review of Valor on 5/3 to Bahamas

[queenski516]

This is my first review on here so I will give it my best shot. I normally don't write things like this but since this was our first cruise and I depended so much on the reviews I read on here, I wanted to help anyone who was in my same spot! Just to get all the details out of the way, we decided to drive to port instead of flying. We made this a girls getaway trip and decided to leave the men at home. Two of us have been to Florida (Disney in particular) but one has not. She wanted to see something Disney so for sake of cost, we just decided to spend the night in Lake Buena Vista and checkout Downtown Disney area then drive to port in AM. Ok on to the good stuff!!

 

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, we were in the car starting our 15 hour trek from Pittsburgh, PA to Port Canaveral, FL. Everyone said "I can't believe yinz are driving all that way, just get on a plane!" Well unless those same people were shelling out the cash, driving it was!

 

 

So after the longest drive of my life, we FINALLY made it to our hotel near Disney. Man was it hot there (well to us anyway). We were used to the miserable, wet, cloudy, 50ish degree days back in PA. It was 80 and sunny. Now this is what we were waiting for!!! :D

 

 

Got all spiffed up and ready to head for Downtown Disney.

 

 

Can't stay out and play all night. Big plans for the next morning....WE'RE GOING TO THE BAHAMAS!!!!!!!!!!

[queenski516]

DAY #2:

 

We made it to Port Canaveral in about a hour after leaving Disney area.

 

There she is, the Valor-->

 

For anyone who is driving to Port Canaveral, we decided to use Park Port Canaveral. They were associated with the Radissson at the port. They do offer a stay and park option but we only needed the parking portion. Pretty reasonable. It was $8.95 a day and they shuttle you and all luggage right to cruise terminal door. They give you a piece of paper that serves as your return ticket for all in your party. When you get off ship, they are right outside the door waiting.

 

We ended up making it to the port at about 11:30am and we were on the boat in our room by 12:45pm. We got an email from Carnival about a month before cruising that offered us an upgrade from an oceanview on Riviera to a balcony on Panorama. Of course we accepted and we were VERY glad we did! I think we will all now be spoiled for our next cruise. Don't think I can do it again with anything less than balcony. Was so nice to be able to get up in the morning and sit on the balcony as the sun came up. Being on the Panorama deck (deck 10) was also very nice. We literally walked out of our door, made a right, and were right on Lido at the pool. Since we were on portside, it was also nice to be able to watch them get us all attached to the dock and put the gangway out. Also made it fun to watch the "runners" when we were getting ready to leave a port of call ;).

 

 

And we're off! We pulled out of Port Canaveral at exactly 4pm. Our original itinerary was to have the next day be sea day and then do HMC. Because there was of course a tropical storm (just our luck), we had a letter in our mailboxes outside the room saying we were going to do the itinerary backwards to avoid the storm that would be hitting HMC hard on the originally planned day. So off to Freeport it was!

 

 

Spent most of the first day just unpacking and getting organized. I read so many of the posts on here and other websites about things you ABSOLUTELY needed to bring. Well for anyone still reading this review, I will tell you that the two most important things for us during our cruise was our power strip and our over the door shoe organizer. With 3 women, all of us came with an arsenal of toiletries and "crap" which all fit nicely into the little pouches on the organizer.

 

We also met our room steward Sudi on the first day. Sudi was amazing. Everytime I walked out of my room, even if he was at the other end of the hall, he would literally run up the hall and ask me if everything was ok and if we needed anything. And may I add, he addressed me by name EVERYTIME he saw me. Pretty impressive.

 

[queenski516]

DAY #2:

 

We were in Freeport today. Everyone said Freeport was a port we shouldn't even bother getting off the ship. Of course I wasn't just sitting on the ship when we were in the freakin Bahamas! For anyone who hasn't been, it is a very industrial port. There are a few shops right at the dock but nothing much. You have to get in a taxi if you want to go anywhere.

 

 

We decided we wanted to head to the Port Lucaya marketplace for a while. Cost us $10 per person round trip. The taxi ride was pretty interesting. The squeezed 12 of us into this little van. Was about 15 minute ride to the marketplace. The driver gave us a little tour of the island while we were on our way. Told us a little history. Kind of got a two-for-one deal with the taxi ride!

 

 

After shopping, we walked across the street to the public beach. Not sure what the name of it was but had a little stand that sold fold and drinks. You could rent jetskis and banana boats too. As we were getting there, a man was just bringing up some starfish he just caught.

 

[queenski516]

DAY #3:

 

 

Today was Nassau & Cinco De Mayo! The weather when we got to port was anything but spectacular. It was dark and drizzling. We had booked and excursion for today. Good thing since it definitely wasn't going to be a beach day! We decided on the Historical Sights Tour. We got to sit in an airconditioned bus for 2 hours while the driver took us ALL over Nassau and gave us some history. Pretty neat if you like history. Got to see the cemetery that Anna Nicole Smith is buried at. Took us to the Queen's Staircase, drove us out to Cable beach (said it was up to us if we wanted to get out since it was now POURING). He showed us the big stadium they did the World's Relay at. Took us through the "ghetto" as he called it. Then toured us through the nicer area of town where the Dr.'s and lawyers live. Very interesting. Before we ended, we got to go to Fort Charlotte and do a tour there. That was very neat. We had originally planned to just get off the boat and find a tour guide on our own for cheap but we chickened out at the last minute and decided to just do one through Carnival. It was only $40 so it wasn't too expensive.

 

On our way back to the ship, he let us off at the straw market and we did some shopping. By this point in the trip, I was jonesing for some wifi to Skype my husband. A local pointed us in the direction of Sharkeez. The downstairs is a giftshop and if you go upstairs there is a bar. They make you buy something in order to get the wifi password. We just decided on a Coke. Even though it was overpriced, I think the $3 was well worth it to get the wifi (PS..they wont tell you the password, they make you pull it all up and then they enter it onto your phone themselves..sneaky sneaky)

 

 

Ok time to get back on the ship now that we were absolutely soaked to the bone. Gotta get ready for dinner! Have to give a shoutout to our waiters. They made us want to go to the MDR every night. We had Spikey, Carlos & Michael. Just like the room stewards, they knew us by name. By the 2nd night, they also knew our preferences (IE: bringing us 2 plates of lemons, having honey ready for tea, having the tea bag I liked already out waiting when he brought the tea cup).

 

 

Tonight was also Cinco De Mayo. After dinner, we had a Mexican Fiesta on Lido. That was a pretty good time. Did the typical line dances with a little "extra" flare. They threw mustaches into the crowd.

 

 

Ended the night at the comedy club. Comedian that night was Thea Vidale. Oh my, if you haven't seen or heard any of her stand up, look her up! The room was packed so full that people were sitting on laps and on the floor and standing along the walls. She was hilarious. She is VERY vulgar but absolutely hilarious!! After that, it was time for bed. Every night we couldn't wait to get back to the room to see what Sudi left for us!

 

[queenski516]

DAY #4:

 

Half Moon Cay today!

 

The weather in the AM as we docked was pretty nice. Nice clear skies, slight breeze, bright and sunny. Of course when it was time for us to go down to the boat to tender, it was getting a little darker and more breezy. We said ehh lets just go. That was the main port I wanted to see. I had read so much about how beautiful it was and had to see it for myself. The ride to the island from the tender was definitely a bumpy one!

 

Once we finally made it to HMC, first stop was to the beach before it got any worse weather wise. They were right, absolutely beautiful even on less than perfect weather day! The sand was like someone dumped out a bag of flour. I can't even describe the color of the water. It was so light blue and see through. Cold at first but once in it, got warmer.

 

 

This sign pretty much sums up HMC in one sentence....

[queenski516]

DAY #5:

 

Final day onboard & our sea day!

 

This post I will just tell attach some pictures of the ship & tell you about some of the things.

 

Food: I don't think we had one bad meal on the ship. Everything in the MDR was amazing. We didn't like the planned meal for that night so we order a steak instead. It was the most tender steak I have ever had. It was so tender, I was able to just use my fork to cut it. The chocolate melting cake is everything you could ever hope for in a desert. It is VERY rich and decadent so not sure how some of you managed to eat two in one sitting like I read somewhere on the forums. While onboard, we were celebrating my birthday early. When we originally booked, we did tell the PVP what day we wanted to do it. It never happened the night we planned so the others in my party told Pedro our maître d'. Carlos, Spikey and Michael along with a few others brought out a piece of cake with a candle in it and sang happy birthday. Pretty neat experience! The only thing I think we had that so gross it had to be spit out were these chocolate cake pops covered in pink icing. The icing was like a disgusting wax and the inside chocolate was the consistency of mush. Other than that, everything was good. There is no Guy's Burgers on the Valor. I think next year sometime maybe? If you wanted a burger though, they had the grill on the lido. You could get hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers. The rest of the food was behind that near Rosie's. Options were: deli, burrito bar, mongolian wok, italian, the carvery, american. Had them all, all very good!

 

Decor: The Valor decor is all Americana theme. The floor tiles in the main areas look like a distorted American flag. Little eagles all over the place. They even have the comedy club named The Eagles Lounge. They kept the ship pretty clean. Everywhere you went, there was someone cleaning.

 

Smoking: If you are a smoker like the other 2 in my group, the smoking areas are... inside the Paris Hot bar, deck 3 portside (right outside the guest services area), deck 10 starboard(I think?), and in the casino. There may be a few other places but those are where they generally went.

 

If there is something that you want to particularly see, please let me know! We were on a 5 day cruise and I literally just uploaded over 986 pictures onto my computer. So chances of me having a picture of something you want to see is pretty good!! Here are just come random ones:

 

[Bobblefrog]

What a fun trip you all had! Loved seeing the pics. Thanks so much for posting -

 

We're going to be on the Valor this next December and I appreciate the view of the sauna. Did you use it? Tried to use the one on the Fantasy one time but the lights were out (no window) and the front desk seemed clueless, just "oh they're broken again we guess" sort of shoulder shrugs - LOL.

 

Did you all do the slide? I'm looking forward to that as well - the Fantasy's is a closed tube and I found it claustrophobic - only did it once just to say I did it :-)

 

We did the same itinerary and enjoyed it as well. Was the drive home rough? We won't have as far as you did, but still a haul.

[queenski516]

Yes we did have a great trip! we actual did not use the sauna or steam room. There were so many things we wanted to do on the ship that we just didn't get a chance to do it all :( I did plan on making it down the slide but everytime I wanted to, there was always a million kids in line. Did look really fun though! And yes, the trip home was terrible. I felt like it took us 6 YEARS to get through West Virginia!

 

I hope you have an awesome trip! Let me know if you want to see something in particular!

[BuzzBuzzen]

Thanks for your 1st review ! Wonderful photos and fun commentary , you girls look like a fun bunch ! Cheers, Buzz.

[queenski516]

Thanks for your 1st review ! Wonderful photos and fun commentary , you girls look like a fun bunch ! Cheers, Buzz.

 

Thanks! All the reviews I read prior to the cruise helped us out so much. I just hope some of my review will be helpful to others who are looking for info!

[Bobblefrog]

I KNOW - the cruise is NEVER long enough!!!

 

I'm still debating whether to drive home the same day, or get a hotel room halfway ... our drive will only be 9-10 hours though. I used to drive all night to get somewhere but that when I was closer to your age :-)

 

I can only imagine that drive home, but glad you all made it safe and sound.

 

Let's see what other questions...how was the blow dryer? Adequate? How about the light at the vanity - adequate for make up?

 

Was the pool in the aft adult only? Or just the hot tubs? Enforced?

 

And Serenity...did you all take advantage of that? Oh and you didn't mention the fish and chips. Did you try that?

[queenski516]

I KNOW - the cruise is NEVER long enough!!!

 

I'm still debating whether to drive home the same day, or get a hotel room halfway ... our drive will only be 9-10 hours though. I used to drive all night to get somewhere but that when I was closer to your age :-)

 

I can only imagine that drive home, but glad you all made it safe and sound.

 

Let's see what other questions...how was the blow dryer? Adequate? How about the light at the vanity - adequate for make up?

 

Was the pool in the aft adult only? Or just the hot tubs? Enforced?

 

And Serenity...did you all take advantage of that? Oh and you didn't mention the fish and chips. Did you try that?

 

Yes VERY long drive. We thought about just staying half way through but then again, we juat wanted to get there!

 

Blow dryer was definitely not the one I had at home but it got the job done. Just took a little longer. Not sure if it is the same in all rooms but the blow dryer was attached to the vanity drawer. So you kinda just had to stay there with it. Also, no on/off switch in it. You held a button in the high/low position to keep it on.

 

Vanity light wasn't terrible but if you had all the lights in the room on, it was enough.

 

Pool on aft did have signs that said adults 18+ only. I don't think I even saw a kid back there unless they were getting pizza.

 

We were in serenity for a minute then went to get ready for dinner. Chairs/loungers up there were nice. They all had cushions on them. They also had these really big circle loungers that looked like 4 people could sit in. They had hammocks too!

 

I personally didn't try fish and chips but my friend did. She said it was pretty good!

[Bobblefrog]

Blow dryer was definitely not the one I had at home but it got the job done. Just took a little longer. Not sure if it is the same in all rooms but the blow dryer was attached to the vanity drawer. So you kinda just had to stay there with it. Also, no on/off switch in it. You held a button in the high/low position to keep it on.

 

We were in serenity for a minute then went to get ready for dinner. Chairs/loungers up there were nice. They all had cushions on them. They also had these really big circle loungers that looked like 4 people could sit in. They had hammocks too!

 

 

Thank you - I just put "fat rubberband" on my packing list to have something to hold down the switch with - tyvm!!! I have short hair so I'll deal. Hate having to pack a BD.

 

I am looking forward to the Serenity loungers...!

[Working 2 cruise again]

We are cruising the Valor this weekend, and are looking forward to it.

 

We live in SC and have family in PA near Bethlehem. I understand what you said about Virginia. We hate that state, it takes forever!

 

Glad ya'll had a great time on your cruise!

[vjt0001]

Great review! As a newbie in the very early stages of planning my very first cruise, I really appreciated your pictures and details!

[Out to sea!]

If you're on the Lido deck facing the big screen, to the left where you would normally find Guys Burgers I believe is where the hamburger grill is. What is to the right where you would normally find the Blue Iguana?

Edited May 12, 2015 by Out to sea!

[daisychain11]

Thanks for the review! It's nice to hear it from first time cruisers because everything is exciting! And I'm excited because I'll be on the Valor in just a few weeks!

 

I really did want to know about the fish & chips, so thanks for that info. One additional question - did they have deep fried clams too?

 

The shoe holder is a good idea the next time I go with girlfriends, although I'm usually a flip flop person.

 

AUGH - you made me so excited for my cruise and I have stuff I need to do!!!

[TamNMike]

Thanks for the review! It's nice to hear it from first time cruisers because everything is exciting! And I'm excited because I'll be on the Valor in just a few weeks!

 

I really did want to know about the fish & chips, so thanks for that info. One additional question - did they have deep fried clams too?

 

The shoe holder is a good idea the next time I go with girlfriends, although I'm usually a flip flop person.

 

AUGH - you made me so excited for my cruise and I have stuff I need to do!!!

 

We were on the same cruise and did go to the Fish and chips place -- didn't have the fish but I did see fried clams. The ceviche was AWESOME (altho heavy on the cilantro) and my hubby liked the tuna and watermelon salad. They also had VERY good bouillabaisse! This was our "appetizer" stop before lunch once we discovered it!

[Out to sea!]

We were on the same cruise and did go to the Fish and chips place -- didn't have the fish but I did see fried clams. The ceviche was AWESOME (altho heavy on the cilantro) and my hubby liked the tuna and watermelon salad. They also had VERY good bouillabaisse! This was our "appetizer" stop before lunch once we discovered it!

 

Waiting to go on the Valor but I thought on the Glory and Liberty it was fried oysters, not clams. Could be mistaken though.

[daisychain11]

Waiting to go on the Valor but I thought on the Glory and Liberty it was fried oysters, not clams. Could be mistaken though.

 

Oh, yes, I have read that it was fried oysters, not clams. Big difference to me. Bummed, but hey - I can still have cheesey fries at the burger joint.