Socref124

You will love the ship! And early Congrats! 10 years is saying something these days! Keep at it, it only gets better and it's worth it :-P

And I'm guessing that with QW you meant DW ? Haha

Thanks, these 10 years have gone by fast and it is getting better all the time.:)

** Had been looking forward to stopping back at Costa Maya since our last stop here back in September of 2011. In 2011 we had a wonderful time spending the day at Maya Chan, an all inclusive beach resort. The owner Mark, really has this resort finely tuned and I would highly recommend them if you are looking for something to do while in Costa Maya.

 

The only downside with this Port is the amount of time the Dream is stopped here. The Dream, as was the same time in 2011, is here from 7 am to 1:30 pm. Thats right, 1:30 pm! That means with anything you do while in this port, you kinda need to be heading back to the pier no later than 12:30 to 1. It's for this earlier departure time I decided to look for something to do a little closer to the Ship/Port area. As mentioned, we had a wonderful time at Maya Chan, but it is at best a 30-40 minute taxi ride from the pier. Too much precious time that you just don't have to spare in this Port. So after doing a little research online and with the help of these boards here on Cruise Critic, we came up with something that matched up better with the times in Port here.

 

We settled on going to Nohoch Kay, an all inclusive resort located quite a bit closer to the ship, right on the beach. I will get this out of the way early, with more detailed explanation later.......Extremely pleased with our decision of Nohoch Kay!

 

We went to Maya Chan last time in Costa Maya as well and agree with everything you said about them. Mark and the crew are fantastic.

I also would like to shorten the time spent in a cab to and from a resort. Tell me a little more about Nohoch Kay if you can. They are already $19 per person cheaper than Maya Chan. Will they organize a dive trip? How do you get in touch with them? Directly or through a marketing company?

Let me begin by saying, and as my title indicates, it doesn't matter whether we are sitting around the dining room table at home playing a board game, or sailing on a 7 day cruise through the Caribbean, if we are together as a Family....Good Times are ahead. I'm a big believer in the fact that Fun and Happiness is not 100% about location and activity, but largely made up of ATTITUDE.

I like the way you think.:D QW and I just booked the Dream in Oct for our 10 anniversary and we can't wait.:)

Didn't miss the boat but came very close. Had to run the pier in Nassau because of a mix up on time. They were lifting the gang plank as we turned the corner of the pier and I had to run to get them to wait for us. I could hear people on the Lido Deck yelling Run Forest Run.:o We were in the elevator to our floor and the ship was already moving. Never again.

oh ya....NOTHIN'!! :p

 

Just got off the Glory this morning...sitting in a hotel in Fll waiting to fly home tomorrow morning...and am totally absolutely irreparably addicted to cruising!!! :D

 

What an absolutely fantastic time...great weather, my little windowless interior cabin in the bottom of the ship was just fine, Chris my cabin steward was a sweetheart, the food was omg :o and just about everything we did was a total riot! No complaints from me...

 

A few technical difficulties with the shows...my bottomless bubbles was a little watered down, and my feet are so swollen i cant fit into my flipflops anymore.....but my table mates who we met the first night were a total hoot...i had my picture taken with the Captain and i saw dolphins jumping out of the middle of the ocean...

 

...oh....and warm chocolate melting cake.....

 

need i say more! :rolleyes:

 

Thank you everyone for easing my newbie fears and sharing your insights...I have already emailed my hubby to say pack up the bags we're taking the kids next year! :D

The Glory was my first Carnival cruise and after a not so great first cruise on NCL. My wife finally convinced me to give cruising another try a couple years later and I had such a great time on the Glory that I was hooked. It took me a while before I tried another cruise line because I enjoyed Carnival so much, but I did try Royal and Princess and liked them both. Now I am thinking about giving NCL another go. I am hearing good things about them since Kevin Sheehan took the helm. But until them I am quite happy with the Carnival Funships.

Just want to make sure I understand.. those who have purchased the FTTF are the only ones who are able to have immediate access to their cabins...if you are Diamond/Platinum or in a suite, you just are able to board first. Booked in suite but just deciding if having immediate access to room is worth the $$. Thanx!!

If the reason you are looking into FTTF is to get to your room by 11:30 and the room will be ready, I wouldn't do it. Just think for a minute about the room steward. If they have multiple FTTF guests. They may or may not get them all ready by 11:30 which is when a lot of ships start boarding. It will be a hit and miss situation, imho. It has been my experience that the rooms are usually ready by 12:30 and from then until 1 the cabin stewards are finishing up and doing the corridors. That is when guest traditionally are allowed to go to their cabins. just sayin...

We are back from our Destiny cruise. We booked the parking at 150 NE7th St. and are glad we did. A four night cruise cost us $38, $18 for the parking and $10 each way for a cab.Beats the daylights out of the $80 to park at POM. Here is their link: http://portofmiamicruiseparking.com/

The parking lot is an open lot with a fence around it. There was a man there when we checked in and out. Not security, but to make sure you had a reservation and to make sure you parked correctly. It was tight parking but we didn't have any problems. There were a lot of homeless sitting on the streets outside the fence. Our can was dusty but not damaged. We will use this lot again when cruising out of Miami.:D

We leave on Jan. 1st on the Glory and we have four cars that have made reservations to park there for seven days. I will let you know our experience when we get back on Jan. 8th. :)

Thank you. We are leaving out of Mia in Mar and are thinking about parking here. The more input the better,

Thanks for the review and pics. We are enjoying it so far. We were on the Dream in Oct and agree with a lot you state up front. No smell, go food, etc. Saw the Dream last night too (we went to the movies and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks:Chipwrecked:)).

I'm looking for these on the deck plans, but do not see where they are. About where are they? Front? Middle? Back?

If you look at the fifth deck, you will see that they jut out mid ship.

http://www.beyondships.com/files/Dream_Deck_Plan_1_.pdf

 

 

Here are a few cool pics I found:

 

One of the neat whirlpools that extend over the beam of the ship.

 

 

They are neat unless you are in one of the balcony's above them. People in them until the wee hours making all kinds of noises.:mad: Never again will we get a 6th or 7th floor balcony near the hot tubs or chess sets.

Great idea, thanks so much. We saw the Dream sail away yesterday and will board her in 7 weeks. :D

DW says she wants a Blowfish cup and a Disco Ball cup. 65 days until I can get her one.:D

I dont know if its ok to put this on here or not however, i am soooooo angry. we had a photo taken at one of the ordinary photo backdrops after dinner on the ship. the photographer then tells us they can do a photo session with us (myself, dh and our 4kids) for free. that we can make an appointment and they will go around the ship with us or on shore with us and take pics. sounds great right. well im thinking ok how much is this ....she says its free and you just pick out the ones you like if there arent any no harm done. well we did our shoot on the elegant night. we got a reminder in our room the morning of our shoot saying if we cancel it will cost us $90.00. this is not what she had told us but i had no intrest in canceling so thought went further. we did our shoot had a great time. looking so forward to seeing the pics we made our appoinment to see them. we are taken into a quiet empty bar and he returns with a book and the photos. the book is a great little book of the pics they put together and then also about 40 pages of pics. great loved them all!!! they were fantastic! then he hands us a little flyer with the pricing I about died. $499. for 10 pages. $1000. for the book and the next package was $1049. dont remember what that covered. We had no idea it come to that I figured it would be high but not that high. oh and also you had to buy a package to get any of the photos. one of our kids didnt go on the cruise so we didnt even have us all in them. I had a very hard time not buying them but im not spending over $1000 for photos. just a warning for anyone else out there that may get caught up im a moment had I been told a price before hand we would not have taken the pics at all.

It sounds to me that the photographer following you around looking for that Kodak moment was free. No charge for his/her time. A thousand dollars for pics, WOW.:eek:

Can anyone help me with an answer to this question? We will be sailing out of Port Everglades on Jan 7th and are driving down the night before. Is there a decent motel that we could stay at and leave our car there safely for 8 days? Thanks for your help.

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I have been quiet for the past couple of months. I have a blog about all things Ft Lauderdale that I made a promise to myself would be updated daily. Instead, I have been kind of busy with my other life outside of the States, and have neglected it. I'm back and making sure that any new updates get posted there timely. Questions...fire away.

 

Bequia

 

 

 

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Thank you so much for all this information. We will be sailing out of Port Everglades on Jan 7th and are driving down the night before. Is there a decent motel that we could stay at and leave our car there safely for 8 days? Thanks for your help.

The Suite perks were better by far the neptune lounge was outstanding,

free laundry plus many others that I dont even get being platinum on Carnival.

I thought platinum members got free laundry service on Carnival...:confused:

Glad you enjiyed HAL. DW and I have been afraid that the average age would be to old for us on HAL. We have tried NCL and most recently RCCL and prefer Carnival so far. NCL has beautiful ships, but the service was lacking. RCCL had great service on the cruise we were on, but the cabin was a lot smaller. We also would like to try Princess one of these days.:)

We were on the Lido deck in Feb on the Destiny and didn't hear a peep from the pool area. Great place to have a room. All the Lido activities are a few steps away. A great place to be... Enjoy!

I didn't realize warm meant watery. I thought it would be solid warm chocolate cake. I ate around 3 bites and my stomach couldn't take it anymore. They top looks normal and firm but it was like a bowl of chocolate sauce...something a little kid with an extreme sugar high would want:eek:

Crystal, it sounds like yours wasn't cooked long enough:( . The center should be like a soft fudge. It is very tasty when cooked properly:) . Hope you have better luck next time...

I am desperately hoping someone might be able to get a recipe for Carnival's warm chocolate melting cake -- the one that's now on the alternative menu every night. My girlfriend fell in love with it and now I want to be able to make it for her.

 

If anyone can help, it'd be greatly appreciated!

I've made the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake three times. It is absolutely out of this world delicious. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients -------Makes 8, 4oz servings

8oz dark chocolate (1 1/3 cup semi sweet choc chips)

8 oz butter (1 stick salted, 1 stick unsalted)

5 eggs (room temp)

5/8 cup sugar

2/3 cup flour

Powdered sugar to taste

Directions

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. In a mixing bowl, mix eggs & sugar and then add flour. Slowly wisk into the chocolate mixture. Pour into greased 4oz ramekins (Bakers Joy). Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-13 minutes. Add powdered sugar and serve

Voilla, there you have it. The first time I made it, I cooked it for 14 minutes and thought it was overcooked. Everyone else thought it was to die for. The last two times I cooked it at 12 minutes and it was fabulous. Once again, everyone thought it was to die for.:)

I was on the Glory in Oct 2005. We had a balcony mid ship on the Upper Deck and had no problems. We met some people that were 5 rooms down from us that heard the disco until the wee hours every night. I would check the floor plan and make sure you are not above the clubs. At mid ship, I think our room was 6180(but not sure), we heard nothing.

By the way, you will love the Glory. Beautiful ship. Only difficulty was remembering how to get to the dinning room. The Glory was our first Carnival Cruise and we have our third Carnival Cruise booked for 2/11/07.

Have a blast,

Mike & Laurie

Norwegian Star October 2003 Hawaii

Carnival Glory October 2005 Eastern Caribbean

Carnival Triumph May 2006 Western Caribbean

Carnival Miracle February 2007 Western Caribbean 122 days & counting...