Just returned from Valor! 3-27/4-3

[ccnwater]

First a little background: This was our 1st Carnival cruise, we have sailed Royal and Princess. All our cruises have been in March, this was the 1st one during Easter Week. I did a LOT of research before booking and going. 3 other familes joined us, they have sailed Princess, Celebrity and Royal. No one in our group had sailed Carnival. We all have children ages 5-12, we are in our late 30's - 40. We had wonderful weather, a great time. The following does not mean that I did NOT have fun. I am posting this for people who want to hear Negative as well as Postive.

 

Now this is mainly observations, of course I also had to compare to past cruises. The ship is real pretty, I never felt like it was gaudy. I am not sure why Carnival designed the pool area/deck area the way they did, but everyone in our group felt very crowded and confined on Sea days. I do realize Sea days, everyone is enjoying the sun, but my other 2 cruises, ship was full, you never felt crowded..And yes, we also sailed during Canada spring break and college spring breaks....Example is Adventure of the Seas, never had a problem finding pool chairs around 9:30am...never felt like I was bumping into people. On the Valor, you were lucky to get a chair at 7:30am, and I mean even away from the main pool. We actually did not mind sitting on Deck 11, looking down on the main pool area, because we had a breeze. Also, right around the pool area was so trashed with cigarettes, dirty glasses, dirty trays, it was hard enough walking down to the pool without tripping..Which leads me to the service on the Valor. Yes, I understand the cruise ships are cutting back, that these poor people are worked to death, and that yes, I payed about 900.00 (per family) less then if I had cruised Royal the same week..But come on! We would notice dirty tables around the pizza area for hours! Cups, plates, trays, stacked up all around the pool area. No one in our group can recall a dirty cup sitting around on past cruises for more then 10 minutes.

Service at the purser desk, they were nice, but really did not want to help you. (If you want examples, let me know) Oh, our room Steward, Natalia was a real sweet heart, was also tipped extra by 3 of our familes....She always greeted us with a smile and chatted....Actually that is the kind of service I have had from all my past cruises, with the service EVRYWHERE on the ship. I did not notice this on the Valor.....

 

The Food..The food was great! The pizza and Reubens, to die for! We never had to wait more then a few minutes for buffet food, pizza or sandwiches, which I feel is normal. Our dining room waiter was nice, but rushed around alot and never even tried to chat with us, even when we tried to. Our friends 5yr old wanted Lobster and he tried to get him to eat a grilled cheese instead. Found that odd, they payed for him to eat, let him order what he wants! The Lobster would not go to waste at our table. Bar service was a joke in the dining room. They would come every night about 10 minutes after we sat down, drinks would arrive when the main course did. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, it was always warm/hot and tasty. I ate soups every night, they were great!

 

The passengers on the ship...Well we do like to party. We would stay up, average time till 12:30am(few nights longer)...Of course up at 7:00am, so we were a little tired by evening. I would say half the ship was awake till 5:00am, and very LOUD! We had balconey rooms on the 7th deck. Almost every night, about 3:00am and on, you heard people (Not just teenagers) yelling and running in the halls. Ok, I understand having fun, but do it on the main decks. I can not understand Carnival putting so much money into a beautiful ship, and making the cabins with thin walls. Also cigarette smoke was very bad. In the bars at night and by the pool during the day. Again, I understand you can smoke in these places, but maybe Carnival should have thought out better ventalation in the bars. Never experienced this problem on the other lines.

 

I did not enjoy Nassau at all. Some in our group did do the Dolphin encounter (We had done it in Cozumel) They had a blast. We walked down town to the Pirate muesuem to find out it was closed. What a dump this city is(why do cruise lines stop here?)...Then took the water taxi to Atlantis, walked about another mile to the Resort. (Better off taking a land taxi, you will be dropped off in front) We are all in shape, not overweight, but walking that far with little kids is not that fun. Personally, Atlantis is not for me. It is so crowded with Tourists around there, guess I missed what all the fuss is about. The kids did love the aquariuam, so it was worth the journey for them. I personally will not get off the ship next time at Nassau, unless we do a snorkel excursion somewhere. Also only being there till 2:00pm does not give much time.

 

We love St. Thomas, always have. Went to Trunk Bay. Booked thru the cruise this time, so much easier and less stressful then on our own! Immigrations took my sisters family about 1hr, from start of line till they got off. Some of her group had a fishing charter booked, Peanut Gallery, at 9:30..They finally got ahold of the guy at 10:00am. He had promised weeks ahead that he would wait, understands how the cruise ships work with Immigration, but left anyways?? Well, it turned out ok, with a lot of running back and forth on the pier, then getting him on the radio, from another boat...I can give more info, if someone needs.

 

St. Maarten, we love this port also! All 13 of us went to Orient Beach in the Morning, back at ship at 12:30, then off on the GOLDEN EAGLE at 1:15! Awesome! These people really take care of you, we had a blast..

 

Well, I am sure this sounds like I am complaining! Honest, I just want to be helpful. We love to cruise, will continue to, but not with Carnival. I thought maybe another chance, but if I felt this way on a brand new ship, hard to believe it is better on the older ones. Did any of these small problems/observations ruin our vacation? Absolutely not! We had a great time, meet alot of nice people (Which all the cruisers we ran into were very nice and happy) I guess overall I got what I expected out of this cruise, was just a little disappointed in the service the most. But I am sure it is hit and miss on any cruise. And who knows, maybe my next Royal cruise will have flaws to.

Any specific questions, ask away!

[lavigne101]

Great review. We were on one of those smaller ships for Easter too, the Inspiration and posted the same type of review. We had a great time but felt the service was lacking. We were going to give Carnival one more try, looking at the Valor but after your reveiw, will look at Disney and Royal again. Thanks again for your review.

[BilaBu]

Great Review. We are sailing on Sunday. When did they start with disembaraktion in St. Thomas ? How was it done ? Did they call by Deck or room numbers or tour ? Thanks for your help !:)

[lil nemo]

we sailed early march on valor, and found the service sub-standard compared to other carnival ships! I'm not sure why they claimed that the staff was all gleened as top of the creaM FROM OTHER ships??? we noticed all the plates cups etc around the pool also. we even noticed it leftover from the day before. ewwww! it was crowded feeling and our ship wasn't completely booked. I can't imagine a full boat!!!

and I'm glad to hear someone else say a realistic time for getting off the ship at St Toms!

the only way you might shorten it if you stand in line beginning at 6am!! otherwise it takes 30- to hour to get off. we got in line at 9a and didn't get off until a little after 10a. ship time!

I really think they should just alter the schedule and flip flop, and hit the bahama's on the way back!

I hope everyone complains so that they switch it for future passengers!!!

 

and i agree what's up with Nassua?? we've never been before so is the condidtion of the island always l;ike this??// we thought maybe because of the hurricanes last fall, but our tour guide said they had recovered very quickly, soooooo..if that's what they consider recovered.....hmmmmm

[keywest22]

ccnwater,

 

What is Golden Eagle? Is it a tour? We are going on the same cruise and haven't decide what to do in St. Marten.

thanks

[mafiadon]

They tried doing the Nassau at the end of the cruise and it just didn't work as they were always getting into port late and all the tours were canceled plus they had to shorten the other port times so they went back to the original schedule. If Nassau is so bad then I am glad it is at the beginning and for a short period of time as I would much rather have longer in St.Thomas and St.Martin. Linda

[ccnwater]

Bilabu, if you have a shore excursion before noon, you are the 1st to get off. This is what I think causes the long wait, people who did not even have excursions, just wanted off the ship, were also in line 1st thing! Then they are supposed to call by deck numbers to get in-line, which I do not think anyone listens, no one is checking to see what deck you are on. Josh, the cruise director kept coming on the loud speaker asking people to please get out of line, if they do not have an excursion. We did not have one until 12:30, so we got in line at 10:00am, was off by 10:30 (to shop before hand). My sisters group had a private booked excursion at 9:30, was in line by about 8:45, was not off the ship until almost 10:00am. They were half way thru the line when it finally started moving! Also, I heard the officers were not on board until a little after 9:00, because they were short help?? Which is ridiculous, like they did not know we were coming?? Also, it was a little after 8:oo when we docked at the Pier.

 

Keywest, Golden Eagle catermaran is a private owned company on St. Maarten, but you can only book thru cruise lines..Check the Carnival excursions. They even picked us up on the pier in front of the ship. They had an open bar of beer, soda and rum..And they keep them coming! It was an awesome ride to a private Island, about 45 minutes, then they help you off, you can play in the water, snorkel (Not good, to wavy, nothing to see) or sun on the beach! They even take the cooler on the beach! Then the cruise back, they made subs and handed them out. Very friendly crew, all of us were pretty buzzed by the time we got back:)

[ambiance]

We also just returned from a cruise on the Valor and we also felt that it was substandard compared to our other Carnival cruises. The ship was often dirty and the broken window in the main area is still kept together with duct tape. Our room rattled and squeaked all night and the lamp buttons were broken. We kept stuffing paper and cardboard into nooks until we setteled some of the noise. The embarking and debarking was handled miserably, as were the tendering. We missed our excursion in Grand Cayman because of mismanagement on the part of Carnival. We also found the pursers office to be of little help. The cruise director was better than our others because he was not constantly jabbering on the loud speaker.

 

Bring extra plugs and a clock. The ship stays on Eastern Time.

 

This is our third Carnival cruise and we also chose it because we heard that the cream of the crop of the staff were put on the new ships. Not so! Our Vegas show, FOOD, service and treatment on the Glory was much better than on Valor. I am not a big eater, but I do appreciate warm tasty food. The Lido deck was often left dirty and the music for the Lido deck was pitiful. Again we were expecting the best talent on a new ship. I think the ships staff and crew reflects the personality of the captain, as do all business, which was very self-centered.

 

We will also cruise again (April 07) as there is no such thing as a bad cruise. :) Some are just better than others. We will probably try Royal Caribbean next time. Carnivals growth is overcoming its ability to maintain quality and will ultimately turn people away to other lines.

[ambiance]

Be sure to go to CORAL CAY RESORT:) when in Roatan. It was wonderful. We got off the ship and a cab driver suggested it. It was on of the best days of our cruise and it is VERY affordable. The snorkeling was some of best we have ever done second only to Anagada in the British Virgin Islands. It was part of the $10.00 we paid to use the facilities. The food is great and the people were wonderful.

[ambiance]

Look at another line and let us know.

[cruisercathy]

You guys are scaring me....................I am looking so forward to this cruise on a new ship..............There have been such good reviews too.........I am going with a positive outlook...........

 

I know I still will have a better time on Carnival then Royal..........their voyager class ships are gorgeous, but when I sailed the Navigator it was so quiet. I feel the food and entertainment have been better on Carnival so far.We shall see.............

[ccnwater]

Cruisercathy, do not be scared! We had a great time, as I stated, I was comparing to my past cruises. But for what I paid, I think I will stay with Royal and Princess. Actually, I may try Celebrity also...I just know alot of people who have only cruised Carnival and do not wish to try another line. More power to them , but they really may be missing something good....

[ambiance]

I am sure you will have a great time on your cruise. It is so true that there is no such thing as a bad cruise:). We went during spring break and it was overly crowded. We have gone before during spring break and it was better. Why didn't you like Royal Caribbean. We are thinking of trying it next. We are in our early 50's, but we are not dead yet and do like to have fun. I still think Carnival is growing to fast and is a bit out of control.

[ccnwater]

Ambiance, our favorite cruise so far was last year on Adventure of the Seas! Your age would fit right in! We were there during spring break for college and Canada schools were on vacation, but at no time did we ever feel crowded! I think the lay out of the ship helps, plus the main pool/deck area on Sea days was so much roomier and easy to navigate, without running into people. You need to try a Voyager class ship, if you like big ships...I also agree with you, any cruise is better then no cruise!

[cruisercathy]

I have only cruised once on RCCL...again a voyager class ship....it is gorgeous..I am 51, I have 2 teenagers and my parents (in their mid 70's) cruised together..........By mid week....my parents said We are sticking with Carnival....my boys agreed.....one of the only things my parents enjoyed was the adult only pool with stairs entrance (CArnival needs to do this).

 

The food was very bland in the dining room,.........service was good........the buffet breakfast food was cold (spoke with the dining room manager)

 

The passengers were very low key, for fun games on deck they had to beg people to participate.........The shows were OK, the parades were great...

Immigration (when going to St. Thomas) was no different than Carnival...that is immigrations fault.

 

I am sure you will love RCCL. Maybe one day I will try RCCL again, but Carnival has the fun

[Joedog]

CCN,

 

When you say there were no chairs available even early in the morning is that because there were people in them or were they just "reserved" with towels, books, etc?

 

Also, can you report a little about the shows & casino?

 

Thanks for the review.

[ccnwater]

Joedog, the chairs were mostly reserved. We made a point of having a few in our group stay with them, while running to get bagels, get kids ready, ect...But by 9:00am everyone was pretty much in our chairs...Other reserved chairs would stay that way until about 11:00am! It was crazy! I still can not believe the last Sea day, it was 7:30am and 98% chairs we taken/reserved! Now I did see some chairs stacked in the back by the kids pool, which you need to find a deck worker to get them out for you, but the lay out of the pool area makes it real hard to even find spots to set the chair...Even those stacked chairs were gone by about 8:30am..

 

The 80's show was great! I saw the tail end of a vegas dance show one night, looked great, the lady Comedian was ok, not the funniest...We spent alot of time in the Karaoke bar, until 11:00 when the kids were kicked out. Also, the Eagles Lounge had a good band, that played different themes each night, if you like to dance. They had a 70's night we caught part of. Also a Beatles night. It was funny to see them dress up to the theme!

 

Other then getting change, I never played in the casino...One of the Guys in our group won about 200.00, not sure how much he spent though....

[lil nemo]

They tried doing the Nassau at the end of the cruise and it just didn't work as they were always getting into port late and all the tours were canceled plus they had to shorten the other port times so they went back to the original schedule. If Nassau is so bad then I am glad it is at the beginning and for a short period of time as I would much rather have longer in St.Thomas and St.Martin. Linda

but the newer ships can travel at a much faster rate! we had 2 days at sea to get back to maimi at the end and 1 DAS after the bahamas. our days at sea we crawled along sometimes it felt like floating more than moving!! I think that it could be altered, I would bet the reason they don't is due to the number of ships in ports. being a new ship i'm sure they didn't have first pick on days they could arrive in ports. When the Valor takes over another ships intinerary next fall, watch it change up.

[lil nemo]

You guys are scaring me....................I am looking so forward to this cruise on a new ship..............There have been such good reviews too.........I am going with a positive outlook...........

 

I know I still will have a better time on Carnival then Royal..........their voyager class ships are gorgeous, but when I sailed the Navigator it was so quiet. I feel the food and entertainment have been better on Carnival so far.We shall see.............

I wouldn't be scared! i'd be saavy, if I would have known what i do now i would've been more forward on getting better service! i also would've altered my S&S grauties.

Sometimes you have to get "BAD" service to know when your getting great service!!

[maggiecl]

We are going on the Valor 4/24, you all give me real mixed emotions. We've cruised Carnival 3 other times and have never had bad service or though the ships were dirty or messy.

 

Can you give me somemore information on the Golden Eagle in St Martin. We are thinking about going on that. I love the water, but my husband likes the shade and isn't the best swimmer in the world. What do you think? Will ke be board out of his mind?

 

Thanks, Maggie

[margaritawoman]

I am sorry to say I agree with all of the people who feel service has declined on Carnival. We did the Glory last May 04, I think it has more to do with the size of the ship. We had complaints about our cabin steward. (never before had any complaints) We reported this to the desk said they would take care of it. We received a bottle of wine and the steward came to talk to us. He told us they have twice as many cabins to take care of on the larger ships. We understand his problem but we have been cruising for 20 years and have come to expect a high standard of service. I think all of the cruiselines have grown to fast to keep up with service demands. I also think it doesn't help that Carnival owns most all the different lines now. We have cruised Carnival many times, Princess 5 times, and RCCL 1 time. We are thinking of trying Holland Amercia in August to see if things are different in the service area. One of the reasons we cruise is to be pampered, if it gets to the place we feel we are not being pampered we will just go to land based vacations. That being said I still love cruising, but I am concerned about the future of cruising I really think it is becoming too mass market. Just my thoughts.

[ccnwater]

Maggiecl, if you have cruised before, you know service can be hit and miss. Don;t get me wrong, smiles were on all the service people, most just seemed to really not want to help. (except for our room steward, awesome!)As far as the Valor being dirty, I did not notice dirt, but the dirty ,empty dishes really sat around for hours. I have not noticed that on my past cruises with Royal or Princess, but I am also open to that it may happen in the future....I realize all the lines are cutting back on service and I agree with Margaritawoman that a land based inclusive may be what we try next, to also compare to crusin. Really, these were just my observations/opinions, did not spoil my cruise at all. Who knows, maybe it was because it was Easter week, but we have always sailed with a full ship...Like I said before, we like to party, but the crowd on carnival seemed to party ALL NIGHT! Very hard to sleep at 5:00am, with the paper thin walls....

 

Golden Eagle: There were shady areas to sit at on the catermaran. But this is a party boat if you want it to be. We had 8 adults, 5 kids and we had a blast. We were also half crocked by the time we arrived to the private Island! They keep the free drinks coming! I do feel this was the best excursion we have been on, except for Capt Marvin in Grand Cayman. We love to snorkel, on the Golden Eagle the snorkeling is nothing to see, waves were a little rough. Hope this helps, check out the St. Maarten board also for reviews on the Golden Eagle. I think you can also find info on line, type Golden Eagle in Search.

[Forchunut1]

We were on the Valor in January (my 3rd Carnival cruise) and on Royal Caribbean in February. I must say that the service on the Valor was not what I had been used to and certainly not up to what we received on the Rhapsody of the Seas. Now, we did have a great time on the Valor and I think it is a beautiful ship. But, the service on the ROS was so much more attentive and SINCERE that it really left an impression on me. I remember on the Valor that we felt very rushed at dinner by our waiters. I don't think it was their fault - I think it was because of what was expected of them.

 

On the ROS, probably 80% of the time when we would go to our cabin, no matter what time of day or night, our steward was in the hallway, opening the cabin door for us, asking if we needed anything, etc. This didn't happen on the Valor.

 

I might sail Carnival again, but I know for sure that I will certainly consider others in the meantime.

[don0702]

ccwater,

We were on the same cruise and actually on the same deck our cabins were 7363 and 7365 (right side aft). This was also our 1st cruise. We did not make the CC meet after the muster drill. We were expecting to get on the ship around 12 but we did not arrive until 2:30 and DW was not feeling well. She was sick every morning of the trip which was caused by her rituxan treatments. We had a problem with Alamo in Miami on our car rental return in which they tried to charge me for a full tank of gas when I actually picked the car up with a 1/2 tank from West Palm Beach which was noted in the computer system. I had to wait 2 hours in the return/exchange line with one person was working this side of the counter. If it was a couple of dollars I would have forgotten about the over charge, but the charge was more than the rental fee. They were charging me just under $6 per gallon of gas.

 

We noticed the running in the halls all day and night especially the last night between 3 and 4am. Another thing to watch out for is the stewart storage rooms. Our rooms were right across from one of the steward entrance so around 5am every morning we would hear the carts being pushed around.

I agree with the feeling of being crowded on the Lido deck. My DS, Nephew and I only laid out one time the first sea day we found chairs on deck 10 right side aft. The other sea days we just didn't feel like searching for open chairs. I also agree with the cleanliness around the pizza and grill areas on the Lido deck most of the time it was a real mess.

 

We had the Washington Dining Room early seating (5:45) table 577. Our waiter name was Olipiu (sp?) 10 years of experience with Carnival and he was great. Every night I would ask what he recommends and he was right every night. One time my Nephew ordered something that Olipiu did not recommend and he automatically had a second dish ready for him. Every meal was served very warm to hot. The only disappointment we had was the last night my DS ordered the chilled cream of mango soup and then another for desert and they said they were out of the soup, which I could not believe. The Lido deck food was good but not great. We did not get near the chocolate buffet lines were just too long.

 

Our room stewart was Oswald he was also great. He made the towel animals every night except the last.

 

We really enjoyed both formal night theater productions. We also thought that the comedy acts and singer were good but not great. My DS thought the Valor Idol show was a joke.

My 16 yr old DS was bored the last 2 days at sea really nothing to do for his age group except to lay out but he did not want to waste the time to fine open chairs.

 

For the tours I also agree that Nassau was not worth the stop. With DW not feeling well I took DS and nephew area the pier area. It was a dump.

On St.Thomas (including the DW) we all took the Godfrey tour actually our tour guide was Tim and this was well worth the $20 each. I asked Godfrey to pick us up at 9am but with the delay with Immigrations we did not get off until 9:50. Their was another tour guide from Air Force tours that that helped Tim out and took us to town to meet up with Tim.

In St.Maartin the 3 of us (DW was sick again) took a taxi to the french side for some shopping. The taxi ride was $6 per person each way. Price will vary the number of riders. Then we took took a taxi back to Phillipburg for more shopping. The taxi rate was the same. We walked back to the ship.

 

My DS, Nephew and I also spent time in the Paris Hop Lounge on Wednesday

 

We actually enjoyed the cruise. We are talking about another cruise in 3 years (for my 50th b-day and DS 20) and I think we would try RCI's new 2006 Freedom of the Seas ship. I will also keep my eye on Carnival new ship being built in Japen for a 2008, which our room stewart said was going to be bigger than the Valor

[ccnwater]

Don! You were so close to our cabins! We had the Laundry machines across from our room (cabin 7339), which made it great for us:) We also heard the service carts early every morning, which I do believe is because they made the walls so thin. Like I stated several times, we did have a great time on our cruise, just pointed out the things that we were surprised with...Also, my sister and niece, and her friend and son were on the Godfrey Tour! They also had Tim! They enjoyed the tour, said it was very informative, but a little shocked when they stopped in front of a slum area, with graffiti written on the walls! She tried to shield Jordan from reading it! Hah! Hope you enjoy your next cruise also! We are taking a few years break, want to try an all inclusive.