New Valor review-May 29

[chelsea2005]

Here's a past-due review of our Valor experience. A little about us-I'm 26 and this was my 3rd cruise (1st with Carnival). My husband is 35 and this was his 2nd cruise (1st with Carnival).

 

Pre-cruise-- We stayed at the Doubletree Biscayne Bay. It was nice, and we will stay there again next time. Saturday night we took a cab over to Bayside Market, where we walked around and ate at Bubba Gumps.

 

Embarkation-- We got to the port around 12:00, and the traffic was awful. Our cab driver got stuck in the Victory traffic. I'm not sure why he went all the way down to the Victory area. When we finally got out of the cab, the waiting had just begun!! This started out to be a nightmare because our long line was not moving at all. But at about 1:00, the line started moving quickly and we were on the ship by 1:30.

 

Cabin-- I booked a guarantee balcony, and we ended up with cabin #7410. The balcony is definitely worth the extra money. We loved it, and now we'll always want a balcony room!! Also, the cabin was a lot roomier than the two Royal Caribbean ships I've been on!

 

Food-- We had the 5:45 seating in the dining room, and our waiter's name was James. In my opinion, he was efficient but he didn't really have a personality. I think I might have been spoiled on my first cruise because our waiter was incredible. On the past two cruises our wait staff have been so-so. However our tablemates (they happened to chat in our CC Roll Call group,then we got seated together-how random is that?) seem to really like the waiter!

 

Anyways, I thought the food in the dining room was very good. We went to Scarletts on Thursday night. It was very good. The service there was excellent.

 

We also frequented the 24 hour pizza place (great pizza), fish and chips, Rosies, and the sushi place. We loved them all.

 

The only bad thing about the food was the breakfast at Rosies doesn't have any variety. Royal Caribbean does a better job in that department! Also, RC's room service is a lot better!!!

 

Entertainment-- The only show we saw was the hypnotist act. It was alright, I've seen better! We went to the Piano Bar and had fun one night. My husband went to the Disco Bar by himself one night and said that was ok. Before we left, we had heard something about a pub crawl. I'm not sure why, but there was not one on this sailing!!

 

Casino-- This is where we spent most of our time!! We love to play blackjack. I really liked the dealers!! They usually had at least 3 $5 tables open.

 

Ports:

Belize-- Belize was a bust. From now on, I won't be on any ship stopping there! I had researched Belize a lot on this forum, so I knew we had to book an excursion there or it would not be a fun day but we couldn't find anything we wanted to do there. My husband said NO to cave tubing!! So around noon, we tendered into Belize and went to two little bars right there at the dock. One was called Wet Lizard. We had a couple of drinks and went right back to the boat!

 

In the casino, I did hear some comments about cave tubing with Carnival. I heard it was a WHIP!!! The carnival group is so large you're herded around like a bunch of cattle. If you want to go cave tubing, go through Coral Breeze!

 

Roatan, Honduras-- We were so surprised by this port!! Pleasantly surprised! After Belize being so boring, my husband and I decided to book an excursion for Roatan! At the last minute, we booked the Tabanya Beach Break. It was $64 for both of us, which I think might be a little steep just for a ride to a beach!! And, we had to ride in a school bus!! Anyways, the beach was worth the money. It was really beautiful. The water was so clear and colorful fish are everywhere!

 

Grand Cayman-- It rained hard all day, so we didn't tender in to Grand Cayman. It seemed that most people stayed on the ship. This was the WORST day of the cruise because there was not much to do! We couldn't go lay out at the pool (raining) and the casino and shops were closed because we were in port!

 

Cozumel-- After researching these forums, we chose to spend our day at Nachi Cocum. We chose the all-inclusive (food and drinks) for $65 for 2, I think. We both really liked Nachi Cocum. The food was pretty good, and the drinks are good and PLENTIFUL!!!

 

Closing Comments-- We both had a great time on this cruise. We were a little sketchy about Carnival because we've heard RC is so much better, but I don't think that's true. We loved the Valor and Carnival! Next time, we're going to the Eastern Caribbean. Maybe on the Valor again....

[KenMo]

Thanks for the review!! My neice is going in Sept for her honeymoon....I'm getting info for her! So glad you had a good cruise!!!

[pacerzfan]

Very Nice Review, Thank you.

[CruiseAwayWithMe]

Thanks, I enjoyed the review :)

[mnsawyer]

Sorry to hear that you didn't like Belize. We did Goff's Caye and enjoyed it thoughly. My DH didn't want to do the river tubing either so the reason why we chose the snorkeling. Would try the river wallace and Al Tun ruin tour next time. Too bad you didn't get an opportunity to see Belize beyond the village area because it is assuredly beautiful.

 

Nice review...thanks for posting!

[augie]

Yeah - too bad your husband didn't want to do the tubing. We went with Wet 'N Wild, and it was absolutely the best excursion of our trip.

 

Not only was the tubing itself very cool, the walk through the rain forest was just gorgeous, and the guides were very knowledgeable, and eager to educate us about the country of Belize in general, and about the areas we were in, and the ones they were from as well. The lunch stop at Amigo's was a treat too!

 

We'll be on the Valor in January, so I appreciate all of the first hand reports about her.

[jlforester]

I agree about Belize being beautiful. My wife and I went to the Xunantunich ruins when we were there on the Spirit last spring. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. On the way back to the port, the bus stopped at a little local place and we had lunch. Chicken, red beans, and slaw. Very tasty!

[brylaw]

You mentioned that for the rafting in Belize it is better not to go with Carnival, but rather, a local guide...are these easy to book on spot or is there some way to reserve these in advance?

 

Thanks!

[chelsea2005]

You can book in advance. Google search Belize Coral Breeze

[cruzn buckeye]

Great review! We will be on the Valor in September and looking soooo forward to it!

I do have a question. I have seen other reviews on this ship where they say there isn't much variety at the breakfast buffet. If it is like the sister ship Glory they had....hash browns, scrambeled eggs,pancakes, french toast, toast, bagels, many different fruit, ham, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, grits, many different kinds of cereal , milk, oj, coffee, tea, lemonade, and an omelot station where you could get fresh omelots or fried eggs. Oh, and lots of pastries. I guess my question is what did the RCCL ship have that Rosie's didn't? We were on the Sovereign of the Seas and thought both ships had a great variety.

 

Thanks again for the great review! Glad you had a great cruise!

 

Cruzn

[BettyB2]

Thanks for the great review! I was thinking about the Valor for next year and everyone's reviews are such a great help! We went to Nachi Cocum (11 of our group of 38) and we had the best time there! Service was fantastic and the beach was very nice and not too busy...we had a blast!

 

again, thanks for the review...

[mnsawyer]

We sailed on the Glory in early April and would agree about breakfast...lots of choices and assume it's the same on all ships.

 

Question about Tabayna Beach break...I thought the price was steep too but based on your review, you thought it was worth it? Not sure what is the best in Roatan - Salt and Pepper, Paya Beach, Tabayna, etc.? What time does the bus take you back from Tabayna? Noticed that the departure times are 8:15, 8:45 and 9:30 a.m. Is there shade, tiki huts, etc., what about restrooms, etc., what is available for snacks, etc.??

 

Thanks!

[chelsea2005]

Yes, Tabanya was worth it. The beach had lounge chairs everywhere, there was a lot of shaded areas if you like that, and there were restrooms available. Tabanya also had a band, bar, and food. I'm not sure exactly what kind of food they had because we didn't eat there, but I did see people near me eating hot dogs!

Buses/vans left for the ship every 15 minutes (maybe 30).

 

I hope this helps!!

[luckydogone]

I'm taking my family on the Valor in July and we're going to take the horse back riding & Tabyana Beach Break excursion. Did you notice any horse back riders? They say that we're going to be riding for about 90 minutes then end up at the beach. From what I have read in reviews the beach sounds great and we can't wait to enjoy it. Thanks for the review.