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27 minutes ago, jimcara2003 said:

Loving the review and pictures!!!  We are doing this cruise over New Year's Eve and can't wait. Going with another family how has not cruised before so super excited.

You'll have a blast!

1 hour ago, JerseyGirlJen said:

Great start so far!  I'm sorry you had a rough start to your morning in Jamaica, it's a shame people have to be dishonest.  I'm hoping to do the Glory out of NOLA in 2021 if she's still there, I went out on the Dream last year and loved it.

It put a little damper on my day, but I still enjoyed it!

I also cruised on the Dream last year and the Glory layout reminded me of the Dream.

I have not been on the Legend, but I just got off the Glory and I really enjoyed it!

More stingray city and snorkeling pictures

2nd port- Grand Cayman

Y'all...Grand Cayman was amazing and breathtaking! 😍 I loved every second of it! For this port, we booked the stingray encounter and one snorkel stop tour through Captain Marvin's and it was $40 per person. I was really looking forward to this excursion every since my shark and ray tour got cancelled in Belize the year before. I had been waiting for this day for two years!

We got to Grand Cayman at 7:00 that morning, so we were up at 5:30. The night before we had recieved a letter telling us to go to Guest Services to take advantage of our priority tendering. We headed that way a few minutes before 7:00, but when Dustin, the CD, made the announcement that there was no waiting to get on the tender, so we made our way down to deck 0. The ride from ship to shore was super quick. When we made it to the port, we took a few pictures and made our way to Captain Marvin's office. We got checked in and paid the rest of what we owed.

Side note...our van driver's father was originally from Missouri and had already heard about the tornado that hit Jefferson City the night before. We have several relatives who live in JC and, luckily, they all survived unharmed and their homes only suffered minor damage.

We loaded onto the van with a few others and made our way to the boat that would take us to stingray city. Our boat was called the Captain Jimmy and our crew members were Eric, Jardon, and Polo. There were only 15 people on our tour! We left promptly at 8:30 and I loved the ride out there! When we got to stingray city, we were given safety instructions and we hopped in the water! Jardon stayed on the boat and Eric wrangled the rays, while Polo took pictures.

Another side note...I love animals more than I like most people, so I was glad to find an excursion that allowed you to interact with these animals in the wild. I refuse to interact whith wild animals that are being kept in captivity. The crew treated the rays carefully and with respect. If a ray seemed at all agitated, it was immediately let go. 

We all got to feed, hold, kiss, pet, and have a ray climb up our backs! I squealed like a little girl the first time a ray rubbed up against me, but I loved it! They reminded me of cats because they would rub all over your legs! Feeding the rays was great! We spent 30 minutes in the water with the rays and it was the best 30 minutes of my life! After we were all back on the boat, we made our way to the snorkeling spot. I stayed on the boat at this point, but everyone else got off. Actually, a little girl stayed on the boat with me while her parents snorkeled, so we sat on the back of the boat with our feet in the water. Mom and I made friends with the family during the excursion, so I was ok sitting with their daughter. There were flippers and life jackets for everyone on board. There was also a fresh water hose on board that Jardon would rinse people off with if they wanted him to. We stayed at this spot for another 30 minutes or so before we headed back. I mentioned earlier that Jardon took our pictures (31 of mom and I) and for $50 we got them loaded onto a jump drive and he loaded them onto my phone. There was no pressure to buy the pictures, but there was no way that we weren't buying them. On the way there, a little boy drove the boat, but Jardon stayed right beside him the whole time, but took over when we got back to the canals. As were getting off the boat, Eric asked us to review them on Trip Advisor, and of course, mentioned giving tips if we wanted to. They deserved a a huge tip! I can't say enough good things about Captain Marvin's! If you are thinking about booking with them....DO IT! 

2 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Following along. I am cruising the Glory out of NOLA in February with my daughter and her family. We have a B2B booked in April to celebrate our 50th Anniversary (actually in March) and invited family to join us, but this daughter’s hubby is military and could not take leave then, but can in February, so we will celebrate our 50th with them on the Glory, then hopefully with other family members in April on the Magic. I look forward to your full review. 

Thanks for following along!

I like New Orleans because it is the closest to me.

Even more Montego Bay pictures

More Montego Bay pictures

Montego Bay continued

Although our day started off a little shaky, it definitely improved! Doctor's Cave got busier as the day went on, but never got got totally packed. There was plenty of security and lifeguards all along the beach and I always felt safe. There were vendors on the beach, but they weren't pushy at all. I bought a fresh coconut for $5 and the water was so yummy! A little later in the day, I was in the water when I guy came up behind me and scared the crap out of me, although he didn't mean to. He was selling wodden carvings and I ended up buying a turtle for $5. He was friendly and didn't push me to buy more than I wanted to. We ordered a pizza, onion rings, and a drink from the restaurant that was there and the total cost was $24...totally reasonable prices! 

Along with the vendors selling legal items, there were also people selling weed. I was asked a few times if I wanted any, but a simple "No thanks"  was all it took. The security knew these guys were there and our neighbors on the beach definitely bought weed, but no one cared at all. 

The temperature this day was actually a little cool and cloudy, but I was still glad we rented the umbrella. When we got ready to leave, we ended up in a taxi with two crew members from the ship who worked with the kids on board. I believe he was from Zimbabwe and she was from England. We had a good conversation on the way back to the ship and our driver, Winston, didn't try to charge us more. In fact, he about drove off before I could pay him! We did some shopping at the pier where we bough Blue Mountain coffe, jerk seasoning and Christmas ornaments, among other things. 

That night, we watched Aquaman (hello Jason Momoa! 😍😍) and went to bed early because we would be in Grand Cayman at 7:00 the next morning!

2 minutes ago, pghsteelerfan said:

I'm so happy to find you have another review in progress as I really enjoy them!  You take beautiful pictures too.  I've caught up and really enjoying this one.  We were on Glory in May 2010 and loved her.  We were in Jamaica in 2007 but there for a week at an AI in Negril and loved it, but have heard about the reputation for cruise stops.  I can't believe the "hidden" charges (more like scamming) after prices are agreed on, so something to definitely keep in mind if we're ever there on a cruise stop.  I'm looking forward to following along for the rest. 

 

Holly

Well thank you for your kind words! 😊 My parents went to Jamaica (Runaway Bay, I think) about 10 years ago and stayed at a resort and they had no issues there, but it is definitely different if you are there as part of a cruise. I still really enjoyed my time there, though!

1 hour ago, cruisinsly said:

Great review and photos so far. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you and you're welcome! I'll be posting more about our day in Montego Bay soon!

1 hour ago, IamPEBJ said:

Taking this trip in 3 weeks - Thanks for sharing.

You are welcome! I will add more to my review later this afternoon!

1st port- Montego Bay, Jamaica

This was my first time in Jamaica, but it was mom's third time and she was a little leery of this port. I thought she was overreacting, but it turns out she was right. We got off the ship quickly and made our way to the taxis. At first everyone kept trying to put us on a bus that made a ton of stops, but that isn't what we wanted. We just wanted a private taxi to take us to Docter's Cave Beach. We finally got out of the port area and to the road where a guy asked us if we wanted a taxi. We told him yes and where we wanted to go and he told us it would be $5 per person. Great! We finally had a taxi. We met our driver, Veronica and off we went. 

Side note...this was my first time in a country that drives on the left hand side of the road and going around traffic circles scared the crap out of me at first! 😂

Anyway, Veronica worked for a tour company, but she only asked us once if we wanted a tour instead of going to the beach. The ride there was pleasant and I enjoyed the scenery. When we got to the beach, we tried to pay Veronica, but she said that this was a round trip deal and that we had to pay double the price of what we agreed on. Mom was pissed and told her that would absolutely not be doing that and tried to open the van door, but the doors were locked and Veronica wouldn't unlock them until mom got pretty loud. We flew out of the van and made our way to the beach entrance. The entrance fee is $6 per person and $6 for each umbrella and chair. We paid $30 for two entrance fees, one umbrella, and two chairs. Well, the guy getting the chairs and umbrellas said the receipt showed we only paid for one chair. As you can guess, this did not go over well with us. We marched back to the entrance and (politely) explained that we did pay for two chairs and that is what we wanted. The woman working at the entrance did make it right and we ended up with two chairs. We had them set up at the water's edge and settled in for our day. We got to the beach early, so it was basically empty. I was able to get a lot of pictures without people in them and went exploring.

5 hours ago, lexanna02 said:

I'm enjoying your review and photos! We set sail on the Glory on our 40th anniversary in November, so we're looking forward to the rest of your review!

Thanks for following along and happy early anniversary!

Second Sea Day

Once again, we were up early and soaking up the rays on the Serenity Deck. After we had enough sun, we cleaned up and headed to brunch. I ordered the blueberry pancakes and they were super yummy, but they gave me so many of them that I couldn't eat them all. After brunch, we went to the Amber Palace for Lights, Camera, Interaction. At first we didn't think it was that funny, but at the end, they called passengers on stage to act out scenes while lying on a green screen. It was beyond hilarious and I was crying by the end of it! At one point, one man was riding the other like a horse! I'm not sure what we did after that, but I'm sure it involved reading, going to trivia, drinking, and eating. That night's show was 60's Beach Escape (or something like that) and it was honestly the worst show we have ever seen. I'm sure others really enjoyed it, but it wasn't our cup of tea. You had to wear 3D glasses for part of it, but nothing seemed 3D to me, but oh well. We were in bed early because we had an early day in Montego Bay coming up!

First Sea Day

We were awake around 6:30 and got ready to head up on deck. We stopped by Blue Iguana for a yummy breakfast burrito and then headed for the Serenity Deck. We typically don't spend time there because we find them too hot, but this Serenity Deck is at the front of the ship, which means lots of wind to keep us cool. When we got there, the deck was basically empty and stayed that way until about 10:00. We spent a few hours in soaking up the sun before cleaning up for the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure we had Blue Iguana for lunch and then lounged around the rest of the day. We spent time reading on the Promenade Deck and mom spent some time in the casino. We watched about an hour of Mamma Mia 2 before grabbing a quick bite to eat and then found seats for the show. Tonight's show was Motor City, and although we have seen it, we still enjoyed watching it. We both love motown music! 

24 minutes ago, zeroyankee said:

 

This was one of our big complaints on our last trip on the Glory.  A different cruise director, but informative announcements were lacking in places.  Never a lack of announcements when it came to buy things, though!  We were delayed by an hour at one port because the announcement for the all clear never came.  Only when we noticed others leaving the ship and asked at Guest Services were we told the ship had been cleared.  I guess it could've been worse, but we made it work.

The lack of informative announcements was frustrating, but it didn't ruin the cruise.

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

Enjoying your review- thanks for taking the time to do it!

Thanks! I love reliving my trip!

2 hours ago, SandiLynn said:

I am also a teacher here in Louisana. My husband and I are celebrating our 25 year anniversary with ou friends celebrating their second anniversary. Thank you for doing a review.

You are welcome! I hope you like it!

3 hours ago, Charm2018 said:

Want to do this exact itinerary in January.  I loved sailing on the Glory and look forward to your review.  🙂 

This has been my favorite itinerary! Thanks for reading!

14 minutes ago, NauticalNeophyte said:

I slept on the sofa bed this past week on the Liberty, and I found the sofa bed too hard also.  It wasn’t until the third night that I found the extra featherbed under the soda. That made it a lot more comfortable.

 

We’re doing this itinerary next May on the Freedom, so I’m following along. Enjoying your review. 

I looked for something to make it softer, but didn't find anything. Oh well! I still had a great cruise! If do ever have to sleep on a sofa bed again, I will just request something to make it softer.

A few more first day pictures

Muster Drill and the first evening

After sitting on deck 5 for awhile, the storm stopped, so went exploring. We wanted to check out the adults only pool on the Lido deck, and when we got there, the pool was completely drained and several men were working on it. They were drilling, banging, and looked to be welding things as well. This pool did not open the first day, but did open the first sea day.

Our muster station, was outside on deck 4. Luckily, it was not hot that day (or really at any time during the cruise) and a cool breeze was blowing, however it wasn't a great muster drill. The check in process was a joke. My card got scanned and the guy told me that both of us were accounted for, so he didn't scan mom's card. We got in line and about 10 minutes later they start calling room numbers. At first we both had trouble remembering our room number, but we know they called our number. We aren't sure why because we couldn't hear the guy well, but nothing else came of it. My mom has back problems and standing in one spot for long periods of times causes her pain. Thankfully, a bartender named Vina noticed mom was in pain and offered to escort her to the dining room where the special needs muster was being held. At first mom refused, but we convinced her to go. Thank you Vina!

After the drill was over we headed to deck 10 aft for sail away...and we sat there and sat there and sat there. We were supposed to leave 3:30 and didn't leave until after 5:00. No announcements were made as to why, but we assume it had something to do with the high river level and the amount of traffic being allowed to go being limited. 

That is another complaint...the lack of announcements. I appreciated the fact the Dustin, the CD, kept his announcements brief and far and few between, but we weren't always kept in the loop. We weren't told why we were late leaving, we weren't notified when we had docked in Grand Cayman, and we would end up being over an hour late to dock in NOLA at the end, and that announcement came about an hour too late.

The first night was a relaxing one, we watched Instant Family on Lido deck and ate dinner at the Lido buffet. This is probably an excellent time to point out the types of cruisers we are...we are extremely laid back. We don't eat in the MDR, we don't do a lot of shopping, we don't participate in a lot. We pretty much lay in the sun, read, do some trivia, and just relax. At some point this evening, we met our room steward, Maung, and we requested an ice bucket and he kept it filled all week. He did not ask us if we wanted just morning or night service, he was going to do both. He seemed genuinely surprised when we asked him for just morning service. He was a great steward!

Embarkation Day

We left our hotel in McComb around 7:30 in the pouring rain and headed for New Orleans. It stormed on us pretty much the whole way there, and that would be the case for most of the day. We made it to Fulton Street Garage to park in record time, paid our $98 to park and caught the shuttle to the pier. The pier was extremely chaotic and no one really seemed to know what was going on. This was our 8th time cruising from NOLA and we have never seen the place so unorganized. This was the first time we had priority boarding, but the priority line was closed off and they wouldn't let us in. Someone finally let us in and we got into the building. The check in process was painless, as was going through security. Mom and I both carried all of our luggage on this time. Once we got past security, we were directed the wrong way and were turned away from the priority lounge. We had to pretty much say, "We are platinum. We know this is where we are supposed to be." before they would let us in. We quickly found chairs and settled in. We got seated around 10:45 and that was when the sky opened up and a storm hit us. Thunder, lightning, crazy rain! I was glad we were inside. Boarding began around 11:15 and we were on the ship by 11:25. We dropped our luggage off in our room, which was porthole room 2217. This room seemed bigger than every other cabin we have cruised in. I do have one complaint about the room...it has one bed and a sofa bed. We knew this beforehand, so it wasn't a surprise. However, the sofa bed was hard and my back started to hurt after a few days of sleeping on it. This room had 3 closets, ample drawer space, and a fridge that actually kept things cold!

 After dropping off our luggage, we made a beeline to the Blue Iguana for a yummy taco salad! At this time it was still storming like crazy, so we made our way to deck 5 to sit along the windows until it was time for the dreaded muster drill.