Wow... Carnival Valor Quick Review/Thoughts

[theaviator85]

So this is just a quick rundown of what happened and how I felt about Carnival. My cruise was Europe on Princess last year, so I may have sailed with those expectations and for the most part they were met.

 

Let me just say that this itinerary is the best in the Caribbean.

 

Embarkation: 6 am flight, arrived at port around 9:00 am waited for everyone to leave, and was able to start boarding around 11. Nice, easy process.

St. Thomas: Ended up really just walking around. We were very tired from the day before. Ended up doing some scheduled maintenance on azipods, and we didn't leave until about 2 am (back on board was 9:30pm)

 

Barbados: Booked a tour with Tyrone Griffin. He took us everywhere, all day long, for $25 a person this is probably the best deal out there. If you haven't booked something yet then I can give you his email and seriously it's awesome.

 

St. Lucia- Booked the Mud Bath excursion through Carnival. St. Lucia is a very nice untouched island. The tour rocked.

 

St. Kitts- Did zip lining through Carnival. Very expensive at $95 a person, and we only did maybe 5 lines, yet it was a good experience and would do it again.

 

St. Maarten- Went to Maho Beach near SXM and watched the planes coming in. Walk down out of the port and get on the public bus (they are more like vans), it is 2 USD. Interesting for my boyfriend, but I'm a pilot and actually know how dangerous it is :D

 

Disembarkation: Disastrous compared to Princess last year. Bags were everywhere, the lines were huge to go through customs, people cutting in line. Something needs to be done, but it was doable and we had nothing else to do.

 

The Ship: Great size. I never once felt crowded on the ship. The entire ship seemed very very clean. I went to the bathroom by the casino and was amazed by the cleanliness. Beautifully decorated. Met and exceeded my expectations.

 

The Stateroom: Had an ocean view on main deck. Only one small complaint, someone left large amounts of hair in the drawers. Should the steward have cleaned that out? My sister and her husband had a balcony and enjoyed that very much.

 

Food: I can't say the food was all that bad, but definitely needed some sort of improvement in the lido restaurant. The steak was more like roast beef, and I'm a man who doesn't really like steak. Also one of the main courses was served with baked sweet potato and then mashed potato, seemed kinda weird having two kind of potatoes with one dish haha. Though everything else was excellent. I loved the midnight buffet thing they do.

 

The Service: Great. We had YTD and had wonderful servers the entire cruise.

 

The Entertainment: Really good, I don't know why people complain. There are so many things to do if you don't want to go to the show. They also had comedy shows I think at least 4 nights. I didn't use the seaside theater frankly because they didn't play anything interesting and if they did it was at midnight.

 

Fellow Passengers: please, the elevator is not going anywhere. You don't need to stand right in front of the door when I'm trying to get off. It will not shut on you. It is not going anywhere. I'm an averaged sized man and you leave space for a toddler to get out (okay maybe that's exaggerating but you get the picture)

 

Conclusion: For the price, I got more than I expected. I would probably sail Carnival again and would recommend them. But if I can find a similarly priced cruise on a different line I may just take it.

 

Sorry I didn't take too many pictures of the ship on my iPhone and my camera decided to take a swim and I'm still waiting to see if it works, if it does I will post some. Also, I'm sorry I didn't go in depth with things, but I just don't have that time and candidly I'm afraid I'll be really bad at it :eek:

 

Feel free to ask me any questions or give me any feedback. Thanks for reading!

[erby2283]

Glad you had a good first Carnival experience. I did that same itinerary on the Victory in 2011 but sailed the Valor last November. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. You'll be hard pressed to find another cruise line with prices that can match Carnival. Then again, I always cruise in November and can always find fantastic deals on Carnival that are about $250 cheaper than anyone else so my chances of switching to anyone else are slim. :D

[Chitownlou]

So this is just a quick rundown of what happened and how I felt about Carnival. My cruise was Europe on Princess last year, so I may have sailed with those expectations and for the most part they were met.

 

Let me just say that this itinerary is the best in the Caribbean.

 

Embarkation: 6 am flight, arrived at port around 9:00 am waited for everyone to leave, and was able to start boarding around 11. Nice, easy process.

St. Thomas: Ended up really just walking around. We were very tired from the day before. Ended up doing some scheduled maintenance on azipods, and we didn't leave until about 2 am (back on board was 9:30pm)

 

Barbados: Booked a tour with Tyrone Griffin. He took us everywhere, all day long, for $25 a person this is probably the best deal out there. If you haven't booked something yet then I can give you his email and seriously it's awesome.

 

St. Lucia- Booked the Mud Bath excursion through Carnival. St. Lucia is a very nice untouched island. The tour rocked.

 

St. Kitts- Did zip lining through Carnival. Very expensive at $95 a person, and we only did maybe 5 lines, yet it was a good experience and would do it again.

 

St. Maarten- Went to Maho Beach near SXM and watched the planes coming in. Walk down out of the port and get on the public bus (they are more like vans), it is 2 USD. Interesting for my boyfriend, but I'm a pilot and actually know how dangerous it is :D

 

Disembarkation: Disastrous compared to Princess last year. Bags were everywhere, the lines were huge to go through customs, people cutting in line. Something needs to be done, but it was doable and we had nothing else to do.

 

The Ship: Great size. I never once felt crowded on the ship. The entire ship seemed very very clean. I went to the bathroom by the casino and was amazed by the cleanliness. Beautifully decorated. Met and exceeded my expectations.

 

The Stateroom: Had an ocean view on main deck. Only one small complaint, someone left large amounts of hair in the drawers. Should the steward have cleaned that out? My sister and her husband had a balcony and enjoyed that very much.

 

Food: I can't say the food was all that bad, but definitely needed some sort of improvement in the lido restaurant. The steak was more like roast beef, and I'm a man who doesn't really like steak. Also one of the main courses was served with baked sweet potato and then mashed potato, seemed kinda weird having two kind of potatoes with one dish haha. Though everything else was excellent. I loved the midnight buffet thing they do.

 

The Service: Great. We had YTD and had wonderful servers the entire cruise.

 

The Entertainment: Really good, I don't know why people complain. There are so many things to do if you don't want to go to the show. They also had comedy shows I think at least 4 nights. I didn't use the seaside theater frankly because they didn't play anything interesting and if they did it was at midnight.

 

Fellow Passengers: please, the elevator is not going anywhere. You don't need to stand right in front of the door when I'm trying to get off. It will not shut on you. It is not going anywhere. I'm an averaged sized man and you leave space for a toddler to get out (okay maybe that's exaggerating but you get the picture)

 

Conclusion: For the price, I got more than I expected. I would probably sail Carnival again and would recommend them. But if I can find a similarly priced cruise on a different line I may just take it.

 

Sorry I didn't take too many pictures of the ship on my iPhone and my camera decided to take a swim and I'm still waiting to see if it works, if it does I will post some. Also, I'm sorry I didn't go in depth with things, but I just don't have that time and candidly I'm afraid I'll be really bad at it :eek:

 

Feel free to ask me any questions or give me any feedback. Thanks for reading!

 

We leave on the same cruise next Sunday (July 7th), we also booked Tyrone Griffin... any advise? recommendations? How many people were on the tour with you?

[Aldeya]

Barbados: Booked a tour with Tyrone Griffin. He took us everywhere, all day long, for $25 a person this is probably the best deal out there. If you haven't booked something yet then I can give you his email and seriously it's awesome.

 

Can you please give the contact information for Tyrone Griffin? I was just looking for a tour in Barbados. Any details would be appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review.

 

I am glad that overall you were pleased with the cruise.

 

Keith

[Chitownlou]

Can you please give the contact information for Tyrone Griffin? I was just looking for a tour in Barbados. Any details would be appreciated.

 

Thank you.

 

Tyrone Griffin - Tiatonagi@yahoo.com

[hockeyluver]

Thanks for the review, short and sweet :p Can you give me a little more detail on the Mud Bath excursion through Carnival. This sounds like something fun and different. What all was included, and what did you do? In all the times i have been to St. Maarten we still havent made it to Maho, this will change this cruise!!!! Cant wait until its our turn in January :D

[rjrice1]

Tyrone Griffin - Tiatonagi@yahoo.com

 

Thank you.. needed this too

[tpcwags]

Glad you had a good first Carnival experience. I did that same itinerary on the Victory in 2011 but sailed the Valor last November. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. You'll be hard pressed to find another cruise line with prices that can match Carnival. Then again, I always cruise in November and can always find fantastic deals on Carnival that are about $250 cheaper than anyone else so my chances of switching to anyone else are slim. :D

 

My wife and I booked Valor on April 27, 2014 sailing, Wondering which ports are docked and which are docked.

 

Can anyone help me with that? I appreciate any info you can provide.

 

Thanks,

 

Charlie

[BenjiRodney]

My wife and I booked Valor on April 27, 2014 sailing, Wondering which ports are docked and which are docked.

 

Can anyone help me with that? I appreciate any info you can provide.

 

Thanks,

 

Charlie

 

Do you mean docked and tendered? If so, you dock on all of these, wee are doing this cruise in November for the third time.

[Cruising Golfer]

tpcwags,

We are booked for April 27 also, all ports are docked, no tenders. See you on board ! Join our tiny roll call, just want to chat and share information...:DC.G.

[tpcwags]

Do you mean docked and tendered? If so, you dock on all of these, wee are doing this cruise in November for the third time.

 

BenjiRodney, Yes I did mean docked and tendered. Thank you very much for your reply.Also thank to the second person who also responded (sorry don't remember your name).

 

I very much appreciate your taking the time to respond.

 

Been to Western about 11 times but never Eastern or Southern, really looking forward to it.

 

Thanks again all.

 

Charlie

[tpcwags]

tpcwags,

We are booked for April 27 also, all ports are docked, no tenders. See you on board ! Join our tiny roll call, just want to chat and share information...:DC.G.

 

Cruising Golfer, just re-read your post. Great to find out you will also be on the ship.

 

I will join the Roll Call this evening or tomorrow.

 

Looking forward to meeting everyone. The group may be small now but will surely grow as April approaches.

 

Charlie

[theaviator85]

Thanks for the review, short and sweet :p Can you give me a little more detail on the Mud Bath excursion through Carnival. This sounds like something fun and different. What all was included, and what did you do? In all the times i have been to St. Maarten we still havent made it to Maho, this will change this cruise!!!! Cant wait until its our turn in January :D

 

Sorry sorry I haven't been online. It was more like an island tour, and you stopped a few key spots. Then you stopped and got some history about the volcano. Then the mud bath. There's a small pool you get in to rinse off, then head to a shallow pound and slather yourself with mud. Then you get back in the small pool and rinse off. It's very crowded, but not too bad. The guide kept telling us to take as much time as we need. There are showers and changing rooms on site as well.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[hockeyluver]

Sorry sorry I haven't been online. It was more like an island tour, and you stopped a few key spots. Then you stopped and got some history about the volcano. Then the mud bath. There's a small pool you get in to rinse off, then head to a shallow pound and slather yourself with mud. Then you get back in the small pool and rinse off. It's very crowded, but not too bad. The guide kept telling us to take as much time as we need. There are showers and changing rooms on site as well.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Thank you :D

[GreytRacer]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review! I really enjoyed it! Looking forward to our time on the Valor on Sept 22!

[abisha]

Can you please give the contact information for Tyrone Griffin? I was just looking for a tour in Barbados. Any details would be appreciated.

 

Thank you.

 

For Barbados...check out Thriller Ocean tours...hosted by Steve and his daughter Kim..great hosts. Small group on his speed boat..you swim with turtles..and tons of them..he makes it a point to get you there before the others do. The turtles are awesome..very friendly and welcoming and you can touch them as they swim by you. then you are off to other snorkel sites. Last stop is just for a swim at the beach. They have all you can drink (beer, water, soda) and snacks. Cost was only $65 per person which isn't bad compared to the competition. We would do this again in a heartbeat. Liked the fact it was a small group (about 10-15 of us) and that we got to the sites without the other crowds there.