DETAILED REVIEW & PICS: GLORY DAYS Eastern Caribbean 14-21 April for first timers

[pghsteelerfan]

My hubby and I love cruising and for many, all it takes is one cruise to get hooked. :) We were actually on Carnival Glory 8 years ago, this minute, on the same itinerary as your cruise (Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk). I enjoy trip reports of ships and itineraries we haven't done yet to get ideas for future cruises we may want to do AND I always love reading reviews of ships/itineraries we've done to relive those past cruises. We loved Glory and this itinerary, so I'm looking forward to following along with the rest of your review. You're off to a great start and I'm really enjoying it. Thank you for taking the time share your trip.

 

I have to say that Australia would be one of our dream trips...so hopefully someday.

Edited May 12, 2018 by pghsteelerfan

[parkesyau]

When you say "play manifold?" Do you mean the Aussie bball player or...? Just curious.

 

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Oh goodness where did I write that? It’s going to be a typo for sure

[parkesyau]

You got on when I was getting off [emoji22]. You should have went to your cabin upon getting on the ship. That is a perk of FTTF.

 

 

 

Haha isn’t that funny I learn this now!!! Oh well no big deal

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Silent Penguin]

Reading your review brings back all the excitement we felt on our family's first cruise when our kids were 4, 7 and 9. Very happy memories. There's nothing like it. Our first cruise was on Disney.

 

Your up-sell story reminds me of what happened to us. We wanted - because of the cost - to book 2 connecting interior rooms, but the best they could do was 2 adjoining porthole rooms because we booked only 3 months out, and the ship was almost full.

 

Fast forward to the morning of the embarkment. At the pier, as I was checking us in, the cruise mate asked me for my room numbers, which I thought was kind of weird. When I told him, he frowned at his screen and said, "Well, that's not what I have here." More than a little concerned about the discrepancy, I asked him what he had. He repeated back two room numbers that -according to the deck plan, which I had memorized-were two balcony rooms. Yes, we had been upgraded without our knowledge to two connecting balcony rooms. I never win anything, but I felt like we had won the lottery at that moment.

 

Since that trip, with the exception of one cruise for which we had a tiny, tiny budget, we always book a balcony room for dh and me. When the kids cruised with us, they got the interior room across the hall.

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your review!

[watermelonqueen99]

Loving your review! I had a little chuckle when you said you stopped by the stockyards. :D We live in Oklahoma, about 3.5-4 hours north of Dallas, and longhorn cattle are on every corner here. I forget that there are people who have never seen them in person before. Lol You picked an awesome port to go out of, Miami is just beautiful. And the itinerary you had is one of our absolute faves. Can't wait to read the rest!

[parkesyau]

Before i sit down and write about Half Moon ( which i can't wait to do) i just wanted to touch on a few things i may forget to mention. Also being Australians, it may be nice to hear an outsider perspective. I have no intention of doing a cruise out of Australia. And even though we fell in love with our first cruise, i have still not changed my mind. Sure there would be some lovely areas in the South Pacific, but i don't think it would compare to the carribean. Plus, and more importantly, the demographic of people on board. I LOVE American people.My best friend is American. Americans are the most friendliest, kindest and polite people i have ever met. Service doesn't even compare to Australia. Don't come to Australia if you ever expect a shop assistant to help you or at least smile at you. Restaurant service is also sketchy at times, which is why tipping isn't very big here. I think the main reason i wouldn't do an Aussie cruise is because i don't think the people on board would be as embracing and fun. Unfortunately young Aussies have a bad drinking culture and a lot of the time is violent. Hence the recent Carnival troubles in Sydney with large groups of rowdy Aussies.

Anyway on our cruise everyone was just lovely. Many people wanted to have a chat and our biggest thing was we didn't see any slurry bad drunks. I swear you Americans are the best. You know how to have a great time without alcohol.

The one thing we did notice was people do complain and whine about the smallest of things. Only a small few, but my husband did make a comment on day 3 about how many complaints he had heard at various places. Coffee was too hot, coffee was too cold, i don't like that drink, where is my drink, why is it so busy, my toast is burnt etc etc... I am sure it was just a select few, and maybe they have really high expectations. Maybe being Australian we just go with the "no worries" attitude. I am on holidays (and a pretty awesome holiday at that) so i really did not care. Nor could i fault anything or anyone on board this ship. Yes sure its an older smaller ship. My kids wished the pool was bigger. I missed a decent coffeee ( we are spoilt for coffees at home, even espressos on our whole trip were sub par) but honestly we are on a holiday and sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy what you are lucky enough t have. Im sure there is more posh ships you could go on. For us (and mind you the Aussie dollar is weaker than the USD so we are paying 25% more) for what we paid for this cruise, it was worth it for a family of 4. We can't fault the staff or facilities. Sure we had a broken balcony chair, but they sorted it out in no time. Sure i was silly enough to tick the steward to only service our room in the morning, but anytime i asked they would send more towels up. We never had to wait or queue long for anything.Yes the dancing in the restaurant at night was a little cheesy but the kids got a kick out of it.It was good to see people having fun and smiling.

Anyway rant over i just wanted to say you guys rock and thanks for being so welcoming and fun!!!!

Ill be back later on today with HALF MOON CAY-Just wait till you see those pics

[airlink diva]

Enjoying your review. While not on Carnival, had the opportunity to sail with Australians on other cruises. Always very friendly folks,especially those from Perth. Glad had a great time

[tchakra0124]

Before i sit down and write about Half Moon ( which i can't wait to do) i just wanted to touch on a few things i may forget to mention. Also being Australians, it may be nice to hear an outsider perspective. I have no intention of doing a cruise out of Australia. And even though we fell in love with our first cruise, i have still not changed my mind. Sure there would be some lovely areas in the South Pacific, but i don't think it would compare to the carribean. Plus, and more importantly, the demographic of people on board. I LOVE American people.My best friend is American. Americans are the most friendliest, kindest and polite people i have ever met. Service doesn't even compare to Australia. Don't come to Australia if you ever expect a shop assistant to help you or at least smile at you. Restaurant service is also sketchy at times, which is why tipping isn't very big here. I think the main reason i wouldn't do an Aussie cruise is because i don't think the people on board would be as embracing and fun. Unfortunately young Aussies have a bad drinking culture and a lot of the time is violent. Hence the recent Carnival troubles in Sydney with large groups of rowdy Aussies.

Anyway on our cruise everyone was just lovely. Many people wanted to have a chat and our biggest thing was we didn't see any slurry bad drunks. I swear you Americans are the best. You know how to have a great time without alcohol.

The one thing we did notice was people do complain and whine about the smallest of things. Only a small few, but my husband did make a comment on day 3 about how many complaints he had heard at various places. Coffee was too hot, coffee was too cold, i don't like that drink, where is my drink, why is it so busy, my toast is burnt etc etc... I am sure it was just a select few, and maybe they have really high expectations. Maybe being Australian we just go with the "no worries" attitude. I am on holidays (and a pretty awesome holiday at that) so i really did not care. Nor could i fault anything or anyone on board this ship. Yes sure its an older smaller ship. My kids wished the pool was bigger. I missed a decent coffeee ( we are spoilt for coffees at home, even espressos on our whole trip were sub par) but honestly we are on a holiday and sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy what you are lucky enough t have. Im sure there is more posh ships you could go on. For us (and mind you the Aussie dollar is weaker than the USD so we are paying 25% more) for what we paid for this cruise, it was worth it for a family of 4. We can't fault the staff or facilities. Sure we had a broken balcony chair, but they sorted it out in no time. Sure i was silly enough to tick the steward to only service our room in the morning, but anytime i asked they would send more towels up. We never had to wait or queue long for anything.Yes the dancing in the restaurant at night was a little cheesy but the kids got a kick out of it.It was good to see people having fun and smiling.

Anyway rant over i just wanted to say you guys rock and thanks for being so welcoming and fun!!!!

Ill be back later on today with HALF MOON CAY-Just wait till you see those pics

Do you have Gloria Jean's Coffees in Melbourne? I heard that they were thriving in Australia. When we had them here I was there everyday, getting my caffeine jumpstart. For some reason everybody else preferred Starbucks so....🤷 You should've sought out Cuban coffee when you were in Miami. Cause it's the best!

 

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[parkesyau]

Do you have Gloria Jean's Coffees in Melbourne? I heard that they were thriving in Australia. When we had them here I was there everyday, getting my caffeine jumpstart. For some reason everybody else preferred Starbucks so....🤷 You should've sought out Cuban coffee when you were in Miami. Cause it's the best!

 

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We have Gloria Jeans and starbucks but they are dwindling in numbers. Actually i think there is only that i can think of. About 5-10 years ago they where everywhere. Now, they just can't compete with Melbourne coffee shops. I don't mean to brag but seriously our coffee shops here have the best coffee. Independent coffee shops with good quality beans. We would go to Starbucks and Seattles best and Tea Leafwhile in the US and even ask for extra shots. Doesn't really come close. Maybe we are coffee snobs.

[parkesyau]

HALF MOON CAY

Woo Hoo our first port day. I couldn't wait to get out there. I knew this was going to be the highlight, and i thought it was a shame it was first up. I was devastated when we left, thinking i would never see anything as awesome ( i was wrong, GT surprised me in so many ways).

So Hubby was up early and went to the gym, returning with a coffee from Creams. Can i just say the lady working at Creams was a gun. She was doing multiple orders quickly and got through the queue quickly. Unfortunately the one at the back of Lido deck was the absolute opposite and extremely slow. i went twice ( in case she had an off day) and each time waited for an eternity. I think she must have been new to coffee machines. At least i gave her a second chance. Not a third!!!!!

We got our beach bag ready, then headed up to Lido for breakfast. We had to be in the golden dining room by 8:45am for our Fttf tender. The front buffett queue was pretty long and the next one along was empty, so we grabbed some seats and the kids discovered lucky charms and got addicted. We certainly don't have lucky charms in australia. Fruit Loops yes, but i hardly ever buy them due to the fact its basically circular sugar. It was holidays i let them have what they wanted, when they wanted. I did line up for the coffee on this deck at the coffee shop. Gosh what a waste. One person in front of me and the poor lady still took close to twenty minutes. My husband had already taken the kids back to room. Lukewarm coffee, in the end i gave up and started having coffee free days. Sorry i just can't drink that other filtered stuff. For someone who only started drinking coffee a few years ago i think i can afford to be a snob about coffee.

We grabbed our beach gear and off we went to the golden dining room. Looking out the window i could see HMC and the tender boats approaching. It looked a little choppy and rough but the fact they were coming to us i assumed we were still going.

We were on the second tender boat out and off we went to HMC.

As we got closer i started to see the endless line of beach chairs, a pirate ship and what looked like the bluest water i had ever seen.

As we walked the shops and bars in port, we snuck down a path to the beach to find somewhere to sit and boy was that a sight and a half. OH MY GOODNESS Half Moon Cay took my breath away. Now i have travelled in my life i would like to think a fair bit. Australia has some beautiful beaches. I have been to far north QLD as well as Western Australia ( WA beaches are absolutely stunning). I have been all around Europe and Greek Islands. Here i was thinking i had seen the best of the best. OH NO. Half Moon Cay WINS. Im going to pause here to add a few photos.

[parkesyau]

yep that’s my hubby and two kids out there alone

[parkesyau]

gosh I am so pale here.....

[luckybecky]

Before i sit down and write about Half Moon ( which i can't wait to do) i just wanted to touch on a few things i may forget to mention. Also being Australians, it may be nice to hear an outsider perspective. I have no intention of doing a cruise out of Australia. And even though we fell in love with our first cruise, i have still not changed my mind. Sure there would be some lovely areas in the South Pacific, but i don't think it would compare to the carribean. Plus, and more importantly, the demographic of people on board. I LOVE American people.My best friend is American. Americans are the most friendliest, kindest and polite people i have ever met. ....

 

Your review is the best! And thank you so much for your kind words about Americans. We are viewed as boorish (and sometimes rightly so) in many parts of the world, so it is nice to hear your positive perspective.

 

I have to take exception with your thoughts about the South Pacific compared to the Caribbean. We took our bucket list dream cruise to Tahiti a couple of years ago and I have to say that it was absolutely incomparable. I have been to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Nassau in the Caribbean, and many years ago we went to Hawaii. All of them are amazing!

 

But none of them could hold a candle to our Tahiti cruise. It was truly a paradise. The clearest, bluest most beautiful water I have ever seen; the nicest, most helpful people anywhere; the most pristine white sand beaches, almost deserted they were so uncrowded; and a few beautiful black sand beaches too.

 

Please don't rule out Tahiti. You live so close, you really should give it a go. You won't regret it!

 

But putting that aside, I'm so glad you upgraded to the balcony cabin! I think that was a smart move and well worth the nominal cost. Your kids are cute as can be. Playing Clue brings back memories. My sister and brother and I played that game endlessly when we were kids.

 

Glad you are having a marvelous time so far and can't wait to see more. Your pics are great!

[parkesyau]

number one benefit of early tender, was you end up on this beach early enough to be able to take photos without others in it. We walked up towards the pirate ship and sat in the " front row". There were seats everywhere and i was thinking that theres no way they will get full. As the morning progressed and the tender boats kept coming the beach slowly filled. It was beautiful and peaceful. We were there early enough that there were hardly any people around. I imagine people walk off the port and take the first seats. The kids went straight out with my husband. The sand was like silk. So fine and clean, and the water was the most wonderful shade of blue. Those photos are as they were taken by my camera. No filters or editing. It was THAT BLUE. I had to keep pinching myself. I still can't believe i was sitting on that beach. I did hear along the grapevine on the cruise boat that the Glory was dropping its stop at HMC and substituting it for amber cove. What a shame.

While the kids swam ( and were the only ones out there) i walked up to find the famous " i wish i could stay here forever sign". I got a lovely passer by to take some pics of me. I took some later in the day but its not the same with lots of people dotting the background.

Now it was time to sit on my lounge chair and top up the tan. Or at least start the base coat. i brown up fairly quickly ( having mediterranean background). By now the DJ from the ship ( i have forgotten his name but he was great) had set up in front of the pirate ship and started playing tunes. We were just far enough away that it wasn't too loud, but could still hear it.

Slowly the beach filled and my kids went from water to building sand castles. I strategically placed ourselves near a walkway with no chairs next to us so they had plenty of room to play. There were plenty of bar tenders walking by offering drinks. its a shame that with your cheers package you can't order drinks. We didn't bother having any drinks here and just stuck to water. The last thing we needed was a headache.

We wandered up to the pirate ship to have a look and i got some cool pics inside it. it basically is a bar. It was nice and cool in there and a great place to escape the heat. We didn't have beach umbrellas but didn't really need them, I wanted to tan. There was however plenty of shade further back if required.i don't know how purchasing the umbrellas would be beneficial, but i guess some see the benefit.

behind the pirate ship is the lunch spot and by 11am it had started to serve food. There was hardly anyone around but boy that BBQ was a great smell. I got a plate of fruit for the kids and walked back to the beach. They absolutely cleaned it up with all that swimming.

Some friendly americans were attracting fish with fruit loops and cheerios so the kids got their goggles and got up close to them They were so kind to offer our kids some handfuls to feed the fish. Our kids were so excited.I don't think they have ever swam in an ocean and seen or fed wild fish. At one point the fish were everywhere.

By now it was time for lunch so we left our belongings, grabbed our valuables and headed up to the buffet lunch. It was actually quite good, the jerk chicken was great. Plenty of choice, salads, dessert and the usual burgers and hot dogs.

Plenty of seats to get some shade, and the kids got juices and water.there were a few random chickens walking around and the kids thought that was great. Especially considering we were eating chicken.

Back to the beach we go and more fish feeding, and sandcastle building. We took the kids up to the kids water zone although they were a little old for it, they still had a blast with the water guns.

By 3:30 we had enough of the sun and swimming. We had been out there since 9:30am. The beach was already starting to empty and the tender boats back were full.It was time to head back and get showered.It was pretty sad leaving HMC. i can honestly say i have never seen a more perfect beach. The sand, the water, those colours.We are beach people so we loved this beach. While there wasn't a whole lot to see underwater other than the fed fish, it really was pretty awesome to swim at. It was calm, safe and very easy for the kidsto swim at. They loved it.

Back on the tender boat we made the bumpy trip back to the ship.There wasn't a huge wait but we certainly must have gone when it was peak time to return. i did have a quick look at the shops and was a bit disappointed with the souvenirs. Mainly the fridge magnets were a bit bland and lacking. What a shame as i have a fridge full from our trips and HMC is missing. They didn't have anything worth purchase.

The bar, however near the boats was pretty busy and the place to be.

Back on board the crew were so friendly greeting us etc. the queue for the lift was massve and seeing as we had to go up to 8 i didn't think the kids would last the walk up. Hubby had a great idea and we walked up one flight of stairs. I have a feeling he was eyeing off the bar on Deck 3 for a drink. Yes he was. So he left us at the lifts and sure enough there was nobody there. Straight away an empty lift arrived and straight to 8 we went. Those poor people below waiting through those long crowds. All they had to do was go one level up and get one instantly. This became our strategy every port day and worked fantastically.

Back in the room i was getting the kids organised while hubby arrived with a much needed cocktail. We sat on the balcony and enjoyed a cocktail while the kids chilled on their beds and played a bit of iPad. It was at this point i realised i should have ticked "service room morning and night" So i called the dedicated priority line and asked for more beach towels. Tomorrow was sea day and we will need them. Sure enough they arrived ( but didn't collect our old ones) I did see Leo our steward a bit later that evening in the hallway and gave them to him.

At this point i couldn't decide what photos to post on social media. It was a little slow but i had no issue uploading to FB and Insta even with a social plan. I just had to rub it in to every poor soul at home working.

By now it surely was time for dinner. I think it was only around 6pm haha but we were due to sail away soon. There was an announcement that it was delayed due to a crew member needing to leave the ship for a family emergency. I do hope they were ok.

my son and i were a bit late getting moving and headed via the shops and photo section on our way to dinner. My hubby and wife were in the library again-you guessed it, playing clue.

There was lots of photographers on the beach that day but the funniest one i saw was a guy in a fake tux with fake champagne glasses. I wanted to see what our photos looked like. Hubby was hilarious.

Now this is where it was a disaster for me to take my son here. Of course he spots a stuffed toy. Not any stuffed toy though, the most ridiculous one i have ever seen, and one that proved to be the biggest pain in the a** for the rest of the trip due to its shape and size. A stuffed " towel animal" elephant. Oh boy, so thats Stuffed toy count up to 3. by now the longhorn is long forgotten and sitting in the bottom of the cabin cupboard somewhere

Back to the golden dining room we go for an early dinner. the kids wanted to get to kids club tonight and check it out. My son had circled some activities that involved science etc that he wanted to do. We headed back to Pande and had another delicious meal. I always ordered what was on the "island specials" for the day and was pretty impressed with my choices. Tonight i had conch fritters. My daughter ordered off the kids menu, but my son smashed another steak. He was an eating machine this cruise.

As soon as they had eaten, hubby walked them to the kids club and came back for his dessert cheese platter and another cocktail.Tonight i thought we should do something different so we decided to go to punchline comedy club. We never do stuff like that at home. So we headed over with our drinks in hand and got to see Michael Macy who was great. It was only the PG show but still funny. My husband was adamant not to sit in the front as we will get picked on. Lucky, because they certainly got picked on. Its a shame our kids never could stay awake past 10pm so we could go to the adult only shows. I imagine they are even better.

The show finished after around half an hour so we wandered back through the casino as we had not seen this area and back to the atrium. There was a band playing in the lobby. i forgot their name but they had an aussie female singer. So we sat and listened to some music. By 9:30 we were pretty exhausted from all the sun and beach so we went back to get the kids and turn in. This ended up being our quietest night. Looking back now we were so " new" and lost at this point. The party was about to get started and boy did we really start to fall in love with cruise life and the ship!!!

Enjoy the pictures i am going to post. So many to choose.

Next up is SEA DAY!!!! Now its mothers day so I'm off for a quick dinner :)

[parkesyau]

we hardly ever take photos of the two of us any more

[parkesyau]

[parkesyau]

heres hubby at the peak of the day...not overly busy but photos certainly look better with nobody else

lots of fishies

balcony vibes post port day

[parkesyau]

that darn stuffed towel elephant

[parkesyau]

a few extra I found of the port on HMC

more food cutting by pande haha you can tell she is a Mum

[parkesyau]

Your review is the best! And thank you so much for your kind words about Americans. We are viewed as boorish (and sometimes rightly so) in many parts of the world, so it is nice to hear your positive perspective.

 

 

 

I have to take exception with your thoughts about the South Pacific compared to the Caribbean. We took our bucket list dream cruise to Tahiti a couple of years ago and I have to say that it was absolutely incomparable. I have been to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Nassau in the Caribbean, and many years ago we went to Hawaii. All of them are amazing!

 

 

 

But none of them could hold a candle to our Tahiti cruise. It was truly a paradise. The clearest, bluest most beautiful water I have ever seen; the nicest, most helpful people anywhere; the most pristine white sand beaches, almost deserted they were so uncrowded; and a few beautiful black sand beaches too.

 

 

 

Please don't rule out Tahiti. You live so close, you really should give it a go. You won't regret it!

 

 

 

But putting that aside, I'm so glad you upgraded to the balcony cabin! I think that was a smart move and well worth the nominal cost. Your kids are cute as can be. Playing Clue brings back memories. My sister and brother and I played that game endlessly when we were kids.

 

 

 

Glad you are having a marvelous time so far and can't wait to see more. Your pics are great!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the advice. I know I always wanted to see Tahiti but I’m still not sold. Maybe one day when hubby and I need a week break from the kids and can spare a small fortune. We have been to the Cook Islands in the pacific ( right near Tahiti) and it was amazing and beautiful but still not even close to What we just experienced.

 

I have a feeling Clue will be played a lot now I just purchased it this weekend and they haven’t stopped ha ha

[nicole9s]

First, loving your review, you're a beautiful family.

 

Secondly, Aussies definitely do coffee right, love a proper flat white.

 

Lastly, I don't believe that you didn't Photoshop your family into those HMC photos [emoji12], they're stunning! And no background people!

 

Looking forward to reading your thoughts about Grand Turk, as we will be there in a couple of weeks.

 

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[girlsbgoing]

Thanks for the GREAT review, it looks like you had a wonderful time. HMC is on my itinerary for a cruise this summer, for some reason I was not excited about it, but now I can’t wait!!

 

 

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[smurfm69]

Great pics and after visiting HMC, my wife and I realized what all the hype was about. It is simply the most perfect beach we have ever been to and in the future we will plan another cruise that has this as one of the port stops.

[KateLovesCruising]

I am really loving your review so far! Your descriptions are great and your pictures are amazing. We only visited Half Moon Cay once I believe, about 8 years ago, but it definitely sticks out as one of my favorite beaches!! So relaxing and peaceful there. Can't wait to read more of your review! Happy Mother's Day!:)