Come Join The Valor Voyagers 6/12/05 Western Caribbean

[Snowball]

Kathy - I send you an e-mail confirming my group for the cave tubing. :)

 

Has anyone made their reservation with Soto's for the stingray swim in Grand Cayman? I just made my reservations for my group of 6. I picked the 9:30 excursion, but put in a comment that I wasn't sure how ship time differs from island time,:confused: and would agree to take the later excursion if they didn't think we would be able to make the earlier one. :cool:

 

Marcy - sounds like our plans are identical in Cozumel. Going to Paradise Beach and parasailing next door. I'm hoping to go to Carlos N' Charlies that night too. ;)

[Marcys]

Debbie, since this is the only port I've ever been to late, I definately want to go out in the evening, too. With early seating that should work out well! Heard a lot about Carlos n Charlies! Looks like most of us have chosen early seating. I have mixed feelings about leaving the kids (13 & 16) on the ship. What are your feelings about this?

 

I still need to to make a reservation with Soto's. I definately want the morning excursion. Did you ask if we have a large group if they'll accomodate our ship time?

[Snowball]

Soto's said we would need to have a group of 30 to be able to get our own excursion and set our own times. :( I would prefer to have the early excursion because that would leave me with more beach time :cool: , but I will leave it up to Soto's as to which one should work since they are the experts and know what time the ships really get there.

 

I am not too worried about leaving Jasmine on the ship while I'm at Carlos N' Charlies, mainly because I usually don't see her too much in the evenings anyway. Right after dinner she gets ready for the teen dance then goes to the arcade with the rest of her new cruise friends with until it is time for the teen dance (which is one of her favorite activities during the cruise). On the Miracle I would arrange to meet up with her after the dance was over, which was around 10-10:30, and I'm sure we'll be back on the ship by then.

[Snowball]

I just checked, and Grand Cayman does not observe daylight savings time, so 9:00am arrival on ship's time will equal 8:00am in island time. So that will give us 1 1/2 hours from the ship's arrival until the early excursion. I'm not sure how long it takes to tender in Grand Cayman. Does anyone know if this sounds do-able?

[Marcys]

I've been to the Cayman's twice and tendering has been very quick. The ship is basically right there (maybe a half mile out) but just can't dock (I'm going to try to attach a picture showing this). But...I've only been there when there's been 1 or 2 ships in port. Anyone know how many ships are scheduled for the day we'll be there?

 

Couldn't attach a pic, message said file was too large! If there's another way of doing this, let me know!

[Snowball]

Marcy - you could always just put a link to the picture here, then we'll just click the link to see the pic. Just a thought.

 

I don't know how we could find out how many ships are expected to be in Grand Cayman that day. If it is a short tender ride to the pier then I definitely don't see a problem in us taking the 9:30 excursion, do you?

[Marcys]

So far, according to this link, there will be 4 ships in port on June 16.:(

http://www.caymanport.com/schedule.htm

 

The picture of the ship tendered in Grand Cayman is in My Pictures in My Docs, so a link won't work. I think passengers from all ships may be a little slow getting off their ships that day. I wonder if Soto's can tell us, based on their exprience with many ships in port, how things go? Does Carnival use tender tickets for the earliest tenders?

[Snowball]

Good morning everyone!! I just wanted to let you know that now you can register your reservation on Carnival's website. :D Before you couldn't do that if you were booked with a group, but I just tried and it worked. So then I assume that means that people booked with a group will also be able to pre-book any excursions we want to book through Carnival.

 

Marcy - I'm not sure how Carnival handles the tendering process, since this is the first cruise I've taken where I'll have to tender in to the ports. Maybe someone else can answer that question. :confused:

[Marcys]

Debbie, thanks for that registration information...I was able to log in and see only 171 days to go!

 

I'm wondering if Soto's can tell us how tendering and meeting up with them goes with that many ships in port. I would think this would be a problem for all their guests, not just those of us off Valor. I know there have been some changes in the use of Grand Cayman following the hurricanes. I would trust that cruise ship calendar more as we move closer to the date.

 

We are in the middle of a winter storm advisory, we had about 18" overnight and now it's warmed up to 34 and it's icing all over everything. We now have 18" of ice! The driveway and streets are a sheet of ice. Last night two teens in an 4 wheel drive SUV slide off the road into a ditch in front of our house. They were OK but had to be towed out.

 

While I wish I were leaving on a cruise this weekend, I would be real nervous about getting to the airport and about missed flights!

[lhall85917]

Marcy, we're in similar shape. We had about 8 inches of snow yesterday and another 8 last night. We have drifts up to the bottoms of our windows. Good thing we saw it coming Tues. and got all of our errands finished up. We are just in for the duration and trying to shovel the driveway a little at a time! This cruise can't come soon enough!

[Snowball]

Oh no! I really don't like snow, and feel so bad that you both have so much already. :( But at least now you have the perfect excuse to stay in, have a cup of hot chocolate, and surf around on cruise critic. :)

[Marcys]

Here's a copy of part of someone's post on the Ports of Call board about a recent trip to Belize. This person was on Legend and had booked Wet N Wild. I guess it wouldn't hurt to give this a try!

 

"HOT TIP: In order to get on an earlier tender, you go to the pursers desk and tell them you have a tour booked that is not with Carnival. They told us just to go to the Follies Lounge and tell them there and they will let us off on the first tender. So you CAN get off early! Just have your trip or tour confirmation print out with you."

[Marcys]

OK...three whole days and no posts here!!

 

Hope everyone had a happy and healthy Christmas and that Santa was good to everyone! What did y'all get? Anything for cruising?

 

Only 167 days left! The first full cruise on Valor should have returned this morning! Can't wait to read those reviews! Was this cruise eastern or western carib?? I guess we'll find out soon enough!

[cruiserkathi]

Happy holidays. Just checking in. My current count for the cave-tubing excursion is 17 (5 for Deb, 4 for Marcy, 5 for Sharon, 3 for me). Kim, let me know if you want to be added to the group. That would make 19 for our 20 passenger bus. I'll let Marvin know. Total cost: $51.00/each. I've made a $12.00/person deposit. We pay the remaining $39.00 the day of the tour. 10:00 meeting time (includes lunch). I haven't heard anymore from anyone regarding a Wet N-Wild excursion to Lamanai ruins. Marvin said if we have six ready to go at 10:00, Wet N-Wild will schedule the tour (6 hours total). The tender in Grand Cayman is short. We were there last summer and if I remember correctly island time was the same as ship time. That's why I was thinking of booking the 1:00 tour with Sotos. Re: Cozumel. Can you walk from Paradise Beach to San Francisco Beach? Do you remember the cost for parasailing? My son and daughter would love this. I'll get a few more details from Brad in Roatan. The last posting I saw re: the canopy tour listed a price of $35.00/person. Think I'll check for Valor reviews -- a good way to spend a cold winter day.

[FirsttimersCT]

I just got home from a week on the Valor. The ship is beautiful and huge. My family really enjoyed our first cruise. I will post a review soon

[sebastian01]

Yes, I am still interested in the cave tubing. Do you need us to send the deposit to you. You should not have to put up all the money by yourself. I feel for all of you that received all that snow this past week. Here in Alabama we had some cold weather, but by thursday/friday we will be back up in the high 60's. I grew up in Upstate New York, and I do not miss that weather at all. I am finally starting to get excited for the trip. It was just to far away when we first book. As we will be flying into Miami on Saturday, does anyone know of a good place to stay. I have not booked my airfare yet, still to high. Thanks for any information. Kim

[Snowball]

Kathy - I have one more person for the cave tubing, so we are now full with 20 people. I picked the early excursion for Soto's, since the ship will be on DST and the island will be on Standard time, which gives us 1 1/2 hours to get there in time for the 9:30 excursion.

 

It is so nice to see everyone getting excited about the cruise. :cool:

 

FirsttimersCT - can't wait to see your review!!! :)

 

Kim - I haven't booked my air yet either. I'm still planning on using Priceline for our hotel, but won't make definite hotel arrangements until after my air is taken care of. I'll post something here and let you know where we are staying after I have that booked. I'm flying in on Saturday too.

 

Marcy - I didn't get any cruise stuff for Christmas, but did get a gift certificate from my MIL so I can get the snorkeling gear I wanted. :D

[Marcys]

It looks like last week's sailing was to the eastern caribbean! We'll just have to wait onemore week to read the fist western reviews and find out the formal nights. The shows sound great, mixed reviews on the CD. Also want to hear more about the teen programs and facilities.

 

The first reviews are great. Here's a link to someone's slide show with some great pictures! http://www.photoshow.net/scripts_main/build/player.php?show=reXylELud

 

We just keep getting more and more snow. That just makes us want to cruise even more!!

[cruiserkathi]

Kim, I have you down for two and, Deb, I'll add one more. You're right, we're up to 20. I'll let Marvin know. Kim, don't worry about the deposit. It's just $12.00/person. Can't wait to read the reviews. I still haven't confirmed cabins yet. No airfares or hotel either. Share suggestions and tips.

[Snowball]

The review that I saw looks pretty good, especially considering that the ship is so new and the staff hasn't been working together for very long. Thanks for the link to the slideshow pictures Marcy!!! :D

 

Is anyone else thinking of using Priceline for their pre-cruise hotel reservations? I'm still kind of on the fence about whether to use them or not. :rolleyes: Either way, I'm not going to make my hotel reservations until after my air is booked.

 

My mini-vacation is almost over - it's back to work for me tomorrow. :(

[lhall85917]

I think the reviews seem very positive too. We may go with Priceline, but we won't book until after we get airline tickets either. There hasn't been any movement in air prices, they are still high for the dates we need. I check each day hoping that some bargain shows up - but not yet! :(

[Marcys]

Since we don't get into Miami until 9:30 Saturday night, I may choose an airport hotel so we get to sleep earlier and then take a taxi to the pier in the morning. Any recommendations on airport hotels?

[Snowball]

Marcy - this will be my first time staying in Miami, so unfortunately I can't help you with finding a good hotel. I'm still torn between staying in Miami Beach/South Beach or in downtown Miami. It will depend on how early our flights get into Miami, plus the price difference for hotels on those areas.

 

 

Believe it or not for our first cruise, which was out of Miami, we just flew in the same day of the cruise. We were so naive that we never thought that anything could happen that would result in us missing the cruise. :o From reading these boards, we now know better and fly in a day early. ;)

[lhall85917]

We will probably do the same as Marcy depending on flight times. Last year when we flew into Seattle we had a Priceline hotel at the airport the night before because we got in so late. It worked out very well (thanks in great part to these message boards and the wealth of information we found before going). We're hoping to get in early afternoon and have time to see Miami, hopefully staying in South Beach. I went to high school not far from Miami, but haven't been back in over 25 years, so we are hoping for flight times that give us some free time. Our main priority with the flights though are the price, so we will see what we can get.

We've always flown in the day before - mainly by dumb luck, not because we were being smart about what we were doing! This time, and from now on, it will always be the day before. Plus, who wants to be exhausted from traveling as soon as you get on the ship??!!

[Snowball]

Did anyone see the pictures that were posted by the piano bar player from the Valor? Click here for a link. Enjoy!!! :D