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

[lhall85917]

I've got a place in the closet where I've started gathering cruise things - suntan lotion, bug spray, etc. I've also got my notebook together that I'm bringing - it has everything in the order that we will use it beginning with flight info, then hotel, then transportation, cruise, each port, etc. I put my highlighter in there already but don't want to put passports in until a day or 2 before leaving. Just waiting for docs to arrive so they can go in too!! I bought a couple of things to wear last weekend and hopefully more in the next week or 2 when DD comes home from school. I save them to wear new on the cruise too, I so rarely buy new clothes that I like to make sure to save them for the special occasion that I bought them for!

[TaraLynne]

[img]http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/galleries/2322/44476.jpg[/img]

See how close Fat Tuesday's is :o)

[Snowball]

Hmmmmmm I didn't know that Fat Tuesdays looked like a bright red X. :confused: :p


Sorry - the link didn't work. Do you have another one?

[parisolivia]

:) Horray for Fri. and payday. I have been putting stuff in a box, that I will take on the cruise. I have been doing this thing for about a month. I have a few of my clothing items, but cannot decide which shoes yet:confused: . I have even bought my cruise toothpaste and new toothbrush. You cannot go on a cruise with an old toothbrush:D . My DD is coming this afternoon and bringing her 2 sweet little girls with her. They are spending the night, because she is having a yard sale, with her friends, at my house. It looks like my house is going to be a whirlwind with the 2 little girls. I think Fat Tuesdays sounds good, and DH and I are all for walking back to the ship, just make sure you turn us in the right directions. You know how hard it is to find your way when your a little dizzy. Well better get my house ready for my guests, love when they come, but makes quite a mess after they go. Talk to you all real soon. Enjoy the weekend.

[Snowball]

Well, I'm back from shopping with my daughter today. Bought myself a new pair of sandals and a couple of cute tops, plus a semi-formal outfit for my daughter's dinner dance at school, which she can also wear to dinner on the cruise. Ahhhhhh Cruise shopping is so much fun!!! :)

I just hope this cruise gets here before I have to file for bankruptcy from shopping so much!!! :eek:

[francor]

Hello everyone, I have been to Cozumel many times. Last time I even rented a Jeep and went around the island. I prefer Carlos N Charlies, that's where the party is. Just a WARNING! I've seen many people being wheeled back into the ship. I mean literally being wheeled in a wheel chair back to the ship. Is very easy to get very drunk and very sick, so be careful. One thing they do at Carlos N Charlies is that they do a conga line with about three or four stations where they give you a free shot as you go by. Is a lot of fun! Also be careful with teenagers, there seems to be no drinking minimmum age so everything goes.

[VOLEYMOM]

Hi Tara, You must be the same age as my daughter, she is graduating from college also in May. I have been taking her shopping also for cruise attire!! Moms are really good for that. How can it be only 4 weeks to go. I am going to start laying things out also, and trying to decide what clothes to take. Just found a new black dress for formal night. Having it altered, it is always fun to get a new dress. Found some cute dressy shoes and some new capris.
I really think Carlos and Charlies is the most fun. You do have to be careful. I have seen people laying on the dock after their time there. They had to be helped back on the ship. Good thing we have Sharon. Did you see the post "live from the Valor"? I noticed that he posted that they were suppose to move their clocks ahead. Oh, here we go again with questions about time.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Take care.
Rebecca

[Snowball]

Hi francor!!! Thanks for the info on Carlos N' Charlies. I'm glad to see you made it over here to our roll call thread. :) We have a group website set up for everyone going on this sailing - here is a link [url="http://home.cinci.rr.com/valorvoyagers/"]http://home.cinci.rr.com/valorvoyagers/[/url]. That is where all of our "get to know you" info is at. There is a link on the first page there where you can e-mail our webmaster Sharon (one of the many hats she wears) and send her a short bio for your group. We are all very excited about this cruise and are thrilled that so many cruise critic members are going.


For everyone else - I just wanted to let you know there are a few new bio's on our group website, so make sure you check them out!!! :)

[TaraLynne]

That's weird...when I posted the picture, it showed up for the first few minutes, because I came back to check on it...oh well, it was just a picture I found online with Fat Tuesdays in the far right-hand corner and the cruise ships in the background.

I was actually supposed to graduate college in May 2004, but because of an internship I did with Disney, I was a semester behind (it was worth it, anyway). I graduated in December, but my school is small, so they don't have a commencement ceremony then...hence the fact that I'll be attending the commencement ceremony next week ;o)

[lhall85917]

Tara, I saw the picture when you posted it - don't know where it went though!
I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, looks like good weather here. We just finished spreading 7 yards of mulch :eek: and mowing, so now I can get cleaned up and enjoy the rest of the weekend. I also just wrote the check for our deposit for dune buggies in Cozumel with Eagle Ray Divers. We actually have plans in place now for all of the ports. I called Springhill Suites (in Fort Lauderdale) and asked for recommendations for transportation to the dock. We were going to go with BC's Express, but he didn't return several calls and now I've read that he has some financial difficulties. Springhill recommended someone that works through them and he will take us roundtrip for $25 each. Thats just slightly higher than renting a van was going to cost us, so we are working on finalizing things with him. I figure worst case scenario - he doesn't show up, we take Springhill's shuttle back to the airport and hop on Carnival's transportation.
Happy Mothers Day in advance to all of you. We haven't heard from Chad lately, I guess he was overwhelmed from all of the girl talk? :p

[TaraLynne]

Does anyone know about prices for the spa (massages and the like) on the Valor??? I just don't feel like calling Carnival to ask...I know, I'm lazy...but I'm on my computer at the moment, so I figured I might as well check here!

[VOLEYMOM]

Tara, last time I was on a cruise the prices were about $110 for a one hour massage, pretty expensive. It is fun having one on the ship and totally relaxing. I do find that they try and sell you all sorts of stuff after any treatment. I usually tell them right up front I am not buying anything. My daughter and I are getting a massage in Cozumel. If you are going to a beach many times they have a massage person there. I am booking with Cozumel Sally. The prices are much cheaper.
How fun having an internship with Disney. My daughter attends a small college also and they only have one graduation in May.
Sharon I just rented a van through Alamo and used Costco coupons and it is only costing us $52.00. It will be a little bit of a pain returning it to Miami. My husband will drop us off and then take their shuttle back.
Thanks for keeping the website up and running it is fun to see everyone.
Rebecca

[Snowball]

[quote name='lhall85917']We haven't heard from Chad lately, I guess he was overwhelmed from all of the girl talk? :p[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, Chad is no longer a cruise critic member. :( I'm hoping he is still following our thread, and that he shows up for our onboard meet and greet on embarkation day. :)

[emarismom]

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL!!!!

I hope everyone has an enjoyable day! I'm going to go shopping a little later with both of my kids. I told them all I want is good behavior for today:rolleyes: . Not sure it will work, but it's worth a try. Then later we will be going out for sushi. I'm hoping that today I can buy some more things for the cruise. 5 weeks from today!!!

[Corl4]

Happy Mother's Day everyone! HOpe you all have a special day!

Sounds like lots of you have been shopping and getting your "piles" organized! I have nowhere to go with my piles since DD just moved home from college for the summer! I'm not sure how she accumulated more stuff than she took with her! It's going to be several days until she has everything organized so maybe I'll start thinking about "piles" once all her stuff is put away!

Tara - I'd love to hear more about your internship with Disney. DD just finished her freshman year and that is something she is really interested in. Maybe she can talk to you about it once we're all on board!

We're probably going to spend part of the late afternoon at Carlos and Charlies. As I said before, once all the ships start to leave in the early evening, C&C isn't nearly as much fun. We were there once on a Disney cruise and as a special treat for the crew, the captain stayed in port until 11...they usually leave at 7. All the people in C&C that evening were the crew and a handful of passengers...not as much fun as in the afternoon when it's packed and everyone is partying! Maybe Fat Tuesdays will be hopping in the evening...and we can just stumble back to the ship instead of worrying about a cab!

Michelle - I LOVE sushi...had some yesterday in NYC! Tuna is my favorite! I hope the sushi on the ship is good! Enjoy and I hope your kids are on their best behavior!

Have a great day everyone!

Beth

[Corl4]

Check out this picture of Fat Tuesdays at the dock.....

[url]www.thesapps.com/caribbean/cozumel_welcome.jpg[/url]

Sorry...its didn't work...I'll try again!

[Corl4]

OK...we'll try this again:

[url]www.thesapps.com/caribbean/cozumel/cozumel_welcome.jpg[/url]

[Marcys]

I could see the picture this time. Staying at the dock will give us more time, we won't have to worrying about leaving CNC's to allow enough time to get back.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

[TaraLynne]

Thanks for the info on the spa...I love massages but I knew I wouldn't be able to afford one on the ship...not if I want to do everything else I have planned! I was actually asking about it for my mother...she's not the most computer literate person in the world, so I told her I'd try to find some info for her.

For those of you who want to hear about my internship with Disney...I feel kinda bad talking about it here, so I'll keep this short...if you want more information, feel free to email me at [email="ickletarakins@aol.com"]ickletarakins@aol.com[/email]. I did the Walt Disney World College Program ([url="http://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com"]www.wdwcollegeprogram.com[/url]) in the Fall of 2001. I was a first semester sophomore in college. I am happy that I did the internship when I did, because I had a blast, met tons of amazing people (including the man I ended up marrying), and grew up a lot. However, for any college kid who enjoys the party lifestyle, I would suggest waiting until you are 21 to do this internship, because they do have strict rules about drinking (i.e., if you get caught drinking in the apartments they provide, you will be terminated if you are under 21). I worked at the attraction Pirates of the Caribbean in Magic Kingdom that Fall, and actually went back and did another program during the Summer of 2002 (the summer programs are for alumni only, but there are many possibilities for school credit with the semester internships...I actually got credit for it originally, but then I changed my major, and when I did that, the credits that I had earned apparently "didn't count" anymore...gotta love college). Anyway, I was a campus representative for the internship for my last couple years of college, and now I'm a seasonal employee with Disney. I love the company, and the Walt Disney World College Program has a big place in my heart :o) Anyway, sorry this was a little long, and it doesn't even begin to explain the internship...so if anyone has any more questions, feel free to email me!

[VOLEYMOM]

Happy Mothers Day everyone. Hope you all had a great day. I had a wonderful one with all my family. My poor husband cooked crepes for everyone. Tara, that sounds like a wonderful experience.
Debbie, did you read the post from "live from the valor"? Maybe I missed some of our posts about the time difference, but he noted that they changed their clocks back one hour. I guess that puts us on Eastern Standard Time.
That makes more sense to me. Do you know is Roatan on Central Time?
Have a great week everyone. Take care.
Rebecca

[Marcys]

Hi francor, welcome to our Roll Call!!

We finally had a gorgeous weekend. Clear blue skies and high 70s. Today may actually hit 80!! Spent Mother's Day weekend doing what I always do...kids sports and chauffering! But, I enjoy that. it's what makes me a mother!!:)

[Snowball]

Good morning everyone!!! I hope you all had a nice Mother's Day. :)

[quote name='VOLEYMOM']Debbie, did you read the post from "live from the valor"? Maybe I missed some of our posts about the time difference, but he noted that they changed their clocks back one hour. I guess that puts us on Eastern Standard Time.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I saw that he wrote that. I must admit that the whole time difference thing is driving me crazy. First they change clocks, then they don't. Then DST takes effect and they still don't change the clocks, but now all of a sudden they do. You would think that they would know how to handle the time difference by now. :mad: There are two more western sailings before ours (May 15 and May 29), so hopefully they'll figure out what they are doing so we'll know what to expect by the time our cruise gets here. :rolleyes:

I think Roatan is on Central time, but you should check the time converter on our group website to make sure.

[lhall85917]

Happy Monday Everyone!
I think the time thing will just drive us insane until we actually go through it, then its too late!
I received this email from Brian that does the Cruise Calendar - its the site where you can check to see how many ships are in port with you each day. Seems nice -

I noticed you had a link to my page, CruiseCal.com on your page for your Valor Voyagers cruise.



I set up a page just for your cruise:
[url]http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/Default.aspx?tabid=400[/url]
Mainly, it has a Calendar for your cruise showing the other ships in port.

It also shows the weather for the ports you are visiting.

[VOLEYMOM]

I think I finally figured out the time they use on the Valor. I just received an e-mail from Victor about our tour in Roatan. He said the Valor docks at 6:00 a.m. Island time which is 7:00 a.m. ship time. According to posts the clocks are put back the first night, which puts us back on Eastern Standard Time.
It really was alot easier last year on Celebrity. They moved our clocks until we were on Island time. Never had to worry about missing the ship. Oh well, thanks again for the reminder about our conversion clock. Forgot all about that!
Rebecca

[VOLEYMOM]

Thought I better bump us up! We don't want to get lost! More shopping today, must stop! Off to Michigan for waterpolo, have a great rest of the week everyone!

Rebecca