7/21 Glory cruise.

[davy jones]

Home now from Glory cruise to Canada, our first 2.0 cruise. Very quick summary.

 

Embarkation: Easy peasy.

Food: Good

Crew: Friendly.

Service: Good overall, but a little inconsistent in MDR.

Weather: Mostly damp, foggy, or rainy. It's raining at home now. How appropriate.

Entertainment: Some good, some not so good. Carnival needs to return to pre 2.0 entertainment.

Debark: Easy peasy.

 

There were a couple of things that I found a little odd, but nothing that I would label as "bad".

 

Overall: Despite disappointing weather, a good time, good value.

 

I will provide more info later.

 

Any questions.

[Seago2]

I was on 7/9 and 7/14 and I agree 100%!

[trvlgrl422]

Also agree with you 100%! Thought it was a great cruise. The weather is the same, minus the fog. Sure don't miss the fog horn!

[LunenburgLouie]

I was on the 7/9 sailing and the whales, dolphins and giant sunfish were everywhere! They must have liked the weather :^) I for one miss the foghorn!

 

Cheers!

[Giantfan13]

We also just returned from the 7/21 sailing and YES, I can hear that fog horn still blowing.:D

 

If I may add a couple of things. We felt the service was spectacular. Everyone so friendly. We had anytime dining, (several 20 minute waits) and the waiter we had night 1, we had again on night 6 and he still remembered our names.

 

Food was good to very good, and the ship was as clean as can be. Getting on and off, from start to finish was simply a breeze.

 

I have to make ONE comment on this. This is the first time we have cruised Carnival in 5 years, so if this has happened before, I am sorry, They do NOT give out any sort of weather info, either on the intercom or on any of the TV channels. None, what so ever. So when you wake up you have no idea what the temp is, what the forecast is,really nothing. Now this may sound trivial, but I have cruise maybe 15 times and I have never been on a ship that didn't, at least, have a crawl on the bottom on a screen saying what current conditions are and what the forecast is for that day. We had weather from Florida channel, but nothing on local weather.

I mentioned this to many on the cruise and everyone agreed this was just silly. Why can't they, at least, put the Weather Channel on the TV itinerary. Even the Captain never came on every morning to greet the people and give the forecast. One day I called guest services and they told me at 11:45 the Captain would announce the weather. THis was 8:00 AM.I asked them if I should walk around in my robe till 11:45 so I will know how to dress for the day. Just pretty stupid if you ask me.

 

And for the entertainment, really bad. The Motown show was very good, but after than, it went downhill every night. Don't know if anyone saw the magician (Shaw) but he has to be the absolute worst magician EVER.People literally walked out of his show in the lounge.

 

We do not frequent the photographers, but some were pretty bad from the pixs that they take. They put blurry pixs up there for sale. I am an amateur photographer, but this crew just should not be in the profession.

 

Overall, and for the price that we paid, a very good cruise, but with a bit more effort, it could have been excellent.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[davy jones]

Len: We agree on cruise things, but I am an Eagles fan.

 

Weather updates should be made. The screen crawl is a good way to do it, right on the navigation information channel. I had to laugh at the CD announcement after docking in Halifax. He said that there was a 30% chance of rain when anyone near a window knew that it was already raining.

 

I saw the Motown show. It was okay, but short. I also saw the Latin show and it was not as good as the Motown show. The canned music is too loud and I thought that the singing was electronically enhanced, if not lip synched. I did not see Divas or the magic show. The magician did two tricks at our table at dinner one evening.

[serene56]

what time did you get to the pier?

 

what time did the ship start embarkation?

 

Davyjones-- we went to training camp today-- boy was it hot

[Seago2]

Divas was horrible- you didn't miss anything, Davy Jones...

 

I really agree about the weather! On HAL you get waves heights, temp, etc on the ship info channel. I miss that!

[davy jones]

We arrived at the pier around 11:10. I dropped off the bags and others with the porters and drove off to the parking lot. There was a delay with the bus from the parking to the pier, so I got back to the pier at 11:35. Our daughter filled out the Canadian customs form while waiting for me to get back. That saved a little time. Everything else was no waiting. We boarded the ship at 11:45. Ten minutes from off the bus to boarding.

[serene56]

Nice information. We are arriving at the pier about 11:15 (train arrives at 10:45)

 

glad to hear they have a table magician. We use him to get GD through the meal-- when she is finished waiter will go get the magician for our table

[davy jones]

This is the longer version of the Glory 7/21/13 cruise. I apologize in advance if it is in segments and a bit jumpy. Please note in advance that opinions are like noses, everyone has one. These are our opinions, yours may differ, and I’m okay with that.

 

Background: It was a family or 4 with mom, dad, and two daughters in their early 20’s. Mom had discovered that this was a rare week that the four of us could schedule a vacation around work and school schedules and insisted on doing such. I had just booked a fall cruise for mom and dad and was a bit concerned about the budget. I found great prices on this sailing and acted booked it while faking reluctance to DW. Knowing that fog can be an issue on summer Canada cruises, we did not opt for OV or a balcony. We booked two inside cabins on deck 2 midship to maximize the chances of a nice, stable ride. Those fog concerns turned out to be real. It was not a very good week for balcony dwellers.

 

Pre Cruise: The rooster bid us farewell as we left day before the cruise. We picked up our older daughter and headed to the Concord / Lexington area west of the city. We went to our hotel to drop off our bags, had a quick lunch and did touristy things the rest of the day. The themes of the day were history and literature.

 

The history portion was the Minute Man National Historical Park. We drove from the Lexington end to the Concord end making the requisite stops along the way. It is a very nice place and the rangers at the visitor’s centers were helpful and informative. The main portion of the park has a 5 mile trail with stops along the way that can be hiked or biked easily. It was hot and thunderstorms were in the area. Time was also an issue, so we drove from point to point. I would really enjoy cycling the entire trail on a nice spring day.

 

The literary part was at the Concord end where the ladies dragged me along to sites with literary themes. It included graves, houses, and a visit to Walden Pond. Walden Pond is a nice place, but anyone expecting a bucolic setting will be disappointed. It is a very large pond, or a small lake, and is used as a public beach with lifeguards and designated swimming areas. While it looks like a nice place for the locals to picnic, the ladies were expecting a pastoral setting, not the local swimming hole.

 

Our hotel was a mile from a large mall. Since large malls attract restaurants in the area, there were ample dinner options. After dinner, and a good sleep, we had a leisurely breakfast (included) at the hotel and headed off to the ship at 10:45AM for the 20 minute drive to the pier.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier at between 11:05 and 11:10. We dropped off the checked luggage with the porters and DW and DDs took the carryon bags and found seats while I headed to the parking, which is about a short half mile drive from the pier. Since the lot is a bit remote, parking is a bargain compared to other ports ($60 for a seven day cruise). It was fairly early, so there were only about 50 cars in a large lot that could accommodate a car for each cabin if needed. A number of people with luggage were waiting for the bus back to the pier. The parking attendants said that no bus in the lot was unusual and made a call. About 10 minutes later, a bus arrived, but the number of people waiting had grown. I boarded while the others put their bags in the hold. Four additional busses arrived while the luggage was being loaded, which was good because the bus could not accommodate all of the people waiting with their luggage.

 

I got off the bus at the pier at 11:35 and quickly found the rest of the family. They had already filled out the Canadian customs form. Embarkation was seamless. We went through security and went through the maze nonstop to a waiting check person. We checked in, received our cards, politely bypassed the photographers, and were in the atrium at 11:45. We headed directly to the lido to beat the anticipated crowds. The cruise was now officially underway.

[CCL Cruiser24]

We also just returned from the 7/21 sailing and YES, I can hear that fog horn still blowing.:D

 

Wow, I was on the 7/21 last year and the fog horn is still blowing!:eek:

[davy jones]

Some random thoughts about various topics.

 

Ship: The Glory is a Joe Farcus decor. You either like it or don't. I get used to it by the second day. It is in good shape and well maintained.

 

It don't care for the layout. The center dining room blocks out access to decks 3 and 4 from the center and aft stairs and elevators. You can go through on deck 5, but only on the starboard side and that forces you to go through the casino. Carnival make it even worse by holding trivia contests and events in the casino entrance that you walk through and blocking the aisle every evening with portrait backdrops.

 

The inside cabins are larger than other lines and you do notice the extra square footage. Otherwise, the cabin was nicely laid out and functional. There cabin did not have an ice bucket. We did have a small cooler to hold 8 sodas and waters. The steward filled it every morning. We only saw him a few times, but he did an excellent job!

 

The layout

Food: I tried to be good about eating, limiting myself to 3 meals a day, except for an occasional small ice cream cone. It was not easy, because the food was good and plentiful. Breakfast was usually an omelet or fried eggs with eat, with a croissant and fruit. The bacon and ham officer was on duty. One day, I had a breakfast burrito that I liked. One sea day we had the brunch early. The food was good but the service was sloooooow! I'm still waiting for jam. On debarkation morning, we got our breakfast from room service.

 

Lunch was either a burrito, Guy's burger, or pizza with a salad or fruit. The burritos and Guy's burgers were very good. We also liked the thin crust pizza.

 

Dinners were very good. The first evening, I had a chicken breast that was tough. Others who had chicken breast during the week said that they were good. Otherwise the dinners were very good. The lobster tail was a pleasant surprise. Usually cruise ship lobster is mediocre at best. On this cruise, the lobster tail was small, but fresh and very tasty. This may be heresy to some, but we liked it better than the lobster meat that we had earlier in the day in Portland.

 

Food highlights: Lobster, Guy's burger, burrito bar (the fellow at the burrito bar was the friendliest crew member on the ship). Food lowlights: One tough piece of chicken, bacon, coffee (particularly the lido coffee).

 

More to come later.

[nybumpkin]

Ship: The Glory is a Joe Farcus decor. You either like it or don't. I get used to it by the second day. It is in good shape and well maintained.

LOL - Glory is the one ship that doesn't have a single lounge/restaurant where I say, "What was Farcus thinking?:p Enjoying your review - sorry to miss her last Canada season this year.

[serene56]

can you tell me more about the fog horn... being in a cabin directly over the bridge should i be worried

[CCL Cruiser24]

can you tell me more about the fog horn... being in a cabin directly over the bridge should i be worried

 

I think you probably should be, we could hear it on the elevator on the Lido deck, and we were eating on the deck while it was blowing. Let's just say I went on the 7/21 sailing last year and I can still hear it... I'm not sure how loud it will be in your cabin exactly, but I'd switch just incase, don't wanna take any chances

[Seago2]

can you tell me more about the fog horn... being in a cabin directly over the bridge should i be worried

 

It's worse if you are forward. We were on 10 and it was more of a joke for us, even though you could really hear it. Inside it sounded like prison doors being opened or some other horn/metallic sound. Outside it's insane. I saw a guy watching the movie outside in the fog and light rain- and with the horn going off. Dedication!

[davy jones]

Fog Horn

 

Stormy Weather - This should have been the most requested song at the piano bar. It was appropriate for this cruise. That said, the weather was actually an improvement over my last cruise, which sailed through hurricane Sandy. Apparently, the sun tried to travel without a passport and was denied boarding.

 

Embarkation day was sunny and warm. However, just as the ship started to pull away from the pier, the skies opened up. It was a short shower, perhaps 20 minutes, but the timing put a damper on sailaway. It was an omen for what was to come.

 

Monday - Cloudy in Portland. A very slight drizzle around lunchtime, but it ended quickly and was not problem.

 

Tuesday - It was cloudy upon arrival in Saint John. The announcement from the CD said that there was a 30% chance of rain. We debarked at 9 AM (ship time)and had only walked about 500 feet from the ship when the 30% started for 100% of the remainder of the day. This was the worst day from a rain standpoint.

 

Wednesday - A little rain and cool with heavy fog. You could time your workout by the horn. I know this because it was in perfect synch with the timer on my machine in the gym. It blew every two minutes. It had to be on a timer, because the timing was exactly every 120 seconds. The cover was over the aft pool and a few hearty kids were in the main pool. (What's a little rain if you're going to get wet anyway.)

 

Thursday - Light rain and fog in Halifax. You could easily get about with a small umbrella. As my luck would have it, it stopped around 2PM as I got back on the ship. DW and DDs did take advantage of the stoppage to go shopping.

 

Friday - It was raining as we arrived in Sydney. However, it stopped raining before the ship was cleared and dried up into a mostly cloudy day. The sun even tried to come out once or twice. This was the best weather day of the cruise.

 

Saturday - More fog at sea. It cleared a bit a couple of times, but would come back. It was quite windy with choppy seas early in the day, causing upper venues like serenity area and sports deck to be closed. The wind did diminish late morning and the seas improved. Most people remained inside.

 

Sunday - The ground was wet from early rain as we disembarked. During the drive from Boston to PA, we encountered a brief shower. 20 minutes after we arrived home, the skies opened up in PA and throughout much of the area that we drove through earlier.

 

Monday (Back to Work) - Sunny, comfortable temperatures, low humidity.

 

Mr. Fog Horn - The horn is part of safe navigation practices in fog, and the ship rightfully complied. If you were outside on the lido deck when it blew, you could feel it. Inside, whether you could hear it depended on your location and the activity level around you. Obviously, higher and outer are worse than inner and lower. This was another plus for my inside cabin on deck 2. We never heard the horn down there. Because of our location, it didn't bother us as much as it bothered some others. I imagine that it would have affected sleeping for those in lido deck balconies.

 

I had experienced the fog horn on a previous Canada cruise on arrival into Halifax. That was one morning. On this cruise it was much of our time at sea.

 

The good news is that the weather didn't damper our plans a lot, mostly in Saint John. It also didn't seem to damper the spirits of the passengers.

 

More to come.

[Giantfan13]

Nice report DJ. You are nailing it.

 

I live on Long Island. Woke up the AM and was a bit foggy, I thought I did hear that horn go off.

 

We were also on 10, but inside, and we really didn't hear the horn in our cabin, but you do hear it everywhere else.

 

Some one told us that this was the first cruise where they did not supply an ice bucket in every room. We noticed it right away and asked the steward for one. He did this and we had ice every day.

 

FYI they do have a sort of Chocolate thing on the last sea day in the

Buffet. It is just at the dessert section, and long lines. Most of it wasn't worth it, but some things were pretty good. The chocolate covered fruit was especially good. Fish and chips place was excellent also. We did not do the Steak House.

 

The Serenity area, on the top two decks, along with two hot rubs there, was great. We spent most of our time there, with plenty of seating, even a hammock to lounge in. Do bring some warm clothes though, especially when it is foggy. It does get a bit chilly and they supply no warm blankets. Most people huddled under the towels. We happen to love the chilly weather, but in that fog, it does get into your bones, specially for us seniors.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[davy jones]

Giantfan:

 

I had heard about the ice buckets here. We usually just use the ice bucket to cool the sodas. This time we brought the small cooler onboard to have cold drinks for the 5 and one half hour drive home. We usually sail from NYC area which is only a 90 minute to 2 hour drive, depending on traffic. You don't need a cooler for that short of a ride.

 

We made it up to serenity on the first day and were there when it rained at sailaway. We didn't try again until Saturday when it was closed. I thought that the plexiglass would block the wind.

 

My wife had the fish and chips. She liked the fish, but thought that Guy's fries were better. I forgot to mention that I hit the deli for lunch one day. Their sandwiches are good. You can't expect a full scale NY deli on a cruise. I'd like to see a good Philly hoagie there, but the deli ham and salami that I see onboard. That's not just a Carnival thing. It would be difficult to match the rolls too.

 

I saw the line for the chocolate buffet and decided to pass on it. I would have gone with fruit dipped in the chocolate fondue. It's hard to mess up chocolate dipped fresh fruit. My daughters braved the line and liked it, but that may just be the female chocolate gene speaking. I don't know what they had.

 

The women are not big beef eaters and were happy with the MDR food, so we didn't head for the steakhouse. It would have been a waste for the girls.

[davy jones]

More random thoughts:

 

Your choice dining - We chose this option. For us, it worked fine. I did hear some talk of long waits and I can understand how that happened. The MDR opens and it all of the tables fill up in 45 to 60 minutes. The first party that arrives after all of the tables are filled will have to wait until the first table finishes dinner and is prepared for the next group. Since dinner for us took 1:30 to 1:45, I would expect that party to wait about an hour for the first group to leave and the table to be changed over. I also observed this dynamic on Princess. In a funny way, the end result is a group of "early" and "late" diners.

 

Carnival could help this by returning to the old service model of 1 waiter and 1 assistant for a set of tables instead of the current 1 waiter and 2 assistants for twice the number of tables. That would improve the speed of service by allowing them to provide better and more timely service. It also doesn't help if the waiters there is no service at all for 10 to 15 minutes so the wait staff can sing and dance.

 

Crew - Other than the inconsistent service in the MDR, I found all service to be quite good. Everyone was polite and friendly, even the stressed out wait staff. Cabin service was excellent and buffet service was very good. My two interactions with guest services for routine matters were fine.

 

This may be the first cruise that I have ever taken where I never saw the Captain. He was merely a once a day voice from the bridge. I did not go into the casino to meet him on the first elegant night. He did not attend the VIFP reception on the first sea day (it was foggy outside at the time). I only saw the Jacques, the CD, in the theater and on debarkation day.

 

Fellow Passengers - It was a very friendly bunch. The CD announced that there were 500 children onboard. To us, it never felt that like that many. We did not observe any bad child, teen, or adult behaviors that are too often discussed on these boards. (okay, maybe a little chair hogging, but otherwise fine).

 

Next: Entertainment and Ports.

[davy jones]

Entertainment - I'll start with the lowlight. The two Playlist shows that I saw are several steps down from those that they replaced. I saw Motown and Latin Nights. There are half the singers and dancers than the previous shows and they are not as talented. The orchestra is gone and the canned music is too loud and I believe that the singing sometimes sounded like it was electronically enhanced. They are also short, 30 minutes long. The previous shows were 45 to 60 minutes long. How this is an "improvement" over "Ticket to Ride" on my 2011 Carnival cruise is beyond me.

 

Traveling entertainers (not comedians) have also been eliminated. On a three nights, the entertainment in the theater consists of "passenger" entertainment. I saw the Hasboro game show demonstrated during the Welcome Aboard show. It was enough to convince me that it was not worth my time.

 

Highlights: There was plenty of comedy to be seen, and I took advantage of it. I enjoyed three of the four comedians. I did not care for Roman.

 

The cover band was good and we enjoyed James in the piano bar. As others have said, the evening location in the main aisle at the casino entrance is not good. Dancing to live music is only in the casino or atrium. It's odd because some lounges are under utilized.

 

Carnival has tons of trivia. You can actually play 4 to 5 consecutive trivia events without leaving your seat at times during the day. Again, it is played at the casino entrance, while lounges go empty. Go figure. I played some trivia, but not close to all of the available trivia. Happily, I did manage to get my SOS for the cruise.

 

There were other daily activities, but some were cancelled or moved indoors due to weather conditions.

 

Movies: The evening movies on the Lido screen were largely a couple of years old. I'm used to movies just out of theaters. Is this another cutback? Some braved less than perfect conditions to watch.

[Ours91]

Entertainment - I'll start with the lowlight. The two Playlist shows that I saw are several steps down from those that they replaced. I saw Motown and Latin Nights. There are half the singers and dancers than the previous shows and they are not as talented. The orchestra is gone and the canned music is too loud and I believe that the singing sometimes sounded like it was electronically enhanced. They are also short, 30 minutes long. The previous shows were 45 to 60 minutes long. How this is an "improvement" over "Ticket to Ride" on my 2011 Carnival cruise is beyond me.

 

Traveling entertainers (not comedians) have also been eliminated. On a three nights, the entertainment in the theater consists of "passenger" entertainment. I saw the Hasboro game show demonstrated during the Welcome Aboard show. It was enough to convince me that it was not worth my time.

 

Highlights: There was plenty of comedy to be seen, and I took advantage of it. I enjoyed three of the four comedians. I did not care for Roman.

 

The cover band was good and we enjoyed James in the piano bar. As others have said, the evening location in the main aisle at the casino entrance is not good. Dancing to live music is only in the casino or atrium. It's odd because some lounges are under utilized.

 

Carnival has tons of trivia. You can actually play 4 to 5 consecutive trivia events without leaving your seat at times during the day. Again, it is played at the casino entrance, while lounges go empty. Go figure. I played some trivia, but not close to all of the available trivia. Happily, I did manage to get my SOS for the cruise.

 

There were other daily activities, but some were cancelled or moved indoors due to weather conditions.

 

Movies: The evening movies on the Lido screen were largely a couple of years old. I'm used to movies just out of theaters. Is this another cutback? Some braved less than perfect conditions to watch.

 

What movies were they playing out on the Lido screen? Thanks!!

[serene56]

Movies: The evening movies on the Lido screen were largely a couple of years old. I'm used to movies just out of theaters. Is this another cutback? Some braved less than perfect conditions to watch.

 

 

no, movies on the ships were always old. And I am getting quite tired of the concerts series as I think I have seen them all. Its a license thing with the ships movies.

 

Did they do a super hero night where they played those movies..

Iron Man, etc?

[clr315]

Im getting on the glory in September and I've been following your thread. Everyone on our party has a balcony room. I have to have ice in any drink so your comment on the ice bucket caught my eye!!! Anyone know if balcony rooms have ice buckets or do I have to bring my own?

 

Very disappointed to hear there is not a place to dance other then casino or atrium. When we went celebrity and princess we had a lot of choices for this and are going with people who love to dance! Might be disappointed and this is everyone else's first cruise.:mad: