just meh

Item: Carnival Valor
Rating: 2
Author: tmat

Carnival Valor Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

tmat

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 21

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 27, 2016

Ship: Carnival Valor

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1122

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The biggest drawback to the entire thing was all the hidden fees that you really don't find out about unless you know someone who has been before or you really dig. There is a daily fee per person that you pay at the end, but you pay gratuity for everything you buy no matter what it is on the cruise as well so you essentially pay this twice. The food service personnel seemed like they would rather be anywhere else other than dealing with people. Most of the service personnel would completely ignore you unless you stopped them and asked them a question. My stateroom steward was very friendly and helpful. The childcare provided was alright. The best thing about it was there was a very large playroom for the children to play in and if your child was 2 years or under they provided a wifi phone so they could call in the event of an issue. The carnival hub app was useful for tracking a schedule but i think their chat option should be free for those persons that book on the same reservation. If they want to charge for you to chat with other persons not on your reservation then, I understand. All their shore excursions were amazingly overpriced and they were all full anyway.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabins good. Our stateroom steward was very pleasant.

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

20 Comments

tmskaggs 8 years ago

If you buy the drink package you pay gratuities automatically so are you saying you will pay them again each time you get a drink?

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briarpatch 8 years ago

No joke, we actually put our do not disturb sign out until night time because we don't demand every little thing. We would rather the steward bypass our room until we need something. We are there to enjoy ourselves.... not make life miserable for a week for the staff.

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briarpatch 8 years ago

We had less than stellar stateroom service once on a carnival ship. But we still didn't take away our gratuities. We cruise often..... but we dont nitpick

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george727 8 years ago

Ik I never complain I've been on 12 cruises and never had any issues

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george727 8 years ago

Yeah Ik I was just saying

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briarpatch 8 years ago

^^^^ anyone who takes their gratuities off should be ashamed of themselves

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george727 8 years ago

You can take gratuities off

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briarpatch 8 years ago

We pay our daily service fees, and we also give additional at the end

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mrsb3 8 years ago

That is on top of the prepaid tips😎

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mrsb3 8 years ago

That's for 7 day cruise.

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mrsb3 8 years ago

We do it at the end of the cruise. Cabin Steward gets $40 -50, waiter $70, assistant $40, wine steward $40, depends on DR hostess if good they get some, and batenders each time they serve $1 to $2. Never add extra tip on receipt the server never sees that it gets split up by all the good and bad.

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MrsDWilbur 8 years ago

mrsb-3 I would be interested in knowing how much, and how you give your extra tips. :)

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nakedgrandpa 8 years ago

Hi. I'm nakedgrandpa. I have a really cool thing called "the internet". I use this "internet" to search for things on "the google". When I am on "the google" I search for "things you should know before your first cruise". After the space particles from the computer hits the satellite in space, my screen shows all these things that I can click to get information. I highly recommend you look at obtaining this "the internet". You can find a lot of videos with cats too. You're welcome :)

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briarpatch 8 years ago

Gratuities on everything you buy? You must have bought a LOT from the bar

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jbayard 8 years ago

I agree they deserve more

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mrsb3 8 years ago

Hidden charges... no such thing. Prepaid gratuities is a small fraction of what the ship workers deserve. On 7 day cruise we bring $200+ plus for extra tips. Just THINK how much you would you tip on land for 1 dinner for two... $10 to $20 now multiple that by 7. And these employees work their butt off.

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johnpwilson92 8 years ago

7th cruise never overcharged...

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originalgeek 8 years ago

All of the charges are detailed openly and often both during the booking process and afterwards when managing your cruise. You almost have to try not to see all the things that cost extra. Even when you're looking through the site to compare different cruises they tell you on every page what's included and what's not. You can prepay gratuities or have them added to sign and sail during the cruise. Every menu on the site tells you tips are added to alcohol.

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Steven112 8 years ago

You are only charged gratuities on drinks you buy on board. Not everything you buy. The gratuities you pay per day goes toward your dinning room staff, the room steward you loved so much, and a few other behind the scenes people you never see. Next time read the info carnival sends you when you book. You don't have to "dig" to find it.

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Katievp 8 years ago

We definitely did not pay gratuities twice. Except for our dining room team. They deserved extra. That was our decision though. But we were on the Dream.

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