Easter Glory! A detailed pictorial review of the refurbished Carnival Glory 4/15-4/22

parkesyau · June 1, 2017

Sounds like it. This trip was my first time at HMC but I had been to St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk a bunch of time before this. This was more for the family time than for the ports but the ports that this itinerary visits are still good and have plenty to do and see. I am going on a few cruises this fall that feature a trip up to some New England and Canada ports I have never seen and another trip to the eastern Caribbean a few months later. Going to be a busy fall but I really like the eastern Caribbean, especially St. Maarten and am looking forward to seeing some ports up the New England coast I have never seen before. Believe me, that year goes by fast when a cruise comes up. We planned this trip months in advance and before you knew it, the cruise was just days away and we were still scrambling to get everything in order for our journey. You will love your cruise and thank you very much for the nice words. I appreciate that people are enjoying this review and all my reviews and that they help people in planning for their cruises. It also allows me to re-live the thing long after it is over. I am going to get to our day in San Juan a little later today I think and we did much more sightseeing here and went on a really cool private tour through Old San Juan. I can't wait to get started on it.

You have no idea how excited I am I have always wanted to see the carribean and reading your review makes me more certain I chose the right itinerary and ship. We are coming a long way from Australia with our kids. I have a book and writing everything down that I can take from your detailed review 😆

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 1, 2017

Great review and photos. Thanks for sharing.

I have a question for you re: bringing your own soda. Are you allowed to take them to the DR?

My wife and I are Dr. Pepper drinkers:).

I appreciate the kind words and thanks for reading along. Plenty more to come for sure. I have never had an issue with bringing a soda into the MDR. Sometimes I will get one at the bar outside the MDR on the way in, especially on the first night, so I have it and do not have to wait for the servers at my table to bring me one. If you have your own soda, they won't know the difference between that or one bought on the ship and they don't really care. I also know you can bring your own cocktails, beer and wine into the MDR with you. Brought a big bottle of Coors into the MDR on this cruise and have brought glasses of wine from my one-bottle carryon allowance that I poured in my cabin into the dining room with no problems as well. Just don't bring your own bottles of wine in there with you or they will charge corkage. Dr. Pepper is nice. I do like it but I still like my Coke more, LOL.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 1, 2017

Great review. Wish mine was half as thorough as yours.

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Thanks. I read yours as well and I thought it was excellent. You sailed the week after I did I believe if I remember correctly? I enjoyed seeing reviews of the same ship from two people on two consecutive sailings, I saw features of the ship and ports from your review that I might not have seen myself and liked seeing the similarities and differences. I had a good day in San Juan and a nice evening back on board the ship and I will be getting to it later tonight. I thought I was going to get to it on Tuesday and those plans fell through but I am going to make time to do it tonight. I am glad you are having a good time following along with this review.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 1, 2017

Read your review at work today--couldn't see pics--got home and went through it all over again! Nice pics.

Thank you very much. I am not a photographer but I try to catch the moment whenever I am doing an activity like an excursion or the cruise itself or any major activities back on land. I am glad you like the pics and I hope you continue to enjoy them as I get to the next part of the review here in just a little bit.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 1, 2017

You have no idea how excited I am I have always wanted to see the carribean and reading your review makes me more certain I chose the right itinerary and ship. We are coming a long way from Australia with our kids. I have a book and writing everything down that I can take from your detailed review 😆

The Caribbean is awesome. Lots of islands to see and do, and explore. In many places, going outside of the touristy areas which can all look pretty much the same from island to island is a must. Some islands have tons to do and see and some don't have as much. But I have taken island tours in pretty much every Caribbean port I have visited at some point, I have visited a lot of them multiple times. Some have great private tours that cost less and are better quality and some places it is best to stick with a tour booked through the cruise line if you want to venture far from the ship. There is plenty of info online for pretty much every island in the Caribbean and you can kind of plan your visits there through that and through reading reviews from other cruisers on places like this site. I have used both options and word of mouth from people I know who have gone to these places to plan and usually have a good time in each place.

Have a great time when you visit this part of the world. Tons to see and do and ships leave to the Caribbean from multiple ports from the southeast, Texas and the east coast so plenty to choose from. Also, make sure to spend a day or two before or after the cruise sightseeing in the area that the ship will be going from. I did that in San Francisco last year before going on an Alaska cruise and once in a while will fly in early to some ports in Florida to get a little of the local culture before leaving on my cruise. Perhaps one day I will make it to Australia. After I run out of places to see in North America, I will have to set my sights somewhere, haha.

I am able to do these reviews like this because I take notes each day (in one of those journals that I got as a platinum VIFP gift a few years ago lol) about what I did on and off the ship, and combine that with the pictures I get and the funtimes newsletters that I keep and whatever I can remember off the top of my head, I can generally give a good description of my activities and observations I made about whatever my experiences and surroundings were that day. I really love doing these reviews and I am glad you and others enjoy reading them and can use them to help plan your cruises. Thanks for reading along with my journey.

Ralphinsc · June 1, 2017

Great review to date! Finally caught up. We are doing this exact itinerary for Easter next year. Good to read a very thorough and comparable review. Subscribed to see how it finishes!

Anthomaniac · June 2, 2017

You have no idea how excited I am I have always wanted to see the carribean and reading your review makes me more certain I chose the right itinerary and ship. We are coming a long way from Australia with our kids. I have a book and writing everything down that I can take from your detailed review 😆

We love this ship and the Eastern itinerary. Doing it again in November!

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Bigmo6967 · June 2, 2017

Great review to date! Finally caught up. We are doing this exact itinerary for Easter next year. Good to read a very thorough and comparable review. Subscribed to see how it finishes!

Thats cool so am I. Maybe we might bump into each other on the trip......:D

cruisingbajan · June 2, 2017

I appreciate the kind words and thanks for reading along. Plenty more to come for sure. I have never had an issue with bringing a soda into the MDR. Sometimes I will get one at the bar outside the MDR on the way in, especially on the first night, so I have it and do not have to wait for the servers at my table to bring me one. If you have your own soda, they won't know the difference between that or one bought on the ship and they don't really care. I also know you can bring your own cocktails, beer and wine into the MDR with you. Brought a big bottle of Coors into the MDR on this cruise and have brought glasses of wine from my one-bottle carryon allowance that I poured in my cabin into the dining room with no problems as well. Just don't bring your own bottles of wine in there with you or they will charge corkage. Dr. Pepper is nice. I do like it but I still like my Coke more, LOL.

Thanks for the info it is very helpful [emoji106]. I look forward to the rest of the review [emoji2]

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tw67 · June 2, 2017

You will have a great time. I have never cruised at Christmas. Too busy at home and it is too expensive to cruise that week for me anyway. I would maybe like to try it or New Year's on a cruise sometime though. The Glory is a pretty nice ship and the crew is pretty good. Management seems to be a little lacking but they have a tough job in taking care of the wants and needs of thousands of people and I still do think they try their best in difficult circumstances. Thanks for the nice words about my reviews. I like writing them, I feel like each one I do gets better and I am really glad people see value in them and like following along with my adventures. I have learned so much about the ins and outs of cruising that the cruise lines do not tell you and that most people don't know about through reviews on this site and I figure the least I can do it contribute a little bit to that so people can know the little things that can make their cruise vacations better. I am going to get to my day in San Juan in a little while hopefully and we did cover a lot of ground in the Old San Juan and Condado areas while we were there. Although I had been to SJU a few times before, I feel like I saw a lot of the place and learned a lot about it this time that I had not in past visits. Lot of good pictures from there also. I am looking forward to getting to it.

Seeing the complete garbage weather we have had for most of the last few weeks and beyond, not like there is much else for me to do on a rainy day like this anyway, LOL. And it seems there are a lot of cruisers from the South Jersey/Philly area who cruise out of Florida. Cruising is such a perfect way to vacation. I learned that 11 years ago from my mom who had found out herself about cruising a few years before that, :cool:. Been hooked ever since my first cruise, a birthday present back in 2006. Even with the shore and mountains and NYC/WAS so close by, a week at the shore ends up costing you more than a week on a cruise, and you get to see more places on a cruise. I like the shore and land vacations all around the USA, but cruising is the way to go most of the time.

Anyway, thanks for reading along and enjoy your cruise if you do decide to go on a Christmas journey or whenever you decide to cruise.

Thanks! We booked it! I never would have done Christmas cruises when my kids were small, but now with the older one in college, and the younger one starting high school, Christmas is the only time I can guarantee that we can all make it. Recently we have been doing 4 days at the holiday, so this will be our first 7 day over Christmas. We are hoping that my in-laws will join us, but they weren't ready to book yet. They want to wait until it is a year out, and take inventory of their health to decide!

Hopefully our NJ weather that we have had for the last few days stays for awhile, and that crappy rainy overcast weather is gone for the summer!!

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

OK, I am back for real this time! Thank you all for the kind words and I am glad you are all enjoying my review and I am enjoying writing all about it. I love the conversations we are having as well within the review, that is what makes these so great. Anyway, I am finally ready to get to the next part of this thing, and it is going to feature a day in San Juan, PR and the night's activities once we were back onboard. I didn't do a whole lot off the ship in St. Thomas the day before but we surely got around this day in San Juan. I have a LOT of pics from this day, so it will take a little while to get done but I am looking forward to getting into it. So, enjoy!

DAY 5: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

Well, I had said St. Thomas and San Juan are pretty close, just under a hundred miles apart I believe. So it did not take us long to get there overnight and the ship was moving slowly so it was a very quiet night. We also had an early arrival in San Juan today, 0700 to be exact. I am not generally a morning person while on vacation (I have to be at home so it is nice to relax when I don't have to get up early), and so I did not get up until roughly 1000. The ship parks in downtown Old San Juan, right across the street from the city so no hurry to get off as we did not have any specific tours planned and could kind of make it up as we went along. It was a nice day, partly cloudy and around 80 I would say. Typical Caribbean morning, and weather - humid but not totally oppressive. As usual, I went out to the balcony to check out the weather and our surroundings before doing anything else.

Royal Caribbean ship parked across the way, not sure what ship this was and why it was all the way over there but we were the only ship parked at the downtown pier. I had visited here a few times as a port of call and also did a cruise that began and ended here so I was pretty familiar with the layout of the area already.

The Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci airport, a small general aviation field, located right near the cruise port and Old San Juan, get to see some neat traffic coming and going and a lot of touch and gos here. Keep in mind the main airport for San Juan, Luis Maroz Marin is quite a ways away and if you are cruising out of here, you will need to get a cab ride that takes a good half hour in traffic and will cost like $20 a person and more if you have bags with you.

I went upstairs to get some breakfast and figured that I was done with the regular breakfast line and would try the Blue Iguana instead. They do offer breakfast burritos, so I got chicken, sausage, scrambled eggs and potatoes and although it was not bad and was probably better than the lido marketplace mess, it was nowhere near as good as the lunch burritos they have.

I walked around on the top decks as I like to do after breakfast and got some pictures of the area around the ship. As I said, this ship docks right in Old San Juan, so it is close to everything. I know the Intercontinental is in this area (I think) and a few other high-end and expensive hotels, these were located right across the street. A plus of walking around the ship after most people have gotten off for early tours is that there is so much more room to do stuff without getting in anyone's way along the way.

Much more to come.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

This is the Castillo San Cristobal fort in Old San Juan, it is the smaller of the two major historical forts there. The other being El Morro of course, on the other corner. Originally I thought this was El Morro as I had been there before but I figured out it was not after a while, realizing there are two forts here and they can be easily confused. And although it looks close, it is uphill to get there through town, and is a decent walk. Again, if you are in good shape and with a group who can walk long distances, you can get to here and nearby attractions on foot, but if you are not, don't try to walk this or really, any part of Old San Juan as it is hilly and hard to get around if you have issues walking. Will talk more about this later on.

Another general aviation field shot, lol. Lot of activity later on today here.

Mainland PR. Mountainous once you get away from the island that OSJ is located on. Puerto Rico is not that big, 96 miles by 35 miles and I understand once you get out of the city, has a lot of rural areas and towns, but that each area has its own unique characteristics.

I figured it was time to head back to the cabin to meet up with the group and figure out what we were going to do for the day in San Juan a little after 1100. I stopped by the shore excursions desk on deck 3, near the musical stage and across from guest services and got a pic of it. It was closed at this time but usually during the day, there is a person there who can sell you ship sponsored excursions and will give you some basic advice on what to pick. This is where I had to go to get refunded the St. Thomas excursion. If you really want to go on a trip you see on your cruise planner before the cruise, book it then and do not wait until you get on the ship. It could easily get sold out and you will not be able to book it onboard if it is sold out. Trust me on this one, it has happened to me before.

I think they call these areas the Fun Hubs. They are internet cafes where you can log onto the Carnival internet if you have bought internet through your sign and sail and print out things such as boarding passes for flights back home. I do not know if you can still pay by the minute on these machines now that they have the packages. Based on my experiences with paying by the minute years ago on these machines, they are extremely slow and by the time you get anything done, you may as well have bought a daily or all-cruise long package as those minutes add up quick. But they are open 24/7 and located in a few areas around the ship. I want to say this was in one of the corridors on promenade deck but cannot remember now.

I have to mention that cell phone service was great here. Just like as if you were back home. 4G data worked fine, calling worked fine, text messages worked great. Lots of people on this ship were using their phones to get in contact with home, including T and my mom. LOL. I also forgot to mention that during my walk through Serenity (one glitch is that on one of the decks, you cannot walk all the way around the front of the ship from one side to the other due to the camp ocean outdoor play area being on one side - deck 11 I think), a couple chilling on one of the hammocks and enjoying the relatively empty ship asked me to get a picture of them in paradise. Of course I took care of it for them, which was cool. You will notice people do this a lot on cruises and I have as well. Never had a problem. People are always willing to help each other out to create a good memory. Don't be nervous to ask a stranger to take a pic of you somewhere if you see a great photo opportunity that you want to be in, is the moral of this story. Anyway...

We debarked the gangway on deck 0 forward, the usual place for exiting at ports of call, and went through the customs and baggage claim area to make our way out through the long covered walkway to the street. Once you get here, everyone and their brother wants to sell you a tour somewhere, to see anything. We did not book any excursions here because I know that you can get a private tour on your schedule for a lot less money. So, we went across the street to see if we could get a better idea of what to do without being hounded by people selling tours and decided on a tour that a guy with his own van offered us for $10 a person. It was a nice air-conditioned van with room for about 25 persons and it was promised to be a 2-hour tour. Perfect as we had to be back at the ship by 1500 I think.

So, once our tour bus was filled up, our driver and tour guide, Lasso, welcomed us onboard and explained what kind of tour this would be. It would cover Old San Juan and Condado, which was across the bridge from Old San Juan. Looked to be a good tour. The building right across the street from the port is the department of the interior or something similar, aka the tax service building if I remember right and he joked that his tax dollars paid for one of the bricks used to build it. LOL. It would be that kind of humorous but informative tour.

More on our day in Old San Juan coming up...

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

Great review to date! Finally caught up. We are doing this exact itinerary for Easter next year. Good to read a very thorough and comparable review. Subscribed to see how it finishes!

Thanks, this is the first time that I have actually sailed on a major holiday such as Easter or Thanksgiving or Christmas so it was interesting. I wish they would have done more Easter themed stuff but they did do a little bit. I try to make the reviews as thorough as possible so the reader can see the cruise and vacation from my perspective, as if they were there. My mom used to do a Flat Stanley thing for one of the grade schools in the area and whenever she traveled, she would always share pictures and souvenirs she got along the way and say that was the experience that Flat Stanley had. The kids loved it because most of them had never traveled and some would likely not get a chance to in the future due to illnesses and other circumstances. Some of the best reviews on here allow the readers to see the entire cruise as if they were there, from the perspective of the reviewer. I am currently working on my day in San Juan, hope you are enjoying it.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

We love this ship and the Eastern itinerary. Doing it again in November!

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This was my second time on the ship as well and it was interesting how things have changed in the almost 4 years between my first and second time on it. I love the far eastern itinerary and cannot wait to go on that cruise this fall.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

Thanks for the info it is very helpful [emoji106]. I look forward to the rest of the review [emoji2]

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No problem, I encourage questions and comments and like to share knowledge I have of policies like that if I know about it. Hope you enjoy my San Juan wrapup and pictures I am currently working on.

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

Thanks! We booked it! I never would have done Christmas cruises when my kids were small, but now with the older one in college, and the younger one starting high school, Christmas is the only time I can guarantee that we can all make it. Recently we have been doing 4 days at the holiday, so this will be our first 7 day over Christmas. We are hoping that my in-laws will join us, but they weren't ready to book yet. They want to wait until it is a year out, and take inventory of their health to decide!

Hopefully our NJ weather that we have had for the last few days stays for awhile, and that crappy rainy overcast weather is gone for the summer!!

That is how it is for my sister also so that is why she wanted to go on a cruise the specific week we went. It would not have been my first choice as I like to cruise during "shoulder season" as the ships are less crowded, prices are lower, etc. I have heard the atmosphere on ships around Christmas and New Year's is special though, so maybe I will look into doing that sometime. But travel in general is so hectic around that time so that has to be factored in as well. I like to mix up my cruise lengths during the year. I try to do a few shorter ones that can be done in a long weekend, if I am cruising with my friends and we see a good deal at the last minute and I also like to do a few longer voyages that require a lot of planning and usually go a week or 8-9 days. I know a lot can change in a year or just a few months and that is why we usually book travel insurance for long and expensive cruises that we plan out ahead of time. My mom had to cancel a cruise once years ago because her friend who was going with her got into a nasty car wreck days before sailing and they would have lost their entire fare and everything else if they did not have the insurance. They were able to take that cruise at a later date because they had the insurance. Also, you never know if you will get sick or hurt while on the cruise so it is best to pay a little bit and have peace of mind.

The weather is great today. Finally. Just means we are going right into summer from early spring. Will probably start getting really hot in the next week or so, lol. But at least everyone's lawns are nice and green because of the rain, :cool:. I feel some sort of way when it is 58 and rainy on Memorial Day weekend, as it was this year. LOL. Anyway, I am currently working on my San Juan part of the review, hope you love it and the pictures and happy summer!

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

So, Lasso began with taking us down all the major streets in Old San Juan, which as it is called, is the oldest part of San Juan. It dates back to the 1500s back when the western hemisphere was just discovered by the Europeans and it was in just that strategic spot that everyone wanted to control it. It is the governmental and tourist capital of San Juan, at least I think it is. Lasso was originally born in PR I think, grew up and lived in New York for many years and moved back to Puerto Rico like 30 years ago where he remains today. He knew the island really well and told us a little history and a story about every place we went to. I don't remember everything about the tour but we did stop at a lot of landmarks throughout the city.

Beginning with the war memorial. This was located in the middle of town, and honors every Puerto Rican who has died in wars fighting for the USA that the United States has been involved in. Puerto Rico is a US territory and has been since 1898. US currency is used and the official language is Spanish and road signs, government buildings, etc are all in Spanish. However most people in the city seem to speak English well enough to communicate with tourists and the percentage of the island that speaks English grows each year. Lasso said that English is taught in schools for many years to students all throughout the island and it is mandatory, but I have also heard from people that this isn't necessarily always enforced in some of the smaller towns. Almost all of the many people I know from Puerto Rico who are in the mainland US nowadays speak English pretty well although they do say that a lot of their parents and grandparents don't speak it.

The war memorial to all the Puerto Rican people who have died fighting for the United States

This was the monument to the ethnic history of the island. The natives to the area, the African ethnic background of the island and the European background, all combined today to create the diverse ethnic makeup of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico got its name from the Spanish, rich port because of the gold that was once seen in the sediments from volcanoes nearby and the colonizers figured they could make a lot of money from that gold. I don't believe that PR has a ton of gold now but that is how it got its original name. Ponce de Leon was the first governor of the island I think and a lot of stuff in the country or at least San Juan is named after him.

We stopped at the school of tropical medicine for the island of Puerto Rico which is located in the same general area as many of the other government buildings and landmarks in town.

We headed across the bridge off the island to Condado, which is a rather wealthy area and has some good beaches and resorts. Lasso told us that the average housing price around this area is close to a million dollars now although he bought his place for far less (like $100,000) before the prices went up and fixed it up how he liked it to be. He told us that interest rates can get high there as well for borrowers. He said that gas prices are a little higher there than in the mainland USA and that they go by liters and not gallons, and traffic getting to and from San Juan is bad. That is why he chooses to live in town instead of on the outskirts and then having to deal with a commute to go to work every day. He said that the economy in San Juan is good, contrary to what we may hear on the news. Right there, yes but I am not sure about the rest of the island. I know they are having some terrible issues right now and I don't know what can be done to improve the general economy. Hopefully it does improve in the future. Quite a few famous people and rich folks are seeing that Condado is a trendy area and are buying up property there these days.

As you can see in the next picture, road signs are the same as in the continental US but everything is in Spanish so you have to know at least a little bit of the language if you are going to go off on your own there. He also said that 80 percent of goods are imported from the continental US and there is very little in the way of exports. Obviously there is some stuff made there, Bacardi has a large factory and a few other things but way more comes in than goes out. He said that a major effort was made by the government about 50 years ago to modernize the island and make it more tourist and industry friendly and it has succeeded in some areas but not others. He also said that if you can find work in PR for 180 days, you are now considered a Puerto Rico resident and the tax burden is less there. I understand it is very hard to do this unless you are from there though, someone from the lower 48 can't just go and start working in Puerto Rico without going through some serious hurdles. I might be wrong about that but that is what I have heard whenever talking about that situation with people up in Philly.

The bridge to Condado, nice scenic views here.

More in a moment...

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

Once back across the bridge and in Old San Juan, Lasso took us past the baseball stadium that is located not far from the fort I talked about earlier. It was the first baseball stadium in Puerto Rico. And now you see that in this year's world baseball classic, Puerto Rico either won or got very close to winning the whole thing. The photo quality sucks here as we were moving fast and it was on the other side of the bus but it gives you an idea.

Another view of the Atlantic from the roadway

I forget what this was but I think it was the main government building, located not far from El Morro fort. The governor of PR was in the area today so there was a large police presence and a long escorted convoy taking him around so traffic in the area was slowed some. Lasso said this is a busy and happening place though. He also said that Casablanca was near the fort El Morro and pointed it out to us.

Ah, a controversial spot! I had read about this area in other reviews on cruise critic but never got the whole story. It happens that this is a town built out of low quality materials and inhabited by very poor residents and has been inhabited by very poor residents for many decades. Nobody is kicked out of here because politicians do not have the will to do so due to voter backlash (he said many people sympathize with them) although nobody pays rent or taxes who live here and living there is either passed on from generation to generation or one family moves out at some point and another moves in. It is located right near the ocean, literally in the shadow of El Morro fort. It sounds as if Lasso had a negative outlook on that housing area. But I suppose what he was saying was truthful.

We got to El Morro fort and stopped for a while for sightseeing. I went here once as a tour, and for a reasonable fee, you can tour the place and see all the history of it. It is run by the US Parks service I think and it is well maintained and rehabilitated. You also see that the cemetery for influential and famous Puerto Ricans is located right next to here. Raul Julio the actor was the last person to be buried there I think.

Still more OSJ coming up...

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

I guess it was lunchtime for the schoolkids who went to school nearby and they were out having a good time in front of the fort. Many people fly kites here as well and many were flying on this day. T and K wanted to get into a picture with the fort behind them and I wanted one of myself, so we took care of all that and walked around some. That is a long way, from where we were to the fort itself. My sister and my mom got tons of pictures on their own cameras as well throughout this cruise.

This was taken from out front of the fort as we made our turn on to Christ Street I think, after we got everyone back on the bus again and the tour was beginning to wind down as it was close to 1330 by this time.

As we made our way back towards the main downtown area, we passed this statue and I think that is of Ponce de Leon. This is a hilly street as it makes its way back towards the ship and the port, it is a steep drive and walk if you choose to walk.

The tour ended for those of us who wanted to get off and walk around some, and continued back to the port for those who wanted to just get back to the ship. My mom elected to stay on and just go back to the ship and the rest of us and some others from the tour elected to walk around the city some and find our own way back. Probably a half mile or so walk from there to the ship.

The narrow streets

More coming.....

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

I forgot to mention that Lasso took payment for the tour as we exited in front of El Morro so be prepared to pay then if you take his tour. I forgot which number his bus was but he told us to make sure when we did get off the bus, to make sure we went back to the right one as many of them looked the same. I left him a little extra, more than the required $10 because the tour was so good. For the price, a 2+ hour tour was pretty good, especially considering it was a local who put his own style into the tour and it seemed more personalized than one of the tours that you can book through the cruise ship line. Definitely more freedom for doing what you want, when you want when you go private instead of through the ship. San Juan was one of the places where a private tour is fine because you are staying close to the port in relative terms and there are ways to get back if something goes wrong with the tour.

Anyway, T wanted to go to a place called La Bombonera, a bakery in Old San Juan, I guess she saw it on food network or something and wanted to try it. She and K got some pastry here, I did not get anything as there was a large food court right up the street with plenty of stuff to choose from.

We made our way up the street, and stopped into a non-descript independent gift shop and clothing store. K got a few things and I got a magnet to take home, decent selection of stuff to choose from here and ok prices. I almost bought a new set of Puerto Rico themed dominos that was on sale there but decided not to at the last minute. After we were done there, it was a little further down the street where the large food court and outdoor park with food trucks and a straw market was located. Right across the street from there was the smaller fort that you can see from the ship.

Along the way was the University of Puerto Rico.

This is what the fort looked like close-up from the open public park.

I saw a food truck in the park offering empanadas and other stuff so we all sat down and got something from here. I had never heard of a mofongo before but it looked good. However, I settled on a chicken empanada and they got some fritters and something else. I also got a fresh squeezed lemonade but it was not that great. Total was like $6 or so for both the empanadas and my drink. But the lunch was unique and enjoyable and we were on our way thereafter.

Next...K and T shop at the straw market.....and we make our way back to the ship....

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

I forget what this picture below is of, but it is right in the area where the straw market was. K had a budget to spend on what she wanted to get, and some of the stuff was pretty unique as it was families and individuals selling in many cases, handmade goods in little tents in the town square. I did not get anything but I think K did. I did not take any pictures of this area but there were a few dozen vendors there and it was fairly crowded. It was after 1400 when we were done and it was time to head back to the ship. There was also a police presence in the area, just local foot patrols I guess due to it being a tourist area and a high-traffic spot but it was cool to see.

We headed back down one of the streets with all kinds of offices and government buildings along it and we could see the whale tail from our ship off to our right but could not figure out how to get there. There were not any cross streets it seemed. We finally cut across the parking lot of another government services building and it let us off right near the ship. I am good with direction but T kept telling me we were going the wrong way as we walked. Who was right this time, I did find our way back for us with plenty of time to spare. LOL.

We got back to the ship, met our mom and I got this picture taken right in front of the port building and the sign out front. I like downtown ports where the ships park right close to everything. They have that setup in San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, a few Alaskan cities, St, John and San Diego just off the top of my head.

It was getting close to 1500 now, so most people were already back, but we made our way thru the area we exited through and back past the duty free shop and onto the ship. Not a long wait at the gangway. I headed right upstairs (always a fight for the elevators when getting back on at deck 0 but not bad today) and got some bbq pork and beef and a beef hot dog from the deli for a late lunch. The pork and beef were better today and the hot dog was good as usual. I do miss the ships that have hot dogs available at the buffet but the ships that have Guy's don't seem to offer this now.

So, by now it was time for departure and I figured I would go up to the top deck to watch the scenic sailaway from San Juan. When the ship backs out it goes right in front of the runway to the small airport nearby and you get some great views. I think a small Cessna or something buzzed right over the ship on short final and completed his landing despite us being right in the way. Talk about good piloting, haha.

Once we began moving, we passed the Coast Guard station located not far from the port which you can see further in the background.

We still had to pass El Morro on the way out and that is always neat to see. That will be up next....

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

Departure was around 1530 because I suppose they had to wait for late arriving passengers who were called by name over the PA system, but we were out quickly thereafter. On our right was El Morro. Now, we are looking at it from the opposite angle that I had shown you earlier. We were moving fairly fast so it was windy up here and I had to fight for space with others on the literal edge of the Serenity whirlpool at the forward of the ship to get these pictures but they are good. Lots of people wanted to get photos of this as we passed.

Once we were on our way again, I turned my phone back to airplane mode and went upstairs with a soda to play some mini golf although it was too windy by now to really play any. Some people tried but it was not a great time. The course was in good shape though and was challenging. I complain about this every time but if you take a ball and putter when you enter the course, put them away when you are done instead of throwing them on the ground. They become tripping hazards because they can be hard to see in the high artificial grass, and there are never any balls to take to begin with because they are left lord knows where or are stolen by previous players. I liked the old system where you had to sign equipment out at the towel hut and sign it back in to not get charged, maybe they have to go back to that system again. I will note there were semi competitive basketball and volleyball games going on in the sports area so in order to get to the golf course, you had to carefully maneuver through those things.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that I got a few sodas while we were in San Juan and yes, they charge you tax on sodas here due to local sales taxes being in US waters. Like 28 or 30 cents, really steep but whatever. Know that you do have to pay the taxes on sodas here though. Anyway, K went to meet her friends from camp ocean at the pool and I headed back to the cabin to take a nap after everything calmed down around 1700.

Before I fell asleep, mom and T were discussing that guest services refunded the prices for all the dolphin tour excursions, not just mine due to the inconvenience with the noise in the cabin. It was in the form of onboard credit, my mom got some or all of it, cannot remember so we made sure to spend all of it before the end of the cruise or lose it. It made it easier to spend on activities I might not have spent anything on for the rest of the trip. Nice by them and appreciated. They could have told us that we were out of luck and we should have known about the cabin location but they were trying to make the situation right which was good. But like I had said earlier, it took them half the cruise to understand that the issue was more than just an annoyance to T and they did really have to do something to avoid angering the two platinums who were in the cabin with her as well I guess.

I missed the sunset tonight due to sleeping (1841 so said the funtimes) and got up in time to get cleaned up and ready to go to the steakhouse on this night. I skipped the hot tub on this day because we did have so much to do and there would be other days to do that. We made reservations before we even boarded, ahead of time to make sure we could get the day and time we wanted there. I think it is the only specialty sitdown restaurant on the ship if you don't include the seafood shack and sushi place as they are not sitdown places. I have been to a few Carnival steakhouses and we all agreed we would try this place once on this cruise. Our reservations were for 2000, and the steakhouse is located deck 10 mid according to the funtimes but seemed more aft to me. Fairly hard to find, right behind the main pool deck and fanavision, it does have a good view of the lido deck and deck above and is not a large venue, maybe 100 seats max.

We were all seated and given menus, as we were welcomed by the wait staff. I forget the guy's name but he did a good job along with his female counterpart. They come around and explain each type of entree option and show you an example of it so you can make an informed decision on what you want. The fee is $35 per person or $10 for kids younger than 12 so we only had to pay the $10 for her as she is under 12. You can order one appetizer, one entree, and one dessert but that is plenty as the portions are large and you WILL leave full after just the standard courses.

Menu welcome and appetizer options.

More steakhouse fun....

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

The kitchen is open-it faces out to the dining room so you can see what is being cooked in the kitchen.

I am not a salad person so they did allow me to switch and take 2 appetizers instead of a salad and an appetizer. I got a crab cake and shrimp cocktail. Both were very good. I think K got a nutella pizza, interesting choice but it looked ok and she liked it. The children's menu is different from the adult menu. The steakhouse was not particularly crowded as I guess many people dine earlier in the evening, but there were still a few dozen people in there when we arrived. I think we were some of the last people out, lol. Also plan on spending 3 hours in there. It is a full dinner service and it does take time, you are not going to be in and out of there in a hour.

I got the 18-ounce cowboy steak, medium. T got the surf and turf, K got a regular steak and my mom got a cowboy steak also, but medium rare and everything was good. The lobster tail is larger than the one in the MDR and the steak is a filet mignon, like 6 or 8 ounce, they said it when they introduced the options but I can't remember. I didn't get the ribeye because the one time I got it on Carnival in the past, it was too fatty and half of the steak was inedible although seasoned nicely. K actually got impatient and cranky and she was too much to deal with in a semi-formal setting so she went and sat outside on a deck chair within view of until her entree came, which was not for a while.

Looking back our waiter's name was Dimitry, and he really did a good job. When Carnival first started with the steakhouse concept, I had heard the staff was overly formal and stiff and the experience was sort of awkward. They are better now and the staff is really good with a good balance between being personable and doing a good job as a higher-end restaurant waiter.

While we waited for our stuff, compliments of the chef we received some oxtail on toast at the table and it was very good.

I also will note that I could get as many Cokes as I wanted with the bubbles program here but wine and alcohol was still extra. I brought a Coors from my bucket to the steakhouse with me. The stewards did a great job of keeping ice on the bucket that the beers came in with so the beers would be cool on the cabin counter until I was ready to drink the remaining ones. If you book the steakhouse on the first night of the cruise they generally offer you a free bottle of wine or half off a more expensive one as well. I have never gone on the first night to the steakhouse though.

Appetizers

Entree-cowboy steak. Not bad. Didn't need sauce for it. Helped my mom finish hers and I think I also got a little bit of what T could not finish from her food. I could barely finish mine though, lol.

Dessert on the way....

FlyingCruiserNJ · June 2, 2017

DAY 5: SAN JUAN CONTINUED-

Next up was the dessert, I got an apple puff pastry which ended up being huge and I forget what any of them got. I think T got a chocolate sampler and K jello but cannot remember for sure. It was all good.

It was nearly 2300 when we were finally done and we made sure to leave nice tips on our bills for the wait staff, who went above and beyond for us this evening. Of course since we had all that OBC, it went on the bill instead of cash which it would have been otherwise. Really good though, nice experience and worth the time and money that it costs to go there. Unlike on some other ships, the tables did not seem too close together and the atmosphere was pretty nice. Impressive.

Once we were done there, we could hear the 80s glow and rock and roll party that had already gotten going on lido as we made our way out (completely full of food haha) of the restaurant and K wanted to go to the party right away. I went there with her for a while and T and mom went back to the cabin for a while. I do not like dancing but K is all about that life so she was out on the floor (er deck) with hundreds of other people and I cheered her on from the sidelines. The music was good as well and the entertainment staff made the party fun. It went on until about 2345 when they cleared the dance floor and moved the party up to the serenity deck for adults only at midnight.

K was completely exhausted after the dance party so I dropped her off back at the cabin as T was waiting to take her to the alternate sleeping cabin downstairs and I went downstairs and met my mom who was already at the Punchliner club watching the comedy of Tommy Drake who had joined for the second half of the cruise and was pretty funny from what I saw of him tonight. I only saw the second half of the show because of the dance party but he was decent and my mom said she thought he was funnier than both of the other two guys we had before for the comedy.

After the show was over we went upstairs to get late night pizza as we like to do (as though I needed more food) and got some pepperoni and plain for my mom. Again, late night is pizza plus so you can get hoagies, lasagna and salads here in addition to pizza. Again the line was not long but there was still a little bit of a wait. I do miss the late night eats they have on some ships but that I have not seen lately where they have hot dogs, fries, maybe burgers, cookies and fruit, a good alternative to the pizzeria. Wonder why they do not do these anymore on the large ships? I also haven't seen a late night Mexican buffet in a while either.

Anyway, we went back to the cabin at 0030, my mom went to sleep and when we got to the cabin, this nice towel animal was waiting with my mom's shades. Cool. I wasn't done though and went back out to see what was going upstairs with the late night serenity dance party under the stars. They check you at the door (deck 12 only entrance, you cannot get there from the lido) to make sure you are of age and the concept seemed nice but the party wasn't all that happening so I headed out again and looked for more to do.

The plaque from the shipbuilder, Ficantieri of Italy, delivered 2003, located on lido, near the atrium, right as you exit the pool area.

Still not done yet, lol. A little more to come...

Easter Glory! A detailed pictorial review of the refurbished Carnival Glory 4/15-4/22

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