Carnival Glory Reviews

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Embarkation in Miami; We arrived later than normal for us and found that the lines extended to outside the building. However, the lines were constantly moving so it wasn't too bad. I would guess about it took about 45 minutes to board the ship. Room: There were three of us in the cabin. The cabin layout was very good and the bathroom a little larger than some we have had on previous cruises. The bunk drops from the ceiling, rather than the wall, and this seemed to allow more room between the beds. The fridge does not get very cold, but it was adequate for our needs. Our room steward, Osnel(sp) was very pleasant and did a very good job in taking care of our room. He responded promptly to any requests that we had. He also created some terrific towel animals. Food: We didn't have any real issues with the food. We split the evening dining between the dining room and the buffet We had breakfast and lunch at the buffet. All of us enjoyed the Grill, the Mongolian Wok, the Burrito Bar, and the Deli. The deserts were very good for the most part, the only disappointment I had was the Creme Brulee in the dining room. Worst Experience: The muster was awful. Although it was forty minutes, it seemed like forever. The person manning the microphone kept saying that we would just have to stand there until everyone was quiet. Although, no one in our area was talking. We were tired, the heat was getting to us, and I was feeling claustrophobic. Since the Costa Concordia I think everyone understands the importance of the muster drill - but no one expected to be treated like a kindergartner being told to stand in the naughty corner. Second Worst Experience: Getting back on the ship in the different ports. Carnival does not seem to have a handle on this. In Nassau the lines were about ten people wide and went from the front to the back of the ship and these lines barely moved. Even though there were two gangways with two machines on each to scan the cards, each gangway had just one machine scanning cards. It was pretty much the same in San Juan and St. Thomas. I would book another Carnival cruise if I liked the itinerary. There were many things I liked about the Carnival Glory: The numerous spots inside with comfortable seats to sit and read, more than adequate amount of deck chair, the Serenity area for adults, the number of hot tubs, and the adult pool area at the back of the ship. We had great service from our cabin steward and the wait staff.

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#Check-in - Terrible. It was pouring Rain in Miami. The check-in line was so long, many of us were left standing/waiting in the rain - with no apologies. When we finally reached the check-in clerk, she did not know what she was doing. We had already pre-checked in online, but it still took her almost 1/2 an hour to give us our keys! Total check-in time: 1.5 hours. But it did not stop there, then we had to stand in line to get on the ship - and got wet again. We could see a lot of luggage carts waiting to be loaded sitting in the rain as well - it must have been their lunch time; they did not cover it with tarps. Certainly some people had soaking clothes when their luggage arrived! #Luggage - beware! You are for-warned that your luggage might not arrive to your cabin before 6pm. Ours arrived at 5:50pm - luckily we had late seating. #Entertainment is First Class fabulous! Great shows, great comedians, great lounge shows/music #Food/Dining - bad... We had to polish our own silverware each night because we often received dirty silverware and glasses. We had late seating (8:15pm). Our table number was 638. Avoid this corner at all cost!!! We had to beg for just about everything. We dressed for dinner every evening (suit, tie, cocktail dress). Majority were in shorts and sandals/running shoes (75%), so if you prefer that kind of dining, this ship is perfect. The waiters were friendly, but not good at their job - often reaching over and in front, not coming back to see how your dinner is, serving courses either on top of each other or so spaced out that you felt like walking out. Then they have their "dinner show". This is comprised of your waiters dancing around and acting "sexy". Many people enjoyed this - we did not. Why? Because our food was sitting on trays with covers getting cold (most of the time cold!) while they were dancing around like idiots. Wine service: We enjoy wine with our meal. The server could not seem to get her act together. Some evenings we were mid meal before she came around to get our order, one evening she overslept and her replacement knew nothing about wine or where the list was (or that it actually existed). In fairness of the waitstaff, perhaps they are simply over-worked and need more help on the floor?! Not my problem. #Vacuuming at 6:00am - banging against the doors; because doors have an open vent, it is as if they are vacuuming beside the bed; we think they want to force the people awake so they can finish cleaning! They make the same noises and crashing of plates with room service (early breakfast). We came back to our cabin one evening/morning at 1:30am and they were Vacuuming the public laundry area - all the rooms around had snoozing signs, but I doubt they were able to sleep! #Employees - self important. Stay out of their way or they will run you over! Do not expect smiles or courtesy or service. Servers are clowns putting on shows and therefore forgetting about your food (more on that later), bar staff are busy complaining about their long days without breaks (7 days a week, 8 months at a time) - I assume they knew this when they applied. Exceptions: Emmanuel who worked the various bars was always Friendly and appeared to always be happy; he remembered your name and always greeted everybody with smiles! Our room attendant was awesome as well. Checkpoints at ports are like Gestapo! We often "forgot" that we are the guest and actually help to pay their paychecks (and are forced to pay 15% gratuities plus up front plus more tips are either auto added to your bill or expected at the end of your cruise) #Room Attendant - Rooms were kept very clean. However, we had a late dinner and took the opportunity to have a nap before getting ready (we are the "old fashioned type" and like to dress for dinner). On day 2 and 3 the room attendant woke us up to do turn down. We each took our turn explaining we have late dinner, so please don't come before we are gone (a list would be helpful!). On the 4th day we remembered to hang out the "Snoozin" sign, but she knocked again!!! She said our sign said to make up room - Hmm, guess some of the "fun" people on the "fun" ship had some "fun". #Stateroom - Very roomy! (#2289 - window) We had a king bed, full sofa (plastic), lots of closet space, make-up area, refrigerator and television and a nice size window (we could sit in it!). The temperature control never worked - the room was always cold. Ice was replaced morning and night! Bathroom had a leaking sink, toilet and shower. Shower had a shower curtain (hate those things!), complimentary shampoo and gel soap. Bar soap does not get replaced... #Watch your charges carefully on the tv - we had to go to guest services (think waiting lines) to remove incorrect charges twice! #Beverage Package: cost was $6.00/day - they only allow one cup (yes cup, not glass) per card swipe. You can not bring your own container and ask them to fill it. We had our Royal Caribbean pop coolers along and they refused to fill them. #Line ups for food: Nightmare!!! #Tenders - think cattle being pushed through hallways after lining up to get numbers to sit and wait until your numbers are called. Grand Cayman was particularly bad. #Sanitation: Beware!!! The public areas are a disgrace! Handrails are sticky, tables are sticky and not cleaned (we often had to clean the seats and tables/remove plates so we would have somewhere to sit, elevators and buttons are dirty. There are some sanitation stations (better than nothing), but because it is so dirty everywhere, it is a losing battle. Would be interesting to know which ships have the most outbreaks. #Laundry: They have public laundry areas where you can wash and dry your clothes ($3.00each load) and there is an iron and ironing board as well. We found that to be a nice bonus! #Internet: Pay per minute or purchase a package. Bonus: Wifi works in your cabin! ******************************* Ports of Call Be prepared. You are herded through shops at every Port - both ways - Cozumel, Mexico: We went out of the port to a little bar which had wifi internet. Drank some Margaritas and answered our emails. Grabbed a taxi ($15) to Paradise Beach. This was great - no entrance fee. We had our thermos along filled with lemonade from the ship, so we did not need expensive drinks. There was changing rooms, showers, bathrooms, huge pool and a nice beach. If you want, you can rent chairs, snorkel equipment, kayaks and a band for in water rock climbing, slides and trampolines. Taxi back was $13. Comparison Total for 2 people (beach portion only): $28 - our way Carnival Shore Excursion Ship Price(Beach Only): $40pp = $80.00 We give Paradise Beach a thumbs up! Do it yourself! - Belize City, Belize: we did the Cave Tubing Shore excursion with lunch included. Ship price: $95pp = $190. Lunch was Rice, beans and chicken with one glass of fruit juice punch We did not enjoy this at all. When we arrived at the cave (after a 1.5 hour bus ride), we are informed that the water shoes can be rented for $5 (no flip flops allowed, running shoes are ok), lockers cost $7 (must, you can not take anything with you. The helmets stink from all the sweaty heads. Probably due to a dry season, the water was very low and not moving so the guides were pulling the tubes through the cave. Very boring. We give this tour a thumbs down. - Roatan, Honduras: We hired a private taxi for $20 (walk outside of the port to the left). He took us to Bananarama beach (cruise ship area is called Tabyana Beach). Driver was very friendly, spoke perfect English and was very informative. The beach had lots of bars and restaurants and you could rent snorkel equipment. We rented a boat with snorkeling equipment for $30 and went out for some great snorkeling. When we arrive back, we had some lunch ($8 quesadilla x 2) and as promised, our taxi driver took us back to the port. He is allowed to enter to drop us off. Our trip with beach, lunch and snorkeling: $66. Carnival shore excursion: $40pp = $80 - This does not include lunch or snorkeling equipment. Thumbs up! Do it yourself! - Grand Cayman: We walked to the 7 Mile Tiki Beach. Beautiful beach! The ship area has showers. Taxi back was $4pp = $8. Our cost $8. Carnival Shore Excursion: $40pp = $80 Thumbs up! Do it yourself! Note: Burger King has Free Wifi

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Our trip started by making the drive to the Port of Miami. We live about two hours away, so it's very convenient to just hop in the car and go. We had our family drive us to avoid the $20 a day charge for parking at the pier. The port is easy to get to although you have to go through downtown Miami to get to it. The parking at this port can be quite confusing sometimes, but as mentioned before we were dropped of so it was quite easy. Now comes the dreaded part, security and embarkation. We typically like to get to the ports early 11-12 usually. We like to get on the ship and spend time exploring before there are to many people on board. We arrived around 1030am this morning. We cleared security quickly, and they were not to unfriendly. They did pull our bag aside and inspect the 12 bottles of water we had. We headed upstairs to find approximately 100 or so people already checked in. We got checked in quickly and sat down and waited for embarkation. They had a nice comfortable place to the side that had maybe 50 chairs so we decided to relax their until they called us. While we waited we decided to get a drink from the soda machine, which was inoperable at the time. As we waited, we noticed it was now 11:15, no embarkation just yet, and at 11:30, boarding has been delayed......boring. So we sat there until about 13:00 before we were aloud to board the ship. The embarkation was more miserable than waiting the 2 hours to board the ship. As we walked up to the walkway, people were not moving very quickly. We finally get on the deck of the ship and guess what, it took 1/2 an hour to get to security on the ship to scan the card and take our pictures. This was the worst embarkation I've ever had. Next we headed straight for the dining room because they had our dining restaurant as my time dining on our card even though we selected early seating. We also wanted to sit with our friends. The dining staff were quick to change our reservations to early dining, but were unable to get us on a table with our friends, a little disappointing, but it was a pretty big group so it was quite understandable. After that we made our way to the stateroom, and then a ship tour. We all know what comes next, the dreaded but mandatory evacuation drill. I'm all for safety and everyone knowing whats going on, so I very willingly participate, but this was by far the most miserable drill I ever had. We stood there for what seemed like 1/2 hour after the signal. Every two minutes, the cruise director would come on the PA and say you need to be quite, we can't start until your quite....for 1/2 an hour. Afterwards, we went to the room to wave from our balcony as we passed through South Beach. We were on our way. A little about the stateroom while I'm here. The stateroom was like any other on most carnival ships, plain, but that is fine with us. We had a balcony cabin for three people. It was a little tight, but we fit fine. The toilet had a black ring around it, we called guest services and they sent someone who told us, "it's just the pipes, it's normal." I was a little concerned. I had to ask if the rest of the pipes were like that HAHA. I don't know about you, but I've NEVER been on a cruise ship where the toilet had a black ring in it. This black ring was like carbon from a carbon filter, and was there the entire cruise. In addition to the black ring, occasionally the flush button wouldn't work and you would have to push the button really hard for it to work. The next problem we encountered was an overflowing shower, which was very quickly resolved after yet another call to guest services. Occasionally the bathroom door lock would stick and you would have to try multiple times to unlock the door. The one recurring problem we had in our room though was TERRIBLE air conditioning. It was so bad that we would sweat every night. We contacted guest services, they sent someone, we would call them again the next day, they would send someone, yet never ever fix the problem. At one point they promised a fan, and if they couldn't get us a fan would leave us a note....never happened. I know it was a problem with our room, because our friends had balconies and their air was cool, and our other friends were interior and the air was cold. Apparently they can't fix this problem. :(. Other than this, the room was fairly nice. Three closets, four drawers (only three usable) and other storage spaces. OK moving onward. Now I want to talk about the ship. We have been on the Valor, the sister ship to the Glory, and enjoyed the decor on Valor much more. I really enjoyed the decor of the casino. I always find the layout of carnival ships awkward sometimes. We ate at the platinum dining room on the third deck aft. The problem with this location is simply, you cannot go anywhere from there. You have to take the elevator or stairs back up to the 5th deck to get back to the third deck where guest services is. I find this design terrible. Really, you can only get from front to back on the 5th deck and the 9th deck. There are a few places I did enjoy, one of those being 6th and 7th deck forward, where you can leave the hallway to outside the front of the ship. This is an excellent view for anyone who wants to see it, and I suggest standing there upon departure. We spent most of the time on deck 5, where they had they had the Burgundy Bar. That is where we met our favorite of all the employees, Gladys the bar tender. She was amazing. We also spent time at the White Heat night club. They played up to date music there and I enjoyed it there. As I mentioned, we ate at the Platinum dinning room in the rear of the ship. The dining room was nothing special and I actually didn't really enjoy the decor very much at all. It just seemed plain and boring. The amber palace was ok, the design was a bit loud, but it was nice. Ebony Cabaret is where they have the comedy shows every night. This space is actually quite nice. I like the design of the half round chairs, and the rotating couch like chairs. They did not have enough room for all the people to see the comedy show, and was often times standing room with people waiting outside. I will also mention, the two tables in the front, dead center have a terrible, non-functional design. If someone is sitting at one table, no one on the neighboring table will be able to sit comfortable...I PROMISE. We enjoyed the pools, but were surprised to find that the pools and slide were salt water. I don't mind salt water pools, but the splashing of the water slide burned my eyes. Carnival actually keeps the deck looking real nice. The pool area in the rear can be covered in inclement weather which is real nice. We found that the 10th deck aft is the least crowded area with deck chairs. The adult serenity area is also nice, and that location was the only place we actually found "hot" tubs. The other hot tubs were merely lukewarm. The buffet is good, the lines for the burrito bar and the deli were terribly SLOW. The spa was nice, and we found a nice whirlpool inside. The exercise equipment is very nice, and it's the first time I have seen equipment you can plug your ipod/phone directly into the equipment. You can also play games on the machines as well, this was pretty impressive to me. The service on this cruise led a lot to be desired. Every night when we left the night club and went to our room, we would order room service. This was usually between 12 and 2 am. The first night was no problem, after that it seemed like a major ordeal. We would call room service and no one would answer. We waited on hold 10minutes once to no avail. We called multiple times, still no answer. Finally we tried guest services and were told, "wait 5 minutes and call back." This was a never ending story on this cruise, you want food....don't call room service. It was a slap in the face when we were told by guest services on the 4th night that this is a problem and they had a "new guy" answering the phones. Finally we just told guest services our order and demanded they deliver food within 30minutes, amazingly 2 minutes later, they called us back and took our order. Guest services didn't seem very enthused about assisting us with this issue. Going back to the air conditioner in the room, again, it just seemed like we were bothering them and they just didn't care about us. This was probably the worse we have been treated by guest services on a ship. In spite of all this, your bound to find a few people that are happy to be there and happy to help. Gladys our bar tender at Burgundy bar was one of our favorite people we have ever met on a cruise ship. She was amazing. Budhi, our server was good, and our room stewart was very friendly and willing to help us with our needs as they arose. I liked the cruise director, he was friendly and always seemed happy and nice, although they only time I ever say him was when we were at the theater. His staff was pretty cool and made us laugh often times. These people, as always, make the cruise and we did have a very good time. I won't get into the ports as they come later, so my final review...short as it will be, is on debarkation. We always use the self-assist or "walk off" option. This is the quickest, easiest way ever to get off the ship. We left and within 5 minutes we were at the side of the street waiting for our ride. This was a breeze. This my friends is it. :) I had more fun on this ship than most of the others, but one of the worst service staffs I have ever encounter.

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During the summers of 1997 and 1998, I had the pleasure of working for Camp Carnival aboard the Sensation. I was hoping to have been placed on the Imagination my second summer so I could experience the Western Caribbean. ever since that time I always hoped I could come back to experience the western side of the Caribbean. My friend and I had been thinking about travelling to the Caribbean but we couldn't decide where so we went to a travel show and to meet our individual needs we decided that the Carnival Glory was the destination. I was excited to experience my first cruise as a passenger. On April 29th, she and I embarked the Carnival Glory. We didn't let a downpour dampen our spirits as we made our way through the pier and onto the ship. We had a nice cabin with a small window at the aft of the ship. We spent our first two days exploring the ship. All the staff were exceptional in their own way. The cruise director was funny and very informative. I loved waking up to hearing his voice. Our steward knew us by name and was always checking in when he saw us to see how our room was. There was so much to do that there was no way we could have fit everything into the week. The food was awesome no matter where we ate. We ate lunch at the red sail restaurant or in port and for dinner we looked forward to the late sitting where we met a great group of girls. Julio and his assistant waiter were great. The waiters amazed us with their dance moves and singing throughout the cruise. For breakfast we did room service, lido buffet and even a morning at the platinum dining room. While in ports we spent most of the day on carnival excursions. Cozumel was beautiful. We enjoyed zip lining and snorkeling. We had to tender into Belize and Grand Cayman. A bit disappointed with the tendering in Grand Cayman. It took way to long to get people on and off the tender. At night we would relax in our cabin and then get dressed for night time activities. We usually would stop in one of the lounges for some music before dinner. After dinner we would head to a nightly show. All were good but my two favorites had to be the Illusionist and the Rock and Roll show. After the show we would head into one of the lounges for a bit before heading off to bed. I really don't have too many complaints except that I wish I could still be on the ship. Met lots of great people and the excursions were amazing. Next time if I were to cruise i would lounge out on deck and hit the beaches and not do the excursions. I would cruise again in a heartbeat. My next goal is to take my child on a Disney cruise although they are much more expensive, so it could entice me to bring him on a Carnival cruise during the summer when there are more kids on board for him to meet at Camp Carnival. Embarkation and debarkation were easy. Transfers to and from the ship were sufficient and I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone,

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Since we are retired, we booked at the last minute. I called Carnival and through a great agent, Tim Lebonan, managed to snag a 9B cabin that had just opened. We had a flight from hell from St. Louis, with hail, delayed departure, worst turbulence in my 40 years of flying, and then a mechanical on AA that caused us to land in Orlando. The good news was that we walked off one plane and onto another and got to our hotel only about 1 1/2 hours late. The next morning in Miami, it was blowing and raining. After our hotel's included continental breakfast, we boarded the shuttle to the port. Everything went smoothly for a while, then embarkation was delayed for about 20 minutes, due to the high winds being a threat to the gangway. We were on board within an hour, minus the weather delay. Having experienced a deluxe suite on HAL, we were still very pleased with the suite-sized balcony. We had no couch in the room, but the 18 foot room and balcony made up for it. Besides, as smokers, we literally lived on the balcony. We had late fixed seating dining, and absolutely LOVED our wait staff - one was Phillipino and the other 2 were Indonesians. Since we speak a little Bahasa, we all connected immediately, and I cried saying goodbye to Edward, Weta and Indrawa. The food was reasonably good, and we never went hungry. I'm not a chocolate person, but the warm melting chocolate cake was exceptionally good. The buffet at lunch and breakfast were always adequate, although the grill, Mongolian Wok, deli and burrito bar usually had LONG lines. All the ports were about what we expected. We had been to Cozumel before, so we just walked off to buy my husband some sunglasses, since he had forgot his. In Belize, we did do the cruise excursion to Altun-Ha and the Wallace River. The ruins are nothing compared to Tikal, Chichinitza, Uxmal or Tulum, but worth seeing. The river ride was really hot. Still, worth an interesting day! In Roatan, we did the Fun & Sun with Victor Bodden. Nice easy way to spend the day. All we did in Grand Cayman was shop for a few souvenirs. Disembarkation went relatively smooth. We had a long wait at the MIA airport before arriving home. Now, in conclusion: This will probably be our last Carnival cruise. While we appeciate the fact that we could smoke on our balcony, the only other place was up on the Lido, midship pool. It was a constant LOUD and FRENETIC place. I knew there would be hairy chest contests and ice-carving, etc., but I had no idea that the surround sound speakers would be that loud, and they either played music or ran movies from early morning until late at night, sometimes so loud we couldn't even talk to each other. What's even more mind-boggling is that both the Serenity deck and the aft adults-only pool were BOTH non-smoking. Why not make at least one of these the smoking area, instead of the family area with kids and noise???!! Holland America makes the aft pool the smoking area, and seemingly, reasonably so, since the smoke blows right off the back of the ship. On Carnival, every time someone opened the automatic doors to the Lido Restaurant, all the Mongolian Wok (MUCH more smoke than from cigs) and the cigarette smoke blew into the air-conditioned, non-smoking area!! We would probably sail with Carnival again, but for the above facts. The ship and food and crew and cleanliness were all equal to HAL, but the fact that HAL allows one to carry on unlimited alcohol and that the smoking area is more adult-friendly, makes our decision. We will even spend more money to sail HAL again.

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