Carnival Valor Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,524 reviews

Making lemonade out of a Lemon

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Valor
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duncan449
2-5 Cruises • Age 30s

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Sail Date: Dec 2012
Cabin: Balcony

This was the third cruise for my husband and I, and the second for my parents. Always before we cruised with Royal Caribbean out of Galveston which was really convenient considering we live 45 minutes away. This time we wanted to experience something other than the Western Caribbean destinations that also fit our time period. We did some research and found that there weren't any Royal Caribbean cruises that fit all of our requirements. (being on the ship for Christmas, leaving after Dec. 22, and getting back before Jan. 3, and of course price is always a factor)So we looked into Carnival, who seemed to have more dates in our time period and the prices were flexible. We finally settled on the Carnival Valor, sailing out of Miami on Dec. 23 and returning on the 30th.

This was the first and last time I plan to sail with Carnival. They say you shouldn't judge an entire fleet based on 1 ship, but it wasn't just the ship that I had problems with - it was the crew. And you can't tell me they put all of their rude employees on 1 ship... Carnival just doesn't hold themselves to the same standard as Royal Caribbean, and once your used to the best, nothing less will do.

A good portion of the elevators on this ship were out of order, not to mention that we watched a little girl get her fingers stuck in the door of one! It was so sad! There was a lot of rust on the exterior of the ship, and our balcony was filthy with salt. I doubt it had been cleaned in the last 2 weeks. They finally cleaned it when we were in San Juan... but we only had a 2 days left! There was no order when exiting the ship, people pushing and shoving the get off at the ports; no prevention for the pushing and shoving for the sales on board. I asked a staff member after the sale if it was always like this and she said it was tame this time compared to others. She was even elbowed in the eye once and had a black eye for a while. That to me is outrageous! One of the guests this time had another lady grab her arm so hard that the next day she had fingerprint bruises. WOW.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8B

6278

2 beds put together to make a big one, only problem is as you sleep the beds spread apart a bit and you fall in the crack. Couch isn't all that great, but you don't spend much time in there sitting on your couch! Balcony is nice, though the chairs don't really fit out there comfortably.

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