Valor July 14-21 plus Vieques; Port and photo intensive review

[cra-z-2cruise]

Haven't been home even a week and am constantly longing to be back on vacation!

 

In between work, "the real world" responsibilities, and editing vacation photos, I decided it was time to work on my review of our fantastic trip!

 

First, a little background. Both me and DH are in our late 40's and have cruised several lines over the past few years, but primarily with Carnival. I have been on this same itinerary a couple years ago with two DS on Victory. DH and I also sailed RC AOS our of San Jaun (loved it).

 

Even though I requested my vacation time last August, I was having a very difficult time getting my boss to actually approve the dates. Therefore, instead of having the 4-6 months I usually dedicate to trip planning, I only had about six weeks! Yikes! :eek:

 

Last year we did an awesome land vaca, ...two weeks driving down the California coast on Hwy 1in a convertible. DH, who does zero planning says, "something like that would be good." Maybe if I had a few more MONTHS to plan! Anyway, the easiest thing was to book a cruise on an itinerary we both love and make as many plans as possible before we left. No brainer, Southern out of San Juan it is!

 

 

[takevtr1]

so far so good.

leaving on sunday 8/4 for the Valor.

[bsdmhutch]

Great start. Subscribing. We leave in 6 weeks. :D

[anniversarytravels919]

Subscribed :)

[cra-z-2cruise]

My first priority was to contact Gina with Calabaza Sailing in Barbados to see if by some miracle she had availability. I emailed her before I even booked the cruise. We had done this sail before and it was so awesome! Much to my surprise, she emailed right back and said she had one spot left (they only take 12 per trip), but would email everyone else and see if they would mind just one more.

 

While I waited the few days for her answer, I went ahead and booked the cruise and air :eek:. Geeze, I wish the price for flights to SJU were less! At least it was a nonstop from Houston to SJU.

 

When I went to book our cabin, I was shocked to find 9293 available. It is the first balcony cabin past the lido pool on the starboard side. I was a little concerned about the noise, but couldn't pass on the convenience of the location. We had stayed in similar location on another trip and loved it.

 

Well, it turned out to be pretty great! Literally steps from the lido pool and movies under the stars, and just a short walk to Rosie's, the grill, and the pool bar. I have to admit it was a little noisy during the deck parties, but we only had neighbors on one side and felt pretty secluded most of the time. Overall, it was pretty close to perfect. In the future I would probably pick a cabin a just a few doors back from ours.

[cra-z-2cruise]

About a week later, Gina emailed me the great news that we were good to go for Barbados!:D:D:D

Photo preview

We both had a little over two weeks off work so we planned an extended stay in PR after the cruise. Since we have been San Juan before, we knew we wanted to get out of the city, but didn't really have any idea where to go. So, I spent every spare moment for the next few weeks researching. I was interested in a bioluminescence tour and read that the one in Vieques was the best in the world. Did a little research on the island and decided that would be were we would spend our 5 post cruise nights. Much more on that later.

 

On my two previous visits, I had used Priceline and was very happy with the results. So, about two weeks out, I went to PL, selected four stars and bid $92. I was awarded the Caribe Hilton. Had stayed there before, so was pretty pleased.

Edited August 2, 2013 by cra-z-2cruise

[chosbor2]

Going on this itinerary in October! Very excited about your review!

 

 

Send from iphone 5 using Cruise Critic App

[cra-z-2cruise]

After hours of research, I finally had "something" planned for each port, made steakhouse reservations, and had all flight and hotel reservations made.

 

I used a couple different apps to store and organize all my travel plans. Trip It and Trip Case both work great. They both store all important information like confirmation numbers, addresses, and phone numbers. It was extremely helpful during a mix up on our excursion in St Lucia. For an electronic packing list, I used and app called Saving Grace.

 

Finally, the day had arrived! We were up early Saturday morning and headed the 100 miles to Houston for our 10:13 flight.

I had decided to use Park/Sleep/Fly to leave the truck and stay one night at the end of our trip because our flight would not arrive late (we just didn't know exactly how late at the time, Lol).

Decided on Baymont Suites and the price for the night and 14 days parking was only about $20 more than the cost of parking at an economy lot.

 

We arrived at the hotel, checked in our reservation, and waited about 10 min for the shuttle. United flight was on time and was pretty uneventful. Ds snapped this photo during our flight. I took it as a good sign :)

[cra-z-2cruise]

Absolutely no wait for the taxi to the Caribe Hilton. Check in was fast and simple. However, the trip to our room was a little adventurous. The directions from the desk clerk sounded easy...not so much! It literally took us about 20 minutes, around corners, up the wrong elevators, back down and around different corners. I was getting a little frustrated when we finally found some one to ask. Cross that street, up that ramp, around that corner, then up to the fourth floor. Where the heck were they putting us!

 

A little out of breath, we finally found our room 7405.

 

 

Open the door and...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait, are you sure this is our room? For $92?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had given us an upgrade to the Villas! Our view was gorgeous and the balcony was huge! Needless to say, I was a happy camper at this point!

[mimil]

Love the review, We are leaving on the 25th of August. We are also from Texas(San Saba).

 

Mimi From Texas

[cra-z-2cruise]

Love the review, We are leaving on the 25th of August. We are also from Texas(San Saba).

 

Mimi From Texas

 

You're gonna love it! Hope you have as good of weather as we did!

Wish I was going on the 25th too!

[Biris]

Keep it coming, please :D Did your room have a full kitchen as well? Do you have any pictures of the beach at this hotel?

 

Thanks,

 

Biris

[cra-z-2cruise]

Keep it coming, please :D Did your room have a full kitchen as well? Do you have any pictures of the beach at this hotel?

 

Thanks,

 

Biris

 

Yes and yes! Full kitchen, including dishwasher! Only thing that could have possibly made the room any better was if it would have had a tub instead of just a shower. The bathroom overall was pretty small, but more than adequate. Kind of funny, the balcony was about three times as big as the bathroom :)

 

The actual "beach area" is a very calm lagoon. I so wish we would have had time to snorkel here. I will include more property photos in the next section, but here is a preview

 

[CRU1Z1N]

SUBSCRIBED!!! Heading out two weeks from tomorrow for a one day stay in San Juan before the cruise!!

 

Thank you for the current review!

[cra-z-2cruise]

We both showered, relaxed and enjoyed the view while we contemplated our dinner plans.

 

We wanted something within walking distance, but off property, so we took the advice of the concierge and walked over to the Condado area to Casa Lola. It was a very pleasant 15-20 min walk.

 

 

We were seated at a table by the window and enjoyed a great dinner and the best sangria type drink I have ever had.

 

 

 

 

Can't remember the real names of our dishes, but I had a type of pineapple-coconut chicken and rice and DH had a huge pock "chop". It was really, really good.

 

The sun was setting on our way back and it made for a really pleasant walk.

 

 

This is a view of the Caribe Hilton, and our Villa room, from across the bay.

 

[ktinnc]

More more more!! This is a great start! We leave in 48 days! Cant wait!!

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[cra-z-2cruise]

We could see our room from the Condado bridge, so decided to head up a side street to see if we access the property from there. Guess what? There is an entire lobby just for the villas! Just a short distance from our room. I asked if we could check out and get a taxi there the next day..."yes, of course". Score!

We were not quiet ready to go to bed to we went to the main lobby bar, got a drink and headed out to the pool/beach area. I hung out in a hammock and enjoyed the sea breeze and sound of the surf :).

 

I was so excited to actually be on vacation after all the planning that there was no way I could sleep in. I was up with the sun. Here is the view from our balcony.

 

 

 

DH was not quiet as enthusiastic about being awake, so I left him to go and explore the resort on my own.

 

The property has a beautiful garden area, complete with peacocks, swans, koi fish, and even a turkey! :confused:

 

 

 

[cra-z-2cruise]

Looking closely into the shrubs, I saw several baby iguanas!

 

 

 

 

Then, strolling across the lawn, I found this guy.

 

 

 

 

Adjacent to the main pool, there is a large palm-tree shaded area with hammocks. This is where I had hung out the night before.

 

 

 

 

Finally, DH is up and moving around.

 

They have fish feeding off a peer, which is just really left over breads from breakfast. Not sure how good that is for the fish, but that's what they use. It was pretty cool though.

 

Check out was at 11:00, so we gathered our stuff, headed to the new-found lobby, checked out and was in a cab on our way to the pier within 10 minutes!

 

Next up, Carnival Valor!

[paget]

I can't wait for more. We did this same cruise on the Victory in April 2012 and we are doing it again next April on the Valor. We loved it. Your pictures are great!

 

Maria

[girlscruise2011]

Doing this ship and itinerary in January 2014. I have Calabaza booked too and Gina has been an doll to work with. I can't wait to meet her. She seems like a friend already.

 

Love the large print for my old eyes and can't wait to see what you did on each island. I'm looking for things to do still so love to hear about others experiences.

[cra-z-2cruise]

I can't wait for more. We did this same cruise on the Victory in April 2012 and we are doing it again next April on the Valor. We loved it. Your pictures are great!

 

Maria

 

I took to DS (20 and 25 at the time) on the Victory in 2011. We had a blast! That's one of the reasons we were doing a repeat!

[cra-z-2cruise]

Doing this ship and itinerary in January 2014. I have Calabaza booked too and Gina has been an doll to work with. I can't wait to meet her. She seems like a friend already.

 

Love the large print for my old eyes and can't wait to see what you did on each island. I'm looking for things to do still so love to hear about others experiences.

 

You will not be disappointed in Calabaza! I can not say enough good things about Gina and the entire gang! :)

Much more on that later.

[wrigley80]

Nice start....I will be checking in for more. Carnival Valor was my first Carnival ship and at the time I cruised on the Valor.....she was a brand new ship. I guess you can say that is what started my love with Carnival.

 

We have cruised out of San Juan once before on the Carnival Destiny

[happy40th]

Doing this ship and itinerary in January 2014. I have Calabaza booked too and Gina has been an doll to work with. I can't wait to meet her. She seems like a friend already.

 

Love the large print for my old eyes and can't wait to see what you did on each island. I'm looking for things to do still so love to hear about others experiences.

I emailed Gina but was wondering the cost of this excursion. there will be 4 of us

[LDR]

We were on this cruise too, can't wait to read your review and re-live it! My DH and I were in 9245-loved being on the Lido Deck, so convenient.