Valor Vacation Review Dec 1-8 (+2 days in Old San Juan) PHOTOS!

[seannyice81]

I am enjoying your review & awesome photos very much!

What a kind, considerate son you are...your mom must be so proud of you :D

 

Thank you, very much :)

[hockeyluver]

I need more!! We are having a snowstorm right now.....brrrrrr. Your pictures are warming me up!

[seannyice81]

I need more!! We are having a snowstorm right now.....brrrrrr. Your pictures are warming me up!

 

Ask, and ye shall recieve!

 

CRUISE DAY 7 - ST. MAARTEN

 

Not a lot of photos taken in St. Maarten, unfortunately.

 

Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat. Just great. Along with the sore throat, I started feeling a little under the weather once I got moving around. I looked outside and it was a little dreary. approaching St. Maarten. My mom called my cabin and asked if I was up for breakfast. I told her I felt like I had come down with a cold. She got off the phone to see if she packed Day Quil while I took a shower. I had some Mucinex-D, but it wasn't going to help me much at this stage. When I got out, we went to breakfast and she told me she didn't have any. Bummer. Thankfully though Carnival has a tea assortment and there was also honey available to have with breakfast. I mixed up some citrus spice tea with honey and it helped a tiny bit, for just a little while. I also took a couple Tylenol and went back to the cabin to grab somethings and get ready to make port.

 

Making port. Already docked were 2 tall ships and 2 smaller luxury cruise ships.

 

We made port at exactly 8. The P&O Azura, right behind us. It was cool to see this ship again, because I had seen it before on my first cruise. After watching it, we went downstairs and were among the first off the ship. At that point it was mostly cloudy with occasional bursts of sun, which felt great. Despite not feeling well, the morning sun felt great every time it emerged from the clouds. Looking at the horizon though, it looked as though I shouldn't get too used to it. While the sun was out, we took a couple photos in the duty free area of the port, then continued on to get a taxi. Where to? MAHO BEACH, OF COURSE! It was on my bucket list to be at SXM (Princess Juliana Airport) while the planes came within feet overhead, and blew people away on take-off. I had full intention of riding the fence behind the take-off jet blast, even though I wasn't feeling too well. We grabbed a taxi and were on our way, making one stop for photos.

 

Photo stop. Overlooking Simpson Bay with the airport in the distance. Don't let the sky deceive you, rain was approaching.

 

It took roughly 20 mins to make it over to Maho Beach from port. The closer we go to the airport, the more cloudy the sky became. We had the driver drop us off at the Sunset Beach Bar where they have the surfboard with flight info written on it. Some people already had setup cameras and were hanging out on the beach. We decided to stop into the bar to have some more breakfast and just relax for a while as flights came in. There was one American 757 about to leave in a while so we just hung out and waited. Some smaller private and island hopper express planes had started to come in. I thought about how awesome it must be when larger commercial jets arrived. The whole time we were at the bar there was music playing (not too loud, it was still morning). The bar also had the speakers hooked up to the airport's frequency, so we'd know when planes were getting ready to land and/or leave. Cool. It was a little hard to understand it sometimes, but I occasionally recognized some of the "lingo." About 30 mins after breakfast, I could hear the high pitch sound of jet engines. The American 757 was taxiing for take-off. YES! I ran over to the beach and found a good spot. It was still very wet and the runway appeared to be pretty wet as well. Taking into consideration how I was feeling, I decided against standing directly behind the departing plane. I'd rather not get soaked while I have a cold. This was a wise decision as the plane started its take-off roll and blew quite a lot of water in the jet blast. I would have been drenched! Some of the people on the beach were blown by the blast, but not as much as a 747 or larger plane. It was a cool experience. I returned to join my mom at the bar. She mentioned that a passenger jet was on approach and would arrive in the next 20 or so minutes. Okay. We waited and sure enough we saw landing lights on the horizon. Cool! Looking back the other direction, it looked like it was raining. Crap! Screw it! I'm going to stand under this landing plane, rain or shine. I made my way back over to the runway and stood right where I thought the center of the jet would pass over me. The plane got closer and closer "wow! thats low" and closer. SHHHHHRRREEAAAAAAKKK... The plane flew overhead... "AWESOME!!!" It was only a 737, but it was cool to experience.

 

This photo does no justice. It was much lower! and LOUD!

 

Literally the second after the plane landed, the skies opened up and it began raining. I was also starting to feel worse. I really wanted to take some medicine. We headed back to the bar. I bought a t-shirt and magnet. I looked at the arrivals on the surf board and most were in the afternoon with the next one being over an hour away. "Dang it." I decided it was probably best to grab a cab, pit-stop at a pharmacy, and head back to Philipsburg for a while. Fortunately cabbies were already there from having dropped people off at the bars and hotels in the area so I didn't have to go far. When we started making our way back in the taxi it began to POUR. I stopped inside a pharmacy and bought some Day/Night Quil and we headed back to Philipsburg. Once we started getting back into town, I felt more and more like I just wanted to lay back down. It was still pouring when the taxi dropped us off outside the duty free shops. People were huddled under awnings at shops. I had brought an umbrella and Mom brought her poncho. We walked to a couple stores, then I made my way to the ship. I got back on board and decided to nap for a while. While trying to fall asleep, I noticed that the ships (including Valor) were rocking quite a bit although they were tied into port. Every once and a while the ship would use the thrusters to stabilize the ship so people could get off/on. This was causing the ship opposite of us (Wind Surf) to sway side to side. Interesting situation. I did manage to fall asleep for a little while. I got back up, and stopped in one of the shops for souvenir hunting. Many of the same shops had the same crap again. Dang. I then considered my t-shirt and magnet from the Sunset Beach Bar my souvenir and came back on board again.

 

The rain let up intermittantly, but never completely. Everyone started making their way back on board. I made my way down to the exterior promenade, under the lifeboats for sail away. We had a couple of pier runners everyone cheered for, including those on the P&O ship. Once they were aboard, we pulled our mooring lines and started backing out of St. Maarten. Everyone on the P&O Azura was whistling and everyone on the Valor was cheering. It was a truely awesome sail away, complete with horns blowing back and forth. Seeing the island gain distance, I felt sad that I didn't do more while there, but the weather and my health were just not cooperating enough for me to have had a good time.

 

Mom and I made our way back to Rosie's for dinner and talked about the trip. After dinner she made one last round of the shops and I the promenade on deck 5. Afterwards we headed back to pack. We filled out customs forms and put our suitcases out for collection. I crashed at about 9.

Edited December 14, 2013 by seannyice81

[girlscruise2011]

I'm sorry, but I can't remember the name of the ATV tour company. I feel safe saying that the company that ran our tour in St. Kitts was local to that island. I very much doubt affiliation with the one you had in Roatan, other than the Carnival endorsement.

 

I wouldn't say the tour was a disappointment, but I felt we could have done a lot more. We mostly looked at landscapes (which we did enjoy) and were given history/culture lessons along the way. It lasted almost 3 hours. This is the port where you have the most time off shore so the ATV adventure could have been longer, taking us to Romney Manor, beaches, a full lunch, etc... The price would have been more expensive, though I would have gladly paid it.

 

The ONLY reason we didn't go independent was because Mom knew the Carnival excursion used automatic ATVs. We couldn't get a straight answer from the independent companies and Mom is terrified of using a clutch on anything motorized.

 

Thanks for the info. I think it may be the same outfit used by all since I can only find one ATV vendor on the island. I'll pass your info onto my group to see if they still want to do the tour. Its something different to do and St. Kitts really doesn't really have much more that interest us. We're not island tour type people

[seannyice81]

Thanks for the info. I think it may be the same outfit used by all since I can only find one ATV vendor on the island. I'll pass your info onto my group to see if they still want to do the tour. Its something different to do and St. Kitts really doesn't really have much more that interest us. We're not island tour type people

 

Welcome.

 

If it is indeed the same company, then you get to enjoy the use of newer, automatic ATVs. I also suspect they'd have a longer/more thorough tour than the Carnival one did. Have fun :)

Edited December 14, 2013 by seannyice81

[seannyice81]

DISEMBARKATION/FLIGHT DAY 8

 

I hate the word disembarkation. It gives a sense of rejection or being turned away. It should be "check-out day" or something like that. Perhaps "get the heck off the boat day" for some.

 

I woke up just as the ship was coming into the bay to make port in San Juan. You could feel the difference as we left the rough sea for the smooth water of the bay. I laid there and tried to fall asleep for a little while longer, but couldn't because of symptoms from the cold. After just laying around, I got up showered and went over everything over and over again to make sure I was good to go. I then got a phone call from mom. "Snow storms back home. I called JetBlue and had them redo our flights so we could get in earlier." "Thanks Mom, you're awesome." Because I wasn't feeling well, it was actually quite a relief to be leaving earlier. Our new flight left right after noon, where before it left around 6. Being sick, floating in San Juan for that much time would not really have been fun. We gathered our carry-ons and had breakfast in Rosie's one last time before heading to the meeting point for zone 1.

 

This was the first time I had noticed areas where zones were to meet at certain times. Our FTTF got us zone 1 disembarkation. Zone 1 was instructed to meet in the Betsy Ross room at 7:45. There were probably about 15 of us in there. Everyone was checking their phones. 7:45 passed and a crew member popped in to say there was a slight delay in getting off the ship. Okay, no biggie as long as its not too long. Just before 8, he came back in and said "okay, you can leave." We took elevators down to deck 0 (where you disembark in San Juan if you're a US citizen) and stepped off the ship for the last time. We walked into the back section of the terminal and found the luggage actually pretty organized. I was surprised. Miami has a mess with the carousels, but San Juan had them all lined up by zone. We grabbed our luggage and breezed through customs since we didn't have booze, food, or lots of expensive jewelry (or insects, animals, seeded plants etc..). It was the fastest I've ever been through customs, of all my trips. We made our way to the cabbies outside and had one take us to the airport. I looked back at the Valor as we pulled away.

 

We arrived at San Juan International Airport with about 2.5 hours to kill. Not feeling well I tried to take it easy, but found myself getting restless. I walked around a few times, ate some airport food (pizza) and watched the runways from the big windows. Our first connecting flight to Orlando showed up a little late and we were a little behind leaving. There were a lot of people on this flight that needed assistance. There were also some very attractive stewardesses too. I paid attention to every bit of the pre-flight instructions without following in my manual. We took off heading east but made a u-turn almost immediately giving me one last view of the Valor and San Juan as we headed northwest. Being sick, it was hard getting my ears to pop as we climbed. I bought a pillow from JetBlue and tried to fall asleep. Even with the extra leg room, I just wasn't feeling well enough to pass-out at the time. This was a good thing though as about halfway into the flight we started flying over islands. How cool! Look at how beautiful they look from 37,000 feet!

 

The first island we flew over was Grand Turk. Its very hard to make out, but there was a Holland America ship approaching to make port. I looked it up later, but forgot which one it was.

 

We continued on and flew over a ton of the Bahamas. Nassau was seen from the other side of the plane. We eventually approached Florida and were close enough to Miami that I could make out the ships. Being Sunday, I saw the Glory and other ships I assumed were the Victory and Breeze. There was also a Disney ship. We then turned north and shortly after began our approach into Orlando, landing early, but taxiing for what seemed like forever. We got off the plane and got situated for our 2 hour layover between flights. I still felt like poo, I grabbed some coffee and watched the planes land/take off.

 

Things started getting a little hairy about 45 mins before our flight from Orlando back to DC. I noticed JetBlue was delaying flights heading into New York, Philly, and Pittsburgh. It wasn't a good sign. Our plane arrived about half an hour late and we took forever to board. After boarding there was a lot of quiet talking between the gate agent and stewards (all dudes on this plane). We talked amongst ourselves. A gentleman behind me said his buddy texted and said they're DC bound flight got cancelled in Atlanta. His nieghboring passenger said "Don't jinx us!" Next thing you know... the captain comes out and announces DC has closed off flights in and out of the airport due to weather. DAMN! He said we were going to wait on the plane (still attached via jetway) for 45 mins, for the next decision on weather. I had a bad feeling we were going to be cancelled. The stewards passed out free ear buds to those who wanted them and restarted the entertainment screens. 30 minutes later the captain came back out and said, "we're going to have you get back off the plane and wait in the terminal for word." Okay, still better than a cancellation. We got back off the plane. Mom took a seat, and I walked the terminal a little more. I was a little nervous about getting home and felt the need to be up and moving. Mom said she would wait and call me if something came up. Off I went for a little while. After about 20 mins, I came back so Mom could go grab some dinner. As soon as she stood up, the gate agent made an announcement to reboard. Sweet!!! LETS GO!!! Mom and me got right back on. Everyone got on quickly. You could tell everyone on the plane wanted get to DC despite the crappy weather. The captain told us it would take him a couple mins to redo the flight plan and then we were off! Goodbye Orlando!

 

After about 1.5 hours, we started making our descent into DC. You could tell it was snowing as when the plane's lights flashed there were little specs that you assumed were snow or sleet. I couldn't see the ground from my window until we were right about to land. Right before touching the runway, I noticed slush everywhere, including the runway. When we touched down, it felt like we slammed on the brakes! I like flying quite a bit but I swear I clenched this landing. We braked so hard the inflatable life vest flew out from under my seat. Geeze! that was some landing. At least we were on the ground though. Boy did the airport look messy. Planes waiting everywhere, de-icing trucks, patches of thick slush. You could feel the planes brakes shudder when we pulled into the gate. Speaking of the gate, once off the plane it looked like a sold-out concert inside the terminal. Only all these people were not happy. Probably because of delayed/cancelled flights.

 

After getting off the plane we went to the rather crappy luggage carousel, waited an eternity for my luggage, and then made our way to get a cab. The line for a cab was from the curb, all the way into the terminal. The roads had caused delays with them. It took less time than we thought though and we were off to our house. After an interesting cab ride with an "interesting" cabbie, we finally made it to my Mom's house. We got our stuff in. I had some Cambell's chicken noodle soup, and crashed... What a day.

Edited December 15, 2013 by seannyice81

[seannyice81]

POST CRUISE WRAP-UP

 

I hope you enjoyed reading my review of the trip. I enjoyed sharing it with you and hope its been helpful in some way or another. If not, at least a good read (despite my occasional spelling/grammar errors, haha).

 

A few things I thought would be interesting worth pointing out.

 

-The Valor was in overall good shape. I can't remember (and don't feel like looking up) the dry dock schedule. On our Behind the Fun tour, they mentioned Valor dry-docking next year. I can say that the ship will be ready for it.

 

-This trip I had noticed some cleanliness issues. First off, lots of cups, bowls, plates left in odd places. (I already don't like how people are supposed to leave trays in hallways. Its sloppy. Sorry, just my opinion.), but these items were left in elevators, on handrails, on statuettes. etc... Somebodies breakfast was sitting on a photo counter when I embarked the ship. It didn't happen too much, but was more noticable than my other Carnival cruises.

 

The other thing I noticed was nobody seemed to be using the hand sanitizers before eating. Perhaps they had washed their hands or used sanitizer already. A good amount of people seemed unwell like me around the end of the cruise. Not that hand sanitizers would have stopped it, but I think some people might take a break from hygiene when they vacation.

 

-This cruise had the best itinerary of any of the cruises I've taken. If you're considering it. DO IT.

 

-The future cruise desk never seemed to be open or staffed. You may have to go to guest services to book a future cruise if they keep it that way (dunno-:shrug: ).

 

-Lots of bilingual activities. Obviously sailing out of San Juan, there will be a lot of bilingual things to do this cruise. Sometimes the language differences can make things take a while (muster). Sometimes it can be a lot of fun (deck parties, night club with different genres in different languages).

 

-No assigned dining room seating the first night. All tables open in both dining rooms

 

-Long wait at the mid ship lido bars? Head to the bar near the aft pool. Hardly anyone there. No wait time!

 

-It seemed like the Serenity area wasn't as popular this cruise compared to previous ones.

 

-The night club was popular this cruise. Not sure how people did it with all the early morning arrivals in ports! haha

 

-The ship has a late (10pm) departure, but come in a day early or stay a day after to experience Old San Juan.

 

-This was the first Carnival cruise I've been on where they had all the souvenir cups out for sale.

 

What I got (aka my swag)

Carnival:

-Behind the Fun beach bag

-Behind the Fun arm band

-Behind the Fun cap (I don't wear hats. Up for grabs if you want it. Just pay shipping! -PM me)

-Behind the Fun Lanyard

-Blue beach towel (new style)

-Funnel cup

-Disco Ball cup

-Blowfish cup (2 for my friend's daughters, 1 for me)

-Bluefish cup (2 for my friend's daughters)

-Ship magnet

-Groove for St. Jude t-shirt

-Groove for St. Jude arm band

 

From de islands.... boyeeee:

-Magnets from each port

-St John t-shirt

-4 beer caps

-Barbados t-shirt

-St. Maarten (Sunset beach bar) t-shirt

 

+3 shirts my mom got for me, +a cold, +more Day Quil than I'll ever need haha.

 

My suitcase was still under 40 lbs... Boom! :cool:

Edited December 15, 2013 by seannyice81

[hockeyluver]

Thanks again, so sorry to hear you got sick, that is the worst!!! Hope it didnt last long and you are feeling better!

[Sh1035]

Great review I too travel with my mom and like you not sharing a room. But if you train them early they are low maintenance travel partners. We just are not as early as you too. Also went to hs and college in NV going back for Christmas so warm it up a tad.

 

But great review and pics thanks for sharing it with us. I know my friends ask who I'm traveling with and say my. Mom they think mommas boy. But she raised me and I don't have to lend her money and she won't pass out at the bar!

[seannyice81]

Thanks again, so sorry to hear you got sick, that is the worst!!! Hope it didnt last long and you are feeling better!

 

Welcome, and thanks! Monday was rough, but I've been feeling much better the last couple days.

 

Great review I too travel with my mom and like you not sharing a room. But if you train them early they are low maintenance travel partners. We just are not as early as you too. Also went to hs and college in NV going back for Christmas so warm it up a tad.

 

But great review and pics thanks for sharing it with us. I know my friends ask who I'm traveling with and say my. Mom they think mommas boy. But she raised me and I don't have to lend her money and she won't pass out at the bar!

 

Thank you.

 

Haha! The last part is particularly true!

[Windinmahair]

I enjoyed seeing the islands through your eyes. Thanks for a great review.

[2 cruzen]

Hello to you in Montana, 2 cruzen. :)

 

I was actually born in Missoula. I lived there and in Bozeman until I was about 10. My parents had family here in the DC Metro area so we moved here in December 1990. Seeing the grassy hills and mountains in St. Kitts reminded me very much of Bozeman. Because of that, I feel like I'll be visiting Montana in the next couple years to catch up.

 

Our daughter lives in Missoula. She went to U of M and just likes it there. Red lodge is in the Beartooths, 5500 ft. Last weekend is was -25 here. I was sure wishing we were in a cruise that week! :eek:

[ldlewis45]

I'm going on this cruise in February, so you've got me really looking forward to it. Of all the ports, I've only been to St. Thomas, so I'm looking forward to seeing some new islands!

[babsee101]

I am really enjoying your review. Am I the only one having problems with the pictures. It seems like in every one of your posts one of the pictures only shows the top part. Very strange.

 

I am having the same problem. :(

[babsee101]

Thanks for the awesome review! You writing style and photos are excellent. I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to take this cruise and maybe post a review of my own. :)

[seannyice81]

I enjoyed seeing the islands through your eyes. Thanks for a great review.

 

Thank you.

 

Our daughter lives in Missoula. She went to U of M and just likes it there. Red lodge is in the Beartooths, 5500 ft. Last weekend is was -25 here. I was sure wishing we were in a cruise that week! :eek:

 

Wow! Having spent childhood in Montana, I always found myself able to cope with winter here better than most people. It'll be snowing, and I'll be outside in a t-shirt. That said, I still prefer palms over pines. :cool:

 

I'm going on this cruise in February, so you've got me really looking forward to it. Of all the ports, I've only been to St. Thomas, so I'm looking forward to seeing some new islands!

 

They will not disappoint! Have a good time!

 

I am having the same problem. :(

 

Thanks for the awesome review! You writing style and photos are excellent. I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to take this cruise and maybe post a review of my own. :)

 

Thank you, and I must apologize to those who can't see the photos. I'm in the process of adding the review of my trip to my blog SeansTravelBlog dot com. I haven't added the whole trip yet, so bear with me.

 

There will be also be additional photos and commentary there to make up for the photo issues here. :) Enjoy.

[pghsteelerfan]

I just finished your review and really enjoyed reading. We were on Valor, same itinerary, this past May so I love reading Valor reviews. I think all of your pictures are really good but I really love the ones you got while in St. Kitts after dark (the one of the other ship and the one looking toward the island), they look like postcards! We also live in NOVA and had a direct flight home. I was looking out the window (right side of plane) to see if I could see any other islands on the way back and never did. We didn't see land until we flew directly over Nags Head, NC, a place I've been many, many times. Since we were in Grand Turk a few years ago on a cruise, it was cool to see your picture of it from the air.

[seannyice81]

I just finished your review and really enjoyed reading. We were on Valor, same itinerary, this past May so I love reading Valor reviews. I think all of your pictures are really good but I really love the ones you got while in St. Kitts after dark (the one of the other ship and the one looking toward the island), they look like postcards! We also live in NOVA and had a direct flight home. I was looking out the window (right side of plane) to see if I could see any other islands on the way back and never did. We didn't see land until we flew directly over Nags Head, NC, a place I've been many, many times. Since we were in Grand Turk a few years ago on a cruise, it was cool to see your picture of it from the air.

 

I remember your review and enjoyed it as well. Thanks for reading mine.

 

We had originally booked direct flights to/from San Juan via DCA. When we got back into San Juan after the cruise, the weather forecast back home and my state of being brought urgency to getting home faster. We switched to the connecting flights which got us home much faster (our original flight from SJU didn't get in until past 1 due to delays!) Our Orlando flight brought us closer to the islands than the DCA directs did, allowing me to see the Turks and Bahamas from the left side. It was pretty neat!

[babsee101]

Thanks for directing us to your blog. I was able to view some of the scenic photos that I really wanted to see in Barbados and St. Kitts that were messed up on CC. Beautiful! You have a great eye for photography.

[seannyice81]

Thanks for directing us to your blog. I was able to view some of the scenic photos that I really wanted to see in Barbados and St. Kitts that were messed up on CC. Beautiful! You have a great eye for photography.

 

Thank you!

 

As you will see in your coming Valor cruise, my photos couldn't capture all the awesome sights of these islands. Have a good time!

[*Sublime*]

Great review! Makes me look even more forward to our trip next month! Your pictures are beautiful!

[seannyice81]

Great review! Makes me look even more forward to our trip next month! Your pictures are beautiful!

 

Thank you. Have a good time!

 

Welcome to the Cruise Critic boards!

[gapearl]

CRUISE DAY 5 - ST. LUCIA - PART 1

 

St. Lucia was a mystery as far as what to do for the longest time. I kicked a lot of ideas around for stuff to do. I read GAPearl's excellent review of her Valor cruise and became a little obsessed on doing something related to the Pitons. GAPearl had booked an independant tour to climb one of the Pitons and it looked really enticing to me. I wasn't too intimidated by the thought of climbing in the heat. I spent most of my summer turning wrenches in a hot/humid shop with no AC. I'm also a good runner and can climb fairly well. I was so set on climbing the mountain. I was going to show it what's up. BUT... Mom was having a pretty tough time deciding on finding something fun and safe that she could do herself. Knowing that I didn't want her doing something she was uncertain of by herself, I had to decide against climbing the Pitons :( (sorry GAPearl, I really wanted to). We looked for things that we could do together and a day-tour became the best option. Mom ultimately contacted Mary (PhotogalMB) on the roll call who was looking to organize a Cosol tour group.

 

Awwww, man! I was hoping you did it! I understand wanting to take care of your mom, though. I wouldn't send my mom off on a tour by herself either. In addition to Barbados, looks like you need to plan a land trip back to St. Lucia so you can make the climb. :D

 

We arrived at San Juan International Airport with about 2.5 hours to kill. Not feeling well I tried to take it easy, but found myself getting restless. I walked around a few times, ate some airport food (pizza) and watched the runways from the big windows. Our first connecting flight to Orlando showed up a little late and we were a little behind leaving. There were a lot of people on this flight that needed assistance. There were also some very attractive stewardesses too. I paid attention to every bit of the pre-flight instructions without following in my manual. We took off heading east but made a u-turn almost immediately giving me one last view of the Valor and San Juan as we headed northwest. Being sick, it was hard getting my ears to pop as we climbed. I bought a pillow from JetBlue and tried to fall asleep. Even with the extra leg room, I just wasn't feeling well enough to pass-out at the time. This was a good thing though as about halfway into the flight we started flying over islands. How cool! Look at how beautiful they look from 37,000 feet!

 

Haha I got a kick out of this. Stewardess, ok, no biggie, but you know no one says stewards any more, right? ;)

 

Sorry to hear you stayed so sick on your vacation but glad you managed to have a good time in spite of. Loved your pictures! Why didn't you post any pictures of you?

[featherw8]

Sean’s Mom here. Thanks all for reading his review and the compliments on his photos. Good job, son!

 

I hadn’t vacationed with Sean for 11 years and I have only cruised once before (Sept. 2012 – DCL). Although I was spoiled on my previous cruise and originally had a few misgivings about Carnival after recent incidents, I looked past that and saw this as a great opportunity to visit some new places and make some priceless new memories with my son. It worked out wonderfully! With planning and a bit of serendipity, we had a great time, although I was so sorry Sean got sick from the lunch in San Juan and then caught a cold towards the end of the trip. I encourage all parents and their adult children to make at least one trip like this. I’ll have fond memories of this trip the rest of my life and I hope he will, too.

[TrqoisWtrs]

Enjoyed your review - we just sailed her in November.

 

Glad you had a good time in Barbados. We weren't too impressed. DH had initially wanted us to go to this one beach, but cabbie basically refused saying it was 'closed' for reef repair or some such nonsense. We ended up going to some beach he picked out and it was pretty, but had really aggressive beach vendors. Wouldn't take no for an answer. Dude - I do not want my feet massaged with whatever "aloe leaves" you have in that ripped plastic bag. :eek: yuk. Plus my friend was getting catcalls and whistles from the locals when she went to use the washroom and she didn't feel comfortable.

 

So left a bad taste in our mouth. Next time we'll have to try doing the day pass at the Hilton. Did they allow vendors on their beach? I know they can't really refuse them if the beach is public.

 

Bummer that you got sick for Maho Beach. We saw some cool jets and what was really cool was that they were taking off over the beach too.