byrdbrain55

Waterworks and Mini Golf

Atrium and lobby bar

Pixels Gallery

We ended up boarding the ship at around 12:30 or 1.  We headed up to the Lido and got our first Guy's Burger.  I love the Pig Patty with bacon and my favorite part is the ability to choose my toppings from the toppings bar.  

After lunch, we went down to our rooms and dropped off our carry-ons.  We met our room steward, Felix who asked if we wanted morning or evening service or both.  We let him know that we are fairly laid back and our only request was for ice.  We loved Felix and I'm still in contact with him via Facebook.  He is such a nice guy and he was always smiling and greeted us by name.  How are you today, Mr Larry? 

We set off to explore the ship prior to the muster drill.  

15 minutes ago, schwesterellibelli said:

Thank you for sharing. It helps with the cruising withdraw.  we had planned a cruise going to Domenica etc from San Juan next October, but they cancelled all cruises with the Fascination.

Can't wait to hear more from your journey.

I am going through cruise withdrawals myself and reliving my past cruises is definitely helping.  We loved San Juan!  I'm sad you are going to miss it.

Today is Embarkation Day!

We woke up, re-arranged our luggage so the wine and soda could be in a carry-on.  Embassy Suites has a complimentary made-to-order breakfast.  After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and were picked up by Cortrans Shuttle ($20 per person each way).  Jay and Diane came with us on Cortrans and Brian and Carol and Mark and Cheryl went back to the airport to catch the Carnival shuttle.  We were the first ones picked up and stopped at several other hotels picking up more people before heading from Orlando to Port Canaveral.  It is about a 45 minute drive and it was very pretty.  

Soon, we were able to get our first glimpse of the Sunshine!  Whale tail ahead!

Traffic was crazy getting into the port but we finally made it.  After dropping our luggage with the porter, we got in line to check-in and go through security.  While we were in line, Larry started chatting with a retired Sgt. Major.  Larry is an Army veteran and they hit it off.  We did have a good laugh when he asked where we were from and told me that I had the whitest legs he had ever seen.  

It is time to board!

Since we live on the west coast, we always fly in at least a day early.  Quite honestly, we have to since the flights wouldn't get us to Florida prior to ship leaving if we tried to fly on the day of sailing.  

We got to the airport at 3:30 in the morning for our 5 am flight to check in only to find out that the ticket desk doesn't open until 3:45.  We stood in line and were the first people to drop our luggage off and then off to security we went to find out they don't open until 4.  I was cursing my travel agent (me) at this point since I am not a morning person and this was just annoying since I was tired and just wanted to get this show on the road.  Our flight to Seattle was on time and everyone had time to grab a bite or coffee in the airport before we boarded the flight to Orlando.

Once in Orlando, we grabbed our luggage and took the shuttle to our hotel, Embassy Suites Orlando.  We got the hotel on Priceline for $179.  The Embassy Suites have a complimentary evening reception, serving drinks and appetizers.  We dropped our luggage in our rooms and then met in the lobby for the reception.  Gary and Karina and John and Rebecca were not staying at the same hotel so it was just 8 of us.  At some point, Larry said he needed to run up to our room for something and promptly disappeared.  I found out later when I went looking for him that he had fallen asleep (since we had such an early flight, he had just stayed up and had not slept the night before).

I wanted to go find a store to buy wine, soda, shampoo and conditioner and sunscreen.  The hotel front desk said the shuttle could take us anywhere in a 3 mile radius but they were out at the airport and it would be a while before it was back.  I decided that we could just walk since there was a Walgreens about a mile away.  This seemed like a great plan until we realized we had no idea where we were going and wandered around for about an hour looking for the store before eventually stumbling upon it.  Jay was less than impressed with my navigation skills, lol.  We ended up calling the hotel shuttle to pick us up and take us back to the hotel.  We ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel lobby and then headed to bed.

6 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Yayyyyy! Another of your great reviews! Look forward to following along! 👍

2 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Gads, what a GREAT itinerary! I'm gonna love reading this. 

I'm so glad you're following along again.  This was an AMAZING itinerary.  The only port I had been to previously was St Thomas and I was so excited to go to all new ports.  I have a goal of one day seeing all 7 continents and would love to see as many countries as I can.

Our itinerary is as follows:

January 7, 2018     Port Canaveral

January 8, 2018     Fun Day at Sea

January 9, 2018     Fun Day at Sea

January 10, 2018   St. Thomas

January 11, 2018   Antigua

January 12, 2018   Barbados

January 13, 2018   Grenada

January 14, 2018   Fun Day at Sea

January 15, 2018   St. Maarten

January 16, 2018   San Juan, Puerto Rico

January 17, 2018   St. Kitts

January 18, 2018   Fun Day at Sea

January 19, 2018   Fun Day at Sea

January 20, 2018   Port Canaveral

I fully intended to write a review for this cruise shortly after we returned but life got away from us and I never did it.  I ended up writing a review for our March 2020 Glory cruise and decided to go ahead and try to write this one up as well.

A little bit about those of us who cruised together:

Me:  Erin, I've been cruising since I was 18 but this was only my second Carnival cruise.  Normally, I cruise Princess or Holland America.

Larry: My boyfriend, he had cruised previously but it had been about 20 years

Brian and Carol:  Longtime Carnival cruisers.  Brian is my boss and likes to tell people that he is cruising with his wife AND his secretary.

Jay and Diane:  Cruise virgins.

Gary and Karina:  Originally from the UK, now living in Washington state.  Friends with Brian and Carol.

Mark and Cheryl: Cruise Virgins.  Mark and Gary work together.

John and Rebecca:  Cruise Virgins.  From the UK, John is Karina's brother.

We booked this cruise about 8 months prior to cruising so I had plenty of time to plan and dream.  I have never booked an excursion through a cruise line and prefer to plan my own through private vendors using TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic for suggestions.  For those who don't remember, the 2017 hurricane season was particularly devastating to the Caribbean.  We were unsure exactly which ports we were going to be able to go to but we made it to all of them.  It was very sad to see all of the devastation.  This was a Journeys cruise which means that it is a longer cruise (13 days) going to ports that Carnival doesn't normally go to and there were classes and fun activities onboard.  I had never done a cruise longer than 7 days but I was excited to experience all of the different islands.  

Larry and I are white, like glow-in-the-dark white.  We don't tan and do our best not to crispy fry ourselves so we are not all about the beach life.  I do love the water, snorkeling and scuba diving but I need to make sure I don't turn pink, since pink is painful.  I like to get out and see what each new place has to offer so we tend to try to mix up what we do in each port.

18 hours ago, DanvilleCruiser said:

Thanks again for posting this review.

Thank you for reading the review 🙂

19 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Patti and I really enjoyed your review. It was a breath of fresh air during these troubled times. Thanks so much for posting! 👍😎

Thanks for reading the review.  You were one of my inspirations for doing the review.  

20 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Oh how sweet of you to regale us with a cruise blog!!!! Thank you!

Thank you for following along.  Stand by, I will be starting a blog for our Journeys cruise from 2018.

1 hour ago, MzOhioLady said:

Good Afternoon Byrd!!

 

I LOVED Your Cruise Review!! A review of a Carnival Cruise, on a Cruise Critic Site, Wow, Go Figure!! LOL It was a lovely break from the typical conversations that have taken over on Cruise Critic. I'm glad you and your friends had a good time on the Glory. I'm happy to read that the cruise newbies now want to book more cruises. Yay for them!

 

I hope you all continue to enjoy cruising together as friends. Take Care!

We will definitely be cruising together again.  Currently, Brian and Carol and Larry and I are scheduled for a B2B on the Carnival Magic in November.

3 hours ago, 4hunters said:

Great great great!  Thanks again.  👍

Thank you for reading.  I may try to review my Journeys cruise from January 2018.

Just now, CoasterGuy said:

Very nice review. Glad everyone had a good time.

Thanks for following along.

13 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

Thanks for doing this. It's wonderful to read an actual cruise review! I'm glad you and your friends all had such a good time.

Heather

Thanks for reading the review.  We always have fun when we are together and cruising just makes it that much more fun.

17 hours ago, Joe817 said:

Truly loved your review! Thanks for sharing! 👍

Thank you for following along.

Final Thoughts...

We had a great cruise.  I firmly believe that your vacation/cruise is what you make of it.  Did everything go exactly the way we wanted?  No but nothing happened to take away from the fact that we had an amazing trip with a great group of friends.  The cruise virgins loved the cruise as well and want to book another one.  

I was not a fan of the cruise director, Deon.  He was fine, friendly and seemed to enjoy his job.  I have to say though if I never hear the words, "Hidey-Ho, I've got to go" again for the rest of my life, I will be happy.  It was nonstop and I wanted to throw him overboard by the end of the cruise.  

Our tours...

Rony's Tours in Roatan was top-notch.  Thea was a great guide, we saw and did everything we wanted and for a private tour with just our group, it was only $45 per person. 

King David AlTournative Belize Services in Belize.  We got off to a rocky start but the tour itself was great.  The ruins were very cool to see and the views from the top, wow!  I could have stayed and interacted with the monkeys forever.  This private tour was $90 per person

Playa Mia in Cozumel was $60 per person for all inclusive drinks, food, water toys etc.  I think it was good but I didn't like the drinks so I didn't actually drink or eat enough to justify $60 for myself.  The others in the group got their monies worth.  I had a blast on the inflatable water obstacle course.

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for following along!

Fair winds and following seas to everyone.

Here are the professional photos taken by the Pixels staff.  My only real complaint about the photography onboard the ship is that it is EXPENSIVE.  We have a saying that Film is Cheap and Digital is Cheaper so I'm not sure why everything is so expensive.  I also wish they would let you view the photos in a digital format and stop printing all of them.  It is such a waste since so many of them are thrown away.   I know the newer ships are going digital and hope that they will all soon be converted to digital only.  I also hope they will do a digital photo package at some point as well.

We were highly unmotivated to do anything the next day so we hung out at the Airbnb, did laundry and relaxed.  Larry had gotten in contact with a beekeeper that he watches on Youtube that raises bees at the St Joseph Abbey in Benedict, LA and arranged to go out and meet him.  Larry started a Youtube channel to follow his beekeeping efforts and loves to watch other beekeepers across the US and he was so excited to meet Mr Ed (Jeff) and see his set up.  We ate lunch just down the street from the Airbnb at Raisin' Canes and then went to Office Depot and shipped a bunch of stuff home so our luggage was not overweight. 

After completing those tasks, we set out across Lake Pontchartrain.  Larry went off to search for Mr Ed while Jack, Shayla and I wandered around the abbey grounds.  Eventually, we met up with them and headed to the honey house.  Larry had a great time meeting Mr Ed and talking about bees.  The abbey grounds were beautiful and the honey tasted amazing.  

We took the long way back and then had dinner at Mr Ed's Seafood and Oyster House.  I am allergic to shellfish so I had a soda and then we walked down to St Charles Tavern so I could eat.  We went to bed early and flew out of New Orleans early the next morning.  

2 hours ago, ULCajunCruiser said:

Thanks byrdbrain55 for the review!!!   Going on Glory next June, so very excited to hear about your experience

Thanks for following along.  We had a great cruise and I hope you will as well.

At this point, we were all starving and ready to check into our Airbnb.  We had a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo on St Charles Avenue.  It was very easy to find and we were able to get in using the directions that we had been given.  After settling in, we looked for restaurants in the area that we could walk to.  We ended up walking directly across the street to Lula Restaurant Distillery for dinner.  We had the Boudin Eggrolls and I had a Fried Chicken Sandwich and Larry had a Shrimp Boil.  The Boudin Eggrolls were so good. I still dream about the sauce that came with them.  

After dinner we headed down to Bourbon Street on the trolley.  It was early on a Sunday night so it wasn't as crazy as I remember it to be.  Coming back on the trolley, it was packed and full of an eclectic mix of people.

I apparently wasn't in a picture taking mood because I don't have any photos of the Airbnb or of our night on Bourbon Street.