Review w/ pics Carnival Valor 03/17/13 - 03/24/13

[jwalk03]

Deleted

Edited March 28, 2013 by jwalk03

[Lyncoya]

We LOVED St Kitts when we were on the Victory in 2011. This time, not so much. We got off the ship and found a tour. $25pp. We really should have done more research on this port before we left. This tour was pretty much identical to what we did back in 2011. Romney Manor, Brimstone Fortress and the Black Rocks. We all had a good time, it was just our least favorite port this time. Here are a few pics from our day...

 

Pics from our room window

 

 

 

A pelican

 

 

So sorry...I forget what these birds are called.

 

[Lyncoya]

More pics from our tour...

 

 

Romney Manor, a Botanical Garden

 

 

One of my favorite pics

 

 

 

 

Pretty flowers

 

[Lyncoya]

A guy from our tour (they were from Wisconsin as well) found this caterpillar. it was huge!

 

 

 

 

We saw a group of monkeys when we arrived at Brimstone Fortress. There were at least 10 of them.

 

 

They're a little harder to see in this picture.

 

[Lyncoya]

Climbing those stairs to the Fortress will take a lot out of you. I had to have a seat for about 5 minutes after I reached the top. The view was so worth it though. Here are some pics...

 

[Lyncoya]

 

[Lyncoya]

 

Me posin' with the cannon

 

 

They had these "scenes" set up in some of the rooms of the fort. These weren't here two years ago. They were working on building more when we there also.

 

 

This one freaked me out a bit

 

 

[Lyncoya]

 

On our way back down the stairs. Going down was easier than going up, of course.

 

 

Our last stop was the black rocks. Beautiful no matter how many times I see it.

 

[Lyncoya]

 

 

 

St Kitts is nice. It just seems like once you've seen it, you've seen it all. Maybe we should have gone ziplining or something. It was still a nice day.

[jmecme]

We have done Carnival Southern Carbbean 2 times, both from San Juan but different itineraries. 10 years ago on the Destiny, and, October 2012, on the Victory! Loved them both. Love your pictures and can't wait for more! I think St Marteen was one of our favorite days! Taxi to Orient Beach with new friends we met on the ship, and, then taxi to Sunset beach bar! Eating good food, drinking cold beer, and watching the planes land!! AND I love San Juan! Spent 2 days pre cruise this time in Old San Juan. And 4 nights post cruise in Isla Verda! Rainforest trip and kayaking the bioluminescent bay! So many memories!!

[Lyncoya]

Tonight was the past guest party...

 

 

I don't have any pictures from the actual party, but BOY oh BOY...THE DRINKS WERE FLOWING.

 

They still play the same video on the movie screen. To me, it's always fun though.

 

It was crazy the # of drinks they give you at these new parties. As soon as my husband was half way done with one beer, they were giving him another one. They only had two or three kinds of drinks on the trays...beer, rum punch, some sort of yellow coconut flavored drink. I asked her the name of the drink, but for the life of me, I can't remember it. One or three too many huh? lol You could also order whatever you wanted from the bar (from the bartenders walking around) I saw one couple order 4 margaritas at one time.

 

The hors d'oeuvres were delicious also.

 

We left the party nice and buzzed and with a drink in each hand. No kidding.

 

We went to the comedy show after that. The first comedian was PAINFULLY "unfunny" He really sucked. I can't remember his name. The guy after him was pretty funny though. The only thing was that we saw him on a different cruise and he used the EXACT SAME material. Really?

 

The Lido deck (aft) has burgers, hotdogs, brownies and cookies every night at around midnight. We went there after the comedy show, had something to eat and then retired. It was a nice day. :)

[DISNEY1975]

 

On our way back down the stairs. Going down was easier than going up, of course.

 

 

Our last stop was the black rocks. Beautiful no matter how many times I see it.

 

 

Is this the only staircase, or are there more to get to this level and another one above? I am planning to visit here and dont think my elderly Mom could handle more than this (if she can handle even this!!)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Lyncoya]

We were the most excited for this day since we had an ATV excursion booked.

 

Here are some pics from my room window...

 

 

 

 

[Lyncoya]

Me and The hubster FINALLY outside. I love this pic.

 

 

There is a stand outside that serves Mojitos in about 10 different flavors. Virgin ones are 2 for $5 and there are 3 flavors with liquor that are 2 for $7. Very good and refreshing.

 

There was also a different bar who sold guavaberry coladas. We bought these after the excursion. While these are good too, they were a little expensive at $7 and barely any liquor.

 

We booked the ATV excursion through Island Marketing and had to pay a deposit of 30% with our credit card. No problem. We booked the excursion for Noon. Here is a pic that I took while we were waiting for the taxi to pick us up.

 

♥

 

 

The van picked us up within about 10 minutes and dropped us off at the place that stored the ATVs. I have to admit, the area looked a little shady and I gave my girlfriend the side-eye. The excursion was GREAT though. We all totally loved it.

 

After taking off, it took me about 5 minutes to get use to driving that thing and I almost hit a huge rock. Yep...and I was sober. Once I got the hang of it (which was really quick BTW) they are VERY easy to maneuver and we had a blast.

 

There was a total of 3 couples on the excursion and the leader. We drove to Orient Beach, spent about 2 hours at the beach and then drove back. Here are some pics...

 

The guy in black was the guide. Really nice guy. He buckled and unbuckled my helmet and also made sure that I was OK after I almost killed myself earlier. LOL In this pic, there are two couples in front of me (one was on the same ATV) and my husband was behind me.

 

 

 

My husband

 

 

Of course I couldn't take pictures while I was riding but we did stop for pictures about halfway to the beach. The guide took these pics for us...

 

Me

 

 

Him

 

[Lyncoya]

Us

 

 

Arriving at Orient Beach. The weather was BEAUTIFUL...

 

 

 

 

Orient beach is a nude beach. One side is COMPLETELY nude and the other isn't. Well, the ladies can go topless, but that's about it. I snuck and got some REALLY good pictures. I don't think they would go over too well here though. All I can say is WHOOOAAAAA. I saw enough saggy skin and "other things" to last me a life time. I don't care how many times I go there I'm always astonished.

 

We spent about 2 hours there. It was $10 to rent two chairs and one umbrella. We rented them. There are restaurants on the beach. We bought hotwings, rumpunch and beer. I think we may have paid around $17 for all three. The rum punch was nice and strong too.

 

On the ride back, I hit a speed bumb while driving way too fast and was literally on two wheels. I almost hit a truck. (still sober) I would still do this excursion again in a heartbeat. It was a PERFECT day.

 

[funinthesun1964]

Thanks for the review, your photos are great!! We did the Victory on this itinerary last February, and I loved it. Only bad thing was, getting to San Juan was a PITA. We flew out of Cleveland. Bad weather leaving and bad weather to come back to.

 

The cabin you had was wonderful! Love that view! I was wondering, which ships have this type of cabin, and then how many cabins like this are there per ship? Is it more expensive than a balcony?

[Lyncoya]

Back on the ship we were supposed to "make the most" of our last night. Didn't happen though.

 

We watched the latest Spiderman on the big screen while drinking our bottle of wine that we brought onboard. I had never seen the movie, so I was captivated. Really good movie and a really nice way to watch it. In the middle of the ocean, with a few glasses of wine with the hubster.

 

We went to the buffet so I could have my crab cakes. Visited the casino and lost a little money. We were SUPPOSED to go to the comedy shows and see the Legends show but neither happened.

 

We went back to the room so that I could pack while HE snored.

 

We always do self debarkation. The next morning, we woke up at around 7. Showered and had breakfast and was off the ship at around 8:30 - 9am. Our flight back home was at 1pm.

 

It was truly a perfect cruise. I have to change my signature, because this was the BEST CRUISE EVER. It really was.

[Lyncoya]

Thanks for the review, your photos are great!! We did the Victory on this itinerary last February, and I loved it. Only bad thing was, getting to San Juan was a PITA. We flew out of Cleveland. Bad weather leaving and bad weather to come back to.

 

The cabin you had was wonderful! Love that view! I was wondering, which ships have this type of cabin, and then how many cabins like this are there per ship? Is it more expensive than a balcony?

 

You're welcome! That's the only thing that we didn't like about taking this cruise. The flight to San Juan. The weather was fine...the whole process is just way too long. It just feels like you're traveling all day. The ports make it so worth it though.

[Lyncoya]

Just a few extras...

 

This next statement may p*ss some people off...sorry. We snuck liquor on this ship in almost every port. My husband usually had very deep pockets so he would just put the liquor in his pocket and walk it on. In St Thomas, we bought half pints of cruzan rum and bottles of Sprite. Drank the Sprite and replaced it with rum and walked right back on the ship. No problems.

 

In St Lucia we bought a rather big bottle of Banana rum cream. He put it in his pocket and walked thru the metal detectors.

 

 

If you are ever in St Lucia and you see this stuff...BUY IT! OMG, it's so good.

[DISNEY1975]

Thanks for the review! We'll be sailing on the Valor in May. Some in my party will be i the room next door to yours, 9197. Lucky me will be in 9200 at the end of the hall!

 

I hadnt thought about getting off the ship in St Lucia (especially after seeing GAPearls climb!) but your excursion looks right up my alley! Im going to check it out. :)

[Lyncoya]

The thermostat in our room was digital. It took me half the cruise to figure out how to work it, but it regulated to temperature better than the other thermostats.

 

The Scenic OV rooms get different color beach towels. (unless I'm mistaken) The towels match the blue decor of the rooms. They're not the same dark blue as the other towels, they're a lighter color blue. These rooms also have flat screen TVs while the other rooms have the tube ones.

 

I also ordered a bottle of liquor from Bon Voyage online the night before our cruise. I've always read on this board that you have to order them two weeks in advance. In my case, that wasn't true. The bottle wasn't in our cabin when we arrived in the room, but it was there when we came back from dinner.

 

Where are the caesar salads??!! We really miss those. They can only be ordered from room service now. The Pizza was good though.

 

We don't do the dining room on our cruises, we normally go to the buffet. That being said, the food was really good on this cruise. I ate a lot of fish. The fish dishes were delicious. The Mongolian Grill was great as always. I didn't try the fish & chips this time. I tried the Burrito place once and it was GREAT. Much better than the last time I tried it. After 8 cruises, this cruise was the first time I've tried Carnival's ice cream. Crazy huh? Boy was I missing out. I love their ice cream.

[Lyncoya]

Thanks for the review! We'll be sailing on the Valor in May. Some in my party will be i the room next door to yours, 9197. Lucky me will be in 9200 at the end of the hall!

 

I hadnt thought about getting off the ship in St Lucia (especially after seeing GAPearls climb!) but your excursion looks right up my alley! Im going to check it out. :)

 

Please don't sleep on St Lucia especially if you've never been there before. Do an excursion though, otherwise you won't see much. Cosul was the bomb. You can't go wrong with him.

[Lyncoya]

Here are a few random pics. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

 

 

 

The reason I cruise

 

 

Mojito!!

 

 

Miami Vice

 

[portlandpete]

I love this review! The photos are amazing. To me it sounds like you guys did just what you wanted to do and had a relaxed nice cruise! Thanks for sharing.