Glory to New England & Canada Synopsis 10/8/2011

Wife and I along with my Brother & his Wife sailed on the Carnival Glory out of New York on Oct. 8th. This is our 3rd cruise as a group (wife & my 7th cruise over all)

We drove from the DC area up to NY in about 5 hours. Reached the cruise terminal parking lot around 10:30am. ($210 to park for the week, thanks NY!) In the terminal & processed by 11am. By 11:45 am we were on board!

After a quick stop to the customer service desk to request that our balcony dividers by opened, we settled in on the Lido deck for lunch. At 1:30 our rooms were ready.

This was our view of the city as well as an NCL ship, from our balcony

We set sail promptly at 4pm. A beautiful day in New York! 80 degrees and sunny all day. We headed topside, grabbed a few drinks, and enjoyed the sail away out of New York.

The Freedom Tower (under construction)

Statue of Liberty

As we approached the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, another Cruise Critic member took this photo of the Glory sailing past their ship, RCCL's Explorer of the Seas......

Day 2, Boston Next......

Oliver

Before we reached Boston, my brother decided to enter the "Mixology" contest held up on Deck 9 mid. This is where you can enter your most favorite drink concoction to be judged by the Carnival Glory bar staff. If you win, not only will you get some free drinks on the house, but your own concoction will be the featured drink all week (at $7.75).

Anyway, four contestants were picked (my brother, one of them)

Brother,mixing up his favorite The "BLD"

Not a winner, but this was fun to watch!

Getting close to 2pm, so we headed back down to our balconies to watch us sail into Boston.

Another beautiful weather day! 83 degrees in Boston and not a cloud in the sky. We debarked around 2:45pm. We had to get a special debarkation "Pass" to be able to leave the ship after it cleared security. Otherwise, we were not allowed to leave the ship until 3:30 or so. I was told that this was to prevent a huge crush from leaving all at once. There were a limited number of passes, so if you got in line, you were given one.

We took a Taxi to Faneuil Hall, wanted to do a little shopping. Well, actually, Brother needed to purchase a new camera. Because he left he regular camera in his car PARKED IN NY!

Faneuil Hall area was PACKED with people. I've never seen it so busy. Could have been because of the great weather. After strolling around for a while, we headed to the Union Oyster House. This is one of my most favorite restaurants anywhere. The best chowder I've ever had. We planned to have a cup of chowder and that's all, but a plate of fried oysters, two more plates of mussels, and we were stuffed! Needless to say we didn't make it to dinner that night.

Union Oyster House

We returned to the ship around 7pm. Wife and I headed up to the Serenity area and enjoyed a hot tub to ourselves and a great view of the Boston skyline all lit up!

When we returned to our room we found this towel animal....

I STILL don't know what it is!!!

We left Boston at 10pm, a beautiful evening. We ordered some veggie snacks from room service, and had drinks on our two balconies until very late. :)

Portland Maine Next....

Oliver

Some notes about the ship....

One of the more refreshing things I noticed aboard the Glory was the fact that every crew member, from bar staff, room attendant, waiters, etc. they ALWAYS had a smile, and ALWAYS had a "hello" or "how are you" greeting. Never a sour face.

Our cabins were on Deck 6 aft. A long walk to the Golden restaurant each night, as we had Anytime Dining. I love ATD, we've had this option 3 times now. After our 2nd night, we elected to ask for "I. Made" and his staff to keep serving us for the rest of the cruise.

But, being on Deck 6 aft put us just a quick elevator ride to the Lido Deck, and the Red Sail Buffet. We were also above the Photo Shop, so, no noise from below. We ate in the Main Dining room for breakfast every morning, less people and better service, I like this. Lunch, well we were off the ship usually during this time, but we did order up some Reuben sandwiches from room services (Tipped the delivery person $2) ---- The Reuben's were quite good.

We went to only two shows, the first nights variety show (just OK), and the 3rd nights comedy show (a little better than OK).

Early in the morning (Monday morning now) as we were heading to Portland, we spotted several whale spouts, and a few whale tails. Could see them from our balconies. That was neat. We arrived in Portland Maine around 9am. Another beautiful day with temps again in the 80's.

Friends of our parents live in Portland, so they were our Hosts for the day. They picked us up right outside the cruise terminal and took us all around the city. One of our requests was to visit the Portland Head Lighthouse.......

Portland Head Lighthouse

I've never been to Portland, such a beautiful area.

Another request we had was to eat some lobster. After our tour of the city, we returned to our hosts home, were they had prepared Lobster Rolls. Now typically a lobster roll sub, has some lobster (usually shredded) with maybe tomatoes, lettuce, etc. They had boiled up real lobsters, shelled them, and put large lobster CHUNKS in the rolls. FANTASTIC!

Our hosts dropped us off in town so the ladies could do a bit more shopping. By 4pm we walked to the cruise gates. The line to get to security was a block long. Followed by another line to board the ship itself. It was a good 45 min before we finally boarded. (Only one gangway was used) Ah, well such a beautiful day, we got on board, and headed to our balconies for snack & drinks. Ahhhh!

We left Portland at 6pm.

St John Canada Next......

Oliver

After leaving Portland, dinner that night (Monday) was Elegant night. Which means....... more lobster! Yes, I did have 2 plates of lobster.

We enjoyed the new Carnival "Did Ya Ever Try....." special appetizer selections. One night I tried Frog Legs, they were quite good. My brother tried Shark, I passed on that! We both tried the Alligator "Balls" --- uh, kind of interesting. (Do they really have balls?)

We are also big fans of the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. I ordered this dessert with 2 helpings of ice cream (and a glass of milk). However, in the beginning of the week the "melting" portion of the cake was very ---- , well ---runny. It was warm, but was almost like soup. As the week progressed the "soup" became more "pudding -ly", which is how I like it.

Also after boarding the ship in Portland, we played a round of mini golf up on Deck 12. You could only do this while in port, as it was way to windy (and chilly) while we were sailing. After we finished our game, apparently the word was out, as it seemed that the rest of the passengers came up to play.

Oliver

St. John Canada

Arrived (now Tuesday) in St. John around 8am. Partly Cloudy skies, no rain but noticeably cooler (in the 60's)

Today we wanted to do a little shopping and stroll around the town. After we left the ship we headed to the Shopping area. Most of St. Johns shopping area's are linked together via elevated pedestrian walkways. So it is possible to walk from shopping mall to shopping mall without ever going outside.

Before we stepped inside, I shot this picture of the Glory and this lighthouse.

Lots of shops, lots of levels of shopping and one library?

Around lunch time we stumbled upon a tiny little pub ---- "Pete's Pub". They had Moosehead Beer on tap. Love Moosehead, but it's not available on tap in the US. So we downed a pint (and then some). Pete was a real talker, probably would make a great Canadian tour guide! Anyway, I asked Pete for some suggestions as to what other interesting things we could see (within walking distance). So, wife and I set out on foot to do some more exploring, while brother & his wife continued there consumption of Mooshead Beer.

Found this lovely church within a residential area.

Lots of old architecture all around St John. And very friendly people, all around.

We returned to the ship by 4pm, ordered up some snacks from room service, and were soon joined by brother & wife. As we started pulling away from the pier, we were serenaded by the St John bagpipe player. Yes, I know, everyone's seen it on you tube, but its still pretty cool to see & hear him in person playing Amazing Grace.

Oliver

Enjoying your review, Oliver! We love Moose on tap in Saint John as well.:cool:

Enjoying your review, Oliver! We love Moose on tap in Saint John as well.:cool:

I've had "regular" Moosehead beer by the bottle, by there is quite a difference in the taste of tap Moose as to bottled Moose. I was surprised.

Oliver

Hello Oliver, I'm enjoying your review very much. DH and I are booked for 10/6/12 on the same cruise. His last cruise was in 1992 and he hasn't been willing to try another one till now. I have cruised with friends but I'm so glad he decided to go again. Thanks for your review and the pictures! Nancy

Wednesday is our first sea day. I actually was able to sleep in today waking up at 8am instead of my typical 6am. I like getting up early on board. There are fewer people up, which lets me stroll the ship and take video and pictures. However this cruise had a large number of elderly passengers (we are in our 50's -- they were 70's and beyond) So this large elderly population were already up at 6am waiting for the buffet to open. Not only the buffet, but in the main dinning room too. On the flip side though, we generally eat dinner around 7:15pm, most of the elderly passengers had already eaten during the early seating.

So, I hurried up to the buffet to bring down some coffee for the wife. (I did this each morning for her, awwww!) Then the four of us headed to the main dining room around 9am.

I am not a big fan of the design of the Glory. You cannot get from bow to stern on decks 3 & 4 as the Golden dining room (in the center of the ship) blocks your path. This was also true on the Freedom which we cruised last Nov. 2010. You think I would have figured out how to traverse the Glory after a week on the Freedom (exactly the same ship design) --- but NO, I would always head down the wrong set of stairs. I finally let my wife lead the way for dinner. Yes --- I am directionally challenged!

Our sea day weather was cool (upper 50's) with mostly cloudy skies. So, sitting out on deck was not in the cards. ---- But we did play cards (no pun intended) When we boarded I asked the customer service desk for a deck of cards, yep, they had some! So, a few games of hearts up played up in the Fish n Chips dinning area, brought us to the lunch hour.

Wife loves fried oysters, and I love the bouillabaisse soup served in the Fish n Chips. So we ate lunch here. The rest of the sea day we spent just "chillin". I played some roulette (won $40 and stopped there) --- Yeah, I'm a BIG time gambler! And did some reading in the Aft covered pool area too.

Next: Halifax

Oliver

Hello Oliver, I'm enjoying your review very much. DH and I are booked for 10/6/12 on the same cruise. His last cruise was in 1992 and he hasn't been willing to try another one till now. I have cruised with friends but I'm so glad he decided to go again. Thanks for your review and the pictures! Nancy

Nancy, I hope the weather for your cruise next year is as fantastic as ours was! That really made the cruise for us. I had read all summer of how the Canada ports were foggy, cool, and rainy, and dreaded the thought of sloshing around in raincoats & umbrella's.

Oliver

The lay out of Glory confounded me all week. I finally figured out you can walk through the MDR so I did whenever I miscalculated and ended up stuck there. Very frustrating.:rolleyes:

The lay out of Glory confounded me all week. I finally figured out you can walk through the MDR so I did whenever I miscalculated and ended up stuck there. Very frustrating.:rolleyes:

We went through the dining room once. But all the staff gave us the Stink Eye, so we didn't do it again. :(

Oliver

Saint John, at dusk

Brother & his wife as we sail away from Saint John

(Just a little chilly)

During our sea day I also picked up a Future Cruise Certificate for $100. I had used one for this cruise which I purchased on board the Freedom last year. The certificate in my case was used on the Glory in 2 parts. The $100 went towards final payment for this cruise. Then Carnival matches that by applying another $100 as on board credit.

Now, we had already booked a Nov 2012 cruise on the Pride well before we booked the Glory. So I had asked the folks at the Future Cruise desk if I could apply this NEW certificate to my already booked Pride cruise. They said that the "Official" answer is "You can only use the certificate at the time you book a new cruise" However the Un-Official answer was send in your certificate request on-line, worst case is you can get it refunded.

This morning I received word from Carnival that the new certificate has now been applied to my next year Pride cruise. :)

Oliver

Halifax

We docked in Halifax about 7am. I was already up, and was in the process of getting coffee for my wife when a new Bagpiper AND his snare drum accompanist began serenading our arrival. Needless to say, if your cabin was on the Starboard side (like ours) and you were not awake yet ------ you are now! I thought it was cool. I was in the minority on that.

Today it's cloudy, and in the 50's. Bright side is, it's not raining, or foggy. I had reserved an Avis car to drive around Halifax and up to Peggy's Cove today. I called Avis, they picked us up at the terminal. Shortly there after we were on our way to Peggy's Cove.

All throughout our trip we saw very little leaves in color. Boston, Portland, & Saint John, the leaves there had not changed. Here in Halifax, they were in color. If it had been a sunny day, it would have made for some fantastic photo's.

We drove the 40 or so miles up to Peggy's Cove -- a nice easy drive along the way we saw lots of changing leaves. The lighthouse perched on the rocks was one of the more interesting sites I've seen. I'm glad we went.

Peggy's Cove. (Those are people, not ants)

Loved this picture! Like out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

We drove the whole loop to Peggy's Cove, and back around the other side. Impressed by all the other named "Coves" along the way.

Oliver

nice photos

nice photos

Thanks! Believe it or not, they are from my cell phone!

All the ones that have time/date stamps are cell phone pictures. the others are from my wife's Sony digital.

I took about 2 hours of video on this trip, but also decided to snap some cell pictures to upload on FB.

Oliver

Luving your review!! Thank you for taking the time to do a review on this itinerary.

We are looking at this fantastic cruise for Sept 2012. :D

Luving your review!! Thank you for taking the time to do a review on this itinerary.

 

We are looking at this fantastic cruise for Sept 2012. :D

Glad you are enjoying the review!

Oliver

These markers were placed along the walking path up to the lighthouse.

On the ride back on the other side of Peggy's Cove, we saw this Church with it's very very red roof.

As we returned back into Halifax, my wife wanted a shot of the clock tower. This is the highest point in Halifax. You can drive up above the tower to a circular driveway, and get a great view of the city. However, you you want to get out and park, well there's a fee for that. :mad:

We found a nice Pub along the water, somewhat near the cruise terminal. "Tug's Pub". More Moosehead beer on Tap, and some real good food too!

There is a walkway/boardwalk that runs along the waterfront down near the cruise terminal. Shops, vendors, entertainers, all lined this "walk". This reminded me of Old Town Alexandria VA, along the Potomac River, or maybe Annapolis MD. I picked up Knick/Knacks and a shirt, wife picked up a few more things, and we called it a day. Took the car back to Avis (located right in the center of town) and they drove us back to the pier.

Oliver

Thanks for the great review and photos. I did a Canada/New England cruise a few years ago and you brought back some good memories.

I had a couple of questions about Carnival.

1. Is the Fish & Chips place open every day? Is there a charge to eat there?

2. If you buy the future onboard credit, how long do you have to book a cruise?

We were on the Glory the week before you,

. You had much better weather than us.

I am not a big fan of the design of the Glory. You cannot get from bow to stern on decks 3 & 4 as the Golden dining room (in the center of the ship) blocks your path. This was also true on the Freedom which we cruised last Nov. 2010. You think I would have figured out how to traverse the Glory after a week on the Freedom (exactly the same ship design) --- but NO, I would always head down the wrong set of stairs. I finally let my wife lead the way for dinner. Yes --- I am directionally challenged!

Loved you're review. I can't wait to do the Canada/NE again soon myself. And such fabulous pics. Thanks. My sister hasn't gone and we were thinking of doing the Glory out of Boston in 2012. We live near Boston and can attest to the fabulous end of summer/early fall weather we had. As far as Fan. Hall is concerned. Rember that the Boston area has over 30 colleges. All those new "tourists" visiting in early fall. Plus all those folks taking advantage of vacationing while the younger folk are back in school :). Sounds like you had a fabulous time. Keep your future reviews coming.

Thanks for the great review and photos. I did a Canada/New England cruise a few years ago and you brought back some good memories.

 

I had a couple of questions about Carnival.

 

1. Is the Fish & Chips place open every day? Is there a charge to eat there?

 

2. If you buy the future onboard credit, how long do you have to book a cruise?

Yes, fish & chips is open every day for lunch only at 12noon 'til 1:30. No extra charge. I don't think that the F&C is found on all ships however. It was on the Freedom & Glory.

As for the future cruise certificate, it is now good for up two years after purchase. (You just need to apply the Cert. within 2 years, your cruise date could actually be later)

Oliver

Loved you're review. I can't wait to do the Canada/NE again soon myself. And such fabulous pics. Thanks. My sister hasn't gone and we were thinking of doing the Glory out of Boston in 2012. We live near Boston and can attest to the fabulous end of summer/early fall weather we had. As far as Fan. Hall is concerned. Rember that the Boston area has over 30 colleges. All those new "tourists" visiting in early fall. Plus all those folks taking advantage of vacationing while the younger folk are back in school :). Sounds like you had a fabulous time. Keep your future reviews coming.

I really love Boston. Your city is clean, and friendly. I have visited there several times. Matter of fact, I had some flyer miles that were "use or lose" and decided to fly up to Boston for the day back in early September. Brother & I walked all over town that day --- just loved it.

Still have a few more entries for my review to come. Stay tuned.

Oliver