Valor Review--short n' sweet! (sort of)

[Lefty888]

Hey, just off the Valor..wanted to leave a short review for all!

Miami airport to dock- got a taxi. $24 flat rate for 2 ppl. Easy easy. Lots of traffic by the dock. Like, a 20 min. ride. Porters take your bags out of the taxi and off with them after a tip. Totally worth it. Especially if it's POURING RAIN. :(

Embarkation-lines lines and more lines. Disorganized as expected. People not knowing where to go, resulting in cutting you in line. Just keep your cool, and you'll be fine. The misery doesn't last more than an hour or so.

Food- Loved Rosie's!!! Fantastic salad bar, good hot/cold stuff, typical breakfast food, nice assortment of desserts. Thumbs up on the free coffee. Better than expected also. Didn't care for the gooey melting choc cake. Dining room food was fair..service/waiters were great. Pizza, turkey roll up, burgers all good good good. Bottle of beer, $5.64 with tip. YIKES.

Entertainment- in a word, FAN-TAS-TIC. The dancers were OK, but the singers Marcus Anthony and Yvonne-something were superb. Comedians were hilarious. Jim Brick is not to be missed. (the PG rated show) I almost peed myself. Missed legends show. Far from over also not to be missed if you love 80's music.

Chris Jefferson CD-funny, charming, entertaining. Liked him A LOT.

Rooms- ok. Seemed more dated than I expected. Tacky decor, but that didn't matter really. Steward was good, rooms clean and tidy.

Noise- Holy crap. Lido deck/Rosie's above us. Um, more like "construction site". It sounded like they were building a freakin' bowling alley up there. Bangs, clangs, the the clip clop of high heels 'til 3 am. Thin walls too.. If you haven't booked a room yet, go for deck 7. You'll be sandwiched in between decks with less noise.

Nassau- "eh". Tour of Atlantis was ok. LOTS of walking. And I mean LOTS. You are walking the whole time. Nice resort, nice aquarium. Felt rushed not to miss last boat back to the port. Straw market was hot and stinky. But if you want a souvenir (or fake bag), get in and get out!!

St. Thomas- loved. Been there before. Paradise point, postcard views. Going thru immigration before getting off was a breeze. The line flew.

St. Martin/Maarten- Toured both sides. French side much nicer than Dutch side. Nice beaches. Nice port/dock.

Chair hogs- none! Or none where I was. Plenty of chairs on Lido aft. I think the hogs are by the pool. Up on deck is nice n' breezy. Gets crowded only after 1pm or so..

Disembarkation- Not as bad as I expected. Didn't do self assist. Unless you are the first off, or the last off..you'll stand in more lines with very confused people. Again, keep your cool. The whole process took about an hour. I guess if you get a porter, you get to cut to the front. Good if you have kids or lots of luggage. Saw younger people with a few suitcases getting porters, when older folks who needed them couldn't.

Back to airport- Opted for Carnival transfer. Good choice. Wouldn't want to try to find a taxi. Port people will send you to the wrong bus, so make sure you read signs. Read here about the driver waiting with hand out for a tip. We had a 70 year old driver who loaded the bus with 50 suitcases all by himself in 90 degree weather. TIP HIM. He deserves it in my opinion!!

Overall a very nice cruise--great ship. The weather was beautiful all but one day. The ocean swells were fierce 2 or 3 days and the ship was a-rockin'. Like, I mean can't-walk-straight rockin'. I heard even the crew was ill!!!

Hope this was informative! Again, as with all reviews..just my opinion!!

[LMHSRN]

Just curious.....

If you were on the Lido deck, all the cabins are forward. Rosies is totally aft.

 

Lido cabins between two decks with only cabins.....

 

If you had noise above you, it was from cabins above you not Rosies. Right?

[SunnyinMA]

They said Lido/Rosies was above them not that they were on Lido...

[LMHSRN]

Oh my - being just under the buffet would be a real trip. Been there, lol.

 

We never slept a wink. You learn the hard way........check out above and below decks

[rebeljohn]

Nice review! Thanks for posting!

[Lefty888]

yes, we were on deck 8. Rosie's was above us..

[Thatmom]

yes, we were on deck 8. Rosie's was above us..

 

Can you tell me your room number?

thanks,

carla