Glory Review 2/25/06

[PACruiseBear]

Howdy all, just got back this morning from the Glory Western run. I enjoyed all the reviews that I read before I left so I thought I should return the favor. Mine will be less involved than many others I read. I am just going to run through a bunch of random thoughts of the week.

 

This was my wife and my 6th cruise, 2 NCL, 2 RCL and this was our 2nd Carnival. I chose the cruise based on price, ports and size of ship.

 

We went a day early with another couple as I didn't want to risk flying out of Pittsburgh in February on the day of the cruise. This also gave us an excuse to do a Disney day. We got to Orlando at about 12 and hit the parks hard till close. We stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort and Saturday morning went back to the airport to catch the Carnival bus to the port. Bus was on time and easy to use. When we go t to the port at about 2pm we walked in with no delays. This was by far the easiest embarkation process I have ever had. Our cabin, a balcony, our first balcony ever by the way was on deck 8 and ready for us. We met our steward, dropped our bags and headed to the Red Sail buffet on the 9th deck. It was very busy. They were out of a bunch of food and what they did have was absolutely average at best. We ate several more times in the Red Sail through out the week and the food was never good. The service with the exception of the first day was good, not great. The first day there were dirty tables everywhere. Went to dinner at 8pm in the Platnimum Dining Room and everything was great, service, food, atmosphere, etc.

 

Sunday- Key West.

There were very long lines to get off the ship. We went back to check them several times and turned around each time. There were not enough shuttles due to construction in the route into town. We waited and waited and it just never cleared up. By 2pm it started to rain and we decided to skip it as by the time we would have gotten to the town we would have just had to turn around and get back on the ship.

 

Monday- Day at sea. Typical stuff to do, ice carving, shows, bingo, etc. We enjoyed it and just relaxed. That evening was very rocky. The water in the pools was running over the sides it was so bad. My wife got sick even with the patches on.

 

Tuesday-

Belize.

We did the cave tubing thing through X-Streme caving and it was awesome. By far one of the most interesting things I have ever done. I was very happy with the company. It was $25 less than booking with CCL and you did an extra cave that CCL doesnt. It was great go and do it sometime. As far as Belize goes, the shopping area is ok at the port but I don't suggest going into town. It seems very run down. My advice, book an excursion or stay on the boat.

 

Wednesday-

Cost Maya-

Nice shopping area at the pier, we hooked up with a local company for a beach break type deal. $25 a person, private beach, alcohol and food. We just chilled on the beach and had a nice time. A few thoughts after this experience though. That 10th Margarita is almost always a bad idea, Second, a few thoughts on swimwear. Guys, just say no to the speedo, you are wrong, you do not look good and no one wants to see your stuff. And now on to the ladies. Just because they make a bikini that big does not mean you should wear it. Here is a rule that you should live by, if the size you wear has an "x", an "L" or is a 2 digit number, JUST SAY NO!!!. This goes for the islands and around the pools also. Please try to remember this. On several occasions I was scared. On a sad note we talked to a lady in Costa Maya that was on one of the excursions where one of our cruise mates died. Not sure of all the details but she said she was in the water and they did CPR for 29 minutes before an ambulance showed up. We felt terrible for the family with them. Of course you wish you could have done something, but what can you do?

 

Thursday and Friday were sea days with all the typical stuff to do.

 

A few things that I picked up on this site that were very helpfull-

Take a bungee cord to hold the balcony door open.

Take an outlet strip with ya, there is only one outlet in the room.

There is no clock in the room, so take a small alarm clock.

 

Saturday was a bit of a cluster. I woke up at 6:30 to watch us pull into port but when I looked out the door we were still far from port. Eventually an anouncement came over saying there was a security problem at the port and we would be delayed. This was a concern since we had a 12pm flight. We got to port 2 hours late and the process to clear the ship began. Here is a thought for anyone who was on the ship this week and went to get off the boat before you were told to do so. Which part of don't line up until you are told to do so and don't wait in the stair wells is too hard for you to understand you freaking morons??? Seriously, get a life. One last rant, to all the mean old farts in the casino, you are already old, do you really want to spend your last few years on this planet being so obnoxious??? You know who you are. Be nice! Anyway, back to the debarkation, we finally go tcalled to leave and it was a pretty easy process. We got to the airport and to our gate with about 10 minutes to spare. We got back to 30 degree temperatures in Pittsburgh and am missing the warmth and ocean sounds already. So in summary, we had a great time and can't wait to do it again soon. Hope you enjoy the review and thanks to everyone that wrote one before me.

Jeff

[evy123]

And now on to the ladies. Just because they make a bikini that big does not mean you should wear it. Here is a rule that you should live by, if the size you wear has an "x", an "L" or is a 2 digit number, JUST SAY NO!!!. This goes for the islands and around the pools also. Please try to remember this. On several occasions I was scared.

 

One last rant, to all the mean old farts in the casino, you are already old, do you really want to spend your last few years on this planet being so obnoxious??? You know who you are. Be nice!

 

Ouch :eek: !! I think you might have gone a little overboard. If you are going to lecture people about being "nice" maybe you should try it yourself .

[boaterette]

Thanks for the review. I agree with the speedo'. That is just nasty. I leave in two months and can hardly wait.

[msolberg]

Thanks for your review. We are leaving Thursday for Cocoa Beach and then cruise on Saturday.

 

Did you see any of the entertainment? If so do you have any comments?

 

Did you happen to eat at the Fish & Chips on the second floor of the Red Sail?

 

Thanks again.

 

Diane

[bluecruisin]

Will you please share the name and website of the private excursion company you used in Cosat Maya? Thanks for info and review!

[PACruiseBear]

Diane- The entertainment was good, I am not big into the whole "VEGAS" type show but I enjoyed all the shows we went to. Comics were great and there is always the shows like Not so Newlywed Game. As always it was a riot. The fish and chips restaurant was good, they were only open for lunch, we only ate there once. We tried to go one other time and they had run out of fish.

 

Blue- Here is the website. Enjoy-

 

http://belizecruiseexcursions.com/CaveTubingBelize.htm

[PACruiseBear]

Blue,

I am sorry I gave you the site for Belize, we did not book on the internet for the beach break in Costa Maya but I do remember the name of the place. It was Tequilla Beach. They have a stand by where the busses pick you up. It was $25 a person. Have fun.

Jeff

[Lib0007]

Thanks for your review. Couple questions . . . . except for the rough seas the one night you mentioned, how was the motion the other days compared to the other ships you've sailed on?

 

And I keep hearing so much about wee Jimmy - was he still there - I had read that he was getting promoted and leaving soon.

 

Thanks, I sail the Glory in two weeks.

[LizaMM]

Thanks for your review!!! Always love a good Glory fix :D

 

Diane - Fish and Chips was only open for a couple of hours during lunch each day. Additionally, the times were never listed in the Capers so we had to go up and see. I LOVeD the food I ate there!

[PACruiseBear]

Libby,

With the exception of the one bad evening I would compare it to any other ship I have been on. I was a bit worried myself about the rocking after reading some things on this site. As a precaution I used the patch since I have been sick on ships before. I was fine the whole week.

 

The cruise director last week was Mark Price. He said he was leaving to go to another ship this week and Wee Jimmy was taking over for this week. I don't know if that is a permanant thing or not.

J

[MAO]

Too funny, laughing out loud! Thanks for the review.

MAO

[emmysmommy]

Thanks for the review! We'll be on the Glory in July but we'll be doing the E. Caribbean itinerary.

 

How did you like the Caribbean Beach Resort? We will be in Orlando the week before our cruise and still must nail down where we'll stay.

[Douglase]

Howdy all, just got back this morning from the Glory Western run. I enjoyed all the reviews that I read before I left so I thought I should return the favor. Mine will be less involved than many others I read. I am just going to run through a bunch of random thoughts of the week.

 

This was my wife and my 6th cruise, 2 NCL, 2 RCL and this was our 2nd Carnival. I chose the cruise based on price, ports and size of ship.

 

We went a day early with another couple as I didn't want to risk flying out of Pittsburgh in February on the day of the cruise. This also gave us an excuse to do a Disney day. We got to Orlando at about 12 and hit the parks hard till close. We stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort and Saturday morning went back to the airport to catch the Carnival bus to the port. Bus was on time and easy to use. When we go t to the port at about 2pm we walked in with no delays. This was by far the easiest embarkation process I have ever had. Our cabin, a balcony, our first balcony ever by the way was on deck 8 and ready for us. We met our steward, dropped our bags and headed to the Red Sail buffet on the 9th deck. It was very busy. They were out of a bunch of food and what they did have was absolutely average at best. We ate several more times in the Red Sail through out the week and the food was never good. The service with the exception of the first day was good, not great. The first day there were dirty tables everywhere. Went to dinner at 8pm in the Platnimum Dining Room and everything was great, service, food, atmosphere, etc.

 

Sunday- Key West.

There were very long lines to get off the ship. We went back to check them several times and turned around each time. There were not enough shuttles due to construction in the route into town. We waited and waited and it just never cleared up. By 2pm it started to rain and we decided to skip it as by the time we would have gotten to the town we would have just had to turn around and get back on the ship.

 

Monday- Day at sea. Typical stuff to do, ice carving, shows, bingo, etc. We enjoyed it and just relaxed. That evening was very rocky. The water in the pools was running over the sides it was so bad. My wife got sick even with the patches on.

 

Tuesday-

Belize.

We did the cave tubing thing through X-Streme caving and it was awesome. By far one of the most interesting things I have ever done. I was very happy with the company. It was $25 less than booking with CCL and you did an extra cave that CCL doesnt. It was great go and do it sometime. As far as Belize goes, the shopping area is ok at the port but I don't suggest going into town. It seems very run down. My advice, book an excursion or stay on the boat.

 

Wednesday-

Cost Maya-

Nice shopping area at the pier, we hooked up with a local company for a beach break type deal. $25 a person, private beach, alcohol and food. We just chilled on the beach and had a nice time. A few thoughts after this experience though. That 10th Margarita is almost always a bad idea, Second, a few thoughts on swimwear. Guys, just say no to the speedo, you are wrong, you do not look good and no one wants to see your stuff. And now on to the ladies. Just because they make a bikini that big does not mean you should wear it. Here is a rule that you should live by, if the size you wear has an "x", an "L" or is a 2 digit number, JUST SAY NO!!!. This goes for the islands and around the pools also. Please try to remember this. On several occasions I was scared. On a sad note we talked to a lady in Costa Maya that was on one of the excursions where one of our cruise mates died. Not sure of all the details but she said she was in the water and they did CPR for 29 minutes before an ambulance showed up. We felt terrible for the family with them. Of course you wish you could have done something, but what can you do?

 

Thursday and Friday were sea days with all the typical stuff to do.

 

A few things that I picked up on this site that were very helpfull-

Take a bungee cord to hold the balcony door open.

Take an outlet strip with ya, there is only one outlet in the room.

There is no clock in the room, so take a small alarm clock.

 

Saturday was a bit of a cluster. I woke up at 6:30 to watch us pull into port but when I looked out the door we were still far from port. Eventually an anouncement came over saying there was a security problem at the port and we would be delayed. This was a concern since we had a 12pm flight. We got to port 2 hours late and the process to clear the ship began. Here is a thought for anyone who was on the ship this week and went to get off the boat before you were told to do so. Which part of don't line up until you are told to do so and don't wait in the stair wells is too hard for you to understand you freaking morons??? Seriously, get a life. One last rant, to all the mean old farts in the casino, you are already old, do you really want to spend your last few years on this planet being so obnoxious??? You know who you are. Be nice! Anyway, back to the debarkation, we finally go tcalled to leave and it was a pretty easy process. We got to the airport and to our gate with about 10 minutes to spare. We got back to 30 degree temperatures in Pittsburgh and am missing the warmth and ocean sounds already. So in summary, we had a great time and can't wait to do it again soon. Hope you enjoy the review and thanks to everyone that wrote one before me.

Jeff

 

 

Did you feel more movement on this ship versus the other ships you were on?

[Iamthesea]

Sunday- Key West.

There were very long lines to get off the ship. We went back to check them several times and turned around each time. There were not enough shuttles due to construction in the route into town. We waited and waited and it just never cleared up. By 2pm it started to rain and we decided to skip it as by the time we would have gotten to the town we would have just had to turn around and get back on the ship.

Thanks so much for the review! Could you tell me which deck you get off of for Key West?

[PACruiseBear]

I think you get off of deck 0 and the line was backed up the staircases all the way to decks 3 and 4 each time I looked.

 

I liked the Carribean Beach Resort. It was the first mid-range resort we stayed at. We normaly stay off property to save money. I think it was about $160 a night. Disney does everything right. I dont think you could do wrong with any of the resorts. I did think that the rooms were larger than the All Star rooms.

J

[artist-man]

Ok,

Even if we are die-hard Browns fans, we feel we should come to your defense. (something Cleveland had little of last year).

The step people: We have seen them too. They probably have evening flights and in their "day", they probably never had to wait in line.

As for the nasties in the casino, been there, sat next to them, didn't enjoy it. (they aren't as bad as the guy we saw getting off the ship in Hawaii in shorts, black socks, dress shoes and wearing his plastic lei from Honolulu Hatties.)

Again, thanks for the helpful review. We're 12 days away from the Eastern route.

Art and Charlene

[luvgreys]

Thanks for the review!!! We will be on the Glory May 6. I agree with you on the speedo thing, even on smaller men, it just looks weird!!

[mnsawyer]

We sailed the Glory last April and absolutely loved it. Sorry to hear that you didn't care for the Red Sail food. We ate there every morning and basically at lunch. We thought it was excellent - fresh and good. Overall, we thought the Glory was wonderful and better than our Triumph cruise two years prior. Loved sailing out of PC as well. So much easier than Miami! We too, were late getting back on the day of departure. Lots of missed flights. Thanks for posting the review.

[firsttimespaz]

I am part of the couple that cruised with PACruiseBear.

 

This was our first cruise ever and we did really enjoy it.

 

I think the Glory was a wonderful ship, although I don't really have anything to compare it to. The whole entire staff of Carnival was WONDERFUL! I was pleasantly surprised with all of my interactions with the staff.

 

As for the food, I have to agree that it was moderate. There were some really great things, but overall, I guess I would say it was average. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the food was horrible (although the Chocolate Buffet was a BIG dissappointment) but in all honesty, most of it was the same quality that I could get at the Holiday Inn at home.

 

I was disappointed that we could not get off in Key West, but we made the best of the situation and sat in the hot tub with some drinks.

 

Belize was okay. The tourist area was all that we saw for a bit. The Iguana Rana was a lot of fun. I had a Bailey's Bananna Colada that I absolutely LOVED! But we were in too early and the kitchen was not open. We went back to the ship because we had a snorkeling excursions booked through Carnival. The excursion was a lot of fun and after seeing the mess in Key West, I was glad that we had booked through the ship. We saw the beautiful reef, lots of colorful fish, and some rays and nurse sharks. Had a great time on the way back and drank my fill of the Rum Punch.

 

I enjoyed the view on Tequila Beach in Costa Maya, but it was crowded and the staff were overwhelmed, so the service was slow. The drinks were good, the food (the little we were able to get) was okay, but the sand was soft, the breeze was cool, and the water was blue, so how could that be a bad place? If we go to Costa Maya again, I would like to head down the beach a bit more and see what other options there may be.

 

These are just some of my thoughts. I will try to put together a better review as I have more time and get some pictures uploaded!

[CruisingCathy]

Hi PA...thanks for the review. I sailed on the Glory last October, and am going again next week!! I sure hope we get to go into Key West!! Did they give you any idea of how long this "construction" was going to be taking place?!? We were suppost to go to Key West in October, but due to hurricane Wilma, we got diverted to an eastern trip. I'm looking forward to some different ports!

Were you on the same snorkling trip as your friend "firsttimespaz"? Which snorkling excursion did you book?

 

Since I am also from Pittsburgh... I'll wave to ya when I fly out of PIT. on Friday!!

 

Cathy

[vuittonmom]

I was on this same ship. It was my first cruise - so not sure what to compare it to and was a little non-plussed by the death of the lady (with the elderly mom) who drowned. My cruise was pretty good - was with a big group of Furman students and they had a ball. Overall - I think the staff was fantastic. I only had one towel animal - but didn't let that phase me too much. I thought the fish and chips was fantastic - had that every day for lunch and was disappointed they only had it for lunch. Breakfast was good too.

 

I have to admit - I did expect a little more at dinner in terms of food quality. Our waitress was great and more than made up for the food. Prime Rib was great. And I had white roughy that was great too. The lobster wasn't so good - really bland and tough. Filet was great - very tender. I had the Indian special one night (I was born in India) and it was pretty bad - the lamb was so tough you could have used it for a hockey puck. I also found what others have said - desserts were uniformly bad - not even up to par with frozen Sara Lee. However, there was always pizza. I also found that ordering two entrees or desserts helped in terms of food - if one thing was bad generally the other was good. The kids ordered pasta a lot (but kind of looked like microwave kind). The prime rib was great every time that they had it. I liked the Red Sail. Interestingly - when they had Indian food at lunch, it was good. It was just the dinner one that wasn't.

 

Disembarking at Key West was terrible - not the fault of the ship - due to construction and problems with trolleys, but it was disappointing not to have had more time - felt really rushed.

 

I met lots of great older people though - made some friends.

 

One thing to be careful of though - we went to a one hour "diamond sale," in the gift shop. The table showed $99.00 for everything (down from $199.00). I purchased two items and in the crush - didn't look carefully at the receipt. It was DOUBLE. When I went back - they said only some of the items were $99.00. It was really kind of disturbing - because it really gave the impression the table was $99.00 - sign clearly marked sort of thing. I kept both items because I liked them, but felt a little duped and kind of stupid for not being more careful. I couldn't help but wonder if there were any items that were actually $99.00. It really was misleading and I wonder if anyone else had the same thing happen. So be careful - really look at your receipt before you sign. I wasn't careful and it marred things a little - my own stupidity - but it really was a little misleading. There was a real crush of people and I think most thought the same thing.

 

I had a great time though!

[Iamthesea]

:) Thank you so much for your views.

 

Disembarking at Key West was terrible - not the fault of the ship - due to construction and problems with trolleys, but it was disappointing not to have had more time - felt really rushed.

This is really starting to worry me. We leave this weekend. Is this construction an ongoing thing or was it just something that was temporary last week? Any suggestions for avoiding the lines and getting into town sooner? What time did Carnival start allowing passengers to get off at Key West? Are there taxi's so that you can by-pass the trolley?

[spike007]

Just a quick question. It looks like you were on the Presidents Day week sailing.

How many kids/teens were on board? We have kids/teen and prefere a lot of kids sailing. We were on the CLL Miracle that week this year, and there were a reported 600+ kids/teens on board.

[mnsawyer]

When we sailed the Glory last April, it was long getting into KW as well. I think what everyone did, us too, was have lunch on the ship and then around 1 or so, go into town. The line for the shuttle was long as well as took quite a while to get into town. Wish that the stay in KW was longer. The best part of KW is staying for the sunset celebration but we did the Old Town Trolley and loved it. Best way to see KW!

[Iamthesea]

We did the Conch train on our last visit. Docked right in town!

 

On this visit, we are going bar hopping and need every minute we can get! We plan to eat a big breakfast and skip lunch, so we may go on down towards deck "0" BEFORE even getting near Key West. :D