Glory review - 9-8-07 -2nd cruise of the new western itinerary

[bguppies]

Embarkation: Port Canaveral

When we checked in at the Radisson on Friday night we were told that they didn’t start to run free shuttles until 11:30AM, since the Port didn’t allow embarking passengers into the facility until after 11:30AM.

We called over and were told by a friend working there that they would probably begin allow passengers in at 10:30AM. :mad:

So we took a cab from the Radisson over to the Glory at 10:30AM.

(can you tell we REALLY needed this vacation?)

We got there and breezed through security, took one whole minute ;) to fill out that pesky Bahamas Immigration Form that everybody gets so worried about and then breezed through check in and were 15th or 20th in line or so to get on the ship after it finished getting cleared.

 

We didn't have to wait but a few minutes before they took the line behind the check in desks and had us a wait there a few more minutes for the final few people to disembark and the 20 or so VIP people to board.

So at around 11:30AM we were heading onboard the Glory. (rather than standing at the Radisson waiting for the shuttle to load)

 

We got onboard and headed straight for the lido deck where our cabin was, but the Fire Doors to cabins weren't open there yet, so we went to the other side of the deck to check out the buffet.

After a quick nibble and some drinks we headed back to check on the cabin and found an unmarked door to the corridor that was unlocked, so we could get to our room before the fire doors got opened.

Got to meet our room steward McDonald at this point. (he did a GREAT job all week.)

We went and relaxed for a few minutes and got ready to head back out after dropping off our carry on’s.

By now our first two bags had arrived. (it wasn't even 1:30 yet)

So we took them in and unpacked them and got ready to head out.

Just then the guy rolls up with a cart with our other 3 bags.

So we took them in and completely unpacked before the majority of people had even gotten on the boat.

 

Needless to say Embarkation was a breeze and Port Canaveral is the best.

Glory : the ship

Overall the ship was in great shape.

Very clean.

We are early risers due to our jobs, so we were up early each day and saw them painting various decks on two different days, saw them doing work in the passageway outside the Ivory Club on the last sea day and saw them replacing a couple of the plexiglass showers on the deck above the Lido Pool area.

So they indeed are constantly staying on top of their “honey-do” list.

A few people on our cruise complained about the typical Carnival “décor”, but honestly, until they decorate one of their ships like a bondage/fetish club, I could careless.

The purple on the Sensation didn’t phase me and nothing I saw on the Glory looked Garish to me.

We have only sailed on the Fantasy Class (Sensation) before this, so that is the only point of reference that we can compare the Glory to.

We definitely preferred the layout on the Sensation, to that of the Glory.

Even though I had read about it going into the cruise, it took me a few days to remember to always head to deck 5, to be able to get from the front to aft of the ship.

Deck 3 and 4 were absolute nightmares.

The Promenade Deck was standard Carnival and was great.

We enjoyed most of the various bars and venues all week.

Neither of us are shoppers or gamblers, so other than stopping in the casino to steal an ashtray for downstairs (see below) we cannot help with what was in the stores or how the casino games pay out.

The Amber Palace, main showroom was a huge improvement over the show lounge on the Fantasy Class.

The “On the Green” sports bar was far too small for the crowds on Saturday night for NCAA football and for NFL Football on Sunday and Monday Nights.

Again, I could careless about the golf décor of the room.

But the eight or nine 32” TVs above the bar are in desperate need of replacement. (hopefully with some decent Plasma’s or LCD’s, which ironically Carnival was able to spring for, to hang for demos on either side of the Casino, at the shore excursion desk, etc… all over the ship)

Only two of the TV’s had a good picture, without huge chunks of the corners of the screen showing wrong colors from apparently the picture tubes being shot it them. (blue colored grass, etc…)

Then there were two smaller maybe 19” TV’s hanging above the sofas in the corners and only one of those was functioning the entire week.

The “Ivory Club” on deck 4 was the designated Cigar Bar on the Glory and the ONLY place other than on open decks to be allowed a cigar.

As a conscientious cigar smoker, this venue was an absolute nightmare!!!!!!!!!

On the Sensation, I enjoyed heading back to the Cigar Bar and enjoying a smoke, having a drink during the day and watching the two plasma TVs on the wall with news or sports. (usually soccer, but something) It was an utterly relaxing hour (sometimes two) each day that I enjoyed, without having to be too concerned about bothering non-smokers.

The Ivory Club was a huge room, with absolutely no TVs to watch.

There was a jazz trio each night for maybe 2 hours or so, but that was it. So when I did try to relax and enjoy a smoke, it was an utter bore in there, except for the rare times the trio was playing.

There was never a server at the bar all day, until the first dinner at the Platinum dining room next door. At 5:45PM.

Then they were there to make drinks for the dining room and you were basically bothering them to ask for a drink in the actual bar.

Even though it was the ONLY place on board to enjoy a cigar, they never put out the larger cigar ashtrays until around 7PM each night and on many days didn’t even bother to leave any regular ashtrays out during the day. (the ones people may have seen during the day, were from me and a couple of other smokers bringing some we “borrowed” from the casino above, down with us, which we shouldn’t have to do.)

Then the worst part if you try to be courteous to non-smokers.

The Ivory Club was the primary walkway to the large Platinum Dining room on deck 4.

So no matter what time of the day, you constantly have families with mostly pre-school children on this sailing or non-smokers walking directly through the center of the room to get to open seating breakfast or lunch or to either dinner seating at the platinum dining room.

Then it is hard to relax and enjoy a cigar when you have to listen to every vocal non-smoker, grumble as they would pass through the cigar bar on their way to the Dining Room!!!!

We weren’t the idiots who placed the cigar bar in the main passage to the dining room….:rolleyes:

Then they actually scheduled a trivia game and another game in the lounge during the 2nd sea day.

Forcing the players and smokers to have to move and retreat to opposite sides of the room.

Which was absurd and left the host apologizing to both groups. (But she was nice and helped us scrounge up some ashtrays from under the counter behind the bar.)

Basically this huge room appeared to be mostly wasted for the entirety of each day with the exception of the couple of hours the trio or a piano player performed each night. (and even then, the room was never even a quarter full at any performance that I saw)

Why a room this size wasn’t used for a sports bar and let the cigar smokers use just a portion of the room, is completely beyond me.

I’m not a person who finds lying on a lounger in the sun all day relaxing, so my equivalent on a cruise has been enjoying a smoke or two per day in the cigar bar, which needless to say, on this cruise was completely ruined.

The gym was surprisingly small with less equipment than we had on the Sensation, but with almost double the passengers using it.

We tried staggering the times we visited, from the opening at 6AM till mid-afternoon and never could find any time where some segment of the equipment was being completely used, with people waiting. (at least on the Sensation, we found we could have full use of every type of equipment for the first hour or so after opening.)

The Glory stayed pretty packed all day long.

We did take advantage of a massage special Thursday night, which was very nice.

The Spa facilities and the sauna/steam room area and hot tub were all very nice.

Glory : the food and food venues

We were determined that we were going to make it to the first dinner in the dining room, even though we knew we would not be attending either formal night (didn’t want the hassle of packing the extra clothes) and some of the other dinners would be tough with a 5:45 seating and some of the port times during this week.

We really wanted to meet our table mates, even though we have yet to get lucky enough to find any interesting, engaging table mates on our two previous cruises.

So, Saturday night we head to our 5:45 seating.

Table for 10. (or maybe 12)

One couple from Atlanta was already there, then us, then 6 (or 8) empty chairs all evening.

The young lady was feeling seasick (it was a bit rocky leaving the Port), which we thought was leading to her current crabby demeanor.

Her boyfriend was a nice guy, but would only talk if asked a direct question. (which I later attributed to him probably having a headache from listening to his girlfriend complain )

Our servers were great and literally bent over backward trying to please the young lady at our table.

Bringing her multiple appetizers and multiple dinners, none of which she would even touch.

And ironically, NOT because she was seasick.

Because there “had better be some good food in Key West tomorrow, like McDonald’s or Wendy’s and not this crap.”:eek: (meaning her perfectly prepared steak, then shrimp, etc...)

Thus our third experiment in finding decent tablemates on a cruise came to a crashing end, yet again. (luckily we met some couples during the week, who we were able dine with at other venues on the ship at times better for when we wanted to dine and fit our schedule.)

The Red Sail buffet was a nice upgrade to the buffet on the Fantasy class.

Lines on either side of the galley in the center.

Drink dispensers scattered all over the rooms, rather than in just two spots like on the Fantasy Class ships, where many logjams occurred during busier times.

Chinese on one side from the buffet lines, the Deli on the opposite side.

Fish and Chips hidden upstairs in there. (and a great place to find a table when the area got crowded at the busiest parts of the day.)

Grills out the door to the front of the buffet, next to the main pool and another out the back of the buffet next to the aft pool.

Also ice cream dispensers out either side of the front of the buffet and out either side of the back of the buffet. (versus one machine in the center of the room on the Fantasy Class)

The Pizzeria was also out the back door next to the aft pool.

Surprisingly, no matter what time of day or how crowded, I never had to wait for a slice.

The wait at the various food venues was my biggest fear going into this cruise, stepping up from the much smaller Fantasy Class and much fewer passengers.

But ironically, the added venues, drink dispensers and ice cream machines seemed to far outweigh the additional passengers on the Glory. (only at the Deli, which was still just one window, did we ever experience any sort of wait.)

The food in the one night in the Dining Room that we did, was very good.

The food at the other venues was very good 90% of the time all week.

(One day they seemed determined to burn everything at one grill and I never got a Reuben sandwich that I enjoyed as much as I did on previous cruises.)

The standard breakfast rotation each morning was good each morning.

Was only disappointed in one lunch day. (Mexican) And those were very minor problems.

The service of the wait staff our one night in the dining room was great.

Our service at the bars was excellent.(except the Ivory Lounge, where the first night they tried to ring up two other groups drinks on my account, but being as anal as I am, I caught it on the TV in my cabin less than 30 minutes after they made the mistake. Then of course never having a bartender at all there before 5:30PM.)

Some days they were a bit slow clearing tables in the buffet and slow to clear room service trays in the halls, but it wasn’t too bad.

Glory : The Entertainment

A big disappointment.

Had heard so much about what a great Cruise Director “Wee” Jimmy was, so I assumed there would be many more and varied activities run by he and his staff all week versus what we had experienced on our previous Sensation cruises.

First, there was literally NOTHING scheduled on the ship, during the days for those who stayed on board while in port. (which on this cruise would probably be more people than usual, since the vast majority of cruisers had no idea about the 2 itinerary changes, until they were handed a piece of paper as they entered the terminal Saturday morning. Of the people around us in line to embark, only one other couple had received the e-mail we did on Thursday. At least 20 people said they found out literally minutes before, entering the terminal.)

I kept scanning my Capers every day, yet there were very few activities planned on any day of the cruise. (On the Sensation, we had to choose between events frequently, scheduled simultaneously. On the Glory we struggled to find things to do, in the huge gaps between events.)

“Wee” Jimmy was indeed very funny and personable, from what I could see of him on my TV in the cabin.

Our cabin was at the front of the Lido Deck and my Wife hung out at the aft pool area all week. So we were back and forth through the entire Lido Deck area ALL week long, repeatedly all day and neither of us saw “Wee” Jimmy one time.

Never saw him anywhere on the promenade deck mingling with guests all week either.

From responses in our Roll Call thread, from those who have gotten home, it seems apparent, we were not the only other to notice he was never around.

Luckily a Cruise Director’s presence neither makes or breaks my cruise.

But I assume the Cruise Director is in charge of planning games and activities for the week on board.

And the dearth of games and activities this week on the Glory was a big let down for me.

Like I said, we are early risers, so we rarely hit the late night adult comic shows or magic shows, so I can’t help rate those.

We unfortunately had to miss the Legends show on the last night, as Jeanne, along with half our corridor of the Lido deck, came down with a bug (common cold type symptoms, not Norovirus) on the last sea day, Thursday. (I was lucky enough to be spared until the ride home Saturday and am still fighting it now.)

We did hit a Monday night show, which was not very good.

Poor choreography, weak singing.

We did the Newlywed Game, which we always enjoy, but “Wee” Jimmy tried some new thing about best proposals and worst proposals before it. Which was very poorly done, but I give him credit for trying something new with the Newlywed Game.

But then he lost track of time and was really late starting the actual Newlywed Game, which he then proceeded to rush through. (which loses all the humor, when you can’t milk and play with the responses)

We skipped all the Bingo, since they didn’t do a win a free cruise Bingo, but instead only sold raffle tickets.

Glory : The Ports of Call

I will preface this by saying, Cozumel was the key to this trip for us. So losing Costa Maya and Belize didn’t affect us much.

My Wife, Jeanne’s idea of a perfect vacation day is lying by a pool or beach on a padded lounger, sipping Pina Coladas and reading her current paperback.

With no bands playing, kids running amuck or jet-skis blasting by the shore.

My idea of a great day this trip was going to be an excursion to Mayan Ruins, which is what we had booked for Belize. (and the morning in Costa Maya.)

So when I was able to swap the smaller ruins in Belize for the bigger ruins at Chitzen Itza or Uxmal at Progresso, that was a plus for us.

We had always wanted to see Key West, so trading a day of bar hopping in Costa Maya for a day of bar hopping in Key West was fine by us.

Key West: The debarkation by deck due to the shuttles through the Navy base killed over an hour of the short time in port, so we had to give up any plans for Hemingway’s House, Truman’s White House, etc… as after getting off the ship more than an hour into our port time, then having a 20-25 minute shuttle ride each way, pretty much blew any plans other than bar hopping a couple of venues then back to the ship.

We wound up hitting Kino’s Sandals to get Jeanne some of their famous handmade sandals, then Captain Tony’s, Sloppy Joe’s and a couple of other bars, before settling in at Big Un’s and their multitude of plasma TVs and every NFL game on the Sunday Ticket.

We hung there until the rain started and then headed back to catch the shuttle back to the ship.

An enjoyable, but much too short, port stop.

Cozumel : Like I said, neither of us are shoppers, so we had heard Los Cinco Soles had every Mexican item you would want to take home as a gift. We got off the ship and headed straight down the street to there and waited 15 minutes for them to open. When they opened at 8AM, we swarmed in and found plenty of stuff to take home for gifts for family and friends.

Mexican blankets, silver, vanilla, knick knacks, wind chimes, jewelry, etc…. We grabbed our 8 bags and caught a cab back up the street to drop off our purchases in our cabin so we could head out for our reservation at……………….

Nachi Cocum….

The place was a slice of heaven.:D

 

The beach was about 200 yards long. (maybe more, since there is no beach club right next door like down at Paradise and San Fransisco, etc...)

 

Padded loungers under palapas the length of the beach. (but not piled row upon row like the beach was a concert venue, like I observed , as I passed the other beaches on our way out for a snorkleing excursion. Paradise Beach anyone? I couldn’t even see sand on there beach for the loungers.:( )

You had a palapa with two loungers, then 10 feet or so between that and the next two loungers and the next palapa.

Only one row of loungers with 20-30 feet of beach in front of you and behind you.

 

Padded loungers on both sides of the huge pool.

One end of the pool had a shallow shelf to sunbathe while staying cool.

The other end had a bench underwater to sit at the bar, next to the pool.

 

The hot tub was right next to the pool, also with a bench at the bar.

 

The restaurant/bar area had about 30 or so tables under a huge open aired thatched roof.

 

On Tuesday a group of 4 from our ship arrived just before us.

Then and my Wife and I, and we 6 had the entire place to ourselves all day.

 

My Wife and I had the entire pool and hot tub to ourselves, as the other group never left the beach all day.

 

The price of $49 was worth it just for the privacy and wonderful facilities.

 

The included food and drinks were a bonus.

Obviously we never had to wait for food or drinks.

The food was great. (Jeanne had a chicken club and I had the best beef fajitas I have ever had)

 

Jeanne was almost in tears when we had to leave to get back to the pier to catch the Glory.

Her day was THAT close to perfection.

Progresso : We signed up for the Uxmal Mayan ruins on the advice of many on the Progresso boards and will forever be grateful.

 

They had stated that the ruins were similarly impressive sizewise.

Just the site wasn't as known or fully excavated yet, like Chitzen Itza.

Another plus was the fact that Chitzen Itza is now almost enitrely roped off and you can't walk or climb on any of the ruins.

At Uxmal, there was a tiny roped off area at the foot of the massive Magician's Temple with a sign asking to please not climb and one other roped off area around the still intact hoop at the ancient ball court.

That was it.

Everything else was open to be walked through, in, on or up.

Also many posters noted that Chitzen Itza suffers from huge lines and waits to see various temples, due to the huge number of ships excursions and land based visitors every day. (someone compared it to waiting in lines all day at Disney World for rides)

 

We were the only ship in port.

 

We docked and got off the ship and had to walk down the branch of the pier a hundred yards or so, to where there was a duty free shop and some small shops, right there at the pier, by the ship. (not 6 miles up the pier in town. And the pier IS indeed 6 miles. Doesn't look like it from the deck of the ship, but when you drive it, you quickly realize it is.)

Behind the duty free shop was a plaza where they had roped lines for people waiting for excursions.

Right away we knew we had made the correct choice.

 

The Chitzen Itza line was right next to ours and the Mayan Ruins/Beach break was on the other side of us. (The Ruins/Beach break went to a tiny set of ruins 20 minutes from the pier, then to the beach at the foot of the pier. I wanted to see a major site)

 

We watched as they filled 4 huge busses for Chitzen Itza (about 40-50 per bus), then 2 busses for a crew only excursion there, then they already had another 20 people lined up for a 5th bus, before we went to our van.

 

Our excursion had a total of 12 people.

It took us about an hour and a half to get there, not counting a 30 minute stop on the way in a Mayan Village to walk through a huge Catholic Church built from a demolished Mayan Temple.

Then another 10 minute stop on the top of the highest hill just before Uxmal, where we could see Uxmal and 3 other Mayan sites from the amazing view.

 

At Uxmal, there was a nice visitor’s center, with a tiny museum to wander through, large, clean bathrooms and a handful of shops to buy some snacks or drinks. (but they only accepted Peso's here, so make sure to get some at the purser's desk before you debark, so you don't have to mooch Peso’s off your fellow passengers like we did.)

 

The first thing you arrive at is the huge Magician's temple, which was an awesome site to behold.

Then you head to the right and climb a bit to some buildings to the right of the temple.(where like I said, we were able to walk in through and climb on)

Then you head up some more to the left to the school area of the ruins which was very impressive, which much of the details in the carvings still plainly visible.

Then you head down to the ball field area.

Then over to the left some more and up some huge steps to another huge temple. (not pyramid) Which again we were able to climb up another set of steps and walk all throughout.

 

Here the guide stopped and told us we had an hour to tour on our own and meet back at the visitor’s center.

 

There was another huge pyramid/temple directly behind the one we were in, that hadn't been full excavated yet, that most of us went over to and climbed up and into.

 

The views from all the various vantage points at the top of hills and temples was breathtaking.

 

We all bought a few drinks and piled into the van for the hour and 1/2 ride back to the ship.

 

After a couple of us on the Uxmal excursion spoke to some of the Chitzen Itza people that night, we were all glad we did Uxmal, as they confirmed that they indeed did not climb on anything or get to get close to almost anything. (let alone walk through or on the majority of the site like we did.)

 

When we arrived back we had 30 minutes to quickly breeze through the handful of shops there right next to the ship. (but after the suitcase full of deals we had picked up at Los Cinco Soles in Cozumel the day before, we didn't need much.)

 

Since we had a Mayan Ruins excursion planned in Belize anyway, I was extremely pleased with Progresso being substituted for Belize. (if I had planned on scuba or snorkeling, I would not have been)

Plus the price for the refunded excursion in Belize was an exact wash for Uxmal’s price.

Nassau : We love Nassau and this was our third stop there in a year.

Usually we set out and explore the town (not the skanky shops on Bay St. or Straw Market, like the many Nassau complainers do), the sites and wind up back at the British Colonial Hilton to take advantage of their incredible $15 day pass to use their pool and beach.

This time, with a shorter port time and Jeanne under the weather from the courteous cruiser on the Lido deck who brought us all a gift from home.

We opted to take a Jitney for a $1 to Ardastra Gardens and Zoo.

Ardastra Gardens and Zoo was beautiful.

Very cool seeing Peacocks and Flamingoes just walking about the park as you view the other animals.

 

The marching Flamingo show was very cool.

 

The feeding of the Lorry Parrots was just amazing.

The birds were the most vivid colors.

I had two on each arm eating cantalope from my hands and two more on the straw cowboy hat I had worn for the sun and another just hanging on my back.

My Wife got a ton of pictures and the girls working there were jokingly calling me the birdman of Ardastra Gardens.

 

As a kid, I would have had an unbelievable time at this place.

(I still had one, as a 42 year old adult. LOL...)

Sadly we then returned to the ship so Jeanne could get some rest.

Debarkation :

Kudos to whoever installed the new number system for debarkation, versus the old color system which sucked.

The numbers supposedly ran from 1 - 40.

They began calling the first numbers a little before 8AM.

They did numbers 1 -5, one at a time, which were all the folks with early flights.

Then they began calling the people with all of their luggage.

From the lowest deck up, one at a time, up to I believe the Empress deck.

Then they called numbers 6, 7 and 8 one at a time.

Then they returned to the people with their luggage and finished the rest of the decks and had all of the self disembarkation folks off the ship before 9AM.

Then they returned to the numbers in order, at number 9, one at a time. (these started to go pretty quick, to where it was almost two at a time.)

We had number 12 and got called pretty quickly and proceeded down to deck 3.

Once on deck 3 it took less than 2 minutes to get off the ship, where our previous cruises seemed to bog down at this point, from the confusion with the color system.

Took a few more minutes to breeze through customs, then a few minutes to grab our 5 bags off the baggage carousel.

We caught a cab back to the Radisson, threw our bags in the car and were pulling out of the Radisson parking lot at exactly 9:31AM….

The new number system seemed to be much smoother and faster to debark.

Like I said, we were disappointed in some factors of the cruise, but we made the best of the cruise and still had a really great time. (hopefully “Wee” Jimmy was just having a bad week and he puts a little more effort into the activities for upcoming cruises.)

We are already discussing changing our next cruise booking on the Freedom to do the Glory Western again, since the itinerary will be completely different from this one, except the two ports we loved, Cozumel and Nassau. (but we don't have to drive all the way to Fort Lauderdale.

Bill

[Grits53]

Even though my Glory cruise will be for the eastern itinerary, I was very interested in your review. I was happy to read about your Mayan ruins excursion in Progreso, because I have another cruise planned for Feb. that will stop there. I had been researching and trying to choose which ruins to tour, and I think you made that decision easy for me. Thank you! I have been to Tulum and Chacchoben, which are unique in their own ways, and I thoroughly enjoyed each of them. When Costa Maya has opened back up, be sure to go to Chacchoben. It's only partially excavated, but there are several temples that have been restored, and you are allowed to climb on them. This one is different from others, because it is in a jungle like setting with huge palm trees throughout, along with many other trees.

 

Now, I have one question for you, which you might not be able to answer, but I'll ask anyway. Do you know whether or not you can connect to the wireless internet with your laptop from the cabins in the aft area of the Glory??

[CrusinAgain]

Oh wow I hope they schedule activites during our cruise in May on this ship as we are not sun worshipers.

 

What were your scheduled hours in Key West and did you have to tender or did it dock?

[okgirl]

Bill, Great review. I agree about Wee Jimmy we were on the 9/1 Eastern itinerary and had heard so much about what a great CD he was but I never saw him out at any venue for the whole week.

 

As for the Conquest class ships, they happen to be my favorite, and I believe that if you'll give them another try you'll start to appreciate the layout more and more. I too like the more abundant dining venue's.

 

It's always interesting to read reviews and see how people who have experienced the same cruise have very different expectations and outcomes. I find many of the things that you don't enjoy to be what brings me back time and again. I do like to gamble, don't enjoy the shows, or sun too much. My perfect day is sitting on the Promenade watching people go by or reading a book. I prefer to eat almost all of my meals in the dining room, but after open seating breakfast and lunch, I'm ready to stop talking to people and be at a table with just my sister and I.

 

I do have a question though. I'm going to be in Cozumel in February and was planning a day at Paradise Resort (but not looking forward to the crowds). What is Nachi Cocum? how do you get there? and do they have a website that I can visit? It sounds like the ideal place, if they have some indoor area's where sis can get out of the heat and sun.

[amandachit]

What was the massage special on thursday? I am very curious.

[Cigar Dude]

Did I ever meet you on the ship? I can't remember! :confused:

 

The Ivory Club was a huge place and hardly anyone in there! I wonder if Carnival will find something else to do with it. If it doesn't bring in more people, I'm sure they will! Will that mean the end of an indoor place for cigars? I hope not.

 

I smoked most of mine on the outdoor pool decks, or on my balcony. Of course, on the excursions too! :D

[bguppies]

What was the massage special on thursday? I am very curious.

Pick any 3 from a list of 6 various services for $89.

(basically they added up to an hour of services)

 

Bill

[bguppies]

I do have a question though. I'm going to be in Cozumel in February and was planning a day at Paradise Resort (but not looking forward to the crowds). What is Nachi Cocum? how do you get there? and do they have a website that I can visit? It sounds like the ideal place, if they have some indoor area's where sis can get out of the heat and sun.

 

Nachi Cocum is just down the road past Paradise, San Fransisco, etc...

 

Go to the Cozumel boards in here and do a search for nachi Cocum.

The longest review thread had a link to Island Adventures website and reservations for nachi Cocum.

 

There was nothing completely indoors.

Just the restaurant and bar, under the huge thatched roof.

Which was very cool the day we were there. (probably mid-90's outside that day)

 

Bill

[bguppies]

What were your scheduled hours in Key West and did you have to tender or did it dock?

 

Was supposed to be noon - 6 I think.

But we arrived late, then had to wait to be called by deck for the shuttles, which our deck didn't get called until well after 1PM and had a 20-25 minute shuttle ride in and then back out.

 

You dock at the Navy base, but can't leave the ship, except to jump directly on the shuttle.

 

Bill

[bakechef]

Funny you would mention cold symptoms. I was on the 9-1 to 9-8 sailing and 3 out of the 6 in our group came down with bad colds starting with symptoms on debarkation day. I actually had to call in sick to work on monday the 10th from fever, and really bad cold symptoms. I still have some congestion.

 

I thought it was just a fluke

 

MAC

[Rayefan]

Thanks for the review.... I appreciate your comments. We are heading out on the Glory this weekend... and after reading your comments I am ready to leave tonight.... We have never been to Key West so, I am really excited about that...

 

Again, THANKS!

[NICKEE23]

I just returned from the glory on 09/15. I could not get out of bed on Thursday and my stateroom was on the empress deck. Half of my floor had the cold TOO!!!!!!

[ancfun]

We were on this cruise also. Luckily our section of the Lido deck missed the little bug. We agree with the comments about the lack of activities scheduled. Our previous cruises had so many activities that you had to decide which ones you were going to miss. This time if you missed an activity you didn't have anything to do for a couple hours. I do wish that we had more time in each port except for Progresso. We are not much on ruins and would have been fine without this port. I enjoy the clear blue water of the Carribean and not the Gulf water.

 

Since we were only in Nassau for a short while, we decided to just visit a beach. We took the $1 bus towards Cable Beach. While on the bus we decided that we didn't have time to justify paying for an all-inclusive so we asked the driver if he could just take us to a beach. He carried us to a public beach at Sandy Harbor. We walked a short distance to a beach restuarant and set in the lounge chairs on the beach. We had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed a day at the beach for just $4 per couple.

[bguppies]

For us, I think the cold started on the end of the lido deck closest to the pool area.

Saturday and Sunday I kept hearing people coughing in their cabins as we passed by to head to the pool or Red Sail......

Then as the week went on, we'd hear more people scattered throughout the deck as we passed in the halls.

 

Not much you can really do in such confined spaces as that.

 

Just hoping we can beat this thing by the weekend.

 

Bill

[bguppies]

We were on this cruise also. Luckily our section of the Lido deck missed the little bug. We agree with the comments about the lack of activities scheduled. Our previous cruises had so many activities that you had to decide which ones you were going to miss. This time if you missed an activity you didn't have anything to do for a couple hours. I do wish that we had more time in each port except for Progresso. We are not much on ruins and would have been fine without this port. I enjoy the clear blue water of the Carribean and not the Gulf water.

 

Since we were only in Nassau for a short while, we decided to just visit a beach. We took the $1 bus towards Cable Beach. While on the bus we decided that we didn't have time to justify paying for an all-inclusive so we asked the driver if he could just take us to a beach. He carried us to a public beach at Sandy Harbor. We walked a short distance to a beach restuarant and set in the lounge chairs on the beach. We had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed a day at the beach for just $4 per couple.

Glad you guys missed out on the bug......

 

We were sort of glad with the Progresso and Key West changes, for us, since it is extremely easy for us to drive to Port Canaveral and sail.

Those two are not offered as ports from PC generally.

So now we are debating changing our next booking on the Freedom out of Fort Lauderdale (which would be an all day drive down for us) to another Western Glory sailing, which now would still feature Cozumel and Nassau which we both love to stop at.

But also Belize and Costa Maya again, which now will be all new to us.:D

 

Plus the Mayan Ruins were for me and a 1 time thing.

Now that I have seen one of the major sites, we will probably only do half day excursions to smaller sites, so that we can also do a half day at the beach.

 

Now I can skip the ruins in Belize and go snorkleing.:D

 

Thanks for the tip on the beach in Nassau.

Always nice to have somewhere new to explore there. (since every ship out of Port Canaveral stops there.);)

 

Bill

[WINDOW1]

Great review Bill.

 

Thank You

[DqALEX]

Thank you for your review. Im booked in late January and going west too.

[rebeljohn]

The Ivory Club was the primary walkway to the large Platinum Dining room on deck 4.

So no matter what time of the day, you constantly have families with mostly pre-school children on this sailing or non-smokers walking directly through the center of the room to get to open seating breakfast or lunch or to either dinner seating at the platinum dining room.

Then it is hard to relax and enjoy a cigar when you have to listen to every vocal non-smoker, grumble as they would pass through the cigar bar on their way to the Dining Room!!!!

We weren’t the idiots who placed the cigar bar in the main passage to the dining room….:rolleyes:

 

Bill.......

GREAT review! When we were on the Miracle last year, the cigar area was in a lounge as you enter the dining room. We had the same expreiences as you..............they have moved the cigar area on the Miracle....to the upper decks I think, so that will probably happen on the Glory too......Since you like Key West and Cozumel, I'm suprised you haven't booked the Majesty out of Charleston...........yeah, I know...... it isn't Carnival..........but it is a cruise ship..........

[bunny1954]

Great review Bill. Just one question.....you mentioned on the way to Uxmal that you stopped at a church that had been built over a demolished Mayan temple. Was that Izamal by any chance? We are on the 6 Oct Glory sailing and it looks like we will have your itinerary also. We had pretty much decided on the Uxmal excursion and your review sealed the deal for us to go there.

 

Judy

[mamajules]

<Progresso : We signed up for the Uxmal Mayan ruins on the advice of many on the Progresso boards and will forever be grateful.>

 

Thanks so much for the review Bill. We're on the Glory 10/20 and this is probably our itinerary. Did you book the Uxmal excursion once you got on the ship? Since they haven't officially released our itinerary, we can't book anything advance for the new ports yet. This is the excursion we definitely want to take, so anything you can let me know would be helpful.

 

Thanks!

[Grits53]

I just returned from the glory on 09/15. I could not get out of bed on Thursday and my stateroom was on the empress deck. Half of my floor had the cold TOO!!!!!!

 

I hope you feel better soon!

 

Note to self: Pack Lysol, germicidal hand cleaner, and Airborne..... and USE IT!!! (I'll be boarding the Glory Oct. 13 and will be on the Empress deck. :rolleyes: )

[kaytez]

Funny you would mention cold symptoms. I was on the 9-1 to 9-8 sailing and 3 out of the 6 in our group came down with bad colds starting with symptoms on debarkation day. I actually had to call in sick to work on monday the 10th from fever, and really bad cold symptoms. I still have some congestion.

 

I thought it was just a fluke

 

MAC

 

Same sailing...same symptoms. I had a sore throat for a couple of days then started the cough Thurs. night and was miserable Fri. Needless to say the 10 hr drive home Sat. was no fun. I too am still recovering...can't seem to shake it.:(

Still had a great cruise and looking forward to the next one!:D

We were on the Veranda forward/starboard.

[bunny1954]

Hope all of you guys that came down with something feel better soon. Must have been something that was making the rounds of a lot of the cruise ships that week. My DS and DIL came home around the same time from their honeymoon cruise and both had colds. They were cruising on NCL.

[KC Cruiseaddict]

Oh my gosh! :eek: Our room is on the Empress deck too...

Now I'm paronoid that we're all gonna get sick on the cruise! Grits, I'm bringing your list of items too...including Alieve Cold and Sinus...just in case. ;)

 

Sorry to those of you who got sick and hope you all get to feeling better soon. I feel even worse for the crew if they end up getting it and still have to make it a paradise for us who are wanting to be pampered. :(

But then they'll be spreading their germs around too... :confused: ugh!

[bakechef]

Same sailing...same symptoms. I had a sore throat for a couple of days then started the cough Thurs. night and was miserable Fri. Needless to say the 10 hr drive home Sat. was no fun. I too am still recovering...can't seem to shake it.:(

Still had a great cruise and looking forward to the next one!:D

We were on the Veranda forward/starboard.

 

Luckily it really didn't hit hard until Sunday evening for us, We broke the 9 hour drive into two segments on the way home, just to stretch out the vacation a bit, so we returned on sunday, the last 2 hours I felt like crap, and I was driving.

 

We were on the Spa deck and I got it and my SO didn't. Our cruise mates were on the Empress deck and all but one of them got sick.

 

I also usually ramp up on Zinc and Vitamin C before a vacation, I didn't this time, and was very lax taking my multivitamin on the trip, so I set myself up.

 

To those of you going on the glory, the best I can tell you is, give your immune system a boost any way you can, and wash your hands often, keep your fingers out of your mouth and hope for the best!

 

 

MAC