Glory (Western) 6/16 Mini Review

[Jayfo]

Mini (I hope) review, large pictures. Sailed out of Miami for the June 18, 2016 sailing.

 

Ports:

Grand Cayman

Mahogany Bay

Belize

Cozumel

 

Long time lurker, occasional commenter and newbie CC reviewer….so bear with me.

I’ve read many helpful posts and really searched for opinions on our excursions and sometimes found limited info so I’m hopeful this will be useful to someone else.

Since this is my review and my opinion, spare me the fake/snarky….”oh so SORRY this happened to you, but NOT me!!” kind of replies. Hate those. I’m convinced we all are on the same ship and see/experience completely different things, so here is my perspective.

 

This was my 13th cruise (6th on Carnival) since 1993 so not the first rodeo and certainly not the last. Love cruising. I’ll let someone else drive so I can enjoy myself. This was my DD’s first cruise so I was hoping to get her addicted to this way of travel too. Also, just like bringing a kid to Disney, it was exciting to see how she would take it and we got to experience things with a fresh set of eyes tagging along.

 

Since I’m still learning this attaching pictures to a post kind of thing, mine ended up being huge on some test posts so stand back a few feet from your monitor before carrying on, LOL.

 

I'll try to break this up into chunks :D

Edited June 29, 2016 by Jayfo

[Jayfo]

Miami

 

I always stay the night before a cruise except for our very first cruise when we didn’t know any better. We just relocated to Florida and I still chose to stay overnight because we are big fans of the Bayside area and just relaxing before a cruise. We either stay at Holiday Inn Bayside or the Intercontinental and I know these hotels have their fans and critics. To me, they are both fine for one night pre-cruise. IC is better, but our other traveling companions thought it would be too “foo foo” for them so we were all at the Holiday Inn.

 

After walking around Bayside Marketplace for dinner and drinks, I was then glad we did choose the Holiday Inn. Walking around after dark got pretty sketchy looking. :eek: It seems like that whole outside area has declined in appearance and atmosphere once you set foot out of the marketplace. A walk to CVS down the street after dark had my DH walking a wee little bit closer to the DD and myself. Lots of homeless and intoxicated people sleeping on the street, garbage strewn about and some panhandlers only added to the fun. I could only imagine how walking through that dark park would have been on the way to the IC. Been there, done that years ago and I was glad to not be doing it this time.

 

At last, we woke up, retrieved our car from the valet-only lot ($25!) and headed to the port. I dropped everyone off curbside with the luggage, swung around and parked across the street in the garage. Easy peasy and I found our group within minutes. $20 a day to park there is tough to swallow but you get what you pay for. Convenience. I just add it to the vacation budget and carry on.

 

We had FTTF purchased after I already had a 10:30 check in time, so they pointed us to the FTTF line anyway. There were lots of people already gathering outside and they were only letting them in the line during their assigned time. Security and the first check in was swift. We then headed upstairs to the “main”check in as I like to think of it and there was a FTTF line for that too. From arriving at the curb to completing final check in was only a matter of minutes so I thought this was all going to go quick. WRONG.

I could not believe we sat there watching people still exiting the ship at noon! I was thinking they must have been the holdouts hiding in the bathrooms. I don’t blame ya. Getting off the ship is hard but tick tock….the rest of us want to get on too!

Since we were waiting so long to get boarding, of course the waiting area turned into a giant mass of people. There were crowds everywhere. Officials tried clearing walkways but it would get clogged up again with bodies within seconds. I was hoping this was not a sign of things to come with crowding.

[Jayfo]

Finally we were on the ship and headed right for what I have been waiting for all year:

 

 

 

SOOOOOO YUMMY. I ate one of these every single day. I think I need to go into ground beef detox now. My sister wants to go on a cruise out of Jacksonville in a few months but since that ship doesn’t have a Guy’s Burgers, I had to take a hard pass. Sorry sis.

 

We are one of those types of people that likes to stick to just one or two bartenders and tip well when we get good service. In our experience, it just makes things more pleasant. By a day or two, they have our order down pat and we just have a little better of a time. Odds are, it will be at a Red Frog place on Carnival.

 

We had Cheers but still tipped a few bucks in cash sometimes and when the bar was packed, I didn't have to wait for my drink ;) Cash is king.

 

I know it's been discussed on other boards, but I felt Cheers really worked out well for us. DD came out just about better than even, and DH and myself really benefited from it on a financial perspective. We have hollow legs and strong livers. :D

[Jayfo]

I booked a private tour with Stingray Sailing after reading a few posts about them here and on trip advisor. Two thumbs up, two snaps and twist for these guys. They sail to the popular stingray city as well as a nearby snorkeling spot.

 

Very detailed instructions on how to book them using a small paypal deposit and where to meet them once you got off the ship were emailed to me.

 

They have a catamaran boat that only holds a limited amount of people and it was so nice to not have to deal with crowds. There were 17 of us total on the boat- including the 3 crew members and the 4 of us. While we waited for them in the terminal, I watched the Carnival excursion walk by and there had to be at least 50+ people following the leader to the bus. NO thanks.

 

Anyway, here's DD and her friend relaxing aboard:

 

 

Chip sailed us to a spot away from the main crowds, but still close enough to get plenty of stingrays looking for a handout:

 

 

 

 

I could not get over how beautiful that water is. :)

[Jayfo]

Carnival Glory in all her glory in Grand Cayman:

 

 

Taking the tender was interesting. Since we had FTTF we were told to meet in a dining room together and we would then get on our tender. There was a lady with a cane/walker that kept asking where her "priority" for being disabled waiting area was. :confused: They had her sitting right next to us towards the back of the room and interestingly, as soon as they announced we were leaving out of the doors on the opposite end of the dining room, she was HEALED. We called her speedy after that point because she made sure to dash towards the front of the line past others. SMDH. All you can do.

 

But, back to my point, we sat on the tender and watched as they packed it full with people and we started seeing tender sticker numbers on their shirts going up and up. 8, 9, 10...etc.

 

So it really didn't matter in my eyes to have this perk when it really made no difference. You could still get on one of the first tenders if you got up early enough to get a sticker.

 

Maybe one of you guys knows this one.......

Why is Grand Cayman tendered? We were the only ship in port at the time, but our sailing guy said during busy months there could be 6 or 7 ships in port. Why don't they build a dock if it's that popular? Damaging to a reef or something?

 

 

There's a Margaritaville across from the port but sadly we are only there for such a short time. Gotta put Cayman Islands on my list of "fly to directly" kind of vacations.

[Sabalon]

My first trip I found the hard way that Fantasy didn't have Guys. So I am SOOOO looking forward to this, and that pic means I'll be drooling til Saturday. Go to cabin, drop stuff off, change into swim trunks, guys, and pool.

 

The water at Grand Cayman looks amazing. I suggested the encounter, but my wife's previous encounter with one in the wild (and the emergency room trip) had her veto pretty quick.

[Jayfo]

This port I was a little unsure about (along with Belize) because i knew so little about it. This ended up being one of two favorites- tied with Cozumel and if I see an itinerary with Mahogany Bay I am so there.

 

Sis and law with her family (3 people total) had a beach cabana booked while my DD and her pal wanted to do the dolphin swim and snorkel through Carnival. So we went our separate ways and she ended up taking my DH with her since she was allowed 4 people in the cabana.

 

At $140 a head for this dolphin excursion, I was hesitant at just how good it would be. This ended up being very enjoyable and well worth it. Not something you need to ever do again....kind of a "been there, done that" checklist item.

 

 

A bus ride brings you to Anthony's resort where you then board a tiny boat for a short ride to their island looking place. There is a locker area to hold your valuables but each slot was only big enough for a small sinch sack type bag. The remaining bags could be left on the bench.

 

The guide then gave a rundown of what to expect. We would have about 30 minutes in the water in a small group of about 6-8 people, one trainer and one dolphin. This interaction time was full of information on the dolphins and allowed you to have your camera to take photos. You could pet the dolphins and they put on a little show of a few tricks.

 

Next they had you put your cameras up on shore and they did the dolphin encounter photos. Dolphin kissing you, hold the smiling dolphin, etc. The photos are not printed there. All digital and emailed to you. I spent $70 for all our digital photos. I was emailed about 25 of them. If you wanted one individual shot, it was $15.

 

The real highlight was next where they passed out snorkel gear and sent you on your merry way in the dolphin area. After swimming around for 15 minutes, all the curious dolphins ended up coming back and interacting in the water with us. One pushed the DD in the back (she blamed it on me until she turned around and saw what was going on). Hearing them squealing in fear/delight was hilarious.

 

They didn't let you have your cameras with you at this portion and the water was cloudy so there was no way to get any good shots anyway. We spent about 30-40 minutes swimming around with them and the girls were ecstatic at the experience.

 

Bus ride back in plenty of time to explore the rest of the port, so that's up next.....

[Clarea]

Very nice photos!

[Jayfo]

Now let me tell you...when I do go back to this port I will book a cabana for sure.

 

After the dolphin encounter, we walked to the beach to meet up with the rest of our group. We opted out of taking the ski lift as we only had about 2 hours left on the island and it was $14 a person. It was not a bad walk at all. Not even as far as what I was picturing in my head.

 

Now, at first, I had a cabana booked too (because there were 7 of us total) and cancelled it for the dolphin trip. It says in the online brochure that it holds 4 people and includes 4 ski lift bracelets. I've read on CC about various mileage at getting more than 4 people in the cabana and for us, they were strict about the 4 people maximum. Even with only < 2 hours left in port.

 

We could walk to their cabana and the guard only let us stay 15 minutes at a time before we had to leave the cabana and go back into the water. Being in the water was neutral territory. Oh. Okay then. No problem. The water was heavenly and with the ship in the background it made for some really nice photos.

 

 

They let us order food and drinks (Fat Tuesday) and everything we had in that short period of time was great. DH and his brother had buckets of beer, they constantly ordered food, lots of foo foo drinks and the limited amount of stuff we ordered and the total bill was around $200 with gratuity.

 

They were in the last cabana at the end of the beach and it looked like right next door they were building one of those $500 two-story villas.

 

 

If I could move in to one of those cabanas and park my behind on that giant lounger, I'd be all set. As long as I still had someone bringing me frozen drinks :D

 

The "mister" for this cabana was broken (I didn't even see where it was) so the attendant let my Sis in law use the floating double lounger instead. That thing was cool. I could of parked my behind there too.

 

 

My next cruise has stops in HMC, GT and Amber Cove and sadly, I don't think any of those ports have cabanas like these. So back to Mahogany Bay I go. Darn.

[Jayfo]

Belize was one of my nervous nelly stops. Nothing really jumped out for me as far as excursions, especially Carnival ones. I tend to gravitate towards independent tours instead of "through the ship" for crowding as well as value concerns.

 

First timers here, I went with the cave tubing. I went with Butts Up/Cave Tubing Dot com after reading about them here. (Thanks CC peeps!)

What made me nervous was how far away all of these cave excursions were from the ship. I did not feel like being a pier runner nor rowing my way to Cozumel. After seeing a few folks at breakfast also going on this same trip with the same company, I thought why not. At least I'll have people to help me row the boat to the next port if by some chance we ALL got stranded.

 

Once we met up with the tour guides and they put all 50+ of us from the ship on an old recycled Greyhound bus, we were on our way.

They had 4 different types of tours: caves only, caves + ATV, caves + zipling, or all three. We opted for the caves + ATV at $75 a head. Included lunch, which was one yummy tamale.

 

This company advertises as being one of the ones that does not make you carry your own tube on the hike to the water and THANK GOD for that. The hike on the rocky road was much longer than they described and I could't imaging carrying the tube as well. Big PIA. Nope.

 

First up was the ATV ride. I've read that it's just a little track area around their property and it was better than I expected. Lots of twists & turns, getting stuck, splashing mud and laughs. Wear old gym shoes! Then you'll have them for the cave tubing portion and can just toss them afterwards.

 

 

I thought the cave portion was so-so...nothing too exciting. There was barely any narration and if you were one of the ones in the back you weren't going to hear the poor guy who was pulling you along anyway.

 

 

Entering the cave it felt a little "Pirates of the Caribbean"-ish :)

DH and I were hoping there would be a little waterfall to go down or some rapids. Anything!

 

 

Afterwards, it was lunch which was a little rushed. Told us we had only 15 minutes to eat then back on the bus. But then they had us sit there for at least 30 minutes while they collected everyone's money and sent another guy down the aisle to collect their tip. Then they stood in the aisle and counted up their tip total, which I though was tacky.

 

We had about an hour and a half to spare once they dropped us back off. Just enough time to snap this photo and do a tiny bit of shopping.

 

 

The tender ride back was long, so be prepared for that if you are prone to motion sickness!

[Jayfo]

I knew from past research that I wanted to go to Mr. Sancho's and it exceeded my expectations. It was so beautiful and I wished they put up a hotel and let me stay there!

 

We were docked before another Carnival ship rolled up so we were able to get through the port area to the taxi stand with less crowding. The only negative getting off the ship is the very long duty free shop they make you walk through. People stopping to browse at things would hold up the flow of people just trying to get through it. It felt like a cattle pen at times. :p

 

Anyway, back to the subject.

There were 6 of us this time going including my toddler niece and we had reservations made ahead of time via their website at $5 PP. Easy to grab a cab and the ride was only a few short minutes.

We opted for the all inclusive side instead of the pay as you go side so it was $50 PP balance due at the door. Under 4 years old was free. They took all major credit cards and I was glad to have that ability to save the cash for the extra water activities and vendors which ended up being cash only.

 

The facilities were clean and the beach/seating areas comfortable. There were plenty of shaded areas available or you could rent an umbrella for $12 or so.

 

 

We opted to get some sun and took a few chairs in the front row. Special shout out to the group of older ladies that showed up after lunch and dragged their row of chairs just in front of ours so they could have the unobstructed view of the water instead of us. :roll eyes: Again, SMDH. Sheesh. People.

 

For $12 you could purchase a wristband to the waterpark with all sorts of inflatables. Lifejackets were free if you wanted to wear one. My little 3 year old niece turned into a Spider-Kid daredevil and loved the slides...even the giant ones that we could barely climb.

 

 

For $77 you could have a combo of the $75 jet ski and the waterpark (cash only) so we opted for that for the DD. The toddler was free in the waterpark. DD had the jetski for 30 minutes and we were able to switch off between us. The niece even got to take a spin and kept squealing....."GO FASTER!!" :eek:

 

The food was excellent- lots of restaurant style tortilla chips, fantastic pico, good guac and whatever you wanted off the menu. Sorry, no pictures of that. It was gone too fast after all the swimming.

 

We headed for the swim up bar and that was just fabulous. They had brand name liquor for the drinks and kept it coming. They had swings to sit in on the outside of the bar and the pool interior had either little stools to belly up to the bar or tables/chairs along the outside. Such a relaxing place to be.

 

 

I saw many people buying pictures of themselves with either an iguana or parrots and I was sorry we missed out on that. Those vendors must of come by while we were in the waterpark. :(

 

There were also mariachi bands and musicians walking around to play music for tips as well as people selling massages ($30+) or snorkel trips ($42) but if you politely declined they moved along and didn't bother you after that.

 

We had one waiter the entire time and not only did he mention about gratuity is appreciated, but there were signs on every table reminding people. Wonder if it's due to cheapskates in this world that don't pay? I wouldn't think of NOT giving this guy some cash.....he ran back and forth for every little thing we asked for. For $55 + some gratuity for all you can eat and drink, we all thought this place was a steal. Definitely going back again if we go to Cozumel.

 

Once it was time to go, getting a cab was a breeze. There were dozens of them all lined up ready to take passengers back to the ship. You could go at any time. Not that you would want to.

Edited June 29, 2016 by Jayfo

[Jayfo]

We had 2 sea days on this itinerary-- one right at the beginning before all the ports and one right after all of them on the last day. Looking back, I really liked this set up. One day to get the lay of the land and relax, then another relaxing day at the end.

 

I booked us 3 aft cabins in a row. DH and I took the corner vista wrap, DD and friend next door, Sis/Bro in law next to them. The room steward had no issue with opening the balcony divider doors to let us have one giant family party deck. The doorways to open were kind of small so it wasn't as open as I thought it would be but it ended up being just fine. LOVE a sea day balcony and relaxing out there.

 

Now to touch a few raw nerves on subjects I hear a lot about here on CC so I'll go though a few :D

 

Smoking:

None of us smoke and I personally can't stand the smell of it. I walked outside to the balcony on 2 days to find discarded butts. So nasty. Why people can't listen to the instruction to not throw them overboard is beyond me. Plus, since it wasn't under the smoking area then someone could of possibly been on a balcony smoking. I witnessed a guy with his e-cig/vaping on the Lido deck trying to use it but was stopped. The casino was a no-go. We didn't even try to stay in there to gamble. Burns your eyes after a few minutes. So if they want to have the casino area only for smokers, let them have it. Just don't make it so I have to walk past it on deck 5 to get anywhere or take portraits there.

 

Kids in the Steakhouse

Had a reservation for one night in the steakhouse and it was NOT the atmosphere for kids. It was a family vacation and my niece usually goes most places with us, but there are some spots where it should be just adults. She stayed with her parents while we dined in peace/quiet. There was soft music playing in the background. It was elegant. A couple across from us was holding hands at the table gazing into each others' eyes. And the dinner took close to 2 hours. Not for little ones, no matter how well you think they behave. I could easily see them splitting the dining room as it already was into an adults only side/family side. The two sides were very far apart from each other. Or better yet, I once read the suggestion on here about specified family nights. Great idea. The steakhouse food wasn't as good as years past, so we cancelled our reservation for a few nights later.

 

Rude People

Being on a cruise ship is just like seeing a cross section of the country. I looked at it like the 80/20 rule. Most of the time people are civil and behave nice nice with each other. But there are those 20% that only let Carnival live up to its "walmart of the seas" stereotype. There were some really obnoxious behaviors on some people that would make me have to just look away and be glad they weren't traveling in my cabin.

From the line cutters to the chair hogs to the endless supply people that licked their fingers while touching food at the buffet (I'm not exaggerating on that!) or eating while in line. We stopped eating at the buffet day one after seeing it over and over again.

 

 

The public bathrooms were gross and you could only feel bad for the poor staff members having to clean up after some slobs.

 

Over and over people had to be told to stop taking pictures of the portraits with their phones. Made me feel kind of stupid to pay $21.99 for an 8 x 10 portrait when everyone kept snapping photos with their phones. I wish they went to a digital type facial recognition or scan your card type system. Looking through the piles of pictures was a mess at times and I'm sure I missed out on buying a few I never saw.

 

Dining/Food/Table Cloths

We had late dining assigned to a very friendly waitstaff. The server tried his best to make sure we were taken care of. Unfortunately, I have to agree with people and remarks about declining food quality. I know it's got to be difficult to feed that many people and make them all happy. For the most part, the food was decent, but not rave worthy. My prime rib on elegant night was very thin, tough and tasteless. Even the warm chocolate melting cake disappointed me. That's usually one of my fave's. The tablecloths missing wasn't a huge issue as I'm sure the food would of stunk either way but it just made it feel off. Certainly a lot more casual...like going to an Applebee's and no one was turned away for the way they were dressed. All they have to do is keep Guy's Burgers open past 6pm and that would solve the food quality issues. Sad when the best meal is at the burger joint.

 

More of The Good Stuff

Carnival has a lot of positives to go along with the negatives and that is with their crew. They were ALWAYS friendly, greeted you by name and were helpful.

Alchemy Bar and those bartenders were fantastic. Wish it were open earlier than 5pm. Pineapple Chipotle martinis are the bomb.

 

 

I will sail on Carnival again, they have great amenities on their newer ships and the crew is fabulous. The price/value of the Cheers program can't be beat and they go to some good ports. I like their pricing but it seems lately you do get what you pay for. I really wish they would step it up in the entertainment department. The playlist productions shows are awful.

So next up is perhaps another giant mega RC ship (Loved the Allure!) and then perhaps Breeze again. Maybe Vista? Who knows. Glad to have the problem of not being able to decide where to go on a cruise ;)

[jacmo24]

love you review! Who were the Alchemy bartenders? We're on Glory in a couple of days!

[Jayfo]

love you review! Who were the Alchemy bartenders? We're on Glory in a couple of days!

 

I don't remember their names except for the one guy with the unfortunate name of UFUK. No kidding. Poor thing. Plus another tall, bald chap from a Russian (?) country. They were very into their drink making. Intense and serious. There was a girl bartender too, but she wasn't as nice as the two guys.

 

Enjoy your trip! Cheers!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Sabalon]

love you review! Who were the Alchemy bartenders? We're on Glory in a couple of days!

 

See you there...cause you know - only 3000 people :)

[CARNIVALCRUISE3]

Thanks so much for your well written detailed review and the great pictures! I will be sailing on the Glory in August for the third time.

[JaniceB]

Thank you for doing a review of your cruise.

[CCL Cruiser24]

Great review, I was reading through when I realized we were on the same Breeze sailing in 2013... Small world!

[SDcruiser66]

Thank you for your review. Great pics too.It makes me even more excited for our Oct- Nov 2017 B2B on the Glory. This is one of our itineraries and now I have some more great ideas for excursions.