Carnival Valor - E Caribbean review

Here's a link to my blog post in case it's easier for you to read that way: http://sunshinenwine.blogspot.com/2012/05/carnival-valor-eastern-caribbean.html

We left out of Miami and went to Antigua, Tortola, St. Thomas, and Nassau.

From my blog:

Had a great dinner in the Steakhouse on the first night as expected, and the service staff were amazing as usual throughout the entire cruise.  We went to four ports, but since I don't have much to say about Nassau, I'm not including it here.

Here are a few tips about Valor:
Cabin 6373 and the two on either side are right above where the band plays in the casino.  The room is super loud.  Be sure not to book near this area.

Cabin 7440 is a corner room with a huge wrap-around deck just large enough for 20 or so people to hang out. 

The Aft pool, Prometheus, is adults only and right next to the pizzaria.

The Serenity deck is in the front of the boat and only has jacuzzis, no pool.

Port Rundown:
St. Thomas - Sapphire Beach
Hopped a cab (JR AKA the "Road Runner" was our driver - he was great) and road out to Sapphire Beach - about 30 minutes or so.  Cost is $10pp one-way.  We took our snorkeling gear with us, rented a chaise ($7), and ordered a burger and fries from Banana Cabana.  We had a great time snorkeling!  Saw the sea turtles that live in the grass on the left side of the beach and also a very large spotted ray.  Overall, highly recommend Sapphire Beach.  We ended our day with a short trip to see other parts of the island on our way back to the ship.

Antigua
We booked the Xtreme Circumnav with Adventure Antigua, and it was totally worth the money!  The website already gives you a great description so I won't rehash it here.  I will, however, say a few things.  First, we were getting pretty antsy waiting for them to pick us up to start the tour, but then we realized that they picked up a resort guest first.  This put them a few minutes behind the scheduled time they told us originally, but it wasn't bad at all.  Second, they have snorkel gear if you don't have your own.  Third, if you are prone to motion sickness, DO NOT go on this tour.  The Atlantic side of the island is very bumpy (8 ft swells when we were there).  Fourth, this tour makes a stop at Sting Ray City, which is out in the middle of the Caribbean on a sand bar.  The rays are VERY "friendly". 

The crew was great, the water and snorkeling areas beautiful, the rock formations spectacular, and the boat ride awesome.  If you choose this excursion, be prepared for an adventurous and memorable day.

The Baths on Virgin Gorda (from the port of Tortola)
If something makes me upset, I will tell you.  So here goes the bad news before the good.  We took Speedy's Ferry from Tortola to the Baths.  I don't know if there are other viable options, but I would look at them before doing Speedy's again.  The total cost round trip per person is $38pp (incl ferry pass and taxi).  A large group of us from our Cruise Critic roll call board did this excursion independent from Carnival, so we wanted to make sure to get there early so we could all get on the ferry.  The first ferry out was supposed to leave at 7:45am, but the office didn't even open until 7:45ish.  Our ferry boat didn't show up to the dock until 8:30am (45 minutes late).  Once we were loaded, some of us went upstairs and inside.  The room was mildewy, the AC made me feel like I was going to start growing spores in my lungs, and the seats smelled like a wet dog.  The ride is rough anyway, but add that to a not-so-great atmosphere, and half the room got up to go outside before they were sick.  Not so different on the way back, only this time we sat upstairs but outside.  Much better.  From other members of our group, downstairs was only slightly better.  Did I mention that the ferry was late getting back to Tortola?

The taxi ride to The Baths was crowded but nothing crazy.  The Baths themselves are simply amazing.  We took our snorkel gear with us - definitely suggest doing this.  There are beach areas on either side of the rocks (boulders? small planets?) and plenty of places to snorkel.  Please be aware that this excursion can be tough if you have trouble moving around on flat land.  There are rocky, uneven paths up/down to The Baths, and The Baths "tour" requires so careful footwork and a little crawling and climbing.

Things to consider: take snorkeling gear if you wish, but leave the rest of your stuff on the beach before going through the rocks; wear good water shoes not flip flops; take a waterproof camera.