MY VALOR ADVENTURE!!! (TAKE 2, had issues with photobucket) With a lot of pictures..

[skidawg79]

Haha, that's what I thought. Yes it is airplane time! (as soon as I get to the post)

[olcar]

The biggest and exciting thing I'm looking forward for this itinerary in August when I go

[shawne71]

Referring to maho beach

 

Loved Maho Beach! It was fun to just sit, relax, drink, and watch the planes. Not to mention, St. Maarten is beautiful. ;)

 

Can't wait to go back!

[arabellalorenze]

Thanks for the review, getting excited for our San Juan cruise!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[skidawg79]

Thanks for the review, getting excited for our San Juan cruise!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

You will love it!

 

I'll finish this review up shortly. In the middle of moving apts and spare time is sparse lol. Hopefully get to it in the next day or two.

[wrigley80]

All caught up again....I am ready to see your pics of Maho Beach. Hopefully you weren't one of those crazy people who hold on to the fence only to be sprayed with sand :eek:

[CMM]

enjoying your review, sounds like a great cruise, thanks for posting

[kenrod]

Thank you for sharing your review. It brings back some fond memories of when we took this itinerary back in 2010. Looking forward to the conclusion.

[Rock Chalk Jayhawk]

I'm enjoying your review. I will be going on my first cruise in September and I'm so excited. If I love it (which I'm sure I will), I think we might book this itinerary for our vacation next year. Can't wait to read more!

[freddymale]

great review, love your writing style, always entertained

can't wait to read the next installment

[queenerin]

I'm LOVING the review so far!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I just booked on the Valor for Dec 14, 2014 -- these will be all new ports for me -- I can't wait. :)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review -- It's helping me plan. I already have an idea of what I want to do in each port, but a few things might change since I'm seeing things I like better now...haha.

 

Which port do you think had the best shopping areas? I know you said shopping isn't YOUR cup of tea -- but did your friend Emily mention any favorites?

 

Thanks for being detailed and posting so many great pictures!

[Aplmac]

..right by the Casino -after the big show in the forward lounge.

 

 

y04VDCyKN1s

That's the way / You're the one...

 

 

 

Aq8Qn4UTibw

Play that funky music, white boy!

 

 

 

0I_TVV6qZ4s

It's raining men!

.

[babsee101]

Oh the anticipation ...

 

Poor guy must be super busy. Moving is such a pain!

[trippingpara]

Thank you for your review. My daughter's first cruise! Can't wait to take her on it!

[Caribbean_Queen83]

Thank you soooooo much for sharing your review!!

 

I will be traveling on the Valor January 4, 2015 with my husband, brother, sister-in-law, sister, and brother-in-law. We are treating ourselves for our 5 year anniversaries.

 

Your pictures and writing are amazing. You are helping us to decide which excursions to do and which to skip.

 

Can't wait to see what happens at St. Maarten. :p:):D

[skidawg79]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and again apologize for the delay. I was caught in the middle of moving and haven't had internet. I'm pretty much moved in and got internet back. I promise I will finish this soon!! I want to give St Maartin the time it deserves lol. :-)

[babsee101]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and again apologize for the delay. I was caught in the middle of moving and haven't had internet. I'm pretty much moved in and got internet back. I promise I will finish this soon!! I want to give St Maartin the time it deserves lol. :-)

 

Take you time. We will be here when you are ready! :)

[fool4neworleans]

Love your review,I will be there in less than 2 weeks:). Did they have any photographers at Maho Beach ?, I would love to get a group picture with my family and the plane.

[skidawg79]

Love your review,I will be there in less than 2 weeks:). Did they have any photographers at Maho Beach ?, I would love to get a group picture with my family and the plane.

 

I did see people taking pictures of groups. I am not sure what they were charging or how you ended up getting the pictures, but there were people there taking pictures.

[Aplmac]

I did see people taking pictures of groups.

I am not sure what they were charging or how you ended up getting the pictures,

but there were people there taking pictures.

I'm hoping they were Carnival photographers from your ship..?

and that's how you'd get to see those pics on Deck 4, the next nite!

 

Great idea! I reckon lotsa folks would buy those.

 

 

I'm also hoping they do more of that kinda income generation for Carnival

and less of that silly blocking-Promenade-Deck-5 thing they do. :cool:

 

___________________________

 

 

Wouldn't that be something to Celebrate, huh?

 

[YOUTUBE]HW2-RLnqHHk[/YOUTUBE]

 

.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Aplmac

[skidawg79]

I'm LOVING the review so far!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I just booked on the Valor for Dec 14, 2014 -- these will be all new ports for me -- I can't wait. :)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review -- It's helping me plan. I already have an idea of what I want to do in each port, but a few things might change since I'm seeing things I like better now...haha.

 

Which port do you think had the best shopping areas? I know you said shopping isn't YOUR cup of tea -- but did your friend Emily mention any favorites?

 

Thanks for being detailed and posting so many great pictures!

 

Thanks! Like i said before, your going to love this trip. As far as shopping, i would say that either St. Thomas or St. Maartin had the best shopping.

 

St. Thomas has a huge outlet/mall area right outside the cruise terminal. St. Maartin has a nice cruise terminal area, but also has some great shopping in the downtown area. I have a pic of the road that goes through that area that i will share later in my St. Maartin post.

[skidawg79]

FINALLY….ST. MAARTIN!!!

Ok, so I’m finally taking a few minutes to get started on the last day of my trip! Now I just have to remember it all haha.

 

St. Maartin started out much like most of the other mornings, with breakfast in the dining room. Our only plan was to go see the planes at Maho Beach! We had thought about possibly going to a different beach later in the day, but we definitely wanted to see the planes. We hopped a cab with our friends from Texas (they were our shadows on this cruise and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way).

Have to take a pic of it….

Upon arriving at the beach, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the beach was. The water was beautiful and blue, the weather was awesome, the beach was small but clean and we were able to get chairs and umbrellas 5 feet from the water. The chairs also happened to be right next to the bar, so how could you go wrong! Upon arriving at the beach, we walked through the Sunset Bar and Grill and they had all of the arrivals on the Surfboard (there were smaller single engine planes landing in between, but these were the larger planes).

Some pics of the beach….

From the foot of the chair I had….

 

 

Sorry for the feet in the picture, but wanted to give you an idea of how close we were. Also, don’t let the rocks fool you, it was a very sandy beach…

So after we got settled in and took some pictures, it was time to get something to drink. Toby (one of the Texans ) and I walked up to the bar to buy some buckets…one thing to note…FINALLY FULL SIZED BEERS!!!! One thing about the Caribbean, it seems like all of the beers on the islands are smaller bottles, I believe 10oz, but maybe 8oz. I felt like I was drinking a beer that was put into an airplane size bottle lol. A second thing to note….girls who’s go to the bar to order their drinks topless…get free drinks! Yes you heard me right….Topless = free drinks…..

 

View from the bar….

Well we sat down at our chairs and I didn’t realize how many airplanes would actually be coming in to land. In between each larger plane, there were 1 or 2 smaller planes coming in. It really was a lot of fun to watch. As we looked at the schedule on the surfboard, we were told that the biggest plane that was going to land was an Air France plane at around 12:40 I believe it was. So we wanted to stay for that as it was an Airbus 4 engine plane. ….

 

Next up, planes, drinks, more beach and a reunion of friends…..

[skidawg79]

ST MAARTIN CONT…..

As the morning went on, we got some of the famous pics that everyone sees on the internet. It really is pretty cool to watch…..

 

 

Delta….

 

 

My last selfie in this post, I PROMISE!! I have to give myself a pat on the back for this one…..after drinking most of the day, I had pretty damn good timing haha…..

 

So as we were sitting there, having some drinks, enjoying the beach it seemed like all of our friends that we made mad throughout the trip started to show up. We had talked about going to Maho Beach with everyone and they all said they would try to make their way there, but it never usually works out like that. First we saw some of our friends from the slot pull, then we saw our friends from Chicago that we met the second day of the trip, then the crew of about 10 more from the slot pull showed up and it suddenly became a party. It was like the last episode of Seinfeld, where everyone from the previous shows has a cameo. Well everyone from the previous days on the trip ended up coming to meet us at Maho beach at some point throughout the day. Only difference, we weren’t on trial for anything and they all liked us! Lol

 

 

As I said earlier, we were planning on checking out another beach, but as we sat there and our friends started showing up we decided to make it a day at Maho Beach. Especially since the big plane wasn’t coming until mid-afternoon anyway. We grabbed lunch, had some more drinks, swam in the beautiful clear blue water and watched planes. Again…what more could you ask for. Finally it was about time for the Air France plane to come in….

 

 

 

Someone had asked earlier so I’ll put it in here, there were people taking pictures of groups. I do not believe they were Carnival photographers, and I am not sure what they were charging or how you got the pictures, but there were people taking them……

 

 

Watching the planes taking off and watching people "riding the fence" was a lot of fun. No i did not do it, i don't find pleasure in sand and pebbles blasting your face at 100mph. Id rather sit back with a beer in hand and watch the other people get slapped in the face by dirt and sand...quite entertaining actually. I did get a video of it and if i ever get around to putting it on youtube,i will post a link to it on here.

 

 

 

The day continued and it was about time to head back to the ship. We wanted to leave a little early because Emily heard of this awesome Mojito place by downtown Philipsburg and the Great Bay beach. We had been talking to a cab driver earlier in the day and he offered to take us. The only problem was, at the time we were talking to him previously there were only 4 of us which is all he had room for, now there were 8. The cab driver enlisted his friend to take the rest in her cab and we were on our way.

 

 

 

Next up…..a quick trip through downtown Philipsburg, a run in with the St. Maartin Police and well…that’s worth staying tuned in for….. But unfortunately, that is going to have to wait as I have to get back to work! Haha, sorry! I feel like Ryan Seacrest (yes I’m ashamed to admit, I used to watch American idol), “and the person going home is………..going to be announced right after the break” ………

[skidawg79]

great review, love your writing style, always entertained

can't wait to read the next installment

 

Thanks! Very much appreciated. :-)

[CMM]

This is such a great review I am so interested in seeing the turtles at the boatyard so I hope you can tell me a little more about the snorkeling experience.

 

What would it be like for a person like myself who is a very beginner snorkeler and is out of shape? How is entry/exit to the water etc. and do they have vests or is there a lot of swimming? I want to be prepared, but would really like to do this and your review has me even more interested.

 

Thanks!