A First-Timer's Experience on the Glory, 5/24/11 (LONG, w/ photos)

[RuthieandTony]

Still five months away for us, but I read every review with eager anticipation. You are doing an excellent job! :D:D:D

 

I've looked at the Hilton for an option for us when we are in Nassau on the Fascination. I couldn't tell by your pictures, but is that the only pool? And does this one, or any of them, have zero entry?

[TheCalicoCat]

We took our son on the Carnival Pride last year when he just turned 2 & will be taking him on the Pride again to Bermuda later this year. :)

 

I just mentioned that because you had to drop off the Kids in MD & because you live in VA. (The Pride's home port is Baltimore.)

[kmflutist]

Thanks for the review/pictures of BCH. We have been to Nassau a bunch of times and have always thought of going there since it's so "convenient." When we went last month we went to Blue Lagoon Island. It costs $45 which included the ferry over and a nice lunch and lounge chairs, etc. Only "extra" is the taxi ($4/pp) to get to the ferry. So it's about the same price and even the ferry ride over was worth it. This is where they have the dolphin and sea lion encounters. If you don't want to spend $ on that, you can still see them swimming around. This would definitely be a great place to take your kids! "Next time!"

 

Thanks for the suggestion! Believe it or not, we originally booked the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim. I LOVE LOVE LOVE dolphins and was so excited. About 2 months before the cruise, I stumbled across an article on those dolphin places (in general). To make a long story short, we cancelled. I'm one that respects the beliefs and opinions of everyone and also try not to push mine on others. :o:) It also was so $$ and our budget kept getting smaller leading up to the cruise. We might like to try their beach, though the next time we go!

 

Still five months away for us, but I read every review with eager anticipation. You are doing an excellent job!

 

I've looked at the Hilton for an option for us when we are in Nassau on the Fascination. I couldn't tell by your pictures, but is that the only pool? And does this one, or any of them, have zero entry?

 

Thank you! :) I don't believe it had zero entry. There were stairs with a railing at the shallow end, though. The little ones seemed to be having a great time over there. Oh, and yeap. That was the only pool on their property. It was pretty large, though and not crowded at all. I think most cruisers don't know about hotel day passes. There were only 3 other families/couples there from ships that we know of.

 

We took our son on the Carnival Pride last year when he just turned 2 & will be taking him on the Pride again to Bermuda later this year. :)

 

I just mentioned that because you had to drop off the Kids in MD & because you live in VA. (The Pride's home port is Baltimore.)

 

Thanks for that! I'm eyeing the Pride's Bermuda itinerary closely. I was sold on it but now we may have a chance to go on Disney Dream for 4 nights. I know that would be a dream vacation for the kids (no pun intended) but the more I read reviews... the more it seems like that ship is just overwhelmed with kids. I love kids, but there's a fine line between fun and chaotic.

[kmflutist]

Glory was staying in Nassau until 10:00pm but we wanted to save money and go back to eat in the MDR that evening. We cut our beach day a little short so we could do some souvenir shopping. We went to the straw market and found that what most say here is true. If you see what they have at the end of the aisles, you’ve seen just about all of it. If you’re looking to negotiate price, though, you may want to work your way down the aisles. I found a little ceramic turtle I wanted to get for my sister, and the woman wouldn’t budge on the price. I found the same turtle down the aisle and got it for half price.

It was hectic but I enjoyed looking at everything… even though most of it was just "tourist trap crap," as I call it. :p By the end, I had my game down. I became a bartering master (depsite having only done it once before). I don't want to give away my secret, though.

By this time it was about 4:30 and we needed to get back to the ship to shower and get ready for dinner. Yuli was more comfortable with us this night and we all joked around a lot. I got the shrimp cocktail again and Andy had the “Study in Sushi” which he said was, “really REALLY good!”

Sorry. None of my food porn came out well. The lighting was low and that doesn't agree with my camera (well, really it's operator error).

I got the corn fed grilled chicken again (I know I know…. Andy made fun of me too but I really enjoyed it). I promised to order something new on the upcoming nights. I can’t remember what he got for his entrée this night. He had some sort of spice cake thingie… really I can’t remember what it was but he said it was awesome. I did get a picture of it. Maybe someone can clue me in.

Guess what I had.

Yeap.

I figure you don't need to see another picture. :)

[kmflutist]

I was looking through my Fun Times to refresh my memory about what we did after dinner, but I'm drawing a blank.

 

 

Around 9:30 we went up to Lido to watch sail away. The NCL Sky had already left and the Fascination was leaving when we got there.

 

We stuck around and watched the sail away party during which time we ran into a couple from our CC M&G. We hung out with them for a while/dancing for a bit and then decided we should make this an early night since part of what we wanted to accomplish on this trip is catching up on sleep. We got sidetracked at the Martini and Wine bar drinking a few more and chatting with the bar tender, so we never did make it to bed at a reasonable hour.

Oops. Side note: I’m typically a very early-to-bed kind of person and even when we have a babysitter at home and go out for a date night, I usually want to go home by 10:00. I didn’t find this to be the case on the Glory. There was always something fun going on and I felt like if I went to bed, I’d be missing out on something awesome. I suppose that’s a good thing. ;)

When we peeked out our balcony door, we saw that the Fascination was chugging along right beside us (well not RIGHT beside... she was probably a half mile or more away). It was pretty cool, espcially since it was night and she was all lit up. We also ran into our favorite crew member of the whole cruise. Here he is:

Day 4 coming soon!

[luv2cruise777l]

Great review! :)

 

We are going to Nassau on our upcoming cruise on the Destiny. We are looking into doing the British Colonial Hilton for the day pass. To get a perspective on how far our $30.00 credit will go .....can you give me a few examples of what the food and drinks costs??? I have read that their prices are on the expensive side. I know that this maybe just a "cheapsake's" opinion but I would like to know what your thoughts are on the prices there.:)

[kmflutist]

Great review! :)

 

We are going to Nassau on our upcoming cruise on the Destiny. We are looking into doing the British Colonial Hilton for the day pass. To get a perspective on how far our $30.00 credit will go .....can you give me a few examples of what the food and drinks costs??? I have read that their prices are on the expensive side. I know that this maybe just a "cheapsake's" opinion but I would like to know what your thoughts are on the prices there.:)

 

Thank you!

 

We got the chicken tenders with fries and it was..... are you ready?......

 

$14.00 :eek: BUT... Andy and I each had $30 to spend. He didn't get any food (we split the tenders) and we used the rest on drinks. The drinks, I think were comparable to Carnival's prices. So, yeap... they're very pricey. We just ate a large breakfast on the ship, so that way we would have most of the voucher to spend on drinks. :cool: Even with the prices there, this is definitely a budget-friendly option (something that was a must for us).

[kmflutist]

Day 4, Freeport

The previous night, I once again left out the room service hangy requesting our coffee be delivered between 7:30 and 8:00am. We woke up at 7:00 and saw we were approaching Freeport. Once we got closer, we saw that the CCL Pride was in port. I was excited about that since we may be cruising on her next year!

Here's a couple of the dudes tying up the ship. They were shouting and waving at us right before I took these.

At 7:30 I went to sit on the balcony while Andy waited in the room for room service. At 8:30, he peeked out and told me they called at 8:00 saying they would be “3 minutes late.” At 8:45, I called and politely cancelled the order since we decided to go up to Lido for coffee and breakfast. After sitting for an hour over a leisurely breakfast (another YUMMY omelet) and coffee, we went back to our room to change.

As we approached our door, we saw a room service person knocking on our door with a tray of coffee and fixins. We graciously took the coffee and even tipped the poor dude. Once he left, we had a giggle and an eye roll over it. Andy said he had a feeling that was going to happen. I had an extra cup of coffee that morning.

Our plan for Freeport was to stay on the ship. There really wasn’t anything else we wanted to do there that we hadn’t done in Nassau. We thought it would be cool to hang around a nearly-empty ship. We relaxed by the pool for a while and even went down the waterslide several times – NO LINE! Waterslide tips: Lie back. Andy sat up the first time and practically had to push himself down. Once he laid back, he flew. Next, hold your nose when you approach the bottom! I NEVER have to do that when I swim or jump into water, but the little runway at the end is perfect for water shooting directly up your nose. It's saltwater too, so it really burns!

 

After swimming, sliding and lounging for a few hours, we grabbed some lunch. Earlier this day, we heard a tray of dishes crash to the ground in the buffet line. This was not the first time we heard this noise and wouldn’t be the last. I commented to Andy that I wondered how many times a day that happens. Well, I was at the grill line, had just finished filling my plate when an elderly lady tried to reach around me to grab something and hit my tray. Everything crashed to the ground, plates shattered, and immediately, all eyes on the pool deck were on me. :o

Conveniently, the little old lady had disappeared. I was SO embarrassed, I just wanted to crawl into a hole. The staff was gracious about it. I started to clean it up and they stopped me to tell me they would take care of it. By the time I sat down, I noticed my foot was bleeding…. A lot. I went to the bathroom to clean it off a bit. Once we finished eating, I went to the room to clean it and put a band aid on (a kind passer-by saw me and offered me one of her kid's Hello Kitty Band Aids. She thought I wouldn't want it because of that, but I thought it was cute! Way cooler than a boring flesh-colored Band-Aid!). It turns out there was a little shard of plate stuck in the side of my foot. Pleasant. The flip flops did great protecting the bottom of my feet.... just didn't do much for the sides.

[luv2cruise777l]

Thank you!

 

We got the chicken tenders with fries and it was..... are you ready?......

 

$14.00 :eek: BUT... Andy and I each had $30 to spend. He didn't get any food (we split the tenders) and we used the rest on drinks. The drinks, I think were comparable to Carnival's prices. So, yeap... they're very pricey. We just ate a large breakfast on the ship, so that way we would have most of the voucher to spend on drinks. :cool: Even with the prices there, this is definitely a budget-friendly option (something that was a must for us).

 

Thank you so much for the reply! :)

 

Pretty much what I expected but we will do what you suggested and eat a large breakfast and use the voucher on drinks!;):)

[nessz79]

Enjoying your review so far :). Sorry you had the incident at the buffet- sounds like something that would happen to me!

[cherylroslyn]

Day 4, Freeport

The previous night, I once again left out the room service hangy requesting our coffee be delivered between 7:30 and 8:00am. We woke up at 7:00 and saw we were approaching Freeport. Once we got closer, we saw that the CCL Pride was in port. I was excited about that since we may be cruising on her next year!

Here's a couple of the dudes tying up the ship. They were shouting and waving at us right before I took these.

At 7:30 I went to sit on the balcony while Andy waited in the room for room service. At 8:30, he peeked out and told me they called at 8:00 saying they would be “3 minutes late.” At 8:45, I called and politely cancelled the order since we decided to go up to Lido for coffee and breakfast. After sitting for an hour over a leisurely breakfast (another YUMMY omelet) and coffee, we went back to our room to change.

As we approached our door, we saw a room service person knocking on our door with a tray of coffee and fixins. We graciously took the coffee and even tipped the poor dude. Once he left, we had a giggle and an eye roll over it. Andy said he had a feeling that was going to happen. I had an extra cup of coffee that morning.

Our plan for Freeport was to stay on the ship. There really wasn’t anything else we wanted to do there that we hadn’t done in Nassau. We thought it would be cool to hang around a nearly-empty ship. We relaxed by the pool for a while and even went down the waterslide several times – NO LINE! Waterslide tips: Lie back. Andy sat up the first time and practically had to push himself down. Once he laid back, he flew. Next, hold your nose when you approach the bottom! I NEVER have to do that when I swim or jump into water, but the little runway at the end is perfect for water shooting directly up your nose. It's saltwater too, so it really burns!

 

After swimming, sliding and lounging for a few hours, we grabbed some lunch. Earlier this day, we heard a tray of dishes crash to the ground in the buffet line. This was not the first time we heard this noise and wouldn’t be the last. I commented to Andy that I wondered how many times a day that happens. Well, I was at the grill line, had just finished filling my plate when an elderly lady tried to reach around me to grab something and hit my tray. Everything crashed to the ground, plates shattered, and immediately, all eyes on the pool deck were on me. :o

Conveniently, the little old lady had disappeared. I was SO embarrassed, I just wanted to crawl into a hole. The staff was gracious about it. I started to clean it up and they stopped me to tell me they would take care of it. By the time I sat down, I noticed my foot was bleeding…. A lot. I went to the bathroom to clean it off a bit. Once we finished eating, I went to the room to clean it and put a band aid on (a kind passer-by saw me and offered me one of her kid's Hello Kitty Band Aids. She thought I wouldn't want it because of that, but I thought it was cute! Way cooler than a boring flesh-colored Band-Aid!). It turns out there was a little shard of plate stuck in the side of my foot. Pleasant. The flip flops did great protecting the bottom of my feet.... just didn't do much for the sides.

Kate....you are so cute. I hate to hear you had some idiot knock your tray down and that you got hurt in the process.....I hope your foot was ok?

 

When I was reading this I felt like chasing the little old lady down and knocking her over for messing with "OUR KATE"

[kmflutist]

Enjoying your review so far :). Sorry you had the incident at the buffet- sounds like something that would happen to me!

 

Yeap, me too. I'm a real klutz but at least I can say this one wasn't my fault. :cool:

Kate....you are so cute. I hate to hear you had some idiot knock your tray down and that you got hurt in the process.....I hope your foot was ok?

 

When I was reading this I felt like chasing the little old lady down and knocking her over for messing with "OUR KATE"

 

Awww. That may be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. :o

 

Thanks for your concern. Once I cleaned it up and got the shard out, it turned out to be a pretty puny wound. All of the blood made it look way more dramatic than it was. :rolleyes:

[kmflutist]

There wasn’t much going on on the ship in the way of activities since it was a port day, so we showered and lounged on the balcony with a drink and caught up on our reading.

I saw a guy taking a picture of us, so I returned the favor. :D

We never had any dock runners for our ship but we got to witness a couple for the Pride. I was reading, and all of a sudden I heard people yelling, whistling, and saying, “RUN RUN RUN!” I looked up and there were two people running full speed toward the gangway that they had already started to pull in. They barely made it. People erupted into a big cheer -- it was funny. We watched the Pride pull away.

Here's one that shows the port area as well as some old ship called the "Discovery" that arrived when we were there. Pride is sailing off in the background.

Here’s a video of her pulling away if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. Andy thought I was weird for thinking something so slow and boring was interesting.

[kmflutist]

We lazily hung out and read some more waiting for our sail away. We left right on time. I was sad to think the next time we saw land this close, it would be Norfolk. Booo. Oh well… we still had 2 nights and a full day at sea left – we were going to make the most of it!

We had reservations for the Emerald Room Steakhouse this night. I didn’t take my camera so there will be no Steakhouse food porn here… sorry.

 

We were seated at a little table for 2 by the window. Andy was feeling less frugal than usual this night so he offered to let me order a bottle of wine. I can’t remember what exactly it was but it was a Cabernet and was very good despite being one of the least expensive ones on the wine list.

I ordered the shrimp cocktail as an appetizer since I was curious to see the difference between that and the one in the MDR. These shrimp were huge. They were definitely 2-biters. :) Andy got some sort of portabella thingy which he said was “awesome.” I don’t care for mushrooms but it was very pretty to look at. For the main course, I ordered the filet. It was 9 ounces of pure deliciousness (our cabin neighbor would have been pleased)! I had a baked potato as a side dish and barely had room to get that down. Everyone said to leave room for dessert but we didn’t and missed out. Andy had a different steak. I can’t remember exactly what it was but it wasn’t the porterhouse and it was a special version of the kind they usually have because it didn’t have a bone. Oh wait…. Prime rib maybe? Does that sound right? Oh I dunno. He really liked it though.

 

After dinner, we went to talk to one of our favorite bar tenders at the Martini Bar. Then we checked out the Superstar Live Karaoke in the Ebony Cabaret. I read about this and thought they only did it on sailings of 7 nights or longer so we didn’t expect to have it on ours. We were pleasantly surprised. It was really neat to see people singing backed up by a live band. The song list was much smaller, of course than the regular karaoke, but there was still plenty to choose from. We were both pretty tired, though and decided to turn in a little early.

I call this guy, "Sexy Mutant Bunny."

Our steward was kind enough to leave the previous night's monkey, so I snapped a picture of our mini-zoo.

It was at this time, I glanced at the emergency procedure sign thingy on the back of our cabin door and realized the dude demonstrating how to wear a life vest looks an awful lot like Will Ferrell!

 

Day 5 is next!

[kmflutist]

I've started uploading my short videos. Here's one I took on our first morning. When the sun went down the previous night, we were still leaving the bay, going pretty slow. I thought it was cool to wake up to THIS outside your window. :)

 

[kmflutist]

Day 5, Sea Day

Woke up at 7:30 again (ugh) and decided to try the coffee room service thing one last time. They got it right this time and we got to have our coffee on the balcony again. Once again, we got dressed and went up to Lido for breakfast. They alternated between Pancakes and French Toast all week, but I didn’t mind…. I like them both and don’t get them at home very often.

Andy asked if we could go to the towel animal demonstration (I think it was at 10:00am). I reluctantly agreed thinking there had to be a better way to spend our last morning on the ship. I’m SO glad we went. It was so much fun! I think the gentleman running it was the assistant cruise director but I never caught his name. We were each told to get a small and a large towel from the housekeeping staff at the back of the Amber Palace. The Asst. CD talked us through the folding while a nice woman from housekeeping demonstrated. They let us all spread out on the stage if we wanted and we took advantage. First they showed us how to make a seal… easy stuff.

Then it was a dog.... much more challenging.

I was gettin' the hang of this!

Next up was an elephant.

There was a little boy in front of me who couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7. I was amazed at how well he was following along. His animals came out as well as ours did. Everyone had a great time… lots of laughs. In the end, the asst. CD said, “OK one last easy one I want to show you guys.” He walked us through the folding steps just as before but in the end, we had all just folded our towels neatly to give back to housekeeping. I was on to him about halfway through (I think about 30% of the crowd was). He saw me shoot him a suspicious look and winked at me. I didn’t want to ruin his trick so I didn’t call him out. Eventually someone else did. Good stuff.

[kmflutist]

From there, we went back to the room to get our suits on. I wanted to get a little more lounge time in up on the pool decks. We lounged on the deck above the aft pool for a couple of hours. Here's the view from my lounger...

... and then had a light lunch. We went back to our room to shower and change because I just HAD to go to the Game of Love. We got to the Amber Palace about 30 mins early this time to avoid what happened at Justin Illusion but nothing was going on there beforehand so it was closed. We waited in line with some other folks until they let us in. We got good seats this time. ;) We ran into another young couple who we sat next to at the comedy show and they sat next to us again. They were newlyweds and were hoping they would be chosen. In front of us was another newlywed couple (both couples had been married for 8 days) who we wound up talking to quite a bit. Unfortunately, neither of them were chosen. There was another couple who had been married for only 6 days. Then they chose the older couple who had been married for 50 years. Then, Gary (our cruise director) had everyone who had been married between 5 and 30ish years stand (that was us – 6 years here). He then said we all had to show how bad we wanted to participate by giving the most passionate kiss we could. Andy and I went all out. I even got my leg up on the table in front of us and knocked his drink over. People around us were cheering us on. :D Sadly, we weren’t chosen.

The show was absolutely hilarious. Of course the older couple stole the show. Towards the end, the husband was asked, “If you were stranded on a deserted island, would you want a nun or a hooker with you? The old man said, “Well, that’s a problem. “ Gary said, “Why’s that Frank?” Frank said, “Because if I say hooker… I’ll get none.” We all just about peed ourselves. At the end, they had the husbands come out as the new “Carnival Chip n Dale Dancers.” The two younger husbands were wearing boxers and then Frank came out wearing tiny briefs. Here’s a short video of his entrance for anyone who is interested. I wish I had started the video sooner!

[kmflutist]

We went to hang out on the balcony and get ready for dinner for the next hour or so. Andy started whining saying he didn’t know if he was up for the MDR again…. “All the dancing and socializing and non-sense” is how he put it. It was strange since he loves that kind of thing but he seemed off… tired. I really wanted to go for the last night and said I would go alone if that was ok with him. He called my bluff and said, “Yeah, I might let you. I’m just not up for it.” Deep down I was so sad and disappointed, but I didn’t show it. By the end of the conversation, he said he was willing to walk me there and get me settled. Once I was seated, he excused himself. About 1 minute later, our head waitress came to the table with a bouquet of roses and a bottle of champagne. After I got over the “Oh my gosh” moment, I turned around and there he was. I have a history of ruining surprises and he knew the idea of eating alone would upset me and throw me off. It worked. It was a very nice surprise and then he made a toast that made us both cry. :o

After dinner, we went to the room to drop the roses off and found this dude (he got the roses as an accessory):

Can you tell I loved the towel animals?! I'm starting to think half of my review is pictures of those silly things!

We went to the Martini Bar again, had a drink and chatted up our favorite bartender... again. Then we went to Bar Blue for Karaoke again. Andy sang some Stevie Wonder song.... this one didn't go quite as well. His voice was off and it seemed the mood on the ship was down a notch... probably because everyone knew it was our last night.

By then it was around 11:00 and we went back to the room to turn in. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. We chose relaxed debarkation since we had 2 carryons and 2 large suitcases that were VERY heavy. We packed up our stuff and put our checked bags out in the hall like good little cruisers and then hit the hay. This was the only night that noise in the hallway kept me up. I'm not sure why folks feel they need to SHOUT their conversations walking down the hall!! :mad: I was too lazy to bust out the white noise machine so I did my best to tune it out and go to sleep.

6:30 came and I woke up on my own. :rolleyes: We showered, finished packing and were out and up to Lido for breakfast by 7:30am. The crowds were light and we sailed through the buffet line. It was a very nice last cruise breakfast.

Next: Debarkation :( and final/random thoughts (I always hate this part of people's reviews. I hope ya'll stick with me!)

[hfweather]

Thanks for such an awesome review! Your towel animals were a lot better than mine turned out last cruise. The guy doing the show came over to me at the end and told me I made 3 new animals, he needed to tell them about. I think my swan looked like a cobra lol. Anyhow, thanks again for the review, excellent pictures!

[SantanaTto]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your review !! And the story about your husband and the roses brought tears to my eyes too !! I don't want this to end either!

[jmbelders]

Very nice review of the Glory, we will be on the ship in ten days. I can't wait.

[billnheather]

Day 5, Sea Day

Woke up at 7:30 again (ugh) and decided to try the coffee room service thing one last time. They got it right this time and we got to have our coffee on the balcony again. Once again, we got dressed and went up to Lido for breakfast. They alternated between Pancakes and French Toast all week, but I didn’t mind…. I like them both and don’t get them at home very often.

Andy asked if we could go to the towel animal demonstration (I think it was at 10:00am). I reluctantly agreed thinking there had to be a better way to spend our last morning on the ship. I’m SO glad we went. It was so much fun! I think the gentleman running it was the assistant cruise director but I never caught his name. We were each told to get a small and a large towel from the housekeeping staff at the back of the Amber Palace. The Asst. CD talked us through the folding while a nice woman from housekeeping demonstrated. They let us all spread out on the stage if we wanted and we took advantage. First they showed us how to make a seal… easy stuff.

Then it was a dog.... much more challenging.

I was gettin' the hang of this!

Next up was an elephant.

There was a little boy in front of me who couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7. I was amazed at how well he was following along. His animals came out as well as ours did. Everyone had a great time… lots of laughs. In the end, the asst. CD said, “OK one last easy one I want to show you guys.” He walked us through the folding steps just as before but in the end, we had all just folded our towels neatly to give back to housekeeping. I was on to him about halfway through (I think about 30% of the crowd was). He saw me shoot him a suspicious look and winked at me. I didn’t want to ruin his trick so I didn’t call him out. Eventually someone else did. Good stuff.

 

Great stuff and funny, not being cheep just wondering was there a charge?

[SNJCruisers]

Great story.....interested about the open bar meet & greet from your CC roll call that was set up. How much did Carnival charge for the 1.5 hour open bar and snacks and who was it arranged through? Thanks

[kmflutist]

Very nice review of the Glory, we will be on the ship in ten days. I can't wait.

 

Thank you!

 

Great stuff and funny, not being cheep just wondering was there a charge?

 

Doesn't sound cheap to me! A person has to be careful if they're on a budget cause you never know where Carnival will try to sneak extra charges in. :) There was no charge for the towel folding demo. It lasted about 30 minutes, if I remember correctly.

 

Great story.....interested about the open bar meet & greet from your CC roll call that was set up. How much did Carnival charge for the 1.5 hour open bar and snacks and who was it arranged through? Thanks

 

It was $16.80/per person and you have to have 20 minimum. One person from our roll call called Carnival to set it up. They sent her an email with the options. You can go as short as an hour, have a cash bar, have hot hors d'oeuvres, etc for varying prices, but we just wanted the open bar for 1.5 hours and dry snacks. Didn't really care about food since there was "free" stuff all over the ship. We all had to mail payment to the gal who was organizing it since it all had to be charged to one (her) sail and sign account. It was smooth and easy and the drinks were strong. :) Oh, and at first, they offered her/us a time on embarkation day but we wanted to do it on the first sea day. They were very accommodating. We just had to let them choose the venue and that worked out just fine.

 

[kmflutist]

Debarkation :(

 

We pulled into port right on time (so I thought).

 

The previous day, they gave us the zone luggage tags and a sheet of debarkation instructions. We were zone 12 and according to the estimated time table, we should have been off around 9:00-9:30, if I remember correctly. We went out to the mid-ship pool area and grabbed a lounger to relax and read until our zone was called. In the following paragraphs, my times will be approximate. It's all just a little fuzzy now.

 

Come to think of it, I think we were eating breakfast around 6:30 and woke up earlier, because it was 7:30ish when we were on the lounge chairs and the CD announced that due to port traffic, our docking was delayed and we were about 45 minutes behind. They told folks they could remain in their staterooms for another 30 minutes if they wished. He also asked that people not go down to the deck where the gangway was to avoid crowding and further delays. He clearly asked everyone to wait on the Promenade Deck or Lido.

 

About 20 minutes later, he came on again saying that they were hoping to start self assist soon and that people were crowding the gangway. He said that if it wasn't their turn to get off yet, they would be turned back. 20 minutes later, "We're still waiting for customs to clear the ship." 20 minutes later, "We're ready for Deck 1 and 11 Self Assist." Then there was another delay because passengers were crowding the gangway.... AGAIN. Anyway... this whole debacle went on for quite a while.

 

I have to say that overall, debarkation was a total mess. We took it in stride as best we could, reading on a lounger and then went into Red Sail to have some more coffee and read some more. Meanwhile, we overheard many angry passengers around us. It was the only real stressful part of the whole trip. I think they called our zone around 11:45 or 12:00. When we went down, the guy at the gangway just took our S&S card and didn't even look at our zone tag.

 

We found our bags easily and although the customs lines seemed pretty long, we moved through pretty fast.

 

For those who will be traveling out of Norfolk: We didn't use the Cedar Point Lot that Carnival tells you to. We parked in the Town Point Garage which is right across the street from the terminal. We called ahead and they allow cruise parking there. The only concern is they do not offer 24 hour security. She assured me they had never had problems before. You're supposed to pay in advance and it was the same price as Cedar Point -- You just don't have to wait for the shuttles. It was really nice on debarkation day just walking across the street. We were up on level 5 so I waited curbside while Andy ran up and brought the car down. He pulled up, loaded the bags and we were away! Once we were though customs, I think we were on the highway leaving Norfolk within 15 minutes. If you're going to park at Town Pointe, I would arrive early if it's a weekday. Area workers park there and it fills up.