This was my first cruise we chose Carnival because my cousin had taken a Carnival Cruise and loved it. It was just by chance that we went on the Valor. Our original plan was to leave in Feb. on the Victory but when we went to our travel agent we decided to go at the end of Jan. and so the ship changed.

We flew in to Ft. Lauderdale the day before our cruise and rented a car and drove to Miami. We booked a hotel near the airport so it would be easier to take the car back. The hotel was the Airport Regency (it sounded like it would be nice and looked nice when you entered the lobby but our room was disgusting. There was a white substance on the head board the carpet was dirty and our shower leaked Thank God we were only there one night NEVER stay at this hotel.)

Embarkation -- We rode a shuttle bus from our hotel to the pier and dropped our luggage with the porters and went to check in. Embarkation was really easy. It was very well organized there were employees there making sure you went the right way. We arrived the the pier at noon and were on the ship just after 1:30 but the wait didn't feel very long. The ship is really nice I was worried it would be hard to navigate but I learned fairly quickly (although by the end my mom and aunt still got lost) Read more