Carnival Glory 12/12/2010-Mixed bag

[rs12065]

Finally got a chance to review our Carnival Glory western Caribbean cruise of 12/12/-12/19.

We usually prefer to cruise late winter, February or maybe late January because when we get back, spring is right around the corner. With a cruise in mid December we now have the whole winter ahead of us....depressing. We decided on this cruise because of 2 reasons. First, we had booked a NCL cruise originally which called on Key West on Halloween and we felt that would be a blast. However, that cruise was cancelled and booked for an entire group. Too bad. Then, our travelling companions found this Glory cruise with a very good rate, so we decided on going. Our friends had cruised on Carnival several times, but our numerous previous cruises had been on Princess or Celebrity.

 

The Plusses:

We chose Your Time Dining. The dining room food was excellent, as good if not better than on other cruise ship, including our most recent cruise on the Celebrity Millenium. Desserts were wonderful, especially the famous Chocolate Melting Cake and the Bitter and Blanc, a warm bread pudding with vanilla sauce.

Service was excellent except for one evening when the wait staff team seemed to forget that our table even existed, and food orders that evening were wrong or not prepared to requested doneness.

We ate breakfast twice in the dining room. Food was very good, especially the eggs benedict and the coffee. Service was attentive without being overbearing.

On the one good sea day there was no issue of chair hogs. The weather was beautiful and there were lounge chairs readily available in most areas.

We only ate lunch twice on the ship. The deli sandwiches were very good (corned beef, pastrami) and the Mongolian Grill was also very good. The lines for the Mongolian Grill were very long, so I only had it on the day we embarked when crowds were less.

 

The Negatives:

 

The ship is very difficult to get around. The placement of the Golden dining room relatively midship makes it difficult to go many places without going up or down 1 or 2 decks. The placement of the internet area seems to have been an afterthought, tucked away in a gloomy corner next to the Ivory lounge, which during the day is also very dark and gloomy. We always had to plan ahead how to actually find the internet area every time we wanted to use it.

Breakfast buffet was atrocious. Food was either cool or lukewarm (scrambled eggs, hash, potatoes, etc.) and dried out, even after the servers replenished the trays. Melon was tasteless and pastries were stale. The orange juice (or what passes as orange juice) was orange colored water with an imitation orange flavor. I have tasted better orange flavor in Skittles. Tang would have been an improvement.

The cabin was small, but well equipped with storage space. The chairs on our balcony were stained with white paint. The steward said he would clean or replace them, but he never did.

I had read about the lack of outlets in the cabins. Well, its true. Unbelievably, only 1 outlet in the entire cabin, near the mirror above the desk. Inconvenient, but able to work around it. Just annoying, though.

Most hallways in the ship smell of cigarette smoke. Thankfully, once inside our cabin the odor was not noticeable, and we did not have an issue with cigarette smoke on the balcony.

 

Ports of Call: (used Carnival booked excursions)

Cozumel....did the Tulum tour. Very nice and beautiful beach. Ruins are very interesting.

 

Belize ......did the Belize Citytour/Altun Ha ruins. I know Belize is considered a 3rd world country, even being referred to it as such by tour guide. But, the city tour was a total and deperessing waste of time and way too long. Barbed wire and razor wire around every building, submachine gun armed guards in front of banks and other businesses. Strip malls, elementary schools and such the highlight. The ride to Altun Ha was equally depressing, seeing emaciated horses, goats, chickens, dogs outside of hovels on stilts with rusted corrugated tin roofs and windows without shades or shutters. Altun Ha itself was an interesting visit with another perspective of Mayan history. Enjoyed that small part of it. My wife and I have decided that any cruise which calls on Belize will be a cruise we will pass on in the future.

 

Roatan.....stayed near the ship at Mahogany Bay. Loved it. NIce beach, good local beer, burgers, nachos and guacomole and beautiful women (our wives)., and beautiful weather.

 

Grand Cayman....Still an irritating place to take a taxi. The van drivers insist on waiting for a full load before they leave, and this can cause a wait of up to 1/2 hour before the van driver is ready to leave. Beach (Sea Grape) still very pretty, but erosion is taking its toll on the sandy beach, leaving the beach only a few feet wide at points. My wife loves the shopping in George Town.

 

Further thoughts. Cruise Director Jorge was nowhere to be found except at showtimes. However, his incessant announcements, with his thick accent and and a very poor PA system, were undecipherable. Passengers would look at each other to see if anyone understood what was just announced, or just completely ignored them.

We found it annoying that the only way to get a weather forecast for the upcoming day was to call Guest Services. There was never a mention in the Fun Times or on any TV channel in the cabin which would give a weather forecast for the next day. I had never been on a ship where the daily newsletter would not indicate the weather forecast or at least have it available on one of the closed circuit TV channels.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze. Having luggage come out on a conveyor belt like at an airport is a welcome change from trying to hunt down your bags in a huge terminal like in the past.

We neglected to read the fine print as to bringing along bottles of wine. My wife and I each packed a bottle of wine, but they were 1.5 liter bottles instead of the 750ml bottles. The bottles were confiscated, but were easily retrieved upon disembarkation and we packed them in our luggage for our return flight home. We already finished them.

This also gave us an opportunity to purchase a wine package onboard. This reduced the overpriced wine bottles to a manageable amount per bottle, and we had the liberty of selecting different wines for dinner or to be sent to our cabin. Good idea!

 

 

 

 

 

I would try Carnival again, but only on a ship with better physical layout. The dinners were enjoyable (even with the hokey singing and dancing of the waitstaff) and that alone would be worth another try.

[spideyfam]

 

I have tasted better orange flavor in Skittles.

 

 

That is one of the funniest comments I have ever read here on CC. Thank you for making me laugh out loud.

 

Glad you had a semi good time and willing to give Carnival another try.

[shsabres]

Nice review, I have been on that same cruise and find that the placement of things on the Glory is quite easy to find...I guess because I have been on the ship a couple of times. Great itinerary though!

[okgirl]

Nice review.......I'll be back on the Glory for the 4th time in February.......I admit that if you are new to the layout of the Conquest class ship it can be very frustrating, but I've been on those ships 12 times and could probably walk around blind folded.......There are lots of short cuts if you know where to find them

 

I hope you will give Carnival another try......maybe on a Spirit class ship, they have the most square footage per passenger and seem very open and sleek.

[shsabres]

Nice review.......I'll be back on the Glory for the 4th time in February.......I admit that if you are new to the layout of the Conquest class ship it can be very frustrating, but I've been on those ships 12 times and could probably walk around blind folded.......There are lots of short cuts if you know where to find them

 

I hope you will give Carnival another try......maybe on a Spirit class ship, they have the most square footage per passenger and seem very open and sleek.

 

My cabin was around aft area so right by a stairway, and easily accessible to lido deck and elevators. The first cruise was confusing for a day but now im like you, I can go anywhere on the ship without getting lost. And you do learn the shortcuts!

[Pee-ah]

 

 

 

I would try Carnival again, but only on a ship with better physical layout. The dinners were enjoyable (even with the hokey singing and dancing of the waitstaff) and that alone would be worth another try.

 

Having been on the Glory i understand and agree with all your comments regarding the ship lay out and also the CD (we had some issues on our sailing that weren't communicated well ... if at all :rolleyes:)

 

That being said I LOVE the Spirit class ships:D :D

[rs12065]

My cabin was around aft area so right by a stairway, and easily accessible to lido deck and elevators. The first cruise was confusing for a day but now im like you, I can go anywhere on the ship without getting lost. And you do learn the shortcuts!

 

Actually, I did learn a shortcut. Much to my wife's dismay, I just decided to cut throug the closed Golden dining room, even while they were having a staff meeting. Got from bow to stern very quickly that way and didn't get lost. LOL

[vfb2girls]

Nice review, could you tell me how much the wine package was and how many bottles of wine was offered with it? I tried searching on Carnival's website but nothing came up. Thank you

[rs12065]

Nice review, could you tell me how much the wine package was and how many bottles of wine was offered with it? I tried searching on Carnival's website but nothing came up. Thank you

 

The wine packages cost $110, $130, or $150. For that you get 5 bottles of wine, chosen from an assortment of reds and whites. We found that we were somewhat familiar with the wines at the $110 level and chose from those. There are about 6 or 7 reds and 6 or 7 whites to choose from at each package level.

You have the choice of having a bottle or 2 each night for dinner, having all the wines brought to your cabin or some combination of both. There is no corkage fee for wines brought to your cabin and then brought by you to dinner. You will recevie a receipt which you can hand to your server each time you order a bottle. The wine packages can be purchased from a waiter, any bar on the ship, or any barwaiter.

 

The wine packages were advertised outside each dining room, but were not heavily promoted like the soda packages are, and some staff were not too familiar with it. This is probably due to the fact that it is a relatively new concept.

 

You can choose all the wines at once, or 1 bottle at a time