We chose this cruise because we hadn't been to the Dominican Republic and Grand Turk. We live in Florida and drove to the port. Enbarkation was a snap. We arived at the port at 11 am and was having lunch at the fFish & Chips restaurant on deck 10 aft by noon. We booked a private tour with Marysoultours.net in the DR and it was great. It was a city tour and a ride up the mountain on a cable car. Would highly recommend this tour. In GT we did the Island Tram Tour and the only thing we didn't like about it is they put us in an enclosed trolly and was unable to take pictures and it was pretty cramped. If you do this tour make sure you get on the open air tram. Since we've been to St. Thomas many times we didn't book anything. However, we would recommend Magen Bay beach and going up to the mountain with great views. In San Juan, Puerto Rico we took the free trolly to San Cristobal fort and then warked to Fort Morro, then took the free trolly to the Plaza. We walked from the plaza to a nice restaurant 2 streets from the port for Mofongo a native dish in addition to having a couple of brewskis. The weather was beautifal.
The Carnival Valor was schedule to go into dry dock in 2 weeks, but we found her to be well maintained. Our cabin Steward was great and couldn't do enough for us. We chose an inside middle center cabin it was square and very big. Will try to select the same on future cruise. We chose early dinning in the Lincoln MDR and we were extremely please with the service and the food. The food was delivered hot and quick. We were thru our meal usually within 1-1 1/4 hour. The entertainment was outstanding especially the dancers. We attended the adult comedy show a couple of times. The Platinum & Diamond party was the best we've ever attended with plenty of finger foods and drinks. This is the first time I was able to enjoy 3 drinks. This was our 20th cruise and the best ever. Already booked a future cruise with Carnival.
The cabin was square and was pretty big. We would love to have this cabin on future cruises. No hallway between the bathroom door and closit. you could dance between the end of bed and vanity.
Still a lot of work being done on this port.
Take a city tour and cable car tour to the top of the mountain. (marysoultours.net)
Many tours available.
Took the free trolly tour