V
vette5960
Guest
Anyone done the 7 night eastern carrib. cruise.....nassau, st. thomas, st. maarten? How is it? Any suggestions for each island?
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C
Cactuscruise
Guest
Just got back from the 10/18 sailing. The ship docks in Nassau on Sunday when most of the shops are closed. You're only there until about 2:00pm. Some in my group went to the Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island, they booked the tour onboard. It would have been less expensive to just take a cab over there and back. You can only tour the hotel and use the casino and restaurants, the pool and beach are only for registered guests. Others walk around downtown, stopped at the straw market and the few shops that were open. The weather was just great. St Thomas has some good beaches, Coki (if you want to swim with lots of colorful fish and the water is very calm), Sapphire Beach and Megan's Bay. The shopping in the downtown area is incredible, jewelry is their specialty. The tram ride up the mountainside in Charlotte Amalie is not to be missed, what an awesome view of the harbour. In St Maarten we took a water taxi to a beach very near the dock and then we walked around. Didn't do any of the tours there, it was a really hot day so the beach became our headquarters. You can check out all the tours online on Carnival's website and under each island's website. Have fun!
C
Camelia
Guest
Cactuscruise - are you going to give us a review of the Glory? I am doing the eastern next March, and a lot of the review of the Glory have been so-so. What did you think of the Glory?
R
ron0219
Guest
Hi,
We did the Eastern Carib on the Pride last May. Stopped at Carnival's Island for a beach day. That was fun. The to St Thomas and St Marten. In St Thomas my wife and the other ladies did the shopping thing. My brother and I Took the ferry to Trunk Bay on St John's for snorkeling. It was unbelieveable. We did it on our own but the ship offers an excursion that isn't much more expensive than doing it yourself and they give ship to ship service. In St Marten, the girls did the shopping thing again. The guys did the America's cup challenege where you actually race two real America's Cup sail boats. If you're into sailing at all this was great. Hope this helps some.
We are going on the Glory next May. I too would like your review. We will be on the Empress deck. Stern balcony cabin. Same one we had on the Pride.
Ron
We did the Eastern Carib on the Pride last May. Stopped at Carnival's Island for a beach day. That was fun. The to St Thomas and St Marten. In St Thomas my wife and the other ladies did the shopping thing. My brother and I Took the ferry to Trunk Bay on St John's for snorkeling. It was unbelieveable. We did it on our own but the ship offers an excursion that isn't much more expensive than doing it yourself and they give ship to ship service. In St Marten, the girls did the shopping thing again. The guys did the America's cup challenege where you actually race two real America's Cup sail boats. If you're into sailing at all this was great. Hope this helps some.
We are going on the Glory next May. I too would like your review. We will be on the Empress deck. Stern balcony cabin. Same one we had on the Pride.
Ron
C
Cactuscruise
Guest
Camelia & Ron - This will be a quick and dirty review of the the Glory. We first sighted the Glory as we were coming over the bridge to the port. The ship is massive! Embarkation was quick and painless. I read many posts about the confusion at the port but I didn't experience any of this. We took the Radisson shuttle to the pier at 2:00pm and were in our cabin by 3:00pm. We checked out our room, an aft balcony on Deck 6. It may just be my imagination but the cabin seemed just a wee bit smaller than the balcony we had on the Spirit. There were four of us and we still had plenty of storage space for all of our things. We met our cabin steward right away, Justine, she was just a dream all week. Quick, efficient and personable. As busy as she was she would always stop for a quick chat when she saw us around. She kept our cabin spotless and that's a big job with four people. Our cabin was directly over the piano bar, you could hear the music loud and clear every night. It didn't really bother us while we were changing clothes or just taking a little breather. By the time we got to bed they were finished. The one disappointing thing about the cabin was that the balcony lights were controlled by the captain from the Bridge, he only turned them on once when we docked in Port Canaveral at the end of the cruise. I had planned to sit out there to read at night . It's just as well though, I never cracked any of the books I'd brought with me.
The ship took a day to figure, once we realized that you couldn't go from the front of the ship to the back on Decks 3 & 4 because of the Ebony Lounge, we were in business.
There are plenty of activities during the day to keep anyone busy. The gym is state of the art. There is a basketball court and a volleyball court as well as a track on the topmost deck. Or if you prefer stay by the main Lido pool where there was a live band everyday and the usual pool games. The waterslide was big fun. There were many bars and they always seemed to have a good crowd. The White Heat Disco was definitely the place to be every night. I won't spoil it for you, you really have to see it for yourself. I thought it was awesome. The Piano Bar had some rip-roaring sing-alongs going most of the evenings. The Karaoke Bar was always crowded, one night they gave a prize to the worst singers.
The Cruise Director was Greg Kneale, a really fun guy with a wonderful sense of humor. He was the DJ one night at the White Heat Disco when they played 60's, 70's and 80's music. That was a blast. There was a very good talent show, a lot of talented people were on board. Greg's bedtime story was just hysterical.
The food on the Lido deck was good, the usual breakfast items and for lunch burgers, salads, grilled chicken breasts, hot dogs, cake, ice cream, yogourt, fruit etc. There are a few specialty stations Oriental, a Deli, Pizza and on Deck 10, a Fish & Chips Bar. The calamari was very good. Not the usual fried rings but more of a fritter made with zucchini and maui onions. At night there was a wide variety of alternatives to eating in the main dining room. As with food anywhere, some things were great, some good and some not so good. I didn't have a problem with this since I could always find something to eat. I highly recommend the Asian style chicken wings. There were a couple of new items on the room service menu.
The main dining was a little more interesting this trip. The waiters did a lot of singing and dancing which kept things at a very festive level. Our waiter Iaon (sp) was very patient and attentive, we were a large group of 17 (three tables), everyone loved him. The food was quite good. I was happy to have some of my favorites and to try some new things. That's what travel is all about...trying new things. There were very few items that I didn't enjoy.
I didn't get to see the two big productions in the lounge. One night one of our party was singing in the Karaoke Bar and the Broadway show that I really wanted to see was rescheduled for another night due to the illness of one of the singer/dancers. I forgot about it the next night.
Debarkation was the fastest we've experienced in the last four Carnival cruises. You only had to report to customs if you were over your allowance. Otherwise you simply dropped your customs card in a box before picking up your luggage. You were given the option of carrying your own luggage off the ship, none of us did this. After exiting the terminal we simply walked across the street where a van was waiting to take to the airport.
One other thing if you're interested, I had no problem bringing juice, mixers and alcohol on the ship and I didn't try to hide it. It was in my tote bag. I didn't bring the whole store just enough to last us a couple of days. Even with this I managed to run up a good sized bar bill. Just can't resist those drinks by the pool.
I know I'm all over the place here but overall I thought the ship was wonderful, well maintained and the staff personable and very hard working. I had a terrific time, so did the others in our party and we had several finicky teenagers and older people in our party.
The ship took a day to figure, once we realized that you couldn't go from the front of the ship to the back on Decks 3 & 4 because of the Ebony Lounge, we were in business.
There are plenty of activities during the day to keep anyone busy. The gym is state of the art. There is a basketball court and a volleyball court as well as a track on the topmost deck. Or if you prefer stay by the main Lido pool where there was a live band everyday and the usual pool games. The waterslide was big fun. There were many bars and they always seemed to have a good crowd. The White Heat Disco was definitely the place to be every night. I won't spoil it for you, you really have to see it for yourself. I thought it was awesome. The Piano Bar had some rip-roaring sing-alongs going most of the evenings. The Karaoke Bar was always crowded, one night they gave a prize to the worst singers.
The Cruise Director was Greg Kneale, a really fun guy with a wonderful sense of humor. He was the DJ one night at the White Heat Disco when they played 60's, 70's and 80's music. That was a blast. There was a very good talent show, a lot of talented people were on board. Greg's bedtime story was just hysterical.
The food on the Lido deck was good, the usual breakfast items and for lunch burgers, salads, grilled chicken breasts, hot dogs, cake, ice cream, yogourt, fruit etc. There are a few specialty stations Oriental, a Deli, Pizza and on Deck 10, a Fish & Chips Bar. The calamari was very good. Not the usual fried rings but more of a fritter made with zucchini and maui onions. At night there was a wide variety of alternatives to eating in the main dining room. As with food anywhere, some things were great, some good and some not so good. I didn't have a problem with this since I could always find something to eat. I highly recommend the Asian style chicken wings. There were a couple of new items on the room service menu.
The main dining was a little more interesting this trip. The waiters did a lot of singing and dancing which kept things at a very festive level. Our waiter Iaon (sp) was very patient and attentive, we were a large group of 17 (three tables), everyone loved him. The food was quite good. I was happy to have some of my favorites and to try some new things. That's what travel is all about...trying new things. There were very few items that I didn't enjoy.
I didn't get to see the two big productions in the lounge. One night one of our party was singing in the Karaoke Bar and the Broadway show that I really wanted to see was rescheduled for another night due to the illness of one of the singer/dancers. I forgot about it the next night.
Debarkation was the fastest we've experienced in the last four Carnival cruises. You only had to report to customs if you were over your allowance. Otherwise you simply dropped your customs card in a box before picking up your luggage. You were given the option of carrying your own luggage off the ship, none of us did this. After exiting the terminal we simply walked across the street where a van was waiting to take to the airport.
One other thing if you're interested, I had no problem bringing juice, mixers and alcohol on the ship and I didn't try to hide it. It was in my tote bag. I didn't bring the whole store just enough to last us a couple of days. Even with this I managed to run up a good sized bar bill. Just can't resist those drinks by the pool.
I know I'm all over the place here but overall I thought the ship was wonderful, well maintained and the staff personable and very hard working. I had a terrific time, so did the others in our party and we had several finicky teenagers and older people in our party.
C
Cactuscruise
Guest
It's me again. I forgot to mention that there is a charge in the dining room for the specialty coffees, so we all bought ours at the Creams Cafe, they were better there and the desserts were to die for. The Sushi Bar was pretty good (nothing exotic so don't expect it) and it was free. The Casino was very smoky and there is a 3% fee to get money or chips on your Sail & Sign card. Also, near the end of the cruise there was a slight sewage odor on Deck 2 but only in the corridor not in the cabins.
I think that's it.
I think that's it.
K
kates024
Guest
I was also on the Oct. 18th sailing. Ditto to everything cactus said. I will just add a few comments. We had a 6B on deck 2. The room was very large compared to the cabin I had on the Grand Princess last year. Lots of storage space. The shows were great. In St. Thomas we did an Island tour with Raymond. It was just a guy we hooked up with when we got off of the ship. If I were to go back to St. Thomas I would try to find him again. He was wonderful, such a great personality. Any questions, just ask. I hope to write a full review within the next few days.
Katie
Katie
