Carnival Glory Review 3-3-13 Sailing

[lola4795]

We sail on the March 3 Western Caribbean sailing. It was our family of 4 (Mom, Dad and 2 teen boys) and another couple. One word to sum it all up: AWESOME!

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the Port at 10:30 and were on the boat by 11:00. The people who purchased FTTF were on the boat about 15 minutes earlier than us. The only advantage they had was getting to their room right away. We carried our backpacks with us to the buffet while we ate lunch. We were in our room by about 1:30 and our luggage arrived at about 2:00.

 

Cabin: Our family was in an OV room. We found the cabin to be very spacious. There was enough storage to put all of our things away with no clutter on the counters. There was only 1 outlet in the entire cabin. This was not located in the bathroom, but on the vanity outside the bathroom.

 

The other couple had an inside cabin. It was spacious enough for the 2 of them, but I was glad we had a larger room for our family of 4.

 

Our room steward did a great job with everything. We had a new towel animal every night. Our ice bucket was always full. Beds were always made and/or turned down nicely.

 

Food: We had Any Time Dining. We usually went at 6pm. We went in a combo of either 4 of us or 6 of us. We usually walked straight in. On the first elegant night we were a little later (maybe 7 or 7:30). There was a long line to get in, but it moved really quickly. We probably only waited 5 minutes.

 

We always requested the same wait staff. Sukayadna was our waiter. He and his staff were both funny and attentive.

 

The buffet lines were usually fairly long. The upside is that Carnival offers much more than the standard buffet. If the buffet was a long line, we could choose Guy's Burgers (delicious), Pizza, Fish & Chips, or Tacos. All were very good.

 

Ports:

 

In Cozumel we spent the day at Chakkannab Park. It was an excellent way to spend the day.

 

Costa Maya was spent at Tropicante Restaurant. They reserved loungers for us for the day. The beach was perfect and there were many amenities right on the beach. I highly recommend it!

 

In Roatan we did a Victor Bodden Zip & Dip tour. For all of the amazing reviews he gets we weren't very impressed. Our guide was not helpful at all. The zip line was great, but the rest of the day was disappointing.

 

In Grand Cayman we went to Paradise Restaurant and snorkeled at Eden Rock. There were giant fish (Tarpons) in the water. They were about 5 feel long and are used to being fed, so they come right up to you when you get it. It was really neat!

 

The surf there is very rough. We were all smashed into the coral at one time or another. Beware if you are not a strong swimmer!

 

Entertainment: We went to a few shows. The Motown show and another show with more current pop music (Can't remember the name). The singers were pretty good. The tech with both of these shows was amazing. They put a lot into lights and scrims and set work. Without this, the show would have been only ok. With it, it was fantastic.

 

Other entertainment: They had a couple of lounge singers. One guy alone on acoustic. He was very good and had a great selection of songs. We sat and listened to him several times. There was another man/woman duo who were really bad. They both had gritty voices and the act was just cheesy with lots of canned loops behind them.

 

Debarkation: We chose self assist. We left at about 8:30am. It was pretty quick getting off the boat.

 

Comparisons: This was only our 2nd cruise. Our first was on Norwegian. Over all we liked Carnival better. Carnival has nicer and larger rooms. The service on Carnival is friendlier and better. NCL has more selections for dinner and the buffet lines are set up better. Carnival makes up for this with having more selections for lunch time. Food quality on both cruise lines was good. I would say Carnival is slightly better.

[gelo7]

Thanks, for sharing your thoughts.

[MalynKiggs]

I'm leaving for this same cruise on Sunday (yeah!!!!). We will also have four in a balcony room (myself (27), my mom, my little sister, and her friend (both 18). any suggestions for having four in a room??

 

We also plan on going to Chakanaab in Cozumel. How did you get there and what did you do while there? I know it costs $21 to get in, did you spend much more money while there?

 

We will also be doing the Zip 'n Dip with Victor Bodden. I'm sorry to hear your excursion wasn't that great. I'll hope the other reviews are more of the norm. What did you guys wear? Was there a place to keep belongings while doing the zip line??

 

Thanks so much!

[lola4795]

I'm leaving for this same cruise on Sunday (yeah!!!!). We will also have four in a balcony room (myself (27), my mom, my little sister, and her friend (both 18). any suggestions for having four in a room??

 

We also plan on going to Chakanaab in Cozumel. How did you get there and what did you do while there? I know it costs $21 to get in, did you spend much more money while there?

 

We will also be doing the Zip 'n Dip with Victor Bodden. I'm sorry to hear your excursion wasn't that great. I'll hope the other reviews are more of the norm. What did you guys wear? Was there a place to keep belongings while doing the zip line??

 

Thanks so much!

 

My main suggestion for 4 in a room is pack way less than you think you'll need. I ended up wearing my swimsuit and a nice cover up 90% of the time. I packed shorts and t-shirts, but didn't really wear them. My husband and sons each had 2 swimming trunks and an assortment of t-shirts that they rotated. Again, they really didn't wear the shorts we packed.

 

I debated taking an over the door shoe hanger for storage in the bathroom. I didn't do it and was fine, but I'm the only girl. If you have more women, you might want to do that.

 

At Chakkannnab, we just hung out at the beach and snorkeled. We also walked around the grounds and watched people on the dolphin excursions. They also have a couple of free shows during the day, but we were so busy relaxing on the beach we didn't get there. :)

 

We purchased a few drinks and a little food at the park, but didn't spend much money. We stuffed ourselves for breakfast, then were back on the ship by about 4pm for a burger. It worked for us!

 

The Zip & Dip was the only place where you would want shorts and a t-shirt. You will also want tennis shoes or water shoes that will stay on your feet. I'm not sure about storage for bags, etc. Ours got left with the people who skipped the zip part.

 

I feel really bad that our experience was poor there. We had read so many good reviews. We just felt that no one there cared about our experience at all. Here is the review I wrote for Trip Advisor:

 

We visited Victor Bodden for the Zip & Dip excursion during the first week of March. The zip line portion of the tour was amazing. That was really the only good thing about the tour.

 

For starters, the website directions clearly state that the tour leaves exactly one hour after our ship docks. Our group showed up on time with nearly everyone else on the tour. We ended up waiting in the bus for over 1/2 hour for 2 people who showed up late. This put our whole tour off schedule.

 

Our tour guide, Lenora stayed at the front of the bus and chatted with the people up there. She never even glanced toward the back of the bus to ask if we had any questions.

 

To waste even more time we were forced to stop at a souvenir shop along the way. Those who chose the "skip the zip" option of the tour were forced to wait in the parking lot with limited seating and nothing to look at. As I stated before, the zip line portion was wonderful and worth every penny.

 

The monkey tour was good too. The cages were clean and the guide did a great job of answering questions.

 

With all of the delays we only had about an hour for the beach portion of the excursion. Lenora assured us that the price of our tour included reserved lounge chairs at the beach. When our bus arrived, she headed straight to the beach area with the people who were at the front of the bus. When the back half of the bus arrived at the beach, we spent about 10 minutes trying to locate our tour group. When Lenora noticed us she halfheartedly said she would locate lounge chairs for us. She disappeared without any further help.

 

We were very disappointed with the level of service this tour offered. With that said, we did find Roatan a very interested place to visit. We enjoyed the bus ride through the town and loved the gorgeous countryside. If we had been given a more attentive tour guide it would have been a fantastic day.

[spartn91]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. We will be on the Glory for Christmas. My DS will be 15, did your teenagers find things to do on board?

[narrow56]

Thanks for the review. I'm sailing on the Glory in a little over 100 days!

[lola4795]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. We will be on the Glory for Christmas. My DS will be 15, did your teenagers find things to do on board?

 

They mostly just hung out together and wandered the ship. Neither one wanted to sign up for the teen clubs (they were in separate age groups). I think they would have enjoyed it if they did. They are 13 & 16.

 

One thing that Carnival could do better is to have a separate area for non-party swimming. They have 3 pools. One is for kids and was closed much of the time. The main pool was often over taken by the beer bong party crowd. The only remaining pool was the 18 and over pool. That left little swim time for my teenagers.

 

They both loved the nighttime movies on the outdoor screen.

 

They also had fun ordering room service to their heart's content. It kind of became the joke among us. If we didn't know where they were, we assumed they were ordering room service. :)

[JaniceB]

Thanks for your review. I am looking at the Glory out of Norfolk. The pool situation was probably a result of the time you sailed, spring break and the college crowd.

[battchief1]

Thanks for the review

[Dave_&_Lisa]

I'm leaving for this same cruise on Sunday (yeah!!!!). We will also have four in a balcony room (myself (27), my mom, my little sister, and her friend (both 18). any suggestions for having four in a room??

 

We also plan on going to Chakanaab in Cozumel. How did you get there and what did you do while there? I know it costs $21 to get in, did you spend much more money while there?

 

We will also be doing the Zip 'n Dip with Victor Bodden. I'm sorry to hear your excursion wasn't that great. I'll hope the other reviews are more of the norm. What did you guys wear? Was there a place to keep belongings while doing the zip line??

 

Thanks so much!

 

We are on your cruise as well. Come and join the roll call!

[Dave_&_Lisa]

Thank you for the review. Looking forward to the same itinerary on Sunday!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Cruises are us]

Thanks for the review. We sail on the Glory in 12 days!

[mek]

We were on the same sailing. Just a few comments to add from a slightly different perspective. We are Platinum on Carnival and cruise frequently on many lines.

 

Embarkation - the fastest ever. We arrived at 11:30 and were on the ship in 15 minutes.

 

Cabin - Also in an OV - aft, deck 2. We think these cabins are great and usually don't pay the premium for a balcony as they are basically the same as OV's and we feel most Carnival balconies are too small for us.

 

Food - Loved Fish and Chips and Guy's Burgers. I personally like the new pizza with the thin crust, however, they didn't have pizza ready to serve, but rather took orders and then we had to wait - no biggie, but I like it better when you can just walk up and get a piece of pizza. Food in the MDR was hit or miss - I still like Carnival food, but this time it seemed a little off. The Deli is open late along with pizza and the sandwich place by the aft pool. If you want a decent dessert after dinner, it's either ice cream or a few brownies/cookies by the sandwiches, room service or the extra charge desserts at the coffee shop. Taste was very good, but only open 4 nights.

 

Entertainment - Well, this is where I was really disappointed. It's not that I didn't enjoy the new production shows, because I thought they were visually great and a refreshing change from the traditional singers and dancers, but I thought the singing was average at best - dancing was a little better and only 8 people was noticeably light - 2 more performers would have made it much better, IMHO. They performed a sample of their show on the first night and then had three shows after that and repeated both on the last night. I did have a problem with the lack of entertainment on 3 nights. Yes, they had the comedy club, but honestly, 4 nights of adult comedy is overkill for me. One night there was nothing except passenger game shows and a deck party - yikes! The outdoor movie screen was dark a couple of nights and they showed old movies.

 

DH and I decided that this is probably our last Carnival cruise for a while, (at least in the Caribbean.) Personally, I think Carnival is making a smart marketing move with the 2.0 upgrades, but they're not exactly what we are looking for, so for now, we will be sailing on other lines, which is something we do do anyhow - it will probably just be much longer before we even consider Carnival again. But, I do think that Carnival is offering exactly what a younger, casual, less experienced cruiser is looking for and that is great - I think there should be a distinct difference between the brands under the Carnival Corp. umbrella; if not, what's the point of having separate lines?

[firemanbobswife]

Thanks for the reviews.

 

We will be on the Glory May 19 and have rooms 2470 and 2473. Did anyone happen to get any pictures of them? I've seen the older pics on here of her sister ships, just wanted to see the actual ones we're staying in :).

 

Also wondering if there were a lot of vibrations/noise towards the back.

 

This will be our first time in an OV, we always have gotten balconies.

[mcgratru]

We were also on this sailing and I will add my "two cents worth". Carnival offers a good value but you do get what you pay for.

 

Positives;

 

1. Both the room steward and dinner staff (traditional) were awesome. Friendly and attentive and the ship is very clean.

2. My 13 and 14 year olds had a blast. Loved Circle C, pizza, ice cream, bottomless bubbles etc.

3. We bought FTTF and it was worth every penny. No waiting in line and off the ship in the first group to catch an early flight.

4. We did Carnival excursions and they were awesome and exactly as described.

5. Blue Iquana Burrito Bar is amazing...best food on the ship!

6. Room was spacious with lots of storage space.

7. If you are a party person, Lido Deck is always rockin!

 

 

But;

 

1. Guest services not very friendly or helpful and Carnival staff were downright nasty to my 13 year old during embarkation and they wouldn't let us help him when there was trouble with his card. Generally, if you ask 3 different people the same question, you will get 3 different answers.

 

2. The entire process for excursions and debarking at ports is poorly organized and not well explained.

 

3. Food is average. Desserts look beautiful but are pretty flavourless.

 

4. Entertainment is not good or plentiful. We were pretty bored by Day 3.

 

5. Lots of drunk, rude people using the F word and dressed scantilly.

 

6. Other than Lido deck it is difficult to get bar service on some parts of the ship. We waited 30 minutes at one bar in the atrium to order a glass of wine.

 

Again, Carnival is inexpensive and if you are into partying and drinking and watching people drink and party, you will have a blast. It was a great week for our teens and we were out of snow and in the sun for a week so that was good...but I am really not interested in being on vacation with the ignorant drunk people who annoy me when I am not on vacation.

 

I would not cruise Carnival again as a couple and certainly wouldn't recommend that atmosphere for people with small children but would consider it for a cheap week in the sun with teenagers.

[Coopie]

We also will be in cabin 2470 in Sept to NE/Canada and I was wondering the same thing regarding vibration and being under the dining room.

[firemanbobswife]

We also will be in cabin 2470 in Sept to NE/Canada and I was wondering the same thing regarding vibration and being under the dining room.

 

I'll be sure to report back if no one else does. I plan on taking LOTS of pictures.

[tasmith09]

We were also on this sailing and I will add my "two cents worth". Carnival offers a good value but you do get what you pay for.

 

Positives;

 

1. Both the room steward and dinner staff (traditional) were awesome. Friendly and attentive and the ship is very clean.

2. My 13 and 14 year olds had a blast. Loved Circle C, pizza, ice cream, bottomless bubbles etc.

3. We bought FTTF and it was worth every penny. No waiting in line and off the ship in the first group to catch an early flight.

4. We did Carnival excursions and they were awesome and exactly as described.

5. Blue Iquana Burrito Bar is amazing...best food on the ship!

6. Room was spacious with lots of storage space.

7. If you are a party person, Lido Deck is always rockin!

 

 

But;

 

1. Guest services not very friendly or helpful and Carnival staff were downright nasty to my 13 year old during embarkation and they wouldn't let us help him when there was trouble with his card. Generally, if you ask 3 different people the same question, you will get 3 different answers.

 

2. The entire process for excursions and debarking at ports is poorly organized and not well explained.

 

3. Food is average. Desserts look beautiful but are pretty flavourless.

 

4. Entertainment is not good or plentiful. We were pretty bored by Day 3.

 

5. Lots of drunk, rude people using the F word and dressed scantilly.

 

6. Other than Lido deck it is difficult to get bar service on some parts of the ship. We waited 30 minutes at one bar in the atrium to order a glass of wine.

 

Again, Carnival is inexpensive and if you are into partying and drinking and watching people drink and party, you will have a blast. It was a great week for our teens and we were out of snow and in the sun for a week so that was good...but I am really not interested in being on vacation with the ignorant drunk people who annoy me when I am not on vacation.

 

I would not cruise Carnival again as a couple and certainly wouldn't recommend that atmosphere for people with small children but would consider it for a cheap week in the sun with teenagers.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. We do this cruise in 6 weeks so I'm soaking up all the info I can.

 

Its funny you mention the desserts being flavorless. We have the same thoughts, they always look so good, but don't usually live up to our expectations. At least in the buffet, I love the MDR desserts.

 

I also just have to say that I think a large part of the reason you experienced so many partiers is because of the time of year and spring break. In our last couple cruises we experienced some partiers, but not to the extent that you describe. I'm hoping we have a different crowd when we go.

[mek]

Just a couple of additional comments - the Serenity area is really very nice on this ship - 2 levels on the top forward decks. DH and I played cards up there and it was always quiet and peaceful with cushy loungers and chairs. On sea days, the bar serves sandwiches and I had the shrimp salad, which was delicious. We were never around the pool area because I have to stay out of the sun, so we honestly never experienced any wild behavior or offensive language. Kids for the most part were well behaved and our halls were quiet at night. Heard a few f bombs, but not many considering there were so many college students on board.