Glory Review .. 04/30/05

This was our second Canival cruise. The first was on the Pride in 2003. Prior to sailing, I had did lots of research on the Glory. I read the good with the bad. Walked onto the ship with an open mind and decided to decide for myself.

We were a group of 10. Five couples. Ages ranging from 26-46. Three of the couples were first timers. We were all in either an 8 or an 11.

We flew down the Friday before and stayed at the Radisson. Nice hotel. Great pool/bar area. We hung out there until after the pool bar closed. Very clean. Food in restaurant and breakfast buffet were good.

Made arrangements to head to the Glory on a noon shuttle. We were told that the ship got in 2 hours late. We didnt end up leaving for the ship until 1. At the time we were told it was because of bad weather. Even after getting on the ship and hearing people talk about it, there was never any mention of propulsion problems. Even at one of the early talks, the CD (Dominica) said the delay was weather related. Once we arrived at the terminal our paperwork went pretty smoothly. Being in an 11, we used the Skippers Club. An air-conditioned office with one worker. Several chairs. Very cozy. Our other travelers used the Fun Pass line and said it went very quickly. Once we were done in the Skippers Club we were escorted to the front of the line to get our pictures take for our S&S cards.

You enter the ship on Deck 3. The color schemes were not overwhelming. Since we got on the ship around 1:30 there was not much crowding. We were able to go straight to our room and drop off some things.

The cruise director was Dominica. Wee Jimmy was on the of the assistants. Both were leaving at the end of the cruise for a vacation. Later we heard, that after their vacations, they were heading to the new ship. The Liberty, I think its called. Both did a fantastic job. Very entertaining and personable. Jimmy hosted trivia and was a very fun guy to be around.

The ship was full. We learned that there were approximately 200 children on board. A couple instances of running around but nothing too serious. At no time did the shoip ever feel crowded. Never saw any messes than lingered for too long either. Only crowd we encountered was for the Gala Buffet. Waited in line to walk through. That went pretty quickly. Waited over 45 minutes to get to the food once it was time to eat. That was the longest wait we ever encountered. The lines for the chocolate buffet were quite lengthy too but moved swiftly. Hint ... If you want fudge, get there early!

We found the buffet food to be average in regard to taste. The hot food was hot and the cold food was usually room temperature. We highly recommend the Fish & Chips on deck 10, above the buffet area. You will wait for it but it is worth it. Because of the demand, you have to wait a little bit as the food it cooked but everything is hot and very tasty. The burgers hot dogs and steak sandwiches were fantastic. The deli sandwiches were tasty and the pizza was great. We did not experience the Supper Club but did hear that the "nominal" fee was $30.

I wont go into details about the ports. This was the eastern route so we stopped in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maartin. If you want to know about the excursione we took, I can address those another time. We did a snorkel trip in St. Thomas and an island tour in St. Maartin.

I will talk about the debarkation at the ports. Nassau was pretty simple. Off the ship very easily. Going through Customs in St. Thomas was another story. We docked at 10. They started calling groups by deck to come to get cleared. By 11, we got a little impatient as they had only called 3 decks by this time. Went down, got in line, cleared customs and cleared off the ship by 11:45. Some friend didnt get off until about 12:45. In St. Maartin, debarkation was a breeze.

We went to a couple of shows. One broadway and several comedy. Percy, the comedian, was great. Saw the R and PG shows. For my taste, the R show was funnier. The headliner comedian wasnt too funny, in my opinion. We ended up walking out of that show.

All in all the sailing was very smooth. One morning was a little rough. Of course it may have just seemed that way to me as I had developed a sinus thing and my head was all clogged up. The last night at sea though was a bit rougher. A definate pitch to the ship. Out on the balcony, the spray coming off the bow was pretty significant.

Went to one of the art auctions. Park West Galleries no longer runs these. Carnival does their own. New to me was the framing on the pieces. If you bought a piece that was already framed, it was shipped to you in the same framing. Of course, if you bought an unframed pieces it was shipped in a tube. Keep this in mind when you go to bid on a piece. I think the opening bids reflect that framing cost as well.

We dined in the Platinum dining room, late seating at 8:00. We had a nice table for 10. This held everyone in our group. The dining room food was fantastic. Everything was very tasty and well presented.

As they seem to be requested often, I am going to see what I can do about getting the Capers scanned into a .pdf and make them available to everyone.

Everyone in our group had a great time. All want to go on another cruise and all would do Carnival again.

If you have any questions I didnt address, I'll do my best to answer them!

I can't tell you how much the Capers would be appreciated! DH and I set sail, along with my mom and dad, in 17 days! Can't wait!!

Thanks for your review!

Jennifer

Thank you for your review. It sounds like you all had a great time! We are sailing the Glory in March 2006 so we like hearing the positives. This will also be our second Carnival cruise and since we have been wanting to see the Eastern Caribbean, this was the ship we chose. Will watch for your review of the ports.

thanks for the review, we don't go until Oct but I'd love to see the Capers

What did you all do in Nassau? I will be on the glory in July, and we are trying to figure out what we are going to do at that port. Senor Frogs most likely will be fit in to our schedule :)

Were shops open? What beach did you go to? (if u went to beach)

Thanks for the nice review. I think we will try what you did in St. Thomas. We have an early non-Carnival tour and don't want to waste any time in St. Thomas as we have never been there.

Please put the capers in a .pdf for us! There are a number of future Glory cruisers that would love to see the Eastern Capers.

One more question, someone else on your cruise posted that formal night was on Monday? Others from past Eastern route cruises have said it was on Sunday. Could you please clarify? Thanks so much!

Good question b-ball mom--I have also seen conflicting information

Formal nights on the eastern run were Sunday and Thursday. I believe they put it off until Monday on the Western run because of a late port day.

Yes, the first formal night was on Sunday, after leaving Nassau. Im guessing they did this because we left Nassau at such an early time, 2:30.

While in Nassau. we took a cab to Atlantas and walked around there for a while. Since you are limited to your access of the ground, unless you are a guest, we didnt see a whole lot. We decided not to pay to see the "Dig" or the rest of the aquarium. There were some shops open, we did walk around through those for a little while. Did not go to any beaches.

In St. Thomas, we went downtown for some shopping then headed over to Paradise Point for the ride up the hill and some lunch. It was a nice ride with a great view. The food was good too. We then headed back to the ship for our scheduled excursion. We decided on the Captain Nautica's Ultimate Snorkel Adventure. 18 people got on a 32' Zodiak with our captain and first mate. We went to Turtle Cove at Buck Island and snorkeled for about an hour. After that we picked up and moved to the other side of the island known as Shipwreck Cove and snorkeled there for about 45 minutes. Loaded back into the boat and we went over to a private island. Just locals go here as you can only get there by boat. Went on shore where drinks were available. This was the kind of island where if you wanted a foo-foo type drink, they had to fire up a generator to get power for the blender. I think it was called Water Island. The whole trip was about 3 1/2 hours. We had a fantastic time.

On St. Maartin, we took the water taxi to the shopping for a while. Then came back and went on our excursion. The Wild and Mild Pinzagauer Tour. A pinzagauer is like an elongated jeep. 4 wheel drive, open back seating for 8. There were 5 vehicles in our group. This trip consisted on an island tour. Infomation about the island was given as we traveled all the way around the island. Our first stop was at a beach for an hour. Cant think of the name of it right now. Second stop was an hour in Marigot for some shopping. Third stop was also for an hour at Orient Beach. Both of the beaches were great. Marigot was nice also. This trip was 6 1/2 hours. This was a great trip and we had a blast.

We sailed the Glory on 4/9 and absolutely loved her. Loved Port Canaveral, the itinerary (western) and the Glory itself. Better than the Triumph two years ago in our opinion and we had a great time but the Glory was just better. Still all of the glitz but a bit classier but not stuffy. Thinking about sailing her next year to do the eastern. enjoy!

So glad you liked the Glory, I'll be boarding her on the 11th for my first cruise, can't wait!:) We're doing the EAstern itinerary and heading out for Atlantis in Nassau, just not sure what to do the rest of the way...guess we'll play it by ear. I would love to check out an inclusive, maybe the Divi in St. Maarten and do some snorkling and parasailing. I'm glad to hear some good news on the Glory.

Thanks for all the positive reviews on the Glory. We made final payment recently, so i'm actually starting to get anxious, lol.

To the OP: I would really love to see those capers if you decide to post them. Thanks alot.

Im going to shoot for getting the Capers posted by mid next week.

When in October are you going. I am going on October 22 with a group of now stands 55.

When in October are you going. I am going on October 22 with a group of now stands 55.

We are also going on the Glory Oct 29 2005 it's our first time on Carnival