This was our 6th cruise with Carnival and our 2nd time on the Valor. All our embarkations in the past have been from Florida and this was an unique experience for us getting onto the ship from San Juan. We traveled with Dave from Barrie (see review) Since the ship doesn't leave port until 10 pm we found there were no large crowds trying to get on the ship all at once. Going thru all the check points was easy within 20 mins we were on the ship. The duty free shops in the port were no deal and you are better off going off the ship and going to the nearby CVS for your wine etc. This cruise has lots of ports and you can easily wear yourself out on the many excursions. The staff on board we found helpful and friendly especially the bartender in the cigar lounge. The Dining room was very enjoyable, the service great and the food for the most part very good. One night however they offered Jumbo Tiger ship as a main entree. I'm glad I ordered a steak to go with it because the shrimp wasn't much larger then the cocktail shrimp they serve as an appetizer.. The 4 shrimp on their own did not a dinner make in my books. The pizza and burger bars are very good as well as the deli. The entertainment on the ship was mixed reviews. We really loved the comedians they were all great. The shows Nightclub express and Far from Over are big productions and not to be missed. The big surprise was Consuela Ivy from Chicago who I never heard of but sang like Whitney Houston. We were blown away by her performance. I was surprised that Carnival didn't promote her show more. She made our cruise when as the ship pulled out of port in St Lucia she sang over the PA system on the dock. The latin band was very good however if your looking for that caribbean sound your not going to find it on this ship. The piano bar and lack of entertainment in the other bars was a disappointment and the fact that they seem to want to shut everything down at midnight except the casino. The ship is in need of the Carnival upgrade and is suppose to go into dry dock sometime this year. The air conditioning in our room was set as low as it would go and we found ourselves during the night discarding the blankets other then that we had no complaints about the room. All in all a good cruise with excellent weather hot and humid.