Valor Spring Break Review

[kenspen2]

Cruise with hubby, 40, dd, 13, ds,11 and self, 36; this was our 11th cruise, DCL, RCCL, CCL and Princess are lines we have traveled. We cruised the Valor 2 years ago with the same itinerary and enjoyed the experience, so we thought we would do it again.

Flew into FFL and used SAS Transportation to port. Larry was our driver, he is a fast talking, wheeling Dealing kind of guy. We waited more than 40 minutes for other passengers to find us before we started for Miami. Pleasant trip once we were on the road.

Embarkation went smoothly. I selected 2 connecting cabins for kids and parents, works great, cabins were clean and spacious. Location became a problem, which I will address shortly.

Food was well prepared and plentiful, ds loved the stir fry every afternoon, dd loved room service, dh loved Fish N Chips. Dining room service was good and timely.

Did not enjoy Charlie, his second week as cruise director. He was unfriendly and his speaking left lots of room for improvement. Shows on the ship were impressive, dancers were talented, singers were impressive. The juggler and magician were entertaining, did not enjoy the comedian, just not very funny. Break dancers were FABULOUS!

More on the room location....cabins 1391& 1389 should be avoided at all expense! These rooms are located above the trash compactor and glass recycle machine. These machines are necessary to run the ship, however to accept money from consumers to be housed in a torture chamber is criminal. The machines cycled throughout the day and night, not a constant hum noise you could become used to, but a rumbling, vibrating, crushing, crashing noise that echoed throughout the entire cabin. Needless to say, as two parents looking forward to vacation, which includes REST and SLEEP, we did not get either.

We complained multiple times, ship seemed to be full of new staff. Denise in guest relations only on board 3 weeks, hotel director only on board a few weeks, no one admitted to poor customer service until day 5 of our cruise.

Ports of call were amazing! Wave runner excursion throught grand caymancruiseexcursion . com to sting ray city was a blast. Hotel amenities were plush and experience A+! Hired Victor Bodden for 2nd time in Roatan, Hanno was our driver, great service, beautiful island. Visited monkeys at Victor's house, West End beach and West Bay, all picturesque! Belize we did Bannister Island, snorkle and manatee watch. Weather was perfect, fish were amazing and manatees plentiful. It was HOT and there was a very long line to return to ship, but great, nonethless. Cozumel was a dolphin swim at Chankanaab. Romulo was our dolphin, we all loved the expereince, bought the pics and dvd. Would highly recmd the experience. The ship time vs land time did create some loss of activity, we were 2 hours behind some of the ports of call, one hour seems to be common, but 2 was not the best for enjoyment and leisure on land.

All in all we will definitely cruise again, more time will be spent on cabin selection, although I did think I had made a good selection initially, being low and in the middle of the ship. The sleep deprivation was intense, if you were a "partier" or heavy drinker maybe you never would have noticed the banging and shaking of the pipes and bed.

Loved it...can't wait until next year!

[bike1964]

What deck are those cabins located on? Sorry to hear about the cabin location.:( Sounds like you made the best of it though.;)

[summer08bride]

sorry to hear your rooms were so noisy! we are also booked central on the riviera deck (1319) and I hope it's quiet there... I thought most of the 0 floor was crew quarters.

[kenspen2]

We were on deck one, deck 0 is a crew deck with the exception of tendering, at debarking at ports of call and hospital. From our conversation with the hotel director, half of deck 0 is crew cabins, and the other half is used for typical "running of the ship".

We loved all the daylight hours of the cruise, just around the am hours of 2-6 if was extremely unenjoyable, Tylenol PM did not even take the edge off. Just take time looking at the cabin location, or talk to a Carnival Rep to make sure you will be in a location good for your type of vacation.