My Experience on the Glory (long review type deal)

[shannonfromhawaii]

I meant to do this awhile ago but I haven't had the time. So it’s been awhile but we were on the August 7th cruise and oh boy was it fun. Getting on took longer than I remembered with any other ships, but with all the excitement you barely notice. I’d say it took about 1-2 hours. Other ships we have walked right on. We had a cabin with a window - 2328, and although we’ve had a balcony before, this room didn‘t bother us one bit. The three of us were able to fit on the two beds pushed together comfortably. We, as girly teenagers , immediately decorated and rearranged things to make it seem more cute. A few changes go along way, people. The bathroom, as usual, is super small.. But what can you do? The first night was casual dinning, and I actually saw someone come in wearing a bikini. We had early seating, 5;45, in the platinum dining room. I especially enjoyed Ricardo, the maitre d. He was very entertaining. We also enjoyed when the wait staff would get up on the tables and dance. It was very funny and better than any dinning room entertainment I’ve seen on any other ship. Our waiter wasn’t the friendliest, I think he was shy, but his assistant was very nice. Sweet younger girl, who was new to the team. My only complaint about the service is that on other ships if you had asked for lemon for your water on the first nights, they would have it waiting for you the following nights. We had to ask for lemons every night up until the last night we ate there. Oh well, it didn’t bother us that much as it’s not THAT difficult to ask for some lemon, but I did notice that difference. Also one night (semi-formal) I wanted to take a nap, so I came to dinner just to eat dessert/talk with my family. Well despite getting there when everyone else was getting there dessert menus, they still offered the dinner menu.

 

In terms of the food I wasn’t that impressed. It was good, but nothing spectacular. We ate in the dinning room every night except for the last night, because we were preoccupied with the hurricane and for us girls, trying to register for college in the internet café. (if you’re curious it’s 55$ for 100 minutes, 105$ for 250 minutes, and .75$ a minute)

 

I can’t specifically remember any entrees I liked in the dinning room. I mainly stuck with chicken, shrimp or steak. My best friend averaged at about 2 entrees a night and our waiter didn’t bat an eye. The lamb was her favorite. The strawberry bisque taste like a very thin strawberry milkshake. I felt like I was eating dessert before dinner.

 

Alternative dinning was nothing special. We went on that last night and the only thing I liked were the steak fries. The sushi was a hassle to get to (timing), and when I did it definitely wasn’t worth it. Maybe I’m spoiled living in Hawaii ,where there are tons of different sushi places, but this wasn’t good at all. The ice cream was definitely a treat, the pizza wasn’t that great, and I never tried the cheeseburgers by the pool. However we did eat in the dinning room for lunch on the last two days and the cheeseburgers there were very good. I was told they were the same at the pool. The service in the dinning room at lunch wasn‘t good at all though. They seemed to not care, and not want to be there. This was true on both days so I know it wasn’t just a bad day.

 

We got room service every day just because we could and I think between the three of us we tried everything on that menu . However, we weren‘t impressed by anything, except for the potato salad.. which you can get upstairs. My sister liked the cookies though.

 

We went to Nassau, St Thomas and St Martin. Nassau was our favorite. We took a boat to Blue Logoon to go snorkeling. The snorkeling was a joke, nothing to see and nowhere to really go. However my best friend and I being lazy.. we definitely enjoyed the many hammocks they set up. Very relaxing and comfortable. The bar there was giving away tons of drinks, at one point they said whoever came up would get 2 free drinks. Also when you first get off you can get free rum punch or just normal punch. Apparently one YOUNG girl had too much rum punch because on the way back this girl, who couldn’t have been over 15, had to be carried (or should I say dragged) back to the boat, by her parents! She was obviously trashed and completely out of it.

 

The next stop was St Thomas. My 18 year friend was able to buy 3 big bottles of rum for about $15 to take back on the boat. If you buy 3 or more they’ll send it back to the ship for free. We were amazed to see that bottles that sell for 40$ in the states go for $5-$10 here. No problems with her being 18 obviously.

 

The shore tour we took was to Trunk bay to snorkel. The snorkeling was MUCH better here. But we only had an hour to do so. We spent ¾ of the time trying to get there and well, it wasn’t even an enjoyable ride. VERY rocky and one person got sick in the very beginning making the whole place smell absolutely horrible for the rest of the trip.

 

Next was St Martin and for the life of me I cannot remember what the name of the place was called. It was close to the ship, maybe a 10 minute bus ride. It was relatively cheap with a nice beach, 2 free drinks and a free (yet gross) lunch. Us three girls did the banana boat for 10$ a person. If I could take this back I would. With the three of us, in my opinion, nobody wanted us to go with their parties because the less people the more you bounce around. The people in charge told us to go with a group, but then this group told us that they told them that we weren’t supposed to. After they left we were yelled at “Why didn’t you get on with them?!” we answered .. they said you said not to.. ?? And he’s like “I didn’t say that!” It was very confusing. However, Eventually we got on and well, it was not worth it. I only fell off once, my sister and best friend fell off four times. However when I fell off I broke my nail. ...it completely ripped off the nail bed and I have a huge bruise.. still! My best friend lost her sunglasses, but that was her stupidity for wearing them in the first place.

 

So that’s it’s for shore tours. I did no shopping in any of the towns except for to buy some shot glasses that have since broken.

 

Lets see. In terms of the nightlife on the cruise we definitely enjoyed the dancing in the White Heat Disco. Actually I met Shannon from ct (on these boards) there. She approached me and I’m glad she did. It was nice meeting you Shannon, if you read this J So dancing was fun.. We went every night and usually stayed til 3am when it closed. Unless something better came up. The music was usually a vide variety, and whatever we requested the D.J. would play.

 

We also enjoyed the casino, but as first time gamblers we stuck to the slots. It was fun, a good atmosphere.. but VERY smoky! Every night our hair and clothes would smell awful. It got to the point of us not wanting to even walk through there in the beginning of the night because we didn’t want to smell like that. As I’m typing this though, it’s occurring to me that this is probably what all casinos are like, so never mind. The blonde lady who sang right a couple of nights right by the bar and was great. We enjoyed her. Very nice voice doing covers of classic songs.

 

We only went to one show and it wasn’t good at all. I think it was Welcome to America or something. Bleh. It was awful. I almost fell asleep. Oh and we went to the not adult comedian show. He was very funny especially when he did his adult show the next night. We went to all three of the midnight adult comedian shows. The first one was great. We were sitting in the front row and well let’s just say I got picked on. If you were there, I was the blonde girl who went to use the bathroom and when I came back the comedian had moved my sister and friend to the other side of the room and in there place were two big men I did not know. It was very funny though, and I’m glad I was part of it. The next one wasn’t good at all. I was confused and bored and not amused at all. The last one was the guy I talked about before. He was VERY funny, I think my favorite. Basically go watch these midnight shows, they’re the BEST! Sorry I don’t know their names, I wasn’t paying attention.

 

I noticed a LOT of rocking on this boat, more so on any other I’ve been on. It was definitely noticeable in at night, even when we were dancing in the club we felt ourselves going to one side. I heard complaints of the ship being ‘chopped up’ and hard to navigate and I didn’t think it would be a problem for me. Well, it was. I got lost so many times! Yet again, comparing it to the other ships I’ve been on, this was the worst. Other times I knew my way around by the 3rd day. Still on the 7th day on Glory I was lost. You can’t walk straight across anywhere. It’s not a matter of me being lazy either, not wanting to go up and down stairs.. I would just not know where to go.

 

The hurricane was a bit scary. The port closed the day before and it was unsure to anyone whether or not we’d be docking the next day as planned. However, the port opened and we got off at the original planned time.

 

Well I can’t think of anything else! Hope i gave some insight to what it's like on board!:)