Thanksgiving on Glory- Eastern Caribbean- My First Review

[crazycatlady82]

We've done the BC Hilton twice, and it's been great! So friendly and lovely!

[Giggles2007]

I am just loving your review and the pics! Was on Glory back in 2009 & 2011 and will be boarding her again in April! Your review is making me really anxious for my cruise :D

Edited January 14, 2015 by Giggles2007

[declansdad]

I woke to a wake up call that I set the night prior before heading on to bed. 6:30AM. I woke up Ma and headed up to Deck 12 forward, because from what I could see from our 4J window, we were spinning around into the dock.

 

 

 

We were in Nassau a couple of years ago on the Disney Dream. We had an Aft Balcony, a great place to watch from.

 

We are hoping to be on the Glory next Christmas so I am looking forward to seeing more of your pictures.

[cruisexlife]

We walked back to the ship, took about 15 minutes. Here are the sailaway pics.

 

 

 

Forever wanting an aft balcony!

 

 

 

 

Excuse the tint, I took these as mom and I were chowing down 2 Guy's Burgers!

 

 

Goodbye Nassau, and hello everyone on CC who booked this cruise and instead of Nassau are visiting HMC and are now going to be more attentive! (plus a sea day!) (:

 

So, for the rest of the day, I went to the gym, read, hung out with ma, and went to dinner. Nothing huge. Mom got her spa treatment later that night, I did trivia (lost) and just hung out. We went to bed early, because nothing was stopping us from sleeping, as we had no plans the next day!

 

Next: Sea Day

[cruisexlife]

Now I would be lying if I said I was up all night partying. I went to the show (Divas, pretty nice show, I would recommend it!), which ended around 11:15, but I was asleep by 11:45 the night before. I woke up to a rather sunny morning and a note from Mom.

 

6:45- Off to the gym, then reading up at Serenity. Come find me.

9:15- Got hungry, ate breakfast w/o you. Port shopping taking at 9:45.

11:00- A, (A for Anthony :D), you must be tired. Ill be at the aft pool. Come find me there if you want. Tea at 3:45 (don't forget). She added that because on the Freedom, I waited for her for an hour on both sea days, because she was too engulfed in a margarita on deck to watch the hours tick by :D. Oh well. It made a good laugh and memory and we both enjoyed our drink.

 

Back to the story.

 

So, realizing that it's late, I check the time. 1:42 PM. :eek: I am not one to sleep that long. I always like sleeping in on weekends and vacations, but no later than maybe 11, it's wasting your day. This came as a huge shock to me, but I had 2 hours to eat lunch (:rolleyes:),tan a bit, and then head to tea time.

 

 

This is where we were. I got my bathing suit on, a tshirt, a book, room key, towel and a draw string bag and headed to lido. Blue Iguana stop today!

 

[cruisexlife]

Pool was PACKED, I could not find a single chair. On the Freedom, they had the chairs being stacked when the sun started to set after we left Key West, because on an Easter Week cruise, they knew many would want to be laying out on deck on the sea day that followed Key West. Glory, they were all stacked on both segments of Deck 14, and 11, and 12, and ugh it was a mess. Wish this was just a one day thing, but no, it lasted the entire cruise.

 

 

 

 

After I decided that I wasn't going to find a chair, nor was I going to lay on a towel like many teenage girls were doing, I just headed back to the room and freshened up for Tea with my mother.

 

 

Waited about 15 minutes, as I was early, but I didn't care. Mom showed up around 3:40, which was nice, I already had her favorite poured and picked out, as well as her usual pastries. We talked, and enjoyed some time together. Very nice. Love this part of each and every cruise!

 

 

 

Platinum Dining Room all set up for formal night!

 

Next: The Shower of Evil, MDR Formal Night & Ring Shopping with Mom

[cruisexlife]

Loving your review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Thanks so much, I think it's turning out nice for my first one! ;):D

[cruisexlife]

I am just loving your review and the pics! Was on Glory back in 2009 & 2011 and will be boarding her again in April! Your review is making me really anxious for my cruise :D

 

That is amazing, such a long time away from the ocean will make it even better! And I'm glad to see the review is fufilling it's purpose! Enjoy!

[cruisexlife]

We are from St Mary's County. I have a brother that lives up in Pasadena.

 

As with the weather, anything could happen in any month. Even the plane can break down before you leave. Just too much stress for us. Would hate to miss the boat. Although a week in Miami might not be bad, just would miss the money I paid out for the cruise that I was not on.

 

I see where this is coming from, a flight of mine was cancelled to O'Hare once, which made me miss my flight to Beijing. I had to miss a day in Beijing but i still had a great 3 weeks in China! :D

 

People who don't have a ship close to home often wonder why we make such an effort to fly to Florida, NOLA, Texas or SJ for a cruise, but the ones from Baltimore get repetitive after a while!

 

Enjoy the review! ;)

[pbmsmile]

What were the food options onboard besides the MDR, pizza and buffet?

 

Sent from my SM-N900R4 using Forums mobile app

[cruisexlife]

What were the food options onboard besides the MDR, pizza and buffet?

 

Sent from my SM-N900R4 using Forums mobile app

 

In the MDR, there are the regular food stations, but also, there is a deli, 2 omelette stations, and Fish & Chips. Guy's Burger Joint and Blue Iguana Cantina are good, free lunch venues or for just a quick pool-time snack. There is also the Steakhouse, for an additional charge. Don't forget the ice cream stations :D

 

Lots to eat, you'll love it!

[cruisexlife]

So immediately from boarding day, we noticed something wrong with the shower. I took a quick shower after muster to get the sweat off of me, and it was all pooled at my feet. Real showers, with hair and whatnot, were a complete mess. It overflowed, and being at the direct front of the boat, it was a little shaky. Water was everywhere. So after the shower I took before formal night, I had enough. I took these pics for you guys, and then called Guest Services.

 

 

You can see the line of water. :mad:

 

 

 

I called Guest Services and they said they would send someone up around 8:30. Well they showed up 10 minutes later. Same thing happened last Thanksgiving on Glory when our vanity lights burned out. We weren't bothered by this, but that eliminated our bathroom for getting ready, but I showered after Mom, so we both got ur formal clothes on as they fixed our shower. It REIKED. They were pumping black and dark brown goo out of the shower. They cleaned it up, and after that, it worked. Many are either going to flame me for reporting it, or flame Carnival for it happening at all, but I'm glad that they were able to fix it. Keeping track of 3000 guest in god knows how many rooms on 24 ships isn't easy. But I'm glad they could put other issues aside to help us in a timely and efficient matter. Go CCL! :p

[cruisexlife]

Our formal night began at 8:15 when we entered the Golden Dining Room for dinner. For American Table, they usually have a pitcher of water and a bread basket on the table, but tonight, the waitors poured our water and got us bread. Here is the menu.

 

 

Don't remember what we got. Don't care. I know you guys do a lot, so I snapped this. But food never really impacted our cruise. It was always a "hey look what this ship has!" after we booked it, but never was it a deciding factor, nor is it ever of much importance.

 

We always request to sit alone, and I prefer early dining, but with the cruises that don't have the ports that are 8-5, it gets in the way, as I love watching the ship leave port. But it's not against the rules to show up 15 minutes late ( I think) ;) . Mom Likes late dining. I think it's just too late. But one time we had Anytime and it took them an hour to seat us, so we decided never again, and just to switch it up between early and late every cruise.

 

 

Waitors danced!

 

 

After Dinner, we went ring shopping. Mom loves jewelry. I smelled all the colognes like I was a kid while she did so. It was a nice way to blow some time!

 

We saw Motor City tonight. Nice songs, and a great performance. I love the playlist productions!

 

 

Some night strolling after the show!

 

We went back to our cabin, it was around 11:15. We set a wake up call for 9:45, so we had time to get some breakfast, and prepare for a first for both of us, St.Thomas! :D

[Liverpoollovely]

Love this review :)

[rob6465]

Landing in FLL, Catching the Shuttle

 

As scheduled, our plane landed in FLL around 9:45. Debarkation from the plan in FLL is always quick, and by 10 we were standing in front of baggage claim, where I nearly had a hart attack. The crowd began to clear and bags started to shorten, and ours weren't on it. Mom got super worried! But after asking an airport secutiyy officer, we found out that they changed the baggage claim number. Nice announcment FLL :rolleyes:. We got out bags in no time, and went and got tickets for the 11:30 shuttle. We always use the Carnival shuttle, just because we can always rely on it. I think it is $20 per person per ride, and our return flight was out of MIA, so it was only $40. The shuttle departed around 11:30, as scheduled. When I started to see road signs, I became very excited!

I had no clue that the Port Miami tunnel existed, so when I saw the ships on the other side, I began to wonder, but before I could let my imagination flow, I saw the signs, and I was okay.

There she is!

 

Embarkation

 

Once we landed on the other side of the tunnel, we drove a little, but since the Breeze came first, we had to drop the Breeze passengers off first. I usually don't get impatient, but after about 15 minutes, which you all know feels like an hour when you're reparing to get on a ship, I considered getting mom and I's bags from the bottom of the coach and walking, it wasn't far, but shortly after I had the thought, our driver came back and we drove over to the Glory. I got off the coach, and grab my mothers bags, gave them to her, and then my own. It looked a little hectic outside, so we both walked to the first security guard we saw and asked where the FTTF passengers board. We pointed directly at the side door, which had a huge "FTTF or VIFP Priority Boarding Passengers, Enter Here!" right on the door. Oops. So we walked in, and went through security. I felt weird lifting both of our suitcases onto the security systme, as I've never done it before. It didn't hit me until after I filled out my ebola questionaire that we completely skipped the porters!! :D I wanted to see how long we could get away with it, and what would happen. Here's a ship-pic I snapped while Mom finished her survey.

We walked to the FTTF Line, got our our keys, and followed the signs to the ship. We took our embarkation photos, walked along that cool sky deck thing, and made our way onboard the Glory for my 3rd time! We were soaring up the glass elevators to our room by 1:15

 

Wife and I are cruising on breeze out of miami on 12/5.

How did you get tickets for shuttle from FLL to miami?

Did u trust flying to FLL on same day as cruise? We're from houston and that worries me

[cruisexlife]

Wife and I are cruising on breeze out of miami on 12/5.

How did you get tickets for shuttle from FLL to miami?

Did u trust flying to FLL on same day as cruise? We're from houston and that worries me

 

There is a stand with Carnival reps in the FLL baggage area. If you fly Southwest from Hobby, I can assure you it will be right there, as I don't know where the other airlines fly into. As for flying in the day of the cruise, I've never experienced any issues, but I know most people on here will list the reasons why not to, many will vouch never to do it, some will explain near-miss situations, and a few will miss their flight at the cost of the airline (last thread I read on here, they got to the airport late) that'll make you think. But I have never had an issue and consider practicality when booking my flights, not just for cruises. But if money isn't an issue, you want to stay in Miami for a little, you have rewards hotel points, etc, then maybe a pre-cruise stay or even just flying in the night before will work.

 

Enjoy! :D

[cruisexlife]

Our wake-up call came as planned. We headed right to the lido buffet to eat a nice buffet breakfast. Cereal, fruit, bagels, omelettes, toast, pastries, coffee, juice, everything was there. Love Carnival's breakfast buffet option. After breakfast, we began to realize how close we were to the island! This made me really excited, as my main reason to cruise is the destination(s), so this new port to me was great to finally see!

 

 

Celebrity Reflection, one of our neighbors in Miami, spent the day with us. I wasn't expecting any more ships, as I checked before we left, I was just a little surprised that it was jast us 2 ships. Oh well, more St.Thomas for us!

 

I headed to Deck 12 Port-side to watch us arrive. I wanted to see all the yachts in the harbor.

 

 

 

 

We're here! Super excited! We were suppose to be in the Amber Palace Theater at 10:45, as we booked the Carnival excursion titled "St.John Trunk Bay Beach Break and Snorkel Trails", but I didn't want to miss our arrival. We quickly headed down, only to realize that we had to wait 20 minutes to get off. I found this absurd, why couldn't we just meet somewhere? I understand the strong desire to get everyone off the ship who has to meet an excursion, but really this was just stupid.

 

 

Welcome to St.Thomas! For all who have been here, welcome back! For all who haven't, welcome, enjoy my (Virgin) Virgin Island Visit :D

[2 cruzen]

I am just loving your review and the pics! Was on Glory back in 2009 & 2011 and will be boarding her again in April! Your review is making me really anxious for my cruise :D

 

That's funny....we were on Glory in 2009, 2011, and now 2015. In 2013, we went on Brezze. :D

[cruisexlife]

Love this review :)

 

Thanks!

[erewhon]

Enjoying your review, thanks for sharing your great photos.

 

Have never before heard the term "Lally-gag" that you mentioned, what does that mean?

[muffin]

I would spell it " lolly gag", but it means to saunter and taKe your time seeing everything there is to see while you walk along. Have no idea of its derivation, but I was raised with this term!

[cruisexlife]

Enjoying your review, thanks for sharing your great photos.

 

Have never before heard the term "Lally-gag" that you mentioned, what does that mean?

 

Thanks so much!

 

I have never, in all my travels, and there have been many trips, heard of someone not knowing that term! Wow! This is actually exciting to me that there is another example that even within the US, everyone has their own language. It means to take your time, waste time, have no schedule. Like, one lally-gags when they get to the airport at 10AM after ship debarkation, but don't have a flight until 7PM. Get it? ;)

 

Enjoy!! :D

[erewhon]

I would spell it " lolly gag", but it means to saunter and taKe your time seeing everything there is to see while you walk along. Have no idea of its derivation, but I was raised with this term!

 

Thank you for your explanation.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond.

[Alliwanttodoiscruise]

Thanks for this review. I'm really enjoying your pictures. We are doing this cruise in April but with half moon cay.

[cruisexlife]

Thanks for this review. I'm really enjoying your pictures. We are doing this cruise in April but with half moon cay.

 

Great! You're in for a really good time! :cool: