Key West: this was our first time to Key West, we did not choose an excursion at this port, but just chose to walk down Duval street and visit some of the hot spots/tourist traps. I must say that it is BEATIFUL and we will definitely be visiting hear again...without my son ;) Weather was great and the locals are all very helpful. Not pushy at all in trying to sell you stuff. All of the shops open early when they know that a ship will be in port, so that worked out well as we docked around 7:30am.

Key West

Grand Cayman: Only bad weather on the trip was the day that we were in Grand Cayman. We had booked the Stingray, Turtle & Hell Experience. The seas were about 4-6ft, so they cancelled the stingray portion of our excursion. They gave us the option to cancel our entire excursion, or receive a credit back, but continue on the Turtle/Hell portion. We chose to continue, as did all of the others in the group. We are glad that we did...Hell is nothing special, just a bunch of rocky limestone, but a must see if you have not done so before. The Turtle Farm was AWESOME. They were HUGE and you could even get in the tank with some of the smaller ones. I would Highly recommend this tour if you are visiting Grand Cayman.

Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

Jamaica: First let me state that I was very hesitant to get off the ship in this port because of the horror stories that we had heard about the aggressive locals. With that being said, we did not want to be stuck on the ship after the poor weather the day before. It was gorgeous weather, so we chose to go to Dunn's River Falls. We did not book through the boat because we had heard that you can get a taxi to the falls for about $10 per person. It was a little confusing, because you cannot get a taxi outside of the port, they reserve this area for the excursion bus'. What we did find out is that they negotiate the prices for each rider. We managed to get on a bus' with others that were going to Dunn's River, and paid much less than what others had. Once at Dunn's River, it is $20 per adult and $12 for children. You can also rent water shoes for around $7 at the falls, so no need to ruin your shoes if you did not bring any water shoes. The Falls were beautiful, but that is about it. The "market" is directly outside of the falls and the locals were out in full force. Very Very pushy! One actually gave my son a totem, saying "here, free for the boy, Welcome to Jamaica". He then approached me and said that he would sell me one for $40. I refused, but thanked him for giving my son the totem. He looked at me then snatched the totem out of my son's hand. My son was a little startled by what happened. I am a pretty big guy and it took everything I had not to teach this guy a lesson, but I held back. We took the bus back to the ship and did not waste our time shopping in the duty free area outside of the port.

Ocho Rios

Cabin 7362, Balcony. Great location, conveniently located in mid-ship and close to both mid-ship elevators and aft-elevators. Good layout. One of the knobs on the TV was broken, but caused no issue. Surprised that they still have tube TVs rather than Flat Panel.

Rosie's will typically have the same food on the buffet that they are offering for the featured main course in the Dining Rooms, so it is a good option (we figured this out after 3-4 nights on the ship).We had heard that Carnival did a good job with this, so we assured my son that things would get better...

Carnival Valor Review

Had a GREAT time, but room for improvement.

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Balcony

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