First time Trip Report - VALOR - 5th - 12th

[candigirl41]

Nice review, sorry work got in the way! I will have to come back later for more.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Candi

[092306]

Bontongrl great review so far. Thanks for sharing. I have a question for you. My wife and I are on the Valor in Sept. I have read a couple of reviews and most sem to say that smoking is out of control on this ship. Is this true or is smoking like every other carnival cruise we have been on. I understand the casino, and on the lido deck, however according to some of the reviews on cruise critic, smoking seems to be more prevelent on this ship than others. I just want to hear your opinion on this since you recently finished youre cruise. Also can you answer one other question? My wife is saying that there are 2 elegant nights in addition to the captain's reception. I am saying that there are two elegant nights, including the captain's reception. Can you clear this up for us. We have a bet going and I would like to win, but I feel that once I admit this, she'll win!! thanks for the info oh yea not that this matters to me but is it true that there are no free drinks during the captain's reception? There seems to be some chater on this, just wondering if this is true thank you

[Froufie]

The captain's reception usually takes place prior to dinner on the first elegant night....

[katskritter]

This is a great review...I'm looking forward to reading and seeing more. My husband and I are on the Valor in September and this is getting me super excited. It seems like you had a great time. I'll be anxiously waiting for the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time to review this way so the rest of us can see it and know what to look forward to.

[Bontongrl]

Loving your review. I will be on the Valor in a couple of weeks for my honeymoon. :D so keep it coming.

 

Congratulations in advance trini_ras,, you will have a great honeymoon on the Valor !!

[Bontongrl]

Can't wait for more.....

 

Don't worry, more to come soon ;)

 

Nice review. I love how you use those nice cruise themed graphics to introduce the days. That adds a nice touch. I can't wait to read the rest.

 

Thanks travlngrl,,

I do a lot of photoshop, and thought they would add a nice touch, ;)

 

Thanks for the review....can't wait to be on the Valor for our first cruise! Your pics are great, keep them coming.

 

They are a coming soon !!!

[Bontongrl]

Nice review, sorry work got in the way! I will have to come back later for more.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Candi

 

Hi Candi,,

 

Thanks :)

 

I snuck on here from work while at lunch,,

Gotta keep up or this gets away from you fast, lol

[paulanddarnell]

Great review! I like seeing someone else who takes pictures of their food! We too live to eat and love to photograph it!!

[Bontongrl]

Bontongrl great review so far. Thanks for sharing. I have a question for you. My wife and I are on the Valor in Sept. I have read a couple of reviews and most sem to say that smoking is out of control on this ship. Is this true or is smoking like every other carnival cruise we have been on. I understand the casino, and on the lido deck, however according to some of the reviews on cruise critic, smoking seems to be more prevelent on this ship than others. I just want to hear your opinion on this since you recently finished youre cruise. Also can you answer one other question? My wife is saying that there are 2 elegant nights in addition to the captain's reception. I am saying that there are two elegant nights, including the captain's reception. Can you clear this up for us. We have a bet going and I would like to win, but I feel that once I admit this, she'll win!! thanks for the info oh yea not that this matters to me but is it true that there are no free drinks during the captain's reception? There seems to be some chater on this, just wondering if this is true thank you

 

Hiya 092306,,,

 

To answer your questions, well first, I must tell you that DH and I both smoke, so I might not be best to answer this question, but, I'll give it a shot. :)

 

I didn't notice that smoking was out of control at all. There are only certain areas where smoking is allowed. On the Lido deck, its allowed on the port side, and on the Promenade deck, there are certain bars where you can smoke, like the Piano Bar, and the Latin music bar, but I believe the rest are smoke free. Of course, smoking is allowed in the casino in certain parts, but I never noticed it being bad, of course, I guess I can't be ojbective on that lol

 

Maybe my DFs who went with us, can comment on this, as they are both non-smokers,,,

 

As to the elegant nights, there are 2 of them, and the first one INCLUDES the captain's reception. So,,,, YOU win !!!

 

( I hope the bet was a good one ;))

 

And, there were NO free drinks at the captains reception. Just $1 off drinks,,, :rolleyes: which to me isn't much as they are expensive to start with.

 

They now do a Farewell reception, which was held from 5 to 6 pm the last day at sea, and drinks were supposedly free at THAT reception. We never made it to that party, though I really wanted to attend just to get the free drinks, lol But we couldn't pull ourselves off the Lido deck that early on the last day at sea lol

 

I think they might have planned it that way. Most people are busy at that time the last day at sea, or in their cabins packing up for the next day debarkation, so, me thinks they purposely planned it that way, to save themselves the money. lol

 

Had they had free drinks the First elegant night, they would have been hit with a MAJOR freebie giveaway and everyone attends that first night.

 

Hope this helped answer all your questions,,,,

 

Now, cash in on that bet lol

[Bontongrl]

This is a great review...I'm looking forward to reading and seeing more. My husband and I are on the Valor in September and this is getting me super excited. It seems like you had a great time. I'll be anxiously waiting for the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time to review this way so the rest of us can see it and know what to look forward to.

 

My pleasure katskritter,

 

I read lots of reviews before my trip, so its time to give back !!

 

Be back with more tonight, but for now, its back to work !! :(

[Bontongrl]

Great review! I like seeing someone else who takes pictures of their food! We too live to eat and love to photograph it!!

 

I've got a few more of those coming down the pipe soon ;)

[firedisney97]

I just need to mark this thread! I love all the pics brings back memories from our first cruise in 2005 on the Valor. Got our 3rd booked now for next Feb on the Dream

[jackdhouse]

Hiya 092306,,,

 

To answer your questions, well first, I must tell you that DH and I both smoke, so I might not be best to answer this question, but, I'll give it a shot. :)

 

I didn't notice that smoking was out of control at all. There are only certain areas where smoking is allowed. On the Lido deck, its allowed on the port side, and on the Promenade deck, there are certain bars where you can smoke, like the Piano Bar, and the Latin music bar, but I believe the rest are smoke free. Of course, smoking is allowed in the casino in certain parts, but I never noticed it being bad, of course, I guess I can't be ojbective on that lol

 

Maybe my DFs who went with us, can comment on this, as they are both non-smokers,,,

 

As to the elegant nights, there are 2 of them, and the first one INCLUDES the captain's reception. So,,,, YOU win !!!

 

( I hope the bet was a good one ;))

 

And, there were NO free drinks at the captains reception. Just $1 off drinks,,, :rolleyes: which to me isn't much as they are expensive to start with.

 

They now do a Farewell reception, which was held from 5 to 6 pm the last day at sea, and drinks were supposedly free at THAT reception. We never made it to that party, though I really wanted to attend just to get the free drinks, lol But we couldn't pull ourselves off the Lido deck that early on the last day at sea lol

 

I think they might have planned it that way. Most people are busy at that time the last day at sea, or in their cabins packing up for the next day debarkation, so, me thinks they purposely planned it that way, to save themselves the money. lol

 

Had they had free drinks the First elegant night, they would have been hit with a MAJOR freebie giveaway and everyone attends that first night.

 

Hope this helped answer all your questions,,,,

 

Now, cash in on that bet lol

 

Bontongrl,

I can verify that there were Free Drinks at the Farewell Reception. I was surprised there weren't more people there. The glasses they were served in were kinda small, but you could have as many as you wanted. Drinks were available at the Piano Bar, Paris Hot and Eagle's Lounge. Not sure about any of the other clubs.

[092306]

Thank you very much. As far as the smoking thing, iapprecite your answer. I figure it is like the other Carnival cruises we have taken. It just seemed that people complain about it more then any other ship. As far as the bet, well w/ your help I won but I doubt the wife will admit defeat lol. What can you do! lol Thanks again

[canuckwoman]

Bontongrl,

Thank you for a great review so far....I am on holidays this week and have been searching for a cruise for Feb 2011 and you have just made my decision alot easier :) Cant wait to read more.....

[mstacy1725]

Loving the report keep it up:D

[LHP]

Loving your review. I will be on the Valor in a couple of weeks for my honeymoon. :D so keep it coming.

 

Pop in karaoke and tell Melvin that his Cruise Mom said HI!!! :)

[LHP]

Just a note...this "farewell party" and the change in the Captain's Party is only on the Valor. It is an experiment before introducing it fleet wide.

[gypsyrose]

Loving your review. Need lots more tho to help me get thru the 278!!! days I still have left before my cruise. And OMG, I have NEVER seen so many people in the pool. We usually go the end of April and there is hardly anyone in the pools then.

Love the pics too...Keep them coming!! Thanks....

[happy cruzer]

Great pictures, looks like a fun cruise.

 

Don't blame Carnival too much for how the pictures are done, they contract that out. So my guess is the contracting firm makes the most dollars with the least capital expenditure.

 

Love pictures of food and ones that show how crowded/uncrowded venues are.

 

Thanks!

[singbluesilver1]

thanks for the review!! ill be on the valor for my honeymoon on oct 4......seems to be a popular hm ship lol

[cmlmich]

Could you give a little more detail on what you used to sneak booze on board, I think you said something about rum runner?? I plan on bringing some of my own vodka....I will still buy some drinks from the ship...this will allow me to have some cocktails on our deck so we won't have to go get them or order room service.

[Vacationjunkie4]

OK, I will chime in. I am one Bontongrl's DFs that was on the cruise. We had a great time as you can tell from the pics and she has more where those came from. She keeps saying we took a lot of pictures, between the four of us there were over 2000 pics taken with 4 cameras. If I am not smiling in a pic it is because I never knew when the next flash was going to pop. Look at some of them, my retinas were on fire.

 

***About the smoking, Lido was the Starbord side. Also the Piano bar had a spot for the smokers. I didn't notice it too much and I can smell it a mile away. Our room had no evidence of prior smoking, but I don't know how that can be controlled. The cigar bar was the only place that smoking was obvious.

[Bontongrl]

Could you give a little more detail on what you used to sneak booze on board, I think you said something about rum runner?? I plan on bringing some of my own vodka....I will still buy some drinks from the ship...this will allow me to have some cocktails on our deck so we won't have to go get them or order room service.

 

Hiya cmlmich,

 

This is what we used,,,,,http://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

but don't tell anyone I told ya,,,,, ;)

[Bontongrl]

Ok, so where was I ? Oh yes,, mid-morning Day 2,,,,,

 

 

 

We strolled through Rosie's, the restaurant on the Lido deck, and got a bite to eat,

then hit the ice cream machine, and went back out to the pool area.

 

They were about to start the Hairiest Chest contest. lol

 

But, First, a word about Rosie's. Personally, I thought this restaurant was great. Right off the pool area, all kinds of food to eat, different stations for different types of food and the Fish and Chips station was located INSIDE of Rosie's toward the back. It took me a couple of days to figure out where it was, but I finally found it. Its inside Rosie's, towards the back of the restaurant, and up the curved stairs and there you are. They have fried fish, oysters, salmon, many types of seafood but they are only open a few hours a day. But, get there between 11 and 2, because I think they are only open those hours.

 

Here's a few pics of Rosie's, during calmer hours lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and, a typical breakfast,,,,,,

 

 

 

and a typical lunch,,,,,,,, getting hungry ? lol