Tell Me About the GLORY!

[Sauer-kraut]

Its been a long time since I've sailed Carnival, never on the Glory. The search engine isn't too helpful so here I am asking about her.   We have an extended aft balcony on deck 7 so looking forward to that even if 2 of our scheduled ports are closed at the moment. 

 

1.  Is it a Farcus decor?

 

2. How awful is YTD -- I'm used to Norwegians dining, I don't give a fig about waitstaff, etc.  I'm more interested in hearing about wait times and how efficient staff is to turn tables. Is it as pleasant as sitting 2 inches away from the next table for two?  Does Carnival ask if people are willing to share a larger table?  (Although maybe we are better off not sharing at this time).  We do not eat at 5:30, but closer to 7:30.

 

3. What's sail away like down the mighty Mississippi?   An October cruise so the sun will be setting about 6 pm are there things to see?  Is it a boring long slog into the Gulf?

 

Thanks everyone! 

[wemjam]

We like the Glory and her sister the Conquest very much.  Layout and such is very good, and just big enough without being too big.  Décor on all the ships is subjective in my opinion.  They are getting away from the really "vibrant" ones as they redo ships and introduce new ships - I like new décor better.

 

IMHO YTD is the only way to go.  Seating is going to be the same regardless of which dining selection you do and for smaller tables, do expect to still be very close to your neighbor (a little more than 2 inches but not much) in most cases.  We like the fact that you can go when you want, and as far as wait the only time we have seen it is on formal night once or twice (more people eating in the dining room those nights), and also if you go down right when they open (people line up and wait).  With YTD you can request a table just for your party when you get to the check in desk if that is what you wish, or you can advise them you are happy to sit with others, it is up to you.

[Sauer-kraut]

53 minutes ago, wemjam said:

We like the Glory and her sister the Conquest very much.  Layout and such is very good, and just big enough without being too big.  Décor on all the ships is subjective in my opinion.  They are getting away from the really "vibrant" ones as they redo ships and introduce new ships - I like new décor better.

 

IMHO YTD is the only way to go.  Seating is going to be the same regardless of which dining selection you do and for smaller tables, do expect to still be very close to your neighbor (a little more than 2 inches but not much) in most cases.  We like the fact that you can go when you want, and as far as wait the only time we have seen it is on formal night once or twice (more people eating in the dining room those nights), and also if you go down right when they open (people line up and wait).  With YTD you can request a table just for your party when you get to the check in desk if that is what you wish, or you can advise them you are happy to sit with others, it is up to you.

 

We jam, such GREAT information,  thanks for taking the time.   My friend who will be with me has never cruised before and is a bit apprehensive.   I hope he has a good experience. 

[sparks1093]

It's been a while since we've been on Glory but really enjoyed her. I don't recall the décor being as garish as the older ships are. We stayed in an aft extended balcony and really liked it. We don't do YTD so can't help there. We also sailed out of NYC. We are looking forward to our next cruise on her out of NOLA though. The ship is easy to get around on.

[kdr69]

1 hour ago, Sauer-kraut said:

We have an extended aft balcony on deck 7 so looking forward to that even if 2 of our scheduled ports are closed at the moment. 

In 7442 which is also an extended aft balcony in February of 2023.  If your on soon hope you will post pictures of the rooms.

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, Sauer-kraut said:

Its been a long time since I've sailed Carnival, never on the Glory. The search engine isn't too helpful so here I am asking about her.   We have an extended aft balcony on deck 7 so looking forward to that even if 2 of our scheduled ports are closed at the moment. 

 

1.  Is it a Farcus decor?

 

2. How awful is YTD -- I'm used to Norwegians dining, I don't give a fig about waitstaff, etc.  I'm more interested in hearing about wait times and how efficient staff is to turn tables. Is it as pleasant as sitting 2 inches away from the next table for two?  Does Carnival ask if people are willing to share a larger table?  (Although maybe we are better off not sharing at this time).  We do not eat at 5:30, but closer to 7:30.

 

3. What's sail away like down the mighty Mississippi?   An October cruise so the sun will be setting about 6 pm are there things to see?  Is it a boring long slog into the Gulf?

 

Thanks everyone! 

Hi Sauer-kraut, we are neighbors, we are in Rockford. We have sailed Glory 5 times, it’s our favorite ship. Had a B2B on her cancelled out of New Orleans this August, would have made seven.

1. The decor isn’t as wild as some of the older ships we have been on. I think you will like it.

2. The only answer I can give  you concerning YTD is before the COVID hit. We love YTD. On the Hub app you will be able to make your reservations. We have sat with groups and at table for two on many occasions. Some right next to each other and other times with spacing between them. You will have to tell the desk how you want to sit or it’s where they put you. We dine around 7pm each night, this seems to be the popular YTD time. We have waited a few times more than 10 minutes. The app should speed up wait times

3. Sailed the Sunshine down the Mississippi a few years ago. It drizzled all afternoon and night.All the videos I’ve watched, it seems to rain on sail away. Once it gets dark it’s dark. Remember your sailing down into the bayou. 

[jlabs03]

I sailed the Glory a couple years ago and it is a good ship.

1. If you are used to NCL cruise ships the decor is more garish but not as bad as many ships I have been on.  I did find the upkeep on the Glory no where near NCL ships of the same age or older. I sailed on the NCL Spirt (this ship is older than the Glory) right before it went to dry dock for its major refurbish and it was night and day to the Glory.  The Spirits upkeep was so much better.  On the Glory seats in the buffet are no longer their original color and have many stains (but this may have been updated since I have been on the sip), tiles broken, rug in room peeling stuff like that, nothing that really that will impact your cruise.

2.NCL does YTD the best in my opinion, but on Carnival it was not that bad, but there are times when you can have a wait.  The last time I was on Carnival it was the last cruise before Covid shut everything down so the cruise was pretty empty.  I was on the Valor a sister ship to the Glory and we never had to wait to be seated on this cruise.  From what I remember the HUB app could not be used to make dinner reservations on the Glory (it is only available on select ships), however this may have changed since I sailed in 2019.

3. The sailing of the Mississippi is fun for the first bit but you will always end up in the dark because it takes many hours to reach the Gulf.  I would not consider the Mississippi a pretty river and after about 30 minutes I go and do other things.

Edited July 15, 2021 by jlabs03

[Saint Greg]

I was on Glory two years ago. I prefer the newer ships but a lot of people like the conquest class. If Valor is also sailing then there's a chance you can pass her on the Mississippi river if you're heading out when she's heading back in or vice versa. That's pretty cool if it happens. 

 

This is good for the Mississippi river portion:

 

 

You can read my Glory content here.

 

And my New Orleans content here.

[BlerkOne]

 can tell you the Glory got the new paint job in dry dock.

[cleanandsober88]

I will be on the Glory for the January 30 2022 sailing. We got stateroom 8461 which is an aft extended balcony. I would also appreciate photos of the room should anyone have them? FYI: I hear there is a barbecue place some people don't realize is there that can only be accessed from the buffet area. It is one floor above with a staircase leading to it.

[sparks1093]

5 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

It's been a while since we've been on Glory but really enjoyed her. I don't recall the décor being as garish as the older ships are. We stayed in an aft extended balcony and really liked it. We don't do YTD so can't help there. We also sailed out of NYC. We are looking forward to our next cruise on her out of NOLA though. The ship is easy to get around on.

Just re-read my review and d'oh, we actually sailed out of Ft Lauderdale.

[Sauer-kraut]

9 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

It's been a while since we've been on Glory but really enjoyed her. I don't recall the décor being as garish as the older ships are. We stayed in an aft extended balcony and really liked it. We don't do YTD so can't help there. We also sailed out of NYC. We are looking forward to our next cruise on her out of NOLA though. The ship is easy to get around on.

 

Easy to get around on is good! I'm stoked about the aft balcony.

 

9 hours ago, kdr69 said:

In 7442 which is also an extended aft balcony in February of 2023.  If your on soon hope you will post pictures of the rooms.

 

We're a few cabins down, but I'll do my best for photos. 

 

9 hours ago, skrufy said:

Hi Sauer-kraut, we are neighbors, we are in Rockford. We have sailed Glory 5 times, it’s our favorite ship. Had a B2B on her cancelled out of New Orleans this August, would have made seven.

1. The decor isn’t as wild as some of the older ships we have been on. I think you will like it.

2. The only answer I can give  you concerning YTD is before the COVID hit. We love YTD. On the Hub app you will be able to make your reservations. We have sat with groups and at table for two on many occasions. Some right next to each other and other times with spacing between them. You will have to tell the desk how you want to sit or it’s where they put you. We dine around 7pm each night, this seems to be the popular YTD time. We have waited a few times more than 10 minutes. The app should speed up wait times

3. Sailed the Sunshine down the Mississippi a few years ago. It drizzled all afternoon and night.All the videos I’ve watched, it seems to rain on sail away. Once it gets dark it’s dark. Remember your sailing down into the bayou. 

 

Heya neighbor!  Will definitely find something to do after we can't see anymore.  Really looking forward to this trip. 

8 hours ago, jlabs03 said:

 

1.   I did find the upkeep on......tiles broken, rug in room peeling stuff like that, nothing that really that will impact your cruise.

2.NCL does YTD the best in my opinion, but on Carnival it was not that bad, but there are times when you can have a wait.  

3. The sailing of the Mississippi is fun for the first bit but you will always end up in the dark because it takes many hours to reach the Gulf.  I would not consider the Mississippi a pretty river and after about 30 minutes I go and do other things.

Great points, thank you.  I'm not expecting NCL caliber and I'm easy going about stuff.  I've done a trans-Pacific on a container ship, so a few cosmetic blemishes are not a big deal.    LOL yes, old man river really isn't very pretty.

 

8 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I was on Glory two years ago. I prefer the newer ships but a lot of people like the conquest class. If Valor is also sailing then there's a chance you can pass her on the Mississippi river if you're heading out when she's heading back in or vice versa. That's pretty cool if it happens. 

 

This is good for the Mississippi river portion:

 

 

You can read my Glory content here.

 

And my New Orleans content here.

 

Thanks so much for those links, I've got the weekend off so I'll definitely have time to read them.

4 hours ago, cleanandsober88 said:

I will be on the Glory for the January 30 2022 sailing. We got stateroom 8461 which is an aft extended balcony. I would also appreciate photos of the room should anyone have them? FYI: I hear there is a barbecue place some people don't realize is there that can only be accessed from the buffet area. It is one floor above with a staircase leading to it.

 

I'll be looking for the BBQ place if it exists. 😋

[nybumpkin]

We've sailed Glory 5 times; she's the one ship where I never said, "What was Farcus thinking?" I like the "colors" theme. As for BBQ, I was aboard when it was a seafood line - but yes, you go up to deck 10 from the Lido buffet to get there.

 

Mississippi - We sailed on Conquest a number of years ago, and once you leave port there's not much to see.

[Sauer-kraut]

1 minute ago, nybumpkin said:

We've sailed Glory 5 times; she's the one ship where I never said, "What was Farcus thinking?" I like the "colors" theme. As for BBQ, I was aboard when it was a seafood line - but yes, you go up to deck 10 from the Lido buffet to get there.

 

Mississippi - We sailed on Conquest a number of years ago, and once you leave port there's not much to see.

THANKS.  Dining on 10 above the buffet 

[keels81]

Haven't cruised on Glory, but we cruised the Valor out of New Orleans and it was a Top 3 cruise for my husband because of the river journey.

 

It was fun for us to watch our city pass by from the viewpoint of the river, and he spent a good four hours just watching sail-away (WAY more than he does on an ocean cruise) and was definitely more relaxed by the time he got to late dining than he usually is on ocean cruises. And it was REALLY cool to pass the Glory heading back in to New Orleans at night -- seeing a ship emerge from all the lights of the offshore platforms is pretty cool, almost a little supernatural.

 

We cruised in mid-August so the weather was hot and sunny at sail-away -- we were actually just starting muster when the ship turned and started to head down the river. After you get away from the populated areas, it's just a lot of bayou and the river ... kinda like sailing out of Seattle past La Push, etc., to get to Alaska. 

 

Now that cruising is back, we'll probably take one shorty cruise a year out of New Orleans since we live about five minutes from the port and he enjoys the river portion so much.

[Sauer-kraut]

9 hours ago, keels81 said:

 

 

It was fun for us to watch our city pass by from the viewpoint of the river, and he spent a good four hours just watching sail-away (WAY more than he does on an ocean cruise) and was definitely more relaxed by the time he got to late dining than he usually is on ocean cruises. And it was REALLY cool to pass the Glory heading back in to New Orleans at night -- seeing a ship emerge from all the lights of the offshore platforms is pretty cool, almost a little supernatural 

 

Sounds really neat.  

[Aplmac]

21 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

 Can tell you the Glory got the new paint job in dry dock.

 

Want to see PICS of that new hull job!!

I think Magic looks lovely: can't wait to see others like it.

[sparks1093]

12 hours ago, Sauer-kraut said:

 

Easy to get around on is good! I'm stoked about the aft balcony.

 

 

We're a few cabins down, but I'll do my best for photos. 

 

 

Heya neighbor!  Will definitely find something to do after we can't see anymore.  Really looking forward to this trip. 

Great points, thank you.  I'm not expecting NCL caliber and I'm easy going about stuff.  I've done a trans-Pacific on a container ship, so a few cosmetic blemishes are not a big deal.    LOL yes, old man river really isn't very pretty.

 

 

Thanks so much for those links, I've got the weekend off so I'll definitely have time to read them.

 

I'll be looking for the BBQ place if it exists. 😋

We were actually in a premium balcony, the last balcony before the aft balconies. Cabin (8442) was huge as was the balcony, my review says it is 75 sqft and we had room for two chairs, small table and lounger.

[Meggiesailaway]

I cannot wait for my cruise (september 19th!!!), I have sailed on the valor, dream, conquest out of New Orleans and LOVE watching the mississippi as we make out way towards the gulf, very relaxing but once it gets dark (usually sail in Jan or september), so it can get dark quick or not but i still like watching the lights.

[Cewhite1958]

My husband and I are scheduled to sail on September 5th out of New Orleans.  We are still waiting to hear if Louisiana is going to allow sailing to begin in September.  They were cancelled through August 31st there.  Has anyone had any updates for September yet?

 

We have not been on the Glory, but have been on 13 other cruises.  We tend to like the smaller ships better than large ones.  We always do the anytime dining because we never know when we will be ready to eat and like to work it around the shows.  

 

We would like to hear from others that are booked on this cruise. Are there any activities planned yet? 

[JTBCruiser]

Sailing on her in Oct.  Did NOLA cruise on Royal and enjoyed the view as long as it was still daylight.  This will be our first cruise after Covid hit and we can't wait.

[KmomChicago]

I liked the river start to our Carnival cruise from New Orleans. Unlike anything I’d experienced. There’s not much to see except swamp/estuary and I thought it was uniquely lovely and peaceful, including the river view at dinner.  I was up crazy early for the return and went up on deck in the dark as we glided silently north among the occasional brightly lit industrial sites and eventually watched the sun rise. Dinner in the MDR usually takes a shade under 90 minutes. 

[pinklucky61]

Check youtube for cabin videos.  February 2022 we're on deck 7 aft. We have cabin 7439 and other family has 7445, so we'll have quite the big balcony with divider open.

Because we have 9 people in our party, going assigned seating option.

As others have said, not much to see after it gets dark, but I love sitting on balcony looking at shore and occasional ship lights.

Just don't forget to change your phone to airplane mode, you have a few hours after sail away to do that.