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Carnival Valor - Eastern Caribbean
by Tim Anderson
 Introduction
In February, we flew to Miami and caught the Carnival Valor on its regular runs through the Caribbean.
We had heard that Carnival is a young party boat, but this wasn't the case at all. It may be a risk at spring break, but not at other times.
We combined our trip with a visit to the Everglades, Epcott
Center and Cape Canaveral. I was surprised to discover how small, dry and international the numerous islands are in the eastern Caribbean.
Carnival Valor
The Valor is typical of most of Carnival’s ships. Some of the stats from Carnival on the ship are:
Launch Date - 2004
Total Staterooms -
1,487
Private Balcony Staterooms - 576
Decks - 13
Passenger capacity -
2,974
Total crew - 1,180
Tonnage - 110,000
Ship length – 952
Facilities include:
9 Level Domed Atrium
Invanhoe Show Lounge
Dining Room: 2 separate locations, Washington & Lincoln
Rosie’s Restaurant Buffet
Cabaret Lounge
Dance Club
Lindy Hop Piano Bar
Winston’s Cigar Bar
Bronx Sports Bar
Iliad Library
Internet Café
Scarlett’s Supper Club
Saltwater Swimming Pools
Children’s Pool
Saltwater Hot Tubs
Walking Track
Gym and Health Club
Shogun Club Casino
The floor plan of Carnival ships is the basically the same on each ship, but the décor is unique to each ship.
The Valor has a “heroism” theme with a United States emphasis. If you’ve been on board another Carnival ship, you’ll feel right at home the second you board the ship.
Activities
The activities on Carnival ships are standardized and not dissimilar to other cruise lines.
Activities while on board include a wide variety such as nightly shows, live music, comedians, discos, hairy chest contests, trivia games, newly wed games, scrap book sessions etc etc.
Passengers were mixed in age and Carnival adapts their shipboard activities to their clientele.
When in port, there is always a full slate of options for excursions.
These include
snorkeling, kayaking, sight seeing, fishing, shopping and many more.
Attire
Most passengers dress in casual attire or even very informal on the decks.
The dinning room announces a dress code each evening which varies among casual, smart casual and formal. For formal nights, I roll and old summer suit coat into my suit case and I’m set for two formal nights.
For women it’s a bit more of a planning challenge.
Meals
There is assigned dinning each evening as well as unassigned seating for breakfast and lunch in the dinning room.
The lido deck also has buffet servings for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The dinner includes one or two choices from the dinning room menu. In addition there is 24 hour pizza and 24 hour ice cream. Specialty sandwiches and Asian foods are also available daily.
Surprisingly soda (soft drinks) are not included and must be purchased separately.
A beverage card for unlimited use can be purchased, but it may not be a better deal than paying as you go.
Pay as you go provides a full can each time, while the card gives a full glass (partial can).
Meals in the dinning room are very good and include several options each night, such as steak & lobster and prime rib.
The chocolate melting cake for dessert is a Carnival trademark. After a day on land, it’s great to arrive back on ship and have a fresh cooked hamburger and fries made for you immediately.
And at the end of the cruise, the midnight buffets are extravagant!
Cabins
Cabins are approximately 220 square feet and are well designed. There are typically 2 single beds that are placed side by side to create the effect of a double bed.
There is ample storage space. Suitcases slide under the beds. The seating area makes into a single bed and some rooms have a Pullman for additional sleeping.
The washrooms are very small, but include a workable shower in addition to the somewhat noisy vacuum toilets.
One of the great features is the safe in each room. It can be locked
by your room key or any credit card and will only open with the same care
that was used to lock it.
Unlike more recent Carnival ships, the Valor only has about 1/3 of the state rooms with of the cabins have balconies.
Two downsides with balconies are that you often hear slamming balcony doors from the cabins nearby and you experience smoke from cigarettes of
neighbors when out on your balcony.
Staff
All the staff on Carnival ships are extremely friendly and courteous.
They are continuously on duty and maintain high levels of cleanliness.
Staff represent numerous countries around the globe with many come from south east Asian, particularly Indonesia.
Direct tipping at the end of the cruise is not necessary, as a fee of $10 per day per person is automatically added to the bill to cover dinning and room services.
Ports of Call
The Valor runs continuously on two circuits through the Caribbean. The western run is round trip from Miami through Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel and the Grand Cayman.
The eastern run from Miami stops at Nassau, St. Thomas and St
Maarten.
Nassau, Bahamas
Our first stop was Nassau in the Bahamas and it’s the most foreign port on the itinerary, so it gives you a terrific vacation effect. We skipped the cruise ship tour package and took a self guided tour by taxi to the famous Atlantis hotel, where celebrities like Michael Jordan rent the Bridge Suite for $25,000 per day. The hotel has a gigantic outdoor saltwater aquarium with thick glass sides which allowing viewing from inside the hotel. Scuba divers feed fish, including manta rays.
Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Our second stop was Charlotte Amalie at St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. By now the weather had warmed to 85 degrees. We went on a kayaking, hiking and
snorkeling tour with Virgin Islands Ecotours in a mangrove lagoon. This was a great excursion. I was apprehensive as I've never been
snorkeling and I hate going out beyond my depth. Once I got out there though, they couldn't get me back. A highlight was swimming in the shallows among thousands of small silver sides. They engulfed me in all directions and only moved to avoid contact with my fingers and arms as I swam. I highly recommend this tour.
Phillipsburg, St Maarten
Our third and last stop was Phillipsburg on St Maarten. This island belongs to the Netherlands and France. We again went
snorkeling - at Pinel Island and I was again apprehensive. And yet again it was almost impossible to get me to come back in. This time we were out on a point near the open ocean. There were numerous fish including schools of sergeant majors and tangs that would eat out of your hand. The open ocean was making my wife sea sick, so she told me she was heading back to shore. As she couldn't wear her glasses or contacts
snorkeling, she became disoriented and began swimming toward an island miles away. I swam after her, grabbed her and set her off in the right direction.
Recommendation
You can’t beat a Caribbean cruise in the winter. Sit on the deck and enjoy the dry 85 degree air.
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