Back from our cruise!!

We had a blast on our first cruise!! We are going to do a few posts that may take us a few days since the girls are sick with the flu. Pay back I guess from being gone for the week. I will have LOTS of pictures, but I have to wait to use the other computer with the pictures on it. I guess that will keep you coming back looking for more right?!?!?
And without further nonsense here we go.........

Our First Cruise 12-12-10 on the Valor

Day 1: GETTING ON THE BOAT

Steve and I left super early in the morning from our home in Alabama and traveled to the Atlanta airport to catch our flight into Miami. The kids were all asleep and with hugs & kisses we left our three little girls and headed out for the week. Bless my Dad who was the one that stayed with them for the week. The drive to Atlanta was great and no problems getting the rental car turned in (even though we weren’t even listed on the car rental). Our flight was on time and we even got in early to Miami.
The Miami airport was great and easy to get through. We had our bags within minutes. I changed into warmer weather clothes and then got our luggage tags on our two bags. There wasn’t a line for taxis either and we were on our way to the port well before 10 am. Our taxi driver was amazing! He didn’t have a problem stopping at a little gas station for us to pick up our sodas and waters for the week. What a super fast ride with a great driver! We were soon at the port!

Getting into the port for the Valor was super easy! We got through the first line and walked into the waiting area. We grabbed a boarding pass and were in group 2 to get on the boat!! I was super excited by this time!! Getting our sign and sail cards (basically a debit type card for your trip) was super easy and we put some cash on our cards to be ready once on board. Then it was time to wait to get on the boat! We finally got on the boat right before 11 am. The only hold up was that there were 13 people still on the boat from the cruise that had just came in. **When they tell you to get off, don’t go run and hide! They will find you!!**

We had a little line to get on the boat once our number was called, but we took our picture and walked to the line that led us to the Valor! I was super excited and could not wait to hear the 'bing' for the first time (the noise that sounds when they log you in). We smiled for our picture and were on the boat! We were carrying our drinks, my purse, Steve’s carry on bag, and the bag with the tux and my formal. It was a lot to carry around the boat, but it didn’t stop us from walking around and getting lunch. We headed strait for the Mongolian grill since we heard that the lines for that would be longer in the week. It was a great lunch and then it was time for the first of many trips for ice cream cones!

At 1 pm after walking around for a bit we headed up to the Spa for the tour. We loved it, but thought the prices were way too high for us. One of the ladies doing the facial stuff was a little rude too, but I was not going to let it ruin my first day since what she said was directed to me (it was about my pores being big or something like that). The 'teaser' neck massages were awesome and finally it was time to get to our room, drop off our stuff, and explore!

We were on Lido deck in room #9222 with a balcony! Let me tell you it was super worth it, especially for our first day at sea. It was decorated with the Happy Anniversary decorations. It was so much fun to see my husband when we got into the room for the first time. He thought that Carnival had done it since we were sailing for our 10th anniversary and his birthday. I had done this many weeks in advance and it only took me about 4 times to get it done as a surprise for him! I was so happy to pull one small surprise for him. The room was great and a good size for the two of us. We dropped off our stuff and went to look around the boat some more.

We had a meet and greet at 4pm for some of the folks that I knew from the cruise boards and there were a few people there, but we wanted to see the sail away so we went up another deck and watched as we sailed out from Miami! It really was a lot of fun. I am not sure how we missed the big party, but we were just wandering around the ship most of that day.

Our luggage got to our room rather quickly. We got one bag and took the time to put everything away while we had the chance. By the time we had done that our other bag was outside of our room waiting for us. Both bags were there and very quickly put away and we were all settled in for the week.

We had a late dinner at 8:15pm and that worked out alright. We were seated at a table for 4. I would have liked a larger table, but it is what it is and I wasn’t going to complain. I thought that it was a little rude, but a couple did come close to sitting with us, but before she got there she said rather loudly “I requested a table for TWO!!” She promptly walked away with her husband and we never saw them again. Steve and I had a great dinner with our wonderful waiter, Made. He was very attentive and always was looking out for us during the meals that we were there for.

We did have the melting cake the first night because everyone has said it was soooo good, but let me tell you that first night it was nasty! I didn’t know how anyone really loved it at all, but thank goodness later in the week it tasted much better and I really did fall in love with it. My meal that first night was the spare ribs and since no one else was at our table, I had no problems picking them up with my fingers and enjoying my food! YES! I licked my fingers when I was done too! They were that good.

The rest of the night was spent just trying to get to know our way around the ship and taking it all in! We did write to our kids on the boards that night and that is my only complaint of the Valor. Having to walk through the cigar bar to get to the internet. Not so much fun, but we did it and got good with holding our breath.

Day 2: THE ROCKIN' DAY AT SEA

Well my day until 3 pm was spent in the room trying to sleep and not throw up any more. The boat was rocking way bad and even half the crew was sick from the choppy water. Of course my husband was feeling great, so he is going to do the day two review when he is done with work.

DAY 2 Review by STEVE

Day 2 was actually a blast for me. Alicia failed to mention that it WAS my birthday, so I was not about to let the rockin boat ruin my day! I have to admit I was a little sick when I first woke up, but I quickly thought that if I could just eat something I would feel better. That was where it got difficult. I was hoping to get Alicia to go with me, but she was already having troubles and before I knew it I was rushing to the bathroom, emptying the ice from the bucket, and letting Alicia refill it with the previous day's entrees. I wanted to stick around, but I was hungry and did not want to get myself sick watching her, so I headed out. Alicia was getting close to being asleep again anyway, so I went to breakfast around 9am.

Breakfast was great. I had an omelet with all the fixings, chocolate milk, and a sticky bun with pecans. YUM! As I wandered the deck I began to feel like we were in a battle . Only this battle was not against another ship. The waves were really bad. Later on I found out that the waves ranged from 7-10 feet, and there were many moments where we were up in the air crashing against the water as we were zooming past Cuba. There were very few crew members out wandering around, but instead of selling things, they were handing out little blue bags as more and more people began to not feel well either. I tried to avoid speaking to people since none of them looked like they were wanting to meet someone new anyway. I also grabbed some toast and a green apple for Alicia, but funny enough, as I was approaching the door to go inside, the wind grabbed the toast and tossed it overboard. DANG! She did get the apple though!

I knew it was bad as I started seeing crew members getting sick too. The gentleman who helped with our bags and cleaned our rooms was sick among others near the rooms. After breakfast I went back to the cabin to see how Alicia was doing, hoping she was getting better, but I was wrong! So I grabbed the list of events for the day and started planning out my day and deciding on things to do. One of the first events was a presentation by "Goose" where he was explaining what to expect on a cruise as well as going over some of the main events for the week. I thought it would be good to attend since I had not been on the cruise boards for the past 9 months like Alicia had been.

It was a great overview and gave me some really good ideas in regards to what I was wanting to do for the rest of the day. There was another meet and greet that morning, so I thought I would go on behalf of Alicia to meet anyone who might show up. There were only about 5 people, and all of them had significant others that were not present due to the prevailing sickness that had overrun most of us on board. Plus, I was way younger than anyone that was there, and did not want to just sit there and stare at the ocean and make comments about the waves and cruises that I was on before and "I remember when" stories (mainly because this was my first cruise, and I would have nothing to say!)

From there I went to have lunch. I decided to try the pizza since I was told it was amazing, but I was not all that impressed. So I skipped that and went to explore the other foods and just had some meat/veggies on rice. I went back to the cabin to let Alicia know what I had done up to that point, but she was asleep, so I went to my next adventure: DISCO!

The Disco dancing was actually pretty fun. Since it was extremely wavy, it was kind of funny as those of us that were there were not only trying to learn the moves, but were also just trying to keep from falling down. We did pretty good and I had a lady that was there take my phone and record me doing some of the learned moves. I am not sure how to post it yet, so I guess I will have to share that at a later time. I also took some time to explore all the levels and to really learn where things were so as we prepared for ship activities, I would know exactly where to go (which helped tremendously throughout the week!)

By this time Alicia was feeling a bit better. The breeze on the deck was really refreshing, and so I finally talked her into coming out on the deck. I think that helped her feel a little better. I was really wanting her to feel better for sure so that we could enjoy our scheduled dinner at the steak house for my birthday. Plus, we were getting all dressed up. That was actually fun since I had a nice tux with a matching hot pink vest/tie combo to match Alicia's dress. I couldn't wait! She looked stunning and needed a stud to join her!

The steakhouse was amazing, and I got a giant cheesecake the size of my head (literally!) It was ginormous! The surf and turf was great too, but I think I definitely like crab better than lobster. Just my preference I guess. We also had some of that peregrino water which was pretty good. From there we went to a "show" that evening and retired so that we could be ready for our first stop: the Cayman Islands!