Back From The Carnival Valor November 3rd-10th 2013

[Roger25375]

Just back from an almost perfect trip on the Carnival Valor. I will explain the few bad things in just a few. This was my 11th cruise and my 10th on Carnival.

Here is a reason to always go a day early. Our flight left Charleston WV on time Saturday Nov 2nd at 530 am with a connection in Charlotte at 950 am for San Juan. We approached Charlotte and circled for over 1/2 an hour, then the crew announced due to the fog we were going to divert to Tri-Cities in Tennessee to refuel and try to land again. We landed in Tennessee and they told us we would not be going anywhere before 830, then 900, then maybe 10. We were free to get off the plane and go into the terminal if we wanted, two other flights diverted and joined us on the tarmac. I got on the phone with US Airways to see about getting a later flight, at first the reservation lady did not know we had been diverted, then she found it and was able to move us to the 1150 am flight to San Juan and said there was another that evening at 615 if we did not make the 1150 flight. She made the changes and told us we could get seat assignments and new boarding passes from any agent at any gate when we landed. She also put in a request to reroute the baggage (that did not work, more in a minute.) Around 915 they made an announcement that Charlotte had reopened and as soon as everyone was back on board we could leave again. They sent an agent in to round up the missing passengers and get them back on board. They let anyone who was still on hold to continue to use their cell phones. It was around 1030 when we made it to Charlotte, and you could barley move through the terminal with all of the people waiting for the cancelled and re scheduled flights. We actually found a gate with only one person in line went there and got new boarding passes issued and had enough time to make it to the next gate with about 20 minutes before they started boarding.

We made it to San Juan, but the bags did not come off the belt onto the baggage carousel. The lady at the luggage office said she could not locate them in the system and did not know where they were but to come back when all the bags were out.

[Roger25375]

We were able to track the bags on the US Airways app and see that they were still in Charlotte, they did not make the flight with us. The rep put in a claim, gave us a form to submit any expenses we may have, and said if they arrive that they would be delivered to the hotel. Later that night we were able to see through the app that they were put on the 615 pm flight to San Juan. The hotel said they get luggage delivered each night, almost like it's a common thing, usually around 130-300 am and would have it for us in the morning. I woke up, went down to the front desk, and yes, it had been delivered. Yeah, we won't have to do a cruise with no clothes.

The hotel, Plaza De Armas, nice staff, will not ever stay here again, not worth the money. When it says windowless room, I was think a room with no view? No it is a room with a window, shutter, curtain, looks down on the main street, windowless, means no glass in your window. WTF? You could hear everything outside. But the air conditioner set to 62 degrees, just about froze us out.

We walked around, went to the Sheraton for dinner (Chicago Burger Company) stopped at a grocery store to get some soda to carry on $2.99 for an 8 pack, much cheaper than at the port. Back to the room to try to sleep and wait for Sunday and the time to check in at the ship.

[Roger25375]

We left the hotel to grab breakfast, then went back around 1120 to check out a grab a taxi since we each had 2 bags and a carry on to lug to the ship.

Since this was my PLATINUM cruise with Carnival I wanted to get there an experience the VIP check in.

The porters took the bags, noticed that they stated PRIORITY and stated that they would be delivered right up to the room. It was now 15 minutes to 12 when we checked in and told that boarding should begin around 1215. At 1205, they came an got us from the lounge and led us to the security scanners to make our way on the ship. We were in the first 15-20 people on the ship, decided to go see if the room was ready, it said Diamond/Platinum/FTF rooms would be ready at 1230, we saw that it was still being cleaned but dropped the soda off and went to get lunch on Lido, this would be the only time we would never have lines the entire cruise. We ate and it was now close to 100 pm. We headed back to the room, it was ready, but the door was still propped open, we dropped the rest of the stuff off, and yes the bags were waiting for us, so we unpacked. We met out steward, Johnny who took excellent care of us and his supervisor, whose name I don't remember. We decided to get back off the ship, walk around and explore before coming back for dinner.

The first night is open seating and you go anytime from 530-830. Muster drill is at 930. This time we waited until the announcement was made and the alarm sounded, so we did not get stuck in the back against the wall and unable to breathe.

I will post more about the cruise and activities tomorrow. I am trying to sort through 1100 pictures and get them uploaded.

[Roger25375]

Since this was the 3rd time doing this itinerary, we did not plan any shore excursions in advance.

St. Thomas - Purchased an Island tour for 25.00 per person downtown at the taxi drop off area, did a complete circle of the island with a beach stop.

Barbados - Top 10 of Barbados booked with Carnival.

St. Lucia - Catamaran Cruise to the Pitons booked with Carnival, 30 minutes late in leaving as the Catamaran blew a shaft as we were leaving but they got it fixed and we were soon on our way.

St. Kitts - St. Kitts Highlight with Brimstone Hill Fortress booked with Carnival.

St. Maarten - No excursion, just explored Front Street and did some shopping.