Notes from my FIRST Carnival Cruise (Valor ~~ Western ~~ 5/13)….

[ALadyNCal]

Here are our comments from our FIRST CARNIVAL CRUISE. Overall it was a really nice week so most of this is just our opinion of this cruise compared to our prior cruises.

 

EMBARKATION: Arrived at pier at 11:15 and was finished and onboard within an hour. Very smooth and easy.

 

CABIN STEWARD: He was certainly adequate. On the first day I felt he could have had a little more of a ‘can do’ attitude. I explained that I ‘thought’ our cabin would have the loveseat but didn’t (my error) and instead we only had one chair and could he possibly find us a second chair. He said no. He asked if we needed the mini bar and I said we wanted to use the fridge and could he remove those items. He said no, that ‘we’ would have to do it and find somewhere to put things. My really big surprise was that he never mentioned where the life jackets were or said the muster would be shortly. I had to ASK him about it. He seemed to just want to know what our dining time was and for us to sign his paper. He kept the cabin clean, but we are pretty neat so there isn’t allot to do. We did have a few cute towel animals. Overall, he was adequate, not stellar.

 

CABIN: We picked all the way forward on the Upper Deck, 6203 (category 6B). Great location. Very few people were on the deck in front of our window. I tried three times and it is NOT easy to see into those cabins. It was nice to see ‘what the Captain sees’ when looking straight ahead and arriving into ports. 95% of the week, you couldn’t even feel the ship was moving. On two prior cruises, we have been near the front of the ship, so we knew it wouldn’t be an issue. We picked the location for the access to the outside deck and to be out of the general traffic patterns and it was great for both. It was clean and quiet and that was the two most important things. One negative about the cabin is our shower had very poor water pressure. But the A/C worked great! Also plenty of storage space.

 

FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT SHIP:

~~~Rosie’s – It was light and airy and cheerful. The upstairs part is also quiet.

~~~Jeanne’s Bar – Enjoyed the daily martini special ($3.75 instead of $7.95 – until 8:15)

~~~Sushi Bar – Enjoyed the ‘sushi appetizers’ they offered each night (until 8:30). They also had saki specials.

 

LEAST FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT SHIP:

~~~Atrium had a generally dark décor and when you are up above it ‘seems’ fairly narrow (compared to other ships we’ve been on)

~~~Ship layout… While we certainly figured it out, it is not ‘user friendly’ and lacks continuity

~~~Lincoln dining room has a terrible décor (imho). If you like (bubble gum) pink and red, you will be happy. To us, it made a new ship seem dated. We didn’t care for it.

~~~Pink trim in cabins (around ceiling) that don’t match anything else in the cabin

 

LIDO BUFFET—ROSIE’S: Do a GREAT job for lunch. The food was good and there are lots of choices (Deli, Chinese, Pizza, Buffet, Burgers, Fish n Chips). We went to breakfast there twice and thought it was ‘OK” but not great. We went to dinner there THREE times and thought it was pretty good but not as many choices at for lunch and not as good of food.

 

PIZZA: Had pizza and caesar salad for dinner one night and thought it would be better.

 

ICE CREAM—FROZEN YOGURT: Never failed to please! We had it a few times and resisted making it a daily obsession.

 

FISH & CHIPS: Very good. They also have calamari & zucchini fritters, cerviche, and other things.

 

POOLS: Seem very small (as mentioned in another review) for the size of the ship.

 

SPA & GYM: This is the first cruise that we really didn’t bother to check them out.

 

SHOWS: We only went to the last two (80’s night and the passengers doing impersonations). Both were VERY good. We don’t go to the theater and sit for half an hour before a show to get seats, so we were kind of surprised that you couldn’t come at show time or a few minutes late and sit up in the back somewhere. Both nights it was literally PACKED and we stood up on the third level in the back behind people.

 

CRUISE DIRECTOR: Chris was OK but didn’t really impress us.

 

CREW: Everyone seemed friendly enough and did a nice job. We particularly liked the evening bartender at Jeanne’s (Zuzana). She was really sweet and does a nice job.

 

ROOM SERVICE: We had continental breakfast most mornings and it arrived as ordered. Our (one) BIG complaint was the coffee was very poor. It was somewhat better in the Lido Buffet but the coffee we received in the cabin was VERY disappointing.

 

FAVORITE AREA OF SHIP: Deck 5 Promenade area – we liked to have a sushi appetizer and a drink and watch all the people flow by :) Also Deck 3 outside is quiet to watch the ocean go by and there are deck chairs and shade.

 

DINING ASSIGNMENT: On a whim after embarkation, we decided to see the Maitre D and ask if a table for TWO were available (we were assigned to the Lincoln Dining room @ 8:30 pm). While we have NOT done this on prior cruises, we felt that if we wanted to do alternate things for dinner then no one would be concerned if we were ‘no shows’, whereas it is more obvious at a table for 6 or 8. He DID have a table for TWO and on the first night we went and found that it was in a major traffic way and that huge stacks of food trays were constantly flying right by our heads and all the servers were squeezing by us :( There are three tables like this on each side of the Lincoln dining room (beware). While our waiter was NICE, it is the first time we have had a waiter that we could barely understand – his accent was very hard to decipher over the dining room noise. This was compounded by him speaking softly. The food was good, not fabulous. The second night, we felt the same way. On the third day, I considered skipping the dining room, but the ON SCREEN MENU (in the cabin) had some interesting main entrees for that evening so we went. That is when we found that the menu they showed was WRONG and the main courses were not remotely the same (you need to go and physically see the menu for the evening). Dinner was average that evening and we decided that between the traffic pattern, noise level, communication issues, and the good but not fabulous food….that we would skip the dining room for the remaining nights. I am SURE we could have asked to be re-assigned but it wasn’t worth all the trouble – esp when there is so much food available onboard.

 

WINE/SODA: We packed our backpack with two 2-liter sodas and 3-4 bottles of wine (well padded) and gave it to the baggage handlers at the pier. It arrived in our cabin a little after our main luggage, everything intact. We had soda and wine to drink in our cabin, and enjoyed the martini specials (after the sushi appetizers) most of the evenings. Also, if you need more wine glasses, room service will bring them. We asked for wine glasses and they said “for red or white?” ;)

 

PHOTOS: I have NEVER seen so many photographers! Every single night of the cruise there were half a dozen photo set ups. I kept wondering how the photo gallery handled all of it.

 

GRAND CAYMAN: Our first time here and our plan went well. We got off, walked two blocks to the library, caught the ‘local bus’ (mini vans) for $2.50/pp and went to the ‘turtle farm’. Across from the turtle farm is a SCUBA (DiveTek) shop and we rented gear and did two shore dives there and had a nice day. We took the local bus back to town but our energy was running low and shopping is never a priority, so we headed for the ship. With an hour before the last tender, we got in line with another 500 people and waited to board a tender back.

 

TENDERING IN GRAND CAYMAN: They started tendering at 7:30 and we went to Deck 5 at 8:10 a.m. and they said to just go straight down and there was no waiting. We were at the pier in a few minutes. On the return tender…................................. When the tender reached the ship, it took almost half an hour to unload it, while the tender banged FURIOUSLY against the ship every 2 minutes. Never in all my cruises have I experienced anything like it. It was very very unsafe and it seemed as if the captain of the tender had never done this before. They are a vendor, not Carnival employees. The tender pitched, people held on, they would scream occasionally as the tender banged loudly against the ship. I was tired and didn’t want to stand in this line, so we sat down through all of it and waited. It was very unsafe for people coming down the stairs, standing and waiting, and trying to step from the tender to the ship. They could’ve been pitched into the metal seats or down the stairs. Even the Carnival personnel was trying to advise the tender boat captain what to do to maintain the tender against the ship. The huge gap and pitching could've severely injured someone. It was a FULL HOUR from getting in line to getting on the ship!

 

ROATAN: Very very hot that day. We had pre-arranged independent SCUBA diving. Our driver was late and we were about to give up on him. The dive shop KNEW we were coming (and had our deposit) but didn’t really plan on us so we were only able to do ONE dive instead of TWO. They claim to be geared to cruise passengers, but I think they need to work on it a bit. The dive was nice but I would try a different operator next time around (we chose Suena del Mar resort). Someone else had a great time with Subway Watersports.

 

BELIZE: Our first time here. It was grey and raining but eventually cleared up. It was frustrating trying to get off the ship but we managed. We barely made it but caught the water taxi (45 minutes) to Caye Caulker ($15/pp roundtrip). Once there, we found that four other Valor passengers had also booked the three hour snorkel (Tsunami Adventures). So the 6 of us had a nice time and did three snorkel stops ($25/pp). The rain had churned things up a bit so it wasn’t as clear as we hoped, but still fun. One of our stops was shark/sting ray alley (lots of rays and a couple of sharks). After snorkeling, the other 4 took the water taxi immediately back to town (Belize City) and we stayed on Caye Caulker and had a nice local lunch (we had 90 minutes till the next water taxi). Arriving back at town, we still had an hour left but could tell we were sunburned and had no interest in shopping. Highly recommend going to Caye Caulker – very easy to do on your own and very affordable. It’s a cute town with no cars or crowds. There are plenty of places to eat and several shops to buy souvenirs. The other company I was considering for a similar snorkeling excursion was Star Tours. As mentioned, there is nothing but shopping at the pier area. You have to pre-arrange something or book with some of the vendors there to go and ‘do’ something.

 

TENDERING IN BELIZE: It was an uphill battle to get off in a timely fashion. The ship arrived one hour late (because of pilot boat issues) and the whole day was extended by one hour (to give the same time in port). We SOMEHOW managed to get off in the first half an hour and (by the skin of our teeth) rushed down main street and got on the water taxi to Caye Caulker that was departing (they actually yelled for him to wait for us). One crew member directing people waiting to get on tenders made negative remarks as though we were an imposition to him because we were trying to get off and meet our onshore reservation. Maybe if HE only had ONE day in Belize he would be more understanding. On the return.................................... Getting back to the ship was MUCH smoother than in Grand Cayman.

 

COSTA MAYA: Unfortunately, we stayed onboard (unusual for us). We wanted to get off and snorkel but our sunburn from Belize kept us out of the sun. So for us it was a quiet day on board.

 

UNUSUAL THINGS:

~~~Are bedspreads a thing of the past? There was only a decorative piece of material at the foot of the bed…

~~~Signing to receive FREE room service. I don’t quite get that…

~~~Two different days (port and sea day) they entirely shut down/closed off Deck 3 to ‘clean’ it. We thought there were lots of times they could have done this instead of when people wanted to use it.

~~~The last sea day (while sitting on Deck 3 – after it was cleaned…) we observed a passenger (30 feet away) go up to a life ring, stand there for five minutes fiddling with it, stuff something in his pocket and walk off. We realized he had STOLEN the rope that connects the life ring to the lighted buoy and put it in his pocket! We did advise the Purser’s Desk who did advise the Safety Dept. VERY strange.

 

BEST THING I PACKED: Two large plastic tumblers from home. The glasses in Rosie’s are tiny and if you want to drink allot of liquids it will take you many trips. We used the tumbler I brought, filled it with iced tea, and went down to Deck 3 to relax.

 

THINGS I WISH I HAD PACKED:

~~~Usually I do, but somehow didn’t this cruise…a sweatshirt or sweater! The common areas in the ship felt like they were about 62 degrees and I got cold allot.

~~~An umbrella….would’ve been of great use on disembarkation day.

~~~Extra conditioner. There is none in the bathroom and the salt water gets to your hair quickly (if you are snorkeling or doing SCUBA!).

 

KIDS: There weren’t that many on this cruise. We hoped it would be ‘quiet’ between spring break and summer vacation and it basically was. Camp Carnival seemed to do a good job of keeping them busy.

 

DISEMBARKATION TALK: They make it seem very important for someone in your party to ‘attend’. As I figured, that is not necessary AT ALL. The whole talk replays on the TV in your cabin and you can watch it at your leisure.

 

DISEMBARKATION: This was a VERY BIG deal. Unlike any previous cruise and not in a good way :( We had a flight home late in the day and tried to be as flexible as possible in getting off the ship (ie. not be stuck in big lines of people rushing to get off). First sign of trouble was the TORRENTIAL rain outside (the ship windows looked like a car wash).We awoke at 7:30 with announcements for people to do the express disembarkation. By 9:00 they were starting the ‘by deck disembarkation’ and we headed to Rosie’s for a quick breakfast to find they were about to close up. Only one small section remained open on the buffet. By 9:30 we moved to an area overlooking the atrium to watch the lines. Around 10:10 it ‘seemed’ that the line had dwindled down and we should go. That was the HUGE misconception :( We got in line, got off the ship, walked into the customs/immigration terminal and joined the MASSIVE CROWD. Thank goodness our flight was late in the day or the ensuing situation would have been really really stressful. It turns out that after moving a couple of minutes, the line just STOPPED. Entirely. Period. It didn’t move again, not an inch, for over 40 minutes. I was very surprised at how many people in this line were dragging around their huge suitcases (or several of them). Rumor was that immigration stopped the line but we think Carnival did. They thought people weren’t moving out downstairs fast enough, so they just stopped it all. It took 1 ½ hours to go through this terminal. Amazing. Incredible. By the time we snaked around and around and down and around and thru customs to get to our luggage, it was NOON! We were in the last 150 people off the ship and there was nothing easy or organized about it. It turned into further chaos when we tried to find a rental car shuttle bus. With the rain and ankle deep puddles and two side-by-side cruise ships dumping off 2500 passengers each, it was a nightmare. Cars, taxis, shuttles, and people all in every direction and practically none of them moving. After chasing down four shuttles through puddles, we ended up at the airport at 1 pm. Even though the rental contract said “cruise pier pick up”, they still took us to the airport location. The shuttle driver said the rain did make it worse but that it is always that way with Carnival.

 

OVERALL IMPRESSION: The cruise and ship were nice. We specifically picked this itinerary and it was very good. We enjoyed it for the most part but wouldn’t rate it as one of our favorite cruises. The disorganization and chaos that was disembarkation left a lasting impact. We’re glad we tried Carnival though. Hope our feedback helps future cruisers!

[ALadyNCal]

Forgot to mention... On the first formal night in the dining room, my husband wanted prime rib and I suggested he order a lobster tail 'on the side'. That is what he did. However, what he received was two complete separate dinner entrees on separate plates (at the same time)... Is that normal? Are they not allowed to modify a dinner order at all?

[ALadyNCal]

On embarkation, we submitted a signed credit card authorization for onboard expenses. During the boarding process, a FAQs sheet is handed out and we read it over lunch. It said you need to go and ACTIVATE your Ship n Sail card....which sounded odd... Down in the dining room, there was a huge line and I couldn't tell if that was what they were doing or if I understood the 'activation' thing correctly. In the cabin, I called the Purser's Desk and asked during what time frame could we 'activate' our card and he said 'any time at the purser's desk'. In evening, we went down there to do that. We told him the form we were signing (credit card authorization) looked the same as the one we already did in the embarkation process but he was confused. We asked him if this was what everyone in the line in the dining room was doing earlier...but he just looked confused :(

 

Seems that all that info would be linked and as soon as you submit your credit card doing embarkation that it would be 'activated'. Had never had to do another step that I remember on prior cruises.

 

So.........was our Sign n Sail card activated during embarkation when we submitted the credit card authorization? Or was the FAQ form correct and we were supposed to go through some line in the dining room to do it?

[Wennfred]

what he received was two complete separate dinner entrees on separate plates (at the same time)... Is that normal?

 

Yes, its the norm, you have to tell them to put it all on one plate.

 

 

Fred