We sailed on the Carnival Valor the week of August 10. We were a family of 4 with 2 kids (ages 5 and 3). We are very experienced cruisers having taken about 10 cruises in the past, mostly on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. This was our first experience with Carnival.

When we arrived at the Port of Miami I would categorize the experience as very disorganized. For those who do not know, there are really 2 lines before you enter the ship: the first one is the line to pass through the X-ray machine and the second one is the line where are in the actual terminal waiting to be processed to get your card and board the ship. I am not sure if the first (security) line was particularly Carnival's fault as perhaps this security line is handled by an agency that is not run by Carnival but the line snaked around the building and then converged with another line of people who had arrived on some airport shuttle. It took us at least 45 minutes just to pass through security and then probably another 25 minutes to get on the ship. So when you are very excited to get onboard and start a vacation this type of frustrating and disorganized line is certainly not what you want. People were patient though.

Our initial impressions upon boarding the were positive - that the American Patriots theme was interesting and rather well executed. Also one cannot help but notice that the ship is huge. This week the ship was totally packed, mostly with families and a lot of children, as schools begin in many parts of the country soon. There were 3544 passengers onboard, plus another 1100 crew. The Valor was designed to hold this type of passenger count but at times it was stretched to capacity. At peak times there were long lines in the buffet at Rosie's, the shows were full for every performance, the lounge chairs were taken at the pool, long lines for the water slide. But at the same time the ship was well staffed and they did clear tables and did whatever possible to provide for the passengers. Read more