Glory - Oct. 16 sailing

[grenowoods]

Saturday, Oct. 16

 

This is my sixth Carnival cruise and my second on the Glory. I was last on her in July. This is my eighth cruise and the first without my teens. This time I am with a friend, a female friend, but just a friend. I thought it was very funny when we were assigned one of the few tables for two – we were really looking forward to a table with many people.

 

The day started early at 5AM but the flight out of Buffalo, Southwest, was flawless as usual. I really love Southwest – this was my third flight with them.

 

At the airport in Orlando we had to wait two hours for our bus. The Carnival rep tried his best but he really didn’t have any info for us. I was not happy.

 

We got to the ship and my friend, who has never been on a cruise, was amazed – not surprising.

 

We went to the welcome show and discovered that John Heald was absolutely amazing. That was a welcome show like I have never seen before. I laughed so hard it hurt and this is day one!

 

I went to the Internet Café and found that the very capable Eldon was still here. To my surprise, David was still the bartender in what I call the Cigar Bar, adjacent to the Internet cafe. I also discovered, through David, that Christina, our bar “waitress” in July was still on the ship. He called her and she came down for a visit. What a terrific bunch of folks. The bar manager was there so I was able to praise his staff.

 

On Sunday I am finally going to do some adult stuff in the Bahamas. It’s going to seem weird but I have to grow up sometime.

 

Later,

 

Stu.

[myangel]

Hi Stu, really enjoyed your daily journal when you were on the Glory with yout teenaged sons in July. My family and I were on the Glory Sept 11-18th and absolutely loved this ship! Looking forward to your daily journal entries!!!

Have a great week!

[watermo]

Hi Stu, I to follow your experiences each day when you were on the Glory in July. This time watch the sun, you have a lot of "grown up things to do" so no sunburn. I hope your son recovered from that experience well. I was on the 9/11 cruise with myangel and what a wonderful trip. I haven't gotten over it yet and can't decide whether to do the Glory next year or the Miracle.

 

Enjoy your trip and will look forward to your post, you make them so interesting. If you are a nature lover, as I am, we went to the Butterfly Farm on St Maarten and really enjoyed it.

 

Naoma

[FengShuiBBturtle]

Hey there. I am looking forward to your everyday posts!. I was on the 9/11/04 Sailing and had a blast! If you see our waitress, Mariana, in the Platinum dining room...tell her we said "Hi"!:D

[grenowoods]

Hi Stu, I to follow your experiences each day when you were on the Glory in July. This time watch the sun, you have a lot of "grown up things to do" so no sunburn. I hope your son recovered from that experience well. I was on the 9/11 cruise with myangel and what a wonderful trip. I haven't gotten over it yet and can't decide whether to do the Glory next year or the Miracle.

 

Enjoy your trip and will look forward to your post, you make them so interesting. If you are a nature lover, as I am, we went to the Butterfly Farm on St Maarten and really enjoyed it.

 

Naoma

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your thoughts. Jordan recovered very well from his bad burn in July. I have been watching him very closely though and he is going to go and get tested for allergies.

 

Glory or the Miracle - tough choice - do both.

 

Stu.

 

btw - no grown up things, my travelling companion is a friend :-)

[grenowoods]

Day two - Sunday

 

It was a nice day in the Bahamas. We took what is called the “Historic Island” tour which ended up being eight of us shoved into a taxi. Dunno where the other 50 or so folks went. But it turned out good. Our driver was 76 year old Murray, a terrific guy. He drove us around and gave us his perspective on life – it was really interesting and it made me feel different about the Bahamas. There was definitely evidence of hurricane damage but they seem to have recovered okay, at least where we were. Apparently Grand Bahama got hit worse.

 

At lunch time today my only comment was “I’m not hungry but I guess it’s time to eat”. At dinner time, words can’t describe how I felt. I think I could go a day without eating no problem.

 

The ship has been rocking a bit tonight. I went outside around 1AM and discovered that the weather wasn’t so nice outside. I’m actually surprised that the ship was as smooth as it was.

 

Tonight was formal night so I got to put on my penguin suit like almost everyone else. It really is amazing that almost everyone dresses properly despite what you hear about those folks who say they will wear what they want.

 

We went to the captain’s cocktail party before dinner. I thought it was pretty funny when I was introduced to the captain and I started to say “it’s a pleasure to meet you” and he moved me forward as I shook his hand. Strangely, there was nobody behind me.  I was disappointed that John Heald (the cruise director) wasn’t in line. I hope to be able to talk to him at some point during the trip. I guess I’ll have to make a joke about him retiring.

 

The show tonight was the same as in the summer, Living in America, but I must have been drinking something funny back then or I have no memory, lets go with the no memory (because Grolsch isn’t funny, it’s good), because it seemed like a totally new show. John introduced the senior staff and centred out one of the audience members, Winston, who last night said, “I’ve been married nineteen LONG years” in response to his wife saying that he was not romantic. He immediately corrected himself last night but the damage was done. John made him restate his affection to his wife tonight. Apparently it’s nineteen wonderful years – he went on to describe how good his wife’s night would be – hilarious. By the way, they have a new female vocalist who is absolutely amazing – and can she ever sing.

 

I got a picture of Kristina (out bar waitress in the summer) waving and emailed it to the boys back home. Kristina is one of the many terrific Carnival folks.

 

Having the Internet café on the ship is really handy as it lets me talk to the boys back home via MSN and email. Makes me feel a little more comfortable about leaving them on their own. Actually it turns out that my mother showed up today with a pile of food and then took them out for dinner. It would appear that the ton of food that I prepared for them before I left wasn’t necessary. That was really nice of her.

 

The midnight adult comedy show was hilarious. I wish I could remember his name. I laughed so hard that I was crying. They had three midnight adult comedy shows in July – I hope it’s the same this trip.

 

Sharon has an appointment at the spa at 7AM. Silly woman. I hope it’s a silent alarm at 6:45. I will immediately roll over and fall back to sleep. Tomorrow will be a very lazy sea day – I am looking forward to it.

 

Well, it’s time to stop typing and head up to the Lido deck to see who is there.

 

Take care,

 

Stu.

[storm'n norman]

Ron Pass - "The Musical Whore"?

 

He plays in the Piano Bar and if you happen to pass by, drop in, tell him Storm'n Norman sends his regards!!!

 

Also if you happen to catch up with John Heald (and Heidi) - send them my fondest regards also!!

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!!!

[grenowoods]

Hi Norman,

 

I will do my best to pass on your regards to John. I haven't had a chance to speak to him yet. Ron will be much easier.

 

Stu.

[storm'n norman]

Appreciate it!!!!

[grenowoods]

Norman,

 

I passed on your regards to Ron last night (Tuesday night) and he sends greetings back. He mentioned something on his piano that you gave him but I can't remember what it was.

 

I've been extremely busy with cruise activities, and, unfortunately, work. I'm on my second set of 250 minutes at the moment. Sigh. So I haven't had a chance to post about the cruise days.

 

Yesterday was an uneventful sea day, mainly because I got to bed at 5 the night before. Marcus Anthony's Motown show was good last night.

 

We had a full day in St. Thomas today. Went to Megans Bay in the morning - beautiful beach. Then went up to the Mountaintop. You have to try one of their Banana Daquiris. Went back to the ship for lunch then went up to Paradise Point (my fourth time) and then downtown for shopping.

 

Went to see Justin the Illusionist tonight, same as the show in the summer but still good. The adult comedy at midnight was hillarious. I bought a CD but he ran out of them so he's mailing it.

 

The weather doesn't look promising for St. Maarten/St. Martin tomorrow (today) but I hope to do lots of stuff.

 

Gotta run.

 

Stu.

[1tonysmom]

Hi Stu. Love your reports. We are sailing on the Glory 11/27, also to the Eastern Caribbean. Any chance you could email your Capers and/or shore excursion list to me after you get back? I have been looking to do some research before we go. Thanks so much for your consideration. My email address is tonysmom@tampabay.rr.com. Enjoy the rest of your cruise and I'll be checking back for your updates.

 

Joanne :)

[grenowoods]

Hi Stu. Love your reports. We are sailing on the Glory 11/27, also to the Eastern Caribbean. Any chance you could email your Capers and/or shore excursion list to me after you get back? I have been looking to do some research before we go. Thanks so much for your consideration. My email address is tonysmom@tampabay.rr.com. Enjoy the rest of your cruise and I'll be checking back for your updates.

 

Joanne :)

 

I'll do my best to email the capers when I get back. I think I have them all.

 

Stu.

[grenowoods]

Wednesday in St. Maarten/St. Martin

 

In the morning we went to Marigot, the French capital where we basically shopped. I found a bunch of clothing for myself. I was asking the salesperson how to say some French words. Then I realized he was from Mombai, India. I bought so much stuff that the plastic bag broke. So he sold me a souvenir bag. He was an amazing salesman. We had trouble finding a cab back to the ship and suddenly a car pulled up at the curb and a suspicious looking guy said “taxi”. He just wanted the going rate and so Sharon, myself and a girl from South Africa who is a wine steward on one of the Celebrity ships hopped in. We quickly determined that the driver’s other occupation involved race cars. I though it was a riot. Sharon didn’t.

 

After lunch we went up to Orient Beach and I went parasailing. I just had to do that again. Sharon was very disappointed that she didn’t see any old naked French guys.

 

We went to dinner at the Emerald Supper club with Eldon, the Internet Café manager. It’s his second last week on the ship so that was his going away present from us. I managed to spill wine all over my white shirt, my last clean one, which I was supposed to wear tonight. One of life’s moments. Eldon graciously lent me one of his for tonight.

 

We saw the talent show later followed by the hilarious antics of the cruise director, John, with the famous bedtime story, definitely not what I expected.

 

Stu.

[grenowoods]

Thursday – A day at sea

 

A very lazy day. John’s “Marriage Show” was unlike any of the seven I’ve seen on previous cruises. He does it his way. He is such a great entertainer.

 

After the Past Guest party I finally got to meet John Heald and his wife Heidi. I wanted a picture and Heidi tried to take. Not a chance, I wanted one of the three of us so John grabbed a staff member and now I have a memorable shot which is now the background on my laptop. Norman, I passed on your greetings but it sounds like you have already been in contact with him in the last day or so. I found out that John’s father was born in my home town, Sheffied, England. He said he’d try and have a few drinks with me at the “VIP” party at 7:15 but he’s obviously busy and couldn’t make it. I had a great conversation with many of the staff there including the captain. I got a picture with him too.

 

The main show was terrific as always. I went to the adult comedy again at midnight. I was exhausted and was probably very much influenced by the many glasses of wine that the wonderful staff kept giving me all night. As a result, I fell asleep during the show. A word of advice, this is not something you want to do at an adult comedy show when you’re in the first row. The comedian, I forget his name, ended up coming down and giving me a hug. I stayed awake after that and bought his CD after the show. The least I could do.

 

I don’t remember anything after that.

 

Stu.

[grenowoods]

So sOne thing I said before was that John's Marriage show was like nothing I've ever seen. I didn't realize that today there would be the traditional newlywed/not so newlywed show.

 

Had a great last day. Finally did the water slide. And my shopping. All of a sudden on the last day you try and fit everything in.

 

At the moment I'm roaming the ship handing out twenty dollar bills to my favourite staff members. This cruise is costing me a lot but they really deserve it.

 

Signing off now.ad but it just makes you look forward to the next cruise and I know that there will be one.

 

 

 

Stu.

[watermo]

Thanks for sharing your week with us.

 

Have a safe trip home.

 

Naoma