Glory Disappointment

[grandmarnnurse]

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I think some people just like to complain.  I have read countless negative reviews on this site for cruises I was on at the same time, and my experience was not even close to what was posted here. 

That’s great to hear, as we actually DID end up booking this ship last night. Mostly because it is with our daughter and her family, and it’s these three grandchildren’s first cruise, so that in itself makes it exciting. Plus, we’ve never sailed out of NOLA, so I’d like to convince the hubby to fly in 2 days early because I’d like a day to explore. When you fly in one day prior, it’s pretty much taken up with travel time there, and no time to explore. Plus, it will be winter, and flying out of Buffalo is always dicey and a crap shoot at that time of year. 

[Aplmac]

On 4/22/2019 at 1:41 PM, Tapi said:

We’ve had that creaking on several ships,

including the Liberty when she was brand new.

The seas were rough for the first few days

and things in the cabin creaked and groaned as if something was about to break.

After a few days, we had smooth seas and the creaking stopped completely. 

.

Ships do flex as they move, they're not as completely rigid as we think.

Ocean Village Two was a creaky one!

 

A few years ago we were in Liberty -Ocean View cabin 2279, amidships.

While underway at night there was disturbing groaning from the outside of the hull

just under our location. My vivid imagination saw rending of steel plates, etc.

but thankfully nothing came of that -lol

 

A week after the cruise, I figured out that the noise was very likely

from one of the stabiliser fins mounted in the hull

-and that its bearing might have needed greasing. Nothing more than that.

[CoachAname]

I was on the Glory a few weeks ago at the beginning of April. I though the ship was in great shape, and nothing stood out as dingy or broken. I am a person who makes the best of vacation, no matter what. The crew was always cleaning and maintaining the ship.

 

I do somewhat agree that the buffet was an annoyance due to the lines. I'm not sure if it was the design or what but in general the lines moved relatively fast. I also disliked the early closing times of many of the lunch venues, but I doubt that is a Glory specific issue and imagine it is fleet wide. As a side note, there are two lines at guys and most people favor the poolside line, so you can usually zip through the other side fairly quickly.

 

The highlight of our trip was the alchemy bar. The alchemist were absolutely wonderful and I spent a portion of every night with them. Unfortunately, I believe that their contracts are almost finished, so they might not be on the Glory much longer. The other bars were usually crowded, but I enjoyed several of the bartenders at the casino bar, and the aft pool bar as well. 

 

Disembarkation was a smooth process for us. We chose to carry-off our bags and as a benefit of being on the first floor, we were off the ship, through customs and calling for our ride at 7:37 am. As a side note, we used Machu Picchu for parking in New Orleans and would highly recommend their service. 

 

Overall, I had a wonderful time on the Glory, and as I plan for the next adventure, I have no problem with cruising on her again. I really liked the size and layout of the Conquest class.

 

 

[wms99]

Bad day vacation > good day at work.

 

[Amyracecar]

We sailed on Glory on April 8th, so probably the cruise before the OP's. I can only assume that the debarkation issues must have been due to something at customs/immigration because leaving the ship is easily the smoothest and quickest we've ever had. (We were at the airport by 8am). We were FTTF so probably got off in the first group, but if the OP had express debarkation I'm guessing it was a similar group, so should have been leaving at a similar time. Very unfortunate that things weren't communicated, as I find this is what makes/breaks the response to any given situation.

As for luggage tags, we received a letter in our cabin the day before telling us where to collect them if required, then a second one with further info for FTTF people. Seemed much simpler than previous years where you're filling in info and returning forms after you've only been cruising a couple of days. I don't want to be thinking about going home that soon!

 

As for Glory, she was ok. I wasn't expecting a huge amount as this was a very cheap cruise (I'd seen the 5 days in an interior advertised for less than $300 at one point and what can you really expect for $60 a day!), but thankfully there were no issues that stood out to me. It was clean, a bit dated, but lots of nice rooms and areas. I couldn't find any issues in our cabin (midship balcony on Deck 7), in fact it's the first time on a Carnival ship where the shower water hasn't run all over the floor. Normally the drain isn't quick enough for the size of the tray. One thing I do like about older Carnival Ships are the weird themes and decor, so the 'Colour' theme seemed a bit boring in comparison. I think other people might have appreciated a bit less of the usual tat! 

 

We didn't eat at the buffet apart from one quick breakfast, just didn't need to. Sea days we had brunch in the dining room at about 11am (Who is queuing for something you can't describe in a dish when you can have someone serve you steak?!) Port days we had a light breakfast in bed. We also tried Guys burgers one day and found a very small queue. The deli always seemed very busy but on previous cruises it normally moves very quickly so has never been an issue. Dinner was always in the dining room apart from one night in the steakhouse. Again, I feel like I might as well go with the sit-down option where possible, and if I don't like it I can always try something elsewhere.

Food seems to have changed a lot since the last time we went with Carnival, I used to occasionally quite like the homey (and rather boring) options like pasta carbonara, but they've gone in favour of something slightly fancier. Probably in response to the complaints they used to get about the basic menus! I'm not sure they always get these things right but at least they're trying to respond to what people want and lots of options were very nice. Baked Alaska is still the most disappointing thing they serve. (on any cruise line, you'd think I'd learn after all these years but it sounds so exciting on paper!) 

Service in the MDR wasn't amazing. The people themselves were lovely, but I suspect they're just overworked and can't handle the number of tables to the degree expected. On two occasions someone forgot to replenish my Husband's knife and fork, so he had nothing to eat with when his entree arrived. When you asked it took a long time for them to bring one and by that time his food was going cold. Similarly I had to ask for them to bring the cream for the baked potato as they forgot, and a dry potato isn't the most appealing thing in the world. By the time they brought it i'd finished everything else on the plate. This has never been a problem on other Carnival ships we've sailed. 

 

Shows were ok but it's a shame to be watching something I first saw about 5 years ago. how often do they change them? Entertainment on non-show nights was a bit non-existent, but we enjoyed Hasbro the Game Show. 

[Nic6318]

Hi 

 

This is just another post like many others... "it was so bad I will never cruise with Carnival again". Although even the OP did mention everything wasn't bad, some thing were good. 

 

Of course some of the bad was due to the OP not realizing changes in the debarkation process. Very often people complain about things arising from things they didn't know, often because they thought they knew. 

 

One of the first things everyone needs to learn about avoiding the crowds is to "avoid the crowds". It's not Carnival's fault that everyone feels the need to eat at the same time, or congregate in the same place. Go earlier, go later, or don't go at all. it's not hard to avoid crowds. If you see one, walk the other way, unless you want to be part of the crowd. When you walk away, what you will find, is that other areas are quiet. 

 

Either way, for the OP, this is indeed a good chance for their family to explore other cruise lines. They need to take the time to find out everything they don't know about any given ship/company (this site is an excellent source of information). Also to remember that sometimes everything isn't going to be great. Try to enjoy was is good and if possible avoid what is not.

[Saint Greg]

32 minutes ago, Amyracecar said:

 

Shows were ok but it's a shame to be watching something I first saw about 5 years ago. how often do they change them? Entertainment on non-show nights was a bit non-existent, but we enjoyed Hasbro the Game Show. 

 

Instead of changing the shows out, they move the ships around. I think Elation still has the same shows as when she left New Orleans three years ago...but since then triumph, now glory and next month Valor will have done that route out of New Orleans. Even with that you have some overlap. It seems there’s usually one show I haven’t seen on another ship...two if I’m lucky. But I’m a big comedy fan and carnival has a lot more comedians than they do playlist shows.

 

[elcuchio24]

14 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Glory was just in dry dock late Feb. - early March of 2017. In addition to the new WaterWorks, they did things like routine hotel maintenance and cosmetic enhancements such as new carpeting, wall coverings, tile work, lighting in lounges and public areas. We were on it last year and didn't think it looked anywhere near as worn out as some have described here.

Thats good to hear!

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, grandmarnnurse said:

That’s great to hear, as we actually DID end up booking this ship last night. Mostly because it is with our daughter and her family, and it’s these three grandchildren’s first cruise, so that in itself makes it exciting. Plus, we’ve never sailed out of NOLA, so I’d like to convince the hubby to fly in 2 days early because I’d like a day to explore. When you fly in one day prior, it’s pretty much taken up with travel time there, and no time to explore. Plus, it will be winter, and flying out of Buffalo is always dicey and a crap shoot at that time of year. 

 

Make sure you check out the New Orleans board if you need help with anything. I have extensive experience with New Orleans hotels and have been known to give advice over there... and there are a few locals that hang around and answer questions as well.

[purplephenom]

For people on upcoming sailings- you may not even notice the things that bother others, and you may hate some things that they enjoyed.  For example, before I went on the Splendor, I'm pretty sure every review I read mentioned how awful the pink was (not every review in general, just the ones I happened to read).  I'm pretty sure it took me til day 4 or 5 to even notice the pink...i was exhausted and hanging out before dinner, and sort of spacing out- I looked around and was thinking "wow it's really pink in here."

 

I haven't been on the Glory, but I think there was a thread on here recently where getting off the Horizon was awful- but then others chimed in and said their experience was very different.  So  experiences can be different week to week, or even person to person.

 

Hopefully all you future Glory cruisers have great trips! 

[grandmarnnurse]

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Make sure you check out the New Orleans board if you need help with anything. I have extensive experience with New Orleans hotels and have been known to give advice over there... and there are a few locals that hang around and answer questions as well.

Thank you! I do follow your cruise reviews, and they are great! I will check this out, also. 👍

[gratamama]

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 1:10 PM, TNcruising02 said:

Some buffets are definitely better than others.  I think RCL has the best buffet out of those three lines.

 We're just off the Conquest. Overall great trip, but I looked through buffet several days for lunch and usually came up pretty not into the offerings. Did Guys/ deli/ BBQ instead. So even so it didn't appeal, there are still options!

 

[TNcruising02]

56 minutes ago, gratamama said:

 We're just off the Conquest. Overall great trip, but I looked through buffet several days for lunch and usually came up pretty not into the offerings. Did Guys/ deli/ BBQ instead. So even so it didn't appeal, there are still options!

 

My husband and I really like Guy's Burgers and the Mexican food that is offered poolside.  It's a great option that is not offered on some of the other lines.

[dmet0225]

We were on the Glory last June out of Miami.  Like many others, I go on a cruise and make myself not sweat the small stuff.  I didn't have a single negative experience on the Glory last year.  I don't go to the buffet for lunch, as I stick to either Guy's or the Blue Iguana.  The only time I get in the buffet is for the side items at breakfast to go with my omelette, and even then, I do not recall any bad experiences with the "bacon police." 

 

I would not hesitate one second to book another trip on the Glory.

[Florings]

There are always those few people who disliked their cruise for one reason or another - I think I've read some bad reviews on every single ship I've ever sailed.     Just imagine the 2500 or so other people who were on the same cruise and had a great time!

 

Reviews (good and bad) are subjective to your personal experience.   Those who posted above who are booked to sail on the Glory, have a wonderful time!  There's no reason to "expect" that you won't like it.

[cruizinisthebest]

Sorry you were disappointed. The room alone would of been a highlight for me. Creaking or not. Definitely try something new. I'm excited to on the Glory this summer!

[Organized Chaos]

15 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I think some people just like to complain.  I have read countless negative reviews on this site for cruises I was on at the same time, and my experience was not even close to what was posted here. 

 

This is definitely the most negative comments I've seen about the Glory. And not just in one thread, but overall. Some of the complaints have to be taken with a grain of salt. Long lines at the buffet. We're sharing a meal with a few thousand people. Yeah, it stinks standing in long lines, but they should be expected at certain times on a cruise. Several people talking about how old Glory is, showing its age, etc. It is about 16 years old, but there are over a dozen other ships in the fleet that are older, and a lot of people love those. It's great getting opinions on all of this stuff, but the most important thing to remember is, everyone likes (and dislikes) different things.

 

6 hours ago, CoachAname said:

I also disliked the early closing times of many of the lunch venues, but I doubt that is a Glory specific issue and imagine it is fleet wide.

 

 I really liked the size and layout of the Conquest class.

 

Most of the crew who work the eating places on Lido get moved to the MDR for dinner, so they don't keep the Lido places open as long. I wish they'd staff the ships so they could leave at least one of them open longer. Maybe rotate between Guy's & BBQ, or something like that.

 

I like how the decks are designed directly behind the Lido pool. The terraced levels keep it from feeling like you're stuck down in a hole. And I think it makes for great viewing space for dive-in movies or watching activities & parties happening around the pool.

 

[CoachAname]

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

Most of the crew who work the eating places on Lido get moved to the MDR for dinner, so they don't keep the Lido places open as long. I wish they'd staff the ships so they could leave at least one of them open longer. Maybe rotate between Guy's & BBQ, or something like that.

 

That was my belief/understanding as well, that the crew is needed elsewhere so therefore the venues close earlier. Guy's did stay open the latest, but if you wanted a burger for dinner it was an early dinner for most. (I think it closed around 5 most days, but I can't recall for sure.) I think this contributes the the buffet issue since the options for dinner are then primarily MDR and buffet. While the lines at the buffet didn't really bother me, I felt like it could have been organized to make it more efficient, such as a using one of the separate areas/counters for the salad bar. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

I like how the decks are designed directly behind the Lido pool. The terraced levels keep it from feeling like you're stuck down in a hole. And I think it makes for great viewing space for dive-in movies or watching activities & parties happening around the pool.

 

 

I really liked the terraced decks as well. I watched several events/activities standing at the rail on deck 10 overlooking the pool. 

[mama_2_boys]

We will be on the Glory for a 7 day in October and I can't wait!!! We've been on the Conquest 3 times and loved it. Our biggest concern is music from the teen club below us but there were no other options for us since we needed a room for 2 and room for 3 across from each other. Every cruise we've been on we've come across people complainin about stuff from food to how the entire cruise was terrible. That's never been our experience as we are just happy to be on vacation in the beautiful Caribbean. 

[momof3cruisers]

OP, I'm sorry your cruise was disappointing. It's hard when something we have looked forward to for so long and also saved up for doesn't go as we had hoped. 

 

We we had a great time on the Glory in Feb but it was a seven day cruise, out of Miami, and with a different CD. All of those things can really make a difference. 

 

I may may be oblivious, but I didn't notice any bad wear and tear. We always figure some rust is unavoidable with a vessel that is constantly in salt water. We did feel more movement than we expected but we were on a higher floor than we'd ever been on so we figured that was why. 

 

The only problem we had with lines was at the pizza place. The poor guy was working as fast as he possibly could but it took a good half an hour the last time we went. Prior had been at least 20 min. We decided that if we got pizza again, we'd just pay the stupid $5 and have them bring it to us. Lol. But I'm not sure if we ate at the buffet other than breakfast. We like Guy's and Blue Iguana. 

 

 

[Organized Chaos]

45 minutes ago, mama_2_boys said:

We will be on the Glory for a 7 day in October and I can't wait!!! We've been on the Conquest 3 times and loved it. Our biggest concern is music from the teen club below us but there were no other options for us since we needed a room for 2 and room for 3 across from each other.

 

We were right above some black jack tables on Glory last year and didn't hear a peep from the casino. Not sure how that would compare to music from Club O2, but the casino is a pretty noisy place for much of the cruise. I don't think Club O2 will be playing music all the time, will it? Every time we've gone by there, it's pretty dead in there unless they have something scheduled.

 

9 minutes ago, momof3cruisers said:

The only problem we had with lines was at the pizza place. The poor guy was working as fast as he possibly could but it took a good half an hour the last time we went. Prior had been at least 20 min. We decided that if we got pizza again, we'd just pay the stupid $5 and have them bring it to us. Lol. But I'm not sure if we ate at the buffet other than breakfast. We like Guy's and Blue Iguana.

 

I've seen a couple complaints about the $5 pizza delivery charge, but if you think about it, when you have one delivered at home, I'd say giving them $5 is probably average.

[Butterbean1000]

6 hours ago, gratamama said:

 We're just off the Conquest. Overall great trip, but I looked through buffet several days for lunch and usually came up pretty not into the offerings. Did Guys/ deli/ BBQ instead. So even so it didn't appeal, there are still options!

 

Right, with Guys, Blue Iguana, BBQ, Deli, pizza, Mongolian Wok,  I rarely even go to the buffet anymore.  I do miss the fish and chips and Tandoor, though.

[mama_2_boys]

2 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

We were right above some black jack tables on Glory last year and didn't hear a peep from the casino. Not sure how that would compare to music from Club O2, but the casino is a pretty noisy place for much of the cruise. I don't think Club O2 will be playing music all the time, will it? Every time we've gone by there, it's pretty dead in there unless they have something scheduled.

 

 

I've seen a couple complaints about the $5 pizza delivery charge, but if you think about it, when you have one delivered at home, I'd say giving them $5 is probably average.

I've read mixed things about noise from Club O2 so I suppose it depends on the kids and the cruise. I've read people have stayed directly above it and not heard a peep and others say thy heard music until 1am nightly.

[Saint Greg]

13 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Thank you! I do follow your cruise reviews, and they are great! I will check this out, also. 👍

 

Thanks! Next one is Glory in August.

[grandmarnnurse]

6 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Thanks! Next one is Glory in August.

I will be looking forward to following!!