Valor Review 3-14-10

[tbrocks]

OK, I'm going to try to post a picture before I get started on this. Let's see how this goes. . .

[tbrocks]

[tbrocks]

OK. So, I think I have it figured out. It's very late tonight and I won't be able to do the review tomorrow but I'll try to be back on Wednesday. Great ship, great itinerary (Western Caribbean) and we had a great time. More to come. . .

Just so I can practice, here are some pre-cruise pics:

Making sure our snorkeling equipment is ready to go

 

Having some pre-cruise margaritas! Getting in the mood

 

Pole dancing on the airport shuttle

 

There's more pole dancing to come, but I won't spoil it!

[falkcor]

 

congrats on getting the pics to work!

 

 

There's more pole dancing to come, but I won't spoil it!

 

and... LOL! pole dancing at the airport! brilliant, lol. looking forward to more of that humor coming through in your review. go for it :cool:

[BarJen]

anxiously awaiting the review! :D

[Tiffany1203]

Great review so far! :D

[jdbmga]

Can't wait to read your review!

[niclan6]

I love your pics lol. We were on the Valor that week also (we were also part ot the roll call for that week). I have been wanting to do a review as well, but one thing or another since we have been back has prevented me from finding the time. I am anxious to hear someone else`s experience. We had a GREAT time! Although I wouldn`t say this was the cruise for you if you did not have kids. There were something like 1300 kids on board that week. Overall though I think the kids were never a problem. The hottubs were the only place where perhaps they may have been annoying if you were expecting to go and sit and relax quietly. :rolleyes:

[tbrocks]

I was there with kids and mine was one in the hot tub. Hopefully, she wasn't annoying! I could see her the whole time and she didn't seem to bother anyone. This one's mine so let me know if she was one of the nuisance children! :-)

 

Sorry to continue to tease you. I have to go bowling. Tomorrow night I'll plan to finish it!

[cruisingbajan]

Please post before I leave on Saturday for my cruise.:(:)

[PamperedAshley]

So excited to read your Valor review! We can not wait to sail on her in Nov.

[niclan6]

I was there with kids and mine was one in the hot tub. Hopefully, she wasn't annoying! I could see her the whole time and she didn't seem to bother anyone. This one's mine so let me know if she was one of the nuisance children! :-)

 

Sorry to continue to tease you. I have to go bowling. Tomorrow night I'll plan to finish it!

 

Nope she doesn`t look familiar lol. I didn`t mean that the kids in the hot tub were annoying me - I had 4 kids under 10 on that cruise. What time of day was that pic taken at. I never saw the pool area so quiet.

[tbrocks]

This was on Sunday not long after we boarded. She wore her swimsuit under a dress so she could enjoy the pool and hot tub while we were waiting to get into our rooms. It was perfect!

[jtagphillycruiser]

Can't wait for the review. I'll be on the Valor in November. I think your review is going to be a riot as evidence by the "pole dancers" lol...Joanne

[itchin2cruz]

Can't wait for your review. I'm sailing on her Sunday. Leaving out on my birthday with a couple we met on our last cruise on the holiday in October. Can't wait!

[TrqoisWtrs]

Making sure our snorkeling equipment is ready to go

 

I just picked up a pair of those smaller travel fins. How did they work out?

[Froufie]

Still suffering from PCD - so awaiting more Valor memories!

[cruisingbajan]

Can't wait for your review. I'm sailing on her Sunday. Leaving out on my birthday with a couple we met on our last cruise on the holiday in October. Can't wait!

 

Hey Angel

 

haven't seen you on the roll call lately.:)

[tbrocks]

I just picked up a pair of those smaller travel fins. How did they work out?

 

I didn't like them as much as the longer ones but they definitely did the job. Very easy to pack and carry around on the islands. I actually used the bag they came in as my beach bag. Unbelievably, it really worked pretty well!

[tbrocks]

OK. No more teasing. As promised, I'm going to try to get my review done tonight. I was addicted to CC before I left and I appreciated all the information I received.

 

We planned this as part of my husband's 40th birthday. The group included my dad, mom, husband (obviously), daughter - 9, brother, niece - 11, nephew - 15, single female friend - 31, single female friend - 39.

 

We are from Kansas City and we booked in July for a March cruise. I kept an eye on flights out of everywhere trying to find a deal. I had to pay for three of us to fly so I wanted to get the best price possible. We ended up booking a flight from KC to Orlando on Saturday for $69/person one-way. We figured we could take that and then find something one-way coming back. We rented a car from National. Very easy. HINT - if you are using a GPS in FL, make sure the setting isn't "avoid toll roads". We got a nice tour of Orlando before we figured that out!

 

On Sunday morning, we returned the car to the location by the airport and found out they will take you over to Alamo and you can get on the free shuttle to the port.

 

Here's my husband and I on the shuttle to the port

 

And. . . as promised. . . more pole dancing!

 

For those of you who know who Darby O'Gill is, my Dad in this picture reminds me of him. Not the pole dancing part!

 

We got to the port around 11. At that time, there are still several people getting transportation from the port after having just returned home. It wasn't too chaotic, though.

 

We dropped our bags off with the porters and took the escalators up to the waiting area. We had bought two 12-packs of soda and hadn't transferred them from the boxes to a bag. Our porter wouldn't let us put them in a bag so we had to carry them on. HINT - if we would have put them in a bag and put a luggage tag on it, they probably would have taken it. It was kind of a nuisance until we could get in the room, but not that big of a deal. If you drink soda but not enough to get a soda card, this is a great option. I've very glad we did it.

 

When you get to the top of the escalators, there's someone there who will give your party a boarding number. We had 7. My brother and his kids got there around 10:30 and they had 4. Since we were officially all part of the same party, we were able to board with them. Once you get in, you'll fill out a health form and then go to the lines to get your S&S card. We stood in line for 10 minutes max. Then, we sat in the chairs waiting for them to call our number. The whole process from when we stepped off the shuttle to when we stepped onto the ship was just over an hour.

 

Waiting for our boarding number to be called - playing hat switch

 

You can see some of the line in the background. This probably would have been around 11:30 / 11:45. It's probably twice as long as it was when we checked in.

[tbrocks]

We entered the ship on deck 3 (I think). It's beautiful. This was our fifth cruise and this is my favorite ship in terms of style. I loved the atrium. We sat in the chairs there until another part of our party showed up. It was fun watching other people come onto the ship. You could tell the ones who were experienced cruisers and the newbies!

 

We went up to the Lido deck to check out the food. The buffet was all set up and I went to the burrito bar first. I thought it was really good. My daughter went to the mongolian BBQ and she loved it. There were only three spice options. The meat selection that day was shrimp, chicken, and pork. Later in the week, I saw salmon as an option, too. There wasn't anything at the buffet all week that I was completely in love with and couldn't get enough of, but everything I tried was good.

 

Since the Lido deck was still pretty quiet, after we ate we grabbed some chairs right by the main pool and hot tubs. We stayed there until it was time to get ready for dinner. Since you saw the hot tubs pics, here are a couple of the lounge chairs we had. As you notice, the girls are both eating ice cream. My niece's total was 31 by the end of the week!

 

As the kids were enjoying their ice cream, the adults were enjoying their first real drinks. My first and last drink of the cruise was the Kiss on the Lips. The boys started with the DOD.

 

You can see some of the Lido deck from here. One thing I loved was the way it was tiered. There were also a variety of chairs. My mom doesn't like to get up and down from the lounge chairs, so she really appreciated the light blue chairs in the background.

[tbrocks]

We had originally booked an inside cabin but the rate went down so much throughout the process that we ended up with an oceanview for no additional cost. We booked ES and I kept an eye on the prices every day. My single friends had a two person inside cabin and they ended up getting $80 OBC each. We had a three person cabin and didn't get the OBC because they supposedly didn't have three people cabin rooms where the rate went down. However, about 2-3 weeks before we left, I noticed the OV rooms were the same price as what we paid for IS so we took the upgrade. I LOVED the room. We've had OV on other ships but they didn't have the couch. These are 220 SQ FT and I'm probably used to the 185 SQ FT ones, like the IS on the Valor. Anyway, LOVED it! My daughter slept on the couch that made into a bed and it was perfect. I liked it better than the ones that come out of the wall.

 

 

So, between boarding and dinner the first night, my daughter tested out the water slide

 

My niece checked out some of the cool chairs on the Lido deck (she loved this chair)

 

and we explored the ship a little. I've just realized this is going to be very very long if I keep going as I am. We haven't even left Miami yet! One of the areas I wanted to explore before we left were the "secret" decks at the front of the ship. If you go down the hallway on the Lido deck, deck 6, or 7, you'll come to a door that says caution because of wind or something. You can go through there and you pretty much have the deck to yourself. Except now that we've all told, it won't be so private anymore. This is where we decided we wanted to be when the ship left port. These are taken from the secret deck on 7 (again, I think) and we were the only ones there. This picture shows deck 5 with several people. This is only open to crew.

[tbrocks]

Secret deck pictures:

 

Coming up on South Beach

 

For those of you thinking about going to South Beach for Spring Break, this might change your mind

[tbrocks]

We were in the Washington Dining Room during the early seating. The first night was "come as you are" since not everyone had their luggage. My nephew had on a tank top, which would normally never be acceptable for the dining room and our waitress made sure to tell him that. She wasn't very friendly the first night but she did warm up as the week went on. The wait staff wasn't bad by any means, but they weren't wonderful. I've had wonderful before. My dad had milk every night but he had to ask for it every time. Previous cruises they would have either had it for him or they would have asked him if he wanted it after they realized he always ordered it.

Side Note - I read all the reviews before I went on this cruise and I remember thinking people were whiny when they commented on things like that. I have fun no matter what situation I'm in and the fact that the wait staff wasn't the best I've ever had didn't affect my enjoyment of the cruise at all. I do know that this kind of stuff is very important to other people, though.

 

Our table was on the upper level in a corner. It was nice because we had fairly good privacy. No view or anything, though. All the dinner shows happened on the main floor in the center so we couldn't see anything from our table. We always got up and went to the stairs to watch.

 

One thing I loved about reading the reviews was seeing the food pictures. I was literally DREAMING about the choc melting cake before we went! I'll try to remember what all this food is. I made everyone take pictures of their food. By the end of the week, the kids were reminding me!

 

Shrimp Cocktail

Some salmon appetizer my dad got. I think he said it was good.

Flat Iron Steak (the sauce is like gravy. They put it on the steak, prime rib, etc. I was expecting an au jus for the prime rib when they asked if I wanted sauce. Everything was better without the sauce - FYI)

Ribs - these were awesome. I tried my dad's. I made the mistake of not wanting to eat ribs when I can get them anytime (I do live in KC). MISTAKE. BIG. HUGE. The ribs were fabulous!

Mahi Mahi - My daughter ordered this. She is kind of a picky eater but she tore this up!

And, my favorite . . . warm chocolate melting cake. It deserves to be spelled out. No WCMC here!! MMMMM, warm chocolate melting cake!

 

I did move to asking for two things of ice cream by the end. One is just not enough for all that chocolatey deliciousness! (I'm such a girl!)

[luvz2cruze22]

More More!! I'm on the Valor later this month and I LOVE reading reveiws about her....it helps fuel my excitement! Not that I need any help.:rolleyes: