Grand Cayman was nice and there are good activities that you can get on shore for 1/2 the price they charge on the ship. The stingrays are worth the trip. 


Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

Roatan, Honduras has a port and beach area that are owned by the cruise lines. Very collage 'spring break' atmosphere. I personally hate the way the cruise lines do those private areas and do little to help the local economy. We opted to rent a car for $60 and found some really fantastic small beaches with great restaurants and beaches. We even found some guys training dolphins just off the beach. Fantastic. 


Roatan

Belize City, Belize. Very very poor place and again the cruise lines seam to do little to help the locals. We got a tour to the Mayan Ruins with a local and were told some distressing stories about the fees that he had to pay the cruises just to be able to pick up tourists. I wont elaborate on that but I would like to see Carnival do more to uplift the locals. The Mayan Ruins were amazing and well worth a visit. 


Belize City

Cozumel, Mexico. Very commercial cruise ship city. If you stay away from the chain places, you will find some really nice local restaurants and bars with excellent food. The beach absolutely sucked! no other word for it. We went to Playa Mia and paid $52 a person for a private beach with drinks and toys. It was about 1000 deck chairs set inches apart and all full. You still had to pay $12 for an umbrella if you wanted one (like you have a choice in that heat!). Cheap nasty warm draft beer was the free drinks. I resorted to paying $8 for a cocktail at the cash bar to get something that actually tasted of something. The ocean was rocky, slimy and dirty, and the marked off swimming area was small and dirty. The pool was so packed that nobody could move. We lasted about 30 minutes. It was the biggest waste of money ($200) of our trip. 


Cozumel

We had a balcony cabin on deck 8 which was nicely laid out but directly opposite the elevators and the noise woke us up early every morning. Our neighbors had huge fights every night at about 2am after drinking to much. Not the cruise ships fault but the walls are paper thin.

The kids camp was not open the first day and their was no baby sitting, so we couldn't do the late seating at the formal dining room.There was a small adults only pool in the back which was a lot nicer but was not open the first day.

Carnival Valor Review

Carnival Valor, average with some suprises

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