

 

 

It was getting to be about 4pm and Rony took us to Fosters for lunch and a drink. It's kind of a primative resort. I liked it to visit not sure if I would want to stay for a week. We had a mix of fish sandwiches (red snapper), hamburger and Chicken Nuggets. We each had a couple of the local beers (except for Rony and Brianna) and the whole bill was $50 bucks, not bad food was good and beers were cold. We enjoyed the beach for a short time and then was on our way for a little more sightseeing.

 

 

We headed back to Mahogony Bay around 5:30 and did some shopping there. This area is only a few months old and is very very nice. It's much nicer not having to take a tender. I like walking on and off the ship much better. Once on the ship Jon and I went to take a sauna. We did this 3 times throughout the cruise and we loved it. From inside the sauna room there is a big window and you overlooked Mahogany Bay and the dock. From there we watch all the late arrivals running through the shop area to the dock just before the ship sailed away, we had a few laughs.

 

Because it was so late we skipped the MDR that evening and had the buffet around 9pm. Brianna went of to camp earlier and we sat on the lido and watch a movie that night. I forget what the movie was, but it was with Sandra Bullock, it was really nice out under the stars with no bugs.

 

Oh ya, I keep forgeting to mention the ice cream machine. We rarely walked by them with out getting a cone or dish. Ice cream was available 24/7 and you had your choice for ice cream or frozed yogurt. We certainly ate our fair share of ice cream. Might of done a little gambling that evening, but we were in our rooms around 11pm.

[apdchief]

Few more pics from Roatan

 

Me, Brianna, Unis and Rony

 

Jon and Marion at the dock.

 

The Beach at Mahogony Bay

 

Brianna's Little Friend Taking a Drink

 

Don't remember what they called this thing.

 

 

Accommodations at Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan. You had to take a small boat from the main resort over to your rooms.

[luvz2cruze22]

Go to the roll call board scan down until you find your cruise date and enjoy. We will actually be on board with you so hope to get to meet you in person . Cant wait. Seven more weeks.

Thanks! I found it and posted. Hope to meet some of you in person, that would be great!

[KCMarie]

Few more pics from Roatan

 

 

The Beach at Mahogony Bay

 

 

Oh my gosh. This is such a lovely picture! Was this from the ship? I hope so, cause I get the extreme willies even thinking about a lift!

Love your review, thank you so much for taking the time!

[apdchief]

Oh my gosh. This is such a lovely picture! Was this from the ship? I hope so, cause I get the extreme willies even thinking about a lift!

Love your review, thank you so much for taking the time!

 

Yes, it's from the top deck of the Valor as we are docking.

[CruizinMom2c]

Great review and pics! Your daughter is adorable, I am glad to hear you had a great experience with Camp Carnival :)

[cruisingbajan]

Your daughter does indeed seem to be absolutely fearless:D. She is handling those iguanas and monkeys better than alot of adults would.:eek::p

 

Great pics great review...really looking forward to the rest of it.:)

[dkb363]

Go to there web site ridesas.com and fill out the form. You will get an e-mail back with instructions. Very easy all we did is once we landed and got our luggage called the cell phone number given and he met us outside in about 5 minutes. Their vans are very comfortable and they tow a small enclosed trailer for the luggage. Same thing when we got off the boat.

 

Thank you. I think I'll do that tomorrow.

[BarJen]

great review, loving the pics! more please! :D

[apdchief]

Sorry for the delay, we finally got some nice weather in New England this weekend and I stayed away from the computer.

 

Day 5 - Belize

 

We all decided not to go into Belize and stay and enjoy the ship. I was up early and it's amazing how far off shore you are anchored. As the sun was coming up you could see all the tender boats coming out towards the ships. It appeared that they do a pretty good job of getting people in. Wouldn't wnt to go that distance if the seas were choppy.

 

We really enjoyed the day on the ship sucking up the sun, food and drinks. A very relaxing and uneventful day and evening. Some pictures of the day and our food in the MDR.

 

 

 

 

[apdchief]

Day 6 - Cozumel

 

We had booked a day at Chankanaab National Park/Dolphin Discovery and had an appointment for all of us for a dolphin encounter. We had booked this on our own back in November.

We docked around 8am (ship time an hour behind cozumel time) and after breakfast got off the ship around 9am. Spent a little time looking around the shops and then took a cab over to Chakanaab. Cab ride is $15 for everyone and you are there in about 15 minutes or less. Once there we checked in and some kid put a parrot on my daughters head and a iguana in her arms and charged me $5. It was worth it, but he really didn't ask if it was ok.

 

 

The park was really nice and we had full use of everything including the pool, ah a fresh water pool. Our dolphin encounter was not until 1pm (Cozumel Time) so we enjoyed the pool and park. You could watch other people swim with the dolphins. Very well organized. At 10am they had a sea lion show. There wasn't many people there, but the show was outstanding. My daughter was able to go up and get a kiss from the sea lion.

 

 

 

We ate lunch there, it was very good. We had chicken and beef fahitas and hamburgers.

 

 

Brianna got some braids in her hair.

 

 

Next Page

[apdchief]

Cozumel Cont:

 

The dolphin encounter was running a little behind by about 30 minutes. Now keep in mind that's 2:30 ship time, which was making me a little nervous.

 

The dolphin encounter was by far the highlight of our vacation. The program was wonderful and would recommend it to anyone. We were with a group of about 10 including the 5 of us. We put life jackets on and were escorted to the area were we met the trainer. This guy knew his stuff. We were in the water for about 45 minutes and were able to touch the dolphin, get kissed, shake his fins and see a number of stunts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was such an awesome experiance. Once we were done we kind of rushed to change and get a cab back to the dock. You had secured lockers and showers to use. We did get back to port in plenty of time to do a little shopping and back on the ship.

 

Day 7 - Day at Sea

 

It's hard to believe the week is almost over. We spent the day enjoying the ship and saying good by to all the wonderful workers that we met. They really do work so hard. We had breakfast in the MDR for the first and last time that morning. The service and food was good. Our waiter was from Thailand. He was a little quiet at first, but once we broke the ice we had some great conversations with him. We tracked down our room steward, Abdul, and seen our waitress, Sumi, and gave them a little extra tip for their great service. We had everthing packed that evening, Brianna spent a couple more hours at camp and we donated a few more dollars at the casino before we called it a night.

 

We were up early and left the room around 8:30 carrying all our luggage, with the exception of waiting for the elevator for about 10 minutes, we were through customs and out the door in about 20 minutes. We had booked SAS transportation to take us to Fort Lauderdale. Once outside I called the cell number they gave me and before you knew it we were on our way.

 

We decided not to fly out until Monday and booked 2 rooms at the Hilton Marina in Fort Lauderdale. We got there about 10am and our rooms were not ready, so they secured our luggage and we went and had breakfast. Our rooms were ready abot 11am, which were very nice. My daughter wanted to go swimming so she spent about an hour in the pool, then we all took the hotels free shuttle to Ft Lauderdale beach and checked out the sights and there were plenty because it was springbreak. We had lunch down on the strip and just enjoyed our last day of Florida sun.

We were back at the hotel by 7pm and went to bed early, our flight home was at 9am. Uneventful flight and got home around 2pm on Tuesday.

 

Overall everything went very well with our vacation, we were very pleased with Carnival and the services they provided.

[sairajo]

Thanks so much for your review! We are on Valor starting this Sunday and after reading your review, I can't wait!!! Loved the pictures!

[apdchief]

If anyone has any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

[Trplnckl]

If anyone has any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

Would it be possible for you to post the "Fun Times" (Capers)? Also, did you ever go to the Piano Bar, if yes was the entertainer ...entertaining ?

[emmysmommy]

Great review and photos! It brought back some good memories from our Valor cruise last summer. Your daughter is adorable!

 

Those iguanas...I'd prefer they keep to their space!! I'm definitely not an iguana lover! :D

[apdchief]

Would it be possible for you to post the "Fun Times" (Capers)? Also, did you ever go to the Piano Bar, if yes was the entertainer ...entertaining ?

 

I will work on the capers. As far as the piano bar, I don't have much to compare it to, but what little time we spent there it wasn't bad (IMO). Never seen a real big crowd there.

[Froufie]

I will work on the capers. As far as the piano bar, I don't have much to compare it to, but what little time we spent there it wasn't bad (IMO). Never seen a real big crowd there.

 

 

I'm assurming this means Larry must be gone? Was on the Valor in January and by the 3rd night the place was empty and Larry was entertaining himself! Very disappointing in my opinion as often the piano bar is a fun and happening place to hang out in! (until I can no longer take the smoke!;))

[CarnivalCruiseLover]

Great review. I will be on the Valor on September 12th!