Thanksgiving weekend cruise

Carnival Valor Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

WhodatRalph

Contributor Level: Cruise Director

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 8

Helpful Votes: 246

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5

4 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 28, 2019

Ship: Carnival Valor

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7453

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

We took this cruise for a getaway for Thanksgiving weekend (and to celebrate a birthday) and enjoyed the cruise. It was nice to be on a ship that had a variety of food and entertainment options. We had been on the Valor before and had not tried the Deli (although we tried it on the Horizon) and was pleased with the quality of the sandwiches. The Cuban sandwich was really good and had a lot of meat on it. Ate breakfast at the buffet once and it seems the buffet quality has improved. Went to one sea day brunch and it was nice but still miss the old menu (cereal coated French toast). The MDR food was enjoyable as always. Went to the two Playlist Production shows and both were really good. I liked the America Rocks show more but my wife preferred the Studio VIP show (different music tastes). Went to see one of the comedians and he was funny at times but his type of humor did not meet my taste but others seemed to like him. Did not do a shore excursion in Cozumel but spent the day at the beach at Mr. Sancho's which is always nice. We had only a few things about the cruise that took away from it. My wife has a wrap around towel she recently got and uses it after showering. She put it on the towel rack the first day and when we returned to the cabin that night it was gone. The room steward replaced all the towels while we were out (even though none had been used) and took it also. There is a sign in the bathroom that says only towels on the floor would be replaced. They were never able to find it. The other things were passenger behavior (one of which I cannot hold against Carnival). A woman decided she wanted to Facetime someone at 2 in the morning and decided to do it in the hall outside our cabin and was talking really loud. The other thing was when we were getting off of the ship there were large groups of people at the bottom of the stairs on Deck 3 just standing around holding people up. They were waiting there for others in their parties to join them. Carnival usually does a pretty good job about this but this time it got out of hand. Other than these minor items this was a very enjoyable cruise.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Embarkation went pretty smoothly. A little confusing where to go exiting the parking garage elevators (it splits into three or four lines there and the signage was not great but there is a person there to direct you) but nothing major.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

The food seemed to be a bit better than the last time we were on the Valor. Tried the Deli this time and were very pleased with the quality of the sandwiches.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Mostly just laid around and got some sun and used the gym. The equipment there was in good shape.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Enjoyed the two Playlist shows we attended. Went to see one of the comedians and he was only okay. Not really my type of comedy.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Wait staff was great and the service on the decks was welcome. Had a problem with our room steward with something that happened that made me rate this lower.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Was pleased with the layout of the ship and it seemed clean. They were doing some kind of work on the aft of the ship that looked like it varnish being scraped that fell on our balcony though. Usually informed of this kind of work but not this time.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Had an aft view extended balcony cabin that was just right for us on this short of a cruise. Plenty of storage space.

Ports of call

New Orleans, Louisiana Did not visit port

We drove in the day of the cruise and it was Thanksgiving so nothing was open near the ship.

Thumbs Up 0

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Always enjoy going to the beaches in Cozumel and doing a little shopping.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

Getting off the ship had a few problems. There were large groups of people at the bottom of the stairs waiting for others in their party. This caused a jam of people at that point. Other than this issue getting off was the usual.