Review Glory- 04/23/05

[ianj]

Mine eyes have seen the Glory and it's worth a second look;

I went into every bar, one day I almost read a book;

I ate seven meals a day and now I think I'm gonna pewk;

This ship is rolling on.

(...all together now...)

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! This ship is rolling on.

 

 

Well here it is , it's taken a while, there's good and bad, but I've told it as I saw it and hope it helps others get the maximum enjoyment out of their cruise.

 

I think this was our 25th cruise (first Carnival) and happily it was better, in many ways, than we'd expected, the weather was spectacular though a little overpowering in the Mexican ports of call. We didn't see any real signs of wear around the ship as I'd read in other posts and found the decor quite attractive, particularily the Amber Room and the Main Atrium.

We flew into Orlando from Toronto, landing around noon and had no trouble finding the Carnival rep, collecting our luggage, finding the next Carnival rep, taking it all down to the lower level, finding the next Carnival rep then waiting 'til our ticket colour was called. We were at the cruise terminal by about 2.30pm and onboard by 3.30, unfortunately lifeboat drill was shortly afterward and we were starving by the time we got to the Pizza bar, around quarter to five.

 

EMBARCATION/DISEMBARCATION:

 

Embarcation was well organized with few unnecessary delays, maybe it was just a function of the time we arrived. On the other hand, disembarcation was confusing, we had a 12.30 flight and the night before we received a letter allowing us to wait in the Amber Room for early disembarcation, we received special tags for the luggage and all was going well, by 8.30am there were maybe 50 people waiting in the Amber Room. Over the next hour or so, repeated announcements were made to avoid waiting in the Atrium or on the stairs, obviously many people ignored these requests as they seemed to be announced every 5 minutes until finally around 9.30 they announced, dont wait on the stairs, there's more space in the Amber Room. Pretty soon the entrance area was filled with people, so when someone said 'they're moving', everyone jumped up and headed out the door to form a line up 3 or 4 wide all the way around the Atrium, no announcements were made and we shuffled along until we got off around 10amm, still no disembarcation announcements.

 

THE CABIN:

 

We had an inside cabin number 7349 which wasnt overly spacious, but was more than ample, good size shower and a comfortable bed, Iwan, our steward kept the place spotless and the Champagne bucket filled with ice.

It's been a long time since we've seen the folded towel animals, most other cruiselines dont seem to do it, thought they were very clever, he made a different one every night and I asked him not to dismantle them until the last night, the cabin got quite crowded.

 

FOOD AND DRINK:

 

We dined at 8.00pm, Platinum restaurant, table 424 and our waiter, Rodelio, was pleasant enough but hadnt a clue when it came to being a waiter, on the third night he walked into a pole while trying to serve another table, I think he must have banged his head. Every night we ate everything from appetizer to dessert using the same knife and fork, I tried leaving them on my plate when I finished, but he just lifted them off and handed them back to me, I even handed them directly to him but he just layed them down on the table, we eventually got fed up asking him and just kept the same cutlery throughout the cruise, washing it in our cabin each night....... the first night one of our 4 didnt get a main course at all until the other 3 were finished and even then we had to ask for it.... every night we had 3 regular coffees and one capuccino and every night the assistant waiter laid down 4 cups and we'd say 'we need one capuccino please', so he'd pour 3 coffees and leave bringing the capuccino about 15 minutes later when we were all finished with our regular coffee.... Fortunately we had the best tablemates, so dinner was always interesting. Food tasted good but I felt that on some occasions it could have been better presented, there were other dining issues but I wont dwell om them.

For breakfast we alternated between room service and the Red Sails restaurant, room service always arrived on time, except for the last morning when it was 45 minutes late, I guess it's a busy morning for them. For lunch we always ate on deck, I really liked the set-up in the Red Sails buffet... loved the Cheeseburgers, the Fish & Chips, loved the self serve ice cream, the 24 hour pizza, the choice of juices available 24 hours... I liked that there were different stations for each food group, it kept the salad & sushi crowd away from the good stuff.

The price of drinks on deck and in the bars is just as expensive as any other cruiseline, though the cocktail of the day was fairly priced at $2.95 (small) & $4.50 (large) and from personal experience, they definitely had alcohol in them.

 

MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT:

 

John Heald and his sidekick Wee Jimmy were great together and really knew how to get people involved, we spoke to them one night in the Ivory Room and John told us he was leaving Glory and heading for a new assignment in the Mediterranean. We only saw one of the productions in the Amber Palace,

a singer, mostly Motown favourites, he wasnt bad. Two midnight comedy shows were ok, but folks said we missed the best one, Happy Cole. The guest talent show was good as were the gameshows

The Ivory room had a pretty good jazz trio every night after dinner, I'm not really a big jazz fan, but enjoyed the music with an after dinner smoke and liqueur but most of all I enjoyed the live music in the casino, classic rock and country, could never figure out if there were one or two singers, some nights there was one, other nights there seemed to be two, anyway however many there were, it sounded great.. there was also a nice little bar down the back of the casino 'On the Green".

 

THE SHIP:

 

I was surprised that I liked the decor after all I'd read about how gaudy it was, I found it quite attractive. It really takes a few days to figure out that you cant go to the restaurant on deck 3 unless you get to the back of the ship on another deck first, since the galleys block the entire mid section of the ship on deck 3.The stores on board were not overly expensive and even had a few good deals, never used the internet, being a long time Princess cruiser, I'm not used to paying for internet access, it's free on Princess after 5 cruises with them. you are considered Platinum level and are granted some useful privileges, one of which is free unlimited internet, never did find out what it cost on Carnival..

I wish I could say otherwise but I was definitely dissappointed with the lack of cleanliness on deck, the tables were always sticky and frequently had visible remains of food on them, I'd be surprised if the deck was ever washed in the whole week, I almost stood on a pool of chocolate ice cream on Wednesday afternoon and it was still there Friday morning except several people had stood in it.I have a real problem with this new tipping arrangement being used on most ships, why dont they just call it what it is, a service charge and add it to the cost of the cruise, the whole purpose of a tip is to have a direct and immediate effect on the person you're dealing with to give them the incentive to improve their performance. We cancelled ours without problem at the pursers desk and rearranged the amounts to reflect the service received, the room steward got more, the waiters less.

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS:

 

Key West:

We waited for the shuttle... in the sun... we waited for the shuttle... for an hour... badly arranged .... but the trolley driver made up for it partly, he was funny and had everyone laughing from start to finish.

A stroll around, a bit of shopping, a couple of local beers and we were ready to go back to the ship.

 

Belize:

No waiting here, we had paid for a ships tour 'The Lost World Canopy Ziplines', so were off fairly early. We had an 8.00am start but didnt actually get off the ship 'til 8.30 to take the shuttle across where we were met by a guide and within 5 minutes directed to the bus, waited about 10 minutes for everyone to get on board and left about 9.15 to 9.30.

It's almost an hour driving through town and on paved highway then 20 minutes on a dirt road to a washroom stop where free soft drinks and water were available and a spray down with bug spray if you wanted it. We brought our own bugspray and made sure we were well covered, never saw a bug on the whole trip so maybe the stuff worked. From the pit stop there's another 10-15 minutes on dirt roads where you get off and walk up to the cave area where it all starts, there's a washroom where the bus stops too. We walked through a large cave to emerge on the other side where there a team of 10-12 instructors waited, they were very professional and friendly and each of our 26 person group was fitted out with harness, gloves and hard hat. From there after a brief discussion on safety we started the walk up hill, about 10 minutes, I'm 57 and not particularily fit, but managed it ok, though I was glad to see the sitting area where they had set up some cables where one of the instructors showed exactly what to do regarding keeping yourself facing forward and braking etc. It was all very professioaly done and the empahasis is on safety, the lines are 2 individually supported cabled and you're doubly attached at all times, before unhooking you from one set of cables you always get connected to another safety hook.

After the instructions we took another 5 minute walk up to the first platform, part way up your harness system is checked and ajusted as required then you're on the first platform, at the top of a wooded hillside, from platform to the ground at that point it's only about 10 feet, so it's not too daunting. There's five zips and two rapels, the longest zip is about 250 yards and at the highest point I'd guess we were 100-150 feet above the ground.

We finished about noon and were back at the port by 2 pm, so there was time for shopping, though not many bargains as far as I could see. Great tour, I was impressed at how well they all did their jobs.

 

Cozumel:

Bad start here, just as we were about to get off, they announced that in twenty minutes the gangways would be closed as there was another ship docking, we were down at the gangway within 5 minutes and it was already closed, remaining so for 30 minutes... standing in the hallway for 30 minutes waiting to get off in Cozumel.

We've been to Cozumel before, so opted just for a walk, some shopping and then meet the rest of the family at 'Pancho's Backyard' (strong Margueritas) to watch the world go by.

 

Progresso:

Standing in the sun/shade in Progresso for 45 minutes waiting for the shuttle didnt spoil my enjoyment of Progresso and its' people, loved it, we strolled through the little market and spoke to a few of the vendors, but didnt buy. We decided to walk down to the beachfront and on the way down stopped in at a typical everything store and started bargaining with Roger, the owner, for a pair of Mayan wall ornaments. He was a very personable guy and wished us well when we could not agree on a mutually acceptable price, so we walked down to the beach and accepted the offer of a shaded table on the beach. We weren't pressured into buying anything, but we had a couple of beers, the bars are across the street and the waiters have to run up the beach, climb over the seawall, cross a busy street, collect the drinks and carry it all back again, but they did it all with a smile and weren'toverly expensive, think it was $10 for 4 beers with salsa and chips. We sat for a while then started to head back, stopping in at Rogers store to continue our negotiations eventually agreeing on a price. Back to the market we went, to stand in line for an hour waiting for the shuttle back.

I was up on deck around 3.30pm for the departure when they announced the delay due to engine problems, we all cheered and hi-fived each other, any extension to our cruise would have been welcome, we were dissappointed when they announced the problem was solved.

During dinner that evening, we were in the Platinum restaurant toward the back, the engines were more noisy than on previous nights, then suddenly they stopped and all went quiet, there was lots of laughter around us, then they started up again after about twenty minutes, much to the dissappointment of all.

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

Web had a great cruise on the Glory and if the price is right we'll go back on her again, there are some problems but there are also some good points and it's just a trade-off on what's most important to each person, the power is with you to make your own cruise good or bad.

[lilsonicfan]

Thanks for the great review! I'm curious, did you have to get up extra early on the last day to collect your passport, since you are also Canadian? not really sure how it will work when we are there!

[ianj]

Thanks for the great review! I'm curious, did you have to get up extra early on the last day to collect your passport, since you are also Canadian? not really sure how it will work when we are there!

 

No, they didnt take our passports away, the guy at registration said they'd recently changed their policy and were not holding passports.

I thought it might have been because some ports now require picture id in addition to your ship card to get back into the dock area (Key West & Cozumel), so take your drivers licence if you dont want to carry your passport whenever you go ashore.

[mnsawyer]

We sailed this itinerary in early April and absolutely loved the Glory. We had 6:15 p.m. dinner in the Golden Dining Room at a table for 2. Our waiter and staff were absolutely fabulous. Sorry to hear that your waiter wasn't that great...I can't imagine how embarassed he must have been if he ran into a pole...much less the pain! The debarking that you explained was much different that ours. We were late getting into Port Canaveral, so self-assist was not called until 9:00 a.m. Many people waited on their respective deck near the elevators with their luggage which didn't seem like a problem. We had plenty of time to relax, shower and get breakfast and then tour the ship one final time. We were on deck 6 (upper) and called at 9:45 a.m. We took the Mears shuttle and it was very easy especially if you don't have to rush for a flight. By the time we got off the ship, got our luggage and onto the bus, it was exactly two hours from the time our deck was called until we arrived at the airport. Not bad. We've sailed on Carnival before and can say that we liked the Glory much better than the Triumph. Also, we liked 4 ports instead of 3. We had to wait too, in getting off in Key West. It took much longer than anticipated and it was hot the week we were there too! Progresso for us, wasn't that great but maybe if we had taken a tour it would have been better. It was great to have the ship without everyone on it during the day since we went back to the ship before lunch. We thought the food was excellent all around and would sail on the Glory again. Also, sailing out of PC was great too. Thanks for your review!

[lilsonicfan]

Thank you!! That is awesome to hear!!

[GregD]

who was the captain?

[ianj]

who was the captain?

 

Captain Salvatore Rassello

[GregD]

ianj

Thanks. Wow. He was the Capt. in Feb. and is still there.