Sunkissed Adventures Family Travel Blog | Real Family Travel Experience

Sunkissed Adventures Family Travel Blog

Cozumel- Dinner

12/30/2013

I decided to be adventurous and try the shark app. I know it's seafood, but you'll never know if you truly hate something if you don't try it. Well, I didn't like it. Actually no one at the table liked it. I don't think it was Carnival's fault. I think it's just the taste of shark! Thankfully, the Tortilla Soup saved the day. It was served in an interesting way. All the hearty portions of the soup were brought to the table in bowls. Once they were placed in front of us, the servers then poured the broth on top! It was spicier than I like my soups normally, but it was over all good.

This was the seared tuna. I didn't eat it, someone else at my table did. They gave it a thumbs up! One of my individual sides was macaroni and cheese with bacon. It fell short... I was expecting something really savory. I think it was just eh, lacked the bacon-y flavor I was expecting. I remember loving their regular mac n cheese (from the dining room) on the Imagination 4 years ago.

For our entrees we had Veal Parm, Steak tacos, Cornmeal Crusted Chicken Breast, and Seared Tilapia. Overall we enjoyed the entree items on this night. Seemed like the standard fare for a cruise. There was no cornmeal that I could taste or feel on my chicken though... For dessert, we all had the chocolate melting cake!

Cozumel- Day 3

12/29/2013

My son was excited to finally go to another country! Okay, so he had no clue that we were in another country, but I like to think that he was excited. I have been to Cozumel so many times that I can tell someone exactly how to get around from my desk here in Florida!

Just for a little comparison:
Here are the three of us in Cozumel on November 13, 2012. When I was almost 6 months pregnant.

and here we are again on December 10, 2013!

We didnt have anything planned for Cozumel because we have the little guy and a lot of the tours we were interested in were not baby friendly. So we decided to explore the port area because I'd never been to this specific pier. I like this one better than the International pier, where Royal Caribbean docks. The Carnival pier (I dont know the name of it) has 3 places to eat/drink and a much better layout of stores.

I have always heard about Pancho's Backyard, so we settled on that for our traditional nacho feast with Margaritas in Cozumel. We always order nachos wherever we go in Mexico. The serving of nachos was small, considering it was shared among three people. The margaritas were strong. I couldn't finish mine and I was a little buzzy walking back to the ship! After Panchos we took a few pictures in front of the giant xmas tree nearby.

Carnival Glory- Day 2- After Dinner Mess

12/29/2013

After dinner we took my son back to the room and changed him in to his Christmas outfit.

We went around and had pictures taken on the promenade area. There were at least 6 or 7 different backgrounds every night. They would change them each evening. That is one thing I like, both on this cruise and last time, there were always a lot of places to take pictures! The one thing I hated is that they set it up right in front of the casino where all the smokers go to puff away. Specifically, the very family friendly xmas tree backdrop with a bench and wrapped gifts was smack in the middle of the promenade right next to the very loud band and smokers. I think a little bit a pre-planning and it could have been in a different location!

We had an issue this night. After taking pictures my husband and I somehow got split up near the elevators while trying to go down to the lobby (deck 3) for a picture down there. I was carrying my son and my husband had the stroller, diaper bag, room cards, etc. I was looking around for an hour, as was my husband. I went to the room, not there. I went back to the elevators on deck 5 and 3, not there. I panicked. I had no ID to even show Guest Services that I was me in order to get a new room key! Thankfully my room steward let me in.

My husband showed up soon after and we were both upset about the whole thing. So let that be a lesson. Always keep your room card ON YOU!!

Carnival Glory- Day 2- Formal Dinner

12/27/2013

Just before dinner we received a card in our cabin indicating our new table number. We were now seated with my mom and her boyfriend. The actual location of the new table wasn't great. We were not in the center of the room anymore, we were seated in one of the sunken areas on the side. Our table was half booth half seats. However, our new wait staff was phenomenal, they took great care of us!

As we went to dinner I was people watching along the way. Other people's clothes do not make or break my vacation, but I did notice a huge difference in attire. Like I stated before we've been on a variety of cruise lines. Never have I seen such... interesting "elegant" clothes. It was definitely different than my other experiences. We felt overdressed at many times on this cruise. Even on the days that I wore a sundress and my husband in a collared polo. We've done the Norwegian Freestyle thing and still found people to come to dinner looking like they put some effort in to their dress while still being comfortable. Whereas some people on this current cruise lacked effort. Some of the women looked like they belong on a street corner, sadly and men with baseball hats, doo (do? du?) rags, flip flops, etc on elegant night. I will say that we were not the only people dressed nicely, most of the families onboard managed to look nice. It seemed more of the young couples, singles, and family reunion groups that didn't make the effort.

Here is the menu for American Feast AKA Cruise Elegant Night.
I have not re-sized it in hopes that people can read the menu.

The table set up was nice, table cloths were back. Which posed a problem for my son's toys. They also gave peach bellinis, or at least thats what it tasted like! The table had the small flutes on the table preloaded with the peach juice/flavoring. Once we were all seated they poured champagne in to the glasses. The menus were small and tucked in to the napkins. The silver thing in the middle of the table was a chrome conch shell.

With the appetizers you do not have a choice, they bring you the plate with all four options on it. I did not like this concept because I don't do seafood for the most part. I gave 3/4 to Matt or mom. Mom's boyfriend gave me his pork because he doesn't do pork. So we worked it out at our table, but I still don't like the idea of having my meal chosen for me. After the appetizers, we were each given a tiny bit of fettuccini alfredo. Very little was put on the plate. FA is one of my favorite dishes, the creaminess and the rich cheese flavor always draws me in. This was awful. I tasted no cheese. I felt no cream. If I didn't know any better I would have thought I was eating pasta with butter on it.

Our wait staff was wonderful, they brought steamed veggies for my son. I cut them up in to tiny pieces so that he could nibble on his own while we ate. Our entrees were very good. I had the Savory Tart with Root Veggies, Matt and mom had Lobster Tail, and mom's boyfriend had the prime rib. Mom's bf found it odd that there was an actual fried onion ring on the meat. He was expecting a grilled onion ring. If you read the bottom of the menu closely you can see that anything from the "grill" could also be ordered. So if the entrees did not interest you there was always another choice.

The wait staff came out of the kitchen with these strange looking cakes with cotton candy on top. They looked like fake desserts to carry around as decoration. The old fashioned Italian music came on and what do you know, the wait staff marched around carrying those cakes while dancing! Much to my surprise they put the cakes down and started cutting in to them. It wasn't bad, but nothing I'd rave about. Again, I was not a fan of being given my dessert vs choosing it. We were each served a slice of this:

Carnival Glory- Bathtub on the Pool Deck

12/26/2013

I am going to open this post with a beautiful picture from the promenade deck as we headed back to the room!
All three of us changed in to our swim suits. We slathered my son in baby sunblock. Grabbed the bath tub and off we went to the main pool under the big screen. When we emerged from inside we were horrified. It was VERY loud. I am okay with loud noises, but this was insanely loud. I refused to stay out there for the sake of my son's hearing! So we headed out to the aft pool (Azure Lido) I know it's the adults only pool, but it was the ONLY place that we could go that would not wreck our hearing. We are very careful when it comes to loud noises because my husband is severely hearing impaired.

My husband took the bathtub in to the pool and filled it. Yes the bathtub was clean. We did not spread baby germs in to the adults pool. He's pretty strong so he carried it back over to the back corner where we were hanging out.

Nearly everyone that walked by smiled at us and commented on how well behaved he was, or cute, ad so on. No body ever told us to get lost. We spoke with the woman in the lounger near us and she said they kicked a family out yesterday. She said she understands why we don't want him at the "loud pool."

We hung out there for about an hour. At one point my husband went to the pizza counter for some lunch. He came back 20 minutes later. He said it was very irritating because the man behind the counter needed desperate help. The line was long and he couldn't keep up with it. The phone rang and he said "No, I don't need help. I have it all under control." At that point everyone in the line gasped in shock and annoyance! Maybe he was afraid that he would be reprimanded for not being able to keep pace? Pizza is a popular item and I really think they need to put more than one person there.

The pizza was decent. No frozen concoction, but actually made by hand. Nothing compares to Princess Pizza though!!

We moved my son in and out of the shade so he would not get burnt. When we were finished we poured the water out on the deck by a drain, not back in to the pool. We completely understand why diapered babies are not allowed in public pools!

We headed back to the room and washed the tub out. Then refilled it and washed my son down to get off the sunblock and salty water.

Once he was all clean we hung out on the balcony for a bit. My son loved it out there! The picture below is one of my favorites.

After hanging out on the balcony we decided it was family nap time. We let our son sleep in the bed with us on this day. I wish I had a picture of it. In between my husband and I is our son, his face is shoved in to my crotch and his feet are in my husband's face.

Carnival Glory- Day 2- Breakfast and Infant Play Time

12/23/2013

Matt woke up soon after us, he went to the gym, then we hit the buffet for breakfast. We both had a breakfast burrito from the Blue Iguana Cantina. It was pretty good, a nice change from the typical cruise fare for breakfast. I stuffed mine with regular eggs, chicken sausage, potatoes crispies, cheese, and tomatoes. Little guy had some honeydew.

Carnival's childrens' program Camp Carnival begins at age two. I really wish Carnival and NCL would follow Disney & Royal's suit and add a nursery/tots program. However, there is some programming for the under two crowd which most people have no clue about!

On sea days Carnival opens it's youngest room to the 2 and under crowd.
Night Owls is a night time program with a fee $6.75 per hour plus 15% gratuity that is available 10pm-3am. This was far too late to use with an infant!

They also had babysitting type services during some of the port days for a few hours at a time.
Cozumel 8-12.
Costa Maya 8-12
Mahogany Bay 7-12
Grand Cayman 1-5

The sea day program operated from 8am-10am, before the 2-5 year olds invade their room. I headed up to the top deck to try the program out. The only way up with a stroller was in a tiny elevator that had a warning that it moves much slower than a regular elevator. I got in, nearly 5 minutes later we reached the next floor. When I say tiny, I mean the stroller and I barely fit!!

I arrived and they laid out a large blanket and dumped about a dozen infant toys on it. Parents can Stay & Play for free or drop the child off for the same fee as Night Owls. My son and I were the only participants!!

I appreciated having this opportunity because it allowed my son a large open space to crawl around and explore. The cabin is only so big and he can't really stretch his legs there. The Camp Carnival room was very large. My son was fascinated with the toys for the 2-5 year olds. He kept crawling over to the big kid toys, standing up, then looking at me, and laughing!

All in all we spent about an hour and a half at the Stay & Play. I had planned to go again on the second sea day, but we ended up doing other things!

As I look over all the papers I saved I am seeing that they also have strollers available to rent if you forgot yours!

After play time, we met up with my husband and explored the ship. Now normally I would do this on the very first day. I usually run around snapping a million pictures right after lunch, but I had toured this ship last spring. They only made a few changes since then so I didn't need to scramble. We hung out on the promenade deck for a bit before heading back to the cabin to change in to our swimsuits.

Carnival Glory- Day 1- After Dinner

12/23/2013

It just occurred to me why I didn't remember sail away! We were delayed in leaving because they had a lot of supplies to load on the ship along with some luggage. The ship left Miami while we were eating dinner.

After dinner we walked over to the atrium to watch the Christmas tree lighting. We nearly missed it. Even though we had skipped dessert, it seemed like we got out of dinner fairly late. I recorded the xmas tree lighting on my video camera. I will come back and add it to this post once I located the video camera! They played one of the Trans Siberian orchestra songs with the lights on the tree and garland on the railings all coordinated flashing. We have sailed on two previous Xmas cruises on Royal Caribbean and neither of them had a tree lighting event. So I thought it was a nice touch.

On a side note: I use the Kodak PlaySport. I think it is the perfect video camera for our family. It is small and handheld. It is water proof. Shock proof. Mud proof. baby proof. etc. It takes some pretty decent HD video as well. We used it a couple years ago when we took dune buggies through the mud in Cozumel. It survived! I also like the fact that it is an SD Card style, which makes it incredibly easy to transfer on to my computer. Sadly, Kodak no longer makes it. I am tempted to buy one of the remaining ones out there so that if something ever happens to the one we own, I'd have a backup.

To give you an idea of the size, here is my son testing it's durability.

We arrived back at our cabin to find the pack n play, yay!!!

I set it up and gave my son a bath in his tub. It was way past his bed time at this point and we were worried about his becoming unmanageable at this point. But he did really well! We put him in the crib and draped muslin blankets around the sides so he wouldn't see us. Yes I know it sounds strange, but he's a fabulous sleeper. He has slept in his own room since he first came home from the hospital. I firmly believe that babies know the smell of their parents and some of them will wake more easily knowing they are right there. So we did our best to "hide" from him in the cabin at night. Once he's asleep, we were able to watch TV without him waking.

My son's sleep habits are very routine. He woke up at 6am, just like he does at home. This is what we saw every morning peering over at us...

Carnival Glory- Bread Plates, Appetizers, and Entrees.

12/21/2013

I loved the bread plates. I am not sure how many of the other passengers noticed them, but they highlight cities and states throughout the U.S. Here are three of them (Philly, Texas, and New Orleans), although there were more.

We started with Fried Calamari. I really enjoyed it. Its one of the very few seafood dishes I will eat. I was a bit hungry and so we dove in before I remember to take a picture. So here is our almost entirely devoured "family style for two" app. I mentioned that this was a family style for two, serving. We ordered this all week long because it was pretty tasty. So our future servings and bowls were larger because we were no longer at a table for two. Some people were reporting that they did not receive serving utensils for the family style items. I think that must have been a server issue because we always had serving utensils with everything throughout the week.

Matt ordered Flat Iron Steak and I had asked for the Chick Pea Biscuits with Roasted Squash and Peppers. No I am not a vegetarian I just like a lot of veggie foods! Here is what we were served:

Flat Iron Steak looked really lonely on that plate there. My husband said it was good, but small obviously. He's a big eater because he works out a lot and therefore burns a lot of calories. This meal didnt fill him at all.

Also below is what I was served. yes, you are looking at chicken! No that's not what I had ordered! Its a good thing I am not a vegetarian because it would have been a problem. I was disappointed that I didn't get what I ordered, but because my son's patience was dwindling fast I just ate it and didn't cause a stir. Normally I would have asked for the correct order.

We had ordered two side items: Corn and Vegetable Succotash and a Loaded Double Baked Potato. Oh that poor little potato! I think everything my husband ordered that night was put in that Willy Wonka machine that shrinks food down to a smaller size.

My husband always teases me about food pictures, but I think in this case it was somewhat important because of the changes. Last night, over dinner, he asked me to please check and verify what he ate on the 5th night of the cruise because he was trying to tell his mom about it and couldn't remember. I shot a look at him as he was snickering over his food A half hour later I heard him yell across the house "THAT'S WHAT I ATE." He really loves to get me going sometimes!

Two more quick notes about dinner from night one.

I was overjoyed to see that they give you a pitcher of water on the table to pour for yourself. I drink water 90% of the day. I don't drink sodas or many juices either. I was able to refill my water without having to wait for someone to come by.

With that being said, once we moved to the other table our waitstaff would still refill our glasses the moment they saw they were low. So it did not take away from the service aspect. It was just convenient to have it there for yourself if needed!

We made John Heald's Cover Page on FB. We are the couple on the left with the nosy baby in the high chair. BUT we only sat there one night before getting moved.

Carnival Glory- Dinner on Night 1

12/21/2013

In the time between muster and dinner we relaxed in the cabin. There was a knock at the door. Funship Freddie answered! Not really, but they delivered the stuffed toy to our room. I was glad that we had this stuffed animal because we seemed to make it on the ship with almost all of my son's toys still sitting in our bedroom at home. The only ones that made it were the ones I shoved in the stroller basket and diaper bag.

I had packed a nice bag full of his favorite toys to bring with us on the trip. I stuck the bag in my husband's suitcase the night before. When our luggage arrived in the room that afternoon the bag was missing. My husband claims he never saw the bag. I don't know how he didn't- it's neon green and blue!!! When we got home on Sunday morning it was sitting there at the foot of the bed...

Another issue I was worried about was that all of our luggage had been delivered other than my son's pack n play. I was getting nervous. I was afraid it may have gotten lost. I notified the cabin steward that we were waiting on the travel crib and he said that if he did not see one by the time he was to turn down our cabin that he would get one of the ship cribs set up for us

This sounds pretty sad, but I somehow missed sail away. I always like to sit on deck or the balcony on the few times we have had one. Thinking back I cannot recall where I was or what I was doing during this time.

So we headed off to dinner. I was a bit excited because they had announced the dining changes were going to be given a test drive on this sailing. I had heard people getting all up in arms over the "no table cloth" thing. I was intrigued to find out more about what would REALLY occur.

There was a massive crowd of people waiting on deck 3 to get in to the dining room. I have never liked the design of Carnival and Princess ships (even some NCL ships) where the dining room is cornered in the back and you have to go up down and all around to get in. I felt like I was stuck in 3rd class of the Titanic while we were waiting. Shoving, yelling, etc. Finally the doors opened and people flooded in. A lot of people got in line to be escorted to their table. I guess I was somewhat rude because I waltzed right in and looked around for our table number. Well, our temporary table that is!

Personally I have no problem with the no table cloth thing. I think the tables look nice and the presentation was well done with the table numbers hanging on the wine bottles. The table cloth-less design is convenient for young families. My son's suction toy stuck to the table no problem!

When we sat down a waiter approached us rather abruptly and asked us if we plan to sit there. I explained that we would be there just for one night because they had mixed up our seating arrangement. He didn't seem to get my drift because he said that we cannot change seats. I left it alone rather than stir up anything. He brought us a high chair for my son.

Bread was served in bamboo boxes. Interestingly we had noticed that our table for two was given the same sized box of bread as the tables for 6!

Carnival Glory- Light Switches, Dining Changes, and Muster Drill

12/20/2013

So while I was cleaning the room, my son decided to explore a bit on his own.
He checked all the cracks and crevices to be sure that I got out the germies!
Then my son discovered the most fascinating thing in his life thus far...
A light switch above the bed...
It never got old, here he is again later in the week...

Once the room was clean, my husband decided to take his ritual "1st day of the cruise nap." This was the first time in the 15 cruises we've taken together that I didn't snag a picture of him napping a few hours after getting on the ship! I'm kinda mad at myself for it. It's a tradition for me to show him the picture when we return and then he rolls his eyes at me. haha

Before the cruise we had requested to be seated with my mom and her boyfriend for early dinner. When we got our sail and sign cards we saw that we were seated on opposite sides of the dining room.

I ventured off with my son to the Golden Dining room in order to get our dining reservations fixed. I arrived at the dining room and spoke with the maitre'd. He was very friendly, played with my son, danced him around at the desk while holding him, then took care of business. He said it would not be a problem. We would have to proceed to the table noted on our cards for this evening and the following day we would receive a card in our room indicating our new table for the remainder of the week.

This seemed to be a common theme throughout the week. Staff and Crew loved to play with my son and talk to him. Everyone smiled when they saw him. It made us feel good because we wanted this to be a good experience for all of us.

Time seemed to have flown because when I got back to the room it was nearly MUSTARD time. Yes, we call it that and we know it's not the real name.

We decided to take the stroller with us because we would be standing there for some time and, while my son is on the small side for his age, 19 pounds feels pretty darn heavy when you hold him for as long as muster.

As we emerged from the elevator the crew members directed us in to the Ivory Lounge rather than have us wait outside like sardines in the sun. I called over to my mom who was waiting for us to let her know where we'd be, a crew member told me to have them join us in the lounge. I thought this was very nice, as they didn't have to allow them to accompany us. I was very appreciative for the air and soft seats vs the sardine can. I know many ships are moving toward having muster drill inside as opposed to out on deck these days.

During muster they came through and tagged the baby with a neon green bracelet that indicated our muster station should he go off on his own throughout the week. Babies these days are so independent...

Cruising Baby Gear

12/19/2013

The First Years- Ignite Stroller
This stroller was recommended by another cruiser on cruise critic last year. Bionicman97 does fabulous reviews. He's actually in the middle of doing one of the Oasis of the Seas right now. After reading about his positive feedback, we made sure to get one a while back because we travel frequently. I agree with him, it's sturdy, lightweight, and compact! It has been to Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas with us already. It survived airplanes, big cities, and most importantly a very active baby. At first I was going to bring our regular stroller, a City Mini GT. I am glad we decided to go with the umbrella style instead!

As you can see in the first picture, I was able to wheel it around in the room, even in tight spaces like those found at the foot of the bed.

This stroller also folds in to a very compact form. I was able to store it against the wall at the foot of the bed without it interfering with walking space for us.

It's also great for safety's sake. It has a 5-point harness to ensure that baby doesn't climb out! You may notice a blue string attached to my son's Funship Freddie doll and a black one on the pink rattle-phone (hand me down from his girl cousins!). We bought those so we wouldn't lose any of his toys while on the go. They worked great because there are 5 button snaps on each so you can adjust the length depending on the toy and distance from the floor. Its called the Baby Buddy Secure a Toy.

There were a lot of families with young children onboard. The ones who brought full-sized strollers really seemed to struggle to get through crowds and in small spaces that cruise ships tend to have. There was one family with twin girls a little older than my son, they had a Bugaboo Donkey double stroller which is HUGE! I don't know how they managed.

The second item I highly recommend would be some type of inflatable bath tub. It has two purposes on a cruise.

1) For a child who can not or will not stand in a shower, it's a way to bathe them.

2) Being that most cruise line do not allow diapered children in the pool (other than certain Royal Caribbean ships and Disney ships with dedicated baby splash pads) it gives your baby a pool to play in!

I am very happy with the one I purchased because it has a very strong suction cup that actually holds! Most baby items with suction do not hold very well. This one stayed up everywhere we went. This was another item that has traveled all over with us over the last 9 months.

On a side note, my son started traveling at 4 weeks old. Hes been on two flights, a 12 hour road trip, stayed in 2 hotels that were within driving distance, etc. We want him to be used to traveling so it never becomes a problem!

Here it is, nicely attached to the wall of the shower, how it fits in the shower stall., and finally... here is is being used as a pool!

Carnival Glory- Day 1- Onboard

12/19/2013

We entered on deck 3, in the atrium. It was insanely crowded in there. I captured a quick glance at the Xmas decor. I love being on ships during the holidays. It makes it more festive and enjoyable. We have done 2 previous xmas cruises that occurred over the actual holiday.

Once we boarded, we headed up to the Lido Red Sail buffet. I remembered the wide variety of choices on my last Carnival cruise (nearly 4 years ago, next month). When we finally found somewhere to sit with the 5 of us I ventured off to the buffet. I was sadly let down. I felt that the food choices were not as varied as they were in the past. I can not even remember what I put on my plate at this meal.

After having a light lunch I decided to see if our room was open. So we went down to deck 7. Our cabin was aft, so we seemed to be very close to a lot of venues on the ship that we used. Sure enough, it was ready for us. We were dragging a lot of stuff around because I was too afraid of certain items getting lost if we checked them at the curb. Try hauling a week's worth of liquid baby formula in a carry-on suitcase AND pushing a stroller!

Once we got in I HAD to clean the room. I know the stewards wipe things down, but I had a baby in tow and he gets in to everything. So I opened my can of disinfecting wipes and got to work. DH and I wiped down every surface within reach of my little guy. Yes, the photo below is me wiping down the walls!

Carnival Glory- Day 1

12/19/2013

This review of the cruise is going to be very detailed. Why? You might ask. Well that's for a few reasons. First of all we generally don't cruise on Carnival for our personal vacations. Secondly, Carnival was testing a new dining concept on our ship, starting the day we boarded. Finally, I want to highlight the drawbacks and high points of cruising with an infant!

Here is a little refresher course for some background information. My husband and I have logged over 100 days at sea between Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess, Disney, and some Carnival cruises. I feel that we have a wide enough array of experiences to be considered knowledgeable in cruising! Most of our cruises together have taken place on Royal Caribbean ships. This is due to the fact that we are comfortable with what to expect from them. We also enjoy the features on their ships, like FlowRiders, Royal Promenades, Ice Skating, etc.

I would estimate the 90% of our cruise time has occurred in the last 5 years since we met. I know that sounds like a lot, and it is. However we like cruising because of the relaxing nature, having someone make our bed, serve our food, etc. Many times we have secured fantastic deals that have made it worth our while to go out of town. We figured, with some of our cruises, we'd end up spending more money at home on the weekend!

Getting on the Road

We planned to begin our day around 9:30am. My mom was supposed to come to our house with her luggage already loaded in her SUV. 10am came and they still didn't show. I called and found out they were struggling with the luggage bag for the roof. They finally arrived at our house a little after 10. My mom lives less than 5 miles from me. We piled our belongings in to her SUV.

We will admit, we overpack! I am always afraid I will be short on something. I am also picky about what I wear and change my mind far too often! So MY house had 3 full-sized suitcases. 1 carry-on suitcase with my son's food and formula. A pack n play. Diaper bag. Backpack. Stroller. plus all the stuff my mom and her boyfriend brought along. Thankfully my husband and I aren't big people, so we sat in my mom's backseat with our legs up because we had things stuffed in the leg areas back there.

The drive to Port of Miami was just under an hour from my house. So we got there, unloaded the ridiculous amount of stuff for the porter, and tried to do so quickly as to not hold up other people arriving. My mom went to park in the garage down where the Majesty of the Seas and Disney ships are berthed. So that took another 20 minutes. She didn't want her car parked out in the sun. I was very happy to see that Carnival provides drinks at the entrance of the terminal. Not all cruise lines do this. They had lemonade and water available.

When we were doing the security check-in we were informed that we had VIP access and should report to the Captain's Lounge to retrieve our Sail & Sign cards. A student of mine has a father who works at the Corporate office of Carnival, I had spoken to him about my cruise the previous week. He told me to give him my booking number and he'd take care of my vacation!

There were a lot of people waiting to board. I am guessing that boarding was delayed a bit that day. After receiving our cards we proceeded to the escalator/elevator area. We went right up the elevator and were on the ship within minutes of entering the terminal. my guess was a total of 10 minutes from the moment we went through security.

The terminal was nicely decorated for Christmas although its hard to tell from the photo. I took a quick snap shot as we were walking toward the ramps. It appears rather empty because many people were sitting off to the right and they started calling a lot of numbers once we were upstairs.

Carnival Glory- December 8, 2013

12/15/2013

Here is my very quick review.
I am going to provide a detailed breakdown of the experience in the days that come.
In the past I have not sailed on Carnival for a variety of reasons.
Now that I am back from my trip I would consider going on their ships in the future depending on the situation. For example: unique itinerary, neat ship, etc.
I know this is shocking to some people who know me very well, but I am glad I had the opportunity to experience a full-length cruise on Carnival so that I can truly qualify each client for the right cruise.

The Staff/Crew
Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful. We were always greeted. Everyone always helped us when we needed it. Which happened to be a lot when there was a 9 month old in tow!

Guests
We've been sailing the high seas for over 100 days between all of our cruises. Never have we been blessed with such pleasant fellow cruisers. Everyone was friendly, people held elevators for us, people picked up things that my son managed to chuck across a room. I could go on about all the different incidents where people went above and beyond to be nice! We often, in the past, have encountered people who were only worried about themselves.

Dining
Our cruise was the first sailing on the Glory in which they were testing out a new dining concept American Table and American Feast. I will provide more feedback on this in my specific dining review. I was underwhelmed with the options on the menu. The buffet was less than impressive. Some of the Lido options by the pool were great! We did have a phenomenal wait staff team. They were very accommodating and friendly!

Cabin
We had a balcony on this cruise, which we normally don't do. We are inside cabin people because we'd rather cruise more often. It came in very handy with the little guy. It was very specious and always clean. I swear our cabin steward would go in there the second we stepped out because we would come back soon after and it was already clean and mode over!

Tune back in as I write up detailed posts with pictures of our experience!

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