Carnival Valor Mar. 6th

[lostboy]

DEEPLOU,

What did you think of the boat? It was our first Carnival trip, and it was certainly different. Early spring breakers made it a hoppin' place. Wonder what this week and next week are like :-]

Jerry

 

[DEEPLOU]

DEEPLOU,

What did you think of the boat? It was our first Carnival trip, and it was certainly different. Early spring breakers made it a hoppin' place. Wonder what this week and next week are like :-]

Jerry

Just as I was starting to reply, I realized that a friend from the shop (who I just saw last night) was on the same trip w/you. With close to 3000 people on the ship, I am sure you met him. Young, just turned 30 but looks 20. Party animal, and Avid diver, although I think he said he only dove Roatan, or maybe also Coz.

The boat was nice. Dining room service was very good. Our room steward was not as good as should have been. Problems making up the room (although our daughter sleeping till past noon could have had some effect on that). The ice bucket never had ice in it, and when you called for ice, it took forever if at all.
One annoyance, out on deck, people would come out at 7am, grab the lounges place some sort of personal gear on it and then disappear for the morning or more.
We had friends we met on cruise last year that did Royal Carribean this year. My wife met them in Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and they said Royal Carribean had "Pool Police" If you left things on a lounge and disappeared for more than a half hour, the personal stuff was collected and the lounge was "freed" so someone else could use it. It puts an end to this reserving a lounge chair for the day routine.

I thought the lunch buffet closed up much too early, especially on the days the ship was at sea. The ice cream machines: the ice cream was more like ice milk w/ice crystals in it. (didn't try yoget). The bergers on the aft deck could have been used for skeet shooting or hockey play. I even asked for one to be rare, it still looked like it had been cooked for an hour. Their pizza was not bad, and open 24 hours.

In the main dinning room, the menus didn't mention it, but Ceasar Salad was available every night. Once I found that out, it was ceasar every nite for me. The meals were good, but portions small necessitating ordering a couple to fill the cavity.

The singing /dancing shows were SOS, nothing unusual. The comedians were both good. Especially their midnight "adult" shows. The first one was good, and the second one even better. (those were the only two nights i made it past midinght)

 

[chuck e]

Just as I was starting to reply, I realized that a friend from the shop (who I just saw last night) was on the same trip w/you. With close to 3000 people on the ship, I am sure you met him. Young, just turned 30 but looks 20. Party animal, and Avid diver, although I think he said he only dove Roatan, or maybe also Coz.

The boat was nice. Dining room service was very good. Our room steward was not as good as should have been. Problems making up the room (although our daughter sleeping till past noon could have had some effect on that). The ice bucket never had ice in it, and when you called for ice, it took forever if at all.
One annoyance, out on deck, people would come out at 7am, grab the lounges place some sort of personal gear on it and then disappear for the morning or more.
We had friends we met on cruise last year that did Royal Carribean this year. My wife met them in Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and they said Royal Carribean had "Pool Police" If you left things on a lounge and disappeared for more than a half hour, the personal stuff was collected and the lounge was "freed" so someone else could use it. It puts an end to this reserving a lounge chair for the day routine.

I thought the lunch buffet closed up much too early, especially on the days the ship was at sea. The ice cream machines: the ice cream was more like ice milk w/ice crystals in it. (didn't try yoget). The bergers on the aft deck could have been used for skeet shooting or hockey play. I even asked for one to be rare, it still looked like it had been cooked for an hour. Their pizza was not bad, and open 24 hours.

In the main dinning room, the menus didn't mention it, but Ceasar Salad was available every night. Once I found that out, it was ceasar every nite for me. The meals were good, but portions small necessitating ordering a couple to fill the cavity.

The singing /dancing shows were SOS, nothing unusual. The comedians were both good. Especially their midnight "adult" shows. The first one was good, and the second one even better. (those were the only two nights i made it past midinght)

Jerry and Deeplou
Thanks for your reports. I'll be doing this itinerary on April 3 and hope to dive all the ports.
Chuck

 

[Diver Girl 1]

We really enjoyed our cruises and really had no complaints. We are going on this one in May. It will be my 3rd cruise with Carnival. I have been on the Valor's sister ship, the Conquest, and it was awesome.

We found the food to be really good, even the burgers. Yes the lunch buffet closes at 2pm or so, but you can always get food, whether room service, pizza, burgers, etc. We never worried about the lunch buffet cuz we were usually on the island and didn't care about lunch. And who eats lunch after 2pm anyway?

We didn't find the dinner portions to be too small at all. I think that Americans are so used to 'Super Size' that we forget what a normal portion really is. Besides, you can eat 2 dinners or more if you really want to. You can get 3 different desserts if you really want to. If you order something that you don't like, you can get something else. There is no limit. They go out of your way to accommodate.

Yes it is true that people will try so 'save' lounge chairs on the ship, but when we went, we were told that your belongings would be removed if you left them. We didn't run into any problems.

Obviously we love cruising. Carnival has the best itineraries with the best size ships going to those destinations. We looked at RC and they were more money with smaller ships. Once you go on a huge ship, it is really hard to downsize. RC is supposed to be really nice and more luxurious, but we like the 'fun' aspect of Carnival. We ran into 2 girls on shore in st. thomas that were on RC and said that they went to the 'young' people's dance and there were only a handful of people there. They were asking us how many young people were on our ship. They said that they felt like they were the only people their age on the ship :15a:

Just reporting our experiences :10:

 

[Tizzy]

Hey chuck e, hubby and I will be on the Valor April 3/05 also. Planning on diving all the ports. Have booked them all. Here's the rundown, Grand Cayman - Neptunes Divers, Roatan - Bananarama, Costa Maya - Blue Ha, Cozumel - Papa Hogs. Who are you diving with? In the mean time keep your eyes on the horizon, that cruiseship is bobbing our way.
Cheers
Tizzy

 

[chuck e]

Hey chuck e, hubby and I will be on the Valor April 3/05 also. Planning on diving all the ports. Have booked them all. Here's the rundown, Grand Cayman - Neptunes Divers, Roatan - Bananarama, Costa Maya - Blue Ha, Cozumel - Papa Hogs. Who are you diving with? In the mean time keep your eyes on the horizon, that cruiseship is bobbing our way.
Cheers
Tizzy

Hi Tizzy
OOPS,the mind plays tricks sometimes; We are on the Valor May 1, we're in Coz April 3. Let me know how you make out.

Chuck :11:

 

[Tizzy]

Jeez, don't you ever stay home? I envy you. I will check in when I get back with a review.
Cheers
Tizzy

 

[Diver Girl 1]

Hi Tizzy
OOPS,the mind plays tricks sometimes; We are on the Valor May 1, we're in Coz April 3. Let me know how you make out.

Chuck :11:

Hey Chuck,

Maybe we will see you on the boat! We will be on the boat then to. Who are you using in Belize? How about Roatan?

 

[chuck e]

Hey Chuck,

Maybe we will see you on the boat! We will be on the boat then to. Who are you using in Belize? How about Roatan?

Divergirl 1
We are using the ship excursion to Turneffe in Belize. There is no other option in Belize to get to the outer atolls in the allotted time. We are using Subway Watersports in Roatan. They have a lot of good recommendations on this board and will pick us up at the dock. In Grand Cayman we are considering shore dives. Timing is a factor again so only can do boat diving with the ship. I spoke to a rep from Dive Tek who said real easy shore diving from their shop across from the turtle farm. They will rent tanks and weights for about $15. We are waiting to decide on Coz since we will be at Scuba Club Cozumel on Apr 2-9. We may be able to arrange an afternoon diving with them, but since we are in port til 11PM, there are many possibilities to choose from. PM me before we leave. :dazzler1:
Chuck

 

[lostboy]

Ok, where to start. The boat is HUGE. Just incredibly huge. Very nice, clean, smell of fresh paint still lingering. Or, freshly applied, as the case may be; the ships crew were constantly painting, varnishing, cleaning, and replacing carpet (more on that later).

My wife and I were on the 7th deck, third balcony cabin back, not too high, not too low. Didn't notice the engine noise or vibration, if any, but, boy, the walk back to the food areas was a hoof Our kids had interior rooms just across from ours. The only downside was a large family of HEAVY smokers just down the hall. The hallway was constantly filled with smoke.

The cabins are large, if you haven't seen pics, with lots of storage, nice beds, efficient bath (read shower) rooms. Balcony was smaller than expected but large enough for extracurricular activities; two chairs and a small table. Second best use was drying out our scuba/wet things. Lots of parties on the balconies; especially just after reboarding ship. I thought that was sorta strange, but seemed prevalent. Our immediate neighbors were friendly, and on the last day headed home we asked our steward to open the partitions so we had a 4 cabin balcony. Pretty sweet. Had great stewards.

Food was OK. Not the extravagant spread of Holland America nor the Freestyle efficiency of NCL. But, it was OK. The Pizza place was open 24 hours, and served pizza sort of similar to high end, thin crust self bake. Not as good, nor as large as a Brick Oven type place, but passable. Burger/hotdog area in the same rear area of the ship, but had long lines, short hours and decent burgers. Rosies’ Grill had similar short hours, or seemed so. I only remember being back there a few times when it was actually open. Ok food, but I though lousy eggs for breakfast; usually moseyed over to the omelet area. Most of the time for lunch/dinner B or C (or sometimes D), I hit the deli on the port side of Rosies, or if I was lucky, the Fish & Chips area on the second floor. Both were better than average, especially the Rueben. Soft serve frozen yogurt & ice cream on the back deck area was a nice touch. Dinner A in the restaurants were very good, if, as noted in another post, with very small portions. The waiters sing & dance during dinner, which seemed a little contrived but broke the monotony. Formal nights were really formal; lotsa tuxes, suits, and hot dresses with food to match. Lobster night was a big hit. Oh, and Midnight buffet was a welcome munchy time.

A side note about our fellow passengers… We were returning to the dock in Roatan, when the Norwegian Spirit (or was it the Dream, we ran into both) was tendering. Our fellow Valor’ians averaged about 30-35 years old, while the NCL folk were probably twice that. It was soooo plain when the company was mixed. So, a very young crowd, lots of party locations & enabling refreshments made for the most energetic cruise I have ever been on. Way cool… Down side were tons of drunk folks, to the point of my daughters and I staying up very late to watch the ship crew cart off the totally impaired in wheel chairs and the crew clean up spilled drinks (tropical bright colored things in Reds, Blues, and Yellows, which were mixed :11: to create many other colors), spilled food (you name it...), and the aftereffects of both (bleech...). Almost everyone was really nice, though, even when totally inebriated.

Quick tour: great spa up on the bow – highly recommended (HR). Internet café was small, but functional, tho very slow. It was just off of the smoking lounge which offered a non-smoking tea time in the afternoon. HR!!! The piano bar had a really great singer guy, who performed as the piano turned. He suffered the clientele with humor and patience. HR!!! The Eagle lounge band were marvelous, especially the country night and the Beatlemania. HR!!! The biggest bummer was the guy singing in the Casino; he was actually great to listen to, but everyone walked by or played slots like he was invisible. Fun/nice guy; he and my oldest daughter were always chatting… Karaoke was so-so; as was the shows in the forward theater. Great facility, but a couple of OK comedians, and snoozer hypnotism show. The ‘Broadway’ type shows had a set of great dancers, by so-so singers and themes. Perhaps, I was jaded having just seen Wicked and Lion King in NYC. YMMV.

Now, down to the important stuff. Diving experiences in part II…