Glory review - Carnival Myths and Complaints Debunked

[guitargirl]

We just got back from a week on the Glory (Western). I had "Carnival anxiety," as I have been led to believe that this was a budget cruise line full of horrible food, garish decor, poor service, and tacky guests who steal chairs, cut buffet lines, and smoke EVERYWHERE.

 

I chose Carnival because I was sailing alone with my son and felt he would be more comfortable on a ship with a strong kid's program (and a waterslide). My cruiser friends all urged me to take Celebrity or RCL, or I would be miserable. But between the kid-friendliness and the price, I opted for the Glory.

 

We were both absolutely pleased with our cruise! It couldn't have been better. So here is my brief summary of the fears I had, and to what extent they were justified.

 

Food is horrible - False. Food was INCREDIBLE. I consider myself a gourmand, I like to eat in the best restaurants everywhere I travel (places like French Laundry, Chez Panisse, Canoe, etc.). Not only was the food served in massive quantities (burp), but in most cases it was wonderful. Chateaubriand and prime rib you could cut with a fork. Tender lobster tail. Grilled garlic shrimp (yum!). And the fish and chips bar - the best food on the ship. Not just fish and chips, but crumb fried oysters, ceviche, ahi tuna, octopus salad, etc. The trick is to have a good waiter who steers you away from the mediocre entrees. Fritz was wonderful ("I don't recommend the lamb tonight. You probably won't like the grouper.").

 

Garish decor, filthy ship, stained carpets - False. Yes, there are colors. But mostly in the lighted ceilings in the bars. This was the Glory, mind you, and I understand it is more tasteful than some of the older ships. There were people cleaning constantly, you could eat off of any surface on that ship.

 

Poor service - prepaid tips leaves the lackluster crew uninterested in serving you - FALSE! Even the servers who had to bring my son his 10 Fantas a day on his free soda card, thus foregoing the automatic 15% tip, were prompt and friendly. I did tip the dining room bar waitress on the last night, which I know she appreciated. Everyone went out of their way to be friendly and helpful.

 

Tacky guests that cut in line, save chairs, smoke everywhere, scream in the halls and let their diaper-clad babies swim in the hot tub - Mostly false. While earplugs are necessary if you want to avoid being awakened by late night revelers returning to their cabins, I found my fellow guests on the cruise to be polite and considerate. I had only one incident where I caught somebody trying to move my towel (they thought I was a chair saver, but we had only left them so we could go down the waterslide), but they apologized profusely and moved on. No biggie. No line cutting, no major seat saving, no wild packs of children, no party animals puking in the hallways (although they looked pretty awful lying on the pier after a day at Carlos and Charlies! - People, Carlos and Charlies is NOT for children. This woman and her two teenage sons came back with alcohol poisoning. Unbelievable). I never noticed any smoke other than in the casino, bars and the appropriate side of the lido deck.

 

The entertainment was first rate (well the magician could use some more practice, he gave away most of his tricks, but he was entertaining). Percy Cruse, the adult comic, was really funny, and the Motown singer was excellent. I am not much for broadway-type shows, so those were not my bag. But there was always something to do, great social hosts and CD.

 

I would definitely take Carnival again, even without my kid! I think it is true there are more problems with shorter cruises on older ships, but the Glory was perfect. It is big and it will take you a day to figure out how to get from one side to the other, but it was no big deal.

 

Only complaints? Other than the mild irritation of late night noise in the hallways, which was mostly eradicated by earplugs, disembarkation was a complete mess. Unless you have an early flight, my advice is to wait as long as you can. Our tags were the second color called, and with all the self-assist people, it took us 40 minutes just to get an elevator. Another 40 or so to get off the ship.

 

So don't believe the garbage you hear about Carnival. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed it, and what a first class experience it really was!

 

Glory 6/5/04

NCL Sky May 2000 (Alaska)

[Cotton]

Hi. Thx for the happy report. Always glad to see a first time Carnival cruiser give a good review! I'm so glad you and your son enjoyed your cruise, and now you can tell all your friends who haven't sailed on Carnival. It always amazes me that so many folks KNOW how 'horrible' Carnival is, but have never tried it.

 

Actually, I still don't know WHY you were so apprehensive about Carnival, since you've been here on the board for awhile and have heard mostly glowing reports. Whatever - I'm just happy for y'all that you had a great cruise.

 

Booked your next one yet?

 

"Laissez les bon temps rouler!"

Festivale 1987

Carnivale 1988

Mardi Gras 1989

Pacific Princess 1990

Norway 1994

Holiday 2001

Holiday 2002

Holiday 2003

Sensation 2004

[Snowball]

I am glad that you liked the Glory so much. I will be sailing on her sister ship, the Valor, next June and it will be my first time doing the Western itinerary. What ports did you visit during your cruise, and what did you think of them?

 

Debbie

Join the Valor Voyagers on 6/12/05 as we sail the Western Caribbean - Click here for details

<font face='time new roman' color=ff0000><font size="2">

<marquee width=50%>Until the Valor Voyagers set sail</marquee>

<font face='times new roman' color=0000ff><font size="2">

Triumph (Eastern) 05/00

Destiny (Southern) 04/02

Miracle (Bahamas) 05/04

Valor (Western) 06/04

[guitargirl]

Cotton,

It's true I didn't have as much anxiety as I did when I first decided to book, but you never really know until you experience it.

 

Snowball, we visited Costa Maya, Progreso (Merida), Cozumel, and Belize. Belize was my favorite. We never went into the city, we went snorkeling and stopped on Caye Caulker and San Pedro. The snorkeling was some of the best I have done (for fish, not so much for coral. USVI and Caymans have better coral). A lot of people did the cave tubing and liked it, but we just did something similar at Xcaret over Christmas so we preferred the snorkeling. Cozumel was beautiful, as always. You can snorkel in 30 ft. deep water, and see all the way to the bottom. Chankanaab National Park is extremely cool, you can snorkel off the beach and they have sunk all these underwater sculptures off shore.

 

Costa Maya was kind of gross, they threw up a little mall just for the cruise ships. There is nothing else there. You have to get out of town. I heard the jungle beach break is very nice, and the little town of Mahajual is cool, with a good beach right there. We went on the ATV truck tour to Pelicanos Beach (also where the dune buggies go), but I don't recommend it. The beach was just average, there are no lounge chairs, just plastic resin stack chairs. And they advertise it as open bar but it was only soft drinks. You really have to do an excursion in Costa Maya, there is nothing when you get off the ship. Even the shopping is pathetic.

 

Progreso was better, you have to take a bus down a 5 mile pier to get to town. We did the Dzibiltalchun ruins and Mexican Rodeo. This was great! I don't think it is worth it to spend 4 hours in a bus to Chichen Itza or Uzmal and back. These ruins are 20 min. from town and will give you more than your share of Mayan history. They have a fantastic Mayan museum with great artifacts. The Mexican Rodeo was at a ranch called Rancho Tierra Bonita. We loved this! A Mexican buffet lunch, which was VERY good, authentic Yucatecan and Mexican dishes prepared very well. Then a great show with folkloric dancers, music, and the rodeo show (not like a US rodeo - it is more like roping, and flag bearing).

 

If you are going to skip a day to go into port, probably Costa Maya is the one you want to miss. Don't know if the Valor goes there, they added it to our itinerary in place of Key West.

 

Glory 6/5/04

NCL Sky May 2000 (Alaska)

[ken_nyc]

guitargirl glad you had a great time, cannot wait until our August cruise. Our friends are bringing their 7 and 10 year olds, how was the camp?

 

Carnival Pride 8/17/02 (Western Caribbean)

Carnival Glory 8/21/2004 (Eastern Caribbean) 30th Anniversary Cruise

<center>

<a href="http://www.escati.com/counter98/free_time_codes.htm">

</center>

[guitargirl]

Camp Carnival was "awesome," according to my 9 year old. They spent a lot of time in the White Heat Disco, dancing and carrying on, as well as all types of arts and crafts and other events.

 

A word of caution about the 10 year old, make sure and bring 2 way radios as he or she will want to check themselves in and out and you need to keep up. The ship is big, lots of people sharing the bands, and it gets confusing. All the kids call "Mom," and 10 moms answer. Come up with code names!

 

And the "sleepover" for the 9-11 year olds is not a sleepover - it is a "stay up all night" party! My son called and woke me up at 2 am from the volleyball court, ready to come home and get some sleep.

 

The staff were all very good at what they do, no preoccupied teenagers here. They were attentive and always in control. They are not included in the prepaid gratuities. I tipped $20 for one child, but I heard of tips ranging from $10-$40 per child.

 

Glory 6/5/04

NCL Sky May 2000 (Alaska)

[ginag]

So glad to hear Carnival exceeded your expectations...nice review!

 

~gina~

 

11/20 Ecstasy cruise

[bombero]

Hi.. We sailed the GLORY, May 8th not expecting much, but with an open mind. As with you, everyone we knew advised us not to for the same reasons.. Well, we were absolutely thrilled. See our review posted in the review section, posted by Roger & Karen..

[hilltopfamily]

Wow, thanks for the glowing reports. Don't you just love it when you finally sail on your much-anticipated Carnival cruise and end up having a terrific time! Thanks for all the info on the ship, the ports, and the kids program. Glad you & your DS had a great time.

 

We experienced much the same responses from people when we planned a Carnival cruise after our Disney cruise. Can't remember how many times we were advised that Carnival would be terrible after having experienced the greatness of Disney! Well, my response is: Here's to Carnival, for providing a great experience at an affordable cost w/great kids programs.

 

Penny

Disney Magic~~Eastern 7/03

Carnival Celebration~~Western 3/04

Aug 1, 2004 Carnival Elation--Yippee, Our 3rd Cruise!!!

[sgtmonz]

hey guitargirl-

 

glad you had such a good time! i am leaving on the Fantasy on thursday so it was good to hear a positive review concerning carnival.

 

i am looking at trying carnival's newest ship, the Miricle, which will enter service in february of 2005. one of the places i wanted to go was carols and charlies because of the wild adults only style partying i had heard that goes on there. but i read today on another thread that they have put the breaks on a lot of the fun that used to go on there. what is your take on that?

[guitargirl]

Judging from the bodies that I saw staggering onto the ship at 4 pm, as well as those lying on the pier and folded in half in vomit-soaked wheelchairs, I would suspect that they haven't toned anything down at Carlos and Charlies.

 

Glory 6/5/04

NCL Sky May 2000 (Alaska)

[sgtmonz]

vomit-soaked wheelchairs??? wow!!!

 

i like to at least remember the good time i had... not, "hey? who are you and how did i get here? and where's my wheelchair?"

[guitargirl]

Yeah, it was pretty gross. Give a 16 year old unlimited access to a hot Mexican barmaid offering body shots, and you are going to have a case of alcohol poisoning for sure. His mom was in almost as bad shape. Her room was across the hall from mine. She needed assistance to stagger up to her room, where she promptly put out the "Privacy Please" sign. Being totally offended by her lack of parenting skills, I had no choice but to flip her sign over to the "Make Up Room Now" side just in time for evening steward service! Hee hee!

 

Glory 6/5/04

NCL Sky May 2000 (Alaska)

[sgtmonz]

oh you are mean... that's too bad about the 16 year old... you think they would have cut him off at some point

[finoky]

Hey thanks for sharing your review. Glad you had a wonderful time. For those that continue to spread those myths they can just stay away. That means more fun for us on our next Carnival cruise.

 

Tony

 

2005 Miracle April 24th

2004 Legend

2003 Paradise

2002 Paradise

2000 Destiny

1999 Fascination

1998 Fantasy

[halos]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by guitargirl:

Yeah, it was pretty gross. Give a 16 year old unlimited access to a hot Mexican barmaid offering body shots, and you are going to have a case of alcohol poisoning for sure. His mom was in almost as bad shape. Her room was across the hall from mine. She needed assistance to stagger up to her room, where she promptly put out the "Privacy Please" sign. Being totally offended by her lack of parenting skills, I had no choice but to flip her sign over to the "Make Up Room Now" side just in time for evening steward service! Hee hee!

)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

 

HAHahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

I LIKE you!!

 

I believe in Miracles

MIRACLE JUNE 19, 2004

Calm Seas, Good Friends

[Stevie17]

Thank you so much for your post. We haven't sailed on Carnival yet, but we intend to do so in the future. I appreciate your "debunking" the myths!!

 

Until 9 nights of pure joy in the Southern Caribbean!!!

 

 

NCL Spirit - February 2005

Grand Princess - May 2003

NCL Sun - May 2002

NCL Sea - May 2000

 

 

[michelle319]

Great review!

 

Loved that you flipped her sign over I love my boys but I'm their mother, not their friend! I will not supply my underage kids with alcohol to appear "cool" to them. Granted, they are still young, but it's just not going to happen.

 

Michelle

 

Carnival Glory 8/21/04

Carnival Fascination 9/02

Carnival Imagination 6/01

Majesty of the Seas 12/00

 

Glory - August 21, 2004 - Here we come!!

 

[phinfan63]

Sounds like you had a great time. I am sailing in August on one of the older ships (Holiday) but I hear she is absolutely wonderful too. Can't wait!

 

8/23 Holiday