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

[cra-z-2cruise]

It's August here in Barbados at 13 degrees North of the Equator.

It's bearable now but..

 

It's get hotter when it gets muggy in Sept. and October

with Trop.Depression/Storm weather systems passing close by!

 

 

The nights are worse than the days

because the reduced wind-speeds during the day at 5 mph

..slow to nothing during the night. Very still.

 

You don't want to be here. Not then.

 

.

 

 

OMG! :eek::eek::eek:

 

Thanks! My initial plan for next vacation was to spend a week in Barbados, then a week in PR, but that heat does not sound like any fun at all. I just assumed that nights would be better than days, like it is here.

 

We were going to avoid hurricane season, but when is the best time of year to visit?

[Family Travel Story]

Great review so far. I can't wait to get on the Valor in a couple of weeks.

[cra-z-2cruise]

I really liked the decor of this ship compared to other Carnival ships.

We take the stairs as much as possible during the week to help reduce weight gain.

 

Below was my favorite stairwell art.

 

 

Then more random ship photos...

 

 

 

 

 

[Aplmac]

Sorry if my english is not the best, my first language is spanish so I'm trying my best LOL...

... The Biobay Tour is awesome, I'm glad you really liked it!!

Culebra is very small, its smaller than Vieques,

I would recommend staying in "Isla Grande'' that's what they (Vieques and Culebra) call PR)

and just doing the ferry and enjoying the beaches there and then come back.:D

Let me assure you that your English is very good!

 

-a lot better than many I have read, in here!

 

.

[amber_dances]

Your photo quality is stunning! What kind of camera did you use?

[Aplmac]

My initial plan for next vacation was to spend a week in Barbados,

then a week in PR,

but that heat does not sound like any fun at all.

I just assumed that nights would be better than days, like it is here.

 

We were going to avoid hurricane season,

but when is the best time of year to visit?

You would most likely be staying in some sort of visitor accommodation

i.e. you will most likely have an air-conditioned bedroom.

That's a whole different scene to those of us who live here

but can't afford the high electricity costs on the island.

 

 

Q: When is the best time?

A: Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb.

 

The smart folks get here late Nov./early Dec.

and make sure they are gone by Dec. 15th,

when hotel rates jump ^ ^ to Winter Season rates. ;)

..

.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Aplmac

[Alexlee]

It's August here in Barbados at 13 degrees North of the Equator.

It's bearable now but..

 

It's get hotter when it gets muggy in Sept. and October

with Trop.Depression/Storm weather systems passing close by!

 

 

The nights are worse than the days

because the reduced wind-speeds during the day at 5 mph

..slow to nothing during the night. Very still.

 

You don't want to be here. Not then.

 

.

LOL...Naaa Ill stay here... I went to Barbados in Jan in a past cruise and out of all the islands we visited Barbados was the HOTTEST!! And I loved the beaches...they were so clear....I can't wait to be back there ;)

[BettyPC]

Great review - thanks for all you hard work! We were on Valor in 2008 - great ship.

 

Betty

[cra-z-2cruise]

Missed this one on the brunch photos!

Another reason we couldn't eat dessert! We, and by we I mean DH, ate all of this!

Okay, I may have eaten the banana bread...

 

 

More dining room pics

 

 

 

 

Went up to deck 10 and found the "secret door" to the area above the bridge.

 

 

 

 

That's were I ended up pretty much every morning as we pulled into port!

I was the only one there.

 

Went back to the room and DH was still sleeping.

 

No problem. I walked the short distance to the lido bar, ordered a Miami Vice, made a recliner from balcony chair and table, and enjoyed the lido music out on our balcony. (It was just loud enough)

 

[Alexlee]

I really appreciate your advice, thanks! Is there a ferry that runs between Vieques and Culebra? That was my initial plan. Really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of the place we stayed and was hoping to use that as a anchor point. Again, thanks for the insight. :):):)

 

Your welcome :) From what I know its not possible threw the ferry, its Fajardo to Vieques or Fajardo to Culebra.

 

http://www.elenas-vieques.com/ferry.html

[cra-z-2cruise]

You would most likely be staying in some sort of visitor accommodation

i.e. you will most likely have an air-conditioned bedroom.

That's a whole different scene to those of us who live here

but can't afford the high electricity costs on the island.

 

 

Q: When is the best time?

A: Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb.

 

The smart folks get here late Nov./early Dec.

and make sure they are gone by Dec. 15th,

when hotel rates jump ^ ^ to Winter Season rates. ;)

..

.

 

Thanks. I may have to wait till November 2014. I will be in school this year, but will be completely finished by then. Also, they may actually shoot me at work if I even ask for another day off any time in the near future. :D:D:D

 

 

[cra-z-2cruise]

Your welcome :) From what I know its not possible threw the ferry, its Fajardo to Vieques or Fajardo to Culebra.

 

http://www.elenas-vieques.com/ferry.html

 

 

Thanks so much! :) I'll have to do a lot of research before my next trip. It will give me something to look forward too!

[jwalk03]

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!

 

I am going on this cruise in 33 days!!!! YAY!! I got airfare from Columbus, OH to San Juan for $146 pp each way. I LOVE that Southwest flys to PR now, cuz that is WAY CHEAPER than any other price I saw! I cant wait for them to complete the AirTran conversion so that they will start flying to Cancun, and Cabo, and the Dominican, and Aruba! I may take some land vacations to some of these places then instead of just cruising!

Edited August 6, 2013 by jwalk03

[cra-z-2cruise]

I am going on this cruise in 33 days!!!! YAY!! I got airfare from Columbus, OH to San Juan for $146 pp each way. I LOVE that Southwest flys to PR now, cuz that is WAY CHEAPER than any other price I saw! I cant wait for them to complete the AirTran conversion so that they will start flying to Cancun, and Cabo, and the Dominican, and Aruba! I may take some land vacations to some of these places then instead of just cruising!

 

That's great rates! I just checked Southwest too! Still right at $500 rt from Houston to San Juan. I prefer to fly Southwest too. Our recent trip was with United.

[Aplmac]

This pic shows the ship approaching Bridgetown Port, Barbados

on a Wednesday morning, sometime around 0715 hours.

 

See the little pilot boat scooting back in?

Look for his wake, near the end of the harbor arm, at far right.

 

 

Coincidentally, you're also looking straight in the direction of my house

just on the opposite side of Bridgetown from where the Port(and this ship) is! :D

.

[jwalk03]

That's great rates! I just checked Southwest too! Still right at $500 rt from Houston to San Juan. I prefer to fly Southwest too. Our recent trip was with United.

 

I just saw the other day that Southwest got approval to build an international terminal at Hobby. Can't wait to see what International destinations they add in 2015 when its complete!

[cra-z-2cruise]

This pic shows the ship approaching Bridgetown Port, Barbados

on a Wednesday morning, sometime around 0715 hours.

 

See the little pilot boat scooting back in?

Look for his wake, near the end of the harbor arm, at far right.

 

 

Coincidentally, you're also looking straight in the direction of my house

just on the opposite side of Bridgetown from where the Port(and this ship) is! :D

.

 

OMG!!!

How cool is that!

Of our cruise, I would have to say that Barbados was our favorite day. Have been there three times, but always out on the water on a day sail. So want to come for an extended visit!

[Aplmac]

OMG!!!

How cool is that! ===> Really.

 

Of our cruise, I would have to say that Barbados was our favorite day.

Have been there three times,

but always out on the water on a day sail. ===> Nice: avoids land-hassles!

So want to come for an extended visit!

Like I said above...come down late Nov. early Dec

rent a small car to get around

- and be gone by Dec. 14th./15th. ;)

.

[Aplmac]

You got any old Carnival ship-cards in a socks drawer somewhere? :D

I collect these things

 

 

 

Just wondering if you (or anyone) has any such items

that I might mooch off ya.

My collection of ship-cards/cruise-cards now numbers 250!

You should see it!

 

 

I have some old material...before plastic!

..

[cra-z-2cruise]

I had made steakhouse reservations at 7, so we made it a point not to eat after brunch. Good call. There was so much food and it was great! The service and the atmosphere were also excellent. I'm really more of a salad and app's kind of person, but DH loves meat. He had the New York strip and I had the lamb chops. I found a new Carnival favorite in the wilted spinach and portabella mushroom salad. The only thing that was not spot on was dessert. It was caramelized apples in a pastry, but we just didn't care for it. No worries though, because we were really stuffed!

Wouldn't you know though, that was the only time in the two weeks we were gone that neither of us had a camera on us! :(

 

Although I didn't want to miss anything, we were both tired and wanted to be up early for Barbados in the morning, so we sat out on the balcony for a while, then went to bed.

[cra-z-2cruise]

You got any old Carnival ship-cards in a socks drawer somewhere? :D

I collect these things

 

 

 

Just wondering if you (or anyone) has any such items

that I might mooch off ya.

My collection of ship-cards/cruise-cards now numbers 250!

You should see it!

 

 

I have some old material...before plastic!

..

 

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.

[cra-z-2cruise]

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

[Alexlee]

Let me assure you that your English is very good!

 

-a lot better than many I have read, in here!

 

.

 

Thank you so much.... I really don't post much here...just cause I'm afraid of writing words the wrong way :o

[cra-z-2cruise]

So we met our amazing crew, Andrew, Fabion, and Danny, received the safety chat, got a rum punch (yes it was 9:30 in the morning), and found a place on the front of the boat. It did start sprinkling of and on, then raining a little harder, but we were gonna get wet anyway, right? Besides, we were munching on homemade fish cakes and drinking rum punch on a fabulous catamaran off the coast of Barbados. How can you really complain about any of that!

 

Just as we pulled into our first spot, the rain stopped and the sun shined...for the rest of the day!

 

As we are entering the water we overhear Andrew say something about a stingray. Really, I may see turtles AND a stingray! I'm the first one in the water!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cra-z-2cruise]

Thank you so much.... I really don't post much here...just cause I'm afraid of writing words the wrong way :o

 

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! :):):)