Just home from Glory Eastern (review)

[bajohnsons]

My wife and three kids (19,17,15) just returned from a 7day Eastern Caribbean on the Glory leaving on Christmas Eve. Here's my review of the things I thought were important. Remember, many of my OPINIONS to follow.

 

PRE-CRUISE HOTEL

We flew in the night before and stayed at the Orlando Airport Crown Plaza. We had Carnival book our flights (cheaper than we could do on our own at the time we booked.) The Hotel was chosen by Carnival as well and was nice but nothing spectacular. Many fellow cruisers were there also. There was a shuttle to Port Canaveral that picked us up right outside the main hotel entrance, again, a Carnival arranged shuttle. This was very convenient and without any complications.

 

EMBARKATION

The smoothest ever. Had our fun pass and the Bahamas immigration forms filled out before we arrived and were on board in twenty minutes after entering the terminal. Our rooms weren't ready yet so we hung out on deck for a bit. Bar staff were everywhere with serving trays loaded with complimentary champagne. Don't know if this is a new thing or if it was just for the Christmas Cruise, but it was a nice touch.

 

SHIP APPEARANCE

Overall, the ship is beautiful. I did notice quite a few carpet stains in the hallways, they had the suspicious appearance of spilled cocktails!! Otherwise very clean and in good shape.

 

OUR CABIN

We had a category 8C with a balcony on the Verandah deck. Had a mini bar that we requested stay locked. I know others ask that things be taken out so they can use the fridge itself, but we had no use for it. Our cabin steward was Anthony; very pleasant and responded quickly to all (there weren't many) requests. One minor annoyance however. Each night he would take the "beach towels" that we had used that day and would not return them until we asked for replacements. That's never happened before so maybe this is new? Doesn't make sense to me if it is a new policy. Anthony opened the partition between our cabin and the kids'. Made it easy to keep an eye on them and wake them up in the morning! Carnival has new beds/bedding on the Glory, and my wife and I were very impressed at the comfort compared to past cruise bedding. The TV is still a joke, but I don't cruise to watch TV. However, this is bowl season and it would be nice if they had ESPN to watch some football. The bathroom had an assortment of toothpaste, deoderant, mouthwash, etc. The shower had Dove brand shampoo and body wash in dispensers. This deck is pretty quiet even though the promenade deck is immediately above, we noticed no real noise.

 

FELLOW CRUISERS

Met some really great people, however the people on cruises get more rude each time I go. I'm either getting more sensitve to it in my "old age" (I'm 45) or it's factual. I have wondered if the very large ships don't breed some of this with longer lines, etc. The rudest people have been my last two cruises on the Glory and Triumph. Never noticed it so much on the Pride, Paradise or Ecstasy.

 

STAFF

Far and away the most attentive and happy staff of all my other cruises. Many smiles, gracious greetings, etc. Our assistant waiter, I Made (pronounced I MOD)was awesome. He was from Bali, Indonesia and always had a smile on his face and a good story to tell us about his home. In general, if I would make one recommendation, it would be to smile, say please, thank you and call the staff by name (from their name tag). If you don't know how to pronounce it, ask. They appreciate that you care to know. Also ask them to talk about their home countries. I found it very interesting and most of the peoples faces would light up with just this simple conversation. The service in return is so much better when you treat them with respect. I witnessed many "ugly Americans" on this trip.

 

ONBOARD ACTIVITIES and ENTERTAINMENT

I don't go to the "Vegas style" shows any more. Just not my style. I love comedy, unfortunately I can't call what the comedians were doing "comedy." Not offensive, just not funny. The musician in the casino lounge played a great selection of music, he just didn't do it very well. The band in the Ebony Lounge was just OK. Very few people disagreed with this I think as this lounge was almost always sparsely populated. The Karaoke was very well attended and entertaining. Barrry in the piano bar was funny and talented, but there was little variety from night to night. I made some money at the craps table, and my wife made a small donation on the slots.

 

PORTS

It was raining in Nassau. We caught a cab to the Atlantis resort, bought a day pass allowing viewing of the "DIG" which is a very large aquarium. We enjoyed this very much. The rain was the pits however.

Next port was St. Thomas. We did the kayak, hike and snorke excursion. This was more and educational experience, kind of an "ecotour." The snorkeling wasn't very good compared to Cozumel or Grand Caymen, but the guides were very informative and I learned more than I will ever need to know about mangroves!!

We didn't do a tour in St. Maarten, rather we went shopping and hung out on the public beach. There is a water taxi for 5$ for unlimited trips to and from the ship. Land taxis were $4 each way, each time to the downtown area. The public beach is adjacent to the main shopping area in Phillipsburg and was crowded but free, with the exception of a charge for lounge chairs ($4).

 

Hope this is helpful. Looking back on it, it sounds like a negative review but we really had an excellent time. I would go on this ship again in a minute and enjoy it all over again. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

[gypsyrose]

Thanks for the review. Where did you purchase the tickets for Atlantis, on the pier or thru Carnival? Trying to decide if it is worth it or just walk around for awhile. Time there is so short.

[bajohnsons]

We bought them at the resort itself. I would probably not do it again, but rather would just see what I could see at no charge, which is most of the aquarium area.

[Kpstill]

At Atlantis you can walk almost the entire grounds for free, it is definately worth seeing. The dig is not worth $29 if you have been to any great aquarium.

[Lib0007]

Thanks for your review. You didn't mention the food - how did you like it? I am cruising the Glory in March and the recent comments regarding the food (especially the desserts!) are making me nervous.

[bajohnsons]

I would say the food wasn't up to the usual standards in my opinion. I've never been a fan of the beef they serve, but I would say that has improved. If you like cheesecake, do yourself a favor and don't order it. It was the worst. The food overall was good, not great.

[racegrrl]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write your review. We were wondering about the DIG in Nassau, I think we will just go and walk around, see what we can see for free and throw a couple of nickels in their slot machines there. LOL

 

Question though about the Bahamas immigration forms - I have my docs right here for our post-drydock cruise on Jan 21, and there are no forms in there. Where did you get these? Were they in your docs? Thanks again.

[bajohnsons]

Yes the Bahamas forms came with our docs folded up alongside the luggage tags. There's not much to them but for 5 of us it was nice to have them filled in ahead of time. They do have them available to fill out at embarkation however.

[beaming90]

thanks for the great review!

[racegrrl]

Yes the Bahamas forms came with our docs folded up alongside the luggage tags. There's not much to them but for 5 of us it was nice to have them filled in ahead of time. They do have them available to fill out at embarkation however.

 

Thanks, all that we had was our Welcome Aboard brochure. I will contact Carnival and see if they can be sent before we cruise. :)