Carnival Glory w/Infant Cruise Review from 12/8

[jerseygirl1977]

Great review so far! Looking forward to the rest.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

In the time between muster and dinner we relaxed in the cabin. There was a knock at the door. Funship Freddie answered! Not really, but they delivered the stuffed toy to our room. I was glad that we had this stuffed animal because we seemed to make it on the ship with almost all of my son's toys still sitting in our bedroom at home. The only ones that made it were the ones I shoved in the stroller basket and diaper bag.

 

I had packed a nice bag full of his favorite toys to bring with us on the trip. I stuck the bag in my husband's suitcase the night before. When our luggage arrived in the room that afternoon the bag was missing. My husband claims he never saw the bag. I don't know how he didn't- it's neon green and blue!!! When we got home on Sunday morning it was sitting there at the foot of the bed...

 

Another issue I was worried about was that all of our luggage had been delivered other than my son's pack n play. I was getting nervous. I was afraid it may have gotten lost. I notified the cabin steward that we were waiting on the travel crib and he said that if he did not see one by the time he was to turn down our cabin that he would get one of the ship cribs set up for us

 

This sounds pretty sad, but I somehow missed sail away. I always like to sit on deck or the balcony on the few times we have had one. Thinking back I cannot recall where I was or what I was doing during this time.

 

So we headed off to dinner. I was a bit excited because they had announced the dining changes were going to be given a test drive on this sailing. I had heard people getting all up in arms over the "no table cloth" thing. I was intrigued to find out more about what would REALLY occur.

 

There was a massive crowd of people waiting on deck 3 to get in to the dining room. I have never liked the design of Carnival and Princess ships (even some NCL ships) where the dining room is cornered in the back and you have to go up down and all around to get in. I felt like I was stuck in 3rd class of the Titanic while we were waiting. Shoving, yelling, etc. Finally the doors opened and people flooded in. A lot of people got in line to be escorted to their table. I guess I was somewhat rude because I waltzed right in and looked around for our table number. Well, our temporary table that is!

 

 

Personally I have no problem with the no table cloth thing. I think the tables look nice and the presentation was well done with the table numbers hanging on the wine bottles. The table cloth-less design is convenient for young families. My son's suction toy stuck to the table no problem!

 

 

When we sat down a waiter approached us rather abruptly and asked us if we plan to sit there. I explained that we would be there just for one night because they had mixed up our seating arrangement. He didn't seem to get my drift because he said that we cannot change seats. I left it alone rather than stir up anything. He brought us a high chair for my son.

 

Bread was served in bamboo boxes. Interestingly we had noticed that our table for two was given the same sized box of bread as the tables for 6!

 

 

 

I apologize for the lack of photo quality in some of these shots. Im not a professional and I try to get shots while managing my son's needs and eating a meal that isn't overcome by flashbulbs every 10 seconds!

Edited December 18, 2013 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I loved the bread plates. I am not sure how many of the other passengers noticed them, but they highlight cities and states throughout the U.S. Here are three of them (Philly, Texas, and New Orleans), although there were more.

 

 

 

 

We started with Fried Calamari. I really enjoyed it. Its one of the very few seafood dishes I will eat. I was a bit hungry and so we dove in before I remember to take a picture. So here is our almost entirely devoured "family style for two" app.

 

 

I mentioned above that this was a family style for two, serving. We ordered this all week long because it was pretty tasty. So our future servings and bowls were larger because we were no longer at a table for two. Some people were reporting that they did not receive serving utensils for the family style items. I think that must have been a server issue because we always had serving utensils with everything throughout the week.

 

We both had the french onion soup which was also pretty good.

Edited December 18, 2013 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

DH ordered Flat Iron Steak and I had asked for the Chick Pea Biscuits with Roasted Squash and Peppers. No I am not a vegetarian I just like a lot of veggie foods! Here is what we were served:

 

Flat Iron Steak looked really lonely on that plate there. My husband said it was good, but small obviously. He's a big eater because he works out a lot and therefore burns a lot of calories. This meal didnt fill him at all.

 

 

Here is what I was served. yes, you are looking at chicken! No that's not what I had ordered! Its a good thing I am not a vegetarian because it would have been a problem. I was disappointed that I didn't get what I ordered, but because my son's patience was dwindling fast I just ate it and didn't cause a stir. Normally I would have asked for the correct order.

 

 

We had ordered two side items: Corn and Vegetable Succotash and a Loaded Double Baked Potato. Oh that poor little potato! I think everything my husband ordered that night was put in that Willy Wonka machine that shrinks food down to a smaller size ;)

 

 

We chose to skip dinner that night because little bit was getting cranky and he wasn't quite adjusted to us keeping him up late. His normal bed time is 6pm, yes I know it's early! However we leave the house at 6am everyday so its early to bed, early to rise!

 

My husband always teases me about food pictures, but I think in this case it was somewhat important because of the changes. Last night, over dinner, he asked me to please check and verify what he ate on the 5th night of the cruise because he was trying to tell his mom about it and couldn't remember. I shot a look at him as he was snickering over his food A half hour later I heard him yell across the house "THAT'S WHAT I ATE." DH really loves to get me going sometimes!

Edited December 18, 2013 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Two more quick notes about dinner from night one.

 

I was overjoyed to see that they give you a pitcher of water on the table to pour for yourself. I drink water 90% of the day. I don't drink sodas or many juices either. I was able to refill my water without having to wait for someone to come by.

 

With that being said, once we moved to the other table our waitstaff would still refill our glasses the moment they saw they were low. So it did not take away from the service aspect. It was just convenient to have it there for yourself if needed!

 

We made John Heald's Cover Page on FB. We are the couple on the left with the nosy baby in the high chair. BUT we only sat there one night before getting moved.

 

I am off to bed for another day of 10 year-olds!

I will post more tomorrow afternoon/evening!

Edited December 18, 2013 by smileyperry

[CRJ700]

Elf food! The portion sizes looks like elf food. What is the thing next to your husbands flat iron steak and what was the green coating on the chicken you were served?

Edited December 18, 2013 by CRJ700

[2 cruzen]

The plating of the food just doesn't seem as nice. I don't see the fancy swirls of sauce or whatever they did that made the plates attractive. I know I'm not going to starve, but so far I'm disappointed. Going on Liberty in March and were considering switching ships. :(

 

Probably won't since we don't want to lose our $100 OBC and get the ES penalty. :mad:

[Name Of The Game]

The size and food presentation has really gone downhill.

 

Enjoying your review.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Elf food! The portion sizes looks like elf food. What is the thing next to your husbands flat iron steak and what was the green coating on the chicken you were served?

 

The thing next to my husband's steak is a bulb of garlic that was grilled with it.

 

The green stuff on the free range chicken was seasonings. It actually was a very tasty chicken dish that I ended up ordering again later in the week when nothing else on the menu looked good. My issue with the chicken was that it was mostly bone and very difficult to cut the meat off.

 

The portions did seem to grow in size as the week went on. Perhaps they were paying attention to the feedback people gave. While at dinner we saw at least 4 or 5 "suits" hustling around the dining room on their cell phones. Clearly they work for corporate and were monitoring the situation. My husband saw the man take the picture from the upper level that we happen to be in. He commented on the two men upstairs just watching everyone that night. On a normal cruise I would find it creepy to have two random men watching everyone over a balcony, but knowing this was night one of the test drive it made sense to us.

[janewe]

From the photo of the MDR, showing your group, it looks half full. Do you think that many are now using the Buffet instead as the ambiance with out the table cloths is similar?

[Sunkissed Mommy]

From the photo of the MDR, showing your group, it looks half full. Do you think that many are now using the Buffet instead as the ambiance with out the table cloths is similar?

 

No, from what I understand we sailed at about 70% full. The dining room was like this on many nights. We ate in the buffet on the second formal night while my mom and her boyfriend ate in the dining room. The buffet was even more deserted than the dining room. There were maybe 10 other families/couples at the buffet.

 

On the final night there was only one other table in our section with people sitting at it. There were 5 or 6 empty tables around us.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

It just occurred to me why I didn't remember sail away! We were delayed in leaving because they had a lot of supplies to load on the ship along with some luggage. The ship left Miami while we were eating dinner.

 

Onward!. After dinner we walked over to the atrium to watch the Christmas tree lighting. We nearly missed it. Even though we had skipped dessert, it seemed like we got out of dinner fairly late. I recorded the xmas tree lighting on my video camera. If I can figure out how to link it through here, without getting myself in trouble, I will do it. They played one of the Trans Siberian orchestra songs with the lights on the tree and garland on the railings all coordinated flashing. We have sailed on two previous Xmas cruises on Royal Caribbean and neither of them had a tree lighting event. So I thought it was a nice touch.

 

On a side note: I use the Kodak PlaySport. I think it is the perfect video camera for our family. It is small and handheld. It is water proof. Shock proof. Mud proof. baby proof. etc. It takes some pretty decent HD video as well. We used it a couple years ago when we took dune buggies through the mud in Cozumel. It survived! I also like the fact that it is an SD Card style, which makes it incredibly easy to transfer on to my computer. Sadly, Kodak no longer makes it. I am tempted to buy one of the remaining ones out there so that if something ever happens to the one we own, I'd have a backup.

 

To give you an idea of the size, here is my son testing it's durability ;)

 

Edited December 19, 2013 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We arrived back at our cabin to find the pack n play, yay!!!

 

I set it up and gave my son a bath in his tub. It was way past his bed time at this point and we were worried about his becoming unmanageable at this point. But he did really well! We put him in the crib and draped muslin blankets around the sides so he wouldn't see us. Yes I know it sounds strange, but he's a fabulous sleeper. He has slept in his own room since he first came home from the hospital. I firmly believe that babies know the smell of their parents and some of them will wake more easily knowing they are right there. So we did our best to "hide" from him in the cabin at night. Once he's asleep, we were able to watch TV without him waking.

 

My son's sleep habits are very routine. He woke up at 6am, just like he does at home. This is what we saw every morning peering over at us...

 

 

DH woke up soon after us, he went to the gym, then we hit the buffet for breakfast. We both had a breakfast burrito from the Blue Iguana Cantina. It was pretty good, a nice change from the typical cruise fare for breakfast. I stuffed mine with regular eggs, chicken sausage, potatoes crispies, cheese, and tomatoes. Little guy had some honeydew.

 

 

 

[Hgu314]

Loving your review! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Can't wait to read the rest ;)

[philbob84]

I love the anchor diaper, how was the new food?

[Lerin]

 

 

 

 

 

I've been pretty excited about the new dining, but this food looks awful. :(

Thanks for the review though.

[gogans1]

Price drop make sure u call and try to get credit

[ch27088]

We entered on deck 3, in the atrium. It was insanely crowded in there. I captured a quick glance at the Xmas decor. I love being on ships during the holidays. It makes it more festive and enjoyable. We have done 2 previous xmas cruises that occurred over the actual holiday.

 

 

Once we boarded, we headed up to the Lido Red Sail buffet. I remembered the wide variety of choices on my last Carnival cruise (nearly 4 years ago, next month). When we finally found somewhere to sit with the 5 of us I ventured off to the buffet. I was sadly let down. I felt that the food choices were not as varied as they were in the past. I can not even remember what I put on my plate at this meal.

 

After having a light lunch I decided to see if our room was open. So we went down to deck 7. Our cabin was aft, so we seemed to be very close to a lot of venues on the ship that we used. Sure enough, it was ready for us. We were dragging a lot of stuff around because I was too afraid of certain items getting lost if we checked them at the curb. Try hauling a week's worth of liquid baby formula in a carry-on suitcase AND pushing a stroller!

 

Once we got in I HAD to clean the room. I know the stewards wipe things down, but I had a baby in tow and he gets in to everything. So I opened my can of disinfecting wipes and got to work. DH and I wiped down every surface within reach of my little guy. Yes, the photo below is me wiping down the walls!

 

 

Little man just woke up from a nap. I will be back later with more :)

 

I thought I was the only one that totted wipes and disinfectant spray. You hear all about the different viruses that are spread like crazy on the ships, so I do what I can to keep them at bay. Also when I get sick, I get SICK and I'm out for weeks. So anything to help keep things clean and free of germs. I can totally relate.

[ch27088]

Again, thanks for sharing your review with us. You did great with the photos and I'm anxiously waiting for the rest!

[flcruiser08]

Thank you so much for review, I am finding it very helpful as I will also be traveling with my infant next month. I was wondering how using/filling up the tub on deck went, like where did you sit? Where did you dump the water?:confused:

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Thank you so much for review, I am finding it very helpful as I will also be traveling with my infant next month. I was wondering how using/filling up the tub on deck went, like where did you sit? Where did you dump the water?:confused:

 

I'll get in to those details in my next post, First Sea Day activities!

[siestakeys04]

Great review so far I love the little tub/pool you have for your baby. How did you fill it for him to play in for the pool? Just curious:D

[Jenny in TX]

Enjoying your review.....your DS is a cutie!! Looking forward to reading the rest.

[*Cassie*]

I'm enjoying your review! We'll be cruising with our (will be) 14 month old in February, so this is helpful. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Carnival's childrens' program Camp Carnival begins at age two. I really wish Carnival and NCL would follow Disney & Royal's suit and add a nursery/tots program. However, there is some programming for the under two crowd which most people have no clue about!

 

On sea days Carnival opens it's youngest room to the 2 and under crowd.

Night Owls is a night time program with a fee $6.75 per hour plus 15% gratuity that is available 10pm-3am. This was far too late to use with an infant!

 

They also had babysitting type services during some of the port days for a few hours at a time.

Cozumel 8-12.

Costa Maya 8-12

Mahogany Bay 7-12

Grand Cayman 1-5

 

The sea day program operated from 8am-10am, before the 2-5 year olds invade their room. I headed up to the top deck to try the program out. The only way up with a stroller was in a tiny elevator that had a warning that it moves much slower than a regular elevator. I got in, nearly 5 minutes later we reached the next floor. When I say tiny, I mean the stroller and I barely fit!!

 

I arrived and they laid out a large blanket and dumped about a dozen infant toys on it. Parents can Stay & Play for free or drop the child off for the same fee as Night Owls. My son and I were the only participants!!

 

 

I appreciated having this opportunity because it allowed my son a large open space to crawl around and explore. The cabin is only so big and he can't really stretch his legs there. The Camp Carnival room was very large. My son was fascinated with the toys for the 2-5 year olds. He kept crawling over to the big kid toys, standing up, then looking at me, and laughing!

 

 

 

Here's a shot of him training for the "World's Strongest Baby" competition! Yes, he is pushing a chair in to his stroller. He managed to get the train of items all the way in to the far left corner.

 

 

All in all we spent about an hour and a half at the Stay & Play. I had planned to go again on the second sea day, but we ended up doing other things!

 

As I look over all the papers I saved I am seeing that they also have strollers available to rent if you forgot yours!

 

After play time, we met up with my husband and explored the ship. Now normally I would do this on the very first day. I usually run around snapping a million pictures right after lunch, but I had toured this ship last spring. They only made a few changes since then so I didn't need to scramble. We hung out on the promenade deck for a bit before heading back to the cabin to change in to our swimsuits.

 

Edited December 19, 2013 by smileyperry