Just Off Glory 7/8-7/15 2017

Review to come, but sitting in MIA waiting for my 3-hour delayed flight, here are random thoughts, mainly based on reality vs. expectations from recent threads here (new cruiser, this is only my 3rd in 20 years.

1. FTTF. For me, totally worth it, if for no other reason than dealing with guest relations. Days 1-2 and day 7, the regular line was out of control. Greatly appreciated the ability to walk to the FTTF station, which had no line.

2. Allstate gift cards - great to save 10%, but kind of a pain to use. The self-serve kiosks on Glory are not able to handle then, so I ended up having some poor woman at guest relations manually enter the number and pin for 25+ cards.

3. Kids/college kids - much to my surprise there were NOT marauding bands of uncontrolled kids roaming the decks. Nor drunk college kids. If anything, it was a bit older overall crowd than I expected. Maybe spring break would be different.

4. Room temperature - we had a balcony andbased on a few recent threads I was worried I would be too hot to sleep at night. I really need a cool, almost cold, room. No worries, I have a little travel clock with a thermometer and the room rarely got above 70.

5 wifi/carnival hub - got the premium wifi and it was better/faster than expected - just know that downloading photos is very slow. HUB is good for info. Chat feature was an unnecessary $5 purchase. It was very slow, and our party of 12 just used regular text messaging to stay in touch, since we all had iPhones and a wifi plan anyway.

That's it for now, but happy to answer questions. Sorry, no pictures to speak of.

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Tell us about the food and the entertainment? Thanks.

I thought the food in the dining room was very good, particularly the locale-inspired selections. Prime rib on elegant night was great. Desserts were less inspired but still tasty. I tried the barbecue twice and it was good. Lido buffet was average, and crowds could really be a downer at times, but loved my Reubens from the deli. Guys burgers were also very good. Didn't really like the Blue Iguana tacos (especially the breakfast burrito). Pizza was surprisingly good and always fresh - especially if you like thin crust. Did not try the Seafood Shack or sushi.

Only saw one show, Epic Rock - high quality Vegas style show. Saw 3 of 4 comedians, ok but would give them all just an average rating. People we traveled with loved the Piano Bar. Of everything, I guess I had the best time at the music trivia nights, lot of fun. Movies were pretty popular, I watched 2. The Lobby Bar band was unfortunately flat out awful. Off key, bad rhythm, just bad. Their were 2 solo guitarists that popped up in different places, both pretty good.

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Looking forward to your review.

Did you fly into Ft Lauderdale on Friday and stay in Miami the night before. If so, do you recommend an affordable place with pretty easy access for the departure point? Thanks

What time were you on with your FTTF? I will be using mine in a few weeks.

What does it mean "what time"?

We chose 10:30 boarding. Got there around 10:15 and were ushered into the waiting area. I think we boarded right around 11:00 or so. Once on, our room was ready for us (another perk of FTTF). Luggage showed up around 3:00 or so.

We flew into MIA the night before and stayed at the Homewood Suites -- Blue Lagoon near the airport, and took an Uber over the next morning. Used some Hilton points for a reduced rate. The hotel was convenient to the airport, but not sure I would have picked it if I were paying a non-discounted rate. The good thing is they have true 2BR/2BA suites available, which is cheaper than booking two rooms.

Did you fly into Ft Lauderdale on Friday and stay in Miami the night before. If so, do you recommend an affordable place with pretty easy access for the departure point? Thanks

Whats affordable and what time of year are you looking? Hotel rates change with the seasons. Summer of course going to higher, Late summer some places are pretty cheap though. Fall and winter things go up a bit. February for some reason is high at some places. Early spring isn't too bad except spring break times.

Affordable places I use close to the port when i fly in a day early are YVE Hotel Miami and The Holiday Inn at port of Miami.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Looking forward to your review, as we will be going on the Glory in January.

Was the aft pool limited to adults or were they allowing kids to use it?

We are on the Glory next month, anything not to miss? Did you do cheers?

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The aft pool was listed as 18+ in the Fun Times, but I don't remember seeing any signage on deck. It wasn't a problem. The aft area was much quieter than the main pool area, and I didn't see many kids back there, other than the ones waiting for pizza. I can't guarantee that there weren't kids in the pool at any times, but they weren't there when I was there. Same for the hot tub. Maybe if I had gone back there in the middle of a sea day it would have been different.

For what not to miss, the music trivia shows were really a lot of fun and drew a big crowd, which was a little bit of problem because the location (lobby atrium) is not really set up for a crowd.

Dustin the cruise director, in my opinion, did a good job of keeping people informed, energizing the shows, and not being intrusive. There were not endless announcements, as I have heard other people complain about. He was not hyper engergetic, which I don't like -- but some people probably thought he was too low key.

Random thought: don't do the introduction to accupuncture. More to come, but the accupuncture therapist was just awkward and uncomfortable.

Did not do cheers and we didn't come close to making it a bad decision. We are both casual drinkers. And since we did excursions in every port so we were off the ship for 4 hours or so for 4 days, cheers just did not make sense.

The aft pool was listed as 18+ in the Fun Times, but I don't remember seeing any signage on deck. It wasn't a problem. The aft area was much quieter than the main pool area, and I didn't see many kids back there, other than the ones waiting for pizza. I can't guarantee that there weren't kids in the pool at any times, but they weren't there when I was there. Same for the hot tub. Maybe if I had gone back there in the middle of a sea day it would have been different.

 

For what not to miss, the music trivia shows were really a lot of fun and drew a big crowd, which was a little bit of problem because the location (lobby atrium) is not really set up for a crowd.

 

Dustin the cruise director, in my opinion, did a good job of keeping people informed, energizing the shows, and not being intrusive. There were not endless announcements, as I have heard other people complain about. He was not hyper engergetic, which I don't like -- but some people probably thought he was too low key.

 

Random thought: don't do the introduction to accupuncture. More to come, but the accupuncture therapist was just awkward and uncomfortable.

Thanks for the info!

There's been a few Glory reviews past couple months that on Glory they changed the aft pool back to adults only.

My family was also on this cruise. I would have to agree with everything mentioned so far. We had FTTF also. Arrived around 10am and was on the ship at 1130. Room was ready when we boarded. Sail and sign cards safely in mailbox.

Entertainment : Comedians were decent. The Motown show was ok and the epic rock show was very good if you were an 80's teen. I thought Dustin was very good as CD. He did not make unnecessary announcements and was very approachable.

Food: I thought the food was very good. Of course Guys burgers were awesome but the BBQ place up the steps from lido was equally good for lunch. We had anytime dining for the first time and loved it. Yes the waiters still called you by name and sang Happy Birthday to my wife. MDR food was good but wish selections were better, but I realize trying to please 3000 people can be tough.

I spent many nights in casino and staff was very helpful at table games. Slots were dated though.

My family was also on this cruise. I would have to agree with everything mentioned so far. We had FTTF also. Arrived around 10am and was on the ship at 1130. Room was ready when we boarded. Sail and sign cards safely in mailbox.

 

Entertainment : Comedians were decent. The Motown show was ok and the epic rock show was very good if you were an 80's teen. I thought Dustin was very good as CD. He did not make unnecessary announcements and was very approachable.

 

Food: I thought the food was very good. Of course Guys burgers were awesome but the BBQ place up the steps from lido was equally good for lunch. We had anytime dining for the first time and loved it. Yes the waiters still called you by name and sang Happy Birthday to my wife. MDR food was good but wish selections were better, but I realize trying to please 3000 people can be tough.

 

I spent many nights in casino and staff was very helpful at table games. Slots were dated though.

I love the 80's so I love your mention of the 80's rock show!

So here's the more detailed version. I've also posed to CC reviews.

Some background -- this was a cruise with 3 couples, 12 people overall. Myself, wife, 2 adult children, brother in law and his family (2 teen children), sister in law and her family (1 adult child, 1 teen child). 1st cruse for one couple, second cruise for us and the other family. So very infrequent cruisers. The only other experience I have is also on Carnival (Dream) so I can't compare among lines. This cruise was chosen due to dates and cost -- there was only one other competition, on Celebrity. Surprisingly, Celebrity was a little cheaper, and we went back and forth. At the end of the day, we felt that Celebrity might not have as much to offer to the 6 kids -- the 28 year old would have enjoyed it, but we weren't sure about the 18 and under crowd.

Pre-Cruise -- Flew into MIA and stayed at the Homewood Suites - Blue Lagoon. Unfortunately, one in law stayed at the OTHER Homewood Suites at the airport and was confused when she knocked on our room door and a stranger answered. Ooops. The hotel was okay, nothing too exciting. The main draw was that it has true 2BR suites, so 4 adults can stay without needing 2 rooms. Got a good rate using some Hilton points. f

Embarkation -- Uber to the port, very smooth. Embarkation was at first very confusing. We printed out boarding passes in advance, but those do not have a bar code on them. Without a bar code, you can't use your boarding pass for onboard bar purchases while waiting for the room to be ready. We didn't care, since we had FTTF, but on the Carnival attendants was very insistent to print us out a new boarding pass that had a bar code. Great. But the new boarding pass didn't have FTTF on it, so we were shuttled in to the regular line for about 5 minutes. Thankfully we didn't throw away the old boarding pass so we were able to prove we had FTTF. After that got sorted out, we were sent to the FTTF area and ultimately got on about 11:30. Room was ready, sealed envelopes in the mailbox. Luggage showed up about 1:30. Met the Steward, Tu, and he asked us when we wanted servicing (both). I also asked for bathrobes and to keep an ice bucket filled. He quickly got the robes and the bucket always had ice in it. When I asked, I gave him a $20 as an extra tip. He was very good, hardly ever saw him, but the room was very clean, the towel animals showed up, and we always had ice.

Room -- Balcony room on the Upper Deck (6). Right by the elevators. Room was nice, very spacious for the two of us. But the location was noisier than I liked, particularly starting in late afternoon when they start playing live music in the atrium lobby. That music goes straight up and into the room. It's not like we were there all the time, but between 5-11:30 it was a constant presence. Might have been better if the band was good. They weren't. I brought a non-surge protector power strip and had no problem getting it on board. Also a small little fan. One of my concerns before the cruise was that the room would be too hot. No problem, it was actually very cool, below 70 if you set the thermostat all the way down. So we were happy with the cabin itself, less so the location.

On-Board Experience -- I was pleasantly surprised. Based on some other reviews/topics I was expecting roving bands of unruly, anarchic kids. No. There were a lot of kids, but not as many as I expected at all. The overall crowd was much more mature than I expected. Which is fine -- that's my age. Main pool deck was crowded but manageable. Lido pool was listed in Fun Times as 18+ but I don't recall deck signage. In any event, I didn't see that many kids back there unless they were getting pizza. The Cruise Director, Dustin, hit was I felt was a very happy medium between required announcements and unending jabber. He was certainly enthusiastic but for a Cruise Director maybe a little lower key than others. Typical on-board stuff, pool games, trivia games, bingo, etc. I really liked the early evening music trivia -- lot of fun!

Entertainment -- Hit and miss. Some of our traveling companions loved the piano bar and went there every night. I'm not a piano bar person, though. I was looking forward more to the comedy shows, and was disappointed. I'd give all 4 of them an average to average+. If a comedian has been doing this for 20+ years, they are going to be able to get a crowd to laugh. But nothing great. I normally enjoy more adult humor, but in this case the PG shows were slightly better than the adult shows. We only saw one big show, the Epic Rock -- it was very impressive, good music if you like classic rock. Over the top, pompous, overly pretentious -- you know, pretty much what 70s rock was. They embraced it, and it was fun to watch. I liked the dive in movies, watched one with my younger son and the midnight movie with my other son. The screen is very good, no glare at all. Sound was good, but they also have english subtitles.

Food -- We had Your Time dining and it worked out fine. We only had one night where we waited more than a few minutes. Even though we had Your Time, we had a great waiter on night one and asked for his section the remainder of the evening. It was never a problem. Ivan was great. Remembered all our names, our preferences, and had a mild sardonic sense of humor that I enjoyed, not a gusher. He always hid in the shadows during the dining room shows! First night was a little awkward as one of our party for some reason thought his name tag said he was from Serbia and made a comment. Unfortunately, he was from Croatia. Not sure how worse it could be -- Ukraine v Russia I suppose. But it was an awkward silence while we apologized profusely. He handled it very well, even though you could tell he was a bit taken aback. MDR food was very good in my opinion, particularly the local selections and the "adventurous" appetizer. I wouldn't classify frog legs as that adventurous, but certainly more unusual than the standard appetizers. Guys really is good. Greasy and gooey, but good. The upstairs BBQ is also good and passed the test by our North Carolina family. Lido dining was pretty mediocre, though. The lines are too long -- I understand why Carnival wants to serve some items rather than make it a true buffet, but it led to long lines for the better stuff. The deli had very good sandwiches, though, and that line was not usually very long. I know that there are big fans of the Blue Iguana's breakfast and lunch but I didn't like it very much. The tortillas has an odd bitter taste. We did not do any premium dining.

Spa -- among everybody, we had massages, facials, pedicures, scrubs and accupuncture. All but accupuncture were very good. Some very low key selling at the end, but a simply no thanks put a stop to it. The accupuncture therapist was terrible. For the week, she would stalk people in the waiting area asking if they want an introductory treatment. But she was very awkward, and there was a bit of a language problem. My 18 year old son and I finally said yes on a lark. So she has both of us sitting in a room taking a quasi-medical history, which was a little personal and asking about physical (and mental and emotional) issues. My son was a little uncomfortable and to be honest she should not have another person in the room while she is doing that, unless he's a minor. Son went first, and about 10 minutes in he started getting nauseous and hyperventilating. I'm sure it wasn't the treatment itself, but just the laying down, warm room, and ship movement. So he left. Then it was my turn. She asked what I did for a living, fine, then asked what my wife did (odd) and then said "Oh. So nobody is home to take care of the children" What the H$$$? It was just weird and inappropriate. So she did the treatment, it was fine, but the experience itself was just bad and unacceptable.

Ports of Call -- We booked a Villa for the day in Half Moon Cay and had a great day. It was very nice to have the bathroom and stocked drinks and snacks. The air-conditioned room upstairs was useless, though. I mean, the windows are all wide open and can't be sealed. So if you found "the spot" where the cool air was pointed and stood in it that was fine, but that's about it. In St. Thomas 10 of us took the St. John sail and snorkel excursion through Carnival and had another good day. The snorkeling was not that great at Honeymoon Beach -- we've been to St. John several times and there is much better snorkeling elsewhere. But the sail over and back was very nice, the crew was good, the people were having a good time. I recommend it, unless you're a hard core snorkeler. My wife and older son went to St. John on their own, and hired Tours of St. John (affiliated with the News of St. John website) to take them to a few beaches, have lunch, shop, etc. and had a great day. San Juan -- DIY and walked to the forts and around Old San Juan. Enjoyed the fort and walking around, if that's what you want to do I don't see any need to book a tour. Grand Turk -- we booked a snorkel trip with Blue Water Diving and had a great day. Two snorkeling stops, saw a lot of fish and coral, including a lemon shark, baracuda and stingray.

Debarkation -- Very smooth, surprisingly. The only glitch is that if you have a duffel-style suitcase you really need to look at the big pile of luggage that is NOT on the belt. All of our luggage showed up fairly quickly except for one bag. I waited for a long time until I finally saw it in a pile of duffel bags several belts away from where I was standing. Cab back to the airport was easy.

So a good trip. Not perfect, but to be honest much better than I was expecting.

for those of us who don't do a lot of cruises, what does FTTF mean????

thank you,

for those of us who don't do a lot of cruises, what does FTTF mean????

 

thank you,

Faster to the Fun!