DETAILED REVIEW & PICS: GLORY DAYS Eastern Caribbean 14-21 April for first timers

Finally home from a month long trip in the USA and while i sit on the couch on this cold miserable Saturday with jet lag and a virus, i thought it was about time i sat down and wrote( or at least started ) my trip report. I will upload pics along the way and try to give as much detail and help where i can. I got SO MUCH off this board leading up to my cruise and loved reading detailed reviews along the way. Not to mention seeing all the pictures of the magical carribean cruisers would post.

 

I have been planning this trip for over 2 years. Once i learned of a work conference in Washington DC i could attend, i knew it was finally time to fulfil my life long dream of seeing the Caribbean. Coming from such a long way it was only right to try and do as much as possible when over there, however the cruise was my number 1 priority. In the past i did look at heading over in 2016 and looked at all sorts of disney cruises while the kids were younger but unfortunately it never eventuated.

Finally with enough frequent flyer points to get us over there, i knew 2018 was our time. I spent hours on these boards searching ships, searching routes, searching ports of call. I work with a lady who was working for 7 years with RCI in the carribean and she was fantastic in my research. The best advice i got along the way was to pick your cruise based on the ports, not the ship. And boy was i glad i followed that theory. To me, i wanted to see as much as possible so sea days or staying on board wasn't an issue. Ports of Call were a must. A decent ship also was important but i didn't need any of these brand new mega floating cities.

I had seen so many pictorial reviews and countless weekends researching routes etc when i finally decided i wanted to try and get to Half Moon Cay. Even though it was a 50/50 with weather, i knew if i could end up on that beach i would be in the paradise i always dreamed about.

 

Finally it was decided. The carnival Glory won our choice. We had kids, it made sense, it sounded great. While Carnival here in our country is NOT a cruise line i would pick ( it gets associated with drunks and cheapo party people) i had read wonderful reviews of it overseas.

So here goes!!! Sit back and enjoy our view!! I will upload the pics separately via tapatalk shortly after posting. Bare with me it may take me a few days to get through everything!!! In the end, i hope you enjoy!!!!

ABOUT US

Ok so we are from AUSTRALIA (Yes other side of the world). We have never cruised and nor had i ever imagined one day i would not only go on a cruise but FALL IN LOVE with it.

On this cruise was myself and husband and our two kids. We are late 30's-early 40s and our kids are 7 and 9. I am SO GLAD i did not do a disney cruise. Post cruise we spend some time in Disney world and as much as i am a fan, it just would have been overload.

I think the GLORY and this cruise was absolutely perfect for us and our children.

PORTS OF CALL

Half Moon Cay

St Thomas

Puerto Rico

Grand Turk

Depart MIAMI 14TH April for 7 nights on the Eastern Carribean.

As mentioned i was most excited about HMC! Surprisingly i also fell in love with GT which you will soon find out!!

I took a lot of photos. I love photos. My Mac is full of pics. I mainly used my Sony A6000 and my new Olympus TG5 underwater camera. This camera lived in my pocket and takes amazing pics both in and out of the water.

Extras Purchased pre cruise

Faster to the fun

Cheers package ( yay best thing i did)

Was faster to the fun worth it? Its questionable. I don't know without so i can't comment. If we didn't go to HMC i would say no. The fact we got on the second tender boat was amazing. Our luggage being in our room by 1:30 was wonderful too. Ability to use our own guest services was great although i only contacted them once when our balcony chair was broken. Other than that there was no real other perks for us.

Cheers Package: ABSOLUTELY. Yes i read all the pros and cons, yes i knew if you broke it down and worked out the cost just maybe you would come out ahead by not having it, but for us it worked. I loved the fact i didn't have to think about the drinks and penny pinch on it. I could order what i wanted when i wanted Did i ever hit 15 alcoholic drinks? No. Did i have a lot of drinks? Not always. But not thinking about it for me was worth it. At the end of our cruise our expenses was not much. A few items from the fun shop. I had pre paid my gratuities and cheers and to us this was the best thing. We drank cocktails, spirits, wine, bottled water, lots of coffees from the coffee shops. My kids had milkshakes, mocktails, some sodas. They aren't big soda drinkers but at the end of the day for us it was the convenience.

I will be back shortly with the Start of our trip!!!!! STAY TUNED

The day finally arrived: The 11th April. It was finally time to board our Qantas flight to the USA. We would spend close to 20 hours in transit before hitting American soil. The kids were excited. Our flight saw us leave Melbourne Australia on Wednesday 11th April at 7am heading for Dallas Texas ( via Sydney). We landed Wednesday 11th April at 1pm. Ha Ha that was quick...Not exactly. We were tired but excited. I had planned one night here before moving on to Miami and boy was i glad i did that. By 7pm i was out cold.

The following morning we did spend some time in the Fort Worth Stockyards seeing the longhorns. Texans are the loveliest and most polite people i have ever met. My closest friend is a texan now living in Australia, and i can't wait to go back here and spend some time in texas. But this trip was all about the Caribbean so Texas can wait.

We had a 6pm flight out of DFW to Miami and rather than staying near the cruise terminal, i booked two nights in South Beach at Hotel Marseilles. As you will soon see, we are beach lovers.We will happily sit in the sun by a beach and pool.My kids are not fans of walking and boy did we do some walking this trip. My feet hurt whenever i think of Orlando.

We had all day Friday to relax,( still jet lagged) before boarding the ship/ We bought some trashy souvenirs in Miami spent a few hours by the beach and the rest of the time by the hotel pool.It was hot and sunny and i was looking to work on my tan. The hotel offered complimentary cocktails in the evening (why not start now) while the kids played garden games.Pingpong and corn hole were a highlight. I knew we needed an early night. Cruise day was fast approaching. I still couldn't believe it. We had a quick dinner at the 11th St Diner then spent a few hours repacking the suitcases. On our way home i did a quick stop to the famous ocean drive. Wow it was crazy busy. I was glad were were not staying near there. Our hotel was nice and quiet yet still so central.

I had all my carnival boarding tags and added them to our bags. Then it was time to take some melatonin and try and sleep.My body clock was still so out of synch.. I couldn't wait....TOMORROW WE CRUISE.......

Here are some pre cruise pics

my son has an obsession with stuffed toys

Miami love

What a great start! I can't wait to read more of your review as we will soon be going to 3 of the same ports you had.

 

Glad you got to stop over in Texas, even if only briefly. Love your son's stuffed longhorn. :) Do come back to Texas someday and make sure to visit our beautiful Riverwalk and the Alamo in San Antonio. I'll buy you a margarita!

What a great start! I can't wait to read more of your review as we will soon be going to 3 of the same ports you had.

 

Glad you got to stop over in Texas, even if only briefly. Love your son's stuffed longhorn. :) Do come back to Texas someday and make sure to visit our beautiful Riverwalk and the Alamo in San Antonio. I'll buy you a margarita!

 

 

 

I will certainly be returning! My bestie has already told me I need to visit with her! She raves about Austin, SAn Antonio and floating the river in summer. Plus I miss the steaks and sweet potatoes. Saving up the $$ and leave again so I can head back over. Maybe do a cruise from Galveston now that we have the bug[emoji23]

EMBARKATION DAY

Hooray the day had finally arrived that we would take our first ever cruise. A carnival cruise on the GLORY. All that planning, all that research and very soon we would be stepping on board. I had a panic about 3 weeks before leaving Australia that our originally booked cabin on Deck 2 ocean View was not a good choice. What if i felt sick? What if this was the only cruise i ever took? Am i missing out on seeing something?

So one cold morning as i was walking to work, i was on the phone to Carnival upgrading our Deck 2 ocean view for a Deck 8 balcony room. It only cost me $150 more which was a no brainer in the end. The cabin was considered "fwd" but i didn't mind. I had looked at the deck plans and we were close to the lifts ( so i would call that more middle) and cabins above and below. Now i am so glad i made the switch for so many reasons. The Balcony was worth it. Deck 8 was worth it. We only had to take a flight of stairs to Lido, or kids club a few flights down to dining rooms, atrium, lobby etc. If the elevators were busy it didn't matter we used our legs

Anyway back to our embarkation. We got an uber to the Port. I can't believe i am heading to the Port. The whole uber ride i was excited, nervous, worried i forgot something. I had packed sea sick tablets, sea sick wrist bands, any and every drug for any possible illness i knew i was over prepared but the thought of being out in the middle of the ocean for the next 7 days settled in.

i will never forget that smile as we crossed a long bridge in Miami and i got first glimpse of our ship. I even have the photo of my daughter as we saw the ship.

We had FTTF so our arrival time was 10:30-11am. As we unloaded at the docks i saw 3 ships, two carnival and one MSC. My other choice was the MSC seaside at the time i was considering cruising and only because of price. Port wise it only stopped at 3, so while the shiny big new ship did sound appealing, i am now so glad we picked the glory.

We found the queue for FTTF around the side and joined the line. A baggage handler grabbed our stuff and i stuck a peek at the Glory through the fence... WOW!!! Heres some photos of our drive to port and seeing that ship!!!

my son is not a photo lover.....here he is with Stuffed toy number 2 for the trip. Two days in and we have a long horn and a dolphin

We got through the security part pretty quickly and ushered into a little roped off section for Fttf Where we wait to board.... Wait...what? Ok so i totally did not understand that properly. Newbie cruiser got that wrong. I don't know why i thought that meant i would be on board between 10:30-11am. Oh well. There was a 3d model thingy in the terminal that my kids insisted on jumping in. They produce cool looking 3d printed figurines of them. That reminds me i still have that email somewhere if i want to order one. It isn't cheap, so heres hoping the kids don't remember. Anyway they jumped into the space capsule thingy, took a photo and i got it emailed. Then we sat around for a bit, listening to occasional announcements. I just sat there and looked at the ship. I can't believe the time had come to get on board.

We were out of our seats a little before 12 and queueing to board. FTTF seemed to be just after the platinums. It didn't take long and before you knew, we were walking down the corridors and on board the ship. Wow i am on a ship !!

We were told rooms wouldn't be ready until 1:30pm and there were express elevators to Lido deck for lunch. So off we went to Lido. I had read guys burger was a must. The initial impression of the lobby area on Deck 3 was "wow its not as big as i imagined" I guess after all it isn't a mega ship. Up on Deck 9 the kids were looking at the water slides. There weren't many people on yet and i had remembered seeing that people start running for lunch etc. So we got a table, dumped our carry on and got in line for Guys burgers. I also realised our cheers package kicked in so time for a cocktail. Why not!!

Being from Australia we are not really into burgers and junk. But this was a holiday so why not! On our last trip to the states a few years back my hubby had spend many days eating burgers and drinking beer only to then be in excruciating pain with Gout. How could i not laugh that was an old mans disease wasn't it? Anyway he had his tablets packed so bring on the Burgers. To be honest it ended up being my one and only burger this trip. We are both pretty health and fitness conscious. I had spent about 10 weeks on a fitness challenge trying to shed what i called my " holiday buffer" for this trip. Now it was game on.

Burgers were nice. Most certainly didn't end up being my favourite meal but the kids liked it. Once we had the burgers and a drink the kids got bored so it was time to kill time. Some people are obviously seasoned cruisers who had packed their swimwear and already on the slides. My kids were pissed i wasn't that organised. We explored the decks, saw the bball, shot some hoops, played some manifold and checked out the kids club to get the schedules. Kids had eyed off a few activities they wanted to do. Then my biggest mistake happened. Oh boy i think my kids and husband were ready to kill me :(

 

Heading back from kids club we went past the Spa where some workers were out the front promoting the spa. I asked where the fitness centre was and they said they could show me on a walk through of the spa. I thought, why not take me to the gym. Oh no!!! It was not one sales pitch it was what felt like a million sales pitches on everything through the spa from hairdressing, nail clipping, skin care, body wraps....urghhh kill me now i just wanted to see the gym. Oh finally the gym (and another pitch from them on nutrition-its ok i just ate a burger I'm fine). Looked like a nice gym.Do you think i used it?:') I blame all the "pitches" i had to sit through....Being aussie maybe we feel obligated or too polite to bail but boy were we glad to be out of there. My hubby filled out some form which went into the draw to win some stuff.But you had to be back at 5pm for the draw. Surprisingly after a few cocktails he went back...Didnt win, went through a few more pitches and then kindly excused himself.

Ok so lesson learned. Just sit on deck 9 and wait it out until your room is ready. At 1:30pm there was a mad rush for the doors and the rooms. Our bags were there and waiting. Our keys were ready, it was time to enter Cabin 8249. As soon as we walked in i knew i made the right decision. The cabin was bigger than i thought with heaps of light. A big window and balcony door.We got on the balcony and it was lovely being high up and having a view.

The couch was out so my kids were worried where they would sleep. Rest assured about 20 minutes later we met our room steward Leo who told us he would set up the beds. He gave me a form to fill out as to when we would like the room serviced. I ticked morning thinking morning and night would be too excessive. I did regret that later on as i would have loved to have towels etc changed at the end of the day. Especially after port days with sandy beach towels. Oh well. They were great at bringing up spares when i phoned anyway we just left the pile in the bathroom.Leo was lovely and i only ever saw him 2 or 3 times in the hall but he would refer to me and the kids by name. Wow i was impressed. The kids loved his towel animals too

The kids were busting to get to the pool so after i quickly unpacked we headed to the pool deck. My husband organised his internet as he did need to check emails for work. Now internet on the Glory and many ships has had many posts. Initially i thought it was going to be a disaster. I purchased the social package which was great for what i wanted. He purchased the next one up that allowed him to clear emails. My social package was perfect, i could check social media, message my parents via messenger and even post photos. I was surprised i could add photos. Sometimes it worked quick and well, and other times it was a bit slow ut overall it was fine.

Muster time was slow, boring and hot. I saw people scan in then sneak out a door through the restaurant. Sure enough we had to wait longer for " missing people" then they announce for those who missed muster had to report elsewhere for a second run through. Seriously just get it done. It was so hot on that deck for muster and not much fun

So off we go to the pool deck, get two chairs near the slides and tell the kids to stay together as we watch them go up and down the slides. Next thing i know my daughter had "lost" her little brother. Well not exactly lost, she was so excited she didn't wait for him. Hubby is at the bar getting drinks and I'm looking for a 7 year old who surely is disoriented. During this mad dash for 10 minutes i miss the actual "sail away" and find him crying near some chairs. OMG what a disastrous sail away. No issue for the rest of the cruise but man i was upset missing the ship pull out. The horn would have scared the **** out of him too.

Ok so we are all good again, the kids are back on the slides together and i have y cocktail watching miami drift by. We got our first meeting of the " fun squad" and our cruise director Dustin. They got things going with dances etc (oh yes my daughter was front and centre) and it was all very exciting out there. I must say that was my favourite part Sail away. So much fun, the deck is buzzing everyone is relaxed and miami looked spot on. We spoke to a few people as we got up to get our drinks. We mainly "drank" from blue iguana.

Before i knew, it was time to head back and freshen up for dinner.We had any time dining and again i read mixed reviews. The kids were going to dine with us tonight so we showered and grabbed some drinks(why not) and actually headed to the Library to check it out. We had been earlier on our walk around and the kids had seen board games. So out comes Clue ( called Cluedo) in Australia and we had a game. Now my kids had never played but lets say they got addicted to it. So much so we even did the live Clue on the ship:rolleyes:

 

As 6:30 approached it was time to get some food so we headed to the golden dining room as that was our allocated restaurant. No queue and we were seated in the middle section with a server called PANDE. She was THE BEST and we did try a few others along the cruise but by day 3 we would only request to be in Pande's section. She was from Bali and being Australian we always go to bali for holidays. She was great in so many ways. She recommended what she thought was better each night, bought my kids alternative meals if they didn't like theirs( my daughter tried snails one night yuk) and even cut up my sons steak. To be honest my kids ordered off the main menu every night. Dinner was delicious and my son Zac discovered the melting chocolate cake which became his staple. He ate so much this cruise. We always joke he gets HANGRY but boy did he demolish his meals. Adult portions. I am dreading the teenage years now.

We loved Pande so much my kids to this day still talk about her. She told us to take two big bottles of water with us after dinner to take to shore the next day.

 

After dinner i had a look t the shops. Wow there weren't many.Maybe i was expecting shopping malls like mega ships. I think i have seen too many "mega ships" episodes.

Back to the library we go for more games. So we order yet another cocktail and head to the library. By now its past 9 and I'm feeling exhausted so off to the cabin we go to turn in. Our beds are made. OMG i can't believe i am sleeping on a ship tonight. The ship wasn't rocking at all. I don't know what i was expecting. The kids were out as soon as their heads hit the pillow. I loved the gentle rocking i occasionally felt. I had no issues sleeping that night. Even though we didn't do much it certainly was a tiring day..

Heres some more pics... HALF MOON CAY TO COME

killing time in terminal

[emoji1316][emoji1316][emoji1316][emoji1316]we are ON

first burger I’ve had in years...prob the last too

hubby is gonna kill me if he knows I posted this haha

sali away take 2 pande cutting zacs dinner my daughter still raves about this dessert. Some strawberry dessert only available on night 1my husband ordered the cheese platter Every night who does that

those glass elevators [emoji23]

 

Will pick up more tomorrow.....now time for bed

Excellent review! Since you are Australian, it’s so interesting reading about your “take” on cruising.

I am SO enjoying your review! It's nice to read a positive review with a first-timer's excitement! Your pictures are fantastic, too!

Enjoying your review and photos. I smiled when I read your comment about Grand Turk because I too was surprised how much I loved it there! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

You’re off to a great start!! We sail Glory next November, so I’m enjoying reading about your time onboard and seeing your pictures. You take excellent photos!

 

 

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When you say "play manifold?" Do you mean the Aussie bball player or...? Just curious.

 

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Following! We are from Buffalo, NY, but we have a son in the Dallas area, and have also visited to Stockyards. Great fun! We are big cruise addicts, and have 2 more booked—the Breeze in 2019, and the Magic in 2020. Enjoying your review! And Happy Mothers Day, one day early!

 

 

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Reading your review——you did not need to wait until 1:30 for your cabin, as you had FTTF. That time frame is only for those without it. Your cabin was ready as soon as you board. Also, one thing I stress to cruise newbies is to pack EVERYTHING you may need that first day in your carry on—swim suits, medications, personal products, change of clothing—as you may not see your luggage until evening. With FTTF, one of the perks is getting luggage early, but that doesn’t always happen.

 

 

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Great review. Looking forward to the rest. Thanks!

Awesome review! Following along from New Jersey.

You got on when I was getting off [emoji22]. You should have went to your cabin upon getting on the ship. That is a perk of FTTF.

Going on my first Carnival cruise on Glory in November. Looking forward to more pictures!

Very nice review so far! Looking forward to seeing the rest.