Overview
This was my first time ever on a cruise and I must say I absolutely loved it. I received the invitation from my buddies, Sam and Tariq, to join on this wonderful excursion on the sea. This cruise was out of the port of New Orleans on Carnival Valor and for my first experience, it was exceptional. I had no idea what to expect aside from the knowledge that there is a bunch of food to enjoy! I’d say a cruise is worth the money spent with so much food to enjoy, fun things to participate in, and just sitting on the deck enjoying the sun and relaxing with gorgeous views of the water around you. It is much more enjoyable with some good friends to spend time with. This cruise made a stop at Costa Maya and Cozumel, and Cozumel presented some great scuba diving!
Costs
The cost of the cruise is dependent on multiple factors. These factors include: Duration of cruise, port of departure, destinations, cruise line chosen, packages purchased, and any excursions you choose to do. For the cruise I took on Carnival Valor in January of 2023, with my friends and I sharing a room it costed about $460 per person after port fees, taxes and prepaid gratuities applied. I wanted to get the wi-fi package to post pictures and communicate with others while I was on the ship, that was $10 per day. I also got the Bottomless Bubbles package which allows you to get unlimited soda and juice on the duration of the cruise. It costed $9.50 per day so if you know you will enjoy soda, it makes it worth the price in my opinion. There are many included food selections among the ship to enjoy. When booking your cruise, see what restaurants the ship has and see what options are included and what options may charge to enjoy. For Carnival’s alcoholic beverage package, I recommend considering will you drink enough to get your money’s worth? It caps out at 15 drinks per day, and averagely the drinks cost between $10-$15. If you will have a drink or two per day, I suggest not getting the package. However, if you know you will definitely have 15 drinks each day, the package is worth it and will save you money.
*Important Notice: If one person in the room gets the alcoholic pass, every adult 21+ in the room will be required to get it as well.*
Days at Sea
A day at sea is pretty interesting and can be spent however you choose. I personally enjoyed pigging out at any and every included meal place on the ship. I ate so much food and enjoyed every minute of eating, relaxing on the deck, returning for more food, getting a soda, eating ice cream and repeating that process. There are many activities to participate in on the ship, pools to take a dip, hot tubs to relax in, bingo, and many other activities that you will find once you get on the ship and find the itinerary it will be following. Of course, you can always just do nothing and relax in the room but I suggest eating some food and finding something to entertain you.
Days at sea offer brunch which is quite nice to enjoy. This is usually offered in the included dining room option for meals. The food here was pretty good and I enjoyed eating with my friends and talking over brunch. Another part I enjoyed was the dining room which was included for dinner. It has a nice menu of pretty good food to enjoy with an appetizer, entree, and dessert option. I truly enjoyed the experience of the cruise, and most of what I did was eat and relax on the ship!
Day at Port
A day at port is typically a lot quieter on the ship. Most people disembark and enjoy the time at the port, but there will be some people who stay aboard. They may stay because of disinterest in the specific port, planning itinerary, or any number of reasons. Through my experience on this Carnival cruise, once the ship is at port, most food options close. There is a chance to eat before the ship gets to port, but at both ports once the ship arrives just about everything closes. If a port doesn’t interest you this is a perfect time to get into a pool or hot tub and enjoy it. I believe there is still an option or two for eating but both days at port for this cruise I disembarked!
Costa Maya
Port of Costa Maya was one I would not mind skipping next time. I did not mind checking it out for the first time, and if I do have this place on another cruise of mine I will probably visit the Mayan Ruins here. However, it is one that did not catch my interest if I am being honest and will try to avoid it for future cruises. It had a decent shopping area at the port, and I enjoyed the selection of cigars and other souvenirs to gather. Outside of the port isn’t too interesting unless you plan on going to the Mayan Ruins or a beach. You can leave the port and from the port I simply walked to the beach that was nearby and swam for a couple of hours. There are taxis available, but I decided to walk past them and walk to Mahahual Beach, which was roughly a 40 minute walk. The beach was nice with very clear water, but very crowded.
In the port there is a pool and restaurants to enjoy. There is also a spot with flamingos that I enjoyed and allows some good pictures of them. I do look forward to enjoying the ruins if I come back to Costa Maya.
Cozumel
My day in Cozumel was a day to go Scuba Diving! I did tell my friends that I was going to go scuba diving in Cozumel and it would be the main thing I wanted to do. I won’t lie it was tough finding a company to do some dives during the time the ship would be at port, but I managed to find a way to get on board and enjoy the underwater world! There is quite a lot to do in Cozumel from exploring ruins, making way to a beach, spending the day on a boat, eating at some restaurants, or in my case, spend the day doing something I absolutely love the most, Scuba diving! Before this cruise, Cozumel has been on my list to dive, as I’m sure it is for other divers as well. I must say the diving was incredible! The two dives I did here were drift dives and the marine life was absolutely beautiful. I will definitely return to Cozumel for more scuba diving in the future.
This first dive we went to a depth of 85 feet. Some beautiful formations and coral were observed as well as various fish. About mid-way through the dive, I could see a sea turtle swimming at about 100 feet deep and got a picture of it. I was not expecting to see a sea turtle on this dive but that alone made these dives amazing. During my safety stop back to the surface, I had to get this mesmerizing picture! (The one with bubbles in the distance.) Below is a YouTube video I posted of the 85 ft dive if you’d like to watch it!
On the second dive, we got to a depth of 65 feet, and this dive presented more marine life than the first dive. I enjoyed seeing the turtle and was hoping to see another on this second dive, but I was happy just to be in the water scuba diving again! On this dive, I came across a shimmering barracuda, stealthy ray, and more beautiful formations. I enjoy scuba diving and highly recommend anyone to try it out. It allows for such beautiful views and such an amazing experience!
Scuba diving Cozumel was amazing and while I have so many places on the list to dive, I will definitely return to Cozumel for more diving! Maybe next time here I can see the ruins and go diving for a chance to see some Eagle Rays! After the dives, I did walk around for a bit and enjoy the scenery on land. There were some restaurants but I didn’t want to spend money on food since I’d be able to eat on the ship shortly.
The device I used to take the pictures above and videos posted on Youtube was the Akaso Brave6 Plus. It was my first time doing so and I thought the pictures and videos came out pretty well. The one thing I wish I would have done better was turn the auto sleep off for the camera since it did that a time or two and I wasted battery life turning it on multiple times under water. That was my fault though, it does also have a nice app to use for uploading the pictures and videos taken over wi-fi or through USB to a laptop/computer. I recommend using this camera for your adventures around water.
If you like what you see, please leave a like. Also, please leave some feedback on how this could be better or if there was something you enjoyed! Thanks for checking this out and as always, It’s Turtle Time!
Leave a Reply