There and back again... a tale of Valor

[Chief93]

I shall undertake a review of my adventures on the Carnival Valor during the week of December 14th. There will be pictures. There will be good times and bad times. There will be entire groups of people and places painted with the broad brush of my judgment. To begin, here is everything that seems to be a topic on these boars condensed into one sentence for those that do not read reviews but might have questions:

 

I never smelled smoke on my balcony, there was actually very little smoke in the casino, the food was good but the selection average at best, there was a past guest party and I was allowed to bring a guest, the Platinum gift was the toiletry bag and while I did have a "goody" basket in my bathroom none of the other three cabins I had booked had one.

 

Onward. My group consisted of 8 cruisers (2 Platinum, 4 Gold and 2 Red if it matters), myself, the B&C, the DS and his friend as well as another family consisting of the DH, DW, DD and her friend. Everyone is an adult though the kids are all 20 or 21. Four cabins total, all Lido balconies.

 

I always fly a day early just in case something happens. My group was flying on US Airways and the other on United. The cruise left on Sunday so we were all flying out on Saturday. And here's what happened:

 

It was foggy Friday night and forecast was for more fog Saturday morning. I checked and no flights were delayed. I checked the airport's website and it showed that all flights arriving and departing were leaving on time. Then I checked the website for those fine folks at US Airways and discovered that the aircraft that was flying me out the next morning was delayed for mechanical reasons on the flight BEFORE its flight from Charlotte to my town. Sure enough about five minutes later my flight is cancelled because of the weather. I know that's not true, that they are using the weather as an excuse so that they can claim it isn't their fault. Anyway, I call and explain my situation and I'm on hold for 23 minutes (I timed it). She comes back to tell me that I can't be "accommodated" until Monday. I explained that my cruise left on Sunday...in TWO DAYS.. and that leaving on Monday was of no use. I asked her if I could be placed on a different airline and she told me all flights were full until Monday. Meanwhile I'm using my tablet and can see that there are multiple airlines with open seats the next morning...all the way to Puerto Rico. At this point she tells me that they can refund my money but otherwise and there's nothing they will do. I can see on my tablet that the open flights the next day are about $1,500 and oddly enough I don't have $6K laying around for new flights. I also understood that Sunshine was just some poor kid working the phones so it would do no good to explain in exquisite detail my current feelings for US Airways, their employees, agents, shareholders, subcontractors as well as all of their families, friends and pets. Anyway. Fortunately, problem solving is what I do for a living so in a moment of lucidity I said "What if I drive to Dallas?" Dallas is about a 3 hour drive from my house. I was on hold for 18 minutes and she said she had procured me the last four seats out of Dallas on American, and as an added bonus the flight was at 1300 so I didn't have to leave immediately. The I was on hold some more while they changed my return flight. Then I had to be transferred to someone else to "re-issue" the tickets.

 

I'm glad that worked out. I was going to start offering to drive to Houston or Albuquerque or Kansas City or whatever I needed to do to get to Puerto Rico by Sunday night. I'm surprised I didn't have a stroke.

 

So, gentle reader, that was the beginning of the beginning. I will continue with review, starting with 0700 the next morning, later. Perhaps tomorrow.

[Dirkgun]

Thank you for taking the time to do a review. We are leaving on the Valor in a few weeks (Jan 18th :eek::D) and really getting excited. We love this itinerary and have done it 2 times before on the Victory. Your writing style is very fun. Looking forward to the rest of the review. Sorry about your airlines troubles.... what would life be without excitement like that?

[java girl 65]

Thank you for your review. Can't wait to read the rest of it. We leave on the Valor in 36 days!!!!

[Chief93]

I love to buy suitcases. Even when we were dirt poor we always had suitcases, even though we couldn’t afford to travel anywhere. So on Black Friday I braved the crowds and bought two hard sided suitcases with matching carry-ons at Macy’s for a really good price. On my way out of the mall I stopped to see my son’s friend that was going with us – he works in the mall – and he gave me his credit card and I also bought him a set of the same. You’re asking yourself what this has to do with anything…so let’s fast forward to 0700 on Saturday.

0700 Saturday. For some reason it never occurred to me that three large hard sided suitcases plus three hard sided carry-ons plus another carry-on plus 2 back packs might not fit in my car (an SUV). The hard sided cases have no give…you can’t squish them at all. Did I mention problem solving is what I do? Finally after about 20 minutes we were on the road to Dallas. I couldn’t see out of the rear view mirror, it was obviously overloaded and I was concerned the rear door would pop open, but we were on the road. Three hours later I arrived at DFW remote parking and took my first and perhaps most important picture.

 

$9 a day to park and I’ll be gone 10 days but at least I’m going. DFW is an easy airport to navigate. The bus came promptly and took us to the terminal. I had prepaid for two bags on US Airways but American had no record of that and all I really wanted was to be in Puerto Rico so I paid again. Also, I’ll pat myself on the back a bit, three large suitcases…49, 49 and 47 pounds respectively. Got rid of the bags, security was easy. This was also the first time I saw the apple. It was a red apple, round, with the little code sticker still attached from the Crest Market at SW 104th and Pennsylvania. The B&C had brought it “just in case.” It was allowed through security. This will be important information later on in the review.

The American gate agent that took my bags was a wonderful human being and was aware of our flight snafu and she upgraded us to the second row in economy and gave us priority boarding. The flight was uneventful but was 4 hours. I can’t handle that. I’ve got raging ADD and I can’t sit for 4 hours. My next cruise will be Europe and I’ve made the deal that I will only go if we do a transatlantic back. I will find a way to fly over for 9 hours but I’d rather spend two weeks on the boat on the way back than have to fly again. Plus, it’s cheaper to come back on the cruise ship.

Finally we land in San Juan. This was my second cruise departing from PR. The carousel vomited up our bags and we made our way to the taxi stand. There was a huge line, at least 40 people deep. Apparently there was some sort of Xmas event going on in Old San Juan and traffic was impossible. The lady in charge told everyone that it was going to be a very, very long wait to get into Old San Juan. Then she asked if anyone was going someplace else and… my first break. I said we were going to Carolina and we went straight to the front of the line into a waiting taxi.

We stayed at a place called Hotel La Playa. It is a small mom-and-pop kind of place on the beach. Getting there was kind of sketchy…it’s down a couple of alleys. I had read the reviews which complained about the empty building next door and the homeless that live there. Yes, it was there and as described but in no way affected our stay. I loved the place. The rooms were small and perhaps slightly dated but they were very clean. The place has a certain charm, a 1950’s feel to it. Everyone loved it. And the thermostat went down to 65. It is on top of the beach. There is a small restaurant that served cheap drinks and expensive food. The food was a bit pricey, but it was very, very good. You can see into the small kitchen and watch the chef so you know it’s clean. Everything looked delicious and what we had was wonderful. Try the ceviche.

Tomorrow we get on the boat…

[JulieMcCoy]

Good job on getting your flights rebooked! Looking forward to reading more! I'm on the Valor February 22.

[rmh661983]

Wow sorry your vacation started with all that drama, but at least you were able to get it all solved.

[nybumpkin]

Great start to your review! Sorry about the flight problems. I haven't flown US Air since 1989, after several miserable experiences. Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!

[buddylover]

Can't wait to hear what role the "apple w/the sticker" plays......love your review and humor!!

[gizmo911]

Enjoying and waiting for more

[Chief93]

Continued...

 

I really loved this hotel. Our intent was to be at the boat around 11:00. I was up around 9:00. The hotel had a free light breakfast, bagels and bread and cereal and some righteous cofee. The coffee was Cuban coffee strong. It was great. Nothing like a cup of coffee in the morning in paradise.

 

[Chief93]

A few pictures from the hotel.

 

 

[Chief93]

The beach. It isn't the endless white sands of St. Maarten but it is a nice beach. The sun wasn't really bright yet so this isn't the best picture.

 

[SMSACE6]

I'm enjoying your review and photos. Looking forward to more. Thanks for taking the time to do a review:)

[Chief93]

After many enjoyable cups of coffee and a bagel we checked out. The staff was very pleasant. The taxi was prompt and in no time at all we found ourselves at the dock. It was just past 11:00 and it was chaos. People arriving, people leaving, people standing around. But it was fun chaos. The porter attempted to load everyone’s bags onto his dolly. Again, there are 8 of us, 4 of whom are female so there are A LOT of bags. He got them all stacked, walked about 10 feet and they all fell off. But he was determined, and he tried again and was successful. Of course I tipped him.

Because I am Platinum I had priority luggage….so I printed off a bunch of luggage tags and tagged everyone’s luggage with my tags. It made for an interesting stack of suitcases outside my cabin later. A note on luggage tags: I fold mine into a rectangle, laminate them, hole punch the top and attach them with zip ties. Never had one fall off. San Juan is a unique place to embark. At any other port the ship leaves at 4:00 or 5:00 and most people are all arriving at the same time. Because of San Juan’s 10:00 departure people trend to trickle in all day long. I’d say that there were not more than 50 people in the regular line and there was only one couple in front of us at the VIP line. FTTF would be a complete waste of money if you sail from San Juan, in my opinion. By 11:30 we all had or S&S cards. Boarding started about 12:15 and I had my carry-ons in the cabin and a hot pastrami sandwich in my hand by 12:30.

Let’s talk about the blood-brain-barrier. The blood-brain-barrier is a defense system in one’s brain designed to keep foreign and potentially dangerous substances from crossing from the bloodstream into the individual brain cells. It is very effective. Alcohol, however, easily crosses the barrier and in the process causes excessively high bar tabs, bad karaoke, unplanned pregnancies, etc. I point this out because a large portion of these boards is dedicated to the movement of alcohol across another barrier, the Carnival Security barrier. All sorts of suggestions can be found here….hiding it in shampoo bottles, putting it in plastic bags that you hide in your pants, re-sealing water bottles. I just searched the Carnival forum for the word “smuggle” and got 416 threads. Anyway, if that is your kind of thing then San Juan is the easiest place to do it. I walked on with a bunch of stuff that I made zero attempt to hide and security didn’t bat an eye. In fact it was all in the original bottles.

Enough of that. I had a balcony cabin on the Lido deck. It was exactly the same as every other balcony cabin on every other ship. I met my cabin steward. He was ok. A solid 5 on a scale of 1-10. A shining example of mediocrity. The cabin was always mostly clean and I got the obligatory towel animal every day. I think in the future I am going to tell them early on that I don’t need any more towel animals. Also, I had to ask for ice, but once I did it was always replenished.

More in a moment

[meatloafsfan]

Enjoying the review very much.

[cruiser fanatic]

Thanks for doing a review! I am doing the Valor in April for 8 days and might make it a B2B and do the 5 day before!

[ILCruzr]

Loving your review so far! I sail the Valor in 2 weeks and I can't wait. Its my first time to SJ and all these ports, so I cant wait to see your pics!

[deladane]

Yay! Another Valor review! Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I look forward to reading the rest :)

 

I'll be on the Valor in March. Do you happen to know where the omelet stations are in the morning and how many they have set up? I have been on some ships that have multiple omelet stations throughout Lido deck (at the grill near the aft pool, at the deli counter, etc.), and others where there is only one place to get the omelets at breakfast (leading to super long lines!). I hope the Valor has lots of omelet stations! :)

Edited January 2, 2015 by deladane

[Chief93]

Do you happen to know where the omelet stations are in the morning and how many they have set up?

 

IF I remember correctly there was one omelete station where the Mongolian Wok sets up for lunch, but it had two omelete chefs and two seperate lines. There was also at least one outside where they grill burgers, but I don't know if there was one on both sides of the boat or just one.

 

After the first day I ate breakfast in the dining room every morning. I shall explain why later in the review.

[lilypi314]

we fly out tomorrow for this cruise....oh how i wish your review was already done!! great job so far, now i'm even more excited and we're barely past your intro!

[lunagirl]

IF I remember correctly there was one omelete station where the Mongolian Wok sets up for lunch, but it had two omelete chefs and two seperate lines. There was also at least one outside where they grill burgers, but I don't know if there was one on both sides of the boat or just one.

 

 

Yes, this is how it was set up both times that I was on the Valor as well.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and wonderful pictures.

[windsor26]

enjoying your style keep going please

[Chief93]

Continued...

I'm having some trouble collecting all the pictures from everyone's cameras and phones and tablets but I'm working on it.

So we had 4 balcony cabins on the Lido deck, two port and two starboard. I have only sailed on Spirit and Conquest class ships (and the Triumph) and all the cabins are exactly the same. So no suprises this trip. I have cruised enough that I know exaclty where everything goes in the cabin. I like to unpack everything as soon as possible. After about 10 minutes everything was in drawers or hanging on hangers or stuffed under the bed. White wine goes on the vanity, red wine goes in the night stand....I'm sure everyone has a way they like to set up their cabin. Anyway, after a quick lunch we left the ship to explore San Juan.

Before I forget here's a couple of notes on wine. Our waiter told us that they are cracking down on the corkage fee and that it is now $15. He said that if the supervisor sees a bottle on the table he/she will check to make sure that the waiter charged the fee, even if you bring it into the DR already opened. He suggested that you only buy the same brands of wine that they sell on the boat into the DR. To that end I took a picture of the wine list so that next time I will only bring those brands on board. Also, much has been said about the liquor store inside the terminal but I found it to have a very poor selection of wine. I also could not find a bottle of Garnacha anywhere so I bought two bottles of good Tempranillo for $25 each at Walgreens only to find the same bottles at the CVS accross the street from the terminal for $19. You can buy all the Moscato and cheap red wine with bare feet or giant chickens on the label for $6 a bottle at the CVS as well. The store in the terminal does have a decent selection of Scotch, but alas, they did not have Lagavulin so I didn't buy any.

My son and his friend went out on their own. My son likes to frequent a store that sells panama hats. It's a pretty cool store, I don't remember the name but thanks to my ADD/OCD I remember the address: 105 Fortaleza. Everyone had already been to El Moro and the forts before, and while they are beautiful and interesting no one wanted to do all that walking again. My idea of a good time on an Old San Juan afternoon is to go to one of the open air restaurants in any of the little squares, get a pitcher of Sangria and just watch people. We walked around, wandered through some stores and then my friend and I decided to enjoy a cold, refreshing barley based beverage. The women folk left us and we later found them on the top of a small hotel. I will find out the name of the place and post it. It was a small open air resaurant on the top floor, food and drinks were reasonable and very good and it had a great view of the city and the street below. Many Mojitos were consumed at this time.

On the first night of the cruise dining is open seating and ends at 8:00 so I wanted to be back on the ship by 7:00. On our way back we discovered the festival that had caused the traffic nightmare the day before. It was fun, there was live music and thousands of people but it wasn't too crowded. I stopped at Walgreens and bought wine, and I stopped at CVS and bought wine. Again, security just let me on board with them even thought they were clearly visible in plastic bags.

Time for a shower and to getr ready for dinner. The soap dispenser thing was not marked in the shower. There was blue stuff and green stuff. I used the bar soap instead. I both the blue and the green and still had no idea which one was shampoo, but I have short hair so it didn't matter.

Another note: One of the first things I do is inventory the refirgerator, take a picture of it stocked and check to make sure all of the bottles are sealed. I've never had a problem but have read horror stories on these boards about being charged for stuff that was missing. Just paranoid about it.

We showed up for dinner about 7:30 and waited about 20 minutes for a table for 8. The service was very slow. There was nothing on the menu (more on that later) and so I had the steak and as usual "rare" came back medium well, but I knew it would. I don't remember desert so it must not have been that great. We barely had time for desert when we were evicted from the dining room for the muster drill. There were several tables that didn't get desert and at least one of them was upset about it. The service really was slow.

The muster drill: just like every other drill. No need to actually wear the life vest. After the first long announcement it was repeated in Spanish and I was afraid that they would repeat every announcement in Spanish and it would take twice as long. But they only repeated the instructions on how to wear the vest. I speak Spanish, and when something like the muster drill is repeated in Spanish i have to listen to it twice. I think I would prefer it to be in German or Greek so I couldnt understand it, if that makes any sense. Did I mention the ADD?? The drill wasn't that bad and because it was already dark it wasn't too hot. Just once I would like to be on the side that gets released first. Just once.

Sail away from San Juan is second only to sail away from Miami. No one cares about sail away like I do, so only myself and my son's friend went up on deck. We started on deck but then moved to the "secret" deck on 10. I like that because you can see forward, and you can walk out onto the wings and look behind the boat. We stayed out there until we were well past the fort.

There was no show that night so after a sidecar it was bed time. Next stop, St. Thomas,

[dawnvan]

Really enjoying your review!! Thanks for taking the time!!