Glory Ultra Cruise Western Caribbean Review

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

2 hours ago, KristiK said:

I'm on the Glory in 31 days, so i'm on the trip before yours. All these pics from the review have been amazing!

Thanks! Have a great cruise.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

Day 2: Fun Day at Sea

The drawings today started at 10:30. My original plan was to skip it since I knew I would be up late for the drawings the night before. But my turn to pick my gift was at 11am so I figured another 30 minutes was no big deal.

First drawing, Snowball Raffle. The only drawing of the cruise that was quiet.

Then came my turn to pick my big prize. The way this works is each person would have their name called and get to pick a ball out of the hopper. The ball would have a number on it which corresponded with the cards on the wall. Whatever prize was on the card was the prize you won. If you won casino cash, you got to spin the wheel and you won the amount of money you landed on in freeplay.

Some of the prizes included:

$1000 Amazon Gift Card
Microsoft Surface Pro
Samsung Phone
Ipad
Ipad Mini
Iphone
Apple Watch
Big screen curved 4k TV (I believe 65' but I can't remember the size for sure)
Cashino Cash ($300, $400, $500, $750 and $1000)

I won the brand new Iphone 10S.

I'm not a technology guy. I don't need the latest "stuff" and in fact I may be the only American over 8 who does not have a cell phone of any kind. So I had no idea how much these were worth. I looked up the retail value and holy cow. What is wrong with people? I sold it for $600 to a guy on the ship we met at the blackjack table and I can promise you, he still overpaid what it costs to produce these. Apple has quite a lucrative business on their hands. I did have to fill out tax paperwork on my win in international waters. Uncle Sam also has quite a good business going - yet he always seems broke.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

After the drawing we made our way down for brunch. I ordered steak & eggs with a side of cheese grits and chicken sausage.

The cheese grits never arrived. For dessert I ordered the banana creme pie.

I always enjoy brunch and I have come to know what to expect. Typically the service has not been real good. Today was consistent with that theme. It took a really long time to get our food and when it did arrive the food was room temperature and I never got the cheese grits. It is what it is. The food was all very good, which is also consistent with what I've come to expect.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

After brunch we took a walk around. The weather outside continued to be fantastic.

The lobby was decorated for Halloween.

Back in the room we had a plate of strawberries (platinum treat) and champagne from the casino.

We also had a towel animal.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

Next we made our way back to the casino to settle in for the afternoon. I was not feeling very lucky so I made a pretty costly mistake, I did not play max bet. Max was $6 and I was playing $1.80 when I hit this.

I was still pretty excited for my $600 win. The rational thinker in me knows that the reels spin through literally millions of combinations per second and unless I hit the button at the exact same nanosecond, I would not have hit the $2400+ at max bet, but it still stings. Still a very good hit though and at more than 333x my wager, it is my best hit to date!

That game cooled off pretty quick so I moved over to one of my favorites, Quick Hits. I had found another hot machine!

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

There was another Shoot To Win promotion at 2 followed by Matilda The Cash Cow at 4.

If you squint real hard you can see the cow in front of the crowd of people. Matilda was played a little differently than on Premiers. On a premiere you roll a die, the number you land on is how many spots you get to turn over off Matilda. Each spot has a freeplay value from $50-$250. Here you only pick one spot, but you get to double the amount. This allowed for more people to be called. I believe there are between 15-18 spots so this drawing would last for a while.

We played for most of the afternoon and stepped out a little after 5 for a late lunch/early dinner. We made our way to the deli.

The sun was already starting to set.

I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich which was fantastic.

I tried zooming in, but I still can't tell what ship this is but I am pretty sure it is a Something Of The Seas.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

Next we had a bit of silly fun. There was a contest to find all the pumpkins that were hidden around the ship. There were 12 in total.

Pumpkin #1 - Spotted behind the coffee bar.

Pumpkin #2 - Spotted in the back corner behind the old Taste Bar.

Pumpkin #3 - Spotted behind the Alchemy Bar where I also spotted two silly bartenders.

Pumpkin #4 - Spotted in the cooler in Cherry on Top.

Pumpkin #5 - Spotted behind the sports bar.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

What's this? A duck?

I am aware of the game where people leave ducks to be found by other people. But this was behind a locked display case in front of the shops. So it has to be Carnival related. I took the picture and made note of it in case there was a duck hunt later. I also was now on the lookout for ducks.

Pumpkin #6 - Spotted behind another display case near the shops.

Pumpkin #7 - Spotted in a display case at Pixels.

Pumpkin #8 - Spotted inside the Glory trophy case.

We were still short four pumpkins and figured they were outside on the top decks. We decided it was too hot for all that and we would resume our hunt later.

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

Back in the room our platinum gift had arrived.

The next drawing of the evening was Dodge The Bull at 8PM.

The rules had been modified since the last time I saw it. Now you rolled a die to determine how many times you spun the wheel. You spun that many times and earned freeplay for the amount you landed on. If you landed on the bull, you did not get to continue to spin. They called about 5 or 6 people each time they ran this promotion. One of the people called tonight was.... M! She won I believe $150 freeplay. I was super jealous that she had her name called...

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

The next promotion was the Hot Seat Promotion. This was open to everyone actively playing in the casino. They would choose one slot machine and one seat at the tables at random every half hour and you would pick an envelope. The envelopes contained between $50 and $250 freeplay.

As I was playing Kumbu came up and asked how I was doing. We chatted for a second then he left. Then the other host Diana came by and said hello as she passed through. I thought that was kinda strange. Then they called out a machine....it was the machine I was playing!!! The card I chose had $200 freeplay and I got another $50 because I was wearing my Ultra wrist band.

Not to be outdone, the next round M was the winner of the Hot Seat Promotion. I forgot how much she won now but I want to say $125 freeplay.

I hope nobody is keeping track of how much money I won today! Today definitely went down as my single best day in the casino. I love that it happened early on because it is so much more fun to play with house money instead of your own money. My goal is not to make money but to play and have fun. Winning big on the last day is nice but does not meet my goal of having fun

jam19872016 · December 12, 2018

Rounding out the full day of casino drawings was the 12:30 $2000 freeplay draw.

The night was still young though and we continued playing for a while. When we had had enough casino, and built up a large enough arsenal of alcohol, we left for the library to play Trivia Pursuit. On our last cruise on NCL Getaway they had this game in the library. Carnival's libraries in comparison are pretty puny but we bought our own to bring with us. We played this for a while and it is my favorite game that we play because I can usually win. Games of strategy she tends to dominate, but games of general knowledge I do much better at usually.

After playing for a bit I made another late night pizza run.

No line for pizza.

We settled in for the night with our pizza and then called it a night. Let the record show that October 21, 2018 was a great day for gambling! But remember - easy come, easy go.

BigCruze · December 13, 2018

This is a great review. Can't wait for the rest.

lupaquin · December 13, 2018

5 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Day 2: Fun Day at Sea

The drawings today started at 10:30. My original plan was to skip it since I knew I would be up late for the drawings the night before. But my turn to pick my gift was at 11am so I figured another 30 minutes was no big deal.

First drawing, Snowball Raffle. The only drawing of the cruise that was quiet.

Then came my turn to pick my big prize. The way this works is each person would have their name called and get to pick a ball out of the hopper. The ball would have a number on it which corresponded with the cards on the wall. Whatever prize was on the card was the prize you won. If you won casino cash, you got to spin the wheel and you won the amount of money you landed on in freeplay.

Some of the prizes included:

$1000 Amazon Gift Card
Microsoft Surface Pro
Samsung Phone
Ipad
Ipad Mini
Iphone
Apple Watch
Big screen curved 4k TV (I believe 65' but I can't remember the size for sure)
Cashino Cash ($300, $400, $500, $750 and $1000)

I won the brand new Iphone 10S.

I'm not a technology guy. I don't need the latest "stuff" and in fact I may be the only American over 8 who does not have a cell phone of any kind. So I had no idea how much these were worth. I looked up the retail value and holy cow. What is wrong with people? I sold it for $600 to a guy on the ship we met at the blackjack table and I can promise you, he still overpaid what it costs to produce these. Apple has quite a lucrative business on their hands. I did have to fill out tax paperwork on my win in international waters. Uncle Sam also has quite a good business going - yet he always seems broke.

Does everyone on the Ultra Cruise get to pick a prize?

jimbri · December 13, 2018

Great review!

evandbob · December 13, 2018

Yes, it's a 65" Samsung TV. There are both IPad minis and IPad Pros on the wheel as well.

The OP states a requirement for the ULTRA fare is getting 7,500 points on a premier cruise. I've nevr gotten anywhere near that # and get ULTRA invites anyway. My point total for a week long cruise is usually around 1500 - 2,000 pts. Only once have I come close to 2, 500 and that was on an 8 day sailing.

I do cruise several times a year, so cumulative points may have something to do with me getting ULTRA invites.

Thanks to the OP for all the pics!

jam19872016 · December 14, 2018

23 hours ago, BigCruze said:

This is a great review. Can't wait for the rest.

Thank you.

20 hours ago, lupaquin said:

Does everyone on the Ultra Cruise get to pick a prize?

If you received an Ultra invite, yes you are guaranteed a large prize. If you are a guest of the person with the invite but did not receive your own invite, then no you will not get to pick a prize. You will still have an entry to all the other drawings as well as a drink card for the casino.

jam19872016 · December 14, 2018

12 hours ago, jimbri said:

Great review!

Thank you.

10 hours ago, evandbob said:

Yes, it's a 65" Samsung TV. There are both IPad minis and IPad Pros on the wheel as well.

The OP states a requirement for the ULTRA fare is getting 7,500 points on a premier cruise. I've nevr gotten anywhere near that # and get ULTRA invites anyway. My point total for a week long cruise is usually around 1500 - 2,000 pts. Only once have I come close to 2, 500 and that was on an 8 day sailing.

I do cruise several times a year, so cumulative points may have something to do with me getting ULTRA invites.

Thanks to the OP for all the pics!

Officially 7,500 on a single premiere is a requirement (or used to be). Unofficially I think as long as you sail on a premiere during a specific time frame you will get an invite. I earned only about 600 points on my Vista premiere and got invited to this Ultra. M was my guest and also got an invite. During the qualifying round for the Spring 2019 Ultras I earned a mere 300 points and left with some of their money, and again I got an invite. M did not sail on a qualifying cruise and she did not get an invite. I suspect that I will not get an invite to the Fall 2019 Ultras because I will not sail a premiere during this qualifying period.

I think part of the overcrowding is because they have relaxed the requirement to get an invite so too many people are qualifying but I am not one to complain about that because I will not likely ever earn 7,500 points on a single cruise.

CruiseMomTX · December 16, 2018

Any new updates on the review? Really enjoying it so far!!

jam19872016 · December 19, 2018

On 12/16/2018 at 5:52 PM, CruiseMomTX said:

Any new updates on the review? Really enjoying it so far!!

Got some more now. Unless something comes up I should have this wrapped up this weekend.

jam19872016 · December 19, 2018

Day 3: Grand Cayman

Today is Grand Cayman. This is now my 7th time here but as I said earlier, the itinerary was not important to me. M has been here probably almost if not as many times as I have so it is losing its appeal to her as well. That along with not getting up until after noon meant I got to enjoy a leisurely afternoon on board instead of taking the tender ride in to port!

We made our way up to Lido for break... ummm lunch. Anchored next to us was Brilliance Of The Seas which might also be the ship I saw last night.

We stopped off at Blue Iguana where I got a burrito.

I must say the breakfast burritos are much better. This was ok, but the ones at breakfast are way way better.

Anchored on our other side was Veendam.

Next I got some BBQ.

I'm over the BBQ I guess on the Conquest class ships. Its never been great but at least decent. The last couple trips it's not been very good. I think I was spoiled by how good it was on Magic at Guy's BBQ.

As if I hadn't eaten enough, I also got some dessert.

I was definitely spoiled on the Magic with the new desserts. These were fine but I am so looking forward to the day I am on a ship with the new desserts again.

jam19872016 · December 19, 2018

We sailed away at and at 3:30 M had her turn to draw for her Ultra prize. She won the Apple Watch. She was unable to sell it but I think that was because she was asking for too much for it. She wanted $300 and she found someone willing to buy it for $250 but held onto it. She did later sell it to someone when she got home. I will say it again that Apple has quite a lucrative business on their hands. The technology is not worth anywhere near the price they are asking! It's all about the brand identity

.

The first drawing was supposed to be the Snowball Raffle at 4. I never heard it and later found out they did it at 3:30 instead. I'm not a fan of that - stick to your published times please.

Other drawings this evening were:

4:30 and 8: Shoot To Win
9: Dodge the Bull

I sat down to play some video poker, hopeful my lucky streak was still alive. I hit a four of a kind!

That was the only good hit to report on tonight but that was okay because I was playing on house money and a lot of it

jam19872016 · December 19, 2018

Tonight's towel animal was a one eyed rabbit.

In a rare act of participating with the rest of the ship I did go see tonight's show - Getaway Island.

I've seen it before and it is a bit cheesy but I do enjoy the songs. They fit perfectly on a cruise ship. Songs like Margaritaville, Kokomo, No Shoes No Shirt No Problems etc. It really gets me in the Caribbean vibe and when I hear those songs in everyday life it makes me smile every time

jam19872016 · December 19, 2018

The final two promotions of the night were:

11: Tower of Cash
12:30: $2000 Draw

I am not exactly sure what Tower of Cash entailed. I know you had to stack cups and the higher you got, the more freeplay you earned. This was all I could see, and why I didn't really know what was going on.

After the final drawing I asked the host if I might qualify for a steakhouse comp with M's play combined with mine. She said she would get back with me tomorrow if that was okay. It was late so I was fine with that. I already had reservations, but fingers crossed for a comp 🙂

We closed out the casino tonight and by now the bar waiters had learned my routine. Every time they walked by I was asked if I wanted a shot of fireball. Who was I to say no? Well I did when they asked early in the day, that was more of a night drink unless I did not want to make it through the night.

After closing we played another round of trivia pursuit in the library. And to finish off the night I made another late night pizza run.

Next up, Mahogany Bay.

jam19872016 · December 19, 2018

Day 4: Mahogany Bay

Today we were in Roatan, Honduras. This is my fifth time here.

They had a game of country music trivia going on at 2. Somehow I was not quite up in time and missed the first couple questions. Part of me wanted to ask for the first 4 questions to be repeated but I resisted. I would have had a perfect 40 out of 40 and been able to add a SOAS to my collection. I got 32 out of the 32 I was there for but no trophy for third place. I have a pretty vast knowledge of useless country music trivia so this is always a great one to nearly ensure a win - if I can be awake before 2 in the afternoon.

After my bitter defeat I went back for M and we headed to the Blue Iguana for lunch again. Next we wandered off the ship for the Magical Flying Chair which is $14 pp for a day pass. Last time I did this I did not pack my camera because we were going to the beach. I was glad to be able to get some photos this time of the ride.