This is my trip report for our cruise on the Carnival Glory out of Port Canaveral (4/29-5/6). Seven days to the Eastern Caribbean, with stops in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. In a word—wonderful!
About us: I’m Sherrill, 50, married with two grown kids. This was a 25th wedding anniversary cruise for me and my husband, Kirk. We live in Suffolk, Virginia. He’s retired Navy and works for Lockheed Martin, and I am a housewife. This is my 4th cruise and first on Carnival, but since the first two took place 30-40 years ago, and the last one (on Celebrity) was in 1998, I am pretty much a rookie.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that when I did work outside the home, I was a legal secretary, and the first attorney I worked for was Carol Hill. How about that for a small world? Not that I feel that I have to suck up to get my trip report printed, but she was a really great boss! I only left her employ because we moved to Richmond. So I have watched the growth of TTOL with great pleasure.
Anyway, back to the trip report.
THE FLIGHT AND EMBARKATION. We flew down on Southwest, which has killer deals from Norfolk to Orlando, and took the Carnival bus service over to Port Canaveral. Our flight got in a bit earlier than expected, so the Carnival people weren’t quite in place yet, but by the time we got our bags they were out in force and directed us to the bus. One word of warning—keep anything you want to hand carry onto the ship with you at all times. Even though our driver said that we would be able to collect our carry-ons from the storage compartment after arriving at the pier, the Carnival baggage handlers were so efficient that they were already hauling our luggage away before we were even off the bus! This led to the first excitement of the day, since two of our fellow travelers had stowed bags containing their tickets! All’s well that ends well, though, as we combined forces to bang on the windows to get the attention of the handlers! So already I felt good about this trip and the esprit de corps of my fellow cruisers.
Embarkation was not difficult at all. If you listen to the people directing you, it’s pretty straight forward. Before we actually boarded the ship we were given our “Sail and Sign” cards, which operate as cabin key and credit card for ship purchases. It also gives your table assignment. My husband and I were dismayed to find that we had been put at separate tables. I am pleased to report that changing this only took a short detour once onboard to speak to the Maitre d’, who was set up in one of the dining rooms for just this purpose.
GENERAL THOUGHTS ON FOOD AND DRINK. We were very pleased with the selection of food on board. With the variety of dining options you can really tailor the experience to suit yourself. We always opted for eating dinner in the dining room. The food was excellent, and we really got attached to our team, Ricky and Mitchel. We were given the 8pm seating. Since we eat fairly early when we are at home, I am sure we would have chosen an earlier time had we been given a choice beforehand, but I am glad that we kept the one assigned. After a full day of activity, the first seating comes up on you quickly, and we were thankful not to have to rush to get ready. The only negative was that—not being night owls—we were never in the mood afterwards to go to the late entertainment show at 10:30. We’d get back to the cabin with the best of intentions and get too comfortable to leave. So we never saw any of the shows. But hey! It’s our cruise, right?
My husband was recently diagnosed with Type II diabetes and is on a diet and exercise program. We weren’t sure how closely he’d be able to stay on program, but he did very well. The dinner menus featured healthier selections, including diet desserts. The menu was listed in the ship’s newsletter each day, with a more detailed description of the selections on the ship channels. Kirk tried to be smart about his choices, but he didn’t really deny himself either. He monitored his blood sugar during the trip, and while I’m not going to say that his levels were always great, they weren’t bad, and they did come back to more normal values very quickly after returning home. He also worked out in the gym on board ship every morning, which also helped. He even wound up not gaining any weight. We won’t talk about me!
THE CABIN. We totally lucked out on the location. I would definitely ask for this particular cabin again—9293, if you’re interested. We were on the end of the Lido Deck cabin row, closest to the entry to the larger pool area, and (even better) on the same deck as breakfast and lunch! This was our first balcony cabin, and it was totally worth the extra money. There was plenty of room to move around in, and the balcony just added to the feeling of spaciousness. The first time I went on a cruise (in the mid-sixties), my grandmother and I had bunk beds--how times have changed! Kirk and I had an extremely comfortable king bed, with nightstands and lamps on either side, appreciated by late night readers like me. There was a couch, (which I believe folded out to make another bed), a chair and a small table. There were three hanging closet areas and several drawers as well as a stocked mini bar. The bathroom was spacious, with soap and shampoo provided in convenient shower dispensers. The cabin also had a hair dryer. It was permanently plugged in, and so you had to hold the “on” button down the whole time you used it. This was a bit inconvenient, but totally understandable. The advantage was that it freed up the only outlet in the cabin for other uses. We found that there was enough space under the bed in the cabin to store the suitcases. My husband—being the tidy Navy guy that he is--unpacked and put everything in the storage space provided, but I’m more of a live out of a suitcase gal. It was no problem to get my suitcase out from under the bed whenever I needed it, though. And don’t worry about bringing beach towels--Carnival provides them. But don’t leave them on deck, or they will charge you $22 for each one!
There is also a TV in the room. In addition to the ship channels and pay per view, we got satellite service of the major channels like ABC, NBC, CBS & CNN--from a Denver station, if you can believe that. I must say I got a certain wicked pleasure in watching their local weather reports! My husband is an avid fan of “24,” and he appreciated being able to watch it on the actual air date.
Through your TV you can also make reservations for shore excursions, find out details about the day’s dinner menu and check out the damage on your “Sail and Sign” card.
ORDERING GIFTS AND GOODIES BEFOREHAND. Because it was our anniversary, my husband had ordered a variety of treats through Carnival, such as roses and a fruit basket. Those were waiting for me in our cabin. He also ordered a delicious cake from the ship’s bakery, which was delivered to our table at dinner the first formal night by our serenading wait staff. The only hiccup was with a bottle of wine he ordered for the first night. It never showed up. We later learned that, like the cake, it was to be delivered to the dining room. But it was never delivered to us there either! Further investigation revealed that the wine had indeed been delivered on the first night--but to our original assigned table, and the new occupants had kept it! The staff was very nice about clearing up the matter. I received my bottle of wine at dinner mid-cruise—in plenty of time to enjoy it.
THE STAFF. I really can’t say enough about how great the crew of the Glory was. It was obvious that they really enjoyed not only their jobs, but their coworkers as well. It was quite an international crew, which only added to the sensation of getting away from the humdrum.
SHIP ACTIVITIES. The specific day’s activities are set forth in the ship’s newsletter, the “Carnival Capers.” There were tons of things for all ages to do. Kirk signed up for a golf lesson on board, in which the pro videotaped his swing and compared it to the swings of the tour pros. In addition to valuable pointers, Kirk got some software to take home. He was also pleased with the group golf clinics. One was free, but he enjoyed it so much that he spent the $25 to attend the other two. I spent time at the pool, enjoying watching fellow guests play various games like “Survivor” and “Hairy Chest Contest.” I consider shopping an activity, and I was active in the duty free shops as well.
One thing I liked was The Internet Café, where there were several computers available for passenger use. After creating an account you could either pay 75 cents a minute, or buy a plan to get a reduced rate. We opted for 100 minutes @ 55 cents, and, even though we didn’t use all of them, I think we saved money getting the plan. We mainly wanted to monitor the NFL draft (which started the day we sailed) and to print out our boarding passes for our return flight. The Café is manned by an internet manager, who was very helpful. I noticed that several passengers had their own lap tops and used them in the common areas. Supposedly the wireless service was throughout the ship, even in the cabins. Same per minute charge as in the Café.
SHORE EXCURSIONS. I know it pains Carol to hear me say that I did not take her advice and rent a car, but if you’ve ever watched “The Amazing Race,” you will sympathize when I say that my husband and I are world class bickerers when we are in a strange car in a strange land. So we opted for the “no think” route. We feel more confident now about taking off on our own in the future, but considering that we met this great couple--Art and Amanda--on our very first tour, it wound up being a blessing that we booked the excursions through the ship. Even though they were our kids’ ages, we really hit it off. Art surprised Amanda with a proposal the first formal night at sea, so while they celebrated the promise of their life together, Kirk and I were celebrating the success of ours. But enough sentimentality--back on track! The following are the excursions we took:
The Yellow Bird Party Boat. This came highly recommended by my son and his wife, who took at 4 day Carnival cruise out of Miami a few years ago. Being on more of a budget than we were, the free rum punch was a definite draw for them. I have nothing bad to say about the Yellow Bird crew or the folks at Blackbeard’s Cay (our destination). If anything, it was just too short a trip. It seemed that no sooner had we settled in on the beach than we were being called back to board the boat. I didn’t even get to explore the island! Plus, the water, while beautiful, was way too cold for my taste. This was not a problem for my son and his wife because they visited in the summer. Back in Nassau, we only had enough time for a surgical strike on The Straw Market before reboarding the ship. It has certainly grown since my first visit to the Bahamas!
St. Thomas. We booked the Yellow Bird as well as a snorkeling trip to St. John Trunk Bay online before leaving home. We got into St. Thomas early Tuesday morning, and our excursion was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm. Unfortunately, ocean swells had developed by the afternoon, and the St. John’s authorities were forced to cancel the tour. Carnival gave us a choice of either applying our prepaid tickets toward another excursion or being refunded. (usually Carnival has a strict no cancellation/no refund policy, but obviously these were forces beyond anyone’s control) We opted for the refund and notified the purser’s desk accordingly. Back at sea that evening on our way to St. Maarten, we checked the TV for our current Sail and Sign charges. Our refund had not shown up, so we went down to investigate further.
Turns out there were two excursions with similar names. The “Five Star” St. John’s Trunk Bay trip had not been canceled, and indeed, had left as scheduled about the same time the snorkeling trip to St. John’s Trunk Bay was to go. Our tickets said “Five Star,” but because we assumed there was only one Trunk Bay trip and because we had definitely signed up for snorkeling back home, we thought our tickets were for the cancelled excursion. Our reservation must have got entered incorrectly at some point or something. But without proof, I grant Carnival every right to assume that we just had decided not to go and now wanted our money back in defiance of their no cancellation policy. To their credit, they believed us and refunded our money when we told them our story, and for that we are very grateful. We will be sure to print out our excursions and bring them with us next time to avoid this awkward situation.
But back to St. Thomas. Not really knowing what to do with ourselves this late in the day, we wound up walking around the gift shops by the pier. It was hot, and the merchandise was expensive. You pay for convenience, don’t you? I hated for that to be our only experience on the island, so, after a suggestion from a nice lady in a conveniently located information booth, we booked a taxi and set out for Morning Star Beach at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef resort. You do not have to be a guest at the Marriott to enjoy it. Your driver will drop you off at a taxi stand, which means that you have no worries about getting a return taxi back to the pier. Chairs were plentiful and free, and the water was great—gorgeous color, perfect temperature. There were iguanas just hanging out all over the place, which just added to the exotic, tropical atmosphere. We liked the resort so much that we are thinking about flying over sometime and just staying there. We were also able to buy some Caribbean artwork by Mitch Gibbs, who has a display right by the taxi stand. If you are interested in seeing his work, you can check out his web site.
www.mitchgibbs.com St. Maarten. Because we had such a good time at the beach in St. Thomas, we decided to change our shore excursion to strictly beach time. So we decided to cancel our bus tour of French St. Martin and sign up for something else. Even though Carnival won’t let you cancel, you can change a tour, assuming there is space available. Our first choice, a French St. Martin beach tour, was already sold out, so we opted for The Divi Little Bay excursion. It included a taxi ride to the resort in Phillipsburg, two free drinks and a BBQ lunch. Chairs were free, umbrellas were $5; you could also rent jet skis and such, so we went to bed feeling pretty good about things. Well, day dawned, and it was raining and overcast. Not a great day for the beach, to say the least. In fact, once we arrived at the resort it began to rain even harder. A little over an hour later it became obvious that the BBQ lunch was not going to happen, as the weather would not permit bringing the grills out. At that point our whole tour group was huddled under what little shelter was available! The resort canceled the excursion, and we were taken back to the ship and given a 50% refund by Carnival. We thought this was fair, since it wouldn’t have been right to stiff the taxi service for something that was clearly no one’s fault. The resort even refunded our 5 bucks for umbrella rental. I made sure to cash in my two free drink coupons before leaving! It is my understanding that the rain put a damper (so to speak) on all the excursions that day, with the exception of the trip to the Butterfly Farm. Evidently the weather enhanced the rain forest atmosphere there!
Silver linings: Art and Amanda had booked the same excursion, and it was great to hang out with them again. Amanda and I visited the liquor store at the resort, where I found the Ma Dou Dou, which I have heard Carol speak of so fondly. Ma Dou Dou is a “punch au rhum” produced right there in St. Martin. I took it literally to mean “rum punch,” and upon my return home, poured a generous glass over ice for my son and myself. Turns out it contains way more rum than punch—my son called it an infusion--so needless to say, that made for a very strong drink. But if you mix a shot of that baby with some orange juice, you have a very wonderful concoction. Plus, the bottles are absolutely gorgeous—hand painted with tropical scenes. They’ll be a keeper long after the booze is gone.
Lesson learned: A cruise really only gives you a taste of these wonderful islands. You can’t get stressed over doing everything or not having the weather cooperate. You just have to go back!
DISEMBARKING. We had a choice whether to keep our luggage with us and taking everything off the ship on our own (self-assist), or to use the ship’s service, putting our bags out the night before and meeting up with our luggage on the pier after going through customs. We opted for the latter, simply because our flight out of Orlando was later in the afternoon, and we figured it didn’t matter whether we waited on the ship or at the airport. The self-assist people were called by deck starting about 7:30am—and true enough, the people on the first decks called did get off the ship in record time. But we were the first deck called for luggage service, and we wound up getting off the ship at the same time as the self-assist people whose deck was called last! Go figure! Evidently the luggage handling went much more smoothly than expected. We wound up on the same bus as our buddies Art and Amanda (insert Twilight Zone music here), who had opted for self-assist since they were anxious to get the airport to try to get an earlier standby flight (they did). But once again, fortune smiled on the foolish, and we got to the airport in plenty of time to catch an earlier flight ourselves. I don’t think we will always be that lucky, but I’d be willing to bet that the next time we take a cruise, something else nice will happen unexpectedly. I think when you are relaxed it is easier for good things to find you, and this was the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever had. Great job, Carnival!
