Glory Review - May 21-28, Western Caribbean

[terryde]

We just got back from this trip - must say after 7 cruises, this was the smoothest - no rocking ever! The seas actually looked like glass much of the time - even cruise director told me that! (Mark Price, and he is very good - and sings well too! Adlibs well, too). Apparently one night very late (after we went to bed at 2:30 am) the ship was in a storm and was rocking - captain sailed around it. We never woke up!

 

The ship seemed very nice to us- but we love Carnival. We noticed there is never one big line for food, there are always several places to go - dining room, red sail buffet - several lines, oriental, grill, pizza, fish, sushi, deli. Made it a lot quicker when you are in your swimsuit and don't want to dress to go to the dining room - just want to run to get some food. Never had trouble getting lounge chairs on deck and it was a full ship! Chocolate Buffet on Friday lunch was good - definitely eat the truffles. The choc cakes with fruit in them were not great, and the chocolate cheesecake wasn't. Just ate a salad and lots of chocolate that meal!

 

Embarkation - we loved going from Port Canaveral for a change from Miami- less congestion! But, we got there at noon and there were long lines to get in. We recommend going at 11am! We also didn't get the last of our luggage until 10:30 pm - we finally went down to the purser's desk and they had a couple dozen pieces and our last one was there - luggage tag had come off.

 

The entertainment was good except for the "Island boys" that played on the Lido deck - I usually love that reggae/calypso music, but they were bad. Karaoke was crowded and fun, the "Big" shows were good, adult comedians not so good even if you like that. Gym got crowded if you went at 5pm - better later.

 

Dinner at 8pm was great - no kids!

 

Our waiters and cabin steward were the best ever - we gave each a little extra. Gave the cabin steward $5 in the beginning and along the way to keep our ice filled in our soft-side cooler.

 

Debarkation - we love the luggage distribution there compared to Miami - much easier. Didn't try to carry ours off, as you might be on stairs, etc. We went to breakfast at 8:30 and just as we finished, they called us to leave. Perfect timing.

 

Have discussed ports in sep. threads - loved them all!

[Lt.Dan]

Glad you had a good time, we are sailing on the 18th on Glory, the crowds didnt seem congested??

[mnsawyer]

We sailed the Glory western itinerary on 4/9. We loved the port and would agree that it's much less congested than Miami. We loved the Glory and our sailing too was smooth as glass with the exception of the last night. Glad you had such a great cruise. Will check out the port of call boards for your reviews.

[shabcruzn]

Thanks for the review--what cabin did you stay in? What time did self assist get called--still debating whether my family should do this because we have a 12:50pm flight out of Orlando?

[caviargal]

Glad you had a good time, we are sailing on the 18th on Glory, the crowds didnt seem congested??

 

I was on the Glory 5/21. I must have been on a different ship! I felt like a sardine in a can! Sea days the lines were too long to bother with at Red Sail and the other casual eateries. I had a 45 minute break one day for lunch and gave up on eating after 20 minutes in line. ALL the eateries had long lines and the sushi bar did not open til 5pm. I love sushi but this was not the real thing.

 

I arrived at PC at 11:15 and did not get on the ship til 1:00pm.

 

There were only two decks that went across and these were very crowded during peak times.

 

I agree that it was smooth sailing; the sea was like glass. The captain and all the staff were very good. I was fortunate to attend a VIP party one evening with only 10 other passengers. The senior officers outnumbered us! It was a pleasure!

 

The lines to get back on in Cozumel were up to an hour long. I had clients on board that were not happy to be stuck in the heat for so long. I personally have never had to wait more than a few minutes to get back on a ship before. On Glory, I waited 20 minutes at 1pm to reboard. I did not get off at 2 of the other ports.

 

The ship was nice but I found the pools way too small for the ship and, except on port days, they were packed. And there were a TON of kids and teens aboard, including too many swim diapers for my comfort level.

 

I had an aft balcony on Verandah. Awesome view and comfortable cabin but quite a bit of vibration and also noise from the Azur pool when they were moving chairs at 3:00am.

 

If I ever sail Carnival again, many Carnival posters tell me Spirit class is not as crowded so I would give that a try.

 

And as for embark and debark, I will take Miami anyday!

[Kat1613]

Wow -it's interesting how 2 different posters can have completely different

experiences on the same cruise -one raving about everything and the other complaining. It does prove to take opinions lightly.

[blwms]

Yes it is strange how two people could see things so differently. But that is the nature of us humans. It seems the second poster must have been with a group of her or his own..mentioned "client". My wife and I are not into groups..been there done that..we like to do our own thing and, so far, have never had a bad cruise, but then not nearly as experienced as the second poster. Have only been on 8. Number nine on the Glory coming up in September. We also have departed from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Port Canaveral. In our humble opinions, nothing compares to Port Canaveral. The facilities are nice, the employees are nice...just never saw the madness and rudeness that was so evident in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. But then, again, all of us humans have different opinions and that's what makes life interesting!

[terryde]

We were in cabin 6361, just above the casino (yes, you can hear it at night if you go to bed before it closes - we rarely did!) Self- assist was called early - maybe 8:30 - we ate breakfast at 8:30 (it closed at 9) and by the time we finished eating by about 9, they had called our floor - regular debarkation! Several floors had been called by then. We never do self- assist because they say you may need to do stairs and we always have way too much for that!

 

About the different opinion of the cruise, we are both 54, enjoy each and every day of our lives, and are really some of those "the glass is half full" folks. We can find a good experience any day. Although there is value in these posts to tell the truth about things, especially problems, life is really what you make it, and we won't waste any day! Truthfully, we really really enjoyed this - probably our best cruise ever.