Fortnight on Carnival Glory – Review – West/East B2B

[gypsyrose]

Thank you for the detailed review and pics of your L shaped room. I am trying to decide (I hate making decisions) between an aft balcony and the L shaped room. It looked like you barely had room at the foot of the bed or are pics deceiving? Would you book this room again? Not sure if I want a longer balcony or a deeper balcony. There are just 2 of us and a regular balcony always seems so small. Love the review!!

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

Thank you for the detailed review and pics of your L shaped room. I am trying to decide (I hate making decisions) between an aft balcony and the L shaped room. It looked like you barely had room at the foot of the bed or are pics deceiving? Would you book this room again? Not sure if I want a longer balcony or a deeper balcony. There are just 2 of us and a regular balcony always seems so small. Love the review!!

 

That may be a bit deceiving... there was a very comfortable walking passageway along the end of the bed (~3'). In some ways we missed the couch that is found in other rooms, but we really only used it to pile up our "stuff" on, and with this room, we used the second window ledge to do this.

 

We would definitely book this room again (unless budget forces us back into a something cheaper). We have never had an aft or wrap, but we looked at them (between cruise weeks), and to us, it seems much more private :D than the afts and wraps, and is much cheaper :) . DW and I never felt cramped for space.

[mattmdv]

JanesCruisingBuddy, Thank You so Much for your review!!! We have booked your cabin and the other "L" shaped cabin right next to yours for our upcoming cruise. My brother and his son will be in your cabin. Do you know if the balcony divider will open between these 2 cabins? Looking forward to reading more about the Glory.

 

Matt

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

…we were a bit disappointed when we found were seated in the “Golden Dining Room” (mid ship) as this meant much longer walks to supper (since our cabin was almost as aft as you can get). But we decided not to bother trying to change it, as we were more interested in trying to assure a particular table for the second week. We were seated at a rectangular table for 8 on the port side by a window. We really did not get a lot of benefit from the window, as the sunset basically as we sat each night, thus the only view most of the time was the black night. Only two of our table-mates showed up that first night, RC and Dianne from Orlando (I believe they made it for supper every night)(left). Ross and Lee (right) joined us on Sunday night and about 3 other nights. The 7th and 8th persons assigned to our table (# 212) never did make an appearance.

The supper companionship was fun each night. Our wait staff was very pleasant. Generally I felt they might have been a tad slow (particularly our “bar girl”), but who is in a hurry on a cruise. I usually like to drink 2-3 Cokes per meal, but often barely got my second, and seldom managed to get the 3rd… had to drink a lot more water… which obviously was better for me anyway.

Left to Right (above)…

Our Head Waiter was Shahabuddin from Pakistan. He said he had been working 24 years in the cruising industry, the past 14 years with Carnival. He said he worked 8 months on board, then would go home for 1 month. This arrangement allowed him to meet a new child before returning to the ship each time.

Our Bar Tender was Alexsandra from Serbia. She was definitely pleasant enough, but I never did learn much about her.

The Assistant Waiter was Melvin from Honduras. On Thursday (with the Glory now on the new “Roatan” itinerary, he saw his wife for the first time in 4 months. He seemed to have a “glow” (or would that be an afterglow) about him that night and remained in a particularly good mood the rest of the week. He knew he would be back to Roatan Honduras every other Thursday for a while.

Overall, we would give the meals about a 4.5 out of 5 for the week. My wife is a great cook, but these were definitely higher end meals than we are used to eating, although I am sure there are some people who are used to expecting even more. Best of all, we never had to lift a finger to prepare them or clean up after them. There was always something interesting to try, and for a change, I was somewhat adventurous. At the same time, there was always something “safe” and “good” on the regular alternate menu.

Of course, the Warm Melting Chocolate Cake was always excellent, but DW found a cheesecake that she thought was even better… I will try to find out from her what that was (I think it was only served once each week). I particularly enjoyed the spare-ribs.

We enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the dining room including the “entertainment” …

…which averaged at least every other night. Overall dining experience, probably a 4.7 out of 5.

After supper, we roamed around a bit, visited karaoke in the ebony lounge, bar blue, window shopped and danced a bit. We made it back to our room a bit after midnight. DW sat on the bed and fell asleep immediately. I had to undress/dress her and tuck her in. I read for a bit and went to sleep. A GREAT embarkation day back on the Glory!!!

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

JanesCruisingBuddy, Thank You so Much for your review!!! We have booked your cabin and the other "L" shaped cabin right next to yours for our upcoming cruise. My brother and his son will be in your cabin. Do you know if the balcony divider will open between these 2 cabins? Looking forward to reading more about the Glory.

 

Matt

 

I am not 100% positive, but I believe it looked lik it would...

[punkidoodle]

What an INCREDIBLE review. I feel like I'm there with you....keep it coming.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

This was Mark Price's first week back on the Glory. We were glad to have him, he was CD on the Glory when we took our first cruise in May of 05. He is quite funny, connects well with the crowd and the individual. He is not "over the top" and certainly gets his job done and and keeps the show(s) rolling along.

 

Some of his jokes sounded a bit familiar, but one expects some of that.

 

Interesting how the exact same thing happened "just last night" both in Freeport (week 1)and St. Marteens (week 2) :) .

[MonaCD]

Hey, we had that cabin 6450 on the Arpril 5 sailing, don't suppose you found all those casino chips I seemed to have mislayed? ;)

 

Our friends were in the corner aft cabin and we had the divider opened between our balconies so we were able to use their wider balcony with the loungers and then come to our more shaded side when we got too hot.

 

I kind of missed the couch but I really enjoyed the longer balcony, we spent more time out there then in the cabin anyway. And Johnny was a great guy!

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

The aft pool is clearly marked "Children must be accompanied by adult." so yes, children are allowed in the aft pool.

 

However...

 

...the two Hot Tubs in the aft are another story. They are clearly marked Adult Only, (although they do not try to define what an adult is, and sometimes you have to wonder about how "adult" some of the older people are:D ).

 

On Saturday I saw two children get into the Hot Tubs, and within a couple minutes Security was there to send them on their way. I think it was Sunday that I saw 3 or 4 children join their parents in the Hot Tubs, and again, within 3-4 minutes security was there sending them on their merry way. On at least one other occassion I saw a child enter the one of these hot tubs, and this time one of the floor cleaning guys approached the area and sent the child along.

 

I made it a point to speak to the floor cleaner to thank him/them for "policing" this.

 

It was nice to have a retreat where you could go apart frorm the children.

 

[speaking of children, overall there were very few on board and from what I saw, they were under control.]

 

The other "Adult Only" (top deck) area was occasionally being used by several individuals as it used to be used and promoted.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

Hey, we had that cabin 6450 on the Arpril 5 sailing, don't suppose you found all those casino chips I seemed to have mislayed? ;)

 

...

 

I kind of missed the couch but I really enjoyed the longer balcony, we spent more time out there then in the cabin anyway. And Johnny was a great guy!

 

Ooohhh I am really sorry I never found those chips, but even if I had, they likely would never have done you any good.

 

Yeah, you really do not need a couch when you have a nice balcony out on the Caribbean.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

We enjoyed sleeping in late on Sunday (8 or 8:30). Once we got moving, DW went to the “Silver by the Inch” sale and did her thing there (with my blessing) and I went to Lido to get my clubs and join the CC Roll-Call group for our putt-putt tournament (DW came along after the sale).

About 18 of us gathered and had a fun time.

Some of the greatest times were discovering what was brought fro “prizes” (each couple brought an item or two that was indigenous to their home area).

We really made this cruise a relaxing time, we both kind of did our “own thing” by times, if one wanted to relax, they did. In the afternoon DW rested, I walked the around a bit, watched the ice-carving. somehow I missed the ice carving on previous cruises, it was fun to watch, but no real surprise in what he carved.

Also watched a couple in the Water-Wars area...

This evening was Formal Night. We went and picked up DWs silver acquisitions, went off to supper and got some formal pictures taken. I love seeing so many people dressed up (I admit, I like seeing the ladies in a formal gown even more than seeing them in a bikini).

After supper we changed and headed to the aft pool and hot tubs for a swim and soak.

We decided to save tonight’s show for next week (since they basically run the same shows each week, we figured we would do half of them each week, making the evenings less rushed). Things do change some though, but more on that later.

Back to our stateroom around midnight, and another GREAT day on the Glory comes to an end.

[crusinpsychRN]

The hot tubs seems to really block the view of the pool. I've never seen them built up and together like that.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

Carnival Triumph and Ecstasy were already in, one arriving at 8 and the other at 9 (am).

Glory arrived at 10. We got off the ship early and headed right to Paradise Beach.

Taxi Error – point of warning – we made the mistake of following the directions of people on the pier that mislead you into thinking you have to go up, over and through the shopping center which results in you landing at a back taxi stand. Apparently you can turn left as you come off the pier and find taxis. At this taxi stand, the rates are posted at $ 13.00 to Paradise Beach, and thus that is what they charge. Where we landed, the rates were not posted, ant the drivers get away with ripping of the uninformed tourist (like us)… he took us for $ 15.00. Paradise Tom (at Paradise Beach) filled us in on what was going on here (live and learn… it is ok, we are on a cruise)… (Coming back we only paid the $ 13.00).

Arriving relatively early at the beach we basically had our choice of location on the beach. We chose a spot down to the left, almost to the pier (we had used this area back in ’05). In ’05 we had found that the entrance into the water was a bit rough here, but after getting over a bit of coral/rock, it got nice and sandy. Not so now. The coral is much more revealed (since the hurricane that hit after we had been there) and thus it is VERY difficult to enter the water from this area now. It is best to stay on the right half of the beach for water access, but since we were basically there to soak up the rays, that did not bother us too much, we just walked to the sandy area. We did pay for “water-toy” bracelets ($ 10.00 each)… but never did get around to using any (live and learn… it is ok, we are on a cruise).

I did miss the presence of hammocks this year. I had enjoyed laying in them under the palm trees before.

It was fun watching the youth climbing the iceberg and playing on the trampolines.

During one of my dips in the water, I lost my watch. Maybe some lucky snorkel-er will find it some day, it was only about 8 months old and rated as waterproof to 50’. (If you snorkel, look off the left end of the left water-mat).

Food – I enjoyed a good Buffalo Chicken Wrap and DW got Nachos and a Club Wrap. It was all a good size serving, we did not finish it all. Cost was ~ $ 27.00 + tip. Fellow Coke lovers will be a bit disappointed as they serve the other stuff (Pepsi).

We left the beach in time to have ~ 1 hour for shopping and an extra ½ hour for getting on board (we do not like to cut it too close).

Back on board we went to supper, roamed the ship and relaxed.

Again, we did not attend the evening’s show.

[Georgiagolfer]

– After Muster Drill we had sufficient time to return our life vests to the cabin and to get out on deck. We chose to head for the front end on decks 9 and 10… many of our roll-call group planned to ‘meet and greet’ at this location. It was nice to spend a few minutes with so many that we had spent so much time with planning the cruise.

Something that will always amaze me is how cruising levels the playing ground. Having shared with each other for months on the roll-call, you knew we all came from extremely varied backgrounds, but on a cruise, as you cross paths with people, I very seldom have the feeling that one person is “better” or “worse” than me in any regard (financially, morally, environmentally etc.). We are all simply “cruisers” experiencing a common past-time. I like that! (Thank you May 3’ers and May 10’ers…)

 

Although one misses some of the crowd (and sail-away party) when you are up on these front decks, I like the view…

 

(from the wing out over the bridge, looking back to the terminal on the starboard side)

 

 

… honestly, I enjoy the quiet peaceful nature of it too.

 

We watched them release the last lines…

 

 

 

 

And soon we were off on our adventure…

 

 

 

 

 

 

(and another couple shots of “Grills” as we sailed out - Grills is just a bit ahead of/beyond the larger casino ship you see above on the left edge of the waterway)

 

 

 

After we passed Grills, we made our way back to central Lido for a while (saw a manatee off the port side), roamed back to the aft end for a bit and then went down to our cabin to sail-away on our own spacious balcony. All of our luggage was waiting outside our stateroom for us, so we were able to get it unpacked before supper. As we had late seating for supper, we even had time for a little nap.

JCB, You forgot to mention about the young man on the small boat that "mooned" :eek: us as we left port, and the young woman that "Balooned" :D us (DW labeled this when the woman pulled her shirt up) at Grills restaurant. Maybe you and the DW were not on deck with us when this happened? Anywho, just the start of a "Glorious week.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

JCB, You forgot to mention about the young man on the small boat that "mooned" :eek: us as we left port, and the young woman that "Balooned" :D us (DW labeled this when the woman pulled her shirt up) at Grills restaurant. Maybe you and the DW were not on deck with us when this happened? Anywho, just the start of a "Glorious week.

 

We saw the "mooning" but missed the "Balooning". I took 3 pics of Grills, I will have to take a closer look to see if I caught anything unexpedtedly...

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

Day 4 - Belize…

We got up, had breakfast, and tendered…

…to shore…

as quickly as they would let us (VIPs and thus with early Carnival Excursions get to tender first), did our shopping, and rushed back to the ship for a relaxing port day on-board.

Couples Massage

We barely made it back in time for our Spa appointment. Neither of us had ever had a massage before, but had decided to splurge and get a Couples Massage. For those who might have been like ourselves, and not know what to expect, upon arrival at the spa they ask you to complete a basic medical questionnaire, and then the masseuses come and take you into the room.

The room was actually two rooms with the dividing wall pulled back. They each reviewed the questionnaire with each of us, asking what we were hoping to achieve (…daaa, we really did not know how to answer that, “just a relaxing massage, I guess”…). They then left the room, asking us to undress (underwear on or off, up to us – we both chose ...) and climb under a few layers of blankets/towels on the bench.

They returned and had us roll over on our stomachs with our heads in the “hoops” at the end of the bench. They uncover a leg or a shoulder etc. at a time, never revealing your privates. When they ask you to roll over, they stood between the two tables and discreetly raised the blanket above their heads so they could not see, and when you indicated you were ready, they draped the blanket back down over you. They then covered your eyes with a cloth and a light ‘bean-bag type” weight, and proceed to do the front of your legs, arms, shoulders, scalp, etc. At the end, they left to let you re-dress, and returned to discuss where they found knots etc., and to make their sales pitch (I simply said we would not be buying anything, and they let the pitch go).

I do not know what could be done differently, but I had hoped that the experience of a Couples Massage would in some way be a bit more intimate (maybe not the right word) between DW and self. We thought we would at least be able to look at each other and that our tables might be close enough that we might perhaps hold hands occasionally. We really might as well been in two separate rooms, the experience did not allow us to “connect” in any real way.

Back to our rooms, we ordered sandwiches from room service and spent most of the rest of the afternoon on our balcony. Sailing away from Belize we say a really nice looking Cay than was so tempting, we almost wanted to dive and swim to it and stay there.

We went to supper, and mentioned the Cay to our table-mates… they were quite convinced that it was the place they had gone to on their excursion to snorkel.

Two entertainers were supposed to board the ship in Belize, but due to sickness and flight problems, the evening show had to be changed. Thus, tonight, they had an unscheduled comedian (who would not be back next week), so we went to the show… I think we both thought it was so-so… and by times a bit too “adult” for the general show ( I believe he was doing an adult show later, he could have saved that stuff till then)… some parents did leave with their children, but could not get out fast enough to protect innocent ears and minds.

We spent the evening roaming the decks, bars and did a bit of dancing, went back to the stateroom, relaxed, and fell fast asleep.

.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

Roatan became one of the prime highlights of our cruise(s). Started with Room Service Breakfast. Glory arrived at port about 8 am. We debarked quickly, found Victor Bodden’s place just across the street to the left outside the port fence.

After reading reviews on CC, we had requested one of 3 tour guides. We were given our # 1 request, Ali. We went straight out to Pirates Ziplines, and were the first to arrive. We were harnessed up before some of the staff even arrived, and the two of us were taken off by van to climb a steep rough hillside to get to the top. As we exited the van, we saw “the path” that would lead us away…

Just inside that clump of trees were the starting points for the two ziplines, the regular one that goes through the jungle, and the Extreme course that criss-cross back and forth over the valley below. Of course, we had selected “Extreme.” The starting platform had quite a drop off the end. One guide went across ahead of us, while the second guide gave us some basic instructions (nothing difficult). He also volunteered to take our camera and take pictures for us. I went next, and then DW. She said she ran to the edge of the platform and chickened out twice before successfully jumping on the third try. The second guide always followed us.

You always had to run a bit to launch your self off the platform. At one crossing, I did not run quite hard enough, and did not quite make it to the other side (I suspect it was due to my weight, I likely created a bit more sag… I was very close to their suggested limit even before 4 days of eating on the Glory). No problem, the guide on the finishing end simply came out with a rope that was tethered at the end. He had me hold on to his harness, and then he pulled us in with the rope.

Each run was definitely a thrill. I would love to do this again some day, maybe next time through the jungle for a bit of a different experience. After we left we asked Ali about the woman who had died in a fall at a Roatan Zipline a month or so earlier (we purposely did not ask till after we went). He said it was not Pirates, it was one of the ones near West Bay… the one the cruise lines use.

Ali then took us across the island to West Bay. Along the way we saw a couple shipwrecks, here is one of them.

The island was very scenic, lovely greens contrasting with the sea and sky blues. Very nice.

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More on Roatan to follow...

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

We had asked to be taken to a nice beach at West Bay where we could get a Coke and a couple lounge chairs. Ali took us to…

They did indeed sell cold Coke and had a lovely beach with warm water and lounge chairs.

If you look to the top left corner of the above pic. you will see in the shadows the out line of a structure. Below is a better picture of that cabin.

Sure looks like a nice resort to consider for a land-based vacation. We saw another cabin that was actually a tree-house, you entered it by walking up a circular staircase that went around the trunk of the tree.

We made our way back to the port and did some shopping in the local markets. Before we left Ali (who has several children and is studying to become a Pentecostal pastor), we thanked him and gave him a very generous tip for providing us with a perfect day.

The cruise lines are building a more modern shopping area at the pier…

URL=http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2321011790102554210ewPrLk][/url]

…that will of course make more money for them and take it away from the locals. The local markets have a lot of nice locally made things, and the bigger items they will UPS right to your home door.

Did you notice how clear the water was in the harbor in front of the construction… here is a better picture.

You can see right to the bottom…

Back on board again by ~ 2:30, we roamed the ship a bit, and then went to our stateroom and ordered in via Room Service and relaxed until we went to the early showtime in the Ebony Cabaret with the dancers, then roamed a bit more before going to supper.

Since the main show entertainer had not made it to the ship, Mark Price (the CD) put on a Hypnosis show in the Amber Palace around 10 or 10:30. He really did quite well, very entertaining. (He did put the show on in the Ebony Cabaret late in the week during the May 10 cruise.)

Again we went dancing, roamed a bit, visited the Karaoke in the Ebony Cabaret before going back to the room to retire for the night (morning).

[MonaCD]

Day 4 - Belize…

 

 

 

Back to our rooms, we ordered sandwiches from room service and spent most of the rest of the afternoon on our balcony. Sailing away from Belize we say a really nice looking Cay than was so tempting, we almost wanted to dive and swim to it and stay there.

 

 

We went to supper, and mentioned the Cay to our table-mates… they were quite convinced that it was the place they had gone to on their excursion to snorkel.

 

.

 

That is Goff's Caye and is offered as snorkelling excursion through Carnival and it is a great experience. I've done it both times I've been to Belize.

[crusinpsychRN]

What did you order from room service?

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

Before the cruise DW ordered 8 soda drink coupons to be delivered to me at dinner the first night (of each cruise). Her thinking was that we could use them with Room Service to pay for our Cokes (which we knew would not be covered by our soda Cards). Well, she was wrong, Room Service would not accept the coupons. So we simply went to a bar, got the cans, brought the cans to the room, and kept them in the mini-fridge. It did work nicely for us.

 

Getting the cards were another story. Week 1 - According to a card that was in our room when we got there on day 1, they were to be delivered at dinner the first night. They did not come. The next day DW went to the purser's desk and was told "first night" really meant tonight (second dinner) (I think they were actually just trying to cover for someone - but hey, we are cruising, everything will be all right). Again they did not come, so I brought it up at the dining room with the assistant matre'di. (spelling ?) He said he would look into it and either have at dinner the next night (for sure). Night 3, dinner, they never came again, and no explanation was offered. I brought it up again, and they said we got them the first night. We said "no we didn't." They brought in the "Hostess" who said she had looked into it, and she had the card where we had signed for them... we said, "no you don't". She produced the card that showed they had been signed for by someone (but not us) at a table far away from our table. They said the would deliver them that night... we got them the following night at supper.

 

But we are on a cruise, so all is alright!!!

 

Week 2 - again a card in our room saying we would get the coupon in the Dining Room the 1st. night. Problem was, we had arranged during week 1 to switch dining rooms for week two. So, on night 1, the wrong dining room had them, they sent them to the other room (but it too 22 hours for them to get them there). On night 2 our correct dining room had them, but we were in the supper club, so, again we did not get them till night 3. A little better than week 1, and we really could not fault them too much this time.

 

Hey, but we were still cruising, so all was still alright!!!!

[JaguarGirl]

Gosh I love reading this review. It's my dream to do a b2b cruise sometime in my life. I loved the Glory and hope to sail on her again some time. I've been waiting all weekend.

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

What did you order from room service?

 

We ordered several times over the two weeks, i do not remember what we ordered each time, but we had...

 

For breakfast: cereals, danishs, bagels and cream cheese, juices

 

At other times: sandwiches (everything from clubs, to ham and 2 cheeses, to toasted peanut butter and jam, to some specialty sandwiches) which come with potato chips (I sometime saved my chips and I admid once I even ordered a sandwich just because I wanted some more chips to eat as a snack while watching TV - before falling asleep), cookies, brownies (?), cake and "desert of the day"... never knew what that would be, but DW was adventerous, and said she got perhaps the best desert of the week... some kind of cheese cake.

[TakeMeAway1001]

What a great review, thanks for sharing :)

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

We really slept in today… till ~ 9 am. DW and I thought we might like to split up for a bit, so she headed off to the Library and I went roaming the ship again…

 

Lido Lido Mini Golf Course

 

…but I wasn’t long before I was missing my cruising buddy. I went looking for her in all the places she had talked about visiting, but could not find her. It was lunchtime before we connected, and we went to the Platinum Dining Room for a bit to eat. I tried not to eat too much, because 1 pm meant the Chocolate Buffet… to which we promptly went, and I successfully piled too much on my plate… but it was good!!!!

 

In the afternoon we roamed around a bit, read and caught some rays (neither of us are burnt yet… we are doing well), relaxed, and watched a few minutes of “King of the Mountain” (aka Hairy Chest Contest).

 

It was formal night again, all the girls were out in their pretty dresses. We did more formal pictures.

 

After supper we went to the 10:30 “Rock Down Broadway” show in the Amber Palace. I really enjoyed the show, DW said it was very simular to the show on the Valor last fall (I did not pick up on that so much), but still enjoyable. Afterwards we roamed the ship some more, and danced a bit. We enjoyed watching a couple newly weds in the lobby atrium.

 

 

We looked in on the “Grand Gala Buffet” at midnight, but to be honest, the line up just did not seem worth it just to go and look (we were not at all hungry). Likely if we had waited another 30 minutes access would not have been bad, but we were also very tired and just went back to the room, watched a bit of TV till DW fell asleep and then I read a bit till I was asleep.

 

So, for yet another great day of cruising on the Glory, the sun sets again…

 

 

 

[Click on any of the pictures in this thread to see them full size on WebShots.]

 

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