Carnival Glory Eastern Caribbean Review

[nevermind]

Carnival Glory Review 10/15/2005 Eastern Caribbean

 

Booked our cruise this week with the dual purpose of celebrating our anniversary and to go when school is still in session for almost everyone. This kept the kid and teen quotient to a minimum. Of course, the downside is that it is also the peak of Hurricane season. In fact, we followed a hurricane into Cozumel on our Honeymoon during this time of year (probably explains why we didn’t care for Cozumel much even though everyone else we talk to seems to have loved it). Luckily the active storms were nowhere near us on this trip.

 

Read a lot of reviews on this site, which was extremely helpful. Carnival lets you bring non-alcoholic beverages on board. We brought two 12 packs of Diet Coke in our luggage and saved ourselves from the atrocious $40 (I think) fountain drink card. This charge is supposed to be per person, but our dinner couple friends were able to use one card for both spouses without any problem. Just be smart about it.

 

 

Food:

Room Service : We used Room Service as our alarm clock. You can use the phone, but the phone doesn’t bring you food. We tipped $5 every room service call. My wife found this to be the best method of getting good coffee. It was less fresh everywhere else on the ship.

 

Red Sail Restaurant: This is a buffet style restaurant. Some stuff was good, a lot was average, the Roast Beef was excellent. If you realize that Red Sail is 2 floors tall, you will easily find the Fish and Chips part of the Restaurant upstairs. The Fish and Chips was pretty good. Very much on par with Long John Silver’s for example. Caught breakfast here once. Hash browns were good, but everything else was gross. Eggs were runny, French toast was soggy….. yechh. Not much for buffet anything to start with. Also caught the dessert midnight buffet here. Nice ice sculpture, but the food was horrible. Not even a good cheesecake. Red Sail has a Deli window where you can order sandwiches. Got a good Roast Beef sandwich prior to leaving the ship in St Thomas. Kept us from paying for lunch on the island. Came back to the ship in St. Maartin to avoid paying for lunch there.

 

24 hour Pizza. It’s good! It may look like something from the supermarket, but its good! The Burger and Hot Dog place was good too.

 

Main Dining (Golden): We like the assigned seating. Made new friends. This is where the best food is! We were able to get Filet Mignon almost every night. Only the first steak of the cruise disappointed. Tasted like something out of a steak buffet restaurant. Get ANY desert that comes in a ramekin (white porcelain dish). That means get the Flourless Chocolate Cake (with a side of vanilla ice cream), The Bitter and Blanc, and the Soufflé thingy. All were excellent. Best desserts we had. Thought we would hate the late seating at 8:30pm, but it seemed to fit our day better than the early seating would have. Let’s just say we like to sleep in……….. a lot.

 

Emerald Room (fine dining): We read a lot of good things about the Supper club on board the Glory, called the Emerald room. $30 extra per person. We were on our anniversary cruise so we decided to try it. I will admit that the 24 oz. Porterhouse, 9 oz. Filet minon, and 12 oz. Lobster tail was in a class about the regular dinning room. They were excellent. I do not like the uppity presentation though. I HATED the live singer. Please, for the love of god, use a romantic satellite radio station! She was BAD! She would not SHUT UP! Having a copy of another Carnival Supper Club, we had been looking forward to getting Crème Brulee as our dessert. We were informed that it was taken off the menu 2 months prior. Okay. I understand that. What I found out a day later though, is that we had somehow picked the exact night that the regular dinning room was serving Crème Brulee for dessert while we ate our fancy dinner. You would THINK that the EXPENSIVE, extra charge Emerald room would be aware of the Carnival Menus onboard and be able to get us our freakin’ dessert of choice that was being served 8 floors down, but no. My wife at least got to taste the delicious flourless chocolate cake again and I ended up with the Washington Apple Tart thingy. Do not make the mistake I made. That is not a piece of glass in your dessert. It is crystallized, jagged, glass-looking sugar. I’m a dork, okay? After we signed the bill and figured we were finally done, they tried to give us “complimentary” mint dessert thing. That darned live singer was coming back from her break though, so we declined and got the heck out of there. Overall, NOT WORTH THE EXTRA MONEY! I am sure others will disagree, but we found most of the food in the regular dinning room to be excellent. Why spend the extra $60 plus tip per couple?

 

 

 

Embarkment: Got to Port Canaveral after noon and got to see the long lines that I have seen mentioned in other reviews on this site. Being from Florida though, I felt all lines moved very well. Not as bad as Space Mountain, for example. We left our bags with a porter leaving a $1 per bag tip (hopefully that is still the normal rate), and made it through the entire embarkment process in about an hour.

 

Sail and Sign Cards: Depending on whose Credit Card you used to back your S&S, this card will show ALL charges. This means it will appear as if you have been double billed for everything showing up on your spouses S&S, including the gratuity charge of $10 a day. Confusing.

 

Room Steward: and tipped him $20 extra right off the bat. I never regretted that gesture. Our room was cleaned twice a day, with towel animals (that you get regardless of tip or not), and we never saw the guy in our room! Got to say hello to him a lot in the halls though!

 

Welcome Aboard Show : You can see most of this show on your cabin TV the entire cruise. This is where we met our Cruise Director, Shawn Bussey. I was a little upset we did not have that Mark Price guy I read in all the reviews of the ship. Shawn turned out to be extremely upbeat and capable though. Her routine got a little old by the end of the cruise, but she was always friendly and energetic…. Kicking that leg out whenever she was trying to make an excited point. Highly Floridian “Y’All”. Turns out she was reassigned from the Sensation which is being rented by the Federal Government for the people in New Orleans. The comic, Greg Ray, was good. The singers, Kathy Vepley and Stuart Metcalf, were okay. The dancers…. Wow. I am going to have to guess that the rocking of the ship those first two days made them out of step, cause they were NOT good. I heard reports from other guests who went to see the other dance shows that the dancers were good. I am not so into dancing to begin with, so take that for what you will.

 

The ship was ROLLING that first night! You could hear comments from EVERYONE on the ship about how bad the rocking on the ship was. I can not ever remember that much movement on any of the cruise ships I have been on and I recalled all the other reviews that mentioned that for the Glory. My motion sickness bracelets (about $9 at CVS or $8 on the ship)did their job though. After the first night, I did not notice violent movement again.

 

Also, having a cabin on deck 2 WAY forward, we kept hearing LOUD crashing sounds. At first we thought it was the Amber Palace (the stage part of the ship for the shows) that was causing the noise, but one of our dinner friends had a window cabin and assured us it was waves crashing off the front of the boat. Keep that in mind if you have problems with noise while sleeping. If so, you may want a room higher in the boat (ie. more expensive).

 

Caught the rated R show for Greg Ray and as he promises in his show, you will NEVER look at lower back tattoos on women the same way ever again. Just remember P.O.T. if you see his show and he will explain. We saw more than a few tattoos during our cruise and could not help laughing each time we saw one. Not sure that was the response the women were looking for.

 

Spent a lot of time in Glory’s Casino. Fun place.

 

White Heat Dance Club: went for 70s and 80s night. Not great. Played requests, so ended up with groups like Toto to try and dance to, either that or choppy mixes of songs. But darned if you couldn’t get a drink every 5 seconds! There is someone constantly in your face in there to serve you alcohol. This is the only place on the ship where I found the drink waiters to be annoying.

 

Cinnabar Piano Bar: Michael is awesome! Good mood and atmosphere in the club, and the singer is excellent at what he does. If you like sing-a-long clubs, this is the place on board for you!

 

St Thomas!

 

 

Immigration was not that bad…. And we were the last floor called.

 

St. Thomas. What can I say. We wanted to stay for a LOT longer! Beautiful place. Took a taxi to see Sapphire Beach. Fitz the Miracle Man was our driver. He was wonderful. We became honorary members of a wonderful family of 8 that was also from our boat and got the rate of $25 per person for a trip to Sapphire beach, left there for a few hours, picked up again, toured the island, dropped off to shop for an hour or two, then brought back to the boat. In Carnival’s excursions, that trip was about $40 per person. You will have NO TROUBLE GETTING A TAXI! They are everywhere. Why pay Carnival?

 

Sapphire Beach makes you feel like you are in Carnival’s commercials. I have NEVER seen a more beautiful beach. Breathtaking. The beach shop on the beach rented snorkel equipment at $5 an hour. Those who snorkeled found fish, turtles, and live conchs. Cool stuff. Live Iguanas running around the beach. Crabs were scuttling on the beach with the ducks. The ocean was warm and relaxing. There were not a lot of people on this beach. There may be at different times of the year but it did not seem real touristy. Felt like a secret hideaway. There was a spot there where couples were getting married. I can imagine how beautiful those wedding photos must turn out!

 

Stopped to take pictures of Megan’s Bay from a high spot on one of the mountains. It looked beautiful. Had dinner mates that went there for the day and were very impressed. Lots of fish, no jet skis or motor boats, but a little busy.

 

Never saw Coki Beach, but had other dinner mates go there. As per expectations set by other reviews I read, they had someone on their taxi have their bag stolen within 5 mins of getting to the beach. It was also very busy and touristy.

 

Had other dinner mates go on the Paradise Point sky ride. They said it was just “okay”. I cannot think the views we got on our taxi tour were any worse than Paradise Point.

 

Stopped at numerous photo opportunities. Got to see the port and our boat from up high.

 

Shopping was a bit of a disappointment in St. Thomas in that the prices were not all that good. Did get a lot from Del-Sol though. They sell a bunch of clothing and stuff that changes colors in the sun. Cool stuff that my kids will enjoy. My wife loved the nail polish that went from gold inside to bright pink outside!

 

Illusionist, Justin Illusion, show which was okay. Could see some of the tricks working from our angle. Lots of dancing and over the top staging.

 

DO NOT MISS the rated R comedian if it is HAPPY COLE! He is a riot! There were times I prayed he slowed down so I could catch my breath and dry my tears! Even my wife couldn’t stop laughing and she does not usually like comedy shows!

 

St. Maarten

 

 

I may say this more than once, but it is just to hammer the point home.

 

SEE St Thomas, SHOP St Maarten.

 

There is no simpler way to put it. St. Maarten was visually a HUGE disappointment after being in St Thomas the day before. It feels dirty and commercialized in comparison. The PRICES however are MUCH better than on St Thomas. So shop to your hearts content! There are $12 cartons of Marlboro (if you smoke), $6 bottles of Absolut, $14 bottles of Bailey’s . Great prices on jewelry (if you haggle and haggle).

 

Again got a “tour” of the island for $25 each. Not worth it. Saw Orient Beach. Not sure how it could be rated so high in world beaches. Any beach where I have to pay anything to use a bathroom gets knocked off my beaches to see list. It is nice looking I suppose. But the touristy atmosphere, naked men (this ain’t Baywatch my friends), and expensive vendors detract from it.

 

One more time:

 

SEE St Thomas, SHOP St Maarten.

 

Quick Hits:

 

There are Hair Dryers in each room.

Not a pool guy, but there seemed to always be a place to sit around the pools.

Not a lot of kids in October.

Boat was sold out months in advance ….. but NEVER felt crowded.

Can’t wait to get back to St Thomas some day.

I’d take the Glory again to get there. Great trip overall!

[racegrrl]

Thank you for your review! We are on the Glory Eastern in January, and your port information will be put to use. Very helpful! You did not mention Nassau, any hints about that port? We chose this itinerary based on my DH's desire to see it (one of his favorite James Bond movies was shot there), though we don't really have much time there.

 

How did you do in the Casino? We like to play for entertainment, but it's always fun to take a bit home too. :)

[angieness]

Thanks for the great review! I'll also be taking the Glory Eastern Caribbean cruise this month and had a couple of questions I was hoping you would be able to answer!

 

First, what time did you get to Port Canaveral to start embarkation?...Also, were they really strict on the Port when checking for alcohol & did many ppl. get caught?...and finally, what days were the formal nights & what exactly did it entail?...I'm a bit confused by the Captain's Cocktail Party & the actual formal dinner!

 

I know they're a lot of questions but any help would be greatly appreciated!

[beaming90]

Thank you for the great review, I cannot wait till my turn to go on the Glory in 390 some odd days!!:o

[N.FL Cruisers]

Thanks for your update!

 

Do you remember what kind of juices are available in the morning on the open spicket juice machines?

[gypsyrose]

Wow! Excellent review with tons of information. Any secret spots to get away and see sailaway? Thanks for the review

[JJCalder19]

Great review. Sorry you hit rocky waters. Hurricanes suck!!!

 

My group of friends and I will be going in two weeks so your info is most helpful.

Did you hit the Captains Cocktail party for the free booze? I also read somewhere that there was a Mexican fiesta night and the chips and salsa with free margaritas were excellent. True?

[lv2crooz2]

Wow! You write a wonderful, informative review. You hit the nail on the head as far as the ship. She is beautiful and easy to navigate. The Camel Club casino was one of my favorite places. I guess that there must have been some disturbance oceanwise as we were on the Caribbean Princess sailing out of Fort Laurderdale on 10/15 and the first night was rougher than any we have ever experienced! Does anyone know where John Heald might be? He was the Cruise Director for our Glory sailing as well as our Triumph trip. If any of you will be sailing the Glory....ENJOY :D

Thanks Again

[Top-Cat]

Loved the review. We take the Glory in May 06. I loved the Conquest and the Glory is the same layout and size. On that ship we were never crowded. Our tour is western however. I loved the Eastern better, just because as you say, St. Thomas is breath taking. I can honestly say it is the most beautiful place I have ever been (and this will be cruise #6). I would live to go back there someday. We let the kids pick the itenarary for this next curise (College Grad Present) so West we go. Thanks again! Reviews like this get me excited about our next trip.

[WallyB]

Question: Does anyone know where John Heald might be? He was the Cruise Director on the Carnival Liberty in September, 2005. The Liberty sails the Mediterranean Sea during the summer months.

 

Wally

[lv2crooz2]

THANKS Wally!:)

[sbqueen3]

Thanks so much for the great review. My husband and I are traveling on the Glory Nov 26th and we can't wait!! Your review has really helped us on picking excursions. I didn't see anything regarding Nassau. Do you know if there is anything interesting to see there? I'm sure it's nice also, but just like most new cruisers, I want to do everything :) Could you tell me what nights were the formal nights? Thanks again for the great review!!

[nevermind]

Thank you for your review! We are on the Glory Eastern in January, and your port information will be put to use. Very helpful! You did not mention Nassau, any hints about that port? We chose this itinerary based on my DH's desire to see it (one of his favorite James Bond movies was shot there), though we don't really have much time there.

 

How did you do in the Casino? We like to play for entertainment, but it's always fun to take a bit home too. :)

 

Been to Nassau before on another cruise. Did not have the best experience there, so we slept in on that port day. I will say that the view from port was much nicer than I remembered. The port holds 2 cruise ships.... we must have been on the ship that was blocked from the ocean view the first time. All I remember from Nassau is getting harrassed to donate money for a "free" bracelet, and expensive gambling tables at Atlantis.

 

We ended the cruise up $80. This is very unusual for us. Playing with their money all cruise long (we had been up $300), made gambling much more enjoyable. My wife even accidently put a $10 bill in a slot machine thinking it was a Quarter machine. Hit 2 credits and watched the credits go to 0. It was a $5 machine! At least it hit for $100! Played Fun 21 and Blackjack the rest of the time. (Make sure you get Angie at least once if you play the tables! She is wonderful! Even when you are losing money to her, you still have fun!)

[nevermind]

Thanks for the great review! I'll also be taking the Glory Eastern Caribbean cruise this month and had a couple of questions I was hoping you would be able to answer!

 

First, what time did you get to Port Canaveral to start embarkation?...Also, were they really strict on the Port when checking for alcohol & did many ppl. get caught?...and finally, what days were the formal nights & what exactly did it entail?...I'm a bit confused by the Captain's Cocktail Party & the actual formal dinner!

 

I know they're a lot of questions but any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sorry to take so long to get to these replies.... been a VERY bad week (2 members of my family broke bones). I want to get back on the boat.

 

Embarkation- got there around 12:30. Was on the ship in about an hour. Seemed a much faster process than getting OFF the boat which was painful.

 

Alcohol- You have to figure that Carnival wants everyone to have a great time, so I do not think they are very strict. I have never heard of anyone having to give up their stash. My friend brings a TON of stuff and uses the juice available in the mornings to make mixed drinks. (yes he brings a mini blender).

 

Formal nights were Sunday and Thursday. Basically wear a dress/suit and get your photos done. After dinner, we IMEDIATELY got into another set of clothes. Make sure you take advantage of the free drinks at the various parties like the Captains Party (held prior to our dinner seating). If you do not like the drinks being served by the staff, go to the bar and order what you like. I do not think most guests realized that was an option.

[nevermind]

Thanks for your update!

 

Do you remember what kind of juices are available in the morning on the open spicket juice machines?

 

orange, apple, fruit punch. I don't remember what else. Those juices are "put away" promptly when breakfast is over though. Wouldn't want non-fountain card people to get something tasty for free. Luckily the water on board is not bad. Lemonade and Tea were not good.

[nevermind]

Great review. Sorry you hit rocky waters. Hurricanes suck!!!

 

My group of friends and I will be going in two weeks so your info is most helpful.

Did you hit the Captains Cocktail party for the free booze? I also read somewhere that there was a Mexican fiesta night and the chips and salsa with free margaritas were excellent. True?

 

"Free" booze was good. Go to the bar to get what you want. Dont rely on the wait staff who are carrying only a few types of drinks.

 

Missed the margarita/salsa party much to our disappointment. Probably gambling at the time.:D

[nevermind]

Wow! You write a wonderful, informative review. You hit the nail on the head as far as the ship. She is beautiful and easy to navigate. The Camel Club casino was one of my favorite places. I guess that there must have been some disturbance oceanwise as we were on the Caribbean Princess sailing out of Fort Laurderdale on 10/15 and the first night was rougher than any we have ever experienced! Does anyone know where John Heald might be? He was the Cruise Director for our Glory sailing as well as our Triumph trip. If any of you will be sailing the Glory....ENJOY :D

Thanks Again

 

Saw your ship (and maybe you! heh) in St Thomas and St Maarten! Must say that was a pretty ship! Not sure how it is on the inside, but it is striking on the outside.

 

Glad to hear about the rocky seas though. I was hoping it was not just the Glory. That was rough. Thank god for those motion sickness bracelets.

[racegrrl]

Sorry to take so long to get to these replies.... been a VERY bad week (2 members of my family broke bones). I want to get back on the boat.

 

Sorry to hear that about your family! If the day ends in a "y" I want to get back on board! LOL

 

Thanks for the replies - your review and further answers were very helpful! Bought my first formal night dress last night . . . 70 days and counting. . . . . :)

[Ms Belvedere]

Emerald Dining Room: I do not like the uppity presentation though. I HATED the live singer.

 

Thanks for your review of the Glory. When you ate in the Emerald dining Room were your servers male or female? We had male servers the first time we ate in Carnival's Supper Club, I think it was on the Spirit. And we had women servers on the Miracle. There was a difference in the service between the two.

 

Ms B

[emmysmommy]

Nevermind: Thanks for the great review. We will be on the Glory in a "short" 238 days! :) I was especially glad you mentioned the different ports and how they were. I'll need to know what to book and what to do.

Thanks again!

[emmysmommy]

Oh and I forgot to mention.... that was very nice of you to respond to all the questions. I always appreciate it when people come back and cover all the questions - I know it takes some time, but we certainly appreciate it.:)

[nevermind]

Thanks for your review of the Glory. When you ate in the Emerald dining Room were your servers male or female? We had male servers the first time we ate in Carnival's Supper Club, I think it was on the Spirit. And we had women servers on the Miracle. There was a difference in the service between the two.

 

Ms B

 

Completely women serving us. In fact, I do not remember seeing any male servers at all in the room.

 

I just felt out of place. It was a snooty feeling. The chairs were not as comfortable as in the main dining. The dinner seemed to last FOREVER!Yes, the food was better.....but not $60 better. When dealing with main dining and getting whatever you want.... I expected the same from emerald room.... especially when the desert we were requesting was being served to everyone else on the boat that night!

 

Glad that main dining was able to accomodate us that last night. Not as good a Creme Brule' as I make at home, but by that point, it was just the principle of the thing.

[nevermind]

Thanks for the replies - your review and further answers were very helpful! Bought my first formal night dress last night . . . 70 days and counting. . . . . :)

 

If you are anything like my wife..... 70 days is plenty of time to have a whole new Cruisin wardrobe....... x3.:rolleyes:

[racegrrl]

If you are anything like my wife..... 70 days is plenty of time to have a whole new Cruisin wardrobe....... x3.:rolleyes:

 

;) oh yeah! Actually, I am going to keep the spending on clothes down and save the cash for fun on board! I have a very full summer wardrobe, but don't have much occassion for the fancier dresses at the racetrack - those are all I really need to buy. :)

[beachlovinggirl]

Hi Nevermind,

I see you got on the Glory the day we got off. I was so sad to get off the ship! We were Western Caribbean. We thoroughly enjoyed the ship, actually the entire cruise could not have been better. We loved the food in the Platinum Dining Room. Thanks, by the way for your detailed description, I have searched the internet high and low for the name of a dessert I loved, and couldn't remember the name of and you named it. The bitter and blanc. I could only remember bitter....nothing else. That was delicious! One of my favorite things was the chocolate fountain. It was so yummy. By the way, we had the best waitstaff anyone could ask for. Jose and Letitia, they were awesome.

Also on the ship, try the Fish n Chips, the fried oysters were great. I wish I had eaten them more.

If anyone is going Western Caribbean, go to Playa Mia in Cozumel. We took a taxi down and spent the day at the beach. It was beautiful. Also, there is a shop at the pier called Los Cincos Soles, it was the greatest shop with great prices, best selection and no harrassment. I only hope its still standing after Hurricane Wilma.

I did want to comment also, that the only time we felt the ship move was the first evening and the last. I think its choppy near the coastline of Florida at first. The last night it rained, so that was understandable. Other than that it was perfect weather. Small wonder since we sailed the week after Hurricane Stan hit Belize and the week before Wilma hit Cozumel.

 

Have fun to anyone going on the Glory. Its a great ship!:rolleyes: