Glory Eastern 3/31 to 4/7 Review

[cantwait2cruise]

My husband and I drove down to Pt. Canaveral after the Carolina Hurricanes game on Friday night (booooooo no playoffs :( ). We drove about 5 hours to Savannah and tried to find a hotel off of I-95 at about 2:30 in the morning. There were absolutely no hotels from Savannah to almost Jacksonville. We ended up having to drive until 5:30 in the morning to find a place. We just wanted to rest for a few hours and get a shower. We slept until about 10 or so and got back on the road about noon. Boy did we cut it close b/c there was a ton or roadwork and several accidents. We boarded the ship at 3:00 pm exactly.

 

Room:

Empress Inside 7331

We booked an inside guarantee through a group rate directly with Carnival and our room number was on the website (modify booking) within just a few days. We were very pleased with this room. We were right near the elevators/stairs that went right up two flights to Lido/Red Sail Restaurant, down two flights to the casino and down four flights to Golden Dining Room. Cabin steward and her asst. were excellent. We packed some bottled sodas and water in our check in luggage and no problem with that.

 

Dining Room:

Golden Main

We had the poorest service we have ever had on a cruise. The asst. was new and I think it really threw the main waiter off. He admitted to making several mistakes throughout the cruise. We actually did not go to dinner the last night and this was the first time I have not tipped extra. We just left the standard on the Sail and Sign and tipped cabin stewards extra in cash. Food was the typical and pretty good.

 

Red Sail:

I thought the lunch buffets had a lot of wierd stuff on them. I ended up eating a lot of pizza. Yum, it's good. Plus being 11 weeks pregnant, I kept craving pizza. :) Thankfully I did not overeat too much and didn't even gain any weight when I got home and got on the scale!

 

Shows:

I thought the Glory singers and dancers were not very good at all. The dancers always seemed out of sink. It was almost like they were a new group or something. I don't know. I suffered through the first show but the show later in the week, I got up and left. There was a Motown singer and he was very good and the comedian later in the week was funny. We didn't see the comedian that performed earlier in the week. Newlywed Game was funny as usual.

 

Ports:

Nassau: same old same old. We just went over to Atlantis and checked it out.

 

St. Thomas: We decided to go to St. John and the beach at Trunk Bay. We didn't do our research ahead of time and we paid the price b/c it cost a lot to get there. $10 cab ride each to the ferry, $5 each ferry ride, another $6 each cab ride and $4 to get in TOTAL =$50 just to get there!!!! It was beautiful, only one small snack shop though with a big line. Found the people to be pretty rude in both St. John and St. Thomas. Oh well, it was still beautiful.

 

St. Maarten: Took a cab ride to Orient Beach (think it was $6 each). Rented a chair from one of the little restaurants. Enjoyed the beach, although it got cloudy and rained a little bit. Watch out for the old naked guys that come straggling up to the restaurants!

 

Chairs at the Pool: My aunt got up at 6:30 am and all the chairs on the lower level by the pool were gone. Guess the chair hogs were in full effect.

 

Spring Break: Yes, lots of kids but I didn't see too many acting up or anything. They woke me up running up and down the halls some but that was about it.

 

Casino: Hubby spent a lot of time in there. He did pretty good. If he had stopped gambling on Thurs. he would have been up big time in Black Jack, but of course, he had to keep gambling. Most of the dealers and pit bosses were really nice and they even sent us wine at dinner on Thurs. night. Boooo I couldn't drink b/c of being pregnant!

 

Cruise Director: Wee Jimmy, he seemed funny to me. I usually just watched the replays of things on TV and I thought he was funny and good with everybody.

 

Emerald Room Supper Club: Went there our last night and the food and service was EXCELLENT. I got filet and hubby got surf and turf. It was really really really good. Highly recommend!

 

Debarkation: Worst I've ever experienced. We didn't get called until about 10:30 and then it was an hour in line down the gangway and into the terminal. We didn't get on the road until about 11:45 and then we had the long drive home. I was so glad to get home.

 

Overall, it was a good cruise. I enjoyed the rest and relaxation a lot, b/c I had been experiencing a lot of tiredness and morning sickness before we left. My morning sickness went away completely on the cruise and that was nice. Glory is the newest ship I've been on and I didn't see any great improvement over the smaller ships, just more people! Also, I guess I had higher expectations for the Eastern Caribbean and it was nice but I think the places on the Western routes have nicer people.

 

If you have questions, I'll try to answer!

[fayemike1]

Congrats on being pregnant!!! I'll be on the Glory in 19 days!! Can't wait!!! Thanks for the review!!:)

[kml2000]

Congratulations on your pregnancy, cruising seemed to agree with you (less sickness)!

 

I have a question about your driving route. We are going to head down from the Atlanta area in a few weeks and was going to cut across and head down 95 from Jacksonville. YOu mentioned a lot of road work......was that between Jacksonville and Port Canaveral?

 

Thanks for your review!

[cantwait2cruise]

Congratulations on your pregnancy, cruising seemed to agree with you (less sickness)!

 

I have a question about your driving route. We are going to head down from the Atlanta area in a few weeks and was going to cut across and head down 95 from Jacksonville. YOu mentioned a lot of road work......was that between Jacksonville and Port Canaveral?

 

Thanks for your review!

 

Yes, the road work was after Jacksonville and it lasted a while. There was a LOT of spring break traffic and a few fender benders that slowed us down 10 or 15 minutes at a time. The roadwork was definitely a good ways but it ended a while before Port Canaveral. I don't know, maybe it would be better to go to Orlando and then take then the Beeline (528 I think is the road number). Maybe others have thoughts on this....

[unicorn1075]

We will be on her in August and I can't wait!

[TxStacey]

I have a question about getting to St. John's and Trunk Bay..Is there a more cost effective way to do it? We will be on the Glory in June and plan to go to St. John's. We have a group of 9..Thanks for your review and congrats on the pregnancy!

[paradoc1]

trust me, take the express way via I-75, it was much faster, we just went down 95 and it added about 1-2 extraa hours because of the repairs and construction, the express way was more than worth te tolls about $6.00 total.

[cantwait2cruise]

I have a question about getting to St. John's and Trunk Bay..Is there a more cost effective way to do it? We will be on the Glory in June and plan to go to St. John's. We have a group of 9..Thanks for your review and congrats on the pregnancy!

 

We did not research it ahead of time and I am sure that there is a more cost effective way to get there. For one thing there is a ferry that leaves closer to where the cruise ships dock from Charlotte Amalie. We actually took the ferry from St. John back to there and then it was still a good 20 minute walk to the cruise ship or a $4 pp cab ride. We decided to walk it to save $8. From what we heard the ferry from Charlotte Amalie only ran at certain times. The ferry we took (I think it was Red Hook or something) ran every hour. That is a way to save some money. You might want to ask on the St. Thomas board.

[bluepetal]

Hey I was on that same cruise! Nice to find others who sailed then. Hey to the person who is sailing soon would you be willing to get a picture of the guy who works in the gift shop on the ship that sells all of the Carnival merchandise, his name is Elvedin. I got a picture with him before I left but I guess it didn't come out. If you do decide to my email address is cbonoyer@sjcme.edu. I hope everyone who goes on the Glory enjoys their cruise as much as I did. I wish I was going again soon. Oh and go find the 2 waiters in the Golden dinning room named Clarence and Arnel, they are awesome. Arnel would teach us magic tricks every night. Oh and to anyone who reads this and is planning on going to the spa don't get a manicure, I did and it started chipping off within 12 hours and I paid $50 for it and the manicurist I had was kinda rude. Also don't go to the detox seminar unless you are planning on spending $200-$300 for the product.

[bluepetal]

Hey I was on that same cruise! Nice to find others who sailed then. Hey to the person who is sailing soon would you be willing to get a picture of the guy who works in the gift shop on the ship that sells all of the Carnival merchandise, his name is Elvedin. I got a picture with him before I left but I guess it didn't come out. If you do decide to my email address is cbonoyer@sjcme.edu. I hope everyone who goes on the Glory enjoys their cruise as much as I did. I wish I was going again soon. Oh and go find the 2 waiters in the Golden dinning room named Clarence and Arnel, they are awesome. Arnel would teach us magic tricks every night. Oh and to anyone who reads this and is planning on going to the spa don't get a manicure, I did and it started chipping off within 12 hours and I paid $50 for it and the manicurist I had was kinda rude. Also don't go to the detox seminar unless you are planning on spending $200-$300 for the product.

 

 

 

 

If anyone read this just ignore it thanks.

[Dem&Mag]

 

Room:

Empress Inside 7331

We booked an inside guarantee through a group rate directly with Carnival and our room number was on the website (modify booking) within just a few days. We were very pleased with this room. We were right near the elevators/stairs that went right up two flights to Lido/Red Sail Restaurant, down two flights to the casino and down four flights to Golden Dining Room. Cabin steward and her asst. were excellent. We packed some bottled sodas and water in our check in luggage and no problem with that.

 

I am going to be in this room starting this weekend and I am trying tofind out if the beds can be pushed together like the ones in the balcony rooms. Please let me know.

 

Thanks

[cantwait2cruise]

I am going to be in this room starting this weekend and I am trying tofind out if the beds can be pushed together like the ones in the balcony rooms. Please let me know.

 

Thanks

 

As far as I know, all Carnival cabins have the two beds that can be pushed together, so yes in this cabin, the beds can be pushed together into one bigger bed. We are cruising this weekend too on Liberty! Have fun!

[Julienatul]

You'll have to join us on the family board when your little one is here and you decide to cruise with him/her. I sailed pregnant with both my kids and had great cruises. My daughter who's now 3 has been on 6 cruises(started sailing at 7 mo) and my 3 month old is going on his first cruise in August at 8 months.

 

Julie

[cantwait2cruise]

You'll have to join us on the family board when your little one is here and you decide to cruise with him/her. I sailed pregnant with both my kids and had great cruises. My daughter who's now 3 has been on 6 cruises(started sailing at 7 mo) and my 3 month old is going on his first cruise in August at 8 months.

 

Julie

 

 

Julie, guess what, this review is 2 years old!!!! Not sure how the PP found it to ask me that question. My little one is here and 17 months old and we're leaving for Liberty on Sat. and I'm pregnant again!!!!! And I've been on the Family Board lately too. :)