Valor January 1, 2012 - 7 day western carib.

[rjhelmes]

I unfortunately did not take a ton of pics but will share the better ones with you. First a small review, that probably won't be updated much because I have a busy week coming up.

 

We stayed in 6201, which is a forward cabin with a window out to the public deck. Our friends stayed down on deck 2 with a window. Only difference was they had a couch in the room and ours did not.

 

The ship was clean and the staff was friendly. Serenity was nice on sea days if you got there before the chair hogs. ATD was ok but the ship was full so we had to wait almost every night at least 10 minutes (45 minutes on the first formal night). I recommend getting there when they open on the sea day nights.

 

We did not eat at the steakhouse. The available 24hr ice cream was great, the pepperoni pizza was good, cheese was not & the by request gruyere cheese pizza was great. fish and chips at the Fish and Chips was greasy/oily but the tuna with watermelon and the ceviches both were excellent.

 

The adult comedy shows were funny but a little short at about 35 minutes but the comedians changed halfway through the cruise which was nice.

 

We booked our non-carnival excursions before leaving and included the Cozumel Bar Hop (a little expensive but from what I can remember, worth it), Belize Cavetubing with Viv's (also top notch, but no pictures, out of fear the camera would get taken), and Bodden Fun 'n Sun tour with a stop including the monkeys(another great tour).

 

 

 

Grand Cayman

 

 

 

 

Whale Tail

[rjhelmes]

Cozumel Bar Hop

 

 

 

 

Roatan

 

 

[rjhelmes]

More Roatan

 

Long exposures of the ship

 

Debarkation Sunrise over SouthBeach

[mondello]

Love your pictures, especially the b/w shot of the abandoned lido deck with the big screen on. Your shots are so crisp and very well composed, to my untrained eye. Dish more details, you're scrimping on words.

[rjhelmes]

The long exposure shots were my favorite because they're so difficult to get. I used a Pentax Kx dslr with the kit 18-55mm lens for 99% of my shots. It's great for almost all situations besides low light and really blurry backgrounds. For the top deck shot I brought a Joby Gorillapod to secure to the ships railings for stability instead of lugging a heavy tripod around. I also had an 3 stop ND filter for a longer exposure shot. That shot had a 5 second exposure and with the wind I wasn't sure how it would turn out...I edited everything in Adobe Lightroom 3 or Photoshop elements for the panorama of Miami port.

 

As for the ship. Even though the boat was full Lido never seemed crowded with the exception of the Mongolian Wok and Omelette Station (always 15-20 min wait)

 

The warm chocolate melting cake was ok (blaphemy, I know) but I'm not a big chocolate fan but others in the group loved it. The Creme Brulee was excellent to me. THe bitter and blanc was a bit of a disappointment with too much bread. Don't waste your time on the Diet Pumpkin Cake, the butter pecan ice cream ended up in front of me most nights.

 

The alcohol prices were best in Grand Cayman but comparable to the ship prices. We ended up with 1 liter each of Bombay Sapphire and Ketel One vodka for $36.99 total. If you're going to buy on the ship get it before the last day. Lines for alcohol and cigarettes were about 25 people deep the last day.

 

One complaint was that ESPN was only available in the Bronx bar but not in the rooms , I guess they want you to taste the Thristy Frog Beer. Sit at the bar because the tv's are tough to see from the lower seats unless you get a corner with a tv.

 

Overall we had a great cruise, the ship was very clean and staff was very friendly. The boat was heavily rocking the first 2 nights due to wind but we think we may have felt it more because we had a category 4J room...I may choose different next time but it was ok for our purpose. The walk down to lido from the very front of the ship every morning was a hike. Prolly kept me from gaining too much weight over the vacation. I didn't use the work out facilities because it was packed and smelled like a high school lockerroom when I went to check them out. No big deal because the walking track up top was nice. Plus, i don't go on cruises to work out.

 

A few more pics:

 

 

Miami Panormana with South Beach on the far right, the city is behind us and there is a traffic jam on the roadway to SB.

 

Color Version - 5 second exposure

 

West Bay was packed so some people were edited out of the picture...We were the only ship in Roatan so I'd hate to see when Allure or Oasis of the Seas are there with a few other ships.

 

The parrots at Bodden's could bite if you're not careful.

 

Or may land on your head.

 

We figured out why Carnival parks with other Carnival ships in Cozumel...Easier for the drunks to find their way back to the ship before sail off.

[RunsWithFlyingDolphins]

Great Review and Great Pics so far

[JeaniePeanie]

We are in 6201 in March! How was the room? Any pictures?

[smrn]

Your pics are awesome!!

[xz9tkv]

We are in 6201 in March! How was the room? Any pictures?

 

Hey JeaniePeanie, we're in room 6201 sailing on the Valor on April 22nd. Did you get any pictures you can share?

 

Thanks

[virginiab]

Wow! Your pictures are fabulous! Thanks for sharing them with all of us.

[rjhelmes]

Hey JeaniePeanie, we're in room 6201 sailing on the Valor on April 22nd. Did you get any pictures you can share?

 

Thanks

 

 

I must've missed the previous posts being busy.

 

sorry i didn't get any pics of this room. I didn't have any complaints about the room but my girlfiend was annoyed by a small banging sound coming from the front of the ship during high winds, which we had a lot of at the beginning and end of the cruise. Anyways, I investigated and found that there is a fire extinguisher box out on the "hidden" public deck, that had 1 of its' 2 latches broken off so when the wind got high the wind would slightly open the bottom and close thus the banging. Not sure if it's fixed now since our cruise was months ago. Either take some duct take and fix it yourself:) or bring it to Carnival staff attention early. I didn't know what it was until the end of the cruise so too late for us. Maybe Jeaniepeanie can update us on it.

 

I'd stay in the room again, we had more up and down motion, which i like, vs side to side I feel like I'm going to rool out of bed, than our friends who stayed on the 2nd floor. I never saw anyone out on the hidden deck but i would find a half empty coffee cup there every morning.

 

The rest of our experience was wonderful no complaints, our room steward was great. The walk to breakfast is far. Try to be on time or early to get off the ship on port days.

 

Have Fun