Purvis1231

No formal nights at all- it is cruise elegant, 

On 6/30/2023 at 4:25 PM, fyree39 said:

I'd say as early as this winter. For sure there will be new 2025 schedules up next spring.

Mr. Heald said the new schedules will be released in the fall.

If you want some truly great snorkeling then take a paid professionally guided tour but for a relaxing day the free beach is great. 

I recently sailed out of New Orleans with FTTF and that is what the personal look at. They sat us at the FTTF section. We got called right after the prioity folks. 

6 hours ago, staceyglow said:

It's more than "a few hundred". 

But it is not a few thousand. If a ship has 3000 passengers, it would be 750. 

Maybe the friends over paid for the cruise to make up the difference. 

yes, it really is not a big problem to have it down. 

4 hours ago, staceyglow said:

That is not correct.  I have been on several journeys cruises were I would bet the percentage of Diamonds and Platinums was at least 25%.

 

That being said, when there is priority embarkation and debarkation the FTTF people go after the Diamonds and Platinums, so those perks are not diluted.

25% still would not be thousands. 

1 hour ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

 

But when thousands of people on the cruise also have the same perk because they are platinum or diamond that perk is pretty much useless.   And Carnival then SELLS that same perk with FTTF to the people that are not platinum or diamond making that perk even more useless. 

There is no Carnival ship that has thousands of diamond, platinum, or even FTTF guest, a few hundred at the most. 

We did an excursion in Honduras with the Shore Excursion Group (Creg Henry was the tour operator) to a sloth/monkey/bird exhibit because the Carnival excursion was sold out. It is a nice uphill walk to meet the excursion although half way up you can get a taxi for $2 per person to take you the rest of the way. Once we got the meeting point, the three of us got into a beat-up Toyota Corolla. The driver was an outgoing local woman who was well spoken and provided a lot of information about the island. The exhibit was quite disappointing. It was a rundown group of buildings. The monkeys were mostly in cages although some were free in the trees. The actual interaction with the animals was fun but brief. I hope they were well-care kept. The driver then took us to a chocolate store, and then a rum cake store that had a great view of a bay. Overall, I would not recommend this tour.

6 hours ago, icft said:

In what area was your cabin and what was its condition?

 

Thanks

Our cabin was 7334. It was a good location right near the mid-ship elevators. The room was in good condition-clean and well-cared for the only real issue was the noisy and smelling head. One new thing is that there were charging ports in both bedside lamps. 

9 hours ago, NYcruzzer said:

Carnival's Loyalty program comes complete with a fun onboard scavenger hunt to locate and obtain all your benefits/gifts ??

I thought that was quite funny. Sure the water, drinks, and gifts are not delivered to cabins anymore but they are not hard to find.

One other observation is that smoke lingered on Deck 5 around the casino and you could not bypass the casino nor smoke while walking on deck 5. 

Carnival Glory out of New Orleans- Observations

Embarkation- we had purchased Faster to the Fun (FTTF.) We arrived at the port around 9:15, dropped off our bags and then parked in the main garage. We made our way to the port. We told the lady we had FTTF so she told us that we would be called soon. By 10:00 were sitting in the waiting area.  At 10:45 they started calling Diamond, etc and within 15 minutes they called FTTF and we were on the ship. We took our stuff to the cabin. No one checked to see if we had FTTF, later I heard that many without FTTF also took their bags to the cabins.

Cabin: We had a standard balcony cabin purchased two years ago at the height of the pandemic at a great price. It was fine for two adults and a teenager. The cabin steward was competent and did a good job cleaning the room. He requested that we keep the snoozing sign on until we wanted the cabin cleaned. This was a good idea since we stayed in the cabin more than normal to enjoy the balcony.  The only problem we had was constant noise and smell coming from the toilet. We brought Lysol spray that we used regularly.  

Entertainment: The cruise director Johnny was fun and entertaining. He had an excellent voice for the announcements. There were several musical venues that we enjoy but spent a lot of time in the Colors Lobby for music and trivia type games. We never went to the main showroom, but others told us that it was good.

Pools: we spent time in both the Lido pool and the aft pool. On seadays they were crowded. Most people thought the aft pool was adult only so there were few children or teenagers in it so we spent a lot of time there. On port days the pools were relatively empty, so we enjoyed those days since on two port days we did not do an excursion. The cabin shower was warmer than the hot tub, but we used them several times.

Excursion: We did an excursion in Honduras with the Shore Excursion Group (Creg Henry was the tour operator) to a sloth/monkey/bird exhibit because the Carnival excursion was sold out. It is a nice uphill walk to meet the excursion. Once we got there the three of us got into a beat-up Toyota Corolla. The driver was an outgoing local woman who was well spoken and provided a lot of information about the island. The exhibit was quite disappointing. It was a rundown group of buildings and monkeys, mostly in cages although some were free in the trees. The actual interaction with the animals was fun but brief. I hope they were well-care kept. The driver then took us to a chocolate store, and then a rum cake store that had a great view of a bay. Overall, I would not recommend this tour.

Bubbles program: My teenager and I bought the Bubbles package and found that the wait staff was not always eager to serve us even though I often tipped extra. I generally requested the bartender not to open the can and most complied with this.

Food: The food on a Carnival ship can be hit and miss, the Glory was no different. We ate at all the food venues except for the Steakhouse. We ate in the main dining room four times in the evening and three times for breakfast. Each time the service was adequate, and the food was mostly good. We multiple appetizers serval times and on lobster night, we got a few extra lobsters. Our only complaint is that the bread was too hard and dry to eat without dipping it in soup. Breakfast service was good but some of the food was cold before it was served.

We ate several nights in the buffet and the menu often mirrored the main dining room food. We always found enough food to enjoy. Last night of the cruise, I did witness something a little funny. Carnival needs to remember a ship sailing out of New Orleans has people that like to have gravy often. That night there was white rice on the buffet but no gravy and a group of people in front of me could not understand that and finally made the server dip out the pan juices from some pork on their rice. Breakfast and lunch had a good variety of food that made most passengers full. We were disappointed in Guys since the French fries were nothing special and the burgers were overcooked and once burnt. 

Disembarkation: We hoped FTTF would help with disembarkation but unfortunately that was not the case. We were given instructions to meet at 8:20 at the mid-ship main dining room but we tried we got caught up in a crowd of people trying to carry their monster suitcases off the ship. It took an hour to get through the crowd to exit the ship. Once we got to the luggage area, we found a porter who help us navigate through the passport line and to the parking garage elevator to our car where he loaded our bags.

In the past, I have noticed cheaters but I just got off the Glory and played a half dozen trivia games, thankfully I did notice any cheaters. Oddly enough this was the first cruise where I did not win a single game. It seems those who won just outplayed me. I did tie twice but didn't raise my hand fast enough in the tie-breaker. 

3 hours ago, JenCruise710 said:

Because we believe in teaching her the value of a dollar and smart spending habits. I'd rather she make small mistakes she can learn from as a kid vs $20k in credit card debt by 25. And it's much more valuable for her to learn to budget than "mean mommy" cutting off the fun. 

Ok, if you can decide how much money a day she can spend. You can do this for the entire cruise or per day. 

Is the six-year going around the ship alone? If not why would she need any spending limit? 

Carnival FAQ states exactly how to get or bring distilled water.

Cruise Cash is a clever gimmick Carnival marketing thought up since they know people will spend it on the ship and probably more. 

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6519/~/beverages

I did two cruises last year and several on this list were not available and then a few not listed were available. So supply change and local issues can change the list- but no coke products. 

16 hours ago, bigdaddyyo said:

I’ve been on 14 cruises from Carnival to Disney to RCCL and what I saw last week on the Carnival Vista blew my mind.  I have never seen kids behave so badly on a cruise ship.  From food fights to throwing ice cream on the walls in hallways and stairwells.  One kid was beaten so badly by another that part of his ear ripped from his head.  I saw kids opening access hatches near the arcade and were climbing in those hatches and were walking in between the walls of the ship. I was told of other kids pushing over carts that crew were moving.  Kids cussing out crew members and other guests.  It was absolute chaos.  When I mentioned the behavior of the kids to Guest Services, I was told that they are a little rowdy, but they are young and to keep that in mind.  I had two kids onboard and if either acted like these kids it would be their last cruise.  I was told by crew members that this is how the kids act on every cruise.  Sometimes it is better but for the most part it is awful. The kid that assaulted the other kid was told to stay with his parents for the remainder of the cruise but that only lasted a day.  The Mom said she was pressing charges on him.  
 

Again I’ve been on many cruises before and I’ve never seen anything like this.  I’m just wondering if it is Carnival or are all cruise lines experiencing the same craziness.  One thing is for sure, Carnival does not have control of the Carnival Vista ship. 

I have been on at least 14 cruise, two Carnival cruises last year and I never witness any outrageous behavior described here. Don't get me wrong I have seen some bad behavior-from kids, teenagers, young adults, and older adults. I have seen 20 kids in a hot tub, I have seen young adults in the BVD drinking from wine bottles in the hot tub,  I have seen adults making-out in the pool, I have seen teens fighting outside the teen club, and plenty of old drunks in the casino plus several times I have seen people taken off in handcuffs. But bad behavior can and does happen everywhere. I am going in a few weeks on a ship out of New Oreans and I have heard this is the worst- I will report back. 

On 6/4/2023 at 4:29 PM, alyssamma said:

That's fair. Pluto is a planet to me 🙂

 

Me too!   Yes, Pluto Is A Planet Says NASA Scientist At The Site Of Its Discovery 91 Years Ago This Week (forbes.com)

5 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

England isn't a country?

It is England to me. (and I am of Scottish heritage. 

13 hours ago, alyssamma said:

So can you explain how it works? I've done a lot of world traveling, but not on cruises so am unfamiliar with this.

 

Is it for the entire duration? When and how do you get it back?

When I did a high European tour, we gave our passport to the tour guide and we did not see it again until we landed back in New York.. IThe tour guide presented them at various government officals at each country we visited. Second, whe I studied in the Old Soviet Union, We surrendered the passport to the authorities who hel it until we departed at the Moscow airport.. Finally, on a river cruise that crossed national boundries the ship held the passports and be presented to the authorities. 

They had them in the shops last year on our two cruises and you could buy one from the room attendant also. (We no longer you them since we bought some lightweight quick dry microfiber towels from Sam's.)