Glory Review (1/15/05 - Western)

Review/Highlights:

Carnival Glory 1/15-1/22/05 Western Caribbean - 6 in party - me, wife (40s), son (6), daughter (2), In-laws (60s) priors: Nordic Empress '91 (just the two of us), Sovereign of the Seas '02 (with in-laws and then 3 year-old son)

Good or Better (or as expected with positive comments):

Food: We are sold on the dining room. Only did Red Sail on Saturday embarkation brunch. I figure for about 10-15 more minutes per meal in the dining room, get served and relax.

The Water Slide: My son's favorite, and I enjoyed it as well.

The Casino: Only because the first trip where gambling was available (out of about 10), where wife and I both came out ahead (covered our sign and sail account total, and our in-laws - almost $1000.00 up)

The Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle: Kind of neat getting onto a ship with a potential 3000 strangers, and having pre-met some new friends. Bumped into Bill and family and Bob several times (met/spoke with Bob before I knew it was Bob!)

The Port Choices, and the related Contrast: This takes some explanation: Key West, Belize, Cozumel, Progreso - four ports with very different flavors, a good mix. If you are looking for 'a variety of Caribbean Island ports', this ain't it. If you are looking for variety in cultures and experiences, this provdes that. A summary:

Key West) - American with a local cultural twist, both touristy and unique (compared to other US tourist 'beaches'). Had booked a snorkle/glass-bottom boat excursion privately, but no boats were going out that day (windy, cold, some rain). According to my local experts, only happens maybe 6 days a year where a whole day is wrecked by weather - lucky us. Ended up going to a restaurant a little off the beatean path (good mix of tourists and locals) Half Shell? (next to Turtle Kraal), over by the Marina. Then we road around in a family stretch limo (my wife's cousin is a boat captain, and his wife own's a limo company there) to Southernmost point, a great Key Lime place, etc. They picked up the tab for all 13 of us at the restaurant (Thanks Uncle Jim!)

Belize) - Shuttled 1.5 hours to Maruba Jungle Spa - truly a Jungle Paradise (with a price). Got to see the underdeveloped land and housing (low income, limited income) along the way, excellent driver (Fred - BelizeCruiseExcursions) who pointed out houses and landmarks in Belize City, and along the roads to our destination. We cut it a little tight getting back to the ship (had 15 minutes to spare, 1 flat tire away from missing the boat, but luck was with us). The roads were an experience, especially as you got beyond the turn-off to Altun-Ha. Roughly 30% potholes/washouts/patches in the pavement. Decent amount of annual rainfall as you go from coastal plain to 'jungle' environment, and this is the 'old highway', no longer maintained as the main thoroughfare to Mexico.

Cozumel) - This is what most people probably envision when they think of Caribbean cruise port. A lot of touristy things to do related to beaches and scuba, snorkeling, boating, and partying. Different options for different price ranges. I bet a lot of those with poor remarks for Belize and Progreso, would love three to four ports exactly like this one. Not me, but I really enjoyed having one of these on our cruise itinerary. We did Chankanaab, and everyone loved it. Saw the dolphins from a slight distance, spent most of our time at the kid's beach area, eating lunch and drinking beers at the in-park restaurant, and touring the gardens and Mayan culture/ruins replica areas. Pretty crowded with 7 boats in port that day (one Carnival boat had to tender).

Progreso) - What a simple little surprise. Only moderately spoiled so far by tourist dollar influences, you can see a real Mexican coastal town (low income) for the next little bit, until it starts to look more and more like those 'Caribbean Ports'. Best shopping deals were to be found here (including $1 Coronas with a beer bottle necklace included). We just spent a couple of hours at the beach under a tiki-hut covered table owned or managed by one of the restaurants across the road. All you have to do is buy beers and maybe some chips, and the table is all yours for the duration. Water here reminded me of North Carolina beaches, generally clean but murky from churning surf. There was some human related trash washed up (found a piece of a beer bottle - WEAR YOUR BEACH WATER SHOES), the it was mostly kept 'neat and tidy'.

Camp Carnival: Kids loved it, I felt they were safe and enjoyed themselves while participating. We didn't use it as much as I expected, the whole family was too busy enjoying the great experiences together. I think the pager issued to us was compulsory for the 2-5 year old group, not required for the 6-8 year old group (but noted it on sign-in since we had one). 2 year old was ready for us to show up at 2.5 hours on the 3 mornings we used camp carnival. Got the 'Ah, do I have to go now?' from the 6 year old.

Stability of Ship: Rough waters, ship reacted as expected. Thank you Bonine.

Layout of Ship: Not bad for it's size, wish the 3 elevator lobbies were more identifiable whilst standing in them. Sometimes got my forward and aft reversed. Good seperation of areas with similar attractions collected near one another. We were in Platinum Upper for dining (5:45) so from the room on 6th (Upper) we just shot all the way to the rear elevators, then down. Upper deck forward worked out well, lobby and casino/shops end of promenade just below, children's world a quick elevator (and 1 staircase) ride above.

Room Size: Good (first time on Carnival, first time with Balcony, RCCL on two priors) (Note: Balcony provides nice privacy for time alone with spouse while kids are sleeping :)

Service: Overall, good, occasionally outstanding. Some instances of poor, but not enough to taint the overall good service. We presented a unique challenge in having a 2 year old with a true dairy allergy (including cow's milk-based products and by-products such as butter, cheese, whey, and even beef products, since they contain milk proteins). In the dining room, they really stepped up and made sure our needs were met. We got mixed results at the other venues, so avoided them. Of special note here: A lot of people have wondered of the value to them of the MaitreD. He facilitated all of our special dietary needs by visiting us nightly with the next day's dinner menu, and we ordered off of that menu an item that they prepared 100% dairy free. Excellent service. He also followed up to ensure the order was to our expectations, and that other items were handled. They brought our 2-year-old fresh fruit and jello without asking, once they learned those were foods consistent with her dietary needs. We tipped the MaitreD quite well (probably one of his better tips in a while). Ships staff, other than MaitreD, were as expected, nothing exceptional (good service).

Rooms on Upper, forward (over lounge). Yes you can hear noise from the lounge, but only at it's noise peak, maybe 3-4 times during a show. Was only woken up twice during the whole cruise from it (applause both times), but went right back to sleep. Steward never opened the divider between our balconies (said he needed permission from 'others' to do so). Would not have benefited us greatly, since our rooms doors to the balcony were adjacent (would have blocked either our door or theirs when opened).

Bad or Worse (and some recommendations for improvement):

Photo Gallery process, quality, and management. I went on Carnival with the expectation that the focus is quantity over quality, and Carnival has managed a successful balance in food presentation, selection, and quality, but the photo experience really lacks anything approaching quality. Mine and my son's black Tuxes with black vests were one solid black area, with no detail for buttons, satin accent, or lines between jacket and vest. When I inquired at the register, they pointed out the two managers, so I went over to ask them about the lack of contrast. They noted that they focus on making the faces the right color, and sacrifice other areas. I decided to quit while I was ahead, since the manager didn't seem to know the difference between contrast, hue, and saturation (or thought the passenger who challenged quality was not smart enough to know). Lesson learned: the photos on the ship are 'trip souveneir snapshots', not professional photos. With the right expectation, you'll appreciate the outcome.

Instructions to Passengers for port visit: Sign & Sail Card and Photo ID needed (no mention of birth certificate). After negotiating to floor 0 along with the herds at Key West: "Do you have birth certificates for the kids?". Me: "No, the announcement just stated Sign & Sail and photo ID." Them: "Well, you cannot leave the ship until you have their birth certificates since we are disembarking through the Naval Base." Me: "We have Military ID (my in-laws), within our party, will that suffice? (It did at Patrick Air Force Base where we visited and stocked up just before getting on in Port Canaveral)." Them: "No". I went back up and got the birth certificates and all was well. Ironically, on the bus/shuttle coming back through the base for re-embarkation, another family on the shuttle had no ID other than sign and sail for their minors, the security personnel went off the bus and retrieved an officer, who came on and when realizing the situation said "Well of course they don't have photo ID, they are kids, as long as the adult in their party has proper ID, they are cleared". I was right, but didn't really matter, because it was not a battle worth fighting. Lesson Learned: Make sure you know the intent of Carnival's instructions to you for 'official' functions of the ship, not just what they are saying. Ask them specific questions when in doubt, and just shrug your shoulders and deal with it if you get different 'official' answers.

Tendering: No preference for Private Port Tours appointments between ship tours and 'sightseers'. Got to our tour appointment in Belize almost 1 hour late, cutting our tour short by that much. Not looking for preference before Carnival's booked tours, just preference before folks who have no appointment (could use the printout/receipt as proof).

Room Service Menu/Choices: More warm food and low carb options, especially at Breakfast, please.

Smoking: This almost landed in the 'as expected' category, but Carnival should realize that providing smoking rules, but doing nothing to advertise them or enforce them, does nothing but further irritate non-smokers. Example: At Casino Bar, a full 12-15 feet of bar space has little triangle non-smoking signs (where the bar borders the promenade). A bar waitress retrieved an ash tray for a smoker, who stood smoking right at one of the signs, and placed it there for his use. Passenger didn't care, waitress didn't care, get rid of the darn sign or train your staff to enforce rules 'politely', Carnival. You just alienate non-smokers this way. Also, learn from the newer venues in Vegas, good ventilation makes your smoker and non-smoker patrons co-exist in near-harmony (except for the occasional smoker who blows smoke out instead of up in a crowded environment - just a self-centered smoker).

Likely outcome of this cruise experience on Carnival? Preference for booking on Royal Carribean again, but if the right price/itinerary were to compete from Carnival, would consider. If all is equal, RCCL would be the choice. Not a bad mark for Carnival, just got the impression that the quantity/quality scale was tipped slightly too much towards quantity on Carnival for my personal tastes.

Any Questions, ask away.

Moving Target

Hi, we're sailing on the Glory in April, and it's our first cruise on with Carnival. We've sailed on most of the other mass-market lines.

Can you elaborate a bit more on what areas you felt RCL had an edge? I'm particularly wondering about food quality and kids programs. Also, did it seem like there was more smoke/smokers onboard? That's an issue for me, I can't stand cigarette smoke and that alone will keep me out of the bars and interior public rooms. It's interesting that you prefer RCL even though you sailed on older ships with them.

Thanks so much.:)

I was only truly bothered about 2 times by cigarette smoke during the 7 days on the ship, once in the casino (smoke blown at me, not up... rude), and once while waiting in line to get on the shuttles from dock to Key West through the Navel base (passenger was clueless, even when the four of us went and 'stood in line' 8 feet adjacent to the line). For the most part, active avoidance can bring you a nearly smoke-free cruise. The casino and night clubs are your only real challenge.

The edge for RCCL? Less marketing at me, more feeling like a guest instead of a passenger (at times even a special guest). Nothing I could really point to and say "see, that's it". Little things, like dining staff and room staff (and some bar staff, and I'm not a heavy drinker) knowing my name and using it, especially since I go out of my way to learn theirs, including my best effort at correct pronunciation.

The Sovereign definitely showed it's wear, but the staff still showed pride in making my visit with them the best it could be. The Nordic Empress was actually brand spanking new when we rode her. She was beautiful.

I guess to summarize my musings. The staff, and the feeling that I was joining their family, pride and joy shared. Quantity, yes, but maintain that quality edge.

Don't get me wrong, Carnival treated me well. It's just the little thought bubble I imagine over the RCCL's head as we left was "We'll miss you, can't wait to see you again", and over Carnival staff's head was "Thank you very much... Next!"

Jeff

Thanks Jeff.

We sailed the Nordic Empress too, a few years ago to Bermuda. It was one of my favorite (actually, it WAS my favorite) cruise, nice sized ship, and fantastic destination!