Glory revisited for the third time.
Carnival Glory Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Captain
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 14
Helpful Votes: 239
7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 03, 2018
Ship: Carnival Glory
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 7393
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
We decide to do things new for us on this cruise. We added the Carnival Hub app, played trivia, attended an art seminar, rode a sky chair to the beach, sat on beach for much of the day and stayed up late. Nothing spectacular in themselves, yet we had as much fun as ever. Carnival Hub: We used this for this first time this cruise. There are still some bugs to be worked out of this program. First there is no notification of a message from the folks even when you have paid for the chat option. Just a quick note here, DH said he did get a ding but I did not. This shows the system is not consistent enough yet. It “eats the battery” time like the Cookie Monster. Your account information could not be trusted and needed confirmation from either customer service or the Sail & Sign kiosks. The really good part about it was the ability to look at the schedule and see what was happening at any given time of day or right at that moment if you wanted something to do.Embarkation
Smooth and easy. Friends with FTTF went well. Our boarding documents did not have the bar code (don’t know why this did not print). The folks at the door were able to print one on a small piece of paper for us. If this happens do not lose that piece of paper and be sure you have it for everyone in your party.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We are not fans of the American Table, since we cruised before it started, however the food was good. It was cooked well, had good flavor, and we certainly never went hungry. Deserts were delightful. We order the wind package so we had a bottle of wine with dinner. The theme of buffet changed (American, Italian, etc.) daily. I enjoyed the deli. We tried the Bar-b-q one time and it was terrible. We did not try it again, but others seemed to enjoy it.
Onboard Activities
There always seemed to be something happening on the ship. The mini-golf, basketball, ping-pong areas were used. Trivia was offered throughout the day as well as many BINGO games. Of course, there was the Casino for those who enjoy gambling. Art auctions and seminars were available for those with that interest.
Entertainment
The playlist was some we have seen but our traveling companions had not. This was a good presentations of the shows. Dustin would bring the “show” into the Atrium after the production finished and have a Trivia contest, dance contest and a lot of more fun activities pertaining to the production. We don’t usually attend Trivia during a cruise, but chose to do “General Knowledge Trivial” on this one. We had a great time and actually won twice (different questions). I also won on the Trivia about the Glory. Coco from the Fun Squad was good at getting the passengers involved. The last trivia we went to, she was not the person running it and many of the passengers were asking for her. There was a fun band called the Rubber Duck, a steel drum on Lido, and individual entertainers on the Promenade. While we did not go to the Comedy Club, our friends did and said the comedians on the cruise were very good.
Service and Staff
The service in the main dining room has improved since our last Carnival cruise. Maybe we just got lucky with the two different wait staff personnel for YTD. I found that Customer service was very good. The were training several new people so not only did you have two people waiting on you at a time, but the Manager explained what he/she was doing. This did mean it took a bit longer per guest but it also meant that the issue was thoroughly examined. One of the trainees was quite delightful. Her name was Glorious and I hope she stay on the ship (not moved at the end of her training) as I’d enjoy seeing her in February. As we would expect, the crew around the ship were friendly. No matter where we went, they said hello and smiled.
Our room steward, Benjamin was very good. He has been with Carnival for 23 years and his experience was evident. Our phone did not work and he had it fixed within an hour. One of the lights beside the bed would turn on but the switch would not pop out to it allow it to turn off, he had us a new one by that afternoon. Things he couldn’t fix were chipped tiles and cracks in the sink.
Ship Quality
For only being 15 years old the Glory show a lot of wear and tear. She has been used poorly by the weather and the passengers. There was a lot of rust and the crew were painting over it. The weather deck needed refinishing, and at least one staircase on the Lido deck was roped off for the afternoon to do just that. The main pool had to be repaired taking it out of service for a day. The back half of the mini-golf was closed for one day for repairs. The coffee dispenser on deck 10 had the spigot bent midway through the cruise. Food was often “dropped” in the common areas (stairways, hallways, elevators). She is due for a long dry dock and needs some TLC. As we have become accustomed to; the crew was always about cleaning the common areas of the ship. So, while she is need of work she was as clean as she could be.
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Remeber she is an older ship and ingnore her blemishes.
Thumbs up
1
Ports of call
We only spent the night and did not tour. However, we found the Uber to be frustrating as we asked for an XL car (to carry 4 people and their luggage) and they sent a small sedan..twice!
This is a tender port. If you want to get off the ship early, book a tour. The last tender was to leave the dock at 2:30 and folks who were in line to catch a tender at 1:30 were still in line then. We did wait for everyone who was in line before we set sail. It was a late departure.
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
We booked the Carnival shore tour "Relax on the Beach". This is a package for two with a ride from the ship to the beach on the "Magical Flying Beach Chair". It is like a ski lift that goes over the jungle and water to the beach. I could have ridden this back and forth all day it was so fun. Once on the beach we had two lounge chairs & two floats under a clam shell. Note that you are given the floats but they need one sail and sign card to hold until you return the floats. We got there early and were in the first row of clam shells. Fat Tuesdays is the attached restaurant & bar to this part of the beach. There are wait staff that come to your clam shell on a regular basis to take your order. A bit pricey.
Another tender port. We had not planned to even get off the ship, but did in search of good wifi. We were on the ship for the elections & we had some ballot issues that were very important to us. The connections on the ship were very slow, spotty and costly. We went into town and bought 30 minutes for $3 and learned all the things we needed to know. Then got back on the ship.
This is a port you should have a tour booked.
We walked off the ship into the shopping area by the ship. We enjoy this a lot and there was even a tank to put your feet into and have the fish eat the dead skin. I don't know the cost because I wasn't willing to do it. It was almost as much fun watching the faces of the people watching the folks with their feet in the tank as it was wactching the victims.. I mean customers.
Disembarkation
Painless as we had priority debarkation, but we also had a transfer to the FLL airport and we were on the bus early and had to wait for it to fill up before we left. However, we had a great driver who called and checked on traffic before we left and found that the highway was clogged. He took the longer but quicker route through town. He was amazing with the way he handled the bus.
Traveler Photos
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