Glory Review, December 26, 2015

[declansdad]

Hello all,

 

finally getting some time to do a quick review of our cruise. It will be short but I'm happy to answer questions and I will add pictures from throughout the trip.

 

It is cheaper for us to drive to the US and fly than it is to fly from home so on Dec 23rd we headed for Portland, Maine and the Hampton Inn. Our flight was early on the 24th with Delta through Laguardia. First leg was easy but we had some issues in NYC. First our seats were assigned at the gate so we were amongst the last to board and we weren't seated together. My wife ended up in the very back with our son just in front of her, I was near the middle. After pushing back from the gate we waited 90 minutes on the tarmac while they re-routed us around some bad weather. Had time for a nice nap before we even left the ground.

 

We used Florida Limo to get to the Intercontinental Miami and were checked in and upgraded to a 2 room suite by 5 pm. Walked over to Bayside Marketplace and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Being from Canada, it was great to be sitting outside having dinner on Christmas Eve.

 

After looking around a bit we found a CVS and grabbed some snack and wine for the room and cruise before heading back to the hotel and turning in after a long day.

 

Christmas Day was spent at the Miami Heat game and eating once again at Bayside Market, this time at Tradewinds. All the restaurants were very busy, probably because of the basketball game. There were also a few of the stores open Christmas Day.

 

 

Some pre-cruise pictures:

 

My wife and son shortly after arriving at the hotel

 

 

Our view at dinner

 

 

Downtown

 

 

Intercontinental lobby

 

 

Looking towards the port

 

 

Our view at the game

 

[declansdad]

We were all awake early on the 26th, eager to get to the ship. Breakfast was at Starbucks in the lobby for my wife and son while I headed to Bayside for some Subway.

 

Around 11 we got a cab and headed to the port. The cab ride was $15 including tip. There was a porter right at the cab and he marked around bags with the FTTF tags (this was on the luggage tags as well) and pointed in the right direction.

 

We had a short line to enter the building and getting through security was quick. At the check-in we had a separate line and waited maybe 5 minutes. The regular line was quickly filling up and by 11:45 both sides were quite long. Boarding started around 12:15, and by 1 we had boarded, purchased the wine package and made it to our cabin. It was great to be able to walk through those closed doors and go directly to the cabin.

 

Lunch was up next and we all opted for Guy's Burgers. They were awesome and we all had more than one before the week was over. We also explored the ship a bit before heading back to cabin to find out luggage there.

 

We were in cabin 7446 which was an aft extended balcony cabin. Cabin seemed to be the standard Carnival size and layout but the balcony was a bit larger and easily accommodated the three of us.

 

We spent most of the afternoon looking around, talking to our neighbours and waiting for the Muster Drill. Of the five ships in port that day, we were the fourth to leave and I'm not sure if the fifth left that day or not.

 

We had early dining in the lower level of the Platinum Dining Room. Our wait staff was fantastic all week and provides us with lots of advice on the ports we were visiting. The assistant server even managed to get our son to take part in the wait staff dance. He forced me to do it on New Year's Eve.

 

After dinner we went to the first of the shows, Divas I think it was, and enjoyed it. The cast were a talented bunch. The one complaint I had at all the shows is that the music was played at a level that it made it difficult to actually hear the singers. We also caught the end of karaoke that evening before turning in.

 

Next up will be the sea day and Amber Cove.

 

Some more pics.

 

The first burger

 

 

My son and I

 

 

Atrium

 

 

The Amber Palace

 

 

Platinum Dining Room

 

 

View from our balcony

 

[declansdad]

More from the Balcony

 

 

 

On the way out

 

 

 

 

[lazydayz]

Thanks for posting. We board on Saturday for the 10 night Journeys cruise. Seeing your photos is ramping up the excitement.

[Crazyrbbt]

Liking the review so far, thank you. We are cruising on the Glory in March.

[kbh2]

Can't wait to read the rest I will be on her in March..

[cjcjohio]

I am enjoying all the photos.

[declansdad]

Our first sea day was a very relaxing day. We did the sea day brunch in the MDR and met a very nice older gentleman from Dallas. He was there for his son's wedding taking place later in the cruise.

 

The day was spent taking in some trivia, relaxing by the pool and on the balcony. We were able to find chairs by the pool without too much trouble and the bar service was very good without being over-bearing.

 

That evening was the first elegant night. Most people that we saw were dressed up, maybe one family in our area wasn't. Again, our servers were fantastic, the food was quick and we had no complaints with the quality. The only complaint we had was with people who allowed the children to run around and yell. There was one large group that allowed this a couple of nights but they did settle them down later in the cruise.

 

Didn't bother with too many pictures on this day (you can only take so many pictures of water) but there were a couple.

 

Just after a brief shower

 

 

Our towel animal on the second night

 

[declansdad]

Liking the review so far, thank you. We are cruising on the Glory in March.

 

Thanks for posting. We board on Saturday for the 10 night Journeys cruise. Seeing your photos is ramping up the excitement.

 

 

Thanks, I'm sure that you will enjoy your cruises.

[declansdad]

Can't wait to read the rest I will be on her in March..

 

 

Wish we were going with you.

 

I am enjoying all the photos.

 

 

I'm glad, thanks for following along.

[declansdad]

Our first port of call was Amber Cove. When we first booked the cruise, this stop was Half Moon Cay. When they made the switch we were disappointed but we were determined to make the best of it. There hadn't been many ships there at this point so there wasn't much information about excursions so we opted to just spend the day at the pool.

 

We were a bit late getting in because of some rough seas the night before (we didn't think it was that bad) so it was 8:30 or 9 when we docked. Once docked we went to the Lido for breakfast before heading off to find a spot by the pool.

 

We had no trouble finding loungers by the pool, 2nd row directly under the zipline. There was an attendant that explained everything to us and brought us an umbrella ($8 for the day).

 

My son and I purchased the zipline day pass ($12 each) and ended up riding 4 times each. If you have never ziplined before, it would be fun but if you have the novelty will quickly wear off. The good thing is that there was never any real wait to hook up.

 

We also tried the water slides a few times. I don't think I have been on faster water slides. In fact, the open slide was so fast I thought I would end up with whiplash. Both slides we a blast.

 

We liked Amber Cove, it was a very nice, relaxing place. There was plenty of space, the beer was cheap and the weather was fantastic.

 

We went back on board around 2 and I ended up watching the performers rehearse in the Atrium. They were doing a show there that night and we went to catch that as well after Hasbro Game Night. Our son was chosen for one of the teams but they didn't win their round. He did get the travel version of Simon as a consolation prize.

 

The show in the Atrium was very good but there isn't a lot of room there so if you can't get a seat you will be standing.

 

I'll finish up tonight with some more pictures.

 

On the way to the port

 

 

 

 

 

 

[declansdad]

Some more from the ship

 

Hill side Cabanas

 

 

Pool Area

 

 

Welcome building

 

 

He didn't seem to mind this picture

 

 

Us on the zipline

 

[declansdad]

Swim up pool bar

 

 

Water slides

 

 

Part of the shopping area, there wasn't much here yet

 

 

Our cabin location

 

 

View from the zipline

 

[lemansz20]

Looks great man, I will be on her in May. I bet your having some major withdraws lol, time to book another one.

[Crazyrbbt]

How soon did they let you know about the schedule change from half moon cay? I am really excited for that port and sprung for a cabanna.

[declansdad]

Looks great man, I will be on her in May. I bet your having some major withdraws lol, time to book another one.

 

It's always nice to get home but given that we have temperatures around -25 Celsius right now I would like to be back aboard.

 

Booking another right now will be tough given the value of our dollar.

 

How soon did they let you know about the schedule change from half moon cay? I am really excited for that port and sprung for a cabanna.

 

I think we were advised of the change in early summer. They gave us plenty of notice.

[declansdad]

Some final pictures from Amber Cove.

 

There are some statues in the courtyard of the shopping plaza

 

 

 

 

Bit of an overview of the area

 

 

Sunset as we left port

 

[pcvtmom]

Great start! I'm thoroughly enjoying your pictures and commentary. The Glory is one of my favorite ships.

[declansdad]

Great start! I'm thoroughly enjoying your pictures and commentary. The Glory is one of my favorite ships.

 

 

Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying it. Of the 3 CCL ships we have sailed on, the Glory is my favourite as well.

[declansdad]

Our next stop was St Thomas and we were scheduled to arrive at 11 am. This gave us time to have a relaxing breakfast and get ready for the only excursion we booked, zip lining at Tree Limin' Extreme Zipline Tour. We booked late so we were scheduled for the last group at 4:30.

 

I spent the morning taking some pictures as we approached the island. There were a couple of interesting looking rock formations.

 

 

 

Soon there was an announcement that we would be arriving late once again because of the conditions the night before. We never really noticed anything but apparently it was bad enough to slow us down. They also said it may impact some shore excursions and you would be contacted if something changed.

 

It wasn't long before a notice was brought to our cabin that our excursion was cancelled. That was a disappointment but what are you going to do. We looked through the excursion book for something at Grand Turk but decided that we had some time to decide so I went to watch the entrance to the port.

 

 

 

 

And I realized we weren't alone

 

 

The NCL Escape and the Celebrity Reflection had beaten us to the port.

[declansdad]

After docking I realized there was still another ship in port, turns out the Oasis was at the Crown Bay dock

 

 

Seems like it may be a busy day in St Thomas.

 

While I was checking out the surroundings, the rest of the family decided to visit the shore excursion desk and booked the beach getaway to Megan’s Bay. They returned to the cabin to tell to get ready as we had to leave right away! So off we went to gangway and to find our transportation to the beach.

 

This was one of the trucks waiting but not ours.

 

 

We found our tour and were on our way within about 10 minutes of getting off the ship. The driver gave us a few facts about the area but not too much so for most of the drive we simply checked out the sites.

 

There were a couple of eating and drinking establishments with interesting names.

 

 

 

Part of the drive was through a residential section.

 

 

[13cheermom]

It's too bad your zip-lining excursion got cancelled in St. Thomas. We did this one back in June last year and it was the best ever. The views were fantastic, if you ever get a chance to go back definitely try to book it again. Loving your review so far!

[declansdad]

Eventually we started to climb up the mountain. You get some great views on the trip up and before starting back down they pull into an area that looks over Megan’s Bay.

 

 

 

 

Megan’s Bay is a public beach and it is huge. There were quite a few people there that day but it wasn’t too hard to find a spot to put our towels. We didn’t bother renting chairs but they were available in the area where we entered the beach.

 

 

We had two hours to enjoy the sun, sand and water.

 

 

The water was great as was the entertainment. The entertainment consisted of a pelican that decided the fish in the area looked good enough to eat. It was fun to watch him dive into the water right in from of us and scare the people swimming nearby.

 

 

Then there was a gentleman who swam out past the buoys and decided to float around. Apparently that is not allowed as a lifeguard screamed for him to come inside the buoys for about five minutes. When that didn’t work he threatened to kick him off the beach if he didn’t come in all the way to the beach so they could have a chat. He finally did come to the beach and the lifeguard let him have it.

 

Finally there was two young women walking hand in hand down the beach. They were obviously very drunk and many of the younger beach goers got a kick out of watching one trying to kiss the other. She was loaded! Within a few minutes she was having trouble walking and soon she was down, and up, and down, and up. Not sure if she was on one of the cruise ships but she was certainly going to need some help getting to wherever she was going.

[declansdad]

The drive back to the port was pretty quick and they let people out in the shopping area. We looked around a bit but it was pretty typical of most Caribbean port areas, touristy stuff and jewelry stores.

 

We were leaving until later in the evening so we got to watch the other two ships move out past us. It doesn’t seem like there is much room but I guess they know what they are doing.

 

 

 

 

The evening was spent having dinner, catching some shows and the comedians. There was some casino time and sometime in the EA Sports Bar. All in all another relaxing day in paradise.

[declansdad]

It's too bad your zip-lining excursion got cancelled in St. Thomas. We did this one back in June last year and it was the best ever. The views were fantastic, if you ever get a chance to go back definitely try to book it again. Loving your review so far!

 

 

Thanks, we did one in St Kitts on our first cruise and we were really looking forward to this one. The Amber Cove zipline just wasn't the same. :D