Before we booked our cruise, I reviewed numerous critics and found most of them useless. Either the critic was describing the all-time-greatest-best-perfectest(sic)-travel experience, and I just couldn't believe a word. Or I read the other extreme as in we-will-never-again-use-this-cruise-line-because-of-bla-bla-bla-and-the-weather-was-bad. This does not really help anyone trying to make up his mind, which cruise line, which ship and which cruise to book. I hope to do better by writing truly about everything that we experienced during this cruise. If I do not voice an opinion on something, I either did not use this feature or forgot about it.
I'm German living with my Puerto Rican wife in Germany, so I had to include the flights into the consideration, which cruise we should take. We wanted direct, non-stop flights to/from the cruise port to a western Caribbean cruise. The main concern was the price, as money was tight. Our choice finally was the Carnival Valor sailing out of Miami to Grand Cayman, Roatan / Honduras, Belize and Costa Maya / Mexico.
Embarkation