Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 #1 Share Posted May 17, 2009 After reading back over my journal/notes, I guess this is more of a recap than a review. Nevertheless, I'll try to include as many details as possible, in case there's something specific you're looking for. I saved all our Capers and will scan when I get a moment and I stop feeling the rocking of the ship. :D Bear with me as I set the scene: BACKGROUND (skip this part if you just want to hear about the ship and ports) We were a party of five: Hubby (Alex) is 40, and has sailed three times previously - once on Premier's Big Red Boat (1995), once on Carnival Miracle (2004), and once on the Celebration (2004). I (Laura) am 36, and have sailed four times previously - all of hubby's previous cruises, plus once on Carnival Fantasy in 2001. This cruise is our 3-year-old daughter's (Alyssa’s) first cruise. Because of her age, I wanted to keep our port excursions kid/toddler-friendly. My mom (Pat) will be 60 next month, and has sailed once before on the Fantasy in 2001. Due to arthritis in her knees, we brought along a standard wheelchair (gotta love craigslist!) to use for long distances in ports. I also tried to ensure that our adventures in port were wheelchair-accessible, even though my mom can walk on her own or with the use of her cane. As it turns out, we didn’t use the wheelchair in port. Our family friend (Joann) is 58, and very active. She has cruised once before on the Carnival Dream, and really, really, REALLY, wanted to do parasailing again. However, that didn’t really work out for her. Still, she had a great time. We decided in June 2008 to take this cruise, so that we could do our part in "stimulating the economy" with our stimulus check. :-) We chose the Carnival Glory, because of its price, the length of the cruise, and embarkation port (Port Canaveral), which is only a two-hour drive from our home. We also wanted a Carnival ship, because we were all past Carnival cruisers, so we knew what to expect, and I heard nothing but rave reviews about Camp Carnival. Now on with the show… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poptart Posted May 17, 2009 #2 Share Posted May 17, 2009 where did you go? You were just getting started. Looking forward to the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 Author #3 Share Posted May 17, 2009 When travelling with our 3-year-old, I always expect to leave the house later than planned. Today was no exception. We finished all our last-minute chores, got Alyssa dressed, then picked up my mom and Joann. We grabbed a quick breakfast to go at the closest Mickey D’s before hitting the road around 10:00 am for our 2 – 2-1/2 hour journey. (My mom kept asking “Are we there yet?!?” OK, I asked a few times too.) We arrived at Port Canaveral around 12:30pm. “Look, Baby!” I told Alyssa, “There’s our ship! See the whale tail?” “Oh boy!” Alyssa shouted, “Hi, whale tail!” Hubby said he would drop us off and park the truck. One of hubby’s co-workers told him she used to work at Canaveral and that there was a FREE parking lot available, but he never found it, so he parked in the garage for a cost of $105 for the week. My mom, Joann, Alyssa, and I toted all 6 of our carry-on bags to the back of a very LONG line for check-in. I’m sure we looked pretty comical, with my mom in her wheelchair trying to drag one bag, Alyssa in her stroller that I pushed with one hand while lugging 2 other bags with my other hand, and Joann following behind my mom with the remaining bags and a bottle of champagne that I brought to toast our departure. The line stretched down the front of the terminal building, and as we reached the end of the line, a group of 4-5 people quickly stepped in front of us. I didn’t care that they were rude – we were going to have a GREAT time! I was impressed that Carnival had drink stations outside for those of us waiting, and they also sent an employee around with cups of water on a tray for their guests. We weren’t in line more than 2 minutes, however, before a Carnival employee came over, asked how many in our party, and checked our passports and Fun Passes. Then, she said “lemme take you to a shortcut,” and led us past the people who stepped in front of us and into the VIP line. (Nah! Nah!) We were ushered through the metal detectors and to the elevators within 3 more minutes. Once upstairs, we were handed a questionnaire asking if anyone in the party had flue symptoms or Norwalk virus symptoms. (I wondered how many people lied so as not to have to undergo a medical exam.) The lines upstairs seemed just as long or longer than the line outside, but once again, we were able to bypass all of it and check in at the Special Needs desk. (This desk had only 5-6 people in it.) Continuing my lucky streak, I spotted my hubby just before we reached the desk, so we all were able to check in together. We had big smiles on our faces as we stepped onto the ship, and headed to our rooms for a quick baggage drop-off. We met Made immediately, who introduced himself to us as our room steward (we were in room 2312, and my mom and Joann were across the hall in room 2318). He dropped off a life jacket for Alyssa, showed us the breakfast room service cards, and told us he had the honor bar locked because we had a minor in the room. I gave him $10 and asked if he would unlock the bar and remove the alcohol so we could have some fridge space. He thanked me and said “of course,” and that he would do it while we were at dinner at 6:00 that night. As it turned out, Made got off the ship before we left prt, and we had a different room steward, Curtis, for the rest of the cruise. Alyssa was thrilled to have her very own bed (we had a couch that was made into a bed all week), and immediately climbed up onto it and took her shoes off. Our bed was already made into a California king bed with plenty of pillows and blankets. (Yes!) We dropped our bags and made our way to the Lido deck for lunch. As a joke, I asked my mom to pull 2 tables together for us. She saw one of the wait staff and asked if it was ok to pull the tables together. He didn’t speak English very well, but gave her a confused look and asked “move chair over?” When my mom asked again about pulling the tables together, he pantomimed using all his strength to try to move a table that was BOLTED TO THE FLOOR! Ha! I laughed when my mom finally realized she had been had. This would be my joke for the next week, as she fell for the old “would you please move this table over” trick 2 or 3 ADDITIONAL times!! The food on the Lido was good, although I found out later that the Grill area doesn’t do steak sandwiches anymore. I skipped the burgers the first day and went straight for the Deli, where there were no lines and no waiting. I ordered a custom turkey wrap, which was pretty tasty, and the rest of the group ate from the Gala buffet, which had your standard fare. It looked good, and they enjoyed it. My picky 3-year-old picked at the cheese slices and some fruit, so I made it my mission to find the Pizzeria at the back of the ship near the Aft pool. All I had to do was follow my nose – it smelled incredible! I ordered a slice of cheese pizza from Claudio, who was from the Philippians, and we had a nice little chat while I waited for the pizza to come out of the oven. After lunch, we unpacked SOME of our stuff, and I decorated our cabin doors with Alyssa’s help. (She had finger painted “Happy Mother’s Day” signs for my mom and Joann, and “Our Family Cruise” signs for us.) The signs, along with some colorful fish cutouts and a dry erase board on one door and MagnaDoodle on another made our doors very festive. My mom had ordered a cake to be delivered to our room, as well as a Bon Voyage gift basket, so after lunch we had a little cake and champagne party in our cabin. Before 4:00pm, we were ushered to the muster drill, where Butch, the cruise director announced that the crew would NOT be shaking hands during the cruise, even at the captain’s cocktail party, due to the “no skin-to-skin contact” CDC advisement for preventing the spread of H1N1 flu. The crew was very nice as Alex, Alyssa and I waited on the warm and crowded deck. (My mom and Joann got to wait in the Black & White library during the drill with 2-3 other guests who needed special assistance.) Alyssa’s life jacket was marked “Baby” but it came down almost to her knees, and looked to be the same size as mine! One of the crew told us that our room steward could give us a child sized one, to which we laughed and said “that IS the child one the steward gave us!” I said “she’s just little, I guess,” and he said “no, because there’s a little girl smaller than her with a smaller jacket.” Weird. Alyssa was good for the majority of the drill, and I did my best to keep her behind the white line and out of the way of the people walking up and down the deck. She wanted us to be “leashed” together, so she handed Alex the strap from her jacket, gave me the strap from Alex’s jacket, and then held onto the strap from my jacket. The crew member standing in front of us laughed and winked at Alyssa. When Alyssa was getting restless and wouldn’t listen to me when I told her to stop walking into the aisle, the crew member told her to stop, and then Alyssa got shy and hid behind Alex. Then she started to cry because she didn’t get her way, but fortunately, the drill ended soon afterwards and we could all move off the hot deck and begin our fun. (Alyssa in the Camel Club Casino before we set sail.) We were moving out of port by the time the muster drill was over. We dropped off our vests and went to the aft pool on the Lido deck for our sail away. I said hello to the CC members I met on Roll Call, but had to excuse myself because I promised Alyssa I would blow bubbles with her and wave goodbye to the Disney Magic. Alyssa quickly lost interest in the bubbles, and thought the fountain by the pool was good fun. I introduced Alyssa and Alex to the other CC members, then we were off again – this time to register Alyssa at Camp Carnival. We didn’t read the Capers correctly, and went to Under The Rainbow at deck 12, forward, where we found the Camp Carnival playroom locked. Other parents arrived with their kids, and read a note on the wall that told us registration was in the Ebony lounge on deck 5, aft. D’oh! So I took Alyssa to the other side of the ship while Alex went back to our cabin to shower and get ready for dinner. The counselors were super nice, and one gave Alyssa a little gift – a Camp Carnival Rubic’s cube. I talked to the counselor about Alyssa’s potential shellfish allergy and her apraxia of speech (speech impairment), then asked a few other questions about the program. I felt good when I left, knowing my little angel would be in excellent hands at Camp Carnival. Back at the cabin, Alyssa and I quickly changed for dinner. All our luggage had arrived, saved one large garment bag suitcase, which was there by the time we got back from dinner. We had early seating in the Platinum dining room one floor up and at the very back of the ship, which I thought was bizarre considering our cabins were directly below the Golden dining room. It took us a few minutes to realize how to get to the Platinum dining room from our forward cabins (go up 3 decks, cross the ship, then go down 2 decks rather than going up 1 deck). No biggie. Once we had it figured out, we took the “short cut” by crossing the ship on our deck (Main, deck 2) first, then using the aft elevators/stairs to get to our table on deck 3, Lobby. Our waiter was Vaughn, who was nice and always called out “woo-hoo!” before handing us a menu or dish. He called Alyssa “princess” and was very kind to her. The 2 of them danced during “shhhhhhhhowtime” every night. I brought the bottle of wine from our Bon Voyage basket, and our bar server kindly chilled it for us, then poured us each a glass. It was a dry white wine, but a nice touch for our first night on board. We were NOT charged the $10 corking fee, since it was part of the Carnival gift basket. (Vaughn, our waiter, with Joann.) After reviewing the menu, I had to ask our waiter for an entree recommendation, and Vaughn suggested the ribs. YUM! They were delicious and so fork tender, I might have eaten one of the bones without even realizing it. LOL! (THE best ribs ever!) Alyssa ordered chicken fingers, but decided to fill up on bread instead. She got bored quickly and wanted to go from one side of the table to the other or from one lap to another. I was getting frustrated with her because I didn’t want her in the aisles with so many waiters rushing through carrying heavy trays of food. I know she was just excited and restless, but the 3-year-old defiance was unacceptable. Alex got on her case a few times, too, and between the two of us, we managed to keep her in check...as much as you can keep a toddler in check without whipping out the duct tape. Dessert was of course the chocolate melting cake. It was warm and sweet and chocolate, so I had no complaints. I mixed some of the vanilla ice cream in mine to make it even creamier, and the combination of the hot chocolate liquid with the cold vanilla made the perfect texture and flavor. (Melting cake. Yum!) (Alyssa preferred a banana split.) After dinner, we explored the ship a bit and managed to wander past the White Heat disco just as Camp Carnival was about to begin their Welcome Aboard party. All it took was for Alyssa to hear the music and see other children playing with balloons on the dance floor, and she was there in a flash! At first, she tried to steal the balloons from the other kids, but a counselor saw her and gave her a balloon of her own to play with. Alyssa danced and tossed the balloon to Alex and me until the DJ called for all the balloons so they could start the games. Alyssa was happy to help put all the balloons into the DJ booth…until she found out she wasn’t going to get them back! Then she cried and ran to the booth and pointed until a friendly smiling counselor gave her a balloon. For the rest of the party, Alyssa danced in the middle of the dance floor and played with that balloon. Everyone else formed a circle on the outside of the floor and played games while Alyssa continued her own fun in the middle. (Alyssa and her "dance partner.") The Fun Force (breakdancers) came out to do tricks, so I pulled Alyssa and her balloon over to the side of the dance floor with the rest of the children and parents. She was SO not happy about that! Right when one of the breakdancers was somersaulting across the floor, Alyssa broke away from me and ran to the center of the dance floor…right in front of where the dancer was about to land! There was a huge gasp from the crowd, and I ran after Alyssa, scared and embarrassed. Fortunately, the dancer had a keen eye and was aware of everyone around so that he didn’t land directly on my little girl. He effortlessly landed right in front of her. I apologized, then lead Alyssa back to the edge of the dance floor, where we had a little “talk.” The rest of the party, Alyssa continued to dance. She was so cute and ran straight to Funship Freddy when he made his appearance. (I gotta admit, I find him a little creepy looking!) Then the rest of the group played a balloon pop game, which Alyssa found fascinating. She tried (not very hard) to pop her balloon by sitting on it, but was too light. At the end of the party, Alyssa cried about it being over and kept trying to run back into the White Heat disco for more. We had to explain to her several times that the party was over and she could go back to Camp Carnival the next day to play and dance. Alex took Alyssa back to the cabin to get her ready for bed, and to watch an in-cabin movie he wanted to see while my mom, Joann, and I attended the Welcome Aboard show in the main lounge. Alex said the movie was lame, and that after a few minutes Alyssa climbed into her own bed, said “night-night, Dada,” and was instantly asleep. The Welcome Aboard show was just ok. There was a hottie male Carnival Glory dancer that made the show outstanding! LOL! Butch, the cruise director introduced himself, and I was surprised that he looked absolutely nothing like how I envisioned him from hearing his voice on the PA earlier that day! He really cracked me up, though! When Butch first came out on stage, he started throwing beads to people who were standing up and dancing. I danced and waved my arms like a lunatic to get some beads for Alyssa. Joann danced next to me and wound up knocking over her full soda, which went all over the floor and onto my foot. (For the rest of the show, as servers walked past, we would hear “crunch! Crunch! Crunch!” as they stepped on the ice on the floor. My mom thought that was hilarious and giggled every time someone had to walk past us.) Meanwhile, Butch was down to his last set of beads, and said “how about the lady in the back in the yellow?” (me), then threw them. They veered slightly to the left, and the bozo guy sitting down in the row in front of me reached his hand up to snatch them. I reached over his head and grabbed them from him, just as his hand was trying to close around it. Alyssa would have her beads after all! Ha! (There was no way I was going to get a drink spilled on me and dance around like a fool only to have some guy who could bother to even stand up take my cheap beads!) The comedian (sorry, gotta check my Capers for his name, but it might have been Marc Anthony) was only mediocre. Most of his material was old and stale, but I was in a good vacation mood and didn’t care. The show ended around 11:30pm, and I walked back to the cabin to turn in for the night. I saw our stack of luggage, though, and, after pushing our chair and vanity stool next to Alyssa’s bed to keep her from rolling out, I decided to get the unpacking over with. I stayed up until around 1:00am, putting everything away and storing our bags under the bed so that I wouldn’t trip and injure myself. I placed our room service card on our door rather than ask for a wake-up call or set the alarm clock, then finally climbed into bed. We were scheduled to arrive in Nassau at 8:00am on Sunday, Mother’s Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 Author #4 Share Posted May 17, 2009 where did you go? You were just getting started. Looking forward to the rest. Whoops! Our itinerary: Day 1 - Embarkation (Port Canaveral) Day 2 - Nassau, Bahamas Day 3 - At Sea Day 4 - St. Thomas, USVI Day 5 - St. Marteen, NA Day 6 - At Sea Day 7 - At Sea Day 8 - Da' Dreaded Debarkation (Port Canaveral) I should also add that this was the week of 5/9/09 through 5/16/09, with Mother's Day falling on Sunday, 5/10. Here are a few more pics from our first day: My mom and Alyssa on the Lido deck, with the Disney Magic in the background. Alyssa in the Ivory lounge, with her new Camp Carnival toy. Hubby's talapia from our first dinner on board. Funship Freddy...I was actually a little scared of him. :D Our first towel animal...a walrus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrybaby412 Posted May 17, 2009 #5 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Enjoyed your review so far. Our family friend (Joann) is 58, and very active. She has cruised once before on the Carnival Dream, and really, really, REALLY, wanted to do parasailing again. However, that didn’t really work out for her. Still, she had a great time. I think your friend may have meant another ship. The Dream has yet to set sail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 Author #6 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Enjoyed your review so far. I think your friend may have meant another ship. The Dream has yet to set sail. Yeah, I think she meant the Freedom. It was brand new when she sailed, and I think that threw her off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 Author #7 Share Posted May 17, 2009 You would think after the previous day’s adventure and late night/early morning bedtime, I would be sleeping late. However, my eyes just popped open around 6:30am. Alyssa was horizontal in the bed, and I was glad I put up the chair/stool barricade for her. I dozed off for about 30 minutes more, and when I opened my eyes, I saw land outside the window! We had arrived in Nassau nearly an hour ahead of schedule. I stood by the window and watched as the ship turned to pull into port. It was pretty impressive how such a huge ship could turn on a dime…or at least a Kennedy half dollar. (Alyssa, sleeping sideways in her bed.) Our room service arrived promptly at 7:30am, and I used the last of the champagne to make mimosas for us 3 moms. Alyssa and Alex were awake and getting dressed, so I sipped some hot tea while I waited for them to get ready, and wrapped myself in a Carnival robe. Then I took the 2 Mother’s Day gift baskets I made (each contained a sports water bottle, bottle of water, umbrella, shower scrunchie, clothespins, sticky notepad, luggage tags, and pocket photo album) put them on the room service tray with a carafe of coffee and the mimosas, and walked across the hall to my mom’s room. We sipped our drinks and made our plans for the day, then after dressing, went up to the Lido deck for breakfast. Alex, Joann, and my mom decided to explore Nassau, but since we would be leaving port at 2:00pm and I had already been to Nassau 3 times, I thought it would be a good day to have a nearly empty ship to explore. So the three of them headed to deck 0 (my mom decided to use her cane instead of the wheelchair) while Alyssa and I finished our breakfast. I took Alyssa to Camp Carnival, where I received a pager for the week. Check-in took a little while, but Alyssa could not wait to get in. She kept trying to open the gate on her own so that she could run in and play. I actually had to ASK for a kiss goodbye before she took off. LOL! After check-in, I took the stairs and went one deck down to the Spa deck, where I got a locker key in exchange for my Sail & Sign card. After a quick change, I decided to try the steam room to clear up some congestion I was feeling that morning. I spoke with a nice older woman who was already in the steam room, and enjoyed the beautiful view of Nassau while the steam worked its magic. (View from the Sauna, which was next door to the steam room.) After a while, I’d had enough and decided to check out the hot tub in the spa. Wow! What a sight! A waterfall rained down from a faux wall of rock into the pool in the spa. An older couple was just climbing into the hot tub when I arrived, and I chatted with them a bit. They were pleasant, but they didn’t seem very pleased with their Carnival experience thus far. They advised me to sail HAL or some other cruise line (I forgot which one they mentioned, but it might have been Princess), because those two lines had “a higher class of passengers, and not as many rude people.” Ummm. Ok. I didn’t bother to ask what sort of “class of passengers” they had already encountered on CCL or why they thought Carnival passengers were so rude. I figured nothing good would come from such negativity, so I changed the subject. After a few minutes, I excused myself and climbed into the spa pool which was connected to the hot tub. There was a button you could push to start up a jet that would create a current so you could swim laps. Neat concept, but the biggest flaw was that the waterfall feature was REALLY annoying! There was nowhere you could swim in that pool where the water from the waterfall didn’t pelt you in the face like a heavy rain. I looked for a way to turn off that feature, but couldn’t find one, so I gave up and climbed out of the pool. I took a quick shower in the spa (NICE roomy showers in there, with great water pressure), then back to Camp Carnival to pick up Alyssa for lunch. (Spa pool, with pretty, but annoying, waterfall.) Alyssa greeted me at the gate with a flower painted on her face and a crown on her head. She was so cute and so very proud of that flower, too! (Have I mentioned how awesome Camp Carnival was?!? Honestly, hubby and I both noticed how much clearer Alyssa talks now after our cruise.) Anyway, when I signed Alyssa out, a little girl around 4 or 5 years old ran to the gate and looked up at me like she was ready to cry. “Hi!” I said, “what a pretty flower on your face. That looks like a special princess flower! Are you a princess?” She sniffled and whispered “yes.” “Well, pleased to meet you princess!” I said. She finally gave me a slight grin and went back to the toys in the room. I took Alyssa’s hand and went back to our cabin to drop off my spa bag and leave a message on my mom’s door. As I was writing on her white board, all three of our Nassau explorers showed up. Alex and Joann decided to go to the pool to sun bathe, and Alyssa decided to have a picnic lunch in my mom’s room. I brought over some fruit from our Bon Voyage basket and cereal snacks I grabbed at breakfast. Then I ordered a PBJ from room service for Miss Picky. Alyssa just picked at the food, and was tired and extremely interested in the cookies that arrived with her sandwich. After about an hour of trying to get that child to eat, I gave up. I went up to the pool and found Alex laying in one of the deck chairs. I asked if he would come back to the cabin and watch Alyssa while my mom and I grabbed a Mother’s Day lunch. He agreed, but wasn’t too happy that he had to leave right when he was “just about to take a dip in the pool.” I noticed he was already pretty sunburned, so at least he was spared the pain of getting even more crispy. The Lido deck was packed as people were returning to the ship from their short day in Nassau. Everyone had to be back on board by 1:30pm, and according to Joann, most shops were closed anyway, and wouldn’t open until later since it was a Sunday. The buffet line was huge, and it was hard to find a table inside the Red Sail restaurant. I grabbed a bite from the Asian counter, which had virtually no line, and some pretty good ginger & soy marinated beef. After patrolling one end of the restaurant to the other, I finally snagged a table by the window on the port side of the ship. Another woman arrived at the table at almost the same time I did, but didn’t see me set my plate down on it. She yelled to her aunt who was across the room, then turned to see me, apologized, and moved on. Whew! I waved to my mom, who had finally made it through the buffet line, and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch as we watched the ship leave port. After lunch, my mom and I decided to visit the photo gallery and peruse our photos, and then returned to our cabins to get ready for our first elegant evening dinner. Alyssa and Alex were asleep when I walked in. Alex said Alyssa and he watched some TV for a while, and since Alyssa was watching TV and not napping as I’d hoped, he took Alyssa to the pool to play. I wasn’t surprised that after all that activity, Alyssa just would NOT wake up. So Alex agreed to let her sleep a little longer while us three ladies attended the captain’s cocktail party. Since the party was hosted in all the aft lounges, we went straight to Bar Blue next to the Ivory Bar, where we waited out the crowd. It was just the 3 of us in the room for quite a while, which meant all the servers in Bar Blue waited on us first. J My mom, who rarely drinks, managed to down FIVE whisky sours before dinner! Of course, they were flavorful, but not strong. As our dinnertime approached, I went back to the cabin to retrieve Alex and Alyssa so that we could get some professional photos taken before Alyssa had a chance to wear her dinner. ;-) There were virtually no lines, so we took pictures in front of a few different backgrounds and in various poses, and were about 5-10 minutes late for dinner. No biggie. Vaughn, our waiter didn’t miss a beat. (Alyssa, all dressed for dinner.) The food in the dining room was very good. I enjoyed a good and tender steak, followed by cherries jubilee, which was delicious! Since it was Mother’s Day, all the mothers received an absolutely divine special dessert, which I thought was even better than the melting cake! It tasted like a rich flourless chocolate cake, with fruit and milk chocolate on top. YUMMY! Mothers (and Alyssa) were also presented with a pink carnation each. (THE best dessert on board!) Before dessert was served, however, Alyssa once again would NOT sit still, no matter how many times I got onto her about being in the aisle. Well, on this night, her defiance actually got her STABBED! Poor baby! The head waiter who was serving the table next to us was standing in the aisle and clearing off some of the dirty plates and silverware from the main course. He was holding one of the knives by his side, and Alyssa, who wasn’t watching where she was going walked right into it! Fortunately, it wasn’t a very sharp or serrated knife, but it still left a little mark on Alyssa’s sleeveless shoulder, and hurt her. She cried pretty hard, and the waiter felt terrible. He hugged her and apologized over and over again. Alyssa settled down and was treated like royalty by that head waiter (I never got the correct pronunciation or spelling of his name, but it started with an “S”), our waiter, and our assistant waiter. They fussed over her and fetched her a giant glass of chocolate milk, a plate full of cookies, and a big banana split. Alyssa had already settled down and stopped crying, but the still guilt-ridden head waiter continued to check on her and dote on her. (He explained to me that he had a little one Alyssa’s age as well.) The evening’s post-dinner entertainment was still a lot of fun, and Alyssa waved her napkin around, spilling her chocolate milk all over her dress. (Oops!) She danced with Vaughn and the head waiter from the table next to ours, and seemed to be over the whole knife incident in no time. (Yet another cookie was waiting for Alyssa on her bed.) After dinner, my mom babysat Alyssa, while Alex and I decided to skip the show and explore the ship. I stopped in the casino to make my donation, and wound up losing money without even gambling! I had no idea that I had to physically push a “Cash out to card” button on the video poker machine in order to keep the money I had left on my Sail & Sign card. So I simply removed my card from the machine and went about my merry way. Well, as it turned out, if you don’t push the button to cash out, you’re essentially LEAVING THE MONEY IN THE MACHINE! So the $8 or so that I THOUGHT I had left was no longer mine after I walked away from the machine. D’oh! A hard lesson learned, but fortunately, not a very expensive lesson. The Glory Fun Patrol was also out in the casino that night. Alex and I watched as two of the crew members flashed “Free Hugs” signs at people who were passing by. Dan, the entertainment host was nearby, making balloon animals. He gave me a blue Alaskan shepherd balloon animal, and after I collected my free hugs (can’t shake hands, but we can hug?), Dan gave me an invitation to a special “fun luncheon” in the Platinum dining room on Thursday. Woo hoo! After a brief tour of the Fun Shops on deck 5, Promenade, I took Alex up two or three decks, where we found one of the Glory’s “secret doors.” It was so neat, being at the front of the ship, just under the bridge and all by ourselves. It was windy that night and a big foggy as the wind sounded some eerie howls as cut across the bow. We watched and listened as the ship seemed to be travelling nowhere into near total the darkness. It was like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean, and we had to look really hard to make out the horizon in front of us. Oooooo! The next day was our first Fun Day at Sea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 Author #8 Share Posted May 17, 2009 The lighthouse I spotted when I woke up. Atlantis A walk down the pier. We pulled in next to the Majesty of the Seas. My future winter home. Tonight's towel animal was a pig...I think. Could have been a dog, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathyoo Posted May 17, 2009 #9 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Great pictures, beautiful daughter, can't wait to read the rest of your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmecruise1962 Posted May 17, 2009 #10 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I love all the pics and your daughter is adorable!! Can you tell me..was the Straw Market open on Sunday while the ship was in port? I promised my daughter a purse...and that is the ONLY reason I plan to get off the ship in Nassau! And now I am planning to hit the steam room too! I love this review!! :D:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieastrosfan Posted May 17, 2009 #11 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Tonight's towel animal was a pig...I think. Could have been a dog, though. I say pig. We got that same towel animal the day the captain made the big announcement on the Splendor, and I like to think our cabin steward had a great sense of humor. :D Great review! We have a 3 1/2 year old boy, so I sympathize with everything you've written so far! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zillabe Posted May 17, 2009 #12 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Glad you had a good cruise too! I loved everything. My only complaint was that for the R rated comic they put him in the Ebony (might be wrong on the name of the lounge) When We got there there was no room to sit. Why don't they just keep them in the theater? But that was our only negative LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KroozFoolz Posted May 17, 2009 #13 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I am enjoying your review! As you can see from my avatar, I have also enjoyed that great chocolate dessert - only it was on Valentine's Day on Fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheri18 Posted May 17, 2009 #14 Share Posted May 17, 2009 love your review..cant wait to read the rest....your daughter is so cute... love the carnival rubiks cube...would love one myself...lol the special mothers day dessert looked awesome.... thanks for taking the time to write and post pics.... love this type of review....i did a similar one of my glory cruise....thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucyt1207 Posted May 17, 2009 #15 Share Posted May 17, 2009 we are sailing on the Glory May 30...love your review and pics. More, please!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbmga Posted May 17, 2009 #16 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Love reading your review. We will be on the Glory in July. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammi0916 Posted May 17, 2009 #17 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Love your idea of putting a magna doodle on the door! Question: How did you get it to hang you your door? Thanks and loving the review - we are going on the Glory in July! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 17, 2009 Author #18 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I'll be continuing my review with Day 3, our first Sea Day, this evening. (Gotta go get some groceries to fill my now empty fridge.) However, I wanted to make sure I said "thank you" to all who replied thus far, answer the questions posted, and also make a few corrections to my above posts: The straw market was open in Nassau while we were in port. My hubby and our friend Joann said they perused briefly, but didn't really see anything they wanted. Joann sailed the Carnival Freedom, not the Dream. I just confirmed this with her this morning. My references to the "Ivory Lounge" should actually be "Ebony Cabaret." The Ebony Cabaret was on deck 5, Promenade, and was the main venue for the R-rated comedy, the art auction, the cocktail parties, and karaoke. The Ivory Bar was smaller, and hosted the afternoon teas and piano music. I agree that many of the events in the Ebony Cabaret should have been in the main show lounge, the Amber Palace, instead. All the "big" shows, like the adult comedy show, and the captain's and past guest cocktail parties were wall-to-wall people. :eek: Certainly a fire hazard, even with a few people graciously moving to the Cinn-a-bar and Bar Blue lounges adjacent to the Ebony Cabaret. The MagnaDoodle on our door had magnetic strips on the back that stuck to the metal cabin door. However, for extra measure and to keep it on the door whenever the door slammed shut, we also used the 3M Easy-Off double-sided mounting tape. Next up - Fun Day At Sea, when hubby and I made use of the Spa Services and encountered the infamous and frightful chair hogs! :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwynot Posted May 17, 2009 #19 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I love reading your commentary. My DB is the trombone player in the show band, so I'm looking at your photos hoping he may have inadvertently been caught in your lense. I was hoping to go on the Glory before his contract ends in June, but no such luck. Looking forward to the rest of your trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxcruiser23 Posted May 17, 2009 #20 Share Posted May 17, 2009 thank you I really enjoyed this review being I will be going on it for a second time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 18, 2009 Author #21 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Monday was a day at sea, and since we had no place to be, our group decided to try the Platinum dining room for breakfast instead of the buffet on the Lido deck. Bah! It was ok, I guess, but the service was slow and the food was nothing special. My mother ordered Eggs Benedict with well-done eggs, but her eggs came back grossly runny…nearly raw, in fact. It took quite a few minutes to finally get our server’s attention and ask that my mom’s eggs be cooked more. Her second set of eggs were still pretty runny, but my mom, being the shy quiet type said “that’s ok,” and picked at the parts that were actually cooked. We took Alyssa to Camp Carnival because Alex and I had His and Her pedicures scheduled for 11:00. Yes, I was just as surprised that my husband wanted a pedicure! He said he always makes fun of his male co-workers who get pedicures, but deep down, he’s secretly jealous. LOL! (Alex enjoying his first pedicure.) We had yet another great window view in the spa as the nail techs filed, scrubbed, massaged, and revived our poor neglected feet. Hubby chose to have his nails buffed shiny instead of getting a clear coat of polish. I had picked out a somewhat pink color for my toes, but as my feet were soaking, another passenger came in and was seated right next to us. She told the nail tech that her shoes from formal night the previous night botched up both of her big toes, and she was wondering if she could borrow the polish for touch up. “Don’t worry,” one of the techs told her, “Gimme 10 minutes and I’ll fix for you.” I looked at the lady’s toes, and said “Oooo! That’s a pretty color! Can I change my mind and get that color instead?” “Sure, no problem!” was the reply. Each pedicure cost a little more than $70 with gratuity. Hubby spent another $60 because he was talked into buying some sort of moisturizing oil for his skin. For the rest of the week, he would rub his leg or foot and say some variation of “Oooo! My leg/foot is still so sofffffffft!” Ha! Since our spa service lasted an hour, my mom went to Camp Carnival to pick up Alyssa for lunch. Knowing she was in good hands, Alex and I decided to spend a little time on our own and check out the activities on the Lido deck. All 3 of the upper sun decks – Lido, Spa, and Sun – were covered with sun bathing towels, sun lotion, and reading material left behind by the chair hogs. My toes were still wet, so we spied 2 lounge chairs together on deck 10 that had only Carnival towels on them. We sat on them so that we could look over our Capers and figure out a plan for the day. The minute we sat down, some guy next to us said “Uh, someone’s using those chairs!” And then this couple who were walking away whipped around and said “Those are ours! We’re just going to lunch!” Hubby, who is much nicer than me, spoke before I could snap out my little smart @$$ retort, and said “We’re just going to sit here for a little while and get our bearings.” Anyway, after a few minutes, we decided to get Alyssa, change into our swim suits, grab a bite, then take Alyssa to the pool. We found Alyssa in my mom’s cabin, where the 2 of them had ordered room service. (My mom agreed with my husband’s claim that the steak and brie sandwich was great.) (Today's Camp Carnival activity - color your own T-shirt.) Alyssa was excited to be going to the pool, and since she already snacked in my mom’s room, she didn’t really eat much in the Red Sail restaurant. I only picked at a few things as well, since I wasn’t that hungry either. Hubby couldn’t resist sampling from the buffet, then trying the fish & chips station, which he raved about. ("Can we go to the pool now?!?") We skipped the main pool and went to the aft pool instead, hoping it would be less crowded. Again, there were a bunch of Carnival towels and reading material sun bathing without owners. Since Alex was going to take Alyssa into the pool, I decided to grab just one chair for the 3 of us, and found one without a body along the second row of loungers by the pool so I could watch them swim. I sat on the chair and inflated Alyssa’s Mickey Mouse floatie while Alex sprayed Alyssa with 50 SPF sun block. From Alex’s initial reaction, I gathered that the pool water was pretty cold. LOL! After a few minutes, I grabbed the edges of the ownerless Carnival towel on the chair, and the woman next to me almost had an apoplectic fit! “That’s his!” she exclaimed, “And those are his shoes! He just went to get a bite to eat!” “Who?” I asked calmly, “WHEN did ‘he’ go to lunch?” “He’s just sitting right over there,” she said, pointing at fatty and 2 other people at a table in the shade. At that point, Fatty pulled over a chair from another table and said “Ma’am, you’re welcome to put your stuff in THIS chair.” “No thank you,” I replied, “This is fine,” and I took the sunscreen out of my bag and began applying it to my arms, legs, and back, ignoring the dirty looks from the agitated female and male North American Chair Hogs (chairius hoggimas supremous). (Chair hogs, discussing the NERVE of some people moving in on THEIR empty lounge chairs while they had lunch!) In a few minutes time, I noticed someone getting up from a lounger in the front row closer to the pool, so I quickly grabbed my bag and slid into the chair as she walked away carrying her gear. I glanced back at the NACH’s and all FOUR of them were now seated at the table, and there were FOUR chairs behind me with Carnival towels, books, shoes, and sunscreen piled on top of each one…just to be 100% sure no one “dared” take “their” chairs while they stuffed themselves! (I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t pee on the chairs, just to mark their territory!) LOL! Anyway, I had promised my mom that I would go to afternoon tea with her, so after about 45 minutes to an hour, I decided that I had baked enough and gathered my stuff together. Alex and Alyssa decided to leave the pool at that time as well, so we all went back to the cabin to shower and change. At 3:30, I stopped by my mom’s cabin so we could walk to the Ivory Lounge on deck 4, aft. I was surprised to see the lounge nearly full this afternoon! On our last cruise, when my mom and I participated in tea time, we were the only ones there. Guess the word spread about how nice this event was. We chose two seats on the couch near the piano player and waited for the servers to make their way around offering various teas (I enjoyed a soothing decaf mint tea and my mom chose an orange herbal tea), cucumber sandwiches and a smoked salmon item, and of course, an assortment of desserts prettily displayed on a tea cart. Yum! I chuckled a little when I watched a middle-aged guy a few seats away make a selection from the finger sandwich tray. I could tell his wife had talked him into attending, and he wasn’t really sure he wanted to be there. He pointed to the cucumber sandwiches and asked what they were. The waiter told him. Then he asked what the salmon was. Again, the waiter described its contents. Finally, the guy pointed to the garnish in the middle of the tray (it was a squash, zucchini, and radish stacked together and carved to resemble a large flower), and he asked what that was. The waiter smiled and said “that’s a flower.” My mom and I relaxed and listened to the piano music while we sipped our tea. I asked my mom if she would please slide the table over a little so that I could cross my legs, and would you believe she fell for the old “please-move-this-table-that’s-bolted-to-the-floor” gag AGAIN?!? I laughed at the expression on her face when she realized she fell for the same table gag, and my mom gave me a light slap on my arm. (Cheers!) We chatted a bit, observed some of the people in the room, and sampled some really great chocolate cake before heading back to our cabins. I wanted to check on Alex and Alyssa and see if Alex wanted me to take over child care for a while. When I walked in, the TV was on, and both of them were asleep on Alyssa’s bed. Alex woke up when I started getting dressed for dinner, but Alyssa was so tired, we could NOT get her up! It was actually rather eerie, seeing her in such a deep sleep. We decided to let Alyssa nap as long as possible, and fortunately, she woke up in time to get ready for dinner. She was in a MUCH better mood this night, and much better behaved. The waiters doted on Alyssa like she was royalty. They called her “princess” and hugged her, and asked her how her day was. Again, she danced with Vaughn during our post-dinner “shhhhhhhowtime,” and the people at the table behind us just fell in love with her. They asked her how old she was and what her name was, and complimented her on her dancing. Alyssa just ate up all that attention, too. J (Shhhhhhhowtime!) After dinner, we took Alyssa to Camp Carnival so that we could all see the Motown show with Marcus Anthony. At Camp Carnival, two little boys saw Alyssa standing at the gate and came running over to play with her. I was still signing Alyssa in as the boys tried to reach through the gate. “It’s ok,” Alyssa told them, “You go back and play. I’ll be right there!” LOL! Marcus Anthony was very entertaining and he was a great singer! He asked if anyone had been married for 40 years or more, and this one elderly couple spoke up and said they had been married for 68 years! Wow! The gentleman was a Pearl Harbor survivor, and when Marcus announced this, the audience gave the man a standing ovation! It was very touching. Marcus invited the couple up on stage, along with a few other couples from the audience. Then, he encouraged all the couples to dance, which was a little difficult in that theater while the ship was moving. ;-) Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening and a great end to a relaxing day at sea. The next day we would arrive at St. Thomas, USVI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poptart Posted May 19, 2009 #22 Share Posted May 19, 2009 where did you go? You were just getting started. Looking forward to the rest. duh! I looked at the time wrong and didn't realize I was posting only 3 minutes after your 1st post....sorry :( :D:D Your review and pictures are awesome and little Alyssa is a doll. Love those big brown eyes. We also enjoyed the Glory when we cruised on her. Looking forward to the rest. Happy Sails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 19, 2009 Author #23 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Monday was a day at sea, and since we had no place to be, our group decided to try the Platinum dining room for breakfast instead of the buffet on the Lido deck. Bah! It was ok, I guess, but the service was slow and the food was nothing special. My mother ordered Eggs Benedict with well-done eggs, but her eggs came back grossly runny…nearly raw, in fact. It took quite a few minutes to finally get our server’s attention and ask that my mom’s eggs be cooked more. Her second set of eggs were still pretty runny, but my mom, being the shy quiet type said “that’s ok,” and picked at the parts that were actually cooked. We took Alyssa to Camp Carnival because Alex and I had His and Her pedicures scheduled for 11:00. Yes, I was just as surprised that my husband wanted a pedicure! He said he always makes fun of his male co-workers who get pedicures, but deep down, he’s secretly jealous. LOL! (Alex enjoying his first pedicure.) We had yet another great window view in the spa as the nail techs filed, scrubbed, massaged, and revived our poor neglected feet. Hubby chose to have his nails buffed shiny instead of getting a clear coat of polish. I had picked out a somewhat pink color for my toes, but as my feet were soaking, another passenger came in and was seated right next to us. She told the nail tech that her shoes from formal night the previous night botched up both of her big toes, and she was wondering if she could borrow the polish for touch up. “Don’t worry,” one of the techs told her, “Gimme 10 minutes and I’ll fix for you.” I looked at the lady’s toes, and said “Oooo! That’s a pretty color! Can I change my mind and get that color instead?” “Sure, no problem!” was the reply. Each pedicure cost a little more than $70 with gratuity. Hubby spent another $60 because he was talked into buying some sort of moisturizing oil for his skin. For the rest of the week, he would rub his leg or foot and say some variation of “Oooo! My leg/foot is still so sofffffffft!” Ha! Since our spa service lasted an hour, my mom went to Camp Carnival to pick up Alyssa for lunch. Knowing she was in good hands, Alex and I decided to spend a little time on our own and check out the activities on the Lido deck. All 3 of the upper sun decks – Lido, Spa, and Sun – were covered with sun bathing towels, sun lotion, and reading material left behind by the chair hogs. My toes were still wet, so we spied 2 lounge chairs together on deck 10 that had only Carnival towels on them. We sat on them so that we could look over our Capers and figure out a plan for the day. The minute we sat down, some guy next to us said “Uh, someone’s using those chairs!” And then this couple who were walking away whipped around and said “Those are ours! We’re just going to lunch!” Hubby, who is much nicer than me, spoke before I could snap out my little smart @$$ retort, and said “We’re just going to sit here for a little while and get our bearings.” Anyway, after a few minutes, we decided to get Alyssa, change into our swim suits, grab a bite, then take Alyssa to the pool. We found Alyssa in my mom’s cabin, where the 2 of them had ordered room service. (My mom agreed with my husband’s claim that the steak and brie sandwich was great.) (Today's Camp Carnival activity - color your own T-shirt.) Alyssa was excited to be going to the pool, and since she already snacked in my mom’s room, she didn’t really eat much in the Red Sail restaurant. I only picked at a few things as well, since I wasn’t that hungry either. Hubby couldn’t resist sampling from the buffet, then trying the fish & chips station, which he raved about. ("Can we go to the pool now?!?") We skipped the main pool and went to the aft pool instead, hoping it would be less crowded. Again, there were a bunch of Carnival towels and reading material sun bathing without owners. Since Alex was going to take Alyssa into the pool, I decided to grab just one chair for the 3 of us, and found one without a body along the second row of loungers by the pool so I could watch them swim. I sat on the chair and inflated Alyssa’s Mickey Mouse floatie while Alex sprayed Alyssa with 50 SPF sun block. From Alex’s initial reaction, I gathered that the pool water was pretty cold. LOL! After a few minutes, I grabbed the edges of the ownerless Carnival towel on the chair, and the woman next to me almost had an apoplectic fit! “That’s his!” she exclaimed, “And those are his shoes! He just went to get a bite to eat!” “Who?” I asked calmly, “WHEN did ‘he’ go to lunch?” “He’s just sitting right over there,” she said, pointing at fatty and 2 other people at a table in the shade. At that point, Fatty pulled over a chair from another table and said “Ma’am, you’re welcome to put your stuff in THIS chair.” “No thank you,” I replied, “This is fine,” and I took the sunscreen out of my bag and began applying it to my arms, legs, and back, ignoring the dirty looks from the agitated female and male North American Chair Hogs (chairius hoggimas supremous). (Chair hogs, discussing the NERVE of some people moving in on THEIR empty lounge chairs while they had lunch!) In a few minutes time, I noticed someone getting up from a lounger in the front row closer to the pool, so I quickly grabbed my bag and slid into the chair as she walked away carrying her gear. I glanced back at the NACH’s and all FOUR of them were now seated at the table, and there were FOUR chairs behind me with Carnival towels, books, shoes, and sunscreen piled on top of each one…just to be 100% sure no one “dared” take “their” chairs while they stuffed themselves! (I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t pee on the chairs, just to mark their territory!) LOL! Anyway, I had promised my mom that I would go to afternoon tea with her, so after about 45 minutes to an hour, I decided that I had baked enough and gathered my stuff together. Alex and Alyssa decided to leave the pool at that time as well, so we all went back to the cabin to shower and change. At 3:30, I stopped by my mom’s cabin so we could walk to the Ivory Lounge on deck 4, aft. I was surprised to see the lounge nearly full this afternoon! On our last cruise, when my mom and I participated in tea time, we were the only ones there. Guess the word spread about how nice this event was. We chose two seats on the couch near the piano player and waited for the servers to make their way around offering various teas (I enjoyed a soothing decaf mint tea and my mom chose an orange herbal tea), cucumber sandwiches and a smoked salmon item, and of course, an assortment of desserts prettily displayed on a tea cart. Yum! I chuckled a little when I watched a middle-aged guy a few seats away make a selection from the finger sandwich tray. I could tell his wife had talked him into attending, and he wasn’t really sure he wanted to be there. He pointed to the cucumber sandwiches and asked what they were. The waiter told him. Then he asked what the salmon was. Again, the waiter described its contents. Finally, the guy pointed to the garnish in the middle of the tray (it was a squash, zucchini, and radish stacked together and carved to resemble a large flower), and he asked what that was. The waiter smiled and said “that’s a flower.” My mom and I relaxed and listened to the piano music while we sipped our tea. I asked my mom if she would please slide the table over a little so that I could cross my legs, and would you believe she fell for the old “please-move-this-table-that’s-bolted-to-the-floor” gag AGAIN?!? I laughed at the expression on her face when she realized she fell for the same table gag, and my mom gave me a light slap on my arm. (Cheers!) We chatted a bit, observed some of the people in the room, and sampled some really great chocolate cake before heading back to our cabins. I wanted to check on Alex and Alyssa and see if Alex wanted me to take over child care for a while. When I walked in, the TV was on, and both of them were asleep on Alyssa’s bed. Alex woke up when I started getting dressed for dinner, but Alyssa was so tired, we could NOT get her up! It was actually rather eerie, seeing her in such a deep sleep. We decided to let Alyssa nap as long as possible, and fortunately, she woke up in time to get ready for dinner. She was in a MUCH better mood this night, and much better behaved. The waiters doted on Alyssa like she was royalty. They called her “princess” and hugged her, and asked her how her day was. Again, she danced with Vaughn during our post-dinner “shhhhhhhowtime,” and the people at the table behind us just fell in love with her. They asked her how old she was and what her name was, and complimented her on her dancing. Alyssa just ate up all that attention, too. J (Shhhhhhhowtime!) After dinner, we took Alyssa to Camp Carnival so that we could all see the Motown show with Marcus Anthony. At Camp Carnival, two little boys saw Alyssa standing at the gate and came running over to play with her. I was still signing Alyssa in as the boys tried to reach through the gate. “It’s ok,” Alyssa told them, “You go back and play. I’ll be right there!” LOL! Marcus Anthony was very entertaining and he was a great singer! He asked if anyone had been married for 40 years or more, and this one elderly couple spoke up and said they had been married for 68 years! Wow! The gentleman was a Pearl Harbor survivor, and when Marcus announced this, the audience gave the man a standing ovation! It was very touching. Marcus invited the couple up on stage, along with a few other couples from the audience. Then, he encouraged all the couples to dance, which was a little difficult in that theater while the ship was moving. ;-) Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening and a great end to a relaxing day at sea. The next day we would arrive at St. Thomas, USVI. Sorry for the delay. I just got swamped at work yesterday. This evening, I will continue with our adventures in St. Thomas, where we had a little rain, almost got run over by a tour bus, and met Sp****M** tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 20, 2009 Author #24 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It was gray and dreary when we arrived in St. Thomas, a little earlier than scheduled. A light mist made the Lido deck a little wet, so we had breakfast inside the Red Sail restaurant. I asked my mom to please push the table closer to Alyssa, and you know what? She fell for the “please-move-this-bolted-table” gag AGAIN! LOL! (Alyssa, watching through the haze as a sea plane landed on the water) After breakfast, we grabbed our ponchos, umbrellas, Alyssa’s stroller, and my beach bag, and went down to deck 0 to explore the island. My original plan was to take a cab to Coral World, come back to Havensight, shop a little, then get back to the ship for dinner. Well, it didn’t happen. The minute we stepped off the ship, the sky opened up and it started to rain pretty hard. Conrad, from Sp***man tours, asked us if we wanted a tour. I put Alyssa’s poncho on her while everyone else stood around asking “what do we do? I dunno, what do YOU want to do? I don’t care what do YOU want to do? Do you want to take the tour? I dunno. Do YOU? What about that Coral place? You want to go there? I don’t care. What about YOU?” I put my poncho on and said “Alright. Here are our options. We can get a cab and go to Coral World. We can take this guy up on his offer for a tour. Or we can stand here in the rain and just talk about our options. Personally, I’m up for getting out of the rain as quickly as possible, so I vote for the tour.” So the tour won out, 1 to 0 votes, and 4 undecided. My mom, who decided to use her cane instead of her wheelchair, began to walk towards the tour bus. Alex and Joann followed, while I tried to guide Alyssa in her too big poncho. Now, Alyssa has little toddler legs, so she doesn’t walk that fast to begin with. When she’s wrapped in a poncho that hangs down past her ankles (I kept trying to tie up the slack so that it wouldn’t trip her), she walks super slow. And since I had my purse and beach bag and was wearing my own wet poncho, carrying Alyssa really wasn’t an option, even if she wanted me to. Anyway, when we docked in St. Thomas, we were right behind the Liberty, which was the only other ship there. To leave the area, we had to walk down the pier a little ways and go through a gate in a chain link fence, then walk back down the length of the pier to where our tour guide was waiting, along with 3-4 other tour buses and some transport vans. Well, as I mentioned, Alyssa walked at a slow pace, and I held her hand. HONK! HONK! (Liberty and Glory were the only ships in port.) Behind me was a van, honking at us to move out of the way. So I guided Alyssa over to the side, where several tour buses were waiting to merge into traffic. The guy driving the van came up along side us, then stopped, because he was blocked by other vans and buses trying to get underway. Because the road was so narrow, Alyssa and I were sort of trapped there, and the rest of our group was already getting on the tour bus. At that moment, the bus in front of us got tired of waiting behind our tour bus and started to BACK UP! I snatched Alyssa up and quickly got out of the way so that we wouldn’t get run over! Then, since there was nowhere else to go, I squeezed between the van and the bus (my poncho rubbing the sides of each vehicle), and started walking forward, tapping on the driver’s window of the bus with my hand so that the driver wouldn’t try to pull forward and crush us between the vehicles. FINALLY on our tour bus, we were ready to go. The tour bus pulled out, and down came a huge waterfall onto the people in the back seat! The lady in the back seat on the left side of the bus got SOAKED! Apparently, since the plastic canopy that usually covers the left side of the bus was rolled up, it acted sort of like a rain gutter collecting rain. When the bus took off, all the water slid down and out of the rolled-up canopy. Whoops! The tour was pretty good. The rain stopped soon after we were on our way, and we had nice weather (though overcast) for the rest of the time we were in St. Thomas. Conrad, our tour guide, took us to a couple of scenic lookout points, then to a place that had a little store and a bar that offered free banana daiquiri samples. (DELICIOUS!) They were the non-alcoholic version, so Alyssa got to try it as well, and she LOVED it! (Alyssa pauses for a picture.) After our brief stop, Conrad took us to Mountain Top, which had a little shopping mall and another scenic overlook. My mom, who didn’t think she could manage the stairs down to the mall stayed on the bus, so Conrad stayed with her and kept her company. He was very nice, my mom said, and they had a good chat. We all piled back onto the bus, and Conrad said he would take us either to Charlotte Amalie or back to the ship, our choice. The other folks on the tour chose Charlotte Amalie, but I asked if he would drop us at Havensight instead. I mentioned the butterfly farm for Alyssa, and Conrad said “do you already have tickets?” “No,” I replied. “Good,” he said, “because I wouldn’t recommend it. My friend said he’s seen more butterflies in his own backyard.” J Back at Havensight, we looked around at a few shops, but didn’t see a whole lot of great deals. One thing I DID notice was that the locals we’re all that friendly. Some of the people we encountered were downright rude, in fact. Nevertheless, I enjoyed looking around and hanging out with Alyssa. Since I was saving my “serious” shopping for our next port of St. Marteen, I happily pushed Alyssa around in her stroller while the rest of my group looked in all the stores. (Didn't take Alyssa long to find something SHE wanted to buy!) After everyone explored all the shops they were interested in, we decided to walk back to the ship for a late lunch. Guess who ELSE was vacationing on the Glory with us? Santa Claus! LOL! There was a really nice older man who looked like Santa, and even wore a Santa hat every time we saw him. No lie – I saw his formal night pictures in the photo gallery on the Glory, and he was wearing a suit with a Santa tie and his Santa hat! Anyway, when we were walking back to the ship, when Alex pointed in front of us and said “Look, Alyssa! Who’s that?” “Santa!” Alyssa said, as she spotted the familiar red hat. “Well, hello!” Santa said, “I’m on vacation too!” Then he picked Alyssa up so we could take a picture, and said a few kinds words before we said goodbye. “Wow, Alyssa!” I told my little girl, “Not many little girls can say they saw Santa Claus on vacation! You must be very special!” She grinned as she said “Yeah!” (Santa on vacation...would that be a true "Santa Cruise"?) Back on board the Glory, we grabbed a bite at the Grill, then Alyssa, Joann, and I checked out some putters and a couple of golf balls to play some mini golf on the upper deck. Alyssa LOVES mini golf, and ALWAYS gets a hole in one because she cheats! LOL! My little cheater always tees off by putting her ball right next to the hole! Then she laughs when I chant “Cheater! Cheater!” Of course, she’s also willing to help her mommy by strategically placing my ball next to the hole, too! Playing by Alyssa rules, we completed the course in no time! So we all went back to our cabins to clean up and rest. We were only in our cabin for a few seconds when we had a knock on our door. It was Curtis, our room steward who took over for Made the very first night of our cruise. He handed Alex an envelope and a coveted Ship On A Stick trophy. The night before, there was a Carnival Colors door decorating contest, and I won! Yay! Our door of course had the colorful fish and MagnaDoodle, on which I drew a small picture of the Glory. I also added a sign that read “Go Red Team! Decks 1 & 2 sleep with ‘da fishes!” Alex decided to take Alyssa to the waterslide, which was open and had no lines since we were in port. (The first day, one of the crew members asked Alyssa if she planned on doing the waterslide, and I said “I don’t think she’s tall enough is she?” “Well, just put her in your lap. It’ll be ok,” he replied.) Alyssa was so excited! Unfortunately, it was a bust. When Alyssa and Alex came back to the room, he said that they made him measure Alyssa right before they got on the slide, and she was just under the mark. So Alex had to tell her she couldn’t go on the slide after all. “Let’s go to the hot tub instead,” he told her. “OK!” she replied. What a trooper! Alyssa loved the hot tub…or should I say lukewarm tub. It was shallow enough where she could stand up in it and bob around while she got surrounded by bubbles. She was quite happy when she and Alex returned to the cabin and excitedly told me all about it! We dressed for dinner and headed to the Platinum dining room. Mr. Vaughn greeted us with his usual “woohoo!” and “princess!” greetings, then took our orders. Poor Alyssa, exhausted from her busy day, lay her head in Alex’s lap, and fell asleep before even the appetizers arrived. She slept all through dinner, and we had to carry her back to the cabin! (Too tired for dinner.) We got Alyssa in her PJs and put her to bed, and she didn’t even open her eyes! My mom said she would babysit while we went to the show, because she really wasn’t into magic acts anyway. “Justin Illusion” put on a GREAT show! I could figure out most of the tricks, but the music and dancing that went along with the show was PHENOMIAL! Hubby and I both enjoyed it immensely. I highly recommend it to anyone sailing the Glory anytime soon. Next up is our day at St. Marteen, our favorite port of this trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Jag Posted May 20, 2009 Author #25 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I think everyone who visits St. Thomas takes this very same picture: My Girl Scout wannabe, helping her grandma: Iguanas are everywhere in St. Thomas: Yar! There be pirates on board! Alex in front of the Glory: Our window view: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.