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

[Aplmac]

Nice collection! :)

I have lots! Are you in the market for just those that have come through Barbados, or any cruise cards in general?

I would like to keep my own, but I may have some from my kids cruise a few years ago when we were there.

Yes please to your kids cards..I,ll accept any Carnival cards, ancient and modern! Any cruise lines for that matter. Will write again tomorrow

[Sh1035]

LoL! You just made me do a web search for flights! $200 from where? Mine is still almost $477! :(

 

 

I would be in big trouble if air was that cheap for me!

 

Jax Florida......a tad closer. But commute to Austin.

[Alexlee]

Please don't hesitate about posting!

Your information and input have already been very helpful to me, and I'm sure many others will appreciate it as well! :):):)

 

Thanks so much I will try and get out of my comfort zone LOL

 

OMG!!! Those pictures look like they were taken for a magazine!!! Love them...great job at taking them:):):)

[cra-z-2cruise]

What was that in the background of the last photo?

 

A huge, awesome stingray!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cra-z-2cruise]

Thanks so much I will try and get out of my comfort zone LOL

 

OMG!!! Those pictures look like they were taken for a magazine!!! Love them...great job at taking them:):):)

 

Thanks so much!

I love taking photos!

Glad you are enjoying them! :)

[cra-z-2cruise]

Next stop, we go to a sunken ship wreck. Of course, we the guys are in the water with us, pointing out cool stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That last one was an accidental shot of a swim fin, but I thought it turned out cool!

[cra-z-2cruise]

After a nice long snorkel, we were called back on board for the best meal of our entire trip! (Including the steak house)

 

Gina prepares all of the food fresh each day! So much to choose from...

 

After an excellent meal, we swam to a nearby beach for a photo of the boat...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is our amazing hosts for the day...

 

 

 

 

[topazz11]

Can you please tell me what nights were the formal nights? Thank you!

[jwalk03]

Can you please tell me what nights were the formal nights? Thank you!

 

The formal nights are the sea day, and St. Lucia.

Edited August 6, 2013 by jwalk03

[cra-z-2cruise]

Time for the sail back to the ship...

 

 

 

On the ride back, the seas were a little rougher! :)

 

I sat on the seat at the very front of the boat and rode the waves. So much fun.

 

Sadly, we had to say good-bye to our new friends and head back to the ship...

 

 

 

Ran back onto the ship, showered and got back off to do a little shopping and use the free wifi to upload some pics I had taken with my phone.

 

Back on board, grabbed some pizza and relaxed on the balcony and watched for runners.

Lol, the only runner turned out to be the illusionist for the show that night!

 

 

Went out on deck for sail away.

 

 

 

Dh crashed! I watched a movie under the stars, then went to the late show for the illusionist. The show was pretty neat.

 

Up next, St Lucia...

[cra-z-2cruise]

Can you please tell me what nights were the formal nights? Thank you!

 

Tuesday and Thursday :)

[Sthomp]

Loving your review! It's making me so excited for our October cruise ...

 

Gorgeous pictures! What kind of camera did you use?

[cra-z-2cruise]

Loving your review! It's making me so excited for our October cruise ...

 

Gorgeous pictures! What kind of camera did you use?

 

Thanks!

Glad you are enjoying the photos.

DH and I both have Olympus underwater cameras and all the photos were taken with those or with my iphone.

I actually bought mine on board the ship in 2011. In fact, my old one stopped working during my last Calabaza trip.

No way I was gonna finish out the trip without a camera. :):):)

[topazz11]

The formal nights are the sea day, and St. Lucia.

 

Thank you!

[topazz11]

Thank you everyone!

[ktinnc]

Loving your review and fabulous job with the photos. Are these straight out of camera or did u do any editing? I'm a professional photographer..going on this cruise in Sept and debating about bringing my expensive equipment. I'd rather use my iphone and a waterproof camera. Do u mind sharing the model numbers of your Olympus cameras? Cant wait to read more!!

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[Nonna50]

LOVE your review so far. We were just on the Valor in April and we did this same itinerary a couple years ago on RCL Serenade of the Seas.. We are doing a western cruise on the magic at Thanksgiving but just can't stop thinking about our Valor Cruise.. love that ship.. that's the cruise that really Hooked us.. We did the same as you in St Thomas.. At first I thought man we sure are paying a lot of money just to see a beach but I soon learned Trunk Bay is not just a beach. It was just breath taking.. Can't wait to see more pictures of the other Islands and relive our cruise.. It will probably be April of 2015 before we can go back. :(

 

Looking forward to more of your review.

[GreytRacer]

Loving your review and beautiful pics! Going on Sept 22 and can't wait! Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

[dolphin2012]

HI I Am Loving your review and pictures! i especially love the review from someone who LOVES the water/beaches alot!!! we were swimming, well really floating in our local lake today when we decided maybe next year we would do this cruise.. i cant wait to read more.. did the sunshine in europe this year and it was also great...thanks...have to be in the water or dreaming about being in it , on it ....

[hockeyluver]

Yes please to your kids cards..I,ll accept any Carnival cards, ancient and modern! Any cruise lines for that matter. Will write again tomorrow

 

I have quite a few lying around here you can have, we are packing up our oldest DD, she is moving on out :D and she found all of her old ones. you can contact me at cwonsch13@gmail.com

 

 

WOW those underwater pictures from Barbados are amazing, what camera did you use? I accidentally forgot my camera in my cabin on our last cruise and didnt get it back so I am in the market for a new one.

Edited August 6, 2013 by hockeyluver

[etwright]

Loving your review. We are flying out to SJ this Friday and boarding the ship Sunday. Your pictures are absolutely amazing!!!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[cruisinJenF]

Great review!!! We were on this same cruise with you! We saw that huge ray when we got to the Turtles too. Pretty amazing!!!

 

We tried to book with Calabaza but they were full and referred us to Silver Moon. I gotta say that was the best thing that could have happened!!! The Silver Moon Catamarans are A LOT bigger and still just take 12 people. We only had 10 on ours so it was perfect. HUGE nets that everyone can stretch out on. I would book with them again in a heartbeat, great day. Barbados was our fav port. Loved how soft the sand was.

 

Loved this cruise and the itinerary and was so happy we had such perfect weather. Would love to do it again someday.

[chipandsteph]

Subscribed! This is great! We leave the 18th and can't wait!

[cjknox]

Awesome review i'm lovin' it!:D

[happy40th]

As you may remember from earlier, Barbados was the port I planned out first!

Gina was so awesome to work with us to get us on Calabaza!

 

My insomnia was working overtime, so I was up early, parked in my peaceful spot on deck 10. What is that? A big dark cloud over the island? Was keeping my fingers crossed it would clear up for our tour. Well, things started looking up...

 

 

 

Most of the clouds cleared by the time the pilot boat was out to meet us. :D

 

 

 

Turns out that we were going with one other large family group from the ship and one other couple that was on a land vacation. (Thanks to all of them for squeezing us in)

 

After a short drive, we were on the boat meeting the crew. Gina greeted us then gave us the sad news that she would not be sailing with us for the day, but the boys would take care of us. Awe...

but take care of us they did! :D

After reading about Gina and Calabaza I emailed her. What a sweetheart. She is very prompt in her responses. After getting all my questions answered I decided this was the excursion for us. We are booked already for February