Vacation Blog
Easy Dream Vacations announced the 2010 Wisconsin Firefighters Cruise at their booth during the Wisconsin State Firefighters Convention in Stevens Point Wisconsin last week. The cruise features 8 days of fun, food and sun aboard the Carnival Miracle. Be sure to visit the Wisconsin Fire Fighters Cruise Web site www.wifirefightercruise.com for more information.
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The Carnival Valor was the 5th Carnival Cruise ship we had been on. The Valor is a beautiful ship, the decor was just that much better than the previous ships we had been on that it stood out in my mind as one of the most beautiful in the Carnival fleet. I am not going to try and describe it as I would not do it justice. I will however suggest that you listen to the podcast that one of our group members has put together and published on the internet. You can fine the podcast by going to his website using the following link. http://www.chuckchat.com/technorama/?p=929
The Valor was also the cleanest and best maintained ship I had been on. A reason for this could have been the fact that she was just in dry dock for ongoing maintenance and upgrades. The crew did a wonderful job keeping the ship spotless. The carpets in all areas of the ship were kept looking like new. It seemed like they were constantly cleaning the carpets, the railings, and everything else on the ship. Our rooms were not much different than other balcony rooms we had been in on past cruises. Plenty of room and comfortable. 
I’m not sure if it is just the ship rocking you into a tranquil sleep or if it really is the Carnival bedding but I have to say that we never sleep as good as we do while on a Carnival ship. Last year I order a set of Carnival Collection pillows for Kathy’s birthday just to bring part of that comfort home to us.
Our dining room staff did a great job, they were very good in providing service and were friendly as well. 
They did fall short of the personality and entertainment that the waiters we had on our first cruise provided. But I will not hold that against them. On our first cruise our head waiter Mariam and his assistant Klaudia were just out standing.
Mariam Klaudia
If anyone knows what ship Mariam and Klaudia are on let us know. I would take a cruise on that ship just because they were that good! The food on the Valor was great as usual, but I would have to say it may have been a few notches better than the previous Carnival ships we were on. I had maybe one of the best filets I ever ate on the Valor. It was served in the main dining room and cooked perfectly. The Valor had a reservations only dining room, Scarlett’s Steak House but it had an additional charge per person. To be honest with as good as the food was in all of the other dining options I see no reason to visit Scarlett’s. The Valor had the buffet and grills like most of the other Carnival ships and they also had a seafood restaurant, named “Fish and Chips”. It was on deck 10 above Rosie’s restaurant.
The bar staff also did a great job. I have to say that there were few times when I was thirsty. On previous cruises there had actually seemed to be a shortage of bar waiters in certain areas but the Valor seemed to have all bases covered. The only issue I had was with the drink pricing, it did not seem consistent from bar to bar.
The Vegas style shows on the Valor were new and exciting. I am glad to see that Carnival is putting some effort into their shows. The shows from year to year seemed to never change so this was a pleasant surprise. Two young men, Eli and Teknyc from G- force added a great break dancing routine to the second Vegas Style show, these 2 guys were out standing. After the main show they also put on a small show of their own at the lobby bar. You don’t want to miss these guys if you have the chance to see them.
For no particular reason we did not use the spa facilities, jacuzzis or pools on the Valor. Guess we were just too busy having a good time.
Other entertainment on the valor included the Carnival Seaside Theatre, the big screen on the
They used the big screen day and night, during the day they had different uses including movies and the presidential inauguration one day. At night they had movies playing on the 
There were also roaming magicians on the Promenade deck trying to see if they were quick enough to keep you from know how their magic worked. There was always something going on, there is no reason anyone should have been bored on the Valor! One nice surprise for me was that they had wifi internet access basically everywhere on the ship, even in your cabins. Unfortunately I was so busy that these blog entries that were supposed to be published daily are now finally being completed almost a month after the cruise. So the wifi access was nice but the sun and fun were just that much better!
There were some nice changes in procedures on the Valor and I hope they have been carried over to the other ships in the fleet. One being that when tenders were needed to get to land you had to first get tickets, actually stickers with a number on them. You would get them on the Promenade deck near the casino. This procedure seemed to greatly reduce the congestion getting on the tenders. Over all I would give the Valor a 4.5 on a scale from 1-5.
Captain Pierluigi Barrile and his staff did a fantastic job!
We hope to again sail on the Valor. 
It was sad, but we knew our trip would come to an end. 
We woke up to a hazy day in 
The port was busy, all the ships were in port and as thousand of guests were getting ready to get off of each ship, there were thousands more waiting to get on and head off for their vacations. It is amazing how the crew has to work to get the ship ready in such a short time. Not only do the cabins need to be cleaned and made ready for the next cruise but all the trash from the week has to be off loaded, new provisions stocked and thousand of gallons of fresh water and fuel loaded.
For us it meant we had a few more hours to enjoy the warmth before returning back to 
The 
There is a wide variety of food and activities. 
Just enjoying that warm sun for a few more hours was all I needed. 
Our driver came back right on time and with all our luggage and we were off to the airports, we had a few people leaving out of
Our final full day on the Valor was a day at sea. We left the hustle and bustle of 
This years contest was won by a gentleman from 
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.
Well here we are back in Cozumel, this time though we wont be staying long at all as we have booked an excursion to the Mayan ruins at Tulum. The excursion takes up almost all the time that the ship is in port. Tulum is on the Mexican mainland about an hour from Play del Carmen. So you start out your day by getting off the ship and getting on the ferry that takes you to Play del Carmen. 
The ferry is pretty nice, the lower level has airplane style seats, the upper area has seats that have tables between them so you can sit across from and have a conversation with friends. There are also outside areas on the ferry with seating. The boat is pretty quick, but it is still a 45 minute ride by ferry. 
Once in Play del Carmen you step into a tourist area and surprise there is even a Senor Frogs! 
We were met by our guides who divided you up into groups and you walked a few blocks to your tour bus. 
Sorry but here is where I start getting down on 
Right where the bus is parked there is a graffiti filled wall and on the top of the wall there are shards of glass meant to either keep someone in or someone out from behind the wall. 
I would strongly suggest to the tour company that they find a better area to start out that tour. Once on board the bus we headed off to Tulum. There was quite a bit of road construction and building going on so you can see that there are improvements being made to the area. The bus was ok, fairly clean and our tour guide was very 
I enjoyed hearing about the Mayans, it added greatly to viewing of the ruins. 
After the guided tour we headed out on our own to walk around the site. The beach area is as breath taking as we were told. 
The water is as turquoise blue as it could be and the sand as white as puffy clouds in the sky. We really did not have as much time to ourselves, we would have liked to get down to the beach.
We also had little time to visit the shops near the ruins, which is probably just as well. I will say that the locals there could brush up on their manners. They are pushy trying to get you to spend money. Even the costumed performers expect you to donate to them before you can take any pictures. I always leave a tip with these folks when taking pictures of them. However after being told I have to pay first, I avoided the entire picture taking process. One word of caution I will give you is do not use your charge cards if you do not have to. Our tour guide recommended getting this piece of jewelry made that had your initials in Mayan writing, he even had order forms on the bus that you could fill out before arriving in Tulum One of our group ordered the charm and necklace. She paid with her credit card and was surprised to find out upon arriving back home after the cruise that someone had used her credit card to order $200 in items for themselves. Cash is always the best way to go. The bus ride back to the ferry was much quicker without the “rest stop”. The ferry ride was a bit rough going back to 
Commercial it is! 
I highly recommend going downtown 
The original pier there was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma a few years back. Last time we were in
