Our first cruise with Carnival Cruise Line was a 7 day,
Southern Caribbean cruise that started at San Juan Puerto Rico on July 7, 2014.
This was our 30th anniversary gift to ourselves and it ended up being a truly once
in a lifetime experience. We were booked on the conquest class cruise ship the
Carnival Valor (call sign H3VR) which gracefully sailed us to the tropical
islands of St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and St Maarten. We also had
one sea day which provided a wonderful opportunity to explore the ship.
The Carnival Valor |
We arrived in San Juan the night before our embarkation but,
both our flights were delayed and we almost missed our connection. We had one
hour between connecting flights and it was just too close. Definitely fly in
the day before and have a contingency plan in case your flight is delayed or
canceled. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard East Laverde and arrived at our
hotel with time for a late dinner on the beach. The next morning we checked
onto the ship at 11:00 am. After dropping off our things in our cabin, we left
the ship to have lunch in Old San Juan. Our ship wasn’t leaving port till 10:00
pm so we had all afternoon to explore Old San Juan and I highly recommend you
take advantage of this time to see this historic Area.
This was our first time on the Carnival Valor and we weren't
disappointed. The ship takes its name from Historic American heroes and the
decorating in the ship reflects this. When we booked the cruise we opted to not
reserve a specific cabin to save money. When we we're assigned our cabin we
were surprised to find we had been upgraded to a Spa Balcony room on deck 11.
This is as high as the cabins go and we had a fantastic view of every port we
stopped at.
The dinning staff accommodated my wife's gluten free diet
requirements and she was very happy with the selection of gluten free entrees.
Each evening during dinner the maƮtre d would bring her a separate menu so she
could pre order her meals for the next day. This worked out very well. One
thing that would have been helpful for our active life style would have been a
few gluten free options in the diner style restaurant, Rosie’s, which is on the
pool deck.
Every morning we would sit on our balcony and watch the ship
slide into port as we sipped our morning coffee. After the ship docked we would
go down to the Washington dining room for a full bacon and eggs breakfast with
pancakes. Then, we would walk off the ship and head into town or meet whatever
excursion group we were scheduled with that day. This was our first cruise
where we set up excursions without the assistance of the cruise line. This
worked out very well and saved us money. We either did an internet search or got
suggestions off of the cruise boards on Cruise Critic. One thing I need to
mention here is that we did the cruise during the off season and our ship was
the only cruise ship in every port we stopped at. There were no crowds anywhere
and every outing was with a handful of other passengers. The one exception was
St. Kitts. At Saint Kitts we had set up an all day tour with hiking, Snorkeling
and lunch. Our guide, Javin met us on the dock and we were his only two clients
that day. This was a fantastic very personalized tour. He drove us all over the
island. He took us to blow holes in the lava rocks, an abandoned cotton gin, pulled
off to cut sugar cane, hiked up a rainforest river, set up a pick nick lunch,
snorkeling and free diving on an old wreck, drinks on the beach, and at the end
of the day he waved over a fishing boat from which he bought a beautiful
assortment of fish for his family dinner that night. This tour was not
available through Carnival so that worked out great.
There was no shortage of things to do on the ship. We spent
most of the sea day on the lido deck. There were contest, music and dance
parties. It was just a very fun atmosphere. In the evenings we would go to a
show or to a comedy club. Just lots of fun.
Here a few facts about the Valor. She carries 2,980
passengers and a crew of 1,180. Her maximum cruise speed is 22.5 knots. Six
Wartsila diesel engines power two propellers, three bow thrusters, three stern
thrusters and one pair of stabilizers.