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Just off the Valor - Love, Love, Loved it!!!!

5668200

By 5668200,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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5668200

5668200

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We got off the Valor yesterday, 2/11, and just loved our cruise! Let me first preface my review by saying this was our 10th cruise, second on Carnival. We went with a group of 9, DD and her DH and their 10 year old DD, my DNephew and his DW, and DSIL's brother and his girlfriend. Everyone had cruised on Carnival before.

 

Ship: We loved the decor of this ship. Lots of red, white, and blue. The theme was based on hero's and heroin's and we loved all the wonderful pictures, mosaics, flag topped tables, etc. The public rooms all had different themes and they were done perfectly. We happened to see a show on t.v., on the ship, about the history of the decorating of the Valor, it was very interesting and was fun to see the different rooms and the reasons things were decorated the way they were.

 

Food: We all ate in the dining room every night and loved it. Our wait staff was great. Our main wait person Iojuna (sounds like iguana without the g) was great. The assistant Matre D', Terence, was great and came to chat with us every night, he was really fun. He is leaving the ship in two weeks to be the main Matre'D on another ship, he thought maybe the Destiny. We all loved the food, not one complaint. Everyone loved the Chocolate Melting Cake. We ordered least 2-3 of them ordered every night. The service was superb. We ate in the upper deck in the Lincoln. We had a large round table right next to the railing, so every night during the show (we loved the shows), we'd line up and watch all the fun below us. Great location! We ate breakfast in the dining room a couple of times, it was good, same selections every day. Never ate lunch in the dining room. Seems were were always gone for lunch. We had fish and chips one day, it was good. We had a corned beef sandwich at the deli one day, they were also good. Room service only once, I had roast beef and brie - very good and DH had the chocolate cake, he said it was great.

 

 

Cruise Director: It was Brett Alans. Unlike most others, we all really liked him. He was very informative and very funny. He was a riot the last night during the Legends show - everyone just roared laughing at him. We never heard anyone say anything negative about him. He is retiring in three weeks from the cruise industry after 23 years and will be going to Iraq with his magic act in August. We really enjoyed him.

 

Our room: It was the best ever!!!! We had a balcony room (our first), #9282, on the Lido deck. The room was very large - lots and lots of room. We had more than enough storage space, didn't even use it all and we brought a lot of stuff. This was an absolutely perfect location. It was three cabins down from the doors leading to the pool area, and four cabins the other direction to the elevators. We never heard any noise from anywhere. The only people who would probably pass this room would be those 6-7 cabins in that little area. It was just perfect. The room had a hair dryer built into the dresser in the main cabin. I hated the dryer, wish I had brought my own. I have fine hair so it dried quickly but you had to hold the button down and it wasn't very powerful. I would imagine it would take a very long time if you had thick hair.

 

Food in the Lido: The buffet food was...well, buffet food. We didn't eat there much. We just don't like buffet food much, but what we had was fine. The chocolate buffet was o.k., nothing special. If you've seen NCL's, you'll be disappointed in this one. I do have to say though that we didn't see tables filled with plates and flies all around as one posted said a while ago. Also, several times I saw someone coming around with a cart full of many different beverages wanting to refill your drinks.

 

The Islands - we always book our excursions with the ship and did on this cruise too, with the exception of Costa Maya.

Grand Cayman: We booked the Seven Mile Beach excursion with transportation. We boarded a nice air-conditioned shuttle that took us to Grape Sea Beach. It was really nice. They had a large area reserved for this excursion, told others to leave that didn't have on the arm band. We had a great relaxing day. The beach was beautiful as was the water, just nice rolling waves. It included a cold water or pop.

 

Roatan: We all did the Dolphin Encounter and loved this excursion. Our best yet. Again, we took a nice air conditioned shuttle to the really pretty Anthony's Keys Resort. It was a nice drive, about 20 minutes. We got onto a small boat which took us over the other side of a small bay where we got into the water with the dolphins. All 9 of us were able to stay together. We were in the water for about 30 minutes. We each were kissed by the dolphins, got to hold them, touch their teeth and tongues, pet them, etc. Our dolphin was 400 pounds so a pretty big one. She had a baby who kept leaving her training and coming over to us. The dolphins did a great show for us while we were in the water. We all loved it. They took lots of pictures of us then we had time to take our own also. We bought the CD.

 

Belize: 6 of us did the Altun Ha Ruins and River Wallace. Again, we loved this tour. We started out going down the river, about a 2 hour ride in a large speed boat. We sat along the sides of the boat and were able to lean back on the tall side. We saw aligators, monkeys, lots of iguana's (I didn't know they were orange and could get so big!), and birds. The river ride was beautiful. There were three boats that kind of stayed together. It was very, very hot. We brought lots of water and wore hats. There was no top on the boat so people could walk around and go from side to side. The boat did speed up often to cool us down. Then we stopped at a nice little resort for lunch, not included in price. We then took a 45 minute air-conditioned bus ride to the ruins over some very bumpy roads. The ruins were great. 3 of us climbed to the top of them, 3 didn't. We all loved this excursion.

 

Costa Maya: DD and her DH had been here before and just loved it. Seven of us rented 2 golf carts and just cruised around for 2 hours. It was really fun. The carts are rented behind the big pink building. Looked like they had about 20 or so to rent. The line was pretty long, but we got 2 of them. They gave us a map of where to go, suppose to turn around at a football field, honestly we didn't see one, so we just kept driving to the end. We passed many carts on our way there, as they were coming back, so we weren't the only ones. It was just a great day. We only stopped a couple of times to take pictures. The minimum charge is $30 for 2 hours, and $15 each additional hour, or $65 for the day. It was so worth the money. We say others on ATV's and go-carts but they were all in large groups. We were able to go on our own which we liked. After the carts we went back for lunch, then went back to buy a few things form the shops. A great day. The 2 that didn't go with us on the carts went snorkeling right out front of the shops and said it was great.

 

Our last day was rainy but it didn't dampen our spirit. My DNephew entered the hairy chest contest, and won for best entertainer!!! He climbed up on the piano and did a bump and grind dance. It was such fun. It was in the lobby because of the rain outside. He won a nice velour robe, ship on a stick, and a medal.

 

The Shows: The main woman singer, Penny, was terrible. We couldn't understand a word she sang - she mumbled and yelled the whole time. The dancers were great. They rearranged the shows a couple of times because a comedian didn't perform but it was fun. We went to all shows and enjoyed all of them. We went to the Newlywed game - it was fun.

 

All I can say is: We love the Valor and had a wonderful week. I really can't think of anything negative, other than the singer, but she certainly didn't impact our cruise. If you have questions, I'll try to answer them. :)

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5668200

5668200

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As I think of other things I'll try to include them. One of the things I wanted to say was during the Captains Cocktail party and the Past Guest party, you can get any drink you want, not just those they pass around. We ordered a virgin frozen (but you could get an alcoholic one if you wanted to) pina colada. It was wonderful. They came and asked if we wanted another one. During the past guest party we were in Paris Hot - a very cool lounge - and they said we couldn't get one there, so we went over to the Eagles Lounge and got one there. Some people don't realize you can order any drink you want, that's why I mentioned it.

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Cracker Ken

Cracker Ken

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Thanks - I'll be doing W & E back to back cruises on Valor 4/29/07 through 5/13/07. I'm certainly looking forward to it. Especially after your review. We have sailed on Liberty, another Conquest class ship, and I'll be interested in the different decoration scheme on Valor. The patriotic scheme sounds nice.

 

Ken

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Criscomia

Criscomia

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Thanks - I'll be doing W & E back to back cruises on Valor 4/29/07 through 5/13/07. I'm certainly looking forward to it. Especially after your review. We have sailed on Liberty, another Conquest class ship, and I'll be interested in the different decoration scheme on Valor. The patriotic scheme sounds nice.

 

Ken

 

We will be on the same cruise...........a group of 12 ladies.......May 6th thru 13th on the Valor. We have a roll call going if you want to join.

 

Cindi

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