First Time was a Good Time

Carnival Valor Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 50

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Valor

5 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 17, 2017

Ship: Carnival Valor

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 2350

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

My favorite part of the cruise had to be the dinners.  We became very attached to our wait staff -  Blanka, John Raymond, Petre, and Phadra.  They were so sweet and accommodating.  We looked forward to seeing them every day. Please let us know the best way to convey our appreciation to their supervisors.  The food was delicious as well.

 

We also appreciated the housekeeping staff person, Nengah.  He was very friendly and accommodating, and remembered our son's name.  He welcomed us every time he saw is in the hallway.

 

Our cruise director, Orlando, was incredible as well.  He seemed to work 24/7.  We enjoyed the welcome party, the '80's music trivia, the magic show with Bobby Borgia.

 

Also, the Decades of Music Asia was fantastic.  We are not dancers, and they got us dancing.  We enjoyed watching other people dance as well.

 

Guy Fieri's burgers were delicious, and we liked the pizza and Blue Iguana tacos as well.

 

The ship is complicated to navigate, and we were often confused as to which way to go.  Everyone was pleasant throughout, except a little attitude from one Guest Services employee on the last day.  We did have to change our flight home, and Nenad(? from Serbia) in Guest Services was very kind to find and dial the number to the airline for us, so that we could make the change.

 

We enjoyed our massages, and we are enjoying the products we got from our masseuses, Jessica and Conie(?).

 

We felt the spa classes we took were too geared to selling products - the foot/walking improvement - $220/pair for simple arch supports??  And for the herbal remedies, we decided to skip our consultation, because we could see the aim would be to sell an expensive array of remedies.

 

We did buy a painting at the auction that we are excited to get when it ships.

 

Thanks for making our first cruise a great vacation!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5
My 17 year old daughter loved being able to make a Build-a-Bear.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Yes!! Blanka, John Raymond, Petre, Phadra, (dining) and Nengah (housekeeping). For our next cruise, we would want to go where they are! When Dipendra sang "Leaving off the cruise ship," I began to cry, to think of maybe not seeing them again. They were sweet, accommodating, learned our names, and made sure to make our experience the best possible.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Very clean, just a little complicated to navigate. Have to go up one level, pass an area, and then down again, to reach some destinations.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
It was small for 4 people, but it worked out perfectly for us. It was very clean, the beds were comfortable, and the bathroom was clean and well-designed. The shower was great, and good to have plenty of shampoo and shower gel.

Ship tip

Be flexible, as the weather does cause changes in schedule.

Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

5 out of 5
Our ubers from Houston and back again were great.

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Progreso (Merida), Mexico

5 out of 5
Go to Chichen Itza - it's fantastic even though it is a very rushed trip.
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1 Comment

sharkbait1989    7 years ago

was the art at the auction priced high or low for what you would buy at an auction here or direct from the artist? were there alot of people at the art auction?

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