My family cruised on the Carnival Valor last week. We've cruised twice before, both times on Carnival, and we were a party of 7: myself and my husband and my 3 kids, ages 18, 15, and 11, plus a friend each for the 2 older kids. We were in 2 adjoining ocean view staterooms on the Riviera deck, 4 of us in cabin and 3 in another.

We flew in to Miami the day before the cruise, smooth flight, arrived in the evening. I had booked 2 hotel rooms on Priceline, and ended up with the Coral Gables Hyatt for $48/room. Great hotel, we had very nice rooms on a high floor.

Embarkation: We got to the port about 11:30am. There were long lines but they were orderly and moved along, and we were on board by 12:45 and having lunch. I found the ship decor to be very nice, a little glitzy, but not overdone. Having read these reviews, I knew that decks 5 and 9 were the through decks, so I had no trouble finding my way around. The deck my cabin was on, deck 1, also went through, so when I left my room I was able to go where I needed before climbing the steps up. Read more