Glory, glory.... a 7 day Eastern Caribbean Review

[laurrbarr]

Was frozen playing on dive in theater? ? :D

[onegroundcafe]

Laurrbarr-Frozen was on St. Thomas Day at 12:30 pm and also on Puerto Rico day at 6:00 pm

[dapaddo]

Thanks for the review. We are doing the same itinery in Oct. Can't wait. Did they have tea time still on sea days?

[onegroundcafe]

Dapaddo-Tea Time was: 3:30 pm both sea days in the Platinum dining room floor 4

[backnine05]

Do you happen to have photographs or scans of the dining room menus?

 

Who was the cruise director?

[mississauga]

You are doing a terrific job. Keep up the good work! Thanks for taking the time to do this review. I know it is a lot of work and takes a lot of time and effort.

[Leisure Larry]

Leisure Larry-I have all of the fun times and will scan them in at the end of the review, do you have a specific question I could answer before then?

 

No specific questions. I know there have been several people looking for them in other threads. I have a large group of newbies who are waiting to see some of the activities they can look forward to. I will just sit patiently and enjoy the rest of your great review. Thanks in advance.

[Ehpride]

I'm going to the same stops in November so I'm looking forward to the rest of your review.

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise, and sharing your photos.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and wonderful photo's, thanks.

[Markmom18]

We'll be on Glory in a month. I'm so Hapy to be reading a review here,thank you!:)

[onegroundcafe]

Day Five-St. Thomas, Magen's Bay, let's go take a dive.....

Woke up to a loud staff, they start cleaning at 8:30 am so I decided to go for a run (shocker). I went to the jogging track and began my run and at first it was a nice mist that cooled me off as I ran but it was very windy and was increasingly harder to run against the wind so I gave up and went back to the gym to use the dreadmills. They were all taken...didn't people know this was day three and they were supposed to be tired of exercising?

I waited for a machine to open up and finished my run there and boy was I glad I did the skies opened and it poured! When I was done running I picked up a spa flier for DD since they were having the kids and teen spa day. She would have to decided between beary cuddly and spa day. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to fish and chips to watch the rain come down. The rain lasted about 1/2 hour and I went back to the room to get the family since there were no lines at breakfast. By the time we got back up the lines were insane again!

I got a breakfast burrito, DD got a chocolate muffin and poor DH got a poorly made cheese omelette that he added bacon to. Then we went back to the room to get ready for St. Thomas.

For this port I was really undecided. The first time we went to St. Thomas we went to Sapphire Beach and it was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen, so the next time we went back to it and it was really rocky, so much so that your feet got cut. This time we did not want to go back to that.

One option I wanted to do was to catch a taxi to Red Hook, take the ferry to St. John and then a taxi to Trunk Bay. I am not brave enough for this option though. The ferry leaves on the hour and I imagine just missing it and missing the boat.

The second option I wanted to do was Magic Ice after having read about it on cruise critic. However upon research and other reviews found out it was overpriced and not so much fun.

The third option I wanted to do was Blackbeard's castle which includes a swimming pool. The fourth option was taking a taxi to Magen's Bay.

When we pulled into St. Thomas this is what we saw.

Now Senor Frogs is a lot of fun, but it takes some of the beauty away from St. Thomas. Mr. Frogs also had a very green scary looking pool.

We got off the ship and went in search of a taxi. We docked further away from where we usually dock and that threw me off. Normally when you get off the boat people are waiting for you wanting to put you in taxis and take you on tours, this was not the case in St. Thomas.

We had to seek out a taxi and then follow a person to a taxi stand and then follow a person to the taxi that would take us to Magen's Bay, at least the taxi was full and we didn't have to wait long.

However before we went to the taxi we went to find an adult beverage and juice which cost only 6.00 wow!

The other two times we went to St. Thomas we took the public bus to Sapphire Beach for 2.00 per person, but the bus system does not go to Magen's Bay so we took a taxi. The ride to the beach was breathtaking and at times you worried for your life as you went around turns but we got to see the ship from many different vistas.

When we got to Magen's Bay we stopped by the entrance and everyone in the taxi had to pay 4.00 entry fee (DD was free). Then the taxi stopped and we had to get out and pay 8.00 per person for the taxi fare. The driver tried to arrange a pick up time but no one wanted to be tied to a specific time.

The word about Magen's has definitely gotten out and it was packed! DH found some shade but no wifi and DD and I played in the very gentle beautiful water.

[onegroundcafe]

There were these beautiful black rocks you could climb on and look out at the ocean as well. DD found another little girl from Royal Caribbean and played with her for most of the day. We stayed from 11 am until 4 pm, the longest we have ever stayed at a beach. The taxi driver said the beach was named #1 in the Caribbean and number 10 in the world.

DH went in search of juice and he was gone at least half hour and I was starting to get worried, he came back and said lines were just that long. When we were done swimming we showered off our legs and went in search of a taxi. Before we got a taxi we encountered a guy with a HUGE crab and DH took a few turns poking it and then it got loose and went scurrying around it was very funny, DD was freaked out!

We got a taxi back and it is a long ride from Magen's to the boat but it is very pretty. When we got back we saw that the Sunshine was in port with us (DD's dream ship).

Senor Frogs was there with the yucky green pool but we were done and ready to get back on the boat. As we were heading to the pier we encountered a taxi driver yelling at some cruise people and the St. Thomas police were involved. It seemed very hostile and I would not want to get involved with law enforcement in another land (yes I know it is a US Territory but still). We got on the ship and due to the late hour our options were yet again...Deli, Pizza, Burgers. We opted for Guy's and tried to get specialty burgers, but yet again got just the burger and cheese.

After lunch DH napped, DD watched cartoons, and I headed to the serenity deck to read (it was empty again, SCORE!) The boat sounded its horn to take off and scared the daylights out of me. I headed back to the room to take DD to Camp Carnival.

DH and I then headed to the much anticipated Alchemy Bar!

[onegroundcafe]

The Alchemy Bar had these cool menus that lit up when you opened them (I am easily amused) and a plethora of options (sorry I did not get a picture).

I ordered a "Perfect Storm" complete with rosemary lit on fire for a smoky taste and firelight sprinkles of cinnamon. Half the fun of the Alchemy Bar is just watching them make drinks. Then the bonus came...a plate with olives, cheese, and nuts. WOW I never wanted to leave! The next cocktail I tried was the cucumber sunrise and it tasted just like Kool-Aid and could probably get you in some trouble.

I did not take pictures of the drinks, nor of food or menus, sorry :(

We then went to dinner and we were not impressed with the offerings, boo. I got the Minestrone and Spare Ribs and he got Beef Tenderloin.

I had read on CC about how close together two top tables were and how it was basically like sitting at a table of four, we hadn't experienced that until tonight at dinner. We were seated REALLY close to a couple from Canada and we started a conversation with them, when you are that close to not talk would be rude.

We talked to them about health care and they talked to us about gun laws, I guess the stereotypical things you hear about each other's country. We learned a lot.

After dinner was over we went and got DD and got some hot chocolate from the Lido deck (it is the best hot chocolate, if you don't get some you are missing out!) and we headed to bed. Puerto Rico was going to be an early morning!

[onegroundcafe]

Day Six-San Juan Puerto Rico, throw some mojitos in the mix!

 

I woke up around 8 am and did not go for a run today due to an early morning port time (7 am-3 pm) and the fact that we would be climbing all over San Cristobal. The family and I went to the lido deck for breakfast.

I wasn't in the mood for my usual breakfast burrito so instead I got eggs benedict, bagel with cream cheese and bacon and sausage. DD got the scrambled eggs and loved them (that made me giggle since it seems everyone on CC hates them) and also ate cereal, chocolate muffin and honeydew. DH used the Carnival website to read the news and the online fun times. Around 9 am we went back to the room to get ready to debark and ran into people in the elevator asking us when they could debark. They had been waiting since 7 am to get off the ship. I told them some times if it is early they do not make debarkation calls, poor people.

For some reason Puerto Rico feels familiar to me. We cruised out of there last March on the Valor and stayed at the Conrad for two days before the cruise and stayed 2 days after. It also reminds me of Spain (the old part of San Juan). I love porting in San Juan.

We got off the ship and walked through the shopping area (terminal in which you embark the Valor) and I was sad to see the pirate ship was gone and there was a lot of construction near the port. We headed straight across the street to public bus stop number one right outside of Punto de Vista restaurant where we would be having 2 for 1 mojitos later.

The city hall bus stopped first and we did not get on that one since it did not go to San Cristobal. Then the open air trolley stopped and we hopped on that. We befriended some locals and they let us know that there were two stops for San Cristobal, one at the bottom of the hill and one at the top of the hill, the stops are both number 18 if you need to know. We watched as most of the tourist got off at the bottom of the hill and had to walk to the top, we got off at the next stop, so remember that if you take the public bus next time.

The views from the top of San Cristobal are breathtaking. I can also understand why Charleston says the whale tails ruin the view of the historical district because from San Cristobal you could see three whale tails (Glory, Liberty, and Sunshine).

The line to pay the 5.00 (gets you into San Cristobal and El Morro; kids are free) was very long and in direct sunlight but after that we were off and could explore on our own. We spent about 1.5 hours there.

 

Supposedly a ship captain while imprisoned at San Cristobal drew these ships

 

 

 

 

After we were done at the fort we went to catch a trolley to El Morro after 20 mintues of waiting in direct sunlight we gave up and caught a trolley to downtown Old San Juan. Tip for those going to Puerto Rico it is an easy walk to El Morro, DH and DD just didn't want to do it, don't waste time waiting for a trolley.

We bought DD a hat since she was so hot, last time we were in San Juan it was too hot to explore downtown so I really wanted to see the area. After we were done shopping we went to Puento de Vista restaurant for two for one mojitos. They were made with Bicardi and you can get any flavor you want.

We got back on the ship to eat some lunch. We went to Fish and Chips for the soup (yum!) Tuna and watermelon for DH and FF for DD. Then it was nap time. DD and I went to the hot tub and then we all got ready for the past guest party.

The only option seemed to be spiked fruit punch. They had a good tomato/mozzarella appetizer and some weird egg/bacon appetizer. They did the whole show the Carnival fleet and cheer for which ships you have been on. They played the Woodsmen/bear game with only men this time (?) At the end someone from the audience got on stage and danced like Michael Jackson and then we all left.

We looked at the shops and tried on perfumes, I like Happy by Clinique, really anything by Clinique. Then it was time to drop DD off at CC for dinner. We got dressed and headed to dinner ourselves.

[onegroundcafe]

We were seated at a table of two that really was a table of four. This time the couple was from Michigan. They had left the kids at home for this vacation and splurged on a balcony. However the first night they discovered their balcony room was directly above the nightclub and they could hear/feel the bass. They complained to guest services who offered to move them to an inside cabin. They didn't want to move and tried to sleep on the balcony, after three nights of visits to guest services they were moved to a balcony across the ship after a family had left the ship in Puerto Rico (I didn't know you could do that?) but they stated no one on Carnival helped them move. A few other things had happened to them and I think I topped it off accidentally by letting them know that Sushi had been taken off most of the ships and replaced with the taste bar...

For dinner we both had short ribs and I had the beef and barley soup for an appetizer. I ordered a banana split for dessert off the kids menu. For something different to do we went to Superstar Live, which is live karaoke with the band. It was held in the Punchliner place aka Ebony Cabaret. I learned that the SuperStar Live has its own drink menu as does the Punchliner and the wait staff has different shirts for each event. We left after three songs. The first one was a group singing/dancing to Cupid Shuffle, then a guy raging to Red Hot Chili Peppers and then a guy singing the Righteous Brothers.

We picked up DD from Camp Carnival and got hot chocolate and went to bed.

[seashinesunshine]

It is sad to see the pirate ship gone from OSJ, you may know this already but the Bounty was sunk in a hurricane a few years ago. Sad. :(

Edited July 24, 2014 by seashinesunshine

[AriannaFan]

we sail Aug 16 and since it will be our 3rd time sailing western, we have no excursions planned. It's our annual adult only vacation and this time we are determined to relax and enjoy all the parts of ship we never get too because we are either off the ship or on the ship with everyone else. So glad you're doing this review. I have Alchemy bar on my list...do they have a tasting event/menu?

 

How early did you return to ship for lunch?

[onegroundcafe]

AriannaFan-we did the Eastern itinerary

Alchemy Bar had: -Ladies Night Get $1 off all Martinis from 4:00 pm -12:00 am on the second night of the cruise (HMC day)

-Be your own mixologist, write your own prescription pad for a perfect martini $1 off on the fourth night of the cruise (St. Thomas day)

-4 martini tasting for 16.95 or 17.95 I can't remember which from 4:00-10:00 pm on the fifth night of the cruise (San Juan day)

-Be your own mixologist, write your own prescription pad for a perfect martini $1 off on the sixth night of the cruise (Grand Turk day)

-Alchemy Ultra Premuim-Upgrade all items on the menu to ultra premium for premium price 4:00 pm until 12:00 am on the seventh night of the cruise (sea day)

 

Half Moon Cay day we came back to the ship around 2:30, St. Thomas went back to the ship at 4 pm, San Juan went back to the ship 2 pm, Grand Turk went back to the ship after 2:30.

[onegroundcafe]

Day Seven-A slice of Grand Turk Heaven

 

I woke up at 8:07 am and went for a very hot run. I did some running on the track but couldn't take the heat for the whole run so I finished in the gym. We were supposed to dock in Gand Turk at 11:00 am and when I was done with my run there were no lines for breakfast so I hurried down to the room to let the family know that now was the time to hightail it to the Lido but by the time we were all ready that lines were ginormous. Tip, it you want to eat breakfast make sure you do so before 10 am. We heard the Captain announce we had landed a half hour early in Grand Turk and that the Sunshine was due to arrive at noon. After looking out the ship windows at the amount of beach chairs and our HMC experience we decided to hurry off the boat (something we have never done before).

The boat docks right next to the beach but they make you walk through the shopping area first, we did not do our usual adult beverage/juice thing we just wanted to get a chair in the shade. From the ship DH found a sign that said "free wifi and cheap beer" so we headed in that direction for his wifi.

We got two chairs in the shade and headed off for Captain Hooks (the place with "cheap beer and free wifi") and DH sat down. I read a book in the shade and DD swam in the water and played with some friends from Camp Carnival.

She also got to play with the famous Topher from Jack's Shack, he was super cute!

There were also some people trying to sell pony rides.

Periodically I would got back and check on DH and his wifi and it turns out that while Captain Hook's may have cheap beer (?) their wifi was not working. They did not make a good Miami Vice either fyi.

I went back to my shade reading and DD played in the ocean.

Around noon we saw the Sunshine land and I felt bad for them it seemed all the chairs in the shade were gone and there were very few loungers left. They did have a hard time finding spots. DH got tired of trying to find wifi so he went to Margaritaville and it was PACKED, they too did not have working wifi.

One time while I was checking on DD and DH I came back and couldn't find my lounger. I was so confused because I had been in it all day, it turns out that some guy had moved a lounger into where mine had been and shoved out stuff down. I was pretty upset, he didn't even apologize. DH told me to chill and I could understand if I was gone and was a chair hog...but I had just been there! Oh well.

DH got tired of the non functioning wifi so we headed back to the ship.

[onegroundcafe]

Some more Grand Turk pictures

 

 

 

As we headed back to the ship DH and DD pretended to sneak onto the Sunshine. They had a shaded tent with beverages outside their gangplank. Due to the late hour of boarding we went to Guy's burgers and got some VERY burnt burgers.

I went to the Adults only pool to read. It seems since this ship had Serenity and adults only pools most adults went to serenity, I could always find a lounger at the adults only pool. DD watched some cartoons and DH slept. Then DD and I went swimming and then I took her to CC for dinner.

It was the second formal night for dinner so we got dressed and headed to the Alchemy bar and got me some Chipotle Pineapple Martinis. DH did the whole make your own drink thing...master mixologist and basically made a mint julep. Afterward we went to the casino and DH used his drinks on us card for a Makers and water and we headed to dinner.

We were seated next to a couple that had put all their extra stuff on our table (number plate, sea shell, and cocktail menu) making our already crowded table really crowded, but we held up the seashells and made calls to each other.

Tonight's champagne toast was berry and I got Pasta e Fagoli soup (more like chicken noodle soup) and DH got Caesar Salad. He got the duet of Filet Mignon and said it was pretty bad and I got teriyaki Salmon (good). I got Amaretto cake for dessert and DH did not get dessert.

We headed back to the Alchemy bar and DH got another Mint drink, Brian the bartender is very good. We went to see Allayn Ball at the Punchiliner and he was really funny. After the comedian we went to the piano bar to give Kyle another chance and he was still bad and had no crowd.

We picked up DD and and to bed and DH went to the....casino.

[onegroundcafe]

Day Eight-Another Day at Sea is Great!

Today I woke up later than usual, 9 am and did not go for a run since all my running clothes were clean (yay free laundry!) DD and I went to the Sea Day brunch again. I got a bagel and cream cheese and bacon and she got scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit. She did not like the scrambled eggs because they were real eggs. The fruit was beautiful.

After breakfast we walked around the ship and saw that the tables in the atrium had towel animals on them. We went to the pool for a swim and found a chair easily. After swimming DD went to CC and I read by the adults only pool. Then it was time to redeem our free beverage from being past guest.

We headed to the Platinum Dining room with our coupons along with all other 498 past guests. I have read you can redeem the coupons at any bar but I am a rule follower so we went to the sea day brunch. No one was really eating there just getting drinks and leaving. DH ordered a cruiser, I ordered a Miami Vice and DD got a Root beer...out came 2 root beers and a cruiser, then on the next try came a pina colada. I decided to take the Pina Colada and we headed to the lido for lunch. We had our last fish and chips experience (you know what we got) and our last Blue Iguana experience.

DD headed to Camp Carnival and I went back to the adults only pool and I am not sure what DH did?

Around 3:00 we all went to Camp Carnival and did Beary Cuddly with DD. She got a dog and named him glory and got him/her a beauty pageant costume.

 

 

Then we did the dreaded packing thing and went to see the Magic show, the magician had already done tricks at CC but we still enjoyed it. We went to the taste bar which replaced the sushi bar (BRING BACK THE SUSHI) and I wish that the tastes would be different but it is still nice. We got dressed for dinner and DD joined us so she could get warm chocolate melting cake.

We dropped her back at CC and we went to the comedian. After it was over I picked up DD from CC and DH went to the casino.

We were doing self assist debark so we kept our luggage and tried to get to bed early since we were driving home the next day.

However DH woke us up when he got back from the casino with the news that he had won a free cruise!

So I was up all night planning our next cruise, how exciting!

[onegroundcafe]

Day Nine...heading home and trying to be fine....

I was too excited to sleep and thus woke up at 6:30 am. We ate breakfast in the lido at 7:00 and headed back to the room to listen for the self assist call. They called us and we were off the boat within the hour :( We waited for Premier parking to pick us up and headed back to the parking garage and the car. We drove until we hit Savannah and went to River Street and ate at the crab house, ate taffy and then went to city market and listened to music and got DD a balloon animal. Savannah is one of my favorite cities.

 

Day Ten...home again

We stopped at south of the border on our way home and got some fireworks and looked around. We got home and put away our clothes and rested from our vacation.

 

 

Up next:

Fun Times and random musings.

[onegroundcafe]

Miami Fun Times

 

 

 

[onegroundcafe]

Half Moon Cay Fun Times