Glory to Bermuda 10/16/11 Review

[TheCalicoCat]

but Pride can get from Baltimore and back and spend 3 days there on a 7-night cruise.

 

That is the reason why we will be taking this trip on the Pride - & the @1 hr. drive to port...:D

[JaniceB]

I like to take the stairs when I cruise, too. I hope it helps keep the weight gain down.

 

Waiting patiently for more....

[H82seaUgo]

love the bermuda reviews with pix!

 

keep it coming!

[timetogosoon]

I leave on the Glory in 5 days! WOOT WOOT! So excited for the rest of your review. Picking up tips from you!

[NCTribeFan]

Must go to the grocery store after work. I have absolutely NO food in the house! And still haven't finished laundry. Seriously, the last thing I want to do when I get home from a cruise is laundry and grocery shopping. :(

 

I'll try to type quickly tonight and hopefully get through the 2nd sea day and on to Bermuda.

 

Actually, I think I may have even lost a pound or two. Just walking back and forth on the ship all day is a whole lot of walking. Add all that stair climbing and you get plenty of exercise without having to spend your valuable cruise time in the gym (which I refuse to do).

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

Enjoying your review so far. I boarded the Glory right after you on the two day cruise to nowhere. I really like this ship. Had a great time did really well in the casino hit for over $5000 on a penny slot. Keep the review coming!!!!

[NCTribeFan]

You must've gotten all the money that I put into the penny slots. :(

 

I do think she's a nice ship. Like I've said, I really expected to not like her before we sailed the first time, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Still, just an awful lot of people. The space ratio just isn't that great on any of Carnival's ships except the Spirit class. I just think that design is SO much nicer than Carnival's floating shoebox designs.

[NCTribeFan]

Tuesday, 10/18/11, at sea – I had made a whole bunch of notes for this day and then realized on Thursday that I must not have saved them, so my memory is a bit sketchy. I slept better (it was quite calm by Monday night), and was up getting my omelet at about 8:15. I’d set my watch forward like the Fun Times had told me to do! After breakfast, I went straight up to Serenity and plopped myself down in the big round chair on the starboard end. It was nice and quiet for quite a while and I really appreciated being able to read without having my concentration broken. Those big chairs filled up pretty early. And then I realized that I was starting the same paragraph over and over. It was because of THE LOUD GUY in the hot tub. Now, this wasn’t the hot tub above where I was sitting. It was the one of the port side. I could hear every single word this man was saying. And realize that it is extremely windy up there and that wind should’ve been carrying the sound AWAY from the front of the ship. And I could still hear every word. A guy in the chair underneath them actually stood up and tried to get his attention, but had no luck. Sheesh. Seriously, people! Is it really necessary to SHOUT at someone who is two feet from you? Seriously?

 

Because of the time change, I wasn’t hungry until about 12:30. I stopped and got my Thirsty Frog and headed up to the Fish and Chips. I was informed that they weren’t open yet. What do you mean, you aren’t open? It’s 12:45! We’re not open yet. But, I don’t understand! The guy finally looked at me and said very slowly, because I obviously had problems with my comprehension – TEN MINUTES!! It was then that it hit me that I had read the Fun Times for TODAY which said to set your watch forward TONIGHT. Doh! I wonder when I would’ve realized that I was an hour ahead of everyone if I hadn’t gone there for lunch! I could see me lining up at the dining room at 7:10 for my 8:15 seating. Whoops!

 

Not sure what I did that afternoon. I imagine it involved the casino. I figured I'd go to the outside promenade on Deck 3 and sit in the sun there and do some reading. I walked out, sat down, and some crew members immediately came along and told us we'd have to leave since they were going to wash that area. Sigh. So I went up to the Serenity deck again and tried to find somewhere to sit and read. The upper level was nuts – both hot tubs full of people with multiple buckets of beer sitting next to them, with the chairs all scrambled around and covered with stuff. I decided that most of the people of the ship thought that Serenity was the name of the stripper who was going to show up and do some dances for them if they sat there and drank long enough. I eventually went around to the “regular” seating, but, again, it was so loud with people whooping as they went down the big slide that I eventually gave up and went down to Deck 5 and found the quietest spot I could.

 

Another thing with the Serenity area, besides being occupied by The LOUD Parties, is that in the afternoon, you can hear all that activity that is going on by the main Lido pool, whether it is some sort of silly contest, or stuff blaring on the big TV. Like I said, the Serenity Area wasn’t very serene unless you were there just after the sun rose.

 

I think I had the burger for dinner. It was very good but was a little too charred for my personal taste. It was a nice change, though. I also imagine I spent too much time – again – in the casino. But I’m pretty sure I went to bed fairly early since I wanted an early start the next morning in Bermuda.

 

[NCTribeFan]

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you about afternoon tea. It was at 3:30 in the Platinum dining room on Deck 4. It was pretty dreadful, really.

 

It took forever to get a tea bag. It took forever to get lukewarm water. It took FOREVER to get some milk. It took forever to get some goodies to eat. When we were all just about ready to leave, someone then came around with the savory munchies. Sweets first, then savory? Really?

 

I still managed to have a couple of smoked salmon things.

 

But, overall, it was disappointing. Maybe I just got used to having afternoon tea every day on my HAL cruise. They were much better organized.

[jackdis]

Great job on your review. Can't wait to read more. Thanks for sharing!

[NCTribeFan]

Wednesday, 10/19/11, Bermuda – The solo woman at my dinner table decided to come with me. I had no excursion planned, which is highly unusual for me. I usually try to find an independent excursion (I detest ship excursions because they’re overpriced and you spend half your time being herded on and off big buses). She wanted breakfast in the dining room, which didn’t even open until 8. I didn’t, but thought I’d be accommodating for once. There was a mob (as there was just about everywhere) waiting. I’m used to them just sort of filling the tables in order, but they were actually sending people all over the place. It was pretty strange. So we end up at a long table for eight. I ordered a ham and cheese omelet with a side order of bacon. Of course. I even decided to just have coffee, because I knew that asking for hot tea, with milk, would probably cause us to be still sitting there at 9:30. My omelet was about 1/3 the size of what I had been getting on Lido.

 

We stopped back in my cabin for me to get my tote bag, when Josh came on the intercom and told us that the ship hadn’t been cleared so to PLEASE not come down and clog up the stairwells. There are always people who line up early for things, but this cruise was really much worse than any other. There weren’t just a few people who were early for everything, there were MOBS of people who were early. And they were rude and pushy and impatient.

 

Anyway, we got off and walked along the pier. It was incredibly windy. I mean, windy to the point that it was difficult to keep your balance. I knew there was a second place to get a transportation pass, but the line wasn’t too long at the first stand there between the two ships (the NCL Gem was in port). $12 for a 1-day pass that covered all buses and ferries. We then walked along to the bus stop. There was a pink bus that said “charter” but I heard someone ask where to get the bus to Horseshoe Bay Beach and the gentleman said take this one! So we also boarded and off we went!

 

Unfortunately, I was sitting backward and couldn’t risk looking at the scenery as we went by because I didn’t want my motion sickness to kick in. It was so calm on Tuesday that I hadn’t even taken my ginger. So, we went tearing along the little winding roads with the driver pointing out a few items of interest. I think it took about 20 minutes to get to Horseshoe Bay. Several of us headed down the hill to the beach.

 

It really is beautiful. But, I must warn you, the pink sand looks NOTHING like it does in the photos. It is so pale that it didn’t even look pink when I was there, but it does look faintly pink in my photos. But the water was really beautiful. It looked dangerous and there were signs about dangerous rip currents.

 

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

Wednesday, 10/19/11, Bermuda - continued –We didn’t stay very long because we wanted to get to Hamilton and walk around. The plan originally was to do that, then take the bus toward St George, get off and have lunch at the Swizzle Inn, explore St George, take the bus back to Hamilton, then the ferry over to the Dockyard.

 

But it didn’t work out that way. We paid the man $2 each to drive to the top of the hill to catch the bus. It was 10:50 and the bus was supposed to be there at 11. About three buses that said “sightseeing” passed by and one regular bus also didn’t stop because it was full. Uh oh. We could be sitting there for quite a while. But one finally did stop for us and we made it into Hamilton before too much longer.

 

Front Street is lined with expensive shops. It is a very pretty area, but I’m not into shopping, especially in those stores. So we decided to just head to Fort Hamilton. I realize most forts are on hilltops, but I hadn’t really expected the hills in Hamilton to be quite that steep. We were getting very warm. We were nearly there when I said I needed to stop and have a snack and something to drink, so we found a bench at the bottom of the last hill we had to climb and took a little break. Feeling energized, we hiked up the remaining hill and into the fort area. I wanted to go down into the moat/gardens but didn’t like the thought of climbing the stairs back up, so we just wandered around on top for a while. It’s really more of a botanical garden than a fort and it isn’t even that old. The view from up there was very nice, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed back down and decided to walk down Church Street and stop at the cathedral.

 

 

By then, I was getting hungry and really wanted to find a tea shop. I mean, this was Bermuda! It’s English! I wanted some real tea (I drink 4-5 cups of strong tea every day; I had really been looking forward to some tea made the proper way). Well, after our stop in the Cathedral, we started looking for some refreshment. It was lunchtime in a busy city. Where did all those people who worked in the banks and offices and shops have lunch? Who knows?!? We finally found a little indoor shopping area that had a bistro type place. I got a ½ a chicken Caesar wrap thing for $5. Companion got a bowl of noodles from the asian buffet area.

 

Then I wanted to stop at Marks and Spencer, one of my favorite English clothing stores (I was with an Englishman for several years so I’ve been to England many times). I saw some nice things, but, of course, they were rather expensive.

 

I resumed my search for a tea shop. We were back on Front Street by then, and I stopped to women and asked where I could find a cup of tea. Um, there’s a coffee shop just down the street that serves tea! Coffee shop? What? But we went in and I paid $3 for a bag of English Breakfast Tea in a cup of not-quite-hot water. At least the put milk and sugar in it for me.

Edited October 25, 2011 by NCTribeFan

[NCTribeFan]

Wednesday, 10/19/11, Bermuda - continued –We talked about trying to go ahead and get to St George, but it was already nearing 3 pm. It would take at least 30 minutes for the bus each way, assuming one picked us up immediately, so we wouldn’t have that much time to sightsee. We decided we’d done enough walking so went over to the ferry terminal and stood in line for 20 minutes waiting for the ferry to Dockyard.

 

The ride was quick and wasn’t too bouncy. We walked around the Victuals Yard and had a look in a couple of shops. I stepped in the Frog and Onion to ask what time Happy Hour started and was told I’d missed the early one and the later one didn’t start until 5:30, so I decided I’d just come back after dinner and have a pint of bitter.

 

 

 

 

 

We fought the still-very-strong wind all the way down the pier and got to stand in line, yet again, to board the ship. I got companion to take most of the fruit from my gift basket since I knew I wouldn’t eat any of it. Then we went up to Lido where I stood in the silly buffet line to get my out-of-order hot dog and fries (and a cup of tea!) Then back to the cabin for a shower and rest.

 

Thank goodness the casino was closed, so I wouldn’t be able to donate any money! I don’t remember what I had for dinner. Maybe it was the lamb chops that night. Or it could’ve been the shrimp. Who knows. I do know that I ordered every chilled fruit soup on the menu that was available. I love them. The bing cherry is my favorite. As much as I love them, I have to say that the ones on HAL were even better. They were just wonderful.

 

So, after dinner, I headed back off the ship, fighting the gale force winds back over to the pub. It had been packed when we came through that afternoon, but it was fairly quiet when I arrived. There were some tables eating, and a few people at the bar. I sat down and ordered a half-pint of the amber, which was quite nice. I had intended to try their stout (originally brewed for some Russian Czar and is 9% alcohol!), but I was rather bored, so went back to the ship, thinking I could watch the baseball game. I mean, it was on TV in a pub in Bermuda. I figured it would be on the tv in my cabin. Nope. So I went to sleep.

[NCTribeFan]

Thursday, 10/20/11 – Bermuda and sailing – We were sailing at noon, so didn’t have a whole lot of time that morning. We had breakfast in the Lido, which was better and quicker, imo. We disembarked and walked over to the Clocktower side of the Dockyard area and wandered around some shops. I don’t buy souvenirs, but I did buy a little $10 watercolor print what has colors that should go well with the colors I just picked out for my kitchen. I tried to persuade companion that she needs to be a World Traveler and not an American Tourist and to just stay out of the tacky souvenir shops! Man, I hate those places. I’m amazed at how much junk people buy just because they’re somewhere foreign. And most of it isn’t even local or something that you can’t buy at home. Oh well. Not my problem! We were going to go through the museum but decided we didn’t want to spend the $5 each, so we sat on a bench for a while and then just went back to the ship.

 

I was back in my cabin by 10:40, so I decided to call the spa and see if I could make an appointment for the “pick 2 of 5 treatments for $99” deals. I usually get a facial, if anything, but on my HAL cruise, I did this package and had my first ever massage. I sit at a desk all day, and during tax season, I work many weeks of 65-70 hours a week, so my neck, shoulders and upper back get really knotted up. Gloria was my masseuse/aesthetician. It was so wonderful that I even purchased a bottle of muscle relaxing bath goo.

 

 

I had thought about ordering room service, since I was still covered in muscle relaxing oil goo and had on no makeup, but I was disappointed that they no longer had the roast beef and brie sandwich, so I decided to just go up to the deli. I got both a turkey and swiss on rye and a smoked salmon on bagel. I ended up eating the turkey sandwich and mostly just the smoked salmon.

 

Then I decided I really needed a shower, so I just went ahead and got ready for dinner. It was the 2nd elegant night, and the past guest party. I put on my little black dress, but decided I just didn’t like how it looked. So I put on a maxi dress I had brought and figured I’d just put on my pearls, since they dress up anything. So I head up the stairs just a few minutes before 4 to find the entire staircase area and the hallway in front of the theatre (all the way back past the Guest Services desk and through the lobby) just packed with people waiting to get in. Josh opened the doors a few minutes later, and the stampede began. I grabbed a seat on the aisle just a few rows into the theater and was immediately greeted by a drink server, so I got a glass of white wine. And then a second glass. Then some hors d'oeuvres. Then another glass of wine. And more hors d’oeuvres. And a fourth glass of wine.

 

I was mildly disappointed that Josh didn’t ask the Milestone and Platinum folks to stand so that I could again rub my VIP status in the faces of the plebeians. But they’ve edited down the History of Carnival movie, since we’ve all seen it a dozen times. Well, I’ve seen it a dozen times!

 

Then guess what I did? Yes, I went to the casino and dropped some more money into their contribution baskets. And then I was given a Free Drinks card! Yes! Just what I needed at that point, right? So I was fairly buzzed when I went to dinner, but I don’t think I was staggering around because of the wine. We were moving VERY quickly (compared to the 12 knots on the way to Bermuda; after all, we had 2-1/2 days to get there and 1-1/2 to get home). No, really. I wasn’t drunk. I could walk!

 

This might’ve been the night I had the frogs legs. They were tasty. Tiny, but tasty. I liked them much more than the alligator fritters. After dinner, the English woman and her companion and I went up to Bar Blue and listened to the latin band. We even got up and danced. Of course, we’d only been there a little while when they took a break. Having several lounges in one area like that means you get overlapping entertainment. Since someone was doing a comedy show next door, the band was going to take an extended break so as to not interfere. I figured it was just as well, and went to bed.

[TheCalicoCat]

I decided that most of the people of the ship thought that Serenity was the name of the stripper who was going to show up and do some dances for them if they sat there and drank long enough.

 

A little warning next time - I just spewed coca-cola!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

 

Kirk

[NCTribeFan]

A little warning next time - I just spewed coca-cola!

 

I thought of that all by myself! I didn't even go to the stand-up comedy lesson they gave on the ship. :p

[jt_83]

jt - I didn't take many pics of the ship, since I sailed her before; mostly just the cabin and the Serenity area.

 

You can find my first Glory review by clicking on my name, then stats, then threads started by me. Near the end should be a link to my & DD's Webshots albums. There are more ship photos there.

 

Actually, I have uploaded all I'm going to for this cruise to Webshots, but I'll post the link to the album when I'm done with all the narrative.

 

Doh. Sometimes at work pictures are blocked depending on where they're hosted, so I didn't see any of your pics in this thread. Thanks for the info. Looking up your webshots now.

[NCTribeFan]

I'm sitting at work with nothing to do. I could probably finish my review and just merge the two Word documents at home.

 

If I can't find anything this morning to work on, I may do that this afternoon.

 

I know people are just waiting with baited breath to hear what I did that last day at see, right? :p

[Handsome58]

got on the Glory when you all got off. Her's was the cruise-to-no-where. Well it took her somewhere.......straight to the bank........she hit a penny slot for $5214.......yep 5-G's.......after only playing the machine with a $20 bill.........wow!!!!!!!! Here gambling budget was $250 and she was down to her last $20..........CONGRATS SIS!!!!!!!!!

[framerman]

got on the Glory when you all got off. Her's was the cruise-to-no-where. Well it took her somewhere.......straight to the bank........she hit a penny slot for $5214.......yep 5-G's.......after only playing the machine with a $20 bill.........wow!!!!!!!! Here gambling budget was $250 and she was down to her last $20..........CONGRATS SIS!!!!!!!!!

Way to go...........MY best haul was $900...........and not that often

[NCTribeFan]

Like I said, she got all my money.

 

I did well the first couple of nights on both a $1 machine and a penny slot. After that, it was a disaster.

 

And that free drink card didn't help matters.

 

I think that's a hazard of cruising solo with a bunch of sea days - you get a little bored and just head to the casino. If you're with someone, you might be more inclined to find something else to occupy your time (and to perhaps gently remind you that you've far exceeded your daily gambling allowance). :(

[JaniceB]

Getting my hopes up for the slot machine or at least a free drink card, something to show for the money I am about to spend.

 

I spend more time in the casino trying to spend time with DH. I get bored and spend his money!

[Handsome58]

back in August on the Dream the second night I got the free drink card.......whew I put a dent in it just like they put a dent in my pocket.......lol lol lol

[NCTribeFan]

Friday, 10/21/11 – at sea – Wow, was the banging loud last night. I mean, we were rocking. So despite all the wine I’d had to drink, I slept really poorly because the BANG shudder shudder shudder went on all night. We did get our hour back, though. I never slept very late. I’m an early riser, and having the portholes let a little daylight in, so I was awake once it was fairly light out.

 

There appeared to be a lot of people who were having issues with the movement. Thankfully, I still had no problems. Really, folks, try the ginger root capsules. I start them at least a full day before I sail (one am, one pm), and take ½ meclizine just before sailing. If it’s rough, I continue to take the ginger and ½ meclizine am and pm, but if it smooths out, like it did on Tuesday, I stop the meclizine and sometimes even stop the ginger. I’ve suffered from motion sickness my entire life, and had problems with it in the past on cruises (although I’ve managed to never miss a meal, even if all I could manage was bread and soup). I cannot express how wonderful it is to be able to cruise, even when there is considerable motion, and not feel a thing.

 

 

Usual morning routine – omelet, Serenity deck (back in my big, round chair on the starboard end. Stayed out there quite a while and got quite a bit of sun, even though I was wearing a sleeveless maxi dress. I don’t like to burn and just am not the sort of person who can just lie in the sun for endless hours doing nothing other than broiling. There were some clouds and when the sun went behind one, it was quite chilly. And the cushion was wet, which I realized when I shifted around and discovered the back of my dress was damp.

 

I had to have one last Fish & Chips for lunch. By now, I was addicted to the ahi tuna appetizer. It’s a bizarre flavor combination – something I would never have expected to go so well together. You have the chunks of ahi tuna, chunks of watermelon, and something with some zing to it. It’s really nice, so today I had two!

 

I had thought I had a favorite bartender at the lobby bar – a young woman from Belarus. She had been serving me my beer every day, but yesterday, we were talking when she suddenly turned on one of the other bartenders and was just being really unpleasant. At least, it seemed that way to me. The other girls were all from Thailand, but this one was Filipino. I’m not sure what language they were all speaking, but although everyone kept their voices low and didn’t look angry, the tone was definitely unpleasant. I don’t know what the one girl had done, but they were ganging up on her, and my former fave was being especially harsh. I didn’t go back to the lobby bar this day.

 

I decided to just go ahead and get the packing over with. I use two-gallon ziplock freezer bags as my generic sort of space bags. I roll things and then squeeze the air out of the bags. Makes packing easy, I can get a lot in my bags, and then as I wear the clothes, I just stuff them back in the bags. When I’m ready to pack to go home, I just squeeze the air out and throw the bag in the case. I was done by 3 pm and headed up to Lido for my final hot dog and fries.

 

I tried to stay out of the casino, but I kept thinking “maybe I’ll hit on something and get some of my money back.” Yeah, right. I could’ve taken another cruise with what I blew in the casino. It really isn’t like me and I really need to get a better grip on the slot spending next time.

 

We exchanged addresses/phone numbers/emails at dinner (although I don’t know what I did with them). I went back to try one more time at the slots (really, I just wanted my free glass of wine), but went to bed fairly early since we'd slowed done a bit and I needed to get a good night's sleep as I had to drive home in the morning.