Background: First cruise ever was on Carnival Glory in 2007. We have friends who have been cruising for years and had been at us to join them. We went only because of the super deal we were able to get. We had no idea what to expect or how to properly prepare. We were blown away. It was the best vacation ever and we were hooked. After day 2, I had scrapped my "Vegas" plans for my 40th in 2008 and decided to celebrate with Carnival.

Our cruise veteran friends from The Glory were not much in to excursions. We were pretty much winging it at every port. I was determined to make our 2008 cruise better than ever. I stumbled upon CruiseCritic.com and it helped to make our Valor Cruise one for the ages.

Travel: There were 8 of us on this cruise. Four couples (no kids this year) ages 36-56. I just turned 40 and the wife is soon to be 38. All traveling from the Atlanta area separately. The wife and I flew in to Ft. Lauderdale on the day of our cruise (Sunday), arriving in FLL at 10AM. We had booked transfers with Carnival to the pier in Miami. The Carnival price was $30PP each way. We got it through our travel guy for $24. I had looked into alternate means of transportation, but ended up going with Carnival. Read more