Glory Review ~ Eastern Caribbean ~ May 16-23 w/pics

[cruisinbabs]

This was my first time for the American Table dining set up. I liked it. Something different and I enjoyed not having tablecloths.. Actually really didn't matter cause I was still going to be able to eat dinner. I love the fact that they will leave the basket of breads on the table instead of having to ask for another one. We were by the window which was nice as well but I do prefer a round table because it makes it hard to engage in conversation on a long table so for me being a social butterfly that makes it difficult.

 

 

Used to live in Washington state so I enjoyed the fact this was at my seat.

 

I tried my best to take photos of menus and food porn more than last time. I don't have everything to a T but I did take some more.

 

 

 

 

Menu so you can see the layout of it.

 

 

Smoke chicken quesadilla.. I wanted to order 3 of these but knew I needed to save room for my dessert!

 

Jen ordered the extra $ Filet mignon... it was delicious and definitely worth the extra $20 bucks to her.

[Anthomaniac]

Yay, menuuuuuuuus and fooooood poooooorn

[cruisinbabs]

 

I was trying to step out of my comfort zone on food this trip a little bit so I got the Honey glazed pork loin. It was good and so was the sauce. I even ate asparagus for the first time.. and what do you know I liked it.. imagine that.. lol.. 36 years later... Now the cinnamon puree carrots... good flavor but could not get past the texture I felt I was eating stage 3 baby food.. blech! But I tried it!

 

 

 

 

 

I could tell we were beatin feet cruising along and look out the window and look who we caught up to... that's right MS Victory.

 

Then it was time for..... drum roll please.....

 

 

My favorite dessert. nom nom nom nom!!!!!

 

While we are eating dessert there is now two ships in our sight.

 

 

Victory and Oasis (We will see her later!)

 

 

We did the welcome aboard show and walked around the ship a little bit more checking out the shops etc. We headed back to our cabin and we had goodies and luggage!!

 

 

I had posted on John's page our cabin number and sailing. Was not expecting anything but man it does work! Thanks John!

 

I wanted to keep going and doing stuff but the girls were ready for night night since I have been keeping them running since we got to Miami non-stop.. lol.. I earned the nickname "Cracky the Chipmunk" and they wanted to slip me a mickey to knock me out.. lol.. Told you I am go go go.. I finally gave in and realized I needed to get some sleep since I knew we had a long awesome day tomorrow! Guess where we would be in the AM?!?!?

 

 

My happy place!!!

 

I got the pull out sofa bed. Wasn't too shabby and works well with the space and I ended up asking cabin steward to see if we could tuck an extra comforter under the bottom sheet because that sofa couch is hard.

 

We turned in, watched some TV, checked out where we were on the map had some girl talk and some good laughs.. and before I knew it I was out like a light (sleeping on a ship does that to me). The girls sighed a big sigh of relief like parents who NEED their child to fall asleep for the night and gave each other high fives.

 

Next up..... HALF MOON CAY BABY!!!

[cruiselife4me]

Seriously LOOOOOVING this trip review!! I haven't cruised on Carnival in awhile but have been thinking about it SOLELY for the burgers...Guy's Burgers. They look SO good!

 

Keep it coming girl...you crack me up!

Mary

[Pandot]

Amazing work, Babs! Keep it up!

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

I've never had it with chocolate ice cream, what is the other thing on the side? Looks like caramel...

[cruisinbabs]

I've never had it with chocolate ice cream, what is the other thing on the side? Looks like caramel...

 

 

Hi gambee!

 

Peanut butter.

 

I bust open chocolate cake and scoop the pb in there to let it melt. It's seriously amazing. :-)

[fozzy1975]

I've never had it with chocolate ice cream, what is the other thing on the side? Looks like caramel...

 

 

And this is the reason I am eating tomatoes for my snack right now LOL!!:D

[dono72]

Babs ... Carnival should PAY YOU for doing these reviews. Outstanding. Got me all psyched up!

[gambee]

Hi gambee!

 

Peanut butter.

 

I bust open chocolate cake and scoop the pb in there to let it melt. It's seriously amazing. :-)

 

Interesting, but I think I rather stick to the double vanilla one. It kind of balances out the richness of the cake :)

[cruisinbabs]

Interesting, but I think I rather stick to the double vanilla one. It kind of balances out the richness of the cake :)

 

 

yes indeed its really rich.. I couldn't finish it but the bites I did have.. yum.

I think one night I forgot to ask and I had it with vanilla... still delicious. :-)

[cruisinbabs]

Seriously LOOOOOVING this trip review!! I haven't cruised on Carnival in awhile but have been thinking about it SOLELY for the burgers...Guy's Burgers. They look SO good!

 

Keep it coming girl...you crack me up!

Mary

 

 

They melt in your mouth and drip down your wrists.. how burgers should be.

I will love.. uploading HMC pictures to my photo host so I can start bombarding people with some selfies and pretty water!! woot woot!

 

I am just myself.. :-) thanks for following along!

[cruisinbabs]

Amazing work, Babs! Keep it up!

 

 

thank you for kind words Pandot! thank you so much for following along!

[cruisinbabs]

And this is the reason I am eating tomatoes for my snack right now LOL!!:D

 

from your countdown looks like you only have to tomato it up for 10 more days!

[cruisinbabs]

Babs ... Carnival should PAY YOU for doing these reviews. Outstanding. Got me all psyched up!

 

 

::blush:: thank you so much. that is very sweet of you to say that. :D

 

I wish! If I could get paid for cruising and blogging now that is a "have to" job I wouldn't mind.. as long as hubs got to come along and had private tutor for lil dude... im down for that!

Anyone from Carnival reading this?! LOL!!!

[cruisinbabs]

We placed our room service for breakfast the night before and like clockwork it was delivered on time. (We utilized room service quite a bit this trip.. lol). I set my alarm but room service got there first.. either way I was getting up. The other two were still snoozing away. I poured myself some coffee and made up my bagel and headed to the balcony. By this time we have slowed way down so I knew we were getting close!

 

I left sleeping beauties for a little bit longer so I decided to take in a quiet morning stroll with the sunrise and enjoy the quietness and sound of cruisin. Nothing but me and the open seas!

 

 

Good morning!! It is going to be a fabulous day today at HMC!

 

 

Boat hair.. don't care.

 

Decided to take a walk around as well.

 

 

Whale Tail!

 

 

Quiet Lido!

 

 

Stairwell art-random photo!

 

I took a lap around the track, then back down to head back to the cabin to at least start stirring sleeping beauties to wake up. As I get back to the cabin I realized my fly was down on my shorts.. Seriously??! Thank goodness I was going to be in my swimsuit most of the day!!

 

I get back to the cabin and I had to gently let the girls know it was time to get up. I enticed them with coffee and breakfast. I also told them, "up and at em, we gotta get ready!" Since I am like a kid on Christmas morning when it comes to HMC.

 

 

 

Also forewarning of hmc selfies.. #sorrynotsorry

 

As Ann and Jen were attempting to pull their eyelids open, I proceed to get into swimsuit, tried something new on slicking back the hair to keep it out of my face and off my neck. I wetted my hair, slapped some conditioner in it, parted it, whipped up some nub buns and put a head band on to keep the whipsies out of my face! I packed up my trusty green backpack with my "water" bottle, cabana ticket and sunblock.

 

We had really slowed down and could here announcement that crew was headed on over with provisions... woo!!!

 

 

Time for HMC!!

[Anthomaniac]

Hair looks cute! Don't forget sunscreen in the part! (Scalp sunburns suck)

[cruisinbabs]

Since the crew was headed over with provisions I knew we would be able to board the tender soon. Knowing this I told the girls it's time to roll.

 

I had a couple missions this trip and HMC was part of my plan of attack.

 

HMC MISSION: To be on the first tender over and the last one back.

 

We mozey on down to the lounge and crew points you where you need to go and when we entered the lounge they checked that we had a excursion ticket. There was a line that hadn't moved yet and I was getting ancy pants. It started moving and down the stairs we go like cattle.. MOOOOOOOO. Ding our cards and onto the tender we go! It was already packed but we still found seats down below. phew! I was busy being chatty McPherson with some nice folks and within talking with them I found out this was their first time there and had cabana #9.. neighbors for the day! They seemed nervous on where to check in for cabana etc so I just told them to follow me when we get off the tender and I would help them navigate.

 

After our short tender ride over they pull down the ramp and off we go!! As we were getting off I asked someone if we were the first tender over and they said "yup!"... SAWEEET!!!

 

Go to the hut to check in as fast as possible, the other group asked Ann a question and she told her "Just follow her, she is on a mission".. we had a good chuckle on that.

 

We board the tram and off we go to our cabana #10 where I wanted to get some pictures before mayhem ensued for the day.

 

 

Ann taking a picture of me, taking this picture...

 

 

Seriously... slice of heaven on mother earth.

 

I seriously love this place! After my Splendor cruise last year I KNEW I had to get back here again STAT. So pretty much a year and week later here I am again! Very blessed and humbled that I have been able to do some traveling.

 

Here are a few more to "tide" you over.....

 

 

(photo credit Ann)

 

 

Had to get my "not a bad day in my office" picture before a bunch of people start walking by. Pretty epic being on paid vacate to hang out in such a beautiful place!!

[cruisinbabs]

Hair looks cute! Don't forget sunscreen in the part! (Scalp sunburns suck)

 

Yup I did that too! :-) and reapplied 1/2 way through the day as well. I remember my friend a long time ago had her hair braided in all those tiny braids and she got so burnt! I remembered because of her.. :(

[Anthomaniac]

I had my hair parted and braided for a civil war reenactment a decade or so ago, and its the one spot I didn't apply sunscreen. It was sooooo painful.

[RobertL88]

And yes we did our muster drill before hand.. it was like packing sardines into a sauna.. One poor lady passed out and I felt so bad for her. They do let people know if they start feeling woozy you can get out of line and they will take you somewhere. It went pretty fast as I was sweating out my guy's burger and my drink I had already consumed.. burnin them calories baby!

 

:D That's a good way to look at the muster drill :D

Edited June 4, 2015 by RobertL88

[cruisinbabs]

It's truly peaceful before the crowds get there and the music starts bumpin from Captain ship. Wanted to capture that first thing since it is hard to get pictures without people walking in the background.

 

 

My happiest place on earth for me. Disneyland has nothing on this place!

 

 

Our home for the day. Got her again! They have a new number sign on her and they had new yellow floaty mats.

 

 

Thanks! Glad to be back!

 

 

Was really trying to zoom in.. sorry the quality is not that grand.

 

We put our stuff down, got settled in and decided to go for a stroll and enjoy the quiet beach and check out the wish I could stay here for ever bar.

 

 

I couldn't see so I just did a point and shoot with my phone.

 

 

Gotta love this view!

[cruisinbabs]

 

Gotta get your pic taken here!

 

 

Jen was taking pics on her phone and he was running up the stairs then posed.. hahah... crew members always having fun, love it.

 

 

We started early.....

 

 

View from barstool.. just taking it all in that we are actually here AGAIN!

 

After putting some "rum rum in our tum tum" (which ended up being our phrase for the cruise) we headed on back to the cabana. We got there and the crew was delivering cabana goodies. Chips, salsa, guac, veggie and fruit tray, ranch dip, sodas and two large water bottles. I am glad though this time the food was delivered in a plastic bin with a lid to keep pesky critters out (if you read my last review)

 

Jen and I wanted to venture down the beach while Ann held down the fort.

 

 

We came across a very nice German couple who was on their last week of vacation. They had flown to vegas then did a road trip, then flew to florida to take a cruise. We took their pictures for them and then they returned the favor. They could not believe such a beautiful place exsisted. Why I love cruising... you get to meet people from all over!

 

 

View of ship with no "do not pass go bouys"

[cruisinbabs]

By this time it was starting to get warm enough to take a quick dip in the water. Ann and I decided to jump on in..ok more like wander on in.. no need to rush things on HMC! We got our hats out to shade ourselves some and it was nice to have girl chit chat while hanging out in crystal clear waters.

 

 

Time to go in! Best $10 spent the whole cruise was on that hat!

 

Jen was taking a snooze in the cabana.. (telling ya.. ran them round and round!)

 

All of a sudden I hear Ann squeal.. PICTURES! So we walk as fast as we can in the water towards the busier part of the beach so we could take picture with the guy dressed up with tray of fake champagne bottle and glass. Super cheesy but super fun!

 

By this time we were getting hungry and it was almost time for lunch so we decided to go wake up miss Jen so we could head off to get some food. Again make sure you wear footwear so you don't burn your tootsies and I made sure this time to tell the girls "don't leave me because I am not eating lunch by myself again!!" (last year I lost my crew and ended up eating by myself..)

 

 

FOOOOOOOD!!! Burgers, chicken, fruit, cous cous (spelling?), desserts... seriously lots of food. Grabbed out lemonade and grabbed a table and we were pretty happy campers.

 

After eating I wanted to go check out the shops and get something from HMC (again did not get to last time) and since we were already 1/2 way to it we ventured on over. Bought myself a magnet and towel. We wanted to polish off my Aquafina "water" bottle so we grabbed a bucket of ice from he bar to schlup back to the cabana. Its quite a jaunt from the main entrance but oh well.

 

 

On our way back to the cabana.. top sign.. a whole lotta NOPE!!!

[pbmsmile]

Enjoying the review...how close to the cruise did Carnival open up HMC cabanas???