smurfm69

I've been hooked on your review(s) and have been "patiently" waiting to hear about the HMC cabana (and possibly photos?). I didn't want to beg, but I'm passed that now. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can you finish telling us about that Cabana??? (Sorry...I'll be okay.) ;)

 

Thank you. :D

We went to HMC last June and had cabana 10. It is worth the money! If you want one, get it booked ASAP as they almost always sell out. The first few cabanas are close to where the tender drops everyone off and gets really crowded. We chose #10 because it's a little ways down and less crowded. Also, there is a bathroom located between cabanas 9 and 10.

We have had those category 4J cabins on a few different ships and love them! Great value!

Forward cabins are my wife and I's favorite ship location, For various reasons we'll book 4J cabins on ships that have them if available when we book. Good balance of price, and location for us, as we are fortunate not to be affected my ship movement. Highest deck we've stayed on Sunshine was a 4J on deck 7, a couple down from the scenic ov's. We sailed the Sunshine TA in that cabin....atlantic was amazingly calm during the crossing, don't think we felt anything at all that cruise. Had a 4J on deck 10 on the Breeze once....no issues for us with movement.

We love the 4J rooms too and that's what we book most of the time. So much cheaper than the balcony and so great to hang out on the open deck in front.

LOL The coughing kid post was too damn funny! So sad and disrespectful of the parents to do nothing about it. I would have inquired about moving to a different table.

By the way, I think I would have managed to take a pic of them and posted a warning on cruise critic to not sit in the dining room by these people. Lol

Very nice review so far! We went to HMC for the first time last year and thought it was the best beach ever! We got cabana #10 and it was perfect. I would definitely spend the money to get a cabana every time at HMC.

In our experience, on Carnival, room service takes too long. You can walk to the lido deck and be back with whatever you want faster. The morning coffee is always great and on time though. Not a big issue for us though as we rarely want or need anything from room service.

Really enjoyed your review and awesome pics Mr. Bond. Lol I will confess to being extremely jealous of your frequent cruising. Hope you continue to have fun on your future cruises.

Hey Andrea, great job on the review. It was informative and very entertaining. We are planning to do this itinerary on the Vista in May 2017 and it was really nice seeing the pics of the ports. By the way, I liked the shout out to Nola on the cemeteries. We are below sea level so not a lot of people put 6 feet under. lol Thanks to your hubby for his service. I'm an ex squid but still got mad respect for the jarheads and all branches of the military. Hope y'all enjoy your upcoming cruise!

On our 7 day cruise on the Valor last year we had at least one every day!

Went on the Dream a few years ago and I'm possibly going on her again in May 2017. I don't know what is planned for upgrades but I hope they are adding Guy's Burgers!!!

We did the 2 hour segway tour which visits one of the forts and the guide points out several things of interest and gives a brief history of the city. Oh and those segways are so much fun too! We did the 10am tour so still had time to get back on the ship before sailaway.

I think I ate more Guy's Burgers than warm chocolate melting cakes on our recent cruise. lol They are the bomb!

THE LESS THAN PERFECTs – VERY FEW… No major complaints but, IMHO, Carnival could do just a skosh better in a couple of ways on a Caribbean cruise. Put a live, steel drum band aboard. C’mon, it’s a Caribbean cruise! If Carnival wants us 50-60 year olds to spend more money on board it would do well to provide a lounge for dancing to music from the 50s, 60s and 70s at least one or two nights from, say, 8 or 9 pm to 11 or midnight. At least, that’s my opinion/wish. Load the tenders at HMC from the lower deck, up. Or, at least serve some ice cold water to those on the top deck while waiting for the tender to load. That’s it, folks. The imperfections were so minor as to have almost no impact on an otherwise great cruise. Carnival deserves a nice A- for that cruise. And someone upstairs gets an A for providing good weather and calm seas.

I totally agree with you about the live music on the lido deck. I love listening to the Reggae music when I am sailing the Caribbean and remember when Carnival used to have that. Now it's a guy with an acoustic guitar playing a variety of radio friendly tunes. We had a great time on our Glory cruise and were blown away by the beauty of HMC.

On our recent Glory cruise, we brought our collapsible cooler and the room steward kept it filled with ice the whole time. There was a small fridge in our room but it really doesn't keep the drinks very cold.

I think I saw that your cruise on the Triumph was in January. We're booked for this December. I was wondering if the pools are too cold to swim in and the one that can be covered by the retractable roof, first was it covered and was it warm. Basically was it too cold for any outdoor activities? I know that's a tricky question since it is Texas and the weather is crazy here but any info would be greatly appreciated

We have done 4 day cruises out of Nola in December and the weather warms up as you sail South. One year we were wearing jackets on embarkation day and in bathing suits the next day. I find the pools to be a little chilly even in the summer. Once you get in the water, you get used to it.

We found both the embarkation and debarkation process to be very quick and smooth. Loved sailing on the Glory! Very friendly staff.

We just recently returned on the Carnival Glory to the port of Miami and had a 10:45am flight out of FLL. They let the passengers with early flights debark using self assist before the general debarkation. We were off the ship at 8am and at the airport by 9am as traffic wasn't bad being a Saturday.

We just recently got back from a cruise on the Glory and had an early flight(10:45am). When you do your online check in before the cruise, they ask for your flight info. Because of this, they knew we had an early flight and self assist debarkation for guests with an early flight took place before general self assist debarkation. We were off the ship at 8am.

We'd like to visit New Orleans sometime and sail from there. When that happens, I'll have you tell me things not to miss, etc.

Definitely let me know when y'all do that and we can get together and go grab dinner somewhere. Lots to see and do down here.

Veteran cruisers will also remember when there was live Reggae music on the lido deck played by 2 or 3 guys. Now they have the guy with the acoustic guitar playing a variety of music. Personally I prefer the reggae music. I'm on a cruise in the Caribbean and that music just enhances the whole experience. Can't remember the name of the band playing in the casino area but they were really good.

The production shows in the main lounge were very good. We saw Divas, Motor City, and Epic Rock. I remember in past cruises they had a male and female singer and a bunch of dancers. Now they have only about 8 performers but they all sing and dance. We didn't get to see the other show, Latin Nights, due to technical difficulties.

We hit the Punchliner Comedy Club in the back of the ship to see the R rated comedy shows and they were really funny. The line to get in can get quite long though so get there early if you can.

When we originally booked this cruise we asked for anytime dining. It looked like we were going to have a good bit of friends and the anytime option isn't really set up for larger groups. We reluctantly switched to late dining,(8:15pm), and it turned out to be perfect for us. We normally eat dinner at home around 5-6pm but on the cruise the later time ws nice because when we would get back on the ship from the ports we could grab a Guy's Burger or take a short nap before dinner instead of rushing to get showers and get dressed for dinner. The Blue Iguana Cantina had yummy burritos and also great breakfast burritos in the morning. Pizza was good as always and of course the soft serve ice cream.

Ok, let's see if I can cover some other tidbits of the cruise that I may have forgotten. We flew Southwest airlines to and from Florida. They don't go to Miami so we had to go to Ft. Lauderdale which is not far at all. Our flight leaving Ft. Lauderdale was for 10:45am the morning we got off the ship. I know that is fairly early and perhaps a risk but we wanted a nonstop flight and the other nonstop was much later. Debarkation on the Glory worked out well. They let the FTTF and Platinum people off first and then all the people who had early flights next. This is why they ask for your flight info when you do your online check in before the cruise. We were off the ship at 8am and at the FLL airport by 9am.

We are platinum so once boarding the ship we were able to go straight to our cabin. We put our sodas in there and headed out to the Lido deck to meet our group. Veteran cruisers will remember when the small bowl in the bathroom was filled with sample size products but now it's just a couple small bars of soap. Also, you don't automatically get ice every day, you have to ask for it. The small fridge in the cabin doesn't really get your drinks cold so we bring a small soft sided ice chest that looks almost like a beach bag. We put our sodas and water in there and asked our room steward for ice, and he kept it topped off with ice everyday. He was very nice and always greeted us by name with a smile so we tipped him a little extra as we were leaving our cabin for the last time.

I have seen and read better reviews but hope to help others out with info and our own experiences on the cruise.

Leaving the last port is always kind of sad because the reality of the end of the cruise starts to set in. One more sea day before pulling back in to Miami.

The Sunshine arrived before us but was also leaving before us, so we were able to find chairs by the pool and it got less crowded. We stayed a good while and enjoyed the beverages from the bar before heading back to the ship. ;)