Glory Review 10-22- 10-29

[gnomedog]

Going on the Glory 11/19, and was looking forward to it. Some of these comments are scaring me a little. My 68 yo mother is going with me, and she tends to complain about everything. I sure hope this cruise doesn't turn into one of those times....... I would hate to spend 7 days listening to her bitx x......:(

[MSSQRL]

4) We have a balcony guarantee, may change to a selected room. What room were you in?

 

We booked a balcony guarantee on the Glory and were upgraded to a suite. It was fabulous:D

 

 

The OP said the rooms should be changed, but some people do spend time in their room;) and I rather liked having the sofa. It made the room seem larger. On the Glory we did have a suite, but on the Miracle we did not and still had plenty of room.

 

As for the sheets, when we stay in motels for several nights they usually do not change the sheets daily. If I feel the sheets need changing, I simply strip my bed and pile all the sheets up with the dirty towels. Of course, I don't have people seeing to my every need at home, so when I'm on vacation, I think nothing of pitching in to help out my room steward. They are extremely busy, so if I can take 5 minutes to help them out, I still have 23 hours and 55 minutes for myself and I find them very appreciative. Not quite, but almost as good as a tip (LOL):) And, of course, helping out shouldn't take the place of tipping them a few dollars if for nothing more than the cute little towel animals.:cool:

[Beach4me]

I'm glad to have heard your review. And, I think that I can help explain a few things you mention. Note, that I did say that I was disappointed in the new level of selling that is happening on the Carnival ships - and the Glory in particular. But, as was pointed out by Lisa, you will find MANY positive posts by me regarding the Glory - I have cruised her several times.

 

Regarding issues with the crew. A large percentage of the crew is new to the Glory. Because of the 3 ships being used by FEMA, ship rotation schedules have changed to ensure continued incomes for the crew members. Instead of the 6 month contracts, many have been changed to 5 months. Our waiter only had one more week left and was going home 5 weeks early. Shawn (the GREAT CD) was brought from the Sensation and replaced the previous CD who was sent home on vacation early. I spoke with many of the crew members about the change in schedules. The desire by Carnival to make sure that the crew members of the 3 ships out of service still had an income meant changes happened quickly and differently than on other rotations. With the older, smaller ships being the ones out of service, less experienced crew members (who often get their training on the older ships), were thrown into the fire so to speak. If they act confused, it's because the are. There was a distinct difference in the knowledge of the crew from the cruise I was on 2 weeks ago than from the other Glory cruises I was on. I was happy to find out, however, that Carnival was trying to do right by its employees.

 

Regarding the couches in the balcony rooms...they are there for the 3rd person. I appreciate Carnival having the couches. Means the 3 of us can travel together without drawing straws to see who gets stuck in the bunk. As all of us are adults, none of us gets the thrill of bunk beds that kids do. The primary reason for the couch in the room is not to encourage you to spend more time in your cabin - it's so there is an availability to accomodate a third person. You will get a different configuration if you book a cabin that is not coded for a 3rd or 3th & 4th passenger.

 

Bed positioning...your room steward can rearrange your room. All of the cabins have the ability to have beds moved together and the light stands repositioned. Heck, you can do it yourself if you want to. Again, I like having a light to read by before going to bed. Provided all of the storage space assigned to your steward hasn't been used already, you can even have things removed from your cabin. We do it with the little coffee table whenever possible when there are 3 of us in the room.

 

I also have one other suggestion for those of you going on the Glory...try to get into the Golden Dining Room. It is more mid-ship (just forward of the purser's desk). The ship's movement is minimized in the forward dining room. And, there can tend to be propeller vibration felt in the Platinum dining room. A lot of people want the aft dining room because it is surrounded on 3 sides by windows. But, dinner is in the dark and the drapes are drawn 90% of the time at dinner anyway. Open seating breakfast and lunch are served in the Platinum so you can get your view during the daylight.

 

Regarding Nassau...we were there 3 Sundays ago. The straw market was open but many of the other shops were closed. Only the big stores (Diamonds Int., etc) were open. HOWEVER, ALL of the stores at Atlantis were open. We caught a cab ($4 per person/each way) over and had a GREAT day at Atlantis. I bought some jewelry at the Lalique store...found it in St. Maarten later in the week for $40 more than what I paid at Atlantis! There were some big winners at the slots too. Several folks from our ship made $200+ at Atlantis. One person won $1200. Sunday is the biggest change-over day of the week at Atlantis...folks leaving after week long or weekend stays, others coming in for the discounted rates offered with Sunday arrivals. A group of us were speculating that the slots might pay better on Sunday to hook the newcomers. Just a theory.

 

I have long been a fan of the Glory. And while I was disappointed with a couple things on the last voyage, I still think it is a great ship and would not discourage anyone from booking her. Everyone has a different experience and attitude plays a large part. So does taking the time and making the effort to understand why things are the way they are.

[hipquest]

Oh, I will bring it on. I just turned back on my computer this morning and saw all the replies. I have not finished proofing and rewriting my review. May take some time. I am on trial again.

 

When are you going to proof your review?

 

What are you on trial for, again?:confused:

[gogetter]

Hello,

 

Hey.....more power to you...........sorry your friend didn't pick me...wish you had introduced yourself......

 

Anyways......i too did not see any kind of notification about sheets being washed or changed every other day...........i know it happens, but didn't see anything about it.....i too got some soiled sheets........didn't bother me though...looked like punch or something.......

 

As far as the big lean to the left, we were told there were 3 ships in the immediate area and the captain had to make a radical move...at the time it seemed weather related...........

[CruisingCathy]

JJCalder.... we did our trip to St.Johns on our own. Took a cab from the pier to the red hook ferry and since my sister has a house on St.Johns, she picked us up at the ferry dock and took us around the island. It was great having our own private tour guide that knows all the trivia about the island!

 

Gogetter... those three ships were behind us..... I can't see how they caused the capt. to turn suddenly and cause the tilt. I agree with you that I think it was the weather. It was raining so hard we couldn't see very far into the ocean and we could hear the wind howling outside our balcony.

[MrPete]

I know my attitude would vary differently between having a room in the hold, or a balcony room. There's just no comparison.

[mnsawyer]

We sailed the Glory in early April (western itinerary) and absolutely loved her. We sailed the Triumph in March 2003 and for us, the Glory was much better hands down. We loved the Port Canaveral area and wished we had haved stayed in Cocoa Beach instead of Orlando but it was fine. Toured the Cocoa Beach area in the am and then dropped off our car at Budget. The port itself is beautiful and new. We did have a wait but believe it was about 90 minutes from the time we entered the doors at the port until we got on the ship.

 

We had a cat 8 balcony room on upper deck and absolutely loved it. We were upgraded to a cat 11 on the Triumph and we liked the layout of our Glory cat 8 room much better. Don't know about the bedcoverings, etc. but do know that we slept great the whole week...pillows, covers, etc., were wonderful.

 

Yes, it was crowded but the ship was full...we tried not to eat lunch for example right at noon on a sea day but would wait until 12:30 or so and it was fine. It was a bit cool and windy our whole trip but we were up on the very top decks (forward) and had no problem with chairs...our own little paradise with everything just a few feet away. My DH and I would take turns going for the drinks, etc.

 

We had early seating (6:15) and loved it...table for 2 and it was perfect...nice people around us too for conversation as well.

 

We would rate the Glory as the best cruise we have taken (out of 5) and would sail her again in a minute! The ship crew was friendly but not too intrusive and the ship very clean...we were fortunate to have John Heald as CD so it was constant laughter!

 

If we cruise again this year would be on the Glory...eastern so this review is helpful.

 

I would agree that everyone has a different opinion of the same cruise. As for the towels, sheets, etc., we had no problem. The room steward did forget a few cups out on the balcony but I just put them out in the hallway. No big deal but I aways pick up our cabin anyway...just habit!

 

As for motion, I took Bonine every night and had no problem at all..our last night, it was very rocky from Progresso to Port Canaveral...thank God for the balcony because we kept the door open, otherwise, I would have been up on deck. Can't imagine being in a room with that much motion and no door but that's just me. Didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night but the CD did mention it very early the next am and that we were going to be late getting in PC (by 2 hours).

 

 

Enjoy!

[katesmarma]

My family of 7 were also on Glory. This was our second mega shiptrip The Mariner of Sea being first. I will say I love the Spriit class ship or about that size in all lines. Just a few notes. As for kids you need to sail during summer or Spring break to really be influenced by them. Had 970 on Mariner last June. Never really had problem this cruise but most of time used aft pool. One problem we noted is that wheel chairs and walkers do encounter problems moving about especially in lower level dining rooms. We also missed sliding door to balcony. If you sail the Glory you just don't go thru the dining room decks 3 and 4 the galley is there.

None of my faimily experienced the motion problem as stated. On Sunday the ship was out-running Alpha so it moved along at good clip that night. We also had Platinum dining and there was some vibration but that did not hinder our group. All and all thought ride was fairly smooth. You need to sail thru a north easter with 15 to 30 foot seas to say the ride was rocky.As for that quick turn which was discussed. I was at aft pool. We has been in semi-clear weather when all of a sudden they started to close the roof. Off to our left there was a pitch black sky moving in on us. The ship did make a very sudden turn; could see by wake trail, and for a few minutes it was a harrowing experience with the water spilling out of the pool and collecting on deck. We we in extreme right corner and water was about 18 inches deep but soon drained off. Don't know why the sudden turn. We live in Fl and my husband thought that with that strong storm coming at us radar might have picked up a water spout

We did find the ship clean and had very nice crew members take care of our 3 cabins. My moms cabin on deck 6 was over the Piano bar and sing along and she did have late night music to deal with and that meant 12 to 1 AM

Comments to Carnival about insulting area better Never heard disco.

Even though we had a good time this is our last mega ship Just TOO big. It's on to Sprit class size ship next cruise. This was cruise number 20 for us and find we just like the smaller feel; if 92,000 ton and 900 feet is small.

[dancedoc]

Brain was not thinking that day, until they said your name a couple of times it did not register who Gogetter was sorry. Traveling with a lot of people who I had not seen in awhile forgot to introduce myself. :(. I am a lawyer so as soon as I hit back into town my firm was on trial again, sucked right back into what I left. Thinking about doing something else, been doing this for a long while now. Yeah, I did not hear the announcement about bad weather, until friends told me that Shawn who was a great CD had announced that we were going through bad weather. It was kinda of cool to have that ship dip that much, and you could see the bad weather and dark clouds in the foreground, got some cool pictures of it.

[Iamthesea]

katesmarma - I noticed you have been on the Coral. How would you compare the Coral to the Glory? We just got off the Coral. The ship was just a little too small for us, however we had a great time! :) We loved the Mariner!

 

We had a cat 8 balcony room on upper deck and absolutely loved it. We were upgraded to a cat 11 on the Triumph and we liked the layout of our Glory cat 8 room much better. Don't know about the bedcoverings, etc. but do know that we slept great the whole week...pillows, covers, etc., were wonderful.

I am curious about this comment. Is there a difference between the categories on the different ships? In other words, aren't the Cat. 8 (and Cat. 11) the same on both ships? We have stayed in a Cat. 8 on the Victory and were looking into the Cat. 11 on the Glory because it is larger.

 

theone1980 - I know what you mean about being thrown back into the routine. Seems like every time we vacation, we come back home to twice the trouble we left with and DH always gets sick. He is nursing a cold.

Katesmarma mentioned earlier that you need to sail thru a north easter with 15 to 30 foot seas to say the ride was rocky. Our Captain told us (and it was on the TV) that the waves we were in were 15 - 20 feet. I have pictures and video.

[katesmarma]

http://community.webshots.com/user/katesmarma My very favoite ship is Pride a Spirit class. Had rear wrap cat 11. Balcony is 41 ft holds many people. Also has 4 seperate rooms. Really enjoyed Coral. Used choice dinning at 6:30 More layed back but we were with a group of 60 people from my church so we had some activity scheduled . Did have a great tour that got to both Panama City and Rain forest. Liked layout of Lido restaurant on both Mariner and Pride better than Glory. We took Mariner in June and really were over whelmed by children. Tied up our elevators all day. We were on their bank. I find something to like most of time' I was on Millennium when we hit that northeaster coming out of Ft lauderdale and Hurricane Mitch coming back. They had to airlift a passenger off and could not land helicopter on deck. Took them up in basket the seas were so heavy. We are good sailors so made it through without seasick but quite a few passengers had a rough one day

[CruisingCathy]

Hi TheOne.. . Do you have a pic of that dark cloud you would share? I was on one of the upper decks to the left of the slide looking to the rear of the ship. I could see the three ships behind us and was watching as the ship was turning, (thinking.... the capt. must be heading west toward fla.) Then I just happend to sit up and look backwards and saw that cloud. Yikes... I grabbed my stuff just as it started to rain, and luckily I went in the door near me and my room was right there. I have a photo of the three ships behind us... but nothing in front. Couldn't see but 25 feet out our balcony when it started to rain.

[dancedoc]

Cathy-

 

Yes, I have the picture, but have not downloaded off my digital yet. Don't know when I will get to it maybe this weekend. That was kinda of freaky, but a beautiful picture. Will email it to you when we download.:)

[NRWO]

With all due respect, the only legitimate gripes I get from your review was the aft smell problem and your little rift with the cabin steward. Other than that I'm not sure I see anything that's Carnival's fault. I just don't get the unabashed rage and disgust about not hearing the announcement for the Captain's ball, which by your own admission you may have missed due to your seasickness/elbow difficulties. As for the desgin "flaws" on the Glory, well that's amatter of personal opinion but I personally wouldn't view that as a huge detriment to my cruising experience, unless layout was such a problem that it caused me to constantly get lost or inconvenienced when getting around the ship (which you did not describe). In fact in re-reading your review, you actually site more positives then negatives, therefore I'm just not getting how your experience on the Glory has "turned you off from Carnival permanently." Unless there's much more you left out.

[MOYSHA]

OK you Carnival die hards, cruisers such as theone1980 are allowed to not like your prefered cruise line. I too was one the same Glory sailing. The last time I was on a Carnival ship was in 2000 (Jubilee)and quite honestly that turned me off to Carnival. A friend told me about a great offer on Carnival that I couldn't refuse, so DW and I went on the Glory. It is a beautiful ship, but it does have some shortcomings. They have placed tooooo many table in too small of a space for them . The backs of chairs keep hitting one another, and in the Platinum dining room the servers have to ask people to push their chairs in on a regular basis. Also........ when we first went to our cabin I had to ask the room steward to change the bed cover since the one he put on had a 2" by 1/2" red mark on it. I didn't want to know what the mark was, BUT it shouldn't have been there. And YES, ebven if those crew members are new to the Glory, they should say "hello" when a passenger says hello to them. We did overlook these things, because we enjoy cruising. Will we go on Carnival again? Yes, but only if the price is right, otherwise we'll stay with Celebrity. They spoiled us

[dancedoc]

THANK YOU MOYSHA!!!!. You are my new best friend. :) . I have been cruising since high school. It is my opinion people, just like it is your opinion to love that ship. AGAIN, IT DID NOTHING FOR ME, my opinion. I have been on Celebrity and Royal Carb. Love both. Like Carnival for the most part, but this ship just did not do it for me.

[estherhead]

THANK YOU MOYSHA!!!!. You are my new best friend. :) . I have been cruising since high school. It is my opinion people, just like it is your opinion to love that ship. AGAIN, IT DID NOTHING FOR ME, my opinion. I have been on Celebrity and Royal Carb. Love both. Like Carnival for the most part, but this ship just did not do it for me.

 

I was happy for your comments. I like honesty. And as a mom of two preschoolers, your comments made me even more excited about my December Glory cruise. Your negatives (too many kids & lack of late night fun) will be my POSITIVES! I went on the Sensation & hated it and almost decided to not go on Carnival again as I'm not a drinker, gambler, paritier and didn't like all the neon. Then I went on Pride and fell in love with Carnival. I know that when my kids are not preschoolers I will choose a different cruise ship & line. That doesn't mean I'm an evil Carnival hater.

[JJCalder19]

On my last cruise, the CD specifically pointed out to fill out the comment card. They read them. Plus as an added incentive, if they pulled your comment card first you won a cruise. Cool deal. So I filled it out being as honest as possible without going overboard (no pun intended).

The only thing I had a problem with was the area that the sushi bar was set up. Too small and the line usually zig zagged thru the casino. I made the comment to make two seperate counters with two sushi chefs to make the line move quicker.

Didnt win a cruise but I hope I contributed.

[NRWO]

No, it's ok. Not every cruise on Carnival is gonna be top notch.. sometimes they make mistakes or for whatever reason people legitimately have a bad experience that can be blamed on the cruise line. But in your particular review you came out guns a blazin' about how crappy the Glory was and how you were through with Carnival over: chunky showgirls, hot tubs facing the wrong way, too many kids.. I just didn't get it, that's all.