Glory Cabin 1-418 Riviera 1418

[richmke]

Just returned from our first cruise, and it was very enjoyable.

 

We had Cabin 1418 on the Riviera Deck. It is an Ocean View on the Port side. I was initially concerned about noise since it was at the base of the Elevators. With the distance from the elevators (inside cabin, crew passage) noise was not a problem.

 

The cabin location is great. For the morning coffee runs, short walk to elevators, quick ride up to the Lido deck, drink station right around the corner (or coffee bar if you want to purchase more expensive brews). the same elevator bank takes you to the entrance of the aft MDR's (Decks 3 and 4), and entertinament loungs on Deck 5. The only long walk is when you want to go forward for the shows or disembark/embark.

 

The cabin has a good size window (about 4 feet across) that you can look out while sitting in bed. I liked being close to the water line:

 

1) You can see the wake and waves up close;

2) The ship lightes are a nice Night Light

 

Enrique, the cabin steward was awesome. I tiped him $20 when we arrived, and gave him a list of requests (wine glasses, ice, empty the mini bar, etc). Nothing unusual. He kept the cabin nice and tidy. I read some comments about having to select morning or evening service. We never recieved that card, and were serviced both in the mornings and evenings. We left him another tip at the end of the cruise.

 

I did get to peak into an inside cabin. Other than the view, the main difference is OV's have a couch and coffee table. The couch can serve as a 3rd bed. The extra space was nice.

 

We may try a balcony in the future (especially for a cruise with lots of sea days, or for a Panama Canal Cruise), and can't justify the cost of a suite (unless we were travling with the kids). Otherwise, the OV on a low deck is perfect for us.

[richmke]

We did regular debarkation, and were Assigned Group 2. We were off the ship and at the Airport by 9:30. Oddly enough, the longest wait was after going through the Ship's security with the Sign and Sail Card, we creeped along on Deck 3 under the Life Boats to get to the single line gangway to cross onto shore. Customs had lots of lines, and moved relatively quickly.

 

Walking through the hallways the night before, I saw tags as high as Group 32. I'm guessing that since we had an "early" flight (12:30), we were assigned an early group. We were never offered the Luggage Express option, which was fine since we needed to put stuff in the checked bag before giving it to the airline.

[firemanbobswife]

The Luggage Express info was stuffed in the Fun Times with some other "Sale" papers but I don't remember which day. It wasn't too obvious unless you took the time to read through it all. It looked like this:

[crazycruzer68]

Does Carnival charge anything for this, or is it just the bag fee through the airline?

[firemanbobswife]

$20 per person plus airline fees. If you are exempt due to status with the airline, credit card, etc there is a space on the 2nd page bottom right hand corner that you fill out.

Edited March 6, 2016 by firemanbobswife

[richmke]

I would call the food "decent" with few outstanding items - Chocolate Melting Cake.

 

I tried all the free dining on the ship. Guy's Burgers were ok. Burgers were too flat and overlooked. I would have preferred a thicker, juicer, patty. Fries were good, but Checkers fries are better. The burrito, deli, and pizza places were ok too.

 

The Main Dining Room had a nice choice. I made an effort to order things I would not normally order - Frog legs, rabbit, ox tongue, etc. I figured if I did not like it, I could always order something else, or get something at the buffet/pizza place.

 

Execution at the MDR could have been better. Ice Cream that came with a dessert was usually partially melted, although orders of ice cream only was fine. Some appetizers came out warm instead of hot. Basically, the food was assembly line, rather than much care given to each plate.

 

On the whole, desserts and pastries were disappointing. The Amaretto Chocolate Cake lacked any Amaretto flavor. Although the pastries are made fresh daily, they still lacked flakiness and tasted like what you would buy in the grocery store. Everything looked nice, it just didn't taste as good as it looked.

 

I highly recommend the late seating (other than families with young children). You can always grab a snack on the buffet to tide you over. In those situations, look at the MDR menu, then go to the buffet. Many of the MDR dishes are on the buffet. So, you can sample on the buffet to help you to decide what you want to order when you are in the MDR. Late seating makes the day much more relaxing.

 

The next time we cruise, the food will be less of an "event" and more of grabbing something to eat. I will eat what I am in the mood for, instead of wanting to experience it.

[richmke]

Entertainment was good. There were 4 main stage productions in the Amber Palace, and 4 comedians (2 at a time) in the smaller lounges.

 

On the last day, they premiered Epic Rock. It was a good show of rock songs from the 70's and 80's. Very high energy. They must have been exhausted. I recommend that one. Motor City (Motown) was also good. We missed Latin Nights. Divas was so-so. Maybe because we didn't know their songs, nor care for them.

 

Unfortunately, the entertainment was on the first two, and last two nights of the trip. Leaving the 3 middle days void of any significant entertainment. I wished they could have scheduled the main stage and comedians on different nights so there was a show every night.