Easy Dream Vacations

Our final full day on the Valor was a day at sea.  We left the hustle and bustle of Cozumel excursions the night before, we ate too much at the midnight Mexican buffet so now we need a day of sun and relaxation, umm and a few bloody marys.  Speaking of bloody marys and other drinks I don’t recall what drinks cost a year ago but I do believe the price went up a bit.  From review of our Sail and Sign Statement the drinks ranged in price from $3.95 to $7.95.  Beers started at 3.95, short bloody marys were on sale for 3.95 as well, the drink of the day was 6.95 in the souvenir glass and $4.50 in the regular glass, frozen drinks and mojitos where 7.95, and a soda was 1.95.  Of course they automatically add 15% gratuity on to each drink as well.  Prices seemed to be up but what else isn’t?  Our 2^nd day at sea had numerous activities on board the ship.  They had the traditional ice carving display on the Lido deck as well as the hairy chest contest, which I did not win again.  This years contest was won by a gentleman from Alaska who could have passed for Chewbacca from Star Wars. This guy was so hairy he even had his back and chest hair trimmed to not pour out of his collar.  And yes that is a kilt he is wearing in the photo.  He stood out all week and turned heads as he strutted his stuff around the ship in his many kilts, something you don’t see too much of.    The morning also had the normal debarkation talk but they did have a new twist on debarkation.  Carnival along with the airlines offered a “Luggage Express” program where you left your luggage outside your cabin as normal and the next time you saw it would be at your home destination airport.  There was a $20 per person fee for the service but it did have some nice benefits including not having to check in at the airport, your check-in is actually done onboard the ship and your luggage claim and boarding passes are sent to your cabin on the last night of your cruise. 

Our group also enjoyed our open bar cocktail party on this day.  We had a shared party with another group in the One Step Disco.  The party had snacks and an open bar for an hour.  We were able to all meet one last time as a group, share some stories about the cruise and take a few photos.  I hope we can all meet again someday, I enjoyed meeting each and everyone that was part of the group.

The last night we again spent some time sitting in lounge area on the Promenade deck out side of the casino.  We did this throughout the week and had lots of laughs joking around and people watching.  There is quite an assortment of people on a cruise if you pay attention, it is amazing watching how different we all are.  As you can see from the photo we weren’t the only group on the Promenade deck having a good time.  I am not sure what the hats were about but they had a good time as well. We also enjoyed the music of “Jeff” who played outside of the casino bar, he was a one man band and played a really good assortment of music.  We skipped the “Carnival Legends” show and headed down to the disco one last time before heading off to bed.