Thank you CARNIVAL...VALOR REVIEW May 31 - June 7..PICS

[floridacruzin]

HI All

 

Just got home from the Valor today, and i am still getting teary eyed and of course hungry, as no one has tried to feed me in the last few hours. Overall we had an AMAZING time on our fourth Carnival cruise.

 

Some background info before I start my review..

 

4 Carnival Cruises

All Conquest Class Ships

2nd time on Valor

First Balcony--previous were OV and Inside...I will forever cruise with a balcony

3 of us traveled. Me, DH and DS (7)

Room--Spa Deck Blacony 1102

Rum Runner Flasks Rock

 

Well here goes....

 

Sunday May 31

 

As always a CRAZY day getting ready to leave...I think it is the actual downfall of living in South Florida..I was packing and adding until 10:30AM when we left for the port. I ended up with 5 bags for the 3 of us..i got to be lazy packer toward the end. You should have seen DH trying to fit all of the bags in the trunk..he was getting pissy and it was HOT AND HUMID and the car was on so he had that heat to deal with. He gave me the look and said "YOU DO IT!" I did in 30 seconds and just put the small bag in the back with me...he did say thank you.

 

My parents picked us up so that we would avoid parking fees for the week...great benefit as I am always looking to save money. The weather was looking pretty drab the whole way down to Miami...we have had rainy weather here for several weeks now, so this was no surprise. It took us 1 hour to get to the port and the weather was holding once we got there so i was happy. Valor is the only ship in port. It was 12:00 when we got to port ( we made some stops on the way down)

 

We pulled up to the port and at that point you are spun into a whirlwin. We gave the porter our bags and tipped him 5.00 for his help. Andrew (ds) and I walked to the entrance, while Shawn (DH) watched to make sure the bags were headed in the general direction of the ship. The line was moving pretty quickly and we were in the building in the new line to continue in. We were handed a form to fill out in reference to sickness...have we had coughing, fever, sore throat, etc. If you checked yes, they would have you checked my the ship medical with no charge to you and it did not mean that you could not cruise.

 

Right after we received the form I looked up and we met our first roll call member from Cruise Critic Teri and her family...they were wearing mardi gras beads and I recognized them from the pics we had all shared on Shutterfly...we hugged and all continued weaving in and out of the line. We showed our passports and Fun Pass and walked through the metal detectors. I had 2 bottles of wine and there is NO doubt in my mind that I could have had 10 and no one would have questioned me. DH brought his XBOX on and they opened that bag to take a peak and make sure it was nothing bad(I will re-visit the Xbox shortly).

 

We went up the escalators to the check in area. There are signs based on your cabin number telling you which line to get in. You also need to have completed the medical form at this point and there is an area to do so in the center. We got into our line, waited for 7minutes and we were called to the check-in counter we were given a number to hold, 9we were zone 35), where we gave our passports, medical form, and credit card. The agent welcomed us back and gave us the keys to our room YIPPIE! Agent advised that we needed to sit and wait for Zone 35 to be called. About 20 minutes later we were called and on our way to get on the ship...SIDE NOTE..keep out your passports or ID at this point, because you will still need it when walking on the ship.

 

There was no fun-ship freddy greeting us this year, but I could already here the "ding" of the sign and sail cards and I was in heaven!!! We were on the ship by 1:15..I get teary eyed, there are so many emotions and you have waited so long for this moment.....this is when my DS and DH shake their heads at me and we headed to the LIDO...it was still not raining at this point. Andrews favorite part of the cruise is the ice cream. he wasted NO time and I think he is dipping a chicken tender in the ice cream..he is 7......

 

 

 

 

After this we went back to the room to hook up my DH's Xbox...he wanted to bring this with him as it is his way of relaxing. We all relax in different ways and as I get older it is no longer an issue. Laying by the pool talking to everyone he meets is just not his thing. Well this is where it gets interesting..the TV's in the room are attached and they turn somewhat to the left and somewhat to the right. We had a hell of a time attaching the RCA cables, but DH used a mirror and got it to attach....you would think we were on our way...nope....there is no video switch to turn the TVs input...DH was not thrilled with me as I told him I had read that it would work. We tried calling Guest Services but no answer. I convinced him to walk around a bit and we wandered for about an hour....he was still focused on the XBOX, so he tried guest services again. At this point we figured muster would be any minute so we were just hanging out in the room. Here is a pic from our balcony of Miami

 

 

So you remember this is our first baclony and DS (7) could fill in for the energizer bunny so i was extremley nervous about him on the balcony, so like any good mom would do, we warned him the weeks prior to the cruise that he could only be out there with an adult and that video cameras would watch the balcony at all times and if he went alone an alarm would sound, security would come and we would be moved to an inside cabin right away........

 

Well wouldn't you know that Andrew did go to open the balcony door and it just so happened to be at the EXACT time that the alarm to attend muster drill rang. He looked at us, we looked at each other and smiled, and Andrew was crying...we did tell him the truth eventually, but I think that really helped him get the drift...it might be a little cruel, but I worry about my little guy.

 

Be back in a few...going to see if I can find something for dinner

[scorp111]

Love it so far!

 

We were in Valor 1114 last year, so I almost have that same pic. We had better sailaway weather though!

 

Love the alarm story. We told ours the same thing, they couldn't be out there alone, and they could only have their chin over the rail.:)

[floridacruzin]

So now that we need to go to muster...we grab our life vests, the room Steward Marvin ( Awesome) already left a child one for Andrew. We reminded Andrew not to blow the whistle, no matter how tempting and we were off. It was breezy outside so the heat was not bad. and once they showed us how to put our life vests on, we were allowed to remove it..there were your typical speeches and we were done with MUSTER YIPPIE!!!

 

Ok so you did not think that we would be done with the XBOX as of course he is addicted..we walked to the Pursers desk right after Muster and she said, there is nothing that could be done, it is attached to the folio system and it is just not possible. So this is when DH told me I lied to him to get him on the ship...I chuckled, he did not and we went back to the room so that Andrew and I could get our bathing suits on and go to the pool, while DH tried to figure anything to get the XBOX to work....a knock on the door was the AV guys who said NO, plugging anything in to the cables will give not only us, but an entire deck a red screen with lines running through....well that scared me since I had already seen the alleged red screen with lines..I smiled and shut the door. Andrew and I got ready for our first swim and we got hit with a South Florida downpour during sailaway, so we walked around the ship. It eventually passed and here is Andrew in the pool. We also met another family from our roll call at the pool.

 

 

Here are some pics from sailaway.....

 

 

 

After our swim, we went back to the room to take showers and of course our first of many naps on our balcony, we had the late seating so we had time. We got ready and headed down to Eagles Lounge to sign Andrew up for camp and then to the casino..I like slots...DH Roulette. Within the first few minutes DH had won 200..so that was exciting. We headed to dinner to meet our table mates and waitress..and of course begin the non stop eating...well we met a wonderful couple with their grandaugther (we end up doing excursions with them later on) and another very interesting mother daughter couple...we will leave it at that. Then we noticed a very ineresting smell....and finally we asked and were advised that pipes had broken and it would be fixed for tomorrows dinner...this was a NASTY smell that we tried to ignore, but it was hard...I was surprised the Maitre'd or assistant did not walk over to apologize or acnowledge the problem, but I never go expecting anything, it helps keep me level headed. I do not remember what we ate on the first night. It was great and we all left satisfied. I know that I had warm melting chocolate cake bc this was my dessert every night. ( I really like it and I only get it once a year)

 

I looked over at Andrew and could tell that he was not feeling well and he said his throat was sore. I shook my head and we headed back to the room, where I gave him motrin, it was after 10 and we were tired so we started getting ready for bed..here is our first towel animal

 

 

So Andrew was up the entire first night moaning and not feeling well with a fever....we woke up around 7:30 and me and DH made a decision that we wanted him to get better ASAP and we took him to the on board DR. This was new for me.

 

It was 80.00 to see the doctor...not bad at all.....we waited for 5minutes..better than any DR in the US. He saw us and told us that he had a virus and antibiotics would not help...GREAT but he did give us more tylenol and motrin bringing our DR visit to 100.00. it was worth every penny for the peace of mind..but...i would have liked it if we could have given him medicine.....I know it will not work on a virus..but you will see through the review he really never gets to 100%. We then took Andrew to the room and we brought breakfast back to the room as it truly is not fair to have him wander through the ship. We gave him medicine..and when he sucks at taking it so after he got his dosage he proceeded to get sick all over the bed. marvin the room steward was up in about 30 seconds to take care of everything...such a help and gave him a little extra for being so understanding.

 

We just chilled out in the room and Shawn and I went on to the balcony..the only problem with 1102 is there is no drain for the water and the ship was tilted slightly forward so we had about 2 inches of standing water on the balcony. Well we looked around and noticed that there was a drain on the cabin next to us(to the left, there are no cabins to the right). I knew this was Linda from my roll calls cabin, but had not met her and her family yet ( i miss them terribly). So DH and I begin to kick the water into her drain, I then look around the balcony and see her sitting there. I pointed to let DH know someone was there and then whipped my head around and said, "Hi, Linda..it is Amy from cruise critic." We chuckled and this was our first of probably 1,000 chats on the balcony.

 

At 10:00AM I headed alone to our meet and greet from our cc roll call. We had a super active roll call and it was GREAT, I felt like I knew everyone before I got there. About 25 people showed up and we had a small gift exchange that was fun. I can not stress how wonderful it was to see familiar faces all over the cruise, I spent about an hour with everyone and headed back to the room to see Andrew and Shawn. Shawn then left me and headed to the casino and brought us back lunch to the room. He won another 275.00 on the roulette wheel. I got to meet Linda and her family more over the balcony..eventually I will become a balcony stalker. We really layed low on this sea day. Andrew was OK and he wanted to leave the cabin and go to dinner and we did.

 

The smell was gone tonight at the table and it was formal night. We both had Lobster adn steak..again we found this to be YUM, Andrew did not eat and his eyes were glassed over, so we headed back to the room. Here is a pic with our towel animal

 

Be back soon

[floridacruzin]

Today we arrived in Grand Cayman. Andrew was so so but was for sure better.

 

We went and had breakfast on the Lido..just saying..they have some AWESOME French Toast YUMMY.

 

Once we ate we headed down to catch a tender..this was painless..we just told ourselves we did not have to be the first people off the ship. We had no tours planned and let everyone else rush off. When we went to Grand Cayman last year we walked about 10 minutes and just past the Burger King we found a place called The Lobster Pot. They have beach access..we went here again.

 

TIP: If you want to go to 7 mile beach. Once you leave the port area head left and walk for 5-7 minutes. You can catch a cab for 2.50pp to the beach

 

We walked the 10 minutes and arrived at our FREE snorkle spot...we do have our own snorkle gear. Here are some shots....there were 4 ships in port. VALOR, LEGEND, LIBERTY, Disney Magic. All of these people and there were only 3 of us until others realized what we were doing..only 20 total people were at "our" spot. It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time at the beach. There is also a spot by the dock to hose all of the yucky sand off. After we cleaned up we headed into town and did some shopping. At about 2:30 we caught our tender back to the boat.

 

 

 

[floridacruzin]

Once on board we headed to Lido and yup ate lunch...We had sandwiches from the deli that were GREAT and some ice cream. Andrew and Shawn went down the waterslide and I took a nap by the pool.

[ATTACH]120536[/ATTACH]

 

We went to the room around 5 took showers and relaxed. Dinner again was good, service was great. There was a late night party for the 6-8yo and Adnrew wanted to go. He had a great time..we went to the Casino where our winnings were up to 1,000. Us old dorks then headed back to the room and tried to pick Andrew up at 11...he did not want to go....I went back at 12...he did not want to go. At 12:15 after the Pinata..finally we went to bed!!!!

 

Roatan....

[Monthend]

Great review. We are leaving next Sunday on Valor and I am really enjoying this.

[floridacruzin]

More tomorrow I just woke from a deep sleep and my house was swaying.....need my land legs back

[Payd]

Great review.

 

I hope Andrew was feeling much better as the days passed by...

[tw67]

I am so excited for the continuation of your review. We are booked for Aug 2010 (very far away!!) on the spa deck, and we have friends who are in the cabin next to us. I am very interested in hearing what you have to say about the cabins on spa deck!!

 

I love the story about your son and the balcony. I have two boys, and I know the feeling about the energizer bunny! The alarmed door is another great story!! The things we tell our kids!!

 

Thanks for the review!!

 

Terry

[disneycampingmom]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait to read the rest. Please post specifics about the Spa Cabin. We are booked in Cabin 1111 in August. Can't wait!!

[dommer573]

Great review so far, and I'm so happy I can see the pic's. Keep it coming. ;)

[MzOhioLady]

This is really a great review. I'm also happy I can actually see the pictures.

[floridacruzin]

Ok--so I will be continuing the nitty gritty tonight but wanted to add some detailed info about the spa cabins on the Valor.

 

I love this cabin and HIGHLY recommend it.

 

The Spa Deck was quiet, I have no noise to report unless the balcony door was open ( Check back later for some pics). I took quite a few photos because I had a hard time finding out about these cabins.

 

I was the most forward cabin 1102 on the spa deck (port side) so I only had a neighbor to one side, who we loved and had met through our roll call.

 

I heard complaints before we left that people from upper decks could look down at your balcony. The whole cruise I counted 10 people and I used this balcony A LOT! There is a small lip that hangs over your balcony and unless you are all the way out leaning on the railing, you can not be seen..we tested this with our neighbors by keeping the chairs under the lip...dorky, but I was curious.

 

Having no other balconies above me, I literally laid on my lounge chair and was able to soak up the sun all day in private! I am sure people could see me when the chair was all the way out exposed to the sun, but again, I saw few people looking over the entire cruise. And I was clothed so I could care less. The 3 most forward cabins on the port side 1102-1104-1106 also have the high glass wall on the deck above( deck 12) which makes it even more difficult to lean over and see.

 

I had also never had a balcony and being up and forward has me NERVOUS. Previously our rooms have been located on the Riviera and Main decks. Be assured we hit some rough spots and I could feel it ever so slightly more than on then when we were on the lower decks. Movement was not an issue for me and I am sensitive.

 

If you have children....one flight up gets them to camp.....Walk out the door on the Spa level and you are at the pools...and Lido is a few steps further down. When getting off at a port down the elevators to 0 and you are there. No need to find the correct elevator..etc.

 

I am sure I will think of more, but I can not give enough positive reviews about these cabins. STAY TUNED..pics will be on once I leave work :)

[floridacruzin]

OK. I will be continuing with Roatan in just a minute....but late after Grand Cayman we had major TV issues..probably from using the RCA jacks on the TV. To make a super long story short and thanks to an AWESOME AV man on the VALOR...we ended up on Wednesday morning able to play XBOX in our cabin!! It was an added bonus...it seems the staff is out to please!

 

ROATAN:

 

Arrival in port was at 12:00pm. Also a spot we had been last year and our family along with 9 others were visiting Half Moon Bay.

 

Pics of our arrival

 

 

 

 

 

Victor bodden had taken us to Half Moon Bay last year and we decided to get our own taxi there. There is a restaurant, changing area, restrooms, lounge chairs (no charge to use the facilities). We walked out of the gates and found Richard Benedict who charged 10.00pp round trip. It was no more than a 15minute ride, we set a time for him to pick us up and began enjoying our day.

 

We snorkled, swam, drank, ate, and enjoyed every minute of our time there. Tours were taking people snorkling there by boat and I am sure they were charging 50+ to snorkle at this spot. We all chuckled and continued about in the AMAZING water. The waiter from the restaurant made sure drinks were flowing and delivered food etc right to us. He was happy to help. Here are some pics I captured from Half Moon Bay

 

 

 

[floridacruzin]

We arranged for the taxi driver to pick us up from Half Moon Bay at 5:00 and he arrived early and waited for us to get ready. He did not collect payment for either way until he got us back to the port. I did get car sick and could not wait to get back on board. Andrew is starting to feel better by today but not 100%. I went back to the ship while DH and DS shopped for little Mayan clay pieces that the locals dig up in the mountains. We had gotten some last year and enjoy them.

 

Here are some pics on the way back to the port:

 

 

 

Once I got back on I showered, threw on my bathrobe and enjoyed my balcony. DH and DS were not to far behind and I captured this shot of DH enjoying our departure from Roatan.

 

 

We all got ready for dinner had our normal balcony chit chat with our Scottish neighbors and headed down on the wasy to dinner to the Casino. One some more money and enjoyed our dinner with our table-mates (3 of which came with us to Half Moon Bay). Each night we were in the dining room until amost 10 with Grandma Noni, Grandpa Joe, and their grandaughter Mariah...obviously no relation but we felt very close to them. I headed back to the room and yup DH made his rounds through the Casino again. We fell asleep on the balcony..it is truly gorgeous. I woke up after a bit and put Andrew in his bunk and went to bed. These port days wear me out and I try to get all the rest I can.

 

Here is a pic with the towel animal and we are really starting to feel better

 

 

DH got to bed around 1 and we set the alarm to wake for Belize in the morning. We had nothing set in stone here either. Plans were to be off the ship by 9:30 and have some of our ship friends join us

[penetangjudy]

This is so interesting to read, you have a great sense of humour!!! I love the alarm story :)

[floridacruzin]

Thursday..Ok so we are in Belize and before i went to bed last night the plan was the same as Roatan a group of 11 of us were venturing into Belize together. I did not want cave tube as we did it last year and loved it...but we wanted to Snorkel here as well. Plan was to meet at 9:30

 

We are up at 7:30 do my quick balcony check for my Balcony Buddy..no sign yet.... go to eat some b-fast on the Lido, get back at around 8:30...head back and still no sign of my BB(balcony buddy)..I was thinking *****. So I pick up the phone and call my Scottish BB who answered in that sleepy raspy voice..the whole family was still asleep ( all 3 of them)...and they decided they would hold us up if we waited. Oh well :( I called Debbie who was also supposed to go with us and we were going to meet at the Ivanhoe to get tender tickets...well folks the Ivanhoe was not a good choice it has 3 levels and was the tender handout for ship tours NOT to go on your own. We had to head to the Eagles lounge. Shawn and I ran back and forth to find Debbie and her DH with no luck. Shawn finally convinced me to get off the ship after we exchanged some less than loving words.

 

So our 11 turned into six. Me, DH, DS, and my adopted G-ma Noni, G-PA Joe and Mariah. We got on the tender and some fellow Floridians proceeded to tell me what an awesome deal they got on a balcony room for the Valor. They paid 808pp (2 of them)....well good thing I remember what Thumper's mom said."If you can not find anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." So i kept it to myself that that is just about what I paid for 3 of us and congratulated them. They were thrilled and who am I to ruin their parade.

 

When we got off the Tender we proceeded to look for the gates to the outside as quickly as possible. We walked outside of the gates and found Emil. We told Emil what we wanted to do and he said he would take care of us. He was going to arrange to get us to Caye Caulker via water taxi and have a private snorkle boat meet us.

 

So for 5.00pp we get in to Emil's taxi and he begins to drive us to the water taxi. On our way we get stopped by Belize Police who ask where he is taking us and Emil tells him that he is taking us to the water taxi. He gives a funny look. My dumb American butt smiles and says THANK YOU in as Southern accent as a former Jersey girl can get...the cop must have been thinking Dumb Americans...you will soon find out why....but smiled and sent us on our way.

 

We get to the water taxi and Hector greets us and we pay 12.50pp (US) to take a water taxi to caye Caulker. Hector also calls and arranges a boat to meet us on the dock of Caye Caulker. He tells me Charlie will be meeting me and the boat name is the jealousy. The cost PP is 20.00US..not bad.

 

The water taxi leaves Belize at 9....we start moving and no joke around the corner is where the Valor tender dropped us off...LESSON LEARNED FOLKS...you can walk to the water taxi from the port..about 5 minutes! Emil the nice guy who greeted us ripped us off...I laughed, I mean he got me, it was funny. And we were not the only family that drove around in a circle in Belize and paid to get to the water taxi.

 

the water taxi to Caye Caulker is about 40 minutes but boy is it gorgeous! Charlie was there with the jealousy and his brother Titi and I was convinced that my butt would sink the jealousy after all of the warm chocolate melting cake.

 

I was wrong...I did not sink the jealousy!! Actually I had an AMAZING time and if interested, I will send you Charlie's information. He was careful with time, he had some extra snorkel gear, but I recommend bringing your own. He was in the water with us pointing everything out he could find and was more than happy to answer any questions!! This was one of my moments that I can say "Once in a lifetime." It was amazing water..the bluest of blues....the reef was gorgeous and stingrays were right there. I was scared I would never remember the sheer beauty and took as many pics as possible.

 

We did 2 snorkel stops..could have done 3 but we decided to stay longer at the second location. Once we got back to Caye Caulker we wlaked around on the "sand" roads as it is still un touched by modern ammenities..I loved it!!

 

Here are various pics:

 

Legend arriving in belize

 

Various shots of Caye Caulker

 

 

 

 

[letsgocruz1]

I think I have figured out who you are!! I was also waiting on the pinata moment in the hallway at Camp Carnival. I was the one talking about going to the Mayan Princess in Roatan. My daughter was Madelyn (long dark hair with curls, dark complexion). Anyway, she had a minor meltdown during the meet and greet time, and I had to go with her to the room and I missed it. I felt so bad about not getting to meet anyone from the roll call.

 

We had a great cruise as well. I have to say, the Valor has one of the friendliest crews that I have experienced in 10 cruises. Every need was met with a smile, our waiters were awesome, and room stewardess was just as sweet as could be. I miss being on the cruise ship. My kids and I could have stayed on for another week. Of course my dh was ready to go on day 6. I think next year the kids and I may do a back to back and let dh fly home after the first week.

 

Your review is very entertaining and I can identify with so much of what you are saying. Did Andrew enjoy camp? Maddie loved it. I spent a lot of exta $$ for her to stay in the evenings as I couldn't drag her out, lol

 

I can't wait to read more! Get to typing, girl, ha ha

[floridacruzin]

My DH was hungry after our snorkel and was looking for something to eat in Caye Caulker. The water taxi runs every hour and a half and the next taxi would leave us with 5minutes to catch the boat. Needless to say it was important for me to make the 12:00 taxi. I warned DH that if he was not back I would leave him and take our son with me back to the boat..he snarled and I said..I felt it was fair he knew in advance. I headed back to wait for the taxi and he went looking for food.

 

WOuldn't you know that 1 minute later the water taxi showed up and my DH was shopping for food. I left Andrew with Mariah and ran up the sandy streets of Caye Caulker screaming SHAWN, SHAWN, amazingly people all the way on the peir can hear me, but not DH. So i turn back and head toward the pier..of course not cursing....and as we are ready to get on the water taxi here comes Shawn running.....with COOKIES..thank god he managed to get the cookies, bc there was a possibility we might have starved on the 40minute trip back to the valor.......I know the women know how I feel.

 

So we make it back to port where we walk around for a bit. I buy Belikin beer for my parents as it is their favorite and it is not avaliable in the US.

 

 

On the tender back to Valor

 

 

 

The cookies were not very filling, so we went to the grill and had burgers and hot dogs when we got back on board. Again, no matter what we ate it was consistently good.

 

The sea and sun took a lot out of us. I went to talk to Linda on the balcony and DH and DS played video games. At 5:15 (we were supposed to leave at 4:15), a water taxi is racing towards us. As it pulls closer you here the 3 women laughing. I did not think it was funny, I thought it was disrespectful and I could have cared less if they had gotten left behind.

 

Me and Balcony buddy talk as we pull away from port and watch the ships weave in and out to get out of belize. It was fun to watch and really gives you prespective on how much goes into manuvering these ships.

 

Got ready for dinner, hit the Casino, won some more and headed to dinner. again our boring butts went back to the room at 10:15 and went to bed. It is tiring and I really do not like seeing shows....we just like to have no pressure at all.

 

Randoms Towel Animal...

 

 

dancing to Apple bottom jeans in the main DR

 

 

 

 

Friday: Sea Day

 

We all slept the best and we did not get out of the room until 9:30 and went to breakfast. No plans...I loved sunbathing on my balcony and DH and DS were content playing XOBX to relax. Really we layed around talked to our BBs and at 1:00 we had a planned cabin crawl.

 

So this is what makes no sense. Andrew spent very little time in Camp Carnival our entire cruise thus far. So imagine my surprise when on this sea day there was no camp from 12pm-6pm. I love my son...I love spending time with him, but he wanted nothing to do with me and wanted to be entertained. There were only parent planned activities on a sea day for 6hrs....all parents were shocked and we noted it on our comment cards.

 

Andrew and I head to the cabin crawl...he was having none of it. I said hi to everyone and me and my little guy toured the ship....we were on every elevator, every floor....I had a great time exploring with him. We both went swimming and down the waterslide and we had lunch together. then a nap on the balcony. We met up with people from the roll call..chit chatted...really just a pj hang out day.

 

It was the 2nd formal night...we talked about our day in Belize with Charlie and how proud we were of G_ma Noni for going in the water. We all laughed...talked until 10:30 and went to bed...headed for Key West...I really was not excited..but tired.

 

We slept well..Shawn woke me to tell me we had won 1,000 WOOT WOOT and I slept until 6:30 and flew out of bed..why you ask? CELL PHONE would work off the coast...I was only 5 hours away from home and I could check in with mom and dad....in a sense this ended my vacation and I did not like stopping in Key West..it was my step closer to reality. I snapped some shots of the sunrise and paced the deck for an hour until I finally called mom and dad at 7:30. We are all close and it was great to talk to them!!! My Scottish neighbors teases that I woke them up from being a chatty patty and our families decided to go eat breakfast and head to Duval Street.

 

Clearing through immigration in Key West was smooth...you go to the Disco on deck 5...show your passport and they say OK..it was painless..they hole punched our card to show we had passed immigration.

 

We walked off the ship...I was bored....went to Hemmingway's house...walked some more and headed back to the ship. It was almost 2...we headed for some lunch..hung by the pool...back to the balcony for some R&R and nappy time...we were VERY lazy.

 

Went to dinner and our entire table ordered 2 of everything...this was it our final dinner. It was good..

 

Appetizer

Lobster Bisque

New England Crabcake--did not like

 

Main Course

Prime Rib---delicious

Tiger Shrimp Grilled--delicious

 

Dessert

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake---yum

 

The waiters sang to us..I cried..we chatted with Noni, Joe and Mariah..hugged...said it would not be our last time together. Linda and Steve (our neighbors) came to meet us and we walked together for a bit. I will treasure our time together forever and I know it will not be the last I see of them either.

 

we went to the room and put out the bags for collecting..I went to deck 5 and bought Andrew some gifts. Headed back to the room and relaxed..it was over and I was VERY sad. we woke up early walked around ate breakfast for the final time with Steve and Linda..we met Debbie and Teri down there as well and we talked about the trip.

 

Here are some randoms of the Keys

 

 

 

OK one more post after this and I am done......

[floridacruzin]

I think I have figured out who you are!! I was also waiting on the pinata moment in the hallway at Camp Carnival. I was the one talking about going to the Mayan Princess in Roatan. My daughter was Madelyn (long dark hair with curls, dark complexion). Anyway, she had a minor meltdown during the meet and greet time, and I had to go with her to the room and I missed it. I felt so bad about not getting to meet anyone from the roll call.

 

We had a great cruise as well. I have to say, the Valor has one of the friendliest crews that I have experienced in 10 cruises. Every need was met with a smile, our waiters were awesome, and room stewardess was just as sweet as could be. I miss being on the cruise ship. My kids and I could have stayed on for another week. Of course my dh was ready to go on day 6. I think next year the kids and I may do a back to back and let dh fly home after the first week.

 

Your review is very entertaining and I can identify with so much of what you are saying. Did Andrew enjoy camp? Maddie loved it. I spent a lot of exta $$ for her to stay in the evenings as I couldn't drag her out, lol

 

I can't wait to read more! Get to typing, girl, ha ha

 

I figured out who you were AFTER we left camp that night. But I did not see you again. We had a great cruise!!! AMAZING. Andrew liked camp more last year, but in all fairness he missed the first 2 or so days from not feeling well.

 

Glad you had a good time! I am almost typed out..but love doing this as it is a forever memory of my cruise. I hope I am also help people while doing it!!

[floridacruzin]

After breakfast on Sunday we headed back to the room with Linda and Seve and we all just hung out and talked until 10:00. We then headed down..it was a breeaze..no waiting to get off the ship...5 minutes we had our luggage and in 2 more minutes we were back in Miami!!

 

I am willing to answer any questions you have. I would go on the Valor again hands down and I am planning a short 4 day cruise to hold me over. Of all my cruises this by far was my favorite. I think that it was the people, the exceptional staff, and the ports. Here are some pics of the room...and I am going to try to get a shutterfly of all the pics set up.

 

Ask away and thanks for taking the time to read!!!

 

 

 

 

[lido leon]

I am glad that you had a good cruise. We were on this cruise, as well.

[letsgocruz1]

 

So this is what makes no sense. Andrew spent very little time in Camp Carnival our entire cruise thus far. So imagine my surprise when on this sea day there was no camp from 12pm-6pm. I love my son...I love spending time with him, but he wanted nothing to do with me and wanted to be entertained. There were only parent planned activities on a sea day for 6hrs....all parents were shocked and we noted it on our comment cards.

 

I thought the same thing! It was surprising that they had NOTHING planned for the kids for the entire afternoon. I had planned for my dd to go to Camp and ds was going to stay in the room and play games on the laptop (he is 12). But instead I wound up entertaining dd, doing the build a bear thing, playing games at Camp Carnival together. Dh doesn't get into stuff like that and I felt like this vacation was for the kids, and I wanted them to get the most of it, so I just gave up and skipped the cabin crawl. And I was really looking forward to seeing all of the different cabins.

 

I was only 5 hours away from home and I could check in with mom and dad....in a sense this ended my vacation and I did not like stopping in Key West..it was my step closer to reality.

 

My feelings exactly. Once we hit Key West, I felt like the cruise was over. I can go to Florida anytime :( and was disappointed in our stop. We went to a bar that had a pool for use; it was crowded and loud and I sat there thinking..we have a pool and "free" food on the ship...what are we doing here???" My post-cruise depression had already started setting in at that point. I think I would have been happier with another sea day...at the very least it would have "fooled" me into thinking I was still in the Caribbean, ha!

 

 

Thanks for a great review. It has been very entertaining!!

[trini_ras]

Thanks for a great review I will be on the Valor in Aug. and I was planning to do the shore excursions on my own. Thanks for some great ideas :)

[sports-mom]

Loved your review & Pics. :)

Thanks for posting them.