Just got off the 6/19-6/26 Glory

[dsclark]

In the past year, I have also cruised on the RCCL Explorer and the CCL Ecstacy (four night cruise). Comparing this cruise to those was unavoidablke.

 

Ship- We had room 1060 on the panarama deck. Balcony was a bit small, but nice. Sound insulation was lacking. I could hear the "bee bop" of the elavators. Even worse,on our 1st night, i could hear the moans and cries of carnal delight of my single femal cruiser neighbor. Luckily, my kids never awoke. The rhythmic tapping of her bed into the wall we shared was also annoying. For the rest of the cruise, I heard little noise from that cabin though. I guess she went elsewhere!

Chair saving was real bad. The ship's pool deck look crowded, as if they just rescued the passengers off a sinking ROyal Olympic cruise.Thankfully, the aft pool wasn't too crowded.

Think of this- on a Fantasy class ship, you have one water slide for 2000 people. On the Glory, you have one slide for 3500+ people. Yup, it was always at least a 15 minute wait to get on.

 

Food-Dining room food was the worst I have ever had on CCL. This is not to say it was terrible, rather, I have had better on past CCL. Still, it was better than on RCCl. The food was like high quality cuising that was just plain cold. Soups were warm, we and another table sent back a pasta dish because it was cold, as if it sat in the 'fridge.The biggest surprise was teh lobsgter- the firstr round was good, but the seconds tasted as if they were just cooked- very hot, fresh and tender- a dining room high point!

Also, the wait staff would always start their lip synching just when we got our entree.

 

Alternative food- As poor as the some of the dining room food, the alternative food range anywhere from "yuck!" to "Wow, this is great!". It was the best I have had on any cruise. Deli sandwiches? Comparable to what I would pay $8 at a good deli. A bit salty, but very, very good. Fish and chips was ok, marred by some sneeky little bones. The oriental food window also had some great stuff.

 

Foraml night free booze- service was very slow, especially after our section server spilled some drinks on a man's tux.I walked up to the bar where they made them and got all I wanted, instantly. Remember that tip!

 

Repeaters free booze party- Drinks were good. Funship Freddy was there, got my picture with him. They show a nice video history of CCL, it even included footage of helicopters flying around the grounded Mardi Gras!

 

Entertainment- Marcus Anthony was great, the first comedian was good, the last show was great...other than that, it was a huge disappointment!

 

The last two cruises I was on had, on opening night, cruise director (CD),comedian, ships dancers and ballet act. Even the four day Ecstacy had this. On the Glory, we subjected to the blather of CR Mark Price doing the the usual cliche time killing lines like "Are you ready have fun yet?...How are you doing?...Let's give a hand for the band... let's give another hand for the band, aren't they great?"..We saw more of him than the comedien! On the thurs show, he did the Robin Hood bit for 45 minutes and the comedien only got 25 minutes.

The 2nd day show was the dancers and lipsyncers (uh, I mean singers!)and, looking around, I wasn't the only one nodding off.

 

Why can't the Glory have at least the same number and variety of entertainers as the 70K ton Ecstacy?

On the pool deck, rather than have a band playing, they had a dj putting on rap records at an obnoxiously loud level of volume. Cheap, Cheap!

 

At the Emerald room supper club, they had piped in music. CCL sent me an email saying that supper clubs have 1 or 2 musicians playing. Nope! This, along with no outside view, really detracted from the ambience. The quality of the food and the presentation was excellent, but the ambience left much to be desired.

 

Luggage- We had all but one piece by 2:00pm, the last at 4:00pm. Good job!

 

Cabin service- our robes disappeared never to return, and we often had to call for beach towels. Otherwise, it was excellent. Room was was promptly cleaned every day.

 

Did I hate this ship? Nope! A lot of the niggles were negated by the port stops. In fact, I wanted to book the Valor on board for next year, but they said they could only offer us window or balcony rooms, no guarantee rooms. Well, that's enough to send me over to Princess or Celebrity next year for next cruise! I guess it is time for a change. I still think CCL is a good cruise

I have cruised Sovereign, Fantasy, Conquest and Yoyager class ships. My fav is the Fantasy. Go figure! I guess I like the layout better. I wanted to do the Valor because of the port stops.

Oh, smoke- I think this is more of a problem with passgers than ships design. The only time it was noticeable was on the balcony. There were passengers in nearby balconies who enjoyed rotting out their bodies with a view, so they smoked on their balconies and itwould blow into my room.If you are booked on the Glory, make the most of your ports and have a good time. There is a lot of good food to be found on the ship- my scale says I need to go out and jog!

[krimpet]

thanks For Your Reveiw. I Think It Is Always Better When Someone Tells You The Pros And Cons Of There Cruise.

We Will Be On Her In Aug And Can't Wait :d

[dsclark]

You'll have fun. Oh, here's a tip- on the first night, I think at 6:30, they had a nice 60's music show in the dinky Ivory lounge. Get there early. ALso, at least if you do western, don't even think of doing the main seating. Rather"settle" for the late, otherwise you may find yourself rusing back from your port stops.

The coffee, as usual, sucks, but the Creams coffee bar offers a fine mocha for around $3.70 (with tip!) that I think is better ( and cheaper!) than Starbucks.

My biggest surprise? Coming home and find that my CCL stock holdings have have taken a big jump in value!

Oh, I used 700 points on my CCL credit card for champagne. iwas expecting CCL brand ratpagne like the stuff they give away, but no, they gave me a bottle of Korbell!

[krimpet]

we Are Doing The Eastern Cruise!

How Did You Go About Buying Ccl Stock If I May Ask?

[dsclark]

I set up an account with ameritrade for the stock. I bought 100 shares of CCL at 39, sold a month later for 44, used the profit to pay for my Gaggia espresso machine. I then bought 150 more shares at 43, watched it fall to 42, bought 50 more shares at that price and now it is near 47.I also bought 100 shares of RCl at 39, now it is at 45. Both pay $.13 a quarter divendends, and I first bought these stocks just four months ago. Every analyst loves these stocks. Two weeks, CCL announced that earnings were way higher than even the most optimistic projections. Whoohoo!

[ruttie]

glad you had a good time on your cruise i enjoyed reading it have not been on glory yet was the balcony big enough to sit in a chair and have someone stand up in front of you?? last cruise we were on on rccl the balcony was wide enough but not very deep so we go fo rthe aft but sometimes aft is too sunny for me... I also love the FANTASY class ships something about the layout just seems right. disneys ships have a similar layout also that i like... I have herd that glory can be a bit chopped up hard to navigate... Glad you liked the lobster thats why hubby like carnival he loves their lobster that and disneys lobtsre burgers YUM!

[dmbleser]

I too just got off the Glory. Hopefully, the Cruise Critic will post my review in the next couple of days. If not, here is a summary of it.

 

Embarkation - Get there after 1:30. There will be no lines and make sure you drop off your luggage before you park. Got our luggage by 6.

 

First impression - Love the colors. Lay out is very similar to that of the Victory but on a larger scale.

 

Food and Beverage was excellent. Had late sitting in the Platinum dinning room. One complaint was the Matri D. Carnival states that you will not be asked and do not need to the tip the Matri D. But of course, they passed out envelopes on the second to the last night. Bigger goof, was the Matri D thanked us for sailing with Celebrity. This was not a joke. You could have heard a pin drop. I would have also liked to have seen more wines by the glass offered like they do on the Victory. The Jazz Trio was excellent. The performers in were OK. You will be entertained but it is not a Broadway Show. The exception was the magician. (Tuesday night) He SUCKED! We liked the Cruise Director. Thought he was very funny.

 

Pool - Plenty of chairs but yes the ones near the pool did go first. We havent been on a cruise yet in which this hasnt happened.

 

Room (8259) - plenty of lighting and storage. The balcony was big enough for me and my pregnant wife. We didn't have any problems with our neighbors but we didnt have any problems sleeping either.

 

Spa - excellent. Strongly encourage you to get stoned. A Stone Massage that is.

 

Debarkation - 45 minutes after they called our color we were in our car.

 

I would and will cruise on the Glory again.

[dsclark]

The balcony had enough room for me to eat breakfast with my two daughters (ages 10/12). it was tight, but we did it.Also worth noting is that our cabin steward kept the balcony clean. On the Explorer of the Seas, plates left on the balcony stayed on the balcony.

 

On the last sea day, my wife couldn't find a chair at all at the aft pool, not even on the second deck. They all had carnival towels on them. i told her to just grab a chair, or at the very least, spy a chair that is neglected and keep its towel. There were only maybe 20 people in the spas and pool, so I think the owners of these towels parked them on the chairs, went elsewhere to do other things, then maybe returned way later, hours later. Of course, my wife isn't as ornery as I and didn't do this. I am happy to just be able to float in the pool. big, big hint- the third floor is totally forgotten. It is the one with the life boats. It's quiet and always has a few loungers with CUSHIONS! From the chair, the only thing between you and gorgeous view of the ocean is four little white handrail bars.Check it out- it is probably the best place to remind yourself that your not in a floating hotel, but at sea.

I had late seating in the golden room. I told the maitre'd that I felt good that I was on a ship with a perfect CDC rating. He said that CCl threw the crew a party for it. BTW, of all the cruises I have been on, this one on the Glory was the cleanest yet. The attention to cleanliness is so good that it is hard to notice. For example, in the redsail, I dropped a fork. A crew person from 15' awaycame by immediately, picked it up, and replaced it.

We did self embarkation. With all the luggage we had, it was pretty tough going through the customs area. We did it to allow time to squeeze in Kennedy Space Center. The Budget shuttle driver told us to get In the van, he'd load our luggage. Got to the rental place to discover he left one piece back at the port parking lot*^*(#$()!!! Wife went back to get it, but uh, that driver was the only person we didn't tip that week.

I was at the end of long of people at the pursers desk who had lots of complaints and wanted to reduce their tip amounts (I was there to get some dramamine for my daughter). Some of these people really sounded nasty. The purser did pretty well, refraining from sending out Friendship Freddy with a sock full of quarters.

[ken_nyc]

dsclark, thanks for your review, we will also be going in August. Cannot wait, 54 datys away!!

[dmbleser]

It's like the old saying, there is always going to be the 10% that you can never please. Maybe it was just me but the the things I heard people complaining about were stupid. More so than normal. It was like they had never been on a cruise before or they didn't realize that there were 3000 other people on board. I agree whole heartedly with you on the cleanliness. I was amazed at how clean it was. Their attention to detail is awesome. Maybe its because I am in the hospitality business so I am more understanding and patient when it comes to certain things. People need to realize that they are on a vacation. What good is it going to do to get upset just because an elevator is slow? If people want to feel like they are the only ones on the ship then they need to spend the money and go on a Radisson Seven Seas Cruise where there is only 400 people on board.

 

All I know is that I was able to recharge my batteries, study a little bit for my GMAT, eat some good food, meet some great people, laugh a little and overall have a damn good time. What more could I ask for from a vacation?

[robbyxoxo]

Dsclark......u keep it real....i likes that.....excellent mention about deck 3 and the comforts there.....it truly is one of the few places on the ship u can go and lay back and relax and not feel like ur part of some rush of cattle....like u said, thank God for the fact that there are port stops that give us the chance to get away from the feeling of being sardined with 3000 other passengers....and the constant begging for applause is soooooo freakin annoying....as well them telling us how much fun we are having.....give it a break i say......i cant wait to get on Celebrity to see if all cruiselines are annoying about such things....but im thinking Carnival leads the pack ......

[dsclark]

I watched some of my video tapes ( I recorded 11 hours of footage on DV complete with surround sound!). I have a theory of why our food was consistently warm or cold:

 

The waiters in my area brought all food on one tray, to be rested on a stand. They then started delievering food to one table at a time, in a rotation. If you were at the first table, then you were lucky. We always, always got everything, from soups and salads, to desserts, last. The table to our left, with the same waiter, was always 2nd to last. The table to the right always got their main entree just after we got our salads. The table before them was always vacant.

 

It would be hard for them to deviate from this sort of organization. Walking room in the dining room is pretty tight. The only question is : why was my lobster the hottest and best prepared item in the dining room? Call me lucky, eh?

[michelle319]

Thanks for the review. It's always good to hear the good and the bad. Am looking forward to joining Ken and Rich on the Glory in August!

[Karitannis]

We also just got off the Glory, and didn't experience any of the above posters annoyances. We thought the food was excellent in almost every instance. The steaks were always cooked perfect which we thought was unbelievable when you have that many people to serve. I had the best beef wellington I think I've ever had.

 

We hated sitting around the crowded pool area, so that was never an issue, instead we picked the top deck next to the slide and had almost to ourselves for most of the time. The lines were never long trying to get onto the slide except towards the very end of the day.

 

I have been steered away from Carnival from every travel agent I've ever used and just about everyone else, but I am so glad I gave them a whirl, because I will definetly go back on the Glory. "The Fun Ship" it was....