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
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Day 1 Part 2 June 22, 2017 Galveston, Texas
Scheduled Departure: 4:00pm Actual Departure: Around 5pm
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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.
Lindy Hop - Deck 5 AFT
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Several Areas To Sit In Lindy Hop
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Airplane Hanging From Ceiling In Lindy Hop
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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.
Ivanhoe Theater - Deck 3 Level
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Ivanhoe Theater - Deck 3 Level
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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:
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:
First Look At My Stateroom
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Luggage Mat On Bed
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Looking Towards Staterooms Front
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Couch, Table, and Extra Chair In Stateroom
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Bottled Water Available For Purchase
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Stateroom Window
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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.
Stateroom Bathroom - Toilet and Sink
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Shower
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Stateroom Bathroom - Sink
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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.
View From Window - Cruise Terminal Gangway
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Supplies Waiting To Be Loaded
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Second Gangway Connected To Terminal
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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.
View Of Ship's Funnel From Deck 10
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View Of Ship's Side & Galveston
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Ship's Gangway
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Deck 10 Front Area
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Looking At Ship's Bow From Deck 10 Level
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Ship's Ropes Tied To Pier
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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:
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's Gym
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Carnival Valor's Gym
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Towels Available For Use
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Carnival Valor's Gym
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Carnival Valor's Gym
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Carnival Valor's Gym
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Low Level Lighting On Stairwell Was Turned On
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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:
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:
Ship's Front - Pointed Towards Pelican Island
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Terminal's Gangway Is Disconnected From Ship!
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Side View Of Ship
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Crew Gangway Being Loaded!
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Last Forklift Being Driven Back To Storage
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Ship Moving Away From The Pier
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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.
Little Tugboat At Back
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Forklift Storage Area
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View Of Terminal 2 Gangways
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View Of Ship's Front As We Sailed Backwards
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Looking At Cruise Terminal #1
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View Of Pelican Island and Big Oil Rigs
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Side View Of Cruise Terminal #2
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Looking At The Galveston Skyline
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Looking At The Galveston Skyline
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Looking At The Galveston Skyline
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The following pictures were taken during and after the ship turned around.
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View Of Another Ships As Our Ship Turned Around
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Marina - View As Carnival Valor Turned Around
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Looking Back At Where We Sailed From
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Tugboat Escort Leaving Us
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Ship Moving Forwards - No Longer Sailing Backwards
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Barge Sailing In Front of Seawolf Park
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Zoomed In View Of A Ferry
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Ferry Drop Off / Pickup Area On Galveston Side
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View Of Galveston As Ship Sailed Away
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Seawolf Park
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Seawolf Park
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View Of Galveston As Ship Sailed Away
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Sailing Into Galveston Bay
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Side View Of Ship With Galveston In The Background
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Dinner Table - Setup For 5 People
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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.
Dinner 1 Appetizers - Click To Make Larger!
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Dinner 1 Main Courses - Click To Make Larger!
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Dinner 1 Port of Call Menu Section - Click To Make Larger!
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Dinner 1 Desserts - Click To Make Larger!
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Bread Basket - Had A Variety of Types
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Appetizer - Shrimp Cocktail (double order)
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Appetizer - Smoked Chicken Quesadilla
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Appetizer - Caesar Salad
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Main Course - Chicken Breast
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Main Course - Salmon Fillet
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Main Course - Fried Shrimp
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Dessert - Chilled Strawberry Parfait
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Dessert - Pie A La Mode (Night's Flavor was Apple)
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Stateroom After Nightly Turndown
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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!
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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.
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.
View Of Sunset
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Jogging Track - Deck 11
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View Of The Lido Deck Below
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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.
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.
Taste Bar Menu
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Taste Bar
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Short Ribs Croquette & Pumpkin Bisque
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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.
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.
Ivanhoe Theater - Screen Setup For Bingo
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Big Screen With Bingo Logo
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Bingo Screen That Displays Numbers Called
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Dirty Lido Cup With Someone's Lipstick - Nasty!
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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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