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Carnival Valor 2017 4-Day Caribbean Cruise Review
Day 1   Part 2        June 22,  2017                        Galveston, Texas                                      
Scheduled Departure:  4:00pm                Actual Departure:  Around 5pm
Click Any Photo To Make It Larger!         

This is a continuation of Day 1's cruise review. If you would like to go back to Part 1 of Day 1 please click here.

          My previous part of Day 1's review left off with me walking around the Carnival Valor's Promenade Deck. At the back of the Promenade Deck is a piano bar called Lindy Hop. Throughout the cruise, I never saw any events or activities take place in this room. 
Carnival Valor Lindy Hop Lounge
Lindy Hop - Deck 5 AFT
Carnival Valor Lindy Hop
Several Areas To Sit In Lindy Hop
Airplane
Airplane Hanging From Ceiling In Lindy Hop
               Following my walk around the Promenade Deck, I continued walking downstairs to the Lobby Deck (3). At the very front of this deck is the Ivanhoe Theater, which is the Carnival Valor's show lounge. The Ivanhoe Theater was where our cruise's production show took place as well as bingo, the cruise director's morning show, and other large-scale events. 
Carnival Valor Ivanhoe Theater
Ivanhoe Theater - Deck 3 Level
Carnival Valor Ivanhoe Theater Deck 3 Level
Ivanhoe Theater - Deck 3 Level
My Stateroom:   
                  My stateroom was an Ocean View room located close to the middle of the ship's Main Deck (Deck 2).  Our room was located extremely close to the middle elevator/stairwell area, but was not too far of a walk from the front or back elevators. This location was great because there was very little noise from the interior of the ship. Some occasional noise came in from the hallway at night.
              The stateroom contained two twin beds, a flat screen TV, small vanity area, trash can, three closed closet spaces, and a sofa bed. The sofa bed was not needed this cruise so it was left as a couch. The room was a good size and had plenty of floor space. 
Here are a few photos of our stateroom and bathroom:
Carnival Valor Stateroom
First Look At My Stateroom
Carnival Valor Bed Luggage Mat
Luggage Mat On Bed
Stateroom
Looking Towards Staterooms Front
Carnival Valor Stateroom
Couch, Table, and Extra Chair In Stateroom
Bottled Water
Bottled Water Available For Purchase
Carnival Valor Stateroom Window
Stateroom Window
              The stateroom's bathroom consisted of a toilet, sink, and shower. On the towel rack, there were two large towels, two hand towels, and two washcloths. A little flyer on the wall instructed us to hang clean towels back on the wall, but to throw dirty towels on the floor. This would help the stateroom steward know which towels were still clean and which ones were dirty. By our sink, two bars of soap were in plastic wrap. In our bathroom's shower, on the wall, was a dispenser for body wash and shampoo. TIP:  My recommendation for cruisers that don't like the ship's body wash is to use one of the bars of soap meant for hand washing. 
Carnival Valor Stateroom Bathroom
Stateroom Bathroom - Toilet and Sink
Carnival Valor Stateroom Shower
Shower
Carnival Valor Stateroom Bathroom Sink
Stateroom Bathroom - Sink
                  Since this was an ocean view stateroom, I made sure to take a look outside the window. Due to the ship's docking position, my window was facing the cruise terminal and Galveston. From the window I was able to see the gangway and all of the supplies waiting to be loaded onto the ship. When I was done looking out the window, I closed the curtains to keep the room's temperature cool. 
Galveston Cruise Terminal 2
View From Window - Cruise Terminal Gangway
Supplies Waiting To Be Loaded
Supplies Waiting To Be Loaded
Galveston Cruise Terminal 2 Gangway
Second Gangway Connected To Terminal
                   Before the Safety Briefing, I wanted to take one more look outside. I went up to the Panorama Deck (10) and walked to the front of the ship to have a look outside.
Carnival Valor
View Of Ship's Funnel From Deck 10
Carnival Valor In Galveston
View Of Ship's Side & Galveston
Carnival Valor Gangway
Ship's Gangway
Carnival Valor Deck 10
Deck 10 Front Area
Carnival Valor Deck 10
Looking At Ship's Bow From Deck 10 Level
Carnival Valor
Ship's Ropes Tied To Pier
A Look At The Ship's Gym:
               The Carnival Valor's SPA and Gym are located on the SPA Deck, which is Deck 11. On the first day SPA crew members were giving tours of the SPA & gym facilities. Instead of taking a guided tour, I walked back to the gym to have a look. On the Carnival Valor, in order to get to the gym you have to walk through locker rooms. The locker rooms are gender specific, so men and women must walk on separate sides to get to the gym. I did not visit the gym again during the cruise. Here are some pictures of the gym:
Carnival Valor Gym
Carnival Valor's Gym
Carnival Valor Gym
Carnival Valor's Gym
Carnival Valor Gym
Towels Available For Use
Carnival Valor Gym
Carnival Valor's Gym
Carnival Valor Gym
Carnival Valor's Gym
Carnival Valor Gym
Carnival Valor's Gym
Carnival Valor Low Level Lighting
Low Level Lighting On Stairwell Was Turned On
Muster Station Drill / Safety Briefing:  
            The Muster Station drill is always a required event for every passenger on the cruise ship. My muster station was "D" which was located on the port side of Deck 4. The drill was scheduled to begin at 3:30pm, but it did not actually begin until closer to 4:10pm due to the ship's weather delay. 
           All muster stations are located on the ship's outside areas on Deck 4. Each muster station has 3 or 4 lines of cruisers packed facing the lifeboats. For this muster station drill, we were told to bring our Sail & Sign cards so the cards could be scanned. During the drill, crew members walked around with tablets to scan cards.  During the drill we learned about wearing lifejackets, what to do in an emergency, and received some other general information about onboard safety. Crew members were constantly telling people to be quiet, stop drinking, and stop using cell phones. At the conclusion of the drill, the person over the intercom read a list of all stateroom numbers that were not in attendance at the drill and gave instructions on how those people were now required to come to a secondary muster station drill in the Ivanhoe Theater. 
Sail-A-Way From Galveston: 
            The Carnival Valor was scheduled to depart from Galveston at 4pm. However, due to the weather delay our actual departure was after the muster station drill around 4:45pm.  On this cruise aboard the Carnival Valor, I watched sail-a-way from Deck 10 at the very front of the ship. For most of sail-a-way, my family and I were the only people using the deck space. Since the Carnival Valor was docked backwards, we began leaving Galveston by pulling out backwards. The ship got to a larger area of the harbor, it turned around. Here are some pictures of sail-a-way:
Carnival Valor
Ship's Front - Pointed Towards Pelican Island
Galveston Texas
Terminal's Gangway Is Disconnected From Ship!
Carnival Valor In Galveston
Side View Of Ship
Carnival Valor
Crew Gangway Being Loaded!
Galveston Texas
Last Forklift Being Driven Back To Storage
Carnival Valor
Ship Moving Away From The Pier
              The tug that assisted the ship during its arrival to Galveston in the morning was back for sail-a-way, but I do not think it was needed. After the ship turned around in the harbor, the tug left us. 
Carnival Valor
Little Tugboat At Back
Galveston Cruise Terminal Forklifts
Forklift Storage Area
Picture
View Of Terminal 2 Gangways
Cruise Sailaway from Galveston
View Of Ship's Front As We Sailed Backwards
Galveston Cruise Terminal #1
Looking At Cruise Terminal #1
Pelican Island
View Of Pelican Island and Big Oil Rigs
Galveston Cruise Terminal #2
Side View Of Cruise Terminal #2
Galveston Texas
Looking At The Galveston Skyline
Looking At The Galveston Skyline
Looking At The Galveston Skyline
Galveston Texas
Looking At The Galveston Skyline
Picture
Picture
                The following pictures were taken during and after the ship turned around. 
Picture
Galveston
View Of Another Ships As Our Ship Turned Around
Picture
Marina - View As Carnival Valor Turned Around
Galveston Harbor
Looking Back At Where We Sailed From
Carnival Valor Tugboat Escort Leaving
Tugboat Escort Leaving Us
Carnival Valor
Ship Moving Forwards - No Longer Sailing Backwards
Seawolf Park
Barge Sailing In Front of Seawolf Park
Galveston Ferry
Zoomed In View Of A Ferry
Galveston Ferry Station
Ferry Drop Off / Pickup Area On Galveston Side
Galveston
View Of Galveston As Ship Sailed Away
Seawolf Park
Seawolf Park
Seawolf Park
Seawolf Park
Picture
View Of Galveston As Ship Sailed Away
Galveston Bay
Sailing Into Galveston Bay
Carnival Valor Leaving Galveston
Side View Of Ship With Galveston In The Background
Carnival Valor Dinner
Dinner Table - Setup For 5 People
Dinner #1 In The Lincoln Dining Room:
            I had Your-Time Dining which means I could dine in a specific dining room from 5:45pm until about 9:00pm. My assigned dining room was the Deck 3 level of the Lincoln Dining Room. The entrance for cruisers with Your-Time Dining was in the Carnival Valor's atrium.
             The Carnival Valor has Carnival's newer dining room menu concept called American Table. This was the same dining concept my cruise last year on the Carnival Triumph had. Many of the menus and food choices in the dining room for this cruise were the same as my Carnival Triumph cruise last year.
              Overall, the dining room food was extremely good. Each night I always ordered two appetizers because it was too hard to choose only one. The waitstaff we had on this night of the cruise did their job, but lacked a friendly attitude compared to many of the cruises I have sailed on in the past. However, the dining room experience was still very enjoyable and the food was good!
            Here are pictures of the menus for the night. My menu pictures from this night of the cruise did not turn out easily readable, but I think the menu pictures from later nights in the cruise will be a little easier to read. To read the menus, click any of the photos to make it larger.
Carnival Valor Dinner Appetizer Menus
Dinner 1 Appetizers - Click To Make Larger!
Carnival Valor Dinner 1 Main Course Menus
Dinner 1 Main Courses - Click To Make Larger!
Carnival Valor Dinner Menus
Dinner 1 Port of Call Menu Section - Click To Make Larger!
Picture
Dinner 1 Desserts - Click To Make Larger!
Carnival Valor Dinner Bread Basket
Bread Basket - Had A Variety of Types
Carnival Valor Shrimp Cocktail Double Order
Appetizer - Shrimp Cocktail (double order)
Carnival Valor Smoked Chicken Quesadilla Appetizer
Appetizer - Smoked Chicken Quesadilla
Carnival Valor Caesar Salad Appetizer
Appetizer - Caesar Salad
Carnival Valor Chicken Breast Main Course Dinner
Main Course - Chicken Breast
Carnival Valor Salmon Fillet Main Course
Main Course - Salmon Fillet
Carnival Valor Fried Shrimp Dinner Main Course
Main Course - Fried Shrimp
Carnival Valor Chilled Strawberry Parfait Dessert
Dessert - Chilled Strawberry Parfait
Carnival Valor Apple Pie Dessert
Dessert - Pie A La Mode (Night's Flavor was Apple)
Carnival Valor Stateroom
Stateroom After Nightly Turndown
           After dinner, I went back to my stateroom and found my stateroom steward had stopped by to service the room. He left a Fun-Time, which is the ship's daily activity newsletter. I was surprised to not get a towel animal, but this stateroom steward always left a towel animal in the morning. Our stateroom steward was probably one of the most friendly crew members onboard and he did a great job!
Evening Walk Around The Carnival Valor's Jogging Track: 
               Soon after dinner and going back to my stateroom, I went up to Deck 11 to use the ship's jogging track. Each cruise, I try to walk after dinner to burn some of the calories I just consumed. My camera lenses fogged up horribly so I had to wait 15-20 minutes before I could start taking pictures. It was extremely windy outside, but it was fun getting to look at the ocean and sunset as I walked around. 
Sunset From The Carnival Valor
View Of Sunset
Carnival Valor Jogging Track
Jogging Track - Deck 11
Carnival Valor
View Of The Lido Deck Below
Taste Bar: 
             ​The Taste Bar is a place onboard where cruisers can get samples of things offered on some of Carnival's newer or upgraded ships. The Carnival Valor's Taste Bar is located on the Promenade Deck (5) around the middle-back of the King's Boulevard Promenade. Tonight the Taste Bar was open from 5:30pm - 8:30pm and was serving samples of food from Scarlett's Steakhouse. Scarlett's Steakhouse is the Carnival Valor's onboard specialty steakhouse. Scarlett's is an experience that costs extra onboard. However, the samples from the Taste Bar are free. 
             The sample platter consisted of a Short Ribs Croquettes and a bowl of Pumpkin Bisque. The Short Rib Croquette was extremely good, but I only had one since I was still full from dinner. 
Carnival Valor Taste Bar
Taste Bar Menu
Carnival Valor Taste Bar
Taste Bar
Carnival Valor Taste Bar
Short Ribs Croquette & Pumpkin Bisque
Bingo and the Welcome Aboard Show:
                Prior to the Welcome Aboard Show, a game of bingo was played in the Ivanhoe Theater. Bingo is an event that costs extra, but cruisers who play have a chance of winning money. I have not played bingo since my first cruise, which was nearly 10 years ago.              
​              Following bingo, the Welcome Aboard Show began. Bingo ended later than expected so the Welcome Aboard Show was late getting started. The Welcome Aboard show began with a mini-dance lesson and was then followed by the cruise director's introduction. The show ended with both onboard comedians giving a sample performance. For some reason, the dancers and singers did not perform during the welcome aboard show. 
Carnival Valor Ivanhoe Theater
Ivanhoe Theater - Screen Setup For Bingo
Carnival Valor Bingo
Big Screen With Bingo Logo
Carnival Valor Bingo Screen
Bingo Screen That Displays Numbers Called
Picture
Dirty Lido Cup With Someone's Lipstick - Nasty!
Late Night Dirty Cup In The Buffet:
              Following the show, I went up to Rosie's for a quick drink of water. After getting a drink and being almost finished, I looked down at my cup to see women's lipstick on the other side of the cup from where I was drinking. This was extremely nasty.  
               The Carnival Valor's buffet had zero straws available. Other Carnival ships, used to have straws by every drink station. This dirty cup irritated me so much that I went to Guest Services at 11pm to complain about the lack of straws. The Guest Services worker wrote down what I said and told me he would pass on my complaint about the lack of straws. 

TIP:  Always look at your cup to make sure it is clean before taking a sip! 
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