Carnival Glory June 25th to July 2nd Review

Thanks for taking the time to do a review! I've done 2 so I know how much time and work goes into them (and I didn't do the 3rd for that very reason!) We will be cruising on Glory in Oct 2017, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review. Great start!

Aww you're all soo sweet. Thank you for the encouragement!

Forgot to post the Funtimes from embarkation

My nightly routine when I got back to the cabin was to go through the funtimes for the next day and highlight the things that looked interesting or that I wanted to do. I knew I could't do everything but it was nice to have an idea of whats going on onboard. The hub app was great also even though I didn't get the paid feature I was able to quickly check to see what activities were going on at the time or quickly check where on the ship something was.

Another thing I did when I went through the Funtimes was to take a picture on my phone of all the emergency contact #'s just in case!

Funtimes Day 2 - Half Moon Cay

We arrived in HMC around 9am and 1/2 of our group decided to go out and spend the day here together. We though we'd had a leisurely breakfast and head to the tenders a little later to avoid the crowds.

I read a lot on CC about the breakfast at Blue Iguana Cantina so for our first breakfast onboard I decided that's what i'll have. I go the huevos rancheros and arepas but honestly it was disappointing :(. The huevos rancheros didn't have much flavor and the arepas was a little spongy and also flavorless. I didn't add anything to it, maybe I was supposed to? I think the huevos rancheros would have been alot better with some salt and pepper added but not sure what would have improved the arepas. Kind of felt like pancake syrup would have been good on it but not sure since there was cheese in the center.

We're waiting for everyone to finish breakfast when a staff member named Ricardo who was walking around greeting everyone came to our table to make sure everyone was doing ok and he noticed that my oldest son wasn't smiling so he started singing We Will Rock You, tapping the beats on our table and all! He was so good we all joined in and people from the surrounding tables did as well. I can't even explain how amazing it was, and such a memorable moment.

After our amazing breakfast entertainment we headed back to our cabin to change and get ready for HMC!! We were told that we would have to go to the Alchemy Bar to get a tender ticket then wait for our # to be called before heading to the gangway. We had #32 and waited about 20 minutes before our # was called. At this point it's close to 11am.

We head down to the gangway and get on line to get on the tender. There's about 10 people in front of us to get onto the tender and as we're all getting our S&S out my oldest son realizes that he doesn't have his :eek:. My DH and son had to literally run back to the cabin to get his S&S. We stepped to the side to wait for them which thankfully because our cabin was on deck 2 it wasn't that long of a wait. The tender ride to the island was only about 5 minutes which was a lot less than I thought it would be.

We walk straight to the beach and it is beautiful!!! Now, I live in FL and we have some very pretty beaches here but OMG HMC is amazing!! Our favorite beach here is Siesta Keys in Sarasota, FL which was voted one of the best beaches in the US in 2015 and HMC is sooo much more beautiful. The water was so calm and so blue and the sand...amazing!

So my original plan was to walk down towards cabana 10 or 11 where I read would be less crowded but we were all hot and walking on soft sand is not easy and the water beckoned us so we walked a little, found a group of empty chairs, plopped our things down and headed straight for the water. Normally I don't get into the water at the beach, too much of a hassle. I would sit under our tent and watch hubby and the kids in the water but I couldn't resist getting in at HMC. The water was soo clear.

We weren't sure when lunch would be ready but we were all starting to get hungry. We noticed some people walking around with plates of food so we figured it was ready! While walking towards the buffet there were covered picnic areas with large picnic tables so we stopped at one to leave our things and took turns going to get our food. We all sat and enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch. Some of the burgers were a little overdone and burnt on the edges but everything else was very tasty! Sorry, I don't even remember what I ate but it was good! We brought our own collapsible cooler with sodas and water from the ship and i'm glad we did because if the iced tea and lemonade were anything like it is on the ship, it wouldn't be good! I think the free drink offerings (except for the mango/passion fruit drink at breakfast) are my only complaint about our cruise. The iced tea had no taste and the lemonade was tart and putting them together wasn't an improvement.

After lunch we headed back to the beach and straight into the water where we stayed until it was time to leave.

The last tender was at 4:15pm so at about 3pm we started rounding everyone up. Before getting on the tender there are some foot washing stations where you need to wash your feet off. They were very crowded and the pressure isn't that strong to wash off the sand easily which made things go a lot slower.

We get on the tender and it's different from the one we came to the island on. This one had a glass bottom but the glass was very cloudy and you couldn't see anything but the color of the water. I hope this isn't the one they use for paid excursions!

Back on the ship we went straight to our cabin to get ready for dinner. I didn't take daily notes and since I forgot to take pictures at dinner I have no idea what I ate but dinner every night was very good and I have no complaints about dinner or the dinner service all week at all. I'm definitely not saying that every single dish was great tasting or perfect but since we were all family at the table we shared our appetizer or had a bite from someone else if we wanted to try something so even if our food wasn't the best we didn't go hungry and dessert always made up for anything that wasn't perfect!

Right after dinner we rushed to the Amber Palace to get seats to see Playlist Productions: Motor City which started at 8:15pm with a pre-show at 8pm or 10:15pm with the pre-show at 10pm. We were not sure what to expect because the description said "sounds of the 60's, 70's and 80's" so we decided that if we didn't like it we would leave early but that wasn't necessary at all because we absolutely loved it!! My kids' eyes were glued to the stage and it was no different for the adults. The show was amazing!! After that night there were no question as to what we would be doing after dinner.

After the show we went to the atrium to watch a little of "Guess that Motown Song with Eric". So much fun! We dropped the kids off to the cabin where my parents were getting ready for bed so hubby and I could go to the comedy show. We lost our babysitters after this night because they discovered the late night entertainment and were hooked!

John McDonnell was the comedian and he was just ok. After the show we headed up to the Mega Deck Party to people watch and then to bed when that was over.

Half Moon Cay

The water was sooo clear!!

My uncle caught this little guy

The sand had pink flecks

Tomorrow is our first Fun Day at Sea and first cruise elegant night.

Your pictures are absolutely stunning! Thanks for writing this review! ⚓️[emoji2]⚓️

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Thanks for the review.

So a warning before I start our Fun Day at Sea...Start doing leg exercises about a week before your cruise especially if you are travelling with kids who have tons of energy and a hubby who is used to walking all day for work. We took the stairs a lot! If we needed to go 1-3 up or down we took the stairs! We might have even gone up to 5 down. My calves and thighs were sore until about day 5.

Now onto Day 3 & our Fun Day at Sea!

We got up and got the kids up and ready for sea day brunch, this was something I was looking forward to. We got a table at the back of the ship with an amazing view and got served good food, nothing could be better!

I had the eggs benedict for the first time in my life! I was always skeptical about the runny eggs but it was very good! It was a huge portion so I shared with hubby and he liked it also.

My daughter who is 6 didn't try too many new things and was super picky the entire trip. She basically ate pizza, mac & cheese, fries & ice cream. The servers definitely indulged her and would always bring her extra portions which I thought was so thoughtful of them.

Here is her breakfast and she ate most of it!

There were a couple of things I wanted to see/do today but some wasn't kid appropriate and we wanted the kids to try out the camps so we headed to Camp Carnival to drop them off. I did the registrations online before our cruise but when we went to drop off my 9yr old he didn't want to go in without one of his brothers so we dropped my 12yr old down to the 9-11 age group so they could be together. The person signing them in just had to make a few changes on the computer/ipad, enter in allergy info and we were good to go! We dropped of my 6 & 8 yr old after that and hubby and I were kid free!!

I wanted to go to the cooking demonstration in the Emerald Steakhouse that started at 12pm but I was still super full from breakfast since we literally just left brunch. We had some time before some of the lido activities though so we decided to go check out the cooking demonstration but we would share whatever they brought us to eat. We got there about 15 minutes early, got our recipe books and found a seat towards the front. They started the demonstration just after 12pm and the food they brought out for us to taste were so good!! There was no chance to let them know we would just need 1 of each course because the servers walked around while the chefs were still explaining how to make each dish and it was a full house so it was pretty busy but the portions weren't big. The only thing I wish they did differently was for the chefs to have their own microphones attached to their jackets or something. Someone from the entertainment staff was holding the microphone for the chefs to talk into but it wasn't efficient because the chefs were cooking at the same time and moving around.

Mushroom Cappuccino. I'm not a mushroom person and this had a few different mushrooms in it but I tried it and it was delicious!!

The 2nd course was a Baby leaf Spinach salad. I didn't like it but hubby thought it was good.

I dug into my entree before taking a pic so this is the one the chef cooked during the demonstration. Broiled Supreme of Free Range Chicken

And for dessert a delicious Tiramisu

At the end we got to walk up to the counter to see all the dishes they prepared close up and we also had a chance to talk to the chefs and ask any questions we had. We enjoyed the demonstration and would have loved to eat at the steakhouse one night but we didn't want to leave the kids and our family since we all decided to have dinners together. Hubby and I will definitely hit the steakhouse on our next cruise!

Now that we were super duper full with a lot of yumminess it was time for some adult lido entertainment!!

First up is the Red's Rum vs. Blue's Tequila Challenge.

Don't mind the decapitated man walking around in the center of the pic :D

The 2 judges from the audience were hilarious!!

Soon after that it was The Very Hairy Chest Contest and OMG I think that's the most i've laughed the entire cruise! I could not believe how many kids were out though and with some of the things going on i'm sure some of them left scarred.

The 2 men dressed as women walking down the stairs were the last 2 contestants. They both ended up winning and I would agree with that decision. It was so much fun to watch.

After this we went to get the kids so they can have lunch. Before lunch though I dragged them to go with me to the very front of the ship to check out the "secret" deck. We went to deck 7 all the way front but there was a sign that said crew only so we headed up to deck 8. There were 2 doors to exit and the outer one was super hard to open because of the force of the wind. We got out and it was super windy!!

View from the front

We didn't stay very long out there because the kids were hungry. Like me, my 12 yr old was looking forward to Guy's Burger so thats what they went for, I was still too full from brunch and the cooking demonstration so I didn't get anything.

It saddens me to say this because I was looking forward to it so much and I really really wanted to like it and think it delicious but Guy's burger was terrible. I think it was the plain jane but i'm not sure since I didn't stand with them to order but I had a bite of one of the kids burger and 1 bite was all I could take because it was burnt and overdone. The edges all around were charred and only my hubby and 12yr old ate theirs. I was so disappointed and never went back to order one for myself.

A member of our FB roll call organized a Slot Pull for 4pm so after lunch my cousin in law who was joining me for the pull and I went up to the casino. The smoke smell once you get on deck 5 is very strong and gave me a headache. They did have atleast one of the machines to reduce the smoke but it was still very strong.

It took us a bit to find everyone but we found them and had a total of 21 people participating. We didn't end up winning big but out of the $20 to enter most of us walked away with $11. The top 2 winners left with more. After hanging out in the casino for a little while longer and losing my $11 we went back to the cabin to meet the rest of my fam so we can get dressed for dinner and the first cruise elegant night.

I was also looking forward to the lobster which was also disappointing :(. The orzo and shrimp were very good though. Others at the table liked the lobster so maybe lobster just isn't my thing.

I know there's been alot of talk on here about the tablecloths and from my experience I prefer the table without the tablecloths. I had to tell the kids constantly not to pull the tablecloth and it wasn't like they held on and pulled, it just moved around alot just from normal movement. It was alot less trouble without the tablecloths and honestly I didn't think the tables looked nicer with them.

No surprise that after the amazing show the night before that our after dinner entertainment was the Playlist Productions: Divas and it was another great show! The performers are soo talented! We all loved it, even the kids! I'm pretty sure we watched one of the adult comedy shows without the kids of course and then headed to bed.

Tomorrow we'll be in St. Thomas which is an island hubby and I went to on our first cruise and couldn't wait to revisit.

Debbie I am enjoying your review very much! I love it! It's bringing me back so many memories from my cruise on the Glory! Can't wait to see the rest!

Debbie I am enjoying your review very much! I love it! It's bringing me back so many memories from my cruise on the Glory! Can't wait to see the rest!

Thank you. I'm enjoying reliving it through this review.

Day 4 - St. Thomas

View from our cabin, as promised

For the whole cruise we didn't have any excursions planned, we figured we'd decide the day of or the night before what we would be doing. For St. Thomas, 12 from our group of 15 decided to do a tour to Mountain Top. The other ladies wanted to just go downtown and check out the shops. Hubby and I did the island tour on our first cruise 13 years prior but we wanted to do it again especially with the kids.

We docked at 10am but after breakfast and grounding up 12 people, we got off the ship at 11am. We had to be back onboard by 5:30pm so we had plenty of time.

After we walked out of the port area we asked a security officer how far was downtown walking and how could we get there. He told us it was about 2.5 miles and if we walked along the water we would find it. After walking a little more towards the shops and restaurants I saw an empty tour bus/van dropping someone off and decided to ask him how much he would charge to take us on a tour to Mountain top then to downtown. He said it would be $16 per person and would charge us for 11, taking 1 child free but thats only after I asked him if kids were also $16. So after checking with the family we decided to go with him. I thought his price was great since i'd contacted a few companies before our cruise and they were charging $40 each to go to Mountain Top, Downtown and the Beach where we had no interest in going since 2 of our 4 ports were already beach days. An added bonus was that our guide wasn't going to pick up other passengers.

Our driver for the day

Views while driving to Mountain Top.

My cousin in law wanted to do the zip line but our guide told us that it was likely sold out for the day and that it would have been best to reserve that beforehand or try to be there just after docking. When we passed the zip line area it was booked.

Mountain Top is the highest point in St. Thomas with amazing views and known for their world famous banana daiquiri.

It's quite and adventure driving to the top because the roads are very narrow and the drivers have to honk when going around a sharp turn so the driver going the opposite direction knows there's someone coming. The ride was also bumpy at times but not uncomfortable. On the way we saw a lot of fruit trees and large iguanas just walking around or in trees.

When you get to Mountain Top there's a huge souvenir shop that you have to walk through before you get see awesome views.

So honestly, other than the scenery and the souvenir shop there isn't much to do so you can be done in less than an hour especially if you don't drink. There was a bar in the back but I can't remember if there was seating or anything like that. I tried my sister in laws daiquiri but didn't think it was that great.

After grabbing a few souvenirs we loaded up and headed down hill! The guide stopped at another scenic area where you can pay for a donkey ride, buy a water coconut or grab a beer. It was a quick pic stop and our kids had coconut water and jelly for the first time!

So we're west indian and my mom doesn't eat out much and was getting tired of the american fare from the ship so we asked our guide if he knew of a place we can get west indian food on the island and he took us here.

Our guide dropped us off downtown, parked his van then walked us to the restaurant which is basically a hole in the wall ran by a guy from Trinidad and his family. The portions are huge and the food was soo good!! Definitely recommended.

Our guide left us at the roti shop and told us if we needed a ride back to the ship we could call him and for $4 each he would take us.

While walking back to the downtown shopping area we saw chickens and chicks walking around. They were so cute!

We walked around downtown for a little but we were tired and hot and we we really didn't want to get anything so we called the guide to take us back to the ship. My cousin in law wanted to get beach sand from each island and since we didn't go to the beach or come across any we asked our guide if he would make a quick stop for us to grab some sand which he agreed to with no additional charge. Once we got there hubby and his cousin ran to the beach grabbed the sand and we were on our way back to the ship in less than 3 minutes. 9 of us got back on the ship about 4:30pm, leaving the other 3 at the bar right by the ship.

Once in our cabin we started getting dressed for dinner early so that we can go up on deck and check out the scenery.

Carnival Magic behind us

The kids got a kick out the "sorry we are open" by the pool.

Dinner was great as always but we were missing some people. Is it a shock that its the bunch that got left at the bar?? Last we saw them, they were hanging by the aft pool & hot tub enjoying some more drinks.

There were no Playlist shows tonight :(. Our cousin hung out with the kids so hubby and I could go with some of the others to the Hasbro Game Show. The show was ok but not anything I would rush to see again. After the show hubby and I got the kids and went to the cabin. We were getting ready to turn in early when I noticed they were showing Star Wars at the Dive In so we decided to go check it out. We got there just after it started but it was packed, we had to go way in the back to find chairs for 6 of us. We got some popcorn, some late night pizza and watched the movie for a bit. After a little while we got bored though because it was hard to hear so far back and we couldn't keep up with what was going on so we headed back to the cabin and called it a night.

Tomorrow will be an early day anyway. San Juan at 7am!!

Loving the review...we are booked for same itinerary May 2017 on Glory ..can't wait.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Loving the review...we are booked for same itinerary May 2017 on Glory ..can't wait.

 

Thanks for sharing!!!

We really enjoyed it and hope you will as well.

Time for San Juan, Puerto Rico!! It's our first time ever in Puerto Rico so we were all excited.

Our entire group decided to check out Puerto Rico together so we all had breakfast then met to leave the ship. The plan for the day was to take the free trolley to the forts and do a tour on our own.

View from our cabin

We got off the ship and had to go through a building before getting to the street. Once you get out there are vendors all along the street selling handmade things, bags, hats etc.

Magic right next to us

I wanted to get a magnet from each port and we passed a few vendors and I thought i'd just get it later. I wish I had gotten it then instead of having to stop on the way back when it's pouring rain and my kids are cranky. I did get the magnet but I think I learned my lesson not to procrastinate.

We asked a few locals where the closest trolley stop was but they didn't speak much english and kind of pointed us in a direction to go so we went that way and I asked a police officer and he told me where to catch it. I didn't however specify that I wanted the trolley that went to the fort because the one we got on did not and I forgot that there were different trolley routes. The fort wasn't even that far from the ship, we could have walked there.

We waited about 10 minutes for the trolley and when it came it was an enclosed one. I read that the one that went to the forts were open so this should have been my first clue but we were hot and so we got on and after a few minutes hubby went and spoke to the driver to ask if we were going the right way and he informed us that we were not. He told us where to get off and that from that point we could walk to the fort so we got off. We ended up here..

Not the fort but it was a cool little area with a nice view.

There were benches here so we took a break and made a few phone calls since we finally had cell service. After a bit it was time to move on and find the fort and not sure why we didn't think of doing this before but we pulled up directions on our phones. It was a nice little unexpected detour though & we got to ride the free trolley so no complaints.

Puerto Rico is very hilly and from where we were the route to the fort thankfully took up downhill! The streets are also very narrow so make sure you stay on the inside of the sidewalk if there is one because the vehicles come very close.

Getting closer to the fort there are restaurants and local vendors as well as this..

We finally found the fort!!

Fort San Cristóbal

It costs $5 per person to go into the fort and the cost includes both forts. If you have a US 4th grader though and you sign up for Every Kid in a Park pass, print the pass and take it with you all the kids in your group are free as well as 3 adults. I signed up, printed my pass, took my pass onto the ship and then forgot to bring it with me :mad:. The kids were free but we had to pay for the adults, the guy wouldn't accept the copy of the pass on my phone, he said it had to be a printed copy.

Inside the fort

It started raining when we got to the top viewing areas

Starting to clear up

LOL thats my cousin pulling my oldest son up

Bottom left is what the trolley to the forts looks like. We could have taken the trolley in the front of this fort to the second fort El Morro but we didn't feel like we had enough time.

After the fort we walked back to the ship. Hubby and his cousin left us to go to the beach so he could get some sand but oh what expensive sand it was because it cost them $50 for the 2 of them to the beach and back! Wonder if they got ripped off...

I wanted to go into the Walgreens thats not too far from the ship but it wasn't open for business yet. There's a CVS a little further down but my 8yr old was hot and tired and just wanted to go back to the ship.

My 2 older boys stayed with others from our group to check out the vendors and I took my younger 2 back to the ship after the quick stop for the magnet. 4 others from our group broke off earlier to check out the bars I think.

Once my little ones and I got back on the ship we went to the cabin to drop off our bags and then went to get some lunch since we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We decided to have Blue Iguana today. My son had 2 chicken tacos which he liked and I had a chicken burrito which I didn't like at all. I finally went over to comfort kitchen and wished i'd gone over there sooner because the food was so good! I found my picky daughter some chicken strips and some pasta there which she liked.

Lunch view, ahh wish I was there!

When finished with lunch we walked around trying to find the others and found them having lunch also. We sat with them then when everyone was done 2 of us went on deck to watch sail away while hubby took the kids back to the cabin to change into their swimsuits so they can have some pool/slide time. I think this was the first day they went on the slides.

Sailaway

Leaving Magic behind

More views from sail away

Tonight at 5:30pm was the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle so I went back to the cabin to shower and get ready for dinner which was right after.

At the Meet & Mingle I saw 2 people i'd met at the slot pull and they were talking to Lee aka Marshmallow who is part of the entertainment team. I went over and spoke with them for a little bit waiting to see if anyone else was going to show up and we were also waiting for Eric the Cruise Director who was on his way. They had sodas, water & cookies available to snack on. No one else showed up that we knew of but we did get to meet Eric and he is such a nice person! I'd read a couple of posts where people didn't like Eric and I have no idea why because I found him entertaining and a very nice guy. This was a lesson for me not to take what people say to heart.

After dinner we were out of a babysitter so hubby took the kids so I could go with some of the others to see the Love & Marriage Show which was hilarious!! The old couple was soo cute and soo funny! Would definitely go see that show again. After that show we went to see the adult comedy show. After the show I headed back to my cabin while some of the others went back to one of theirs to hang out a little longer. Hubby and the kids were up watching tv but soon after we all went to sleep.

Tomorrow we'll be in Grand Turk!! Ugh, its going by too quickly.