I have to say that Cruise Critic was a major help for me! All of the previous postings on the Carnival Valor and what we could expect from start to finish was fantastic! All the tips were very helpful!
I bought a Carnival Cruise for my husband for his birthday. Usually we sail on Royal Caribbean, but this time I wanted to give another cruise line a try. So Carnival it was. Because we were coming from the Palm Beach Gardens area, we didn't experience the hotels in Miami. One of the items that I noticed from previous cruise postings was that people would start heading to board the ship at 10:30am. According to my Carnival documents, my husband and I were not scheduled to board until 1:30pm. My husband and I decided to see if we could get on the ship earlier than the documents stated...sure enough, thanks to the posted tips, we did! Carnival's check in process was very quick! My husband and I were checked in and through the line in 1 hour! Yes, it helps if you fill out all your ship documents ahead of time and have it ready. When we sailed last with Royal Caribbean, it took us 2 1/2 hours to get checked in and on the ship!! Also, just a tip that I noticed. If you carry in your hand a piece of food or bottle of water, they will make you dispose of it before you go through security. If you have it in your carry-on bag, they will let it pass through.
My husband and I were on the ship and settled in a deck chair by 12noon. Our rooms were not ready until 1:30pm so we grabbed lunch at Rosie's and started to explore the ship. The Carnival Valor is very nice. What I noticed the most was how CLEAN it was. The crew was constantly cleaning!! This may be to deter anyone from getting sick on the ship, but it is great that cleaning was a priority for Carnival. I never saw a cigarette butt anywhere or an empty glass for more than 15 minutes. I wish I could keep my house that clean!