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

[lhall85917]

Now I'm really jealous - Southwest doesn't work for us at all, their fares aren't comparable to what I can find closer to home. But...what I'm finding now isn't working either. Still at $206 - I'm sooooo trying to be patient, but I'm tempted to just book it and forget it, don't want to though, then I'll kick myself when it comes down, which I think/hope it will! :eek:

And, I'm also jealous of Beth - we have school tomorrow. :mad: We are off Monday, so I'll just have to take that!

[Snowball]

Beth - that is so cool that we'll be on the same flight on the way down to FLL!! :)

Sharon - I am so sorry to hear that you still haven't been able to find good airfare prices. :( Hopefully prices will drop for you soon. Most of the major carriers out of Philly now have specials up to the middle of May, so maybe in the next few weeks something will pop up for you.

I haven't bought any cruise clothes yet. I really won't need much, and I am still on my diet (lost 15lbs so far! :D) and don't want to buy anything too early in case it ends up not fitting when the cruise gets here.

I'm glad Friday is finally here. I have off on Monday too - and my daughter and hubby don't so it will be a day to myself. I'm really looking forward to it! :cool:

[Marcys]

I'm going to try to post/attach canopy tour pics that I just received from Sandra at TropicalRez. Let's see if I know how to do this.

Wouldn't work. If anyone is really interested, I could trying e-mailing them. Oh well! The one thing I noticed about these pics was that no one was wearing a helmet. In the Tabyana Beach canopy pics, isn't everyone wearing helmets? Or am I worring over nothing?

[ChadGates]

Hello Voyagers!!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!!

Voleymom...AstroWorld is the old name for the present day Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston and Six Flags is in Dallas.
The shore excursion we booked is through [url="http://www.coralbreezeunlimited.com"]www.coralbreezeunlimited.com[/url] and it is called the shark/ray alley tour. Their website can explain it better than me! LOL We have done this same tour before and had an absolute blast!!!

[lhall85917]

Oops - I went back and read yesterday's post and boy, did I sound cranky! :( Sorry about that - I meant it tongue in cheek, but I don't think it came across that way!
Anyway... I just read another nice review of the Valor, sounds like all of the ports are wonderful and worked out very well. It did make me worry about the one room that we have that isn't a guarantee, its on the same floor as the one written about and they mentioned that it was noisy in the evening. I hope we don't have to worry about noise.
Everyone enjoy your weekend - we're going to Milwaukee to visit our daughter at school, so may not be online until Monday.

[Snowball]

Sharon - I didn't think you sounded cranky, just frustrated - and understandably so. I felt bad for being so obnoxious in my excitement about getting my airfare. :o Have fun visiting your daughter at school!

[VOLEYMOM]

Hi everyone!! Happy Friday. I am so glad it is finally here, but this rain is enough to drive us crazy!! We have had more than double our normal, it wrecks my business, all or our roads are a mess, ugh. Potholes the size of Californa, and I really feel for all the people losing their home as they slide down mountains.
Debbie congrats on getting your airfare. At least you get to get down to Florida nice and early. Still checking which airport to use with the best times. It seems like going there Southwest has a lot of layover time. Coming home seems better. Since you have been on a Carnival ship do you think 1:00 is to early for a flight? On all the cruises we have been on we have never gotten to the airport later than 10:00. I do have my hotel booked. Will stay at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Laud since we get in about 8:00p.m. Big Congratulations for losing the weight!! I am only down 7 lbs!! but I figure that is better than nothing!
Chadgates, thanks for the tour info. I will check into it for sure. I kind-of figured that Astro World was in Texas. Do you still live there?
Sharon if you use Travelocity you can plug in your city into their Trip Advisor and then it e-mails you when the rates go down. You need to book though immediately. My husband is going to Chicago on business, he was on the internet booking his fare, 1 minute later it was $100.00 more!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

[Snowball]

Rebecca - a 1:00pm flight should be fine. I've always been off the ship by around 10am, sometimes earlier. Since I am now staying in Miami for one night after the cruise, I am going to try to enjoy the ship for as long as I can and be the last one off. :p

I booked my post-cruise hotel through Priceline last night. I got two rooms at the Four Points Sheraton (a 3 star hotel) on Miami Beach for $55 each. :D After checking around it the cheapest price I saw online was $119 a night, so it looks like I got a great deal. The hotel has pretty good reviews on trip advisors - only complaints about slow valet service (which won't impact me) and some unfriendly desk clerks. The pictures of the hotel look really nice and it is right on the beach, and 2 miles from South Beach. Now I just have to work out the details for my pre-cruise hotel and my shuttle or limo service.

[Corl4]

Good morning!

Rebecca - Just saw all the rain in California on the Today show. Hope it stops soon. We spent several weeks in Palm Desert when DD was in high school. She played in the National Field Hockey Tournament out there....what a beautiful area! Our kids would love to go back but given the option of a Cali vacation or a cruise.....cruise wins every time!


Debbie - Sounds like you got a great rate on your hotel! We have Marriott points so we'll probably stay in FLL at the Springhill Suites. There's a Dave and Busters right across the street so the kids will be happy! DD (19) even loves all the games!!

Thanks goodness we didn't have school yesterday...I would have had to take a day off. Came down with the flu on THursday evening...pounding head, sore throat, achy! I haven't been sick in several years but this year I've gotten hit twice this month. With so many kids sick at school it's no wonder!

Sharon - You didn't sound grouchy! DIdn't mean to rub in the fact that we had several days off! Theses are actually snow make-up days but since we didn't have any days off due to snow, we had an extra long weekend. But did you ever notice that the shorter weeks always seem longer?!!

Does anyone know anything about the Lost World Canopy tour in Belize? It's not listed on the website to pre-book. Could it be an excursion that has to be booked on the ship?

Have a good weekend everyone...I'm headed back to bed!

Beth

[VOLEYMOM]

Debbie, good job using Priceline. That sounds like a great deal. I have always save quite a bit using them and really no complaints where we have stayed. I am using points for the Embassy Suites so more money to spend on our cruise!!

Beth no comparison, cruise over California everytime would be my pick also! Sorry you have the flu again, it has hit pretty hard around here the last few weeks. I know I have mentioned this before but go buy some Airbourne. You can get it a Trader Joes (if you have these stores) or even now at Sav-on or other type of drug stores. We have been using it for the last few years and really find it helps fight off those bugs. Exspecially use it when we fly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

[emarismom]

Beth, I'm with you!! Thank goodness for long weeekends!! I teach as well and these weekends are necessary!! I did have to go in on Friday but it was a planning day, so it wasn't bad. Sorry to hear you've been sick. The kids here have all been sick as well.

Your email about the old woman and the nursing home was so cute!! I hope you sent it to everyone.

Debbie, So glad to see you finally have all your travel plans in order!! I'm sure thats a big reilef for you.

Yesterday we had a little birhtday party for my son(he turns 9 on Tuesday)
Anyway he got 3 bathing suits and a pair of flip flops. So he is ready for the cruise. When I told him all he needed now was suit for formal night he wasn't thrilled.;)

Everyone have a great weekend!!!

[Snowball]

I finally got the go-ahead from my SIL's friends to book our pre-cruise hotel through Priceline, and I ended up with the same Miami Beach hotel. It is the Four Points Sheraton - listed as three stars - for $55 per room. I tried bidding at $50 and $53, but they were both rejected.

I thought I'd let you know in case any of you are planning on using Priceline for your pre-cruise stay. If you bid for 3 stars and Miami Beach maybe you'll end up at the same hotel. :)

Beth - Thanks for sending that e-mail to me - it was a hoot!!! I'm sorry to hear that you are sick again. You are better off getting rid of those germs now rather than around cruise time. I hope you feel better soon.

We're expected to get 3-5 inches of snow tonight. I can't wait for spring to get here. :(

[cruiserkathi]

Just booked our airfare -- Indy to Fort Lauderdale for $163.00 round trip. Now I have to decide how to get the four of us from FLL to Miami and the pier. Snowball -- sounds like you're going straight to Miami. We're flying in 6/11 and departing 6/20. Need information on shuttles/taxis, etc. Should we go directly to Miami and stay there? Help. Need suggestions. I envy those of you with a day off tomorrow. Please tell me what to do and how to do it. Thanks. (Notice -- I've had no problems getting on the boards lately.)

[Snowball]

Kathy - I am flying into Fort Lauderdale, and staying in Miami Beach for my pre and post cruise stays. I e-mailed a few shuttle and limo companies today to get pricing from the airport to the hotel. I'll let you know if I find any good deals. I may just take a taxi from the hotel to the port - I called the hotel and they said a taxi should run around $20-25 to the port, and I doubt that a shuttle company would be any cheaper. Where are you staying at before and after the cruise?

[VOLEYMOM]

Good Monday Morning everyone. Hope all that have a day off is enjoying it!! Debbie, when you find out the prices would you please post them. I need to check on prices after the cruise. Trying to figure out if it is better to use the Carnival shuttles back to Ft. Lauderdale or use another shuttle service.
Chadgates, I could not get the website to come up that you gave me for Belize. I was reading about the river and ruins tour which sounded interesting.
Marcy, definitely want to do the zip line in Roatan through the people you found. Sounds like too much fun. Your original price is great.
Everyone, enjoy your day off!
Rebecca

[ChadGates]

[b]VOLEYMOM,

Sorry about that. The website is [url="http://www.coralbreezelimited.com"]www.coralbreezelimited.com[/url].


coralbreeze UNLIMITED would make better sense though!:D [/b]

[Snowball]

Now we are thinking about renting a car for our pre and post-cruise stays. It would probably end up costing us less than having 4 shuttle or taxi rides - airport to hotel, hotel to pier, pier to hotel, and hotel to airport. Plus then we'd be able to visit different places in Miami without worrying about even more taxi fees. I just have to see which car rental places also provide a free shuttle to and from the port of Miami.

[lhall85917]

Kathi, your airfare sounds great - what airline did you go through and what dates?
Sounds like everything else is starting to come together for everyone. We just got home, so I'll be online tonight hunting for airfares again!!

[VOLEYMOM]

Hi Sharon, welcome back. Hope your daughter is doing well. I bet it was nice to see her. I get to go to Santa Barbara next weekend and watch my daughter in a waterpolo tournament, so am looking forward to that. Sure do miss them when they leave home.
Chadgates, thanks for the website. Checking it out now. Which tour did you do again? The shark, stingray one? Oh, so hard to decide. Thanks!
Well, trying not to wash away. We have gotten more rain this year than Seattle. We should all be glad we are not on a cruise ship leaving from S.D. or L.A. to the Mexican Riveria. Not to great of weather for that!
I can't wait for our sun and fun in the Caribbean!
Take care everyone.
Rebecca

[parisolivia]

Hi everybody, this is the first time for using this site. I hope I am in the right place. My husband and I are going on the 6/12/05 cruise on the Valor and I was wondering If I could see how you are all doing. We live in Pa., and will be flying to Miami the day the ship leaves. Any suggestions from anyone will be helpful. thanks:)

[ChadGates]

Hello ParisOlivia, Never stayed at a hotel in Miami so I cant help you but welcome!!:)


VOLEYMOM, We take the shark/ray alley tour and I think the guys name we book it with is Paul. The tour is really good. They describe it on the website.

[Snowball]

Hi parisolivia and welcome!!! :D Where from PA are you from? I am from Philly and have a few friends and family going on this cruise too. Is this your first cruise? What kind of questions do you have? We will be more than happy to try and answer them for you.


We have a website just for people sailing on this cruise - [url="http://home.cinci.rr.com/valorvoyagers/"]here is a link[/url]. It has all of our "get to know you" information, plus stuff about the different ports, copies of the daily cruise capers, etc. You should check it out - there is a link on the first page where you can e-mail your info to our webmaster Sharon.

[parisolivia]

Hi again, Please be patient with me cause I really do not know what I am doing. We went on a cruise 5 years ago with Carnival and loved it, now we are trying this one. We live in central Pa. 30 minutes from Penn State. I was really glad to find this site and know you all are talking about your cruise.:D

[Snowball]

Well I'm glad you decided to join in the pre-cruise fun! Like I said, feel free to post any questions you have and we'll do our best to try and answer them for you.

Do you have any excursions planned for the ports yet?

[parisolivia]

My husband thinks it is to early to choose your excursions, but I do not. We would like to try the cave tubing and maybe do a beach excursion and I am not sure what else and where to look to get these booked beforehand.:rolleyes: