Glory January 5, 2014 *MY GLORIOUS REVIEW**

[teetee6263]

Well here we go, time for another review!!! This cruise was so different from past cruises…I usually cruise with my girlfriends or with the family, but this time it was just my mom & I. I got her hooked on cruising after our family cruise on the Destiny in 2012 & after hearing the “happy birfday” song in the MDR a million times, she decided she wanted to celebrate her 65th birthday on a cruise. As with every cruise I invite everyone, if they come the more the merrier, if not it doesn’t stop me one bit….if you’ve read my other reviews you know I have no problem leaving anyone behind. I must admit I am no social butterfly…think I took the lesson “don’t talk ton strangers literally, because it takes a lot for me to speak to someone I don’t know. Now if I’m with my friends & family, I’m good because I talk to them but alone I’m very much to myself. Although I must say everyone on a cruise is usually happy go lucky & very friendly, so I do tend to come out of my shell a little bit.

 

A little pre cruise drama...

 

January 02 - 03, 2014

Somebody pissed off Mother Nature & Old Man Winter because the northeast got hit with a lovely winter storm that shut down airports & canceled 1000’s of flight. Even though my flight to Miami isn’t until the 4th, I go to panic mode wondering if all the canceled flights would effect my flight, since it was the one of the first scheduled after the storm. Well time to go to sleep & pray for the best.

 

January 04, 2014 Happy Birthday Mom

I woke up at 3:45am ready to get the show on the road, & checked my phone, no messages, that’s a good sign. By the time I got out of the shower I received the email & text that my 7:05am flight was delayed to 8am….whew I can live with that!!! Unfortunately our ride was still on the 7am schedule, so we were at the airport by 6am & I have never seem so many people laying around the airport in my life…I really did feel sorry for those that were stuck & had to reschedule flights.

Well its 8:45am & were on our way; good bye freezing NY, hello sunny Florida….NOT!!! There was no sun in sight & it was cold, ok maybe not cold but chilly. We land in Miami at 11:30 & head over to baggage claim, mom’s bag comes down right away & we wait & wait & wait until the belt stops for my bag…what the :eek:!!! Well apparently my luggage didn’t make the flight & was put on the next one, so we waited in MIA until 2:16 for my luggage. Now my luggage wasn’t the only one that wasn’t on the flight, there were so many cruisers leaving out that day that didn’t have their luggage & some that weren’t gonna make it in time for their cruise….Delta’s response, “stop by Ross on the way to the port to buy some clothes & save the receipt” Once again I’m aggravated, but thankful.

 

We finally get to Holiday Inn POM around 3ish & our room isn’t available yet, so we head across the street to Bayside. Normally I would love to just walk around; but not today. I’m tired, hungry & cold, so we grab quick a bite to eat & back to the hotel. We had a corner suite 911 & loved it, it was worth the wait. It had a great view of the ships in port as they made the turn to head out. Before calling it a night Mom wanted a birthday drink & I really wanted to hit Fat Tuesday, but neither of us felt like going back out so we opted to get a drink at the hotel bar. BIG MISTAKE, should’ve made the long trip across the street, because we had the Worlds Worst Miami Vice!!!

 

The World's Worst Miami Vice...in Miami :rolleyes:

[teetee6263]

Pics from corner suite 911...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[teetee6263]

View from our room...

 

 

 

 

[wb3690]

Can't wait to read more! We're sailing on the Glory in March. Florida HAS been cold lately, but today it's 83 at my house in Jacksonville FL.

[flutist14_99]

Loved the Glory and can't wait to hear and see more from this review!

[teetee6263]

Whatever aggravation I was experiencing yesterday is long gone, because when I woke up & looked out the window to see my ship sitting there waiting for me I was as happy as a kid on Christmas morning. I purchased FTTF & was ready to get this party started. Check out was nice and easy, and after a quick 5 min $10 cab ride we were at the port & checked in at 11:02 sitting with my very 1st Priority boarding zone card. Boarding began at exactly 11:30, we were called at 11:37, heard the most beautiful sounding “DING” at 11:41 & stepped foot on board at 11:44am. Vacation has officially began!! At this point I completely forgot about checking my watch & was taking in the sights. One of the main reasons for getting FTTF is being able to go straight to our cabin, no lugging around carry on for me. We were on the Main deck #2470, I absolutely loved the size of this room. Just as we were gonna head back out to explore, our luggage was already at the door so we decided to unpack & get it over with. It was a little before 2 when we finished up & headed out in search of food. Now of course after countless reviews raving about Guys Burgers, that’s where I needed to be. I ordered the Pig patty & fries, although the burger was great, just as anticipated the fries were AMAZING. I thought I was full & attempted to explore until I noticed The Sweet Spot, being that dessert is my second favorite meal of the day I couldn’t resist. Well the strawberry cake pops was the worse thing I’ve ever tasted (right up there with chocolate sushi), but the caramel cheesecake was the best cheesecake I’ve had at sea. Ok so now I’m really full. We just hang out on Lido & officially kickoff the cruise with a “Fun Ship Special” until time for muster. Think we must’ve gotten there too early because it seemed like to took forever, but then it was finally time for sail away…Good Bye Miami Hello Fun.

 

Cabin 2470...Huge 6B

 

 

 

Dinnertime…we had early seating & was seated at an 8 top on the upper level, wasn’t too happy about the location. I like to be in the middle of all the action. But it turned out to be a great location, right by the entrance & I got a birds eye view of the waiters performing This was my first time sitting with others, so I was really hoping they were pleasant. Thankfully they were, it was 2 male childhood friends Mike & Paul, 2 sisters Teri & Carol & 2 missing. Let me just say I loved the old menu & my motto is “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, but more on that later. I had the onion soup, which was just as good as always; beef lasagna, didn’t care for it & lasagna bolognese (sp) from the old menu was one of my favorites. There was nothing on the dessert menu that caught my eye so I ordered the Carnival Melting Cake, which I have no idea what possessed me to do so because I didn’t like it when it was called WCMC. Nope I am not impressed with this new menu. After dinner we went back to the room & found our first towel animal waiting to greet us, as well as birthday goodies JH sent to my mom. We went to the Welcome Aboard show & I was happy not to see that damn spoon game again. Everson aka Dr E, the CD was hilarious & I actually enjoyed it. Tonight was ladies night & electric white night in the White Heat niteclub, I checked in for a hot moment but sleep was getting the best of me.

 

Onion Soup

 

Beef Lasagna

 

Carnival Melting Cake

[Engineerstar]

WOW That is a big room! I look forward to hearing more about your trip and insights! 1 quick question, "Was it quiet around your cabin location?"

[teetee6263]

WOW That is a big room! I look forward to hearing more about your trip and insights! 1 quick question, "Was it quiet around your cabin location?"

 

I will get more into that later, but....yes the "area around" the cabin was very quiet.

[teetee6263]

Me & Mom enjoying our 1st DOD

FunShip Special & Kiss on the Lips

 

Dr E getting the party started

 

Moms birthday goodies from JH

 

My goodies from Guy

 

Good Bye Miami...Hello FUN

Edited February 3, 2014 by teetee6263

[teetee6263]

Now normally while on vacation I’m up & out 1st thing in the AM; but not this trip, mom has the up early part down packed but no so much for the out part. Takes her a minute to actually get going. We went to the MDR for Sea Day Brunch, I had an omelet with toast & side of bacon. It was meh, but I did fill up on coffee & the cakes they put on the table. A drink server came around asking if we wanted to use our drink coupons, but to be honest even on vacation I cant drink that early in the day. It wasn’t actually pool weather but it was lay out in the sun by the pool weather. Well I guess everyone agreed because there was not an empty chair in sight, buts lots of towels on chairs. Now depending on my mood I don’t have a problem removing your towel, book, sunscreen, etc after patiently waiting 30 minutes; but today wasn’t that day…not nice enough out for me. So just as I was about to head inside to change I hear the announcement for contestants for the Red Rum vs. Blue Tequila bar challenge & I'm still trying to regain my title from April 2013. Once again my drink was selected & once again I didn’t win, but its all good because I got my drink for free & a coupon for another drink….2 free drinks on Carnival!!!:D Up next is “New line dances of 2013 w/ Dr E” & I’m not one to pass up on a line dance. Do trust if they played the Wobble while I was on line in the bank, I’d be wobbling. There were some really fun ones & some that seemed to much like exercise. Then came the hairy chest contest & being the loving daughter that I am, I signed mom up to be a judge. She had a great time & enjoyed it. After enjoying all the lido deck activities & lunch , we went back to finally change out of our swimsuits. Tonight is elegant night & meet the captain is at 5pm, mom said she didn’t have any desires to do so & wanted to take a nap. While I had no intentions of napping, I guess my bed looked nice & comfy because I couldn’t resist & took a quick power nap. I left sleeping beauty in the room & went to take some photos & meet the captain.

 

Dinner tonight started out quiet, one of our missing table mates Jeremy was the only one there & then shortly after his partner Rob arrived. Midway through dinner the sisters showed up. I ran into the guys earlier & they said they wouldn’t be there because they didn’t feel like dressing up. I had the baby spinach salad; the pasta they serve everyone; prime rib & for dessert strawberry banana parfait. Oh yeah, with this new American Feast there was a champagne toast, which was a nice touch. Tonight’s meal was better than yesterdays, but I’m still not impressed. After dinner we go take some formal pictures together & then we went to play “Guess that Motown Song at the casino stage. It started out as trivia & ended as a sing & dance along, it was a blast. Once again I made a short visit to the nightclub, before calling it a night.

Champagne Toast

 

Baby Spinach Salad

 

Pasta

 

Prime Rib

 

Strawberry Banana Parfait

[bm6pm5]

We had room 2473 on the Glory before which is on the opposite side of the ship. Really loved the extra room in there!! The propeller vibration just put you right to sleep.

Dr. E was an assistant CD when we were on Glory in October. Must have gotten promoted.

Edited February 4, 2014 by bm6pm5

[teetee6263]

Sea Day Pics...

Hanging out on a windy day

 

Love this pic of Mom, she doesnt even know I took it

 

Mom with a fellow passenger who took our pic

 

Getting ready to mix my drink

 

My drink...Shipfaced

 

Me, Dr E & Mom

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[teetee6263]

Sea Day Pics...

Hairy Chest contestants

 

Mom judging (dancing) the Hairy Chest

 

Me with the Capt

 

Looking Elegant

 

Mom looking Elegant & Great for 65!!!

 

Our Towel Animal for the night

[teetee6263]

We had room 2473 on the Glory before which is on the opposite side of the ship. Really loved the extra room in there!! The propeller vibration just put you right to sleep.

Dr. E was an assistant CD when we were on Glory in October. Must have gotten promoted.

 

It was also a great wake up call on port days. Yes our cruise was his 1st as CD, he did great.

 

Thanks for reading:)

[teetee6263]

Can't wait to read more! We're sailing on the Glory in March. Florida HAS been cold lately, but today it's 83 at my house in Jacksonville FL.

 

Thanks for reading, your gonna have a great time...the crew was amazing.

 

Loved the Glory and can't wait to hear and see more from this review!

 

Thanks for reading, I loved it too.

[2 cruzen]

Indeed, you mom does look elegant and does NOT look 65. My mom is 78 and nobody believes that either. Love the picture of your mom by the railing. Btw, you look great too next to the Captain.

 

Looking forward to more food reviews and pictures. We will be on Liberty with the new menu. I am a little apprehensive and will be missing all those great soups. I don't like onion soup.

Edited February 4, 2014 by 2 cruzen

[teetee6263]

This was the day I was oh so looking forward to; was gonna swim with stingrays, see turtles & go to Hell all in one day. The plan was to get up at 6am, but instead I woke up 5 something saying… OMG what the hell is that. Now I read this room has some vibration issues & the slight vibration the past 2 nights was relaxing, but this was a violent shaking. So now I’m up & wondering how in the world is my mother sleeping through this. I look out the window & it didn’t look the weather was any better & I’m starting to think Cayman is a no go, but until told otherwise I’d better get ready. While in the bathroom I hear the pre announcement chime & immediately knew that wasnt a good sign. Since I have no control over the weather & the captain knows best, I marched back to my bed. By now mom was up, but was also in no rush to actually get outta bed. Its funny because when E made the announcement he said something along the lines of… I know it looks nice out & you might be wondering why we cant tender, yada yada yada…& I’m saying to myself what window is he looking out cause there was nothing nice outside my window.

 

My only view of Grand Cayman

 

Breakfast today on at the Lido & so was lunch. Since I am a obsessive compulsive planner I had the day completely laid out, even though I knew there was a possibility of missing the port I didn’t have a back up plan because I didn’t know what was gonna be in the fun times. So needless to say I was like a lost puppy most of the day & with that said most of the day is actually a big blur. To the best of my memory, today’s activities included Hasbro The game show, it was OK & Im pretty sure my kids will love it next trip, hung around the lobby & the money sucking casino. Oh yeah I got to go to my first past guest party, which I enjoyed very much; but I mean really who doesn’t enjoy free drinks. Even though mom wasn’t gold yet (3 cruises under her belt), she was able to attend with me. She was called on stage to play a game where they had to run around the stage when their name was called….very funny!! She had such a good time she wants to get in a 4 day cruise before our family cruise in Sept so she’ll be gold.

 

Past Guest Party

 

Dinner tonight was the worst excuse for jerk wings that I have ever tasted, shrimp creole & for dessert some sherbet on a cookie. Once again I was disappointed with my meal, starting to notice a pattern here. Afterwards we went to karaoke awesome to see our table mates, followed by The Game of Love show. Blue Iguana’s Latin Fiesta was held at the Casino stage due to the weather, but it wasn’t as fun as it probably would’ve been if it were on Lido. I ended the night with another short visit to the night club.

 

Jerk Wings

 

Shrimp Creole

 

Sherbert on a cookie

[cruiseclues]

Looks like I grabbed your photo review just as you were getting started...I'm sure I have a lot of great photo to look forward to...especially the food...we really loved the food on the Carnival Glory...hope you visited the free Fish and Chips just up the steps from the back of the buffet...really good and fresh. :):):):)

[teetee6263]

Rise n shine. Once again it’s an early morning, honestly you couldn’t sleep in late even if you wanted to, the monsters that live in the engine room make sure your up bright n early. Anyway, it still looks like crap out but there’s no way I’m not getting off this ship. After a quick breakfast on Lido, we head out for the day. Woah!!! Who turned off the heat, it was windy & raining. At this point I’m starting to think we go on the wrong ship cause there is no way this is the Caribbean!! This is the day mom was most looking forward to, all she wanted for her birthday was to play with the dolphins; so I booked the Dolphin Encounter at Chankanaab Park. After sitting a few minutes at the taxi stand, debating whether to go to the park or run back to the ship, we decided to brave it & head for the park. The taxi was $11 & it was a quick 15 minute or so ride. Once there we saw where the dolphin area was, but still wasn’t sure if we were gonna do it or not. We went to see the sea lion show & then walked around the park a bit; stopping at the Mexican Tequila Factory, the Botanical Garden, the Crocodile exhibition & the beach. It was finally decision time & since we were here & already cold we went for it. After changing into our swimsuits we waited in the gift shop until it was time to go. They had a special $25 for a t shirt & picture frame. I already knew I was gonna buy a picture frame & really didn’t want a shirt, but after watching peoples reaction to putting on a wet life vest & decided I’d get a shirt to wear over my suit. So now its time play time & I was so glad I bought the shirt, it was so cold. To my surprise the water was warm & comfortable, but OMG the waves were no joke. We were instructed to keep one hand on the fence at all times to keep from going off the platform & even then it was a struggle to hold on. Being that we needed both hands to interact with the dolphin, someone had to come in the water with us & hold on to us. It was crazy, but so much fun. After our swim we went to check out our pictures, they were a little pricey but hey I’m on vacation & really how often do take pictures kissing a dolphin. I purchased the CD with all of our photos for $130, it was a total of 40 pictures. Once back to the port area we purchased some souvenirs & headed back to the ship. The weather might not have been as nice as I would’ve loved, but it still turned out to be a wonderful day & my mom really enjoyed her birthday present..

 

Three Amigos

 

Puerto Maya

 

They still had their Christmas Tree up

 

Dinner tonight was on Lido & for the first time this cruise I actually enjoyed dinner. This evening we went to Amber Palace for The Action Comedy of Thien Fu, not only was he an amazing juggler but funny as hell too. Tonight Iron Man 3 was playing on the Lido Big Screen….I’ve been dying to see IM3 & after 7 cruises, I have not seen any movies on the big screen. Well tonight is not the night, because I did not feel like putting on my NY gear just to watch a movie. So instead I stayed inside & went to the casino stage for the Guess that 70’s & 80’s song w/ Dr E. Once again it was a good time, Mom & 2 other ladies were put in “time out” because they were singing the answers before time. As usual a quick drive by at the club & then lights out.

 

Dr E & Laura during Guess that song

 

Mom & ladies in "Time Out"

 

Dr E channeling Tina Turner

[teetee6263]

Chankanaab Park Pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[teetee6263]

Chankanaab Park Pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[teetee6263]

Chankanaab Park Pics...

 

The Beach Area

 

3 Whale Tails in the distance

 

Zip Lining...look at that sky, couldnt be me

[teetee6263]

Chankanaab Park Pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the day was the Dolphin Encounter

[teetee6263]

Random Pics...

 

Dune Buggies in town

 

Performers at Puerto Maya

 

Mom having fun at Fat Tuesday

 

With Carol & Teri

 

Heading back on board after a fun day