Carnival Valor Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,524 reviews

A nice cruise with a great itinerary

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Valor
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jmbest78
6-10 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Aug 2014
Cabin: Balcony

We decided to book this cruise because it was a 7 night cruise with 5 ports of call and only 1 day at sea. We arrived a day early and stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan which is right across the street from the pier. There is also a CVS about a block down the road from the hotel to pick up some soft drinks and snacks to carry on the ship. There is also a free tram that runs around Old San Juan to see the sites after you drop your luggage off at the pier. I read on another blog, they will take your luggage stating at about 11:00 AM. We decided to board about 3:00 pm and had purchased "Faster to the Fun" so we were first in line at the check-in desk. I'm not sure how much time it saved us because the other line was not that long.

The first thing I noticed was given the ship is about 10 years old it is clean and in good repair. This is something I noticed some of their other ships of this age are lacking. Our room was clean and in good repair. I was disappointed because I thought the ship had gone through "Fun Ship 2.0" upgrades and it hasn't. Felipe Counto, the Cruise Director is the best we've ever had. He could have his own comedy show. His additions to the same old Carnival events take them far from the "same old." We went to the dining room because we had 3 groups in our party and one group had selected the wrong dinner seating. The first night is open seating so they told us it would be fixed by the next day. We tried the Piano Bar the first night with Ed Rrocks. It wasn't very good. He wouldn't let anyone see the song book because he said everyone picks only 5 songs and he doesn't like to play those 5 songs. He did give in and played Piano Man later in the evening. We were disappointed because we like to spend late nights in the piano bar when nothing else is going on. The gym is pretty typical of the ships of that class. Same equipment and layout. We went to the "Fab Abs" class the first day and didn't get invited in to the room until the class was half over. Apparently you are supposed to attend the stretching class before because they don't stop the class before starting the separately listed class. The instructor was very soft spoken, had the music up too loud and didn't speak English very well. I was hoping the Cycling Class we signed up for had a different instructor. The Cycling Class did have the same instructor. The bikes seemed like they could use some maintenance or replacement. Also, not one bike would accept SPD clip-less shoes. That might be important info for some. I did not like the methods of the instructor. HE did not motivate to keep you pushing. I decided to skip the rest of the cycling classes. We played "TV Theme Songs Trivia," "Win, Lose, or Draw," and the scavenger hunt. The TV trivia was ok. For Win, Lose or Draw was fun but I would definitely recommend doing the scavenger hunt. The comedians in the Punchliners Comedy Club were pretty funny. On average, better than the lineup on other ships I've been on. We really enjoyed John McDonnell and Tony Esposito. The "Nightclub Express" show in the Ivanhoe lounge was not very good. The show consisted of songs, dance moves, and props seen in most shows before. Nothing original. Now the Far From Over show was awesome. The 80’s inspired show was one of the best on-board performances we have seen. The show included many hits from the 80s including artists such as Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson to Annie Lenox and the Eurythmics. The show also included many songs from 80’s movies like Flashdance, Footloose, and Dirty Dancing. The dining room was running at a good pace most nights. One night, it was extremely slow, taking over 2 hours for dinner. The last night they were super fast. The first night of "prime rib" I couldn't pass it up. I was disappointed. The rib tips are close to the best beef to be found on a cruise ship. The second "prime rib" night, I skipped it and was happy with the pasta selection. We tried Scarlet's Steakhouse one night, It was enjoyable. They sure feed you enough including the "present from the chef" which was a sample of potato soup for the women and shrimp and cheese for the men. Except for the first lunch and the last breakfast, there was never too much of a line when we were in the Lido. They keep a line at the pizza station for some reason. They will make you a Caesar Salad at the pizza station, which I was not able to get at a couple other ship's pizza stations. The VIFP Party is now only for gold level or above, but they serve all you can drink full size drinks now. I especially like the slide show of all their ships and clapping and cheering for all the ships you have been on. Disembarkation was a breeze. We were assigned #2 with our "Faster to the Fun." We were off the ship by 8:30 and at our hotel by 9:00.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8D

Our room was clean and in good repair. Our balcony door closer did not work, so we had to make sure to close it behind us. The room steward was quick to get our room cleaned up after we left in the morning and evening. We only missed turn down on the first day because we were getting ready for dinner when he came to the door. We did have to ask for an ice bucket, but the steward came around and introduced himself and we requested it then. We had brought our own Diet Coke and filled the refrigerator but he never replaced the 2 we bought from the refrigerator even when we had run out of our own. The only cleanliness thing I noticed with the room is the edges of the carpet. They need to spend some more time vacuuming the corners of the carpet. The air conditioning in the room was just adequate. Some nights it was comfortable in the room, others it seemed warm.

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