the carnival valor

we had such an amazing time on our caribbean cruise.  it was a great vacation.  we loved all of the ports of call that we visited, and the carnival valor was an incredible ship.

our cruise ship held 2,980 passengers and 1,180 crew members.  there were so many things to do and to see on board.  we enjoyed the numerous pools and hot tubs, saw a ton of different shows in the theatre and the lounges, and of course ate way too much food.  (the food was so unbelievably good!)  there was even a 214-foot long water slide on board the ship too!

we took a ton of pictures while we were on the ship (and a ton of pictures of the food too)!  here are just a few of the photos that we took around the ship . . .

^the view of our cruise ship docked in san juan from our airplane^

 ^a free mango smoothie and a free strawberry-peach smoothie . . .
past guests get cool perks!^

^our private balcony . . . perfect for watching the ship sail
in and out of each port of call^

 ^going down the water slide^

 ^relaxing in one of the many hot tubs^

 ^the main lobby^

 ^a cooking demonstration by four of the carnival chefs^

^our dining room^

 ^all of the food was so good on the ship!^

 ^we loved dressing up for dinner each night, especially the formal nights^

^a few of the towel animals we found in our cabin^

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our caribbean cruise here:
st. thomas, barbados, st. lucia, st. kitts, st. maarten, and san juan

san juan, puerto rico

the first thing we did on our vacation was fly down to san juan, puerto rico.  on the way down to san juan, one of our fights was delayed so we arrived in san juan much later than we originally expected.  once we landed in san juan, we hurried from the airport right to the cruise terminal to check into the ship.  we didn't have any time to explore the town of old san juan before our cruise ship set sail.

however, when our ship docked back in san juan at the end of our cruise, we had some free time since our returning flight home did not leave until later in the afternoon.  after we got off the ship, we had a chance to explore the town of old san juan.  

there is an unbelievably massive fortification system that surrounds the town of old san juan.  while we were in old san juan, we went to the castillo san cristobal fort.  the castillo san cristobal fort dates back to the 1600s, and it was built over a period of 150 years to protect the city from attack.  the fort is the biggest european fort in the americas.  we were absolutely amazed by the intricacy of the fort and how many secret passageways were hidden in the fort.  from the outside, it appeared to be pretty large, but once inside it seemed even larger.  everywhere we turned, it opened up into a new section.  it was really neat to see the fort up close and to walk through that part of history.

while we were walking around the fort, we came across a few different iguanas.  they run all over the place in puerto rico, and they kept catching us off guard every time we would spot one.  we couldn't believe how big they were.  some of them got a little too close for comfort.  needless to say, we were a bit scared!

love, laurie

. . .

you can see more photos from our caribbean cruise here:
st. thomas, barbados, st. lucia, st. kitts, and st. maarten