REVIEW: Carnival Valor to Southern Caribbean Oct 6-13, 2013 OUR FIRST CRUISE!

[pbmsmile]

I am sitting home from work after surgery and really enjoyed the review! Thanks for using the giant font..I did not even have to use my reading glasses!! ;)

[Sweetsgirl]

What a Great Review:)!!! I will be on the Valor Oct. 19. I'm glad you mentioned Fatty's. I will try to locate it when we are in San Juan. My bf and I both love jerk chicken and this seems like a perfect spot for us and I will definitely check out the Coach Outlet store. I looove my coach purses:p and your purse looked very nice.

[pghsteelerfan]

We noticed that too and couldn't believe we were already passing St. Thomas when we went out on the balcony around midnight. We checked the TV channel and sure enough, Valor was just south of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and we could not believe we were already that far. Apparently that was the roughest night for us too, but I had already fallen asleep. DH told me that ship was a rockin' and we heard the same from others the next morning. I was up at 5:30AM the morning we were scheduled to arrive in San Juan hoping to get up to deck 10 for pictures passing the fort as we came back in, but we already made the turn in toward the dock and were docked shortly after 5:30AM. My guess it has something to do with port arrival time but I'm not sure on that. Still loving your review and pictures. From your helicopter ride pictures (great pics, btw) I could see the room we stayed in at the Courtyard.

 

WHen I was on the Valor last summer around dinner time, you could hear several cell phones chime all at once. As we got close to Puerto Rico it must have hit a US Cell tower.

 

That being said our roughest sea time was St Thomas > Barbados, the Captain took a western route, and floored it to avoid a tropical storm. I know they were considering toning down the dancing in that night's show.

 

LVDFW, I only know this from our cruise in Carnival Glory in May 2010, but San Juan is only about two hours (by cruise ship) from St. Thomas. We were supposed to arrive in St. Thomas at 9AM but due to a medevac very early in the morning prior, we were delayed two hours, so we docked in St. Thomas at 11AM. Our balcony was starboard and we were passing San Juan at 9AM. I'm pretty sure it was San Juan since we saw all of the tall buildings in the distance. I was shocked when we were out on our balcony on our Valor cruise last year and were passing St. Thomas already. We were in our cabin at that time, so I didn't hear the cell phones chiming. We're still dinosaurs and have one of the OLD ones and didn't bother to take it with us. LOL!!! How did you enjoy your Valor cruise and how was your weather? Only nasty day we had was in St. Kitts. It was nice in St. Thomas till about 1PM where we were (Sapphire Beach) then it rained once we were back in town (about 2:30PM). Talked to people who went to Magen's Bay and they had rain the whole time.

 

Valentinebaby1, so glad to see your review again. I'm going to sit back and read it again. This winter has been FREEZING and I need a "cruise fix". I was hoping we'd be able to cruise again this year, but that's not going to happen for us either. I hope you guys get to cruise again soon. Stay warm! :)

[shark&minnow]

Thank you!! I love these detailed photo reviews, they are so helpful for planing!

[seannyice81]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my review. Due to lack of sleep from food poisoning in San Juan, the night before I cruised I was on Marine Traffic. I watched Valor's progress from St. Maarten. It was going 18+ knots almost the whole time. This was verified the following week when I was on Valor, heading back. That portion was the most rough for me as well. Being in a cabin towards the bow, you could feel there was more "chop" than there had been earlier on the cruise.

Edited February 2, 2014 by seannyice81

[valentinebaby1]

What a fantastic review! The GF and I will be leaving on the Valor a week from today!

 

After reading your review of Bernard's Tours, we've become real interested in it. On the website it says that the tour lasts until 2pm, but you had stated that you didn't get back to ship until much later than that. Was their any concern about not making the ship?

 

Thanks much!

 

 

We had no concern at all about not making it back to the ship. Our group might as well have been a private tour, because basically all of us knew each other, and once we got to Maho Beach, we basically begged to stay a little longer than scheduled. The guys wanted to ride the fence and none of the big planes were leaving during our scheduled time there. Mailman agreed to stay there a bit longer, but we were in no rush on the way back. They know their island and the traffic, and it isn't that far from Maho Beach to the cruise port. We still had time to stop at a viewing point for pictures of Phillipsburg Bay and the ship, and got back to the port and still had time to pick up some Guavaberry Rum before boarding. Mailman made sure that we were all ok with staying at Maho longer than usual.

[valentinebaby1]

Our 22 yr old daughter has aspergers. I remember the jr high years. Kids were so mean to her. It got much better in High School.

 

Kids were worse in middle school, but I think his Freshman year was the roughest as far as bullying goes. But this year hasn't been as bad for him as far as other kids, but it's been work as far as his school work goes!

[valentinebaby1]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my review. Due to lack of sleep from food poisoning in San Juan, the night before I cruised I was on Marine Traffic. I watched Valor's progress from St. Maarten. It was going 18+ knots almost the whole time. This was verified the following week when I was on Valor, heading back. That portion was the most rough for me as well. Being in a cabin towards the bow, you could feel there was more "chop" than there had been earlier on the cruise.

 

So it seems to be the consensus that that last leg of the cruise is rougher because of the speed...I though it was strange that I didn't really feel the motion much until the end of the cruise, glad to know it wasn't just me!

[LadyDAC]

LOVED your awesome review. We were on the Valor in July for our 30th anniversary. It was our second (of 3) cruise and by far our favorite. I knew I wanted to do the Valor again and reading your review makes me more determined. Unfortunately my husband is a teacher so our vacation time is limited to summer, spring break, and Christmas - all higher priced cruising times :( so we too are pinching pennies to get there again - maybe 2015! Your pictures were also fantastic! Glad you had such a great time on your delayed honeymoon and are now hooked on cruising.

[familyfuncruise]

Awesome review! Thanks for posting

[elbaseball212]

great review. 16 days for me!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Such a wonderful review with beautiful photos! I loved reading about your adventure! We did a similar cruise on the Victory in 2011, and your report brought back such great memories for me!

[trini princess]

I concur. Thus is a wonderful review.

 

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[mouche]

What a great review, thank you for sharing the beautiful pics too!!!:)

Edited November 4, 2014 by mouche

[valentinebaby1]

Thanks everyone for reading! Funny thing happened the other day...found myself on the Carnival website, and with the half off deposit sale and free upgrades going on just before Halloween, we BOOKED this same cruise again! Of course it will be on the Liberty instead of the Valor so we're looking forward to Guy's burgers :) We even booked the same room number! We're planning on staying in Puerto Rico a full week, just split before and after the cruise depending on what we find for airfare. My sister and her husband are going to try to join us for this one too, which would be awesome! The bad part...we're not going until Sept 20, 2015 so we have another looooonnnnng wait ahead of us!

[Andoria]

Just read this review and what a treat. I'm exhausted reading how much you packed in considering I'm a sit on my butt with a cocktail kind of gal.

[valentinebaby1]

Just read this review and what a treat. I'm exhausted reading how much you packed in considering I'm a sit on my butt with a cocktail kind of gal.

 

I'm hoping we can narrow down the luggage this time!

[Andoria]

I'm hoping we can narrow down the luggage this time!

 

I read on here that someone just packed bathing suits and sun dresses and thought that was a great idea. No need to figure out matching items and a lot less to pack.

[valentinebaby1]

Just read this review and what a treat. I'm exhausted reading how much you packed in considering I'm a sit on my butt with a cocktail kind of gal.

 

I just realized you said how much we packed IN...not packed! Lol...but both apply to our last cruise :p So hopefully the next one will give us a little more downtime/beach time and a little less luggage!

[Cruisertommyboy]

Thanks everyone for reading! Funny thing happened the other day...found myself on the Carnival website, and with the half off deposit sale and free upgrades going on just before Halloween, we BOOKED this same cruise again! Of course it will be on the Liberty instead of the Valor so we're looking forward to Guy's burgers :) We even booked the same room number! We're planning on staying in Puerto Rico a full week, just split before and after the cruise depending on what we find for airfare. My sister and her husband are going to try to join us for this one too, which would be awesome! The bad part...we're not going until Sept 20, 2015 so we have another looooonnnnng wait ahead of us!

 

Darn we missed you by 2 weeks. My wife and I are going on Aug 30. Since we have so long to wait, I have been soaking up as much information about this itinerary and your review hit the spot. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort that goes into one of these reviews

Tom

[twocruiseguys]

Wow! More than a year since your first cruise and this review, and the responses are still going strong. Is it any wonder this is one of Carnival's most popular itinerary?

 

Look at our history below, and you will see that we first sailed out of San Juan on RCCL in Oct 2008 on a similar itinerary, and then again on the Valor in Sept 2013. On that first cruise, we flew in 2 days early to try to take in as much of PR as we could. As you know by now, 2 days is not enough.

 

What you don't see in that list is our trip in the fall of 2012. We loved PR so much that we spent an entire week there. No cruise :eek:, just explored as much of the island as we could, including the island of Culebra. 1 year later, when we cruised on the Valor, we stayed an additional 3 days after the cruise to take in some of the sights that we still had not seen or done. You could say we are addicted to PR.

 

Your tours and adventures mirrored ours almost to the letter. I could say that we have many of the very same pictures from our tours with Cosol, Thenford Grey, Bernard's. Even recognized some faces. It brought back so many good memories.

 

As you said, when you step off that ship and swipe your S&S card for the last time, you get this sinking feeling telling you that it's over. But of course it doesn't have to be. Best cure for PCD (post cruise depression) is to book the next cruise right away.

I'm sure we will repeat this cruise at some point.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[NOSaints1]

We fly out Saturday for our Valor Cruise!!!

 

 

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[beachesanywhere]

I loved this review so much I wanted to thank you for all he time you put into this.

I have booked Bernards tours in St Maarten for our upcoming cruise and cant wait.

I really hope you get to cruise again soon :D

[valentinebaby1]

Wow! More than a year since your first cruise and this review, and the responses are still going strong. Is it any wonder this is one of Carnival's most popular itinerary?

 

Look at our history below, and you will see that we first sailed out of San Juan on RCCL in Oct 2008 on a similar itinerary, and then again on the Valor in Sept 2013. On that first cruise, we flew in 2 days early to try to take in as much of PR as we could. As you know by now, 2 days is not enough.

 

What you don't see in that list is our trip in the fall of 2012. We loved PR so much that we spent an entire week there. No cruise :eek:, just explored as much of the island as we could, including the island of Culebra. 1 year later, when we cruised on the Valor, we stayed an additional 3 days after the cruise to take in some of the sights that we still had not seen or done. You could say we are addicted to PR.

 

Your tours and adventures mirrored ours almost to the letter. I could say that we have many of the very same pictures from our tours with Cosol, Thenford Grey, Bernard's. Even recognized some faces. It brought back so many good memories.

 

As you said, when you step off that ship and swipe your S&S card for the last time, you get this sinking feeling telling you that it's over. But of course it doesn't have to be. Best cure for PCD (post cruise depression) is to book the next cruise right away.

I'm sure we will repeat this cruise at some point.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

Thanks so much for reading! Now I'm back to reading reviews again :) This time I'm reading up on the Liberty. It'll be interesting to see how this cruise will be different with a different ship. Only 318 more days!

[valentinebaby1]

We fly out Saturday for our Valor Cruise!!!

 

 

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Have an amazing trip! I can officially say I'm not jealous since we'll be doing this again next year, but I will miss the Valor on our next adventure. I hear plenty of good things about Liberty though!

Edited November 6, 2014 by valentinebaby1