Carnival Glory 3/26 - 4/2

Western Caribbean, 4 families, 9 children - 2-14 y/o

3 Panorama deck balcony staterooms, 1 Empress mini-suite and 1 Empress Inner cabin. 3000+ guests over 1000 were under the age of 18.

 

Embarkation - late arrival in MCO due to weather. Used Happy Limo (!!) for transfer to and fro, cheaper and under our control. Arrived at the terminal at 230pm. No lines, no wait. On board within 35 minutes. IMHO - It's just not worth it to try to board early when all you're gonna do is wait in line - particularly on the mega-ships.

 

Stateroom - 1060 on Panorama deck. Conveniently close to the Lido deck. A little noisy due to proximity to elevators and steward work areas. Our steward, Oakley, was competent but we just never did bond...

 

(side bar) - LMAO - One of the pre-dial labels on the telephone was "room stewart" {sic}

 

Dining Room - 2nd early sitting in Golden (615pm) at tables 118 and 120. Served by Juan and Wijiono. They were great. We had 9 children at 120 and 8 adults at 118. We heavily tipped above for their service. Our bar waiters, Godoy and Snezana were wonderful also. It was practically perfect. I still don't understand why folks like to wait in line to enter when there is a perfecly functional bar nearby...

 

(side bar for GNO) - Lemon Creme Brulee on Monday night. Never saw it on the menu again.

 

Public Areas - The layout was nice - particularly if you didn't have to eat in Platinum - then you didn't have to deal with working your way around the galley. Spent the majority our our time in the Casino, the Cinn-a-bar (piano bar) or the White Heat disco. Brad Alexander was the new piano player starting this cruise. My references are Ed Rrocks and Darin (or Duane??) off the Miracle. Brad was great, worked the crowd and had a pretty decent repetoire for a Canuck (his words!). He's working on it.

 

(side bar) - "Killer shelves" in the toilet stalls. Took a hard look at the supply shelves in the men's stalls. For the life of me, I can't figure out how any one could impact their forehead unless they were standing on the toilet seat while urinating.

 

Pools - No adults-only pool. Hot tubs aft are adult-only. Only a few swim diapers, completely unenforced. Main pool WAS open upon arrival as well as some of the hot tubs. Bring that suit in your Carry-on!

 

Entertainment - Went to the Livin' in the USA show. 70 minutes of entertainment that was about 40 minutes too long. Saw Percy Crews at the late night adults-only comedy show. Sex and Child Birth (Not a prudish comment - it just wasn't that funny)

 

Fitness - I ran the running track a few times. A little crowded and folks walking 2-3 abreast made navigation a little tricky. My wife enjoyed the gym facilities.

 

Key West - We were scheduled to dock in front of the Hilton at Pier B but instead were at the Outer Mole at the Navy base. This is a pain in the butt. Shuttle to and fro instead of a short walk into town. Only there from 12-6 and the actual time was more like 1-5. Went to Turtle Kraals for lunch and Sloppy Joes for an obligatory beer. I'm a huge KW fan, but this was our least favorite port.

 

Belize - SNUBA. Great excursion. If you ever wanted to try SCUBA in a benign environment this is the way. We're both certified but wanted to take our 8 y/o daughter with. She has snorkled before so figured she was ready. She absolutely loved it. Certification starts in less than 2 years.

 

Cozumel - Paradise Beach. inport 7-4 so we got to the beach around 930am via 8 person vans which were $26 one way. PB is awesome. Arturo was our waiter and he took great care of us. We stayed until 230pm and people were still arriving (9 ships in port that day). Talked to PB Tom for awhile. We reminisced about Dancing Nancy and he mentioned that he and his wife are expecting (said zydecocruiser had already broken that news) in October.

 

Progresso - High winds and strong currents put us in port over 2 hours late. Early excursions were cancelled and our self-planned ruin tours became a trip to the Malecon beach at the foot of the pier. We posted up at Le Saint Bonnet and had great service from Armando. The Ceviches were great, course anything would be after 7 buckets of Coronas. A defintite do-over.

 

Fun Days at Sea - Beach chairs were unavailable after 830am. On the first fun day we had some nasty weather late in the morning the drove a lot of folks off deck and reset the playing field - the irony was sublime. There is a high profile table that juts over the entrance to the Azure pool coming from the forward elevator bank. A great place to see and be seen - if you can get it. The night before our next Fun day we left some empty bar glasses and used napkins on a few chairs around 1am in order to save for the next day. It didn't work.

 

Camp Carnival - Had players in the 2-5, 6-8 and 9-11 programs. All parents and children were quite happy.

 

Mega-ships - (Glory vs Miracle) Glory has 3000+ guests and Miracle 2000+ guest. My general impression is that staterooms were added to accomodate more guests but the public areas didn't see commensurate expansion. Same number of pools, bars, restaurants and gangways with 50% more passengers definitely increased wait times, line lengths and congestion. Given a choice I'd opt for the Miracle-size ships.

 

Disembarkation - Immigration was a little slow getting on board. We were the second color called away and didn't get off until 930am. Happy Limo got us to MCO by 1030am with plenty of time to spare for our 150pm flight.

 

Overall - We had a great cruise.

Thanks for the recap!

 

What did u do during your "Fun Days at Sea?" I will be going on my first cruise in July on the GLORY so i'm getting excited! :)

WOW! Thanks for a great concise review!! We leave 4/23 and I am worried about the crowding. We were on the Spirit last year and I thought the size was perfect too. This may just be too many people. I hate fighting for a deck chair!

 

Question... Were the ship's ruins tours cancelled or did they go on despite the late arrival?

 

Also do they offer a "laundry special" in the middle of the week on the Glory?

On the Sprit, they let you fill up a bag and Carnival, washed and folded everything and returned it to your cabin.

Thanks for the recap!

 

What did u do during your "Fun Days at Sea?" I will be going on my first cruise in July on the GLORY so i'm getting excited! :)

 

Exercise, swim, eat, drink. There are also lots of contests and the casinos are open....

WOW! Thanks for a great concise review!! We leave 4/23 and I am worried about the crowding. We were on the Spirit last year and I thought the size was perfect too. This may just be too many people. I hate fighting for a deck chair!

 

Question... Were the ship's ruins tours cancelled or did they go on despite the late arrival?

 

Also do they offer a "laundry special" in the middle of the week on the Glory?

On the Sprit, they let you fill up a bag and Carnival, washed and folded everything and returned it to your cabin.

 

In Progresso, The first two tours were cancelled with a full refund. Remaining tours were held and the ship delayed sailing 1 hour.

 

I didn't notice anything about a laundry special.

Max, glad you had a great time!! Good to have ya back!! :)

Intrudr .... Really enjoyed reading your helpful review!

 

Question Please: Was it a problem to find a seat at the Pool BAR? We love to sit at the bar! :D

 

Thanks again for the review. Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

Intrudr .... Really enjoyed reading your helpful review!

 

Question Please: Was it a problem to find a seat at the Pool BAR? We love to sit at the bar! :D

 

Thanks again for the review. Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

 

we stayed in the turquoise pool area mostly (sometimes cobalt). Starboard side pool bar (smoking) was always open and seating wasn't usually a problem (not a lot of people posting up). Port side bar (non-smoking) wasn't always open but you could still sit there. Didn't drink at Azure much - but it would have the best view looking Aft/water view.

Max, glad you had a great time!! Good to have ya back!! :)

 

Chris - we had sooo much fun. we're already planning the next go-around. thinking southern caribbean out of San Juan...

Max, one of these days doll... you guys have GOT to cruise with us!!! For crying out loud, we now have 3 groups planned.... you gotta join one of them! LOL!!!!!

On the 3/19 trip Eastern Carib. there was a laundry special.

 

Kathleen

Thank you very much for the info.

The bar waiter Godoy in the dining room does rock ... :)

What a great, succinct, review! You answered so many questions that people have asked within the last few months, and addressed issues that were debated here on the board.

 

Thank you :)

Can you give some details about Progresso beach? Have seen photos with tiki huts, etc. - what about lounge chairs - do you have to rent and can you put them under the huts? Also, what about restrooms, bottled water, etc. Is the beach 3 blocks from the drop off stop? Lots of beach to walk? Any place with a pool to use?

Max, one of these days doll... you guys have GOT to cruise with us!!! For crying out loud, we now have 3 groups planned.... you gotta join one of them! LOL!!!!!

 

You're just saying that to be nice. We prefer to cruise with small children over Spring Break because we're too nice to leave our children behind, enjoy cruising with 1000 other children so ours are entertained, can't stand the public humiliation associated with pulling them out of school to cruise (our 2 y/o is so far behind on her shapes and colors!) and would rather pay the slightly inflated rate during the peak periods.

 

In the meantime, I'll vicariously live through you!

What a great, succinct, review! You answered so many questions that people have asked within the last few months, and addressed issues that were debated here on the board.

 

Thank you :)

 

Thanks. It was funny to cruise this time with all those items stuck in my head and trying to research them all. I bypassed every urinal on in the men's public bathrooms to look at all those nuisance shelves in the stalls... what a sacrifice!

Can you give some details about Progresso beach? Have seen photos with tiki huts, etc. -

 

what about lounge chairs - do you have to rent and can you put them under the huts? Also, what about restrooms, bottled water, etc.

the restaurant had plastic resin tables and chairs. no chaises at our location. they do not charge but it is expected that you will purchase food and beverages. the "huts" were more like fixed umbrellas with thatched roofs. you can't move them. restrooms were in the restaurant - never did go over there though... We brought bottled water off the ship and would do so again. The kids drank water and soda - we drank coronas.

 

Is the beach 3 blocks from the drop off stop? Lots of beach to walk? Any place with a pool to use?

The shuttle will make the first possible left turn once clear of the causeway. Exit the shuttle and continue in the same direction as the shuttle until reaching the first intersection. Turn left back towards the beach and it's about 3 blocks until you reach El Malecon (you'll know you're heading in the right direction - as it's a basic U-turn). There is lots of beach to walk if you desire, but our planned destination, the Le Saint Bonnet was about 4 storefronts down the beach road once we turned right to parallel the ocean front. There was no pool there and I don't know where you'd find one - it's much more depressed than Cozumel.

WOW! Thanks for a great review!! going in December can't wait!!!!!

WOW! Thanks for a great review!! going in December can't wait!!!!!

 

Looks like you were on Miracle about a week before us. we sailed on 9/26 out of Baltimore.

Hi Max,

 

We missed seeing you at the meet and greet!! We too had a great week on the Glory!! Our debarkation was somewhat of a nightmare though...seems as though a color blind employee called the purple tagged guests to pick up their luggage when only the pink and red tagged luggage was on the carousel...Imagine the confusion that caused!! Oh well, the rest of the trip was great!!

 

Hope everyone from the roll call got home safely!

 

Laura

Since that roll call was so huge, we're anxious awaiting lots of reviews!

Hi Max,

 

We missed seeing you at the meet and greet!! We too had a great week on the Glory!! Our debarkation was somewhat of a nightmare though...seems as though a color blind employee called the purple tagged guests to pick up their luggage when only the pink and red tagged luggage was on the carousel...Imagine the confusion that caused!! Oh well, the rest of the trip was great!!

 

Hope everyone from the roll call got home safely!

 

Laura

 

we didn't board until late, started collecting friends and got distracted by the turquoise pool bar!

 

The debarkation was futher frabbed up by the near-simultaneous release of the selfers and the tagged guests. All that rolling stock really jammed up the stairs.