Hey Guys! I know it has been a while since this cruise but I wanted to finish up on this post.
We had our couple days at sea with rough weather, lots of rain, nothing but rocking and they announced that we would be coming home a day early. They said the port was closing sunday due to flood warnings and the next weeks cruise was canceled. Honestly, it was such a relief to hear. We were in the dining room when they made the announcement and everyone clapped. After dinner we roamed for quite a bit and then headed back to our room to pack and head to the disco. Debarking was pretty easy, we waited a while since we had driven to the port and then headed out.
A couple of things we learned from this cruise:
- Never ever take a cruise before it goes in to be refurbished, they were out of a lot of knick knack type souvenirs, the shop was pretty bare, they were short on some food, the crew seemed to be ready for a break and didnt seem to mind expressing that
-Although the weather made a huge impact, it was clearly evident that we do not like sea days. A transatlantic cruise has been removed from my bucket list for sure!
- I don't think we will ever ever cruise during hurricane season again- although we didn't get sick, our travel mates were quite sick and it was a very unpleasant experience. It seemed to make a lot of people agitated. The staff were great (except for the front desk people) so that was a real help.
- I am also not sure we will ever cruise with people we know again. It is so nice to do whatever we want to do when we want and that makes it difficult when others want to do other things. Maybe it will be different with people who are seasoned cruisers, who knows.
Once we returned we were quickly refunded a days fare to the account used to purchase the cruise which was great. We were also given 20% off a future cruise to be used on a 2-6 day cruise which expires in October 2014. There are some destination exclusions but I am sure we will be able to find something to apply it to. We are hoping to use it towards a 7 day cruise, I have been in contact with Carnival so that we can try to work that out. I don't want all 7 days discounted, I would just like to have the 6 days of discount applied. Hopefully it works out, we prefer longer cruises.
Even before the weather we didnt get the same experience we received on previous cruises so we may try to branch out in the future and try a couple of different lines. Our first cruise was AMAZING and I am really wanting to have another great experience like that.
Sorry for the distance since the beginning of this post! Hope you enjoy!
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Showing posts with label Freeport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freeport. Show all posts
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, December 7, 2012
Carnival Glory : Fun Day at Sea 2 & 3
It started pouring when we got back to the port to do some shopping so we hurried through that and waited in line to re board, in the freezing cold rain. We went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. When we were in the dining room this evening, the ship suddenly moved pretty hard and a lot of dishes went tumbling. I believe the ship was turning but it was a shocker!
We were scheduled to visit Port Canaveral on Friday. They ended up announcing that our stop in PC was cancelled and we would remain at sea for the rest of our trip. Although I wasnt thrilled about a stop in PC, anything would have been better than being on a rocking rolling boat for 3 days in a row.
We were bound to make the best of the vaca so we spent our days at sea sleeping in, eating tons of good food and hanging out in the hot tubs. There were a lot of scheduled events that were cancelled due to the Lido being shut down. It was open to walk across but the wind and wet floor made it quite dangerous. I slipped right onto my tush one night so for the most part we just went down a floor and up in the middle to the buffet.
They offered some inside activities but mostly kept them in the tiny promenade area of the casino where there is little room. The casino was a good time, although I do not like to spend much so $10 and I am done.
Most of our time at night is spent in the disco. We usually just people watch but this time we did get up and dance and had a ball! The boat was rocking and rolling so people were going everywhere at some points. I will say that they could do a better job of the music selection. It seemed to be more of music from 10 or so years ago opposed to current. They also could make it more dance music. Some of the stuff you just can not dance to. It should be a clue when everyone walks off the dance floor but it happened every night.
They had two comedians on board this trip, the one we saw was Jorge Solano. We chose the adults show and it was very funny. He works with George Lopez and has been doing comedy for 20+ years.
Something else we had never done before this trip was the mini martini tasting. It is $18 for you to choose 4 out of 8 martinis. They come in 2 oz glasses each so it was a pretty good amount of alcohol. The martini bar always seemed to have a lot of people there and the bartender was great.
We were scheduled to visit Port Canaveral on Friday. They ended up announcing that our stop in PC was cancelled and we would remain at sea for the rest of our trip. Although I wasnt thrilled about a stop in PC, anything would have been better than being on a rocking rolling boat for 3 days in a row.
We were bound to make the best of the vaca so we spent our days at sea sleeping in, eating tons of good food and hanging out in the hot tubs. There were a lot of scheduled events that were cancelled due to the Lido being shut down. It was open to walk across but the wind and wet floor made it quite dangerous. I slipped right onto my tush one night so for the most part we just went down a floor and up in the middle to the buffet.
They offered some inside activities but mostly kept them in the tiny promenade area of the casino where there is little room. The casino was a good time, although I do not like to spend much so $10 and I am done.
Most of our time at night is spent in the disco. We usually just people watch but this time we did get up and dance and had a ball! The boat was rocking and rolling so people were going everywhere at some points. I will say that they could do a better job of the music selection. It seemed to be more of music from 10 or so years ago opposed to current. They also could make it more dance music. Some of the stuff you just can not dance to. It should be a clue when everyone walks off the dance floor but it happened every night.
They had two comedians on board this trip, the one we saw was Jorge Solano. We chose the adults show and it was very funny. He works with George Lopez and has been doing comedy for 20+ years.
Something else we had never done before this trip was the mini martini tasting. It is $18 for you to choose 4 out of 8 martinis. They come in 2 oz glasses each so it was a pretty good amount of alcohol. The martini bar always seemed to have a lot of people there and the bartender was great.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Carnival Glory: "Fun Day at Sea" #1
Today was the day that they changed our itinerary. The day actually started out pretty nice. It was still pretty chilly but we were able to lay out for a little bit on the side of the lido, near the pool was PACKED! We watched a bit of the hairy chest contest, ate and just mingled around until we decided to go to the hot tub in the spa which we fantastic!
That is when the captain came on. We of course couldnt hear so I had to get out of the hot tub and ask. They explained that we had a medical emergency the night before and had to turn around back to Norfolk. We were on the Lido when this happened at about midnight, the coast guard helicopter came down. They closed off the area with the pizza etc. Later we found out a woman was having chest pains and eventually had a heart attack but is okay. He let us know that it would delay our arrival in Nassau until 1 pm.
Then he explained about Sandy (still a TS). We would only get from 1-8 in Nassau, instead of overnighting and miss Freeport on Friday. We would instead would head to Port Canaveral on Friday (eye roll, hardly a cruise stop). Due to large projections of the storms before we left I really wish they would have diverted us to Bermuda. Thought would have been awesome.
So the announcement really put a damper on the day and I headed to guest services where they allowed us to call for free any pricate excursions that we had booked. I went down to call Atlantis to see if there was anything we could do. We had a room booked and wouldnt be able to use it so we were hoping to be able to cancel it with a refund of some sort and then make new plans for the day.
Atlantis has a 31 day cancellation policy and said that they didnt have any info on the storm being such a threat ( that was obviously a lie seeing as how the storm turned out). They said we had two options, either continue with our plans to stay at Atlantis or they could hold our booking for 6 months. If we chose option #2, we would be responsible for any extra charges or difference in room costs. Since we didnt have any plans for an upcoming trip to Nassau we were forced to keep our reservation. More on that in the next post.
Tonight was also Elegant Night. We got all dressed up, went to the MDR. Everything was great. We went to the comedy show after, Jorge Solano was hilarious. Afterwards we went to the hot tubs and then the disco.
Next up, our awesome day at the Atlantis!!!
That is when the captain came on. We of course couldnt hear so I had to get out of the hot tub and ask. They explained that we had a medical emergency the night before and had to turn around back to Norfolk. We were on the Lido when this happened at about midnight, the coast guard helicopter came down. They closed off the area with the pizza etc. Later we found out a woman was having chest pains and eventually had a heart attack but is okay. He let us know that it would delay our arrival in Nassau until 1 pm.
Then he explained about Sandy (still a TS). We would only get from 1-8 in Nassau, instead of overnighting and miss Freeport on Friday. We would instead would head to Port Canaveral on Friday (eye roll, hardly a cruise stop). Due to large projections of the storms before we left I really wish they would have diverted us to Bermuda. Thought would have been awesome.
So the announcement really put a damper on the day and I headed to guest services where they allowed us to call for free any pricate excursions that we had booked. I went down to call Atlantis to see if there was anything we could do. We had a room booked and wouldnt be able to use it so we were hoping to be able to cancel it with a refund of some sort and then make new plans for the day.
Atlantis has a 31 day cancellation policy and said that they didnt have any info on the storm being such a threat ( that was obviously a lie seeing as how the storm turned out). They said we had two options, either continue with our plans to stay at Atlantis or they could hold our booking for 6 months. If we chose option #2, we would be responsible for any extra charges or difference in room costs. Since we didnt have any plans for an upcoming trip to Nassau we were forced to keep our reservation. More on that in the next post.
Tonight was also Elegant Night. We got all dressed up, went to the MDR. Everything was great. We went to the comedy show after, Jorge Solano was hilarious. Afterwards we went to the hot tubs and then the disco.
Next up, our awesome day at the Atlantis!!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Carnival Glory: Embarkation Day
We went into this cruise with good spirits. We were very excited for this vacation. We had never been to the Bahamas so we were looking forward to that immensely. The weeks leading up to the cruise I watched the weather and storms forming and was very aware of the large probability of a storm changing some of our plans. What I was not prepared for was how large Sandy was going to be. The week before we left, the weather for Nassau on Wednesday & Thursday was 30 % & 40%. Monday morning it was obvious that was not the case, rain seemed to be 100%.
We were bound to make the most of it. With that in mind, we picked up the other couple traveling with us and left for Norfolk. We arrived at the port and parked at the closest parking garage, Town Point. Carnival recommends the Cedar Grove parking facility which is guarded 24 hours. It is also a mile away and you are bussed (for free) to the port, rate of parking is $15/day. Weeks before our cruise I contacted the division that handles the parking garages about parking at Town Point. They tried to persuade us to park at Cedar Grove and said that regardless of it not being posted anywhere, cruisers would be charged $15/day for cruise parking at the TP lot. To make a long story short we decided to park at the TP Garage for its convenience as it is located across the street. As mentioned before when we got to the garage there was no sign posting the difference in price for cruise parking. We took our ticket and finally found parking. It was packed! For anyone interested, when we left we were only charged $12/day.
We had received an email asking us to arrive between 1 and 3 pm. Since we were driving, that was our ETA anyways so that was no problem. There was a good number of people entering the port at the same time as we were but it went pretty fast. Once we got to security they asked if we had any wine, we answered yes since we had each brought our allotted bottle. They asked to see it but didn't look it over, shake it, or check the cork. We also brought a pocket knife which I had put in my carry on. When it went through, they asked to see the knife which was no problem since it is under the 4" or less regulation by Carnival. The only problem was that they pulled aside the bag they said it was in and I knew it wasnt in that one, I had packed our bags after all. I kept trying to say it was in the pink bag they kept telling me it was in the black bag. Finally they took the pink bag, I told them it was in the front pocket and they tried to open the top. Very frustrating as it was already holding up the line, all they had to do was listen. They opened the knife, checked it and then we were free to proceed.
Once we were in line to get our sail & sign cards, we hit another minor snafu. The 4 of us were booked in two rooms, my boyfriend in one & I in the other so that both rooms were eligible for the past guest rate. Carnival said to just have them switch the girls in each room here to avoid having to wait in line at guest services for new cards. When we got to the desk the 4 of us went together and I began to explain the situation. Before I could even finish she said we would need to handle that with guest services. I asked her why since Carnival had told us that they would do it and she said they couldnt do it and we would need to do this on board. Fine, we moved on and started to get our paperwork settled. Every time I would give her any information she would remind me that she couldnt change the people in the rooms and I needed to give her the info for one room at a time. I explained we had moved on and that I was giving her the info as it was on he "manifest" that she kept referring to. This happened 3 separate times. Finally she too had moved on and we were able to get our sail and sign cards. It took a couple extra minutes but we were finally on our way.
We skipped the embark photos and headed up the gang way to deck 3. We decided to go ahead and head to our rooms and get the keys settled later. We unpacked and I was shocked by the room. I am claustrophobic and the room was vastly different from our first two. It took a few days to get used to but more on that later. We explored the ship some, got ready for the muster drill and then met up with our friends for sail away. We were on our way to the Bahamas!! Sort of...
We were bound to make the most of it. With that in mind, we picked up the other couple traveling with us and left for Norfolk. We arrived at the port and parked at the closest parking garage, Town Point. Carnival recommends the Cedar Grove parking facility which is guarded 24 hours. It is also a mile away and you are bussed (for free) to the port, rate of parking is $15/day. Weeks before our cruise I contacted the division that handles the parking garages about parking at Town Point. They tried to persuade us to park at Cedar Grove and said that regardless of it not being posted anywhere, cruisers would be charged $15/day for cruise parking at the TP lot. To make a long story short we decided to park at the TP Garage for its convenience as it is located across the street. As mentioned before when we got to the garage there was no sign posting the difference in price for cruise parking. We took our ticket and finally found parking. It was packed! For anyone interested, when we left we were only charged $12/day.
We had received an email asking us to arrive between 1 and 3 pm. Since we were driving, that was our ETA anyways so that was no problem. There was a good number of people entering the port at the same time as we were but it went pretty fast. Once we got to security they asked if we had any wine, we answered yes since we had each brought our allotted bottle. They asked to see it but didn't look it over, shake it, or check the cork. We also brought a pocket knife which I had put in my carry on. When it went through, they asked to see the knife which was no problem since it is under the 4" or less regulation by Carnival. The only problem was that they pulled aside the bag they said it was in and I knew it wasnt in that one, I had packed our bags after all. I kept trying to say it was in the pink bag they kept telling me it was in the black bag. Finally they took the pink bag, I told them it was in the front pocket and they tried to open the top. Very frustrating as it was already holding up the line, all they had to do was listen. They opened the knife, checked it and then we were free to proceed.
Once we were in line to get our sail & sign cards, we hit another minor snafu. The 4 of us were booked in two rooms, my boyfriend in one & I in the other so that both rooms were eligible for the past guest rate. Carnival said to just have them switch the girls in each room here to avoid having to wait in line at guest services for new cards. When we got to the desk the 4 of us went together and I began to explain the situation. Before I could even finish she said we would need to handle that with guest services. I asked her why since Carnival had told us that they would do it and she said they couldnt do it and we would need to do this on board. Fine, we moved on and started to get our paperwork settled. Every time I would give her any information she would remind me that she couldnt change the people in the rooms and I needed to give her the info for one room at a time. I explained we had moved on and that I was giving her the info as it was on he "manifest" that she kept referring to. This happened 3 separate times. Finally she too had moved on and we were able to get our sail and sign cards. It took a couple extra minutes but we were finally on our way.
We skipped the embark photos and headed up the gang way to deck 3. We decided to go ahead and head to our rooms and get the keys settled later. We unpacked and I was shocked by the room. I am claustrophobic and the room was vastly different from our first two. It took a few days to get used to but more on that later. We explored the ship some, got ready for the muster drill and then met up with our friends for sail away. We were on our way to the Bahamas!! Sort of...
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Carnival Glory
We are getting ready to take our third cruise on Monday!!!
Carnival Glory
This cruise will be different than our others for a couple of reasons:
We are traveling with another couple, one of whom has never cruised before.
We are driving to port rather than flying.
We are staying in a port for two days.
Right now we are just doing last minute errands, getting ready to start packing and hoping for the best weather wise!! Although I plan to enjoy this cruise I am excited to get back and give you all the details! Please leave a comment while I am gone if you have any questions regarding the ship, itinerary, ports of call, etc!
Carnival Glory
October 22 Norfolk 5 pm
October 23 Fun Day at Sea
October 24 Nassau 11:30 am
October 25 Nassau 10 pm
October 26 Freeport 8am - 3 pm
October 27 Fun Day at Sea
October 28 Norfolk 8 am
This cruise will be different than our others for a couple of reasons:
We are traveling with another couple, one of whom has never cruised before.
We are driving to port rather than flying.
We are staying in a port for two days.
Right now we are just doing last minute errands, getting ready to start packing and hoping for the best weather wise!! Although I plan to enjoy this cruise I am excited to get back and give you all the details! Please leave a comment while I am gone if you have any questions regarding the ship, itinerary, ports of call, etc!
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