January 21st, 2009 by Frank
Our first full day on the Carnival Valor was a day at sea. We started it with breakfast at the buffet. The breakfast buffet had a nice selection including an omelet station. The Carnival Valor offers a sit down breakfast in the Washington Dining room, breakfast items at the Lido deck grills as well as breakfast at the main buffet, Rosie’s Restaurant.
After breakfast we headed to the Lido deck for some sun, fun and relaxation. 
The sun was warm and felt great after leaving the frigid temperatures of Wisconsin. The bloody marys and drink of the day were flowing and it looks as though everyone was enjoy the day. A rain shower did chase everyone in for a time, but the sun fought back.
Lunch took us to the burger grill and deli. The deli offers a number of sandwiches and wraps and is open from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. One disappointment that has surfaced is the dissaperance of the steak sandwiches at the burger grill. It seems as though the economy has taken its toll on that sandwich. Overall service on the Valor has been good, we have noticed that at times it seems to take longer than normal to get your order once your drink order has been placed. The ship has been very clean, we did have a few issues with cabins being properly cleaned upon embarkation but the room stewards were wuick to resolve them. There have been some complaints about rooms smelling like smoke, as it seems that smoking is allowed in state rooms.
Our day at sea also brought us our first formal night as well as the captains reception and cocktail party The party offered us plenty of the usually drinks (on the captains tab) as well as a few hot hor devourers. And few is the proper work as the hor devourers were not very plentiful during the reception. Our formal dinner offered lobster, prime rib as well as other entrees.
After dinner we took in the main show and with a surprise it was a new show. It seems that on many of our previous cruises the show did not change from ship to ship. So to have a new show offered was wonderful and we all seemed to enjoy it. We had hoped to sit in on the late night comedy show but as we neared the Eagles Lounge we were sad to hear that the lounge was full. Why the show was not in the main theatre was a question we all wondered. We spent some time on the promenade deck people watching and having some good discussions. We also were very entertained by some of the Carnival staff that stopped by and amused us with some magic tricks.
Our evening ended in the disco, we spent some time enjoying the music, dancing and laughing. Morning will come early, we will be in Grand Cayman and want to spend some quality beach time at the port so it was a short night for some of us. Others danced on into the early morning.
As usual the towel animals have been a delight as we turn in for the night.
January 19th, 2009 by Frank
They say a good breakfast is the way to start to a good day. I think we can attest to that as our day became better and better as it went on. The Courtyard restaurant had a nice breakfast buffet for $13.95. It included an omelet station and the usual breakfast dishes. After breakfast a quick trip to the local CVS to pick up a few odds and ends, a half hour of sun by the pool and before we knew it was time to load up and head to the port.
Our Florida Transtours shuttle was right on time, we loaded up and headed to the Port of Miami. As always as soon as the ships were in site there was a sense of excitement aboard the bus. Our cruise was about to begin!
Check in was a snap at the port, our baggage porter was very helpful, we had minimal lines and were on the ship in less than half an hour after arrival. Kathy and I were surprised as we were quickly led to the VIP room, we are still not sure why. This may possibly have been because we have lead a number of groups on Carnival. To be honest the rest of the group was checked in just as fast as we were in the VIP room, but the room was a bit cooler, quiet and had a very comfortable look. Either way we had our photo taken as usual, checked in with our room keys and of course within 30 feet we found most of our group enjoying their first drink of the cruise. We found our rooms to be ready so we dropped of our carry on bags and headed up to the Lido deck for lunch.
A stroll around the Lido deck found the ship to be just a bit different than our previous Carnival ships, I enjoyed the Valor’s decorating scheme more than others. The service was very good, we were never without the opportunity to be without a drink.
We found a number of our group to be enjoying the sun, drinks and relaxation.
4:00 brought the life boat drill, by 4:30 the ship was free from the dock and we were on our way to sea. There was a small armada of ships leaving port. The Carnival Valor and Triumph as well as 2 NCL ships and a Royal Caribbean ship all left port of Miami at about the same time.
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As we sailed away from Miami there was a beautiful sunset over the city
As always we had a great dinner, spent some time in the casino, watched a bit of the show as well as some of the Steelers playoff game on the Lido deck big screen. The big screen is a nice addition to the Carnival ships. After that we were off to bed. Some of the others in the group enjoyed the disco and had some good luck in the casino. All in all we had a good day and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
January 18th, 2009 by Frank
Hello Miami !!! We are in Miami and the Wisconsin Firefighter Cruise is off to a great start. Everyone arrived safely, some a little tired but ready to have a great time. We landed at Miami International Airport with the cold and our worries behind. Edgar from Florida Transtours Inc met us in the baggage claim area with a smile and provided excellent service in getting the group to our hotel. The Courtyard by Marriott Down Town Miami gave us all a good nights rest. The hotel is very clean, has a nice (but small) outdoor pool and a decent breakfast buffet. We were in walking distance from Bayside Market Placeand enjoyed seeing the shops, people and sites of downtown Miami on our walk. Bubba Gumps was our choice for our evening meal, we had a good time and ate well even though it was a bit pricey.
Our walk back from Bayside gave us some great views of downtown Miami buildings lit up at night and the Opportunity for some photos.
This morning Florida Transtours Inc will be picking us up and taking us to to the ship, as Carnival’s ads say, Let the fun begin!
February 7th, 2008 by Frank
This was our 4th cruise on a Carnival ship and the Glory was the biggest. Initially I was a bit concerned that the ship would be crowded, it was bigger, held more guests and was sold out months before sailing. When we first boarded we went to the Red Sail Restaurant for lunch. The dining area was very crowded and hard to find a table, but on what ship doesn’t this occur? Other than at that first lunch I never really felt crowded, we roamed the ship freely, never waited in line or for elevators for longer than expected. (more…)
The sun was warm and felt great after leaving the frigid temperatures of 
Our day at sea also brought us our first formal night as well as the captains reception and cocktail party The party offered us plenty of the usually drinks (on the captains tab) as well as a few hot hor devourers. And few is the proper work as the hor devourers were not very plentiful during the reception. Our formal dinner offered lobster, prime rib as well as other entrees.
Our evening ended in the disco, we spent some time enjoying the music, dancing and laughing. Morning will come early, we will be in 
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