E. Carribean... Carnival Valor... Good/Bad?

Question

My husband and I are thinking about going on the Eastern Carribean cruise in November on the Valor. Has anyone been on this cruise? Also, what are good excursions to do in Nassau, St. Thomas, & St. Martin. Also, should we book midship on the Upper deck, or Riviera (I tend to get easily sea sick, and we have sailed on the Riviera deck before on the Elation). Thanks!

Answer 1

Cruises! What a great way to vacation!

Of course you are asking about two places where we have not been yet. Been everywhere else though!

Excursions:

The only thing an excursion guarantees is that the ship will not leave without you if you are late getting back. They are very pricey, crowded and first come first serve. On most of the islands there are taxi's waiting to take you anywhere you want to go at a minimal price and waiting to take you back as well. You just have to keep track of time. Most all of the islands have private beaches   that provide snorkeling and relaxation their style! Think twice about paying out all those big bucks to the ship and sight see on your own.

Rooms:

Book a balcony! Chances are you will be upgraded to a bigger balcony! We would never sail without one! It is the size of the ship that will enable you to feel the movement, not necessarily where you are. The lower you go the more engine noise you may hear.

Gratuity:

Most ships these days automatically add the gratuity to your final bill. It is a big chunk of money that is split up between everyone. This way you have no say on what amount goes where. Go to the Purser's Desk and ask for this to be taken off of your ship bill and ask for envelopes so you can tip yourself. They will do this and you can tip whom you feel deserves the tipping in the end.

Just, maybe, some helpful advice from a lover of cruises!

Answer 2

Valor is larger than Elation....I have found that I prefer either Upper Deck or Verandah.

I've stayed on Riviera once but found it too noisy

Check www.carnival.com and look up your cruise - then click on the shore excursions for each port - you can pick before and book or you can wait until you get aboard.

Answer 3

EXCELLENT IDEA!!!! I went on the Valor this past summer, it was amazing. The perfect trip!! The Valor is only 3 years old so its condition is top notch. The food was delicious, the crew were very friendly and just the overall atmosphere of the cruise was great!

I was on Riviera deck, the lowest one. We were right side near the back. My father was the only one who felt sea sick, but not badly. I've heard its best to be bottom middle to avoid sea sickness. Some people we met on the cruise were on the 6th floor, Upper Deck which is above Promenade. Promenade is where alot of the nightclubs and bars etc are and they found it noisy at night. Though far away from everything the Riviera deck was quiet and closer to the exit when you got off the ship at the ports.

The ports were all really beautiful. There isn't really a lot you can walk to on these islands, cabs are necessary.

In St Thomas we took a cab into the main town area where they have the jewelry stores etc. We took a tour/ trip to the beach. Just a guy from St Thomas had a large open taxi car and he took us around the island. giving us a short tour.  After the tour he took us to a beach (where we stayed for 2 hours then he came back to pick us up), there were 3 which you could choose from Magens Bay, Sapphire and Coki point. Magens bay is a popular beach, usually crowded, when it does rain on St Thomas the rain usually hits Magens bay. There is a small entrance fee to get onto the beach, $3 adults $1 for children. The snorkeling at Magens is poor. There are restrooms and showers as well as lifeguards, food and a gift shop.

Then there is Sapphire beach, the one we chose. It was the perfect beach, we enjoyed it very much. Its not a huge, but they do have good snorkeling at the reef at the end of the beach. There are some really neat tropical fish and my mom saw a turtle! There are also Iguanas behind the beach area, but they won't bother you. Sapphire also has restrooms and a shower as well as a restaurant close by.

Then Coki point, which I do not know much about, but I was told they have great snorkeling. You can find more info on these beaches such search in google. I wouldn't call this an excursion but it gave us a chance to see the island and spend a few hours on a beautiful beach. It cost us $25 a person. There were 5 of us, but he let the 5 year old go for free.

Hope that was some help for St Thomas. Of the three islands we stopped at on our cruise St Thomas was by far my favorite. The people living on the island are very friendly!

St Martin has a french and dutch side. The cruise ship docks in Philipsburg, on the dutch side . In St Martin, you have to take a water taxi or taxi to get anywhere, from what I remember there is not much just off the ship. So we took a water taxi over to the main shopping area. It was around $5 a person and if you got a pink wrist band you could come and go on the water taxi as many times as you want throughout the day. Again there are all the jewelry shops. So from there we took a cap to a beach on the french side, called Orient Bay. It is 2 miles long, but be aware it is a clothing optional beach, BUT the nude part is at one of the ends of the beach, so there are not nude people all over the beach. We did see 1 or 2 topless women walk by, but not a huge worry. Orient beach was beautiful but not calm due to numerous water sports going on. Jet skis etc. The snorkeling was not bad. There were washrooms and showers also.

Again not really an excursion, but we didn't want to pay a huge amount of money for an excursion booked through the cruise so we did out own thing. I would get some info on other beaches on St Martin. A few other things about Orient beach I forgot to add above is that there are quite a few vender's that walk the beach selling necklaces etc, but they are not overly pushy. It is much quieter in the morning, but as the day went on it became quite busy.

Nassau, Bahamas. I had always wanted to go the Bahamas, mainly because I wanted to go to Atlantis. The stop in Nassau is short, only 7am to 2pm. Doesn't give you a whole lot of time. We just took a cab to the beach.

If you are interested in going to Paradise Island, where Atlantis is located there is a fee to get onto the island. I believe the cruise does have an excursion to Paradise Island, but its expensive.

I don't have alot of info on shore excursions, we just enjoyed days at the beach. I'm sure they are fun, just alot of money.

Overall I would chose this cruise! You won't be disappointed. Hope I was of some help, enjoy the Caribbean!

Answer 4

I took the Carnival Valor, Western Caribbean last year. The ship is decorated in an American theme, sort of tacky. Our cruise director (Bret Alans) was super annoying. He was more interested in becoming a magician than directing the cruise activities. It was raining when we got aboard the ship and there was no sort of sail away party, no band playing, NOTHING. You would think they would make an announcement over the loud speaker to welcome us or to announce that they were going to move the party indoors. Check in was a nightmare at port of MIami, the terminal was old.

The food was very good and the staff was very nice. The buffets were very good as well, but go early to breakfast or you will wait in long lines. They have a pizza place that is open all night, but it's on the pool deck so if you are anywhere else on the ship, you have to go the whole way to the top of the ship.

We had an inside cabin on the pool deck. It was nice and convenient, but i sort of wished that we got a balcony. If you can afford it, go for it. There was hardly any live music at the pool. I expected steel drums on a Caribbean cruise. They did have a fun water slide, if you are into that sort of thing.

I did take an Eastern Caribbean cruise that stopped in nassau and st. thomas back in 2003. We took Royal Caribbean navigator of the seas. It was incredible. The have a lovely promenade with shops and a fantastic cafe with cookies, sandwiches and ice cream that you can take advantage of 24 hours/day. They also have a cool parade twice during the cruise in the promenade. There is a johnny rocket's with great onion rings and burgers on the ship, an ice skating show, a mini-golf course. It was a fantastic ship. The port terminal in Miami was beautiful and moved quickly.

The band at the pool played great carribean music, there were lots of contests and entertainment poolside.

As far as excursions go, we did a "swim with the stingrays" tour in the bahamas. It was at one of the sandals resorts and i just felt bad for the stingray. It was sort of dreary and zoo-like there. I thought it would be more natural like when you go snorkeling.

We LOVED the virgin islands. We did a tour with a company called Captain Nautica (we booked through Royal Caribbean) They took us out snorkeling in a speed boat to honeymoon beach and to various other spots. it was incredible.

Take one of the Royal Caribbean ships rather than Carnival Valor. If you have other specific questions about the ship, please email me. I am happy to answer any questions. But seriously, the whole time we were on the Valor we said to each other "They didn't do it like this on the Navigator." And, you don't want to spend your vacation that way.

Don't get me wrong, we did some amazing western caribbean excursions and I think that if i had never been on a cruise before that I would have loved the Valor, but after experiencing the Navigator first, there was really no comparison.

By the way, i went on this trip with a group of 11 family members aged from 19-55. I am in the middle. I am 32. We all felt the same way.