Enjoyable Glory Cruise- July 30- August 4

[vplsh]

Along the way, we stopped at a few scenic spots. One was a bed and breakfast that had spectacular views and beautiful grounds.

 

 

 

 

DD is an awesome amateur photographer and took some beautiful shots of the flowers around the b&b.

 

 

[vplsh]

We continued on our trip and stopped in St. Martin, where we visited a gift shop, the light house, and a covered bridge, before heading for lunch. At the gift shop, Roy had be hold on to this monstrous lobster claw!

 

 

The restaurant was delicious. It overlooked the bay and had both inside and outside seating. I had a lobster roll, DD had Bay of Fundy Scallops, and DH had a chicken sandwich (he's not a seafood eater!). Since we are often in Canada, we were not surprised by the prices, but lunch for the 3 of us was $50 CAD. DD is working in Ontario this summer and she exchanged USD for us, so we had Canadian money. Don't know what it would have cost in $US. After lunch we wandered around outside and took some pictures before heading to the Fundy Trail.

 

 

 

We continued on through the Fundy Trail, making several stops along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

This sign had us all laughing!

 

 

Apparently, moose are frequently seen crossing the road here!

 

After another stop at the Reversing Falls to see the water going in the opposite direction, we headed back to the ship. Surprisingly, we didn't take any pictures as the tide was kind of slowing down again.

 

When we got back to the ship we wandered through the vendors in the little market-like tent, and then got onboard. All in all the day was extremely pleasant and we enjoyed seeing the area with Roy.

 

 

 

Lisa

[njmomof2]

Good to have you home Li. Mom said the conference was really informative.

 

Enjoying your review again!

[daisitroy]

Great pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Dot

[vplsh]

Sailaway was 4PM and we got onboard at about 3:15, so we headed back to the cabin to drop off our things before getting ready for our evening. Tonight we were booked for the Chef's Table, and we were to meet on Deck 3 at the Colors Lobby at 6:30. We were really looking forward to the Chef's Table, as DH and I have done it twice on Princess. The cost is $75 per person, and the evening is limited to 14 people. We all met and were escorted to the galley for our tour. We were not allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any, except for the ones of me making Warm Chocolate Melting Cake!!

 

This was soooo exciting! When we were walking into the galley with Executive Chef Jerry Furtado, he asked if anyone had a favorite dessert. Well, I cruise Carnival for the WCMC, so I immediately volunteered that. We walked a little further into the galley and were told that we were going to see how it was made and that I was going to help! They dressed me in a chef's hat and apron and I was on my way! DD was allowed to take pictures of the whole experience!!

 

Whipping the eggs.

 

Adding the flour

 

Adding the chocolate!

 

Filling the molds.

 

We were then brought on an extensive tour of the galley, while dinner was being served! It's truly amazing how they get all of those meals out to people in such a short time. We were served several delicious hors'doevres and champagne before leaving the galley.

 

After our tour we were escorted to a private room off of the main dining room and found our seats. It was men on one side of the table, women on the other. We were then served the most delicious meal, consisting of Salmon Tartar, Fire Roasted Tomato and Poblano Chili Bisque, Shrimp and Apple Beignets, Chopped Mediterranean Salad, Sea Bass, Filet Mignon, and a dessert plate. Throughout it all, we were offered red or white wine, and still or sparkling water. Coffee, tea, or cappucino were served with dessert. The food was amazing!! Everyone was amazed at the quality and quantity of what we were served. Believe it or not, the only pictures we took were of our dessert plate!!

 

 

After dinner DH and I headed to the Justin Illusion show. He enjoyed it, but I think I was too full and tired and kept falling asleep! LOL!

[vplsh]

The next day we were scheduled to arrive in Halifax at 10AM. We had a private taxi tour scheduled to take us to Peggy's Cove. DH and I were almost ready, and DD was just getting out of bed at 8:30 when Cruise Director Josh started making an announcement, right into the cabin!! He apologized in advance and told us that the fog had been so thick that we'd had to slow down to 8 knots during the night and that we would not be able to make it into port in Halifax. We would be turning around and having an additional day at sea. They were in the process of printing new Fun Times and many activities would be scheduled.

 

We had heard the fog horn throughout the night, but were totally not prepared for the density of the fog. I headed out on the balcony to take a picture. The first one is looking down at the water, the second one, obviously DD, looks like she's against a wall when she's really just leaning on the balcony railing.

 

 

 

Needless to say we were disappointed, as Halifax was the port we were most looking forward to. However, we were still on a cruise, so we figured we'd make the best of it. We headed up to the buffet for breakfast and picked up a new Fun Times to see what would be on the agenda today.

 

We made our way to the Ebony Cabaret and participated in Morning Trivia, then watched Last Man Standing and Charades before moving down to the Colors Lobby, where we watched a fun Mini Golf Challenge. An announcement was made that there would be a special Variety Show at 3PM, and we headed to the theater to watch that. It was terrific! First the show band and singer performed, then the 2 comedians did a brief act each. Cruise director Josh spoke and the whole thing was really fun. Decided us to definitely go to the late night comedy later that evening for sure!

 

After the show we, and most of the rest of the ship, headed to the MDR for tea time. This was quite a different experience than the first sea day, and I really think it's because they didn't anticipate as many people as actually showed up. Service was slow and food was not plentiful. DD was disappointed as she hadn't been with us at the first tea time, but we felt bad for the crew members, who had anticipated a day off and now had to work. They continued to be friendly, regardless of their disappointment!

 

Unfortunately I cannot remember what dinner was that night, although I remember it was good and service prompt and efficient. We headed to the Ebony Cabaret for the Adults Only comedy show and it was really packed! We ended up standing along the side of the room while the first act finished, then moved in to find a seat before the next one. Comedians Eddie Clark and Tommy Drake were hysterical and we enjoyed their routines. Adults only meant that no one under 18 was allowed in the room, and most people followed the rule. There were no obvious kids. The shows were definitely for adults, but not bad if you're a bit strait-laced!

 

All in all, we felt that the day was well planned, especially since it was a last minute thing. It seemed that most of the people we met that day agreed.

[vplsh]

OK, we have come to the final day at sea. We awoke to the fog horn still blowing, although it wasn't quite as dense as the day before. DD and I really wanted to go in the hot tub, so we put on our bathing suits and headed to the spa pool in the gym. There were too many people there, so we decided to see what the hot tubs on the Serenity Deck were like. The sun was out directly above us and when we got there, no one was in the hot tup on the starboard side. DH headed down one deck to sit in a lounge chair and DD and I hopped into the hot tub. No pictures were taken, as I left the camera on a chair and it was too windy to get out again to get it! The hot tubs are located at the very front of the ship on deck 12, and we spent a delightful hour sitting there chatting. A few other people joined us and I commented that we hadn't heard the fog horns for a while. At that time the fog looked like it was rolling in again and yes, you know what happened next! The fog horn went off! It was, maybe, 15 feet from us and all of us jumped from the shock! The previous day we had learned that maritime law requires that the fog horn blow for 4 seconds every 2 minutes when the fog reaches a certain level. May not sound like a long time, but WOW!! It sure was loud! We sat for another 6 minutes (3 blows of the horn!) and decided that we'd been in the tub long enough!

 

We went down to find DH and he was very comfortably ensconced in a lounge chair listening to his i-pod, so we headed back to the cabin by ourselves to change and get warm. At noon we met DH outside the library, where we had gone to pick up our scrapbooking materials. This was a bit of a disappointment, as all we received was a deck plan card, two Carnival postcards, a photograph of the Glory, a typed Carnival Glory Fact Sheet, and a typed Food Facts sheet. Not really a scrapbooking session, but we took our things and met DH.

 

We headed up to the Red Sail Buffet, where we again had burritos. There were 2 people behind the counter today and we were served quickly. We headed upstairs for a seat and enjoyed our food before DD and I headed down to see what was available on the Chocolate Buffet. We picked up several desserts- chocolate covered fruits, chocolate cheesecake, dipped cookies, to name a few- and went back up to enjoy them.

 

After lunch we headed back down to the Colors Lobby on deck 3 to listen to and watch another round of Family Karaoke. We found a seat and played cards while enjoying the entertainment. We skipped tea time today and decided on Sushi.

 

Sushi is tasty, but not what you get at your local sushi restaurant.I

[vplsh]

Sorry, technical difficulties!!

 

Forgot that the Fun Farewell was at 5. Now, we didn't really know what that was, so we headed to the Ebony Cabaret, only to find out that it was a farewell party with free drinks! Open to all cruisers. It was quite obvious that most people didn't know about this, because it was not crowded at all. We were offered a choice of wine, whiskey sours, and punch from the circulating waiters. Josh and his group of assistants spoke and one of the great musical acts performed. I can't remember their name, but the band was made up of a couple and their sons. I think I mentioned them earlier in the review. They sang cover tunes and were enjoyable.

 

Next we headed for the sushi. You get 4 pieces of different sushi, although it's not as you'd get at a sushi restaurant at home, as I mentioned at the end of the previous, technical difficulty, post. However, it was really good and was a perfect snack before getting dressed for late seating dinner. We ran into one of the couples who'd shared the Chef's Table dinner with us and chatted with them for a while before they headed to their dinner. Then we went back to get changed before getting our martinis and enjoying music in the Colors lobby.

 

I enjoyed my Blue Moon Martini while listening to "Romantic Music with Prime Duo". I believe I've mentioned them before- they're really good and sang popular songs we all knew. The three of us had seats at the bar and we sat there until it was time to head to the dining room.

 

I did enjoy my Blue Moon!

 

Entertainment on the final night of the cruise is one of our favorite games- The Love and Marriage Show. It was scheduled to start at 10:15, so we headed directly to the theater after dinner. We sat through the end of the Bingo game and the drawing of the free cruise raffle before the show began.

 

Let me tell you, this was truly the funniest version of this game that we'd ever seen. First of all, Josh is hysterical as emcee. And the couples who were chosen were absolutely unbelievable! We laughed so hard we cried!

 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to a close, and we headed back to the cabin to pack our bags to be put out by midnight. That's always the worst part of any trip for me- DH does all the packing, but it isn't pleasant! But, it got done and we went to sleep.

 

We were in no hurry to get off the ship in the morning, so we planned to get up and have breakfast in the buffet before heading home. Our tags were for 9AM, so we didn't rush. After getting ready, we headed up to the buffet and I sat with the bags while DD and DH got their food. I had a lovely conversation with a crew member from Myanmar while waiting for them, then got my own food and enjoyed the final meal onboard Carnival Glory. At 9AM, we headed downstairs and were off the ship and in the car by 9:30.

 

Final thoughts-

 

This cruise was, on our family scale of 1-10, a 9. We decided that we couldn't lower the score because we missed a port- that wouldn't be fair. And besides, we felt the crew really stepped up to make the extra sea day lots of fun. We felt badly for all those crew members who had anticipated a day off and didn't get it. They were just as friendly and accommodating as they were throughout the entire cruise. I had read several reviews where people mentioned that the crew was unfriendly. We found the exact opposite to be true. We never walked down the hall without being greeted by whichever crew member we passed. Everyone had a greeting and a smile.

 

Food wasn't as good as on our Valor cruise, but other than the first night, we always had a good meal. The Chef's Table was an exceptional evening and truly added to the cruise.

 

Music on this ship was terrific. We enjoyed sitting in the Colors Lobby at night and on sea days listening to the various bands.

 

The balcony cabin was definitely big enough for the 3 of us, and our cabin steward, whose name we never really knew, was efficient and kept it clean.

 

As many others have stated before me, Cruise Director Josh, aka Big Sexy, is great! He ranks up there as one of the best Cruise Directors we've had on all of our cruises.

 

Well, I think that's it. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Lisa

[dixieva]

Thanks for your review and pictures.

 

Do you have any pictures of your balcony room you could post? I'll be on the Glory in Oct. in a balcony room on deck 6.

[vplsh]

Thanks for your review and pictures.

 

Do you have any pictures of your balcony room you could post? I'll be on the Glory in Oct. in a balcony room on deck 6.

 

 

Sorry, we didn't take any this time. But this was our cabin on Carnival Valor, which is exactly the same. Guess that's why we didn't take any this time!

 

 

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the review!

[dixieva]

Thanks for the pics! I guess our balcony room will look just like that one. Hoping the balcony dividers will open-we have three balcony rooms in a row on deck 6and would love to have them open! In the past we have asked our room steward and he or she has opened them for us.