Kudos to Carnival! Review of 09/07 GLORY Cruise vs. Hurricane Frances

KUDOS to Carnival for their handling of the Frances-induced changes. We were scheduled to sail out of Port Canaveral on Sat., Sept. 4. On Thu, Sept 2, Carnival advised us that the cruise was changed to a 4-day leaving on Sept. 7. With the offer they made us (50% off this cruise/$100 cabin credit each/50% off future cruise), we decided to take it. We spent two of our planned vacation days in New Orleans, which was a nice bonus, then drove to St. Pete, FL to visit my folks.

We drove from St. Pete to Port Canaveral on Tues. On the way, we found out we were sailing out of Miami and going to Cozumel, and that they were shuttling us to Miami. At Port Canaveral, we were directed to the Carnival Fantasy terminal; parking fees were waived.

Carnival did the processing by hand as there was no power to the terminal due to roof damage from Frances (over 800 processed). The Carnival staff was very polite, apologetic about conditions, and quick to explain what had happened. Unfortunately, the Port Authority was not so forthcoming, and Carnival employees were frustrated & embarrassed that they couldn't tell us why buses were delayed, etc.

The original plan was to process us & shuttle us to Miami, with buses leaving at 11 AM and 3 PM; the ship was scheduled to leave Miami at 10 PM. We arrived at 11:10 AM, planning to check in then go have lunch. Instead, we found out that there were no buses for the already-processed passengers, and no one knew when they'd come. Occasionally, a bus would come in, then shortly turn around & leave - empty. We later found out that Gov. Bush was requiring the bus companies to evacuate people from areas hard-hit by Frances. Had the Port Authority made that known to us, I'm sure very few would have complained (there's always someone!). We daren't leave to get lunch because no one knew when the buses would arrive! The Port Authority DID bring us bottled water, which helped.

A storm came, and they herded us into the terminal, which was still being cleaned up & repaired but had had the power restored. We sat in A/C comfort for more than an hour, which was a nice break from standing out in the mugginess & heat - anybody who'd dressed up for their embarkation photo was wilted by this time. When the rain came, the roof leaked, but fortunately, a lot of the terminal was dry.

When the buses finally arrived, most of us were hungry, not having eaten since breakfast & it was supper time. The buses stopped at the nearest open rest stop where we could buy junk food, drinks, soft pretzels & chicken sandwiches. It was a 30-minute stop, and no one held up the bus to get back on the road!

After a brief wait onboard the bus for them to unload the luggage in Miami, we got off, ID-ed our luggage to make sure it all arrived, then began embarkation. We had done the FunPass online, and we breezed thru and were onboard in less than 10 minutes! The staff at Miami were great, acknowledging our frustration & thanking us for our patience. We boarded around 8:00 PM and were very grateful to unload in our cabins. Our luggage began arriving immediately, and we had dinner at 9:00 PM in the Platinum Restaurant... ahhhh, the pampering began and we were ready for it!

With the shorter itinerary, things onboard were different - no talent show (my DH's thing), scheduled events changed - but there was no shortage of crew, entertainment, food, drink or things to buy! The Welcome Aboard event was scrapped due to the late hour, the lifeboat drill was postponed till the next morning, and the Debarkation talk was done via video on cabin TVs, but it was all there.

We were often thanked for our patience & our inconveniences were acknowledged by cruise director John Heald & staff and the officers. Other crew members had no idea what happened, or even what our revised itinerary was! But they all made us feel very welcome. This was a first cruise for my son & his fiancee, and they're already planning next year's (discounted) cruise and their honeymoon cruise, so the hardships didn't phase them at all next to the cruise experience.

In Cozumel, there were 8-9 ships at once... very unusual at this time of year. Cozumel vendors who usually don't operate at this time took advantage of the possibilities, and of course the cab drivers were ecstatic.

At open-seating mealtimes or chance meetings onboard, the main topic was "tell us your story" about taking this cruise, whether one was shuttled from Port Canaveral or Orlando to Miami. We found out that Floridians took advantage of the last-minute basement prices to get away from homes with no power... a no-brainer there! When they left, gasoline was scarce - that was remedied while they were away. One family claimed to have paid $150 each in cruise fare. And for those of us originally booked on the 7-day cruise, topics were how to use the $100 credit and where to go on next year's discounted cruise.

There were the usual grumblers & complainers (but notice, they DID take the discount/credit), but we steered clear of them. We went so far as to ask for a separate table during open-seating breakfast because we were about to be seated with a whole family of complainers... they even complained that so much of the crew had accents!

Debarkation at the GLORY terminal at Port Canaveral was fairly painless. We arrived in port at 6 AM - on schedule. We had our last meal in the Platinum restaurant, knowing we wouldn't get service like that until our next cruise. Back to our room to get our carry-off bags and brush our teeth. Knowing the crew had to get ready for the next group, we left our cabin then. We checked out some other staterooms (Cat. 12 and Inside) to see how they differed from our Cat. 8 as we made our way to the Promenade deck. Here we waited on comfy sofas; when our luggage tag color was called, we made our way down to the Lobby.

If it weren't for the people trying to go out of turn (as usual), that would have been relatively short, too, but at least it kept moving. We saw some very unhappy people pulled out of line and having to wait - they were warned! Processing thru Customs was cursory, and we were at the baggage carousel in no time (not used to those - liked it!). Outside, we were directed to buses to take us to the FANTASY terminal parking lot, where we'd left our vehicles. We packed our van and drove out of the lot at 10:25 AM... not bad, in our experience.

The reason I wrote this review was to show anyone who worries about hurricane-related problems that Carnival really does it's best to work things out in your favor. Although our cruise was shortened & we didn't have the itinerary we wanted, we were well-compensated and had a fabulous time!

I'll be glad to answer any questions if I left something out.

What a great attitude! Glad to hear you had such a great time, even though your cruise was shortened. I'm thinking about a future Glory cruise, what was the ship like? And... how was a Cat 12 compared to an 8 A?? Any difference in the size of the cabins? Just curious....

And, I cant agree with you more about how Carnival takes care of everything when a hurricaine lurks nearby. We were on the Pride back in 2002 and missed our last port of Progresso thanks to hurricaine Isadore. I was nervous during that sail knowing that we were in the peak of hurricaine season, and Carnival made me rest assure that the passengers, crew and ship would stay out of harms way, and they did!

I've sailed during hurricaine season eversince. Wishing your son & future daughter-in-law a happy marriage and a wonderful cruise!

Glad to hear that your cruise went well. We were also affected by Frances on the Fantasy. Carnival did a great job considering the fact that Frances could not make up her mind on where she wanted to go. We stayed out a few days longer and I think that most passengers took it with a grain of salt. The crew really worked hard to try and keep everyone satisfied.

Great Attitude! Some people complain about everything no matter what happens. You were smart to get away from those folks. It sounds like all in all you had a fun time and are looking forward to your next cruise.

Great Review! Your attitude is what is needed more often. I can see that your cup is always half full (if not overflowing!) I am looking forward to my stay on the Glory, I just hope there will still be ports to visit. This has been some hurricane season.

Sorry about your ship being late. We were on the Glory before you, for our 10 day of a 7 day cruise. We left Progresso then sat in the middle of the Gulf for about a day while seeing what Frances would do. Then to the cheers of everyone on board the Glory turned around and went back to Cozumel for the 2nd time in 3 days ( while the Hurricane closed in on Florida) We were in cozumel right up until 11:30 pm! Lots of drinking in bars, with crew members too! Then later that night we took off for Port Canaveral... or so we thought. Just outside of Port Canaveral we were informed that the channel had silted in. We had to turn around and debark in Miami. We were all wondering what the Cruise Line would do for the next ones on. Glad you had somewhat of a fun time.

P.S.

The Glory is so dang big that when the wind hit the side of the ship, Glory heeled over quite a few degrees and the top 1 foot of water drained out of the swimming pools.

You made Lemonaide out of Lemons!! kUDoS to you and yours!!