Non Standard Photo Review of Carnival Valor, Dec 18-24

[Smitty74]

Sorry for the delay in postings, My internet is down at the house right now, and the only time during the day I can update this is during lunch at work.

 

Day 2 continued, Its Key West time!!!

 

I didnt hold out much of an expectation for Key West. I had been there once before many years before and remembered it as a big bar, Hemingway's house, and not much else. Im happy to say that I was mistaken. We didnt have any set agenda for Key west, so we got off and walked around awhile. I recommend stopping by the Kino sandal factory. The sandals are made on site and although basic, they are well made and very reasonably priced ($13-$20). We bought several pair for my wife, daughter and other family members. Its the cheapest souvenir your going to find on the whole trip.

 

After walking around, we got tickets for the trolley tour and rode around the island. My wife had read a review before our trip about the butterfly museum, and luckily the trolley has a stop right in front of it.

 

If you have younger ones with you, the Butterfly museum is a great stop. very educational, and even I had fun.

 

On to my board mandated limit of 6 pictures per post....

 

 

this was a small island we could see from our room, It was fully inhabited, but was only accessible by boat.

 

 

 

the 5 year old insisted she was cold and wore a sweater. That lasted about 10 minutes once we got off the boat.

 

the Kino Store

 

 

Once My daughter got into these sandals, she wore them for the rest of the trip.

 

Duval Street (first thing in the morning)

[Smitty74]

Day 2, Key West continued.

 

on the Trolley

 

Butterfly conservatory

 

Kinda hard to see them, but the butterflies were everywhere

 

 

The butterfly conservatory had birds too

 

Lunch time for the butterflies

[Smitty74]

Day 2, Key West continued.

 

I think she had fun with the butterflies

 

Actually, i know she had fun.

 

Southernmost point in the continental USA, from Trolley

 

Hemmingway house

 

Frozen Key Lime Pie on a stick

 

 

The chickens were plentiful

[Smitty74]

Day 2, Key west continued

 

My mother donated her pictures to this review. I have been sprinkling them in with mine.

 

 

Mom and Sandy at the Kino store

 

 

 

 

They Let Sandy put on the hat in the oldest house in Key west

 

some of the Banyan Trees were huge. (My aunt Susie in the background)

 

[Smitty74]

Day 2, Key West continued.

 

We got back on the boat around 2pm. Camp Carnival is not open on the first day, and my daughter REALLY wanted to go, so we took her to camp carnival and anjoyed a couple of hours of couple time before dinner.

 

Dinner was in the MDR, and we always enjoyed it. Its not haught cuisine (even though it wants to be seen that way) but we enjoyed everything we ate there. I would put it in the same class as TGI Fridays. Maybe a notch above golden Corral.

 

More pictures.....

 

Leaving camp Carnival. she had fun...

 

Chocolate covered Strawberries from the coffee shop

 

I learned a big lesson here, If dinner time is 6pm, dont show up early, not even a couple of minutes. Show up at 6:05pm, otherwise you have to stand in the crowd waiting for the doors to open.

 

The wait staff sang and danced tonight.

 

Lots of photo buying opportunities

 

This little guy was waiting for us in our room after dinner.

[Smitty74]

Day 2, Key West continued.

 

We got back on the boat around 2pm. Camp Carnival is not open on the first day, and my daughter REALLY wanted to go today, so we took her to camp carnival and enjoyed a few of hours of couple time before dinner.

 

Dinner was in the MDR, and we always enjoyed it. Its not haught cuisine (even though it wants to be seen that way) but we enjoyed everything we ate there. I would put it in the same class as TGI Fridays. Maybe a notch above golden Corral.

 

More pictures.....

 

Leaving camp Carnival. she had fun...

 

Chocolate covered Strawberries from the coffee shop

 

I learned a big lesson here, If dinner time is 6pm, dont show up early, not even a couple of minutes. Show up at 6:05pm, otherwise you have to stand in the crowd waiting for the doors to open.

 

The wait staff sang and danced tonight.

 

Lots of photo buying opportunities

 

This little guy was waiting for us in our room after dinner.

[smrn]

I'm really enjoying your review and pictures!

[Smitty74]

Day 3, Sea Day

 

Sea Days are my personal favorite, after breakfast we went swimming all morning. After lunch my daughter went to camp carnival and I had time to wander around. Day 3 was also the first formal night.

 

For all the new cruisers out there, do NOT stress about formal night. Dress up alot if you want to, or a little if you want, it doesnt matter. Nobody is going to kick you out or anything. Its more about what you and your party are comfortable with. We saw everything from Tuxedos and "brides maid" dresses, to Blue Jeans and T-shirts. As a guy, you will be a little ahead of the pack in a pair of khaki pants, button up shirt, and a tie.

 

Not alot of pictures of the sea day, but here are what I have.

 

 

Breakfast with everybody in our party

 

 

Helllooooo Lido deck! on the first sea day, the Lido deck was packed by 10:30

 

one of the elevator areas.

 

Karaoke was always available

 

Speaking of Karaoke, I noticed that the vast majority of entertainment was self entertainment. What I mean is that instead of hiring a entertainer, they would have a show where guests got to come on stage and make a fool of themselves for our entertainment. Most of it was pretty funny, and I realize that guests work cheaper than entertainers, but after awhile, it got pretty obvious...

 

 

I bet I could beat the house

[Smitty74]

Day 3, Sea day continued...

 

I found it interesting that Winston's cigar bar is now just "Wintons" It was a big space, but also usually empty. One of the following signs was on every flat surface in the room.

 

 

Is it my turn yet?

 

Formal night

 

 

 

We miss you Jair!!!

 

[Chef P]

Great pics..

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[IGottaP]

hey i have a question about karaoke is it like standard where there is a screen with the words to the song to help the people out and is the back ground music played like through a cd ?how is that done my wife is really big karaoke person so she is looking forward to that thanks for any insight

[smrn]

Your bird picture is just beautiful!

[Smitty74]

hey i have a question about karaoke is it like standard where there is a screen with the words to the song to help the people out and is the back ground music played like through a cd ?how is that done my wife is really big karaoke person so she is looking forward to that thanks for any insight

 

The Karaoke was run by a single lady during the whole cruise. she had multiple huge binders full of CD's to choose from, and would pass out equally huge binders with all the songs she had to choose from. The words are displayed on a monitor in front of you, just like normal Karaoke anywhere else. the do a legends show at the end of the cruise, where everybody that was really good is invited to dress up as that star and sing during a big show in the theater.

[IGottaP]

The Karaoke was run by a single lady during the whole cruise. she had multiple huge binders full of CD's to choose from, and would pass out equally huge binders with all the songs she had to choose from. The words are displayed on a monitor in front of you, just like normal Karaoke anywhere else. the do a legends show at the end of the cruise, where everybody that was really good is invited to dress up as that star and sing during a big show in the theater.

 

 

thanks so much that's awesome

[New2Cruising24]

Thanks for the great picture review. It's great to see another's perspective, we were on Valor in October and are going back again in April.

 

Thanks again for sharing the great pics and review! :)

[Yankeegirl]

Loving the review...can't wait for more

[Smitty74]

Day 3, sea day continued....

 

Just a couple more pictures of our sea day before we move on to Grand Cayman on day 4.

sunset

 

The screen never stopped. 24 hours a day...

 

Chocolate covered Strawberries at the coffee shop. (not free, so a special treat)

 

 

sushi bar opened at 5pm, we usually stopped by for a few pieces on the way to dinner each night. My picture doesn't do it justice. on a quality scale of 1-10 it was about a 6 (I have had extremely good sushi though). Definitely edible, especially since it was no additional charge. they changed the types of sushi they offered every night.

 

Our towel friend for the night

[Smitty74]

Day 4, Its Grand Cayman time!!!!!

 

Having been to grand Cayman before, I was really excited to take my 5 year old out to stingray city. To prepare her for it, we had shown her endless you tube videos on the experience so she would know what she was in for. I knew this was a tender port, so I exercised my biggest travel tip for cruising. "Be where the crowds aren't". In this case, the crowds all wake up late, eat a little breakfast, then wander downstairs to wait in a massive line for a spot on the tenders. since we arrived in cayman so early, it was easy to get in line early and get off the boat before the crowds even finished their Waffles.

 

Once we got on dry land, we found out that Stingray city was cancelled due to high winds. This really put a cramp on our plans because my daughter was REALLY looking forward to it. Luckily, they offered us an alternative tour to see the sea turtle farm. After getting a refund for the Sting Ray trip, we set off to see the turtles.

 

Picture time....

 

 

 

The average tender

 

First view of Cayman

 

 

The best pictures of the ship are from the tender. Have your camera out....

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, Grand Cayman continued.....

 

 

The biggest green sea turtle they had. I forgot how big, 400 pounds or so.

 

Ella getting to hold a little one.

 

Feeling his belly

 

 

The turtle farm also had an aviary.

 

And a huge snorkeling pool if you wanted to swim with the baby sea turtles. (Ella wouldnt wear the mask)

[Smitty74]

Day 4, Grand Cayman continued.....

 

Did I get in the water with the turtles? nope, I had relaxation in the sun on my mind.

 

After Swimming with the turtles, and going down their water slide (a different pool) we stopped by the turtle farm restaurant for lunch. What was on the menu? why Green sea turtle of course. Now i know what some of you are thinking, "how could you eat a sea turtle?" Well I consider myself to be a foodie, and these are farm raised turtles, raised for the purpose of being eaten. they also release a percentage of their turtles to the wild. To finance this good work, they gotta sell some for food. so by eating a turtle, Im helping them out. (gotta love my logic).

 

My turtle burger, an adventure, but it tasted like cardboard.

 

Cheese sticks for Ella

 

Heading back to port

 

Ella was pooped, but mama wanted to shop a little. so i took Ella back on board.

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, Grand Cayman continued...

 

My Mother decided to spend her time on the island shopping and looking around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smitty74]

Day 4, Grand Cayman continued......

 

All back aboard the boat, we went for our nightly sushi fix, followed by dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

How tired was the 5 year old? this was her at the end of dinner.

 

Tomorrow is Montego Bay Jamaica!!!

[IGottaP]

Can't wait for the rest of your review

[SASA13]

Keep it coming. Your review & pics are fantastic.

You have a lovely family, thank you for taking the time to write this review. Can't wait to sail her in Sept :)