Our third day on our cruise was spent much like the second, completely at sea.The only difference was that instead of spending our time in Carnival Valor’s Serenity Spa was decided to spend time on our balcony.
The day was filled with napping and reading as we stared out over the big blue ocean.It’s almost impossible to keep your eyes open on a cruise balcony.Between the gentle rocking of the boat and the rhythmic crashing of the seas, you can’t help but fall asleep.
I kept joking with the hubby that when we got home we would be caught up on sleep for a year. Oddly enough, it didn’t last.Here we sit a week later and I’m exhausted. Guess I need another vacation ;)
Since ending it there would be a boring blog post, I decided I would take the rest of the day to explore our cruise ship and do a picture tour for you.
Now before I show you any pictures, I don’t want to get your hopes up about seeing some awe inspiring architecture or modern living spaces.This is not the name of the game for cruise ships.Think instead of the most gaudy, cheesy things you’ve ever seen and multiple that times a hundred.
Take for example, our ship, the Valor, is themed “Heroes and Heroism” which somehow translated into largely an ode to America culminating in a lounge covered with disco lit gold gilded eagle feathers and faked stuff eagles. Anyway, you have been fully warned ;)
We cruised on Carnival’s Valor, a 952 feet, 110,000 ton Conquest Class cruise ship.Aka a ginormous cruise ship with 13 decks.It’s really hard to capture the enormity of these ships but trust me when I tell you it’s overwhelming.So big in fact that the Valor packs on close to 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew members in 1,500 cabins. Like most of the ships that Carnival has built since the 1990s, the Valor contains its cabins on decks 1-2 and 6-9 and its entertainment/dining on deck 3-5 and 9-13 (there are also a few cabins on decks 9-11).
Since I already posted a tour of our room, I’ll skip the tour of the cabin areas and just focus on the common areas starting on the 3rd deck and working my way up. The 3rd deck features some of the most important features of the ship, including the ship’s two main dining areas, the lobby and the theater.
Hubs in the Lobby
Top Down View of the Lobby...See the American Flag Floors :)
View of Elevators in Main Lobby Area
When you enter into the cruise ship, you are met by Valor’s American themed lobby, complete with marble floors designed to mimic the American flag.
To the left of the lobby (or towards the front of the ship), you will find the Ivanhoe Theater, which holds all of the ship’s major shows/entertainment.The theater is fashioned after the medieval era as an ode to its namesake, the novel Ivanhoe. Notice the glittering shields and crests on the curtains.I told you cruises were cheesy!
Throughout the week, the ship’s entertainment staff puts on a variety of shows in this theater including magic shows, Broadway-style musicals and Vegas-style revues. We definitely recommend their award winning 80s show, Far From Over.It was by far one of the most entertaining cruise shows we’ve seen and included some great sing-along 80s tunes (think of a mash up of Madonna/Michael Jackson/Dirty Dancing)
The theater takes up 3 decks, stretching from 3 to 5, and includes two tiers of sitting. The nice thing about Carnival’s theaters is that the seating is usually 2 person banquettes, allowing you to snuggle with your sweetheart without an armrest in the way.
If you are temperature sensitive, I definitely recommend sitting on the upper tier.The views were just as great but the temperature was literally 10 degrees warmer.
Front View of Lincoln Dining Room
Beyond the theater and lobby, you will find Lincoln and Washington Dining rooms, themed of course after the two great American heroes Abe Lincoln and George Washington.We had the pleasure of being seated in the Lincoln Dining Room, which I would highly suggest since it’s located right next to the lobby.The Washington dining room, on the other hand, is located toward the back of the ship.Since Carnival places the kitchen between the Lincoln and Washington Dining Rooms, there’s no way to walk directly from the Washington Dining Room to the Ivanhoe Theater.To get the Theater, Washington Dining Room guests would have to walk up to the 5th deck and walk forward to the front of the ship.It’s not difficult but it can be a tad annoying.
The 4th deck holds the second tier of the Ivanhoe Theater as well as the second level of both dining areas so there’s not a lot to show you of there.
The 5th deck holds the rest of the Ship’s entertainment, besides of course the pools.
Towards the front of the ship, you have the fun shops, which contain duty free jewelry, clothing and boozes.
As well as $15 cold medicine if you happen to catch something from the lady in front of you on the plane. Note to self, bring cold medicine next time.
Next to the fun shop on the starboard side is the Bronx Sports bar (themed after the stupid Yankees).
Beyond the fun shops is the casino, which has slot machines and all the typical Vegas card games.Hubs spends a lot of time in here.I don’t.Smoking is allowed in the Casino so I try to stay away from it as much as possible.But that’s a little difficult because the casino spans the width of the entire 5th deck.So to get from the front of the 5th deck to the back of the 5th deck, you have to walk through the Casino.Just be prepared to hold your breath. 
On the other side of the casino, you’ll find tons of open sitting to left, complete with American flag tables (come on you saw that coming).The right side holds the Java Café, where you can get Starbuck style coffee for a fee, and the Sushi bar.
Beyond the sushi and coffee, you will find the rest of the lounge areas, including:
The Caboose Video Arcade
Club O2 (The Teenagers Club)
One Small Step Dance Club (Adult’s Only Club)
Jeanne’s Wine Bar
Lindy’s Piano Bar We spent about 5 minutes in here until we realized that the piano player was only going to play songs that were older than us.Maybe the midnight show is more upbeat but we found it pretty sleep inducing.
Eagles LoungeWe spent a lot of time here because they put on comedy shows in this lounge.Typically, they have two comedians who perform 4 shows a night, 2 family shows and 2 X-rated shows.All of the comedians we saw were really funny but make sure to get there early.This place fills up fast. 
And finally the Paris Hot Jazz Bar.We still have no idea what happens in the room.
This brings up to the final decks of entertainment, deck 9 through 13, which contain the 24/7 food buffet, the pools and the main outside lounge areas.
Beginning in the back of the boat on the 9th floor, you’ll find the Prometheus pool (aka the adults pool only because it doesn’t have a slide).The pool has both lounge chairs and tables surrounding it.
Beyond the adults pool is Rosie’s Restaurant, the buffet dining area.I’m going to do a post on the dining choices later this week so stay tuned.
Past the buffet are the Argonaut Pool and Dolphin Pool (which connects to the slide).The pools are surrounded by three levels of lounging seating, which all face Carnival’s Seaside Theater.This theater is used to play movies, concerts and ship “game shows.”It’s really loud and busy in this area.So if you like a lot of commotion and partying, this would be your spot.
Beyond these pools at the very back of the ship is the Spa section, which includes the Serenity Spa that I mentioned in the last post as well as the actual onboard spa/salon and the gym.
And that my friends concludes the tour of the entire Carnival Valor ship.There was so much stuff that we didn’t even get to experience most of these places.But we would definitely suggest spending time in the Ivanhoe Theater, the Eagles Lounge and of course our favorite dining spot, the Lincoln Dining Room.
But I can’t leave you today without sharing some more hilariously gaudy features of our ship.
Like these scary gold leaf eagles that were perched outside each elevator.
And then there were the “art” displays of the ship’s heroes.
Some were pretty cool like this….
But others were just straight up bizarre.
Got to love cruise decorating.So what did you think of Carnival’s Valor?
