Pirate’s GLORY-ous Cruise, Nov 3-10, 2019 Review

[pirate4me2]

Hello CC family!!

 

I returned Sunday from another cruise adventure, this time on the Carnival Glory departing from New Orleans. As per my tradition, it is time for me to write a review to deal with the post-cruise blues!

 

Traveling with me this time was my husband, Chris. We love cruising from NOLA, and I was so excited to be cruising on a “new” ship. We have never been on the Glory before, but we kept meeting up with her in ports of call and I felt like we needed to sail on her. When I saw she was moving to NOLA to take over Dream’s 7 day runs, I immediately called my PVP to see if we could snag one of those amazing Scenic Grand Oceanview (category 6K) rooms. 9201 was available, so we hopped on it and the wait began!

 

Chris and I drove down to New Orleans the day before the cruise, November 2. I had arranged for us to stay at the Wyndham French Quarter again, as we love the location of this hotel and they offer a Park & Cruise package. It is pricey, but the location cannot be beat….right around the corner from Acme Oyster, a block from Bourbon Street, right around the corner from Canal Street….it’s awesome! We made decent time and checked into the hotel about 5:30, and after throwing our suitcases in the room, we headed out to find some grub.

 

On our last New Orleans adventure, my uncle insisted on eating at Acme Oyster and forced me and Chris to try charbroiled oysters. I am so glad he insisted on that, as we both discovered we LOVE them. When we realized how close the hotel was to Acme, we knew that was where we were headed for dinner. We trekked over there and the wait was not long at all…maybe 10 minutes? While we waited we saw 2 wedding parties dancing down the street, which was awesome to see. How fun would that be for a wedding?!

 

We were seated at the bar at Acme Oyster, which could have been very dangerous for us…drink service was way too speedy! Luckily Chris and I were able to restrain ourselves to just 1 drink each, since we knew we would be bar hopping down Bourbon later. He ordered the Acme Sunset, and I ordered the Killer Buzz, and we tried each other’s drinks. Hands down the winner was the Acme Sunset. We ordered a half dozen charbroiled oysters to share, and they were sooooo yummy. We agreed next time we will order a dozen as 3 each wasn’t enough! Haha. I decided to try a few items from the appetizer menu as my dinner, so I got Boom Boom shrimp, which was AMAZING, and craw puppies, which were yummy. I decided to try some Tabasco sauce on my puppies, and normally I am NOT a Tabasco person BUT the Chipotle and the Buffalo varieties are not bad.

 

Killer Buzz

 

Acme Sunset

 

Delicious Oysters!

Boom Boom shrimp

 

Craw Puppies

Edited November 13, 2019 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

After dinner we walked Bourbon Street, hitting some bars along the way. Chris always wants to go to Pat O’s, which is OK. He got his hurricane from there, and I got the Rainstorm, which was NASTY. It tasted like cough syrup. We walked into some shops, and on our way “home” he saw a bar with a Root Beer drink he wanted to try. The name was Spirits on Bourbon, and they had a drink called the Resurrection which I tried. It wasn’t bad, but since I have had it once I won’t get it again. The Barber Beer that Chris got was ten times better, and he is STILL raving about it.

 

We ended up back at the hotel at about 9:30, which was pretty late for us since we came from NC and it was 10:30 our time! The water pressure in the bathroom shower was AMAZING, and after cleaning up I fiddled on my social media a bit (the hotel had free WiFi) and passed out about 10:30.

 

Next up….CRUISE DAY!

 

Rainstorm

 

Resurrection 

 

Barber Beer

Edited November 13, 2019 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

It’s cruise day! It’s cruise day! Yahoo!!!!

 

Chris and I were up at 7:00 and ready to rock and roll. We knew exactly where we wanted to head for breakfast….The Ruby Slipper. Y’all, if you are in NOLA pre-cruise, seriously check them out…their breakfast is YUMMYLICIOUS. We ate there in April on our Dysfunctional Family Vacation, and it was a hit with everyone in the group, and they did not disappoint this time either! I could not decide between two different Benedicts they offer, so they had an entrée called “The Peacemaker” where you can get a split portion of 2 dishes. Hooray! I got the Shrimp Boogaloo and the Chicken St Charles, and while the Shrimp Boogaloo was good, the Chicken St Charles beat it hands down. It was AMAZING. I am drooling just thinking about it. We also got some coffee to warm us up, as it was a bit chilly, and that was some dang good coffee.

 

We headed back to the Wyndham at about 9:00 and made a pit stop by the Walgreens on the corner to pick up some Dr Pepper for Chris. Gag me, I can’t stand that stuff! We then went back to the room and he re-packed his bag (he has this issue EVERY SINGLE CRUISE, he has to re-pack his bag and throw stuff out that he decides not to take last minute….what will he do the day we fly to a port?) and once he was satisfied that he wasn’t overpacked we called an Uber to take us to the port. We were in the car at 10:45, and let me just say….the port was ON IT today. From the time we arrived at the terminal to getting onboard we never stopped moving, they must have started boarding fairly early today. We were in the elevator headed to our stateroom at 11:15. Heck yeah!

 

As for the room…oh my gosh…9201 is AWESOME. I probably shouldn’t let you all in on how great that room is, as we will probably never be able to snag one again! It was huge, with floor to ceiling windows in the front, and a couch-like thingy in front of those windows so you could sit back and read a book to take in the view. There was also a chair, a table, and another regular couch….we had enough furniture in that room that if we were traveling with family we could have all hung out in there! The only thing you have to remember with this room is that from sunset to sunrise you have to close the blinds over those windows for navigation safety. The room steward will close them when they service your room at night if you have not already done so. And a weird thing with this room…one of the buttons that you press to raise and lower the blinds was backwards….you pressed down to lift the blinds and up to lower them. Hahaha. The room steward (Pat) said she had already notified maintenance about the problem but they said it was too big a hassle to fix, MAYBE in Glory’s next drydock they will look into it.

 

Oh, one other weird issue we had with the cabin…sometimes you have to hit the flush button more than once on the toilet to get it to flush. Not sure what is up with that, we never did report it as it wasn’t THAT big a deal, just a minor annoyance.

 

Coffee

 

Delicious breakfast 

 

Stateroom 9201

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

After dropping off our carry-ons we headed for some lunch. Chris opted for the buffet, and I went for a deli sandwich. Lately I have been so disappointed with the deli onboard the Sunshine, but the Glory redeemed the deli for me….my buffalo chicken sandwich was AWESOME! The meat was nice and hot, and the worker put a good amount of buff sauce on it. He also asked me what additional items I wanted on it, the last few workers made it seem like a chore to add lettuce or veggies. HOORAY, a good deli worker! The fries were nice and hot too. Yum.

 

Now a funny story…after we had ate our lunch and were checking things out on the ship, we realized that upstairs in the Lido buffet is Old Fashion BBQ. Hahaha, Chris was pretty upset he missed that to begin with….so he decided to have “second lunch.” Bahaha. We went up and it is basically the same as Guy’s Pig & Anchor. The BBQ sauce was COLD though, which was odd. I tried some coleslaw, which was great, and Mac and Cheese, which was OK. Chris liked the chicken.

 

Deli sandwich 

 

BBQ

Edited November 13, 2019 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

We headed back to the room to see if our luggage had arrived yet, and it had, so we unpacked and then took a nap. I do not know why I was so tired, but the nap was wonderful. We woke up in time for the muster drill at 3. Now, here was my first disappointment with Glory…the muster was SO DISORGANIZED. I forget which station we were at, but when we headed down there they were not directing people into lines so it was just a mob of people and we had to cram ourselves next to some other people. It was insane! Once they got started it went by quickly, and we walked the ship when we were released.

 

Around 5:00 I decided that I was a bit chilled, so I headed to the coffee shop (Creams, deck 5) and got myself a spiked coffee to warm up. I opted for the Chocolate Lover’s, and it was OK. The coffee shop worker said that it is better iced, for future reference.

 

i like the casino decor 

 

Towel animal on Lido

 

Lido pool

 

Lido Marketplace decor

 

Nightclub decor 

 

Nightclub seating 

Edited November 13, 2019 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

 

We had reservations at the steakhouse at 6:30, and we showed up right on time. We were seated with Christine and Coco, and they were EXCELLENT. Coco found out that Chris likes jokes, so all dinner long they would swap jokes. To start dinner off I ordered a Caribbean Passion cocktail, and HOLY MOLY was it STRONG! Whew! I won’t get it again, it was OK but not my favorite drink by any means. The compliment from the chef was a delicious mini cheeseburger, and I followed that with the stuffed mushrooms, which were good. I always order the baby spinach salad, which as usual was fantastic, and for my main I got the filet mignon with the spice rub. It was ok, nice and tender but just not as awesome as some in the past have been. On the side I got the garlic rapini, which was good, and the mashed potatoes, which were awesome. I did steal a bite of Chris’s Mac & Cheese, but it was COLD. Say what? We told Coco and he offered to get another one for us but we told him it was OK, we had more than enough food!

 

To finish the meal off I wanted something light so I got the fruit plate, which was so beautiful I didn’t want to eat it! Since this was our anniversary cruise, we also got a second dessert as a surprise, along with champagne! How sweet was that? It was delicious.

 

We hit up the piano bar after dinner, about 9:10. It wasn’t too full and we were able to get seats right at the bar. Keith the player is awesome! He played some songs I never thought I would hear on a piano, and we hung out there until a little after 11. At that point I was exhausted and called it a day.

 

Next up: our first day at sea!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by pirate4me2

[watermelonqueen99]

Following! We're sailing on the Glory next year. 😁

[grandmarnnurse]

10 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

It’s cruise day! It’s cruise day! Yahoo!!!!

 

Chris and I were up at 7:00 and ready to rock and roll. We knew exactly where we wanted to head for breakfast….The Ruby Slipper. Y’all, if you are in NOLA pre-cruise, seriously check them out…their breakfast is YUMMYLICIOUS. We ate there in April on our Dysfunctional Family Vacation, and it was a hit with everyone in the group, and they did not disappoint this time either! I could not decide between two different Benedicts they offer, so they had an entrée called “The Peacemaker” where you can get a split portion of 2 dishes. Hooray! I got the Shrimp Boogaloo and the Chicken St Charles, and while the Shrimp Boogaloo was good, the Chicken St Charles beat it hands down. It was AMAZING. I am drooling just thinking about it. We also got some coffee to warm us up, as it was a bit chilly, and that was some dang good coffee.

 

We headed back to the Wyndham at about 9:00 and made a pit stop by the Walgreens on the corner to pick up some Dr Pepper for Chris. Gag me, I can’t stand that stuff! We then went back to the room and he re-packed his bag (he has this issue EVERY SINGLE CRUISE, he has to re-pack his bag and throw stuff out that he decides not to take last minute….what will he do the day we fly to a port?) and once he was satisfied that he wasn’t overpacked we called an Uber to take us to the port. We were in the car at 10:45, and let me just say….the port was ON IT today. From the time we arrived at the terminal to getting onboard we never stopped moving, they must have started boarding fairly early today. We were in the elevator headed to our stateroom at 11:15. Heck yeah!

 

As for the room…oh my gosh…9201 is AWESOME. I probably shouldn’t let you all in on how great that room is, as we will probably never be able to snag one again! It was huge, with floor to ceiling windows in the front, and a couch-like thingy in front of those windows so you could sit back and read a book to take in the view. There was also a chair, a table, and another regular couch….we had enough furniture in that room that if we were traveling with family we could have all hung out in there! The only thing you have to remember with this room is that from sunset to sunrise you have to close the blinds over those windows for navigation safety. The room steward will close them when they service your room at night if you have not already done so. And a weird thing with this room…one of the buttons that you press to raise and lower the blinds was backwards….you pressed down to lift the blinds and up to lower them. Hahaha. The room steward (Pat) said she had already notified maintenance about the problem but they said it was too big a hassle to fix, MAYBE in Glory’s next drydock they will look into it.

 

Oh, one other weird issue we had with the cabin…sometimes you have to hit the flush button more than once on the toilet to get it to flush. Not sure what is up with that, we never did report it as it wasn’t THAT big a deal, just a minor annoyance.

 

Coffee

 

Delicious breakfast 

 

Stateroom 9201

 

 

 

Awesome cabin!! Following along, as I will be sailing the Glory out of NOLA in February. I will have to keep in mind the Ruby Slipper for breakfast.

[NCTribeFan]

You drove to New Orleans?  How long did that take?  I wasn't happy about the 5+ hour drive to/from Charleston.  I used to love to drive but now (I'm getting old) I'm so paranoid that no one else on the road is paying attention!  

 

I'd love to sail from New Orleans.  It's just that the itineraries don't really appeal to me.

 

I sailed Glory once and really liked the ship.  She was one of those that just had a "good vibe" about her.  When I was on her, the upstairs lido buffet area was still the fish & chips.  I loved it up there.

 

That breakfast looks fantastic!!

 

FTR, I've had issues on my past two sailings (MSC Armonia and Carnival Sunshine) with the flush not working all the time.  It's a little worrisome when you push it a couple of times thinking "this really does need to flush!!" 😲

[DebOinKC]

Following along. I've been so excited for you to get back & do your review. 🙂 

[MEUB1112]

Following along, NOLA is our favorite port!!

[pirate4me2]

11 hours ago, watermelonqueen99 said:

Following! We're sailing on the Glory next year. 😁

Ahhhh, I love your reviews so I can’t wait until you do another one! Lol I think it was your review of the Dream that made me want to sail on her. 
 

 

3 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Awesome cabin!! Following along, as I will be sailing the Glory out of NOLA in February. I will have to keep in mind the Ruby Slipper for breakfast.

It was an awesome cabin! I loved it. 
You won’t regret the Ruby Slipper, oh my. It’s so good!

 

3 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

You drove to New Orleans?  How long did that take?  I wasn't happy about the 5+ hour drive to/from Charleston.  I used to love to drive but now (I'm getting old) I'm so paranoid that no one else on the road is paying attention!  

 

I'd love to sail from New Orleans.  It's just that the itineraries don't really appeal to me.

 

I sailed Glory once and really liked the ship.  She was one of those that just had a "good vibe" about her.  When I was on her, the upstairs lido buffet area was still the fish & chips.  I loved it up there.

 

That breakfast looks fantastic!!

 

FTR, I've had issues on my past two sailings (MSC Armonia and Carnival Sunshine) with the flush not working all the time.  It's a little worrisome when you push it a couple of times thinking "this really does need to flush!!" 😲

It was a long drive...9ish hours. I am scared to death of flying, I am trying to work on that. 
I am not crazy about the itineraries from NOLA, but we had never been to Key West, we love NOLA, and I really wanted to sail on a “new” ship so we hopped onboard. 
This was our first time with the toilet issue...the other plumbing worked great in the bathroom, so not sure what’s up with that. Maybe there is a short in the button. 
 

2 hours ago, DebOinKC said:

Following along. I've been so excited for you to get back & do your review. 🙂 

Thanks for following! More to come tonight!

 

1 hour ago, MEUB1112 said:

Following along, NOLA is our favorite port!!

We love spending a day or so there pre cruise. Such a fun city!

[pghsteelerfan]

Just started your review and caught up with with what you have so far.  We love the Wyndham New Orleans French Quarter!  We stayed there in May 2018 for 6 nights but not cruising, just a wild milestone birthday celebration for a good friend of ours.  We lucked out in that we were in room 1602, which had great views looking out at the Mississippi River so I was able to watch Dream sail in one morning and Triumph the next.  And the water pressure in the showers you mentioned, you're not kidding, they were the best!  Also enjoyed both bars you mentioned, and many others on Bourbon Street.  If we ever get an opportunity to cruise out of NOLA, I think we'll be staying at the Wyndham again, great location.  Since we'd fly, I'll have to look to see if they have shuttle service to the cruise terminal.  Will be following along as I'm going through some serious cruise withdrawal. 

[pirate4me2]

36 minutes ago, pghsteelerfan said:

Just started your review and caught up with with what you have so far.  We love the Wyndham New Orleans French Quarter!  We stayed there in May 2018 for 6 nights but not cruising, just a wild milestone birthday celebration for a good friend of ours.  We lucked out in that we were in room 1602, which had great views looking out at the Mississippi River so I was able to watch Dream sail in one morning and Triumph the next.  And the water pressure in the showers you mentioned, you're not kidding, they were the best!  Also enjoyed both bars you mentioned, and many others on Bourbon Street.  If we ever get an opportunity to cruise out of NOLA, I think we'll be staying at the Wyndham again, great location.  Since we'd fly, I'll have to look to see if they have shuttle service to the cruise terminal.  Will be following along as I'm going through some serious cruise withdrawal. 

Thanks for following along! Wow 6 nights in NOLA....I hate to think what shape my liver would be in, hahaha. I do have so many things I want to do in that city that DON'T involve bars though....I want to go to the Garden District, do a ghost tour (I am sure they have some AWESOME ones!) and maybe a swamp tour...it is so much fun down there.

An Uber from the Wyndham is really reasonable, $7-10 usually to the port. We have had great luck with them!

[Saint Greg]

Great start!

[kdr69]

Following along! Great review so far!.  Am sailing on the Glory out of NOLA April 2020 and February 2021

[TTU cruiser]

I got engaged to my wife in the steakhouse on Glory in 2015.  That ship is special to us both.  The Conquest ship class is probably my favorite class of ship I have sailed on with Carnival.  On our Glory cruise we had a regular scenic ocean view, the grand scenic rooms were already booked up, but we made friends with the people next door and got to check out their room.  It is on the list for the future for sure.

[pirate4me2]

56 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

Great start!

 

Thank you! More coming tonight.

 

21 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

Following along! Great review so far!.  Am sailing on the Glory out of NOLA April 2020 and February 2021

 

Thanks for following along! I hope you have wonderful sailings on her.

 

8 minutes ago, TTU cruiser said:

I got engaged to my wife in the steakhouse on Glory in 2015.  That ship is special to us both.  The Conquest ship class is probably my favorite class of ship I have sailed on with Carnival.  On our Glory cruise we had a regular scenic ocean view, the grand scenic rooms were already booked up, but we made friends with the people next door and got to check out their room.  It is on the list for the future for sure.

 

I actually think that the Conquest class is my least favorite so far, I prefer the Spirit and Dream classes...I just do not like the stadium style seating on Lido, it feels claustrophobic to me. I will still sail on them and enjoy them though!

[Mutumbojimbo]

Great review, that stateroom looks amazing!! I'm looking forward to the rest.

[MEUB1112]

3 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Thanks for following along! Wow 6 nights in NOLA....I hate to think what shape my liver would be in, hahaha. I do have so many things I want to do in that city that DON'T involve bars though....I want to go to the Garden District, do a ghost tour (I am sure they have some AWESOME ones!) and maybe a swamp tour...it is so much fun down there.

An Uber from the Wyndham is really reasonable, $7-10 usually to the port. We have had great luck with them!

We have been on a swamp tour, a plantation tour and a trolley ride through the Garden District all were outstanding!!

[pirate4me2]

1 hour ago, Mutumbojimbo said:

Great review, that stateroom looks amazing!! I'm looking forward to the rest.

it was amazing! More coming tonight. 🙂

 

11 minutes ago, MEUB1112 said:

We have been on a swamp tour, a plantation tour and a trolley ride through the Garden District all were outstanding!!

ohhhh a trolley ride! I need to add that to my list!

[MEUB1112]

Just now, pirate4me2 said:

it was amazing! More coming tonight. 🙂

 

ohhhh a trolley ride! I need to add that to my list!

Very affordable, goes through residential areas and past the University(Tulane I think). When you reach the end you simply hop on the return car. Very cool!

[Jamman54]

Great start to your review! We have a B2B booked on the Glory in April. It will be our first visit to NOLA. 😀

[nydney1]

12 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Awesome cabin!! Following along, as I will be sailing the Glory out of NOLA in February. I will have to keep in mind the Ruby Slipper for breakfast.

We sailed the Glory in October and had 9200. The Grand Scenic that sleeps 4. Our favorite room.

 

cant say enough great things about The Ruby Slipper. My favorite place in NOLA.

[pirate4me2]

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Great start to your review! We have a B2B booked on the Glory in April. It will be our first visit to NOLA. 😀

Great to have you along for the journey! I can’t believe with all the cruises you have done this will be your first from NOLA. There are lots of “husband day cares” around. 😜

 

3 hours ago, nydney1 said:

We sailed the Glory in October and had 9200. The Grand Scenic that sleeps 4. Our favorite room.

 

cant say enough great things about The Ruby Slipper. My favorite place in NOLA.

 

I’m glad I’m not the only one who raves about Ruby Slipper! Oh my. I really want some Chicken St Charles right now!