Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Valor
7 Day Western Caribbean

Michael Ricanor

This was my fourth cruise with Carnival and this time we had our Carnival “Gold” Sail & Sign cards. My first cruise was to Ensenada (Ectasy), second to the Bahamas (Fantasy), third to Jamaica and Cayman Islands (Imagination). This was by far the best cruise experience that I’ve had.

EMBARKATION:

I lagged on booking flights so we ended up flying into Miami International Airport on a red-eye flight from San Diego (never again!!). Note: Flying into Fort Lauderdale is way cheaper than flying into Miami. Embarkation went smooth. We waited about 45 minutes in line before we boarded the ship. Note: There were two lines, a line to check in for the cruise, and a line to get your sail & sign card. Make sure you have all of your documents on-hand with you (because the porters take your luggage).

CABIN:

Once again we paid for the cheapest room on the ship and ended up getting a room with 2 port holes. We had one single bed and one couch that turned into a bed. The interior of the cabin was way better than my previous cabins and the blanket and pillows were way more comfortable I think this time around.

ROOM STEWARD:

Our room steward’s name is Bernard and he was awesome. He would greet us by name every time we saw him and made sure our room was nice and tidy at all times..

BARS/ALCOHOL:

This is the reason why I travel with Carnival. These guys are awesome with drinks.. On this ship, there were plenty of bars everywhere.. The bar staff are very friendly and interesting to talk to.

FOOD/DINING:

The food on this cruise was better than any of my other cruises. We went to the formal dinner in the Lincoln Dining Room 6 of the 7 nights we were there. We missed 1 because we were in port till 6 at one of the places.. and we had the early dinner.. For some reason Carnival had placed us in the early dinner even though I specifically asked for the late seating. I’m glad they did though because we met some terrific people and life-long friends from North Carolina at our table. We ended up chillin with them everyday of the cruise.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Like all other cruise ships, there are plenty of things to do. There are late-night comedy shows, Las Vegas type shows, movies, arcade, pool, gym, shopping, eating, laying out, more eating, library, casino, & clubs.

PORTS OF CALL:

Grand Cayman

In Grand Cayman, you get on a tender that takes you ashore. The tendering process can be a pain if you don’t play your cards right. They only let the people that booked shore excursions thru Carnival off the boat first.. and everyone else second.. but down at the gangway, they don’t necessarily check.. so wait by the stairs and sneak in with the rest of them so that you can get off the boat quick.

In Grand Cayman, we rented a jeep from Cico Avis and drove to Rum Point. Cico Avis has a special cruise rate that includes a license, insurance, gas, etc. Not too many people know about Rum Point, it’s a secluded beach (you have to drive like 45 minutes to get to the place). And all of the cruise ships advertise Grand Cayman’s 7-Mile beach, so that’s where everyone ends up going. So we drive for like an hour around the island (we took the scenic route). Beautiful place!!! We were able to see many parts of the island many won’t ever experience. We saw beautiful beaches, vegetation, and lots of residential parts of the island. Note: They drive on the left side of the street, so you have to be careful at intersections, they’re tricky. We pull up to Rum Point and we were one of the first ones there (about Noon’ish). This place is beautiful!! White sand beach, clear water, hammocks, beach chairs, palm trees.. you name it! We claimed a few beach chairs and chilled for a little bit, then later on went into the crystal clear water. The water here is about waste high for about 100 meters from the shore and warm. We brought our snorkeling gear but didn’t see any exotic looking fish. You can rent wave runners and some other water sport type stuff there also. And there is a restaurant there also just incase you get hungry and a clean restroom w/ shower to wash off after a long day. Afterwards, we headed back to Cico Avis to return the car and got lost for a minute. We ended up in the loop where Chevy Chase got stuck in in the movie National Lampoons European Vacation.. lol!! We eventually found our way back to Cico Avis and they drove us back to the cruise port. We chilled for a little bit at Hard Rock and had some good ice cream there. Then it was time to get back on the ship.

Isla Roatan, Honduras

In Roatan, you pull up to a dock so you don’t have to worry about tendering. We did the Canopy tour here. We didn’t book it thru Carnival because they’re tour was a lot more expensive. On our tour there were only a total of three people (Lucy, Dort, and myself) so it made the tour much more intimate and rewarding. First we met our guide Lucy right outside of the gates and took a 30 minute drive to the Rain Forest. In the meantime, Lucy is giving us a little background and culture of the city and the people. Once we headed up into the Rain Forest it started raining, not too hard though, just perfect enough to make things exciting. So the guides at the place hook us up with some harnesses and we take a stroll into the rain forest. We end up going on about 20 platforms (this includes wires and bridges). This was very fun and challenging. After the excursion, they drop us off not too far from the boat and we go to this hole-in-the-wall place to eat. This place looked like someone’s house. It took like 45 minutes to get our food but it was well worth the wait. I had the Shrimp basket and Dort had some sort of chicken. It was GOOD!! After we ate we had time to shop so on the way back to the ship we stopped by some shops and picked up some souvenirs.

Belize City, Belize

In Belize City, the ship parks like 6 miles away from the shore because of the Reef that surrounds Belize so you have to take a tender to get off of the boat. We were planning on doing the same thing that we did in Grand Cayman (sneak off) but the Captain was having problems with the anchor, so he had to reposition the boat which took like 2 hours and that held everyone up. Needless to say, were on the first tender off after the dilemma. We booked another excursion on our own because once again, it’s cheaper. We did the Extreme Cave Tubing. This excursion is awesome!!! It takes like an hour drive to get to where the caves are at. You can either sleep (like me) or check out the local sites. Once you get there, they hook you up with a life vest and tube. From there, you hike for about 10 minutes to the river. Once you reach the river you have to cross the river holding on to your tube and a rope. Note: The river’s current is really strong so make sure you aren’t wearing flip flops or anything that can easily come off. Once you cross the river it’s like a 45 minute hike to wear you actually get on the tube and get going. You walk through the rain forest and the guide gives you some interesting facts about some of the plants and the rain forest. Oh yeah, make sure you bring insect repellant cause you don’t want to get bit (like me). Once you get into the river its pretty much downhill from there. All you have to do is make sure you don’t hit any walls or run into strainers (tree branches that reach into the water). Oh yeah, and keep your butt up at all times (cause there are rocks underneath the water that you can’t see). When you get into the caves it’s pretty much pitch black in there. The only thing that you can see is other people’s lights on their heads and the only thing you hear is people screaming for help. We have experience with White Water Rafting so this excursion wasn’t too scary, but the other people that we were with had problems, BIG time. Some of them couldn’t swim and a lot had a hard time paddling in the right direction. So I ended up saving some peoples lives that day. I was exhausted…

Costa Maya, Mexico

Didn’t land in Costa Maya due to the weather, the Captain couldn’t dock the ship cause of the rough seas that day so we had another “Fun Day at Sea”.

DEBARKATION:

Debarkation is the saddest part of the trip. Just because you know that it’s time to go back to the real world. Carnival had a different debarkation process this time than what I’m used to. The first people that they let off of the boat were the ones with early flights and excursions, second, people that carried off their own luggage… then lastly, every one else. In the past, they would let people get off by the color of their luggage tag. That process was the thing that was different this time around. Their new process worked like a charm getting off of the ship. We woke up, had breakfast, and when WE were ready, proceeded to the gangway. They had to make an announcement on the loud speaker to get people to get off of the boat. No one wanted to leave!! There wasn’t even a line to get off of the ship, but there was a LOOONG line for immigration. So make sure you have your passport/birth cert information ready and customs declaration form ready to go. After you pass customs, you go into this big warehouse where every ones luggages are at. And they’re separated by colored luggage tags so it’s easy to find. So we grabbed our luggage and got on the shuttle back to the airport.

CONCLUSION:

I had the best time of my life on this ship!! We made sure we took advantage of every amenity and enjoyed everything Carnival had to offer. We made a lot of new memories and met some new friends. I definitely won’t sail on another Cruise Line. Carnival is the best. And if you’ve sailed with Carnival before they have a party just for past cruisers (which means FREE drinks). You get a special invitation and pin sent to your cabin. I thought that was the best!! Carnival treats their past cruisers like family.