Elation or Valor?!

[Princesstcase]

Ok I need your serious opinion! I am going back and forth between these two and I need help deciding!!! If you could, tell me which one of these cruises would you go on and why? This will be for my honeymoon so keep that in mind! Thank you!

 

Option 1: 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Valor. Ports include: Belize, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman and Honduras. Ocean view room

 

Option 2: 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Elation. Ports include: Half Moon Cay Bahamas, St. Thomas, San Juan Puerto Rico and Grand Turk.

 

I am really confused on which cruise I want to go on as I have never cruised before and I want our honeymoon to be something to really remember!!

[honeymooneronValor06]

Hi there, I am a first-timer (honeymooner too!) and I chose the Valor.... mostly because the ports seemed a bit more exotic and I loved the excursions available for the ports. I have been told that I made a great choice, but I won't know until November. :)

[salty dingo]

I did Valor this Spring, and am doing Elation in the Fall. So, my advice has to be: do both!!! They are both great ships.

[Princesstcase]

LOL! Oh man I wish I could do both at the same time!! There are many things I like about each one!! Its so hard to choose!!

[BlueJacketsFan1]

My wife and I sailed on the Valor last October and had a wonderful time. It is one of the newest ships Carnival has. For your honeymoon we sailed on the Triumph and had the time of your lifes. Go with the Valor for sure. It is by far a lot newer and also a much larger ship. Good luck

[silentbob007]

I liked the Valor when I was on it (Eastern, though).

[scejas]

Valor by far! The ship is beautiful and the ports are excellent! I did the western last Sept. and rebooked the same itn. (with the exception they changed Cozumel to Costa Maya)... you gotta get on the ship....

[JoeSmooga]

Gotta disagree... if you are choosing a cruise simply off of the ship itself, the Valor will win 9 times out of 10 because it is a newer, bigger ship. While I have not been on the Valor, I have been on the Victory (sister ship) and it is quite beautiful. I have also been on this Elation itinerary, so I feel as if I have a subjective point of view.

 

For me, it comes down to itinerary, and the stops that the Elation makes far excedes those that the Valor will be going to in the west. The two newest stops (HMC and Grand Turk) are stunning. You get a rare daytime stop in San Juan, and a FULL day in St. Thomas.

 

If you want to get down to the +/- of each ship, these are my observations (tilted in the direction of the Elation... I am biased when it comes to this ship :) ).

 

- The Elation is smaller... no denying that. BUT, smaller does not mean that it's like taking your uncle's fishing boat out on one of the Great Lakes... it is still a LARGE ship. It doesn't matter if you are on a Fantasy class ship or one of the new mega-liners... if the seas are rough, you are going to feel it. The roughest seas I have ever dealt with were on the Triumph, which is HUGE compared to the Elation.

 

- Bigger ships = more people on board. More people on board = more people likely to be looking to do the same thing you are doing. Be prepared for more Chogs (deck chair hogs) and longer lines at any place you should eat outside of the main dining rooms on a larger ship compared to the smaller ones.

 

- The main amenities are all there on the Elation. Other than FunVision and a Supper Club, I can't think of anything you will be missing on the Elation that will be on the Valor.

 

- Finally, if it's me and my honeymoon I was worrying about, knowing what I like and dislike, I feel as if the smaller Elation gives you a much more intimate experience without "ruining" yourself from future cruises. As I eluded to before, bigger ships = more people. Conversely, smaller ships = less people. There will be a third less folks on a Fantasy class ship, and my opinion is that you will have MORE opportunities to do things both independently and via ship excusions on the Elation that the Valor. A example... off the back of Tiffany's (the Lido resturaunt on the Elation), there is a quiet place outside and out of the wind with a few tables and chairs setup that the two of you can enjoy breakfast in the morning... the is MY FAVORITE feature of all ships I have been on... I can enjoy a cup of coffee looking out over the ocean and see the wake the ship is leaving behind it all the way until the end of the horizon. Also, I'm guessing you will be like most folks who will get hooked on cruising after your first trip (we did). My biggest concern for you is that by starting off on the Valor, you may have this sense that you would not ever go on another cruise on a smaller ship, and you would miss out on a lot of what the ships in the Fantasy class has to offer just because of the size. These ships are located in MANY different ports across the US and provide 3, 4, 5, and 7 day trips that many of the mega-liners won't do. Down the road you may want to do one of these... don't let the experience of a large ship taint your view of what other possibilities may exist in the future.

 

Whichever ship/itinerary you choose, you will have TONS of fun! Good luck shopping for the honeymoon of your dreams, read A LOT of threads here on CruiseCritic to get everyones perspective, and most of all, the best of luck to the two of you as you start your new life together!

 

Joe

[centralcalicruzer]

"Chogs" - I love it! Hadn't heard that one before. It is my new word for the week!:)

[Caribbean Dad]

I would have to agree with much of what Joe had to say. One minor nit/correction. Victory is a Triumph Class ship, a smaller cousin to Valor, which is a Conquest Class ship. Currently, the Conquest class is the newest and largest Class in the Fleet. The layout is very similar to that of the Triumph Class, but its larger design allows for the addition of the Fish-n-Chips and Super Club. The possible downside, depending on your point of view, is that it also allows for more PAX.

 

As far as choosing a smaller ship for a Honeymoon, I couldn’t agree more. We chose Celebration for ours, and found it to be a much more intimate setting than the larger ships. The main advantage to starting with Celebration is the fact that we can really appreciate what it has to offer. We have since sailed ships in the Spirit, Triumph, and Conquest Classes, but because of our experience on Celebration, wouldn’t think twice about booking on a smaller ship.

[JoeSmooga]

I would have to agree with much of what Joe had to say. One minor nit/correction. Victory is a Triumph Class ship, a smaller cousin to Valor, which is a Conquest Class ship.

 

You are correct... thanks for the clarification Dad! :) I was thinking Victory/Valor when it is supposed to be Victory/Triumph. When you are dealing with those ships, you are correct... very little difference between them, but a real drop off to Fantasy class and older.

 

Joe

[bimms]

To Caribbean Dad, I am doing the Valor in December,Eastern itinerary.What do you sugest as far as excurtions.I looked at your pic's it looks like you did some snorkeling which is what we want to do.

[bimms]

I would love to hear more about your excursions,your pic's look great.We want to go snorkeling as much as possible.

[angelkisses]

Half Moon is PARADISE! This most beautiful place I have ever been but I really want to go to Belize sometime. It's your honeymoon .... either ship will be perfect and you will enjoy the intimacy of the smaller ship!!! The Eastern ports are very romantic. If you are looking more for adventure perhaps you should go Valor and Western Caribbean. Either way, you can't go wrong.

[Caribbean Dad]

Joe

 

If you get the chance, you should try one of the Spirit Class ships. I am not opposed to doing a Fantasy Class ship, but the lack of balconies is one major drawback. (C-Mom and I are full fledged balcony addicts……and darned proud of it. :D ) I’m sure at some point the time will come to try one out though. The Spirit Class, on the other hand, seems to be kind of a happy medium between the Fantasy Class and the behemoths. Much bigger ship, but not much for lines, and it doesn’t have that overcrowded feel to it.

 

bimms

 

The snorkel pics are from the St Tomas stop. We did the Catamaran Champaign Snorkel excursion through Carnival. It takes you across the open sea to just off of St John. We had a blast. It would have been even better if the sun had staid out. Weather was an issue for the first half of the trip. We were notified at embarkation that Nassau was being cancelled and being replaced with San Juan. This did not sit well with C-Mom because we had pre-booked the Dolphin excursion for Nassau through Carnival as well. It worked out ok though, because we ended up doing Senor Frogs in San Juan. So I don’t really have any advice when it comes to Nassau other than to check out the “Ports of Call” boards.

 

I know that St Maarten offers great snorkeling. Once again, check the PoC boards for the best spots. Next March will be our 4th trip to St Maarten in 5 cruises. We are constantly threatening to move there. We usually use that day as the one where we just chill out and really spend some time checking out the town. This time maybe we will spend more time checking out the rest of the island. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even make it to Orient Beach. ;) :D

[Wennfred]

Ok I need your serious opinion! I am going back and forth between these two and I need help deciding!!! If you could, tell me which one of these cruises would you go on and why? This will be for my honeymoon so keep that in mind! Thank you!

 

Option 1: 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Valor. Ports include: Belize, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman and Honduras. Ocean view room

 

Option 2: 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Elation. Ports include: Half Moon Cay Bahamas, St. Thomas, San Juan Puerto Rico and Grand Turk.

 

I am really confused on which cruise I want to go on as I have never cruised before and I want our honeymoon to be something to really remember!!

 

For sure the Valor because I was on her this past March and hit those same ports, Wendy and I had a great time, Checked out some Howling Monkeys in Belize, Stingray city in Caymans, Scuba Diving in Isla Roatan and kicking back on a private beach away from everyone in Costa Maya, one of the best cruises ever. I would do it again any day of the week:D

 

I have never sailed on Elations so I can't say much about that ship nor its ports.

 

Fred

[rt63]

My wife and I are booked on Valor Nov 12, we're looking forward to it. Given the two choices, Valor is ahead in my books for (1) supper club, (2) balcony, (3) itinerary. Oh, and we're looking forward to the fish & chips too. Our previous cruises were in Spirit and Fantasy class, and I'm sure we'll still prefer the Legend over the Valor after November, but we wanted to try the Western itinerary and my wife likes the variety of port calls, and we haven't tried a Conquest class ship yet. Hopefully it won't be too crowded.

 

But don't agonize, any Carnival cruise works for me.