Trip Report - Cruising the Caribbean - July 2009

[Bontongrl]

Hi everybody,,,,,,,

Just got back 2 weeks ago from a Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival cruise ship Valor.

Wanted to know if anybody is interested in a "daily diary" of our trip ?

For those of you who read my Playa trip report from last summer, you know I can be pretty long winded, so thought I would warn you ahead of time,,,,,

[roni]

Originally Posted by Bontongrl

Hi everybody,,,,,,,

Just got back 2 weeks ago from a Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival cruise ship Valor.

Wanted to know if anybody is interested in a "daily diary" of our trip ?

For those of you who read my Playa trip report from last summer, you know I can be pretty long winded, so thought I would warn you ahead of time,,,,,

Please do!!!!

[Bontongrl]

I did post this same report on the cruise critic board, so if you frequent that board and read it over there,,,, you won't wanna read it again,,, lmao

But, I figured people on this board wouldn't want to go over there to read it, so,,,, here it is for YOU all

[Bontongrl]

This is my first trip report on this cruise board, because until last week, I hadn't been on a cruise in 18 years, so,,,, to say the least, I, that is WE, were VERY excited about this trip...........My husband (DH) and I went with our good friends (who will from this point on be referred to as DFs, ) and they have NEVER cruised before, so we were all excited !!!

Those of you who read last years Playa report, will recognize my DFs.
We do a lot of traveling together.

Here goes !!!

and, I hope you all like pictures, cause I have TONS of them,,,



This was rather a last minute trip,,,, only planned 6 weeks earlier, so at least we didn't have long to wait. Yeah !!! If I had to book a cruise and wait a year or so, I think the anticipation would drive me crazy



We booked through a TA and got a good deal, or at least we THINK it was a good deal......

I have been on 2 cruises before,,,,the first, my honeymoon MANY MANY years ago,, and had an inside stateroom,,,, then, the next cruise was 18 years ago, and had a window room, and this time,, I said I wouldn't go unless I could have a balcony. Wow, what a difference ! I think once you've had a balcony room,,it would be hard to go back to any other,,,,, at least for me it would be hard.









We booked the Valor, leaving out of Miami on July 5th. We had a 7 am flight, due to arrive in Miami at 10:30. I had been nervous about not coming in a day earlier,,,,, (having nightmares of missing the ship, ) but all that worry was for nothing. The flight was on time and we grabbed a taxi to the dock, so we could stop at a drugstore and pick up water and cokes to bring onboard with us. Everything went off without a hitch and 30 minutes later, we were out of the cab and looking at the biggest pile of luggage I've ever seen in one area.








We left our luggage with a porter, and off we went into the terminal. By now it was around noon and the terminal was getting pretty full. We stood in line for approximately 45 minutes, and then finally got to the counter, got our S&S cards and we were onto the ship !!



YEAH, WE HAVE ARRIVED !!!



After taking that first important cruise picture, of what seems like a thousand posed cruise pictures, <l>, we headed straight to the dining room with high hopes of changing our dinner seating from early seating to late. But,,,, the maitre'd said, as of that time, it was full and put us on a waiting list. <>

Ok, ok, we're sure not going to let that spoil anything,, but we were hoping we'd hear from them the next day that we'd gotten lucky and it would be changed.


First place we headed was the Lido Deck, for some of the food we'd been hearing about from these boards. Now, I'm one of those people, who eats to live and not the other way around, , so I'm basically happy with anything as long as it's decent. I knew that food would never be a make or break deal for me on a cruise. I'm happy with just about anything.

So, for me it was a hotdog and fries, and a variety of other things for DH and DFs. It was good, we were happy, so it was time to check out our rooms.

[Bontongrl]

DH and I had a balcony room on the Panaroma deck and our DFs had an inside stateroom.

Our TA did a great job getting us right across the hall from each other, which is amazing since we didn't book this cruise until 6 weeks before sailtime.

I loved this deck,, and our room I think I'm spoiled now, and for any future cruises I will want the same type of room in the same area. Never had any problems with noise or anything else, and all we had to do was walk down the hall, out the door and down a few steps and we were on the Lido Deck. Couldn't have asked for a better location !!








Of course, no luggage was there,,, so we dropped off our carry bags, and decided to explore the ship.

Promenade deck,,,,




The coffee bar,,,,





The casino,,,,,,



Look at that,,,,,, DH got lucky already !!!
( j/k,, the casino wasn't open yet, )



Paris Hot, the Latin Music club,,,,,,,

DF is a wanna be rock star,,, and I, of course, liked the drums,,,,,,,




Ya know, they NEVER really grow up, do they ?




The Caboose,,,,, a video arcade area for the kids,,,,,,

[Bontongrl]

continuing,,,,,,,,

a few other bars along the promenade deck,,,,





and one of my favorites, the piano bar,,,,,,



By now we had been exploring for a while, and we heard the call to muster, so off we went, back to our cabins, picked up our life jackets and down to Deck 4 for the drill.




I took a picture of the prettiest little girl who was in line next to us at muster, she was happy sitting on the floor and playing through the entire drill.





We finished the drill, and headed back up to the Lido Deck for sailaway. The sun had come out and it was a beautiful day heading out of port.

Notice the guys with their, insulated mugs, already filled to the brim, and ready to party





Some Miami Beach pics














The guys were checking out South Beach, but even with binoculars, its was a little far away to see the really "good" stuff,,,

[silvergirl]

Loving it already, Deb!!!!

Gawd, do you HAVE to look gorgeous even in a lifejacket???

[Bontongrl]

Originally Posted by silvergirl

Loving it already, Deb!!!!

Gawd, do you HAVE to look gorgeous even in a lifejacket???

Thanks Kim,,,,,,,,,,

I was just so happy to be there, I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear

[_Josephina_]

Meeeemories!!! I loved the Valor Keep the report coming

[Bontongrl]

As we sailed out into the ocean, we turned around and this was our view,,,,



The sun was shining, the weather was beautiful,,, the music was playing and my favorite kind of music, the steel drum kind ,, , people were smiling and laughing, kids were running around and having fun and already in the pools,, there was dancing on the deck and everyone was having a great time already !!

[Bontongrl]

Now, off to dinner.

I tried to make a point of taking food pictures,, but sometimes I would forget and dig in before I got a picture,,


But, here's a few of them from the first night

Fruit cocktail appetizer



Caesar salad




Ribs,,,, yum, they were good




Shrimp,,,,



Some kind of fish main course,, I believe it was tilapia

[Bontongrl]

After dinner,,, we went back to our rooms and made fresh drinks, with the liquor we snuck aboard, <> Yep, we had used our Rum Runners that we ordered online. They worked great and held more than enough liquor for our trip,,, In fact, we brought quite a bit of it home.


Carnival did NOT lose much money on us bringing our own liquor lol

With drinks in hand, we aimlessly wandered around the ship, getting to know the layout, taking pictures,,, again, ones of thousands, it seems like, by the end of the cruise.

It amazes me how many pictures are taken by the cruise staff throughout the week. I sure hope they are able to recycle the paper that is used and then thrown away when not bought. Their ink bill alone must be astronomical by the end of each week

Some lobby pictures,,,









Around 10 pm, we headed over to the Ivanhoe theatre to watch " The Welcome Aboard Show" Big Tex was our CD, and I loved him !! He has lots of energy and enthusiam for his job and it shows. I thought he did a great job all week !!!

If you want to get an up close seat for the show, you'd better get there early each evening. A LOT of people play bingo, and since they call Bingo games before each show, its always full on the lower level and up close to the stage. We ended up with seats in the back, but that didn't bother us.

The show was a dance and sing variety show. Its not Broadway, but the cast does work hard and do a great job. We thoroughly enjoyed it

After the variety show, we had a comedian, Eddie Capone. I thought he did a great job, especially when you could see he wanted to break out into his "adult" version, but had to hold it in for the family audience.
Hid adult version show would be the next night


After the show was over, we headed back down the Promenade Deck, people watching, listening to the music in the casino lounge, strolled down to the Piano Bar and had a few drinks, sang along with a few songs, then headed back to our rooms. It had been a long first day, and we'd all been up since 4 am and were pretty tired by now,,,,

We were greeted by our first towel animal and a turned down comfy bed (gotta love those towel animals, they are so cute !!)




And the best of all,,a balcony and a full moon our first night,,,,,,,,

[Tlyn]

Nice start! Looks like a huge ship! Can't wait to hear all about the ports!

[Bontongrl]

Ahhhhhhhh , Day 2, and our first day at sea

We didn't wake up early, but we didn't sleep too late either. That might be the ONE downfall to having a balcony room. Those big windows let plenty of light in, even with the curtains drawn lol Our DFs were in an inside room, so they slept a little later which is easy to do when there's NO light lol

We had left a request for coffee and hot tea and danishes on the door, and they were delivered right on time. I'm not one for getting up and eating a big breakfast, so, hot tea and danish are perfect for me. and I love, love, LOVE room service. There's nothing like sitting on your balcony, in your comfy robe, sipping hot tea , listening to the waves and watching the sun rise over the ocean <sigh>

We relaxed for a bit in the room, then finally got up and moving and headed for the Lido Deck and the pool. We knew there was no chance of getting anywhere CLOSE to the pool,,,, not unless you are willing to be there at 6 am to get a lounger, so we took our chances and hoped we'd get lucky. Well,,,NO such luck


So, we settled for some of those blue deck rockers,,, (not sure what else to call them, ) and settled in to people watch and get some sun.



The pools were packed,,,,,














Big Tex was hosting the Mixologist Contest poolside just as we got there. They had 5 people vying for the best tasting drink, and whoever won, would have a drink named after them and available for sale for the entire cruise.




This is all I have time to post now,,,, work calls, (sigh) but I'll be back tonight with the rest of Day 2 !!

Stay tuned !!

[Bontongrl]

Ok, so where was I ? Oh yes,, mid-morning Day 2,,,,,



We strolled through Rosie's, the restaurant on the Lido deck, and got a bite to eat,
then hit the ice cream machine, and went back out to the pool area.

They were about to start the Hairiest Chest contest.

But, First, a word about Rosie's. Personally, I thought this restaurant was great. Right off the pool area, all kinds of food to eat, different stations for different types of food and the Fish and Chips station was located INSIDE of Rosie's toward the back. It took me a couple of days to figure out where it was, but I finally found it. Its inside Rosie's, towards the back of the restaurant, and up the curved stairs and there you are. They have fried fish, oysters, salmon, many types of seafood but they are only open a few hours a day. But, get there between 11 and 2, because I think they are only open those hours.

Here's a few pics of Rosie's, during calmer hours












and, a typical breakfast,,,,,,




and a typical lunch,,