Review on the Carnival Glory with Pics

[firstcruiseever]

Okay, so our cruise was a while ago, but I wanted to write you a cruise review for the Carnival Glory. It is normally up in the north east, but comes down to the Caribbean for the winter season. We went in November 2011. Boarding was great. Only took us a bit. We went through security with no problems. We did carry on luggage only (TSA standard because of airfare) so it was easy peasy. We ate at the fish restaurant and had some beer battered fish and chips and sampled the ceviche. It was delicious. The fish was greasy, but tasted good. Nobody was up there, we were all alone and it was so nice. We could peer down and see how busy the buffet was, so it was nice to be away from the crowd. The ship was massive. I didn't realize how big they actually were (this was our first cruse ever!) Hopefully these images work! More to come![/img]

[firstcruiseever]

Okay, so I found my original reivew, and I am going to copy and paste it over here. I had a different user name that I can't access anymore. So here it is:

Please be aware this is my first review and may be a little jumpy and not very good.... But I'll try my best! Okay so I have time to post a short starter... No pictures yet though. We used film cameras and I will pick up the CD's tomorrow! So we flew in to Miami on October 31st. It was pretty good. We got up at 4:30 am and didn't arrive until 9:30 pm. The last pilot (the third flight of the day) was CRAZY. He flew around Miami for an hour before landing and turned off the AC that whole hour! Someone in the front of the plane Ralphed a bit before we landed. Everyone was nauseous and sick from his terrible flying! But after it was over we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Miami Airport. Now, backtracking a bit, DH doesn't know we are going on a cruise. He thinks that we are going to Universal Studios Orlando. I convinced him that the flights into Orlando are more expensive and that we had to fly into Miami and drive back to Orlando. Funny thing: I had to work hard to find a flight that didn't have a connection in Orlando. Didn't think I could explain that one! hahaha! Back to the Holiday Inn Express: sent us a bus to pick us up and it passed us twice. I had a cane... My leg was hurting! Finally we got a bus, and it dropped us off at the wrong one! Luckily DH's friend picked us up and we ate dinner at IHOP yummy! Had the Cinnabon Pancakes. Next morning about 9 am we wake up eat breakfast and get ready. By the way, that's a nice place to stay. Very clean and good breakfast. Also has free 24/7 airport transfers.

 

DH's friend and girlfriend decided to drive us to the pier which saved $32 Sweet! We stopped off at a Super Walmart and pick up some essentials that we couldn't take on the plane. We only packed Carry on's (1 each) and one personal bag. So got some new mascara, (mine was dried up) sunblock and water bottles. Water bottles WERE NOT necessary. They were actually just a pain. I wish we would have only packed 4 of them. Because we could have used those in port or in the room at bed time. The water on the ship DOES NOT taste bad. I never used the crystal light packets I brought. We had water with every meal, snack etc. I only drank the lemonade twice. It was super sweet and strong. But a nice choice if you like lemonade! Back to boarding: DH and I were riding in the back seat and we get to the pier. I see the ship and start jumping up and down in the seat like a 2 year old and saying THERE'S THE SHIP! THERE'S THE SHIP! DH has head phones blasting in his ears and a tie tied around his eyes to he can't see. We pull up to the unloading area and someone gets our door. But we just have carryon's so he leaves us alone. Pause for a minute: Things were CRAZY at this point! It was very Loud, Rushed and crazy. I wasn't really expecting that. Anyways, DH gets out of the car and I point him at a carnival sign (you can't see the ship yet at this point) He looks at it for like 5 minutes before he figured out what was going on. Then he started freaking out too. He was so excited. He said he had absolutely no idea. Not even a suspicion. It was the perfect surprise. Okay so EMBARKATION Day 1: We arrive around 11:00am for the Port of Miami. there are already a ton of people in line waiting for security to open up so we can board. We got put in the front of the fourth line. It was really awesome, because we were actually put through as the same time as the other people in the front of lines 1-3. Embarkation did not start until 11:45am so we had a long wait. But by the time we got through, we were glad that we went early. The line stretched out of the building past where the taxis go to take you. this line never really let up through the boarding process at all. We checked it every now and again once we boarded. They had to slice open our case of water bottles to check that they were all sealed to ensure we weren't smuggling liquor or something. It took a few extra minutes, but all in all we got through security in about 10 minutes or less. There was a line from the outside to the inside of the ship where we swiped our sail and sign cards and got our picture taken. The wait was about 30-45 minutes there too. We enjoyed the view though! Once we got inside, I swooped DH away from the crowds to our cabin (which was ready by the way!) and we went ahead and unpacked real quick. Afterwards we went to the fish and chips station...So fish and chips: We decided to have the fish and chips to start with and we shared. The fish was great. It was a thick piece of halibut or something similar. The breading was cooked well and tasted amazing. The only downside I would say was that they were a bit greasy. We then tried the bouillabaisse with was good. It only had 4 small shrimp in it, but it tasted good. We tasted the ceviche and it tasted good at first, but was kind of chewy. The seasoning was nice Just after that we walked around the ship and explored. Its a beautiful ship. I really liked the decor and also the rooms. The layout was awful. its super confusing. But I had a fun time getting lost with DH :o We decided to book the Emerald Room Steakhouse that night. We had it booked for the 3rd, but didn't know how long we would be in port, so booked it for the first night. They did not have alcohol free wine in the steakhouse (we later found out they had that in the gift shop "Formalities") and DH and I don't drink so we decided that we would give our free bottle of wine to someone random on the ship. We dressed up in our formal wear that night .I wore a knee length little black dress :) and DH wore his suit with tie and jacket. We looked HOOOTTT ;) hehe. The waitress was the best on the ship. She was wonderful. Dinner took about 2 hours. I ordered the Lobster bisque and DH ordered the Escargot. Neither of us had had that, and it was AMAZING! The lobster bisque was creamy sweet and delicious. DH's escargot was sweet and soft not at all chewy. It melted in your mouth. I had the Filet mignon and the lobster tale and DH had the 24oz. Tbone steak. Both were great. My lobster tale had the lime and butter sauce and was so soft. DH could cut his T-Bone with a fork. He didn't even need a knife. For dessert we asked them to surprise us. By the way we had a bunch of banter back and forth with the waitress the whole time! It was a lot of fun. While we were eating, some asian guy (drunk) throws his cigarette overboard (right in front of our mirrored window) chases it as it flies back onto the ship. He did this like five times before finding a trash. Next, some random guy in SHORT gym shorts begins exercising right in front of our window (which is mirrored so he cannot see in) Let me tell you... Sit ups in short shorts... not very appetizing :roll eyes: Some couple walks by and he jumps up and pretends like he's not doing anything. Then gets back to it. The waitress kept having to leave because she was laughing so hard.... We were BUSTING UP! hahaha. Dessert was amazing. So DH had this HUGE steak and they bring him a GIANT piece of citrus cheesecake. I had the chocolate sampler with a sherbet banana flambé. It was delicious. To DIE for! YUMMY. They put a candle in each and sang happy birthday to both of us! So fun. When we got back to our room the room steward had made a set of swans that made a heart with their necks. So sweet.

[firstcruiseever]

Thought I would let you all know, the first night we went to the "America" Broadway show. We showed up early and got a great seat. We left after 10 minutes of the show. The dancers were wearing low cut bikini tops and THONGS! We may be a little conservative, but I don't really want to see a bunch of ladies in thongs. Gross! So we left and went back to the room and slept. It was a nice sleep. We were exhausted! So the next day: Day at sea right? DH and I don't drink. We got offered a LOT of booze on this trip. Everyone was drinking too. It was kind of funny though because people were CRAZY! We woke up early and ate in the MDR it was DELICIOUS! Eggs benedict for me, Omelet for DH. I wanted more hollandaise sauce though for mine so the next time I got it, I ordered extra and got a nice side of it. DH loved his omelet. Their danishes are delicious as well. They cook them fresh. After breakfast we went to the Lido deck. It was pretty crowded, but was nice. They did the hairy man competition which was hilarious. They had them dancing and shaking their "coconuts" No really they had coconuts. hahaha. At some point during the cruise they did an ice carving statue too It was amazing and beautiful. The guy did it in 20 minutes. That day DH and I went down the water slide. I got to the bottom and realized WOW THAT'S SALT WATER! Nothing like a mouthful of salt to wake you up in the morning! The slide was fun! Everyone should try it. We went to the jacuzzi after that and there was a seriously drunk chic in the jacuzzi. She asked us like 5 times where we were from. 5 minutes later her DH asked us to watch her while he went to get more to drink and make sure she didn't drown. I think that she seriously could have. We ended up leaving her in the caring hands of another caring stranger. Fun stuff. Lunch was also in the MDR. We don't really remember much of what we had for lunch in the MDR. It was good. Not first rate, but definitely good. We ate at the buffet once. Well actually we tasted the buffet once. We ended up leaving our food and going to the MDR instead. The food in the buffet was gross to me. The dessert was great. DH liked the pizza. Neither one of us like the mongolian grill. But we have had GOOD mongolian grill so maybe we are a little biased. After lunch we went back to the room and chilled out. ;) Then we went to tea time around 3:30pm. DH thought it would be lame, but it was actually really good. That night we went to the MDR and were seated in early seating. Now this is not a precursor for the rest of the cruise, but the food was gross/cold. We waited 45 minutes after we ordered for our food. It was 8:30 and we still hadn't gotten dessert so we left. Our waitress sucked! Anyways, we left that night and went and watched the Illusionist. It was a great show. We stayed about 45 minutes before we left. The show was good, the magic was not. We actually had fun figuring out every trick. But awesome dancing and music. IT was great. Went to bed about 10 pm which was very refreshing. End Day 2

[firstcruiseever]

Okay, so that night at 12:30 am, I woke up in tears. The beds had been moving apart, and DH and I couldn't really cuddle and we like to spoon all night so we don't sleep well not cuddling. Also, the bed was sunk in like a giant U and my back was KILLING ME! (Had some back problems before the cruise that seemed to go away until that bed) It had hurt the night before, but we don't like to complain so we just ignored it. Well 12:30 am we went down to the Guest Services. They had a temporary fix of basically making fitted sheets with a flat sheet to keep them together. Finished sleeping okay because the beds stayed together, but still SUPER sore in the morning. DH and I both felt like we were bruised. The beds by the way are regular twin mattresses (off brand) that you could find in a discount store. They are hard and have the springs in them. So the bed is tolerable when it is not shaped in a U but not exactly Heaven. Guest Services told us that she thinks the bed may be bent because of a heavier couple that she believes were in that room. The next day, they switched the mattresses (more on this Later!)

JAMAICA DAY: So this day was FUN. But not exactly what we thought it would be. DH has always wanted to go to Jamaica (something to do with Cool Runnings) and so I had a tour booked to "see" jamaica. That morning we woke up early ish and had breakfast in the Red Sail Buffet. It was pretty good. A lot of choices. Pretty basic stuff. We sat by the window and watched the Jamaican landscape float by. A guy sat next to us that we later found out was with the Scruples cruise group on board. He was one of the top in that line of hair care. He worked with the owners of Scruples. Gave us some good tips for working in the business (we are hair dressers) and overall had a pleasant conversation! We went back to the room, got ready and were ready pretty early so decided to debark the ship right away. It was a good time actually. Not too long of a line. We got off the ship in less than 20 minutes. Right away we were herded like cattle into a small space before you leave the port area for tour groups. We had to wait about 30 minutes for our tour guide. We went with Marva Shaw at knowjamaicatours.com. We got a separate tour guide named Carolyn. She drove us to our destinations, but wasn't really a tour guide, more of a driver. Very pleasant though and very nice. She just dropped us off at Dunn's river Falls BEAUTIFUL! and also at a river tubing tour on the white river. The white river was my favorite. We got taken out by a kid no more than 16. He got us some allspice to try, fresh almonds (we broke them open ourselves) and introduced us to the local floral and fauna. It was a great tour. Then Carolyn took us to an overcrowded market full of tourists (not our cup of tea) and helped us find internet usage so we could email the kids. She then drove us back to the ship. We paid $150 for the tour, but it did include entrance fees to both the Dunn's River Falls and The White River Tubing (Each run about $20 PP so a total of $80 ish) Plus she did buy us a patty for lunch.

Now, Jamaica is 3rd world. A lot of tourists do not see this part of Jamaica. Carolyn took us up through a local town on our way to tubing. A LOT of people were high, they didn't have windows or doors sometimes. Sometimes you could smell feces. I mean the countryside is absolutely BEAUTIFUL but the towns are not. There is a lot of poverty, and it is very sad. People are VERY pushy. They are always trying to sell you something. Carolyn did warn us that "Nothing is Free" which was a good tip because I saw a bunch of tourists fall for the "It's Free" bit. We weren't that comfortable in Jamaica. It wasn't what we expected. We will not be going back, but we enjoyed the experience. We loved being able to go there and experience a bit of the culture and the sights. I would suggest anyone going to get a good tour guide, and stick to the touristy stuff, because its not really a place you want to go off the beaten road.

[firstcruiseever]

Next day: Grand Caymans: Georgetown. WONDERFUL DAY! So we were just going to sleep in because the ship docked at 8:00 and our trip wasn't until 11:30 so we were in no hurry. Well, we woke up at 6 am so we didn't sleep in at all! Oh well. We felt like we were bruised.. They still hadn't fixed our bed. They ended up fixing it while we were ashore that day. They put a towel under the offending U shaped mattress where the bed railing had bent and it made it flatter and more like sleeping on the floor instead of in a rut. :rolleyes: Anyways, decided to eat in the MDR again for breakfast cause the buffet just did not cut it. YUMMY Eggs benedict again. DH had it too. I got extra hollandaise. I could only finish half, so dH at mine. I had a danish though with breakfast this time and it was great. (again). So we got back to the room, sunblocked up and got everything ready. We were ready when they said it was time to go to shore if we wanted to. So we did. It was quick and painless. The ride over we sat on the outside part of the tender which was nice because there was a nice breeze the whole time. (wish we would have done that on the way back .... More on that later) We got to Grand Cayman by about 8:00 ish. It was a cute little island. We bought a fresh coconut to share for $3 and some sugar cane for $2 US. It was a good coconut. We walked around the little touristy area and looked around then we walked around the whole town. Georgetown is tiny. about 15,000 people. the shops were clean and very nice. We went to the pharmacy there and picked up some stuff. By the way: Tip for WOMEN ONLY: (Men ignore!) They have no MONISTAT (yeast infection cream) on a cruise ship. NOTHING. And sitting in an airplane for 12 hours can cause those, so if you are prone to them: Bring your own. TMI I know, but it will be useful for some woman! The exchange rate for cayman money is 1.00 cayman to 1.25 US. It was GEORGEOUS! The highlight of our trip for sure. I want to go back there right now!! The town was quiet. We were the only ship in port and a bunch of people hadn't gotten off the ship yet. We walked around, saw a couple lizards. Cute. The library downtown has free wifi and we came across a crew member that let us borrow his laptop to write to our kids. It was sweet of him. We thought he was a local till he started talking to us about the ship and stuff. Super nice guy. We went back to the touristy shop area waiting for our tour guide, and he showed up about 10:30 ish. We chatted with him for a while. He said that the guy selling coconuts and sugar cane was a jamaican (which we knew from his accent but he denied when we asked him) and that he had probably gotten those coconuts out of his yard. He had walked out on a guy around 10pm chopping down coconuts out of his tree. Thought if he would have asked he would have helped him get them! This tour guide was with Moby Dick Tours.

It was $45US pp and got us a 3 hour tour. We went out around 11:30. There were only 8 other people on a boat built for 40. It was awesome! LIke a personal tour. We snorkeled the barrier reef. One of the guys has a pet Moray Eel and I touched it! (I wasn't supposed to but I was too busy making goggly eyes at DH that I missed that part of the briefing)

So after we were all snorkeled out, we went over to the sand bar. The crowds had thinned out. THere were only a couple ships and the sting rays swarmed our little ship! They were anywhere between 1ft to 4 ft wide. We held them, fed them squid out of our hands ( I didn't like that part personally) and even kissed them for 7 years of luck :rolleyes: It was amazing. they really were like big puppy dogs. Two guys on the tour had british accents. They were from England (cayman is a british island!) and they had a friend with them that was visiting from england. We had a lot of fun visiting with all of them and learning about everything. We want to do that tour again. Then when we were all sting rayed out and out of squid we headed back. they got us back to the ship just in time LITERALLY (the ship leaves at 2:30.... We got there at 2:30!) There was a long line to get back on the boat thingy and we sat in an enclosed area. There was this drunk lady that sat near us that smelled like body odor and stale urine and there was no breeze. I nearly vomited. The waves made me really really sick. It took forever to get back and they packed us on there like sardines. It wasn't anything like the ride there. When we got back on I was ready to kiss the ground.

Oh yeah the cruise director (Josh AKA Big Sexy) told us at each port NOT TO TAKE OUR PASSPORTS inland. But I kept seeing tourists taking there passports into port with them. So that was weird. I thought that the cruise director should know what he is doing and if he tells me not to it is probably for a good reason (Like you may be mugged for it!)

[firstcruiseever]

Last Fun Day at sea: Not so fun! The ship was rocking so bad that a lot of people and crew members were sick and couldn't walk straight. Our room steward stopped picking up our room, and putting out mints and such because of the bed problem. That was 2 days in a row that he didn't clean or anything. We were upset by that a bit, because we had been tipping him extra the whole time (around $10 a day extra) and we had only had the one problem with the bed. I laid in bed for a while that morning. We tried to eat in the MDR, but it was moving so much I almost puked so we left. We had room service, and then we took a nap. By the time we woke up the ship had mellowed enough that we could walk a bit so we went up on deck and enjoyed the sunshine. It was really windy, so we didn't want to swim or anything. The last sea day was basically just really relaxing. We gave the hostess a small tip with a thank you note just to show her that we appreciated her. We also gave one to our waiter and asst. waiter for being so awesome. We DID adjust our tips for our room steward. We had already tipped him $10 a day and were going to leave his tips on, but after the two days (of a 5 day cruise) with him treating us that way, we felt that he didn't deserve as much! Anyways, We moved the extra over to the restaurant staff, cause they were so awesome!

 

Debarkation: We were off the ship by 8:00am!! SO EARLY. we meant to sleep in a bit, but we woke up early. Ate breakfast in the MDR and only had a carry on each, so we left early. We stayed in the USO at the airport and got some rest before our plane left. It was easy and relaxing, no problems at all!

 

 

Hope you liked the recap of our cruise! I know its old, but all reviews help right?

[UATLB]

thanks for sharing glad you had a great trip

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!