Prelude to the Carnival Glory Cruise

I fully admit it...I am addicted to trip planning. At any given time I may have two or three different journeys being planned in my head...on a spreadsheet...or on little scraps of paper floating around my desk. Only a tiny percentage of these ever evolve into "real" travel...but that doesn't stop me from planning. For some that would be a disappointment, but not for me. To an addict, research is almost as fun as the trip itself AND I can make the process last for months. The actual trip is over in a blink of an eye.

So...as soon as we returned from our Alaskan trip in June, it was time to start looking for the next cruise. My criteria for searching this time? 1. It had to be cheap. The Alaska trip was planned as a “trip of a lifetime” so I didn’t worry too much about costs. (Although I am already thinking it would be fun to go again!) 2. Schedule the trip so that our friends J & K could join us. J is a farmer and trying to plan around planting season and harvest and hog breeding cycles, etc. gets tricky.

Multiple spreadsheets were created showing various itineraries, costs, ship design, etc. and eventually the choice was narrowed down to one we all agreed on…a Carnival cruise to the Western Caribbean the first week of March.

Besides planning, my other obsession is getting the best possible price on ANYTHING! So…we waited…and I watched the prices. At Halloween, Carnival ran a special for 36 hours with fantastic prices. I was ready to book until I realized that airfare and hotel costs in Florida are outrageous for that time of year…SPRING BREAK!

So…as long as we were going to be stuck with expensive airfare, there was only one logical choice. Book TWO cruises back-to-back! J & K would join us on the first leg and Bob and I would go it alone for he second. Yay!! 

The cruises were booked on the Carnival Glory which alternates routes between the Western and Eastern Caribbean. Eight ports in two weeks. Only two of the ports would be "new" to us, but I was excited to take J & K to some of the places that we have enjoyed in the past.

Week #1 (February 28 to March 7)Western Caribbean

Week #2 (March 7 to March 14)Eastern Caribbean

You can click on the links below to go to the posts for each day:

Let's Get This Show on the Road

Traveling to Florida

Bon Voyage: Embarkation Day on the Glory

First Sea Day...and Formal Night

Cozumel

Belize

Roatan

Grand Cayman

Last Sea Day of Week 1

Turnaround Day in Miami

Half Moon Cay

First Sea Day of Week 2

St. Thomas

San Juan

Grand Turk

Our Last Sea Day...and then HOME!