A friend and I took our first cruise 09/06/08. We chose the Glory mostly because of the itinerary. As the date got closer and the threat of Hanna, Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine became a reality we were concerned that we may have to miss some of our ports of call. Thankfully, this was not the case.

We purchased our airfare through Carnival. This required us to leave a day early from our Canadian city via United Airlines to Orlando. I am still a little shocked that United charges $15 to check your first bag and $125 if you go over the weight limit of 50 lbs - even by 0.5 lbs. We spent the night at the Crowne Plaza Orlando Airport and caught the Shuttle to the airport the next day (Carnival's dime). There was an inordinate amount of traffic at the terminal on the 6th as the Glory was 90 minutes late getting in from it's Eastern Caribbean trip the previous week. The line-ups for embarkation were long and tedious due to the ship's late arrival but in the right frame of mind, this should not spoil a trip!

Our stateroom on the 10th floor was nicely furnished and our room Steward (sorry all I know is we called him "I" because we couldn't remember his name) was very personable and did an exceptional job of keeping things in order. One thing of mention is that of ALL the traveling I have done, the little single beds were probably the MOST comfortable beds away from home I have ever slept in. I believe our bags arrived at our room before we sailed at 4:00pm and we were ready to go. Read more