threetocruise

Following. We are going on the Escape to Bermuda in July of next year and reading this makes me wish it was this July! Can't wait to read more.

Nachi Cocom is wonderful. The food is delicious, all areas are clean, the staff are friendly and attentive...and it's all inclusive. There's snorkeling right off the beach, nice places to see fish and starfish. We can't wait to go back! Enjoy wherever you decide to go :)

We've only been on Carnival over the last 8 cruises we've been on, except for our last which was a cruise we won on Royal Caribbean. We were happy to try another line and see what they had to offer. We missed Carnival. Not that RC wasn't nice, it was, but there were many things that we liked better on Carnival. We don't mind no candies on the beds or robes in the closet (which is where they stay during our cruises anyway). We like to be able to afford a cruise and on Carnival, we can. We have no complaints.

From Carnival's site:

Carnival highly recommends that all guests travel with a passport valid for at least six months beyond completion of travel (unless otherwise noted). This will enhance the debarkation experience as delays may be expected upon return to the United States for those without one. Additionally, this will enable guests to fly from the United States to meet their ship at a foreign port should they miss their scheduled port of embarkation and allow guests who must disembark the ship before their cruise ends due to an emergency to fly back to the United States without significant delays and complications.

May not be an issue but it couldn't hurt to have a backup ID with her, just in case.

We always prepay and give extra if warranted.

dear carnival,

if you appreciate my continued business and want to show gratitude by giving me a small token of appreciation, thank you. I promise not to whine about whatever gift this may be.

amen!!!

I just got off the Brilliance on Saturday. This particular cruise was a charter so I think things were "weird" because of that. I have to say it was the worst cruise I have ever been on (cruise wise) I still had fun but there were no "activities" and only 2 shows the whole 5 day cruise. I was told it was because it was a charter. The food was bad in the dining room, ended up eating at the buffet 3 out of 5 nights. The ship itself was nice tho.

I felt things were a little weird on this cruise as well (congrats by the way!) This was our first RC cruise and while we liked the ship, we thought that it was a little short on the activities too. We did enjoy our dining room experience food wise, but chose to eat at the buffet the rest of the time. What I really found strange was this: I asked the bartender for a menu of the drinks they can make (Carnival has a menu of drinks that they serve) and was told there isn't a menu because "the prices would change daily." I found that very strange, but they made a good chocolate martini so I stuck with that for the week. The casino seemed a little cramped, but I managed to spend money there lol ;)

January will be our first time on Royal Caribbean (we've only sailed on Carnival). We are excited to be trying another line, but I'm a little nervous now. I'm sure we will have a good time no matter what and it will be nice to have another line to compare.

96 until our first RC cruise!

Yes, it seems it will be a very long time. They were saying that with Irma, that if they got a direct hit, they could be without power for 6 months, but were spared...until now. Praying they won'e be in line for any more catastrophic weather.

Why doesn't everyone just dress they way they would if they were eating at a nicer, upscale restaurant on land? It's pretty much common sense. It wouldn't have killed him to wear a nice pair of khakis instead of short, but I guess if there's not enough drama you have to create it.

160 until Brilliance of the Seas. Our first Royal cruise, can't wait!!!

Dustin was our CD-we were on last week.

On our first cruise we all did the dress up thing. It was fun. But now, we really aren't that into it, especially if we are flying to our port - there's a lot of extra stuff to pack. We get a little dressier but nothing like we did with the gown and heels for me and the suits for my husband and son. Nice slacks and a button down shirt works for them.

We just got off the Glory on Saturday (7/22/17) and we loved it. We have been on it before, but the 6 others in our group never were. 3 had never even cruised before! They couldn't say enough good things about the ship. We didn't run into any problems such as overly drunk people or anything like that. Carnival ships are FUN! They have tons of things to do or you can do nothing at all. There were a lot of young kids on this trip but we never even noticed. If you can get three suites next to each other they can open the balcony doors between and you can have one large balcony. We did that this time and it was fantastic. We held our own pre-dinner cocktail party out there each night. We can't say enough good things about Carnival. And while we want to try different ships, we are afraid they won't be as fun as Carnival. Have a great trip!

5 until the Glory! Tick Tock....:)

I have seen every type of clothing on every night on my cruises. On casual nights my husband and son usually wear a nice pair of khakis and a button down shirt and a nice pair of shoes. I opt for black capris and a nice top and sandals or slip ons. On formal night I will do a maxi skirt or maxi dress, they will wear black pants and a nice shirt. We don't do elegant like gowns or suits, it's just not our thing.

Subscribing! 74 days until we are on the Glory...can't come soon enough. Hope you have/had an awesome cruise!

I always book directly with Carnival. Then watch for a price drop on the fareviewer.

Sure! Decorate the door. It's fun. We do it because we want to. But we do use painters tape to put the decorations up so that we don't leave any residue, and it doesn't.

I love staying onboard in at least one port during our cruises. It's just quieter...more room in the pool/hot tub, shorter lines at the buffet or other restaurants. There's trivia and other stuff to do, but if you're looking for some downtime, this is the time to do it.

Great review. We loved the Splendor so much. And we love Carnival (even though we haven't been on any other line). Glad you had a great time.

We did this two years ago and loved every single minute of it. It was great to have your own private place to get out of the heat and eat or just lounge on the shaded porch and relax. The server we had was just wonderful-attentive and friendly. She was so grateful for a tip that she hugged us when we left. We enjoyed the food, it's not cheap, but not too over the top either. My DH says the next time we go, we are definitely doing that again.

I booked through Carnival and somehow was charged triple the price-there was some kind of mixup when I booked it. But customer service reimbursed me no problem. It ended up being about $40 per person, definitely worth it.

Found this on you tube (I was interested in seeing the size of this room as well). We always opt for an Ocean Suite because we like the extra room inside, the balcony is a nice size as well with an OS. If you're at the top, it looks like no one can look down on you which is nice! Hope you have a great cruise!!!

Our last port: Grand Cayman. We had tentatively booked a snorkeling and stingray excursion as part of another group with someone here on CC. Unfortunately, it was raining once we got into port in Grand Cayman. Rained for a while, pretty hard too. I was having trouble with my emails so I couldn't contact those who I had spoken to about the excursion so I'm not sure they even went out on it. We did take the 5 minute or so tender ride into town once the rain did stop though just to look around and do some shopping. It seems to be your basic touristy shopping experience and we did pick up some nice trinkets just to prove we were in Grand Cayman :). There were at least 3 (I believe 4) cruise ships in this port and we were right by a Carnival ship and a Norwegian. I just loved the way they were lined up-it made for a pretty cool picture. It stayed overcast but there seemed to be a lot of people on a snorkeling excursion right by the pier. The water was surprisingly clear right by where the tenders left us off. We walked around a bit, then headed back to the ship. Since we headed out a little later than usual (around 12 noon), we decided to just relax before dinner which was our second cruise elegant night. I think I finished my book (Gone Girl), DH took a nap and DS was into one of his books. There were lots of things happening round the ship-karaoke, trivia, jewelry sales, things in the art gallery-so if you weren't up for a nap, there was always something interesting to do. Dinner in the dining room was it's usual deliciousness-I would like to personally kiss whomever designed clothing with a) elastic waists and b) a touch of spandex because after our dinners, they were a God send. :) It was Totally 80's with the Whole Notes in the casino lounge so we headed off there but first played classic rock trivia with Adam. Holy crap we are old, lol. My DS is still amazed on how I can know lyrics from songs 30-40 years old but can't remember I need milk at the Shop Rite if it isn't on my list. DH ended up going to his favorite haunt and DS and I hung at the casino until midnight for the big loot draw. He wanted some pizza so off we went to the hard working pizza guys for a late night snack, then bedtime...sadly knowing it we would wake up to our last sea day. :(

Friday:Sea Day

We lounged around for a while before heading off for some breakfast. This time we decided to do the dining room and met some nice people and chatted about our excursions and favorite things to do on the ship. We always ended up being the last people to leave-everyone we met was so friendly and entertaining, it was so interesting to hear about their past travels. Many funny stories. We decided to scope out the pictures and found that there were lovely ones taken at dinner the night before. We decided to purchase those and they also had a nice photo album which was 1/2 price so I purchased that as well because, hey, I need to put these photos in something! They really turned out beautiful. Those plus the 180 or so I took on my own...yeah, I'm going to need a bigger photo album. There was ice carving on the Lido deck, Groove for St. Jude (always a wonderful turn out for them, unfortunately they quickly ran out of Large and XL tee shirts-lol, I would think with Guys Burger Joint onboard they would have ordered triple of those sizes)! Carnival does a wonderful thing for St. Jude which is a great organization so we were glad to be able to be a part of this. We could feel ourselves winding down because we had such a busy week. We decided to take advantage of the pool/hottub/bucket of beer and just relax and enjoy people watching. Everyone was having a wonderful time. We were sure to hit up Guys one last time and the Blue Iguana for yummy tacos.

That night we saw Epic Rock musical which was really good. A day before they had switched the comedians but we didn't get a chance to see the new ones. I like the fact that there was an early PG show and a more adult show later. It gives everyone a chance to enjoy the show. Of course, there was the looping video of debarkation which I watched under duress while we started packing.We would be getting into Miami pretty early and they wanted us to be ready to disembark by 8:30 so it was a good idea not to wait until the last minute. Afterwards, DH hit the piano bar for one last time, DS hit the pizza and I just wanted to find a place to hide out so I didn't have to leave.

Saturday-Back to Miami

Since we had pretty much packed Friday we were able to go get some breakfast and bring it back to the room-We enjoyed our balcony overlooking the port as we had Our Last Breakfast. It was getting close to 8:30 and they were announcing the numbers for debarking. We had decided to keep our bags with us so we could leave whenever. We went down to the Amber lounge and hung out there for a little while; there was a huge line to get off the ship and since our flight wasn't for another 7 hours, what was the rush? Around 9:30 we cleared out, on land after 7 glorious days on the Glory. We quickly caught a cab to MIA and there we waited until our flight back to reality.

Final thoughts:

This was a fantastic vacation. We always have a great time on our vacations anyway, but Carnival cruises are just the best. Honestly, we haven't been on another cruise line so I guess I can't just make that statement, but I can't see how they would be better on any other line. Everyone on board are friendly and hard working. They go out of their way to please. We really enjoyed the Western itinerary although we did decide we like the Eastern one a little better. I found the Wifi service to be pretty quick considering I read stories about how painfully slow it was. I would suggest getting more time than you think you need because you will need it. I used Skype to call landlines home and Whatsapp to text and both worked great. We enjoyed our dining room meals, we had the best servers and the best service. The food on the Lido deck didn't disappoint and thanks to Guys burger joint I ate more hamburgers in those 6 days than I have probably in a whole year-but it was worth it! The only suggestion I would make is that maybe having another snack option at night instead of just those poor pizza guys who are the only game in town after a certain hour and they are busy, busy, busy no matter what time you go there! I guess it's their own fault because the pizza is delish-thin crusted crunchy cheesy goodness...we miss you.

The last cruises we were one we always received a copy of our sign and sale account. This time, you could print it our yourself. Now I'm sure they told us that numerous times, but we didn't print it out. Maybe it was subliminal because I didn't want to know how much we spent onboard lol. In any case, I did contact Carnival when we got home and they did email it to me so if you don't do it onboard, you are still able to get a copy of it once you get home.

I can't say enough good things and can't thank Carnival enough for helping my family create another set of wonderful memories. I can only hope that everyone who goes on a cruise with any cruiseline will be able to create the same wonderful memories with their families.

Thanks for reading my review. I hope it has helped answer any questions or maybe swayed a decision. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will try to answer them for you. Happy sailing!