Embarkation: We are Florida residents so getting to the port was very easy. We were dropped off and we gave our luggage to a porter who said "this is when you should tip your port personnel." His comment was a sign that would set the tone for the entire cruise. Security was a breeze! However, once we were upstairs we had a minimum of an hour wait ahead of us. The logistics of dividing check-in by deck number was great, in theory! We found it difficult to understand and communicate with the port personnel because of their accents. All-in-all, we were on the ship in less than 2 hours.

Ship/Crew: The ship's decor was ok; not overly done and not bad either. The ship was clean, although I could've done without the crew cleaning carpets at 10:00pm. The ship's layout wasn't ideal. There was too much going up and down and across. The easiest way to get to dinner from our cabin to the upper level of the Washington Dining Room was to descend 1 deck, walk all the way to the back and then descend another flight of stairs. You couldn't walk from one end of the ship to another. We also didn't like how the food replenishment was out in the open. On a few occasions we observed food being carted through passenger areas. We would've preferred if it was taken care of behind the scenes. We also observed a female crew member answer a passenger's question in a condescending manner. Some crew members could use a refresher course in customer service. Most often, a ship's crew is international, but some the crew on the Valor didn't understand English very well, which made it very difficult to communicate. We were surprised that the Captain nor John, the Cruise Director made announcements when we arrived in port. There wasn't very good communication.

Cabin: We were in cabin 6334; port side, inside cabin, located in the middle of Deck 6. We were thrilled that our High Seas Gift Set was waiting and that our luggage had made it to the cabin when we arrived. The High Seas Gift Set was a fair value. It contained two Carnival logo Pocket T-shirts, two matching visors, Carnival terrycloth beach towel, a bar credit(four drink coupons), a photo coupon, plus, a full bottle of Korbel Champagne and two engraved champagne flutes to mark the special occasion. However, we were a little disappointed because our room was not configured properly. We know your cabin steward is supposed to remain "invisible", but ours was nowhere to be found. We had to call housekeeping to request our beds be put together as we originally requested when we made our reservations. This didn't happen until turndown service that night! We never met Anthony, the invisible man, until the next morning. His service was horrendous all week long. He never gave us ice, we had to ask. He removed 2 pool towels and replaced 1, and then had the audacity to accuse us of taking the towel. Why would I want a tattered, used towel when I already bought a new Carnival one? Read more