|
New Carnival Valor Superliner Makes Miami DebutFirst cruise ship to go wirelessBy Phyllis SteinbergCarnival Cruise Line's newest entry into the vacation market is the 2,974-passenger, Carnival Valor, which made its inaugural cruise voyage to the Bahamas on Dec. 15.
As for me, it was a chance to get away from my day-to-day duties and check-out the latest Carnival ocean going vessel. The new Carnival Valor has ship-wide wireless, so guests can bring along their laptops and surf the net anywhere on the ship, which many passengers did. They still have an internet room with computers for those who prefer to just check emails and spend the rest of the day having fun, which is what Carnival tries to provide plenty of options for doing. One of the newest places to celebrate a special occasion on the ship is Scarlett's Supper Club, a reservations-only, steakhouse-style supper club. This intimate restaurant carries an additional charge of $25 per person and features hand-cut dry-aged beef along with other gourmet cuisine. I tried the lobster tail and my companion selected the Chilean sea bass. Both were delicious and beautifully presented on Versace china. A combo played dance music and a singer entertained as we danced between courses. In Scarlett's you can all but forget you are on a nearly 3,000 passenger cruise ship.
The Washington and Lincoln dining rooms were large, yet you never felt that you were in a large noisy area as both restaurants have quiet areas for families and passengers. There was also a pianist playing dinner music to giving the dining room an even more elegant atmosphere.
The evening's activities also included a fabulous Broadway-style stage show with a 12-piece orchestra and a cast of nearly two dozen talented performers. I also made a stop at several bars, including a revolving piano bar, where you can make requests and sing along with the entertainer, a karaoke bar where you can be the star and a coffee bar, where you can try out your favorite café latte. Shopping on board was another way to have fun in the duty-free stores with many bargains garnered from shops around the world.
If you opt for the Eastern itinerary, take the shore excursion to Atlantis on Paradise Island. Atlantis has 11 lagoons full of 50,000 live creatures from the oceans of the world, including giant rays, piranha, barracudas, rainbows of tiny topical fish and sharks. Never have I seen an aquarium bigger or a better presentation of underwater creatures. There is a guided tour at the resort.
For more information about Carnival cruises, call 1-800-Carnival or visit www.carnival.com by Phyllis Steinberg |
|
TM
The three-day, two-night cruise gave many first-time
cruisers an opportunity to try out the shipboard experience and repeat
Carnival cruisers a chance to party on the new "fun ship."
Scarlett's is for adults but the kids also knew right
where to go to have fun. They headed straight for Camp Carnival which is a
separately contained 4,200 square-foot area divided into three age groups,
which has everything from a computer lab and toys to sand painting and candy
making with counselors to surprise numerous entertaining activities.
Exercise gurus and those who just want to have a
state-of-the-art fitness center to work off their extra calories while on
board were having fun trying out all of the latest equipment in the fitness
center. Adjacent to the fitness center was the spa and the beauty salon. The
spa offered a wide range of spa services from facials and massages to the
exotic lime and ginger salt glow and cellutox ocean wraps.
The ship has many dining options including the fun
offerings at Rosie's Restaurant, located poolside on the Lido Deck. I
enjoyed the self-serve breakfast and lunch buffets. The wide variety of
choices on the Lido deck included pasta and meat-carving stations, an Asian
Grill and Deli, with made to order sandwiches. There was also a pizza
parlor offering many different kinds of pizza. A nice feature on this new
ship was a server who wheeled a cart around the Lido area, serving coffee,
tea or water after passengers sat down with their trays. 
With a 24-hour a day pizza bar and numerous dining
options, you would think that the mid-night buffet that has been abandoned
on many cruise lines, wouldn't be necessary. It wasn't. No one was really
hungry, but it was certainly fun. Those that entered the dining room filled
from stem to stern with ice-carvings and everything from elaborate
appetizers to decadent desserts certainly got an eye-full even if they
didn't have room for another bite.
The Carnival Valor will take passengers on 7-day
Eastern and Western Caribbean Cruises. The Eastern Caribbean cruises will
visit, Nassau, The Bahamas; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and St. Maarten,
Netherlands Antilles. while Western Caribbean cruises visit Belize City,
Isla Roatan, Honduras, George Town, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico.
The tropical fish-filled lagoons at Atlantis is a great
way to spend the day in Nassau. There is a straw market in Nassau where
the natives sell their handicraft items. These items make good inexpensive
souvenirs to take home for gifts. However, the prices in Nassau on designer
handbags, shoes and clothing, aren't much different then they are in the
states. Save your shopping time for the port of St. Thomas on an Eastern
Caribbean itinerary and plan to spend the day in Nassau at Atlantis Resort
instead. It's the best thing to see in the Bahamas. Take the children, they
will love looking at all of the interesting sea creatures and exploring the
resort with its own private beach for children.
Cruise line trackers, say that only 16 percent of the
population have ever been on a cruise. If you have never been on a cruise,
Carnival Cruise Lines, with some of the lowest prices in the industry,
offers you a chance to find out how much fun it is to take a cruise.
Carnival pioneered the term, the "fun ship" and "fun" is what most of the
passengers were having in large quantities on the first voyage of the new
Carnival Valor in Miami.