Sept 29 Carnival Glory Review

[lhaddon]

Hi all! We had a GREAT cruise! We didn't want to get off the ship. I found a mountain of work when I got back to the office. My boss' outbox was taller than my head. I'm just now able to take a breath. I still haven't completely unpacked all the bags yet.

 

I had two too many Fun Ships when I got on the ship. I think the excitement of being on vacation overtook me and I had too many drinks. I ended up having to go back to the cabin and lay down until dinner time.

 

We flew into Orlando the night before our cruise and stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port which was AWESOME! I can't say enough good things about this hotel.

 

Excursions:

 

We went hired a guide and went on a tour of Nassau and then went to Atlantis in Nassau. Then my daughter got her hair braided. The lady said it was $3 per braid. My husband said "how much are we talking about" and she said "25 to 30." Well....we thought she meant 25 to 30 dollars but it ended up she meant 25-30 braids which ended up costing us EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS! She gets her hair braided everytime we go to Mexico and we've never paid over $40 for the entire head. Lesson learned.

 

In St. Thomas we went on a tour with Godfrey. I wasnt that impressed to be honest. We were late getting off the ship (didn't get off until 11 instead of 10) and only ended up gettin 40 minutes to shop. Then we went on the sightseeing tour which was beautiful but we only had like 10-15 minutes to spend at each place which wasn't nearly enough. I could have spent at least an hour on the Mountain Top drinking banana dacquaris. We then went to the beach for 2 hours which was great except we had to wait in line forever just to change.

 

In St. Maartan we hired a guide and took a sightseeing tour (which was gorgeous). He took us all around the dutch and french sides of the island. We then shopped for a while (I got two pairs of gorgeous diamond earrings and some souvenirs). We then went to the beach for 4 hours which was absolute paradise. I hope we can return to St. Maartan for sping break in March.

 

We had reservations in the Golden Dining Room at 6:15 every night. We had a great waiter (Thomson) from India. I thought the food was good except I was a little disappointed with the selection of desserts. We did get the bitter and blanc, soufflee and baked alaska which were yummy. I also ended up getting the choc melting cake a couple of times too.

 

We went to the spa and did the steam room and sauna a couple of times while onboard and it was great!

 

The kids both went to Camp Carnival and had a great time. My 9 year old was able to sign himself in and out and he loved that.

 

We also went to Tea Time on the sea days. On the last day the Tea Time wasn't in the capers so there was only like 3 tables of people there. It was full on the other days. We enjoyed the tea, sweets and great music.

 

We did the Luggage Express and it was money well spent not to have to deal with all that luggage.

 

We had to wait in line for what seemed like an eternity to get off the ship and get through immigration.

 

All in all it was an excellent, great cruise. I loved the ship. It has the identical layout as the Conquest which we have been on twice before so we had no trouble getting around.

 

I really hope to be able to go on another cruise next year (if I can wait that long).

 

Lora

[Lv2Camp&Cruise]

Thanks for the review. Glad you had a great time!

[alb1956]

Did you buy your tickets to Paridise Point onboard or when you got off the ship? If you don't mind me asking....how much were the tickets?? I was thinking of doing the champagne catermaran excursion. Did you know of anyone that did that excursion?? Glad you had a good time!! Were going in April on the Eastern cruise! Can't wait!! We did the Western cruise this past April and loved every minute of it!!!

[As You Wish]

Would you mind saying what deck you were on and what time you were actually able to get off the ship? Thanks.

[Chuggiebug]

We too were on this sailing. It was our 4th cruise on the Glory and we were celebrating our 25th anniversary.

 

I have to say that this trip was also our least favorite cruise ever. It was still good, but service was not nearly as good as we ahve become used to. Our room steward was awesome but most everyone else was very lack luster. Not sure why it was so different from other weeks on the Glory.

[lhaddon]

We were on Riviera deck. Since we did the Luggage Express we could have gotten off the ship at any time beginning at 7:30 when the called the first people. However, since our shuttle wasn't meeting us until 10:00 we got up and had a leisurely breakfast on Lido and didn't even try to get off the ship until about 9:00. Apparently a lot of other people had this idea also. The line to get off the ship wound around like a snake and moved VERY slowly. Then there was only 4 or so immigration agents and it took forever to get off.

 

We didn't go to Paradise Point.

 

Nancy Jo: I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. I personally thought the cruise was awesome. We received good service throughout the trip.

 

Lora

[sandestination]

Hi all! We had a GREAT cruise! We didn't want to get off the ship. I found a mountain of work when I got back to the office. My boss' outbox was taller than my head. I'm just now able to take a breath. I still haven't completely unpacked all the bags yet.

 

I had two too many Fun Ships when I got on the ship. I think the excitement of being on vacation overtook me and I had too many drinks. I ended up having to go back to the cabin and lay down until dinner time.

 

We flew into Orlando the night before our cruise and stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port which was AWESOME! I can't say enough good things about this hotel.

 

Excursions:

 

We went hired a guide and went on a tour of Nassau and then went to Atlantis in Nassau. Then my daughter got her hair braided. The lady said it was $3 per braid. My husband said "how much are we talking about" and she said "25 to 30." Well....we thought she meant 25 to 30 dollars but it ended up she meant 25-30 braids which ended up costing us EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS! She gets her hair braided everytime we go to Mexico and we've never paid over $40 for the entire head. Lesson learned.

 

In St. Thomas we went on a tour with Godfrey. I wasnt that impressed to be honest. We were late getting off the ship (didn't get off until 11 instead of 10) and only ended up gettin 40 minutes to shop. Then we went on the sightseeing tour which was beautiful but we only had like 10-15 minutes to spend at each place which wasn't nearly enough. I could have spent at least an hour on the Mountain Top drinking banana dacquaris. We then went to the beach for 2 hours which was great except we had to wait in line forever just to change.

 

In St. Maartan we hired a guide and took a sightseeing tour (which was gorgeous). He took us all around the dutch and french sides of the island. We then shopped for a while (I got two pairs of gorgeous diamond earrings and some souvenirs). We then went to the beach for 4 hours which was absolute paradise. I hope we can return to St. Maartan for sping break in March.

 

We had reservations in the Golden Dining Room at 6:15 every night. We had a great waiter (Thomson) from India. I thought the food was good except I was a little disappointed with the selection of desserts. We did get the bitter and blanc, soufflee and baked alaska which were yummy. I also ended up getting the choc melting cake a couple of times too.

 

We went to the spa and did the steam room and sauna a couple of times while onboard and it was great!

 

The kids both went to Camp Carnival and had a great time. My 9 year old was able to sign himself in and out and he loved that.

 

We also went to Tea Time on the sea days. On the last day the Tea Time wasn't in the capers so there was only like 3 tables of people there. It was full on the other days. We enjoyed the tea, sweets and great music.

 

We did the Luggage Express and it was money well spent not to have to deal with all that luggage.

 

We had to wait in line for what seemed like an eternity to get off the ship and get through immigration.

 

All in all it was an excellent, great cruise. I loved the ship. It has the identical layout as the Conquest which we have been on twice before so we had no trouble getting around.

 

I really hope to be able to go on another cruise next year (if I can wait that long).

 

Lora

u SAID U STAYED AT THE RADDISON IN THE PORT...HOW DID U GET THERE AND WHAT WAS THE COST OF TRANS PORTATION AND HOTEL IF U DON'T MIND TELLING ME

 

THANKS

LYNDA

[Shadieeie]

Hi Lora, Hi Nancy Jo!

 

We were on this cruise also. I agree with NancyJo, I wasn't all that impressed with the Glory, she's looking a bit rundown, but our servers and room steward were ok, the food wasn't all that great, DH said the Lobster was chewy and stringy, and the Steaks were a bit tough.... But the cruise was still good (what cruise isn't)

 

For Paradise Point, I got the tickets thru the Carnival Excursion's. They were 17.00 a piece. If you get them off ship at St. Thomas they are 18.00 a piece (shock, Carnival was cheaper by a buck!) Going up there is a must do in St. Thomas, the view was spectacular and the Bushwacker Drink was good too :D

[OV cruiser]

I'm heading out on the Glory Dec 1st. What is luggage express?

[Beth]

Who did you do your excursion with in St. Marteen and how much was it? Thanks Beth

[lhaddon]

I called around and checked prices and the best price was Mears Shuttle Service. We had 9 people in our group and I arranged for a van to be waiting for us at the airport to take us to the hotel and then meet us after the cruise at the port to take us back to the airport. (It's about 45 minutes from the port to the airport). The total was $250.00 for round trip which ended up being $32.00 per person. Not bad for round trip. Most of the other places I contacted it was going to be like $60 per person.

 

Luggage Express is awewome! The purser's desk handed out forms that you fill out with all your flight information (only certain airlines participate). Once you fill it out and turn it in you receive your luggage tags and boarding passes. You then just put your bags outside your door like normal (between 9-11 Friday night) and you don't see them again until you return home. Carnival takes your bags to the airport for you. There is a 2 bag limit per person and the cost is $15.00 per person. I thought it was well worth it not to have to deal with all those bags. We just got up had a nice breakfast and got off the ship.

 

When we got off the ship in St. Maartan we really didn't have an excursion planned. We met a really nice guide (Leroy) and he took us on a tour of the dutch and french sides of the island and then stopped for us to do some shopping. We then went to the beach for 4 hours and he came back to pick us up and took us back to the ship. The cost was only $20.00 per person and he was really nice.

 

Lora

[Jimmanknows]

Leaving in a few days to spend some time in Orlando before our Nov 3rd Glory Cruise. I was hoping you could tell me which night was your least favorite in the dining room? I want to book at the Supper Club, but don't want to miss out on anything good in the regular dining room.

 

Thanks,

[Randy48]

We're going 3/1/08. I haven't been on Carnival since 2002, been on RCI 3 times since. It will be interesting how they compare. I've been on 6 previous Carnival cruises.

[As You Wish]

I'm heading out on the Glory Dec 1st. What is luggage express?

 

OV Cruiser, you should come check out our roll call for the 12/1/07 Glory sailing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=544344