Alexv500

Congratulations on graduating!! I was thrilled to see you back on a ship and this time to the GLORYous Caribbean!! So has Carnival swayed you away from Princess? I can see how an 18 year old would be more entertained on Carnival. You are so sweet to want to treat your grandma to a cruise, and I bet she has treasured taking you on these 2 cruises! Good luck getting a job, and welcome to the world of working to cruise! [emoji568]

 

 

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Thank you so much and for finding this review as well! Makes me so happy to see some of my friends from my last review! I definitely fell in love with Carnival, they won my heart, but that doesn't mean I am completely going to ditch princess haha, Princess will always have a special place in my heart since I sailed my first cruise with them :) I definitely see and Alaskan cruise with them in the future!

The Caribbean was amazing!! Such a wonderful an amazing experience, loved it so much and had a boat load of fun on this cruise! Carnival was amazing, such a fun ship! Very excited for the next cruise, I need another cruise and can't wait to book the next one on the Vista! Thanks again for taking the time to read, more is on the way!

Excellent review...

 

 

 

I am glad to see at a young age taking a set dinner time. Its the best way to get the whole group together and catch up on who did what during the day...

 

 

 

Great review again Glad to see you enjoyed the trip. I will be leaving another mark on the Glory in June

I love having a set dining time, makes things so much easier! I've read anytime dining is a mess and sometimes you got to wait for a table- I love having the same table and same waiters every night! It's just part of the entire cruise experience!

I love the Glory! What itinerary will you be doing nothing? eastern or western? :D

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!!!!

Awww thank you so much!! :)

Glad you are back, especially with all you have going on with graduation. Congrats on that by the way. Looks like I will miss you on the Vista by a month, taking my family for Easter break in April.

Thank you!! I'm super excited to graduate! I'm also super excited for the Vista! What itinerary will you be doing? The 6 or 8 day? :)

Love reading your review Alex! You take some really nice pics! I also must say that I absolutely love your enthusiasm about cruising!! You excitement and making me even MORE excited for my cruise later this month! :)

Thank you so much!! And for taking the time to read it! :) I truly love cruising with a passion, and it's something I get so excited and passionate about when talking about it! What ship will you be sailing on? Have a great cruise!!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=385055&d=1462988194

 

 

 

Here's the link to the new Americas itineraries list. I don't know if I'm doing this right. If the link doesn't open, I got it from post number 11 in the following thread. It says that cruises will be open for booking on May 19.

 

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2354758

 

 

 

I think that I'm still seriously looking at the March 30, 2018.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!! LA is my homeport so seeing that Emerald will be joining us in 2017 and 2018 really makes me happy! So happy to see Princess' dedication for the West Coast market and all the cool new itineraries they'll be offering in the future- one that really did grab my attention was the 12 day to Alaska RT from LA! I have DREAMED of a cruise to Alaska from here in Los Angeles found trip and looks like Princess heard my idea, LOL! Very excited for the Emerald to join us here! :D

Hey everyone I'm back!! Sorry it's been a while since I've worked on the review and I feel bad for leaving you all hanging! No worries I am going to get back to it soon, school has just been crazy ahh lots of stress! Graduating next week! But I have made lots of progress regarding my cruise review- finally finished editing and uploading all my videos for you guys so I will link those along with the review as it goes :) Hope everyone is doing well!

Already planning next year's cruise and looks like we will be doing the Vista next March on an 8 day Southern Caribbean- so can't wait to book that soon! My goal is to get a job very soon once I'm 18 and my ultimate goal is to pay for the whole trip myself and treat my Grandmom since she's already paid for me on 2 cruises so now it's my turn to treat her, so wish me luck on getting on a job LOL I'm working to cruise, I really want that red card haha!

I love your review so much!! I've been following along since you first started and at the time I was planning this same exact cruise on the Glory as well! Last month was my cruise aboard the Glory and now with your review I am getting to relive my days aboard the Glory all over again-it was such a great cruise!!

You'll be sailing from my homeport of Long Beach!! I'm trying to somehow go on a 4 day cruise this summer as I'm still suffering horrible PCD following my cruise last month to the Caribbean, it was such an amazing cruise!

I'm so sorry to hear about what happened with your marriage! But hey, life does go on and things will definitely be so much better- I wish you the very best in life!

Can't wait to see the rest of your review!

-Alex

Gooood Morning from Half Moon Cay!!

We made it finally!! Today was the day! I had been waiting for this day for sooo long and after seeing so many pictures and videos of this magnificent and beautiful slide of paradise, I was finally here and I just could not believe it was real that I was finally here, AHH! I woke up pretty early at around 6:30ish and decided to head on up to see what was going on up on deck, well that and I was just super excited to get this day started already! I was also ready for breakfast because..well..I love my food!! Me and Grandmom were the only ones in my family awake, the rest were knocked out in their cabins sleeping but it's okay they were exhausted so we let them get their rest! While grandmom got ready for today, I headed on up to the lido and to my spot on deck 10 to go checkout the sunrise, and oh boy take a look at this beautiful sunrise!

My grandma also enjoyed her breakfast too and she loved the coffee in the MDR so much and would always ask for more Lol! I would get OJ and Apple juice, nice and cold too! During breakfast, it was around 8am ish and we were already approaching the island as we felt the engines slowly slow down as we neared HMC! So after breakfast, we headed on up the front of the ship to my favorite spot on deck 10 to watch as we slowly pulled into HMC! And once I saw crystal clear blue water.. well I was freaking out and buzzing with excitement because never in my life had I seen such turquoise blue water, I was already in deep love with the Caribbean! The last time I had seen such blue water was when I went on vacation to Cancun many years ago when I was 10, so it's been a while since and HMC smokes Cancun!

We're here!

It was finally time when we began to hear the announcement for tender tickets! There was one problem though, my family was all over the ship and we needed our entire group together to get our ticket, however getting my family together and finding them is like herding a herd of sheep! So me and grandmom had to get the rest of my family together after they ate breakfast and got ready and all their stuff ready for our day on the island! Everyone was super excited to be on the island and we had all been looking forward to it forever!! My mom in particular was extremely excited like me, she had been looking forward to HMC from the minute she booked the cruise, today was definitely going to be the best day ever in paradise!

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y348/Al300/Carnival%20Glory%20Cruise/1F08D7EB-17E1-46F8-B494-6B8989482A5D_zpsuuiuewt7.jpg' alt='1F08D7EB-17E1-46F8-B494-6B8989482A5D_zpsuuiuewt7.jpg'>

Quick selfie I took! I look really bad in this picture but hey you can see the blue water behind me along with my tender ticket on my shirt hahah!

Up Next: We're finally in Paradise!

Evening Adventures Onboard

After enjoying a very fun and delicious dinner, it was time to explore the ship at night, lots was going on tonight and I was very anxious to see what there was to do tonight! Everyone in my family pretty much did their own thing as they settled onboard, grandmom went to see the welcome aboard show with my aunt and I decided to take my mom and one of my brothers on a little evening stroll along the promenade and just take them exploring with me! The outdoor Promenade is one of my favorite places to be on any cruises, and it's even better at night when all you can hear is the sound of the ocean passing by-I just LOVE that sound! One fun fact-what I loved so much about the Caribbean is how warm it always was at night! Like not once did I ever wear a sweater on this cruise! Every night was so nice and pleasantly warm outside, something I am not used to! I know here in California it gets very hot, but the warmth out in Florida and the Caribbean is something very different and I think that's the humidity! Most hate the humidity but I surprisingly really liked it, maybe it's because I am just not used to that type of warmth-here we always have dry heat!

Relaxing out on the lido for a bit!

Me and my brother Nathan hung out on the lido a bit and watched a movie and I also ended up budging and bought the wifi package LOL! I kept telling myself I wouldn't get it, but I gave in and bought it (next cruise I am definitely not going to get it because I need to disconnect from the world!!) The rest of my family was pretty pooped out, especially my mom and brothers since they had taken a red eye flight to get to Miami and hadn't slept good since like 2 days before so they were exhausted and jet lagged! We also were stopping at our first port of call and that would be beautiful Half Moon Cay, Bahamas! And everyone was very excited and looking forward to it because of all the pictures we saw beforehand. So with that said..

Next up: Arrival to Half Moon Cay!

Loving the review! We are going to be on the Glory in December. Cant wait for the rest of your review.

Thanks! You're going to have such a great cruise and a great time, loved the Glory! Will you be sailing this same itinerary as well?

Love your review! It's full of positive energy. Thank you for taking the time.

Greetings from Munich/Germany

 

 

If my memory serves me right, I'll never turn back time.

Thank you!! I love doing reviews and sharing my experience and photos with you guys, thank you for reading and greetings from Los Angeles, California!

So happy you're continuing your trip report, I've really enjoyed it. Our first Carnival cruise is coming up in 43 days, getting pretty dang excited. Good luck with graduation and enjoy your final days of high school. You seem to have a great head on your shoulders and I love the gratitude you exude, I wish you the best of luck in life.

 

 

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Thank you!! That's so exciting it'll be here very soon, I think you're going to love Carnival, I know I did! What ship will you be sailing on? And aw thank you so much, that truly means a lot! Hope you have a great cruise and can't wait to hear all about it! :)

First Dinner & Evening Aboard the Glory

So after finally getting myself accustomed to the layout of the ship and familiarizing myself with the ship-it was almost time for our first dinner onboard! We had our dinner at 8:15 this cruise in the Platinum dinning room on the upper level and I was super excited to meet our waitstaff for this cruise and to see where we would be eating dinner for the week.

On our cruise last year, we had dinner at 5:45 which was a bit early for me but grandmom insisted on eating early so I chose that time. However, dinner at that time was just way too early for me, and due to our dinner time on the last cruise aboard the Ruby Princess, I would miss out on being out on deck to watch sailaway, and since this cruise we would be visiting many beautiful islands, I wanted to be able to be out on deck and watch us leave port! Also, I was never really hungry so early in the evening and many times would go to dinner and not even be hungry! So this time, I wanted to enjoy my food and also be able to come back onboard and not be in such a rush to get ready for dinner! Enough with my rambling rant on dinner time- let's get to the part where I finally go to the Platinum dining room!

We finally made it to the dining room, right on time (me and grandmom love to eat so she always jokes around how we are one of the first to arrive when the doors open Lol!) We had table 623 and luckily I was able to prearrange for my entire family to be seated at the same time and thankfully linking everyone's bookings worked, and it was not easy to do this since my grandma and aunt had no clue the rest of my family was coming along!

We met our waitstaff for the cruise, and they were AMAZING! Super nice waiters and I quickly bonded with our main waiter (I forgot his name omg!! I am so bad at names! I'm going to try to remember as best as I can!) and we bonded because we would talk about the different ships in the fleet and I would ask him about all the ships he's been on, he was even offered a position to work on the new Vista! He was such a great waiter and was from Honduras so he spoke perfect spanish and grandmom loved that she was able to perfectly communicate with him!

Roasted Chicken for my main w/ a side of fries!

http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y348/Al300/Carnival%20Glory%20Cruise/0B4E36A0-DC4F-4BE0-AF23-5929B2D2B4B9_zpsspfe9jeh.jpg' alt='0B4E36A0-DC4F-4BE0-AF23-5929B2D2B4B9_zpsspfe9jeh.jpg'>

I also got the tropical fruit plate to be semi-healthy haha!

Our first dinner was a success, the food was delicious and everyone was very happy and impressed, my mom was already in love with the entire cruising experience!

Next up: First evening onboard and strolling around!

Sio glad to see you back Alex. I'm really looking forward to the rest of your review. I sailed the Glory over Thanksgiving last year and really liked her - BUT - what I'm waiting for is whether you had any interaction with Jordan on the entertainment staff - she's my only child and I miss her - her contract ends May 7th, so she'll be home soon. This was her first contract and she's still seems unsure of whether she will return for another contract (it will have to be another ship as the Glory won't have an opening when she starts another contract).

 

Funny thing is - I also use to work on Carnival - back in the 80's I was a "gift shop girl" and then the shop manager on the Carnivale, Mardi Gras & Festivale. I actually met her father while on the Festivale - he was a Purser!!! I think they work alot harder now than we did. It was a great time for me!!

 

Hey, since you love cruising so much - how about working onboard???

Jordan does found familiar but I'm not too sure! I met so many amazing crew members on this cruise! But that's so cool you have a daughter that works onboard, it must be very difficult to go so long without seeing her though :(

That's so cool you and your family have a history with working onboard ships, seems like a very challenging job, I wouldn't be able to be away from home for so long and ship life is challenging I can only imagine- it's one thing to be a passenger and another to be a crew member and those poor crew members work very hard nonstop and I have so much sympathy for them!

I would however, would love to work for Carnival or any cruise line to be in charge or maybe advertising or something like that, or even planning the deployment of the ships and where they go and working on the itineraries, that would definitely be a job I'd love to do!

I will be sailing on the Glory 4/30/16 and will be flying into MIA on the day of. Where is the Carnival check-in located in the airport? Did not know this existed. Thanks for the info.

BTW loving your review.

 

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We all flew on American Airlines so right when we headed down to baggage claim, there was a sign leading to the Carnival Check in counter at MIA and it was right down next to the baggage claim/ arrivals area. I believe on the boarding pass it says exactly in what area it's located at but it was right next to where we got our bags! It was closed the day I got there since we flew in the day before, but my mom flew in the day of the cruise and they were able to find it easily and she says it was very quick and easy! They even give you your sail and sign cards right then and there so definitely give the airport check in a try! There's signs everywhere for it so I think you will be fine! Have a great cruise too!

What a fun review! That was such a nice surprise your family planned for your grandmother. I can't wait to read the rest. :)

There's lots more fun to come!! Stay tuned, I will be working on the review some more sometime this week :) and it was a super fun surprise!! Very challenging to keep a secret for so many months but somehow I managed and her reaction was priceless!

Great Review looking forward to the rest.

Thanks! :D

Oh please, no need for apologies. :D School is much more important. Your Prom and graduation are also two experiences you'll have from high school that you'll want to make the best of and your memories from them will last a lifetime. I can't speak for the others here following, but I'm really enjoying your review and I'll definitely continue to follow...when you have the time. I hope you have a wonderful time at your Prom and congratulations on your upcoming graduation. :)

Thank you so much!! Prom was super fun! Super excited to graduate! Also, thanks for reading along :)

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't done any more of the review! School is just crazy and I've been crazy busy with Prom and all my school work! I'll be graduating next month so that's exciting! This week I will be adding more to the review so stayed tuned for that! :D

We are sailing the Glory & same itinerary in 364 days!! Watching your video made me even more excited than my Ship Mate & Carnival Hub app countdowns combined.......anxiously waiting for more [emoji3][emoji3]

Wow that's a long wait! you're going to have so much fun!! Great ship and awesome itinerary, all the ports were so beautiful and amazing!! Thanks for watching the video too, there's more videos to come, hope you enjoy them and hopefully those help you get even more excited for your cruise on the Glory!! :)

I am enjoying our review because of your youthful exuberance! We went on the Glory and did not enjoy the decor so much because we had been on the Freedom and Liberty. But the layout of the ships is the same so I liked the familiarity of the ship.

 

 

 

I too love cruising and will be trying out the Conquest next!

 

 

 

You are a fortunate young man to be experiencing this at such a young age! You could be a Diamond cruiser before you know it!

Aw thank you so much!! Cruising is such a great way to travel, I just love being out on the ocean on a floating resort! Hopefully I'll reach diamond, I think I will because I'm addicted to cruises, they're just so much fun!! :D

I am so enjoying your review. I'd like to find out how you thought this Carnival cruise compared to your Princess cruise last year. I took my first Carnival in February (the Miracle to Mexico) and had a great time. The bad things said about Carnival I found not to be true.

 

Carry on, and congrats on graduating high school!

Thank you!! This cruise was sooo much fun, I did a lot more this time and participated in more activities, such as the dance parties! The atmosphere on the ship was more fun and laid back, and I think because Carnival is more dedicated to families, I enjoyed myself so much! Lots of fun onboard! Carnival is such an amazing cruise line and I love the company and will definitely sail with them again without hesitation! And this itinerary was perfect! Not bashing Princess because they're also a great cruise line and have some beautiful ships and I will also sail them again, as long as I'm on a cruise, I'm very happy haha!

Prior to the cruise, I had seen lots of negative comments, and all of which were false, Carnival is amazing! This cruise is one for the books, and a very memorable vacation. I have no negative things to say because everything was great for me. Thanks for reading the review!

Awesome review so far.

 

Thanks for taking the time!

Thank you!! And thanks for taking the time to read! Enjoy the review! :D

Great review so far! Can't wait to hear about your adventures for the rest of the cruise! My fiancé and I will be cruising for our honeymoon in August and we love hearing everything you can do and experience!

 

 

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Thank you! You guys are going to have such a great time, you picked the perfect cruise!! If you have any questions feel free to ask! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my review! :)