Carnival Glory April 7 - 14 review (Western)

[direfun2000]

Paul, dude, YOU ROCK!!!!:D

[PaulMedik]

themnms,

 

Thank you. We did our best to try and eat all the Chocolate Melting Cake they had on board! I'm sure they'll be restocked for you by March. It really is awesome!

 

 

Prairie_Gal,

 

Thank you.

 

 

ladyjbd3155,.

 

Thank you.

 

 

MaryZ,

 

Thank you. We'll do our best to enjoy them all!

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to heading back to the ship, we sampled a few drinks from Iguana Rana;

 

 

Iguana Rana is a nice little bar near where the tenders dock. We enjoyed the scenery and watching people come and go from the tenders;

 

 

The Iguana Rana started to heat up a little with body shots on the bar etc (Sorry, no pics of that) so we leisurely headed back to the tender (Our 12 year old was with us remember?);

 

The tender ride back was quite scenic;

 

[PaulMedik]

RCCL Explorer of the Seas was still anchored off our port side;

 

And Glory awaited our arrival;

 

 

For those who wonder what tender boarding is like, here's the boarding ramps;

 

And here's the tenders as seen from our balcony (Panorama #1014);

 

The tenders really look quite beautiful from the distance with their wakes dancing behind them;

 

[dms_cruisers04]

format, review, pictures and family. ;)

 

Enjoying it a lot Paul. Thanks for putting the time in to do a review this way. It's been a really fun read. Can't wait for the rest.

[5String]

A picture is worth a thousand words. When you add both together so seamlessly, it makes for great reading. We'll be on the Glory in 3 weeks. Your review & great pictures helps the anticipation juices to start flowing. Great job!

[sjohnson529]

Thank you for taking the time to do this review. It's awesome!

[PaulMedik]

direfun2000,

 

Thank you.

 

 

dms_cruisers04,

 

Thank you and you're welcome!

 

 

5String,

 

Thank you. I Wish we were going with you in three weeks!

 

 

 

 

After returning to the ship, we had burgers from the grill on our balcony for lunch;

 

 

And watched tenders come and go;

 

 

We also had a Blackhawk do a flyby over our ship;

 

 

And over the Explorer of the Seas;

 

 

Watching the party barges come back in was also quite entertaining;

 

[Barkingowl]

Great review! Thanks for sharing!

 

[rhcruzer]

Thanks for this wonderful pictoral review. Makes me get more excited for our Glory Western in 7 weeks. Great job!

[PaulMedik]

After a casual dinner in the Platinum Dining room, I sampled some items from the Belize shops;

 

 

DW even tried one out (Briefly);

 

 

I guess 'casual' is a bit of an overstatement because our head waiter Charnel;

 

 

managed to feed Britt (our 6 year old) half of an entire pizza and five pieces of bread so he passed out;

 

 

I had to carry him out of the dining room;

 

[PaulMedik]

We had to stop in the Ivory Bar and take a break. That boy is getting heavy!

 

 

We then stopped by my wife's room on the Riviera Deck to show the boys. (We had to book an extra room because no balcony rooms were available on Panorama that sleep more than two. We opted to book a 1A just so we'd all be able to get on the ship)

 

 

The 1A is cabin 1212 on the Riviera deck and is the cheapest room on the ship even tough it has two port hole windows. I'd definately recommend that room.

 

As you can tell, Spencer also liked the room:

 

 

And the port hole provided a nice view of the sunset;

 

 

Poor Britt didn't even know he visited a different room, but he sure woke up wide awake when we got back to our room and was ready to head to Camp Carnival for the evening;

 

[Simbanoodle]

Love the review. I booked on the Glory yesterday for a eastern cruise next summer.

 

Thanks for all of the great photos and info.

 

Lewis

[Princess123]

I'm almost there with you! Can you remember how much the parasailing cost?

[MikeyP]

Great review Paul! We're heading there in two weeks and we're really excited! This just adds fuel to that fire!

 

How were the temps?

[RLG1023]

More More More!!! I love your review!!! It makes me feel like I am already there. So detailed!!! I will be sailing on Glory in 4 weeks it is my first cruise and I cant wait!!! I am very anxious to here about the rest of your trip!!!

[TxStacey]

This is THE COOLEST review!! Please keep it coming! I'll be on the Glory (Eatern) in June! Can't wait!

[PaulMedik]

rhcruzer,

 

Thank you.

 

 

Barkingowl,

 

Thank you.

 

 

Simbanoodle,

 

Thank you.

 

 

Princess123,

 

Parasailing was $55 per person. When Spencer and I went it was just the two of us and well worth the price. We were out there for a long time and the view is breath taking.

 

 

RLG1023,

 

Thank you. Here comes more!

 

 

Day 4 Costa Maya:

 

We woke up at 06:47 as room service delivered our breakfast of cereal, coffee, danishes, orange juice, and milk. I don't normally drink coffee, but I drank FIVE CUPS with danishes so I was pretty much guaranteed to be wide awake all day;

 

 

From our balcony we could see our first destination for the day: Chac Chi Resort;

 

 

After we backed into port, we went out on the deck and discovered the Explorer of the Seas had docked right beside us on our starboard side;

 

 

It was interesting to see the two ships side by side so close together;

 

 

We spent quite a while checking out the Explorer of the Seas and comparing the features of the two ships side by side. By 08:30 we had finished our inspection and headed down to deck 0 gangway and the awaiting Carnival photogs:

 

[PaulMedik]

After we disembarked, the boys had to visit local police officers on the pier and pet their drug dog;

 

 

Then pose again between the two ships:

 

 

They have nice photo props set up all along the pier;

 

 

We then headed on up the pier and kept our eyes on our destination; Chac Chi Resort: (Just to the right of the pier behind the block wall)

 

 

Before beginning the journey to Chac Chi, I had to stop in and check out the cigar store;

 

[timmy1958]

Awesome review, Paul. My wife and I did this same cruise last June, and your review sure brings back great memories. We also hit Paradise Beach, and did do the Cave Tubing in Belize - it was great. I think that's the same drug dog in Costa Maya that we have pictures of, too! Can't wait to read the rest of your review. The Glory is a wonderful ship!

[PaulMedik]

After checking out the cigar store, we met up with our table mates and headed for Chac Chi;

 

 

 

We left the pier shop area, crossed the parking lot to the right hand side and walked along the sidewalk;

 

 

At the yellow circle divider, we turned right;

 

 

We then headed to the security checkpoint gate and proceded down the right hand side of the road there;

 

 

We turned right at the first right on that road;

 

[PaulMedik]

Shortly thereafter we found the 'hole in the fence.' My boys were already going through the hole as I got there;

 

 

Our tablemates were a little skeptic about where we were headed;

 

 

But with a little reassurance, they decided to continue on;

 

 

There's also a second fence to go through, but as you can see, it has a decent sized hole open in it;

 

 

The trail is clearly blazed with tree trunks painted white then it opens up to a corral area for horses;

 

[PaulMedik]

And there are horses tied up all through the trees to the right of the trail;

 

 

After checking out the horses for a while, we then continued along the road to Chac Chi;

 

 

 

They now have dune buggies parked at Chac Chi (We didn't ask about renting them);

 

 

Our Cruise Critic gear sitting on Chac Chi Resort beach;

 

[PaulMedik]

View of the Costa Maya pier from Chac Chi;

 

 

Trying out the cigars;

 

 

The boys found some comfortable chairs and repositioned them;

 

 

And later they played in the surf spray on the rocks;

 

 

Which included an occasional wave (Bryson is engulfed completely by this wave);

 

[PaulMedik]

MikeyP,

 

Thank you. Temps were in the mid to upper 80s throughout the trip during the day. I think the lowest temps were in the mid sixties for sailaway from Port Canaveral and around 70 for the rest of the nights. Perfect temperatures!

 

 

TxStacey,

 

Thank you. It will be here before you know it.

 

 

timmy1958,

 

Thank you. The dog seemed like he was used to people.

 

 

We had a great time at Chac Chi and we spoke with the employees there and they were OPEN for the day and were serving a full menu from the kitchen;

 

 

The boys wanted to visit the pier pool and they had some activities planned at Camp Carnival so we headed back early;

 

 

 

 

 

We also agreed to take the boys horseback riding. We spoke with the wrangler at the corral and he seemed to be indicating it would be $20 each for a ride;

 

[PaulMedik]

My wife and I both spoke with the wrangler, but we couldn't overcome the language barrier and come to terms on a price. I gave him a $100 bill and he seemed to either not think it was enough or not have change. Our Spanish consists of speaking English slowly and that just wasn't enough to communicate with him. We're gonna have to learn Spanish. Our boys watched the negotiation and they understood that we did our best. The wrangler eventually gave me the money back and seemed to be apologizing. At any rate, we continued along the trail back to the pier;

 

 

And back through the 'hole in the fence;'

 

 

Do I look like I'm breaking any laws?

 

 

We stopped at a couple of the shops along the road back in to the pier;

 

 

For anyone who plays chess, they have some excellent bargains;