Jim & Kellyn's Carnival Glory B2B 2011

[jmwg49]

I am loving your review! You made me cry telling the tale of your near break-up! You and your wife look so incredibly happy !!! We are celebrating our 18th anniversary on the Miracle in September, and I hope we have some beautiful pictures like you and yours! Congratulations and may you have 30 more!

[Spaniel Lover]

The next day was our visit to Cozumel, Mexico. The day before, in the ship's gift shop, we had bought matching Cozumel t-shirts...

 

 

We decided to do the Snuba shore excursion. He had done Snuba once before in Cabo San Lucas, and really enjoyed it. In case you don't know, it's like Scuba diving without having to wear the tanks. Basically, the tank floats on a raft on the surface, and a long hose supplies air from the tank all the way down to you underwater. You do not need to have scuba certification... which is the main reason I like Snuba over Scuba.

 

We were surprised to find that only three people had signed up for snuba that day! It was just me and Kellyn and one other person. An instructor goes along with you to point out a few things and to watch out for any safety problems... so there was just the four of us swimming together. It was great. Also, compared to our previous Snuba adventure in Cabo San Lucas, the water was much more clear and there were a lot more fish. So, we were very satisfied with our choice of shore excursions.

 

Jim and Kellyn doing Snuba in Cozumel. This photo was taken by their staff photographer.

 

After Snuba, we headed over to the Tres Amigos Cantina for lunch. Perhaps you remember the movie "The Three Amigos" starring Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. They own the Tres Amigos Cantina, which is right at the base of Carnival's dock in Cozumel. The food was just OK... not great... but what made our visit worthwhile was watching the hijinks that occur. They have a very interesting custom at the Three Amigos Cantina! A female employee walks around the restaurant offering shots to the customers. If a female customer takes a shot, the shot is basically followed up with a grope of their breasts by the female employee! I should have shot some video, because my description doesn't do it justice. Seated at the table next to us was about six 20-something female Spring-breakers. Each of them had a shot (or two or three) and each got their boobs jiggled by the woman serving up the shots. It was funny to watch! A strange local custom, to be sure, but "when in Rome"...

 

And in case you are wondering... I don't know what happens if a male customer drinks a shot! I never saw one do it. But I can only imagine...

 

Finally, before heading back to the ship, we scored what we consider to be a major jewelry bargain at one of the jewelry stores there in Cozumel. My 30 year-old wedding band had just gotten too tight over the years, as my fingers got fat along with the rest of me. So, we wanted to find me a new (larger) gold wedding band that would fit my finger better than the original. We wanted a simple, plain gold wedding band like I had been wearing for the last 30 years. We found a store that specialized in gold, and they did have exactly what we were looking for. And we were more than happy with the price! The marked price was $380, which did not seem unreasonable to me. But because we were Carnival passengers, they immediately offered us a $145 discount on the ring... bringing the price to only $245. And no tax! I sure don't think I could have found a deal like that at any jewelry store back home.

 

The Carnival Glory and Carnival Triumph docked in Cozumel, Mexico.

Look at that brilliant blue color of the water, and the way it reflects on the Glory's hull.

Look at the white color of the Triumph to verify that I have not enhanced the colors in this photo.

That's really the way the water looks in many parts of the Caribbean.

 

When the ship is in port, the passengers are always told to be back on board by a certain time when the ship will be sailing away. Just prior to this time, there is always a rush of passengers waiting to get back on board. Of course, there's always someone who loses track of time and ends up holding up the departure of the ship! I got a real kick out of seeing this happen in Cozumel. It was especially funny because of the canyon effect created by the Carnival Glory and Carnival Triumph sharing the same dock. You can see the canyon between the two ships in this photo...

 

 

Now imagine all of the balconies on both of those ships (and every bit of all the open decks) being lined with thousands of passengers waiting to watch the ship un-tie and sail away. And then imagine a family of four running like crazy from the far end of the pier, as they realize that the ship is just about to leave and that they're late in getting on board. All of the people on the decks and balconies were cheering and hollering at the people who were late in getting back to the ship. It was as loud as a sports stadium after a great play! It was hilarious, and I can only imagine how embarrassed those people were at being the center of all that attention.

 

The next day, our destination was the country of Belize. As I mentioned earlier, I had read many positive things online about cave tubing in Belize... and a friend at work told me that I absolutely MUST go cave tubing. So, I figured that it must be pretty great. Kellyn, was very skeptical, though! She just didn't understand what could be so great about it. She gently tried to talk me in to doing something else... but after such a strong endorsement by my friend at work, I stuck to my guns and insisted we go cave tubing. In retrospect, I should have listened to my wife! We both hated the hours and hours it took to get to the river and back, and the less-than-scenic countryside we travelled through to get there.

 

I'd have some cave-tubing pictures to post here, if I hadn't lost my little waterproof Olympus camera in the river as I was getting out of the tube!

 

So, that was the worst day of our cruise. In the next segment, I'll tell you about one of the best days!

[Spaniel Lover]

We went from the worst day of the cruise (in Belize) to one of the greatest days of the cruise... on Roatan island in Honduras.

 

The beach at Mahogany Bay in Roatan is a little slice of Paradise... and it's an easy walk from the ship.

Or, instead of walking, take

!

 

Similar to what they did in Grand Turk, Carnival developed their own dock in Roatan. It's called the Mahogany Bay cruise terminal, and it is one great place to spend a day! There's a beautiful beach within a few minutes walk from the ship, as well as shops and restaurants.

 

We started our day on Isla Roatan by taking a shore excursion to Gumbalimba Park. Kellyn and I really like Macaws, so we were attracted to this shore excursion because we saw that they had Macaws at Gumbalimba park. It's a beautiful park nestled inside a nature reserve on the other side of the island. So, you get on a bus and you head to the park. But unlike the bus ride the day before in Belize, this bus ride didn't take very long and it took us through some beautiful scenery. Normal annual rainfall on Roatan is somewhere in excess of 30 inches... so the foliage is quite lush and beautiful.

 

We didn't know much about Gumbalimba park when we signed up for the shore excursion... only that they had macaws and monkeys, as well as a beach and a pool where we could go swimming.

 

Kellyn and I used to have a pet Macaw, so we really enjoyed seeing this guy at Gumbalimba Park.

We had been hoping that this was some kind of nature reserve where macaws flew freely,

but it turned out to just be a park/tourist-destination with a big aviary of macaws and a few

that circulated freely among the tourists for photo-taking opportunities.

 

 



A monkey at Gumbalimba Park stole some guy's hat!

 

 



I handed my camera over to our tour guide for this photo of us on the rope bridge at Gumbalimba Park.

Kel was limping after fracturing her foot the day before, but she is a real trooper and didn't let it stop her.

 

 

After a tour of the park and our photo opportunities with the birds and monkeys, our guide turned us loose to enjoy the park on our own. I'm all about the water, so I immediately headed to the beach. But it wasn't a great beach, so I ended up retreating to the freshwater swimming pool. I certainly didn't expect to find such a nice pool at a park... we don't put swimming pools in parks where I live! But this turned out to be a pleasant surprise... a really nice pool with water at just the right temperature. I had a nice swim and then enjoyed the sun at poolside, all the while watching the iguanas sun themselves in the area just past beyond the pool's patio.

 

Iguanas could be seen at many warm sunny places within Gumbalimba Park

 

Eventually, we decided it was time to hop back on the bus and head back to the Mahogany Bay cruise terminal for lunch. During our bus ride, we saw a good example of how traffic laws are taken a lot less seriously in a place like Honduras than they are here in the USA! Our bus driver seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to get us back to the ship. He was tail-gating and honking at any vehicles that slowed him down... and passing whenever he could. And then we caught up to a police car driving fairly slowly in front of us. We just assumed that this meant a return to more "normal" driving practices. Nope! He honked his horn at the slow-moving police car... and then he passed it!

 

Once we got back to Mahogany Bay, we settled down for some lunch at one of the restaurants by the beach. Kel and I split a big plate of nachos and a margarita, and then she rested her sore foot (which she had fractured the day before in Belize) on a lounger while I went swimming at that beautiful beach right there by the cruise ship.

 

Kel relaxes on the beach after lunch and a margarita at

Fat Tuesday's restaurant at the Mahogany Bay cruise terminal

 

I think if we ever do another Western Caribbean cruise (gosh, I hope we do!) and find ourselves visiting Isla Roatan again, we'll just skip the shore excursions and spend the day at that beach at the Mahogany Bay cruise terminal. It's a REALLY nice beach!

 

In the next segment, we're off to Grand Cayman island...

[scoutfinch72]

Your review is wonderful and I'm wiping tears away from my eyes after reading about your near-divorce and reconciliation. What an awesome way to celebrate 30 years!

[Spaniel Lover]

The next day was our very last port of call in our two-week Caribbean cruise: Grand Cayman island. We had originally planned on doing the Stingray tour that everyone does on Grand Cayman, but Kel was having a lot of pain from her fractured foot and we were worried that wading in the ocean among dozens of stingrays could be difficult to do in her condition. So, we'll save the Stingray thing for our next Caribbean vacation and we decided to do Grand Cayman's second most-classic shore excursion instead: a visit to the government-run turtle farm.

 

Kellyn shows off one of many turtles we got to touch and hold at the Cayman turtle farm

 

 



This is a very small portion of the big lagoon where you can swim and snorkel with turtles at the turtle farm.

It was one of the coolest things I've ever done! Kel had to watch from a lounger, though, due to her foot.

 

Also, take a look at

.

 

After a fantastic time at the turtle farm, we decided to have lunch at the Grand Cayman Margaritaville. We really enjoyed the Margaritaville in Grand Turk the week before, so we wanted to see how the one in Grand Cayman compared. It's every bit as great of a restaurant, and the bar is every bit as much of a party during Spring Break... but it's downtown and squeezed in to a very small piece of property, not an expansive resort with a huge pool like the one on Grand Turk. The small pool at the Grand Cayman Margaritaville is not much bigger than a cruise ship pool... and strictly the domain of kids, not an adult hangout like it is on Grand Turk.

 

Children play in a small pool at the Margaritaville on Grand Cayman island.

 

Not to imply that we had a bad time there! We had a great lunch, served by the friendliest and sweetest waitress on the planet. In spite of the restaurant being fairly busy (thanks to all the people from the cruise ship) she took some time to chat with us. The most interesting tidbit from our conversation was that Jimmy Buffet is developing a new Margaritaville to be built on the island of St. Maarten. It sounds like it's going to be the biggest and best of them all!

 

After lunch, as we left Margaritaville and headed back to the ship, I started to get sad as I realized that from that moment on we would be "heading back". First, back to the ship... and then the ship would be heading back to Miami... and then we would be heading back to California. It had been the vacation of a lifetime, and I was really sorry that it was going to end!

 

The next morning, as we pulled in to the Port of Miami, I shot

in the morning light. Miami is beautiful at this time of day! Well, it's actually beautiful at any time of the day... but especially so just before dawn.

[gijanemom]

There is an online site you can rent from. Another pro who went on a dance trip to Disney with us did that for the trip. She said Cannon was the best for point and shoot. Her pics were great...(but my Nikon d90's were even better):D..I'll try to remember the site link and put it up for you.

[Spaniel Lover]

People always have expectations on a vacation, and the bottom line is the question of whether ours were met on our Carnival glory vacation or not. The answer is a definite yes. Of course, some things were better than we expected, some things were exactly what we expected, and a few things were worse than expected. Here's a quick look at my list:

 

Better than expected:

• The Caribbean. I was perfectly satisfied with my previous cruises on the west coast of Mexico, but now I see why more cruise ships visit the Caribbean than any other place on earth. Great weather, great beaches, and great snorkeling in clear warm water. Paradise!
  
• Making a two-week cruise out of two one-week cruises. One week has always been too little time for me on a cruise ship! Two weeks on a cruise ship is what I need! I especially liked seeing everyone else leave after the first week... it made me realize how lucky I was to be able to stay onboard another week when everyone else had to go home.
  
• Grand Turk. I absolutely love what Carnival did here in creating their own little oasis at their own pier. Margaritaville plus a great beach equals my idea of a fantastic vacation destination.
  
• Mahogany Bay at Isla Roatan. Again, another great job by Carnival in building something new from the ground up, and making it an ideal destination for their ships. I loved it!
  
• The turtle farm on Grand Cayman island. What a fantastic place they made with both the turtles and the tourists in mind. I loved being able to pick up and touch the turtles... and then being able to snorkel freely with them in the big lagoon. The additional freshwater swimming pool was an added bonus... offering a better pool than most hotels and resorts have.
  
• Flat screen televisions in all the cabins. I'm spoiled by a 50" plasma at home, so I do have to say that the TV was a little small for me... but it was definitely the nicest TV I've ever seen in a cruise ship cabin. And I really liked the fact that all the programming fit the entire screen.
  

 

Pretty much as expected:

• Almost everything involving the Carnival Glory and her crew. After cruising with Carnival eight previous times, we knew what to expect and they delivered on almost everything. There's a reason it's the most popular cruise line in the world... they offer a tremendous vacation value, and they deliver it consistently. There's plenty of good food, entertainment, and the freedom to have our vacation our way. Bravo, Carnival. You have earned our continued vacation dollars!
  

 

Worse than expected:

• The bed in our cabin. I thought all the ships in the fleet had now been outfitted with the Carnival Comfort Bed... but that just couldn't have been one. That was a really uncomfortable bed, and for the first time in all of our Carnival cruises our cabin steward was not able to come up with a mattress pad to make it a tiny bit softer. And speaking of the beds... can't you offer at least some cabins with real King sized beds instead of making a king by pushing two twins together? The hump down the middle of the bed just ruins everything.
  
• Cave tubing in Belize. I had heard so many good things about this! I just don't get it, though. 3 hours to get there and 3 hours to get back from a one-hour tube ride through a fairly unimpressive series of caves. I should have gone snorkeling instead.
  
• Missing one of the major networks on the televisions. Sure... we could get ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN... but why not Fox? The channel guide even indicated we should be able to get Fox... but something else was in its place. I missed American Idol for two weeks! (Thank goodness I set my DVR at home.)
  
• The Cruise Director, George Solano. I wasn't impressed. Give me Kirk Bening any time! I think George is a bit bored with his job, after doing the same thing over and over and over again. I was really surprised at how many things he delegated to his staff that are typically done by the Cruise Director... such as the first set of "welcome aboard" announcements over the PA system. Shouldn't the Cruise Director be the guy welcoming us aboard? That was just one example. He delegated a lot of the things that I've seen other Cruise Directors do themselves.
  
• A big ship with too many passengers. We had never sailed on a Conquest-class vessel before. Our reaction was pretty much the same as when we sailed on the Splendor: too many other passengers! The Spirit-class ships carry about 1000 less passengers. We like that a lot better. Competing with 1000 more people for an empty lounge chair or a lunch table is just a hassle. I'm sure I would absolutely HATE sailing on one of those 6000 passenger Royal Caribbean ships!
  
• Where was the wildlife? On our Pacific Ocean cruises, we've seen dolphins, whales, turtles, sting rays, seals, and flying fish from our balconies. We were surprised that we went two weeks and saw almost no wildlife in the Caribbean at all... other than during snorkeling and snuba expeditions. OK, we saw three dolphins inside the Miami harbor... but not a darned thing after that! Is that normal?
  

 

Please don't get me wrong... I loved our back-to-back Carnival cruises and would go again in a heartbeat! But there is always room for improvement!

[Spaniel Lover]

I'd like to address a few comments to people who have never cruised before...

 

First off, I can definitely say that you're going to love cruising. I've talked to LOTS of people about cruising, and I've never heard from a single one who didn't enjoy it! There's great food and entertainment, and a huge staff to do all the chores for you! You don't have to cook or clean up a thing... all you have to do is have fun.

 

But there are a few things someone should clue you in on before your first cruise! For example, did you know that there is only ONE electrical outlet in each cabin? If you are bringing several electrical devices with you, be sure to bring a 6-outlet power strip. For example, this will allow you to charge the batteries on your digital camera, cell phone, and laptop computer overnight.

 

First time cruiser? Don't worry... there's a lot more to do than play shuffleboard!

 

Other things to bring along with you on your cruise:

• At least one 6-pack of your favorite beverage, so you don't have to pay ship prices for it.
  
• A watch or a travel clock. Activities start at certain times, so you will frequently want to know the current time.
  
• A highlighter pen, to mark activities on the daily schedule that you are interested in.
  
• A small flashlight, so you can stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night without disturbing your roommate by turning on all the lights in the room. (Or a nightlight.)
  
• Your MP3 player, so you can listen to your favorite music while you relax in the sun on deck.
  
• Some $1 and $5 bills. Very handy for tipping the people who handle your luggage on embarkation day, and also for making small purchases in port cities. Using American money in Caribbean ports is almost never a problem, but using a large bill to make a small purchase can be a problem.
  
• If you're in a full-time relationship with your laptop computer or iPad... be sure to bring it along! There's wi-fi available throughout the ship, even in your cabin. Internet service is slow and expensive, but it's worth it if you're one of those people that needs/likes to be connected to the net every day.
  

 

One thing that takes a little getting used to on a cruise is having cabin stewards coming in and out of your room. Your cabin steward (and his assistant) are in charge of keeping your room clean, and keeping it stocked with everything you need from towels to ice. Most people quickly learn to love having someone clean up after them... but some people get a little annoyed at the interruptions. It helps to understand your cabin steward's schedule, so you can adjust your schedule accordingly.

 

The cabin stewards will clean your room twice each day... once in the morning (usually sometime between 8 AM and Noon) and once in the evening (usually between 6 PM and 9 PM). If you don't want to be interrupted (for example, if you would like a nap... or some "afternoon delight") there are a couple of things you can do to ensure your privacy. The first and most important is proper use of the "cruisin'/snoozin'" door hanger. This is like a "do not disturb" sign at a hotel... but since this is a Fun Ship, the sign says SNOOZIN' on one side and CRUISIN' on the other. Not only is it important to put the snoozin' sign out when you don't want to be disturbed... but it's also important to put the cruisin' sign out when you're going to be away from your cabin for long periods of time. It's a polite way of telling the cabin steward "this is your big chance to get in and clean up the room without having anybody in your way." And by giving them that opportunity once each morning and once each evening, you'll keep them from interrupting you later when you want some privacy.

 

Also note the little mailbox next to the door...

where your friends and family can leave you notes if they can't find you.

If you have any trouble remembering your cabin number,

place something unique in here to help you figure out which cabin is yours.

[Spaniel Lover]

I scanned all the "Fun Times" from our two-week cruise, as well as a few other interesting documents.

 

For anyone who doesn't already know...

The "Fun Times" is the little newsletter that tells you information about what will be happening on the ship that day. (Us old-timers remember it by its former name: "Carnival Capers".)

 

If you've never cruised before, you'll find looking at a copy of the Fun Times to be a great way to see the kinds of activities available onboard the ship. I've scanned the Fun Times from each day of our cruise. All are in .pdf format.

 

Week 1: Eastern Caribbean

Sunday, March 27th - Embarkation Day

Monday, March 28th - Nassau

Tuesday, March 29th - At Sea

Wednesday, March 30th - St. Thomas

Thursday, March 31st - San Juan

Friday, April 1st - Grand Turk

http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/CarnivalGlory-FunTimes-Sat-4-2.pdf

 

Week 2: Western Caribbean

Sunday, April 3rd - Embarkation Day

Monday, April 4th - At Sea

Tuesday, April 5th - Cozumel

Wednesday, April 6th - Belize

Thursday, April 7th - Roatan

Friday, April 8th - Grand Cayman

Saturday, April 9th - At Sea

 

 

Shore Excursion Guides (including times and pricing):

Eastern Caribbean

Western Caribbean

 

Mini deck plan & Embarkation FAQs

[Spaniel Lover]

Is anyone from Carnival reading this? If so, I do have a few suggestions for you! I loved our cruise on the Carnival Glory and would give it an "A-" rating. Here's how you could bring it up to a solid "A"...

• Longer hours for the burrito bar! I just don't understand why you only keep this open for 3 hours on most days. Open it first thing in the morning, serving breakfast burritos made with eggs. Transition over to conventional burritos about 10 AM. And keep it open all the way through dinner time!
  
• Put real king-sized beds in at least some of the cabins. Why does every cabin have two twins that are pushed together to make a king? A bad bed ruins 8 hours of every 24... and that's an awful lot of my vacation to have to try to overlook. And speaking of the beds... have you put Carnival Comfort Beds in all the cabins of the Carnival Glory yet? I've slept on a Carnival Comfort Bed before, and the one on the Glory was nowhere near as comfortable.
  
• Spend more time in Nassau! A few hours here is not enough. Find a way to allow the ship to stay later in the afternoon.
  
• Have someone other than Jorge Solano make the public address announcements during the safety drill. He's got too much of an accent and doesn't read out loud very well... probably not the guy who should be making safety announcements. Have someone who speaks clearly make those announcements for George.
  
• Replace the safes that are in the cabins. Using a credit card to open a safe... that's a REALLY dumb system! Credit cards are one of the things the passengers want to lock up inside the safe! Go see how the safes work in the cabins of Norwegian Cruise Line ships. That's a much better system. Each person just punches in a unique combination of numbers at the beginning of the cruise... and that's the combination that will open the safe. It's simple and convenient.
  
• Put more power outlets in the cabins of your next generation of ships. In this day and age, it's not unusual for people to need to charge a cell phone, laptop computer, and digital camera overnight.
  
• Your ship cruises to Mexico. How about serving Mexican food a little more often? You've got multiple buffet lines in the Red Sail restaurant. How about making one of them a Mexican buffet during the day?
  
• The way you offer free soft-serve ice cream 24/7 is brilliant. Now you need to do the same thing for soft drinks such as Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, etc. Self-serve soda dispensers are commonplace in the food industry. Put them on your ships!
  
• The 24-hour pizza bar is a great idea, too. Now all you have to do is throw out your pizza recipe and come up with a better one. The pizza you currently serve is about as good as what is available in the frozen section of my local grocery store. And how about serving it buffet style, like they do at lunch time at my two favorite pizza restaurants back home?
  

 

Believe it or not, that's the end of my review!

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions...

[SANJOSEGAL]

Wow Jim here I am sitting at my desk at work in Palo Alto, CA reading your wonderful review. You are amazing I loved reading every bit of it and found myself laughing out loud quit a few times. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed review. The photos oh my the photos are amazing. You and your wife sound so much like my husband and myself we just celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary on April 8th. We also love the water activities I really felt everything you were saying because its exactly the way we feel about almost everything while cruising.

I had never considered doing a B2B yet after reading this I might have to consider that. I hope one day we are on the same cruise and can meet for a drink and you can tell us everything we need to know about the cruise. I am a huge researcher also, this is a crazy question I'm sure have you ever used cruisedeckplans.com? Its another great tool for choosing your cabin.

Well I've also booked this thread as one of my favorites and will soon share it with my many cruise friends. We cruise in September because most of the kids are back in school by then.

GREAT GREAT JOB BRAVO you made my day reading this and seeing your photos.

[Name Of The Game]

Your pictures were crystal clear. That was an awesome review!

[Spaniel Lover]

I see that you mentioned your balcony room had a mini-fridge. We have a balcony room on Deck 6 for our Glory cruise in Oct.-do all those rooms have a fridge? Couldn't find that information on the web site.

 

All of the balcony cabins (and suites) have the mini-fridges. But it's been a long time since I've been in an inside cabin or an ocean-view cabin, so I don't know if those have them. I would think that they would, as it gives Carnival an easy way to sell you highly marked-up items in their "mini bar".

 

Perhaps someone who has been in an inside cabin could chime in here.

[silverfoxcruiser]

Your review is wonderful and I'm wiping tears away from my eyes after reading about your near-divorce and reconciliation. What an awesome way to celebrate 30 years!

I totally agree and thank you for taking the time and effort to share this. I wish you many future years of happiness and great cruising. Silver:)

[Jilldo33]

Thank you so much for your review of the Glory. My FH and I will be spending 7 days on her in May, less than 24 hours after we get married, for our honeymoon. Your story about you and your wife is very touching and it's encouraging to see that it is possible to make it through the tough times together. I'm even more excited to marry and spend the rest of my life with my best friend.

 

I am not looking forward to the crack between the beds. Come on carnival king sized beds for honeymooner's please.....

[Solo1959]

On the afternoon of our wedding anniversary, we went to a cooking demonstration at the Steakhouse. This wouldn't normally be my kind of activity, but Kellyn wanted to do it... so I took one for the team. I actually ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would because (to my surprise) with each thing they showed you how to cook (soup, salad, main course, dessert) they also passed out samples to every member of the audience. I didn't realize they were going to feed us!

Thank you for your amazing review. I loved the Glory and you are bringing back many memories. I am very curious about the cooking demonstration. I did not know they offered this. I didn't see it on any of my cruises, and I was not able to find it in your Fun Times. Do you remember what day this was offered? Do you know which Fun Times I should look in to see it? I want to go!

[pcrum]

Loving your review. Very nicely done! What week did you do the Eastern part of your cruise? We were on the Glory for the week of 3/27/11....just wondering if you might have been on the same cruise!

 

Can't wait for the rest...it's our dream to one day do a B2B!!!

[tassycatt]

Loved your review and perfect timing, Ill be on the Glory tomorrow! Ive made copies of some of your tips and directions to the "secret" jacuzzi! You and your wife are a lovely couple, congratulations on 30 years. We are celebrating our 25th! Thank you for your review and your fabulous pics! I may have to rethink the cave tubing! lol

[campdaan]

Bravo !... Fantastic review.

 

Great Pics !

 

We were just on the Glory in March and had a Ball... :D

[dapaddo]

The next day was our very last port of call in our two-week Caribbean cruise: Grand Cayman island. We had originally planned on doing the Stingray tour that everyone does on Grand Cayman, but Kel was having a lot of pain from her fractured foot and we were worried that wading in the ocean among dozens of stingrays could be difficult to do in her condition. So, we'll save the Stingray thing for our next Caribbean vacation and we decided to do Grand Cayman's second most-classic shore excursion instead: a visit to the government-run turtle farm.

 

Kellyn shows off one of many turtles we got to touch and hold at the Cayman turtle farm

 

 

This is a very small portion of the big lagoon where you can swim and snorkel with turtles at the turtle farm.

It was one of the coolest things I've ever done! Kel had to watch from a lounger, though, due to her foot.

 

Also, take a look at

.

 

After a fantastic time at the turtle farm, we decided to have lunch at the Grand Cayman Margaritaville. We really enjoyed the Margaritaville in Grand Turk the week before, so we wanted to see how the one in Grand Cayman compared. It's every bit as great of a restaurant, and the bar is every bit as much of a party during Spring Break... but it's downtown and squeezed in to a very small piece of property, not an expansive resort with a huge pool like the one on Grand Turk. The small pool at the Grand Cayman Margaritaville is not much bigger than a cruise ship pool... and strictly the domain of kids, not an adult hangout like it is on Grand Turk.

 

Children play in a small pool at the Margaritaville on Grand Cayman island.

 

Not to imply that we had a bad time there! We had a great lunch, served by the friendliest and sweetest waitress on the planet. In spite of the restaurant being fairly busy (thanks to all the people from the cruise ship) she took some time to chat with us. The most interesting tidbit from our conversation was that Jimmy Buffet is developing a new Margaritaville to be built on the island of St. Maarten. It sounds like it's going to be the biggest and best of them all!

 

After lunch, as we left Margaritaville and headed back to the ship, I started to get sad as I realized that from that moment on we would be "heading back". First, back to the ship... and then the ship would be heading back to Miami... and then we would be heading back to California. It had been the vacation of a lifetime, and I was really sorry that it was going to end!

 

The next morning, as we pulled in to the Port of Miami, I shot

in the morning light. Miami is beautiful at this time of day! Well, it's actually beautiful at any time of the day... but especially so just before dawn.

Did you need any special type of sunscreen at the Turtle Farm, we have book this and where wondering if we needed to find the biodegradable stuff

[hfweather]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your pictures and review. I loved reading it!

[LBumb]

awesome review.

incredible photos.

I really enjoyed reading about your cruises.

thanks for posting.

[bobbiejean]

MyDH and I sailed on the Glory out of Norfolk, Va in October. We also took the Behind the Fun tour. A very nice cruise to Nassau and Freeport. Really enjoyed your review and the pictures are great.

[pepperfeet]

Here are more details about our back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean cruises on the Carnival Glory.

 

Warning: this is going to go on and on and on! You'll enjoy it if you're a cruise junkie or if you're researching for an upcoming cruise of your own. But this will seem long and boring to some people, I'm sure. Consider yourself warned!

 

I guess we might as well just start at the beginning... getting from our home in San Luis Obispo county, California, to the cruise ship terminal in Miami, Florida.

 

 

 

As you can imagine, we were full of excitement as we made the 3+ hour drive from our home to the Los Angeles International Airport. It had been the wettest winter in years, and we were ready for some sunshine and warm temperatures!

 

About our flight...

One thing that became apparent in the planning stages was that flying during the day was going to be the most expensive time to fly, and then there was also the added expense of getting a hotel for a night prior to the cruise. So we decided to take the "Red Eye" flight... leaving LAX at about 9:30 PM California time and arriving in Miami at about 5 AM Florida time. No hotel required. We'll just sleep on the plane, right? Well, that was the plan, at least! This also left many extra hours in the plan, just in case the plane was late. After all, they don't generally start boarding passengers on to a cruise ship much before noon. So, if we arrived at the Miami airport on time, we would have a LOT of time to kill. The problem, of course, is all that luggage. You can't very well have a cab drop you off at a restaurant for breakfast... or take your luggage with you to the beach for a few hours before the cruise. We would simply have to hang out at the Miami airport from about 5 AM until perhaps 10:30 or so.

 

Our flight was on time, and the only thing that didn't quite go according to plan was that thing about sleeping on the plane! Way too uncomfortable for me. I have enough trouble falling asleep in my own bed! Sleeping upright in a coach airplane seat just didn't work for me... and I didn't even try to sleep in the Miami airport. I figured I would just pull an all-nighter, and I could always catch a nap on the ship later.

 

While I have a lot of experience cruising, I'm really more of a novice when it comes to flying on big jet airliners. On the rare occasions that I do fly, it's usually on a little regional jet. But the LAX to MIA flight was in a big 737-800. Note to self: next time, don't pack the noise-cancelling headphones in your checked baggage! They really would have come in handy on the plane. I could have listened to the in-flight movie and the several hours of NBC TV shows that followed.

 

About the Miami airport... there's a really cool train system that gets you from the outer terminals to the baggage claim area! The train system looked a lot like San Francisco's BART system, only designed for people to stand rather than sit down. I made a joke that this was the Florida Area Rapid Transit system, or FART. It was impressive that even after being up all night, I could still be funny at 5 AM!

 

With hours to kill, Kellyn sat with our luggage and I set out to explore the Miami airport. At one point, I was riding in an elevator with a couple that had two kids... one an infant, and the other approximately two years old. It was a really cute family... especially the two year old girl, all dressed up in pink. The other kid, an infant boy, was being kind of fussy and one parent tried to reassure him by saying something like "you'll be able to sleep once we get on the ship". So, I said "which cruise ship are you going to be on?" and they said the Carnival Glory. I said "I'll be right there along with you!"

 

As we exited the elevator, we struck up a conversation about how we needed to waste time in the airport while we waited until we could make our way to the cruise ship terminal. We traded information about how many times we had cruised before (it turned out that this was their first time) and since I am a more experienced cruiser, they wanted my opinion on what time they should make their way from the airport to the cruise terminal, and how best to do it. I told them about the fixed-price $24 cab fare, and suggested that this was an especially good idea for a family of four since you paid per family not per person. However, it never occurred to me to consider the issue of child car seats... and so my advice to take a cab was actually crappy advice for them! Luckily, they later ran in to a Carnival representative at the airport who explained that young kids can't ride in a cab since the cabbies don't exactly carry around child car seats with them. The Carnival rep told them about Carnival's shuttle bus to the cruise terminal... no special seats required for the kids.

 

I know this because Kellyn and I settled in to seats in the airport lobby that were fairly close to where this family settled in for their wait. So, I just kept an eye on them throughout the morning since they were a cute family and we both were basically playing the same game of "wait at the airport until the cruise ship is ready for us".

 

Around 10 AM, I saw them pack all their stuff up and follow the Carnival rep to where the shuttle bus is. My wife and I waited a few more minutes, and then we finally couldn't stand waiting any longer and we hauled all of our gear out to the taxi loading area. I knew taking a taxi would be faster than any shuttle bus was going to be, but I was curious about just how much faster. So, I vowed to keep an eye out for the cute family once we arrived at the cruise ship terminal... and to see how their trip from the airport compared to ours.

 

Our cab ride from the airport to the cruise ship terminal was quick and easy. It took less than 15 minutes, and there were no surprises. The fare was, as promised, a flat $24. The driver was quite happy when I handed him $30.

 

Once we had all of our stuff out of the cab, it was time to start figuring out the system at the terminal... where exactly to take our luggage, and how to begin the check-in process. This was somewhere around 10:20 AM.

 

The scene in front of the cruise ship terminal was a bit chaotic... basically hundreds of people standing around with their luggage. I assumed that it was people like us who had arrived at the terminal early... so early, in fact, that the terminal wasn't even accepting passengers for check-in yet as they were probably still disembarking the last few guests from the previous cruise. I tried to figure out if there was a line, and where the end of the line was. But as I started trying to figure it all out, it started to dawn on me that these were not people standing around waiting to go in... they were people who had just disembarked and they were either standing around waiting for their rides or waiting for all the members in their group to show up.

 

Now keep in mind that all of my previous cruises were out of either Long Beach or San Diego. At Long Beach, the luggage thing is super-easy... they actually have a luggage drop-off area right there as you exit either the parking garage or the bus/taxi drop-off. It's well marked, and obvious. In San Diego, they collect your luggage right out in the parking lot outside of the terminal, and again that's right where a bus or taxi would drop you off and it's well marked. I looked for something similar at the Miami terminal, but didn't see anything. So, I found the first Carnival employee I could and I just asked him what to do with my luggage. He actually thought I was a disembarking passenger from the previous cruise, so there was a moment of confusion... but we eventually got it sorted out and he pointed me to a guy in a white hat who had an empty luggage cart at the curb. We took our luggage over to the guy, and I tipped him $5 to try to ensure that all would be well. Then we followed the signs towards the check-in area of the terminal.

 

The hardest part of the process is getting through security. It's much like airport security, except you don't take your shoes off and you don't take your laptop computer out of its case. I knew all of this from my previous cruises. No surprises. The only reason it was hard is that they only had one x-ray machine going... so there was a bit of a back up. There weren't a lot of people arriving at that hour, but it was more than one x-ray machine could keep up with. With a little patience, we got through it. Once past security, it was a breeze. I was really impressed. On the west coast, we don't have the self-check-in terminals that they have at Miami. Carnival needs to bring that over to the west coast, as it is far superior to the traditional process of being checked-in by a human clerk! We had our Sail & Sign cards in hand at 10:40 AM, and began the wait for embarkation to begin at noon. We sat down, and kept an eye out for the cute family from the airport. It was about 45 minutes later before they finally showed up! I asked them what the shuttle bus ride cost, and they said the kids rode free but the cost of a round-trip ticket (in other words, including the trip back to the airport at the end of the cruise) for the parents was $62. So, they actually paid a little more than we did, and got there significantly later. The moral of the story is take a cab, as long as you don't have young kids with you.

 

Carnival's terminal in Miami

 

I was really surprised to see people still disembarking all the way until about 11:45 AM. I found out later that these last people departing the ship were employees. The very last of the passengers are usually off the ship by about 10:30. By the way, the very first passengers off the ship (roughly 8 AM, or so) are the ones willing to do "self-assist" disembarkation. This means that you're willing to haul all your luggage with you. So, if your goal is to get off the ship as early as possible on disembarkation day... be sure not to pack more than you can carry on your own without assistance. We use rolling suitcases that have a special strap so you can attach two together and easily roll two at the same time. So, my wife and I each bring two of these rolling suitcases and that way we can just roll our luggage by ourselves and take advantage of the early self-assist disembarkation.

 

Anyway... exactly at noon, embarkation did begin... starting with the platinum-level folks (those who had been on at least 9 previous Carnival cruises) and the handicapped folks. Because we had arrived so early, we were in the "Zone 1" group... the very next group to board. So, we got on the ship real quick, and made our way up to the Lido deck to grab some lunch at the buffet. And right away, I noticed something about the Carnival Glory that impressed me over the other Carnival ships I had been on... a classier-looking style of furniture in the Lido buffet, known on the Carnival Glory as the "Red Sail restaurant".

 

Years ago, after a couple of Carnival cruises, we decided to try Norwegian Cruise Line just to see how they compared. (Short version of our conclusion: Carnival does it better, and we never went back to NCL after that.) One thing I remember quite clearly about the Norwegian Star was the tacky look of their Lido restaurant... it reminded me of a bad mall food court. All the Carnival ships I had been on featured a slightly classier looking dining area in their Lido buffet. And what I immediately noticed about the Carnival Glory was that it had the classiest looking Lido dining area of all the ships I had been on. So, it was a good first impression. And the lunch did not let me down, either!

 

The decor in the Red Sail restaurant is casual but definitely not tacky

 

After lunch, we did a lot of walking around exploring the ship. We had never been on a Conquest-class ship before, and we wanted to see how it compared to what we were familiar with... the Spirit class, the Fantasy class, and the Splendor. I'd say it's most similar to the Splendor... but instead of having a retractable dome over the main pool mid-ship like the Splendor does, it has a retractable dome over the aft pool.

 

Another thing that I noticed in comparing the Glory to the Splendor is that the interior decoration is not as gaudy as on the Splendor. Gosh, I hate those ugly pink circles on the Splendor! There's none of that foolishness on the Glory. The ceiling that covers portions of the lobby is interesting! It changes color as time goes on. In all my pre-cruise research about the Glory, I saw a lot of photos of the atrium, but once I actually walked in to it I realized that a still photo doesn't do it justice. You need a video to see the interesting thing that was done with the ceiling. It's all lit up, with an interesting pattern that changes colors over time. It's that Vegas-on-a-cruise-ship vibe that Joe Farcus (the guy who does the interior designs for Carnival) likes to add to every Carnival ship to make the design seem a little more "fun" than you would get on a more dignified line like Holland America or Princess. As I said, a still picture doesn't do it any justice... so

that I shot, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

Please note:

All of the videos that I'll be linking to in this review were shot in full 1080p high definition. The default YouTube video player resolution is 360p low resolution... but you can change the resolution and watch the videos in high resolution, if you have a fast enough Internet connection to support all the bandwidth required to stream HD video. First, start the video playing and then change the 360p setting to 720p or (if you've got a lightning-fast connection) to 1080p.

 

If you're a cruise junkie, I think you'll REALLY love this next video! When the Carnival Glory finally left the dock in Miami on that first afternoon of the cruise, I just hit the "record" button and let it go... for over 12 minutes of video of all the beautiful sights you see from the deck of a cruise ship as you head out to sea. I think it's really cool, and sometimes I just watch it again to re-live the joy of it all. The port of Miami is so beautiful!

.

 

I think I'll skip most of the rest of the first-day story... as it was nothing unusual and nothing that hasn't been in a million cruise reviews before this. Except I do want to say something about the Cruise Director and the safety briefing.

 

Jorge Solano, the Cruise Director of the Carnival Glory

 

You know on that first afternoon on the ship there are always going to be "welcome aboard" announcements over the loudspeaker system throughout the ship. I thought it was odd that the Cruise Director, Jorge Solano, didn't make those announcements. Shouldn't the CD make that great first impression starting with those first announcements? He had one of the entertainment staff do them. But then at the Safety briefing (lifeboat drill) it was Jorge reading the whole long script... and he's got a pretty substantial accent. For safety-related announcements, I think they should go with someone that speaks super-clearly without the accent. Just my two cents worth. Safety stuff is important. There literally were parts of his little safety speech where I only knew what he was saying because I had heard it on 8 previous Carnival cruises. His reading voice is that poor. No disrespect to Jorge... in fact, I like the guy. I liked him even before I got on the ship, because in my pre-cruise research I read a fascinating interview with him. The thing about his story I found so cool was that his very first cruise as Cruise Director, after completing all the training, was the cruise during 9/11/2001. What a way to start off your career as a Carnival Cruise Director! How do you encourage people to have a fun vacation when the 9/11 terrorist attacks had just happened? Somehow, he got through it.

 

Anyway... let's move to day two, where we visit Nassau in the Bahamas. Hey, I'm sure I'm not the first to ever say this, but... six hours in port, and everyone has to be back on the ship at 1:30 PM? Are you kidding me? Carnival, you have GOT to find a way around this. Six hours is not enough time in Nassau. What if you stopped here on the last day of the cruise instead of the first day? Nassau is so close to Miami, I would think that you could stay later if it was the last day of the cruise.

 

The aft pool area of the Carnival Glory

with the Atlantis Resort visible in the background

 

By the way, while the Carnival Glory was docked in Nassau, guess who was docked right next to her? The brand-new Disney Dream... the one with that cool "Aqua Duck" water-coaster feature. From the top deck of the Carnival Glory, we had a pretty good view of that water coaster. It looked like a cool idea, except I don't think they've quite worked the bugs out! As we were watching it in action, it suddenly had some kind of breakdown... all the water stopped flowing, and it remained shut down for about 45 minutes before they finally got it going again. And there was a huge line of kids waiting to get on it... even during the whole shutdown and restart. It was cool when it worked, but it's a pretty short ride with a long line! Compared to the Lazy River we had just been on at the Atlantis Resort, it didn't hold a candle. An unfair comparison, I know.

 

Take a look at

of the Aqua Duck water coaster on the Disney Dream.

 

By the way... have you ever priced out a Disney cruise versus a Carnival cruise? Do an apples-to-apples comparison for similar cabins, similar itineraries, and similar dates. You can do about two Carnival cruises for the cost of one on the Disney Dream! And boy, you better like kids if you're going to do a Disney cruise! As we sat next to them in Nassau, I couldn't help notice the huge difference between the scene around the main pool of the Carnival Glory and the scene over there on the Disney Dream. While we basically had a big party for fun-loving adults going on, complete with reggae band... they had a gazillion kids and some stupid animated movie on the big outdoor TV. There is no way I would have wanted to spend five minutes out by that pool on the Disney Dream. But I suppose I would feel differently if I had a young kid cruising with me. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

 

How about if I pass along a couple of my tips and tricks for new cruisers? Let's start with a breakfast tip. My favorite meal of the day! I like eggs for breakfast, and let me just tell you right now to avoid the scrambled ones they serve at the Lido buffet. If you want eggs, look for the omlette station... even if you don't want an omelet. You can order eggs sunny side up or even scrambled from the omelet station. That's the best way to get eggs that are fresh out of the frying pan. I'm not entirely sure that the scrambled eggs that they have in the buffet line are 100% real eggs right out of the shell.

 

I'm sure this is not the first cruise review to ever suggest avoiding the scrambled eggs and going to the omelet station. But my next breakfast tip is a lot more unique. I always like some kind of potato product with my eggs... whether that be hash browns, or country fried potatoes, or whatever. My suggestion to you is to bring on board with you a small dispenser of seasoning salt. It will really improve the taste of your eggs and potatoes. You can get a small shaker of Lawry's seasoning salt at the grocery store... or another good seasoning salt is the stuff they sell at Bob's Big Boy fast food restaurants. That's what I brought along on this trip. Several times, other people eating breakfast on the Lido deck have stopped when passing by our table and commented on the seasoning salt. I also bring it along at lunch if I think I'm going to have some french fries. It's better than just using plain old table salt.

 

You can see the little shaker of seasoning salt that I bring to breakfast with me

to improve the flavor of the eggs and potatoes.

It's also good for French Fries at lunch.

 

There's lots more to come in my next post... so keep reading!

I was on this cruise, when you were taking video's out of Miami, did you happen to see the coast guard, below us with a machine gun on the front of the boat? I got a good picture but I can't figure out how to post it.

[Spaniel Lover]

I am very curious about the cooking demonstration. I did not know they offered this. I didn't see it on any of my cruises, and I was not able to find it in your Fun Times. Do you remember what day this was offered? Do you know which Fun Times I should look in to see it? I want to go!

 

Take a look at this edition of the Fun Times. On page 2, look at the list of activities on the right hand side. It's listed at 1 PM, as the "Cooking Demo".

 

 

Did you need any special type of sunscreen at the Turtle Farm, we have book this and where wondering if we needed to find the biodegradable stuff

 

There wasn't any mention of that at the turtle farm. I just had normal sunscreen on. That saltwater lagoon where you can swim with the turtles is SO BIG that it would dilute any sunscreen to practically negligible amounts.

 

By the way, at the Grand Cayman Margaritaville, "the friendliest and sweetest waitress on the planet" mentioned to us that the turtle farm had been severely damaged by a hurricane a couple of years ago and that they really fixed it up nice since then.