Glory...Eastern Review

[kadams718]

Sailed the Glory Nov. 27-Dec. 4th with my husband and 3 year old son. Had a wonderful trip.

 

Stayed at The Radisson Friday night and bussed over Saturday morning. Very easy. We were upgraded to a suite so had Skipper's Club to board. This was great with our 3 year-old. We were on board and in our room in a very short time. Loved the Empress deck cabin 7251. Very convenient to elevators, Camp Carnival, pool, etc...

 

We only ate in the dining room 2 nights. Food was fair, so we made a reservation for the Supper Club. The food was excellent! Highly recommend. The other nights we ate with our son in the Red Sail.

 

Camp Carnival was great! My son loved it and came home with art, hats, tattoos every night. The counselors were very friendly and they provided a wide variety of activities. They do offer dinner with counselors every night except the first and last. Times vary each night. My son ate with the counselors on formal nights. They take them to the Red Sail for pizza, burgers, (fun food). We used the paid sitting every night so we could go to the piano bar to see Ron. More about that later. Parents are given a beeper for the 2-5 year olds which is great! No worries if you are not being paged. Camp closes from 12-2 each day. We had lunch and then went back to our cabin for a short rest time. The suites have VCR's so we brought some movies.

 

Nassau: We went over to Atlantis. They do not sell beach access passes for cruisers anymore, so we walked around and then went to the pubic beach next to the former Sheraton. It is being remodeled and opening as an all-inclusive. Paid $5 for a beach chair for 1 1/2 hour. Senor Frogs opened near the pier. Went there for lunch. Great people watching! My son sat still for almost an hour watching people dance and participate in games.

 

St. Thomas: My husband and I took the St. John Trunk Bay excursion. Loved it! St. John is beautiful. Our son stayed on board in camp. We took a ferry over to St. John. It was so relaxing! The snorkeling was great. Really had a blast. Saw Madonna and Michael Jordan's beach "mansions". Bought some liquor is St. Thomas. Great prices for Stoli's and Crown! I also bought some earrings that were carved from wood by this artist...2 pairs for $6.

 

St. Martin: Wow is all I can say. It is so welcoming coming off the pier. Lively music, Fat Tuesday, shops. We took the Catamaran Snorkeling excursion. Another great trip. I thought this snorkeling was awesome. We went out to ship wrecks and saw so many different kinds of fish. Our son stayed at camp. After our trip, we went on board, got our son, and took the water taxi to the beach. Rented chairs and umbrella for $10 and spent about 4 hours on the beach. Our son met a girl from the Victory. I brought my Carnival fun punch cups and they built sand castles. Who knew how handy they would become. Saw the most beautiful sunset! The shops here were great. They are renovating the downtown area. When it is finished it is going to be top notch.

 

Kudos go to: Ron in the Cinn-a Bar. The Valor is going to love him. He is so great and fun! My husband even got his CD because he played his favorite every night...Cat in the Cradle....and it was on the CD. John Heald was so funny. He really is good at what he does. Live Song....I hope I remembered the name right. This was a group of 250+ English choral singers who gave a performance. The ones I met were so nice and their show was good. Judah the from Blue Martini band ....my husband met him one night and really enjoyed talking to him. His band plays nightly and were good! Adele from the photo dept. She came on deck and took a picture of us at sunset for our Christmas card. Suite....my husband and I had never even had a balcony before. The suites are so big. It made the trip. We kept saying, "We love our room" every time we were in it. Plenty of room for us and our active 3 year old. Cha Cha Slide....I had never even heard this song before. Now I'm hooked. Very fun in the Dance Club and on deck at sea days.

 

Overall this was a great trip!! We are not ones to complain and make every vacation a good one. The only thing I can say was so-so was the food. Some meals were better than others, but overall was just okay. Try the Supper Club if you can....a big step up!

 

We were on the cruise that had the mega slot winner. Rumor has it she won another $50,000 the next night for a total of $370,000. And yes, we asked, all US citizens are taxed over $1,400.

 

I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Happy Cruising!!

[estherhead]

Thanks for the great review. I am scheduled for the Glory next December (just bought tickets) and was stressing out about no pagers for Camp Carnival. Last year when we went on the Pride they had the pagers and my little girl would only stay in about an hour (she was only two) but after a hug wanted to stay, so I couldn't imagine being paged over the intercom every hour! Everyone on the cruise would have hated me, "Would Esther Thomas please report to Camp Carnival?" every 45 minutes! Yikes! So I am very happy to hear there ARE pagers for those under 5. It was freaking me out.

 

Also, I keep hearing about the so-so food. I have an opinion. I think they are doing it on purpose so we HAVE to eat at the $25.00 place. Not so bad it's obvious, but no WOW factor. Oh well. If you add $25.00 to the price of my cruise it's still under $400.00 (plus tax/port fees) which is $300.00 less than my first cruise on RCCL 15 years ago. That cruise did have amazing food. And superb service. But I have heard on here and from family members that all cruise lines have done this, so at least Carnival is in good company.

 

It's still OK. It's better than having to cook or having the kids chant "Burger King, Burger King."

 

Esther

[Maryandi]

I, too, am glad they had pagers. Especially, when snorkeling on St. John and St. Martin.

 

In case of emergency, you could really get there in a hurry. Lucky child.

[kadams718]

Thank you for your comment. And, yes, we feel he is a lucky child. We had a wonderful family vacation and all came back refreshed and fortunate to be able to have had the opportunity to spend the week together.

[JB007]

Why did Carnival upgrade you? I think its great but very rare for carnival. :confused:

[kadams718]

Our travel agent called us several weeks prior to sailing and told us we were upgraded to a suite from our original balcony cabin on the Verandah deck. We met another couple who booked guaranteed balcony and they were also upgraded to a suite. My husband met someone who was upgraded to the penthouse suite. My agent said usually when they get a group booking and need a block together, they will upgrade.

[shabcruzn]

Great Review

Did you purchase the excursions through Carnival? Do you remember any excursions that were just a tour and shopping for St. Maarten? We toured and shopped in St. Thomas and then did the beach in St. Maarten last year--we want to reverse!

[kadams718]

We did purchase through Carnival. They make it so easy. You book over the TV from your cabin and it is charged to your sign-and-sail. No waiting in line! Yes, there were St. Martin shopping/island tours, I can't remember the cost or names though. Shopping is so convenient on the Dutch side in St. Martin. Just a very quick water taxi from the pier. $5 round trip and free for under 12.

[SoccerMom#3]

Great review! Sounds like you all had a great time. I can't wait till our cruise this summer.