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Glory - Western Caribbean review 8/12-8/19 (LONG)

buckeyeinmd

By buckeyeinmd,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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It took awhile but here is my review. First of all, this was the 4th cruise for my wife and I and the 2nd cruise for our boys (10 & 7). Also in our group where my in-laws, sis-in-law, bro-in-law and nephew (age 8 his first cruise). Thus, there were 9 of us. Lots of what we did was based on info I found on here. We flew into Orlando the day before and rented cars from Thrifty. We stayed overnight at the Best Western in Cocoa - it was a cheap place to stay and it showed. On Saturday, I dropped my family and luggage off at the port at 11 and returned the car. There was a slight delay at Thrifty but was back at the port by 1145. There is only 1 shuttle for Thrifty so if you don't see it call because it has to go to all the ships. I asked and they said about 80% of their business is from cruises so you'd think they would have a 2nd shuttle. If you drop your family off, make sure you keep some ID on you so you can get into the terminal since those dropped off will have the cruise tickets.

 

The line to get S&S cards and keys went quick and we were on the boat probably by 1230-1245 and went straight to the Lido deck to eat and hit the pool. We were all impressed by how good the ship looked. Our cabin was ready by 1:30 and our baggage probably showed up around 3. All 3 families were on the Upper Deck (6). We were in 6353 and our steward was Damien (from Grenada) who was very friendly and took good care of us. Overall, we found the ship clean and the crew always smiled and said "hello" when we walked by. I quickly scanned the capers for the day and found the internet raffle since I had read about it on here. They raffle off 100 free internet minutes that first day. Normally it goes for $55. Yes, my son won. There weren't a lot of entries in the box because people didn't know about it.

 

DINING:We ate in the Platinum (lower) dinning room at a table for 10. They had probably 8 to 10 large tables in case you're traveling with a large group. Our waitstaff was the "Romanian Dream Team" - EB the waitress and Chris her assistant. Don't ask me how to pronounce their real names. Overall the food was good. Some items were better than others but we never left the table hungry. The 2 youngest always had 2 meals off the kids' menu while my older son always had 2 appetizers and 2 entrees (and sometimes 2 deserts) off the adult menu. EB always made sure we were satisfied with our food and gladly brought us other items if we weren't. With all the talk of other eating places, we tried to hit everything. My oldest ate at the Oriental buffet and the sushi place and had no complaints. He also tried Fish & Chips - he liked the calamari but not the octopus salad. My youngest had plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers and didn't complain. I got a sandwich at the deli and it was fine. The pizza was great but there was always a line. And the boys lived on the ice cream. I didn't think the Red Sail buffet was great but it good and had enough variety for us.

 

The grand gala buffet looked a lot better than it tasted. They had picture taking from 11 to 1145 and then eating at midnight. This was on Thursday night. The line was very long and the food made us wish we had just gone to bed. That is the only midnight buffet. They said they have cut back to save costs. There was a Mexican deck party on Wednesday night with the buffet open at 1130 so it was sort of a midnight buffet. Friday afternoon (while in the Bahamas) was the chocolate buffet. The food looked great but most of it was so rich you couldn't eat much.

 

DAY AT SEA: Sunday was the first day at sea. That is when they have the "hairy chest" contest as well as watermelon eating contest. I was 1 of the 8 in the hairy chest contest. Course its not about the "hairiest"..its more about the craziest so practice up your dancing and your tarzan yell. Son (10) did the watermelon eating and barely lost to a 14 yr old. They had 6 contestants in each group. They did boys, girls, women and men. Being a day at sea it was a formal day and there also was the captains reception dinner. As mentioned on these boards, we hit the bar at the reception and got free drinks.

 

COZUMEL: This was our first stop and we docked there. One other Carnival ship showed up and had to tender. Currently, the pier is in good enough shape to allow 1 ship to dock. It took forever to get off the ship. You would have thought Carnival had never docked before. There was lots of confusion. We ended up renting a car (stripped down VW bug) from Alamo. Check the prices and negotiate before picking a company. We were filling out the paperwork (I think for Budget) and Alamo was next door and offered us a better deal so we switched. First we drove to Paradise Beach. $8 per person to use all the water sports. Nice place and swam out to the trampoline and iceberg in the water. Did some kayaking as well. Eventually left there and drove around some. We had been there in 2003 and thus saw how much damage there still was from Wilma. We stopped at Mr. Sanchos (had been there in 2003) and found out they had lost 50 yards of beach. Paradise Beach definitely has more to offer.

 

BELIZE: our second port. We did cave-tubing.com. This is a tender port and we were told that they would start giving out tender tickets at 9 (for those not doing Carnival excursions). We were in line by 8 and at 830 they came and told everyone there were plenty of openings and to just go down to the gangway. Since we got off the boat earlier then we were expected, cave-tubing gave us a 30 minute tour of Belize City. We came back to the port and picked up the other 2 families. Thus, there were 4 families on the bus and there were 4 tour guides. It is about an hour or so bus ride. Then we have a short hike thru a rain forrest. It is not strenous. We end up at the same place as the Carnival group. For us, each family has their own guide and are linked together. We basically just sit in the tube and the guide does all the work. The Carnival group were sent down the river individually and had to do their own paddling. Plus, we did 2 caves while Carnival does 1. Our cost was $45 per person as opposed to $90 (or $95) for Carnival. Afterwards, the bus stopped at a local place (Cheers with a Tropical Twist) for a meal of chiken, rice and beans for $5. To be fair, we heard from others who went on private excursions and they all had a great time as well. Meanwhile, youngest son went with the others in family to the ruins. I would say that he would have had no trouble doing cave tubing though.

 

COSTA MAYA: Third port. Nothing initially planned but wanted to snorkel. When you get to the pier, there are plenty of vendors trying to sell you excursions. We knew we wanted to Majahaul. We stopped at a booth and got talked into snorkeling. Supposedly it is $30 a person but the guy said he'd sell it to us for $30 for the 4 of us ($10 each with youngest being free) and threw in a banana boat ride. So we got our tickets and then went to get the bus to Majahaul. Wife asked if I thought the snorkeling was a scam and I said if it was, I could live with losing only $30. The van to Majahaul is $3 per person. It took us awhile but we found the place in Majahual. We were using Olinca Water sports. They are right next to a restaurant so you can get food and eat on the beach if you want. They had some jet skis and kayaks as well. The snorkeling was ok. The boat doesn't go out that far and the driver helped some people who had never snorkeled. My youngest just sat on the boat. We were in the water for maybe 30 - 45 minutes. Once back on the beach we hung out and waited to take a banana boat ride. If you're not aggressive here and keep asking, you'll never get it. A plus here is that they had free lockers to put things in.

 

SECOND DAY AT SEA: The big event that day was the ship stopping in the afternoon for over an hour because they came upon a boat of Cuban refugees. There were 6 males and 3 males on the boat and they had been at sea for 4 days. We waited until the Coast Guard showed up. We were fascinated by it and asked our waitress about it. She said it was no big deal and happens about once a month. This was also our second formal night.

 

NASSAU: Last port. There were also 3 other cruise ships in port so it was very crowded. We went over to Atlantas and checked it out but that was all. Youngest wanted to get back to the ship for the chocolate buffet. We were only in port from 10-4 (our shortest stop).

 

CAMP CARNIVAL: Youngest went to quite a few activities and enjoyed it. We just read the camp capers and picked what he wanted to do. The first night at the welcome party they had a parent-child twist contest and we won so he was the only family member to win a ship on this cruise. He was in the 6-8 age group. His cousin wasn't really interested in going. My oldest was in the 9-11 age group but never went because he thought it was stupid. Supposedly, there were 100 kids in the 6-8 age and 175 in the 9-11 on this cruise.

 

CASINO: There were blackjack tournaments on Sunday and Wednesday nights (I think). It was $20 per entry and the winner won $500. Needless to say, I didn't win. They also had a slot tournament but I don't know anything about that. There were a few big winners on the Wheel of Fortune machines - they announced winners of $20K, $15K & $10K. We did meet family members of the lady that won $20K so it must have been true. Did play some blackjack and found there were lots of people who had never played and didn't know how to so if you get frustrated playing with others that don't know what to do, just be prepared.

 

DEBARKATION: We went with the self-debarkation becuase you will get off earlier. You have to be able to carry all your luggage. They called our deck for self-debarkation at 830 and we were off they ship and at Thrify to pick up our car shortly after 9. The rest in our group did the regular debarkation and were off the ship around 915.

 

We all had a great time and I have plenty of pictures as well as the daily capers and camp capers if anyone wants them.

 

Doug

8/92 Monarch of the Seas

3/93 Mardi Gras

3/03 Victory

8/06 Glory

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Hart10

Hart10

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Great review... We are booked Jan 27th and looking forward to the trip.

Is Mark Price the CD still? and is Wee Jimmy still part of his crew?

Did you enjoy the shows on board?

 

Sound like a great trip all around.

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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Shay - not sure what ended up happening to the refugees. The crew offered for them to come aboard but they didn't. We heard that if they did they would have been dropped in the Bahamas who would have sent them back. So the crew gave them some clothes and food. We heard different things as to what would happen to them. We asked the customs guy when we got back to Port Canaveral and he said they'd probably be allowed to stay. I believed we stopped to the Coast Guard could find them. Easy to find a cruise ship out in the water...hard to find a tiny boat.

 

pacerzfan - still trying to scan all my capers in

 

hart10 - Mark Price was the CD and Wee Jimmy wasn't there. We liked all the shows.

 

spikera - traveling with kids and family so we never made it to the piano bar. Sorry

 

Doug

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LizaMM

LizaMM

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Thanks for your review!! Glad to hear that you enjoyed your cruise!!

 

Wee Jimmie was promoted to CD a few months back....I can't remember what ship he is currently on but there were threads mentioning it. I sailed with him 3 times (2x on the Triumph and on the Glory just before his promotion was announced) and he is great!

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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Hi, Would love to see the Camp Carnival Capers.. We leave in 52 days. A 2 yo and a 7 yo will being going with us. I;m glad you had a great time :D . We look forward to going. Again Thanks:)

 

I have the capers for 6-8 and can send if you give me an e-mail.

 

Doug

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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Good review; thanks for taking the time to post it.

One question: How much were the internet raffle tickets? Thanks!

 

The internet raffle was the first day down where the computers are which is inside the Ivory Club. There is no cost and it says 1 entry per person so I entered my whole family. They post the winner at 10 that night. I checked back a few times and the box to drop them off in wasn't that full so I'm guessing that lots don't know about it. must just be one of those cruisecritic perks... :)

 

Doug

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bellaa

bellaa

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I am so glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Your cabin was right next to the one someone posted as having bedbugs. You didn't have any mysterious bites, did you? My boys have your cabin in a few weeks. How was the noise?

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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I am so glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Your cabin was right next to the one someone posted as having bedbugs. You didn't have any mysterious bites, did you? My boys have your cabin in a few weeks. How was the noise?

 

Yes, I saw that. We had no problems. I keep trying to remember who was in that room on our cruise. We had no problems with noise. course we took along a sound machine since we use it at home.

 

Doug

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HMK

HMK

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We will be on the Glory on Oct. 7.. can you tell me who was the piano player in the piano bar?

 

Thanx

We were on the 8/26 sailing on the Glory. I think the Piano player's name was Don, but the place was empty. We walked in, and walked out. He was not very good.

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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I will be going on the glory in 2 weeks. I have read about bed bugs on the ship. This really freaks me out. Did you hear of any on this cruise ship?

 

 

If you're referring to the thread about the bed bugs on Glory, it was on the cruise right after ours and they were in the cabin next to ours. We didn't hear of any problems when we were on.

 

Doug

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  • 2 months later...
elvislisa

elvislisa

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Hey there! We're going to be in the same room as you were. 6353. We are traveling with a toddler and they said this was the best room for that. Can you tell us how big the room was and if you could move any of the beds furniture around? Did it seem any bigger than any of the other regular inside cabins? Thanks for any insight! We leave on Saturday (Dec. 2nd)!!!

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buckeyeinmd

buckeyeinmd

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Hey there! We're going to be in the same room as you were. 6353. We are traveling with a toddler and they said this was the best room for that. Can you tell us how big the room was and if you could move any of the beds furniture around? Did it seem any bigger than any of the other regular inside cabins? Thanks for any insight! We leave on Saturday (Dec. 2nd)!!!

 

Elvislisa - send me e-mail (mddawg1@aol.com) and I'll send you any cabin pictures I have.

 

Doug

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