LOOOOONG, Valor West 1/7/07 Memoir/review

[KCSVEN]

Carnival Valor Western 1/7/07-1/14/07

Miami-Belize-Roatan(Honduras)-Grand Cayman-Cozumel

 

This is written more in a diary format for my own memoirs you might say. I was going to edit it down for posting but it was too much work so if you don't want to read such a long review then you don't have to.

 

This is very, very long and detailed review, I may or may not post photos and links to them later. I have broken down the review into categories and given a general overall grade to each category. As cruiser I am 38 and on my 2nd Carnival cruise, the wife(40) was on her first ever cruise. We are pretty easy going. Not big on sun bathing or bar hopping and like to be somewhat active. We left the kids at home!!!

 

The grading is scaled much on expectation. With this board and previous cruise the expectations were, I think, reasonable. I can give an A to the Holiday Inn for example though it's not a 5 star resort but because it exceeded my expectation. I will post the appropriate sections to the appropriate boards later(Miami to Miami etc…) I bolded the sections so you can skip to the ones you care about. I will go in order by day but will summarize things like Sea Days, food, entertainment into individual sections and not by day.

 

Day 1-2(Flight, Hotel and Day on MIAMI)

 

Holiday Inn Port of Miami- A+

American Airlines direct flight in Friday Night on time, no problems and nice flight. Got luggage quickly and got a cab for a $26(plus tip) trip to the Holiday INN Port of Miami. I had booked early and had booked directly through the hotels website (tip: I learned from someone working in the industry the hotels give priority to those booking through there own site). I had requested a room with a view and got 10th floor facing the Harbor. Perfect. Room was small but acceptable. Check-in was a breeze. I Made use of the free internet in the business room to get directions for our Saturday, day in Miami. I must say the hotel exceeded all expectations. The doorman out front was very helpful with walking directions; the ability to store our luggage on embarkation morning while we ran to the mall, the overall proximity to everything made this an ideal hotel. It is not 5 star but if you want a great location, and in my case great service, it was unbeatable. I think I paid $153/night booking well in advance. We did not eat at the hotel so can't comment on the food. Pool area was small but not crowded. We went down at 9:30 on Sunday and stored our luggage, went to the mall across the street, and we were back for a 10:30 cab ride to the port. The mall across the street has live concerts outside Friday and Saturday nights as well as the ability to take cruise tours, eat and shop. It is also about a $10, 10 minute, cab ride to the port and the ships.

 

Day in Miami- A

Vizcaya Gardens and Museum and then over to Miami Beach.

We took public transportation(there is a free shuttle service a block from the hotel and then $1.50 train ticket to complete the journey) and got off a stop within a 5 minute walk to Vizcaya. Vizcaya was built in the early 1900's and was built to resemble many European homes, many antiques and unique designs were used in building this place and its extensive gardens. Check there website for info but well worth a few hours of your day if you enjoy history, architecture, or gardens. While we were there two very large manatees decided they would feed on the stuff growing on the docks walls. So we were a couple feet from 2 giant manatees feeding, a nice surprise. Had a great time there, I recommend you check it out. We went back to the hotel, after getting stuck in the free tram for about 10 minutes(they run with no driver and are controlled by computer) because someone forced the door open in one of the cars, we eventually made it back to the hotel, went shopping across the street and made plans to meet with friends of ours living near Miami. They took us to dinner in Miami Beach to a great little Haitian restaurant, took us through parts of the Art Deco district and over to Lincoln Road Mall, a large closed off street/mall. Street performers were entertaining, went to an art museum, hung out and had a good time. Got back after 11 PM and went to bed in anticipation of Embarkation day.

 

Embarkation-A

Got up and looked out the window to see (I believe) 4 large ships in port, 2 from Carnival. The cab ride at 10:30 was about 10 minutes, hit a little traffic in the port, but mainly right through, the porters took the bags about 5 yards and dumped them in the luggage container, I tipped them after the job was done, they never mentioned a tip to me but they were in conversation with our cab driver, they were ribbing each other because the porters had directed our cabbie to pull between 2 larger buses/vans that our driver thought was dangerous and was telling them they were going to get him wrecked one day. It was all good-natured ribbing, but took there attention off us. We were in the building for Embarkation around 10:50 and on board at 11:50. There were lines in different areas with the longest wait at the end but got into good conversation in line. Apparently the port, after we arrived, got temporarily closed due to a misunderstanding with some foreigners delivering electronic and computer parts. A language barrier mistakenly stopped them because it appeared there paperwork did not match the cargo. In the end it was all OK and just a misunderstanding but that did not stop the police helicopters from flying overhead and the port closing. Luckily we got in ahead of this. We checked in with a friendly rep and we were seated to await boarding around 11:45. About 11:50 they let us go onto the ship. After getting 5:45 early seating(I had requested 6:15) I immediately made reservations for Tuesday and Friday in the supper club(our late days in port). I figured I'd try Tuesday and decide on about Friday after that but at least I had the reservations. We did end up going there both nights. I went to the casino area and got the free lanyard at the Carnival Vacation Club. They do try to pitch to you but for only a minute or 2 and I politely took his business card and free Lanyard and went on my way to lunch.

 

The Ship and Room-B+

Was overall a great ship, constantly being cleaned, friendly people for the most part. I thought the main pool area was smaller than I expected and the size of the pool was smaller than I expected as well. The getting around was not a problem by day 2 but the way the layout is with the middle dining room and the inability to traverse certain levels all the way took some getting used to. Luckily being on deck 7 was an easy 2 up or 2 down to most of the activities. The theater was nice and seats had good viewing angles. They did have a few seats right behind the sound person on level 2 center straight back which were hard to see from because the sound guy was there standing in front of you and going back and forth. They should have lowered his box a bit in the design. The theme and decor have been touched on by many and is personal preference. I was not bothered or inspired by it. My room was spacious enough and the balcony was well worth the extra cost. I found the bed very comfortable and slept really well. Deck 7 was a nice quiet area for us and was a good choice. I believe I had room 7343. Both big suitcases fit under the bed. The middle separation in the bed takes a little getting used to. I was going to order the king size for home but I didn't like the separation in the middle. HAHA

 

Food-Overall B

Grades within the grades: Dining Room-B, Pizza-B-, Grill- B,

Rosies Breakfast -C-, Rosies Lunch B-, Rosies Dinner B-, Fish and Chips place A

Sushi-B+, Supper Club-A, Deli-A-

 

With a goal of trying every place on the ship to eat(we missed the oriental place only) We ate dinner in the following places:

Main dining room-3 ½ times(got sea sick 1 night during dinner), Supper Club-2 times, Deli-Once. Also had Lunch at fish and chips, late night pizza twice(we ate several lunches in ports) and we did Rosies for breakfast and never went to the main dining room except for dinner.

 

Rosies breakfasts were disappointing but still edible. I did find the omelet station out near the Lido pool(There are a couple others inside Rosies) never had a line and was the best option for a full breakfast. Though he did tend to either under or over cook the omelet there it was still pretty good. The toast was terrible I thought, I ate a lot of the fruits as they have a nice full cut up fruit station. It would have been nice if some of the fruit was a little more ripened but overall the fruit was good. My wife thought the oatmeal was very good. Since I don't eat cardboard I have no idea if that's true. Scrambled eggs were below par. Overall it was good enough to find something good to eat but below my expectation. Bread and scrambled eggs I though were the worst, though I even ate them more than once because it was there and all.

Rosie's Lunch was a bit better, though we ate in port many days for lunch. We also ate Burgers and Fish and chips on 2 days so my experience with Rosie's lunch was limited to a couple days. The themes changed each day(Italian, Mexican etc..) but you could always find something that was good. The burgers and Fries were pretty good from the grill, not outstanding but good nonetheless. The pizza was mixed I thought, the wife liked the goat cheese pizza, I had Sausage and pepper and onion(I think) mainly because there was a long line and that's all he had available, I did not find that slice anything special. It's all perfectly fine pizza but did not find it anything special about it.

 

Ate at the Deli once, fresher bread, nice size sandwich, tasted good, a little bit of a wait even when line was short but was made to order. High marks for the deli.

Fish and Chips were great, the other options they had (calamari and something, other things I can't remember) we tried several of and were great as well so don't just get the Fish and Chips, try some of the other dishes as well, all good.

Sushi place was really good, would have gotten an A if we had not had the sushi appetizer in the Supper Club which blew it away. You get 3 choices a day and they change slightly daily, my wife ate snacks there a few times and liked everything she got. I'm not big on Sushi but tried it and thought it was good.

We come to the dining room and the Supper Club. I think if you don't do the supper club the meals in the dining room may rate higher. Especially on the meat dishes. The first night I had a fish dinner and the wife a sirloin. Sirloin was barely edible, it absolutely tasted, felt and looked like it was pre-cooked and then heated up for dinner. I had learned from other reviews to stay away from meat at dinner(with exceptions) but she did not heed my warning and it was pretty bad, the fish was great. The sirloin was the only BAD meal or food in the dining room for the days we were there. The lobster is not as good as New England lobster but I expected that. Fish dishes were generally good. I liked most appetizers and salads. The desserts lacked selection I thought but the Chocolate Lava cake was available every night and I had it every night, as a second desert sometimes) and it varied in quality every night, from fabulous to just OK. If it is cooked right and served hot it is marvelous, but under or overcooking does take a lot of the flavor away. I think I tried it 5 times with 2 fabulous, 1 good, 1 OK and 1 disgusting(That was in Rosies though). I will get into service in another section but we lucked out as all our service was great almost everywhere, we did here some people where it wasn't so great, so there is luck in who you get, I suggest asking to switch if your not happy. I would also suggest steering yourself away from the meat dishes(prime rib was good though) and toward the fish in general. Or order a second meal with the meat dish just in case. The food is not fine dining but a step below and overall a little better than my expectation.

Supper Club- Bravo!. Fine Dining for sure, waited on by several people and high quality food. They actually show you the dinner option on a platter(uncooked and wrapped) before you order so you know the size and look of all the entrees. We ate there twice, Once on Tuesday by ourselves and then Friday with a couple we met through cruise critic(Jim and Becky). Our butter the first night did come with a little hair on it-(looked like an eyelash). You get 3 different style whipped butters in little containers and we noticed the hair as soon as she brought it to the table. She took it away right away, was apologetic and the Maitre D came over and apologized, they were fine about it and things happen, no big deal, and did not take away from the experience at all. Stuff happens and its how they deal with it that makes or breaks it. They, of course, all have accents and talk really low to avoid bothering other guests but it does make it hard to understand what they are saying. The Sommelier did like to steer you toward the more expensive bottles of wine. The food is fabulous, The Porterhouse and Filet Mignon are both great. I also had prime rib on a T-Bone which was great. They give little(very little) Chef's compliment dishes at the beginning and ends of the meals which was a nice touch. The sushi appetizer was perfect. Everything was cooked exactly to the specification(Medium was really medium), which I find is rare to happen even in 5 star restaurants. Desserts are limited but very good overall. The chocolate dessert is actually three desserts in 1 and was the real winner. It is $30 per person extra plus you have to tip. Well worth it once and for us was worth it twice. Our table companions took many pictures of the food as some were works of art. Real Fine dining and a top grade here.

 

Port 1: Belize Nacho-Cynthia Cave Tubing/Zip Line-A

We reserved Nacho and Cynthia for Cave Tubing and zip lining in Belize. It was a tender port and the instructions were that if you did not have a Carnival cruise you needed to get tender tickets at 9:30 at the Excursion Desk on Deck 5 near the casino. Before I found this out(it's in the capers and also in the port talk on Monday which I saw on TV) I went to the purser to ask what was my best way to get off the ship fast and she was very short with me and stated "We do not have tenders for people that do not have tours"…what she meant was there were no tenders "reserved" for us. She would not tell me how or where to get tender tickets or anything. Actually, she acted like I was a bother and that since I did not have a Carnival excursion I was not worth talking to. In the review of service, I will go more into the pursers, the only bad service I had all trip. So I was up between 7-8 and had breakfast in Rosies and kept checking to see if there was a line for tender tickets. At 8:20 there were about 20 people in line so I got in line. Tenders hold about 75-100 people. They started handing out tender tickets to those in line around 8:45(earlier than the 9:30 stated because of the line) and I got a #1 tender. The tenders started for Carnival at 9:00 and they called tender 1 at 9:30, and we got on for the 20 minute tender. There was someone watching for your stickers but they were not foolproof, they did pull some people out of line that had #'s before they were allowed but I saw others sneak through. In Grand Cayman, 3 days later, they seemed a little more strict and even saw an argument between a guest and the person checking tenders. More on that later…You need to show your sail and sign card on the way out, I showed it to the first person and then you need to use it again as they check you out and in the 10 yards between the two people I lost my sail and sign card. I went to put the passports in my bag and while doing that had somehow lost my card. I went out of line, searched our bag, walked back and looked on the ground, nothing, I was panicking, day 1 ports and I lose my darn card feet from the tender, they said I needed to go back to the pursers and get a new card…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!.. So I took another look and finally found it leaning up against a part of the wall that stuck out on the floor. I must have dropped it and because it was up against the stuck out part it was only visible from one angle, I sighed relief and kicked myself hard where it hurts for such stupidity.

There was a group of about 10 people in a van and then another group of 6 that was to go in a smaller caravan. The group of 10 or so were guided and driven by "Roberto" while my group was guided by "Cynthia". We got off the tender, walked down to the terminal they had suggested, walked out the front and Nacho and Cynthia were holding signs with our names on them. My wife and I and the couple we met through cruise critic(Jim and Becky as mentioned earlier) were sent with Cynthia. We waited in the van for 15-20 minutes for another couple to show up(another cruise critic couple) but they did not show in that time so we headed out without them. Since we were in a Plymouth caravan it worked out well as another 2 people would have made the ride much less comfortable. We tended to luck out a lot on this whole vacation. We drove about 1 hour out to the rain forest with Cynthia giving us a lot of information on Belize. She is wonderful. I can't give her high enough praise. About 45 minutes out we passed the Carnival bus which was broken down on the side of the road and waiting for another bus to pick the people up and continue. On the way back we passed the bus being towed. I assume all the guests got to their excursion eventually. The last 3 miles to the Jaguar Paw resort is over an incredibly bumpy dirt road. With the private tours they take you up and over a good size hill to start your cave tubing where the ship excursions you have to walk over this hill and adds another 20 minutes or so to your walk. You also do 1 less cave with the ship tour. We did the zip line first which is in the same resort. When I say resort do not think of a 5 star resort. It had 1 nice building where there is a small restaurant and check-in. It's is built into the forest so blends with the scenery. They also rent cabins there but did not see what they looked like. It's a nice place but the word "resort" conjures up images of US resorts and it is definitely not like that. We had fun zip lining. There was a little bit of a wait. We are VERY glad we did Belize zip lining and THEN Honduras zip lining because the Honduras zip line put Belize to shame and we would have been seriously disappointed in Belize if it had come second. Fortunately we "lucked out" in the order and our first zip line experience was fun. There are about 5 stations you zip line from and to and then you have to be lowered to the ground at the end by a rope. The line backs up here as 1 guy lowers you and pulls the rope back up over and over. He got a workout. They have a person at each "station" to help you. Please read more on the zip lining in Roatan for a comparison, actually there was no comparison. WE did wait like 15 minutes to start the zip line and had 5-10 minutes of wait a couple times on the zip line and Cynthia said we were lucky because 1 cruise ship scheduled for that day did not stop so we had less of a line. Again, we were "lucky"

 

They sell you a zip line picture they take for $10. We then went onto the cave tubing. Since we had to wait at the beginning of the tour for people that did not show up our time was getting tight so Roberto and Cynthia discussed whether we would have time for 2 caves or just 1. Cynthia said we were doing 2 and had plenty of time if we did not dally, everyone agreed to go for 2. They were SO on top of the time you NEVER feared you'd be late. We walked through the rain forest about 30 minutes with stops to point out plants and animals(we saw an anteater). They did not point out as much as usual because of our time constraints. We get into the river and hook up and float into the caves. We did have to paddle to keep a good time but it was all very enjoyable. It was amazing the insides of the caves. You come out of the first cave briefly and then head into the second cave. While in one of the caves we saw an older woman, sitting in her tube by herself with her helmet light off. We almost went right past her as she did not say anything to us. Cynthia talked to her and told her to grab onto the next group of people(Roberto's) or she would be in there forever. She was apparently with another larger group and was left behind in the cave by herself. Cynthia was the greatest. Very professional and very good at giving real information and not exaggerating things for effect. Based on passing other guides and hearing them, I must say Cynthia was much more knowledgeable than the ones I saw. She even pointed out some of the lies they were telling the cave tubers(like there could be alligators) etc.. Some people do what they are born to do and Cynthia is one of those. After cave tubing(40 minutes or so) we got out, changed in the resort bathroom and had lunch at the resort. It was a fixed menu of chicken, rice and beans. Very good. We headed back to Belize port after that. On the way out to the rainforest we had gone by the shore and out to the highway, on the way back she took us through the downtown area. Belize is a very poor country. Definitely poorer than Honduras overall. Cynthia told us the story of how Belize became a cruise port: Apparently a group chartered a cruise ship and were looking for islands to stop at in the Western Caribbean and had included Jamaica on that list. When Jamaica heard they wanted to come there they told them they would not allow them to come, so they looked around for an alternative that was willing to accept them visiting and Belize was it. It was a group of gay and Lesbian cruisers, and that discrimination by Jamaica(and by a Google search a few other islands as well) is what started Belize onto becoming a cruise destination. Belize has a lot to offer and the tourist industry will hopefully be instrumental in bringing them up from being such a poor country.

 

Port 2 Honduras: - Juan Carlos tour-A

Honduras was a docked port which was good with a 7 AM arrival time. We were able to walk of without much foot traffic and proceeded out the port gates. There was a small hut right across the street that was supposed to have our names on it but there were no names posted. There were plenty of people round and I asked someone that seemed to know where Juan Carlos was and he said he would be there in a few minutes and I could wait or, find someone else to go with. We waited about 2 minutes when Juan Carlos drove buy and the guy shouted to us and to him. Juan said hello and said he would be right back. He handed signs with peoples names to the person in the shack and went off and parked down the street. He came back and explained he was waiting for a few more people and we'd leave in a little while. We left after like 5 minutes even though the other people had not shown up. The whole story on that is this: The government certifies who can have access to be in that port area and Juan Carlos has authorization for this. Juan's brother and a few other people help him out and do tours also but have to be with an authorized person to wait in that area. He had 2 groups of 6 and then us 2 scheduled that day. Since I booked with him the earliest he had said he would give us a tour personally. I did not assume I would have him but he did say in his email, "My tour" and "I will". Apparently to him that was a contract as he stated that we had him as our tour because he promised he would be our tour guide and even though he had 2 larger groups, he had his brother and another person doing the larger tour groups. However, his brother was not authorized to be in that area so he had to arrange for another authorized person to stay with his brother so he could wait for the group he was expecting. That was the 5 minute delay. One of the other groups of six showed up and the other never did. Juan had to still pay his brother for the time. People should be aware of this when they book private, get up on time, get off the boat and take the tour, these are not rich countries or people and blowing off a tour is not the right thing to do. Anyways, I want to be clear all the above info was not Juan's way of regretting he had to take a smaller group, it all came up as a direct results of questions we asked and he NEVER gave us a feeling that he wished he had taken a larger group. Juan Carlos was super. I would say we lucked out but this was more related to the planning. He took us up the coast to the poor side of the island and then back the other way past the port to the wealthier side of the island. He added stops for photos along the way. There are some wonderful high places to get a great view of Honduras. A very, very beautiful place to visit. Juan went out of his way to accommodate us. He took a detour to "Fantasy Island" which is a private resort with a private bridge to the "Fantasy Island". He tried to talk the guard into letting us across but he would not do it for less than the $15/person fee but we could see much of the resort, it was very interesting. I saw a sea plane but nor Mr. Rourke or Tattoo. We went to the iguana farm but did not go in. Juan asked someone there if the iguanas were out and was told because it had rained off and on they were not really out. He said we could go in but we'd see them on the tops of trees and stuff but they would not be all over the place and us as we would normally expect. We declined to go in based on his advice that we would not get the full experience. He did try a side road to try to see if he could find some iguanas hanging out, we didn't se them but we saw some neat fruit trees and other things on the side road that still made it worthwhile, again his extra effort to make things great was truly appreciated. We headed to zip lining, he told us there were 4 zip lines on the island, a pirate-themed one, the one the cruises use and 2 others. He recommended we go to one of the 2 other ones. He did state the pirate themed one he thinks "is run by pirates". He explained the difference between the 2 zip line places. The closer one having rope bridges and rock walls in with the zip lining and the farther away one having just zip lines. We decided to stop at the closer one because it was closer. When we got there there, they had a 15 minute wait as they were waiting for new gear to arrive. Also, there were already 15 people or so waiting. Since we needed a bathroom run we decided to not wait(no bathrooms there) and we would go to go to the other one later. In hindsight a "Lucky break" again. I do not know how the one we missed was and I'm sure it would have been fine but the one we went to became one of our the trips highlight so I have a hard time feeling we would have exceeded it.

 

As on the ride out, Juan pointed out various landmarks and places and pulled over for photo ops. We went to the next zip lining place. It was called South Shore Zip Line. THE BEST TIME OF THE TRIP WAS HAD HERE. So you drive up a hill and part-way up the hill on the left is this small building and you pull off the right on the road to park and cross the road to get to the zip lining. There are 5-6 guys hanging out in front encouraging you to stop. It is $35 per person(VERY CHEAP). There are several differences between this and Belize. The harness is a little bit different and a little less bulky. When you are on the zip line you are sitting with you legs out in front of you crossed(not hanging to avoid getting them caught). You are more flat than sitting up in comparison to Belize. You do have to hop up to get clipped on at each stop, though they will assist you. There are about 14-15 zip lines and it takes 1-1 ½ hours I would guess. The zip lines are Loooooooooooong. You zip over this valley of trees. Instead of being in the trees like Belize you are above many trees as will as in them in places. The other big difference is your 2 guides go with you platform to platform instead of someone waiting at each station. This is the WAY TO GO. It adds so much to the experience.

1) The guides learn your ability. They know if you are breaking strong enough, if you are scared etc….

2) The guides do tricks(spins, no hands etc…) as they go across and involve you in the tricks

3) You get to know them and their personalities and vice versa.

So we are going across zip line to zip line and they are very far across, 3-4 times the length in Belize. One guide always goes across first and the other last. So a few zip lines in we are waiting for the last guest(8 people + the 2 guides went: it was my wife and I, a family of 4, Juan Carlos and 1 other guy, Juan does not normally go(He said this was his 5th or 6th time) when he does tours but while we were getting hooked up he was talking to this other guy, who was scared and said he'd only go if Juan went as well.. So we are watching and noticed the son of the family coming across with the guide attached to him and behind him and the kid is hanging upside down and spread eagle. At this point it starts to rain and rain really hard. The guides states "Now, we will have some real fun, the lines will be slippery now" So, the guide gets over tom the next line and asks who wants to go upside down next and my wife jumps in right away with, "me, me". Of course she is afraid of heights and hugs the tree at each stop but adrenaline works itself to the front. Without thinking she climbs up and he starts to go and he says you need to let go and she thinks "I have to let go?" and then does but still is sitting up so he says you need to lay back now and she thinks "I have to what?" and then proceeds to lay back. She said later she does not know what came over her and that she did not have time to think about what she volunteered for and cannot believe she did it. Afraid of heights and all but she read a shirt earlier in the day that said something along the lines of "Try something for the first time today" so she did it. She almost didn’t get her head up quick enough on the other end. She also didn’t notice that instead of sitting up the guide went backwards the OTHER way during the zip line ride with her so they were both no hands and upside down. My wife calls it one of the most exciting things she has ever done. The next zip line I go first (by myself following the guide who hangs and spins on his way across in the rain). My wife is next and I look across from the platform I made it to and see she is stopped about 10 yards from where she started and the other guide is climbing out to get her. Apparently she started to go, the pulley wheel starts to make this horrible clicking and grinding sound and the guide is yelling "Stop, Stop, Stop" and she does, but about 10 yards out and 40 feet up. He climbs out onto the line and says, "You're pulley is broken, you need to let go completely so I can pull you back in", my wife's response is, "No way I'm letting go, are you crazy". He does manage to pull her back in. Apparently the wheel was not turning, there was no issue of falling or anything as the pulley and safety line were both hooked on but the wheel was not turning properly. Of course, all my wife knew was the guy was screaming stop and then telling her to let go with a broken pulley, added to her fear of heights, you can imagine her terror. She said she would have quit if she could have after that because she was so scared but there was no where to go and they did not give her that option. The guide gave her his pulley and then off she went. Since they did not bring extra pulleys the guide used her broken one and got stuck ½ way across and for about 25 yards he had to pull himself across, he was very, very tired. He gave the bad pulley to the other (shorter, lighter and apparently quicker) guide who used it the rest of the way and had a much easier time getting across with it. So it poured for about 4-5 zip lines and we were soaked but HAPPY. It added to the fun. The only negative is they had us put our cameras away so they did not get ruined. The first 4 or 5 lines they took our own cameras across with them and took pictures of us WITH OUR CAMERAS. No $10 per picture from them. That bonus was worth the $35 per person by itself. The value you got here was AMAZING!. So we went through the rest of the zip lines, the sun came out by the end of it. The second to last one was an almost 45 degree angle down. The first guide took the mother of the family with him first as he told her, the had watched her breaking and it's not very good and that you would need 2 hands breaking the whole way on this one. My wife was also feeling weak in the arms since pulling herself back in during her Near Death Experience so she asked to go at the end with the other guide and did so. It was fast and you could feel your hands warming through the gloves but slowed down at the end to make it not so scary to stop. A BLAST. The last zip line you just walk off down stairs and there is a tip box which we tipped well and then they put you on a Large Van to drive you back. You go up a dirt hill and then he makes a wide left turn with cliffs all around you except to the left, it's at that point that I say "If we go over the cliff Carnival will say that is why you need to book tours through us". We make the turn with about 3-4 yards to spare(felt like 2 inches but I WAS on the side away from the cliff, then again maybe it WAS 2 inches since from my seat I could only see the open air). We got back to the top and I bought the "I survived South Shore Canopy" T-shirt for $10. We then went to the restaurant at West Bay Beach, had a nice lunch on a table right next to the water. Tried some snorkeling there as well but was a little rough in the water, saw a little fish, a lot of coral and lost my wedding ring as it slid off my hand in the water. I needed to have it sized down and procrastinated on that and usually take it off when I go in the water but forgot to and it almost immediately slipped off. We spent 10 of the 20 minutes snorkeling for wedding ring. Didn't find it. It was custom made by a local person here in NH and was charged a miniscule amount for her work so I will get it replaced no problem. It was upsetting at first but the overall monetary value lost was small and we both decided "stuff happens" and did not let it ruin our day. When we got out and told Juan Carlos he said he would talk to someone and he went over and next thing I know the snorkel renter at the resort is in the water for 15 minutes looking for my ring. He didn't find it but we tipped him for his efforts and thanked Juan for trying to help. Did I mention Juan is fabulous!! In fact, despite the lost ring it was our favorite day on the trip. We made a quick shopping stop on the way back to the ship and thanked Juan Carlos, tipped him well and went back to the ship. We almost skipped zip lining in Honduras as we did it in Belize but we are so HAPPY we decided to do it again. We may have missed some other attractions because of that but we made the right decision. I let Juan do most of the planning for this stop and he asked questions and got our opinion on what we liked as we went places. A really great guy, seems to know everyone. He was very friendly, there was a group of people with Victor Bodden at the resort and they were talking with Juan Carlos as he waited for us while we ate and at the end I heard the lady say, "Next time we're here we are booking with you" He has that type of personality and character. Nothing against Victor Bodden, his groups seemed to be happy with him and Juan said hi to him and pointed out who he was to us and he seemed great as well. I just can't picture anyone better than Juan Carlos, I would book him early and request him personally and you can't go wrong.

 

Port 3 Grand Cayman: - Land tour: B- for the stop but A for the tour guide

Grand Cayman was a short tender port. Unbeknownst to us the Stingray tour with Captain Bryan and all other reputable Stingray tours(Carnival included) were cancelled due to high winds and seas. We did the 8:15 wait for tender ticket thing again, this time they didn't start handing out until 9:00 but was on tender 1 again and quickly off. There was a lady in front of us in line that decided she would ask for a second tender ticket for her husband. They did not give it to her. It went like this:

Guest: " I need another ticket for my son"

Carnival employee: "The kids go on with you, we don't give tickets out for children"

Guest(Hand out waiting): " I'd rather be safe and get him a ticket"

Carnival employee: "How old is he" When told 12 she says " He doesn't need 1"

Guest(Hand still out): " OK, I lied, it's for my husband"

Carnival employee: "Our policy is you have to be here physically"

Guest(Hand still out): " He's in the room sick, can I get one?"

Carnival employee: "I'm sorry, our policy is you have to be here physically"

Guest(Hand still out): "Yesterday(she meant Tuesday for Belize) I was able to get a second one"

Carnival employee: "I didn't give out any to people not here"

Guest(Hand still out): " It was a guy who gave it too me?"

Carnival employee: "I'm sorry, our policy is you have to be here physically"

 

We got our tickets and left her there hand out and all. Also note that she had mentioned while in line that in Belize she got her tender ticket a few hours after we were in port so had no line issues. Also note the same 2 females were handing out tickets for Belize as well, no guy. People are funny. She was fun to watch at least

 

We proceeded to the tender area, they tell you that you can't stand in the open area near the elevators so people with tender tix not on Carnival hang around the corridor next to the elevators and where cabins are.. I watched her pull someone out of line and explain to him he had to wait for his # to be called. He said they said if you have a tour you can get off earlier. She said if you have a Carnival Tour, He argued he had a tour and it shouldn't matter if it was a Carnival tour, that went on for about 5 minutes. He had like tender #11 or something After 15 minutes of Carnival tours they called #1 and we tendered. The stingray cancellations cut the wait time for getting a tender in half. We walked to Captain Bryans and were told it was cancelled and walked up and down the main road outside the port, checked the Atlantis Sub tour and took a pamphlet for a later option. They run every hour starting at 8:30 or so. After a HEATED debate, I smacked the little wife around and made the decision that we'd take an island tour. Maybe it didn't go down like that but I know your still reading at least. There are people standing around the port with signs saying $20 per person, island tours. We walked up to one and joined the tour. There were 8 people in the van on the tour plus the guide. Again, here, we "lucked out". Our tour guide was the spunky 68 year old Ursoola Smith(It's probably Ursula but it is pronounced Ursoola). She is a lifetime resident Grand Cayman. Spunky and strong and a great guide. She brought us to a hotel(Marriott) where we could go through and check out Seven Mile Beach(Beautiful beach), took us to the turtle farm, Tortuga rum cakes, and Hell. I think we got in with her at 11:30 and were back at the port for 1:00. Very interesting lady, great stories about life on the island and the hurricanes. I don't know how you find her but if you see a grey haired older lady with a sign don't hesitate to grab her for your tour. The tour operators go to a holding area and then are called over in order of arrival to in front of the port, as people pick up tours the people waiting move up to be at the port so finding her may not be easy but we loved her personality and incredible physical shape for her age. Overall, Grand Cayman was a little too modern and not having water activities limits it's appeal so it was our least favorite port. This caveat that we enjoyed all the ports so least favorite is different than did not like it. We went to Senor Frogs for lunch. There and Margaritaville seemed to be the happening spots, DJ's, games, food, drinks, a general party atmosphere. We watched the beer chugging contest between the DJ and "guests". They beat the DJ they win free beer, they didn't but 1 guy was really close. It was a good time for a nice lunch. We were told the previous day no ships came in because of the high seas. That was Wednesday which is also the night I got a little seasick and went to bed at 8:30. We were there on Thursday so we lucked out again in making it to Grand Cayman and it's good to know the rocking of the boat was extreme the night I got sick. I took Ginger all week and Bonine just on Wednesday and other than Wednesday night was 100% fine. Turtle farm we spent ½ hour and that was enough, you got to hold some of the turtles and basically see a bunch of different ones in different holding tanks., they charged extra for the nursery. They were building a big snorkeling river which they will stock with fish in about 2 months and then offer snorkeling on the property as well as an area with predators of the turtle like sharks. I assume the snorkeling and the sharks are separated. That whole area will open in about 2 months. There is a little gift shop there as well. 30 minutes Is more than enough time to just see the turtles. Hell has an interesting area in the back with land formations where there is no grass. The gift stores are tiny and overcrowded. Most places were very crowded since all the Stingray tours were cancelled but did not deter from seeing the sights. At the Tortuga Rum cake place there is a big window to watch them make the cakes and a small store with lots of people getting free samples of the different flavor cakes and rum. I tried all the cakes and the banana rum, I'm not a hard liquor type but I still enjoyed it. Grand Cayman was a short tender back to the boat.

 

Port 3 Cozumel: - Dolphin Royal Swim, beach: A

I'll keep the political correctness debate out of this and just review the experience. Since we were arriving at 11 AM we asked and were granted permission to switch with Carnival Conquest and be the ones to dock. The tender was short so not sure if it ended being any easier as there was a backup to get off the boat. When you get off the ship like every port they want your picture with a "native" to sell to you later. Becky was a little disappointed when she mentioned to us she watched us dock and the ramp went out and our "native" came strolling off our own ship. To top it off the Costa ship, docked in the same place, had a much better costume on their "native" person. We found the cabs and took a short 15 minute cab ride over to Chankanaab Marine Park for our Dolphin swim. It is $15 or so to enter, they also rent snorkel gear and you can snorkel right off the beach. It has a very large beach area and was not very crowded. There are some replica ruins, a pool, some hammocks, and a restaurant. It is a well kept and clean resort. We had a little time before our swim and walked the beach and swung in some hammocks and then waited for our group to be called. There were 15 people that were divided into 2 groups(8 in ours and 7 in the other). They showed a 10 minute video on dolphins and the park and then took you out to the dolphin area. There are lockers there for your things, you carry the key around you neck. Regina and Marte were the 2 dolphins we interacted with. The highlight of the royal swim is when they do a "foot push" and push you, one on each foot, back toward your standing area and you come out of the water and literally stand and walk on water. You also get to hold onto them as they pull you in, kiss and hug them, feel there skin, have a water fight, talk to them and have them spin around and around. The instructors were great, it was a highlight of the trip. Honduras zip lining and this were 1a and 1b on this trip. After the swim you go to a room where they show you your video, edited to like 15 minutes and $50 but you HAVE to buy it. Individual photos of you getting a kiss from the dolphin is $10. We had a nice lunch on the beach at the restaurant and then laid out for about 20 minutes and got a cab back to the boat.

We watched the party boats go by and the drunk people mooning the ship. Good times on the balcony. I preferred Cozumel to Grand Cayman by far. Cozumel is a place I feel you can spend a weeks vacation on your own, with Honduras second in that regard and Grand Cayman and Belize more of a 2-3 day vacation spot at this point. Of course, we are not major beach bums.

 

Ship entertainment: B

We expected a bit of corny stuff and got that for sure. The CD is, ummm a little nerdy. I could see some people finding him annoying but in small doses he was fine, and sometimes funny. We made the shows on several nights. Missed the magic show by the CD but caught all 3 comedians "family" shows and none of their midnight shows. All 3 were funny, loved them all. I heard the midnight shows were great as well. It was good that all 3 were funny. The opening night show was good(Sunday), the Motown singer(Monday) was very good and fun I thought. Tuesday was magic which we came in late and just in time for the comedian who was good. Wednesday was my sick night, Thursday was the Motown singer and Friday was the Far from Over 80's show followed by the Karaoke winners show on Saturday. I will touch on those 2 in a bit. I did find the main female singer to be a little more yell than sing, the lead male singer was better but nothing special. The Far from over show was a fun 80's themed show. I noticed the dancers did well when they copied choreography(like Michael Jackson's thriller) but the dance steps for the original stuff was high school musical level. One really TALL dancer stood out in the fact he was tall and as Jim mentioned several times, you can't take you eyes off the "fat one" because he's a step behind everyone else. Vegas "style" shows maybe but nowhere near Vegas quality, but I didn't expect that. I enjoyed every show and never laughed harder than when 2 guys almost dropped the "heavier" female dancer into the front row, nice save guys!! I was entertained by the shows in some way though not always in the way Carnival intended. Karaoke night(Last night of cruise) was the usual hit or miss with the stars being Aretha Franklin and at another level the Frank Sinatra. Elton John was the worst but I suspect very few men try out for that role anyways. It was all good fun and having Frank Sinatra go last worked everyone into a standing ovation. He was the best of them all.

We did very little bingo, attended some of the pool time fun, hit the video arcade for a few games of air hockey, and spent a lot of free time getting caught up on sleep. The games on Lido were interesting and varies in success. The survivor game ran a little long and lost my interest half way through. The hairy chest contest was a riot and worth going to see.

Some of the "non-scheduled" entertainment was great. There is a table magician from India that works at dinner as well as on Deck 5. He came to our table one night and was magnificent. VERY Talented. If you don't see him by night 3 ask for him!! The break dancers from the 80's show put on there own little show in the Atrium after there show. They were funny and a good ½ hour of time even at midnight.

I did not spend much time in the bars or piano bar. Stopped in to each for a quick few minutes mainly. Spent about 5 minutes in the casino. I would have spent more time at them if they were non-smoking but not a lot more. I don’t want to start another smoke thread but here is my view on how things were and my opinion to follow. I found the smoke less bothersome than expected. The casino was not that bad, most of the bars were not that bad except when they got really full(example to follow). I am sensitive to the smoke but not as much as some and more so than others. More than one of our fellow travelers mentioned that the smoke really made there asthma act up so that ended any thoughts of hitting the bars at night for those people. The only non-smoking bars are in the Atrium and in the Supper club and generally not much action going on there(The Supper club has limited drink selection as well). That they can't designate 1 dance bar to be non-smoking is too bad. Both sides of our cabin had smokers but we only noticed them on the balcony at the same time as us twice the whole trip and only once were we downwind and driven back into the cabin. Though that was pipe smoke which I find more bearable, to a point. On Saturday afternoon my wife went to nap and I took the opportunity to tune into the Colts-Ravens NFL playoff game in the sports bar. It was packed and I stood toward the end of the bar to be on the edge and out of peoples way but it was the smokiest area/time of the whole cruise. I was there for 1 hour and when I left my throat was killing me from inhaling all the smoke(see I tolerated for 1 whole hourJ). Soap box time: Warning Warning!!! Ships are internationally registered so maybe slower to move toward non-smoking then the US but the good thing is that it is going that way everywhere. The Independent studies are well documented the harm second hand smoke does, it's the only thing you can do to physical harm to someone by your action and not be arrested I can think of. Nothing compares to it. Drinking is legal but drinking and driving is not, for example. The good thing is we live in an age where smoking is getting pushed to be something you can only do in your own home, as it should be. It did NOT deter from my cruise experience except for the need to leave the sports bar but I only had an hour anyways for that. BUT I did effect others people enjoyment of cruising. OK, OFF THE SOAP BOX at the risk of starting a flame war.

There was enough activities to keep you busy. I wanted to spend some time playing Basketball but you had to go get the basketballs elsewhere and then bring them to the court and then return them, I wish they had someone near the court or even in the Spa or kids camp(right under) that you could get them from. I guess if I really wanted to I would have made the effort. The Spa prices were 50-100% overpriced so could not bring ourselves to go there. Some possible improvements would be a bigger pool, a rock climbing wall, an outdoor movie screen, easier access to the sports equipment. For myself anyways, but overall they kept you entertained. CHAIR HOGS. I will say we "lucked out" in this area. Whenever we wanted to go to the Lido pool area to check out the action or whatever, we got a great spot close to the pool. Sometimes it was the only spot open. We do live charmed lives, at least for this cruise anyways. I will say on Saturday morning we went to the pool area and found 2 chairs at 10:45 and stayed there until 1:00. The two seats next to us had towels ONLY on them the full time. The wind was really blowing and the towels were slowly being blown off the chairs. I resisted the urge to give them some help. By looking around that was a good percentage of chairs, at least 25% were like that. Again, chair hogs never effected us but heard several people walk by us mention the "Damn towels on the chairs" as they tied to find a place to sit.

 

Ship Service: A-

This would be a straight A if not for the Pursers desk and there complete lack of help on anything I wanted. Our cabin steward was Song (It was the first part of his name but as he said "Just call me song, like sing a song"). He was spectacular, friendly, did everything you expect. He did protest a little too loudly when I tried to get him into my carry-off luggage, I guess it's back to doing my own house cleaning. Service in the main dining room was excellent. We had Pojo(or was it Pujo, something like that) and Superman(He said to call him that as his name was close to it). Always attentive, friendly enough, not great at offering the dish opinions and a little more jovial with the big table of 8. We had a table of 4 but the other couple was only there the same night as of once. They had eloped and got married on the cruise. They said had a hard time eating dinner that early. Or, we need to shower more, not sure which. The supper club was over the top in service. Employees were generally friendly, and always hard-working. The Maitre D' did visit our table twice at dinner, again spent more time at the table of 8 next to us. The pursers as I mentioned earlier did not want to talk to you about getting off the ship if you booked a private tour. They also seemed bothered when I asked for change for the laundry. The casino was closed as we were at the end of a port day. The first time we did laundry I just went to the casino, put dollars in, cashed out and got the quarters, very convenient, AND it feels like you won something J The arcade only gives tokens so I was stuck at the Pursers. They did it but not with a smile, same thing when we requested the black luggage tag, they did it, not with a smile though. I think they get complaints all day so maybe they are just miserable, or maybe we just had our one case of "Bad Luck". The minimal involvement made it a moot point but does make the grade an A minus instead of an A. We used the safe a lot and it got stuck closed one time and they came within 2-3 minutes to unlock it. Super fast. Never used room service. Wait staff up on deck was quick and attentive, bartenders were friendly, and everyone generally wanted to please you. The first night after we went to the Supper Club we went to the main dining room for dinner and our waiter asked how the supper club was and we said it was great but the service was nowhere near as good as yours(trying to give him a compliment). His face changed, he looked at us, said "Oh no, what was the matter, I can't believe that, I'm sorry if your experience there was that way", we had to explain to him we were joking, and trying to compliment him, language barrier, go figure.

[KCSVEN]

Disembarkation: B+

We had a 1:20 flight out of Miami and debated walk off versus non-walk-off. The "talk"(again did not attend but caught on TV) pushes self-disembark and stated after 1 hour the window for that is closed and then you can use the regular old way. We were expected to dock at 7 AM and start self disembark at 7:30. You were suppose to vacate the rooms by 9 AM. We left the luggage out the night before, BE AWARE they take the robes out of the room the night before so they aren't available the next morning. Of course, remember to keep clothes for the next day before you put your luggage out. We kept the bathroom items until morning and then put them in a little bag we then packed them in the carry-on. When we got the other luggage we through the bag in the regular suitcase since liquids, razors etc. obviously were not staying on the carry-on. On this cruise they started a new process on the self-disembark(or so they said). Instead of just having the front of the ship open to get to level 3 they opened the Middle dining room so you could walk through there to get to the level 3 Atrium and exit. This was suppose to help limit the mad rush at the front part of the ship. I think it may have worked better than not doing that for sure. We had breakfast at 8:30 and went back to the room at 10 of 9 to get our luggage. They had already started cleaning the room, apologized and said they would come back. I said we'd be out in 10 minutes. We put the carry-on together, re-checked everything to make sure nothing left behind and headed toward deck 3. We were on level 7 with Yellow tags but we decided to share a cab with Jim and Becky so we got tags for there level(Panorama-Black) from the pursers so we would go when "Black" was called. They refused to tell us in which order the decks would be called so we went with the black instead of the yellow figuring the upper levels may get called first. They state that they ONLY look at the color on the tag when dividing luggage so it does not matter that you write the 7343 cabin # and have a black tag, they only care what the color is. Which I can understand why they don't give out the order of colors then. In the end they called the top and bottom cabins first so we were the first color in the end we "Lucked out". So, anyways, we went to the atrium and looked down and everyone at 9:00 is standing waiting to get off the ship, so we went through the Lincoln dining room and sat on the sofas in the Atrium to hang out. There was almost nobody sitting there as there were people in line and I guess people thought you couldn't go and wait there or something. We could here the radios and what was going on, the story was basically that immigration and customs was backed up from the previous ship and they would not let us disembark until they were caught up. The first people in line mentioned they were up around 6 or 6:30 to get in line because they had an early flight from FLL. One of the Carnival employees stated they were behind because they were training some new people in immigration. Anyway, people were nervous about making their flights. A 7:30 disembark did not start until 9:30 so imagine some people waited 2 hours in line tog et off, but, it was NOT Carnival's doing at all. They kept making announcements that they were delayed due to customs. They had mentioned to wait until you were called for self-disembark, do not wait in the lobby etc… but, of course, that is stupid and people were in line well ahead of time. At about 9:20 a lady was in a mild argument wit the people from Carnival because she was self-disembark and they did not announce for them to leave the ship and they were asked to wait on deck 5 or 9 until called and now there is a huge line to get off. It was explained to her that all these people were waiting, what was she suppose to do with them all? The guest was mad because the other people didn't follow the instructions and she did and she is getting punished for it. People watching is fun. Any who, they started disembark at 9:30, I was in the terminal waiting for my plane at 11:30(MIA). The line went very fast. I think we were called at 10:00, was in the cab by 10:30 and at the airport before 11:00. Curbside check-in was looooong, security was long but quickly moving. Like I said, 9:30 the Self-disembark went, we were the first color called and we made the actual gate for our 1:20 flight(then delayed until 2:20) by 11:30. If you got a porter for your bags they pushed you to the front of the customs line, might save you 5 minutes. It was organized chaos outside the terminal. Cabs everywhere, people everywhere. It was $9 per person + tip to the airport in a taxi van, it held 11 people tightly. Carnival's part of disembarkation was smooth, customs was the hold up, and so overall it seemed to flow incredibly quickly IMO.

 

Miscellaneous and Summary

Overall Grade: B+/A-

I tied the internet café twice for short times, printed my boarding pass there on Saturday, checked email another time. They ran occasional specials but I just used the 75 cents a minute and paid about $20 overall. There are a few different bulk plans. The speeds were fine enough for what I was doing, a little slow but expected that.

 

Balcony was worth the extra money for us, spent a lot of time out there. I small but a great place to hang out.

 

We went out the front door on Deck 6. It brings you to a roped off area, when we went the rope was not up so we went down the stairs and were going to go to the very front of the ship when we noticed a number of employees sitting out there. Apparently they were doing lifeboat drill training there and someone forgot to put the rope up after they went down the stairs. Nobody said anything to us but we did not attempt the "Titanic" maneuver and just went back up the stairs..

 

Grand Buffet was a great artistic success. Took many pictures. I believe was on Thursday night near midnight.

 

Formal nights were Monday and Thursday.

 

Spa price are ridiculous.

 

The cruise gets high marks from me. I would have liked some changes in the entertainment available as mentioned and better service from the purser's desk but I was ON VACATION, got lots of rest, had lots of fun, visited some great ports, met some good people, had some good food, and had no kids and no cleaning to do. With all that it would be hard to not rate highly. I'm not sure if all our "luck" was really luck or just our attitude but things always seem to go our way on this trip. I would do a cruise again at some point, likely Alaska and Europe, but there are also so many places left to visit that cruises do not go so we'll see.

[bcs819]

thanks for the review! I chuckled several times - great sense of humor ;)

[Criscomia]

Wonderful REVIEW!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to get aboard......... May 6, 2007

[MonaCK]

Thanks for this great review. :) I'm really looking forward to experiencing it for myself in just 3 short weeks. :D

[Jenna1983]

Kevin, who were your dining staff team? We had the 5:45 seating too.

 

I was probably one of those walking by talking about "those damn towels." We ended up as far up on the ship as you could go, which was like sunning in a wind tunnel!

[hockeyluver]

Thank you for your review it was well done, we are doing eastern so I only skimmed through your ports. Hopefully you will post some pictures :D

[EricaLovesCats]

GREAT review! I love reading all the details; I will be going on my first cruise (Valor, March 18) so I am interested by everything.

 

We booked excursions through locals as well, not through Carnival. When I read you review it made me a little nervous about getting off in time. For example, we booked a Mayan temple tour in Belize and they said to be there by 0900. According to the schedule, Carnival docks at 0800. Should I be worried about making it by 0900???

[EricaLovesCats]

GREAT review! I love reading all the details; I will be going on my first cruise (Valor, March 18) so I am interested by everything.

 

We booked excursions through locals as well, not through Carnival. When I read you review it made me a little nervous about getting off in time. For example, we booked a Mayan temple tour in Belize and they said to be there by 0900. According to the schedule, Carnival docks at 0800. Should I be worried about making it by 0900???

[RoyalTraveler]

Great Review, professional. Which dining room would you prefer if you sailed Valor again? Washingto or Lincoln?

[KCSVEN]

I was in Washington dining room, I think I would prefer the Lincoln for this reason: The vibration at the back of the ship is extensive. It was not a bad body massage and it could have been the area of the dining room we were in was the most vibrating area but it was a pretty noticeable vibration. You do have a good view out the back of the ship from the Washington but this time of year gets dark really early. I think the wait staff you get is really the deicding factor but all things being equal I'd go Lincoln.

[KCSVEN]

I was in Washington dining room, I think I would prefer the Lincoln for this reason: The vibration at the back of the ship is extensive. It was not a bad body massage and it could have been the area of the dining room we were in was the most vibrating area but it was a pretty noticeable vibration. You do have a good view out the back of the ship from the Washington but this time of year gets dark really early. I think the wait staff you get is really the deicding factor but all things being equal I'd go Lincoln.

 

 

The waitstaff was Superman(he said call him that and his name was close to that) and Potu or something like that. I'm bad with names. We were on level 3 straight ahead and slightly off to the right, , the tables behind us were down a small set of stairs so we could see right out the back easily.

 

 

On Belize, the private tours usually wait for you as they know what ship you are on. Also Belize is an hour behind so if they say 9:00 it's 10:00 ship time. We were in 9 am ship time so maybe you mean 8 am Belize time or your in an hour earlier. Just be clear on the times. Either way email the private company and they'll let you know how they handle it. All the ones I dealt with were great. You do want to get off on the first couple of ticketed tenders though. Either way just make sure you start checking for a line for tender tickets 45 minutes early. They give them out on deck 5 at the information desk in across from the casino. They explain all that on the cruise.

 

Private tours are MUCH better if you pick the right people.

[KCSVEN]

test, these message boards I tell ya

[RoyalTraveler]

I enjoyed your review, read every entertaining word. Our CC roll call group want to plan a get-together early-on the cruise. Can you advise a place and time a group of about 30 could meet? (Maybe more or less) THANKS!

[KCSVEN]

For the meet and greet we did Monday 11 AM Lido deck bar out by the pizza place. Small bar with 15 or so seats. Though it is pretty open around it and worked well for us. Generally less people show up than you expect. Other people have done after Muster and beofre dinner the first night at one of the bars. If 30 people really show you can do it at the disco or in the cigar bar on many nights as no one is there early on. Rooms like that depend on groups as well as different rooms were closed off at different times due to weddings, group events and the like. That was always during slow times but then again, that's when you want a meet and greet.

[KCSVEN]

Level 3 dining room meant you enter on the level 3, it's actually the lowest level of the dining room which is 2 levels. Just to be clear.

 

I did find the wait staff entertainment rather funny, but I think they were seriously singing. Must be me.

[RoyalTraveler]

Did your group do anything special when you first met - or just hang out?

[KCSVEN]

We formed a circle and took turns break dancing and then... just kidding, we sat at the bar and chatted, basically. I think in total I was there at least 1/2 hour to 45 minutes though we were the last ones there with one other couple we talked to. It was funny because nobody ordered drinks after we got there(we seemed to show up with them) and the fear was we wouldn't be there long enough to have a drink. In our case we definately could have.

[deborahjo]

It was great to hear your review. We did the same itenary on the Paradise 11/03. Strange thing is we could not do water things either due to storms. Good to see you had a great time. DH love Roaton better also. We did not thing much of GC. How brave you guys are to not do 1 but 2 Zip lines. Not this person. Did they find where the lost lady in the cave went...

[Jenna1983]

I was in the Washington Dining room, deck three. It was kind of rocky the one night, but I was okay otherwise. I had this same dining room on the Glory, but on deck four. We were off to the left in the aka "grotto." Fabulous dining staff team made up for that though!

 

LOL I just read your comment on Elton John. I knew pretty much of all of the performers from attending karaoke each night. Mike (Elton John) tried out for I believe every male performer. Hillarious guy. His renditions of "Save a Horse! Ride a cowboy!" each night were hillarious.

[RoyalTraveler]

Thanks for a lot of great info!

[KCSVEN]

It was not so much the dining room rocking as the vibration from the propellers or whatever was running under the boat. Like I said it could have been mostly in the area we sat and we just ignored it.

 

I never got to the karaoke tryouts to watch, came close a few nights but always detoured by something else.

 

I'm glad people could make it through the long review.

 

It is in the 20's in NH, I want to be back in the Caribbean. I can't believe it's been over a week since I got back :mad: