My wonderful Carnival Glory vacation review...

[mom22tinks]

Vacationers: Myself (Jessica), DH, Steve, DD 10 - Rachel and DD 8 Cara

 

I've been on 8 cruises, my husband 8 and my girls this would be their 6th. I love reading other peoples reviews and find them very helpful when planning our trips. I am hoping this will do the same for other people as I didn't find an over abundance of them for the Glory on the Western itinerary when I was looking.

 

We had an afternoon flight on Saturday. We arrived in FLL and my inlaws picked us up at the airport and we spend the evening with them. The weather was a little chilly for Florida and the forecast wasn't looking too hopeful.

 

Sunday morning we had a car pick us up in Boynton Beach at 10:30 am. We used Bellewood Executive Transportation. They arrived a few minutes early with an SUV and luckily there was plenty of room for all of our luggage, since I had overpacked more than usual. :eek: It took about an hour for us to get to Miami. We arrived at the port around 11:30 and proceeded to embark. After going thru security and checking in we were given embarkation number 11. While it seemed like forever, I believe we were on the ship by 12:15.

 

Of course we made our way to the Red sail club and proceeded to have lunch. As usual, we were dressed in our bathing suits with cover ups, so we were able to park ourselves in the lounge chairs in order to watch the kiddies in the pool and slide. Meanwhile, the girls chose to play the giant chess game instead, but atleast I was able to to take in some sun and read my book. (my favorite part of cruising) Cara convinced me to go down the slide once, but let me tell you,...that water was COLD!!

 

Unfortunately, I started freaking out at about 2:30 pm when I realized my camera wasn't in my purse. (anyone who knows me knows scrapbook,,,,and what is a scrapbook without pictures?!?!?) And ...how could I have packed everything including the kitchen sink and manage to forget my camera which permanently resides in my purse?!?!? So at this time I decide to go to the room to see if you luggage has made it... andit has not! So after a few more trips down, our luggage made it outside our room piece by piece by 5:30 pm. Of course the last piece had my "other " purse in it, which had my camera! whew!!:o

 

We had anytime dining. This was a first for us. I was a bit leary of it, but it worked out well enough. I had tried to change it to the 6:00 sitting but their had been a waitlist for it, so I didn't want to chance losing our guaranteed "anytime" dining. We had Lina as the head waitress, Byron as the assistant, and the other person I am not sure of, but Tito was awesome and usually got us bread, water and dessert. I can't remember what we ate or what we did that night, but when I start unpacking tomorrow, maybe the fun times will jog my memory! to be continued :cool:

[USNUZULOOSE]

Cant wait to hear more. I sailed on her last dec and we just loved that ship and the crew was awesome.

[boaterette]

Very good so far.

[mom22tinks]

Well, that first night we ate and then went over to the Amber Palace. I wanted to see the "Big Screen Movie Trivia" and "Be a Game Show Star". I was hoping to finally get one of those "24 carat plastic ship on a stick". Unfortunatly, although we went to many of these types of shows, I never did win one. My husband is excellent when it comes to music trivia but I couldn't get his butt up on the stage!:rolleyes:

 

Day 2 was a sea day and elegant night. It was still chilly so we ended up eating, doing trivia games, and the kids spent the day in the kids clubs. There were some brave souls who layed in the loungers all bundled up, but I just couldn't do it! The seas were a bit rough and when I dropped off my daughter in camp carnival they told me to call in a little while since alot of the children were throwing up. Luckily, that was not the case with Cara, she just didn't want to be there.:confused:

 

We got all dressed up and had the obligatory pictures taken. After dinner we headed to the pg comedy special in one of the lounges. We were going to go to the show afterwards but it was cancelled due to the rough seas. So, we just went back to the room to get some rest since we were going to be in Cozumel the next day.

 

Day 3 - Cozumel,. When we got up in the morning and check the weather via our balcony, it had seemed a bit chilly. I called the pursers desk and they said it was supposed to be 69 and partly sunny. We were hesitant to go on our excursion still, but after seeing enough people get off the ship with bathing suits covered by coverups, we decided to go ahead and take our chances. We got off and walked around the shops for a little while and after about an hour decided that when the sun was out, it was indeed warm enough.

 

So, we grabbed a taxi which took us over Nochi Cocum where I had previously made reservations for us. The cab ride one way for the four of us was $15.00 and it was about a 15 minute ride. If we hadn't shown up with out giving 24 hours notice, they would have charged us 25% of our fee. Which in this case with the two kids was $132.00. We had Manuel find us loungers and pilappas (sp?) and we proceeded to plant our butts there. There were about 8 other guests at this time. He got us a few drinks and we were happy and warm as long as the sun was out. My girls did venture into the water and swam and played for a long while. By the time we left I had counted atleast 87 people (was told they have a limit of 100 per day) The service was a bit slow and I hit the bar twice myself. The food was good. They gave you alot. And I keep trying to load pictures...but have been unsuccessful!!!:eek::eek:

[mom22tinks]

Well, that first night we ate and then went over to the Amber Palace. I wanted to see the "Big Screen Movie Trivia" and "Be a Game Show Star". I was hoping to finally get one of those "24 carat plastic ship on a stick". Unfortunatly, although we went to many of these types of shows, I never did win one. My husband is excellent when it comes to music trivia but I couldn't get his butt up on the stage!

 

Day 2 was a sea day and elegant night. It was still chilly so we ended up eating, doing trivia games, and the kids spent the day in the kids clubs. There were some brave souls who layed in the loungers all bundled up, but I just couldn't do it! The seas were a bit rough and when I dropped off my daughter in camp carnival they told me to call in a little while since alot of the children were throwing up. Luckily, that was not the case with Cara, she just didn't want to be there.

 

We got all dressed up and had the obligatory pictures taken. After dinner we headed to the pg comedy special in one of the lounges. We were going to go to the show afterwards but it was cancelled due to the rough seas. So, we just went back to the room to get some rest since we were going to be in Cozumel the next day.

 

Day 3 - Cozumel,. When we got up in the morning and check the weather via our balcony, it had seemed a bit chilly. I called the pursers desk and they said it was supposed to be 69 and partly sunny. We were hesitant to go on our excursion still, but after seeing enough people get off the ship with bathing suits covered by coverups, we decided to go ahead and take our chances. We got off and walked around the shops for a little while and after about an hour decided that when the sun was out, it was indeed warm enough.

So, we grabbed a taxi which took us over Nochi Cocum where I had previously made reservations for us.

 

The cab ride one way for the four of us was $15.00 and it was about a 15 minute ride. If we hadn't shown up with out giving 24 hours notice, they would have charged us 25% of our fee. Which in this case with the two kids was $132.00. We had Manuel find us loungers and pilappas (sp?) and we proceeded to plant our butts there. There were about 8 other guests at this time. He got us a few drinks and we were happy and warm as long as the sun was out. My girls did venture into the water and swam and played for a long while. By the time we left I had counted atleast 87 people (was told they have a limit of 100 per day) The service was a bit slow and I hit the bar twice myself. The food wasn't bad. The servings were generous as you can see. Although we really enjoyed the guacamole and homemade chips.

__________________

[mom22tinks]

Sorry for the double post, but I finally figured out how to post pictures!!

[mom22tinks]

So that evening we went and saw the PG Comedy specials in the Ebony Cabaret. It was Smiley Joe Wiley and Jim Lueletta. Again, we went to bed early as we had a Cave tubing excursion with Major Tom tomorrow.

 

Day 4 - Wednesday - Belize

 

Our arrival was at 8:00 am and being it is a tender stop we waited in the amber palace for our number to be called. We were given number 9, so luckily we didn't have to wait too long although at the time if felt like forever!! We got on the tender finally and headed to Belize.

 

 

Once there we were looking for terminal 4 which is all the way to the right. We made our way until we found "Major Tom". He brought us to a little shop to pay and then we were told to wait in this little courtyard area until the rest of the group got there. Luckily there were little shops, bathrooms and a bar if you so wished.

 

 

After about a half hour or so we were all brought to two vans and broken up based on if we were ziplining or not too. Our van had 10 people along with 3 guides. (although it turned out one of the guides didn't go tubing with us since the water was too cold for his knee) It took about 50 minutes to get up to the park where you cave tube. Once there, we all hit the bathrooms and changed our suits. We needed water shoes so we went and rented them for all of us at $3.00 each. We got our tubes, lifejackets and head-lights and were on our way for the half hour walk to the caves.

The walk was an easy one. When booking this excursion we thought we would be able to see the wild animal life around as well but unfortunatley there were none to be seen. Our guide showed and named for us some of the plant and tree life. Someone was trying to coax a terantula out of it's hole. I had hoped to see monkeys but apparently they have not been seen in this area for the last year and a half apparently due to all the tourists.

 

The water was cold, but okay once you got used to it. It was pretty. Although it was pretty crowded when we were trying to get into the water. There were alot of different comanies there doing the cave tubing excursion.

 

They linked my family together with one guide and the other 6 adults were given the other guide.

The walk and drive were much longer than the actual tubing. After the caves we floated down river to where we had started. After that they got us our lunches and we ate them in the van on the way back to the ship because they didn't want to cut it too close. We stopped on the way in one of the little deli's. The guide gave my daughter fried plantains which were pretty good.

 

Overall, we love Major Tom and his team. They were all wonderful. I am glad we did it, but wouldn't feel the need to do it again.

 

On the way back the guide saw a tarantula crossing the road, so they pulled over and we all got out to check it out. It was pretty cool. One of the tourists actually had it climbing her hand,,, yuck...not for me! lol

 

They brought us back thru the "nice" part of town and then headed us back to the boat. There were armed police along the way but no one gave us a hard time. Although we had to check in and check out of the city of Belize with some sort of check point.

 

This night after dinner we saw the "Justin Illusion" show. It was good. My girls enjoyed it and we met "Justin" after the show. Then it was off to bed for us since we had Roatan the next day.

[NYGoose82]

Very nice review!!

[blondi_21]

Great review. We're going on the glory next month but we're going to the eastern Caribbean.

[mom22tinks]

Thanks! I appreciate it! Our server Lina said she preferred Glory's Eastern Carribean route the best. Enjoy it!

[mimxmom]

I am enjoying your review and just have a couple of questions....

 

Were you concerned at all about using a company other than Carnival for your Belize excursion? Did you have plenty of time or was it cut pretty close? Was the cost alot less than what Carnival was offering?

 

Thanks!

[mom22tinks]

Thanks! I went looking for the original email but I can't find it. I think the excursion was between $160 to $180 and included lunch for the four of us. I was a little worried about not going thru the cruise line, but they also hire all the locals to run their excursions. And in this case, they all go to the same caves at the same park. The tubes are different than the ones done by the bigger companies where they use the big yellow tubes, but those people had 10 - 12 people all attached together and we had four plus the guide. Somehow the three adults to the two kids felt safe to me. I know both my kids can swim and we spoke ahead of time about what to expect. We were in an extended van, whereas I think the cruise excursion was in a huge commercial bus. I was a little leary of using another company besides the cruiseline but had read many good things about Major Tom and I have to agree I felt safe, entertained and generally had a good time. The 50 min ride up into the Belize countryside was a little daunting, but being a smaller group, they were able to pull over and let us check out a tarantula and also a pair of huge iguanas that were hanging out in the trees. (didn't post pics of that, but they were cool.)

[BettyPC]

Sounds like a great time! Glad you enjoyed your vacation. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Fortgirl69]

You gave a great review. We are first time cruising on the Glory in March with our family of 3 children 15, 11, 5. It is an Eastern Carribbean cruise. Do you have any suggestions for excursions?:)

[hockeyluver]

good review so far, thank you. we will be on the Glory in January.....2012 :)

[mom22tinks]

Thursday we docked in Roatan. We were supposed to be there by 7:00 am but it was probably closer to 8:00 when we got off the ship. We walked thru Mahogany Bay shopping area and proceeded to walk up the hill and then down the hill as we had a tour set up with Victor Bodden.

We had hired a car and driver thru Victor Bodden for the day. Rubin, our driver was very nice and gave us a tour of the island and then brought us to Victor Bodden's Monkey business where we got to handle the monkeys and birds. My girls enjoyed it. I think the car and driver was $100 for the four of us for the day and then an additional $5 per person for the monkey business.

Me in my $10 hat that I purchased along with a bag on the ship from the $10 store. It's funny I saw the same bag on Grand Caymen for $15.00. I was quite suprised to see I got a better deal on the ship!

 

Rubin then brought us to the beach. I can't remember the name of it, but it was beautiful! We walked thru an alleyway and he secured me a lounge chair in front of a condo complex for I think $15.00. He sat back a ways from our stuff but watched it the whole time we were in the water and snorkeling. The water was actually warmer than the air this day. The water was crystal clear as you can see in the picture. We were able to snorkel right from the beach and see many fantastic fish. I wish I could show you pictures but unfortunately my daughter had forgotten her underwater camera at the ship!

My husband went and asked about the cost of the condos as it was a nice place. Apparently they were anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000. As the day progressed the beach got alot busier. We left at about 12:30 and headed back to the ship. Rubin dropped us off, we payed and tipped him. I would highly recommend doing this tour! It worked out well for us. We went back to the ship and ate lunch and grabbed a few loungers while the girls hit the pool. I loved Roatan. Here is another picture just before we left aroudn 3:00 p.m.

 

That night was the night of the past guest party, but unfortunately I forgot! That's the second time I missed it! I was not a happy camper!! :(

 

My husband found the Sushi Bar and happily had some. We hit the Punchliner comdy show after dinner and then went to bed. Tomorrow is Grand Caymen!

[Dee777]

Excellent report, thank you for posting! We will be on the Glory in 33 days, Eastern Caribbean. We did the Western on the Valor a few years ago (I think it was in '07) and thought the Eastern Caribbean would be in order for this cruise. Can hardly wait to read the rest of your review!

 

Dee

[BenjiRodney]

Gald to see and hear that you had a good time. We did the Eastern Route on the Glory Nov 7-14th 2010, this year we are going to do the Southern Route from San Juan.

[bragstarr]

Just booked Glory leaving for Canada on Labor Day. We also booked with Anytime Dining/ Did they do it in just one of the dining rooms, and if so, which one...or could you have anytime in both?

 

Was the dining room open for lunch at embarkation? No idea what the Red Sail Club is--I've haven't been on Carnival for a few years....thanks.

[mom22tinks]

Benji - I was thinking about doing the San Juan one too in December. I just started reading trip reviews. I hope you enjoy yours.

 

Bragstarr - On my cruise the Anytime dining room was always in the same place.

[mom22tinks]

We got into Grand Caymen and waited for our tender number. Luckily, we were number 2 today. My DH wanted to look around Grand Caymen at watches. (I think he just enjoys teasing me!) This is also when I realized they were selling the same bag I purchased on the ship, but for $5 more! I love a good deal! After that we took one of the taxes over to 7 mile beach. The taxi driver took us to the same hotel type place we went to last year. I was quite surprised by how much work they had done to the place in the course of one year. It was $15 for the four of us to get there and then another $15.00 back. Our taxi driver came back at a specific time to get us. The weather was a bit iffy and we managed to get off the beach before the rain came.

 

That evening we dropped in for the karaoke. My girls wanted to do it, although the little one chickened out! My hubby and I stayed until midnight and i drank a bit too much! I spent Saturday morning in bed...thankfully the weather was lousy anyway. By lunch time we managed to emerge from our room. The rest of the day was uneventful.

 

We disembarked the next day around 9:45 am. I think our disembarkation number was 17. I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to get off! We had set up a car rental for the day since we were flying out of Ft. Lauderdale at 7:00 pm. We took a cab into Miami to get the car. It was about $13 for the cab ride and then the rental was $82. This worked out best for us so we wouldn't have to worry about our luggage all day too. We drove around and then hit the outlet mall and had a late lunch. We arrived at the airport and proceeded home. All in all it was a nice getaway, but time to get back to the real world....Christmas is in 5 days!

 

I hope you find this review helpful as I had had a hard time finding previous ones when I was trying to research this ship and itinerary!

[mimxmom]

Braggstar - I was told the "anytime" dining is only in the Golden Dining Room....the mid ship one.

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.