Just Back From Glory 3/18-25/06

Glory Eastern 3/18

We arrived at the Port at about 10:30am. We were Platinum so I followed the sign to the VIP checkin. A male CCL employee told us we couldn't go that way. I said that is what the sign said and a woman w/CCL said to follow her. We were the second ones checked in in the VIP room (which was LONGER than our friends and kids who were in the REGULAR lines!). The woman CCL person was very nice, she went and got our kids so we would all be escorted on at the same time. She even got my other daughter who had returened a rental car and was just getting into the terminal when we were getting on. I'm so sorry I didn't remember her name. Even looked to see if I could see her this morning.

Had a good time. Cabin steward and wait staff excellent as usual. We had a table for 10 and 8 in the Platinum DR. We were in the back next to the windows. Lots of vibration on some nights.

Our cabins were on Deck 10, (1063) did feel some sway. More than on prior ships. Seas were slight most of the week (1-4 ft). Last night they were a bit more choppy.

St Thomas debarkation was a distaster. We were not off the ship until almost 1pm. We were talking to a customs agent while standing in line. He said the CCL was the ones holding up the lines. When we got to the table to get our sticker, there was only 2 woman giving them out!!!:( :confused: :mad: Why they didn't have more people was beyond me! We have been to STT about 6-7 times post 9/11 and NEVER had this much of a problem getting off a ship. We never had time to go downtown as it was 2pm THEIR time and the kids wanted to go to the beach for awhile. By the time we got back the shops at the pier were closing (6pm their time). Very disappointed the way this day was handled. Well I guess it saved me some money.:rolleyes: My suggestion would be to book a tour with CCL if you want to get off right away.

Got to check on the laundry

Thanks for the early review. Which beach did you go to in St Thomas. What did you do in Nassau? I know, paitence is a virtue;)

Nassau, just walked around. Kids went to the beach near the Atlantis. They said the vendors were more aggresive than they usually are. They did enjoy the beach.

STT we went to Sapphire Beach. Walked about 4 ft and my ankle found a deep hole. Fell on my butt. DH thought I found where I wanted to sit. Thought I broke my ankle. Not a good day. Sat at the beach longer than I planned because of ankle. Bought DD a camera at one of the stores we like, but at the pier location with just a few minutes to spare before they closed.

ST Maarten...woke up to a swollen ankle...wondered how I was going to walk around. Thought about a wheelchair for a minute. Went back to bed with some more ice on it. At 9am I said lets just go to the beach by the ships. Thankfully we were the first ship and the shortest walk to the water taxi. Limped my way over to the bach and baked my foot in the sun until noon. Went back to the ship and changed. Foot was feeling better. Went back to town for a few things. Had a nice day.

Our asst waiter, Alex, was at the beach with the kids (22-30, 17 of them) and sent over a few buckets of beer to them. That was such a nice thing to do.

Food....For the most part IMHO the food has gone down. The deserts were horrible with a few exceptions. There were some good main courses (and I tried 2-3 per night;) ) but most were not that great.

Did not eat in the Emerald this time beacause of the amount of people we were with (22) .

Casino...DH did not have any luck but a couple of the guys did do VERY well. Paid for the cruise and the bar tabs +!

Shows...only went to a couple...they were ok.

Spent most of the sea days sitting on the deck in a chair. Did have a couple of spa treatments. The Indian Scalp/shoulder massage was great. Should have gone with my first thought and had that one again. Didn't.

Cruise staff needs to get fresh jokes.

Purser desk was short, not quite rude but very close...hard to tell with the accents;)

Priorty tags were given to us and those who used it were off by 730am. We waited until 930 and walked out with the rest of the Panorama deck. Our kids were renting a car and driving back to the airport. We got our car and was on the road by 1015am.

All and all it was a good time. Platinum had some perks, most we didn't use.

Forgot to mention that we did carry wine on with us. Never have done that before (with close to 50 cruises). But with the kids with us and us driving I thought what the heck. Had about 16 bottles (21 people). Took an average of 2 to dinner each evening. THe first night they informed us that they charge $10 a bottle. No problem. Was not charged until the last night and only for 3 bottles. Head waitress said to cover her butt. Never saw the Maitre'D until the last night at the door. Never walked back toour area. Some of our wine ended up in the chiller so he did comment to the asst waiter. We had no problem with the fee.

Only one scanner person at the pier questioned the amount of bottles. Some of our group carried a few bottles each. They said we had a group and they said OK.

Thanks for the review. We saw your ship leave port last Saturday when we were at dinner there.

I can't wait to try this boat in September!

Hope your ankle is better!

Thank you so much for the review. It sounds like you made the best of the hurt ankle - I hope it's better.

That was really nice of the asst. waiter to provide the buckets of beer on the beach - what a sweetie! :p

We'll be on the Glory in only 105 days!!

So sorry to hear about your ankle. Why does these things always happen on vacations:( Hope it is better. When were the formal nites and past guest party?

Purser desk was short, not quite rude but very close...hard to tell with the accents;)

 

Platinum had some perks, most we didn't use.

Was there a "special" line at the Purser's desk for Platinum card holders? (even if so, it does not sound like they followed through with "warmth"..)

Tom

Ankle is better Thanks:)

Formal nights were Sunday and Thur. Past guest party was Thur.

I didn't see any 'special' line for the Pursers Desk. Didn't really look. When I went there wasn't a line. My card worked to get off the ship in Nassau and then when we were finally cleared to get off in STT it BONGED. The first security guy said I had to go to the Purser and get a new card to get off. By then, with 19 people waiting, I was in no mood to go BACK up and stand in another line and then in a line to get off. So another security person wrote my name down (which is what they were doing for others, I've never 'bonged' before).

I did say so much for the VIP treatment!

Went to get a new card that night...they had to get out of a chair to get my card and then walk about 20steps to get the new one. I guess it was just tooo much work for the 3 woman that were behind the desk:rolleyes:

My DD's and some of her friends saw one of the Lido barwaiters at the airport last night and bought him a couple of beers for the road. He was on a flight to CT where they were going but on a different airline. His Father lives in CT also.

We too just returned on Saturday. I thought it was a great cruise too except for the immigration thing in St. Thomas. I know security is a big thing but we all were put through security to get on the ship. We could have just filled out a paper like we did for the Bahamas. Did they think someone had parachuted onto the ship. We were on Lido, one of the last decks called and weren't off the ship until after 1:00. I did talk to a couple people the next day and they said they were told they'd be off the ship no later than 11:30 and when that time came and they were still on the ship they complained to the purser and were told they could leave anytime.

We had planned to take the ferry to St. Johns and save money from the ship's tour but by the time we got to the taxi stand the man there discouraged us from going saying we'd be real short on time. So we went to Coki. It was nice there but it wasn't St. Johns. Had a few bushwackers and that help mellow me out again.

In St. Maartin we took a taxi to Orient Beach which I thought was just beautiful. Lots of beach chairs and lounges out there but yet the beach never seemed too crowded. We enjoyed it so much we kept pushing back the time we were going to head back.

Some people thought the decor too gaudy but I loved those color changing ceilings, especially the one over the lobby bar.

We had great service in the Golden upper dining room. Halfway through the cruise our main waiter got ill and the asst. waiter had to take over his job and get a new asst. for a few days. Even though the service was a bit slower both waiters kept up their good humor.

But even with the St. Thomas problem it was still one of our better cruises. How can you stay unhappy on a cruise. Great service, good food (except for the deserts, they were nice looking but had no taste)

ZEBSTER AND HALOHEAD;

Did either of you make it to the PIANO BAR during your cruise?

I understand that MARK was the player there, for at least SOME of March...

Thanks,

Tom

We stopped at the piano bar while we were there. For some reason we did not particularly like Mark, the piano player. The couple of times we were in there the songs or crowd weren't to our liking. But I talked another cruiser who said he really enjoyed it. We all have different tastes.

My family was also on the 3/18 Glory cruise. Have to admit, I booked this cruise last summer, and after reading the reviews since the January drydock, I was beginning to think I had made a huge mistake, but I could have never have been so wrong! We had a fabulous time and were very pleased with the ship, the staff, the food, everything.

We had a forward balcony cabin on the Lido deck which was so convenient to the pool, Red Sail, and most importantly to my 7 year old son, the waterslide and the ice cream! We had a wonderful cabin steward who took very good care of us.

We had dinner every night in the Platinum dining room early seating (we had requested 6:15, but oh well) with two other families that we were friends with, also with children. The waiters couldn't have been better, and maybe we are just easy to please, but we thought the food was really good. Some things were just okay, but we always found enough to eat and were graciously served as many things as we asked for (plus more). I basically stuck with the beef selections and the chocolate desserts and loved them all. The lobster on the first formal night was one of the best I've ever had. We had breakfast in the dining room most mornings also - food was good and was hotter than the buffet . . . and no lines and they got you in & out pretty quick. Lunches were usually fish & chips, deli, pizza or burgers, all of which were wonderful - we ventured a few times through the buffet but not much.

Saw all the shows and enjoyed the singers/dancers - I've seen better, but they put on a good show. Wasn't too thrilled with the illusion guy or a couple of the comedians. The Motown singer was really really enjoyable.

Camp Carnival was wonderful for my son and his buddies. He went every night and some during the sea days. They had a nice variety of activities for his age group.

We had an early tour in St. Thomas so we were lucky to escape the madness fairly early. It was a long long line but moved rather quickly for us. I'm still a little confused about the immigration process there. We had great tours in both St. T and St. Martin and enjoyed beach time on both islands, as well as Nassau. And I saw a nude beach for the first time - quite a site!

My husband played alot of poker and even won a little. We spent some time in the piano bar and also didn't particularly enjoy it, but had alot of fun in the karaoke bar - but it closed really early??? Some good entertainment in the other lounges also.

We thought all of the staff were really very friendly and hard working. Loved Mark Price and wee Jimmy.

All in all, a wonderful vacation and am already starting to think about the next cruise. Carnival has been great to us.

Why does it seem to take some people all morning to go thru immigrations? I know with a CCL excursion you get off early. I have booked a tour for 11 am with Godfrey. Will I be allowed off then? I would hate to spend all morn waiting to get off. Are the lines that long or what is the deal?

We were 'stuck' in line right in front of a customs officer for about 5+ mins. DH was talking to him. From NY, stationed in STT...he said CCL did not have enough people working the desk that gave out the stickers. That was the hold up. He said there was no reason that we should be there at almost 1pm still going through a line.

When we got up to the table, there were TWO woman giving out stickers!!!! :mad: :confused:

What a waste of a day! If it was just 2 of us, I would have tried to get in line earlier. We had a group of 22, 17 of us on the Panorama deck.

GOOD LUCK :)

The kids in our group went into the piano bar several of the nights.

That was my first time dealing with that and I am glad to see I wasn't the only one who felt short changed time wise on that island. I had booked a 12:30 tour through Carnival (beg scuba*) and only made it to the assy point in the amber lounge with minutes to spare. What do people do on the other decks that were not called? That situation just creates stress I hate being late.

We spoke to one of the carnival people while in line and they blamed the Immg officers for the dely yet I spent about 3 seconds with them. I gather the reason is that they couldn't put Nassau as the last stop on Fri due to port docking issues so they are stuck . I say skip Nassau all together and more time in St Martin.

*(beg scuba note) Overalll we loved the cruise and the folks at Dive world / Coral world really made a scary adventure for me one of the best things I have ever done. My dive instructor Anne was beyond patient and caring dealing with our group and I felt I was in good hands at all times.

Damon

Maybe now that Carnival has the Turks and Caicos up and running they will drop Nassau on the way to St.Thomas and pick up T&C on the way back which will stop the immigration process. Nassau on Sunday is not a good stop anyway.

I must be thick headed..but could you explain in greater detail??

In St. Thomas, but not St. Maarten you go through immigration, on the ship? So it's the St. Thomas government letting you on shore?

So, you go through the S &S card sliding thing to let the ship know your are getting off. Then you go through immigration?? On the ship too? So you fill out paperwork, or need your passport?

Could you explain the procedure?? Thanks... we are going to rent a car in both St. T & St. M....that sure would cut the day short.

Suzanne

Suzanne, the delay in St. Thomas is due to the fact that it is a US port - and if you go to a foreign (non-US) port beforehand, like Nassau, then you have to clear US customs when you enter St. Thomas. It is a long line to stand in on the ship - then a Customs agent will check your passport, then you continue to wait in line until you get up to a table where they are giving out stickers with your name & cabin # on it - then you finally get off the ship.

If you have an early excursion, you can get off before they call your deck. We had a 10:00 tour with Sunny so we got in line just before 10 - I brought my confirmation to show them, but no one ever even asked to see it. We were out about 10:30 - the line moved fairly quickly for us.

:) Thank you, I had no idea...very interesting... guess I need to travel more!

Suzanne

I too think that Carnival should drop the Bahamas from the Caribbean Cruises. The amount of time you're there just isn't worth it. Besides it's not that much farther south than Florida and I thought the water was still a little chilly, for me anyway. Making St. Thomas the first stop would relieve a lot of the aggravation. Just not fair getting gyped out of 3 hours of shore time. It was a great cruise except for that.

I was in a forward cabin on Lido. We stayed on Lido last year and liked it so much we asked our travel agent if we could be put there again. I'm glad everyone seemed to enjoy the Glory.