A Carnival Valor Question?

Question

hey everyone

in june my family and i will be taking a vacation on the carnival valor. i have a couple questions about the ship and what i will need since this is my first cruise. I appreciate you feedback :)

1. Which Carnival Ship do you prefer?

2. Is the Valor a good ship?

3. How long is the emergency drill in the beginning? what do you have to do during it?

4. If you are fourteen but almost 15 will they let you in club 02? Do they ask for ID?

5. Which deck on a cruise do you feel the most turbulence? Also, which deck is the most noisy? I am on the Riviera deck (the lowest one)

6. Is the horn really loud???? How many times do they do the horn?

7. Since this is my first cruise, what will i need to bring on the ship?

8. Does the Valor have mini golf? Also, does it have volleyball courts?

Thanks :)

- Jake

Answer 1

1 & 2. I liked Valor.  I prefer the slightly smaller Spirit class ships, but Valor is great because it has all the "bells and whistles".  (One tip: on the first day, at lunchtime people will swarm the front of the Lido buffet.  Just go around to the back.  There are multiple stations, but on the first day people don't know that.  The pizzeria and the deli all the way at the back are my favorites.)

3. Maybe 15-20 minutes from the time they make the announcement until you're back in your room.  Pretty quick.  You just have to put on your life jacket and go down to a meeting point.  They make sure everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency, and you go back.  Not a big deal.

4. They do separate the kids by age, and are usually pretty strict.  But for 14 year olds they have "Circle C" which is really good too.  More details here: http://www.cruisesavvy.com/news/2008/02/...

5. Riviera deck should be good.  The higher up you are, the more you feel motion (though it's really not that much).  Noise depends on where you are relative to the nightclubs (and how sensitive you are -- I've never had a problem).  You've got two decks between you and any clubs, so you should be fine.

6. Yes it's loud, but they only use it when they have to.  Like when the ship is backing out of port.  So it doesn't go off at night or early morning.

7. Check out the Packing Checklist, which is part of a broader "Know Before You Go" guide that might be helpful

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/kn...

8. Yup!  Since her latest renovation, there's minigolf on the Sun deck.  Not sure about volleyball, but there's definitely basketball.

Hope that helps!  Have a great trip, and if you'd like an easy way to share your cruise pictures and stories with friends, you can get an online Cruise Journal here (it's free):

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/journals