Glory 4/16 Review (long)

[mnsawyer]

We stayed in Orlando and dropped our car at the Budget in Cocoa Beach. There are tons of hotels in the Cocoa Beach area and all you'll need to do is drop off your car at the rental place and they will shuttle you to the port. We used Budget and I was very impressed. The location is small but we only waited a few minutes for a shuttle to the port.

 

Saw lots of people at Creams Cafe - we didn't purchase anything there but think the coffee was the best seller. Cakes looked wonderful!

 

I was disappointed that the piano bar wasn't that "hopping" - on the Triumph two years ago it was packed every night and the guy who played the piano was fabulous - lots of 70's & 80's music - it was great.

 

On the Glory there was an Asian band called Simple Friends who were wonderful. Lots of oldies (yes, I am getting there) - including Beatles, Doors, Eagles, etc. They were great and lots of people danced to their music. They played in the Ebony Cabaret most every night starting pretty early -7:00 p.m. or so.

[iluvdoxies]

mnsawyer- do you remember the name of the piano player?

On our last cruise, the Miracle, the guy in there was soooo bad...no energy at all.

Thanks!

[caviargal]

On our cruise (western) two weeks ago, the formal nights were Monday and Thursday.

 

This must be the answer as Carnival just reconfimed that Mon and Thursd were the formal nights on the 5/21 sailing. I have booked private events for Sunday evening and checked and rechecked this information.

[afcgirl]

I noticed you did the Carnival excursion to Trunk Bay. I know it includes snorkeling, but can you just lay on the beach if you want? I have little kids and wanted to know if it is an appropriate excursion for them, as they are not good swimmers yet.

 

Thanks!

[kbatschke]

AFCGIRL: We did the Trunk Bay Beach and Snorkel. You are able to spend as much or as little time snorkeling as you wish. The beach is perfect, and was never crowded even with several cruise ships in St. Thomas.

[iluvdoxies]

caviargal---yes, the formal nights are different on the eastern and western.

In fact, I wish ours were Mon and Thur- easier to get ready on a sea day!

[Buckeyefan]

I also had the chocolate shakes from Creams and they were wonderfulllllllll!!!!!! My daughter even complained about them being too chocolatey.

 

Kathleen

[afcgirl]

Kabatsche, thank you so much for responding to my question. I will book our excursion today!

[mnsawyer]

To be honest, all of the times we went to the piano bar, there was no one there. On the Triumph it was Eddie Rocks - not sure if that is his real name but he reminded me of Garth Brooks - a bit heavy set with a black cowboy hat. He was wonderful.

 

We loved the Glory/Cocoa Beach/Port Canaveral so much that we are potentially thinking about going again next year on the eastern itinerary. We absolutely loved the 4 ports but in all honesty, I could have used some more rest. I'm not crazy about eastern - the only reason being the two days at sea at the end.

 

What's the deal with St. Thomas and immigration? Was that a pain?

 

We were on upper deck cabin 6284 which is a few cabins from the forward elevators. It was a perfect location and while some people say you don't spend much time in your cabin, we absolutely loved our balcony cabin and would never want anything elsse. Had a cat 11 (upgrade) on the Triumph two years ago and actually liked the set up of the cat 8A much better. We were on our balcony every morning and night and in between. Finally smartened up after two days of going up to the Lido deck for coffee and then ordered room service after that. Requested to be delivered between 7 and 7:15 a.m. each morning. They were on time every day. I was impressed. The only drawback and this is minor is that we sailed after we changed the clocks to daylight saving time. It was very dark in the mornings - sun didn't rise until after 7:30 or later but we are assuredly morning people. On the other end, the sun didn't set until 8:00 p.m. or so.

[kbatschke]

MNSAWYER: We will be going on the Glory Western in October, glad to hear you liked that itinerary.

 

As for St. Thomas immigration, it was a pain as far as I'm concerned. Dock at 10:00, didn't get off the boat until after noon, some folks not till 12:30. I understand the need for homeland security, just can't understand why Carnival can't work something out. Probably the best thing to do is relax on the Lido deck, or in your cabin until your deck is called. Every passenger MUST pass through immigration, so it's necessary to do the drill. It's just unfortunate that an already limited itinerary (three islands,) has to be further limited by immigration. The really funny thing about it is, all immigration did was take a really fast look at our passports and moved us on. No forms, no questions or anything. This was the same for the 8 or 10 people we could see ahead of us as well, so I don't thinke we were unique in treatment.

 

As for the two days at sea at the end, we LOVED it. We did excursions on the three ports, and really pushed the entertainment as well, so the down time on the last two days was really welcome to us. Spent both days on the Lido deck, in the sun. There were lots of other activities happening however, so no excuse to get bored.

[mnsawyer]

thanks for the information about the eastern itinerary - we loved the western - be sure to do excursions on Belize and Progresso since there isn't much on your own and Belize is a tender port. We did Goff's Caye snorkeling and it was great. We typically do excursions on our own but read from this board to be sure we did something through the ship and we did. We didn't do anything in Progresso - thought we could do it on our own and very disappointed. There are tours offered right at the pier which are much cheaper than the ship but if you want to do the Chitzen Itza which is very long, you'll need to do that through the ship.

 

Happy cruising!