K&B's Excellent Adventure to the S Caribbean on the Valor (Sept 19-30) *pic heavy*

[jdelta]

Thanks for the awesome review Katie.... a great light-hearted read.

 

Could I ask you a question, what was directly across from room 6212?

We're book in 6210 and trying to figure out what the big empty "white-space" is on all the deck plans we've seen. Storage space???

 

Many thanks and KEEP CRUISIN' :)

 

Joe

Halifax, NS

[txmom11]

Thanks for the great review. We sail in 91 days, not that I'm counting. :rolleyes:

[tlw440]

Great review and great photos, thanks.

[NS-Cruiser]

Thanks for the awesome review Katie.... a great light-hearted read.

 

 

 

Could I ask you a question, what was directly across from room 6212?

 

We're book in 6210 and trying to figure out what the big empty "white-space" is on all the deck plans we've seen. Storage space???

 

 

 

Many thanks and KEEP CRUISIN' :)

 

 

 

Joe

 

Halifax, NS

 

 

Those big white "empty" spaces could be anything from storage to guest laundry rooms, or even crew cabins. There is no real way to know.

 

When are you sailing on the Valor? I see you are from Halifax, We are from the Annapolis Valley, and are Sailing on March 30, 2014.

 

 

 

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[lostdart1]

To the OP:

 

You cannot go on your next cruise until you finish this revue!!

[Arizonagirl14]

Day 4/Sunday, Sept 22nd (continued)

 



 



 



 



 

We took a few more pics and then we booked it back to the hotel. One would think that going back (mostly down hill) would be fairly easy…but it was just about noon (aka hot as heck) and we had to really haul tail. Well this “fluffy” girl was dying by the time we got back to our room. Beet red..sweaty disaster…holy moly let me die now. I had to lay down on the bed for a few minutes with a cool towel and a bottle of water to catch my breath and cool down for a few minutes. Whew – that was rough! So we ended up checking out of the hotel room about 10 minutes late but thankfully they didn’t charge us anything. I didn’t expect them to but I didn’t want to take any chances and be very much later! On our way down to the lobby we ran into one of the bell hops? in the elevator so he took our bags from us while we checked out and he went and got us a taxi – nice! Overall – final notes on the hotel – the hotel was very nice and everyone was extremely helpful. The free bottled water was a tremendous perk to us – saved us some $$ and encouraged us to stay hydrated (yes I know we paid for it in our hotel rate but it was still nice). The facility was beautiful – our room was a little on the small side but we expected that. I’d definitely stay there again.

 

I’m going to stop here for now so that I can respond to everyone's comments and write up the next segment (pics are done though)..up next…. boarding the ship!!!

 

Beautiful pics. What camera did you use? We will be in the Valor December 28; we can not wait! Thanks for the wonderful narrative and beautiful pics!,

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and all your wonderful photo's, thanks for posting them.

[gracie65]

I got all excited when I saw a post to this thread. Was hoping it was the OP coming back to finish. I hope everything is ok.

 

 

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[Arizonagirl14]

I got all excited when I saw a post to this thread. Was hoping it was the OP coming back to finish. I hope everything is ok.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sorry---I just found this blog. Hopefully she will be back soon; the

Pics are beautiful and I want to see more!

[ktinnc]

Hey y'all....I'm planning to finish it on my personal Blog and then post here with a link when its done...sorry I'm probably the slowest reviewer ever lol. I did warn u at the beginning though lol. I did get our day in Barbados posted and it was incredible if u want to peek (posting in both spots was just too much) http://www.Katiemathews.com/family

 

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[Arizonagirl14]

Thank you! I just dis covered your review yesterday and was hooked! Your photographs are beautiful!!!! We will be on board the Valor December 28 and can not wait. Again, thanks.

[ktinnc]

Thank you! I just dis covered your review yesterday and was hooked! Your photographs are beautiful!!!! We will be on board the Valor December 28 and can not wait. Again, thanks.

 

I'm so glad!! Sorry it's not done yet - hopefully by the time you leave it will be..haha!

[Arizonagirl14]

Me too!! I do love the

Pics. What type of cameras do you use. I am sure you answered this but I could not locate. Thanks in advance!!

[tawaik]

Thank you so much for this review. Looking forward to reading the rest.

[JennN]

I too am sucked in - even though I've done this cruise before!! Haha! Barbados was our favorite excursion too...wonder if we went on the same one.

 

Looking forward to finding out!

[ktinnc]

Well...now that I"m working on (and it looks like I'll finish) my recent review on the Breeze (and I've only been back a week) it's making me want to finish up our Valor review! :)

[pbmsmile]

Thanks for a great review!!

[Capitan Morgan]

Part 4/Sunday, Sept 22, 2013 (continued)

So remember how at the verrrrrry beginning of my review/trip report I said it may take days, weeks, maybe even months to finish this thing…yup….I was right. Yes, I left y’all hanging for almost an entire month since my last post. As expected, I’ve been insanely busy with work (15-18 hour days) and then my sis had a baby! We’re an extremely close family so that meant I stayed at the hospital with her…helped out with the big kids the next night etc. So yes she birthed the baby but we all helped out once she arrived! Ok…sooo….on with the review. Today we will finally make it on the ship!!

Let’s see…where did I leave off? Oh yes….we had just checked out of our amazing hotel…the Hotel El Convento…. I was sad to leave but super excited to be heading to the ship! Bye hotel!







One of the hotel staff grabbed a taxi for us and had our bags loaded up in it by the time we got outside (from checking out of the hotel). We had a young, chatty, friendly driver. The cost was $12 plus $1 per bag. It was a pretty short ride (maybe a mile or mile and a half) but it was worth every penny especially in that heat and with all of our luggage.



We left the hotel around 12:15pm and were onboard the ship by 12:35pm! Check in was super easy. We didn’t wait in any lines…just dropped off our luggage with the porters when we got out of the taxi (they were there waiting), took a couple pics of the ship, walked into the terminal, went upstairs, got checked in, went through security, stopped for a couple minutes to peek at the duty free shops (said we’d come back down and get some water later but we never did), and before we knew it we were boarding the Carnival Valor!

This is the biggest ship we had ever been on so I was extremely excited! Past ships (can’t remember if I said already) were the Carnival Ectasy for me (with my family when I was in college), the Carnival Fascination (for hubby and I – our honeymoon), a ship/cruise on Royal Caribbean (a girls trip) and most recently the Carnival Fantasy out of Charleston with my in-laws and our son.

 



 



 



Boarding!! Eeeek…just looking at this picture I can remember how excited I/we were!

 











We boarded on Deck 3 where the main atrium/lobby is…. there was a lot going on…music, staff, people everywhere… we had to stop for a minute and think where to go first. Then we heard somebody say the cabins were ready – sweeet! So we grabbed an elevator and headed for Deck 6 where our cabin was located allllllllllllll the way forward. Cabin 6212. There was only 1 cabin closer to the front than us if that tells ya anything.

 

Hey beautiful! ...came across your review and I must say, I wish I had your skills doing all those beautiful pics you did! You are able to pick the right moments and angles and light and and and! Maybe a tip (just a little one) to teach us how to do it, especially now that in 49 days I will be boarding (with my hubby) the same ship and itinerary you did (Yeah!!!)

By the way I like your sense of humor and vitality doing this review and ...hey I never got a closed up with Mrs Liberty..and I have been living in the NY area for the past 28 years lol!

A last observation ( for now) is about vacationing in a cruise ship: I did land vacation as well cruising...but I'll tell you ( and I know you agree and understand) the feeling of excitement when boarding a cruise ship have not comparison to those of doing a land vacation...it is something of mystery ....magical mystery that possess us...which is soooooo coooool! :)

Edited July 14, 2014 by Capitan Morgan

[babsee101]

Well...now that I"m working on (and it looks like I'll finish) my recent review on the Breeze (and I've only been back a week) it's making me want to finish up our Valor review! :)

 

Yay! I am loving your review! Can't wait for the rest! :)

[tomsuelaw]

Thanks Katie and keep it coming! I am enjoying 2 KT reviews at once now. Sorry to hear you were sick on this Valor cruise :(. You and your DH seem like a great couple!

 

I look fwd to the rest of this review, we are hoping to do this Valor cruise in Jan 2016. Only 18 months to go, Lord willing!!

 

Thanks,

Susan

[Texasgalsa]

Katie, your pictures and review are AMAZING! Can't wait to see the rest... Especially St. Lucia! What kind of camera are you using by the way? Is a different one in the water?