My husband and I just returned from Carnival Glory's Eastern Caribbean cruise. We flew into Miami from Philadelphia the day before in case of bad weather. Embarkation was simple, just bring your FunPass, passport and credit card. We carried our bags on since they were no bigger than 24" high. This is allowed by Carnival in the Miami port. We boarded and went straight to our cabin to unpack. We prefer balcony cabins on the Empress deck toward the back of the ship. The Empress deck is nice because it is between two sleeping decks. We are early risers and we are usually in our cabin sleeping by 11:00 or 11:30 PM. After we made ourselves at home (plenty of closet space for our clothes)we made our way up to the Lido deck for lunch and drinks. It was raining so the retractable glass roof was closed over the aft pool. This is a very nice feature for when it is raining you can still enjoy the pool. There are two other pools on the Lido deck, plus whirlpools and the waterslide. Every morning we began our day by exercising, my husband made his way to the fitness center, me to the jogging track on Deck 11 with my i-pod. We loved all of the shows, games, comedians on the ship. The cruise director Ryan did a fabulous job keeping the energy flowing. We especially enjoyed the hairy chest contest, the Liar's Club and the Carnival Legends show, which is on the last night with fellow passengers performing in the show. We had early seating in the Upper Platinum dining room. Telly and Eka took great care of us. The food is good, not great, but we are not big eaters anyway and everything we had was satisfactory. My husband took a tour of the galley and was fascinated how all of that food is prepared. If you want a change, the Deli has great sandwiches located along the corridor in the Red Sail restaurant. The Fish and Chips located above the Red Sail on Deck 10 is excellent. Try the soup ! The earlier you get to the breakfast buffet, the better since everyone wants to eat at once, especially if we were in port and people had excursions to get to. The dining room is also a nice breakfast option. On fun days at sea, get out there early to reserve chairs because EVERYONE does it. The ship was extremely clean. Every public restroom we used was spotless including in the pool areas. Play Bingo and see every comedy show you can, get there early as the Ebony club gets full. As of February the Glory will have a Seaside Theater installed and some other improvements, this already beautiful ship will be perfect ! We had great weather, no rain once we left Miami, the crew was awesome. Marlon was our cabin steward and he kept our cabin sparkling clean and made us a different towel animal every night. For anyone who is skeptical about Carnival you should give it a shot. We have cruised Carnival several times and have never been disappointed. There is so much to enjoy on these fun ships and cranky people need not even bother booking a cruise. There are some smoking areas, including the casino, which we did not use, even though we enjoyed the music there. The smokers are easy to avoid as there designated smoking areas which do not include any of the comedy shows or shows in the Amber Palace and most of the other public areas. There were only a hand full of kids on board, they all seemed to be having a great time. As for the rest of us, mostly 40, 50 and 60 somethings. There are security crew members everywhere to ensure safety. We had a great experience and enjoyed all four ports of call. We look forward to our next cruise which we will be booking shortly again with Carnival.