Glory review w/pics 10/4-10/11

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

...I have just finished reading page 1 (of the 3) of this thread. I am really enjoying re-living our Glory experiences. We took Maple Syrup to Tom too back in May. I wanted to take the good Maritime stuff, but was afraid we would not be able to get it past airport security. Ended up buying some at the Bangor Airport gift shop.

 

PB is great, been there twice and hope to get back some time. Sorry to read about your room steward troubles... I hope things improved as the week progressed... I guess I need to go back and read on.

 

Since I am just starting page two of the thread, I am not yet sure how much you have written, so, if you are not yet done, please keep it coming... the pictures are great too!

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

In Roatan we booked a driver for the day through Victor Bodden, we requested ... and that is who we got.

...we decided head towards West End or West Bay...

 

Reached the picture limit in this post so I will post more in another one

 

We really enjoyed Roatan... it was our first time there, and we also booked a specific driver (Ali) through Victor. Ali had been recommended on CC. We too got our requested driver and had a great day.

 

I see the port area has developed a lot since May, the building were just going up then.

 

We too went to West Bay, Ali took us to a beautiful resort (Fosters West Bay Resort). Beach was great. Nice and quiet, GREAT water!

 

Don't you just hate it when you get to the picture limit... keep it coming...

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thanks for the great review!

 

We are sailing on the Glory on Valentine's Day and are in Cabin 9270 on the Lido deck. Now I am starting to worry about the condition of our cabin and the cabin stewart not doing his job. Were you also on the port side?

 

TIA

Liz

 

No we were on the other side, I did pass your cabin to be though when I went to the laundry room. I believe 9270 is across from the laundry area :) The Lido location was the best!

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

...

Things I really didn’t like on this cruise:

 

* Unsupervised little kids in the hot tubs.

One night, I think it was our last night we were up on the Lido/Adults pool/spa deck and watched as a family hung out. Mom and Dad resting in a lounge chair while DD & DS played in and around the pool. I think it was close to 11pm, both of the children were scooting on their knees picking the small 1X1” decorative tiles off of the pool sitting wall. Granted the ones they were ripping off were loose but what is up with that? The kids were pulling them off and handing them to Mom & Dad to hold for them. I don’t understand what would possess an adult to think that is alright to do. Oh yeah I forgot they paid for their cruise, lol.

 

* Wasted food, mostly by children loading up huge plates and take a bite or two. Where are the parents when this is going on, teach your kids to only take what they plan on eating. Seeing all the wasted food was truly a shame!

 

* Kids running around like animals, trashing the ice cream area, leaving food/drinks on stairs, in elevators, dropping food and leaving it for someone else to clean up. Yelling and being obnoxious at shows, you know you see them on most every cruise, it’s not all kids but a good majority.

...

Would I sail Carnival again, absolutely! I know the things I didn’t like are going to happen and I know there isn’t anything I can do about it except be thankful that my family/children don’t act like circus animals while on vacation.

 

...

 

We have been so fortunate when it comes to kids on the cruises we have been on. We have cruised 3 times in the first two weeks of may and once in the second week of September... almost no kids on board each week. The timing choice is sure worth it to us. We had our days of vacationing with kids, now that the kids have moved on, we too are ready to move on and vacation without ours and/or anyone elses :) .

 

 

Thanks again for your review.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Janescruisingbuddy~

 

We had a really nice time, we saw Ali the day we were there, seems him and Tex are talked about a lot on this board :)

 

 

Once I am done with my review and adding a few more pics I am going to make sure to let Victor know how much we enjoyed our day :) Sheesh this review process is quite the task. I was excited to have two full days off before returning to work but this has consumed most of it, ahh what the heck it was fun and I learned a few things in the process :)

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

...Once I am done with my review and adding a few more pics I am going to make sure to let Victor know how much we enjoyed our day :)

 

That is a great idea, I ought to do that too... thanks.

 

Sheesh this review process is quite the task. I was excited to have two full days off before returning to work but this has consumed most of it, ahh what the heck it was fun and I learned a few things in the process :)

 

It is really quite a process isn't it (I think it took me over two weeks to complete my B2B review). I really thank you for your efforts.

[LRene]

Did you happen to notice at the Westin / Sheraton if they are still allowing cruise passengers to pay a fee and use their beach and pool facilities?

 

So many similarities in our trip coming up this weekend. We're headed to Paradise Beach in Coz, cave-tubing.com in Belize, have Victor AND Tex reserved in Roatan and were going to Our Lucaya in Freeport. Thank you SO MUCH for your review. I really enjoyed reading about all the places we will be next week.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Did you happen to notice at the Westin / Sheraton if they are still allowing cruise passengers to pay a fee and use their beach and pool facilities?

 

So many similarities in our trip coming up this weekend. We're headed to Paradise Beach in Coz, cave-tubing.com in Belize, have Victor AND Tex reserved in Roatan and were going to Our Lucaya in Freeport. Thank you SO MUCH for your review. I really enjoyed reading about all the places we will be next week.

 

I am not sure, we only asked if we could get something to eat/drink when we were outside and they said "sure". No one questioned us or gave us a second glance but we didn't try to use the pool either. I can say there were maybe a dozen guests total at the pools. It can't hurt to ask, I would love to hear what you end up doing.

 

That really is funny we have such a similar agenda, you are going to have a ball!

[Froufie]

Did you happen to notice at the Westin / Sheraton if they are still allowing cruise passengers to pay a fee and use their beach and pool facilities?

 

So many similarities in our trip coming up this weekend. We're headed to Paradise Beach in Coz, cave-tubing.com in Belize, have Victor AND Tex reserved in Roatan and were going to Our Lucaya in Freeport. Thank you SO MUCH for your review. I really enjoyed reading about all the places we will be next week.

 

 

I emailed the Sheraton a few months ago - here is their response!

 

 

I refer to your inquiry to our Customer Service Department, please be advised; there is a charge of $10.00 for a day pass for chairs & towels for the beach only, this is permitted at the Sheraton. Showers are located at the beach. The pool facilities are off limits for both the Westin and Sheraton, the pool is for registered guest of the Resort only. You do have access to the restaurants.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

Thank you for choosing the Westin Grand Bahama Island Resort and should you require further assistance please feel free to contact me.

[SecondComing]

Thank you for such a wonderful review. We really enjoyed the slideshow of the horseback riding, you guys really had fun!!

I hope we can find an excursion that offers horses on our upcoming Southern Carribean (our first ever cruise yeah!!)

[b521028]

We were on the same cruise, actually your neighbor in cabin 9270, I just will add my review with yours, I would love to post pics, but living in the country, I only have dial up, and uploading a single pic would take forever.

 

Ok, it was me, 29 and dh 30, married 11 years come Nov, without children, we have cruised 6 times with RCCL, and Disney, this was our first carnival cruise. We did a pre trip at Daytona beach, stayed at the Wyndam Ocean Walk, great place, 5 pools, slide and lazy river, mini golf, great gym, etc...

 

We have sailed out of Port Canaveral 4 times, all goes smooth, on ship at about 11:45 and in room by 1:30, got all our bags shortly after. Safetry drill, a pain, waited forvever for everyone to show up late, very annoying. About our room, it was nice, and clean, but have to agree with you about bug bites. Now, we normally have stayed in junior suites (on rccl), but chose this 8E for location, and it was very nice, quiet, and close to everything. It was so nice to go pick up a snack at the buffet or ice cream and bring it back to our room.

 

The ship, I can't believe that its only like 5 years old or so, so ran down imo, needs fresh paint, and even some deck chairs on higher decks were broken. Good thing its going into drydock in Sep 09, it needs it!

 

Ok, food, it was just ok, not bad but compared to all my other cruises the worse of those. One morning our pancakes were like rocks, we got new york strip in the dining room and I make a steak at home better, the chocolate melting cake that many adore, to me, take a cake mix, stick it in the oven don't bake it all the way , ok melting cake! All the desserts were disappointing, chocolate buffet, the desserts there were to rich for my taste , but the ribs were wonderful, fell off the bone, bread, although not extremely soft but the best of any other cruises I have taken. The pizza was good, and all the food we had from the grille was good. What also bothered us was that they normally only had 1 grille open, 1 buffet line open etc, and the waits at times were not even worth it. Also I felt like they needed to be open later. I agree with you about the kids at the ice cream stations , my dh was getting ice cream and before he was even done, a small boy stuck his cone beside my husbands and started getting his, lol.

 

We have sailed disney and have never seen more kids and more people in general then any other cruise, public areas were almost always packed and this was frusturating. Kids aren't even suppose to be in the hot tubs but thats all we saw. Needless to say we weren't in the pools or hot tubs once. Too crowded when we wanted to get in.

 

Entertainment, we didn't go to all the shows but the ones we did go too we left early, we didn't care for them but everyone has different views. We like trivia, but on carnival was not impressed had to wait for thing to start, same trivia questions at different sessions, only 1 ship on the stick for entire winning group, not that I'd want one, lol, but we won and gave ours too a little girl because there was 4 of us. I love name that tune, but on carnival it was like don't forget the lyrics, I didn't want to sing in front of everyone and didn't do it, only 2 people participated ,and it lasted 2 songs.

 

Ok so the ship and onboard was just ok for us, we wouldn't sail carnival again, but everyone again has different experiences. Ours, not so great.

 

As far as the ports , we have been to Cozumel before , done Chankanaab swim with dolphins, this time went to Nachi Cocom Beach Club, very private, peaceful, good food, enjoyed it. At Roatan, dh went scuba diving with dolphins at Anthonys key resort, he has dived at many islands but said this was his best dive and he really enjoyed it, payed 50 for a wonderful dvd of the dive itself. At Belize, shopped, at Freeport went to Lucaya marketplace and beach, had a good time. If anyone has any questions for me, feel free.

[ImLovingCruising]

Do you guys think the bug bites on your legs are bed bugs?

[CassNCourtsMom]

http://slideshow-2.snipergal8541.imageloop.com/

 

 

 

 

* Auto sensor Purell dispensers around the ship.

 

Things I really didn’t like on this cruise:

 

* The majority of the staff seemed cranky in my opinion. On the Legend last year the staff was amazing. Rarely did a staff member pass us on the Legend and not say hello and smile. We didn’t see that this time, not sure what is up but a smile and a hello goes a long way.

 

 

 

* Smokers on the non smoking side.

 

 

 

 

I was on the same cruise and I totally agree on these 3 points. I was really shocked at how unfriendly most of the crew members seemed. Too bad we never managed to run into each other.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thank you for such a wonderful review. We really enjoyed the slideshow of the horseback riding, you guys really had fun!!

I hope we can find an excursion that offers horses on our upcoming Southern Carribean (our first ever cruise yeah!!)

 

Thanks :)

We did have a great time, I am so glad we planned excursions that were a little different than what we would normally do. DH is still telling people about me riding my own ATV, lol.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Do you guys think the bug bites on your legs are bed bugs?

 

I have no clue but it really starting to gross me out, they weren't little bites they were huge and unbelievably itchy. There is one by my ankle that although its healing appears to be getting infected so I will be having the Dr at work take a look tomorrow. I am getting itchy thinking about it right now.

[TakeMeAway1001]

I was on the same cruise and I totally agree on these 3 points. I was really shocked at how unfriendly most of the crew members seemed. Too bad we never managed to run into each other.

 

So far it seems to be the general feeling that others have had too about the staffs demeanor. Did you guys end up going to Paradise Beach? I tried to find two little girls that might fit your daughters ages but didn't have any luck once it got busy. We had a great time at all the ports, did you end up doing the dolphin swim?

[TakeMeAway1001]

We were on the same cruise, actually your neighbor in cabin 9270, I just will add my review with yours, I would love to post pics, but living in the country, I only have dial up, and uploading a single pic would take forever.

Well even with DSL it takes forever, it has pretty much taken up my two days off of work, lol. But I learned a lot about adding pics/slideshows etc.

 

Ok, it was me, 29 and dh 30, married 11 years come Nov, without children, we have cruised 6 times with RCCL, and Disney, this was our first carnival cruise. We did a pre trip at Daytona beach, stayed at the Wyndam Ocean Walk, great place, 5 pools, slide and lazy river, mini golf, great gym, etc...

 

We have sailed out of Port Canaveral 4 times, all goes smooth, on ship at about 11:45 and in room by 1:30, got all our bags shortly after. Safetry drill, a pain, waited forvever for everyone to show up late, very annoying. About our room, it was nice, and clean, but have to agree with you about bug bites. Now, we normally have stayed in junior suites (on rccl), but chose this 8E for location, and it was very nice, quiet, and close to everything. It was so nice to go pick up a snack at the buffet or ice cream and bring it back to our room.

I love sailing out of PC, its always been so smooth. Well with the exception of the bomb scare that delayed us it went well. I too hate waiting for stragglers to show up, but learned they are the ones who get to enjoy the comfort of not having to breathe on the neck of the one in front of you. Next time I wont be late but I wont strive to be first either.

I love staying on the Lido and plan on trying another balcony on the Lido next cruise.

 

 

The ship, I can't believe that its only like 5 years old or so, so ran down imo, needs fresh paint, and even some deck chairs on higher decks were broken. Good thing its going into drydock in Sep 09, it needs it!

 

DH was amazed to at how worn the ship looked, once I took the time to really look I saw it too. She is certainly ready for drydock.

 

Ok, food, it was just ok, not bad but compared to all my other cruises the worse of those. One morning our pancakes were like rocks, we got new york strip in the dining room and I make a steak at home better, the chocolate melting cake that many adore, to me, take a cake mix, stick it in the oven don't bake it all the way , ok melting cake! All the desserts were disappointing, chocolate buffet, the desserts there were to rich for my taste , but the ribs were wonderful, fell off the bone, bread, although not extremely soft but the best of any other cruises I have taken. The pizza was good, and all the food we had from the grille was good. What also bothered us was that they normally only had 1 grille open, 1 buffet line open etc, and the waits at times were not even worth it. Also I felt like they needed to be open later. I agree with you about the kids at the ice cream stations , my dh was getting ice cream and before he was even done, a small boy stuck his cone beside my husbands and started getting his, lol.

We enjoyed the pizza and the grill wasn't bad either, I agree the lines were long especially after the late shows when we were hungry.

 

We have sailed disney and have never seen more kids and more people in general then any other cruise, public areas were almost always packed and this was frusturating. Kids aren't even suppose to be in the hot tubs but thats all we saw. Needless to say we weren't in the pools or hot tubs once. Too crowded when we wanted to get in.

 

It is frustrating when there are kids running amok and the staff just ignores it. I can't understand the facination with kids and hot tubs especially when its 85' outside. Nor can I understand why a parent would allow their young child to go under water in a hot tub, talk about dangerous and dirty combined, yuck!

 

Entertainment, we didn't go to all the shows but the ones we did go too we left early, we didn't care for them but everyone has different views. We like trivia, but on carnival was not impressed had to wait for thing to start, same trivia questions at different sessions, only 1 ship on the stick for entire winning group, not that I'd want one, lol, but we won and gave ours too a little girl because there was 4 of us. I love name that tune, but on carnival it was like don't forget the lyrics, I didn't want to sing in front of everyone and didn't do it, only 2 people participated ,and it lasted 2 songs.

 

Ok so the ship and onboard was just ok for us, we wouldn't sail carnival again, but everyone again has different experiences. Ours, not so great.

 

As far as the ports , we have been to Cozumel before , done Chankanaab swim with dolphins, this time went to Nachi Cocom Beach Club, very private, peaceful, good food, enjoyed it. At Roatan, dh went scuba diving with dolphins at Anthonys key resort, he has dived at many islands but said this was his best dive and he really enjoyed it, payed 50 for a wonderful dvd of the dive itself. At Belize, shopped, at Freeport went to Lucaya marketplace and beach, had a good time. If anyone has any questions for me, feel free.

 

Glad to hear you had a good time at the ports, they were the highlight of the trip for us :)

[JanesCruisingBuddy]

We have sailed disney and have never seen more kids and more people in general then any other cruise, public areas were almost always packed and this was frusturating. Kids aren't even suppose to be in the hot tubs but thats all we saw. Needless to say we weren't in the pools or hot tubs once. Too crowded when we wanted to get in...

 

I find this interesting. When we were on the Glory in May, there were no kids in the adult hot tubs (of course the "adult" hot tubs are only the two at the aft of the ship). Over the two week period, we went here several times and hung out in the area quite a bit. On the two or three occassions when a child did venture up to the hot tubs, either security or the floor cleaning guys were right there within 2-3 minutes to give chase. (Of course, there were also hardly any kids on the cruise.)

 

Also sorry to hear of your general disappointment in the cruise. Admittedly, we have not yet cruised anything but Carnival (so have nothing to compare it to), but we have been totally thrilled with all aspects of the experiences we have had. But thanks for your insights, just the same.

[TakeMeAway1001]

I do have a few other pics that I want to post but wanted to finish up on the disembarkation/shuttle/etc

 

 

We chose to put our luggage out and did so about 930pm on Friday night. We rec'd zone 14 tags, we were told any flights before 130 could received early disembarkation. Our flight was at 115 but we opted to just wait to be called because we had no desire to be at the airport hours before our flight. The call to began disembarking came early but was quickly halted due to a malfunction in the computers for customs :( They said they wouldn't be calling anymore zones until that was remedied.

 

We basically just walked around the ship some more and waited until the next announcement. Despite being asked to refrain from gathering in the stairways they were jammed. We finally got off and into the line to exit but once again were held up when on two seperate occasions someones boxes of booze broken open and smashed, that was a PITA. Each time it happened the lines would come to a halt until they could page someone to come clean it up. It actually took us about 45 minutes to retrieve our luggage, in my head I thought the zone sorting would be more efficient than searching through a bunch of luggage looking for your stuff, not so.

 

 

Once outside we headed to our shuttle location, Cocoa Beach Shuttle. Here is where it got hairy, we were told to go stand by a CB Van and wait, well we stood there for 15 minutes and were told that the wrong van came and we would have to wait for the one coming. Well another 30 minutes goes by and we are still standing there with our luggage in the hot sun. I approach the lady running the show who says now that van can't come because they went somewhere else. At this point there are two CB shuttles there but neither one is for us so we are told we would have to wait. The lady was crabby and didn't seem to know what the heck was going on at that point. The part that ticked me off is when I reserved I was told to get off the ship ASAP and when we did that we were left standing for almost an hour and fifteen minutes with no answers.

 

 

Finally I went up to her and said "what is going on and why aren't we leaving" and she said in a huff you can just get on that shuttle (the one that had been there the whole time) and he will take you, we don't like sending vans that aren't full because it's expensive. Well sorry but we paid $69 to ride the dang shuttle and we're tired of standing in the hot sun while your drivers are sitting in the a/c'd shuttles waiting for direction. The whole thing was very unorganized and we would not use them again.

 

 

Getting to the airport itself was smooth and our flight home went great, all in all it was a great trip despite the few minor bumps. Right now I think we are going to take a few weeks off and then decide which ship we are cruising on next :)

[Froufie]

Might have to rethink the return trip via Cocoa Beach shuttle - maybe just grab a cab instead?

[TakeMeAway1001]

Might have to rethink the return trip via Cocoa Beach shuttle - maybe just grab a cab instead?

 

You know I had read a review probably close to six months ago saying the same thing I experienced but I figured what the heck I would give them a try their prices were good. When I came out I realized there were so many more options available for shuttle service.

 

You must be getting so excited :) I wish I had another planned so I had something fun to look forward too :)

[dane225]

My Marine just made it home from his 5th deployment and we are heading out on the Glory in late December.

I certainly hope the trip was a great one for you and I thank you for the pictures.

Can't wait to read/see more.:p

 

I would like to thank you and your husband for all the sacrifice for our freedom!!!! Hope you have a wonderful, relaxing cruise!!!!:)

[littlemeagain]

B521028,

 

I must admit that I am starting to freak out about your report of bug bites from the exact same cabin I have booked in February! I want to call my TA right now, but it is after hours.

 

Am I over reacting? That is my biggest fear! Bringing something home!

 

Liz

 

(Sorry, I don't mean to hijack this thread, OP)

[b521028]

B521028,

 

I must admit that I am starting to freak out about your report of bug bites from the exact same cabin I have booked in February! I want to call my TA right now, but it is after hours.

 

Am I over reacting? That is my biggest fear! Bringing something home!

 

Liz

 

(Sorry, I don't mean to hijack this thread, OP)

 

I wouldn't worry, most likely it was mosquito bites, I figured at the time we got them at Nachi Cocom, but didn't notice them until the next morning (started itching), and a few new ones a few days later, I don't know what bed bug bites look like but my room was clean and I doubt it was anything other then mosquito bites. It was weird because my husbands bites were flat red bites, where mine was raised, itched like mosquito bites. Anyways we loved our room, it was a perfect location, no noise, close to all lido activities, buffets, elevator and laundry room across hall for use of the iron to get those wrinkles out. I think you will enjoy the room.

[PaulMedik]

............

 

This is my first time trying to post pictures, wish me luck....

 

 

 

TakeMeAway1001,

 

Great review and Great pics! This one was my fav;