Review of Glory, April 11-18, Western Caribbean

[1stimecruiser]

I don’t normally write reviews but since I get some much great information here I decided to give it a try. These are my opinions, and everyone is entitled to theirs, so be nice.

 

We were on the Carnival Glory, Western Caribbean, April 11th – 18th. This was my 3rd and my husband’s first Carnival Cruise. In total this was my 22nd cruise. I’ve cruised; Carnival, Costa, Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and NCL.

 

I read some really bad reviews before booking this cruise, but from my experience, cruising is what you make of it, and we choose this cruise for the ports (Cozumel, Belize City, Roatan, Honduras, Grand Cayman)

 

We flew into Ft Lauderdale on Southwest Airlines a day early and enjoyed the Jungle Queen Riverboat tour of the multi-million dollar mansions and yachts. If you haven’t taken this tour we can highly recommend it. We found discount tickets on Groupon so check there. It was well worth the $65 for 2 people for tour and dinner. Parking was $7 at a nearby hotel. It is a short walk from parking area to the Jungle Queen Riverboat. We rented a car in Ft. Lauderdale from Enterprise and returned it to the Hyatt Hotel at 400 SE 2nd Ave in Miami. The cost was $41 – a really good deal. We took a taxi from the hotel to the ship. I don't recall the cost but it was less than $20

 

 

We arrived about 11:00 am and boarding had not started. We did not purchase FTTF and we got boarding group 3 and it seemed like we were called by 11:45 am. I think half the ship got there by 11:00 am because the waiting area was filled to capacity and outside the terminal guests from the previous cruise were still departing. Needless to say it was a bit crazy. We were on the ship before noon and enjoyed our first Guy’s Burger & Fries. Yes, they are GREAT. We had them several times during our cruise. Guy's was my husband's go-to lunch spot.

 

Now I’ll share our experiences with the Food . . . yes, I admit I’m a Foodie

 

Buffet – expect long lines at breakfast and sea days, standard cruise buffet food. We had dinner here one night and they were unstaffed for the number of guests who were dining.

 

Guy’s Burger – My husband rated this a 10

 

Emerald Steakhouse – service and food outstanding, well worth the $35 pp. They offer a free bottle of wine if you dine the first night and formal nights. On the last night we wanted to go for a 2nd time but they were already sold out. They offered to put us on the wait list but we declined. So make your reservations early.

 

Main Dining Room, I had emailed the Maite’d before the cruise requesting a table for 2 and did get a reply to my email 3 days before we sailed and YES we did get our table for 2. The service was good and the food was average. The staff did their entertainment on the 2 formal nights (not called formal any more). Dress on these occasions was anything goes. We saw everything from shorts to suits. We did dress up but, we like NCL for their dining dress up optional. We wanted to fit in so we did bring formal clothes and I'd say over half of the men had suits or shirt & ties. If you're not a shirt/tie guy, no worries, anything was acceptable.

 

We also enjoyed the Sea Day Brunch on both sea days. Met some really nice people who we saw on the ship from time to time. There was also a “high tea” on the last sea day. Not well attended, 3 large tables, so maybe 30 people. They served nice sandwiches and cakes. We even tried room-service one morning and it was on-time and ever item we ordered.

 

Entertainment -I agree with past reviewers, Carnival is for the young . . . so why not get some updated stuff, the old Motown songs (from the 50s & 60s) to old for most of the audience. We like the Movies under the stars.

 

Balcony Cabin – cabin was fine. The folks in the room next door used their balcony as their smoking lounge. Carnival does not enforce their “no smoking” on the balcony policy. When reported to housekeeping and customer service they said “did you see them”, well of course I did. But, it didn’t seem to matter because Carnival had to catch them in the act. I just hope no one accidently burns down another ship balcony smoking there.

Now that I’m on smoking (if you can’t tell, I’m not a smoker). The casino is as bad as everyone reports. The casino is used as the indoor smoking area on the ship. Wow, this ship reeks of smoke. If you are allergic to smoke avoid the Glory.

 

Tender boats - Cruise Director staff, or fun staff, when tendering is needed this staff became mean and rude. For them the fun is out the window. We ran into 3 women from the cruise director staff yelling at non English speaking people because they were in an area trying to locate how to get on a tender boat without a ship excursion. I know this is a stressful time for them but they need to relax and remember we are guests and should be treated as such. On Saturday, while trying to get to our assigned location for a tour/transfer to airport excursion purchased from Carnival, another stressed out staff member yelled at us before asking any questions. Telling us to go to another location on a different floor… we stood our ground and made our way to designated meeting location and it’s a good thing we did as that is where we needed to be. Of all my cruises this is the only time I’ve encountered cruise director staff that is out of control. In my job I’d be fired if I talked to customers the way they did.

 

Ports

Cozumel – we did the ATV adventure with the ship. It was fun.

 

Belize – we did cavetubing with cavetubing.bz – it was a lot of fun and I’d highly recommend this company. You don’t have to carry your tube and they provide a nice lunch at the end. Tender port, get in line early for your tender ticket to get off the ship. About a 20 minute tender ride

 

Roatan – we did an independent tour with Victor Bodden, enjoyed the monkey park, stopped at a modern grocery store to purchase coffee and vanilla. If you just want a beach day stay at the ship built area because it is very nice.

 

Cayman Island – we did a ship tour of the Island including Hell and the Tuttle Farm. Tender port, if you don’t have a ship tour, you will need to get in line for a tender ticket. They had 2 tender areas setup, one for ship tours and another for everyone else. We were one of the first ship tours to get called and at the same time also called the first 3 independent tender groups to get off. So it appeared everyone was getting off quickly.

 

Miami – Airboat ride with alligator tour & transfer to Ft Lauderdale airport – nice way to spend some time if you have a late flight

 

We carried on the allowed 12 pack of pop/water and a bottle of wine per person which was nice. We didn’t need this much but it is a nice option.

 

We purchased souvenirs at the shops on the ship. T-Shirts for $10 on the last sea day. We like to get Sheridan's Coffee Liqueur because you can't get it at liquor stores in the US. Tasty stuff if you have not tired it, do next time your cruise and you will be hooked.

 

We had a good time and will cruise Carnival again. I'll answer any questions as well as I gain so much knowledge from this group of great people. Wanda & Mike

[kapcruiser]

Thanks for the great review, we are going eastern in a few weeks on glory. Do you know if they give you bar soap in shower and bathroom sink? I hate body wash.

[1stimecruiser]

Yes, we were given 2 good size bars of soap along with the shampoo and body wash in the shower.

 

Have a great cruise.

Edited April 24, 2015 by 1stimecruiser
added a comment

[crmc]

Thanks for the helpful review. We'll be on the Glory in Jan. Was there much in the way of live music on the ship? Music for dancing after dinner?

[1stimecruiser]

There was a band that played near the casino and a guy that play guitar in the atrium. Check out the clubs because there are several that have music and the band did move around day to day.

[code_d]

Casino bar (which was definitely very smokey around it and I was surprised they had the bands playing there with all the smoke at that location) and the one half of the casino (only half is smoking)was definitely smokey as well as the Blue bar (which is a smoking area enclosed and separate from the rest of the ship and 6 large smoke eaters ), but it was the same on NCL when we were there in the casino (and we could smoke on the balcony then too) and probably the same on all the others. They do enforce smoking on balconies as many can attest to in the fines levied but certainly are not going to catch them all (on ANY ship). It is an exaggeration to say the ship reeks of smoke! My wife smokes I do not but I go to the areas she does when she smokes- otherwise the rest of the ship had no evidence of smoke.