Carnival Glory May 27 , Eastern Carribean - Questions!

[Feistybelle]

Hello all, thank you in advance for reading this and the help you will provide. It is truly appreciated.

 

Here's a little information about the cruising family:

 

Husband and myself (in our 30's)

Daughter (14, just one month shy of 15)

Son (12)

 

I paid the extra 200$ to get an ocean view cabin, mainly because my husband is six foot two, my daughter is five ten and my son is five seven. (I'm the shortie at five eight) I was hoping someone could weigh in on if this was a good idea. I was told it has around forty more square feet than interior. I have sailed with interior cabin before and it was cramped and we bumped into each other and it looked destroyed daily. I've said with a window before, but it was not any bigger than the interior cabins because on that ship, they just weren't. This is on the Glory however.

 

Also, I have heard terrible things about the Splendor, so I was hoping if you've done this cruise on the Glory you'd offer some insight or perhaps you'd have tips?

 

As far as port of calls, I'm hoping I picked a good cruise that will entertain everyone.

 

The ports are:

 

(Leave from Miami - any parking recommendations?)

 

Half Moon Cay - 9am-5PM (Should we do an excursion here or just enjoy the beach?)

 

St. Thomas (Should we do an excursion to St John? Is there one that the kids would adore?)

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico (Any suggestions here appreciated, clueless)

 

Grand Turk (Excursions for kids and adults? Older kids - and we all love history and the beach)

 

 

I've only done smaller cruises that didn't go many places. Cozumel and Grand caymen to be exact. one was four days, one was five.

 

I am a planner and like to at least have a skeleton summary of what to expect or avoid or do. I am doing research but I thought maybe coming directly to the brain and experience would be the best idea. I truly appreciate any tips you have to offer.

 

Would it help to know a room number for input on where we are?

 

Thanks again, i'll be checking this often.

[CharlesKru]

Hi,

 

We have sailed the Glory many times.. she is a great ship.

 

The Inside rooms are 185 sqf and the ocean views are 220 sqf, plus the ledge for the window. If I was sailing with a total of 4 in a cabin I would have to at least have an ocean view.

 

In Miami, we are doing a park, stay and cruise at Red Roof. I have not done it yet, so not sure how it will go, but parking at the port is $20 per day and the hotel is less than that for two of us...

 

HMC is a beautiful beach area. We have been twice now and I would go back any day of the week. The first time we got a clam shell so we would not burn ( you rent them when you get off the tender, $20 I think) the second time we knew where we wanted to be, that had shade under a canopy of trees so we just got off first and went straight there Head to the beach, then walk past the pirate ship bar, and there are alot of trees by the cabanas. I would not recommend doing any excursions here... Just relax and enjoy the water and view.

 

Saint Thomas, if you kids and you like to snorkel, one of the best spots I have ever been was to either Turtle cove or Christmas cove ( was a few years ago) here.. You can check the excursion info page to see if any are going there.. We saw lots of fish, and got lucky and saw a few Sea Turtles that day as well.

 

San Jaun has two forts within walking distance, you dock in old town, there are lots of shops and things to see. beyond that, most what we have done would not apply as it involves drinking rum.... The forts are pretty nice though!

 

Grand Turk, I have only been here one time, and that time I went horseback riding, that took us into the ocean. It was interesting, but I would probably not do it again. We plan to go to Jacks Shack and hang out on the beach when I go in about 2 weeks.

 

One tip I will give you, in the back of the lido buffet area, there is a seating area upstairs. The first 3 or so days it will not be very full at lunch time, as many people dont find it.

 

Let me know if you have any more questions I might be able to help with.

 

Have a great cruise.

[kdhjlm]

In Half Moon Cay we always just enjoy the beach and the buffet. The beach is fantastic so we have never done an excursion here. Grand Turk also has a great beach with plenty of chairs right when you get off the ship so you can just walk over to it. We actually spend most of our time here in the pool over at Margaritaville. It's a great pool with a flowrider, etc. Get there quick to make sure you get a lounger. At St. Thomas we did a See and Sea excursion where you go in a "semi-sub" and get a good view under the water at the sea life. We saw some sea turtles, lots of fish, etc. In Puerto Rico we just went to the different old forts. I think there were two of them and they were neat. One suggestion is to take the free trolly/tram that goes to the forts. We didn't realize this was an option so we ended up walking to the forts which was quite a ways in the heat. We did take the free transportation back to the ship though. Hope you have a great time!

[helene109]

We are on the Glory in August. I would be curious to know how much more a balcony is? We did a cove balcony on the Dream my kids were 18 and 15 it was cramped made us all crabby lol my husband said take the $ we would use on a vacation for us 2 and put it towards 2 cabins! Look forward to hearing more information on the ports too!

 

 

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[Feistybelle]

We are on the Glory in August. I would be curious to know how much more a balcony is? We did a cove balcony on the Dream my kids were 18 and 15 it was cramped made us all crabby lol my husband said take the $ we would use on a vacation for us 2 and put it towards 2 cabins! Look forward to hearing more information on the ports too!

 

 

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Just to let you know balcony cabins have less square feet inside than ocean view. For me there was a two hundred dollar difference between interior and ocean view, then another 200 between ocean view and balc. So around 400 diff from interior to balc.

[helene109]

We have a balcony and my kids will have an inside

 

 

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[helene109]

It is a hard decision glad you have an outside!

 

 

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[Organized Chaos]

We'll be sailing out of Miami aboard the Glory, too, but not until next summer. But I'm a planner too and have already begun some of the early stages. We liked our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale last year because they offered cruiser parking and a free shuttle to the port and back to the hotel after. So far, I've found quite a few hotels that offer cruiser parking with a shuttle to the port, but no return shuttle. Except for one, but you have to stay at the hotel after returning. I'm sorry, I've looked at so many, I can't remember which was which. I've also looked at some of the cruiser parking lots at the port. I simply looked up the port of Miami on Google Maps, then searched nearby for parking. I found 3 or 4 lots varying in price from $74-$90 (give or take) for 7 days of parking. All offered shuttles from their lot to the terminal, but not all shuttle rides were free because some used third-party services. We'll be a group of 8 (2 families) so services like a taxi or Uber aren't our best option. Someone suggested parking at our hotel, then when we get back from the cruise, someone take a taxi/Uber back to the hotel to get the cars while the others wait with all the luggage. That's an option we'll consider.

 

 

Half Moon Cay is a pretty small, privately owned island so there isn't much to it. Most people use it as a beach day. We took an island tram tour there not knowing just how small the island is. Our guide was great and told us a lot about HMC, but there's hardly anything to see besides the stables where they keep the horses and the trailers/buildings that house some of the workers. Otherwise the island is uninhabited. We found the waters there to be much more salty than anywhere else. We're not big on ocean swimming to begin with, so this was a bit of a turn-off for us. For lunch, you take a tram to a pavilion area where they serve jerk chicken, several sides, drinks & desserts. This is provided by Carnival and is free.

 

 

If you'd like to go snorkeling on your own, instead of on an excursion, we found Grand Turk to be a great place for it. Just about everyone from the ship gathers on the beach area to the left of the pier, basically in front of Margaritaville. Instead, we went to a small area to the right of the pier, down in front of the NASA exhibit. There's a couple rows of lounge chairs and hardly anyone went here when we were there. There's some large underwater rocks to navigate just off the beach, but once you get out beyond those, we found this area to be much better snorkeling than Half Moon Cay. We saw some fish, crabs, coral, & a live conch. I've heard that if you go farther down the beach, to the south away from the pier, there's good snorkeling that way too. Walk a little farther to find the "conch graveyard," where the restaurants discard the empty conch shells on the beach after harvesting the conch. We didn't hear about this until after our cruise, so we look forward to checking it out next year.

 

We'll be going to St. Thomas & San Juan for the first time. In St. Thomas, we're pretty sure we're going to do the Sea Trek excursion at the Coral World Ocean Park. You wear what's basically a large diving helmet and walk on the sea floor about 15 ft. below the surface for 20-30 minutes. Just google Sea Trek to see pictures and it's in the St. Thomas excursions on Carnival.

 

Have a great time. Wish ours was sooner.

[CoW mAn]

St. Thomas (Should we do an excursion to St John? Is there one that the kids would adore?)

 

Personally I think taking the chair lift to Paradise Point makes for a fine day out, you can walk to it from the ship

 

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Grand Turk (Excursions for kids and adults? Older kids

[Kemmans]

I am looking for any copies of Funtimes from the eastern Caribbean itinerary. Mostly to figure out which nights are formal nights. Can anyone help?