Carnival Glory - Canada from Boston - Detailed Review - Part I: Precruise

Note: Due to the length of this review, I have broken it up into several parts which I will post as quickly as I can.

Carnival Glory

July 9 - July 14, 2013

New England and Atlantic Canada

5 days

Executive Summary

We sailed from Boston, Massachusetts to Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) and Saint John (New Brunswick, Canada) aboard Carnival's Glory. While the weather was not as nice as we had hoped, we were still very active at each port exploring the area and enjoying the local seafood. We were impressed with the ship and crew of Carnival Glory.

Part I - Precruise

A. Inception

We chose the Carnival Glory since they were the only ship sailing to New England in July when we wanted to travel there. This is our first time on Carnival. We have previously sailed on Princess to Alaska, and Celebrity to several destinations. Our group of 15 family members were here for a reunion in celebration of my mother's "diamond" birthday.

B. Cruise Critic

Cruisecritic.com was very helpful in securing key information for all of our ports of call and getting to know some of our fellow travelers before the cruise.

C. Choice of Route

This was our second time cruising the North Atlantic seaboard. We have previously traveled to St. John and Halifax and looked forward to visiting key sites away from the immediate port area.

D. Choice of cabin

We chose an inside cabin (7323) centrally located on Empress Deck 7. Our kids (aged 21 and 25) were next door in 7321 and my parents were in an Ocean Suite (7317) across the hall.

E. Price

We paid under $600 per person ($120/day/person) including port fees and taxes (but not including airfare, tips, travel insurance, and incidentals) for this 5 day cruise. Note: I only include price information because it was requested by fellow travelers following my previous reviews.

F. Passports

We brought our passports which we got several years ago. Hint: AAA members can get really good passport pictures for free at AAA offices.

G. Insurance

I insured the trip through Travelex, opting for their TraveLite product, which I concluded was a good choice due to: relative cost comparisons, ease of access and booking, good disclosures, excellent coverage for what I needed, and especially because their insurance is "primary", meaning that I do not have to involve any other insurance in the claims process. I had no interest in proprietary insurance offered by a travel agency or cruise companies because if either goes under your insurance is worthless and defeats the purpose. We bought the insurance within 14 days of our booking to assure there would be no questions about "existing medical conditions", although I am not aware we have any. Thankfully we never had a need for the insurance.

H. Prebooking Excursions

We didn't pre-book any excursions. Instead, we rented cars from Enterprise in St. John and Halifax. We typically do not book any excursions with the ship. We find that the ship's excursions are pricey and crowded. We also find that well-researched private excursions let you see more and go more places. Our primary source of research is the Port of Call boards at CruiseCritic.com.

I. Packing

We packed for 2 Formal nights (blazer with dress shirt / fine dinner dress), and 3 Smart Casual nights (polo's and Dockers, blouses and skirts), in addition to enough clothing to cover us for 5 cruise days. Among the most helpful "extra items" we packed were battery powered alarm clock, shoe rack (we hang it on the wall and use it to hold all of our other items), rounded scissors, a digital camera, binoculars, highlighters, collapsible dirty clothes bag, insulated travel mugs, and an 9-inch clip-on fan to keep air moving in the cabin. We also made five 8x10 posters for our cabin door (one for each day, "If this is Sunday, it must be Boston!" and the like) and mentioning Cruise Critic in hopes that someone else on the boards would notice and strike up a conversation. The cabin doors are metal. We held up our signs with little magnets.

Next up --- Part II: Embarkation

You can read also the review in its entirely, with images, at http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/carnival-glory.html, but you won't be able to enjoy the input from fellow cruisers like you can on CruiseCritic. Feel free to post your questions and comments below.