Just back from the Glory!

[MzOhioLady]

Bubbles - This is a really good review. You are very detailed and I love that. I can't wait for the rest. I'm glad you and your friends had a great time.

[tandtmk04]

Great review.... can't wait to hear the rest! :)

[bubbles1209]

2 quick notes before I resume the review. I discovered when I was putting together the slideshow of pictures that on the night before we went to St. Thomas, we stopped by the club (White Heat) for a bit. When we got there, they were about to have a dance contest between the ladies & the men. They had picked 6 people (3 girls, 3 guys), they went out & danced 1 by 1 and the audience judged and picked the winners with applause. They guys won. Then, they had a brief appearance by 2 breakdancers that go by the name Fun Force. There is a brief video of 1 of them performing. Also, for anyone interested, if you look in my signature I now have the slideshow of pictures from our trip up. Enjoy. :)

 

Wednesday, May 27th....St. Maarten

 

We were all tired from our day in St. Thomas. We decided that we were just going to go into port long enough for a little shopping and call it a day.

Our friends Marilyn & Tony said they just wanted to chill in the room for the day, so we had not bothered with a wake-up call or anything like that. I would have loved for them to have seen Orient Beach, but couldn't convince Marilyn of going because it was a clothing optional beach. I'm not one to push people into doing things they don't want to, so being as how we have been there before and done just about everything we wanted to there, shopping it is. We waited until early afternoon to go out and get the shopping done, sleeping in feels so good when you get the chance to do it.

Our time in this port was 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. We went ahead and got off the ship, wandered around to the various shops and finally found some that had a little variety without having to take the water taxi over into town. We looked around killed some time, and finally headed back to the ship after almost 2 hours. When we were on our way to head back onboard, we realized that we did not have the 1st picture of our 2 friends beside the ship with the ship's name in the background. We decided that when we got back on, we would go to deck 3 and call them to come down so we could grab a few pics being as how this was our final port of call. Our next 2 days were sea days, and there was no chance of that happening again. So, we called them, they came down, we took a few snapshots, and headed back onboard. While we were talking, we decided to get ahold of the supper club to go ahead and make our reservations for the next night. We figured since you have to "dress up" a little, why not do it on the last formal night and just go all out? We called, there was a waiting list, but they could fit us in tonight. We all decided we would go ahead and go that night rather than be put on the waiting list. We took the 6:30 time, and then we headed back to our cabin. We just kind of milled around the ship and people watched for a bit. We found food, I found ice cream. Wayne went up for his daily nap, and I just milled around for a bit. At 2:30 I went for a double trivia hour.......I was the only person to show up, so that was pretty much that. No fun in that one, but it was nice to talk to the girl that was there to ask the questions. (Sorry don't remember her name) We talked about the cutbacks they have made on the ships. She told me that as we all know, the midnight gala buffet is gone, the past guest pins are gone, fruit punch is gone, the activities director used to have an assistant to help organize things so that the director could be in public more often, well now that position is gone, and it's all on the activities director. They have cut back on the number of dancers, number of people at the purser's desk, now there's no purser per say, they now call it guest relations, and other stuff that we as passengers may not notice that wouldn't /shouldn't affect us. Before ya ask, no, she really didn't discuss it any further or go into any more, but had to head off for another activity somewhere else. I headed back up to the room and went out on the balcony for a while, then went & checked out the "secret door" all the way forward on deck 7. Walked down the steps to deck 6 while I was out there and saw where they had it roped off with the famous "Crew Only" sign. I was good there for a bit, watching all of the people on the pier walking, taking their pics, etc. After I was done there, I headed back to our cabin, and spent some more time out on the balcony, followed by a nice afternoon nap (which I hardly ever do). When I woke up, I called Marilyn to make sure they were awake, and told her I was getting ready for dinner. We all met up around 6:15 and headed out looking for the supper club. We got there about 10 minutes early, so we all had a seat at the bar and had a before dinner cocktail. We were the only ones in the supper club, and were shown to our seats about 6:35. We started our dining experience, and to make a long story short, the supper club on this ship just wasn't for us. There was nothing appealing about it to me when it comes to sitting down for a nice dinner and look out a window to see Joe Blow walk by in his swim trunks downing his budweiser barefoot and dripping wet, while others walk by trying to peer into the window to see what's going on in there, while the family in front of them has a child crying for whatever reason, and it's like the parents didn't even hear him. Kinda killed the atmosphere for us. The food was good, the onion soup wasn't good like I remember it, but the salad was great, (I had the caesar), my porterhouse was delicious, but I couldn't finish it, and we had dessert, ice cream for us girls, the guys didn't have anything. I don't think our friends enjoyed the food very much as they were talking about grabbing a pizza in a little bit. After dinner, we had already set sail, and tonight was the color teams lounge hop. Our friends had gone their way, and we headed for the casino for a while, and spent the rest of the evening there since the color teams lounge hop didn't interest us that much. We headed for bed after going up to the Lido deck and having coffee before turning in for the night.

[bubbles1209]

Thursday, May 27th Fun Day At Sea

 

Today was the 1st of 2 fun days at sea for us as we headed back to Orlando, and back to reality. If you will remember at the 1st part of my review, I had said this was a bittersweet review. You will see where the bitter part comes into play on this day, and had an effect on the rest of the trip for me. I got up don't remember what time it was, and headed up to the Lido deck to grab myself some breakfast and some coffee. I headed back up to the room with the tray, and had my breakfast on the balcony while watching the ocean slip on by. It wasn't long after I had finished breakfast, set the tray outside the door, and grabbed a shower, that Wayne finally woke up. He showered and dressed and we headed up so he could grab a bite to eat. He was fine, he ate, and we went out on the Lido deck to smoke a cigarette (no comments or judgments there please) and couldn't find an open table anywhere. We both grabbed a seat at the bar. Just as he had finished, he looked at me and said dang, I feel dizzy. I said, o.k., let me put this out and we'll go back to the room. I looked up, and could see him shaking his head like he was trying to focus. I said are you o.k. He shook his head again, and I said again, honey, are you o.k? No answer. Then I went from honey to Wayne, are you o.k, getting louder each time I asked. He hung his head down, his arms fell beside him with his hands in his lap, and I could feel him go limp, I was at that point standing up with one arm around his waist, the other around his stomach trying to hold him up. He had broken out into a cold sweat, and was white as a sheet. The only thing I knew to do at that point was to start yelling Help. Help, we need help over here, someone please help! The young lady behind the bar took off to the closest phone and called the ship's doctor , while a security officer came over to try and help. Everyone kept asking me if he was diabetic which he's not. Right before the trip he had taken a full physical, and despite 2 heart attacks over the past few years and having 2 stents he was given a double A plus by his doctor. I was still trying to call his name, and he started to come around. He came around, and when he did, no nice way to say it, sorry, he had to pewk. They were yelling for a bucket, but in the essence of time, I shoved my empty coffee cup over and said go. His 1st words to me were I need a cold shower. I asked for a cold towel and received dry brown paper towels. I asked for cold water on the towel, they handed me a glass of ice water. I took the towel, dunked it in the ice water, and put it behind his neck, and on top of his head. By then, I could see the doctor and nurse coming with a wheelchair, and I told him, you're gonna be o.k., we have a doctor and a nurse on the way. His reply was, and I quote (not kidding now) "Is she cute?" I said I don't really care, they're coming now. The doctor and nurse showed up, the nurse started asking him was he o.k. ? His reply was, I need to potty. Not understanding what he said she asked again, he gave the same reply. Now keep in mind, we're on the Lido deck, at the bar where there is an echo to everything, and she's trying to hear over loud music, tons of people talking, etc. so she asked again I'm sorry sir, I didn't hear you, you need to what? Wayne being Wayne, getting aggravated with the situation, said (sorry guys) I need to ****! She said o.k, sir, we'll get you to the restroom, will you get in the wheelchair for me. He said no, I'll walk, she tried to coax him, and I said will you get in it for me? He said o.k. She headed him down to the infirmary witht he doctor and myself walking right behind them. The doctor was asking me questions, I gave him a brief history. We got him into a restroom finally after getting his vitals, which were believe it or not, perfect. After he came out of the restroom, I headed up to the room to get his medicine so they could see what he was taking. He had 4 prescriptions, but I could only find 2 bottles.:eek: I grabbed them, hoping he had the other 2 with him, got back down there, and he was filling out a form height, weight, etc. They had taken an e.k.g. it was very good, his vitals were very good, they thought it was dehydration. He was up and heading out, even felt o.k. enough to walk back to the cabin. We got back to the cabin, and I went back to the Lido to get him some juice, made it a point to stop back by the bar and thank everyone for their help. They were all asking about him, I told them what the doctor said. The gentleman that was sitting on the other side of Wayne when all of this happened said that he was glad he was o.k. and felt helpless because he didn't know what to do or how to help. I thanked him for his concern, took the juice and headed back to the cabin. Wayne spent most of the rest of the day sleeping, even telling me the time or 2 that he woke up that I didn't have to stay and babysit, but there was no way I was leaving him at that point. I guess around 7 he decided he was stir crazy and said that he was getting a little hungry. He opted for walking up to the deli. We got a sandwich and ate together, and skipped the dining room or anything else for the rest of the night, just hanging out in the room together, watching t.v. By the time i was ready to go to sleep which was late, he was wide awake, I remember falling asleep fully dressed while watching t.v., and waking up in the middle of the night to turn off the t.v. and change into something comfortable for sleep. I can't even begin to express or tell you how I felt when he fell out in my arms that afternoon, there are no words to describe it. I caught myself about to break down into tears, and stopped myself, because there was no one else he knew there at the time besides me, and at the time, he needed me more then than ever. I also found out later that the reason I could only find 2 prescription bottles out of 4 was because he took a week's worth of the other 2 pills that he takes once a day, and put them into the same bottle as another prescription so he wouldn't have to carry 3 bottles, and a long, flat dispenser that his 4th medicine comes in. So, the lesson here is, always carry your prescriptions in seperate bottles, you never know when you'll need to know the name of them, and what the milligrams are. If I would have know that was his plan, I would have made him bring the other bottle and flat dispenser whether he liked it or not. I had no idea until it was too late. So, for anyone out there thinking of doing this to save space, don't.....it's a bad idea. I also remember someone starting a thread on these boards saying what if you can't pay your bill before you get off of the ship? My reply was one with an excerpt from the cruise contract on Carnival's site that stated they could sell all of your stuff. I also responded that I was sure that they would work with you somehow before they resorted to those measures. Well, this experience taught us the following. Because they are not sure whose insurance cards are valid, and what they cover, any infirmary expenses are billed straight to your sail & sign account. We had $228.00 billed immediately to it. We also found out that they will offer you a free phone call home to get someone to send you the money. Our problem was....there was no one at home to call. We wound up signing a promissary note the next day to pay them within 30 days. After this was done, we couldn't charge anything else on our sail & sign account, so that was pretty much that. We called his doctor when we returned home, and the doctor said it sounded like a very mild case of food poisoning. I had looked up the symptoms for that once his doctor's nurse told him that, and dizziness is not listed as a symptom. I remember my mind racing thinking, heart attack? heat stroke? stroke? The symptoms for all are somewhat similar with more differences in those for a heart attack, but he told me after all this had happened it wasn't his heart, that he definitely remembered how one of those felt, and this wasn't a heart attack. Everyone will be glad to know he's fine, other than feeling a little nauseau on the day we dis-embarked the ship, he got over it, and has been doing o.k. ever since. I'll post the review of the 2nd sea day tomorrow.:)

[bubbles1209]

Did you see anyone on the jump thing at Paradise Point? I think I am going to buy a ticket for my daughter for that, while I sip a Bushwhacker!! :) Great review!!

 

No, I didn't see anyone on the jump thing. I saw where it was, but didn't see anyone around it. Thanks, glad you're enjoying the review. :)

[bubbles1209]

Thanks for the review! My 4 sisters, 3 neices and myself leave on the Glory in 2-1/2 weeks. I can't wait to hear the rest of your review. Five of us will be parasailing in St. Thomas but I'll have to be sure and take the Tram. Can't wait for the rest of your review!!!!!!

 

Definitely take the tram, the view is sooooooo worth it!

[kjeanne2001]

Sorry about what happened with your husband - that had to be so scary for you but I am glad that he is ok. Do you remember what time you had to be back on the ship in Nassau? We are trying to plan excursions and see if we have enough time to do what we want. Thanks!

[bubbles1209]

Sorry about what happened with your husband - that had to be so scary for you but I am glad that he is ok. Do you remember what time you had to be back on the ship in Nassau? We are trying to plan excursions and see if we have enough time to do what we want. Thanks!

 

Our time in Nassau was from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. We didn't get off of the ship in this port, but for the people that did, they had to be back onboard no later than 1:30.

[firefly4423]

thanks for sharing everything!

[bubbles1209]

I seemed to hav mis-dated Thursday's Fun Day At Sea as the 27th, when it should have read the 28th, sorry, guess I had a moment.:confused: Now for the rest of the review.

 

Friday, May 29th, Fun Day At Sea

 

Despite falling asleep while watching t.v., waking up in the middle of the night to change and falling right back asleep, I managed to sleep in on our

final sea day, so did he. I don't remember what time it was when I woke up, but I do remember us going for breakfast, and after everything that had happened the day before, us just taking the day slow & easy. A lot of people came up to him and asked him if he was o.k., and that meant a lot. It's surprising how you can be on a cruise with so many utter strangers to you, but let something happen, and you discover that there are people in the

world that care. :) This is probably wrong to have felt the way I did, but

I didn't want the cruise to end, but at the same time, I was so ready to go home and get him to his doctor that it wasn't funny. I was worried that it may have been something more than dehydration and that it may happen again. Thank God it did not. After breakfast we went back up to the room, and I went ahead and got all of my stuff packed. We headed down to the casino a little later on , come to find out, he had put up a little money that I knew nothing about for our last day to gamble on. It wasn't much, but enough to split, and try to win more. I was hoping we would win enough to cover our S&S bill so we could do away with the promissary note, but it just didn't happen. . When we got back to our cabin, they had just delivered the alcohol that we had purchased in St. Thomas. Yes!!!!!!!! I could finally have a drink! After the events in the past 24 hours, I definitely needed one. We had bought a liter of Absolut Vodka. Our friends had introduced me to Absolut & cranberry juice earlier in the cruise. It was good, you could taste just enough, but boy does it sneak up on ya. Well, not being able to charge anything, I was trying to figure out what I could mix it with, so I decided I would try it with the lemonade. I went up to the Lido deck, got several cups of lemonade, put them on a tray, took them back up to our cabin, and mixed a drink. Surprisingly it was pretty good! We knew we had to pack the liquor in our suitcase, so I poured what I thought would be enough for the rest of the night into a glass, and we packed it up while packing up his suitcase. Before long, it was time for dinner. With everything packed up, I was worried that the room steward would throw out the vodka thinking it was water, and that he would do away with the lemonade. So, we locked the glass of vodka up in the safe :D and left him a note asking him not to throw out the lemonade, to leave it for us, and not to throw out the little bit of mouthwash we had left in a glass in the bathroom so that we would have it the next morning. We met our friends at the dining room for our last dinner together at sea. :( We all talked, they got a kick out of the waiters singing their little good-bye song, then we all headed back to our cabins. Our lemonade was still waiting for us, and so was our mouthwash. I mixed myself another drink and we headed to the promenade deck (deck 5) to say good-bye to our poker buddies, and to walk the ship one last time before turning in for the night. I ran into the waitress that brought me all of my absolut & cranberry drinks from the disco and she gave me a big hug, she was so sweet! After we were done seeing everything one last time, we headed back up to the cabin. I went out on the balcony and spent a little while out there just staring back and forth between the wake of the ship, and what I could see of the ocean. Man would I miss this..........and I do. I went back inside and crawled into bed. It was the end of our last Fun Day At Sea.

[bubbles1209]

Saturday, May 30th Dis-embarkation

 

I remember waking up and checking my watch around 5:30 or 6 and reaching out to pull the curtain to see if we were docked yet. I could see a buoy (sp?) in the water, but still could feel the gentle rocking of the ship. I thought to myself, go back to sleep while you're still on your cruise. So I did. I woke up around 7:30 but couldn't get him up until after 8. I could hear the announcements for self-assist being started around 7:30. We had set our bags out the night before so we still had plenty of time. I was worried that if we did self-assist, that it may be too much for him, but at the same time I was worried that whatever it was that went wrong on Thursday may go wrong again, and maybe we needed to do self-assist. He had assured me that he was feeling much better the night before, so we went ahead and put our luggage outside of the door. We got a call from our friends, they had already gone to the main dining room and had their breakfast. We told them that we would meet them up on deck 9 at the buffet. We got our breakfast, and they sat & chatted with us. Afterwards, we went & all sat at a table by the pool until our number was called. Not sure how they number the sections, but I know we were in an aft cabin on deck 7, and our luggage tag number was 10. They were in a cabin that was on the right side of the ship towards the back, and their luggage tag number was 29. We waited until their number was called so we could all go down together. I think it was around 9:30 or so they finally called it, and we headed down to put our cards in the machine 1 last time. I was a little worried about Wayne & the trip, because he was feeling sick on his stomach and didn't eat much. We were through customs in no time, and headed to where we were instructed to meet the shuttles. For anyone interested, when you exit the terminal, turn to the right for pre-arranged shuttles, and go from there. We stood outside for a bit because of the traffic, we had to wait for ours, but they showed up, and we had the same driver that we had coming into Port Canaveral. We were off to the airport by 10:30 or so. When we got there, we all got checked in, handed over the checked luggage, and got ready for our flight. By the time we got through security, caught the train to the gates, they were getting ready to board our flight. We went right on to the plane and took off for Atlanta heading home. We arrived in Atlanta on time, and a 3 hour layover, but it was over before we knew it. I felt better about everything because Wayne was feeling better. We boarded our plane from Atlanta to Augusta, and landed on time at 6:10 that evening. We had good weather for flights, and the flights were on time, and once again we were back home and not so ready to go back to reality.

[rdytocruz]

Do you remember how much the shuttle was from the airport to the port and did you pay for both ways at the same time and have a voucher for the return trip. Can you pre-pay when you reserve the shuttle? Thanks for your help!

[bubbles1209]

Do you remember how much the shuttle was from the airport to the port and did you pay for both ways at the same time and have a voucher for the return trip. Can you pre-pay when you reserve the shuttle? Thanks for your help!

We called about a month or so before the cruise and arranged for a private shuttle through Cocoa Beach Shuttle. For 4 people round- trip in a private shuttle, it was $171.00. You pay in full when you get to the shuttle at the airport, and they give you a voucher for the return shuttle. If you mention Cruise Critic when you call them they give a 10% discount. The $171.00 for 4 people round-trip was with the 10% discount. (Carnival wanted $35 pp 1-way which would have been $280 round trip for 4). I'm not sure if you can pre-pay or not, I didn't ask them when I called, all they needed was a cc number to secure the reservation. We paid with cash upon arrival, and the card was never charged. They were great, and I would use them again. Now I did see when we were waiting outside for them to pick us up from the ship that someone who didn't have pre-arranged transportation with them had asked them how much to the airport, and they said it would cost them either $200 or $220 for one-way, so definitely pre-arrange the transportation. (not sure how many people were in their party)

[bubbles1209]

I also should have added, but forgot to, that we did go see the Legends show on the last night of the cruise. I have caught it on different cruises, and it was pretty good. We missed the very beginning, but everyone did great, in my opinion (mine only) they could have had a better Elvis & Gloria Estefan than what they wound up with. Since we were a little late getting there, needless to say it was standing room only, we stood and watched from the entrance to the amber palace. Made it super easy to get out when it was over. :)

[island2islands]

Do you remember how much the shuttle was from the airport to the port and did you pay for both ways at the same time and have a voucher for the return trip. Can you pre-pay when you reserve the shuttle? Thanks for your help!

My daughter and her husband is on the ship leaving today. She spent last week in Disney this is their honeymoon. I called Carnival and they said the cost of the shuttle is $35 dollars each, each way you can pay in advance but no discount. I will know more when I see her in a week . Their first cruise.. Our idea..My wife and I have been on 4 cruises.. Kevin

[gaylensgigi]

Did you see anyone on the jump thing at Paradise Point? I think I am going to buy a ticket for my daughter for that, while I sip a Bushwhacker!! :) Great review!!

 

Buy your lift tickets on the ship.We did a couple of weeks ago,they are a few bucks less.And ooooh those Bushwackers:D.

[bubbles1209]

Forgot to add, if anyone has any questions, I'll be glad to answer them. :)