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 Lido deck.
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 Lido deck and served pop corn as well.. Some guests brought quilts from their cabins grabbed a deck chair and had a cozy evening under the stars watching a movie. 
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. 
0 Comment » 
