Glory - 4/25/15 - If you write a review and nobody reads it...

[firemanbobswife]

Ha ha...that would be correct! Thank you!!

 

 

 

Cabin numbers...directions...which side of the ship is port/starboard...left/right...yeah, I'm so bad. Door decorations aren't just for fun...they're a necessity with me. :D

 

 

No problem. Had I not stayed in 2470 4 times, I would probably get them confused too :)

[Club Disney Chandler]

I lost it with, Noooooooo, he bent over. Haven't been on CCL yet but am trying the Vista next June. Absolutely loving your review, how do I find your other one on the Magic? Thanks

[You Me & the Sea]

OMG :eek::D

 

That part about the speedo guy was hilarious! I'm reading this while laying in bed next my my still sleeping DH. I laughed so hard I woke him up. He thought I was crying!:D

 

As others have said your writing style is phenomenal! I'm not even on the Glory,but your review has me hooked.

[cmcsharon]

I lost it with, Noooooooo, he bent over. Haven't been on CCL yet but am trying the Vista next June. Absolutely loving your review, how do I find your other one on the Magic? Thanks

 

Thank you! Here's the link to my review of the Magic.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2113114

[momof3cruisers]

 

 

I hope he's gone when I get on Glory June 13th.

according to his countdown "joke" you might be out of luck. Maybe by then they will have told him to just shut up and play. :)

 

OMG :eek::D

 

That part about the speedo guy was hilarious! I'm reading this while laying in bed next my my still sleeping DH. I laughed so hard I woke him up. He thought I was crying!:D

 

As others have said your writing style is phenomenal! I'm not even on the Glory,but your review has me hooked.

this was my problem last night. I had to stop reading. At one point, I am pretty sure I actually snorted. OP you are a great writer! I realized in reading this that I had only ever read part of your Magic review so I have even more entertainment available to me. Just not while the DH is sleeping!

[cmcsharon]

Next up…Part 6…Grand Cayman (Money laundering, Irish accents and…No wheels on this bus to go round and round)

 

Hooray…we’ve finally arrived at our first port day. If you recall, our itinerary had been reversed. We were originally scheduled to go to Cozumel first but instead, we are at Grand Cayman. When I’d sent out that email to the minions about how many ships would be in each port…the count for Grand Cayman was 6…which meant over 30,000 cruise passengers descending on the island with us. Now that we’re here on this new day…the count for today is 1. We are the only ship in port!

 

This is my second time on this island, the first was only six months ago on our cruise on the Magic. (I would love to say that…yes…we cruise every six months. You know, in between jetting from our summer and winter homes…but, the reality is…we were very fortunate to get to be able to do this cruise so soon after the last one.) Prior to the Magic, we hadn’t been on a cruise in 4 years.

 

The minions have been on quite a few more cruises than us and have been to Grand Cayman many times. And yet again…I’m the one tasked with figuring out what we should do. The last time we were here we went to Stingray City and had an amazing day, using the private vendor Native Way Watersports. And…if you’ve never been to Grand Cayman…I highly recommend you go to Stingray City. It’s an experience you will never forget. I have a lot of details about it on my review of our Magic cruise (fair warning…my Magic review makes War and Peace look like a short story)…but, here’s a picture that captures some of the adventures we had.

 

 

This time…we’re going on a Carnival excursion. The Magic cruise was to celebrate my daughter’s high school graduation…so we did activities she wanted to do, which mainly involved being in the water. My son would rather see some of the island…exploring the cities and the countryside. For Grand Cayman we’re going to try and do a bit of both…we’re going on the Amphibious Bus Tour. It’s a bus that tours around the city and then drives into the ocean and becomes a boat. I let the minions know what we were doing and they all signed up for the tour too. The 12 of us will be touring Grand Cayman together.

 

Grand Cayman is a tender port. Tendering is a whole lot easier when you’re the only ship in port. Since we were on a Carnival excursion we were asked to meet in the Amber Palace. If you’re not familiar with the Glory…it’s a colorful ship. I think someone dropped a box of crayons when they were designing it and they just went with it…as each area of the ship is named after a color. Amber Palace, Platinum Dining Room, Red Sail Lido, Emerald Steakhouse, Blue Bar, Ivory Lounge…etc. When they added the 2.0 features it kind of messed up that whole crayon thing…since there’s no color in the name Guy’s Burgers. But, his hair has always reminded me of Heat Miser…so I’d go with an orange-ish name for it. He’s Mr. Heat Miser…he’s Mr. Sun…

 

When we arrive at the Amber Palace several of the minions are already there but not all yet. They announce that we can head down to the tenders so the kids and I, and a couple other minions take off while the others wait for the rest to show up. We agree to meet up after we get off the tender. The line to get to the tender is moving quick…but…they stop the line right in front of us. Dang…missed that tender. But…we get to meet a new Carnival friend, Kole, while we wait for the next tender.

 

Kole is on his very first contract with Carnival. He’s one of the performers in the Playlist Production shows. The only other non-entertainment job the performers have to do on the ship is to work the tender lines. Kole is from Delaware…and…he talked non-stop…in a rapid fire way. It was still early in the morning…so, it felt like the rest of us were moving in slow motion compared to him. I think a few people around us were contemplating pushing him down the stairs…just to see if the Energizer Bunny would keep going, and going. Fortunately, for us…or for Kole (you pick)…the next tender arrived and we were on our way. This won’t be the end of our Kole story though…he’ll end up hanging out with us later in the cruise.

 

Grand Cayman is a beautiful island and we had a great day to explore it. Once we were all assembled at the port area we were escorted to the Amphibious Bus.

 

 

We all know what to expect when getting on a bus, climb up a couple of easy steps and you’re on. That’s not the case with an amphibious bus. That bus is way up there off the ground…which must be needed to hide all its lady boat parts (don’t boats have girl names?). So, instead of a couple of easy steps on to a bus…this required navigating an awkwardly steep ladder and then holding on to a rope as you cross over at the top. As I was nearing the top of that ladder I was really hoping they have one of those airplane chute slides for when we get off because going down is not going to be pretty.

 

We all get settled on the bus and away we go! We toured around the city for the first part. I believe our guide said something like there is a 3 to 1 ratio of banks to residents on the island. And, he said that money laundering really doesn’t occur there…that’s just in the movies. Okay…I may have exaggerated that bank ratio…but, there was a ridiculously large amount of them on that island with an even greater amount that exist ‘on paper’ only. But…they don’t launder money…wink, wink.

 

Here’s a random picture from driving through the streets.

 

 

Before long we’ve circled the downtown area and are back on the road near the water’s edge. We make a left turn in between two buildings and suddenly you’re on the ramp to enter the water. I have to wonder how many people have made an ill-timed wrong turn thinking this is a street only to find themselves in the water! Especially at night…or, during the day after too many banana daiquiris.

 

 

After a few minutes on the ramp to make some adjustments to turn our bus into our boat…away we go into that beautiful blue green water. And…look at what we find out here…

 

 

Next up…Part 6…Grand Cayman…continues

[Club Disney Chandler]

Sharon thanks for the link to your Magic review, I read the whole thing tonight, and absolutely loved it.

 

We did the same duck boat tour last June and I took the same picture of our ship from it.

 

 

Great minds think alike!

 

2 other things - thanks for posting what kind of camera you use in the other review, great pics and I'm going to order one of those now, and 2 - please consider going on the 6/3/16 Carnival Vista Mediterranean cruise with us. I think your family would get along great with mine.

 

Anxiously awaiting your next post.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

I'm really loving your review and your writing style!!!! I have been on the Glory several times and love that ship!

[wareaglefan]

I'm all in..love your style!

[bakersdozen12]

Ok, so you are seriously killing me with suspense. I NEED to know what this "5 minute adventure" that made this whole itinerary worth it is, lol! I'll be doing this same itinerary in Nov of 2016, also on the Glory. [emoji4]

Edited May 18, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[memecakes]

What date and port ?

We are Miami Glory Oct 17th

 

 

We are sailing on her on October 10th.

[patrice1]

subscribing!

[cruisexlife]

Really getting a chuckle out of your review, thanks so much for writing! :D

[cmcsharon]

Part 6…Grand Cayman…continues

 

Thank you so much for coming along on this journey with me. I really appreciate all the kind comments.

 

So the 12 of us are in a brightly colored bus that is bobbing along in the beautiful ocean and we’re all having a great time. I know this probably isn’t an exciting excursion idea for a lot of people, but…it’s what you make of it…and we made it fun! (If you read my Magic review you’ll remember that this is the same group that was excited to be driven to the cruise terminal in a pink trolley…this bus/boat thing is exactly the unique type of experiences that we enjoy. Because…let’s face it…usually if you hear about a bus going into a large body of water…it invokes visions of a lot of screaming involved. We’re just laughing on this one.)

 

The view of Grand Cayman from the water is spectacular…

 

 

Our bus/boat traverses all the way around the Carnival Glory and I’m kind of disappointed that most everyone from the ship is on shore…because this feels like we are in a parade! Before we completely round the ship, our guides take us over a couple of shipwrecks that we can see on the monitors connected to the underwater cameras. Please note, it’s not necessary to push aside your seat mates to get a better view of the monitors because the shipwrecks are a little hard to discern. And, it probably was a little preposterous of me to think I was going to see something along the likes of the Titanic in that clear blue green water…which was probably only 20 feet deep…so my sincerest apologies to the minion that I trampled.

 

Here’s my daughter and some minions as we’re passing the Glory.

 

 

And the view as we round the back of the ship.

 

 

As our push-me/pull-me…I mean bus/boat…continues to traverse the Glory, our guide (who my son swears is Irish if you close your eyes) starts to wave at a Nautilus sub that is approaching nearby. (Which is another excursion…where you climb in a large semi-submersible and can view sea life through the windows below the water line.) It approaches until it’s about 20 yards away…….I just love tossing out distances like that…like I actually know what I’m saying. Truth is…I’m horrible at it…that submersible could be anywhere from 20 feet to 100 yards away…and, don’t get me started if I have to tell you whether it’s on the right or the left! I’m directionally challenged…and, I think I’m repressing traumatic experiences from childhood…having been subjected to too many rounds of the Hokey Pokey. Sure, it’s all fun and games until you have to figure out which foot you should be shaking all about.

 

We’ve got the Nautilus sub holding steady on one side of us (must be a reason, I’m thinking) and then our Irish sounding guide suggests we peek our heads over the side of the bus and look down. We’re being swarmed by fish…they’re everywhere! So…Mr. Irish pulls out two loaves of bread and gives each of us some pieces to feed the fish.

 

Here's the fish swarming us.

 

 

Pretty cool right? Wrong! Here’s where I’m thinking things are going to go downhill very quickly.

 

You see, before I had decided on this excursion, I had thought it might be fun for all of us to go to the Turtle Farm. I clearly understood that it’s a ‘farm’, meaning the turtles were raised and farmed as a food source. But, I’d also read that they did some conservational efforts too and raised some of the turtles to be released back into the wild.

 

When I told the other minions about this proposed plan…I literally got my hair blown back by one of the minions…who very loudly let me know that the Turtle Farm feeds the turtles they are raising puppy chow (as told to her by the dive shop owners on Grand Cayman)…and…that there’s nobody sprinkling handfuls of puppy chow on the top of the ocean after these turtles get released. So they don’t know how to find food when they get released and end up being eaten by other creatures.

 

Now…in hindsight…maybe I shouldn’t have started warbling out the opening stanzas of the Lion King’s Circle of Life right then.

 

And now we’re feeding Wonder Bread to the FISH!

 

Maybe we should head back over to those shipwrecks to see if we can delineate a Sea Shepherd logo amongst that rubble.

 

Fortunately (for me!) that minion was a little ways back in the bus so I only had to hear bits of grumbling…something about doughy blobs not being conducive to a fish diet. But now I see why that Nautilus sub is nearby…our fish feeding is providing their entertainment. That’s quite an arrangement these excursion operators have got going on...…and….…’money laundering’ is only in the movies.

 

After the fish feeding it’s time to turn this bus/boat back into just a bus and head back on to the roads. Before we do though, I hear some laughing from the minions…and then one of them holds up her phone and shows the rest of us that she’s been taking picture after picture of the elbow of the minion in front of her. She’s got a whole bunch of pictures just like this…

 

 

 

Next up…Part 6…Grand Cayman…continues…Last Stop – Seven Mile Beach!

[Club Disney Chandler]

Thanks Sharon. I was just thinking before I saw your post that we should open one of those go fund me accounts for you. We could all contribute $20 every month so you could take monthly cruises and we could enjoy a review every month! It's a win-win for all of us.

[cmcsharon]

Thanks Sharon. I was just thinking before I saw your post that we should open one of those go fund me accounts for you. We could all contribute $20 every month so you could take monthly cruises and we could enjoy a review every month! It's a win-win for all of us.

 

Ha ha...I'm in!! :D As that's the only way you'll get to see me on that Vista cruise in the Mediterranean (which is my dream cruise, by the way)! So, I'm very jealous of you and all the other lucky cruisers that will be on that glorious new ship cruising over there!

 

Thanks again for your kind words! I really do appreciate it!

[momof3cruisers]

Anyone one remember the kid on Schoolhouse Rock who said, "Awww, that's the end?" Yeah, I just said that. Sigh...

[Club Disney Chandler]

Anyone one remember the kid on Schoolhouse Rock who said, "Awww, that's the end?" Yeah, I just said that. Sigh...

 

 

You are so spot on! I totally forgot about that kid, thanks for the flashback!

[ArkTraveler82]

…when we were scheduled to be the ONLY ship in port. And now…there are going to be several more ships in that small port on our new day…what if it’s already booked??!!

 

I followed your Magic review and loved it! Was so excited to see you doing another review!!!

 

I have a question about ships in port. How do you find out how many ships will be in a particular port on a given day? We don't have plans to sail on the Glory... YET... but we are booked on the Conquest in October and I'd like to find the same info on our ports.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your vacation! Loving your reviews! They make me laugh!!!! :D

[cynt]

LOVE IT!! You are HILARIOUS!! Thanks Sharon this is helping me get through these last 4 days before I board the Freedom!!!

[sjn911]

Your story telling love and humor are just wonderful...I am so in. My mom would have LOVED those door hangers....and you made me cry..(it's a daily thing LOL) over those memories..what a true cheer up...I am so in..thank you.

 

Ps..Have a B-in-law and a saint a lot of the time that of course drives us all nuts...as families are. Learned to swim to go to family cabin over the years and not hamper his girls. Hawaii honeymoon hampered ALOT on the boat excursion. I so want to get it together for a family cruise..somehow your reviews are going to help a version with SOME of us. He would often do anything for us...could he stay home a week??? Do I have to settle for a land vacation..Noooooo....LOL. Thanks for this...Sarah

[momof3cruisers]

I followed your Magic review and loved it! Was so excited to see you doing another review!!!

 

I have a question about ships in port. How do you find out how many ships will be in a particular port on a given day? We don't have plans to sail on the Glory... YET... but we are booked on the Conquest in October and I'd like to find the same info on our ports.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your vacation! Loving your reviews! They make me laugh!!!! :D

 

Here you go.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/#destports

[ArkTraveler82]

Here you go.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/#destports

 

Thank you so much!

[cmcsharon]

Part 6…Grand Cayman…continues…Last Stop – Seven Mile Beach

 

I’m sorry I have to split these sections up like this but I’m limited on the number of pictures I can include in each post. Let’s finish off Grand Cayman!

 

We’re back on the bus and back on the road. Our guides are driving us down the main road and talking about how incredible this Seven Mile Beach is to the left of us. I glance over and all I see are a lot of hotels, condos and large buildings…so, naturally I think I’ve gotten it wrong again with that whole left right thing so I look to my other left…and, I’m still not seeing it. The bus then pulls into the parking lot of the Royal Palms Resort and we all precariously navigate that steep ladder back to the ground. The guide suggested we go down the ladder backwards to make it easier but trying to figure out how to spin around on that thing seemed more complicated than quantum physics…so, forward it is.

 

There is a security guard in charge that we have to show our blue papery bracelets to as these identify us as either off that giant blue bus parked in front of him or escapees from a local hospital. Either scenario…he didn’t care.

 

Which kind of goes along with a lot of our experience on Grand Cayman. There is very little police presence on the island and they have a low crime rate. This would differ greatly from other islands we’ll venture to, for instance…when our guide on another tour says…don’t be alarmed by the guys coming over that hill with machine guns. (I become alarmed! I was fine until you pointed them out!) Here on Grand Cayman they don’t have the issues that some of the poorer islands experience…and ‘money laundering’ is only in the movies! Our guides did share that someone stole a car recently on Grand Cayman. Rather than go after the guy…the police just hung out at the gas stations waiting for him to show up, which he eventually did. Their attitude was…it’s an island…how far can he get.

 

We all waive our paper bracelets to the guard as we step by him and walk to the back side of the resort. And…there we find it. Paradise!

 

 

Seven Mile Beach is a beautiful soft white sand beach for as far as the eye can see. It seems to go on forever…I wonder how long it is. :p Off in the distance we can just make out the tail of the ship.

 

 

We don’t have a lot of time to spend at this amazing beach so as I’m down at the water admiring the beauty…I’m also looking around for the minions who’ve all seemed to disappear. And then I finally spot them…they’re all back at the resort in the shade at the bar! Who could blame them though…it was beautiful place to hang out. I begrudgingly shuffle my way through that soft sand and head up to join them. As I order three drinks I’m again reminded of the differences in economy on this island versus some of the other islands we’ll be visiting…these are Carnival drink prices here...it’s definitely not the $1 beer prices we’ll find on other islands.

 

Here are a couple of minions waiting for their drinks with that beautiful blue water behind them.

 

 

Unfortunately, our time is short at Seven Mile Beach and it’s time to head back to the bus for the journey back to the port. The beach itself was absolutely beautiful and we were lucky to get to spend some time here, especially without a lot of ships in port.

 

We climb back aboard and make the short journey back to the port. As we’re almost there our guide points out a restaurant near the water’s edge and says it’s the place he recommends for the best seafood. Several of the minions decide to give it a try and came away thinking it’s probably the place that gives the biggest kick-back. So…if you do happen to take this excursion…which was really a lot of fun and a very unique way to see Grand Cayman…you might want to skip the recommended restaurant at the end and find your own.

 

This was our shortest port day and we needed to be back on the ship by 2:30pm so we didn’t have a lot of time left after our bus/boat adventure. My daughter wanted to do some shopping so the kids and I wandered through some of the stores nearby before heading back to the port and on to a tender.

 

Once everyone was on board…it was time to go. Here’s our last look at Grand Cayman as the ship was turning around to head out.

 

 

After we sailed away we headed to the lido deck to get a late lunch. I’m surprised to be saying this but I didn’t eat a single lunch from the Lido buffet. And, it had absolutely nothing to do with the selection or quality or anything like that…it was only because…I never even looked at it! There were too many other great options that I would have instead…such as, the Fish & Chips on one day, or the Chicken Tacos from Blue Iguana Cantina on a couple different days, and of course the burgers from Guys. Today…I was going to try a shrimp burrito from the Blue Iguana Cantina…and…it was delicious! I love how they always had a big bowl of watermelon slices at the salsa bar so that you didn’t even need to go into the buffet for anything else…a burrito and watermelon…yum! My daughter and I tried the breakfast burrito there one morning too and it was also delicious.

 

After our lunch the kids and I went our separate ways and I eventually found myself in the casino. I hate to keep referencing back to my Magic review…but…I learned a lot about casino people on that last cruise. I had no idea that playing a slot machine was so involved. Some of these people took casino craziness to an art form! And, I thought I had seen it all on the Magic. Boy was I mistaken. On the Glory was a couple that took casino crazy to an all new level.

 

But first…I believe I’ve discovered the design flaw of the Glory’s casino. As I was reading reviews preparing for this trip I kept seeing over and over that the Glory’s casino seems to be more smoke filled than on other ships. Lots of people were complaining about that one aspect of the ship. Especially people that don’t even play in the casino but still have to walk through it. And, usually, there’s a smoking side set up on the ship and a non-smoking side…it’s that way on the Glory as well. But…here’s the fatal flaw…on the non-smoking side there’s a row of video poker machines right by the main walkway (3 machines on one side and 3 on the other)…located at the very beginning of the non-smoking side (so you’d think there’d be the least amount of smoke here). Well…these machines were the only video poker (or blackjack or something like that) kinds of machines in the whole casino. So…even though they were technically on the non-smoking side…I’m guessing Carnival didn’t want the smokers to miss out on these machines as well…so, they made one side of this bank of machines non-smoking…and the other side was smoking!

 

Let’s just pause for a moment to contemplate the effectiveness of this design………I really would’ve liked to have been in that design meeting…so, you’re suggesting we take these 3 smoking machines and place them right over here…right here…right in the middle of the non-smoking section. Yeah…let’s do that!

 

Okay…so, I’m in the casino and have found a penny slot machine that entertains me…because lemmings go jumping off cliffs…when I notice the music that’s playing is the music from Frozen…as Idina belts out Let it Go, Let it Go…I can hear people singing along. In my mind I’m thinking this isn’t really the music I thought I’d hear in a Carnival casino but whatever…when it suddenly stops. Now Olaf is singing about…Summertime. And, people are singing along again. And, just as abruptly, it shuts off. So then it dawns on me that they’re always holding the music trivia right by the casino bar so it must be time for Disney music trivia…just as the little mermaid starts singing that she wants to be…part of our world. Look at this stuff…isn’t it neat…wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete….and it stops.

 

By now it appears that I was the lemming in this game after all as I’ve used up all my credits…so I get up from the machine and decide to head over to watch the trivia…just in time for Hercules to start singing about how…he can go the distance. And again, others loudly join in.

 

I step out from behind the machines to where the couches are and there’s nobody there. No Disney music, no trivia…nothing.

 

Um…WTH?

 

And then I hear it again…towards the other side of the casino…now we’ve got the 7 dwarfs singing…hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go…

 

And I’m on the move. I’m weaving my way through the machines and…it stops. So, I wait. Another few seconds later…Rapunzel’s singing about how she’s got a dream…she’s got a dream…(and people are singing along…???)…and…that’s when I see them.

 

Right in front of me is a couple, probably in their 50’s. They have two chairs pulled up to a slot machine. In their lap they’ve placed something that looks like a large Bose speaker. As I’m watching, one of them pushes the button on the slot machine…and, at the same time, the other one turns on the music…and then they loudly sing along (to Disney songs) until the slot machine’s wheels stop spinning…and, then they stop the song. After a couple of seconds one of them pushes the slot machine button again…the other one starts another song…and, they begin singing along again…and…stop.

 

And here I thought the people in the casino on the Magic were crazy! The Glory just took it to whole new level!

 

Next up…Part 7…Roatan…Getting Steamed, Welcome to Jurassic Park…and…the GREATEST five minute adventure!

[pooksma]

Grand Cayman is my favourite island from the cruises we have taken so far. The water is so beautiful. Looking forward to discovering the GREATEST 5 MINUTE ADVENTURE!