Carnival Glory Eastern Caribbean Review Nov. 29-Dec. 6

[jpm1973]

Checked in with FTTF at the port waiting to get on the GLORY.....we will add to comments when we get back next week.

 

 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

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[MollyRox]

Thanks! It was a lot of fun cruising with mom...hope to do it again.

 

The slot tournament win only gets you a seat at the grand finals - you still have to book and pay for the cruise itself. Not sure if I'll be doing that yet or not; as of now the prices on that sailing are a bit high for my liking. I'd say enter the tournament - Only $25 and if I can win you can!

 

 

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A couple of years ago, my son in law won a seat at the big tournament, but couldn't go, but he was able to sell his seat, it's transferable, in case you didn't know. Congrats on the win!:D

[jpm1973]

Day 4 - San Juan

 

We weren’t scheduled to arrive in San Juan until 11 a.m. local time, and since our booked excursion (a food tour) wasn’t scheduled until 4:30 p.m., mom and I saw no need to rush out of bed. I think I woke up around 8:30 or so and took a look outside to see we were getting closer to Puerto Rico.

 

 

 

 

Since the day before was so rough I hadn’t made it to the gym; I’m clumsy enough on a treadmill without rough waters making it even more dangerous. So I figured I’d head up and get a quick run in and view our arrival into San Juan from that vantage point.

 

There were very few people in the gym as I suspected so I had my choice of the treadmills. It was nice running and watching our slow arrival into port. After my run I went to the observation decks up front and snapped a few pictures. In port already were the Carnival Liberty and the Westerdam; the Celebrity Constellation was due to join us later on.

 

 

 

 

I stopped by the Lido buffet and grabbed a yogurt and some coffee and went back to the cabin to clean myself up. Mom was waking up at this point so I ran back up to the buffet to grab her some coffee and a Danish. We decided to take it easy since we didn’t have to be anywhere until 4:30 and since the weather was nice, we thought we’d catch some sun by the pool. It was not at all crowded being a port day so we had our pick of lounge chairs.

 

 

 

We spent a couple hours outside, had some more Blue Iguana tacos for lunch, and then made our way back to the cabin to shower and get ready for our food tour.

[jpm1973]

 

Mom had gotten a recommendation for this Flavors of San Juan tour from a co-worker who had honeymooned in San Juan earlier this year. It’s a three-hour walking tour of five different restaurants in old San Juan, each highlighting a different aspect of food and drink in Puerto Rico. Since mom isn’t always much for walking, we were unsure how she would do with this one.

 

The meeting spot was at Carli’s Bistro and Piano Bar – owned by the keyboardist from the Beach Boys. On Google it looked like a short walk from the pier, and for most it would have been no issue. For mom we just had to take it slow and find spots along the way for her to rest up for a few minutes. Neither of us had been to San Juan before and enjoyed walking through the city and enjoying the landscape and architecture.

 

 

 

 

We made it to the meeting spot around 4:15 and were greeted by our guide, Carmen, who provided a map for our tour and let us know we’d be starting once everyone had arrived by 4:30.

 

At Carli’s we would be learning about the mojito, which while not a creation of Puerto Rico, sure tasted good regardless! The bartender spent time explaining how to make a mojito the correct and classic way, with real spearmint, run, brown sugar, and club soda. Needless to say these were delicious. Along with the mojitos they served a rice and bean dish that was also tasty, though I can’t remember what the proper name of this was, and some delicious plantains.

 

We left Carli’s and started walking to our next stop, El Parnaso. Along the way Carmen did a great job sharing some history of San Juan and Puerto Rico and how it came to be a territory of the United States. At this point in the walk we had to make it up a rather large hill, and mom and I had to lag a bit behind since she needed to take pretty frequent breaks. I was concerned we might lose the group, but once we made it to the top of the hill we found them with no problem. View from the top:

 

 

At El Parnaso we enjoyed pina coladas and two appetizers – corn fritters and an empanada-like item filled with chicken. Mom and I agreed that the corn fritters were good but the empanada-like item was a bit dry. We both finished our pina coladas, of course.

 

Next on the tour was Café El Punto, where we had some delicious ceviche (mom’s first taste ever and she loved it) and alcapurrias – fritters made from plantains and then stuffed with beef. These were best with a little of the local pique hot sauce on them.

 

Our next stop was Rosa de Triana, where we were put to work for our food. Well, sort of. We got to try our hand at mashing plantains for mofongo and then adding the cooked chicken on top. The plantains themselves once mashed were pretty tasteless, but once the chicken and sauce were added on top it all came together nicely. While we enjoyed this, mom and I were both eyeing the paella the table across from our group had ordered. If we ever return to San Juan we may just try this place and get some other things from the menu – it all looked awesome!

 

Our final stop was Old Harbor Brewery for dessert, where we had some delicious flan. Once we were done, Carmen was good enough to call us a taxi so mom could skip the walk back to the port. Overall this tour was excellent and Carmen was outstanding – she really knew her stuff and shared a lot of great history and information over the course of our three-hour walking tour. If you’re in San Juan or stopping there, I’d definitely recommend this if you like food and drink and want to get a little history of San Juan and Puerto Rico as well.

 

After a short taxi ride we made it back to the port. We were scheduled to leave San Juan in about an hour so we decided to just head back on board and find a good spot on deck to watch our sail away.

 

 

Since we had eaten so much as part of our tour, neither of us was remotely hungry so we skipped dinner again and popped by Alchemy for a drink or two. We also spent some time in the casino, leaving more money behind than we won of course. Mom and I at Alchemy:

 

 

Next up…St. Thomas.

[puffer46]

What a great picture of you and your mom. You both have the same smile. Loving your review... Can't wait for St. Thomas. Your doing a wonderful job explaining everything in such great detail. Thanks again.

Linda

[kelkel2]

I think it may be the same bartender; he mentioned being on the Liberty in the past. Here he is...I have a better picture somewhere but this is what I found right away.

 

 

I forget his name, but this is the bartender we had on the Liberty with us in Jan. 2013!!

[wandbrich]

nybumkin, we have 8455 on our upcoming glory cruise. This is our first wrap. Done several aft extended. Can't wait! Glad to hear u love this cabin.

[smurfm69]

Enjoying your review and pictures. We are doing this same cruise in May and can't wait! How much was your food tour in San Juan and did you purchase it through Carnival or independently?

[TRomo22]

Yup that's Brian! I'm friends with him on FB and also met him while on the Liberty. Considering the Glory again for April 4th and excited for the possibility to have some more vodka soaked strawberries or pineapple with him lol. Those things are disgusting and toxic. Definitely get the job done. And Brian makes awesome drinks

 

How can you find him on fb??

[dolfan9088]

I am pretty sure the cab fare from MIA to the Port of Mia is 25$, there is also a very nice Holiday inn in Downtown Miami that is literally 1 mile from the port. You can see the ships from the Hotel, but the hotel is also pricey.

[bitofun]

jpm1073,

 

What a great review! Truly enjoy every sentence I read. I will be on the Glory late April, 2015 on the Western Caribbean itinerary. It's the 3rd sisters cruise for me and my sister, and literally our 3rd cruise too! Our 2nd sisters cruise we were on the Victory which ported at Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. We both loved both of those ports and would go back in a heart beat, but have chosen the Western itinerary since we have only been to one of the ports (Cozumel) previously, but not during a cruise. We too rented the cabana at Half Moon Cay and fully enjoyed it.

 

Anyway, love reading what you have to say about the Glory and all of your experiences. My sister and I have splurged and booked an aft wrap balcony. :D

 

Congrats on winning the slot tourney! Love the fact that you cruised with your Mom! My sister and I also live in different states which seems to make these special sisters cruises even more special. We will be flying in to MIA the day before our cruise, and have a hotel reservation near POM. ;)

 

Anxious to read what's yet to come in your review. It helps satisfy my undying "can't wait" feeling! :)

[jpm1973]

Enjoying your review and pictures. We are doing this same cruise in May and can't wait! How much was your food tour in San Juan and did you purchase it through Carnival or independently?

 

Thanks for reading! The food tour was $69 per person and we booked it independently through the company directly - sanjuanfoodtours.com.

[jpm1973]

jpm1073,

 

What a great review! Truly enjoy every sentence I read. I will be on the Glory late April, 2015 on the Western Caribbean itinerary. It's the 3rd sisters cruise for me and my sister, and literally our 3rd cruise too! Our 2nd sisters cruise we were on the Victory which ported at Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. We both loved both of those ports and would go back in a heart beat, but have chosen the Western itinerary since we have only been to one of the ports (Cozumel) previously, but not during a cruise. We too rented the cabana at Half Moon Cay and fully enjoyed it.

 

Anyway, love reading what you have to say about the Glory and all of your experiences. My sister and I have splurged and booked an aft wrap balcony. :D

 

Congrats on winning the slot tourney! Love the fact that you cruised with your Mom! My sister and I also live in different states which seems to make these special sisters cruises even more special. We will be flying in to MIA the day before our cruise, and have a hotel reservation near POM. ;)

 

Anxious to read what's yet to come in your review. It helps satisfy my undying "can't wait" feeling! :)

 

Thanks for reading! Really enjoyed this trip and the Glory was awesome - would definitely cruise her again - I am sure you will have a great time in April!

 

Hope to get to the rest of my review soon.

[jpm1973]

Day 5 – St. Thomas

 

When we were planning this cruise, mom and I had decided on taking a catamaran excursion in St. Thomas and I found a good deal on a half-day sail to an uninhabited island that included snorkeling. While we were in San Juan I received a text message from the company letting me know there was a chance the trip could be cancelled due to forecast high surf conditions and to check in before heading to the meeting spot.

 

This morning both mom and I slept in a bit, and when I took a peek out of our window we had already docked in St. Thomas

 

 

Our excursion meeting time was at 12:30 at a resort about a 15-minute ride from the port so we planned on having a slow-paced morning getting ready to go. Once I showered and got dressed, I headed up to the buffet to get some breakfast and grabbed some coffee and a Danish for mom. I dropped those off for her in the cabin while she was getting ready and headed back up to wander the decks and get a few pictures. In port with us today at this pier were the Ruby Princess and Norwegian Getaway. I have a few more pics of both as they sailed away later in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

As I was wandering the decks I sent a message to our excursion company inquiring about the catamaran sail. A few minutes later she responded, letting me know that they were going to cancel the afternoon trip as the waters were a bit rough and the morning sail had not been going so well. Disappointing for sure, but glad they let us know and understand they don’t want everyone to have a miserable time if the waters are too rocky.

 

I went back to the cabin to let mom know the news and talk about what she wanted to do with our day. She had been to St. Thomas before and had done day trips to Magen’s Bay and other places. Although this was my first trip to St. Thomas, I didn’t have a burning desire to try to get a taxi or other transportation somewhere so we just decided to stay around the port and shop at Havensight.

 

Here we are leaving the ship:

 

 

And don't worry: all these official pics I'm posting we purchased. :-)

 

[jpm1973]

 

 

We spent a couple hours wandering the shops in Havensight. Neither of us was in the market for anything in particular, though mom wanted a sweatshirt and something for my sister who we left behind in cold Chicago. I wanted to at least check out the liquor prices and see if I could get a deal on Jameson like I had gotten in St. Maarten earlier this year.

 

Mom took a break on a bench and had a smoke while I wandered into a surf shop that had board shorts, t-shirts, and a lot of other stuff. I noticed they carried Nixon watches, and being a bit of a watch fanatic I had to take a look. I looked at a few and the salesman let me know their prices were at least 5% less than what you could find online. I had shopped these watches before so I knew generally what to expect and he was right on. How could I pass it up? Well I couldn’t of course. One more watch for my collection:

 

 

 

 

Mom ended up buying herself a sweatshirt and one for my sister, as well as a couple cartons of cigarettes. I didn’t find a great deal on Jameson, but did a bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey instead and some Absolut Ruby Red. After that we decided to call it a day with shopping, and stopped off at a bar for a drink and some shade to cool off. We chatted with the bartender a bit, whose parents were from the U.S. but she was born and raised in St. Thomas. Mom had a tequila sunrise and I had a couple of Caribs; the bartender even gave mom her drink for free since it was her birthday the next day.

 

We made our way back to the ship and decided to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day up on the lido deck by the pool. Again being in port this was a great time as it was not crowded at all. I also took this opportunity to get my first Guy’s burger, and I was not disappointed.

 

 

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool, enjoying a few drinks and watching as the Getaway and Ruby Princess made their exit from St. Thomas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went back to the cabin to get cleaned up for dinner, and just before we went back up to watch our own departure. This would be our last port before our return to Miami.

 

For dinner mom had a salad to start and I chose the ceviche; we both opted for the fried chicken; and for dessert mom got carrot cake and I went with the melting chocolate cake.

 

After dinner neither of us was feeling much for gambling, so we decided to check out the Motor City show that had been rescheduled from the first sea day that was particular rocky. The music was great; mom particularly loved it having grown up in Detroit when Motown was so big. I know a lot of people dislike the Playlist Productions shows but we both enjoyed this one – the performers did a great job and the screens as background didn’t bother us at all.

 

After the show we went to Alchemy for one drink and decided to make it an early night; we were both tired from being up late the previous nights and needed to just get some sleep. This guy was waiting for us in our cabin when we returned:

 

 

 

 

Next up…our last two sea days.

[smurfm69]

Thanks a bunch for the info!

Thanks for reading! The food tour was $69 per person and we booked it independently through the company directly - sanjuanfoodtours.com.

[Humarocker]

sailing 1/10 looking forward to seeing the ship, sailed on the Freedom and really enjoyed the layout.

 

GF is interested in a Cat sail could you email me the link or post it

 

Thank you

Kim

willluqudl1@gmail.com

[jpm1973]

sailing 1/10 looking forward to seeing the ship, sailed on the Freedom and really enjoyed the layout.

 

GF is interested in a Cat sail could you email me the link or post it

 

Thank you

Kim

willluqudl1@gmail.com

 

Hi Kim -

 

This is the company we had booked with - found them on Trip Advisor. Wish our sail would have happened; they get great reviews! Enjoy your cruise.

 

http://www.daydreamervi.com/

[jpm1973]

Day 6 – At Sea

 

Sorry it's been so long since my last installment of my review; the holidays took over as they tend to and I never had a chance to sit down and finish this up. Hope to get it done today!

 

Our last two days were at sea, so we were hoping for some nice weather to enjoy time by the pool and getting some sun. Thursday was also mom’s birthday, so I had made reservations at the steakhouse for dinner tonight. When I woke up and took a look outside, the skies looked pretty promising:

 

 

 

Mom had said she wanted to sleep in today so I made another visit to the gym to try to burn off some of the extra food and drinks I’d been having during the week. After the gym I took a walk around the ship and then went to the Lido buffet for some coffee and yogurt.

 

When I got back to the cabin mom was still sleeping so I spent some time out on the balcony reading. Once she got up we decided to hit the sea day brunch again and got ourselves ready. She decided on two eggs, bacon and toast and I had another omelet. She got a Bloody Mary and I had a mimosa.

 

After brunch the skies had clouded up a bit and it wasn’t so warm out so we decided to skip the pool. Mom went to the casino to try her luck at the slots again and I decided to head back to the cabin for a nap. I slept off and on for an hour or so, then headed back up to see how mom was doing. She was having some luck on the machines and was going to keep playing. It had cleared up a bit outside so I grabbed my book and spent a couple hours lounging on the Serenity deck reading.

 

At this point the sun was starting to set and we had 7 p.m. reservations at the steakhouse. I stopped by the casino to tear mom away from the slots and we headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner.

 

Neither of us had eaten at a Carnival steakhouse before so we didn’t know what to expect but based on the menu we were very much looking forward to it. To start mom had the baked onion soup and I had the ahi tuna tartare – both were excellent. After the starters we both had the spinach salad; also very good. For the entrée mom chose the filet and I opted for the New York strip. We both enjoyed ours but decided the filet had much better flavor. After all that neither of us was hungry for dessert but decided to share the cheesecake, which was the absolute biggest piece of cheesecake I’ve ever seen. This picture does not do it justice.

 

 

 

Overall I have to say the $35 per person for the steakhouse was completely worth it. The food and service were excellent and you’d be hard pressed to find something similar at any restaurant for that price.

 

After dinner mom and I stopped by one of the photo spots to get a picture since this was the only time we had even remotely dressed up during the cruise.

 

 

 

After that we had a birthday drink for mom at Alchemy and then spent a couple hours making our donations at the casino. The craps table was up and down for me, but ended down; mom had much better luck tonight with the slots. Here’s a shot of our three favorite bartenders:

 

 

 

And then tonight’s towel animal to end our day:

 

 

Edited January 4, 2015 by jpm1973

[bamtlc]

On the Glory in 6 days. Your review has been great.:thumbup:

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

[Liverpoollovely]

Great review :) I will be back on the Glory in March last time we sailed on her it was Matt Mitchum CD and Eversen was ACD

[jpm1973]

Day 7 – At Sea

Sigh…it’s our last day. It seems like the buildup to the cruise is so big and then the week is over before you know it. We hadn’t made any plans for our final day at sea other than hoping (again) for some nice weather so we could try to get just a little more sun before we had to head back north to the cold. Luckily it seemed the skies were cooperating today, though I had thought the same yesterday.

 

 

 

I had ordered room service the night before, so we spent a leisurely hour or so on the balcony enjoying our coffee and breakfast. After that we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head up to the lido to spend some time by the pool. Understandable it was packed, but we found a couple chairs in the sun one deck above right near the video monitor overlooking the pool. It was pretty windy again, but with the sun out it didn’t feel too bad. We ordered a couple margaritas and relaxed in the sun for a bit, until it clouded up a bit and then started raining. Not too hard, but enough to be annoying. So much for our day in the sun!

 

We decided to sit at the casino bar and play Yahtzee for a while and see if the rain cleared up and we could get back out in the sun. We ordered a couple more drinks and after three games we saw that it had in fact cleared up outside so we headed back up and found a couple more chairs on deck 10. This time the rain stayed away so we were able to enjoy a couple more hours of sun. At some point I stopped down at Blue Iguana to get us a couple more pork tacos…sadly the last we’d be having on this cruise. A couple shots from our day up above:

 

 

 

 

We made our way back to the cabin to get cleaned up and to start the sad and annoying process of packing all our stuff. At least for our last night we finally got to see a pretty nice sunset:

 

 

Mom wanted to hit the casino again and wasn’t too hungry so she settled down at the slots while I ran up to the buffet to get a little something to eat. After that I tried my luck at the craps table one last time…again not so lucky. But I was able to play with the same money for a couple hours so it wasn’t all bad. Mom ended up a bit ahead on her last night at the slots so overall we ended on a positive note in the casino. We headed to Alchemy for one last drink and to say goodbye to our favorite bartenders. Seriously these three are awesome…be sure to stop by Alchemy if you’re on the Glory – you won’t be disappointed! My last Alchemy drink (and favorite this cruise) – the Antioxidant:

 

 

Sadly this view on the walk back to our cabin meant it was all coming to an end:

 

 

Mom and I had one more drink on our balcony before turning in for the night. We had planned to disembark with group 2 so we would need to be up somewhat early to finish packing and grab some food before our group was called.

 

Next up…some arrival shots and final thoughts.

[jpm1973]

Day 8 – Miami

Per my usual routine I was awake early and took a peek outside and could see Miami in the not-to-far distance. It was just about 6:30 so it looked like we would be arriving early today.

 

 

 

 

The Norwegian Getaway, which we saw in St. Thomas, had already arrived.

 

 

 

We make our way back into the same spot we left from just a week earlier.

 

 

 

We finished getting ready and packing up the last of our stuff and made our way up to the Lido buffet to grab some coffee and a quick bite. While up there they started calling self-assist passengers a little before 8 a.m. After we ate we found some loungers by the pool and maybe 10 minutes later they were calling for group 1. Our group, 2, came maybe another 10 minutes later so we were making our way down to deck 3 around 8:30 or so.

 

Disembarkation was easy and painless and our bags were on the conveyer belt not long after we made it into the terminal. After a short wait for customs, we were on our way to the Carnival bus for the ride back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. Mom was the first stop at the airport so I helped her get her bags checked in curbside and we said our goodbyes. I was at the next stop and had plenty of time to kill before my 1 p.m. flight back to New York.

 

Some final thoughts on this cruise:

 

Embarkation: We had a bit of a wait, but Faster to the Fun was definitely worth it and made everything a bit easier. I’d definitely purchase that again.

 

Food: Overall everything was good. A few miss items in the MDR for mom, but overall we were happy with everything we ordered. The buffet was fine, nothing spectacular. The steakhouse was the real winner for us though; definitely worth the price and we’d be sure to eat there again on any future cruises.

 

Entertainment: We didn’t really take advantage of many shows on this cruise, though the one we did see (Motor City) was good – great music and the cast did a great job. The one comedy show I saw wasn’t so good. The bands and musicians around the ship were always good; we especially liked The Regulators - the band at the casino stage.

 

Staff: As always, every employee we interacted with was friendly, smiling and helpful. Never an issue with any service on the Glory.

 

Ports: The itinerary was good for us, a nice mix of port days and sea days. Having only ever sailed on one three-day cruise I was a little unsure how I’d like the extended sea time. Other than the real rough day early on, I didn’t mind it; it felt more relaxed not trying to cram a lot into a short amount of time. Half Moon Cay was great, but would love to go back and hope to get some better weather. Regardless the cabana rental was totally worth it and I’d do that again for sure. I’m definitely planning a return trip to Puerto Rico and St. Thomas – both were beautiful and I’d love more time to explore.

 

Disembarkation: Quick and painless. Bags were there quickly and we maybe waited 10 minutes to get thorough customs and out of the terminal. The Carnival transfer back to the airport was easy as well.

 

Overall mom and I had a fantastic time. It was a great way to celebrate her birthday and get away from some of the stress she’d been dealing with this past year. No plans for she and I yet but I hope we can plan for another cruise sometime in 2015. Thanks for reading!

[2 cruzen]

nybumkin, we have 8455 on our upcoming glory cruise. This is our first wrap. Done several aft extended. Can't wait! Glad to hear u love this cabin.

 

We also have 8455 on the Feb 21 sailing :D

When is your cruise?

[lablover61]

Wow, what a great review ! I have read a lot of reviews here , but none better than yours !! Very interested because we sail on the Glory in April 2015. A little different intinarary . Still Eastern , but three ports San Juan , St. Maartan , and Grand Turk with the extra sea day instead .I found it interesting too because your Mom lives in Chicago ( we lived there in the NW suburbs for almost 10 years ) and she is from Detroit ( we currently live in suburban Detroit ) ! Anyways , thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive and interesting review , it was great !!