Valor Review, Spring Break with PICS

[oogeyboots]

looking forward to your pic's from Roatan, what a great review

[garrett619]

For some reason not all the pics are loading so this may be answered in the pictures, but did your port side rooms face the shore as you traveled up the coast?

[cruisinone]

Hi Mike and Rhonda this review is keeping you busy. Nice to see pictures of you and the family See you in Feb 2010

Ps Everyone you should see Mike and his friend TJ do Karaoke They did it on the Triumph last year It was Hilarious

[sailor44]

Hey,

 

Your review is great and the photos too. Very nice family as well.

 

We had bad weather on our Valor cruise and most excursions were canceled at most ports that week, so we're doing the itinerary over again next year on the Glory.

 

We also went on the Victory Southern Caribbean and it was a great cruise! You'll have a great time. :D

[Drew B]

thank you again to everyone that saya i have a great looking fam, i would like to thank each and evry person for their nice comments, but, i am so busy already, so thank you all.

 

 

Your family is not only nice-looking, but they look to be fun-loving people with a lot of personality. That's even more important than merely being pretty/handsome...

[newt98]

For some reason not all the pics are loading so this may be answered in the pictures, but did your port side rooms face the shore as you traveled up the coast?

 

yes, but we were so far out that we didnt see much.

 

Hi Mike and Rhonda this review is keeping you busy. Nice to see pictures of you and the family See you in Feb 2010

Ps Everyone you should see Mike and his friend TJ do Karaoke They did it on the Triumph last year It was Hilarious

 

hey guys, once i'm done here, i can start prepping for our next one with you!

 

Your family is not only nice-looking, but they look to be fun-loving people with a lot of personality. That's even more important than merely being pretty/handsome...

 

thank you, and yes, very true.

[newt98]

on to Roatan.

 

this was a docked port. we were supposed to dock at noon, so we were able to sleep in today. after we got up we headed up to the lido for breakfast. i usually don't eat that much from the breakfast buffett because the food usually isn't that good to me, but for some reason or another, it was really good, so i ate their everyday.

 

we had pre-arranged a driver to take us to bananarama for the day at west bay beach. but we didn't want to spend money on food on the island so we had all the kids go to the deli and get a sandwich made, and the dw would go get ice and put it in a ziplock bag to keep everything cool. well that worked really well, except that we weren't the only ones with thta idea. there was a lady up there ordering 11 sandwiches, and one lady ordered 9 sandwiches. it was like they were at subway, ordering different condiments and such for each order, and when it wasn't perfect, holy crap they were pissed. just order a dang sandwich and move on.

 

so we got our food and headed to deck zero to get off the ship. now the only trouble with getting off the boat at noon is, there are 3000 people that have all gotten out of bed, and are ready at the exact same time to get off of the ship. add to that, they didn't start dis-embark until almost 12:30. it's too bad there wasn't another process for this, or at least get us off the ship closer to 12:00.

 

we got off the ship, and there was music playing, and people dancing, it was pretty cool.

 

i'm going to jump ahead and post some pics of where we ended up in roatan and i'll explain how we got there in the next post.

 

driving through roatan

 

 

as you walk through mayan princess

 

 

mayan princess

 

 

mayan princess

 

 

mayan princess at west bay beach

 

 

mayan princess at west bay beach

[newt98]

we had arranged for juan carlos rodriguez from islandertoursdotcom to pick us up at the pier, and drive us to bananarama at west bay beach, he would then pick us up at the end of the day and return us to the ship. the total cost to pick us up and retrun was $80 for 7 people.

 

as we are walking through the cruise center we are being asked to take tours and i just said "juan carlos" and the people would point me over to his direction. then as we left the gates, the security asked if we had an excursion, and we told him juan carlos, and the security guard called out juans name and stopped traffic for us to go over to him. i'm glad we had this pre-arranged.

 

juan was standing there with a sign and greeted me by name. there are a ton a guys out there trying to get you to go on their tours or taxis. since we were with juan, nobody bothered us as we walked by about 100 locals lining the street. we walked a short ways to where he had his bus, he then put us in the bus and gave us a driver to take us to west bay.

 

as we started the trip, the driver asked where we were headed and we told him bananarama. he asked if we would like to try the mayan princess, and he felt that the mayan princess was a little nicer place to hang out with the family. now i am aware that he probably gets kick backs from the mayan to bring guests, and that's fine with me, so lets go to the mayan.

 

the drive took around a half hour. the drive was cool, you get to see all the huts that these people have to live in, the conditions are nothing like my kids have ever seen in their lives. we didnt get any pics of that, i was videotaping, but we did get similar pics in belize.

 

it was like driving through a jungle, because we were, so thatwas neat to see all the tropical landscape.

 

we got to the mayan princess and it was $10 per person to use their facilities. they had lounge chairs, freshwater pool, freshwater rinse station, bar, food, and restrooms. i was actually considering just hanging out on the beach without buying access to their facilities, but i decided to just fork out the $70 and use everything. i'm glad i did, it was worth it to have all those facilities to use.

 

dylan at the pool

 

 

the most used facility at the mayan princess

 

 

headed to the beach at mayan princess

 

 

looking to the right at mayan princess

 

 

looking to the left at mayan princess

 

 

looking back at our lounge chairs at mayan princess

[RAVI360]

lovin your pictures..............awwwwww man i wish i was on a cruise right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[motherchic]

Thank you for the fun review. We are sailing on the Valor in August. This will be our first Carnival cruise and the first ever cruise for our 3 daughters. Ages 27, 18 and 16. We also booked adjoining rooms. I know my Dh will be in all his glory surrounded by all of his women.

Because of your review I am thinking about going to the Mayan princess and seeing if we can book Juan.

Thank you for sharing

Nadine

[maxamuus]

The 10 bucks included food and drink ???

[newt98]

as sonn as we got to our loungers we were by a barrage of kids selling watches, necklaces, conch shells, damn near everything except beer. luckily for me, the was a little guy that was always coming from the bar ready to sell me a beer.

 

it was HOTT! oh my god it was hot. and that water was perfect, you could just walk right in and cool off with a beer in your hand, to quotes robert smith, it was "just like heaven", except for all the locals trying to sell us their goods.

 

after drinking a few beers, we walked down to the left end of the beach, which is where Tabyana is, and we snorkeled. the snorkeling again was pretty good for a shore snorkel, but i think eden rock at cayman was better. but i only got to get in the water once because nicole broke her mask strap and i had to give her mine. which was fine, gave me more time for beer on the beach.

 

 

BEER

 

 

the lunch we brought, four turkey, one salmon bagel, one turkey wrap

 

 

from the cruise center

 

 

patrick on west bay beach

 

 

west bay beach

 

 

boat

[newt98]

The 10 bucks included food and drink ???

 

i wish, sorry if i wasn't clear.

[newt98]

Thank you for the fun review. We are sailing on the Valor in August. This will be our first Carnival cruise and the first ever cruise for our 3 daughters. Ages 27, 18 and 16. We also booked adjoining rooms. I know my Dh will be in all his glory surrounded by all of his women.

Because of your review I am thinking about going to the Mayan princess and seeing if we can book Juan.

Thank you for sharing

Nadine

 

you would not be disappointed if you did.

[maxamuus]

i wish, sorry if i wasn't clear.

 

No worries. I was like WOW i need to go there. :D

[newt98]

at about 5 o'clock we had our driver come back, this was 3 local time. we got on the bus and headed back to the pier. oh yea, there are sand fleas on the beach. i didn't get any, but the dw and the dd's got bitten, they laid out in the sun part of the time.

 

we got to the pier and did some shopping for bit then headed on to the boat.

 

us at the pier in roatan

 

 

us at the pier in roatan

 

 

roatan cruise center

 

 

roatan

 

 

walking to the cuise center, notice all the security at the gate

 

 

my girls in roatan

[Indestructible]

we had arranged for juan carlos rodriguez from islandertoursdotcom to pick us up at the pier, and drive us to bananarama at west bay beach, he would then pick us up at the end of the day and return us to the ship. the total cost to pick us up and retrun was $80 for 7 people.

 

as we are walking through the cruise center we are being asked to take tours and i just said "juan carlos" and the people would point me over to his direction. then as we left the gates, the security asked if we had an excursion, and we told him juan carlos, and the security guard called out juans name and stopped traffic for us to go over to him. i'm glad we had this pre-arranged.

 

juan was standing there with a sign and greeted me by name. there are a ton a guys out there trying to get you to go on their tours or taxis. since we were with juan, nobody bothered us as we walked by about 100 locals lining the street. we walked a short ways to where he had his bus, he then put us in the bus and gave us a driver to take us to west bay.

 

 

Looks like a nice place, similar to fins and flippers but looks like there was more to do.

About the cab driver thing. My sister took her grandaughter and friend on a tour in Roatan that day. EVERYBODY seemed to either be Carol, Carol's brother or one of her several sons. She said even the cop said "oh, I'm Carol's son". As Mike said, when you pre-book, you don't get the hassle.

Chris:cool:

[shawnie]

Now Mike, put down that beer!! This is a family vacation!!:p

[newt98]

Looks like a nice place, similar to fins and flippers but looks like there was more to do.

About the cab driver thing. My sister took her grandaughter and friend on a tour in Roatan that day. EVERYBODY seemed to either be Carol, Carol's brother or one of her several sons. She said even the cop said "oh, I'm Carol's son". As Mike said, when you pre-book, you don't get the hassle.

Chris:cool:

 

hey chris how's it going? do you have plans for another cruise? (edit) nvm, i see you do, wish i was going on the dream next year.

 

Now Mike, put down that beer!! This is a family vacation!!:p

 

yea, well most of my family was of drinking age in roatan, lol. is that transatlantic the maiden voyage?

[newt98]

Now Mike, put down that beer!! This is a family vacation!!:p

 

 

ok, i've been wondering, where was your avatar pic taken?

[shawnie]

ok, i've been wondering, where was your avatar pic taken?

 

The pic was taken in Costa Maya I believe...The transatlantic will be the maiden voyage to the U.S. I'm thinking that should be pretty cool!!

[wherenext]

Wonderful job with your review and your pictures. You have a beautiful family. We leave on the 18th and our first time on Carnival and your review makes it look just like all the other cruises we have been on, 13 and counting. There is no better time than being at sea on a ship and we can't wait.

[newt98]

The pic was taken in Costa Maya I believe...The transatlantic will be the maiden voyage to the U.S. I'm thinking that should be pretty cool!!

 

i mean where on the ship, is it the back of it?

[shawnie]

i mean where on the ship, is it the back of it?

 

oh haha, it was taken at the back of the portside.

[newt98]

we walked right on to the ship, then proceeded to the lido deck to watch for the late returning pax. we figured there would be some, because it was after 5 o'clock and we were still in port, so we knew we were waiting for somebody, so we just had some drinks and took some pics.