My Southern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Valor

[GGonza]

Enjoying the review will be on the Valor 9-15-13.

[anniversarytravels919]

Enjoying this review so much :) thank you! We will be on the Valor for the Southern Caribbean 9-15-2013 :)

[PrettyHazardous]

Great Review Looking forward to reading more.

[vc562894]

True - but what time do they want you on board, I thought somebody said like 90 min before sailaway? Just search these boards and 99% of peeps say to fly in the day of, especially if there is a connection.

 

Anyway, don't want to hijack the OP's thread; back to our regularly scheduled programming... :)

 

You had to be on board by 9:30pm.

[oceanaire]

We want more, we want more!

[Pyrate13]

We will be doing this cruise at the end of September and I'm a bit confused now. Your photo of the ship appears to be at the terminal near Old San Juan but we were told that the ship sails from the Pan American pier.

 

I love OSJ so I would be very happy if we left from that terminal.

[vc562894]

Carnival let you bring a 5 pack box of this on board? PLEASE say that they did and that you didn't have to smuggle it on board!!!

 

We bought this box in San Juan after we checked in on the boat. We had it in the plastic bag that it was bought in inside our beach bag which went through security scan. They didn't say anything. So yes technically it was "smuggled" but yes technically "carnival allowed us too" the san Juan port allowed my mom to bring on a bottle p Bacardi dragon berry too. It was inside her beach bag after we explored the city. She had put it inside her beach bag that she carried all day, put it through security scan and they didn't say anything.

[vc562894]

We will be doing this cruise at the end of September and I'm a bit confused now. Your photo of the ship appears to be at the terminal near Old San Juan but we were told that the ship sails from the Pan American pier.

 

I love OSJ so I would be very happy if we left from that terminal.

 

This is our 2nd time in San Juan with Carnival. Last year in October we were on the liberty and San Juan was a stop. We sailed into this same port. So I don't know if they are changing it but both tea carnival sailed in and out of this port.

 

And when I was researching it before leaving all information said this port because we were going to stay the Sheraton across the street.

[Chelleum]

We will be doing this cruise at the end of September and I'm a bit confused now. Your photo of the ship appears to be at the terminal near Old San Juan but we were told that the ship sails from the Pan American pier.

 

I love OSJ so I would be very happy if we left from that terminal.

 

I'm sail this cruise the 2nd week of Oct. and we were told were leaving from OSJ terminal. Check again maybe there was a mistake. About which terminal your leaving from.

[sooner33]

We will be doing this cruise at the end of September and I'm a bit confused now. Your photo of the ship appears to be at the terminal near Old San Juan but we were told that the ship sails from the Pan American pier.

 

I love OSJ so I would be very happy if we left from that terminal.

 

 

We did this cruise last year on the Victory and it was from the dock in OSJ

 

We are doing again in October as well and it is from OSJ

[MRVEGAS711]

Great review so far! Keep it up! Love the pictures.

[cruiseclues]

On the beach, we enjoyed a Gasolina, which I forgot to mention in my San Juan portion. Gasolina (which I found out about on CC) is like a Capri Sun for adults! It is a mixed drink in a pouch and includes a straw. We got them in a 5 pack box in San Juan at the pharmacy, for $4.99 for 5 pouches. We choose Mojito, but they had Seabreeze, Original, Sangria. They were a perfect beach drink. Definitely worth it!

 

 

 

 

This is really great! Thanks for posting this very useful info! On the top right corner of the Gasolina it looks like it says A 2 Drink Cocktail? Is there that much in one of these Gasolinas? :):):):)

Edited May 25, 2013 by cruiseclues

[usmcgunman]

This is really great! Thanks for posting this very useful info! On the top right corner of the Gasolina it looks like it says A 2 Drink Cocktail? Is there that much in one of these Gasolinas? :):):):)

Looks like "Ready 2 Drink"

[DaisyGirl55]

Great review so far! I subscribed to this post as well...I don't want to miss the rest of the story!

 

I am sailing this itinerary in September with a great group of friends that I met here on Cruise Critic. This is actually our 4th cruise together, and the core group has stayed together. I am going to let them all know about your review.

 

looking forward to more - more - more!

[hockeyluver]

Enjoying your review and pictures, thank you. Can't wait till January!!

[Cruizinman]

Valor was one of our favorites , Great pics ;)

[vc562894]

This is really great! Thanks for posting this very useful info! On the top right corner of the Gasolina it looks like it says A 2 Drink Cocktail? Is there that much in one of these Gasolinas? :):):):)

 

Says Ready to Drink! Meaning all juices, alcohol and even a straw is provided for you :)

[pbmsmile]

We are sailing this itinerary in December for the New Years cruise...staying at Da House for a couple days prior..can not wait!!

[kshawks]

Not to steal the thread - but has anyone stayed in the Condado Beach area before? I am looking for an inexpensive hotel to stay at. A few people are staying at the Marriott, however, it's more than I want to pay.

[gamblingrandma]

We are staying at the BW Plus Condado Beach in June. Very reasonable.

[Leo's Rule]

Not to steal the thread - but has anyone stayed in the Condado Beach area before? I am looking for an inexpensive hotel to stay at. A few people are staying at the Marriott, however, it's more than I want to pay.

 

I stayed at the Conrad in Condado. Very lovely hotel. My rate was very reasonable, but I have hotel connections.

[Sthomp]

Great review so far ... We will be on the Valor again in October, but we haven't done this itinerary. Looking forward to getting some great ideas ...

[vc562894]

Welcome to Barbados!!!

 

We arrived in Barbados and it was a beautiful day!

 

I have to say I think Barbados had the bluest/brightest water out of all of the islands. It was gorgeous!

 

We had booked a Turtle and Shipwreck Catamaran with Bolador Tours. They told us they would pick us up outside in Gate 2. When you get off the ship, you either go LEFT for tours booked with Carnival ONLY or RIGHT for everything else. They picked us up right one schedule, however it was a normal taxi driver scheduled to pick us up. He took us to the beach to board the catamaran.

 

When we arrived to the catamaran, we were greeted immediately by the friendly and welcoming staff. They helped us on board and off we went! On board there were only 15 people and 3 staff members. We had the boat to ourselves. It was amazing. Nick gave us a run down of the boat, and our plan for the day then opened the bar and the day began. The bar was filled with rum punch, local beer, soda, and water! NEVER was your drink empty!!

[vc562894]

They got the sail up and invited everyone to explore the boat, especially the front "trampoline" part. I dont know what its officially called, but it was a large mesh/trampoline area that you could lay down and relax on the front of the boat.

 

Nick was super friendly and chatted with us about Barbados. Explaining to us all about the island. We sailed passed our ship which was cool to see from the water.

 

Bolador Tours provides snorkel gear: mask and snorkel.

 

 

Our first stop was the turtle snorkel! Chad fed the turtle some small fish to attract them to our spot. There were 4 turtles that came up super close, closer enough to touch! We were at the turtle spot for about 20-25minutes.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/931282_10100444582704808_1268356350_n.jpg

[vc562894]

 

Next, we headed to the shipwreck, which Nick told us isnt really a shipwreck but a barge that was planted in the ocean to attract fish back into the area because they had been disappearing years ago. The barge looks cool underneath the water and boy did it attract ALOT of fish! The coral there was gorgeous too! At this stop, they gave us fins to avoid hitting your feet on the coral/you had to swim a little further this time. Normally when I snorkel, I avoid the fins because they cause cramps in my feet. These did NOT! It was fabulous. The middle of these fins moved in a separate direction.