Glory Mini Review - January 16, 2016 Western Caribbean (Pictures)

[_beachgirl_]

Cozumel

 

Our first port of call!

 

We've never been to Cozumel before. It was scheduled on one of our earlier cruises but they changed it to Costa Maya. So this was a new port for us. This was supposed to be the last port on our itinerary but since it got flipped around, we arrived here first. Our plan was to just relax and not book an excursion here.

 

We were docked at the Puerta Maya pier. It is very safe and there is a bit of shopping to do right at the end of the pier. You can also walk out and grab a taxi to go to any number of beaches or ruins.

 

 

Before we left it was mentioned to me to make sure we stopped at Pancho's Backyard. I stopped by their website and they have coupons for free margarita's. I printed out two and packed them with our paperwork. I'm so glad I remembered to take them out this day because they were delicious! Here is my husband enjoying his! I think he got coconut. I got banana.

 

 

We also ordered nachos and an exotic fruit platter. Both were absolutely wonderful! If you are looking for a place to eat in Cozumel, I definitely recommend Pancho's.

 

We did a little shopping and bought some souvenirs for family back home. Then we headed over to the little man made beach they have set up. There was so much room. It was a beautiful day and shockingly not many people at all were here. We had the pick of chairs. We sat in some under the sun for awhile and then moved to a more shady location.

 

A picture of the Glory from our spot!

 

 

After a couple hours of relaxation we headed over to Fat Tuesday's for a drink and to use their wifi. We noticed walking by earlier that they had it and thought it would be a great place to contact our vendors for the next 2 days. We headed in and promptly ordered our drink and got the password.

 

 

Note: This was the best drink I had the entire cruise. I'm a bit of a banana lover and this one was the most delicious of all!

 

I messaged our private vendors and both of them got back to us within the hour letting us know that all would be great and the dates were changed and they would be expecting us. You'll get more information on them later but they were both AMAZING!

 

With that we headed back to the ship ready for our next day. Belize!! So far my pictures from Belize and slim. My husband had the underwater camera and has not uploaded the pictures yet even though I've been asking him to every day for weeks. I'll nag him again tonight and see if I can get some for this review.

 

Up next:

 

Belize (Caveman Snorkeling, Caye Caulker)

Edited February 10, 2016 by _beachgirl_

[boaterette]

I can sympathize with you on the lobster seasick night. My first cruise was just a short 4 day down to Ensenada, Mexico. It was my honeymoon cruise back in the 90's. I had gotten seasick as a kid so I took a pill the first day. The next day we were in Catalina which is a tendering port and I had forgotten to take a pill. I didnt get sick on the tender boats so I thought I had outgrown being sick so I quit taking the pills. And I was fine until we turned around from Ensenada to come back up to L.A. Coming back up you are going against the current. The seas werent bad. About a half hour after sailing I started to not feel well. I went out onto the open deck to get some fresh air. Thats as far as I made it. I rushed to the side of the ship and was sick. Finally my husband helped me back to our room which was a porthole at the front of the ship. Made it worse. I spent the rest of the afternoon and night on the bathroom floor. Never been so sick in my life. I dry heaved for hours. Kept trying to take pills and would toss them right back up. And I missed lobster night. Boo Hoo.

[bigcartman]

We were on the same cruise..the crazies dressed up in 70's clothes..and yeah that day was rough 3 out of 12 of our group did not make dinner.

[starfish the second]

subsribing love your review

[h3yitsvictoria]

Following

[crazycruzer68]

Curious for your thoughts on Belize

[ryancmetzler]

You're killing us!! Only 10 days away until I sail and I can't wait to hear the rest of your review!

[lmsdf]

Love This! Great review so far!!!

[_beachgirl_]

So sorry for the wait. I'm going to go ahead with the rest of the review without the underwater pictures. I'll hopefully add them at the end if I can get my husband to get them for me. (They are in video format so he has to get them into pictures). Anyone want to help me nag him to get it done? It's only been a month. :rolleyes:

[_beachgirl_]

Caveman Snorkeling in Belize

 

I did quite a bit of research before hand to decide what to do for our day in Belize. This happened to fall on my husband's birthday (until the reversed itinerary) and he really wanted to snorkel so that is what I focused on in my search. I emailed a couple of companies but none had exactly what I was looking for. (Sharks Ray Alley by boat)

 

I scoured Cruise Critic and it was a post by Mitsugirly that caught my attention. She mentioned that while on a cruise sponsored excursion she noticed Caveman out with a group and the customers were getting a lot of one on one attention. Right away I started to find everything I could about him and his company. You can search his name on the forums here or check him out on Trip Advisor to read reviews about him. I messaged him on that social media company that starts with an "f". He answered me within 1 hour every single time I contacted him. Great customer service right from the start. Usually his responses were as quick as 1-10 minutes. I noticed he now has a website but that is brand new so I wasn't able to contact him through that. It's beautiful though and looks great if you want to give it a peek.

 

http://www.cavemansnorkelingtours.com

 

Price wise, the ship sponsored shore excursion that we were looking at was $89pp. Caveman was $200 for a private tour for 1-4 people. For an extra $20 we could have our own personal guide. I made a post on our roll call and found another lovely couple who wanted to join us. Great! Now we were down to just $100 for the two of us.

 

Now onto the planning of how the day was going to go. Because we were going privately, the time difference, and the water taxi needed to get to Caye Caulker, my anxiety was in overdrive. If it hasn't been obvious yet during this review, I'm a HUGE worrier. Our plan was to be among the first off the boat and onto the tenders (worked out perfectly with FTTF), then I looked at maps of Belize City to figure out exactly where to walk to get to the water taxi. For reference, get off your tender boat and turn left. Walk as far left as you can and then exit the tourist area. (We didn't walk as far left as we could and ended up walking further outside the tourist area, not a big deal but I would have walked further if I had known). Then when you get to the Brown Sugar Market hang another left and the water taxi is right there inside it. (Walk all the way towards the water). You could purchase the tickets before hand online but I wanted to wait until the day just incase anything popped up. Good thing too since we had the itinerary change.

 

http://www.belizewatertaxi.com

 

The water taxi takes about 45 minutes to get to Caye Caulker. When you arrive, turn right and walk along the water until you get to Caveman (about 5-7 minutes).

 

Note: There is a second water taxi company that is further away. I haven't personally used it and therefore cannot give any opinion of it. (Caye Caulker Water Taxi)

 

So onto the day!

 

We woke up early and waited in the golden dining room as instructed on our FTTF paper. We got a sticker to show we had priority boarding and within a few minutes we were escorted down as a group and right onto the waiting tender. We hadn't met up with the other couple yet but as luck would have it, they sat down right beside us on the tender ride. Perfect! They were so nice and we couldn't have asked for a better couple to pair up with for the day. Another win thanks to Cruise Critic! As I mentioned we walked over to the water taxi and bought our tickets. We waited less than 10 minutes and we on the first water taxi of the day. There is a schedule on the website I posted. Do remember that there is a time difference between the ship and Belize (they are an hour behind est.).

 

The ride over was uneventful. We just chatted with our new friends. The water taxi is covered so there is no sun beating down on you on really hot days. It was foggy that day and looked like rain was headed our way.

 

When we arrived at Caveman Tours, we immediately met our guide for the day Ronnie. What a nice guy!! He introduced himself and let us know the plan for the day. We had booked the half day excursion (3 hours), which stops in 3 snorkelling spots ( Shark Ray Alley, Coral Gardens and South Channel) as well as a stop to feed the tarpon fish and another to see a seahorse up close. He discussed whether or not we as a group wanted him to feed the sharks/stingrays as well as the tarpon fish. He noted reasons some people don't want to do that and also reasons why they do. He left it completely up to us to decide and we weren't pressured either way. He got us fitted with our gear. We all had masks with us but they are provided for free if you would like them. We just needed fins. With that we were on our way. First stop... Shark/Ray Alley.

 

It only takes a few minutes to arrive and Ronnie made sure we were all good to go and he hopped right into the water to show us the sharks and sting rays. We followed and he gave us a ton of information and answered any questions we had. The sharks are extremely docile and not frightening at all.

 

 

We stayed in the water for a bit swimming with the sharks and rays and then hopped back into the boat to head over to Coral Gardens. Once we were all in the water again, Ronnie guided us through the beautiful coral and named the different kinds for us. He also pointed out any fish, lobster etc that he could see and stopped to make sure each one of us got to see it and answered questions about each one. We were able to go as slow as we wanted because of being only a group of 4. It was so nice to enjoy ourselves without a huge group. I did not feel rushed at all. It was extremely relaxing. Ronnie also gave us the option of wearing a life jacket under our armpits so you could just float along if you weren't a strong swimmer. Half our group took advantage of that. It felt like we got to spend so much time in the water. I didn't notice it during the trip, but the next day my muscles in my arms and legs hurt so it must have been quite a bit of exercise.

 

Once Ronnie showed us all around, we hopped back into the boat and had a little snack. He cut watermelon and pineapple up right on the boat for us and we got ice cold water to drink. By this time, the rain was really pouring down and it was quite cold on the boat (in the water, it was warm and beautiful). Ronnie did his best to make sure we were all comfortable. Even giving away his own towel and using the fabric roof of the boat as a shield for the wind. He talked to us about Belize, Caye Caulker, the food, the culture as well as his own life on the island. It was so nice to get the chance to get to know him and talk to him about himself. Not something you can really do on a huge tour. Once we were finished our snack, we went to the South Channel for another swim. It is very shallow here and you can stand in many spots. We spotted multiple barracudas which was very cool. The coral is huge here! You can see it sticking up above the water in one spot.

 

 

Once back on the boat, we scooted over to the other side of the island and went to check out the tarpons. They were HUGE! There were also numerous pelicans who also wanted a snack.

 

We then headed over to the mangroves and Ronnie hopped out of the boat to see if he could get any seahorses for us to see. He said that it wasn't safe for all of us to get into the water because there are jellyfish and he didn't want us all to get stung. We asked why he wasn't nervous and he said he's used to it. He was able to get us a male and female seahorse to look at. I really hope I'll have some pictures to show you soon. One was yellow and one was brown. The yellow one was a female and he explained that it was yellow because it was either about to breed or had just finished. Pretty cool to see!! Once we all got a look, he returned them to the exact place he found them.

 

The other couple asked if we could possibly see a starfish before we headed back and he was able to find us two huge ones to hold (the pictures all have rain drops on them so they are kind of hard to see). We also got to hold a conch which was pretty neat.

 

Once back on shore, we thanked Ronnie for such a wonderful day and headed back towards the water taxi. Another non-eventful trip and we were back in Belize City. We wandered back over to the tourism area and showed our cards to get back in. We had enough time to do some shopping but since our towels were wet and heavy from the rain, we decided we'd rather just go back to the ship and get some dry clothing. All in all it was a fantastic day!! Caveman "Harry" sent me a message upon our return asking how our day was and apologizing again that he wasn't personally there to meet us. Totally not his fault at all since we gave him less than 24 hours notice of our schedule change that he so happily rolled with.

 

I can't say enough great things about our day. If you are looking for a snorkelling tour with personal attention, Caveman is perfect for you! His customer service is outstanding and we had a wonderful time with him. I wouldn't hesitate to book with him again if we ever find ourselves back in Belize!

 

I'm sure I've missed things so please don't hesitate to ask me any questions if you have them.

 

I'll post up any additional pictures once my husband gets them to me.

 

Next up:

 

Roatan (Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout)

[_beachgirl_]

I can sympathize with you on the lobster seasick night. My first cruise was just a short 4 day down to Ensenada, Mexico. It was my honeymoon cruise back in the 90's. I had gotten seasick as a kid so I took a pill the first day. The next day we were in Catalina which is a tendering port and I had forgotten to take a pill. I didnt get sick on the tender boats so I thought I had outgrown being sick so I quit taking the pills. And I was fine until we turned around from Ensenada to come back up to L.A. Coming back up you are going against the current. The seas werent bad. About a half hour after sailing I started to not feel well. I went out onto the open deck to get some fresh air. Thats as far as I made it. I rushed to the side of the ship and was sick. Finally my husband helped me back to our room which was a porthole at the front of the ship. Made it worse. I spent the rest of the afternoon and night on the bathroom floor. Never been so sick in my life. I dry heaved for hours. Kept trying to take pills and would toss them right back up. And I missed lobster night. Boo Hoo.

 

I'm glad I'm not alone. All we wanted was lobster. Is that too much to ask? :p

[_beachgirl_]

We were on the same cruise..the crazies dressed up in 70's clothes..and yeah that day was rough 3 out of 12 of our group did not make dinner.

 

I love hearing from others that were on the same cruise! I feel for those 3 group members. It was a tough day.

[WhiteOptima]

We are on the Glory on April 30. Did you find the boat has some wear and tear??? I know it hasn't been upgraded for awhile.

[Crazyrbbt]

We were there in September and had a blast. My husband fed the tarpin and that was something to see. They are aggressive when fed, I thought he was going to loose his hand. When we were snorkeling the coral a suitcase floated by us. It was a complete set inside each other. Our guide told us that they had found a few lately and thought it was from the cargo ship that sank in the storm.

[Crazyrbbt]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2318984

 

This thread on line 14 has an interactive menu for the Glory.

[_beachgirl_]

We are on the Glory on April 30. Did you find the boat has some wear and tear??? I know it hasn't been upgraded for awhile.

 

 

A little bit here and there. I wouldn't say it was overly noticeably though. A little bit of rust could be seen from the lido deck.

 

The only thing I personally noticed was the toilet in the cabin could use a refresher. It had black rings around the inside of it. Not so much of a big deal until you are dealing with motion sickness. :eek:

 

I did hear some others complaining they didn't have hot water in their cabin. We never experienced that so I can't say for sure that it was happening but I'd be very upset if I had no hot water for days.

[connyo]

What is this?

[_beachgirl_]

What is this?

 

It's called Faster to the Fun. Under shore excursions, you can purchase one per stateroom. It gives you all kinds of great perks like priority boarding, priority tendering, your own line for guest services etc.

 

I thought it was really great and worth the money. Here's the link for more info:

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374/

[crmc]

Glad you had a great day in Belize! We're the couple that almost went with you, but didn't have fttf so we weren't sure about timing. The trip we booked for the day didn't happen because of weather. We did book a different shorter trip when we got there, but the rain made for a challenging trip back.

[_beachgirl_]

Glad you had a great day in Belize! We're the couple that almost went with you, but didn't have fttf so we weren't sure about timing. The trip we booked for the day didn't happen because of weather. We did book a different shorter trip when we got there, but the rain made for a challenging trip back.

 

The rain was a real downer wasn't it? We asked Ronnie and he said it hadn't rained the day before so if our itinerary hadn't been changed around it would have been a beautiful day for us. Sorry to hear you had a challenging trip back. What did you end up doing?

[_beachgirl_]

Hanging with the Sloths in Roatan - Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout

 

 

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for our day in Roatan. I considered making it a beach day but the two of us always end up bored on beach days and regret them later so I really wanted to book us an adventure. I did some research here in the port of call section and nothing was really jumping out at me until I read about Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout. Initially I was a bit nervous about an animal related adventure. I don't like going to places where I feel like the animals are being used as profit and not much more. I read as much as I could about this place and it is not at all like a "zoo". Daniel actually takes rescued animals and cares for them out of his own pocket. All of the animals here have been given to him and without him they likely would not have survived. The sloths are free to roam as they please and are not caged at all. They hangout in his back yard and he brings them food each day. Daniel sincerely loves the animals. You can tell watching every interaction with them how much he cares for them. He also brings children from the local elementary school to his home to expose them to the sloths and to teach them that they are not any danger to them. He truly does want a better life for all animals.

 

Sounds perfect!

 

I contacted Daniel and asked him a few questions about the animals. He always responded to me in a timely manner. I booked with him a couple of months in advance.

 

Just like in Belize, our days got turned around so this ended up being my husband's birthday. He ended up having so much fun that at the end of the day I asked him how his birthday was and he looked at me shocked because he totally forgot that it was his birthday. He had so much fun he didn't even remember! :D

 

Daniel had given us directions for meeting him in the morning and they were very easy to follow. Get off ship, walk through Mahogany Bay towards the taxi cabs, leave exit, turn left, walk up hill through security at all the vendors would be waiting at the bottom with signs. As I was walking down the hill I spotted him and we went right over to him. He said that he had another group as well and asked if we would mind sharing a car with them (we didn't). I was actually really happy we did because I'm pretty shy and making conversation for an entire day would be hard for me. So we were now a group of 7 adults. He showed us to his van which was in good condition and we hopped in.

 

 

Our plan for the day was to take a tour of the island with Daniel and then end up at his house for a visit with the animals. Daniel was extremely friendly and chatted about the island (which he has so much pride in), the cultures, how the different cultures mix on the island, the schools, the homes and the downtown area. He also took us to a couple of different beaches. This is a picture taken at one of them.

 

 

It's such a gorgeous place!

 

We toured around for over an hour. We stopped at a gas station to get some snacks. If you are a banana lover like I am, make sure you try this drink. Daniel says it's the best one! He's not wrong.

 

[_beachgirl_]

Roatan Part 2

 

Daniel also brought us to a lighthouse that you can climb and take pictures from the top of. You can definitely see a lot on a clear day.

 

Now for the most exciting portion of the day. A trip to see the sloths! Get ready for some cuteness.

 

 

 

If you look closely in this picture you can see the tiny head of a 2 week old baby. :D

 

And then you get to hug them!!

 

 

[_beachgirl_]

Roatan Part 3

 

You also get to spend some time with his other animals. This is my husband feeding a coati.

 

 

Don't forget your monkey hat!

 

 

We had a little bit of extra time and the others in our group wanted to check out the iguanas. We headed over there for a bit so they could check those out and then Daniel dropped us back off at the ship. On the return trip, the vendors are allowed to bring you all the way back to the tourism area. You do not need to walk up and down the hill again which is nice.

 

Our day with Daniel was AMAZING!! If you are stopping at Roatan please do considering spending the day with him. He's such a nice guy who truly cares about the animals at his home. Holding a sloth was definitely on my bucket list and if we're ever in Roatan we're definitely going to contact Daniel again. He has a tour that includes snorkelling as well if that interests you.

 

Once back to the ship, my husband asked me to take this picture of him. He loves green islands with lots of hills so Roatan was definitely his favourite of the trip.

 

[_beachgirl_]

Carnival Style Birthday Celebration

 

When we got back to our room, we were in for another surprise!

 

Carnival left some birthday goodies in our room. On the bed with our Fun Times were 2 gift cards. $50 to use at the spa and $25 for a bottle of wine. It seems like this is something new they are doing. We were definitely not expecting it. It was a nice touch though. Our room steward also left a nice little note.

 

Plus I pre-ordered the hubby a cake so he was full of smiles once he saw everything waiting for him. I'm glad he ended up having such a great day!

 

 

 

 

Up next: Grand Cayman

[*Cassie*]

Great review! The excursion with the sloths and other animals look like so much fun! And what a nice birthday surprise from Carnival. I didn't realize they did that.