Carnival Valor 3/9/2014 Southern Caribbean Cruise Review

[stormy_weatherman]

Just arrived home about 1 am this morning from Puerto Rico, and I honestly cannot believe that our vacation is already over. My wife and I booked this cruise back in October and have anxiously awaited it for months, researching and planning as we waited. We were celebrating our one year anniversary a bit early since my wife was on spring break. I will try to speak a little bit about each day and what we did, as I have several recommendations to make for those who may be planning this cruise in the future. If you are not planning on taking this cruise, please stop reading now, go book it, and come back! I promise you will not regret it. I may come back and add some pictures once I go through them all. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

Pre-Cruise - Traveling to San Juan

We flew out of Memphis, Tennessee the Saturday before the cruise, connecting in Charlotte before arriving in San Juan about 10:30 PM. The San Juan airport is quite smaller than we had expected, so the baggage area was pretty well packed with people waiting on their luggage. Once we had our luggage we headed outside and stood in the line for a taxi. I like how they work the taxi service at the airport. You stand in line and an attendant will fill out a piece of paper based on how many bags you have and where you are going. They will give you a price right then and there so there are no surprises. We were going to Old San Juan, so it was $24 for us and two pieces of luggage. We did not really care for the taxi ride. I say that because we had a room booked at Hotel Milano, based upon its close proximity to the port (and it is very close, a five minute walk). The streets of Old San Juan can look rough at night, and the driver let us off at least three or four blocks from the hotel and told us we were two blocks away and that the hotel was right around the corner. It was not. Luckily a police officer was nearby and he pointed us in the right direction. It was just difficult getting our clunky luggage through the streets. We checked into the hotel and went directly to bed, as it was now nearing midnight or just after. We did not really care for the Hotel Milano. It was in a great location relative to the cruise port, but it is very old and it was not very clean, with numerous stains on the old carpet. The air conditioner was high up on the wall and leaked on the table below all night. Luckily my wife's purse was leather as our passports and documents were inside. Next time we can hopefully book the Sheraton, as it was right across the street from the ship.

 

 

Day 1 - Embarkation

I maybe slept four hours that night, I was a bit uncomfortable, but mainly way too excited to sleep! I eventually got out of bed around 7 am and decided to take a walk down to the port to see our ship (and to see how long it would take us to get down there once we were ready to go). It was literally only five minutes away. I was so excited when I saw the Valor sitting at the port. There was also a RCI ship on the other side of the harbor (I think it was the Adventure of the Seas... they departed a couple of hours before we did). We headed down to the port at about 10 am, as we had FTTF and just couldn't wait anymore (well, really my wife could, but I was ready to go already). We ended up waiting until almost 11 am before they opened the entrance gate outside the port building to let us inside to check in. We were the fourth group in line. Before we entered the actual building there was someone outside checking the size of carry on luggage. Ours and several other people's luggage was determined to be too large, so they tagged it and had us drop it off to the left as we entered the cruise terminal. Once we dropped off our baggage we headed upstairs, took the embarkation photo, and stood in the FTTF line to check in. Really we could have went to the normal line and have been processed quickly, but it didn't matter since boarding had not started yet. After acquiring our priority boarding pass we went to sit down until boarding started, which was close to 12 PM. So basically we arrived a bit too early and ended up waiting around for about two hours before boarding.

 

Around 12 PM we went through security, stepped onto the Carnival Valor, and headed up to our stateroom. We had a balcony (1019) on the Panorama deck (deck 10), our first balcony. I will never cruise in anything other than a balcony. We spent so many hours of our cruise on that balcony, and it was very nice to just get away from the crowds. Next we went around to check out the rest of the ship and grab some lunch while the crowds were still thin. We had cruised on the Conquest out of NOLA in October, so the Valor was not hard for us to navigate. However, we REALLY missed Guy's Burger Joint this time around! I did like the theme of the Valor more than the Conquest, the red, white, and blue in the common areas was very nice and it felt like there were more "special effects" (lighting on the ceiling for one) on the Valor. I grabbed a burger, potato salad, slaw, and fries from the Grill, which was pretty good. We then went to the aft pool area to enjoy some dessert from the Sweet Spot. Eventually we left the ship and walked through Old San Juan to the Castillo de San Cristóba fort, which was very nice. A couple of hours of that and we were HOT, so we headed back to the ship. Once you leave the ship, you go back through the terminal like you did when you checked in, but this time you skip the photo and check in (of course) and head right to the security line.

 

Our room steward was Bojan, and I cannot say enough good about this guy. From the start he called us by our names and was so genuine and nice to us. I felt like we were old friends by the end of the cruise, because we saw him several times a day and he would always ask us how we were doing, what plans we had, how we enjoyed each island, etc. It was almost sad leaving at the end and having to say goodbye to our new friend. He was by far the best crew member I've interacted with on any of my three cruises with Carnival. Dinner in the MDR that first night was the worst night of MDR the whole cruise. I understand this is open seating and things are hectic, but service was so slow. Muster drill was beginning as I was enjoying my first WMC of the cruise, so we headed to our station for the drill. After the drill we headed up to our balcony, made a few final phone calls home, and enjoyed our sail away from Old San Juan.

 

 

Day 2 - St. Thomas USVI

I woke up every day just about the time we were pulling into port, which was fine with me because I got some great photos! I've talked to some people who wonder about the sunlight in a balcony stateroom, but those shades cover everything and it was basically pitch black in our room every night. We were the only cruise ship in port that day, but we still backed into port. I love watching the ship being maneuvered into port, it's so fascinating how smoothly they move that big ship. We were on the starboard side (and I know folks frequently ask which side is better), but it seemed that for most of the cruise (the ONLY exception being St. Maarten) we ported on the port side.

 

We went for breakfast in the MDR before heading outside about fifteen until 10 am for our first tour of the cruise. Today we had a tour with Godfrey Tours. Godfrey was running slightly late this day and we were freaking out for a few minutes that we may have missed him. However, he finally arrived and we were on our way to shopping in downtown Charlotte Amalie. It was a rainy day in port, so we hung around inside some of the shops before meeting Godfrey at 11:30 to continue to the sightseeing portion of the tour. I highly recommend taking a tour with Godfrey, the tour was very informative and we got to see and learn so much of/about St. Thomas. The tour took us up to Mountain Top where we got to see the Atlantic side of the island (which was nice and sunny, as opposed to the other side), including the other USVI. We then headed to the eastern side of the island, as our group had opted to spend time at Coki Beach. We chose to continue back to the ship and were back onboard relaxing in the Serenity whirlpool by 2:30 PM. That night we had dinner at the Steakhouse, which we had previously enjoyed on the Conquest. Make sure to do the Steakhouse if you are on a ship that has one! Worth every penny. We attended the Welcome Aboard show with Felipe (cruise director), which introduced us to a comedian (whose name I cannot remember) that we just had to see at the comedy club, so we caught her show later that night before bed.

 

 

 

This is all of the review I can do now, but I will be adding more in the next couple of days.

[shark&minnow]

Thank you! Looking forward to more and yes please post pictures!!!

[scgirlatheart]

Can't wait to read more, we'll be on the Valor in July!

[dawnvan]

Great information!! Thanks for posting. Looking forward to more.:D

[shanecindy21403]

Patiently waiting for more! We sail on the Valor 5/4 :D

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks for the report so far. Please continue. Will be on the Valor next week.

[stormy_weatherman]

Day 3 - Day at Sea

We were still full from the steakhouse the night before, so we just hung out on our balcony reading for much of the morning. My wife is a literature major and language arts teacher, so she really enjoyed sitting out on the balcony catching up on her reading. On our Conquest cruise in October we loved the Sea Day Brunch that we had three days. Since this cruise only has one sea day, we made it a point to go to brunch. However, I noticed the cooking demonstration in the Steakhouse at 11 am, so we planned to go there before brunch. Little did I know they feed you pretty well at the demonstration! Do not miss it! It was neat to see how they prepare some of the dishes, even if it was like a big advertisement for the Steakhouse. We got to taste a Mushroom Cappuccino, Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad, Rosemary Chicken with some of the best Mac & Cheese I have ever tasted, and Tiramisu. You could really make this demonstration/tasting a meal in itself. However, since we had our free drink coupons, and really did not want to miss the brunch, we still went to brunch. My wife got the chocolate chip pancakes, and I enjoyed the tomato soup and the steak & eggs (which I think I've gotten 3/4 Sea Day Brunches so far). The Fruit Loop french toast is also delicious, though, as I tried that on our last cruise. They normally bring you a basket of danishes (like they do with bread at dinner), but for some reason we did not get this at our brunch, although other tables did. One other thing I would like to mention here is how I liked how the brunch and breakfast in the MDR were both held in the Washington Dining Room, which is on the aft of the ship. On the Conquest these were all in the dining room in the middle of the ship, the same dining room we had dinner in since we do YTD. It was nice to eat breakfast in a new port each morning and be able to look out all of those aft windows at the beautiful islands.

 

We retreated to our room for a nap and more reading after brunch. At around 2 PM they were having the Groove for St. Jude on the Lido, so I went down to make my donation and get a shirt. We live in Memphis, so I have a soft spot for St. Jude. Huge kudos to Carnival for supporting such a great cause on every sailing! At 3 PM when we went to the Love & Marriage show in the Ivanhoe Theater. We went to the show on the Conquest and loved it, so we made it a point to go again. Despite the questions being the same, the answers are always different, so it was still hilarious and a great experience. We enjoyed some room service sandwiches on the balcony, accompanied by some reading, for the rest of the afternoon. I love geography (being a meteorologist, I think we all do), so I was always monitoring the ship's position on channel 14 of our stateroom television. I noticed we were passing close to Martinique, so I went out on deck and got some pictures as we passed. Before we knew it dinnertime had approached, so we headed out for our first elegant evening of the cruise for photos and some lobster! Lobster is not a very filling meat, so I always request two. I only ever eat lobster when I am on a cruise, so it's a great treat. I also tried the caramelized apple pastry dessert for the first time this night (I usually stick to WMC), and it was so good! Try it if you have never done so before. We did not catch the show this night.

 

 

Day 4 - Barbados

Once again I woke up just as we were pulling into port. I had seen pictures of the port of Bridgetown before the cruise, and it is true that it is a very industrial port. Nothing pretty to see at the port, so you either have to take a taxi or walk into Bridgetown or any of the beaches. The Norwegian Sun was in port with us this day. It was a smaller ship than the Valor. Again, it's always so interesting to watch them maneuver ships around one another in port, which I got to witness as the Norwegian Sun came in right after the Valor had docked. We had no plans in Barbados, so we just walked off the ship and made the 15-20 minute walk into Bridgetown. I would say the biggest attraction at this port, at least for me, was the free wifi inside the cruise terminal. I know that may sound bad when you're on vacation, but two days without internet had me itching to connect. I saw that many others had the same itch because the terminal was full of folks sitting around on their devices. Once we had made it into Bridgetown we started looking for the beach, as I knew Carlisle Bay was close by. We never found it, though, as we tried to stay in the touristy areas as much as possible. My wife needed some hairspray, so we did stop at a $3 store at a local shopping mall. We paid with a $5 USD bill and got back $7 in Barbados dollars. That was pretty cool, a great souvenir to take back home with us. On the way back to the ship we stumbled upon a church called St. Mary's, which was very nice. There was a man inside who gave us a tour. Before long we were back on the ship, enjoying the aft pool and whirlpool while the crowds were thin. For lunch we tried new places, my wife got a burrito from the burrito bar, and I got some delicious fish and fries from Fish & Chips (the garlic sauce is amazing). My wife had a spa appointment at 3 PM, so she ran off to enjoy that while I watched the Cruise Excursion talk on the television and caught up on some sleep!

 

One word of advice from something new we tried this cruise... We bought Tervis Tumblers before the cruise and used them to get a large drink to take back to our balcony. Just make sure to get ice and the drink in one of the small cups provided and then pour it into your Tumbler. Our favorite was to get about 2/3 of a Tumbler full of ice cream and pour a cup of hot chocolate on top of that. Tasted like a chocolate milkshake! You can also try coffee or a coffee/hot chocolate mix which was also pretty good.

 

 

More of the review tomorrow... St. Lucia and St. Kitts!

[M_GO_BLUE]

Enjoying your review! Sailing on the Valor June 8th! :-)

[stormy_weatherman]

Sorry this review is taking so long, I've just been so exhausted back at work this week. You know you had a great cruise when you return home more tired than when you left!

 

Day 5 - St. Lucia

The port I was looking forward to the most. Again I awoke just as we were pulling into the harbor/port of Castries. We pulled in and then did a turn and backed into the port, so again our starboard stateroom looked out over the harbor. Soon a Princess ship and the Riviera pulled into port behind us. We enjoyed some room service danishes and coffee on our balcony before getting ready for our 8:15 tour. We had a tour booked with Cosol, as I had read many great reviews about this tour. They were right. Amazing tour. We met with our tour guide Sam immediately after getting off the ship and walking through the cruise terminal building. Note, if you are doing a Cosol tour in the future- and I recommend that you do- you walk all the way through the cruise terminal building and out the other side. Cosol and team will be waiting on the other side for you. We loaded a taxi van and headed out to our first stop, an overlook of the Castries port. We got great pictures of the ships at port that day. Next we began our journey towards Soufriere and the Pitons, stopping at Marigot Bay and a banana plantation along the way. Sam was a very informative guide and gave us so much insight to the island. We stopped at a house somewhere along the way for the brunch, where we enjoyed so many great homemade St. Lucian foods. There were also unlimited drinks on this tour, including water, sodas, Piton beer, and the awesome rum punch! The house felt full with the many vans full of people on the Cosol tour that day, but it was nice to mingle and make new friends. Next we headed to the Piton/Soufriere overlook, which was an amazing view. Next we went to the waterfall. We then headed down into Soufriere where we took a water taxi to Jalouise beach, located directly between the two Pitons. This was absolutely amazing, swimming in between the Pitons. Definitely a highlight of the whole cruise. Do not miss it! We left there about an hour later and headed back towards the ship (it's about a two hour ride from the Pitons to Castries port). On the way we stopped at the volcano and mud bath, which was pretty cool! Next we left for Castries, stopping only for some delicious bread and cheese along the way. Before we knew it we were back on the ship, soaking in the Serenity whirlpool in the hot sun. Cosol Tours was amazing, cannot say enough good about that. This night onboard was the second and final elegant evening of the cruise.

 

 

Day 6 - St. Kitts

Let me start off by saying that St. Kitts and Nevis (the neighboring island) are beautiful. We did not have a tour on this day, so we took our time going to breakfast in the MDR before getting off the ship. Immediately upon walking into the square just off the pier, my perception of St. Kitts changed. It was beautiful, but there were so many out there haggling us for tours or taxi rides or photos with monkeys. Please be warned about the monkeys! A man walked up to my wife and put a monkey on her shoulder and she proceeded to pet the monkey, she loves creatures. I began to take pictures and the man put another monkey on her shoulder and tried to give me a monkey, which I denied. I pulled a few dollars out of my pocket to give to the man and he proceeds to tell me that I owe him $10 for taking pictures. He had not told me that before I took the pictures or else I would not have done so. Please be aware of this, because it sure felt like robbery. We walked around the shops for a few minutes and then headed back to the ship, where we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the Serenity deck. Cruising around the island that night was beautiful. This was the only night that we skipped out on dinner in the MDR. We weren't going to eat at all after enjoying a late lunch at Mongolian Wok/Chocolate Extravaganza, but after attending the Gender Showdown (the men won for the first time in 19 cruises, according to the cruise director), we decided to try out the Lido buffet for dinner for the first time. The steak on the buffet surprised me, it was very good! Almost as good as the steakhouse, so do not be afraid to skip dinner in the MDR and try out the Lido buffet. We went to the magician show in the Ivanhoe theater after dinner, which was very enjoyable.

[oregonjuli]

Thank you for the review. We leave on this cruise April 20th. Cant wait!!!

[rtw68]

Thanks for posting the review. Looking forward to more.

 

We are on the Valor on 4/27 with some friends and really looking forward to it!

 

Hoping you can post some pics :-)

[ILCruzr]

Thanks for the review. I am doing this itinerary in January. I can't wait!

[gracie65]

Thanks for the heads up about the Monkey's in St Kitts I have been reading some reports of same thing on the port of call threads. Thank goodness we are booked with myislandtours hopefully that will cut down on some of that.

Great review thanks for all the info!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sweetsgirl]

Loving your review. Going on this itinerary in October and I'm taking a lot of notes and thanks for the suggested tours to take. I was thinking about taking Godfrey and Cosol so glad you gave great reviews for them. I will be booking both for my trip.:)

[kteachcruiser52]

We loved the ports in this cruise.

Edited May 8, 2014 by kteachcruiser52

[imluvncruzn]

Thanks for the review! We will be on the Valor in 2 weeks. I was wondering if you could tell me what was on the menu for the 2nd cruise elegant night? Was it the usual menu (Chateau Briand)? We are thinking of doing the steakhouse that night and I wanted to confirm what was on the menu in the main dining room before I book.