Glory Ultra Cruise Western Caribbean Review

[jam19872016]

More.

 

 

 

 

 

The heat today was intense. On the way around we asked if they had any cold towels available as we remembered them from a previous trip. The guy was very nice and ran off somewhere and back real quick and brought us some. Very very nice of him and what a relief it was. We rode around a couple times taking in the scenery and just relaxing before heading back to the ship. 

 

The inside of the ship is very well kept up, but the outside is showing her age a little.

 

[jam19872016]

Back in the room the casino had delivered us some cookies.

 

 

 

We did not go to the dining room tonight, but I did remember to get a picture of the menus for those interested.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

We settled in for another night at the casino. Tonight's drawings were:

 

7 & 10: Shoot To Win
8: Snowball Raffle
9: Dodge the Bull
11: Olympic Llamas

 

Tonight while watching M play blackjack the host came up and offered us a comp to the steakhouse. They had scheduled us a time that conflicted with a drawing so I called and asked if I could use it during the time already scheduled. It was no problem.

As if the comp meal was not exciting enough, M got called for the Shoot To Win. She was shooting one handed which did not seem very smart, until she started making basket after basked. She ended up winning and claiming the $300 freeplay.

 

The Llamas was a new to me promotion. Two people were called and you each rolled a die. The number you landed on was how many tiles (marked with tape) that you could move. Two blow up llamas were used as props. You were supposed to ride the llamas to the finish line. 

 

 

 

The first few people called to play didn't quite get into the spirit and ride the llamas. Instead they just picked them up and moved them. Pardon the blurry pics, I'm sure their is some setting I need to adjust to take better pictures of people moving but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

 

 

 

 

This guy was fun and understood what the hosts kept telling them to do - ride the llama! Not sure if you can tell from my photos, but he was also dressed up for Halloween. Very funny guy.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

I'm not sure how much freeplay you won but I know second place also still won some too. This looked like a fun one to play especially if you don't mind playing to the crowd a little 🙂

 

After this game I went to the theater to catch what was left of the Halloween costume contest.

 

 

 

I really need for people to stand still long enough for me to take their picture, this was the winner "Male Brittany Spears". Not as blurry in person.

 

 

 

I received a survey from Carnival after my cruise with specific questions related to the Halloween activities onboard. I was honest with them. I took a cruise over Halloween in 2016 (my first review) and was pretty excited that I would get to celebrate Halloween on a cruise again it was such a great time. This fell pretty short. I think it was a great idea but it did not really work out probably because of a lack of participation. It just didn't feel very "halloweeny" to me. It could have also been the CD, as he is not the best I've ever had. He is not the worst either, but closer to the top of that list than the first.

[jam19872016]

I have to assume at some point I ate dinner because it was there so why wouldn't I have eaten? But I found myself with munchies tonight and the deli was closed. I peeked at the pizza line, and this is what it looked like at 11:43.

 

 

 

I have to say that it is beyond absurd that there is only one place to get free food this time of night. I much prefer the ships that have the buffet setup versus the Pizza+ which means you still have to wait in that ridiculous line. 

 

I've got a pretty wild idea that is sure to get some groans (or cheers of applause if you are a casino person like me). I think one of the perks on these casino cruises should be a dedicated priority line at the pizza place. A "Faster To The Pizza" so that we can hurry back and spend more money in the casino. 

 

Ok it sounds silly when I call it Faster To The Pizza but I do wish something could be done to get food in me quicker at times like these. They do bring around trays of food late at night in the casino but those bites tend to make the pizza up here taste like gourmet food.

 

Ok rant over.
 

[jam19872016]

Back in the room there was a towel animal on M's bed.

 

 

 

Over on my bed I had just sold my iPhone for $600 so I decided on a gratuitous money shot.

 

 

 

Ok gratuitous might not be the right word. For that you need stacks of $100's or $20's that fill the whole bed. But this is as close as I will probably ever get to that lol 

 

The final drawing tonight was the 1230 $2000 draw. It took about 30 minutes for things to clear out, but the best time to have a good selection of slots was after 1am. Sure if you need the hottest game everyone wants to play you may have to wait till after 3. (Babies, Buffalo, Heidi, Wonder Tower, Lock it Link seemed to always have someone on it).

 

We closed the casino down and I had amassed a very large stash of Fireball tonight. All the waiters wanted to bring me shots each time they came by. I also think this was the first night M maxed out her drinks this cruise but once she did, she did so every night for the remainder of the cruise. I helped her a couple times since I could not drink as fast as they were supplying me anyway.

 

We took our board game and our liquor stash with us to the library. As I said before, I have a pretty good win record on this game but the Fireball was leveling the playing field and M won tonight. We played deep into the night and I was contemplating breakfast instead of late night/early morning pizza run but there was nothing but continental breakfast available till 6:30 and M was not going to make it and I had no business trying to make it. 

 

Pizza run.

 

 

 

 

It was weird seeing people up with their cups of coffee and I tried to be on my best behavior (side note - I just spelled that word the British way and had to correct myself I think John Heald has too much influence on me).

 

We would be in Belize in couple hours and with that I went to bed with zero plans to do anything in Belize.

[FLCruise7]

Enjoying the review so far - hubby & I were on this cruise as well.  I was one of the llama "riders" -- since I couldn't really "ride" it, I had to settle for bouncing if from spot to spot.  Funny to see me in your pictures!!

 

My gift was the IPad mini - I wish I could've sold it to someone as I just bought an IPad last year & didn't need another.  Oh well!

 

[emm126]

5 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

I have to assume at some point I ate dinner because it was there so why wouldn't I have eaten? But I found myself with munchies tonight and the deli was closed. I peeked at the pizza line, and this is what it looked like at 11:43.

 

 

 

I have to say that it is beyond absurd that there is only one place to get free food this time of night. I much prefer the ships that have the buffet setup versus the Pizza+ which means you still have to wait in that ridiculous line. 

 

I've got a pretty wild idea that is sure to get some groans (or cheers of applause if you are a casino person like me). I think one of the perks on these casino cruises should be a dedicated priority line at the pizza place. A "Faster To The Pizza" so that we can hurry back and spend more money in the casino. 

 

Ok it sounds silly when I call it Faster To The Pizza but I do wish something could be done to get food in me quicker at times like these. They do bring around trays of food late at night in the casino but those bites tend to make the pizza up here taste like gourmet food.

 

Ok rant over.
 

FYI ~I was on a premier cruise on the Horizon in November. For Premier, Ultra cruises you can have pizza delivered to the casino. I didn't do it however saw others do it. 

[evandbob]

On 12/9/2018 at 5:06 PM, jam19872016 said:

You cannot walk all the way through this deck because of the galley. You will need to use the stairs or elevators and go up and back down a deck (or down and back up if you prefer)

 

 

 

At the back of the deck is other MDR, Platinum. The door appears open because a member of the crew had just walked out, but they had the doors shut and I did not feel right barging in. I always forget to come back when it it open to get a proper picture of the aft MDR.

 

 

Moving up to Deck 4 at the aft is the second level of the MDR. Next is the Ivory Club.

 

 

 

In the corner of this seldom found bar, is the Dreams studio.

 

•  

And to the right of the bar in the Ivory Club is a hallway that goes to the mid section elevators and the stairs to the 5th floor casino bar.  Great to use this uncrowded passway when leaving the MDR and wanting to avoid the photo jams on deck 5.

[evandbob]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:15 PM, jam19872016 said:

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...

I was selected for dodge the bull in November on the Magic.  I rolled a 6, hoorah!!!  I then hit a bull on the wheel's first spin, boohiss!  At least I had my ultra wristband on.....thx for your review & pics, great job.

[jam19872016]

On 12/18/2018 at 9:54 PM, FLCruise7 said:

Enjoying the review so far - hubby & I were on this cruise as well.  I was one of the llama "riders" -- since I couldn't really "ride" it, I had to settle for bouncing if from spot to spot.  Funny to see me in your pictures!!

 

My gift was the IPad mini - I wish I could've sold it to someone as I just bought an IPad last year & didn't need another.  Oh well!

 

 

That makes sense I didn't consider that as a reason people weren't riding their llama.

 

I've been very lucky to be able to sell my Ultra gifts both years. Fingers crossed I can do it again or win cash.

 

On 12/19/2018 at 1:18 AM, emm126 said:

FYI ~I was on a premier cruise on the Horizon in November. For Premier, Ultra cruises you can have pizza delivered to the casino. I didn't do it however saw others do it. 

 

I believe that is a pay service they are testing on the Horizon. In my Faster to the Pizza vision, its an included perk but I would be willing to pay if I was hungry enough just to avoid that line.

[jam19872016]

On 12/19/2018 at 9:55 AM, evandbob said:

And to the right of the bar in the Ivory Club is a hallway that goes to the mid section elevators and the stairs to the 5th floor casino bar.  Great to use this uncrowded passway when leaving the MDR and wanting to avoid the photo jams on deck 5.

 

I love that little hallway. Even if I don't use it the whole way to the casino, I almost always take the stairs by the old taste bar to avoid the congestion in that area on 5 that always happens when they set up the photo stands.

 

On 12/19/2018 at 10:01 AM, evandbob said:

I was selected for dodge the bull in November on the Magic.  I rolled a 6, hoorah!!!  I then hit a bull on the wheel's first spin, boohiss!  At least I had my ultra wristband on.....thx for your review & pics, great job.

 

Your welcome! I will be back tomorrow to wrap this review up.

[jam19872016]

Ooops, a couple days late getting back to this. Sorry, things got crazy leading up to Christmas.

 

Day 5: Belize

 

Today we were in Belize. This is my fourth time stopping in Belize. We got up pretty late, it was after 2 again, and with the added time required for the tender (or water shuttle if you must) we decided to not get off the ship today.

 

For lunch we stopped at Blue Iguana and the BBQ place. Upstairs I had a pretty nice view of the Carnival Miracle anchored nearby.

 

 

 

The drawings today started at 4:30 with the Snowball Raffle followed by Shoot To Win at 5. Then there was a break in the drawings for a couple hours so it was a perfect time for our steakhouse reservations. I would advise if you make specialty reservations ahead of time, check to make sure they don't conflict with any drawings and make changes as needed. I randomly picked 6PM and when I checked the schedule of drawings when I boarded I was in the clear. Sorta.
 

M was "fashionably late". It was 6:20 before she arrived and then it seemed to take a while for them to take our order. The meal ended up being rushed just a little but in the end we enjoyed our meal with a couple minutes to spare before the next drawing.
 

[jam19872016]

Compliments of the chef. 

 

 

 

Not sure what it was called, but basically it was cold tomato soup. It was very good though.

 

For my starter I had the oysters and the stuffed mushrooms.

 

 

 

 

Both are items on the new steakhouse menu. The oysters are growing on me now that I am used to the different flavor than I was expecting the first time I ordered them. The mushrooms are a bit of a disappointment. The first time I ordered them they were so full of flavor and just very very delicious. Since then they have tweaked the recipe somehow and are very bland. There is not any real flavor just sorta blah.

 

Next I had the filet mingon.

 

 

 

They also did a presentation of different salts to choose from. This is the first time I've seen that offered though I have read about it on here before. I chose the siracha salt and it complimented my steak perfectly!

 

My filet was perfect!

 

For dessert.....the return of the steakhouse cheesecake.

 

 

 

The cheesecake was as fantastic as always and I'm very glad to see it back. The dessert menu was a lost cause until they brought this back. Yummy.

 

The food was pretty good and I loved the siracha salt and the return of the cheesecake. Overall though I would say the food quality here is not what it used to be. I would say go and try it for yourself because food opinions are so subjective, but for me I probably would not pay the up charge on a ship with more specialty restaurants. I will happily accept the casino comp though 🙂

 

[jam19872016]

After dinner the casino had more drawings. Rounding out the evening was:

 

8: Dodge The Bull
9: Matilda The Cash Cow
10-12: Fireball
12:30: $2000 Draw

 

It was another evening of fun in the casino but I was mildly aware of the fact that I had given Carnival back most of my winnings. Only mildly aware though 🙂

 

Tonight's towel animal along with a returned bag of laundry and some treats courtesy of the casino.

 

 

 

 

We closed the casino again followed my trivial pursuit in the library. Late night pizza run was a little earlier tonight in anticipation of having to be back in the real world soon where sleeping until 2 is not realistic.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow was Cozumel our final port of call.
 

[jam19872016]

Day 6: Cozumel

 

Today we were at our final port of call, Cozumel. This is my 7th time in Cozumel and joins Grand Cayman as my most visited cruise stop. 

 

We slept in till 2 again even sleeping through the crew drills that are blasted into our rooms. I woke up for it briefly and fell right back asleep. We made our way to lunch. I got tacos from Blue Iguana today instead of burritos and loaded them up at the salsa bar. I must say I wish I had done this before, these tacos were pretty darn good after I dressed them up.

 

Happy hour sign that I kept meaning to take a photo of, this was out every port day but I don't believe it was available on sea days.

 

 

 

Today was the towel animal invasion but this was the only remains since I slept in so late - picture edited to remove faces since I got such a dirty look for taking this picture. It's about the giant towel creature not your kids dude.

 

[jam19872016]

It was a nice lazy afternoon that we turned into another stay on board day. I like that M is warming up more to the idea of just taking it easy and staying on the ship even if it is just because we stayed up so late.

 

Towel animal and Ultra gift in our room.

 

 

 

There was again some grumbling about the gift. It was a golden deck of cards. I thought it was cute and a nice souvenir to add to my collection.

 

Tonight's drawings in the casino:

 

5:30: Shoot To Win
8 + 10: Dodge The Bull
9: Matilda the Cash Cow
11: Snowball Raffle
11:30: Ultra Cash Pong
12:30: $2000 Draw

 

I remembered my long line pizza problem from the other night and remembered to stop off at the deli for a bite of dinner before they closed. Sadly the line for this was also super long and slow moving. Late night food is a major opportunity for improvement.

 

Tonight I tried a fallafal wrap.

 

 

 

This thing was pretty bad and I recommend a hard pass on this one. By now it was too close to a drawing to line up for something else. Should have stuck with something I know I would have liked.
 

[jam19872016]

If there is one drawing that I secretly don't want to be called for out of the sheer embarrassment I will cause myself, I would say it is cash pong. Tonight I would prove my fear correct as I had my name called to play a round of Ultra Cash Pong. 

 

Their are cups of different sizes strategically placed on the ground and you have to land a ping pong ball in the cups. The ball must bounce off the ground - ie no shooting it into the cup. The smaller the size of the cup, the more money you get for landing in that cup. It is very very hard and I have only seen a small handful of people ever land more than one or two balls (and never in the top prize of $250). You get 10 balls total.

Problem is for me that I have no hand eye coordination and I did extra sucky. I had one out of ten balls that came close, and nine that received groans from the audience they were so far off. There is normally a consolation prize of $50 for not landing a single ball, but because this was an Ultra they added $200 to your total. I also got $50 for wearing my wristband. Add that $250 to my total of $0 and I won $250 freeplay. Even though I didn't want to be called, really $250 freeplay is a pretty good payday for my couple minutes of shame.

 

We did not stay out as late tonight as we start getting ready to come back to reality. We also had drawings starting pretty early on our sea day so we did not close down the casino tonight.

 

Early late night pizza run.

 

[jam19872016]

Day 7: Fun Farewell Day at Sea

 

This morning at 10 was the Ultra Premiere Slot Tournament. If you had 2000 points or comparable table play you had a free entry into the private slot tournament for Ultra members. I knew it would run for a while and I didn't need to be there by 10 but I seriously misjudged just how long it would run. I showed up a little after 10 and this was the line to sign up.

 

 

 

I know you can't really see it, but the front of the line is all the way up by that wall of slots and the end of the picture. I was tired from setting an alarm to wake up which meant I was also cranky, and I was stuck in this line behind a guy who would not stop complaining about every little thing non stop. Dude, seriously if you are this miserable on your cruise, it may be time to move on. M slept until the first drawing at noon, and still was able to sign up for the tournament. Oh how I envy those two extra hours of sleep she got. I did not advance in the tournament.

 

Today's activities in the casino were:

 

10: Ultra Slot Tournament
12-2: Fireball
3: Matilda the Cash Cow
4: Snowball
5 + 10: Shoot to Win
8: Dodge the Bull
11: Free Cruise Draw

 

The great thing about the drawings on the final day is that win are paid in cash, not freeplay.

 

Fireball was open to everyone with at least 100 points in the casino. A name is drawn at random every 30 minutes and the prize money will roll over into the next round if a winner is not present. It is like Snowball but open to everyone and smaller prize amounts. First found is $50 and goes up $50 each round to the final round worth $250 plus any money that rolled over.

[jam19872016]

After fireball we went to Blue Iguana for lunch. My yummy heavily doctored tacos.

 

 

 

The tacos were great. I don't remember what the other thing on the plate was - something I grabbed off the buffet. I think it was good, but if I don't remember what it was maybe it wasn't.
 

[jam19872016]

For dinner tonight we had reservations again at the steakhouse since M was taking me here for my birthday dinner (week after the cruise) and the casino had picked up the tab the first time. We thought about waiting until our next cruise but we decided we would like a return trip to the steakhouse.

 

Compliments of the chef- two because M did not want hers.

 

 

 

For my starter I had the shrimp cocktail and the risotto.

 

 

 

 

 

The shrimp cocktail is a classic that continues to be very good. The risotto was something new I was trying and it was a real stand out! Very good and something I hope to order again in the future.

 

For my main I had the cowboy steak.

 

 

 

I did not get the salt presentation so I didn't get that fantastic siracha salt I had last time and while the steak was good, the meat was not as high quality as I felt it should have been or has been in the past. I think I am going to stick with the filet in the future.

 

And for dessert I had the cheesecake.

 

 

 

Heavenly! What were they ever thinking getting rid of this from the menu? I am so glad to see it added back.
 

[jam19872016]

Our final towel animal of the cruise.

 

 

 

We played in the casino until around 1 and then turned in earlyish tonight since they would be kicking us off in the morning.

 

Debarkation:

 

Debarkation was a complete fail. I wish we had been up early enough to take advantage of priority debarkation but we just didn't have the discipline to do that. Instead we tried to get off with the masses and the masses were at a standstill due to a delay at customs. It was chaos with constant line cutting and the staff pretty much unable to do anything. There was one lone member of the fun squad whose name escapes me that was not afraid to put people in their place. She even physically blocked someone who refused to stop trying to cut the line. Once she was called away it was every man for himself again. I would say this rates as one of the worst debark experiences in 20 cruises. 

 

Also M and I got separated because she took the elevator down to 3 (which we were told not to do). I was hoping she didn't make much time on me but she did not that it really mattered. She had our passports so she eventually had to wait for me to catch up to her anyway. Once the lines started moving we got through pretty quickly and were back to the real world with another cruise done.
 

[jam19872016]

Summary:

 

Overall this was a great cruise for me. Fair or not, I am probably rating the cruise higher because I did very well in the casino. I got in more playing time than I ever have on any cruise, and still walked away with over $300 (from selling my iPhone, I still lost in the slots). A true win in a casino is rare and it may have clouded my judgement on the Ultra experience. 

 

This casino was PACKED. I am not sure if I properly illustrated that enough in my photos but it was a severely packed casino. It did thin out a little mid-way through the cruise as I assume many were going through their budget too quickly but then towards the end it was crowded again as everyone wanted to get their last bit of play in. It is definitely a much better experience if you tend to "go with the flow".

 

I think everyone who gets an invite should go at least once. That being said, although I have booked another it may be my last Ultra. Carnival's comp system is just so broken at this point it is hard to continue to gamble money in their casinos. I have said that before and continue to come back, and that is because I enjoy Carnival's product so much. I have never paid as much for a cruise as I have my next Ultra on the Sunshine, and it would be very hard to swallow paying that much had I not had such a hot streak on this cruise. I think it may be time to cut my losses and wait for the better deals, which seem to be in casinos on other cruise lines these days.

 

Looking Ahead:

 

My next cruise is a completely comped cruise on MSC over New Years to Cuba. I do not even pay taxes just a $200pp deposit that I get back in OBC once onboard. This is courtesy of Urcomped and I cannot recommend them enough to anyone who is frustrated with Carnival's pitiful offers. Other cruise lines want our business and are making it worthwhile to try them out. At this time I am supposed to be cruising again with M, but work obligations may cause her to miss this one. 

 

It is now official, I will be solo on this cruise has M had to back out. She has recently started her own business and the challenges that come with that are too great right now for her to get away.

 

After that I have two cruises on Carnival. In February I will be on Carnival Fantasy for a 5 day cruise with my mom. Following that is my next Ultra cruise in April on Sunshine for 8 days again with my mom.

 

I thank everyone for reading along and hope to see you all down the road for another review in 2019!

[FLCruise7]

Thanks for the review!  I enjoyed seeing our cruise from another cruiser's viewpoint.

[momof3cruisers]

This was a fun read! Thanks for taking the time to do it.