Questions for recent Glory Passengers

[sidneysails]

Hello.

 

I am new to cruise travels and have found these boards to be most helpful.

 

1. I am most looking forward to dining and do not want to miss the best foods. I realize this is a matter of opinion, but what foods are simply the best?

 

2. How are the piano, karaoke bars, and nightclub?

 

3. If we choose to dine in the speciality restaurants, what would be the appropriate attire if it is not a formal night?

 

4. My tour director wishes us off the ship early in Belize. What is the best way to go about this?

 

Thank you in advance.

[luckydogone]

1) I am most looking forward to dining and do not want to miss the best foods. I realize this is a matter of opinion, but what foods are simply the best?

 

Taste, like art is something that's subject to opinon. I just sailed on the Glory earlier in March and had a great time. I found the food to bevery good, items I would reccomend would that we had during our regular seating would be the Lobster, Prime Rib, Fish, ( they did have Duck one night but I didn't try it so I can't say anything good or bad )Chicken, and of course you can order a New York Strip any night or every night and they are just as good. I feel any foods that you would normaly order out at home you would enjoy on the Glory but don't be affriad to try sometyhing new, they will be glad to bring you something else if you do not like it.

 

2) How are the piano, karaoke bars, and nightclub?

 

While I didn't spend a lot of time in the piano bar what time I did spend there I enjoyed. If you have seem pictures of it the piano actually slowly spins around inside of the outter ring of piano keys. The signer was Ok and people there were enjoying themselves. Karaoke was fun, be preparred to sit through good signers as well as those getting on stage through a dare. I didn't make it to the Disco Night Club but I would hear people talkijg about being in there the night before and having a great time.

 

3) If we choose to dine in the speciality restaurants, what would be the appropriate attire if it is not a formal night?

 

If by "specialty" you mean either the Platinum or Golden Restaurants then a nice sun dress for the ladies and Kaki pants and some type of Polo shirt or something like that was exceptable.

 

4) My tour director wishes us off the ship early in Belize. What is the best way to go about this?

 

It sounds like you have booked a shore excursion though someone other than Carnival, short of trying to but in line with one of their tenders leaving early then you probably will need to stand in line like everyone else and try to get one of the first tender tickets they hand out next to Creams Cafe early that morning. Most reputable tour companies in Belize know about Carnivals tendering system, they would like you on the island as soon as possible so they can start their tour. Ones I have delt with have waited for us to get there and didn't leave us. E-mail and if possible call and talk to them and see what is the latest they will wait for you, if you do not feel OK with that then may check out another company that offers the same excursion.

[luckydogone]

1. I am most looking forward to dining and do not want to miss the best foods. I realize this is a matter of opinion, but what foods are simply the best?

 

Taste is like art.... it's all subjective. With that being said I would feel comfortable ordering anything that they offer that you would normaly order in your home town. I can say that we enjoyed the Lobster Tail, Prime Rib, Fish, Chicken and of course you can always order a New York Strip every night if you want to. ( one in our party did and he said it was great ) And of course if you like chocolate you'll probably love the Melting Chocolate Cake.

 

2. How are the piano, karaoke bars, and nightclub?

 

The Piano bar was good, if you don't already know the piano slowly spins around inside of the big ring of piano keys while he's playing. Karaoke was fun, just be prepared to listen to some who can sign and those up there on a dare. I never made it to the Disco Club but I didn't hear anyone saying anthing bad about it either while I was on board.

 

3. If we choose to dine in the speciality restaurants, what would be the appropriate attire if it is not a formal night?

 

If by "specialty" you mean the Golden & Platinum Restuarants then you'll be OK with a nice sun dres for the ladies and Kakies for the men along with a Polo shirt or something like that.

 

4. My tour director wishes us off the ship early in Belize. What is the best way to go about this?

 

Short of trying to cut in line with one of Carnivals own tour tenders leaving the ship ( and taking a chance they ARE going to Belize and not some remote island or snorkeling trip )then you'll just have to get up early and wait in line and try to get one of the first tender tickets they hand out.

[sidneysails]

Thank you luckydog, I will send an email off to the Belize tour guide to make certain what time he is willing to wait for our tender.

[jdjaguar]

the specialty restaurant is not the Golden or Platinum...it is the 30 dollar surcharge club...emerald i believe.

 

we are going in June on the Glory AND CAN"T WAIT!!!

 

I will report back on the lobster steak prime rib lobster prime rib lobster steak escargot duck shrimp sushi pizza pizza pizza

[notawordok]

Went on glory for our first cruise in dec. 2006 Had a great time!! Going on Legend in nov this year. We thought that the entertainment was a little weak it did not live up to our expectations but we had a good time. As far as the food we did not eat at the supper club we had late seating in the Platinum dinning room. The food was good and I would say above average. I ate plenty. The specialty dishes or not your everyday stuff was great but I had nothing to compare it to. I had lamb chops that were delicious. and the duck was superbe. The lobster was over cooked (rubbery) but i think that was from sitting in the plactic cover waiting to be delivered that I had before so I know how good it can be. The quail was ok. The steak is alot better at outback the chicken is chicken My wife ate it every night but a couple. We had a great time and overall it was a great experince and we started planning our next one on the way home. The Red sail dinnning room buffet is good but by the end of the week i was ready for something from home. So we stopped and ate at Paule Dean's in Savahanna Ga. good ole home style southern cookingthat was a great end to gaining 8 pounds in a week and walking more on the ship that I do at work.

[sharecruises]

Hi....recent Glory folks...how was the embark/disembark?? The most recent review shows they are doing the "new express" embark, not utilizing the fun pass at all, lining up on ship for the sign /sail cards???

 

how about disembark....self or wait for number called...which would you reccomend?? thanks

[GB Chicago]

Haven't written trip report but will soon.

 

IMHO only, here are my quick thoughts:

 

Food in general - I really have to say that I thought the food on the Pride last year was better than the Glory - it wasn't terrible and my lobster was great - just wasn't as good as I recall

 

Piano Bar - Fun. We went several times.

 

Karaoke - Never went in - the few times we walked past the bar there were young singers that were not very good and some very proud parents watching them. I think we just went too early

 

Disco - Went to the 70 - 80's night and it was very fun.

 

Cruise Director - Wee Jimmy - best I have seen

 

Embarkation - had VIP with suite - went very smooth. We were on board before 11:30 and definitely not the first ones there.

 

Disembarkation - not sure what happened last week - it was so slow! They pulled into port on time but still calling disembarkations at 10. I have to admit we cheated a bit and did not wait for our deck to be called and snuck in line once they began non-self assist. We still waited in lines almost an hour to get off. I sat next to a guy on the plane who followed the rules and waited for his deck to be called and did not get off until around 12:30. Wonder if there was a shortage of custom agents???

[hutt1]

We were on the Glory on Feb.24 and enjoyed every minute. The food was fine in the buffet, and very good in the restaurant. Service was excellent all week.

Embarkation was like standing in line at Disney. A bit of a wait, smiling faces and a great ride at the end.

We chose self disembarkation because we only had a tote and carry-on each. It went smoothly with very little wait. It took us about 20 minutes to get from the ship to the parking lot.

We didn't do the bar thing, so no comment there.

If you are going to Belize a ship's tour will get you off the ship the most effectively.

Try the pizza. It tastes great after a day at the beach.:)

[racingraysswimmom]

:D Thought the food was better than last year on Destiny. Expected to have longer lines for luncheon buffets/venues, but they were relatively short. Room service was always on time for breakfast. Late afternoon there was abit of a wait....30-45 minutes.

Did not go to piano bar, but visited Karaoke several nights. Had some great laughs but the staff person running it had some attitude.

Disco was alot of fun for the 70's/80's night.

Supper Club was excellent according to several members of our group.

Embarkation was smooth and efficient for the regular folks too.

Disembarkation was a nightmare. Especially frustrating when you could see the Disney Magic next to us disembarking very efficiently. I would self-assist if this continues. Some of our group took over 1 hour 45 minutes to get off the ship.:mad:

[ScottsSweetie]

I have not sailed the Glory yet (going in September), but a good thing to remember on all of the ships in the dining room: listen to your waiter! He/she will normally tell you what is "very good" that night - in our experience, they are usually telling you what not to order that night! Before our last cruise, I had not heard favorable things about one particular entree (I don't remember what it was), and for sure the waiter did not recommend it that night, so we steered clear.

[ballinafad]

For lunch my favourite was the Asian station. Different selections each day. The Chocolate Buffet was a surprise to me and was amazing. I believe it was after Nassau. The deli was a hit with several in our group. The steak in dining room I felt was often tough but they were quick to replace with something else. The final show of the week (I believer Legends) was a must see as were some of the comedians.

[Newbiecruiser07]

That is a good tip about listening to your waiter. Also, don't be shy about ordering several different starters particularly if you've never had the chance to try either one of them. The waiter we had encouraged it (also with the main entrees too). Just don't go into it with the expectation that all the food will be unbelievably delicious. Rather, approach it by expecting to try food you would probably never order in a restaurant (for whatever reason). After all, it's hard to have perfect food when you're feeding 3,000 over the course of 2 hours.

 

Our extended family's first cruise was on the Glory and just got back on Saturday (3/31). Since this was our first cruise, I do not have anything to compare to like our other cruise vets from an embarkation/ disembarkation perspective, but it took quite some time to get off the Glory as mentioned above. The Cocoa Beach Shuttle Driver told us that was unusual and thought the recent bomb threat hoax on the Sensation from a couple days prior to that (3/29) had something to do with it with extra precautions taken by security and customs. Disney right next to us seemed done by 9:30 but they arrived in port before we did. The shuttle driver also confirmed Disney "has it down" when speaking of the disembarking process.

And since we didn't come on board with high expectations (just a positive and fun attitude), we just went with the "flow" getting off the ship. It took a little over an hour and a half but with a 4:00 flight out, I'd rather linger waiting in lines, close to a really Fun Ship, than wait sitting around in an airport.

 

Sidneysails, be prepared to have a great time on the Glory. The 15 of us did.