3/19-3/25 Valor Review

[HstTeacher]

My husband and I just returned from our first cruise on the Carnival Valor, western itinerary. I'll be breaking down my review day by day and will post as I get each section done!

 

Saturday, March 18th

We left early Saturday morning for our 8:30am flight from LAX to Miami. The flight was uneventful until we got to baggage claim in Miami. We waited over an hour for our bags! We finally got them and took a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the Port of Miami Holiday Inn, which is across from the Bayside Marketplace. We got settled in, then met Cruise Critic member WennFred (Fred) and his wife Wendy, who were also staying at the hotel. We all walked over to Bayside and ate dinner at Bubba Gumps. I had the cajan Mahi Mahi, which was very tasty! After dinner we walked around the marketplace a bit, then returned to the hotel to go to bed. We were exhausted after getting up at 4:30am.

[HstTeacher]

Sunday, March 19th

We got up around 8am, got ready, then headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Ben had the buffet, while I had eggs, potatoes and bacon. It wasn’t the best breakfast, but filling enough. We then found a local liquor store, and bought a bottle of Malibu Rum and pineapple juice for me, and a bottle of Jack Daniels for Ben. We returned to the hotel, put the bottles in our suitcase, then headed downstairs to catch a taxi to the port. We arrived at the port around 10:45am. We gave our bags to the porter, then headed inside the terminal. Embarcation went fairly smoothly, although I was surprised that they didn’t really check my passport or Ben’s birth certificate. We were on the ship by about 11:45.

When we got our Sail/ Sign cards, we noticed they gave us the 6:15 dining time in the Lincoln dining room, when we requested late seating. Thankfully when we entered the ship, we were right next to the dining room, so we went there first to speak to the Matre ‘d. He arrived at noon, and changed us to the 8:30 seating. While on that floor, we also made reservations for the supper club, Scarletts for Saturday night, we thought it would be a nice way to end the cruise.

Our room wasn’t going to be ready until 1:30, so we headed up to Lido deck to get some lunch in Rosie’s buffet. I had a small salad and ice cream, while Ben had a beer. The wait seemed to go by quickly. Once 1:30 rolled around, we walked over to our cabin, which was also on Lido deck. It was a balcony room, and was, in my opinion, the perfect location. We were right next to the glass elevators. We hung out in our room enjoying the balcony until the muster drill at 4:00. The drill went by quickly, when we got back to our cabin to drop off our lifejackets, our luggage was already there! First thing we did was to check if our alcohol made it on board….it did!!

We then headed towards the aft of the ship to meet with the people from our roll call. We looked for Fred and didn’t see him, so we headed up to deck 10 to get a better view of us leaving the port. That’s where we ran into Fred and a few other CC members. Unfortunatly, there weren’t too many of us that were able to find each other. We hung out with a few people for awhile, but then many had to go get ready for dinner. Ben and I just hang out until it was dinner time.

Our dining room was the Lincoln, which is in the center of the ship. We were seated at table 153, with a couple from Quebec. Our waiters were Mark from India, and Valeriej from the Ukraine. Mark was ok, not the most personable waiter, however Valeriej made up for him. He always had us laughing and wanted to make sure that we had a good time. I had the sweet/ sour shrimp, which was really good!

After dinner we headed to the 10:30 Welcome Aboard show. It was ok. The dancing was good, but I think they use the word “Fun” a tad too much; it got to be annoying. After the show we headed to the piano bar. This turned out to be our nightly hangout. Ron Pass was an outstanding entertainer. He always had the crowd going. I think we finally headed to bed between 12:30 and 1:00am.

[Wennfred]

We had a great time that night at Bubba Gump !!! Heres a picture of you 2 at the meet.

[HstTeacher]

Thanks Fred!! We had a great time too! We're just sorry that we didn't have your cabin number to meet later in the cruise. :( We kept looking for you but never found you again after Monday. I loved reading your thread when we got back too!! Tell Wendy we said hello!

[missliad]

Where was the liquor store you went to and do you remember what it was called? Thanks!

[bsdmhutch]

I had the maui maui at Bubba Gumps wher I was there in December and agree that it was very good. I would recommend Bubba Gumps to anyone who is going to eat at Bayside.

[HstTeacher]

Where was the liquor store you went to and do you remember what it was called? Thanks!

 

I don't remember the name of the store. If you're walking out of the Holiday Inn, you go right. You'll walk to the signal, then go right again. You'll enter a little neighborhood. I believe we walked to the next street, then turned left. The liquor store was on the right hand side. We asked one of the people inside the hotel and they gave us directions. It is easier to find than it sounds.

[HstTeacher]

Monday, March 20th: Day at Sea

We ordered room service this morning. It arrived at our requested time. We didn’t get anything fancy; I had cereal and orange juice, Ben had croissants and a banana with coffee. He said the croissants were especially good.

We took our time getting ready, and didn’t head out to Lido deck until around 11:00am. By that time the lounge chairs around the main pool were full. We sat in some regular chairs on the deck until two lounge chairs became available. We both went and got food in Rosies. I ended up with pizza and a ceasar salad that was pretty tasty. We laid out in the sun until about 1:30 or 2:00; by then Ben was getting bored, so we headed back to the cabin to change out of our bathing suits.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, we made our way around the ship exploring what we didn’t have a chance to look at the day before. Neither of us are gamblers, so we didn’t spend any money in the casino, but it seemed like there were quite a few people there. We walked around for a while, then headed back to the cabin for a nap.

We got ready for formal night, then headed down to the captain’s cocktail party. We went into the One Small Step dance club to get a free drink, then left because it was so crowded. We made the rounds and had many formal pictures taken before heading to dinner. Dinner was good this night as well. Everyone at our table ordered the lobster, which was good for being on the ship. I noticed that there were many different types of dresses. I think there was a pretty even mix between those that wore long dresses and those that wore short.

Following dinner, we went to the first Vegas-style production show. I can’t remember the title, but it focused on the music of all different nightclubs. Ben especially enjoyed the female dancers in thongs. I told him that they should have had the male dancers in thongs as well! J We both enjoyed tonight’s show a lot more than the Welcome Aboard show. We still weren’t ready for bed, so we spent about an hour in the Lindy Hop (piano bar) before heading to bed.

[nikita]

thanks for the review! So far it sounds like you are having a great time. Can't wait for the rest of it.

[HstTeacher]

Tuesday, March 21st: Grand Cayman

After a great sleep, we woke up early to get ready for our day in Grand Cayman. We booked the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour with Nativeway, so I was concerned that we won’t be able to get on a tender until later. We headed down towards the Ivanhoe Theatre between 7:15-7:30. After a very short wait, we were able to get onto one of the first tenders. After hearing so many horror stories, it was a nice surprise.

We arrived in Georgetown a little before 8:00am. We weren’t due to meet Nativeway until 9:00, so we walked around town. I got a smoothie and Ben got a breakfast sandwich in two of the shops near the pier. We looked at different souvenirs, but didn’t buy anything there.

After checking in at about 9:00. we met with the rest of the group that was also going with Nativeway. We all boarded a bus to head over to the boat; it was about a 10-15 minute bus ride. I believe there were around 20-25 people in our group. Upon boarding the boat, we took a short ride over to Stingray city.

They had a bit of a problem getting the boat into the correct spot to anchor it; it ended up taking about 20 minutes before we could actually get off the boat. It was frustrating because it cut back on our time in the water with the rays. When we finally got off, it was great. The water was shallow and warm. However, there were not as many rays as I expected to see. We did get to hold a ray, as well as give it a kiss and get a back massage. That was a lot of fun.

After we spent about 20 minutes in the water, it was time to go to our next stop. We headed over to a shallow reef about 5 minutes from Stingray city. Before entering the water, they took our lunch order. There was a fairly large selection of food to choose from. They told us it would be ready when we arrived at Rum Point. We ended up having about 25-30 minutes in the water there. I didn’t see a lot of fish, but the coral there was really pretty and the water was clear.

Once we were all aboard, we headed over to Rum Point. It was beautiful, with beaches and clear shallow water. When we arrived, our food was waiting for us. The portions were plenty, along with ice water and ice tea. There is a bar there as well if you wanted something else to drink. After a filling lunch, a group of us played a couple of games of volleyball. The two workers on our boat played with us too. It was a lot of fun! We were at Rum Point for about an hour, then it was time to head back. We left a little after 2:00, and arrived at the port around 2:45. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we got into the huge tender line to head back to the ship. There were no problems getting back to the ship on time.

Even though we had trouble at Stingray City, I would still book with Nativeway again. For $60 we got to see a lot in a short amount of time, plus lunch was included.

We boarded the ship and were hungry, so we got pizza and ice cream and went to our cabin. It was nice sitting on our balcony eating as we left Grand Cayman. We both took a shower, then took a nap before dinner.

Dinner went well again, although I can’t remember what I had to eat. After dinner we went headed over to the piano bar for a few hours. It was getting late, and we knew we had an early morning the next day, so we headed to bed.

[Sisters of the Sea]

Thanks for your review. It took me back to our Valor cruise a couple of months ago. We had the same waiters you did! Mark and Valeriej. We loved them! I agree Mark wasn't as outgoing as Valeriej but they took such good care of us. We also enjoyed "Mr V. the Matire 'd. Did you have him on your cruise?