Texasmom22 Cruise Review on Carnival Valor on Nov 08, 2018

Carnival Valor Cruise Review

Texasmom22

Contributor Level: First Mate

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 75

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

Sail date: November 08, 2018

Ship: Carnival Valor

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Had a great time on our cruise, 11/8-11/12! Fantastic weather. We don’t attend a lot of the onboard activities – we just chill on deck, on our balcony, in our room, or the dining room. :) Really nice and relaxing time. A cruise is all about what you make it - and about those Guy’s burgers! I guess because of the time of year the ship wasn’t crowded at all. A few tips – go to the steakhouse cooking demonstration the first sea day! It’s a short demo, but it has 4 courses of tasting samples! Soup, Salad, entrée, dessert. Excellent food. A tip for the dining room – if they have pasta as an entrée, I will get that as my appetizer (comes in a smaller portion). Maybe you can do this with other entrees as well, but I know for sure with the pasta. Great way to taste an entrée without ordering the full portion. Even after all the prep and research, I made a mistake with our 12-packs of cokes. I remembered packing them in a rolling bag before… so we just stuck them in our suitcases. Wrong! They were confiscated from our checked bags! So sad! As all good ShipMates know – you’re supposed to carry them on! Ugh. So we bought the Bubbles packages and it worked out just fine. My husband just missed his Diet Mt. Dew. Lol They also confiscated my travel fan! We’ve brought this before. It was a plug-in item, and they called it an “iron” on the paper. It wasn’t an iron! I don’t bring any appliances. But if you’re bringing a fan, maybe go for battery-powered or they may take it. Ship Valor is very similar to the other ships (Liberty, Freedom) so it felt familiar. If you’re ever stuck, just remember that the 5th floor (casino and shops) goes all the way through from forward to aft. We felt the rooms were a little smaller than the other ships – smaller bathroom, narrower entrance hall at the closets, and shorter front to back. Not a big deal, just noted it. Our shower didn’t drain the first evening, but our room steward got it handled ASAP. Room steward was great and cheerful. Oh – we did go to one show called Studio VIP, all 70s music. The singing was better than usual, but wow, the show itself was cheesy. The costumes got crazier as it went on. At one point, my husband said “flamboyant,” and I said “flaming.” One male dancer attempted an actual stripper routine, which was just kind of embarrassingly sad. Just, yikes. It was like a train-wreck, we couldn’t look away. Lol (Sorry, Carnival – still love you!) The Fury Catamaran excursion was fun – that company is top-notch. Very clean boat, looked freshly painted and the workers were cleaning as we went. They serve margaritas and cokes freely after you snorkel. Snorkel gear was clean and new. The pictures they took for us were reasonably priced. We bought 2 for about $12/ea (same price as a 5x7 on the ship). Private beach was OK – it had inflatables and the souvenir sellers didn’t hassle at all. Plenty of chairs and hammocks, and we snagged a cabana. Spent $11 on a cheeseburger to share, with potato salad and pasta salad. Overall – love cruising, love the value of Carnival, great food, great price. Enjoy!

Texasmom22 Cruise Review on Carnival Valor on Nov 08, 2018

Overall rating:

Review summary

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