First time cruiser review of Carnival Glory, western itinerary, Dec.13-20 (with pictu

So this was the first cruise for me, Heidi, and my girlfriend Lauren. We are 33 and 28 and picked this cruise for the itinerary, price, and on the recommendation from friends that "The Fun Ships" were the way to go.

At about 2am Friday morning we awoke to a large boom and flash of light outside our house. A transformer had exploded and we had no power. A couple hours later we heard another big cracking sound. When we got up in the morning we saw that a tree fell about two houses down from us, knocking down a power line and blocking the road. We had a major ice storm, but it was now about 50 degrees and sunny. Our flight wasn’t due to leave until 5pm so we waited around the house for the power to come back, it didn’t. We decided to leave early for the airport, hoping that flights would be on time. We got there about 4 hours early, but at least they had heat, power, and more importantly, Starbucks. So we were ok with hanging out there and waiting. My mother was staying at our house with our daughter and we felt a little bad leaving them in the cold. Our flights were on time and we got into Orlando at about 10:30 that night. Rented a car from Thrifty for about $50 and drove to The Extended Stay Deluxe. We got this hotel from Priceline for $32 so we weren’t expecting much, but it was pretty nice. We took well needed showers and went to bed.

Saturday we were up at 8am and out the door heading to Cape Canaveral by 9. A few stops for last minute supplies and wine and we were at The car rental return by 10:30. We took the shuttle to the port, and soon were in line to get on the ship. The process was fairly painless. We were up on the Lido deck eating lunch by noon. We explored the ship a little and got some drinks.

waterslide

funnel

amber palace

Bar Blue

lobby

Cinn-a-bar

Lauren by the pool

Pool

Heidi with the Camel

ok, trying to figure out how to make my pics bigger then i'll continue with my review

They enlarge when I click on them... you're doing good so far.

We made our way back to the cabin to get ready for the muster drill. Our last bag had arrived so we hung up our formal clothes and left for the drill.

It was quick and painless and lasted maybe 10 minutes. After the drill we went up to deck 10 where we were going to meet up with other cc-ers but we must have had the wrong info written down cause we didn’t see anyone in white shirts in the area we thought we were supposed to go. Oh well. We watched sail away from up there and saw some dolphins as we left Port Canaveral.

It was pretty chilly so we didn’t stay out for very long. We did manage to find the pizza and had ourselves a couple slices. It was good but I thought the cheese was a little odd, the texture was mushy. It didn’t keep us from getting it almost every day of the cruise as a pre-dinner snack. My favorite was the de chevre, which you have to wait for (about 10 min) and Lauren liked the pepperoni. I also enjoyed the sushi bar on deck 5 almost every night as well. It is open from 5p-8p and has a different selection each night. We did some more exploring then back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We had the late seating in the Golden Dining room and had a table for 10. We had requested a table for 2, but we were up for the adventure of meeting new people. We were seated with two brothers from New York who were very nice and three other young guys, who basically scarfed their food down and left before dessert every night. These guys complained to our waiter that there weren’t enough girls at the table (at first glance Lauren does look like a boy so I won’t give them too much grief over saying that there was only one girl at the table.) Well the next night they got their wish, another lesbian couple joined us for the rest of the cruise. LOL! I can’t remember what I had for dinner each night but I had a lot of the pasta dishes which were all very good. The chicken dishes were a little dry, on lobster night the menu specifically said Maine lobster. Well I am born and bred right here in Maine and that was NOT Maine lobster! I had the warm chocolate melting cake twice. The first night it was really good and the second time it was very runny, like a bowl of chocolate syrup. Other desserts I had were the cheese plate, bitter and blanc, amaretto cake, cappuccino pie. All were very good. The service in the dining room was ok. Our waiter, Walter, was good enough, but not much for conversation. The bar staff was not great, I never got my iced tea the first night, the second night I ordered a Pinot grigio and got a Pinot noir. (After being told that there was no Riesling, even though it was on the wine list). Several nights I got lemonade after asking for water or iced tea. I did always get my espresso with dessert after the first night I ordered it though.

I am trying to stay organized and report on each day but I’m getting ahead of myself. OK, so after dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show. The cruise director, Butch Begovich, was very funny and entertaining. The singers and dancers however were not. The comedian was very funny and we went the next night to see his R rated show, which was hilarious. After the show we went back to our room and went to bed. This was waiting for us when we got there. . .

Sunday; Fun Day at Sea.

We got room service to bring us coffee this morning, it came at 8:30 and it was so dark in the room I thought it was still nighttime. I guess I forgot to mention what kind of cabin we had. We were in an inside on deck one. We got up and showered and headed up to the Lido for breakfast. We got omelettes and pastries which were very good. I think they should do something about the omelette station though. It is right in the middle of the buffet area with no easy way to form a line without being in everyone’s way. I filled up my Nalgene bottle with the yummy guava juice so I could use it later on for mixing drinks with my smuggled alcohol. Here is a picture of our bar set up, with the mirror behind it really looks like more than it is.

The day was spent lounging around the pool, drinking, eating, exploring, losing money in the casino. Lauren and I both started feeling a little seasick after dinner so we took some bonine, which helped some.

Here are some pics of our "Elegant" evening. . .

Ok, I have to finish wrapping presents, so I'll try to add some more in the next day or two. . . Have a happy holiday everyone!!

Thanks for the info. I especially like the bar in your room!

Great review - keep it going! We will be on the Glory in February so, all info is helpful.

You're doing great, I hope you finish before Sat morning. I loved the dining companions wrinkle to the review. :) We board Glory in 48 hours for a Western Itin as well.

Happy Holidays everyone! I will try to get another day in before heading out to the family's house for dinner.

Monday: My birthday! Cozumel.

Today was my first time ever in Mexico. I couldn’t wait to sit on the beach and swim in the Carribean. We got up early and had breakfast at the buffet. Scrambled eggs, bacon and a bagel. They even had tabasco sauce for the eggs. Yay! After breakfast we watched as we docked in Cozumel. We docked at 10:00 and were off the boat a few minutes later. There was a little confusion when we got into port because we had booked our excursion online, not through the ship, but we saw someone holding a sign for Passion Island by Twister which was the name of our excursion. Carrie at tourcozumel had told us we would need to take a taxi to Carlos and Charlies downtown, but if the Twister boats were here at Peurto Maya it didn’t make sense to take a cab downtown. We asked the guy holding the sign, who didn’t speak much English, so he got another guy to come out and tell us that we could go ahead and depart from there with the people who booked on the ship. We told him that we still owed $100 and he told us to pay when we got to the island. The Twister is a high speed boat that does 360 degree turns and was a ton of fun. We had Ricardo "Ricky Martin" and Pepe as drivers and they were a blast! We got to Passion Island and we were told about the all inclusive buffet and open bar and then we were led to the beach. The beach was gorgeous, just like the Corona commercials. The water was a little cold though and I only went in up to my waist a few times. We weren’t sure who to pay, but we were sure that someone would find us eventually. I guess it caused quite a commotion with the managment because the people at the island didn’t know who owed money and the guy back at the port told them that someone owed money and they weren’t sure who, anyway we finally got it straightened out and they got their $100 and we had a wonderful day.

Port Area

Twister boat

Passion Island

More Passion Island

Lauren with a rum punch (the drinks were a little weak, but they were "all you can drink" so who cares.)

Happy Birthday to me!

More Cozumel Pics....

And our towel friend that evening. . . .

Awesome review! Thanks for sharing.

They took a bunch of photos of us at Passion Island here is one that we purchased. Its a 5x7 and it was $12. They had some deals if you buy more than one, but this is the only one we liked.

Awespme review so far... I will be going on the Glory in February, and I am also using Thrifty car rental, where did you pick it up, I read they were not at the airport, and did they take you to the port after dropping the car off and did you use them to go back to the airport also, at the end of the week and if so was the shuttle waiting for you when you got off the ship.

I have been on a few cruises, but never rented a car before.

Awespme review so far... I will be going on the Glory in February, and I am also using Thrifty car rental, where did you pick it up, I read they were not at the airport, and did they take you to the port after dropping the car off and did you use them to go back to the airport also, at the end of the week and if so was the shuttle waiting for you when you got off the ship.

I have been on a few cruises, but never rented a car before.

There is a shuttle at orlando airport that takes you to their location offsite. At Cape Canaveral they also have a free shuttle that runs to the port. After our cruise there was a shuttle there waiting for us at the port. I will write more about my experience with thrifty in Cape Canaveral, but for now I will just say I waited in line for almost an hour to get my car. It was very disorganized and people were not happy! Maybe it was just an "off" day. In Orlando they were very quick and organized.

I was going to try to get some more of my review up while I'm at work today, but they have blocked access to webshots, so I can't get to my pictures. I'll try later tonight.

Hello Heidi and Lauren,

It sounds like you had a great time.

Since you cruised beyond 12/17, did you receive a fuel surcharge credit in the form of an onboard credit?

T.Y.

chloe kitty

Hello Heidi and Lauren,

It sounds like you had a great time.

Since you cruised beyond 12/17, did you receive a fuel surcharge credit in the form of an onboard credit?

T.Y.

chloe kitty

No I did not recieve any sort of fuel credit.

hi, we are also from maine, and noticed that the "maine" lobster on another carnival cruise is NOT maine lobster! oh well....

love your review, i think it is hilarious about your dinner companions

Allright, moving along. Working these 12 hour shifts is making it hard to keep up with this review.

Tuesday: Belize

Today we booked an excursion through the ship to see the Altun Ha ruins and a trip up the River Wallace. We got our tickets under our door on the second day which told us what time to show up at the Amber Palace. We showed up a few minutes early and we got our tender stickers and then waited and waited and waited. After about 45 min our group was finally called. We tendered to Belize and followed the person with the sign through the port building to the back some of the group got on a bus and then the rest of us followed the guy with the sign around in circles until we got on a boat. I guess we were doing the river tour first. The tour up the river was a little boring. We saw a lot of iguanas and crocodiles, but sitting in the back of the boat we couldn’t hear a lot of what the guide was saying. We stopped at one point to see monkeys, but we couldn’t tell where to look for them so we didn’t see them. We stopped at a resort along the river for lunch. I had a chicken burrito and a Belikin beer. The beer was good, the burrito was ok. It was only 11:00 so I wasn’t all that hungry yet. We had about an hour to wait here for the other half of the group to meet up with us and switch places while we saw the ruins and they did the river tour. They must have been running late because we were there forever. Finally they showed up and we boarded the bus for our 45 min ride to the ruins. The roads were crazy, narrow little roads. Whenever we approached a car going the other direction the tour guide would say "Don’t worry, we are bigger." The poverty in Belize is unreal, there were people living in tiny little shacks and I even saw a school bus that had been turned into a home. It was very sad. At the ruins site we were approached by some kids with baby crocodiles and turtles trying to sell us the chance to take a picture. The ruins themselves were amazing. Its hard to believe that they were built so long ago. We were able to climb to the top of one of the buildings, but of course as soon as I got up there my camera died. Oh well I got some good pictures from the bottom. Our bus ride back was a little more than an hour, so I used the time to take a nap. We made it back with a few minutes to spare before the last tender.

and tonight's towel. . .

We are family from a little further north in New Brunswick, Canada. My partner and I will be sailing on the Carnival Glory next April. We are actually doing a back to back, one week Western and one week Eastern. Really enjoying your review so far and waiting to her more. Did you happen to notice if they had any Friends of Dorothy meetings while you were on board?

Jim & Richard

I was on the Glory in June and there were Friends of Dorothy meetings everynight.

We are family from a little further north in New Brunswick, Canada. My partner and I will be sailing on the Carnival Glory next April. We are actually doing a back to back, one week Western and one week Eastern. Really enjoying your review so far and waiting to her more. Did you happen to notice if they had any Friends of Dorothy meetings while you were on board?

 

Jim & Richard

Yes they were in the Capers every night. Usually around 11:30, but one or two nights they were early, like 7:30. I stopped by one of them and no one was there, so I didn't stay.

Great review!!! We were on the Glory in April and had a blast!!

I see you are booked on the Freedom sailing, so are we!! I have a mini group booked within the CC group !!! Lol,maybe this coming cruise we will add a few more faces to the friends of dorothy meeting!!

Mel n Melissa

Great review!!! We were on the Glory in April and had a blast!!

 

I see you are booked on the Freedom sailing, so are we!! I have a mini group booked within the CC group !!! Lol,maybe this coming cruise we will add a few more faces to the friends of dorothy meeting!!

 

Mel n Melissa

Definately will try out the FOD meeting again if there are some people there! Can't wait to cruise again. I booked the Freedom cruise before I even went on my first one, through cc with the $25 deposit I figured I wouldn't be out all that much if I decided I hated it. Well I guess I won't have to worry about that, now I just have to worry about waiting over a year to cruise again :(