Carnival Valor Review
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Additional details
Background:
We had initially booked a cruise on another Carnival ship for October 2020, but when that was cancelled due to COVID shutdowns, we decided to wait a while before using our rebooking incentive. When it finally appeared as though the return to cruising was getting near, we got serious about rebooking. This sailing on the Valor caught our eye as we had never sailed out of New Orleans before. This was a girl's trip and we wanted something less than a full week due to home/family obligations. This cruise visited Cozumel and Costa Maya and it had been over a decade since we've sailed to Costa Maya so that sealed the deal for us.
Pre-cruise:
Cabin Review
Balcony
We booked cabin 7439 - Deck 7 (empress) Aft. This is one of those "bowling alley" balcony cabins. They are the last cabins on the sides of decks 6 & 7 (and maybe 8). These cabins are located right next door to the aft wrap corner premium balcony cabins (which is the cabin our friends who surprised us booked). These "bowling alley" cabins are such named due to the unusual configuration. When you walk in, you have your closets to your left and you go down a long "hall" until it opens up into the main part of the cabin. The bathroom is not to your right across from your closets. When you get into the main part of the cabin, the vanity and desk area is on the wall on your left. Then you have two beds to your right that are facing the windows looking out onto your balcony. The bathroom is in the far right corner of the room past both beds. The bathroom is a standard Carnival bathroom. Though I was surprised that there wasn't a little corner shelf in the shower itself to put our shampoos and stuff on. I had to set mine on the floor. The cabin itself had ample storage for two grown ladies traveling together (cause you know we overpacked!).
The best thing about this cabin is the balcony which is twice the size of a normal balcony (and these cabins are priced the same as regular balcony cabins). The balcony for this cabin accommodated two standard chairs and small table as well as a full chaise lounge chair. Our cabin steward was able to open up the balcony divider between our balcony and our friends with the aft wrap giving us a mega balcony! It was great!
Location of this room was also ideal - two decks up to Lido marketplace, two decks down to Promenade (stairs come out right at the Alchemy bar) and then one more deck down to our dining room (aft dining room - deck 4).