Glory Ultra Cruise Review: 7 Day Western Caribbean

[jam19872016]

Tonight's dinner menu in the MDR.

 

 

 

 

 

I had two things waiting for me in the room tonight. First my towel animal.

 

 

And some cookies sent from the casino.

 

 

Tonight's show was Amor Cubano. I really wanted to watch this but I was feeling to blah to sit through a show. So it was another casino night for me. Although I didn't hit any more 4 of a kinds, my money was still lasting me long enough to enjoy some playing time again tonight. Tonight's drawings were:

 

8PM: Snowball Raffle

11PM: Fill My Bag

Midnight: Ultra Cruise Giveaway

 

This was the first time I'd seen fill my bag. They give you a bag and then they stuff it with some small prizes as well as a check. The checks start out small and get bigger in each round. One person is eliminated each time they fill the bag.

 

Tonight while M and I were playing slots, one of the hosts came up and offered to send us to the steakhouse the next evening. O boy, where were you earlier lol. Never one to turn down a free meal, we graciously accepted. Looks like we will be eating at the steakhouse two nights in a row.

 

I didn't stay out quite as late as M tonight but retired to the cabin and watched some TV until she returned for the evening. I grabbed us some pizza then we crashed after a long day with a rude awakening. I unplugged the phone before bed tonight and as usual hung the "Snoozing" sign out. This way Carnival had no way of entering my cabin and waking me up, right? Tomorrow was our final port, Cozumel.

[heffy2]

Great review!! Thank you so much.

[jam19872016]

I love this review! Can't wait for the next installment. :hearteyes:

 

Glad you like it! Finishing it up tonight.

 

Great review!! Thank you so much.

 

You're very welcome. Glad you're enjoying it.

[jam19872016]

Day 6: Cozumel

 

Today we were docked in Cozumel. This was my fourth time in Cozumel and now ties Grand Turk, Nassau, and Grand Cayman as my most visited port.

 

I had done all I could do to get some sleep this morning. I hung the Snoozing sign on the door. I had the fan going to block out hallway noise (not really been a problem though). M had no alarms set to go off and I took the added measure of unplugging the stateroom phone from the wall. I thought I was prepared. There was only one thing that could happen, and it did.

 

CREW ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!! CREW ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yep, a freaking safety drill. You have got to be kidding me. I get that these are important, but there really needs to be a way to opt out of in cabin announcements for drills. Also, I can't remember the last time I had one of these on my cruise. My first few cruises I always had one day of the week with this early morning unwelcome wake up calls, I just assumed they happened every week. But it has been at least a half dozen cruises or more since this has happened. What a great cruise for my streak to end on.

 

I actually slept through it. Sorta. I would wake back up every time he came back on and then go back to sleep - I was that tired. I managed to sneak in a little more sleep before M dragged me out of bed and into the land of the living. One thing that seemed odd, Dustin the CD invited us to participate in the simulation drill. I wonder if anyone did? What an odd thing to do lol.

 

For lunch today I went to Sushi at Sea and ordered a bang bang bonsai roll. I don't seem to have a photo but I am sure I took one. I think my camera is "losing" pictures as there are other things I remember taking a photo of that are nowhere to be found. I will have to keep an eye on that. It was ok, but not as good as I remember. I think that my taste buds were still recovering though.

[jam19872016]

Our beach day in Honduras did not satisfy M's urge for a beach day so today was to be another beach day. As such, I would not be bringing my camera.

 

We strolled through the port area to get to the taxi stand. Once there the prices for the various destinations are published. We were speaking to a cab driver when another couple also looking to go to a beach asked if we wanted to split a cab. The driver snapped at him to go away he was talking to us not them. Wow, how rude. We said we would be interested and the guy threw up his hands and walked away from us. The signs all clearly indicated the price was the same for 2-4 passengers but that guy was not having it so we went with the lady the other couple was talking to and saved some money.

 

Neither of us knew which beach we wanted to go to, just looking for a beach. We chose Paradise Beach. I seem to have read many glowing reviews of Paradise Beach. I guess I will go against the majority then. This was another busted beach day. For one, it was pretty crowded which I guess is to be expected. The water itself was not very nice, likely a result of the overcrowding. And it was very very muddy and gross to walk in in many many spots.

 

We ordered a few drinks while here and hung out in the water for a little while. Again I am not really a beach person so my opinion is a little clouded, but M was not into it either. And seriously what is up with all the mud?

 

We agreed to a meetup time and place with the couple we came with so we could share a cab back. Making plans like that with strangers does not always work, especially since we were playing fast and loose with the back on board time but worse case scenario we just go back without them and pay full price. No problems though, they were there already waiting. They were less than thrilled about Paradise Beach as well. They said the pool area was pretty nice but the beach was a total bust. Wish I had checked out the pool, because I agree about the beach.

 

When we indicated to the taxi driver we would be splitting he said that was not allowed. Say what? He pointed us to another driver who had a car that was so small three people would be uncomfortable (with one of those three up front) and four would have been impossible without someone sitting on top of someone. We were told that was the only way we would be able to get it for the price clearly marked at the taxi stand.

 

So we walked to the end of the line for the taxis. We figured we could find someone willing to take us for that price if it meant skipping the line. We were wrong. So we kept walking. We finally after three tries found someone willing to take us. He was not even in the lineup and looked like he had been sleeping. I'll be honest, I left Cozumel with a very nasty taste in my mouth about the cab drivers. I am not sure if this is a common practice, or if they are not worried about business right now because of all the ships being diverted there from the damaged eastern ports. Either way, shame on them for changing the rules when we need a ride back.

 

We had a slight mishap (could have been a huge mishap) on the walk back to the ship. I had an envelope that contained some spare cash, my drivers liscense, M's drivers liscense, and her credit card. I put them in my still wet pocket which caused the envelope to get soggy. After paying for the taxi, instead of putting it back in my pocket for some reason I thought it was a good idea to carry it. Along the walk back, our id's and M's credit card fell out of the envolope where it was falling apart from getting wet. Someone who saw me drop it flagged us down and handed us M's credit card and drivers liscense. But not mine. It was my recently expired DL so I'm not out any money on a replacement, but it is a little worrisome that my ID is potentially floating around in another country.

[jam19872016]

Back on board I grabbed the camera to get some pictures of Cozumel and the other ships in port with us today. In total there were 8 ships in port. It was very busy here today.

 

Carnival Paradise.

 

 

 

Oasis Of The Seas

 

 

 

 

Beside her is the Freedom Of The Seas, but this is all you can see next to her big sister.

 

[jam19872016]

Vision Of The Seas - having to tender guests to shore.

 

 

 

Carnival Freedom. This was during the Journeys cruise to the Panama Canal, and somewhere on this ship right now you will find John Heald answering questions in his underpants.

 

 

Off in the distance, Carnival Sensation and The World.

 

 

Cozumel.

 

[jam19872016]

Tonight was the second elegant night. I am not really a fan of the idea of dressing up to eat dinner on vacation. I do believe in following the rules and since it is a rule, I make sure I meet the minimum guidelines. Tonight I was dining in the steakhouse, and I was a little worried that meeting the minimum was not going to be enough. I doubt I would be turned away, but I was a little worried about looking out of place. Turns out there was nothing to worry about, even in the nicer upcharge restraunt, the dress code was followed but by no means was it "suit and tie formal". It was nice that I could enjoy a fine dining experience without being judged.

 

I did grab the dinner menu in the MDR.

 

 

 

 

We arrived at the steakhouse at 6. The hostess was thrilled to see us again. We were sat in the same section as the previous night and received a warm welcome back from our waitstaff.

 

Compliments of the chef tonight, a delicious soup served inside a baked potato. It was quite good, but seemed an unusual choice for the venue.

 

 

For my starter I had the shrimp cocktail and the lobster bisque.

 

 

[jam19872016]

For my main I had the lobster ravioli.

 

 

This was very good, but not worth the price when there are bigger and better choices available. I am glad I finally tried it, but I would not order it again.

 

For dessert I had the chocolate sampler.

 

 

While it cannot compete with the cheesecake (I do have a bias towards anything cheesecake) this was absouloutly divine and I am glad I got to try it before the new menu starts rolling out.

 

Tonight's dinner also came with a free bottle of wine up to I believe $40 value. We don't drink wine, but ordered something to give to someone else.

 

Everything was fantastic. The service was excellent and overall the atmosphere felt better tonight but that could have been because I was feeling better than I was the day prior. My tastebuds were certainly working again and the food was fantastic!

[jam19872016]

After dinner it was another busy night in the casino. The first drawing was just before dinner, a new event called Dodge The Bull at 5:30

 

 

If your name was drawn, you got to spin the wheel for a cash prize. The object of the game was to "dodge the bull". If your spin landed on the bull you were eliminated ($50 consolation prize if your first spin landed on the bull). You could spin for more cash until you landed on the bull, or after five spins, whichever came first.

 

Tonight's other events were:

 

8pm: Snowball Raffle

8:30-10pm: Fireball Raffle (open to everyone)

11pm: Cash Pong

Midnight: Ultra Cruise Giveaway

 

Cash Pong is very hard and most people do poorly on this game. It is pretty much beer pong but you play for cash. The smaller the cup, the bigger the prize for landing in the cup. They are strategically placed as to be very difficult to land in. I have rarely seen anyone win much on this game, but I would still not mind being picked :).

 

My winning streak in the casino had cooled but I had built up enough money that I was still able to play on their dime instead of mine, that is a great feeling to be six days in on a cruise and not be out of pocket in the casino. A feeling I will likely never experience again!

 

Tonight's towel animal.

 

 

I retired to the cabin shortly after midnight and relaxed with some TV. M joined me a little while later and we enjoyed some pizza and some TV and called it a night with one day left on the Carnival Glory.

[jam19872016]

Day 7: Fun Farewell Day At Sea

 

Today was our final day on the Glory. As I mentioned earlier I had two goals this cruise:

 

1.Not lose a fortune in the casino.

2.Rest and relax and just completly unwind.

 

Goal #1 was a roaring success. Prior to this I had only come out ahead once, on a 3 day cruise where I did not gamble much. I would end this trip up $13 plus the Ipad which I sold for $300 leaving me with a total net gain of $313. That is so much better than I could hope for, especially since this was the most I played on one cruise in over a year.

 

Goal #2 was pretty much a total bust. I guess if one of these had to be a bust, this would be the one I picked. The casino kept me pretty busy and then there was the daily wakeup calls.

 

Day 1: Casino event at 10:30

Day 2: M's alarm going off at 8:30

Day 3: Slept way past a normal hour, but stayed up till 4am

Day 4: Steakhouse called to confirm my reservations

Day 5: Crew safety drill

Day 6: Another early morning casino event

Day 7: You gotta get off my ship

 

First world problems for sure, but it did leave me in a bit of a mood the whole trip. I'm sure I was a lot of fun to be around. Thank goodness the casino was kind to me, I would go so far as to say it "saved" the trip for me.

 

 

Today's casino events included:

 

 

10AM: Ultra Premier Slot Tournament

Noon-2PM: Fireball Raffle

3PM: Matilda the Cash Cow

4PM: Snowball Raffle

5PM: Dodge the Bull

11PM: Free Cruise Raffle

Midnight: Ultra Cruise Giveaway

 

 

I was up early for the Ultra slot tournament. You must earn 2000 slot points or comparable table play to qualify. Then it is just like a normal slot tourney. You push the button and hope you have the highest score. I crapped out as usual but at least I did not spend any money to enter this one.

 

 

We snuck out of the casino long enough to eat lunch. I did not go to the deli today. Instead I induldged in a guilty pleasure. I had my one Guy's burger of the cruise. I used to eat these several times a cruise, but lately have not enjoyed them. I think it is my body's way of telling me to stop eating these FFS! I am glad I waited until the last day, because it was amazing again and doubt I would have had the willpower to eat only this one!

 

 

After lunch we spent the rest of the day in the casino. At some point M made the comment, half kidding "we should do the steakhouse again" to which I replied, half kidding "let's do it." Guess where we ended up tonight? The Steakhouse for a threepeat!

[jam19872016]

The dinner menu in the MDR.

 

 

 

 

 

I spent so much time sampling new desserts, that I somehow went this whole cruise with a single warm chocolate melting cake! I will have to rectify this injustice on my next cruise ;p

 

Back in the steakhouse the hostesss was tickled to see us again. We got the same servers who were also glad to have us back. At this point we were all accquainted enough to skip the presentation and move right on to the food :D.

[jam19872016]

For my starter I had the escargot (with one of M's shrimp) and the crab cake.

 

 

 

Both were very good.

 

For my main I had the cowboy steak with a side of wasabi mashed potatoes.

 

 

OMG this steak was truely to die for. Everything about it was perfect. Love love love this steak. Those wasabi mashed potatoes were excellent as well. Fantastic meal.

 

Finished off with the chocolate sampler for dessert.

 

 

Another fabolous meal tonight is the Glory steakhouse. Three times in one trip may be a bit excessive, but I highly recommend booking this experience at least once. It is not to be missed.

[jam19872016]

After dinner it was more casino time. I wanted to turn into a pumpkin after the midnight drawing since we had to be up early in the morning to return to reality but it was more like 1:30.

 

Final towel animal of the cruise.

 

 

Debarcation:

 

Debarcation was smooth and painless both ship side and getting through customs. Probably the easiest getting off the ship yet. Miami has also really stepped up their game. I am not sure if we just got lucky, or if they are improving but this was the easiest embarcation and debarcation ever from Port of Miami.

 

Funny how you can forget all about your problems while you are on a cruise. But then reality has to set in as soon as you are back home. And now that we are back, there is the matter of parking. We called the number provided to us and they said they were running behind. There's a shocker lol. We waited a while then called back. He was still running behind and recommended taking the same shuttle we used to get to the port. Really. So we hopped on the rental car shuttle and walked back to the parking garage. But how do we get out without paying? We called the guy again who told us to push the call button and explain we were with the cruise parking and he would let us out. We pushed the button but nobody answered. We explained to the box our situation and he let us out, but never spoke. In fact we never met anyone who worked for the company and I am pretty sure they are running a scam but just thankful that we were not the ones they scammed.

 

That ordeal behind us, we made our way home another fun filled cruise behind us.

 

Thoughts on the Ultra:

 

I am very glad that I was given this opportunity to sail during an Ultra cruise. I am glad that I took the opportunity or else I would always wonder, what would it have been like? Having said that, I don't think it lived up to my expectations of what an Ultra cruise would be like.

 

For one, there was a lot of casino activity. I get that is the point, they want to make sure they recoup the extra money they shell out. But I did not enjoy having such a full time intenerary on the ship.

 

There were some extra drawings, and the guarenteed prize was nice, but other than that it didn't really stand out as any better than a premeire, and at least in my case, it did not come with cash like my premiere offers do.

 

I would still do an Ultra in the future if I was invited again, but I would not go so far out of my way to make it work like I did this one. Starting in 2019 Carnival will do Ultras in the Spring as well and that time period might work better for me, but I doubt I will be able to do them in the Fall anymore.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

My next cruise is on the Carnival Vista on January 7 2018 for a 6 day Western cruise. This will be a premiere cruise and I will be sailing with M again. We have both been following the Vista for a couple years and are very very excited to FINALLY be sailing on her.

 

Thanks everyone for reading along and letting me share my story with you.

[Quilcruisers]

Great review. Thanks for sharing. Make sure to review the vista. She is coming to my home port , Galveston, in a few short months.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jam19872016]

Great review. Thanks for sharing. Make sure to review the vista. She is coming to my home port , Galveston, in a few short months.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks glad you liked it. I will have a Vista review :D I'm all ready to head to the port, just waiting on M.

[pooksma]

Yay!! Enjoyed this one and made me miss the Glory but we are sailing on Vista in March so I will look forward to your new review :)

[MTBluto]

Awesome review! My wife and I are sailing on the Glory in Feb., and greatly appreciate your thoughts and pictures.

[Alabaster Cruiser]

I also got the Ipad on an ultra cruise. It did not have cellular on it which made it pretty useless for us. Took it to an Apple store to upgrade it. They valued it at $799 so I got to upgrade to one with cellular for about $130. Now have a $900 Ipad for $130. Not a bad prize!

 

 

Sent from my VK700 using Tapatalk

[jam19872016]

Yay!! Enjoyed this one and made me miss the Glory but we are sailing on Vista in March so I will look forward to your new review :)

 

Glad you liked it. I will have started soon :D

 

Awesome review! My wife and I are sailing on the Glory in Feb., and greatly appreciate your thoughts and pictures.

 

Glad to do it. Have a wonderful time!

[jam19872016]

I also got the Ipad on an ultra cruise. It did not have cellular on it which made it pretty useless for us. Took it to an Apple store to upgrade it. They valued it at $799 so I got to upgrade to one with cellular for about $130. Now have a $900 Ipad for $130. Not a bad prize!

 

 

Sent from my VK700 using Tapatalk

 

I definitely got one of the better prizes. Unfortunately it was lost on me as I'm not a gadetey kinda guy, but I loved that cold hard cash I sold it for lol.

[winddawn]

Great review! Looking forward to your Vista review. Hope you have a great next cruise. :-)

[jam19872016]

Great review! Looking forward to your Vista review. Hope you have a great next cruise. :-)

 

Thank you :D

[stevefrisco]

Thanks for the review, nice to see the world through a fellow gambler's eyes. Apologies if I missed this but did you get any offers after the cruise? If so how many points did you have?

 

It's funny (in a not funny way) but your sleep pattern reminds me of mine. Every day I have intentions to sleep in and every morning something happens! Cannot agree more about getting rid of the in-room announcements. That's a cutback I'd look forward to!

 

Your review tipped the scales in favor of not booking a premier cruise based onthe latest round of offers. I've got three cruises booked and I'm getting annoyed with the cutbacks and may take some time off from cruising for a bit. Had never done a premier or elite and not sure the extra casino attention would be worth it though it seems like all casinos are cutting back on comps lately. The stuff I've been getting from Vegas is pathetic compared to 8-9 years ago. Wish I had as much time off then!

[jam19872016]

Thanks for the review, nice to see the world through a fellow gambler's eyes. Apologies if I missed this but did you get any offers after the cruise? If so how many points did you have?

 

It's funny (in a not funny way) but your sleep pattern reminds me of mine. Every day I have intentions to sleep in and every morning something happens! Cannot agree more about getting rid of the in-room announcements. That's a cutback I'd look forward to!

 

Your review tipped the scales in favor of not booking a premier cruise based onthe latest round of offers. I've got three cruises booked and I'm getting annoyed with the cutbacks and may take some time off from cruising for a bit. Had never done a premier or elite and not sure the extra casino attention would be worth it though it seems like all casinos are cutting back on comps lately. The stuff I've been getting from Vegas is pathetic compared to 8-9 years ago. Wish I had as much time off then!

 

I did not get an offer. As I understand it, they only give out "x" number of free or reduced offers on the ship and if you are not in the top "x" of cruisers, you don't get an offer. This being an ultra I did not expect to get an offer on the ship, way too many high rollers on board. In the past though, you could email Ocean Players Club asking to be extended an offer, and they would throw one at you. This was not the case on this trip.

 

I have had free cruise offers with less points than I got on this trip. But those days are gone. I know I don't gamble enough to qualify for free cruises, part of the problem is by the time I am done paying almost full fare, my gambling budget is limited. But to tell me my play is not sufficient for a reduced rate is crap. Carnival is done investing in me because they feel like they have my business.

 

They are wrong.

 

I do not have a Carnival cruise booked at this time. Of course as you have noticed as well, they are cutting back on offers to everyone, not just me. They have made the business decision to stop providing the level of comps they used to and do not care if they lose our business as a result. Their bookings are strong and there are new gamblers to replace us everyday.

 

I will be back and am seriously considering booking something in May for the current round of premiers. My frustration is with the cutbacks in the casino, I still very much love the Carnival product overall.

 

Other cruise lines are not following Carnival's lead, almost every major cruise line is expanding their casino comp programs. The problem is why pay full price on another cruise line when even the crappy premier offers are worth something. That was why finding urcomped.com was a godsend. I signed up, took a screen shot of my Carnival offers as well as a picture of my Sail&Sign card and theoffers started rolling in. I took them up on an offer for a comped NCL cruise. I hear great things about NCL's casino comps, but don't have first hand knowledge yet.

 

If you don't mind sailing other lines, you might give that site a try, don't give up cruising maybe just try something new. I say other lines because among my offers was Princess and HAL but the fine print says "must not have sailed on any Carnival brand in the past 12 months". My level of play was worth a free cruise on their upmarket lines, but only as a new player not as someone loyal to the brand. Add that to the list of insults from Ocean's Players Club.

 

Most offers are for NCL and MSC, but have seen RCL pop up from time to time. Also many many offers at land based casinos throughout the country, including Las Vegas.