Glory Eastern Review - Parts I and II (5/1-5/8)

[handbellplayer]

I've included Part I (which I posted yesterday) and Part II, which is new. So if you read yesterday's post, scroll down to Part II.

 

Part I

 

We drove down from Raleigh on Friday (600+ miles, about 10 hours) and checked in at the Radisson (Port Canaveral) about 4:00. We had a couple of drinks by the pool and headed out to a wonderful restaurant on the water (sorry, I can’t remember the name!). I thought the Radisson was great and it was fun to be around so many fellow excited cruisers!

 

We grabbed a cab to the port about 11:30 and started the embarkation process. I didn’t time it exactly, but altogether it was probably less than an hour. For those obsessing about the Fun Pass problems, my estimate is that the Fun Pass saved us ten minutes, maybe – other ports may be different, but at Port Canaveral, everyone goes in one line and the time saving is only when you reach the desk to check in.

 

We stopped for champagne in the lobby bar (can you tell we were excited?) and then headed up for our traditional ship exploration. We found our dining room table in the Platinum Room and went up to our cabin (8381 Verandah aft) and dropped off our carry-ons. Then up to the Lido deck for lunch. We passed through the Red Sail and on to the grill, which didn’t have a line, because very few people had found it! Had a delicious lunch and then explored some more. Our luggage arrived quickly and we were able to unpack before the muster drill, which went relatively quickly and was pretty painless.

 

Overall Comments on the Ship: I though it was beautiful and colorful, although I can see how some might find it too bright and gaudy. It is not possible to navigate the whole length of the ship on some levels, and we did get confused a few times, but if you look at the maps and think about where you’re going and plan your route its really not bad. There are plenty of spots to sit in the sun or the shade, unless you feel you have to be right by the pool (I’ve never quite understood that). There was a lot of chair saving, but again, it was only near the pool. Some of the upper decks fore and aft, are great places to relax. I did not find the ship to be smoky, unless I was in an enclosed smoking area, like a small bar. I found this to be the roughest of our four cruises, but I’m not sure if it was the sea conditions or the ship. Others made the same comment, however. My husband had to take Dramamine twice for mild queasiness, but felt better right away.

 

Cabin: We did a balcony guarantee and were upgraded to an 8C on the Verandah deck aft. The location was VERY convenient to the Lido (casual food area) and the pools, but is WAS noisy. We were below the Red Sail (roughly under the Asian serving window) and there was a lot of noise from above, even during the night (cleaning?). I will probably not go the Guarantee route again for that reason. I’m a light sleeper, so it bothered me, but it didn’t bother my husband at all. Otherwise, our cabin was great – loved the balcony, of course – and very roomy. We had plenty of room for everything, including in the bathroom. I never felt cramped at all. Our last cruise was on RCCL Sovereign of the Seas, so I guess I enjoyed the space even more this time! Our steward was adequate, not outstanding. He kept our ice filled and the room clean and neat, but couldn’t see to handle any special request. We asked early in the week that the Cokes in the mini-bar be exchanged for Diet Cokes – they showed up on the last night!

 

Dining: We ate in the Red Sail for breakfast on all but the last day when we went ot the dining room. (I should say that my husband ate in the Red Sail everyday and brought me my breakfast in the cabin – my own personal room service!). The food was adequate. We didn’t like the Red Sail for lunch, so we ate from the grill, deli, Asian station or fish and chips for lunch – all were great. They’ve added some new pizza varieties since we last cruised, like sausage/garlic/goat cheese – Yum! We had dinner in the dining room every night except two and the food was adequate to good, not great in my opinion. WE had a table for eight and only six ever showed up. It was a fun group of four couples, two early thirties and the other couple about our age (we’re fifty). We made reservations for Monday night for the Emerald Room and it was really wonderful. I highly recommend it, but try not to eat much the day before you go – I was stuffed. But it was elegant, the food was excellent and the service was outstanding. The only other night we didn’t eat in the dining room was the evening after St. Maartin – we were tired (we had late seating) and ordered room service. I had never ordered room service on Carnival before, but I will again. Besides the sandwiches that night, we ordered cookies, brownies and milk a couple of nights after we came in from the bars or shows – so decadent! Service was quick and the food was good.

 

Part II

 

Ports –

 

Nassau – Been there, done that, didn’t get off the ship. Besides, we sailed away early, like 3:00, I think. Since it was the first day, we just relaxed and enjoyed the half-full ship.

 

St. Thomas – Carnival should really consider adjusting their itinerary to avoid the Customs process in St. Thomas. (Because you debark in a foreign country (Bahamas) and then re-enter the US (US Virgin Islands), you have to go through Customs.) Priority is given to those with Carnival excursions before a certain time. The rest of the passengers are called down by deck. We were one of the earlier decks called and still did not get off until 10:30. We had a Godfrey Tour arranged and he waited for us, although we were the last ones on the bus. A lot has been said about Godfrey’s tours on this Board and I won’t repeat it her, except to say that I highly recommend him. He took us shopping first in downtown Charlotte Amalie. I was very disappointed in the shopping as I had always heard that St. Thomas was wonderful for shopping. We might has well have been in Nassau. Those that love to shop in St. Thomas are shopping for jewelry over $5000, I guess, because that’s all we saw. Fortunately, we were only there an hour and then off on our island tour to the mountaintop with an ongoing narrative about the island (actually at this point by Timmy, Godfrey’s buddy. Godfrey was driving the other bus and we were all traveling together. After the tour, we were offered different beach options and several of us went to Sapphire, which was nice. Godfrey picked us up at the beach after a couple of hours and took us back to the ship. If I go to St. Thomas again, I will take an excursion to St. John.

 

St. Maartin – If I was underwhelmed by St. Thomas, I was overwhelmed by St. Maartin. We took the water taxi over to Phillipsburg and shopped for ah hour or so. The shopping was MUCH better than St. Thomas, IMHO. The streets were cleaner, we were less hounded (except for the timeshare people), and the shopping was great for the normal person (not spending $$$$ on jewelry). Great island crafts, quality souvenirs, and amazing liquor prices. We took a taxi over to Orient Beach (French side) and enjoyed a couple of hours there, including a stop at Baywatch for a beer and the BEST wings I’ve ever tasted. Yes, there are topless and nude people, especially as you get down to the Orient Beach resort area and yes, after a while you don’t really notice them. But this was, by far, the most beautiful beach we saw on the cruise. We hopped on another cab and headed back to Phillipsburg. We went back and bought the items we hadn’t wanted to lug around before and checked out Evert’ing Cool. It was VERY crowded, so we walked back down to the Greenhouse, which was much more peaceful and cool. We had another snack there (good appetizers) and the BEST drink I had on the whole trip – a mango colada. Then back on the water taxi – one of the stops is jus outside the Greenhouse and back to the ship.

 

Entertainment – We went to two of the big evening shows, the illusionist and the Broadway revue. I really enjoyed both. WE went to the Piano Bar twice – the piano player was not very good, but those places are fun anyway. We went to an afternoon Dixieland band performance in the cigar bar and had a blast, although we and one other couple were the only ones in there under 70, I think. The same musicians play in the shows and in many of the other performances (except on the deck and Promenade), and they were all excellent musicians. On-deck entertainment (DJ and another band, and the piano player outside the casino were all average to awful. The piano player in the lobby bar (or whatever its called, next to the purser’s desk) was very entertaining and it was a nice place for a quiet pre-dinner drink. WE wanted to go to a jazz performance the last night in the cigar bar, but we walked in and were immediately consumed by cigar smoke, so we left. It would be nice if Carnival didn’t schedule some of the best small-group music entertainment in the cigar bar, for those who can’t stand the smell.

 

Service – Service in the stateroom and dining room was adequate, but not outstanding. I found the cocktail waiters and waitresses and bartenders to be the nicest and friendliest of the service personnel, which I don’t understand, because their tips are the ones that can’t be adjusted! We left the standard tips on our Sail and Sign.

 

Disembarkation – We went back and forth as to whether to carry our own bags. We decided not to because we had so much stuff (my fault, as I was reminded several times!), and in retrospect I would have done self-carry. It probably would have saved us an hour or so. The whole process is a cattle call, including Customs, but we’d been through it before and knew what to expect. I do like the fact that Pt. Canaveral now has luggage carousels rather than the lines and lines of luggage. We found our luggage pretty quickly and headed for the Radisson shuttle and back to pick up the car. We were on the road about 11:00.

 

I'll be glad to answer any specfic questions.

 

Glory 5/1/04

[CruiseFever]

Thanks for taking the time to write and share with us

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Diamond Princess 12/22/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

Carnival Valor 10/30/05

 

[handbellplayer]

I can't believe I didn't say this. The kind and helpful on these boards and pages like Chris's

 

 

were a HUGE help in planning our trip. I wouldn't have known about the Radisson, Godfrey, the Greenhouse, plastic luggage ties, the importance of zip-loc bags and so many other things without you guys. My husband was very impressed with all I knew, by the way! A review is a very small way to give back a little of all this Board gave me. I must close now - I'm starting to get misty! :-)

 

Glory 5/1/04

[lah]

Great review handbellplayer! Thanks for writing it!

 

I have one question. What is offered at the fish and chips place (other than the obvious)? It there other seafood?

 

Thank you!

Lisa

 

Lisa

[finigan94]

handbellplayer , what time did disembarkation start? and how do they choose who gets off first is it done by airline times?

[kath1021]

I was on this cruise with handbellplayer and disembarkation started around 7:30/8ish. I know you can contact them if you have an earlier flight so they can get you off the ship sooner. Any early flights and anybody who carried their luggage off themselves were the first to be called. They were having problems that day (only one escalator working in the terminal) so we did not get off the ship until 11am. They call you down by decks and what color tag you have...they seemed to be doing it in a random order. We were deck 6 but were the second to last deck to be called so I have no idea how they do this. It was cutting it close because we had a 1pm flight out of Orlando so if you have an earlier flight than that..either take the luggage off yourself or tell them ahead of time.

 

5/1/04~Carnival Glory~1st cruise and definitely not the last!