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Carnival Valor 12/24/06 Review

3GR8Sons

By 3GR8Sons,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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3GR8Sons

3GR8Sons

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We just returned from a very nice cruise on Carnival Valor. The itinerary was Western Caribbean. We traveled with 6 people in total. Myself (41), Dh (40), MIL (60), and 3 boys (12, 10, 7). We live near the port of Miami so we did not fly to the port or stay over in a hotel. We parked at the port and had no problems with parking.

 

We stayed in 2 adjoining staterooms (2359/2363). Having 2 bathrooms and 2 tvs was nice. The room was clean and the cabin steward was efficient. Nothing special but he kept the room up. We loved the towel animals.

 

The ship was always clean. There were always folks out cleaning. It was a full ship and the staff did a great job cleaning everything. I liked the decor on Valor and I liked the hero theme of the ship. We love the fun atmosphere on Carnival ships.

 

We had good food and good service in the dining room. We ate with our kids in the dining room every night. Our waiters (Tanto and Rai) were wonderful, attentive, and very friendly.

 

Service overall was very good. The Carnival staff are all friendly and helpful. We liked the on ship entertainment. We liked the singer in the Lindly Hop Piano Bar. There was also a very nice waiter in that lounge. He was out of our favorite beer (Boddingtons) on his floor and traveled to another floor to get it for us. We ejoyed the comedians and the production shows on board.

 

We took the shore excursion to Altun Ha and were very pleased with the tour. We are history buffs and enjoyed the informative tour given by a native Belizian. We were not comfortable wandering around Belize and hiring an independent taxi driver. We liked this tour. The tender process in Belize was delayed a bit by the bad weather but it was fairly smooth once they got it going.

 

In Roatan we hired Victor Bodden Tours. Our driver was Albert and he was great. We did the ziplining (one of my sons and MIL would not do it). The four of us had a blast. Albert got us out there before the cruise ship tour. We did not wait at all. We also saw the iguana farm, and the west end of the island. We did not spend any time at the beach because the weather was bad (windy and cool).

 

In Grand Cayman dh and the kids went snorkeling and MIL and I took the Trolley Roger tour. We all enjoyed our tours. The tender process in Grand Cayman was atrocious. We waited for about an hour to get on the tender back to the ship. I don't know what happened or why this process was so horrible. It was really the only negative comment I have about this trip. It really should have been better.

 

In Cozumel we just shopped and had lunch. We had been to Cozumel before and saved our shopping for this day.

 

The kids liked the kids clubs on the days at sea. My oldest is almost 13 and he really enjoyed the teen program for the 12-14 year olds. We hardly saw him. My younger boys liked some of the kids programs and at other times they just hung around with us. All the kids really liked dancing in the discos. We did not leave them in the kids club when we went on shore. They went with us. There was a shore excursion in Grand Cayman for the 12-14 year old where the parents did not have to go. But we like to have our kids with us when we travel so the kids went onshore with us.

 

Disembarkation was ok. We did self assist disembarkation. It took a long time to get through the port of Miami customs but the process was well organized. There were three thousand folks on board so I guess it takes a long time to get them all through customs.

 

Overall we had a great time. We really like the relaxed and fun atmospher on the ship.

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3GR8Sons

3GR8Sons

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Can you tell me what were the formal nites? I believe one is monday and the other?? Any information on Doug the new piano guy? How long is he on the ship? We will be on the Valor in 3 weeks :D Thanks for such a speedy review. :)

 

The formal nights were Monday and Thursday. We really enjoyed the piano guy. One night we took the kids into the piano bar and someone asked for Walk The Line and he said he knew the piano part but not the words. My kids said they knew the words so he had my kids sing it. He was fun and spontaneous. I don't know how long he is on the ship.

 

We had a great time. Have fun.

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Donna n Francis

Donna n Francis

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Thanks so much for sharing. I sail on the Valor in only 118 more days with 20 of my family and friends:p. DH is really looking forward to the Piano Bar....glad to know that you had a great time there.

I do have a question about Roatan...is there anything to do right off the ship were you dock? Is there any shopping in the port area? Just wondering if I should check into booking an excursion or not. I have been to all the other ports of call.

 

Donna:D

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gltrans1

gltrans1

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We also sailed on the Valor 12/24/06 and had a great time. The cruise director Brett is a magician (and you will see his crappy act one night). His voice is annoying but we didn't care. Roatan is a poor island. The shopping is through the secure gate onto a narrow street which is overcrowded with everyone from the cruiseships. There are an incredible amount of dogs roaming the streets and lots of native children. It is nothing like Grand Cayman or Cozumel. We skipped the shopping in Roatan and did an island tour and zipline with Juan Carlos Rodriguez's driver, Enrique. He gave us a very informative tour of the island and took us to South Shore Canopy just as it opened. We were the first ones on and loved it. Roatan is an early port arrival (7:00am). We were off the ship by 8:00am for our excursion and back on by 1:30pm absolutley exhausted. Juan Carlos's tour (which will include a beach if you want it) and the Canopy tour cost was significantly less than Carnival's Canopy Tour and Tabyana Beach.

________________________________

 

Carnival Triumph 12/23/05

Carnival Valor 12/24/06

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B and B Rookie Cannucks

B and B Rookie Cannucks

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Yes we are sailing on the 21 and can hardly wait :D I have 2 sons but they sailed with us last December and are sailing on their own this year. They leave tomorrow and sail thursday out of NOLA on a 4 nite on the Fantasy they needed something cheap for their pocket books! We loved the Valor last December when we did the Eastern Carribean so we wanted to sail on her again.:)

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