Glory's Crew (5/24 sailing)

[taffy12]

I just wanted to take this opportunity to rave about Glory's crew, a group of people very deserving of the Silver Eagle award they just won. I just got off the May 24th sailing, my third cruise on Glory, and I must say, the crew and the experience as a whole just keeps getting better and better. At times I feel I'm more of a Royal Caribbean fan, liking their ships a bit better, perhaps, but nothing I've ever experienced even comes close to comparing to how friendly and hospitable, how helpful and personable Glory's crew continues to be. On my second sailing on her two years ago, we had several standout crewmembers absolutely go above and beyond to help us out when we needed it and to make sure everything was going alright with us (Dan in photography, Yvonne at shore excursions, and our Belizean room steward), but this time, the entire ship as a whole impressed us to no end. I'll admit that the people at the pursers desk were a little less than wonderful, but that was the only glitch on the whole cruise. The cruise director, Mark Price, is the best we've seen. His ease, comfort, and talent are apparent and he's oh-so-good at what he does, being friendly and hilarious without coming across as annoying, a trap many cruise directors can fall into. Assistant cruise director Jason was fabulous as well, laugh-out-loud funny, and he and social hosts Dan and Cory were always incredibly approachable and kind. They really helped make our cruise experience what it was and, despite having thousands of people on the ship, all made an effort to get to know us. They remembered who we were and what activities we'd done, had running jokes with us when we came across them around the ship. We enjoyed them very much, and though we didn't come across Philip was much, he seemed great too.

 

I always love our waiters, and head waiter Tomislav from Croatia was no exception. He was warm and friendly, charming and funny, and wonderful at handling both the children and the adults around us. If we ever had a problem, he quickly jumped to resolve the issue, and once when my mother beckoned him over to ask for a second serving of something, he hurried over concerned that something was wrong, teasing, "Don't scare me like that!"

 

The bar servers we came across were wonderful. The Peruvian - I never caught his name - serving our section in Platinum was always a friendly face and often already had a coke waiting for my sister when we arrived at the dining room. Another server by the theater memorized both sisters' drink orders and knew what to get them before they'd even ordered, and a couple of others went above and beyond in the helpfulness and friendliness department. When we tried to order two blue hurricane glasses in the theater on the last night and the server only had one, he told us to come by the lido bar later that night. It'd be closed, he said, but he'd still be there closing up and he'd give us a few glasses for free. Likewise, a couple of photographers kindly threw in a few extras, endearing us to them even more than their kindness and wit already had.

 

A couple of days into the cruise, our shower stopped draining properly and thus flooded the rest of the bathroom. It took us a couple of days to mention anything, but when we did finally tell our room steward about the problem on our way to dinner one night, he immediately called in the order. The maintenance people were already finishing up the repairs when we returned from dinner that night, and not only had they corrected the drain, but they'd completely changed out the shower head (ours was a little loose, but we could live with it) and shower curtain as well.

 

Even crewmembers that don't typically interact with guests impressed us on this trip. My sisters was holding our front-row seats in the theater one night and waved to a lighting guy as he walked past on stage, setting up for the show. When we'd all joined her, he came over and introduced himself as TJ, then spent several minutes just standing there talking to us. He was remarkably friendly and easy-going and, to show his appreciation for his new friends, he recognized us once he'd made it up into the lighting booth in the back of the theater. He waved to us, and a minute later turned a spotlight on and shifted it so that it shone right over us, then made it a strobe light for a second. That tickled us.

 

Lastly, the main gift shop had been selling these nice t-shirt and sweatshirt sets that I quite liked, but I spent a few days deciding whether or not I really wanted one because of the $35 price tag. When I eventually made up my mind and returned to buy the sets, they were gone. I asked a shopkeeper about it though, and she said she'd check for me, asking me to leave my name and stateroom number and then come by the next morning. When I walked in the following morning, she remembered me, greeting me by name, and pulled out the set I'd wanted.

 

And those are only the specific, standout examples. As a whole, Glory's crew continues to impress me and my loyalty to Carnival lies largely on the basis of their crew. I don't know how they do it, how their crew is to much friendlier and more personable than any other line's, but I'm already eager to sail with them again. We already have RCCL Freedom of the Seas booked for next year - an exciting ship we've yet to experience - but right now all I want to do is sail on Glory again!

[TERMITEJR]

Thanks for the remarks, I hope they keep it up since we'll be going in 11 days:)

[EngIceDave]

We're on Glory this Saturday, and your comments make me feel very comfortable

 

(and excited)

[cruzeluver]

That's wonderful to hear. I am always amazed by not only the skill with whitch crews perform their duties, but the high level of hospitality as well.

 

Confident about that Glory booking we've been discussing.

[punkidoodle]

Here's hoping that Carnival reads your "GLORIOUS" review of the crew on the Glory. Your experiences make me even more anxious to sail the Glory on 4/25/09.

[Blackchips Ahoy]

They are quite the amazing crew.:D

[crusinpsychRN]

Can't wait for my December cruise!

[bunny1954]

Have to echo all these sentiments. Glory staff were great on our October sailing. Glad to see that they have received some very well deserved recognition. :D

[twinss]

DH went on our first cruise in 2003 on Carnival Pride. The staff was playful, yet professional. In fact, we became such good friends with the bar staff, wait staff, etc. that I have fond memories of the time we spent together. They actually made our trip as good as it was. On our second cruise in 2006, we went NCL and was deeply disappointed. I won't get into the many other areas that NCL paled in comparison to CCL, but I will say their staff was uptight and nervous about losing their jobs. One night, a waiter in the bar spent quite some time talking to us and the next day he would only ask if he could get us another drink. He told us he had to be careful because "I am being watched and you dont want to get that knock on your door telling you its time to go home". Those were his exact words. Needless today, we are coming back to CCL for good. Glad to hear the staff is as wonderful as they were 5 years ago!

[Rockee4055]

Hey neighbor - Yes we felt the same way on the Glory in April.

 

Cory, one of the social hosts was absolutely great and fun to talk to. He would do his thing on the lido then come over to talk to us for a while. This was going on for a while until activities stopped.

 

What a great guy he was, yes, very approachable and easy to talk to.

[finoky]

Thanks for sharing. The Glory is still one of my favorite ships.:)

[BigDfromTN]

Thanks for the remarks, I hope they keep it up since we'll be going in 11 days:)

 

You must be gettin on when we get off of her...

 

We're on Glory this Saturday, and your comments make me feel very comfortable

 

(and excited)

 

Agreed Dave..............

See you Saturday on back of the Lido!

Cant WAIT!!!!!!!!!!

[fllady61]

the Glory, as you can see, is thusfar our favorite ship of the fleet also.

 

I have to agree about many of you remarks.

 

Our last cruise was an awesome one. The bar waiter was so cute, and there at the drop of a pin if I saw him and called his name, no matter where we were on the ship. His name was Alex, and he was from the Ukraine.

 

Everyone we met was exceptional on all our cruises as far as crew goes. Some of them were on our first Glory cruise or our Sensation cruise, and remembered us on the next cruise.

 

If this is your first trip on Glory, it is a shame that she is leaving port next September. I don't know where she is going. However, the Dream is taking her place, and I can't wait. I don't care what itenery it goes, i want to go on that ship.

 

My suggestion to you, is to go on line and look at the deck plans of the ship, and get to know where everything is, or the first cruise will be running in circles trying to find where you are wanting to be or need to be.

 

Just remember deck 5 is the heart of the ship. Most of the bars, the casino, entry to the Amber palace. Deck 3 and 4 are entries to the dining area but only through certain elevators. Entry to Amber Palace also on deck 3 & 4.

 

entry at ports is deck 0 or the crew deck. find the infirmery and you know where to go for that.

 

If you have kids, teens 15-17 will love club 02. My daughter is in there 90% of the time. She was not fond of what is now called circle c. and did not sail when young enough for camp carnival.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[sjcruiser]

Can't wait for my cruise, 69 days and counting.

[taffy12]

If this is your first trip on Glory, it is a shame that she is leaving port next September. I don't know where she is going. However, the Dream is taking her place, and I can't wait. I don't care what itenery it goes, i want to go on that ship.

 

:eek: Are you sure about this??? This is the first I've heard about Glory leaving! And she still has dates out of PC through the end of April, 2010... If she leaves, I'll be devastated... We'd planned to cruise on her the summer of '10 and try to hit her every other year... We adore that ship, adore the crew... I was greatly upset when they announced that Mariner is shifting to the west coast...I can't lose Glory too!!!!

[fllady61]

:eek: Are you sure about this??? This is the first I've heard about Glory leaving! And she still has dates out of PC through the end of April, 2010... If she leaves, I'll be devastated... We'd planned to cruise on her the summer of '10 and try to hit her every other year... We adore that ship, adore the crew... I was greatly upset when they announced that Mariner is shifting to the west coast...I can't lose Glory too!!!!

 

 

Yes. I am sure. I can not diverge my sources, but I am sure. Dream is taking her place. Glory will be in Dry Dock in September or October of 09. It will be updated with the new flat screen televisions, etc. What port she is going to, I don't know. would be nice if it was still Pt. Canaveral, and keep her itenary, and the Dream get a new itenary for the port. But my understanding is that Glory will be gone.

[EngIceDave]

If you have kids, teens 15-17 will love club 02. My daughter is in there 90% of the time. She was not fond of what is now called circle c. and did not sail when young enough for camp carnival.

 

 

If I may ask, how old is your daughter?

[NCTribeFan]

Saving those front-row seats in the theatre, huh? Shame on you! :p

 

I thought the crew on the Glory was efficient and friendly. The Miracle crew gets raves (and they were great), and I felt the crew on Glory was on a par with them.

 

I forgot to mention it in my 5/17 review, but I was in the buffet line one afternoon (which I normally didn't do as I always headed for the Fish & Chips), when I turned around, and there was a crew member at the dessert stand waving at me. I had no idea who this person was and I'm sure I looked over my shoulder trying to figure out who this guy was waving at!

 

Well, I went over and it was our assistant waiter. I never even found out his name. Shame on me!

 

We had eaten in the Emerald Room the night before and he wanted to know if we weren't coming back to the dining room. He was afraid we hadn't been happy in the Platinum and had decided to eat in the Red Sail. Both he and "J" were great.

 

My favorite drink server was Daniel in the casino. I'd never even met him and he stopped one night by my slot machine, greeted me by name, and asked where my daughter was, also by name! I guess he had brought her a drink one night, they chatted and she had pointed me out across the room. I was impressed!

 

Sigh. Makes me a bit nostalgic, all this.

[fllady61]

If I may ask, how old is your daughter?

 

 

she will be 16 in just over a month.

[Young cruiser]

i know this was awhile ago but i was on the Glory in Jan of 2007. We had the best time!!!!

 

My favorite erson on the staff was Ann she was the server at teh Ivory Bar. We stopped in everynight before and after diner and had a glass of wine and showd her our pictures from the day. She was so sweet. I know it was her job to be friendly to us and she did a great job. She was married to the head of house keeping and they spent their time off in Chile!!

 

We also met Tuffy our Munster drill inst. He played guitar in teh shows and was super sweet( and cute too!!!) He just happed to sit next to us at out Beach break in Cost Maya and we had a wonderful afternoon!!!

 

I LOVED the GLORY but want to see new places so i won't be sailing in her again until the ports change.....I am thinkign about the Triumph or the Pride next.

 

Thank you