People have asked me about our cruise experience so I thought it would be a great idea to blog about it so I can share my experience with everyone one at once. We happened to be on the second to last sailing of Carnival Valor from San Juan. It is now headed back to Port Canaveral to do a shortened version of the itinerary. Our ports of Call: St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Onboard Staff: The staff was very friendly. I was impressed with how quickly those staff members who Sean and I had regular contact remembered our names considering the fact that we were on a ship that holds over 2900 people and being a Customer Service Supervisor I have very high standards for customer service. The Fun Finds shore excursion couple Barbie and Michael (they were engaged) quickly became friends with us and helped us negotiate our purchases in town. We also shared our wedding plans with each other as well. Our housekeeper was very friendly and made conversation when we passed her everyday. She also helped me on a day we were experiencing very choppy waters by suggesting green apples for seasickness which was a quick remedy. Vinko our great bartender in the cigar bar was very friendly and we shared talk about Los Angeles, Croatia (his home country), cigars and whiskeys. The Onboard Amenities: I don’t think there was ever a dull moment. There are 3 pools, 6 saunas (4 of which were adults only!), a spa, gym, casino and bars. While we were sailing there was always something going on. A few times we had to make split second decisions as to what we were going to do. The Shore Excursions: I felt most were moderately priced for what they were. The city tours are very valuable in St. Lucia, St. Maarten and Barbados where the shopping isn’t that great and most things to do are not within walking distance of the port, especially St. Lucia. We unfortunately waited until the last minute for the city tour in St. Lucia which was sold out. We walked out into the port, walked around for 10 minutes and quickly got back onboard our ship. The Stateroom: You can definitely tell that the ship was a little older. The plastic couch in our stateroom had definitely seen better days. We had a balcony room and loved it. We found ourselves outside often either stargazing, taking pictures of the scenery during the daytime or watching the sunsets. Its great to enjoy a bottle of wine outside although the salt flying up can be a bit much. I noticed that sometimes with the bathroom, when people were embarking on the ship at the end of a day in port, the toilets would have a delay in flushing. The first time we thought we broke the toilet but quickly discovered this only happened during busy times. The demographic: Most of the people onboard were Midwestern, lower middle class families and native Puerto Rican and Barbadian families which made for an interesting dynamic. The Midwesterners were definitely trying to figure us out, we look very young and were on our own. Not very many people made small talk with us a I have experienced in more higher end setting like my last two cruises which were with Viking River Cruises. All in all, I would do it again as a cheap way to sail however I would want to try other cruise lines out and see which one I prefer more and also share those experiences with you here.
Krissy St. Germain 