It's My Birthday Cruise!! Day One - Carnival Valor
Happy Birthday to Me!! Going to Galveston for a five day cruise for my birthday. We checked the boys into the kennel, and away we went to board the ship. We had a 10:30 board time, but arrived at the port around 11:15. No big deal since we are platinum and have priority boarding, so we can check in anytime. I will say that the staggered boarding times that Carnival started using last year has helped with crowd control.
For the first time ever, there were two ships in port, and the Carnival Valor was at Port 2, which we've never used before. Needless to say with the traffic coming and going, and our unfamiliarity with using Port 2, we missed the "fork" and had to go back around to drop off our bags.
After we checked our bags, we went and parked as normal. We always pre-purchase our parking so we get the $5.00 discount. Less than twenty minutes later we going through security to get on the ship. This was the second cruise that we've ever taken a bottle of wine on board. The first time was when we sailed on the Dream in Orlando. We put our bags through XRay and the gal saw we had a bottle of wine. Nothing was said, nothing was checked and we just kept on going to check-in. I told Dave we could have smuggled hard alcohol on board - then he kindly reminded me we really don't drink.
We checked in and were sent to the priority/Platinum/Diamond boarding line. It was around 11:50, and I was surprised to see that no boarding whatsoever had taken place. This was a first. The Carnival attendant in the Platinum area told me that the hand-held/wireless devices they had started using weren't connecting from the ship to the port, and they were having a hard time making sure the ship was clear since disembarkation from the previous cruise wasn't completely done electronically when the system failed.
After about a fifteen minute wait, those of us in Platinum, Diamond, and Faster To The Fun began to board. Our last cruise was in October, and they were still using the kiosk card readers. This time the attendants had tablets with scanners - and did everything in one step. The man who checked us in said it had been a very trying morning. I felt bad for him. Through all of the morning glitches - everyone at Carnival was very nice and professional.
We were on the ship by 12:30 - and headed to our room to check it out. My previous post is a video tour of our room. This was a first for us and will probably be a last if we can help it. We seemed a bit cramped, and I was always frustrated at having to "clean up" our clutter.
Our luggage was waiting, and we quickly unpacked. We met our room steward, Made from Indonesia, and he and Dave reminisced about Kalamatan (Dave worked on a mine there). We pre-tipped him like we usually do. Just an FYI - Carnival automatically adds your tips to your bill, and then spreads them throughout the crew. You can request a breakdown. I always thought that the money earmarked for the room steward actually went to our room steward, but it doesn't. The tips earmarked for the room stewards are pooled together and split among all room stewards. This is a fair and democratic way of splitting the tips so that all room stewards get an equal amount, but we always want ours to have a little something just for him and his partner. I usually decorate our cruise door on our trips. This time I made a neat banner of prior cruises, and we had it laminated at Office Depot. We got a lot of compliments on it during our trip.
After unpacking we made our way to lunch. I had heard the carnival Valor had the new seafood place, so we went to check it out. We decided it wasn't worth it to pay $19.99 for two crab clusters, so we made our way upstairs to the new Bar B Q place that used to be the Fish n Chips. They have smoked chicken, brisket, and pulled pork. Sides include cole slaw, mac n cheese, potato salad, and beans. Everything we tried was excellent. We tried the brown sugar bar b q sauce - and it was pretty spicy. Woo. Their regular sauce has no kick and is pretty good.
After lunch we walked around and checked out the ship. After all the reviews I had read on cruisecritic.com, I was expecting a rundown heap of steel. I don't know what people want, but I found the ship to be clean, inviting, and well done. It wasn't outdated or threadbare as people had posted - some of the reviews were done within the last month.
One thing I will say about the theme - Valor - is that it is a bit disconnected. All over the ship you see the tile in the shape of US Flags, nods to Mt. Rushmore so to speak, the dining areas are Lincoln and Washington. So, you expect lots of American Valor - but then the casino is the Shogun casino (a nod to Far East Valor) and the Ivanhoe Theatre (nod to the British Empire valor); however, because Carnival used the US Valor theme all over the ship - when these other areas pop up - it seems disjointed. It's not unpleasing - nor does it make the cruise any less - just an observation. I've seen people write how the ship's decor just ruined their cruise. Really?
I especially liked the decor on the Lido Deck Buffet - Rosie's. It's named after Rosie the Rivoteer from WWII. It's nice and bright - and a nod to all the women who got out and worked while their husbands went to war.
We did our muster drill. A couple of hints since they now do them on deck four (they've been doing that since the Costa Concordia disaster). Wait until the last possible moment - otherwise you are in the very back squished in like sardines with about four rows of people in front of you for the next 30-45 minutes. We hang outside of the area until the last possible second and then go in so we are in the front and don't feel claustrophobic. A new thing that they've added, now that they have hand held devices is scanning everyone's sail and sign card at the muster drill. If you miss the muster drill, they now go out and find you and you have to attend a separate drill. So, no more hanging out or hiding during the muster drill.
We always choose Anytime dining, and had our first meal in the Lincoln Dining Room. We had a great waitstaff. Dinner was good. I will say it is time for Carnival to change their menu. The American Feast Table choices are getting a bit blah (then again we cruise about three times a year, so I have a different perspective). Of course, since it was my birthday the waitstaff sang to me and I was delivered a little cake with a candle during dessert. I forgot to get video or pics of that moment.
The Welcome Aboard Show was good. Frankie, our cruise director (the same one we had on the Liberty in October) does a great job. The comedians came out and did their schtick but weren't anything to write home about so we opted not to catch a comedy show this trip.
We spent time in the Red Frog Pub up on the Promenade Deck playing shuffleboard. Dave skunked me every game.
After listening to 80's music on Deck 3, we knocked it out for the day, and went back to our room. It was cleaned with turndown service, and the standard towel animal waiting to greet us.
