Valor Review 3-14-10

[tbrocks]

My single friends had the late dinner seating, so we barely saw them. They couldn't handle eating with the kids and the old people, though. They did stop by and see us the first night, though. For anyone who was on the cruise with us, you'll probably recognize the one on the right. She was the Queen Bee of the cruise.

 

After dinner, we went to the disco to check out the 9-11 yr old party. It was already started by the time we got there since we were at dinner. My niece didn't think she was going to be interested in Camp Carnival before she even went since she knew she was going to be the oldest in the group. Her birthday was on the Monday after we got back and she turned 12. She went to the party to humor us, but she wasn't getting into it. That rubbed off on my 9 year old so she didn't think it was cool, either. As an observer, the other kids at the party were having fun. It was actually for families so the moms and dads were out there dancing and having fun, too. We signed the girls up for Camp Carnival that night but they never ended up actually going after that. My daughter has been on two other cruises where I could barely keep her out of Camp Carnival because she loved it so much. But, she had always been the only kid that went. Even though she didn't go at all this time, she says this was her best cruise because she actually had someone to enjoy it with the whole time since her cousin was there. I was a little nervous at first when I realized they probably weren't going to go since I wanted to make sure they had fun but they ended up having a blast hanging out together. Ironic that the 11 year old who didn't want to hang out with the 9 year olds ended up with one the whole cruise and she loved it! :-)

 

My nephew went to the next group (12 - 15?). They had their own club and he loved it. He made tons of friends and after the first night when his curfew was midnight, his dad let him stay out a little longer. The adults spent some time in the casino and at the disco so we kept an eye on him to make sure he was where he was supposed to be and wasn't running around causing trouble! All the kids had a blast!

 

Day 2 (finally) - Sea Day

This was really just a lazy day. We hung out on the Lido deck, people watched, listened to the music, watched the Lido activities, etc.

 

Here are some random pics of the group:

 

We spent a lot of time on the Starboard? (right) side on the Lido deck. That was the smoking section and as you can see, both my brother and dad smoke.

I actually like that there was a smoking section. If I wouldn't have been with them, it would have been nice to have the option to sit on the non-smoking side. I do have to say, the smoke usually didn't bother me even when I was sitting on that side. We never really had an issue getting a table.

 

 

This is one of many pieces of pizza we tried throughout the week. It's bigger than her head! The kids didn't like the pizza as much as the adults did, oddly enough.

 

The girls decided to have their own dance party

 

Sorry I don't have better panoramic pictures. I know people don't like to look at pictures of people they don't know so I'm trying to find some that show at least a little of the ship!

[tbrocks]

As the day went on, it was harder and harder to find a lounge chair. We didn't stake claim to a chair and keep our stuff on it all day. When we left, our stuff left too. So, we decided to go back to our "secret" deck to see if we could get some sun there. The sun was great but there weren't any chairs. There's a bench in the shade but nothing in the sun. We had our towels and used them as pillows. It actually worked pretty well. If this deck had even a few lounge chairs, it would be heaven.

 

So, here's a picture I didn't put on Facebook since it's so very very unflattering. However, I trust all my CC friends to not make fun of us! :-) It does a good job of showing the deck, though. Again, we had it all to ourselves all day!

Really . . . it's SUPER unflattering so I'm going to find a pretty picture and post that, too! :-)

OMG, I can't believe I just put that on there!!

 

Here's my niece laying on the bench that was in the shade. It's bolted down so don't even think about trying to move it into the sun!

 

While we were on that deck, we saw a boat that we imagined was a pirate ship. As it got closer, it didn't look so much like that but either way, it never came any closer. In all my stories about the cruise, I'm going with the pirate ship theory and we were lucky to get away with our lives!

[ciera123]

Great review!!! I'm loving the pictures and all the details. We're on the Valor May 29 and we can't wait. On a side note, I'm from KC, too and I thought there was no way I'd try BBQ ribs on a cruise ship when I can get the BEST at home....But now, I just may have to give them a try. I'll be patiently waiting for more!!!

[tbrocks]

Dinner that night was the first elegant night. I started it off the best way I could think of

 

Well, there is another great way to start (or end) an evening but I can't post any of those pictures here!

 

He's looking forward to things to come

 

eyes up buddy! Not the time for that!!

My husband appreciates the more lax dress code on carnival. I know it's ridiculous, but he doesn't even own a suit. Or a jacket, for that matter! He's a roofer and a fisherman. I was lucky to get him into something other than a t-shirt.

 

More food pics coming. I hope you guys are liking this so far. I don't know how exciting it is!

[motherhen1967]

We aren't going until Feb. It will be the first cruise for the whole family. I am glad the kids in your group had a good time too. My boys will be 11 and 13. Excellent review:rolleyes:

[tbrocks]

Great review!!! I'm loving the pictures and all the details. We're on the Valor May 29 and we can't wait. On a side note, I'm from KC, too and I thought there was no way I'd try BBQ ribs on a cruise ship when I can get the BEST at home....But now, I just may have to give them a try. I'll be patiently waiting for more!!!

 

The nice thing about cruise food is you can get as much as you want. Order the ribs AND something else. I really do recommend that you try them! I hope they're as good for you as they were for us.

[tbrocks]

OK, on to more food:

 

This was a strawberry something. Bisque maybe. One of the girls ordered it and they LOVED it. I tried it and it was very good. One thing I was surprised at was that the kids ordered from the real menu almost every night.

This was a mushroom something that my brother really liked. I hate mushrooms so I didn't even try it. He said it was really good so for those of you who like mushrooms . . .

 

This doesn't sound amazing and it doesn't really look amazing, but it tasted amazing. It's some alfredo pasta (again one of the girls ordered) and it was really good. Surprisingly. I think I get used to the way alfredo always tastes and this has some seasoning that gave it an extra something that made it very very yummy.

 

Prime Rib. Again, much better (in my opinion) without the "sauce", which is really gravy

This was an apple carmel something. The description sounded so good, I didn't get the warm chocolate melting cake this night. Unfortunately, it really wasn't very good. A lot of us ordered it that night and no one really liked it. It looks beautiful but it was hard to eat and the pastry part wasn't very good. This was probably the food I was most disappointed in. Probably mostly because I gave up the warm chocolate melting cake for it.

[tbrocks]

That night, we went to the show, but I honestly can't remember what it was. Every show we went to was good. We did skip a couple, though.

After the show, we spent some time in the casino. They have craps, blackjack, caribbean stud, let it ride, electronic hold em, roulette, and probably some others. I like Pai Gow but they didn't have that. We stayed pretty even throughout the cruise. We didn't gamble a lot but at least we didn't lose much!

 

This ended up being a fairly early night since we knew Grand Cayman was the next morning. The bad thing about cruising with a group is you have to have plans. You have to plan what time you're all meeting and then actually follow those timeframes.

 

Day 3 - Grand Cayman

We were just going to do a beach day and snorkeling so we didn't want to fight the crowds. We decided to meet around 9. It was chaos trying to get everyone together. Our rooms weren't all together and we all went to eat at different times. One tip I got from reading reviews earlier was to order food to take off at Grand Cayman so we wouldn't have to buy something on the island since it's so expensive. I ordered room service the night before and got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, veggies, chips, etc. We planned ahead for this and packed baggies so we could take them off the ship. SUPER idea!

 

When we finally all got together, there wasn't a line at all to get on the tender. It was probably 10 something by the time we left. I do wish we would have left a little earlier. Although it's nice to miss the crowds, you want to spend as much time in port as possible and time goes so fast! We walked off the ship and got a taxi for $4/person (I think). We tried to negotiate, but didn't really have much luck. We did find someone who said they would only charge for 8 instead of 9. I know there's public transportation we could have taken but the cost wasn't bad and it was more convenient. We went to one of the bars, Royal Palms maybe? You could rent chairs for $7 for the day or you could use your towels and lay on the beach. We didn't rent chairs since we wanted to go to Eden Rock later and didn't know how long we would be there.

 

We've been to Grand Cayman before and we did the snorkel, stingray, and Rum Point tour. I LOVED Rum Point when we went there last time. I wanted to try to find a way to get back there this time but nothing was cost effective. Plus, with such a large group, it was difficult planning. So, since we'd never been to 7Mile Beach, we went there instead. The beach was lovely but in my opinion, it doesn't compare to the peacefulness of Rum Point. It totally depends on what you are looking for. The water at 7Mile has more waves and the kids actually enjoyed getting tossed around by the waves a little. Here are some pics:

 

On the tender

 

In the water at 7MB. Kinda blurry

 

I just thought this looked cool with the toenail polish

[tbrocks]

More Grand Cayman photos:

 

When we got tired of swimming and laying out, we went up to the bar to get some drinks. We had arranged for the same taxi to come back for us at 1:30 because we wanted her to take us to Eden Rock. I had heard about the snorkeling there and wanted to give it a try. She was there right on time.

I have some pictures from a disposable underwater camera but I don't have it developed. I'll try to add them later. It would have been nice to see a picture of Eden Rock before I went but I didn't look too hard to find one. I'm sure it was out here somewhere. The water was very rough so my daughter, mom, and husband decided to go to Paradise Bar. It's right next door to Eden Rock so that worked out perfectly. The rest of us went snorkeling. It wasn't the greatest but it wasn't bad. We did see a baracuda that scared the crap out of me. At first, I just thought it was a big fish, so let's mosey on over and take a look at it. Well, it was a big fish. I big fish with very very large teeth! Once I saw the teeth, I didn't want to go any closer. I enjoyed the other smaller less intimidating fish instead.

 

I got out first because I felt guilty that my daughter and husband weren't with me. I walked over to Paradise Bar. They had ordered some nachos and three sodas and the bill was $45 US. The prices were in Cayman dollars so they didn't realize how expensive it was. I knew that from my avid CC research, but I forgot to warn them, I guess. Maybe they just didn't listen to me. They said it was good, at least! :-)

 

It's walking distance from Eden Rock back to the ship so we meandered back and stopped at a couple shops along the way.

 

At Paradise Bar before the bill came. (I apologize for my husband's T-shirt. At the Lake of the Ozarks in MO, there is a place that is halfway between the two dams that make up the lake. It's called Big Dick's Halfway Inn. It's halfway between the dams. Anyway . . .)

 

Paradise Bar looking over to Eden Rock

 

This is what we saw on our walk back to the pier. You can see the tender boats

[tbrocks]

So, that was pretty much Grand Cayman for us. I don't think I took my camera to dinner that night since I don't have any food pics. We had a late night since we knew we didn't get to Roatan until noon. Went to the Piano Bar. I've read all about him that he sucked, and he really did. My husband couldn't even stand to stay in there. He said his ears were going to bleed. Really!

We went to the Disco and that was pretty hopping. I've actually never been to the disco on any of my other cruises so I'm glad the single ladies dragged us there! It was fun.

 

As much as I didn't want to do this, I have to give it a break for the night. Another thing I hated about reading reviews before I went was that people would stop in the middle of them and I wanted to read all the way though. I hated waiting! I soooooo wanted to get through it all today and I apologize that I didn't. I'll be back tomorrow night, though. I took less pictures as the week wore on so it might go faster on the 2nd half.

 

Let me know what you think and if you're getting anything out of this. Have a good night! Talk with you tomorrow.

[Vianky]

LOVE it!! Can't wait for tomorrow so I can see more!

[gypsyrose]

Loving your pictoral review....Keep it coming:D

[disneyaholicraquel]

Thanks, for the review it's great....keep it coming!

[#1PATSFAN]

Love your review & great sense of humor, your hilarious!!

Especially liked the picture of you & your husband "Eyes up Buddy" so funny!!!

Keep it coming, I have a loooong wait til February :D

[dldestiny]

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:

 

I am there with you...both on the cruise and loving to read the reviews because it fuels my excitement. I am taking advantage of every opportunity to fuel the excitement! I can't wait!!

 

I think I might have to lay off a bit because my son is now so excited he keeps saying, "I don't think I am going to survive till then!"

[C Cruise Dude]

 

Sweet! ;)

[sailingawaysoon]

Loving your review. Can't wait to contiune reading more and seeing the pics. So far, so good!

[jtagphillycruiser]

Your review thus far is awesome. Your pictures are great. I am going on the Valor in November and can't wait. Can you tell me abut Rum Point. My hubby really does not want to have anything to do w/stingrays. He just wants to go to a nice beach. Could we get off the ship and get a taxi to Rum Point? Does Rum Point have lounge chairs; restrooms, etc. Is there a bar...Sorry for all the questions. Keep up the great work on the review you are doing a wonderful job. Thanks....Joanne

[Palm-Breeze]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review!

I love all the pictures you took. Especially the food porn!:p You look like you all had a great time together!

Great job can't wait for the next installment!:)

[bumbles]

 

He's looking forward to things to come

 

 

You still got it girlfriend!

 

Loving your review and all the pics! Thank you so much for posting!!

[tbrocks]

Your review thus far is awesome. Your pictures are great. I am going on the Valor in November and can't wait. Can you tell me abut Rum Point. My hubby really does not want to have anything to do w/stingrays. He just wants to go to a nice beach. Could we get off the ship and get a taxi to Rum Point? Does Rum Point have lounge chairs; restrooms, etc. Is there a bar...Sorry for all the questions. Keep up the great work on the review you are doing a wonderful job. Thanks....Joanne

 

Rum Point is gorgeous. It's smaller than 7MB but there's plenty of shade and sun. There are chairs you can use and I believe there are also hammocks. No cost. There is a bar/restaurant there but FYI - it takes a long time to get a drink or food. They're on "island time". The problem is there isn't an easy way to get there otherwise I would have gone back in a heartbeat! I think a taxi costs about $80 each way and you'd have to arrange for them to come pick you back up since there aren't taxi's just waiting there. I really thought about renting a jeep for the day. If it would have just been my husband and I, we probably would have. I think that's about $100. There are a couple days of the week where there's a ferry now. We didn't stop on the ferry day. I can't remember when that is. Go to tripadvisor.com and put in rum point. You'll see some pics and stuff. In my opinion, it's totally worth it! If I had to do that day over again, I would have coughed up the money and went there.

[tbrocks]

I'm back! It's already later than I wanted to I hope to get through the rest tonight. I don't really remember what we did the night after Grand Cayman, so we're just going to go with we had a blast!

 

So far, the weather on the cruise had been wonderful. Nothing to complain about at all. I am addicted to House Hunters International on HGTV and I had seen some people buy houses on Roatan. This was the stop I was most excited about. I mean, really excited! We booked a private tour with Victor Bodden. He sent instructions before we left saying to walk through the Mahogany Bay area and walk up the hill. Carnival has it gated and no outside vendors can come in. I didn't take any pictures of Mahogany Bay because we were so excited to get out to see the island. When we got to the area where the taxi's were, we all looked at the hill and thought "really? We have to walk up there?" It was super humid and we were all pouring with sweat. It's really not a long walk but it was so humid we were all about ready to die when we got to the top. My mom and dad were slow, but we all made it.

 

At the top of the hill, there's someone standing with a sign for Victor Bodden. I was thinking this would be our driver but he's actually just the person who shuttles us to the area where we meet our driver. This whole area is complete chaos since all the outside vendors have to meet here and there's nowhere for the vehicles to turn around. It was totally an adventure! :-)

 

When we got to the area where we were to meet our driver (less than a 3 minute drive probably), we were told we actually had a van that would seat 29 people! Awesome! It was a gorgeous van. Plenty of space, obviously. We had a driver who understood English but didn't speak it very well. Then, we had a tour guide Anna. She was awesome! We knew our main priorities were to do an island tour, snorkel, and spend some time on a beach. The weather wasn't looking the greatest, so we decided to snorkel first.

 

Here's our van

 

On the way to the snorkeling boat, we took a tour through Coxen Hole, which is the downtown area of Roatan. We were told there is great shopping here, but we didn't take the time to stop. We figured we would stop there on the way back. I did take some pictures from the van, though.

 

House in Coxen Hole

[tbrocks]

We drove through some other areas and Anna told us the history of all the places. I took some random pictures along the way.

 

 

If you look really closely, you can actually see a parrot sitting on a tree toward the right of the picture

 

It's too bad it was so cloudy because this would have been a gorgeous pic. You can't really distinguish it, but you can see the sea in the background beyond the hills.

 

This is an area where we could have gotten out and take some awesome scenic pictures but we were still all excited to go snorkeling and figured we'd stop on the way back.

[tbrocks]

My mom doesn't snorkel so we were going to do the glass bottom boat so she could at least see something. Anna took us to the West End to Half Moon Bay (I think that's all correct). She said the boat we wanted was out right then but she could take us to another boat or we could hang out on the beach and wait. They called ahead to the other boat and they said it was there and we could get on it. So, we decided we'd get back in the van and go to West Bay where the other boat was.

 

When we got there, we realized there was a miscommunication and Anna thought we all just wanted to go on the glass bottom boat. The one in West Bay is strictly viewing, no actual snorkeling. So, we took some pictures of that beach and decided we'd have the other snorkeling boat drop us off at this beach so we could walk down to Tabyana, which I'd heard such good things about.

 

So, I took a couple pics (imagine that!) and then back into the van we went.

 

One of the beach houses at West Bay

Mom and Dad, Anna, and our driver (I can't remember his name)

 

I don't know why I didn't get an pictures of it, but there was also a treehouse here that you can rent out. It's pretty cool and of course, the kids want to go back and stay there!

 

So, after those few Kodak moments, we got back in the van and went to Half Moon Bay again. The boat still wasn't there yet so we decided to enjoy the beach.

 

[tbrocks]

Papa building a sandcastle with the girls

The stepstool in the above picture is what we used to actually get onto the snorkeling boat.

 

OK, this one, I couldn't help myself! My husband always complains about the male speedos on the cruises. We hadn't seen ANY speedos on the ship so I let him know this picture was just for him!

 

 

Char got her hair braided while we were waiting