July 16th Glory to New England (Review)

[5 in OK]

Sailed on the Glory departing July 16th (2012) for a 5-night cruise from Boston.

 

Nice vacation! As others have written there are pros and cons….I will try to be consistent in presenting an accurate picture.

 

I like to read reviews done by subject so I have written mine the same.

 

I traveled with my mom (68) and her friend (65) and myself.

 

Pre-Cruise Information: We are from Oklahoma so we flew in on Sunday (cruise left on Monday) to spend some time in Boston before we cruised on Monday. We took the free Silver Line right to the “World Trade Center” stop – which dropped us about 2 blocks away from our hotel. We stayed at the Westin Waterfront. AMAZING hotel – great staff – I highly recommend this location! It is only a $5.00 cab to the terminal (or you can walk if you are up to it – about a 15 minute hike). We rode Segways in Boston on Sunday evening – nice way to spend the afternoon.

 

Embarkation: Super smooth. If you receive the email telling you not to arrive until 1:30 p.m. – I encourage you to ignore it and go at 10:30 a.m. as planned. We arrived around 10:45 a.m. – dropped off our luggage with the porters (be sure to tip them at least $1 per piece of luggage) and proceeded to the check-in. There were no lines – we walked right up to the counter and checked in and received our boarding number (group 2) in about 10 minutes. We sat down until 11:30 ish and then they began boarding. We were onboard enjoying lunch by noon. Our cabins weren’t ready so we explored until about 1:15 and then ventured to our cabin (1362 – Ocean View – more on that later). It was ready so we let ourselves in. Our luggage was delivered by 2:30 – we unpacked and then went out to explore even more. The boat was full – there were over 3,000 pax (700 kids – wow!!) – chair hogs had already begun their work – unbelievable

 

Food: Okay – I really am going to try to put a positive spin on this, however, it is true that the food was only medium at best. The main dining room food was the best food we ate on the cruise. We were in the lower Platinum – late seating. It was hot, pretty tasty and plentiful. The lobster night was amazing. Several at our table ordered a second Lobster plate – they are happy to accommodate the request for additional servings. Our head-waiter was wonderful – we were in good hands. Lunch on the Lido in the Red Sail….hmmm…….so many things to say about this. We found our favorites – yes Fish and Chips is slightly hidden on the deck above the back buffet and was pretty good. The deli was delicious as was the Mongolian. The grill was good – had a couple of hamburgers there. The buffet was hit and miss. One poster wrote that it was pretty sad when the best thing to eat was pizza. We found ourselves in that boat a couple of times on the buffet line. Ice cream was good – a couple of times we would stop by to get a cone to find that the ice cream was coming out in liquid form or not at all. Most of the time it worked just fine. Breakfast – we had breakfast in the lido, breakfast in the main dining room and room service for breakfast. We 100% recommend the MDR for breakfast – it was our favorite!! Overall I would give the food a 5 out of 10 – they could do better in this department. I’m not a big dessert person, however, the others in my party seemed pleased. The fruit was delicious and plentiful!!

 

Ocean View Room: I have to admit that I completely prefer a balcony – I am not a cruise snob, however, it is just more fun to have a balcony! This room, however, was so innexpensive that we gave it a try. It was well appointed and plenty of room for the three of us, but I will probably just save for a little longer next time to be able to splurge on a balcony. There were two closets and plenty of drawers and nooks to store stuff. I did bring an over-the-door hanger. It is a must have for the tons of little stuff you need easy access to. Our room steward was fantastic! We always, always had ice and a tidy room!

 

Weather: The weather was a mix of warm, foggy, cool and cold/windy. We packed a variety of clothes and jackets and were pleased that we had them. It was downright hot in Boston at 90 on the day we left. Fog set in on our first sea day with about 70 degrees. Zero chair hogs on that day – as we never saw the sun. It was, however, a wonderful day to sit on the deck and read – so many chairs to choose from. Saint John was about 80 degrees and sunshine. Halifax was a bit cooler – about 75 degrees was the high, however, at Peggy’s Cove (more on that later) – it was a little cooler. Our final sea day – really windy, really cold (about 59 degrees). Serenity was a wind tunnel – tried to stay in the hammock (with my complimentary blanket that they were passing out) but it was too windy – I moved down a couple of decks and was perfect with my blanket. Cocooned up and took a nice nap.

 

Ports of Call: The most important thing I can say is to go with realistic expectations in regards to the ports of call. Saint John – not a whole lot to do – read through the excursions and pick something that interests you. We just walked around , rode a horse-drawn carriage and saw the sights. Halifax – took the Peggy’s Cove/Titanic excursion. It was a good tour. I recommend it!! There are no sandy beaches or snorkeling tours. I actually heard someone complain about these two things – be sure you know where you’re going. The temperatures were awesome as back in OK each day it was over 100 degrees!!!

 

Casino: Yikes! The slots were not hitting. During our visits there we never heard anyone shout with delight about a win. The tables seemed to be doing better – we didn’t play but noticed nice stacks of chips in front of those who did.

 

Entertainment: Going to try to keep in positive here. Monday and Tuesday nights’ shows were pretty good – we were entertained and enjoyed the shows. The magic show was a little strange for us – risqué outfits (we were duly warned ahead of time) and raunchy body bumping – so we popped out a little early. The 60 Seconds or Less night was okay – didn’t have a lot of fun energy – could have been the players – we stayed to see the winner but it wasn’t our favorite. The “Livin’ in America Show……hmmmm….there were three or four warnings that this was a “PG” show and that if we were “easily offended” we should leave now. The girls came out in their Vegas style clothes and feathers – then they turned around. Literally, if there was a thread of material on their butts it was hidden – we only saw butt cheeks hanging out everywhere. We laughed because we were warned – and headed out to finish packing. Perhaps they should review their rating system – I’m thinking this one was a PG-13! Not our thing – but others seemed to enjoy. The live band in the Amber Palace was amazing!!! Such a talented group – really enjoyed their music!

 

Cruise Director: Didn’t see him except in the shows in the Amber Palace or on TV. I’ve had the pleasure of having super-star cruise directors. He did a good job – not great – but good. There were times he got a laugh at other’s expense (some in good taste – other times not) – but fulfilled the duty. Nice guy – liked to be called “Big Sexy” or something like that. His entourage of assistants did a good job as well.

 

Misc.: The pools were great! The ship was clean and well maintained! I remember commenting on this more than once during the cruise. Friendly staff members – each one (without exception) always spoke a greeting with a smile. We watched the movie on the big screen – nice touch! – they had plenty of blankets to keep you toasty warm while you watched. Serenity was amazing as was the back “adults only” pool. I thought they did a great job of keeping kiddo’s out of the adult areas. The photographers were indeed everywhere as well as the bartenders asking if you needed a drink. Most pax were friendly – just like any other large group of people getting together – you get a little bit of everything . But overall we encountered many nice people. Tips were $56.50 a person. This is probably posted somewhere, however, I thought I read it was $48.00. These, of course, were automatically added to our bill.

 

Disembarkation: They have got this down to a science!!! We put our bags in the hall around 11:45 p.m. – they were picked up immediately. We got up on Saturday monring and arrived at the Platinum Dining Room at 7:30 a.m to have one more wonderful meal! We leisurely ate our breakfast until they called our number (8) around 8:30 a.m. We walked down the gangway, gave our customs forms to the guys at the bottom collecting them, picked up our luggage and were out the door. We rode the Silver Line back to the airport and made it in plenty of time for our flight!

 

 

Overall – a fun cruise. The cost was amazing and definitely the draw for us to finally plan to go see New England! Seeing Boston was on my mom’s bucket list – it was a great way to get it all in. Go with realistic expectations and you will have a great time!

[teaach]

My Dh and I are on the Glory, 7 day out of NYC in September. I appreciate your review and the way it is categorized. I usually due my own tours and will try to follow your recommendation to see Peggy's Cove and Titanic tour. Thanks again for a factual and interesting review.

[Poorplaya]

Great review, thanks for the information about the ship and ports.

[vivavegas]

Nice review! Thanks for taking the time to write a review and share your experiences with us. Glad you had a good cruise.:)

[daisitroy]

Thanks for posting your review. It was very fair and balanced. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Will be on the same ship in August out of NYC.

Dot

[5 in OK]

I should have covered dress attire. Very, very relaxed dress for the main dining room - everything from shorts to dress-up. Most were in church clothes. I cannot imagine why the way people dress for dinner annoys so many - I never heard any comments from other pax.

 

Formal night - most people were dressed nicely - some wore tuxes and formal wear. Most (90%) wore suits/ties and dressy dresses/skirts/pants. The lobster was amazing!!!

 

And, of course, anything - I mean anything goes during the day on deck. Wow! People watching is so much fun!

[kathy884]

Great review! Thank you so much for posting. We are doing this same cruise out of NYC on August 3rd. // Think we'll skp the Magic Show and Living in America show, but try the others. Really appreciate your posting information about them.