Cruise review - Glory March 7th

[brohar]

Finally setting back into the swing of thing back home and wanted to give an update of the trip. Overall, I think my girlfriend and I just arent cruisers, so if any negative comments i have offend anyone that is not my intention just my opinion.

 

Background: First time cruisers, natural born travellers (usually not in a tour), 30 years old.

 

We arrived around noon to board our boat and quickly realized that a college near us in Cincinnati, had 400 spring breakers onboard. That was the first sign of trouble. Several of them were already drunk waiting in line to get on the boat.

 

Our cabin was 7201 at the front of the boat. Great room with a window that had the same view as the camera you can find on one of the tv channels. It was very quite (no nearby spring breakers), and we could walk out to the front of the ship for our own balcony. Draw back is you can feel a fair amount of movement in that location. We didnt get sea sick however but i had trouble sleeping. Something about feeling nearly weightless wakes me up (lol). One night i slept maybe 2 hours.

 

First day at sea was fun getting to know the ship and enjoying the sun and drinks.

 

The breakfast and lunch were really horrible buffet food in my opinion. The pizza was usually reheated or sitting around a long time. I even special ordered a pizza and the guy proceeded to reheat a pizza that he had made earlier. The sushi was really bad. The mongolian grill was good but the line takes a very long time.

 

Dinner was good but not great. I realize how many people they have to feed at once so not everything can be made to order. Service was top notch. However, my girlfriend spent the last day on the sea, sick from food poisioning... our guess is it was the chateaubriand. She didnt have any fever just vomiting and diarrehea plus it hit her about 8 hours after dinner and i didnt catch anything from her so i doubt it was noro.

 

We enjoyed some gambling but that eventually got old. The comedy shows were good. Most of the activities just werent our thing and felt kind of corny and forced with low attendance.

 

Overall we loved all the ports of call.

Our stop in Cozumel was a lot of fun in Playa Mia.

In Belize, Altuna Ha was interesting as well as the River Wallace tour. The city didnt seem to scary too me but some people thought differently.

Roatan was probably our favorite, it was really hot and beautiful. We snorkelled on the Jolly Roger, and then went to Gumbalimba park. The park was very beautiful and we got to hold giant parrots and play with little monkeys. At one point i had a baby and its mother hanging out on my lap.

 

Unfortunately Grand Cayman was cancelled due to choppy sea conditions. We were very disappoint because we wanted to go there the most and had a great excursion lined-up. Plus that ment another day at sea which we werent thrilled about. I overheard some crew talking about how they hardly ever get to stop in Grand Caymen due to the weather. He wasnt happy because i guess that was his day off and he could have gone into the port to have some fun.

 

Our room steward was great and we tipped him well. Guest services was usually a disaster. I didnt realize how many nationalities work on a cruise ship but there was definately some communication break downs. We had to go back 3 times to get the correct explanation how to get an early tender when not on a ship sponsored excursion. They acted like they knew nothing about the procedure and just told us to go to the amber palace on tender day. Turns out you have to go there early about an hour before port arrival but they couldnt tell us this simple information until we got the right agent. I also asked were i could get antacid and was told to go to medical service, but i wasnt paying a consulting fee. Turns out they had it in one of the stores hidden away in a corner.

 

I was surprised by all the cost while onboard. Drinks were between 6-11 dollars after gratuity. Internet was .75 a minute and was slower than dial-up if it worked at all. Excursions were pricey but good quality. Different fee for atms ($6), and Gambling with card ($3) were annoying. Im forgetting a couple things here...

 

The constant picture taking was a little annoying but not a big deal. We would goof off half the time.

 

The night clubs were overrun with spring breakers so we didnt do to much of that. I was suprised how many places they allowed smoking. Most of the bars allowed smoking and some of the lido deck.

 

That about sums it up, we departed on sunday spent the rest of the day on miami beach and flew home on sunday night. Like i said, i just dont think we are cruisers.

I wouldnt do it again unless:

- We had children that needed baby sitting

- Had a big group of friend coming along

- and most importantly had a port nearly everyday.

[John&John]

Finally setting back into the swing of thing back home and wanted to give an update of the trip. Overall, I think my girlfriend and I just arent cruisers, so if any negative comments i have offend anyone that is not my intention just my opinion.

 

Background: First time cruisers, natural born travellers (usually not in a tour), 30 years old.

 

We arrived around noon to board our boat and quickly realized that a college near us in Cincinnati, had 400 spring breakers onboard. That was the first sign of trouble. Several of them were already drunk waiting in line to get on the boat.

 

Our cabin was 7201 at the front of the boat. Great room with a window that had the same view as the camera you can find on one of the tv channels. It was very quite (no nearby spring breakers), and we could walk out to the front of the ship for our own balcony. Draw back is you can feel a fair amount of movement in that location. We didnt get sea sick however but i had trouble sleeping. Something about feeling nearly weightless wakes me up (lol). One night i slept maybe 2 hours.

 

First day at sea was fun getting to know the ship and enjoying the sun and drinks.

 

The breakfast and lunch were really horrible buffet food in my opinion. The pizza was usually reheated or sitting around a long time. I even special ordered a pizza and the guy proceeded to reheat a pizza that he had made earlier. The sushi was really bad. The mongolian grill was good but the line takes a very long time.

 

Dinner was good but not great. I realize how many people they have to feed at once so not everything can be made to order. Service was top notch. However, my girlfriend spent the last day on the sea, sick from food poisioning... our guess is it was the chateaubriand. She didnt have any fever just vomiting and diarrehea plus it hit her about 8 hours after dinner and i didnt catch anything from her so i doubt it was noro.

 

We enjoyed some gambling but that eventually got old. The comedy shows were good. Most of the activities just werent our thing and felt kind of corny and forced with low attendance.

 

Overall we loved all the ports of call.

Our stop in Cozumel was a lot of fun in Playa Mia.

In Belize, Altuna Ha was interesting as well as the River Wallace tour. The city didnt seem to scary too me but some people thought differently.

Roatan was probably our favorite, it was really hot and beautiful. We snorkelled on the Jolly Roger, and then went to Gumbalimba park. The park was very beautiful and we got to hold giant parrots and play with little monkeys. At one point i had a baby and its mother hanging out on my lap.

 

Unfortunately Grand Cayman was cancelled due to choppy sea conditions. We were very disappoint because we wanted to go there the most and had a great excursion lined-up. Plus that ment another day at sea which we werent thrilled about. I overheard some crew talking about how they hardly ever get to stop in Grand Caymen due to the weather. He wasnt happy because i guess that was his day off and he could have gone into the port to have some fun.

 

Our room steward was great and we tipped him well. Guest services was usually a disaster. I didnt realize how many nationalities work on a cruise ship but there was definately some communication break downs. We had to go back 3 times to get the correct explanation how to get an early tender when not on a ship sponsored excursion. They acted like they knew nothing about the procedure and just told us to go to the amber palace on tender day. Turns out you have to go there early about an hour before port arrival but they couldnt tell us this simple information until we got the right agent. I also asked were i could get antacid and was told to go to medical service, but i wasnt paying a consulting fee. Turns out they had it in one of the stores hidden away in a corner.

 

I was surprised by all the cost while onboard. Drinks were between 6-11 dollars after gratuity. Internet was .75 a minute and was slower than dial-up if it worked at all. Excursions were pricey but good quality. Different fee for atms ($6), and Gambling with card ($3) were annoying. Im forgetting a couple things here...

 

The constant picture taking was a little annoying but not a big deal. We would goof off half the time.

 

The night clubs were overrun with spring breakers so we didnt do to much of that. I was suprised how many places they allowed smoking. Most of the bars allowed smoking and some of the lido deck.

 

That about sums it up, we departed on sunday spent the rest of the day on miami beach and flew home on sunday night. Like i said, i just dont think we are cruisers.

I wouldnt do it again unless:

- We had children that needed baby sitting

- Had a big group of friend coming along

- and most importantly had a port nearly everyday.

 

Thanks for your review. It's too bad you didn't have a better time. We also missed Grand Cayman but fortunately made it to Mahogany Bay.

 

We also found that smoking was allowed in some of the bars where live music being offered appealed to us. They really should make sure they offer all the bands in smoke and smoke-free areas. Different cruise lines do have different smoking policies...

 

I agree that Carnival lacks in communication quality both pre and during the cruise.

 

Carnival does tend to offer a lower fare and that might be part of why drinks on board are pricey, but probably not much different from other lines.

 

The Victory Southern itinerary has a new port each day - perhaps that would be more to your liking...

[mandyc3383]

Thanks for the review!

 

Seeing 400 Spring Breakers, my immediate thought would probably be oh boy as well. lol

 

We have been hesitant to book a cabin in the front or rear of the ship for your exact reason. After reading reviews and numerous threads I quickly came to the conclusion that the middle of the ship is the best location for us. Thankfully we haven't had any issues yet. Although on the last cruise the bed was length wise in the room and when the ship rocked it rocked from head to toe. That was an odd feeling at first. lol

 

Our party has never had an issue with the food, buffet or otherwise. Granted that there were some things liked much more than others. I agree that the pizza looks as though it sits out for awhile and then is reheated. However I have often seen pizzas being made and by the looks of the pizza line I doubt it sits there for too long. Also... the pizzarias at home make the pies and then leave them sit out until customers order a slice or so and then reheat them as well. Maybe it's just a pizza place thing. :D

 

That's ashame that your girlfriend got sick. It's stinky whenever you go on vaca and end up getting ill from anything. Glad you enjoyed the ports and the service. I have found both of those to be wonderful as well!

 

Sorry you didn't find yourself to be cruise type of people, but hey it's not for everyone. There are plenty of wonderful places to visit by land. Happy Traveling!

[ghini]

Brohar, we were also on that same cruise. This was our eighth cruise and there were some things on this one that I had not encountered before. I would have never guessed that there would be that many spring breakers, many which were good, but some a real pain. They did their best to continue to promote what other people think of Americans; drunk, over privileged, and condescending. I was also surprised at how many bars allowed smoking. This has not been the norm even on Carnival ships. We generally get an aft cabin which is also very quiet typically, however, there were a few times that there was some drama in the halls late after the youngens had been drinking. The ports are always good and are always something to look forward to. The days at sea we use as down time, spend the time on the balcony away from all of the others. You may want to give it another try and choose a different sailing time (we will as well) and possibly another line.

[PattiPB]

Thanks for your honest review. Our first cruise was a 3-nighter, because we weren't sure it was for us, either. Now we know...:p

 

I appreciate your comments about motion in the front of the ship, which is why we always try to stay mid-ship, although I'm anxious to get an aft balcony one of these days...