Great food, good itinerary, great embarkation and disembarkation, friendly and courteous staff. Room for improvement: soundproofing in the ceiling and walls, enforce dining room standards or eliminate them, review Carnival standards and policies. Enforce the standards and policies or eliminate them.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was great! Very smooth. The quickest embarkation we’ve ever had.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Food and service at all venues was great.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There were a lot of non-adults on the ship (many of them unsupervised). Even though there were venues specifically for children they were at adult geared venues.
Entertainment
Only listened to the 3 violinist. They were exceptionally good.
Children's Programs
Didn’t travel with children.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Our waiters and room stewards were very professional, courteous and friendly. The personnel at guest services were always friendly. I rated the service & staff at three stars due to fact that the Carnival staff failed to enforce Carnival rules and regulations, ie. Patrons smoking on balconies with no repercussions, children in adult-only venues without being challenged by Carnival personnel, dress code in the dining room was never enforced (ie, customers with shorts and cut-off sleeves, shorts, flip-flop) every night, several hand cleaning stations were empty and diners were never encouraged to use them (During our dining), never observed briefings on the importance of hand washing, never observed any Carnival personnel cleaning the handrails, our room was extremely noisy. We had a horrible experience in the Photo gallery. Someone had vomited on the floor. My wife and I accidentally walked right through it. When we went to the restroom there was an even larger pile outside the men’s room. Personnel just walked right by instead of immediately cleaning up the mess. I understand that Carnival is the party ship but I believe that if your going to have rules or standards they should be enforced. We
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
The ship’s layout was good. Plenty of places to sit and eat. Cleanliness was poor. Please note the comment above. We felt that the common areas were not properly cleaned. One night we entered an empty elevator and had to hold our breath for several floors.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was sufficient in size but very noisy. All night long we heard: bumping, banding, running, knocking, carts and various other noises. The size was sufficient and the balcony would have been very nice if it wasn’t for our next door neighbor(s) who smoked throughout the cruise. While we were on the balcony the smoke would drift over to our cabin. Both my wife and I complained but had to put up with it until the last night. What a waste of paying for the balcony.
Ship tip
I do not ever want to take a cruise on the Carnival Valor (especially out of New Orleans) again.
I would definitely agree with what you have stated about the MDR. With your balcony smoker, not much you can do about it if guest service doesn’t report it to the hotel manager. Next time if you have the same problem just ask for the manager of the department that is responsible. That way you have a name to report to Carnival if the problem isn’t corrected.
Research your cabin before booking and you will see what is over you, etc. 99% of all complaints could be taken care of before boarding with a little planning. Try smiling!!!!!
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