VALOR REVIEW 7/15-7/22

gymbrat33 · July 24, 2007

I sailed on the Valor on Sunday, July 15th with my mother. She celebrated her 60th birthday on the ship.

On Saturday morning, I decided to go shopping for new outfits which I didn't need. I had already planned everything that I was going to wear. I went to Macy's and bought 4 new outfits including a formal dress. They had great sales. I started packing Saturday evening and continued on Sunday morning. We headed for the Port of Miami at 11:00 a.m. and arrived at 11:30 p.m. I live 30 minutes from the Port of Miami., and an hour away from The Port in Fort Lauderdale.

Since this was my 11th cruise, I reported to the VIP office. We waited in there 15 minutes waiting for a representative to check us in. We then headed to security and picked up our room keys. As soon as we entered the ship, I headed to the purser's desk to deposit money on my sail and sign account. Since the cabins weren't ready until 1:30, we had lunch on the Lido Deck.

I booked this cruise a month before sailing on the one day sales that they offer. (My mother always loves to book a balcony. When I sail with friends or by myself, I always book an inside.) We booked a balcony and were told that we were upgraded to an extended balcony because of the sale that was in effect. The PVP even told us that it was such a large balcony, that we could invite our friends for a party in the balcony. Too fuuny! The balcony was the same size that we always book. It didn't matter to us though.

This ship sailed to Nassau, St. Thomas, and St.Maarten.

In Nassau, we went to the Pirate Museum again and did some shopping.

In St. Thomas, we booked a tour through Carnival that took us to Coral World(a park with sea animals and birds) and to Meagans' Bay Beach. When we arrived at St. Thomas it was pouring, but the day cleared up. It was super sunny all day.

In St. Maarten, we didn't have good weather at all. It rained all day. My mother didn't get off the ship. I shopped on the pier and bought and umbrella in one of the shops because it was raining so hard and I wanted to continue shopping for souveniers.

The cruise director was Chris Jefferson. He's super funny and entertaining. The social hosts were also excellent. One of the social hosts Nikko also known as Hurricane is super funny. She kept everyone laughing and entertained at all times. She should be promoted to cruise director. Our room steward Leonardo was very efficient and personable. A lot of them are very shy. Our waiter, Luna, and assistant waiter ,Mahretta were very attentive.

The shows were great. I've seen them before since this was my 3rd time sailing on this ship, but I never get tired of watching them. There were plenty of activities scheduled on sea days.

We ate in the dining room every night except one night when we went to the supper club. The Filet Mignon, french onion soup and Tiramitsu were better in the regular dining room than at the supper club. Next time we'll eat dinner in the dining room every night. The food in the dining room was so delicious that we don't see a reason to dine at the supper club again. The food on the lido deck was always very good.

Carnival increased their prices on their 8x10's from 19.99 to 21.99 and increased the price of their 5x7's by a dollar. They know that people will buy pictures.

Debarkation was a nightmare. We had been cleared and were exiting the ship when customs held everyone up for 30 minutes. No one knew what was going on.

We had a great time and highly recommend this ship.