Staying Safe aboard a Cruise Ship

Every summer, millions of individuals take a cruise.  The majority of those individuals have a memorable experience.  Over the past few years, there have been reports of missing persons and cruise ship crime.  While it may seem like the cruise ship industry has a problem, the reality is that they do not. Cruise ship accidents are few and far between.

Despite the fact that you are safe aboard a cruise ship, you should still take precautions to protect yourself, your family, and your belongings.  There are a number of steps that you can take.  Most of these precautions are simple and can be done with little or no effort.  Despite being simple, these precautions could keep you more safe and your finances in check when you are on a cruise.

Many individuals believe that cruise ship safety should begin once they board the ship; however, it should begin well in advance.  When traveling on a cruise ship, it is likely that you will visit foreign countries.  In the event of a mistake or disaster, you are encouraged to have all of your important documents on hand. These documents should include your passport and driver’s license.  Before boarding your cruise ship, you are encouraged to make copies of all of these documents.  In addition to the originals, you should carry a copy with you and leave the other at home.

When you finally board your cruise ship, there are a number of steps that you should take to ensure your safety.  These steps include familiarizing yourself with the cruise ship.  Today’s most popular cruise ships are large in size.  It may take some time to examine the ship, but you are still encouraged to do so.  In addition to physically seeing the ship, it is advised that you request a map.  This map should be carried with you at all times; it may come in handy if you lose your way.

Familiarizing yourself with your cruise ship is important, but so is familiarizing yourself with other passengers.  You do not have to be outgoing or social to accomplish this. Simply keeping an eye out for individuals that appear to be shady or mysterious is a great way to protect yourself.  If you were on land, it is likely that you would avoid individuals that make you feel uncomfortable.  The same should apply aboard a cruise ship.
 
When walking around a cruise ship, you are advised not to travel alone.  As with land, traveling with others is likely to reduce or eliminate your chances of becoming a crime victim.  If you must move around the ship alone, you need to inform a number of individuals where you will be headed and when you expect to return.  In the event that something does happen, a relative or friend should know exactly where to find you.

When on a cruise ship, your personal safety should be your first concern.  In addition to personal safety, the safety of your belongings should also be important.  If you are traveling with expensive luggage or large sums of money, you may want to take extra precautions.  Before you leave home, you way want to consider leaving your expensive belongings behind.  Most cruise ships will not reimburse their passengers for lost money or belongings; therefore, if you can’t afford to replace it, you might not want to bring it.

When it comes to theft, cash and credit cards are often the most sought after items. Instead of carrying a purse or a wallet, you are encouraged to carry a money pouch.  To offer the utmost protection, you may want to obtain a money pouch that can be worn around your neck and tucked into your shirt.  These pouches often make it impossible for thieves to strike.

In the event that you are unable to use a money pouch or you left yours at home, you are urged to divide up your money.  Keeping your money in multiple locations may provide you with financial protection if a theft does occur.  If you must use a purse, you are encouraged to keep it with you at all times.  Women and men, with wallets, are urged to keep their wallets in their front pockets.
 
Cruise ships are exciting and, for the most part, very safe. With a few simple precautions, you can safely enjoy your vacation aboard a cruise ship without fretting over the safety of yourself and your belongings.

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June 23 Valor Review Part Five, Entertainment

Entertainment:
Full Review
In general the stage shows are OK for a small stage production in my opinion of a quality that would rank somewhere etween a local Community College and a local big city theater production. The Welcome Aboard show the first night was pretty good. The singers were rarely offkey of pitchy and the ship dancers were actually quite good. The dance thing is what my 9yo daughter really enjoys as an aspiring dancer. Through the cruise she took every oportunity to speak with a dancer about how she liked their routines. Each dancer my daughter got to speak with was very welcoming and personable, very nice group.

Night two was a show called Nightclub Express, night three was the Liar's Club and the Marriage games. The other passengers selected to play along were very good, funny. Night four, St Thomas night, the Valor brought onboard an entertainer who performed Live Motown. He was very good and his name was Marcus Anthony. Night five, Antigua was a show "More Than Magic" with Rand Woodburry. This show was quite good but what made it very good was the guests who participated. If I were texting it would be LMAO funny. Night six, Tortola, was the Gravity Defying Comedy of Dana Tison. This was just OK. Night seven was the stage show Far from Over. It was decent Valor band and dancer production, better the the Dane Tison show. Finally on night 8, Nassau, was the Carnival Legends show. Except for Goose and some of his cruise staff cross-dressing parts of the show, the guest participation segments were actually very good. We surelay had some guests that could belt out songs. Over all, considering the small stage production, the entertainment I would give a B- rating to.

Punchliners: Over this 8 night cruise we were entertained by four comedians in the Eagles Nest lounge. The first half of the cruise the comedians were Al Romero and Seth Buckwold. Each did a family friendly show and later in the evening did and adults only show. Al Romero had just an OK family show but his Adult show was much better, his material was more fitting with crude humor and language. Seth Buckwald was better in the family version than the adult only version. The one iritating thing about Seth was that each set he started with the exact first couple jokes. At mid cruise two new comedians were brough on board,Jorge Solano and Jerry Goodspeed. JOrge was traditional stand up and very funny in his routine about marriage and relationships but Jerry kind of stole the show compared to the other three comedians. Jerry is a ventiloquist and honestly I was not too keen on seeing the show having been to Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator shows but in all honesty Jerry was so much more funny. It wasn't the material, but what made is set so much more funny was the guest participation and a minor prop failure which had everyone rolling with laughter. The Punchliners I would give B rating.

June 23 Valor to Eastern Caribbean Part Four

Camp Carnival
Full Review

Camp Carnival:My son is 11 years old and my daughter is 9 and both had good times with the youth program staff. Each made friends quickly and they would decide which activities they would participate the evening before. The times that did not appeal to my son he would hang with some of his pals at the sports deck and play some hoops then get ice cream, then do a Camp Carnival scavenger hunt and get ice cream, then do some video games and get ice cream. The camp had two special nights for this age group for a fee. One night was a Mardi Gras night which went from 10:00 pm to midnight and the other is a late night party which goes from 10:00pm until 3:00am. Both kids had good times with the youth program. I would say my son attended about 50% of their activities and my daughter about 75%. Each was authorized to sign themselves in and out of the program.

I would give the Camp Carnival a b+ for my 9 year old daughter and a B- for my 11 year old son. Check out the Camp Carnival Activity schedule for 9-11 year olds Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

June 23 Valor to Eastern Caribbean Part Three

The Food
Full Review

Lincoln Dining Room:I cannot say enough good things about the food we sere served in the Lincoln Dining room. The Exec Chef realy has his 'A' game going on. Now I am no foodee and make no claims to be but I enjoy meals that are well prepared and flavored. While nothing arrived to the table pipinig hot, all meals were fine for me. We vacationed in Maine last summer and no disrepect to the Mainers but the Maine lobster that I had on the first elegant night was by far the best lobster that I have had hands down. My wife had the prime rib which was also near perfect. Each dinner was very good.

We book with the Your Time Dining (YTD) and earlier I had mentioned the first night service was rather slow, mostly due to a new wait team not yet in sync with each other. The next night we asked for another section and were seated in Calixto's area. Calixto and his team of Jose and Tsolt (pronounce jolt) were simply excellent. They were all on the same page and the progression of the meal was well orchestrated. We asked for Calixto each night from that point forward and with the exception of two night where his section was booked, we never experienced a wait of moe than 10 minutes. The two nights that we just missed getting into his section we were lucky to be seated in Cornelia's section. She and her team are also very good.

Over all I would give the Lincoln Dining room food an A and the service an A+.

Lido Buffet:With four exceptions, the Lido buffet was just OK. Not bad but not memorable either. The exceptions to that are the Made to order Omellete station, the Burrito Bar, the Mongolian Wok and the Fish and Chips (deck 10 aft behind the Lido buffet). My favorite was the Mongolain Wok, your choice of fresh veggies, meat and sauce that is stir fried right in front of you. Hot, fresh and very flavorful. Number two on my favorite list is the burrito bar where you pick the ingredients and the chef makes your burrito for you served with fresh tortilla chips and choices of salsa. My son hit this station up so frequently that the chef would just ask him how many and set my son up with his fav. The fish and Chips area is a little hidden and you can miss it if you don't know about it. The seared tuna on a slice of watermelon is awesome and their fish and chips are very good, not greasy as in some stateside fast food chains.

I do have one big pet peeve with the Lido buffet though. They have signs at the entrances stating that to enter one should have on dry clothes and not be barefoot. I wish Carnival would enforce this. Each day there were shirless men in just their swin trunks barefoot in the buffet lines and women in only thier bikinis also serving themselves food. Cover up for goodness sake. No one wants to be in the buffet line behind someone still dripping from the pool, bare foot and with no shirt on.

I would grade the Lido buffet as a C becasue it was just ok but the four exceptions all earned an A.

Pool Side Grill and Pizza:The poolside grill was also pretty good and constantly had fresh french fries, hamburgers and hotdogs available and all the accompanyments such as sauteed mushrooms, chili, nacho cheese and sauerkraut. The pizza station had some decent calzones. The pizza was just ok.