Saint Greg's Sailabration - LIVE - Carnival Glory March 5th-13th 2022

[Saint Greg]

Where are we going? I don't know. We're going somewhere and it's going to be great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Saint Greg]

 

This is going to be my 17th cruise--all on Carnival. This will be my 9th time out of New Orleans, my 2nd time on Glory, 13th time to Cozumel, and my 5th time to Belize and Roatan….If we go there. Or first time to Costa Maya… if we go there. My 3^rd time to Montego Bay…. in the unlikely event we go there. This will be my first 8-day cruise and my first cruise with Cam Chavis as Cruise Director.  

Edited February 26, 2022 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

 Here are my prior trip threads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/breezy-like-sunday-morning/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/seven-days-of-freedom/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/i-will-triumph/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/leaving-the-elation/

 

 

https://saintgregtravel.com/r1-my-intro-to-cruising/

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

Booking

This cruise was booked two years ago when the Sailabration cruises were first announced. I definitely wanted this one to be a cruise I could drive to and the Galveston cruises were considerably more expensive than New Orleans. The 5-day Breeze at the time was almost as much as I paid for this 8-day Glory cruise.

Hotel

When I first started looking at New Orleans Hotels for this trip I noticed prices were slightly higher than I expected. This was likely due to this stay is just a couple days after Mardi Gras. The last time I was in New Orleans for a Carnival Glory cruise, I stayed one night at the Hilton Garden Inn – Convention Center and one night at the Sheraton Four Points on Bourbon Street. I covered the National World War II Museum in the Warehouse District, a City Tour, a French Quarter Barhop, and an evening on Frenchman Street.

The one area I wanted to cover but was unable to was the Garden District. Hotel prices in the Garden District are generally slightly lower and unlike downtown and the French Quarter, parking is usually included in the hotel price.

I quickly found a hotel I liked for a decent price at the Magnolia Mansion. I booked a basic courtyard room for $157 after taxes. I later decided to add a second night. The room I had booked for Friday was unavailable for Thursday. A room switch with an additional night was going to be an average of $171 after taxes for the cheapest available room. I did have an option of picking from three of their fancier rooms for an average of $186 per night. I decided to upgrade to the Moulin Rouge room.

Pre-Cruise Activites

The main reason I wanted to add an additional night is on Thursday nights they have live jazz in the hotel. At 6:30 they have a famous trumpet player Kermit Ruffins. Then at 8pm they have Cyril Neville and Irvin Mayfield. Cyril Neville is the youngest of the Neville Brothers and Irvin Mayfield is a Grammy Award winning trumpet player. If you look at “The Sound of New Orleans” playlist on Amazon Prime Music, three of their twenty-two songs in the playlist are by these musicians. Kermit was the co-founder of the Rebirth Brass Band which also has a song on the list.

 

The plan for Friday will be a walking tour of the Garden District with stops at various bars and restaurants. Since it is crawfish season I will try to find a boil and some more live music.

Parking

I have all of your parking options covered at New Orleans Parking. I am sticking Fulton Garage rooftop parking. I’ve used it in the past and always been happy with it. I feel like the pricing is about the same as it was pre-covid. I paid about $85 for 7 days in 2019 and I’m paying about $95 for 8 days this time.

Onboard Credit

I am going to have $900 to spend onboard. I used one of my future cruise credits with $600 onboard credit from my cancellations during the shutdown on this cruise. I also receiving $100 onboard credit from my travel agent and $100 onboard credit for my stockholder benefit. Early on during the shutdown, Carnival offered discounted Cheers and Cruise Cash. I purchased $100 cruise cash for all of my cruises–Most of which were canceled.

Specialty Dining

There aren’t many specialty dining options on Carnival Glory. I definitely plan to use a portion of my onboard credit on a couple of steakhouse dinners. I may wait until the actual day of to book the steakhouse to make sure I don’t miss out on any special sailabration dinners in the dining room.

Excursions

Excursions for this cruise have been tricky. With Grand Cayman not allowing cruise ships but Carnival waiting until the last minute to make port changes, in no way did I believe we were going to Grand Cayman or Montego Bay. I personally had been hoping for port changes to Belize and Costa Maya so I could book a couple of Mayan ruins tours. I expected the change to be Belize and Mahogany Bay, Roatan. As of now they still have not been announced. I will use onboard credit for any excursions I do book I believe Cozumel has one that includes San Geriveso Mayan Ruins for $79. In Belize I will book Altun Ha. If we go to Mahogany Bay I will probably just make it a beach day. If we go to Costa Maya, I will likely book Mayan Ruins excursion.

 

 

[Jamman54]

Patti and I are ready my friend. Bring it on!!! 😁

[famof4togo]

So excited 😊 Can't wait to follow along...have a blast!!!

[SenatorsFan]

Greg, wherever you end up going, I just know you will have a great cruise! I'm looking forward to following along. 😊

[canes20]

[TravelE]

I'm so excited to follow along. I hope you have an amazing cruise. Can't wait to see pics from the ship meet up!

[BlerkOne]

33 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 Since it is crawfish season I will try to find a boil and some more live music.

.

 

They were still a little small last I looked.

 

33 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Onboard Credit

I am going to have $900 to spend onboard. I used one of my future cruise credits with $600 onboard credit from my cancellations during the shutdown on this cruise. I also receiving $100 onboard credit from my travel agent and $100 onboard credit for my stockholder benefit. Early on during the shutdown, Carnival offered discounted Cheers and Cruise Cash. I purchased $100 cruise cash for all of my cruises–Most of which were canceled.

Specialty Dining

There aren’t many specialty dining options on Carnival Glory. I definitely plan to use a portion of my onboard credit on a couple of steakhouse dinners. I may wait until the actual day of to book the steakhouse to make sure I don’t miss out on any special sailabration dinners in the dining room.

 

 

 

One "specialty" dining is Seafood Shack. Ask them if they will still char broil some oysters! You're welcome.

 

 

 

[keels81]

46 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Booking

This cruise was booked two years ago when the Sailabration cruises were first announced. I definitely wanted this one to be a cruise I could drive to and the Galveston cruises were considerably more expensive than New Orleans. The 5-day Breeze at the time was almost as much as I paid for this 8-day Glory cruise.

Hotel

When I first started looking at New Orleans Hotels for this trip I noticed prices were slightly higher than I expected. This was likely due to this stay is just a couple days after Mardi Gras. The last time I was in New Orleans for a Carnival Glory cruise, I stayed one night at the Hilton Garden Inn – Convention Center and one night at the Sheraton Four Points on Bourbon Street. I covered the National World War II Museum in the Warehouse District, a City Tour, a French Quarter Barhop, and an evening on Frenchman Street.

The one area I wanted to cover but was unable to was the Garden District. Hotel prices in the Garden District are generally slightly lower and unlike downtown and the French Quarter, parking is usually included in the hotel price.

I quickly found a hotel I liked for a decent price at the Magnolia Mansion. I booked a basic courtyard room for $157 after taxes. I later decided to add a second night. The room I had booked for Friday was unavailable for Thursday. A room switch with an additional night was going to be an average of $171 after taxes for the cheapest available room. I did have an option of picking from three of their fancier rooms for an average of $186 per night. I decided to upgrade to the Moulin Rouge room.

Pre-Cruise Activites

The main reason I wanted to add an additional night is on Thursday nights they have live jazz in the hotel. At 6:30 they have a famous trumpet player Kermit Ruffins. Then at 8pm they have Cyril Neville and Irvin Mayfield. Cyril Neville is the youngest of the Neville Brothers and Irvin Mayfield is a Grammy Award winning trumpet player. If you look at “The Sound of New Orleans” playlist on Amazon Prime Music, three of their twenty-two songs in the playlist are by these musicians. Kermit was the co-founder of the Rebirth Brass Band which also has a song on the list.

 

The plan for Friday will be a walking tour of the Garden District with stops at various bars and restaurants. Since it is crawfish season I will try to find a boil and some more live music.

Parking

I have all of your parking options covered at New Orleans Parking. I am sticking Fulton Garage rooftop parking. I’ve used it in the past and always been happy with it. I feel like the pricing is about the same as it was pre-covid. I paid about $85 for 7 days in 2019 and I’m paying about $95 for 8 days this time.

Onboard Credit

I am going to have $900 to spend onboard. I used one of my future cruise credits with $600 onboard credit from my cancellations during the shutdown on this cruise. I also receiving $100 onboard credit from my travel agent and $100 onboard credit for my stockholder benefit. Early on during the shutdown, Carnival offered discounted Cheers and Cruise Cash. I purchased $100 cruise cash for all of my cruises–Most of which were canceled.

Specialty Dining

There aren’t many specialty dining options on Carnival Glory. I definitely plan to use a portion of my onboard credit on a couple of steakhouse dinners. I may wait until the actual day of to book the steakhouse to make sure I don’t miss out on any special sailabration dinners in the dining room.

Excursions

Excursions for this cruise have been tricky. With Grand Cayman not allowing cruise ships but Carnival waiting until the last minute to make port changes, in no way did I believe we were going to Grand Cayman or Montego Bay. I personally had been hoping for port changes to Belize and Costa Maya so I could book a couple of Mayan ruins tours. I expected the change to be Belize and Mahogany Bay, Roatan. As of now they still have not been announced. I will use onboard credit for any excursions I do book I believe Cozumel has one that includes San Geriveso Mayan Ruins for $79. In Belize I will book Altun Ha. If we go to Mahogany Bay I will probably just make it a beach day. If we go to Costa Maya, I will likely book Mayan Ruins excursion.

 

 

 

Select will be boiling at Tracey's on Magazine. They're probably the best in this area. I live only a few blocks from Magnolia Mansion.

[Saint Greg]

15 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

 

 

One "specialty" dining is Seafood Shack. Ask them if they will still char broil some oysters! You're welcome.

 

Cruising out of New Orleans you can get the original charbroiled oysters at Drago's. This is from just before my last Glory cruise.

 

 

 

When in Lafayette I like to get something called jacked up oysters. These are done with pepperjack cheese and jalapeno.

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

14 minutes ago, keels81 said:

 

Select will be boiling at Tracey's on Magazine. They're probably the best in this area. I live only a few blocks from Magnolia Mansion.

 

Thanks. That's the one I had in mind from my initial online search.

[keels81]

Just now, Saint Greg said:

 

Thanks. That's the one I had in mind from my initial online search.

 

Husband just went on Thursday before Muses and said they were big and good as always.

 

Tracey's also has a shucker for raw oysters if you want a side of those with your crawfish.

[Saint Greg]

4 minutes ago, keels81 said:

 

Husband just went on Thursday before Muses and said they were big and good as always.

 

Tracey's also has a shucker for raw oysters if you want a side of those with your crawfish.

 

Great!

[Hogladyrider]

All signed up and ready to follow along on your adventures.

 

I love how adventurous you are and you share it all with us........let the Good Times Begin!

Susan

[Roscoe13]

Well, Greg...Top of the Muffin to you!

This is going to be a ride I want to follow!!

TIA

[Shaded Lady]

NEAT! @Saint Greg live review to look forward to!!! I'm all hooked up now and ready to follow along!

[jbhcw]

Looking forward to following along!!

[keels81]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Great!

You're really close to a few great places, like Gris Gris and Turkey and the Wolf. Plus, it's going to be so easy to get to port. I usually leave my house, park and am on the ship in no more than 25 minutes.

Edited February 26, 2022 by keels81

[MeganGC1983]

“I’m so excited” in my Jessie Spano voice! Let’s do this! 
Also, if you have an available meal or even happy hour while in the Garden District, one of my NOLA favorites is Desi Vega’s on St. Charles next to Lafayette Square. They have music on the square a lot, and I love Freddie’s crawfish Mac and cheese and the crawfish twice baked potatoes. 

[Saint Greg]

I got my new toof installed on tuesday....toofsday. That was a long process. I got my x-ray that showed the fractured root back september..end of september. 12 total appointments in there.

[MeganGC1983]

2 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I got my new toof installed on tuesday....toofsday. That was a long process. I got my x-ray that showed the fractured root back september..end of september. 12 total appointments in there.

I’m glad I no longer have to picture you as a displaced hockey player. 😉

[princess76021]

i'm here!!!  😁

and i know we'll have a great time!!!

hugs

[Hogladyrider]

@MeganGC1983aren't you cruising sometime soon in March, which begins next week!