scuba_ninja

Thanks for being so thorough!

Thanks for the feedback, it sounds like Glory is the better bet. Easier ship, better port for my taste. I appreciate all the info. Looking forward to my Glory cruise!

28 minutes ago, Hotdog 52 said:

Sailing on the Mississippi River is a treat...At the moment the river is high, you will see that the level in the river is higher than some home rooftops protected by the levee system. 

That's also one reason why I wanted to sail out of NOLA again!! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was sailing into the gulf. 

9 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Both Vista and Glory lack Tandor and a thalassotherapy pool, so those aren’t an Issue.  I would pick Glory, but I am not a big fan of the Vista class ships. Glory has too many things I prefer like large theaters, vaulted atrium, glass elevators, adult only aft pool, all of which are lacking on Vista. However, Vista has nice features too like the thermal suite, IMAX and Thrill Theaters, brewery on board, Skyride, etc. I don’t think you can go wrong with either ship. I would decide based on what appeals to you the most. I am a big fan of comedy shows which is why I prefer ships with a larger comedy theater like the one on Glory. 

Yeah, I don't think any ship has tandoor anymore. So sad. Interesting that neither have thalasso! I figured if Vista had a thermal suite, that would equal thalasso pool. Huh. I also found the comedy to be a true highlight of my day, so bigger theater does sound better! And adults only spaces always work for me. Thanks!

10 hours ago, nissach said:

I hate sailing out of Galveston...we have done it twice and I now try to avoid it at all cost.  It is a pain to get from Houston to Galveston and for us is now the deal breaker.  I have never sailed out of NOLA or on either of the ships you are considering.  So for me I would choose the Glory out of NOLA. 

Oh! Good to know! Sailing out of NOLA for me was no trouble at all. Super easy embarkation and debarkation.  No hassle and friendly staff both ways. 

Greetings cruisers. A few years ago I took a great cruise on the Dream (reviews in my post history). Family and financial issues caused me to drop off the forums for a while (and has prevented me from taking any vacation since then) but now it looks like a much needed vacation is in my future.

Wife and I are mid-thirties, no kids. Not heavy party types, never set foot in the casino. Just looking to unplug and get away. We actually were hoping to be back on the Dream out of NOLA, and then spend a few days in NOLA. Sadly, the Dream has been replaced by Glory. Dream to us was a great balanced ship with decent food. We last sailed in Dec. 2017

From what I'm reading here, I don't see a lot of people being kind to old Glory. Am I going to be that disappointed compared to Dream? My wife loved the thalasso pool, and I loved the Indian food (which sadly seems to be gone period). 

Glory sails out of NOLA, so big plus there. Vista is out of Galveston, but seems to be a bigger better ship. So the question is do I go for the smaller ship with no thalasso but the potential to tour NOLA, or the bigger ship, but no NOLA? It also seems like getting to and from the Vista is no small task. I'm a bit worried about that, and the potentially very expensive can rides to the ship (I'd be flying in to both ports)

Any help deciding is appreciated. We're looking at sailing late December 2019. Might be dirty words here, but since we love NOLA so much (my wife lived there for a few years, she knows it well) we were also considering the NCL ship out of NOLA. 

Just sayin ...... even if the Dr was a jerk I'm glad I wasn't the patient who's care got caught in the crossfire of IT retaliation

Nope. Zero patients involved. Just a Dr. Wanting to play solitaire and waste time.

French Quarter really is just a great place to walk around. Lovely shops, friendly people. I will say it was PACKED with people in town for the sugar bowl. Tons of team colors everywhere.

SCUBA diver, IT professional, certified supertaster, expert cruise reviewer, and poet laureate. Color me impressed. 😂

 

Thanks for the stellar review! It was hilarious and super helpful.

Hey, what can I say, I like to keep busy!

Thanks! I'm really pumped that so many of you have enjoyed the review!

Here's a bonus poem since you're enjoying my prose so much:

Roses are red, violets are blue

I hope you're enjoying this review

who knows, maybe one day I'll even be cruising with you!

Throughly enjoyed your review. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Thanks for taking the time to read it!

Loved your review, it was very entertaining! [emoji16] Your pictures are wonderful too!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks! I'm glad I got some good pics to share with everyone. I've still got a few days of fun in NOLA to share too!

scuba_, this has to be one of the best reviews I've read. THANK YOU for the lovely photos and lively dialogue. I hope you cruise again soon and gift us with another fantastic review!

THANK YOU! It means a lot to me that people are enjoying the review. I want to give a little more than "cruise was bad. I got a drink that had 4 ice cubes but I specifically asked for 3, cleary this is an indication that carnival is cutting back and trying to screw us".

Thank you for your response-maybe attendance for the deck parties and movies will be better on our spring break cruise! Hopefully it will be warm :D

I hope so! I bet I'd have enjoyed a little party time. They one party I did see that had a decent amount of people attend was the hairy chest contest. I stopped by for about 2 minutes on my way to something else (can't remember what any more) but it looked like people were having fun.

As a female sysadmin I love it when male employees at my office try to explain computers to me.

Or even better, how about when male employees ask you to "send someone up who can actually fix the problem". My favorite was the Doctor (was working in a hospital) that called the help desk. One of our tech was a woman, who happened to be from India. Doctor starts yelling over the phone "THIS IS RIDICULOUS, I JUST NEED MY COMPUTER FIXED, TRANSFER ME BACK TO AMERICA WHERE THEY CAN ACTUALLY FIX THINGS". Tech very calmly states ummmm, you know my office is in the basement of your building, right? He waited a very very very long time before a tech actually came to fix his "broken computer". Best part, he just forgot his login password.

One of my very favorite details is that so many homes have gas lamps on the porches. I'll post some of those pics when I talk about uptown.

Downtown though really is beautiful.

I also found that the city has good sense of humor.

SORRY FOLKS! I FORGOT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PICTURES FROM DINNER LAST NIGHT!

Best baked Alaska I'd ever had, bar none. IT was light, delicious, not too sweet, just right. And it was on fire. I've decided that all of my food needs to be on fire from now on.

New Orleans really is a beautiful city. If you've been lucky enough to spend time in Paris, it will feel very familiar to you in the French Quarter.

Could that be why the call it the French Quarter? ha ha ha... oh, I make terrible jokes.

After spending, oh, 3 hours in NOLA I turned to my wife and said "OK, we can move here"

There is a lot of detail in the city. Even street lights are decorated. You really owe it to yourself to slow down and take a look.

Yes, it's true. Also, the higher up you are the more motion you'll feel. Mid ship low down will be the least motion.

I see people trying wrist bands, patches, and all these things. None of them are all that great. Dramamine has too many side effects.

BONINE is the best IMHO. Safe enough for pregnant women. One pill every 24 hours, zero side effects. It's also the only medication that will still work after you're already sea sick.

Thanks for your trip report Scuba-you have a really fun writing style! Were there any pool deck dance or late night theme parties that you went to? If you already talked about this-sorry :)

Thank you! No, it was our Honeymoon, so we didn't really do any partying outside of our room... wink wink, nudge nudge. HA! That's a lie! We've already been married 2.5 years, the most exciting thing that happened in our room was that I let my wife eat french fries on the bed. Not my sheets, not my problem.

I did pass by a few deck parties, and most sadly looked empty when I walked by. One thing we really wanted to do but never quite got to because of dinner (we had late dining) and comedy shows was a dive in movie. Those too though were very sparsely attended. Even the "big deck party" at the end of the cruise didn't look all that crowded. It wasn't very warm on deck, that might have been part of the reason.

Indian: Love

Guy's "bbq": absolutely detest

Most desserts: meh

More love: Frog's legs, ox tongue, escargot, prime rib, Guy's burgers

Meh: Most fish dishes in MDR

Terrific thread.

 

Keith

Thanks! I've been having fun writing it up! A few more cruises and maybe I'll get to your post numbers on here! :D

Street cars can be slow, but hey, it could be worse! I could have had to drive this thing around!

I honestly can't remember if anyone even looked at our passports. Just a lot of shouting for us to keep moving, grab our bags and go home. Instead of going home we caught an uber to the Air BnB my wife reserved.

Nola is a funny place. It's still recovering from Katrina, and even before that it had its troubles. But I guess that's part of the charm too in a way.

It's that unique mix of class and trash.

Street cars though are pretty cool! I'm a fan. It's not really an above ground subway. It's more of a bus on rails. Loud, old, totes fun for tourists. Convenient, but not if you are in any kind of hurry. Just about as fast as walking. Especially when the driver gets out, goes into subway (I assume for the restroom) and comes back a few minutes later without saying a word.

Fun fact, the sand in the green barrels is used for traction to help them stop on wet days

Over all, I found the drivers (conductors? operators? ) to be very helpful. They are seem to know regular riders well.

NOLA! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

We docked pretty early in the morning, pretty much in the exact same spot as where we left from. :)

Nola was cold and rainy that morning.

I was in no rush to get off the boat, so we decided to to breakfast in the MDR. They were certainly in a rush to get us off the ship though. I don't blame them. We cleared out of our cabins by 8 or so, but we took our time getting to breakfast.

My wife had the avocado toast which was pretty good.

I had the broken egg plate which was excellent.

Debarkation wasn't very smooth. The printed sheet under our door and the announcements that morning conflicted completely. We were also told the wrong thing by two staffers. Honestly, I was in no rush, so it wasn't a big deal. We had left our large bags out the night before, so I wasn't carrying stuff and we didn't have a flight to catch. I was eager to see NOLA, but I wasn't in a rush. We ended up just following a crowd that looked like it was getting off the ship and eventually we found an exit.

The lines to walk the plank were pretty long, so I had time to catch this picture.

I should mention that earlier in the day there were several announcements for the medical team, that's never a good thing. During dinner we did have a helicopter evacuation of said patient. One one hand, I'm glad the cruise director told everyone very sternly to make sure to avoid the back deck, and not use their camera flashes, on the other the announcement came AFTER THE HELICOPTER HAD ALREADY DEPARTED. At least, they came through in the MDR way after the fact.

I did not get any pictures of the event. Part of me wishes I'd have seen it, part of me is glad to have not had to. I've seen enough sad stuff.

I have heard conflicting reports of woman have a miscarriage, old man falling down stairs, and a few others. If anyone knows what ACTUALLY happened, I am curious. Apparently said patient was breathing when the helicopter came, so that's good.

By the time dinner was over we were actually well into the gulf and I could take some blurry pictures of things.

OMG, sorry, In the middle of writing that last post I got another phone call from a glorious employee. They wanted to fight me because I was insisting that Social Security NUMBERS don't have letters. I "let her win" and told her to fax me over a copy of her SS card with proof. I'm sure I'll never hear from her again.

OK, back to fun.

MDR dinner tonight was excellent.

The beef carpaccio was wonderful. There were a lot of tantalizing choices on the menu, but frog's legs are one of my favorite foods. You better believe i ordered two!!! They were wonderfully tender and well prepared. I was pretty surprised actually by how good they actually were. The bread... thingy... they came with was.. meh, but the frog's legs were great. For all of you turning green (ha ha, get it) at the thought if it, If I told you it was skinless chicken wing in garlic sauce, you'd never know the difference. Except that it was a lot more tender than chicken.

The detectives amongst you might notice at the top of the picture that there was more escargot. Serious Kudos to MDR staff for this one. One of our table mates missed that night's dinner. He asked if we could get some for the last night, and they delivered!!!! Very cool! I ate like 12.

I did end up also ordering a prime rib. It was decent. The frog's legs were better.

After dinner there was a really nice goodbye song they MDR staff all sang while parading around with the flaming baked Alaskas. It was actually really nice. Their singing voices.... not so much, but I think that's part of the fun of fun.