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Ship was great with a lot of entertainment! Cabin was very nice and clean, our room was cleaned up quickly once we left. We were greeted by the steward and I was impressed that he remembered our name the entire time! Dinner was great, a lot of food choices was wonderful for my husband who loves food. My favorite was all the photos all through the cruise, we now have plenty of keep sake memories. Dressing up for a formal dinner and photos was a night to remember, everyone was so professional and helpful always with smiles on their faces. My only regret was spending so much money at the spa! I would have given a 5 star had I not felt cheated at the spa. At the time I didn't say anything however for I should have. Ladies don't waste your money with the ionithermie! I went for a walk through and the "deal" sounded amazing. All areas plus a temple massage for $129 well I never got any massage at all! And the equipment they promised to be so relaxing was actually horrible to feel like your getting shocked! Then after the process they recalculate your measurements to see how many inches you have lost. She said I lost 3" but as I looked at the paper I lost none. NOT worth the money I spent! I much rather could of used that money on something else on this cruise. That was my first time ever at a spa and probably my last time. Shore excursion was AMAZING! If I could give them a 10 stars I would. We did the Baja Off the Road Buggy Adventure. This was the highlight to our cruise. Those guys were fun, nice and professional. Money well spent there and if we were to go I would chose that excursion again. My husband and I both are wanting to do a longer cruise next time. Read Less

This was our first cruise. It was everything and more. Our waiter in the dining area (Ashton) made our dining experience out of this world. Ian our waiter on the lido deck was one of the best. These 2 people made sure we did not go without anything. We never waited more than 5 minuets without them checking on us. The shows were phenomenal. Cam made sure everyone had so much fun. There was always something to do. Avinna in the spa was so wonderful. We will definitely be back. This experience was the best ever. We will be back. Not our last one. Next one will be at another date and a little longer. If you want pampered this is the way to go. The spa massage was so awesome and relaxing. We loved it. Maybe next one we take might be adults only. Too many kids. Fun sailing. Read Less

Chose this because of the ports of call, and the much shorter driving distance to port (6 hours to Charleston, SC. vs. 16 to Florida ports). *REALLY* regretting that now. Terrible food, EXCEPT Guy Fieri's burgers. They were delicious, but the other stations on the Lido deck, and the dining room (we got any time dining and were in the Wind Song dining room) - were TERRIBLE. Tough meat, fried chicken that was listed as "Southern Fried Chicken" but should have been "Concrete Fried" as the breading was too hard to chew without breaking a tooth.. Lackluster service, a cabin steward who forgot to do anything in our room 2 days out of 5, servers who forgot there's an entire section above the Lido deck where a large group of people hang out on a regular basis (smoking section) .. Just a miserable experience overall. I've been on several Carnival cruises and LOVED them. I have another planned in February (2019) - different port, different boat, and I sincerely hope that this was a blip in Carnival's normally excellent service. Really REALLY pushy jewelry store associates (like put his hands on you to force you forward to see the jewelry under a light with a grip on your wrist that wasn't breakable pushy). Nobody (employee wise) seemed to want to be there, the boat is old and tired, although there was a murmur in the crowd about it being retrofitted in the near future, which it really does need. Just a generally poor performance by a normally decent company. High points: Embarkation was quick and easy, so was disembarking, and one employee that I adored. His name is Reymond, he works on the Lido deck in the evenings, cleaning up after people. He was a delight to talk to, EXTREMELY personable, knowledgeable about the ports. He's from the Phillipines and is an all around asset to Carnival. I hope they realize that. Princess Cay is basically an extension of the boat with a beach, which was fine. Everything is based on sign and sail cards (they own the entire island) and there's very little to do there. Employees come from the boat, and they bring all the food for the BBQ (food, again, terrible because it came from the boat) GREAT for beach combers and families with kids who love the water.. but WEAR WATER SHOES if you have tender feet, lots of rocks and coral right at the water line you have to get past. I didn't go further so can't speak for the deeper areas. Very clean on Princess Cay. Nassau was a bit of a disappointment, and we were offered drugs from a gentleman calling himself "Dr. Feelgood" in full view of uniformed police in front of the Royal Bank of Canada within 10 minutes of getting off the boat (certainly not Carnival's fault). My suggestion for Nassau - do the Atlantis day or an excursion. If you plan on walking around Nassau - hit up the Irish pub that's up a flight of stairs on the main drag. GREAT food, delightful staff. The straw market has some great local carvers with some very beautiful carved art. A lot of the "hand made" things in the straw market are fresh off the boat from China, however, most of the woven straw purses, etc. Mine still had the Made in China tag at the bottom. :) Worth it for little gifts for kids, though. There is a GREAT silver jewelry store a bit down from the main drag of touristy shops that is full of items imported from Turkey. Gorgeous lamps, and they have a HUGE selection of very reasonably priced Sterling jewelry, good quality gemstones, and NOT pushy at all. Coming out of the port, make a left when you hit diamonds international, it is on the same street, same side of the street, just down a few blocks. For giggles we tried a Starbucks inside what looked like a department store, and it was really good. Great employees too. If you're dying for a Frappucino from home at that point, def. a good place to go. If you want local food, ask for a cab to "Fish Fry" - Food vendors and street food where the locals grab lunch, just past Junkanoo beach. We asked two different people for local food and they both mentioned Fish fry, which is what locals call the area of street vendors there. Delicious! Read Less

My group of 13 in 4 cars all parked at the port and arrived about 11:30am. There was a small line that moved pretty smoothly. The lot is not covered like other ports. It was not very easy to navigate as the lines painted on the pavement don't match up with the cones they have laid out and other cruisers cant seem to figure out where they should be. However, they had enough people out directing traffic and getting people back in proper lines that this wasn't a big issue. The shuttle from parking lot to embarkation lines were friendly, clean, and fast. Embarkation was about as fast as other ports we have used (New Orleans, San Juan). The lines before security were squeezed in tight, not very friendly for anyone carrying anything. Our stroller (small umbrella) and small carry-ons struggled through the poles. Other passengers with just carry on or twelve pack were struggling as well. They just have the space much to narrow. Check-in was smooth, except they placed one of our rooms on the wrong floor than promised. They also dissmissed this because it they didn't considerate it a problem. However, it was a huge hassle. We booked to all be on the same floor for easier communication and meeting up, but having one room on another floor was a headache. The texting feature on the app doesn't work, so there is not a convenient way to communicate. Our cabins were clean as expected. Our two year old still sleeps in a crib at home, but they won't assign on for 2+. Our steward got a supervisor to approve one for ours!! Saved our sanity!! We pushed the double bed against the wall with the window and had lots of room for the crib and stroller. (Extra tip for the hard to make bed lol) We did have a problem with a sink, but it was fixed within an hour. The ship was pretty clean and seemed well maintained. Nothing stood out as horrible or fantastic as far as decor goes. Our first night in the dining room was pretty horrible. Our drinks ordered the first few minutes of being seated didnt arrive until midway through our main course. It also took much longer than usual for anything. After that night we were seated in a different section and returned there every night after. No problems after being moved to a different area with a different wait staff. The food was good, but drinks take forever. We started taking one with us, ordering one when seated, and found that to be better for us. Our 2 year is mostly potty trained, but we like to use a swim diaper for accidents (just incase). We were worried that traveling may mess up his potty routine and not be able to swim or use the water slide area, but there were atleast 6 kids with swim diapers at any moment in the slide area. (He ended up being fine and did well with potty and traveling! We took a foldable potty seat that we used before cruise just so he had something he was already using.) The slides were all three kids favorite part! Ages 2-6. They did like the shows, but got so tired it was hard for them to stay up for some of them. Only the 2 year old went to the camp ocean. They were having a bubble party and he loved it, kept asking to go play!! We are home and he still wants to go to camp ocean. The other children didn't go only because of parental choice. The rocking on the ship was much rougher than our other sailings in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Sailing in the Atlantic we got a real experience of sea sickness. Take meds even if you havent gotten sick on previous trips! Ports: Princess cays: Nice beach, but it does have somewhat rocky/rough shore line. Water shoes are a must!! The kids and babies can still play in the sand, but getting into and out of water is a bit hard. If you want a shaded seat rent a clam shell for $30 on shore or get one in a package. Bubbles and Cheers dont work on this, even though you use your sail and sign for almost everything. There are plenty of seats in the sun, plenty of beach, and plenty of places to play. There is a playground and kiddy pool. Showers to rinse off. Floats and things to rent. Look into the packages to save some bucks before this port. The buffet was not good. There are four lines, but people tend to just form into the first line. Dont be afraid to jump into a shorter line. All the lines going into the same building are on the same side and serve the same food. Served some salsa/chips, salad sides, hot dogs, hamburgers, jerk chicken, rice, beans, water, lemonade, cookies, and browies. The salsa and chips were the best thing they had. Half of our burgers were undercooked, the chicken was mostly bone, rice and beans were very dry. Would have preferred to pay for fast food or just sandwich boxes. Overall we did like this port. We didn't have a big expense for excursions, so that was a nice plus. The beach was nice and the water was clean! Nassau was ok. We had a private boat excursion lined up because we couldn't find anything for our group with a 2 year old. Due to an early morning thunderstorm, ours was cancelled. We ended up just walking around and shopping. There are a lot of vendors trying to sell you something. We were told that its not safe to go out with out a carnival exscursion, but I had read reviews before we left and figured they were just trying to sell us an excursion. We had no trouble walking around close to the port and shopping. We didnt go far because the heat was horrible. I think we would have prefered to do something else if we could go back. The Suess breakfast was a nice experience for the older kids. They loved seeing stories come to life and get pics with characters. The toddler didn't care. The adults didn't care for the special dishes, but the staff was happy to get regular dishes too, just ask! The staff here was above and beyond amazing!! For only $5 a person, we felt pretty pampered for a breakfast. The line to enter could have been a little more organized, but the actual event was great! If you have kids, give this a shot- especially on this ship!! Disembarkation was a nightmare. This was our 3rd carnival cruise and by far the worst getting off the ship. We went to the disembarkation show and read what was suppose to happen. Charleston requires Carnival to do a silent disembarkation, which would have been nice. However, nothing was done how they said it would be done. Self carry off was suppose to go by floor and have the forward elevators locked in for the currently called floor. This was not the case. We waited over 20 minutes during our "priority" elevator time and EVERY ONE PASSED OUR FLOOR. The employee standing at the bay was telling everyone that they had to use the stairs and the elevators were only for the top floors. We asked her about the priority elevator time for our floor and she said she didnt know when that was. Then she just left the area. Having some disabled folks, we were not able to do stairs with strollers and luggage in tow. We waited for an elevator for 25 minutes along with 4 other disabled groups. When an elevator showed up, a crew member was telling us that it shouldn't have stopped on our floor, he needed to go up. When asked why our floor was called to disembark and asked about our floors designated elevator times, he mumbled that they were busy and all floors needed elevators. The lines to get off the ship were stalled so many times to WAIT for people that packed sail and sign cards in luggage. The lines were so long, the crew was having a hard time wrapping it around just one floor. We were told that we couldn't use the handicap ramp on the 3rd level because we didn't have a wheel chair. The day before we were told we could. The disembarkation show advised anyone that has trouble with the inclines/ handicap/ or those with prams should use deck 3 to disembark. However, nothing that was said in the disembarkation show or on the papers given out was followed. This was a crap-show. I am not sure I would sail out of Charleston again. The port itself needs an overhaul and disembarkation was a nightmare. This ship was fine. Read Less

I had a really nice time on the Carnival Victory. The ship is in really nice condition, and the staff and food were exceptional. I flew into Miami the night before my cruise. Embarkation was probably the quickest and easiest I've had so far. I arrived right at my arrival appointment, and never stopped in a line until I was getting my first drink at the bar. The ship is nice, though it took me a little time to acclimate to the layout, e.g. when going Aft from Deck 3 Fwd, you have to go up to Deck 5 and over to Aft because the two dining rooms and galley are right in the middle. But once I got used to that, I was good to go. The pool areas were nice; a decent amount of loungers, but I wouldn't have minded a bit more shade. I stayed in an 8C Balcony cabin. It was really nice and pretty spacious. There was a decent amount of storage. The ONLY thing I wasn't a fan of was the safe - it was the kind you need to swipe a credit card to lock. I wanted to put my credit card IN the safe LOL! The balcony itself was nice and I enjoyed sitting out there each day. Food throughout the cruise was very good. I really enjoyed the Blue Iguana Cantina. The only day I encountered crazy lines at the Lido buffet was embarkation. Otherwise, it wasn't too bad. Dinner in the MDR (Pacific) was good as always. Honestly, Carnival always excels in the food. This was my first solo cruise, and I was seated with a few other solos, and it was nice to come to dinner each night and chat about our days. I enjoyed the evening/night life on the ship. The piano bar was a lot of fun, and the Alchemy Bar is a neat concept. The shows are a little cheesy, but that's part of the charm. The staff on the ship throughout were top notch from the dining room to the bars to the "fun squad." Felipe is a really fun cruise director (woo hoo). This cruise stopped at Half Moon Cay and Nassau. HMC is one of Carnival Corp's private islands in the Bahamas and it is PHENOMENAL. Honestly, I could spend a week there and not get tired of it. The tendering process was quick and easy for me. Nassau is Nassau and it was fine; I didn't take an excursion this time and just enjoyed a quiet/empty ship. Disembarkation at the end was a zoo. There were a couple of "stops" so CBP lines could clear and it made the process/wait tedious. I don't know if it's always this way, or if it was an anomaly on this trip. Overall, I really enjoyed myself and would definitely go on this ship again. 10/10 Read Less

We had an issue with the cleanliness of both rooms. The balcony had vomit from the previous guest. We had underwear from a previous guest left in the bathroom. My sister brought her own personal towels & hung them on the rack. Per their rules if they are left on the rack they won’t take them. Well they took her personal towels and the Manager did not mention replacing them. The Bartenders at the Red Frog Bar on the Lido deck were rude and the drinks they made tasted horrible. I even observed them making fun of guest. The waitstaff in the Lincoln Dining Room were so slow and forgetful that we stopped eating breakfast their. This wasn’t my 1st cruise but it was some of my family members 1st cruise. We had 3 cabins and were celebrating 3 Birthdays. I will never cruise on the Valor again and I’m skeptical about another Carnival Cruise at this point. Read Less

If little things bug you, there isn't a cruise out there for you. Otherwise, this one is an excellent choice! I hear people refer to the Valor as an old ship. While it isn't new, it isn't old. It doesn't have as much as the newer ships, but it still has the 2.0 items. I also hear people say it is a small ship. Again, not true. While it isn't the biggest, it's not the smallest either. For a couple looking to unwind and relax, it was perfect. Even without the FTTF, we were on board in about 15 minutes. That may have been a fluke, but we were happy with it! I was concerned about the location of our state room (7400) being so close to the elevator, but we only heard other guest in the hallway once in a while during waking hours. It was real nice being close to most of what we wanted to do, so we liked the location. Our cabin steward (Pen) was very nice and took care of all our needs. We really liked almost all the food we had for lunch and dinner. We really didn't like the taste of breakfast, with the Omelet Station being our favorite. Unfortunately there was usually a slow moving line for it and the Mongolian Wok (which was also really good). We didn't do the brunch, as we are early risers. Our waiter in the MDR was Arvin and he was really good and kept our glasses full. Food came out in good time, was always a good temperature, and we were done with desert within an hour. If you want a specific waiter, request them in advance! We saw two ladies get upset because the waiter they wanted wasn't available. We miss Carnival having a magic show in the main theater, and we only went to the Love and Marriage Show which was funny, and the Hasbro Game show, which was boring for us. We enjoyed the dive in movies that didn't get rained out. One of the comedians was really good, the other okay. They should have the adult comedy show in the main theater, as the lounge isn't big enough. The lady in the piano bar spent too much time talking, but she could also play the violin, so it was cool. We only went shopping in the ports for personal reasons. Cozumel is always great. Progreso at the beach was VERY bad with vendors, and we were a little concerned about our safety. They were as bad as the mosquitoes in Texas! If we go back, we will do an excursion or stay on the ship. For debarkation, I recommend going to the lido deck and waiting. Last cruise, we got stuck in the casino with the smoke. Anyway, it took forever for them to call our deck, but once they did, we were off the ship and at our car in maybe 45 minutes, which is a record for Galveston. Over all, we still prefer Carnival over RCCL. The crowed is so much nicer, and the workers are also nicer! This was a much needed trip for us, and it was nice to relax and take it easy. We would love to do this one again! Read Less

This was our first cruise and we absolutely loved every second of it! From the second we boarded, every staff member was welcoming and had excellent, courteous customer service !! Our housekeeping staff was wonderful! Each day we came back to our cabin, we were greeted by a cute towel animal creation by one of our deck’s housekeeping staff, Kumang. We were then spoiled for dinner by our awesome waiting staff trio- (Washington Upper- Table 564) Nayleen, Walter, and unfortunately I cannot find the name of our third waiter Read Less

This is the local getaway booze cruise. Yes the ship is old and small compared to the destination cruises, but this ship is all about getting away for a couple of days. Keep that in mind when going on this ship. My wife and I just sailed this week. Embarkation and debarkation were easy as can be. Arrive when you are supposed to and you get on the ship very quickly. I think the room was ready in about one hour and our luggage was there within 2 hours. We were able to debark quickly at each port, I think the earlier you go the better. Final day debarking was quick, however we did the late time and enjoyed breakfast first. We had a cabin with porthole. The steward was good and he asked us how often we wanted the room cleaned. We filled out a form and the room was straightened up each morning and evening. The cabin was plenty big for the two of us. The bathroom is actually pretty roomy for a cruise ship. The water pressure on the shower was excellent. There is no luxury here but I think the room was plenty good for interior booking price. You get what you pay for. The food was very good. The portions in the dining room are small, so if you are hungry make sure you order a couple of things. The service was pretty good, a little slow sometimes. We did anytime dining so we had a different server for each meal. The buffet food is mostly good, but some of the dishes were not great. It's just regular buffet food. The pizza counter was actually very good. The Guy Burger joint is great. The pool and hot tub are small and did not look fun. I never went in. I think if I went on the ship intending to swim and lounge at the pool I would be disappointed. The entertainment was pretty good. No where near Disney level, which is the last cruise I went on. They had lots of games during the day which were usually fun. The main shows were OK. I did not care for the Divas show, it was loud and annoying. The Rock Show was much better. The bands / solo performers around the ship were usually pretty good, but not really worth going out of your way for. The comedians were excellent. We even had a close up magician come by our dining table twice. I did not attend any art events or bingo, so I cannot comment on that. The cruise director seemed to be a fairly engaging person, and most of the Fun Squad staff were fun to be around. I did not play any casino games, however the casino looked small and unimpressive. Also the bar next to the casino was sometimes the only bar open late and it was no fun having to smell the smokers. The ship had too many elevators not working when we were on board, which was very annoying. I know it is not that far to walk, but I really think they need to do a better job maintaining the lifts. Just an annoying complaint is that on port days none of the bars on level 9 were open and there were no servers, just the one up on the Lido deck, which was very busy. They should operate one bar on deck 9 just so those that don't want to go into port can easily get drinks. We also got the Cheers package and it was totally worth it. The best thing is you just order pretty much whatever you want. You can try drinks and if you don't like it, no problem just order something else. Also you can get as many water bottles, energy drinks, soda, and specialty coffees that you want. We spaced out our drinking so we never got drunk, however you certainly could if you wanted to. Most of the drinks are plenty strong. I think expectations are important when going on this cruise. If you expect a Disney/Destination cruise experience you might be a little disappointed as this is not a Luxury ship. If you go to have fun and eat and drink for 4 days, you will have a great time. Read Less