Carnival Glory 5 days NYC-Canada 19 August 2013

[MATHA531]

Just off the Carnival Glory 5 day NYC-Atlantic Canada-NYC cruise from 19 August. Just a few observations without a full formal cruise review.

 

EMBARCATION: Travelling single from home in Brooklyn. East subway trip to Penn Station then a quick $9 cab ride to Pier 90. Very smooth all around travelling with one 21 inch suitcase which is fine for 5 days. Checked luggage even though I could carry it on but cabins are usually not immediately available as they weren't. Only additional point to note you have to fill out a Canadian customs declaration before boarding.

 

CABIN: Typice and most adequate interior cabin with a King sized bed. More than enough room. Cabin stewart was very very good and my only request to him was to make sure there was always ice in the cabin and there was. Television carried, as usual with Carnival, local Miami network stations and no ESPN (I wonder just how expensive it would be for them to carry ESPN).

 

FOOD: This was my third Carnival cruise this year (January from NYC to Nassau on the Miracle, June on the Sunshine out of Barcelona through the Mediterranean finishing in Venice and this one. So I'm now convince there are only a finite number of menus all identical in the mdr. Day 1 the menu had sweet and sour shrimp, Tuesday was formal night with lobster, Wednesday was short ribs, Thursday was grilled shrimp and Friday was roast prime ribs. Had 2 shrimp cocktails with most every meal and had a couple of the appetizers off the "today" menu. Food was on the good side of adequate. No real complaints.

 

However breakfast and lunch (3 of the 5 days, the other 2 was on shore excursions wher I ate out in St. Johns and Halifax( well the queues were simply long. I'm used to having breakfast and lunch early to avoid the queues but it was an interesting group of cruisers on this cruise. Lots of Asians; I don't know if they were visitors to NYC from Asia or local Asians. Also lots of kids, understandable given the time of year and for the most part they were almost all well behaved so no problems there. Just 2 serving ines in the buffet which just didn't seem adequate as compared say to the Sunshine in June where there were hardly any queues (although that was a port intensive cruise). Had lunch at the Mexican place and at Guys most every day and also pizza. Food typical Carnival. Very sorry they did away with Mongolian Wok and the Sushi Bar.

 

ENTERTINMENT: Well here we're talking about personal tastes. Main show, Monday first night Welcome Aboard was very lame with a quick dancer thing, a cameo by the comedians and a lame thing by the cruise director. Tuesday night, Motown which is not a favorite of mine. Wednesday the silly Hasbro quiz show, a total waste (Hasbro must have a contrqact with Carnival. Run the thing at 4:15 for pete's sake and give us something adult like in the main show room). Thursday night Divas. Not a favorite of mine. Friday night Latin Night, not a favorite of mine. Whatever happened to a nice show of Broadway melodies or contemporary music? A solid F although I do understand different people have different tastes.

 

The rest of the activities were also pretty lame. One embarkation day, two sea days, two port days. The usual. Dance classes, trivia quizzes and the like. Did attend two adult comedians which were okay.

 

I think this is a place that could use some improvement.

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS...Took Carnival shore excursions in St. John and Halifax. The Halifax was good...lighthouses and lobsters. Got a nice lobster lunch (but of course pricey).

 

DEBARCATION: Although they tried to do self disbarcation by floor, I went down early, waited in the Theatre and was off the ship by 0815. A very quick taxi, $9+tip to Penn Station, the subway home. In the house by 9:45

 

On the whole, a good cruise. Just wish, and it had to be this cruise for a variety of reasons, it could have been a longer cruise with stops in Portland and Boston. But no big complaints. Typical Carnival cruise.

[CruisinPandora]

We were on this cruise also.

 

Have to say I agree with most of what you stated.

 

But, sadly it seems (even though this was one of my favorite August cruises),

Canada/New England 5 Day will no longer be offered. I'm going to miss going

to Halifax.

 

I did a search for Aug. 2014. Carnival Splendor as of the current schedule will only be doing one cruise (Aug. 28, 2014) to Saint John/New Brunswick, Canada. Sigh.

 

We were glad to see that new shows were being offered but we missed the standard

format of the Broadway like show. Shows were kind of hard to follow and lot

of audience participation was asked for. It was funny to watch people's expressions.

 

Also noticed no bands, no crew show, no chocolate buffet, missed hearing music (piano, quartet) playing in the Atrium in the evenings, no more thanking the crew on the last night, Matre'd's are not as visible in the main restaurants (we didn't see one) and so many more things no longer offered.

 

We make our own cruise so we still had a great time. Just made the best the beautiful ship.

 

Ship was spotless, beautiful and in great shape. Crew worked very hard at all times. 98% were very courteous and assisted in any way they could. Serenity was a great place for peace and quiet.

 

Would sail Glory (and we might have too, lol) anytime.

 

THANKS PHILIP!!! BEST CABIN STEWART ON THE EMPRESS DECK!

 

TIP: While the ship is docked (and this goes for any ship) in NYC, anything you purchase

will be taxed. Just keep that in mind. Out in open waters, no NYC tax.

[hotlipss]

Glad you guys enjoyed your cruise we are sailing sept 21 for 7 day..did either of you keep your funtimes?I would love to see them

[Itzmyn]

Sailing on the 21st out of NY also. Can't wait!!