Glory -Thoughts and Review of August 20, 2012 sailing

[Universe93B]

Just got back from the August 20, 2012, 5 day Glory cruise from NYC, to Saint John and Halifax. Have taken 3 RCI cruises, 1 Princess, Carnival Valor in March 2012 and another Carnival when I was a kid (Carnival Ecstasy right when it came out in 1991). This was a family cruise, so there was 8 of us in balcony rooms!

 

 

Boarding and check-in

-had family members in the area, so we were able to drive to the NYC port.

-got there at 12pm, parking at the NYC cruise port deck probably took 15 min, everybody was able to unload luggage at the entrance and then you go park the car. Plenty of spaces for everyone, $35/day, you pay up front.

-computers were down, so check-in took a little longer

-no checking of liquids at the security

-all rum runners made it through in the checked baggage

-muster drill was longer than before, but efficiently done as long as everyone keeps quiet.

-it ended on time, and we were all able to get to the top decks so we could see the sailaway. great weather in NY, so had great scenes of NYC and the Freedom tower construction

 

The Ship

-built in 2003, in fair condition, people cleaning the ship at all times

-some wear in the carpet and door handles, doors, etc

-Glory will be going for a drydock this November though

 

Bars and drinks

-some good bartenders around, favorites were atrium bar and serenity deck bar

-there are definitely some weak drinks, and making friends with a bartender and tipping extra goes a long way. pina coladas were so weak on this trip. mojitos were nice and strong just like how they should be.

 

Food areas

-had no problem getting a table for all 8 of us in late dining

-great waiters and staff, very energetic and trying hard

-however, if you went to the dining room for breakfast and lunch, they were very understaffed and even admitted to not having enough help. they would come to us and say "sorry, we can't keep up with everyone, but will get to you soon." perhaps Carnival needs to look at this

-food was good for breakfast and dinner. my second Carnival cruise (1st one in 1991 or 92 I don't remember) and I do notice dinner food quality to be slightly less than RCI. you can't beat the warm chocolate melting cake!

-deli was good, omelette station worked well for breakfast

-mongolian grill was another very good one, but sometimes the line can get ridiculous

-no Norovirus scares on this trip

-just one thing about the buffet -why do people just stop in the middle of a busy area to look or talk, and then get surprised if somebody says "excuse me?" then there are people who will go to get a cup of coffee or ice tea, and just start sipping it right there, without any regard to the line of people behind him/her who are also waiting to get a drink. definitely too many annoying people in the buffet

 

Shows and entertainment

-we liked most of the shows, some were similar to the Valor back in March

-the comedy shows were very popular, and it was packed all the time.

-went to both the family shows and adult (over 18) shows. one of the comedians was great, the other one was only so-so

-cruise director was Pete, was energetic and kept making announcements, but didn't really see him walking around the ship

 

Serenity area

-very relaxing and quiet area, convenient bar too

-they quickly told parents if they brought their kids around, which was only a problem on the first 2 days

-did not see a problem with chair hogs on this cruise like the Valor, but probably b/c this was shorter, and not a "beach" or "carib" cruise where people are only interested in the sun. it was refreshing to go to this area at 10 am and able to find seats, and not really seeing any towels or other random objects in the seats

 

St. John

-did the Top 10 of St. John tour, it was 6.5 hours long, but had a great tour guide. the Reversing Rapids was the best stop.

-weather was 75 degrees and sunny!

 

Halifax

-we went on the "Halifax and Peggy's Cove" excursion. we enjoyed it, was about 3.5 hours, but the scenery at Peggy's Cove was beautiful

-after the excursion, we ate lunch at the buffet and went back to the port

-walked about 15 minutes to the Maritime museum for the Canadian Navy stuff and the Titanic information. We all liked the museum exhibits and information.

-weather was sunny and 80 degrees here!

 

Other

-very calm seas for the entire trip, could hardly feel the ship move

-had fog on the mornings we went into port, and the fog horn was on as we came in. but the sun quickly burned it away.

-the White Heat nightclub was busy, and the ID checking was very heavy. Some security guards were even walking through the club and would ask for IDs again if people looked too young

-really hate the Carnival balcony doors instead of sliders. again, the door slamming on this ship was out of control. The balcony doors slam shut, and vibrates the entire room. Worst is the late nighters and early morning door slammers

 

 

Peggy's Cove near Halifax

 

 

 

 

Tracking our position into Halifax with the handheld GPS

 

[vivavegas]

Welcome Back! Would love to do that cruise sometime myself! Neat little GPS system you have..:)

[kidz_rn]

We were on the same cruise with you, and concur with all of your review comments/observations. The weather was spectacular and the seas were among the calmest I've ever sailed.

 

I, too, was pleasantly surprised by the easy availability of the blue pool lounge chairs, especially by mid-morning at the Adult Lido pool. Your explanation makes sense to me.

 

All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable 1600-mile 5-night vacation to Canada with no driving or airline hassles.

 

Having said that, what would a CC message board posting be without at least a few complaints, right? :-)

 

-- Your Time Dining option is broken and needs to be fixed; up to 1 hour waiting times are unacceptable.

 

-- Morning coffee at the Red Sail Buffet was turgid and awful; Carnival needs to not be cheap and use real beans, not coffee syrup!

 

-- Ship deck layout is confusing and illogical with all the "non-thru" decks. Just 2 activity decks are accessible from forward to aft. Even by Day 5, we were still making mistakes and retracing our steps to get where we wanted to go.

[Universe93B]

vivavegas, thanks! I'm an electronics and technology geek so that's what I do on the cruise!

 

kidz_rn, I agree on the coffee. I pour a ton of milk into it to drown out the taste. I haven't been on any new Carnival ships, so not sure what their layouts are like. But yeah, always gotta go to the 5th floor to walk across, into all the traffic areas.

 

One thing I forgot to mention, is that we had a balcony room that was right in front of a "crew door." The noise was a little too much, with big carts banging all the time. Don't really care about the daytime, but this went on til 1am and began again at around 6am. The room attendants and staff work late so a lot of noise if your room is right in front of the crew door.

[kidz_rn]

Even though this was an overall enjoyable cruise, we'll probably stick with Celebrity, HAL, Princess, or Royal C. in the future.

 

Now starting planning for Alaska next summer!

[teaach]

Will be doing the Glory 7 day in september out of NYC. Thanks for the review. We will be in an extended aft balcony and are so looking forward to this cruise. We are planning the hoho tour on Boston, eating a fresh lobster in Portland (any suggestions are gladly accepted), the town public bus tour in St. John'sand not sure about Halifax (suggestions accepted).

Can't wait!