Valor Southern Caribbean review with pictures and Fun Times - better late than never

[ibcnusoon]

We are doing the exact same as you did, Jalousie Beach Break :) I know most of the times pictures are beautiful but being there seeing it for real, with all emotions going through and trying to take in how gorgeous scenery it is, the feelings won't be there unless you are there or have been there. I can't wait to see what you saw and feel totally taken away by the Pitons, for one. Very excited indeed :) I would like to see more of St Lucia but maybe by cruising to different ports we would want to book a land vacation and stay longer but for right now, we just discovered cruises and want more of it (bye bye Walt Disney World trips, hello cruises) :D

 

That's what's great about this Southern Caribbean cruise. You get a taste of practically each island in the Caribbean, they are all different and unique. While I'd love to go back to St. Kitts, my daughter has been beginning me to look into booking a land vacation in St. Maarten. I remember wanting to go to Barbados for our honeymoon many years ago (we went to Jamaica instead - cheaper), but I was not impressed with Barbados at all when we toured the island on this cruise.

[ibcnusoon]

Thanks! We will most likely "wing it" for most of the port stops. The only port we have been to is St Thomas, and we're planning to stay on the ship that day and relax.

 

My knee should be fine by then, but we're getting off the ship at 9 different ports so don't want to over do it. :o

 

Dee

 

The one thing I would suggest is to book Carnival's snorkel tour to the Pitons. We did this and it was great! The reason why I booked it was because it wasn't an all day tour at the beach, I had my parents with me and knew they wouldn't sit at the beach all day (nor snorkel). :p but I wanted them to at least experience it with us. Not only that, but there are no private tours that will do a 1/2 day to the Pitons, you'll have to charter. It's about a 45 minute boat ride to the Pitons from the ship, so you also want to go with a qualified guide who has an excellent boat. At least with the ship tour, if the boat broke down, the ship would wait for us. That was my biggest fear because the Pitons are about 2 hours away or more on windy hilly roads in St. Lucia. Basically, I'd be afraid to "wing it" in St. Lucia, try to find a ship tour or a qualified guide. The other islands are smaller and easier to "wing it".

Edited September 27, 2013 by ibcnusoon

[Limeia]

 

In this picture there is an island that's barely visible. It's Saba. I used the zoom on the camera to get this picture. It's located southwest of St. Maarten

 

 

We really enjoyed sailing past Saba on our Victory cruise in 2009. I thought I would share our picture of Saba...it was a beautiful evening for this picture.

 

Guess I won't share my photo :(...Don't know how to get it posted here!:(

[SwellBee]

Thank you so much for your review. We are heading out 02/02/2014 for our first cruise and it will be this same cruise. :) lots of beautiful pictures!

 

We will be cruising together! :)

 

 

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

[Limeia]

We really enjoyed sailing past Saba on our Victory cruise in 2009. I thought I would share our picture of Saba...it was a beautiful evening for this picture.

 

Guess I won't share my photo :(...Don't know how to get it posted here!:(

 

:confused:So how does one upload pictures to CC :confused: Do you have to go through photobucket or shutterfly or something? Can you upload pictures you have stored on the computer? Thanks.

[lovestocruise19]

Loved your review! Makes me want to go to St. Lucia. The pictures you took there were gorgeous! I also loved one of the first funnel pictures reflected on the wet deck you had. And I, too, have started to collect fridge magnets when we travel. It's such an easy, cheap souvenir and you can dream about the places you've been every time you open the fridge! ;)

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you so much for your review. We are heading out 02/02/2014 for our first cruise and it will be this same cruise. :) lots of beautiful pictures!

 

Thank you. You definitely chose a very nice itinerary for your first cruise. The islands are all just so scenic and very pretty. I really hope you enjoy your first cruise and hope it won't be your last. :) I didn't think I'd like cruising at first but I LOVE it.

[pghsteelerfan]

The weather in St. Kitts was gorgeous! We went the week of Thanksgiving last year and every day in port it was beautiful, sunny - no rain at all, even our weekend pre-cruise in San Juan was hot and sunny. In fact, since it was late November and the ship left St. Kitts at 6pm it was getting dark by then.

 

I'm so glad you had nice weather. From everything I've seen, Nov - March are the best chances of nicer weather. I'd really like to try a cruise sometime between Nov. - Feb. some year and would love to see it getting dark in port to see, and get pictures of, the ship lit up at night. I can't complain about our weather because it could have been worse and we could have missed a port. We just need to go on another cruise and get to St. Kitts again. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

 

In this picture there is an island that's barely visible. It's Saba. I used the zoom on the camera to get this picture. It's located southwest of St. Maarten

 

 

 

We really enjoyed sailing past Saba on our Victory cruise in 2009. I thought I would share our picture of Saba...it was a beautiful evening for this picture.

 

Guess I won't share my photo :(...Don't know how to get it posted here!:(

 

:confused:So how does one upload pictures to CC :confused: Do you have to go through photobucket or shutterfly or something? Can you upload pictures you have stored on the computer? Thanks.

 

Oh, I'd LOVE to see your picture. I use both Shutterfly and Photobucket, but am using Photobucket for CC since I wasn't able to post pictures through Shutterfly.

 

To post pictures in Cruise Critic from Photobucket is pretty easy. Early on, I asked and a few others helped me. Once the pictures are uploaded, just click on the picture you would like to post. Over on the right, you will see this (see attached picture)

 

 

The "IMG" selection at the bottom is what you use to get pictures into CC. Just click on the link and you'll get the message "copied". Once it's copied you can paste it into your message.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll help you out.

 

Yes, yes, yes, I would LOVE to see your picture of Saba!!! I was going through the few honeymoon pictures I have and realized I had one of Saba. The itinerary was San Juan; St. Thomas; St. Maarten; Dominica; Barbados; Martinique; Sea Day; back to San Juan. On that last Sea Day we were passing so many different islands. I was out of film but wanted pictures so I bought a roll from the ship just to get pictures of the islands as we passed. I'll try to find that one because I scanned them.

 

This is the scanned picture of Saba from our cruise in 1992. I forgot that it was covered in clouds.

[pghsteelerfan]

Loved your review! Makes me want to go to St. Lucia. The pictures you took there were gorgeous! I also loved one of the first funnel pictures reflected on the wet deck you had. And I, too, have started to collect fridge magnets when we travel. It's such an easy, cheap souvenir and you can dream about the places you've been every time you open the fridge! ;)

 

Thank you! We just loved St. Lucia...well, they were all beautiful and different and I just love this itinerary. I still laugh when I see (or think about) that first funnel picture and DH wanting to know why I was taking pictures of the deck. LOL!!!

 

I remember reading your reviews and was reading your Liberty review right before we left on our cruise. We did the same itinerary on Glory in 2010 and loved it, so I was reliving that cruise when I read your review and looking forward to our Valor cruise. You really have some beautiful pictures in your reviews. I don't know if you noticed the picture of the orange tabby cat laying on the rocks at Fort El Morro at the beginning of my review, but when I saw him (that would have been May 5, day of our cruise) I thought of the cat you had pictures of in your Liberty review and was wondering if it was the same one. We have two cats, so I notice them when we are away.

 

I almost forgot to get magnets from the places we hadn't been to yet. We got our fridge magnets from St. Thomas and San Juan on the Glory cruise so I didn't need to get any there but almost forgot to get one when we were in Barbados. I was at the register paying for the ornaments I picked up for a friend and ourselves when I saw the magnets on a rack right next to the register. I'm so glad I saw that because I would have been bummed if I forgot. St. Lucia has some really nice magnets that are carved out of wood and polished. Good friends of ours also collect refrigerator magnets so I got the idea from them several years ago.

[pghsteelerfan]

Continuing with St. Maarten...

 

St. Maarten is a beautiful island, even sailing away. We stayed up on deck until there wasn’t much more of the island to see, stopped at the Argonaut Pool bar for a drink and I-Nyoman waited on us this time. We’d gotten to know him too.

 

 

He got our drinks and we took them back to our cabin. We had the dreaded task of having to pack again. When it was getting to be time for sunset, we went out on the balcony and noticed that the sun was behind some clouds in the distance that appeared to be storm clouds. We could still see St. Maarten way in the distance and the sky was still pretty. I was bummed that we never did see a sunset where we could actually see the sun going down on the horizon. A whole week went by and we never did get to see that “green flash”, but maybe next time.

 

 

 

We could still see St. Maarten

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

We went back and finished most of the packing. Our bathing suits were still damp but that’s where those large zip-lock freezer bags I brought along come in handy. I had several of the one-gallon size and three five-gallon bags. On our last cruise the two gallon size was perfect, but I couldn’t find them anywhere before this cruise. I gave DH a five-gallon and I used another five-gallon to put wet or damp clothes in before packing them. Everything gets washed when we get home anyway, but I still don’t want to deal with that smell or mess. That third five-gallon zip lock freezer bag was perfect to get all of our Fun Times and other memorabilia like that home without getting all wrinkled. We were given Debarkation Zone 14 and weren’t comfortable with that because our flight out of San Juan had a scheduled departure time before 1:00PM. We could have gone to guest services to see if we could get an earlier zone but decided to do Self Assist Debarkation instead. Since we were doing Self Assist, we didn’t have to put our luggage outside our cabin.

 

When most of the packing was done, we took turns getting ready for dinner. Since we still had some time, we decided to stop up at the Argonaut Pool bar for a Captain & coke. We saw Camelo’s assistant, I-Putu, in the hallway and talked to him for a minute and asked if I could get a picture.

 

Camelo was in another cabin but he saw us, waved and said “hello”. Just as we got up to the Lido Deck, we saw the couple who we met on our Sea Day who live in St. Kitts and talked to them for a few minutes before continuing on to the Argonaut Pool bar, where Stiliyan and Benji were both working. We got Captain & cokes, “NFL”, and visited with them for a little while.

 

When it was getting close to 8:15PM, we headed down for our normal late seating in the dining room. Since it wasn't quite 8:15PM, we decided to stop on Panorama Deck 5 and see if they had any decent sales we might be interested in later. Nothing for us but I did get a few pictures.

 

The candy store on Panorama Deck 5

 

Nothing for us...

 

So we went down King Boulevard on Panorama Deck 5, past the casino and down to the end so we could get straight down to Lobby Deck 3 and into the dining room

 

We had a really nice dinner and talked about what we did with our table mates. I actually remember what I had for dinner that night, the Macaroni and cheese. I love macaroni and cheese to begin with and read so many reviews and comments here on CC (and have seen the pictures) about how good Carnival’s Mac & Cheese is and I really wanted to try it. I knew the menus have changed some so I was beginning to think that maybe they didn’t have it anymore, so I was glad when I saw it on the menu tonight. It really IS good. Since it was the last night of our cruise all of the dining room wait staff performed the “Leaving on a Fun Ship” song. Sob, sob. I was able to get a picture of our head waiter, Jorge, and the gal who was his assistant. I really wish I had her name, but I never got it. She was really nice. There was another guy who also assisted but I never got his name either. We didn’t see as much of him as we did Jorge and the other gal. I wanted a picture of the three of them, but the other guy was busy at other tables, so he is missing from the picture.

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Even though we were getting up early the next morning, DH really wanted to see one more comedy show. One of the two comedians tonight was Thea Vidale, who he has seen on TV before. She was doing the 11PM adult comedy show, the second of the three adult comedy shows that night. Because we could not find seats and had to stand for the second adult comedy show a few nights before, DH wanted to be down at the Eagles Lounge at 10:30PM. Right after we got out of dinner, we stopped up at the cabin for the SXM Deals information that Stiliyan asked for. Earlier that day at the bar he asked what we did and we told him, but he hadn’t heard of Pinel Island. I showed him a few pictures that were on my camera and he really wanted to go there. He mentioned not being comfortable with a cab or renting, so we told him we’d get him the contact information and link to the website. Stiliyan was still working up there, just like he said he would be and we gave him the information. We also got Captain and cokes to take down to the comedy show. We had a few minutes so we visited with the guys, thanked them and said our good byes to them. When we got down to the Eagles Lounge, there were other people in but there were plenty of seats and tables open. We got a table toward the back and sat there and waited for a half hour. While sitting their waiting, I started getting tired. It had been a busy week with long days, part of that my choice in getting up so early on days that I didn’t need to. I managed to stay awake and finally the show started. I think I got about half way through the show before I nodded off. I am so glad we sat way in the back. Probably not a great idea to fall asleep in a comedy show either.

 

 

 

When the show was over, we stopped at the Bronx Sports bar to see what the score of the Penguins’ hockey game and to get a drink to take back to the cabin while we finished packing. Yesssss!!!! They won, clinching the first round of the playoffs. We got a Captain & coke to take with us back to our cabin while we finished up the last of the packing. When we got back to the cabin we found our last towel animal, a heart (not really an "animal") and our chocolates from Camelo waiting for us. There was no Fun Times since this was the last night.

 

 

 

 

Before we got back to the packing, we went to the balcony to see if we could see anything and we were passing an island that was pretty well lit up. St. Thomas??? We turned the TV onto the channel that shows the ship’s current location and we were just south of St. Thomas. I got my camera and got pictures and DH got video. The pictures aren't the best, but they at least give an idea of what it looked like at night. I also had to use the zoom a little so the pictures would come out.

 

 

 

 

We decided to sit on the balcony as we passed St. Thomas and went back in to resume the dreaded chore of packing. We finished packing, finished the drinks and got ready for bed. We were scheduled to be in San Juan by 7:00AM the next morning, so I set the alarm for 5:30AM because I wanted to get up on Panorama Deck 10 as we passed Fort El Morro to get pictures of that. Since we were on the Starboard (right side), we would not be able to see El Morro from our balcony so I'd need to get up to Panorama Deck 10 for those pictures.

[pghsteelerfan]

Last Day – Sunday, May 12, 2013 – San Juan

 

 

The alarm went off at 5:30AM and I got up and went to our balcony but could tell that we had already passed Fort El Morro since I recognized the scenery we were passing at the moment and knew it was too late to get to Panorama Deck 10 for pictures of El Morro. Darn!!! We were probably right near the US Coast Guard station and close to turning in towards the dock at that point. The sun hadn’t come up yet but it was getting light outside. I guess this is why I never saw Valor from our hotel balcony the week before. She was probably already very close to arriving at the dock when I got up and went out there hoping to see her but got a few pictures from the balcony as Valor approached the dock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I missed my chance to get pictures of Fort El Morro as we came in, so I took my time and started getting ready. DH got up and also started to get ready. Once I was ready, I went up to Lido Deck 9 for a cup of coffee to take back to the balcony. It was very crowded up there that morning. I took the coffee back down to the cabin and went out on the balcony and got pictures of the sun rise, which was very pretty.

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More sunrise from San Juan

 

 

 

 

 

We got the last of our stuff all packed and went upstairs to the Lido buffet for breakfast. Still very crowded but we didn’t have to wait too long in line. Finding a table was another matter since they were all taken. After looking for a table for about 10 minutes with no luck, we just took our breakfast back down to the cabin and ate there. By that time they started calling the first decks for Self Assist Debarkation and it wasn’t long before they were calling our deck and we got our luggage, got one last look of our cabin and went to the elevators. There were a lot of people gathered at the elevators with their luggage getting off at the same time. Every time an elevator came, it filled up in seconds and more and more people were showing up at the elevators. I finally hit the button to go to Lido Deck 9 and DH asked what I was doing and said we needed to go down, not up. I told him if we could get an elevator going up that was empty or only had people going to Lido for breakfast who wouldn’t have their luggage, we could just stay on that elevator and take it down to Deck 0, where US citizens had to debark from. Guess what? That worked. On the way down, we ended up stopping on almost every other deck and those areas were also packed with people waiting for elevators. When we got down to Deck 0, there was a line to go through US customs, but it was moving and we were off Valor in no time. As we walked out to where the taxis were, I took one last look at our home for a week, Carnival Valor. I really love that ship and would love to go on her again someday. As soon as we got to where the taxis were, a driver came up and asked where we were going and we told him the airport. He got our luggage and we got in and he had us at the airport in less than 20 minutes. We paid and tipped him then got our luggage and made our way inside the airport.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got inside, there was hardly anyone there. There were airport employees directing people to where the agricultural inspections were. There are several areas for the agricultural inspection and there was only one person ahead of us at the one we went through. We put all of our luggage, carry-on, and personal items on a conveyor belt that takes them through, what I’m guessing, is some kind of x-ray. That only took a couple of minutes. The staff working there put a green “inspected” sticker on each bag and we were on our way to the United Airline’s check in counter. Once there we were told that since it was Sunday, it wouldn’t open until 9:30AM and it was only about 8:30AM. We got our luggage and went over to an area with seating. After sitting there for about 15 minutes, we noticed that a few others were actually starting to form a line. We knew that many others from the ship would be arriving soon, so we got our luggage and went and got in line. Good thing we did because five minutes after that there were a lot of others in line behind us. I think there were about 4 other groups in front of us. We ended up talking to a few of the others and everyone in that line around us had also just gotten off Valor and most of us were all on the same flight to Washington Dulles International Airport, but all but one other couple had connecting flights elsewhere from Dulles. The other couple also live about 20 minutes from the airport, but in the opposite direction from us and live in Maryland. When 9:30 came and went, the United Airlines counters still hadn’t opened. We noticed a few people slip under the roped off area and take their luggage up to the counter to use the airport’s scales to weigh them. Good idea. It costs $25.00 just to check a bag, but any bag weighing over 50 pounds is charged an additional $100.00 fee. Last time we flew, three years ago, it was $50.00. DH and I took turns weighing our bags and his weighed 46 pounds and mine was 55 pounds. We hurried and put some of the contents of mine into his and a one or two smaller items in my carry-on and weighed them again. His was now over 50 pounds but mine under. We did a little more arranging and this time we were both right at 49 pounds. Whew!!! The people were in line with saved our spots and we did the same for them as they took turns with their bags. We saw others having to do some rearranging too. Not long after that the counter opened and they started checking people in. We were at the counter checking in within five minutes, so they seemed to be moving things along quickly. When checking the bags in, both weighed in at 49 pounds. There is that last minute of fear that the other scales could have been off, but they weren’t. Once we were checked in, we proceeded to security. Since the majority of the airport travelers were behind us, we breezed right through security and were on our way to the gate. It was about 11:30AM when we actually got to our gate and since our flight wasn’t scheduled for departure until a little over an hour later, I went down to one of the larger souvenir shops hoping to find Christmas ornaments from Puerto Rico. I couldn’t find any so I asked one of the employees. That’s when I got a funny look and was told “Christmas was almost six months ago”. She wasn’t rude, but I got the impression that she thought I was off my rocker. Oh well, at least I tried.

 

 

 

Our plane at the gate

 

 

 

 

 

 

On my way back to our gate, I ran into the other couple from our roll call that was on the Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach break with us. They had a flight departing at about the same time ours was, but a different airline. We only had a few minutes to chat since it was getting close to the boarding times for our flights. Shortly after I got back, our flight started boarding. The flight attendant who was greeting us as we got on the plane was telling people it looked like they had a great time on their cruise. When we boarded, she said the same to us. We wondered how she knew we were all on the cruise but thought maybe someone else said most of the flight was cruise passengers. Valor was the only ship in San Juan that morning. Actually, we never saw another cruise ship on this cruise. Once we were seated and before leaving the gate, the flight attendant was assisting someone else and recognized a few people seated near us and let them know they were all on her flight down the previous week. She said earlier that morning they had a plane load of passengers who would be on Carnival Valor (that would be the May 12th sailing). We asked her if she was on the Saturday flight the previous week and she wasn’t, only the Sunday and said that Saturday’s flight was a different crew. She asked where we were headed and we told her Dulles was our final destination. Then she asked what town we were in and we told her. She also lives in our area. Soon after the plane was leaving the gate and I could see the Courtyard by Marriott – Isla Verde Beach, where we stayed the night before our cruise, from my seat as we taxied down the runway before taking off.

 

 

 

The Courtyard by Marriott - Isla Verde Beach (yellow building on right)

 

[pghsteelerfan]

The flight was smooth and clear, but then clouded up.

 

 

 

We hit clear skies a short time later and when we finally came back in over land, I was able to tell exactly where we were: right over Nags Head, NC! I’d know that area anywhere. That is one of the spots where we’ve spent many land vacations with my family all through the 80’s & early 90’s and we now get down there with friends every couple of years. For anyone familiar with Nags Head, I could see Jockey’s Ridge State Park, the Wright Brothers Monument, and the Wright Memorial Bridge that connects the Outer Banks to the mainland. Since we didn’t get there this year, it was nice to at least fly over it.

 

 

 

Flying in over Nags Head, NC (Outer Banks). That big patch of sand in the center is Jockey's Ridge State Park, which is the largest natural sand dune on the East Coast

 

 

The "circular" pattern in the center, next to a short runway, is the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Monument

 

I zoomed in on the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Monument

 

Wright Memorial Bridge connecting the mainland (land on left) to the Outer Banks

 

Between a half hour and 45 minutes later, we were coming in to our final descent. There was one more thing I wanted to see and get pictures of…our neighborhood. We’re fairly close to Dulles (Washington Dulles International airport) and when the winds are blowing from the west or north, the flight pattern for planes landing is right over our area. Obviously the winds were in our favor. We started to see familiar landmarks and knew were to look and were able to see our neighborhood and our house and I was able to get pictures.

 

 

 

Yep, still standing

 

 

 

 

Our flight was actually 15 minutes early so our plane was directed to another gate. After arriving at the gate and before they were letting people off, we ended up talking to some of the others when they asked us if we were also on Valor. I don’t know about everyone else, but that whole section of the plane was all people who were on Valor. I didn’t talk to one person who didn’t enjoy the cruise. One guy told us that while they were on Valor, they booked another cruise for several months later. I don’t know when our next cruise will be, but I’m hoping sooner rather than later. It was time to get off the plane so we made our way though the airport, got our luggage from baggage claim then had that long walk to where our car was parked and headed home. We arrived home in about 20 minutes, got into our house and got a warm, and grateful to see us, greeting from our two cats. I loved being on vacation, I hated to see it end, but it’s good to be back home.

 

Now the fun part, unpacking and laundry…the worst part of vacation.

[pghsteelerfan]

That is it for the main part of my review and I wanted to thank all of you for following and for the nice comments from many of you. This was my first review on Cruise Critic and I found it to be as addicting to write just as it's addicting to read the many other reviews. While writing it, I WAS really reliving our cruise and seeing the pictures brought back the many great memories of our cruise on Carnival Valor. I had more pictures with some of the others we met while on the cruise in which there were also more pictures of us included in groups but chose not to post those. This is the internet and I want to respect the privacy of the others we met and that's also why I didn't use their names (I was able to remember their names, believe it or not). Now that the review is basically done, it feels like our cruise is over once again. We don't know when we will be sailing next but I'm really hoping it is soon...as in next year. In the meantime I will continue to read reviews that others post here.

 

Earlier in my review, I mentioned the drinks and souvenir cups and promised pictures of those. I took better pictures of them, here at home, after our cruise.

 

Carnival used to serve the Drink of the Day (DOD) in the plastic Hurricane glasses every day. In addition to those, they have come up with a variety of other souvenir cups. We first noticed those in March of 2006 on our cruise on Carnival Miracle when we first saw the Coconut Monkeys, which were served for one night only (and they ran out of them before 11PM) at a Lido Deck party. At that time, the DOD Hurricane glasses were clear plastic with the Carnival Logo on them. When we were on our next cruise on Carnival Glory in May 2010, they still had the DOD served every day in the plastic Hurricane glasses, but in addition to the clear plastic, they also had bright yellow and bright pink. They still had the coconut monkey souvenir cups as a specialty drink one of the days. It was on this cruise that we noticed (and got) Carnival had another specialty drink in a "Whale Tail" funnel cup. It was sometime in late 2010 or early 2011 that I noticed two more specialty drinks/souvenir cups were introduced by Carnival: the blowfish cup and the disco ball cup. I also noticed in reviews that the DOD was now being served in a regular glass instead of the hurricane glass, with the one exception: The DOD on the first day of a Carnival cruise, the "Funship Special", is still served in a plastic Hurricane glass. We were able to get all of these on Lido Deck 9, outside around the pool and pool bars. There are bartenders that will also walk around with them displayed on trays and taking orders. I did not notice any in the bars we were in on the inside of Valor but the Disco Ball may have been served in one of the bars/dance club.

 

So here's the deal with the drinks as they were served on Carnival Valor when we were on our cruise:

 

The first day of our cruise the DOD was the "Funship Special" served in the plastic Hurricane glass. Price was $7.75

 

On the second day of our cruise, the DOD was the Blue Margarita and that was being served in the coconut monkey souvenir cups. For anyone not familiar, the monkey is a hollowed out coconut. A plastic cup sets down in the hollowed out portion and the top of the monkey is attached by twine, with a hole in the top for a straw. They come with little stickers on the top that say "Also a coin bank, take me home". The price for the drink and souvenir cup was $14.95. Now if you just want the DOD and not the coconut monkey head, your DOD can be served in a regular glass for $7.75.

 

This is the way they come, with cute little umbrellas in them. They also put cherries where the "nose" would be with toothpicks. DH ate those:

 

 

The third day of our cruise, our only Sea Day, they had the Blowfish souvenir cup. It's plastic and has a top and a bottom. The drink is served in a plastic cup that has a lid with a hole for a straw. The cup with the drink fits inside the bottom of the blowfish and the top goes on top of that. There is a sticker at the bottom that reads "Remember to make a fish face while sippin'. Seems only right.". This was not the drink of the day. The drink served with the blowfish cup was the "Coral Crush", which was very good. The cost was $12.95. If you wanted it with another drink, you could get whatever you wanted in it, including a non-alcohol drink. Parents were buying them for kids with a non-alcoholic drink.

 

The Blowfish cups

 

On the fourth day of our cruise they had the Disco Ball cup. The disco ball also has a top and a bottom with the drink served in a plastic cup with a lit and a hole for the straw that fits into the bottom of the disco ball and a top that screws on, also with a hole at the top for the straw. After I got home and washed the cups out, I noticed a little string with a plug in the bottom below the plastic cup that had the drink. This is included so you can actually hang it at home. This was not the DOD. It came with a drink called the "Rum Punch Fever Disco Ball", which was also very good. The cost was $12.95. Again, you could get any drink you want in it. If you get the DOD, normally priced $7.75, it would still be $12.95. There is also a sticker on the bottom of this that says "Just holding it makes you feel groovy".

 

The Disco Ball cup

 

On the fifth day of our cruise they had the Funnel Cup. That also comes with a top and a bottom and the drink is served right inside the cup. There is no additional plastic cup inside. At the top is a hole for the straw and a slot so that it can also be used as a coin bank. This was not the DOD. It came with a drink called "Funnel Cup w/Cocktail" for $10.95. With this one, just like the others, you can get whatever drink you'd like in it.

 

The Funnel Cup

 

These cups were available after the day that they were served as long as they weren't sold out. We noticed that they still had all of them on the last two days of our cruise. They will be displayed at the bars on Lido Deck 9 around the pool.

 

If you just want the cup with no drink, you can buy it for a lower price. The prices that I mentioned above were for the cup with the drink. On the last evening of our cruise, a family wanted the Funnel cups for their two little girls. They only wanted the empty cup with no drink. We were right there when they bought them and I'm pretty sure they were only charged $5.00 for that cup ($10.00 for two).

 

Next up: The cordial shot glasses

[pghsteelerfan]

Last but not least, the cordial shot glasses. There are four different colors: clear (white), green, blue, and yellow and they all have "Carnival" on them. These are served in the dining room during dinner right before desert. They come around with a tray of the shot glasses, which are glass, and are served with a shot. On our first night they had the clear, or white, glass and the drink was the B52, which Bailey's Irish whiskey, Kahlua, and either Amaretto or Grand Marinier (they can be made either way and I forget which of the two was used) and these were VERY good. The cost was $8.50 and that included the shot glass and the drink. You get to keep the shot glass.

 

On the second night they had the green shot glass. I forget what the drink was that came with it. It was a dark pink color and was ok.

 

Our third night was our cruise elegant (formal) night in which we ate at the buffet. Since I wanted all the shot glasses that they offered, we went down to the dining room entrance and asked how we could get one and was told that they would probably have them on Lobby Deck 3 in the American Lobby bar. We went to the bar and were told they would have them all there in a few days but the bartender asked me which colors I had and I told her I had the clear (white) and green. She said the other two colors would be blue and yellow and asked if we could wait and she would go and check to see if she could find any. She came back a few minutes later, with both blue and yellow. She asked if I wanted both (that was a yes) then asked if I just wanted the shot glass or if I wanted shots in them. We just bought the glass and they were $4.75 each, without the shot. As a side note, I read before we left about Carnival's customer service and how it wasn't quite what it used to be. This was customer service at it's best and I really appreciated the efforts of the bartender there. She could have just "shooed" me away and told me to come back at the end of the week when they'd have all four colors available at the bar but she went out of her way to actually go and get them for me. So, my set was complete.

 

The cordial shot glasses

 

But...there was one more. This was served at dinner on the fifth night of our cruise, after our day in Barbados. On the Southern itinerary on Valor out of San Juan, both San Juan and Barbados are embark/disembark ports, so there was another Mega Deck party on Lido Deck 9 that night for those who just got on in Barbados. When the guy who brings the cordials around between dinner and desert came around, he forgot our table and just walked by before we could get his attention. These were clear, plastic shot glasses with "Carnival" on them that had little flashing lights on the inside. We figured we could go to the American Lobby bar later for one of those. We went up to check out the Mega Deck party on Lido Deck 9 and they had these shot glasses all over the bar, with the "flashers" turned on. I got the little shot glass without the shot and it was $5.00. There is a little button at the bottom of the shot glass to turn the flashing lights off. If you turn that on in a dark room, it is very bright. The flashing colors are blue, red, and yellow.

 

I caught it with the blue light in this picture

 

This is the end of my review and I hope those of you who are following find it helpful in some way. I know many of you who have commented have upcoming cruises on Valor and hope that all of you have as good of a time and enjoy these beautiful ports as much as we did. For anyone who may not have an upcoming cruise on Valor to the Southern Caribbean scheduled, I hope you enjoyed this and also hope that it's been helpful for anyone thinking about doing this itinerary.

[USTraveler17]

I will be doing this cruise in November and enjoyed your review. It was very informative. I wasn't sure which tour to go on in St. Lucia (Mystic Man vs. Spencer Ambrose) and you made up my mind to go with Spencer :). I checked out his website and did you know that you made his Photo Gallery? Pretty cool! :D

Also, it looks like I picked the best side to see the ports when we dock - we are balcony starboard.

[pghsteelerfan]

I will be doing this cruise in November and enjoyed your review. It was very informative. I wasn't sure which tour to go on in St. Lucia (Mystic Man vs. Spencer Ambrose) and you made up my mind to go with Spencer :). I checked out his website and did you know that you made his Photo Gallery? Pretty cool! :D

Also, it looks like I picked the best side to see the ports when we dock - we are balcony starboard.

 

Thank you so much and I'm glad that it was helpful for you. I "discovered" Cruise Critic by accident (just doing an internet search for ideas in Grand Turk) before our Glory cruise in 2010. I started reading reviews after taht cruise and that's how I found out about Spencer's Tours and also the company we used to spend the day in Pinel Island when in St. Maarten/St. Martin, and even Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas. You will have a wonderful time with Spencer and they were all definitely a fun group. I did know about the picture on their website. They actually asked me if they could use it. I originally wasn't going to do a review so I added feedback (all positive) on Spencer's site under "testimonials" and included a few pictures since other people were adding them. One of the gals who works for him with the website emailed me, told me she really liked the picture, and asked if I would mind if they used it on their website. They even offered to watermark it for me with my name, but I told them to just use their watermark. They didn't have to do that and I really appreciated the honesty in asking me first and I'm happy the could use it.

 

So glad you got starboard for those views. I added that to the review because I've seen it asked several times. The only time it didn't work out for us was coming back into San Juan that morning, but next time I'll know that ship gets in early.

[WECRUISE4US]

Super review and we have read many. Fantastic photo's. We will be going on the Valor in 3 weeks. 3rd time out of San Juan, all on different Carnival ships. We did this same itinerary last year on the Victory. Thanks again for such a thorough review. :):)

[marshalltp]

I know that you can't use the $50 Sugar Plantation Resort chairs at Jalhousie beach, but are you still on a nice area of beach? A couple of pics I saw people were crowded under the mangroves. Did you talk o anyone that did the mud baths and if so what was their opinon? Thanks in advance. Sorry about your Steelers....maybe the London fog will help them....

[pghsteelerfan]

Super review and we have read many. Fantastic photo's. We will be going on the Valor in 3 weeks. 3rd time out of San Juan, all on different Carnival ships. We did this same itinerary last year on the Victory. Thanks again for such a thorough review. :):)

 

Thank you. I took a lot of pictures this time to make up for the pictures I wasn't able to get the first time. LOL!!! I was just reading a recent Victory review and I wouldn't mind going on her someday. I know a lot of people weren't crazy about the decor, but it appears that the theme is Sea Life and I think I'd really like that.

 

This was our 2nd time out of San Juan to the southern Caribbean. The first was our honeymoon in 1992 on Festivale and the itinerary was very similar except that on Festivale we went to Dominica and Martinique instead of St. Lucia and St. Kitts. I didn't get many pictures from that cruise because it was in the days before digital cameras and I had to limit myself to one roll of film per day. I ended up buying an extra roll on the ship the last day (sea day) because we were passing so many islands and I wanted pictures of them.

[JohnTRN]

This yacht, named "Nirvana" was also in St. Maarten that day

 

Just for grins, Googled the 'Nirvana'. It's for sale . . .

 

Length: 290'

Beam: 47'

Draft: 13'

Year Built: 2012

Exterior Designer: Sam Sorgiovanni

Builder: Oceanco

Hull: Steel

Cabins: 6

Guests: 12

Max. Speed: 19.5 Knots

Cruising Speed: 16 Knots

Sales Price: (Approx $311,006,000USD *)

 

Ai, ai, ai!!!

 

John

[pghsteelerfan]

I know that you can't use the $50 Sugar Plantation Resort chairs at Jalhousie beach, but are you still on a nice area of beach? A couple of pics I saw people were crowded under the mangroves. Did you talk o anyone that did the mud baths and if so what was their opinon? Thanks in advance. Sorry about your Steelers....maybe the London fog will help them....

 

I love that little bug in your signature!!! I almost swatted the computer thinking it was a knat (we get those in the house from the houseplants).

 

I knew those chairs were expensive but wasn't exactly sure how much...$50...wow! They told us that if we wanted to pay, we could use them. I'm not sure though. I've read different things here too some say you can if you pay, others have said you can't. It might depend on whether the resort is booked full or not.

 

The area under the trees were we were did get a little crowded in the afternoon, but our group (Spencer's Jalousie Beach Break) is the first group there in the morning so we had first picks. There are about 30 loungers there (not the fancy kind, regular ones) for us to use. It really didn't start getting crowded until most of the other groups started arriving around lunch time or later. The loungers are all under the trees (shade) but we could pull them into the sun if you wanted the sun. We were told we weren't restricted to that side. We also had the option to go to the other side of the beach and put our towels in the sand. No, we didn't talk to anyone who did the mud bath, so I'm not able to give you an opinion either way.

 

The Steelers...what a season! LOL!!! Those poor people in London, the NFL game they have this year is two teams that are 0-3. On a football pool, I picked the Vikings. :) We live in Washington Redskin territory now and they have the same record, so it could be worse. At least the Pirates made the playoffs this year. Never would have imagined. :)