A GLORY-ous Trip! May 19-26 review w/ pictures!

[h_blond2]

We got off the Glory this morning and I will post my review, along with several pictures in the coming days! This was a great cruise, with just a few downfalls! Our ports were Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them!

Edited May 26, 2019 by h_blond2

[cincicruisers]

Looking forward to your review

[SandiLynn]

Following. We will be on same intenary July 28.

[h_blond2]

1 hour ago, SandiLynn said:

Following. We will be on same intenary July 28.

I hope to be able to post more tonight or in the morning!

[h_blond2]

Pre cruise and background info

My mom and I started cruising together in 2009 and this cruise was our 11th cruise. Mom has cruised with my dad a few other times, so she finally turned platinum on this cruise! We are both teachers in southeast Missouri and we look forward to our yearly cruise! For me, school ended two days before the cruise so it was a mad dash to finish the school year and pack! After school let out, I drove to my boyfriend's house, who only lives 2 miles from my parents and was in bed pretty early.

We left mom's house about 6 a.m. the day before the cruise and had a few plans for the drive down to New Orleans. Mom is a huge blues music fan, so we drove all over Mississippi, to tiny towns like Alligator and Bobo, to find Blues Markers. We also visted the Dockery Plantation and really enoyed it. Mom and I are also history nerds, so we decided to visit the Poverty Point Mound site, as well. The site was huge and our guide was very informative. Little is known about the Poverty Point people because they lived before written language existed in North America. That truly boggles my mind. We wrapped up the tour by climbing to the top of Mound A and we off we went. We had reservations at the Quality Inn in McComb, MS for that night. The hotel was fine, but the TV didn't work. A hotel employee tried twice to fix it, but when he couldn't, he offered to move us to a new room, but we were so tired from our 14 hour day, we just stayed in the room. The room was clean and the beds were soft. We did some last minute packing and got ready for Embarkation Day!

Edited May 27, 2019 by h_blond2

[zeroyankee]

We'll be doing the Glory again for the 3rd time this fall.  Looking forward to your review!

[teacherme]

Can't wait to read your review.  

[teacherme]

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[watermelonqueen99]

Following! We're sailing on the Glory this fall. 😀

[h_blond2]

1 hour ago, watermelonqueen99 said:

Following! We're sailing on the Glory this fall. 😀

I'll get more posted tomorrow in between all the loads of laundry!

[h_blond2]

Embarkation Day

We left our hotel in McComb around 7:30 in the pouring rain and headed for New Orleans. It stormed on us pretty much the whole way there, and that would be the case for most of the day. We made it to Fulton Street Garage to park in record time, paid our $98 to park and caught the shuttle to the pier. The pier was extremely chaotic and no one really seemed to know what was going on. This was our 8th time cruising from NOLA and we have never seen the place so unorganized. This was the first time we had priority boarding, but the priority line was closed off and they wouldn't let us in. Someone finally let us in and we got into the building. The check in process was painless, as was going through security. Mom and I both carried all of our luggage on this time. Once we got past security, we were directed the wrong way and were turned away from the priority lounge. We had to pretty much say, "We are platinum. We know this is where we are supposed to be." before they would let us in. We quickly found chairs and settled in. We got seated around 10:45 and that was when the sky opened up and a storm hit us. Thunder, lightning, crazy rain! I was glad we were inside. Boarding began around 11:15 and we were on the ship by 11:25. We dropped our luggage off in our room, which was porthole room 2217. This room seemed bigger than every other cabin we have cruised in. I do have one complaint about the room...it has one bed and a sofa bed. We knew this beforehand, so it wasn't a surprise. However, the sofa bed was hard and my back started to hurt after a few days of sleeping on it. This room had 3 closets, ample drawer space, and a fridge that actually kept things cold!

 

 After dropping off our luggage, we made a beeline to the Blue Iguana for a yummy taco salad! At this time it was still storming like crazy, so we made our way to deck 5 to sit along the windows until it was time for the dreaded muster drill.

[NauticalNeophyte]

I slept on the sofa bed this past week on the Liberty, and I found the sofa bed too hard also.  It wasn’t until the third night that I found the extra featherbed under the soda. That made it a lot more comfortable.

 

We’re doing this itinerary next May on the Freedom, so I’m following along. Enjoying your review. 

[h_blond2]

Muster Drill and the first evening

After sitting on deck 5 for awhile, the storm stopped, so went exploring. We wanted to check out the adults only pool on the Lido deck, and when we got there, the pool was completely drained and several men were working on it. They were drilling, banging, and looked to be welding things as well. This pool did not open the first day, but did open the first sea day.

 

Our muster station, was outside on deck 4. Luckily, it was not hot that day (or really at any time during the cruise) and a cool breeze was blowing, however it wasn't a great muster drill. The check in process was a joke. My card got scanned and the guy told me that both of us were accounted for, so he didn't scan mom's card. We got in line and about 10 minutes later they start calling room numbers. At first we both had trouble remembering our room number, but we know they called our number. We aren't sure why because we couldn't hear the guy well, but nothing else came of it. My mom has back problems and standing in one spot for long periods of times causes her pain. Thankfully, a bartender named Vina noticed mom was in pain and offered to escort her to the dining room where the special needs muster was being held. At first mom refused, but we convinced her to go. Thank you Vina!

 

After the drill was over we headed to deck 10 aft for sail away...and we sat there and sat there and sat there. We were supposed to leave 3:30 and didn't leave until after 5:00. No announcements were made as to why, but we assume it had something to do with the high river level and the amount of traffic being allowed to go being limited. 

 

That is another complaint...the lack of announcements. I appreciated the fact the Dustin, the CD, kept his announcements brief and far and few between, but we weren't always kept in the loop. We weren't told why we were late leaving, we weren't notified when we had docked in Grand Cayman, and we would end up being over an hour late to dock in NOLA at the end, and that announcement came about an hour too late.

 

The first night was a relaxing one, we watched Instant Family on Lido deck and ate dinner at the Lido buffet. This is probably an excellent time to point out the types of cruisers we are...we are extremely laid back. We don't eat in the MDR, we don't do a lot of shopping, we don't participate in a lot. We pretty much lay in the sun, read, do some trivia, and just relax. At some point this evening, we met our room steward, Maung, and we requested an ice bucket and he kept it filled all week. He did not ask us if we wanted just morning or night service, he was going to do both. He seemed genuinely surprised when we asked him for just morning service. He was a great steward!

Edited May 27, 2019 by h_blond2

[h_blond2]

A few more first day pictures

 

[h_blond2]

14 minutes ago, NauticalNeophyte said:

I slept on the sofa bed this past week on the Liberty, and I found the sofa bed too hard also.  It wasn’t until the third night that I found the extra featherbed under the soda. That made it a lot more comfortable.

 

We’re doing this itinerary next May on the Freedom, so I’m following along. Enjoying your review. 

I looked for something to make it softer, but didn't find anything. Oh well! I still had a great cruise! If do ever have to sleep on a sofa bed again, I will just request something to make it softer.

[sanmarcosman]

In the pool repair photo it takes 3 to supervise and one to do the work 😃

 

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by sanmarcosman

[Charm2018]

Want to do this exact itinerary in January.  I loved sailing on the Glory and look forward to your review.  🙂 

[SandiLynn]

11 hours ago, h_blond2 said:

I'll get more posted tomorrow in between all the loads of laundry!

I am also a teacher here in Louisana. My husband and I are celebrating our 25 year anniversary with ou friends celebrating their second anniversary. Thank you for doing a review.

[Shaded Lady]

Enjoying your review- thanks for taking the time to do it!

[zeroyankee]

4 hours ago, h_blond2 said:

That is another complaint...the lack of announcements. I appreciated the fact the Dustin, the CD, kept his announcements brief and far and few between, but we weren't always kept in the loop. We weren't told why we were late leaving, we weren't notified when we had docked in Grand Cayman, and we would end up being over an hour late to dock in NOLA at the end, and that announcement came about an hour too late.

 

This was one of our big complaints on our last trip on the Glory.  A different cruise director, but informative announcements were lacking in places.  Never a lack of announcements when it came to buy things, though!  We were delayed by an hour at one port because the announcement for the all clear never came.  Only when we noticed others leaving the ship and asked at Guest Services were we told the ship had been cleared.  I guess it could've been worse, but we made it work.

[h_blond2]

3 hours ago, Charm2018 said:

Want to do this exact itinerary in January.  I loved sailing on the Glory and look forward to your review.  🙂 

This has been my favorite itinerary! Thanks for reading!

[h_blond2]

2 hours ago, SandiLynn said:

I am also a teacher here in Louisana. My husband and I are celebrating our 25 year anniversary with ou friends celebrating their second anniversary. Thank you for doing a review.

You are welcome! I hope you like it!

[h_blond2]

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

Enjoying your review- thanks for taking the time to do it!

Thanks! I love reliving my trip!

[h_blond2]

24 minutes ago, zeroyankee said:

 

This was one of our big complaints on our last trip on the Glory.  A different cruise director, but informative announcements were lacking in places.  Never a lack of announcements when it came to buy things, though!  We were delayed by an hour at one port because the announcement for the all clear never came.  Only when we noticed others leaving the ship and asked at Guest Services were we told the ship had been cleared.  I guess it could've been worse, but we made it work.

The lack of informative announcements was frustrating, but it didn't ruin the cruise.

[lexanna02]

I'm enjoying your review and photos! We set sail on the Glory on our 40th anniversary in November, so we're looking forward to the rest of your review!