My best friend and I took our first cruise on the Carnival Valor Sept 9th-16th, leaving out of Miami. Our ports were Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Embarkation: I had heard Miami port was pretty bad but we were pleasantly surprised. We flew in the day before and had a blast in South Beach. This has always been our home away from home so we are very comfortable with the city and places to go. We stayed at a hotel we never had heard of before but the location was great. The Greenview Hotel on 17th & Washington. Perfect location for Lincoln Road, Washington Ave clubs and walking down to Ocean Drive. Hint: If you've never been to South Beach before and want to stay in the 'thick of it' don't go above 20th & Collins Ave. It is a walking city so when booking a room, keep this in mind. Our absolute favorite restaurant is the Hostela Romana (sp?) Fabulous Italian food with luscious Italian staff, super friendly. They have a cute little restaurant on Espanola Way which is nice and another location right on Ocean Drive (and maybe 14th? Can't remember) Either way, it's always been our favorite dining experience. We were pleased with the hotel and after buying some gingerale, bottled water and Red Bull for the cruise, we caught a cab and paid $25 to port. We got in line about 11 am and were on the ship at noon.

A lot of people talk about how gaudy the Valor was, and I can't stand jingoism, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with the dEcor really. My favorite was the Eagles Club Lounge, which was non-smoking but really great seating and atmosphere. The Paris Hot Club was super tiny but the band was KILLER! The piano bar was small and the singer was really bad so we never went in there. The wine bar was really nice and great for the Martini of the Day but right out in the main hallway, so kind of weird location. The casino was small but all the serious gamblers didn't care and were there 24/7...seems weird to me to go on a cruise and then spend all day and night at a slot machine, but I'm not a gambler and to each his own. We did take a Craps lesson which was very interesting and the dealer that explained the game to us was very nice. The Eagles Lounge had karaoke every night until really late so we usually went to that after dinner and before the midnight comedy shows. It was so fun! We realized at the end of the week there were some SERIOUS karaoke people and of course, they ended up being in the Legends show on the last night of the cruise. The shops were pretty limited but we did end up buying 2 bottles of liquor to take home on the last day...couldn't pass it up at $10-$15 a bottle! Read more