Valor Review 3/15/09-3/22/09 with PICTURES

[JordanLovesCruisin]

Carnival Valor Western Caribbean 3/15/09-3/22/09

Background: I (Jordan), my fiancé and first time cruiser, Mark (22), Mom and Dad (44), and brother Chase (17). This was my fourth cruise, 2nd with Carnival, and my parents had taken a few before I was born, after they got married in the 80’s, along with the cruises I have sailed on. We are from Oklahoma.

We were so excited!

Sunday- Miami and Embarkation- We flew out dark and early on Sunday the 15th, and when I say early, I mean early. For goodness sakes, I’m a college kid, and rarely wake up before 9. We left the house at 4 am, and went to the OKC airport. After celebrating that my suitcase was less than 50 pounds (43.8 woooohooo!), we passed through security and boarded our American Airlines flight to DFW. Our flight from OKC to DFW was…wait for it….a whopping 36 minutes. Once at DFW, we had an hour layover until our 8:30 am flight from DFW to MIA, so we began warming up our stomachs for the cruise food we were about to indulge in for the next week and had a bite to eat at McDonalds. Yum. The flight from DFW to MIA was about 2 ½ hours, but it seemed like a lifetime because we were all so excited. This was Mark’s first day to ever fly, and I think flying is a keeper in his book now J. I forgot to mention, all of our flights were arranged from Carnival’s Fly Aweigh program, and they planned them out great. I highly recommend this program. Not only did it save some coin booking through Carnival, but it was an easy process. When we sailed with Royal’s Air Package, we nearly missed the cruise because they cut it so close. Good job on this, Carnival! Okay, so at the Miami Airport we retrieved our luggage which, thank the lord, all five of our suitcases made it. We then met the grouchy…I mean, lovely lady who was in charge of our transfer from the airport to the port. She lined us up in two lines-Triumph and Valor. Then we were off…it was a great, beautiful ride to the Port of Miami, and we had a great bus driver. Now, embarkation…oh embarkation. We got to the building thingy at about 1:45, and they gave us a time sheet, and every person at every embarkation station had to fill out what time they saw us at. Now, I don’t blame Carnival for the major congestion that was accumulated before entering the ship, but it was a very slow process. It took aboout an hour. Don’t worry, I dropped my Sail and Sign somewhere back in the line, before boarding, so I had to retrace my steps...but I found it! Whew. Once all of us had “dinged” in and had taken our stunning Sail and Sign pictures, we dropped our carry-ons off in the cabin. My fiancé, my brother and I were in cabin 9259, inside, and my parents had 9253, a balcony. In my opinion, Royals inside rooms were a touch larger, but Carnival’s bathroom was bigger. We had two twin beds, and one top bunk pulled down. We ate some lunch at Rosiest. I had a Grilled Reuben from the Deli, and this is where I was first introduced to sauerkraut…sick. Needless to say, I ordered the Reuben without that slimy stringy, substance. Rosie’s was big and beautiful, plenty of seating. It’s a shame that I discovered the HOT CHOCOLATE MACHINE on the second to last day of the cruise and not the first. Bummer. Muster drill happened…went smoothly, blah, blah, blah. Then I was exhausted and my head was pounding so I took a little siesta in the lovely 9259. We were in the Lincoln Dining Room at table 114, early seating. Our waiters name was _______. I forgot. He never smiled, didn’t ask our names like all the waiters had on our previous cruises. Needless to say, he probably shouldn’t be working in the service and hospitality industry if he can’t be personable. Our assistant waiter, Kevin from India, was absolutely outstanding and was just as sweet as can be! I can’t stop saying anything but great things about him. HE remembered our names, smiled and greeted us, and always brought Mark and me a hot chocolate with dessert. The flat iron steak, shrimp cocktail, and fruit cocktail were outstanding that night. For dessert, we just HAD to try the Melting Cake, and holy bejezus ya’ll weren’t kidding when you compared that to heaven. Wow. After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show and it was fantastic. Charlie Davidson was eh. He needs improvement but he wasn’t terrible and he was very friendly. Then, we called it a night.

 

Monday-Fun Day at Sea

Monday we woke up at 8:30 and ate some breakfast…then lay out. I have a bone to pick, guys. The infamous chair hogs. What in the world are people thinking? Leaving a flip flop on one, and the other flip flop on the chair next to it. Come on now!! It was very hard for my mom and I to find a chair at 9:30 AM, as people had their junk sprawled out along the chairs on decks 9 AND 10, with nobody in sight. It frustrated me! I didn’t once see someone from Carnival move something after a book or some sort of other “valuable” was occupying a deck chair. So, I moved it myself. Now ask me if the people were mad when they came back? Nope, they weren’t. We laid out from 10:15-12:45 and the family didn’t come back for their stuff. After lunch at Rosie’s, we played mini golf and that was fun! Windy, but so much fun. Went to dinner, it was the first formal night I have ever attended (my parents go to buffet on those nights to avoid dressing up), so Mark and I went. I wore a hot pink cocktail dress, and Mark wore a dress shirt, tie and dress pants. However, I felt slightly over-dressed compared to some. Let me just tell ya’ll what I saw: Jeans, Corona tank tops, a belly shirt, board shorts, etc. I didn’t anybody turn them away either. Doesn’t bother me at all, it’s their cruise too, but I just wanted to report to you what I saw. I tried Lobster for the first and last time, also. Once again, we had the warm chocolate melting cake and our delicious hot chocolate (thanks Kevin). Now here’s a story: our tablemates, a college woman in her late twenties, early thirties and her snooty mom from Maine didn’t feel the need to converse with us, after we tried to initiate conversation multiple times. Luckily for us though…they didn’t want to sit at a table for 8 with a family, so they moved and the following night, we got some outstanding and DOWN TO EARTH table mates that I will never forget. We went to the dance show that night…Nightclub Express. It was absolutely wonderful, and those singers and dancers deserve a lot of respect! We then called it a night, after getting a late night ice cream cone.

Formal Night...kindly subtract, oh..15 lbs from me.

 

Tuesday-Grand Cayman

 

On my parent's balcony right before tendering.

We woke up at 7:45 and had breakfast at Rosie’s. I noticed that they rotated out between French toast and pancakes and potato cakes and potato wedge-ish things, and some days there was gravy, and not sausage. That’s okay! We tendered in Grand Cayman, and we were allowed priority tendering because of our excursion, everybody else had to go to the Ivanhoe and get a tender number. We chose to do the Pirates excursion. Well, my mom, Mark and I did. (Brother and Dad snorkeled). It was a great excursion for all ages. You’re taken to this “pirate ship” and there are smelly gentlemen dressed up like pirates, and they REALLY get into their roles. The “under 22 year olds” were called to the front of the ship and went through a pirate initiation (checked for lice, had to scrub the deck with brushes, and had cold water poured all over our heads) Reminded me of cheerleading initiations that I had to endure back In my high school days..Anyways, it was a ton of fun and it probably would be the best excursion for the 5-12 age groups. After we were cleared from being “scallywaggers”, we made the mistake of going to Margaritaville. All I have to say is, dang some people are desperate for a shot of tequila. Sorry if this is you, but I would never flash my women parts, or take off my panties for liquor. Have some class, ladies, geez. I’m 20 and know how to have fun without getting plastered by having to remove my unmentionables. It wasn’t the cruise guests though, it was other spring breakers. No worries! The food was great though; we got the nachos and split a burger. Then we did some shopping, got some souvenirs, had a nap, and went to dinner. At dinner, we realized that there was a middle-aged man and woman and an older lady at our table. They introduced themselves as Steve, Debbie, and Mama Sue from Chattanooga, Tennessee! They were a riot and so friendly. I miss them! After dinner we went to some comedian, who made a lot of “fat jokes,” so I’m wondering if this is the comedian John had people complain about on the last cruise…

After dinner, I met with John Heald (yay!) and interviewed him for my Global Diversity and Protocol Class about England and his likes about England, dislikes, what’s popular, etc. He is a great guy and we had a wonderful chat also about marriage and babies. I’m very fortunate that he helped me out.

The beautiful Valor behind us in BEAUTIFUL Grand Cayman.

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ARRRRRRRRRG Pirates! Mark was obviously thrilled...

[JordanLovesCruisin]

Wednesday- Isla Roatan, Honduras

Woke up, ate, and then went off the ship for our Sea Spi excursion. We were driven in this rickety bus for twenty plus minutes to get to “Coral Cay” or, like the sign said “oral ay” since the C’s were missing off of the sign. It was an absolutely gorgeous, secluded beach with brilliant white sand and trees that had leaves that spanned several feet. After Mark went into the ocean for the first time (he loved it!), we were called to do the Sea Spi. The Sea Spi was this “boat” that let you lay on your stomach and view the ocean life and reef without getting real wet. You controlled the speed and direction of the Sea Spi by a joystick handle that went in all four directions. It was a good excursion, but the tour guide was unenthusiastic. We showered, napped, and went to dinner. Dinner was great, really great, as always. Then we went to the show, which I think (I don’t have my capers) was the guest talent show. That was absolutely funny. I won’t ruin what happens at the end for all of you sailing in the next few weeks with Charlie Davidson, but you MUST go to this show.

 

Oral Ay...I mean, Coral Cay.

 

Sea Spi boats.

 

Thursday- Belize

We awoke to a notice that our excursion had been cancelled for the day. I guess the boat malfunctioned. We tendered about 5 miles or so out of Belize, and it was a long ride…and my goodness they packed us all in there like sardines. Oh, you had to get a tender sticker too if you didn’t have an excursion. We only had to wait about five minutes for a tender boat to arrive, so it was very smooth. Now ladies, I’ll tell you that Belize has a GREAT selection of handbags. I bought a GORGEOUS “Coach” purse, at half off, and my brother bought his girlfriend a Louis Vuitton wallet and purse. Lucky girl!! Dinner was good, once again. This was the second formal night, and I actually bought the photo for this night, at $21.99. I tried escargot…and LOVED IT. The way they prepare the escargot is fantastic! We went to the show, Far From Over, which was an 80’s variety show and it was also very good. After that, the boys watched a movie on the Seaside theatre. We then called it a night.

 

 

Friday- Cozumel

We woke up early again to meet our excursion off the dock in Cozumel. We did the Dolphin Swim and Ride at Dolphinaris. All I can say is “wow”. The excursion was well worth the hefty price tag. It was a once in a life time experience, and I will never forget it. We got to hug our dolphin “Tanya”, Kiss her, shake her fins, and ride on her belly. We then had an opportunity after 45 minutes in the water to leave, check out the gift shop, or shower. It was $30 for a picture. Luckily, my parents did the “observer” option at Dolphinaris, and took pictures with our camera. I believe the observer option was $25 per person. I highly recommend this. After we got out and dried off, we took a taxi back to Puerta Maya dock, ate at Fat Tuesdays (VERY GOOD!) and then shopped and spent way too much money. It started raining a little bit so we went back on the ship, had some dessert, showered and went to dinner. Friday night’s show was a comedian, and he was well…pushing it for a family show. Didn’t offend me, but some others with small children walked out. After the show, I tried my luck in the casino, and by golly, I won $101.75. I cashed out, watched the boys eat their four slices of pizza, then went to bed.

 

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Lovely dolphins!

Saturday- Fun Day at Sea

I hate the last day. All I could think about is how fast the week went and how I would be sitting in Chemistry in 48 hours. The weather was really chilly, and I wore a light jacket all day. I tried lying out to get more of a tan, but it was so cloudy and windy. At 2:30 we went and watched the Marriage Game Show, and it was fantastic. It has got to be the best Marriage Game show I have ever seen, and the contestants had the audience bursting out in laughter. After that, we packed so we wouldn’t have to worry about it at night. I noticed that there were no bananas on Saturday, just thought I would throw that out there. After our final dinner (how sad L ) we went to the Legends show. It was also good, not the best but you HAVE to respect the people who have the guts to go up on stage and perform in front of 3000 strangers. One poor “Aretha Franklin”, forgot her words, bless her heart. The seas were choppy, and the pool water was sloshing over the sides. Nobody was sick that I know of, though. We went to bed a little early, as the crew was scrubbing the deck, getting ready for the next turn over.

Sunday- Disembarkation

Everyone was either to wait on the Lido Deck, the Lobby, or the Ivanhoe, and wait until their luggage tag number was called. We had an 11:30am flight, so we got our luggage tags changed from 21 to 4. We did the luggage express and it worked out wonderfully. We were off after breakfast, but getting through customs took about 45 minutes, as the line didn’t move! We didn’t have to hand in our S&S cards, mine is In my wallet. It was just so sad leaving and knowing someone else was about to have your room that you had for a week, your Kevin from India, and have the same fun you did. It just went by so fast. L

 

Other observations:

It was spring break, but hardly ever saw any kids free roaming the ship. We did awake to a staircase race though one night, as 9259 is close to the stairs.

There were SO many people from Canada on the cruise, they were funny!

I am not 21 and was served a pina colada and a Miami Vice.

The ship was extraordinarily clean and the staff was cooperative, attentive and friendly, with the exception of our waiter.

The pool deck needs to be bigger, more deck chairs.

I wish there was more live band play time.

I also think there should be an 18-20 age group.

 

The movies played were: Speed Racer, Chronicles of Narnia, Made of Honor, Indiana Jones, and A Night at the Museum.

Royal v. Carnival

Cleanliness- Carnival

Food-Carnival’s dining room, Royal’s buffet

Room- Royal’s Cabin, Carnival’s bathroom

Staff- Carnival

Gym- Carnival

Activities- Royal Caribbean

 

Misc. Pictures:

 

Cabin 9259

[kwbound]

Great review and beautiful pics. Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip. Thanks for posting!

[Elaine515]

I just knew you'd come thru for us.. great job thus far Jordan.. Keep it coming... The more info the better....

 

Also, I had to laugh.... did Mom & Dad put brother in the room to watch you two!!!! lol

 

Tell us about your interview with John... Jordan, also, what tour did you have in Belize that was cancelled, and was it ship sponsored or private? Congrats on winning in the casino... I know to a College Student that $100 is lots of money...

 

And I'm really glad Mark had a good time as now you know he's a keeper!!!

 

Can you tell us a bit more about what Chase did and had to say about the cruise. I'll have a 15 & 16 yr old with me next week and would like to tell them...

 

Thanx again soooooooooooo much...

[JordanLovesCruisin]

YES! Mom and Dad put him in on the top bunk....geesh.

 

Ask me anything you wanna know, or post what you want to know more about...I have class from 10-1 here, then I'll be back on!

 

Chase didnt go to Club 02...we tried to get him to go but he is just so shy. I wish I could post about that!

 

The tour in Belize that was cancelled was just the Beach Break. I heard from another passenger that the "party boat" broke down. :( Bummer. Belize was gorgeous. I wish I had more pictures of it. We booked all of our tours through Carnival, just to be on the safe side.

 

John called my room on Monday night and arranged an interview at 7:45 and that I was to meet him in the Lobby (deck 3). I got down there at about 7:40 and Gary, the Assistant Cruise director (who is just as CUTE as can be!! Woowee!) chatted with me until John got there and offered me a drink. He was absolutely funny and very polite. You must make friends with Gary! Then, John met me, and I went into the Betsy Ross(I think) conference room (to the right of the hall before you walk into the Lincoln dining room). We sat and chatted, I interviewed him about England, his home, the currency, and he informed me that he was expecting a male Jordan and that there is a supermodel in England named Jordan. We talked about Heidi and how excited he was to have a baby on the way, and nervous at the same time. I told him that they will make great parents. Now, he kept saying "when he gets here" Maybe meaning that he knows/hopes that the thingy is a boy! He was just great. I adore him.

[MzOhioLady]

Great Review Jordan! I wish I was back on the Valor at this very moment.

[LADYBUG34113]

Very nice review Jordan. It definitely kept my attention and I read the whole thing. Best of luck to you! I have been on the Valor and will be going again this year, but different itinenary.

[vanislandcruisers]

Great Job

[Elaine515]

Now, he kept saying "when he gets here" Maybe meaning that he knows/hopes that the thingy is a boy! He was just great. I adore him.

 

 

 

It's funny that you caught that... On his blog he also "maybe slipped" or "wishful thinking" when writing about the thingy he also said "He"...... Guess we'll have to wait...

[Perfect Stranger]

Great review, beautiful pictures, beautiful couple!

[maxamuus]

Thanks for the review. Looking to book the Valor for early may.

[zirka]

was there still a social host named Matt on the Valor?

[Froufie]

There were SO many people from Canada on the cruise, they were funny!

 

As a Canadian - I resemble that remark! ha ha ha :):):)

[tgr2387]

Oh how right you are about the chair hogs. One morning I got out there at 8 and the chairs next to me had towels on them. When I left at noon they were still there, unoccupied the whole time.

[JordanLovesCruisin]

Yes there was a wonderful, handsome man named Matt who was a great social host

[Morcruisin4Fun]

Great review. We will be sailing on the Valor (same itinerary) on April 12th. Looking forward to it. Is there any one thing that we should not miss (ie. show, food, games, etc) Was it crowded on all decks during the day, not just around the pool area? I am an early riser so if I am up grabbing a chair I will be in it. How was the shopping on Cozumel?

[lollylew]

Thanks for the review! I will be sailing May 17th and am looking forward to spending LOTS of time at the beach.

 

Was your excursion canceled in Belize due to the fact that the resort manager got shot?? :confused:

[JordanLovesCruisin]

MorCruisin4Fun- Besides the pool decks it didn't seem crowded at all. But decks 9, 10 and 11 were usually full. I had the most luck on the non-smoking side of deck 10. The casino and bars were never packed to the core or anything. I was REALLY surprised. I think the besides the shows the most crowded place was the photo gallery..which is to be expected. Had no problems except at embarkation the first day with getting an elevator. The tender ticket system worked very well and made it possible to get an elevator without everyone else trying to get one at the same time. Show-wise. Don't miss Far From Over, the 80's show, where it went from one 80's song to the next. Also, the Marriage show was hilarious, so go to that as well. The shopping in Cozumel was great!! Mark got his mom and sister these handmade purses made out of weaved Mexican candy wrappers, and they got these crazy Mexican wrestling masks too...boys.

 

 

I forgot to mention, we did play Bingo almost every day. It was $10 for one card or $20 for 3 cards. No success, but it was fun.

 

Lollylew- I had no idea! Perhaps that was it. How sad.

[bookgirl]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. My DS and I will be on the same itinerary in July and I can't wait.

[bike1964]

Thanks for the review and great pictures.

 

We sail in Sept on the Valor and we are also in an inside cabin on the Lido deck as well. How did you like being right up by the pools, buffet.... Was it noisy? We are in 9209 which is in the very front of that deck on the same side as 9259. I read that you can actually go out the very front of that deck onto like a balcony area?

[myamifin]

Thanks for the great review and pictures - we are booked on her for September and can't wait.

This just makes me want September to get here sooner.:D

[summer08bride]

Thanks for the great review! My husband and I are thinking about taking this cruise on 5/17.

 

Which of your excursions would you most recommend? Did you mind not having a window in your room?

 

How did the ship compare to your other cruises?

 

What made you guys go with that ship?

[JordanLovesCruisin]

Summer08 bride, I would reccommend the Dolphin Swim and Ride..it was amazing. I heard wonderful things about the cave tubing in Belize, as well as the Jungle ATV adventure in Cozumel. I loved having an inside room, I slept the best I have slept in a LONG time because there was no light to wake me up! It felt so refreshing. The closet space and hangers were way way better than RCI. All in all, its a beautiful ship, but I missed the Royal Promenade on the adventure and mariner of the seas...the layout of the Valor was sort of confusing at first but you'll get the hang of it. I liked Royals buffet variety better as well. The dining room food was excellent on Carnival.

 

B ike

[JordanLovesCruisin]

Biker1964, I loved being on the Lido deck so close to the big screen and the Breakfast buffet, I heard no noise, except for the stair races some bored kids had one night, but I heard Virtually nothing except Marks snoring :)

[PaulMedik]

Jordan,

 

Great review and great pics!

 

Speaking of pics, Valor shared a port or two with Carnival Legend which will be our next ship. Did you happen to snap a pic of two of Legend while you were in port? I've looked all over for pics taken of Legend from other ships, but can't find any.

 

John is definitely a great CD. I hope we'll get to cruise with him again some day.