After a snowy and panicky Friday night before our cruise, we were so happy to learn that our early morning flight out of Chicago Ohare to Miami was ON TIME! This was my 6th cruise; I cruised with my husband, 11 year old son (first timer), mom& stepdad (also first timers), and aunt and uncle. Departure date was mom's birthday; I made her wear a birthday sash and she was SO well received with warm wishes from our fellow cruisers and Carnival "family". This would turn out to be a birthday to remember for her!

Although I can honestly say this was the most fun I have ever had on a vacation (probably due to the group I sailed with), nothing in life is perfect so this will still be a constructive review. Not that I am complaining!

So we all arrive in Miami with time to kill. Be sure to try the YUMMY Cuban coffee! We also eat in the airport then request a van taxi to take us to a liquor store for some carry on wine and pop (although I must admit in hindsight it was a bit odd drinking red wine in the hot Carribbean- next time I will choose white). No one in Miami seems to speak much English. This presented a small challenge as mom and I hurriedly grabbed individual cans of coke and wine bottles in a mad dash while the taxi meter was still running, with no help from the clerk due to the language barrier. Finally we were on our way to see Valor! (my 2nd cruise on her). When she first came into our sight, I thought to myself, "hi pretty lady!" She is so majestic. I could never get tired of gazing at cruise ships. After a fairly quick but harried embarkation, we were on board! My family didn't like the disorganized chaos of the lifeboat drill. I'm used to this from Carnival, but I did like the fact that we no longer had to wear our life vests to it. It was hard to see the short crew members doing a demonstration and it was hot and old seniors were forced to stand 2 or 3 deep for the 20 minutes or so it took. I must agree; surely there must be a way for Carnival to improve this shortcoming. Our inside cabin with a pulldown bunk for my son was clean and efficient. This girlie girl loved all the shelves in the bathroom for my products. I wish the bathrooms had exhaust fans- sure got steamy in there after a shower. We liked to yell at my son, "get in your hole!"( meaning bunk) whenever we were in our cabin because the 3 of us really couldn't move around in there too good. It got cluttered quickly. Anyway that first night I was up 24 hours. I just didn't want the fun to end! In fact this entire cruise I never really slept; I was just too excited and always wanted to be doing things. I drank lots of coffee to stay awake (3 or 4 at dinner or sometimes 2 cappuccinos- can you say WIRED?) I felt like I never had enough time to do them all! Every night I hated to go to bed (usually at 2AM) and had to force my wired butt to lay down! Read more