My Valor 1/7/07-1/14/07 Review

[Jenna1983]

I'm going to post this probably in two sections (tonight and tomorrow). I'm sick and the benadryl is kicking in suddenly! I don't think I'll make it long enough to write seven days in 20 minutes. Clearly, you'll see that I couldn't do it no matter what! lol

 

People travelling: Me (23-second cruise), mom (51-second cruise), dad (58-first) & a friend (22-first cruise).

 

 

Overall, I want to say that my cruise in general really was great! A few little things that are bound to happen, but hey! I didn't visit the ship's doctor this time (How many can make that a positive in a future review? hehe) Most of my problems occurred before even arriving at the seaport, but are definitely worth the mention.

 

1/6/07-Arrive in Miami

We took a flight from PHL to MIA via AA. Arrived at 10 o'clock PM. We put a call into the Intercontinental West Miami for a shuttle ride. We then went to pick up the luggage-out by 10:15. We made six calls to the hotel, moving from various spots to various spots. Finally, at 11 PM when we called for the seventh time she said the guy came and never saw anyone. We tend to disagree on that one. We ended up getting a cab, but it wasn't until we were halfway to our hotel realized he couldn't read and had to read the directions to him. We finally arrived at the hotel around 11:30. Hotel beds were nice, but since it was 11:30, we FINALLY got to sleep around 12:30. Fast forward to 5:45 am or whatever. There were very LOUD noises going off. Fire alarm. We all head out to the courtyard (guess who grabbed her purse with all of the cruise documents? Yep. I was going even if I was going to wear my pajamas for an entire seven days). I will forever have the memory of the big man in a tiny robe etched in my mind. Thanks for that.

 

1/7/07- Embarkation for Valor

We left our hotel at 11 AM or so. We ALL jumped into a tiny cab (8 check in suitcases, 4 carryons, three purses). 4 people. We arrived at the entrance of the seaport around 11:20. We sat in traffic for what seemed like FOREVER. Actually, the meter on the cab was at $36.90 when we pulled into the seaport. When we got out it was $44.50. There were cops everywhere/helicopters flying all over, but we had no idea what was happening (We did find out Monday-first seaday as I was up in the gym and CNN was on!). On our way into the building, a kid was yelled at to turn his cell phone off because they were on high alert and that a $500 fine would be issued if it was seen again. We made it onboard by 12:15. Everything with embarkation went very fast/smooth (to be honest, faster than Port Canaveral!) Went up to Rosie's and had some buffet-definitely not crazy about the buffet, but I'm a picky eater. It was that early that the grill and pizzeria wasn't even open yet! We made our way to our cabin after 1:30 to find everything ready. Made our way up to sailaway/muster drill eventually. Sometime after sailaway/preparing for dinner, I met our cabin steward, Alwyn. He was great with keeping the room clean--I saw him more in the hallways cleaning the other rooms than I saw near ours, which was nice. No complaints with his cleaning either! He was better than the last one! We had the 5:45 dinner time (requested 6:15), but didn't feel like changing the time. We got to the dining room to find a table for four. We were disappointed and debated changing until we had our head waitress, Lijana and assitant, Ernie. They were GREAT. Lijana took care of getting my dad anything he wanted or always suggested what was good (not so great). She was all around awesome. If you have her, say hello for me! Ernie was always there refilling my water (I think like eight times a meal-somehow I ended up with all ice!) and was funny/checking up whenever he could.

[cruisin_fanatic]

Hey,

I look forward to reading more of your review on the Valor. I will be sailing on the Valor April 22nd and cant wait..only 94 more days:D ...but who's counting, lol. I have read every Valor cruise review and I get excited whenever I see a new one. Cruise Critics have really helped me plan thoroughly for this cruise and I plan on referencing this site for ALL of my future cruises.

[Thoth]

I'll be on the Valor 13 May 07...so thanks Jenna for sharing your thoughts.

[Jenna1983]

1/8/07- First Sea Day

We woke up around "11" am, which actually turned out to be 10 am because I set the clock an hour ahead in all of the excitement. Because of this, I missed the CC meetup. We went to find a chair, but of course, the deck chair hogs were abound. At noon (real time) we saw towels, towels, towels, flip flop/towels etc. We finally found a deck chair on deck 12 (to be honest, I do not even know if that's right..we were pretty much as high as you could go where the boat came to a point in the front). We were up there for about three and a half hours, where we then made our way down to get some food. On our way down we saw the same chairs/same shoes sans people. Chalk it up again as lesson learned. Monday night was formal night. We went inside the Paris Hot lounge, where there were very few people. The drinks were flowing. We missed the Captain schpeel, but I didn't really mind. We heard later that it was Cpt. Antonino Sammartano's last voyage on the Valor and that he was being transferred to the Victory. Dinner was excellent and the service was top notch-again! The show that night was Nightclub Express, which we did not go to. We were busy at karaoke, which was great, btw (minus the calls to have it turned down.). Terry did an excellent job with that. I believe we went and saw Will Marfori's midnight show, who by the way, is hillarious.

 

1/9/07-Belize

I was so excited/sad for this day because the anticipation of arriving in Belize again/leaving Belize was bumming me out. I love Belize. We went off to Goff's Caye for some snorkeling. When we woke up it was very cloudy/tiny bit windy/tiny bit cool. We were thinking, "Oh no! The water is going to be FREEZING." We got on the snorkeling boat and made our way through to where we found out the water was a warm 85 degrees. Not bad! We made our way in (off the side of the boat-different than last time!) and started snorkeling. The water was the same beautiful color I had remembered from last time. Although, since it was early morning (we did the 9 am-12:30) it was a tad bit murky. That was disappointing since two of the people had never done it before, but we managed! We went back to the little island and it started to rain, which sort of dampened things. We arrived back at the ship a little after 1 o'clock. We showered/ate something before heading into Belize City. We made it into Belize City around 2 o'clock. We walked around the cruise terminal, looked at a few things and ended up at the Wet Lizard. We bought some Belikin beer ($15 for 6 pack-expensive, yes lol). We were heading back to the ship by 4:30. That night we had dinner again, which was excellent. I will definitely say that the new menus are A LOT better than the old menu. Beings that I'm a picky eater, there were only two nights when I had to order from the alternative menu. Last time it was all but one night! Make sure you try the warm chocolate melting cake too! I had it every night but one. Lijana, our waitress, pretty much knew that's what I wanted after the first two nights haha. Percy Crews was the comedia/late night comedian act. This guy is too funny even seeing him before. Some of his jokes were recycled, but what can you expect? Brett Alans did his magic act, which came off of as very lame. Then again, I'm 23 years old and magic does not amaze me.

[mirage2u]

great review, can't wait to read the rest! i'm going on the may 13 Valor too!

[MonaCK]

Thanks for posting your review. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it in anticipation of my Valor trip in just a few weeks :)

[Criscomia]

Oh, No Jenna..........you can't leave us hanging!!!!!!!:eek:

 

Am loving your review. We will be on the Valor for the May 6th sailing.......only 109 more days!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!!!!:D We will be going on the Eastern Caribbean though.

[flitter306]

Did you book your excursions through Carnival?

[Jenna1983]

Ok, I'm posting this when I have time! It'll probably be posted by tomorrow depending on how I'm feeling.

 

1/10/07- Roatan, Honduras

Beings that at 23 I've still yet to manage being a "morning" person I woke up at 930. All we were planning on doing was going to the West Bay Beaches. After we finally got up, changed into swimming clothes and headed down to the gangway, it started to POUR. It was raining pretty hard until noon. When we finally walked out to find a taxi we were quoted $20 per person for a taxi. We looked at each other and said, "$80 for less than three hours at the beach? No way." The cab guy was irritated we turned him down for $20 per person, but we'd met people who ended up getting a cab ride for $5 per person because they bartered in Spanish. I don't even think the guy who was offering to drive us even spoke spanish-no accent whatsoever. We jokingly said he was placed there by the cruiseline to drive people around. We then decided to walk downtown to look via shops. I'm quite disappointed that we didn't get to go to the beaches. Downtown Roatan is definitely not what one thinks of as a port stop with beautiful beaches (rather dirty, but it's a third world country so I didn't go there expecting green town USA). The shop we were taken to by a local child was rather inexpensive. My mother bought a conch shell, which my puppy is currently barking at/growling. We left with some ice buckets, shot glasses and jewelry. That night I believe was conga night. The meals were excellent again. I think this was the night the magic guy came around to our table. Interesting magic trick that I still do not know how it happened. We skipped the Motown stuff this night all together. No one cared for Motown (cover people anyways). I think some of us went to bed early/some went to Karaoke.

[Jenna1983]

I booked Goff's Caye through Carnival. Everything else was booked on my own!

[bbiggar]

 

 

1/6/07-Arrive in Miami

We took a flight from PHL to MIA via AA. Arrived at 10 o'clock PM. We put a call into the Intercontinental West Miami for a shuttle ride. We then went to pick up the luggage-out by 10:15. We made six calls to the hotel, moving from various spots to various spots. Finally, at 11 PM when we called for the seventh time she said the guy came and never saw anyone. We tend to disagree on that one.

 

 

We stayed at this hotel one day prior to you and found the shuttle service BAD. We waited for almost an hour for the shuttle with 2 calls to the hotel.

[SonnyandCher]

We are sailing on the Valor in only 11 short days!! I, too, an anxiously awaiting the rest of your story...

[Jenna1983]

I forgot to add to Roatan. Wednesday, Roatan, was the past guest party. We went to that and watched the video/listened to Brett Alans talk (or semi-listened to him talk). I'm sure it's been mentioned here already, but there's Freedom in 2007. Then Splendor weighing in at 112,000 tons. After that will be the two Genesis class ships which are supposedly being built, but unnamed so far.

[Jenna1983]

1/11/07- Grand Cayman

 

We got off in Grand Cayman around 10 am-fairly quickly (docked at 9:30). The seas were a little rough as the night before had been pretty rough with winds of 78-92 km an hour of wind. Nothing to worry about though! It was cloudy, but the day turned out BEAUTIFUL. We got a taxi for $4 pp originally planning to go to Sea Grape Beach. Instead, we chose to get off at the Royal Palms Beach. This beach was great with showers, pool bar, nice beach and great water! Definitely try a Cayman mama if you go there. The beach overall was excellent. If you're there look for Gizmo, the boston terrier, who will bring a rope or sit and chill with you. He spent about an hour with us! It filled the void of me missing my two labradors! We went downtown and checked out a bunch of stores. I got some great homemade soap and some very good quality sterling silver pieces at an excellent price. We went to Tortuga to pick up some rum/rum cakes. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't come home with the medium size blue mountain coffee rum cake--SOO good. However, I think I gained two pounds on the cruise of the many I've lost and the last 25 I need to lose-lol. That night we made it back on the ship in time to shower for dinner. This was formal night again, btw. Had an issue with the outlet not working, maintenance fixed it while we were at dinner. Dinner again was great and the baked Alaska was great! The midnight comedian/mainshow was Jim Brick, but we missed it because two of the people wanted to take pictures of the gala buffet, which was great. I must admit that much of the food was stuff I wouldn't eat, but the presentation is AWESOME. You can't beat that.

[Jenna1983]

1/12/07-Cozumel

When getting on the ship Sunday, we were told that they had exciting news for us-the Valor would be docking in Cozumel for the first time. They had begged with the Captain of the Conquest to allow us to dock since we were getting in late, but also because it was Captain Sammartano's last sailing on the Valor before being transferred. We got off the ship around 11:15. We then made our way to the Cozumel Reef Club. The taxi cost us $15 total. The cab driver there was excellent and talked about a lot of stuff. Compared to my trip in May of 2005, Cozumel sort of reminds me of the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax. The marshes/groves look like someone just went through with a chopper. I saw people trying to clean up their beaches too. Very sad. The reef club was all inclusive. Overall, it was pretty good. I didn't get to swim in the water because it was totally rocky the entire way out. I made it out to my knee caps and was practically in tears. Strike two for beaches with rocks. I'll find another one!!! We then headed in town after the beach and went shopping. I definitely think the Puarta Langosta area/downtown is interesting, but I liked the shops better at Puerta Maya. When heading out to the Reef Club we saw them removing the concrete from Puerta Maya, which was all piled on the side. Our cab driver said that Carnival had just started removing everything. We got back to the ship around 6 o'clock (dinner had been moved back 15 minutes because of the time of port etc). Dinner was fabulous again. Lijana and Ernie did an excellent job. That night was the Far From Over show, which was pretty good. The 80's music was definitely a welcome thing other than songs I could care less about! This night was the Deck Party. Everything was going pretty well at that. We did have a few sprinkles, but it was fun. Not as many people dancing, but my friend and I participated. Even made the video (I tried to dodge the darn thing!)

 

Also, I forgot to mention in my Grand Cayman thing. Our Arrival into GC was delayed because of the weather the previous night in Roatan to Grand Cayman. We were to leave at 5:30, but Capt. Sammaratano agreed to stay an extra forty-five minutes allowing us to take a last tender back at 5:45 instead of 5 o'clock.

 

Will work on the last two days.

[hockeyluver]

Thank you for your review, are there any "dont miss this" things on the ship I read about the fish and chips all the time. There has to be more secrets out there. :D

[Jenna1983]

I don't eat seafood so I wouldn't have a comment on the fish and chips. My dad, who is a huge seafood eater, didn't like what was up there. Nor did my friend. I would say not to miss the gym, to be honest. LOL That sounds funny, but that place was my favorite place on the ship while at sea. Call me crazy, but the treadmills make running like running on a cloud. I came home thinking, "Hmm, I need one of those." For $7K I'd rather go on 7 cruises and run. LOL I'll stick with my $800 one!

[Jenna1983]

1/13/07- Sea Day

Today, we encountered the same chair hogs. I never saw this many chairs saved on the Glory as I did on the Valor. I'm not very confrontational unless I have to be so I didn't remove the items. It was very windy/cold so we finally decided to go up on the aft, deck 10. I stayed up there for about an hour before going to eat. It was freezing (haha boy do I wish I was in that 81 degree-windy weather now!!!) Instead of going back out to wait for the sun, I went inside to do some shopping, attend the hairy chest contest and hit the gym. I spent an hour and a half in the gym and found myself back in the cabin with 45 minutes to get ready for dinner. Earlier in the day I participated in bingo (no luck-should've done the later one as my card in the AM was full everywhere but two spots I needed LOL). Dinner went well and it was definitely sad to have to say goodbye to Lijana and Ernie. They were so wonderful and definitely worth our terrible seating assignment. Lloyd, the maitre'd seemed to be very "showy" this night because it was tip night. We never saw him until this night. I guess that's how it happens sometimes! Tonight was the night we'd waited for all week from karaoke-Legends show. My friend had tried out for Gloria Estefan, but lost to a girl who sung in Spanish. They had to sing in English for the show, which I think was a problem for this girl because her first language was Spanish. Over the week, those traveling with me had become partial to Jeremy, who was Garth Brooks and Mike, who did Elton John.

 

1/14/07-Debarkation Day

This day was definitely the "sad" day. I hate getting off the ship until it comes to debarkation. I hate it with a passion. We woke up at 8 am to head to the dining room for breakfast. 9 o'clock game and everyone was still on the ship. We finally went down to d5 and waited by Jeannie's Bar. Around 9:30-10 o'clock they called self-assist. We were off the ship around 11:15 (empress deck) and on our way to Alamo.

 

Overall, the Valor is a great ship. I noticed very less wear and tear on the Valor than on the Glory, which wasn't much at all. I think most of the wear and tear was stains on the carpet, which are expected with that many people. I loved the dining room better than I did the last time. The new menus get a 10 from me, the fussy eater. The breast of cornfed chicken is pretty good too! Do not go without having the warm chocolate melting cake. If you get to the Washington Dining room and have Lijana & Ernie say hello from Jenna! She's going on vacation in March. My biggest complaint with the Washington Dining Room is that we were stuck in what I'll refer to as the "grotto." My parents had to look at the espresso machines and children booster seats the entire week. Had it not been for the wait-staff we would have changed seating. We also were sad to not be sitting with other people. It was like this on the first cruise, but I guess there were a lot of groups. Hopefully next time! Our cabin steward, Alwyn, did an excellent job. He was visible in other's rooms, but really never at ours, which was nice. We ran into him one night after dinner when he was just leaving. Very nice guy-kept the rooms very clean/always had towels replaced. The social staff were borderline annoying/showy. I didn't find them funny one bit, more showy when the cameras were around. From my last cruise, I definitely liked the social hosts/Cruise director more. The gym staff were nice, if not overly friendly! I don't know how many times the trainer said hello to me while I was running. lol I think they just tended to forget who they said hello to before!

The only complaint that sort of put a damper on my vacation would have to have been the people across the hallway. I'll never understand certain people. I wish Carnival had a system of taking people to their cabins so they didn't go around acting like complete morons at 3:30-4 am. If I had a little child I probably would have gone ballistic on this family who found it appropriate to go around knocking on doors and screaming in the hallways. Apparently the father was drunk and got into a fight/almost got into a fight. Profanity was flying and they were not worried about shouting it at the top of their lungs. Finally, my mom went out and told them to shut up, which they did. Doors slammed for a little, but we went to sleep again. Marijuana seemed to seep from a small portion of our hallway. No idea who was smoking that, but it was definitely annoying. Guess they can't stop people from doing that.

 

I loved the Valor and would go back in a heartbeat. We're already looking ahead to next year and are thinking of the Freedom during the same weekend we left this time. Any questions-ask.

[MonaCK]

That you so much for this great review. :) I appreciate you taking the time to report back - and again - this is wetting my whistle for my cruise in just 24 short days. :)

[Jenna1983]

You're more than welcome. I'm having Valor withdrawls. I even went through a phase of thinking, "You know, I could work on a cruiseship." Then I realized, "Who am I kidding? It's vacation depression! I don't want to work on a cruiseship! I don't want to work that hard." LOL

 

I just need that new cruise to plan. haha

 

Oh! We've created a cruise monster in my father. For the last year, all we have heard was, "I don't know why you're forcing me to go on this trip. I'm going to hate it. The only reason I'm going is to get you the military discount." Anytime he'd get mad over something it was, "I'm not going on that vacation. I'm staying home. I'm not going." We heard the, "Since Phil's not going, I'm not going (my brother)." He got on the ship and we had to drag him off. We went into Publix in Miami to pick up some food for later that night (what a let down lol-we were off the feeding schedule!) and he called my cell phone to say, "Hey Jenna, Carnival called. They're holding our dinner table. It's 5:55 and they're wondering where we are." He came home from work today, his first day back and said, "I told everyone. I recommend you take a cruise at least once in your life. They asked if I'd go back and I said, 'You bet I am. I'm going back next year at the same time. I told my family that I'm going back to Cozumel and Grand Cayman'."

[MonaCK]

Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad you turned your Dad into a cruiser. :)

 

We are going to be going on a doo-wop cruise on Feb. 11th. This was a last minute thing for us - we decided to book last week after having only come back from a cruise over Christmas week. But we got a really good deal, and a notification already that we've been upgraded to an inside cabin on the Lido deck. :) My father in law and his wife are going to be on, and it was him that convinced us to go. An old friend of my husband and father in law is getting married on the ship, so it's going to be a lot of fun.

 

My father in law's wife doesn't know we're going - we're planning on surprising her when we show up for dinner our first night on the ship. ;)

[Jenna1983]

That's great. I'm a little nervous now about booking for the Freedom in January since there's a HUGE Cruise critic group booked. I don't know if we'd end up with a cabin where we like with the military rate. We'll have to decide early, I guess. If not, I'll choose another ship! lol

[Donna n Francis]

Thanks so much Jenna for your report on the Carnival Valor. I really enjoyed reading about your experience. Only 103 more days till I sail on the Carnival Valor:D I will be going with 20 of my family and friends.....only 4 of us has cruise before. I am sure we will be blamed for getting the rest of them addicted to cruising, or at least this is our plan!

[Criscomia]

Donna N Francis.............make sure you take care of the Valor, as you will be cruising the week before we board. Have a great time.