Labor Day Week Cruise on the Carnival Glory

In July it was time for my wife and I to decide where to go for our annual trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After looking at several options we decided on this cruise since it was one of the few itineraries that did not include a port call in Boston a city we have visited on two other vacations to New England. To get to New York's Manhattan Passenger Ship Terminal instead of driving we found the best option would be to park our car in Wilmington, DE and take a Greyhound bus to New York which is what we did on the morning of September 2. Since it was a holiday and the traffic was light we arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal right on time at 10:15 AM took one of the fastest cab rides I have ever had in New York arriving at the passenger ship terminal by 10:30 AM after leaving our luggage with a porter we made out way to security and check in where we were assigned to boarding group two and received or sail and sign cards where we found due to changes to Carnival's loyalty program we were moved from gold to read status . Boarding began at 11:15 Am and by 11:45 AM we were on board the Glory and made out way up to the Lido Deck for lunch. The buffet on the Lido Deck had a Guy's Burger Joint and a Blue Iguana Cantina (both are Fun Ship 2.0 enhancements) which were located out side near the main pool. In side there were the buffet which had two lines one for Italian and other ethnic foods one for comfort foods or home cooking. On Deck 10 there was a buffet serving seafood and by the aft pool is the 24 hour Pizza. The only option that was missing was Asian which was not available on this ship. Nor was there a Sushi bar replaced by another Fun Ship enhancement called the Taste Bar. For lunch I tried one of the Cheese Burgers form Guys Burger Place which I had without the sauce and I chose to add my own toppings from their topping bar which had every topping option available. The fries were quite good. I then went and bought my bottomless bubbles so I could have unlimited soda. The view from Deck was not that good due to cloud's and fog that limited visibility on the river. At 1:30 PM I checked to see if our cabin was ready but it was not ready at the same time it started to rain lightly. At 2:00 PM our room was ready and we dropped off our carry on bags or luggage was not delivered to our room until 3:30 PM which was when the mandatory safety briefing started we found our muster station to be rather cramped as we did find the rest of the ship to be cramped. At 3:50 PM the starboard side was released from the drill followed by our side when we got up to the Lido deck we found that the Glory was pulling away from the dock. We stayed on deck and took pictures as we sailed past the Manhattan sky line seeing such sites as 1 World Trade Center, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty and just being able to sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. We then went to our cabin to unpack the cabin had plenty of storage space and the in room safe was easier to use than on Royal Caribbean. But the cabin was much smaller than on Royal Caribbean and early in the morning was very stuffy. At 6:00 PM I went back on deck and we had made our way out of New York Harbor to the point where our pilot was picked up by his launch which dropped him off at a larger boat that was near by. After unpacking we went to the Photo Gallery to check out our gangway shots which we decided not to purchase. We then went and checked the dinner menu and had dinner. The service in the dinning room was good but we have found that the quality of the food to be not as good as on previous cruises on Carnival we also discovered that the menus are the same as we had on our first two cruises on Carnival in 2011. After dinner we checked out the ships on deck 5 and went to the 10:15 PM Welcome Aboard show hosted by our cruise director Matt. The show featured a teaser from the show Divas, some comedy by the Cruise Director the show ended with a little bit of stands up but we decided to leave the show early and since it was a long day to get some sleep.

Our second day was the first of two "Fun days at Sea" we woke up and got dresses and headed down the hall to the Lido Deck for breakfast. On our way to breakfast we font the ship was traveling through a heavy fog that stayed with the Glory all day with some lifting of the fog in the afternoon despite the fog the weather was warm. There was the same number of lines as at lunch with each section having a make your own Omelet station along with a dedicated line for those who did not want omelets and stations for those wanting a continental breakfast. Breakfast was about the same as on previous trips on Carnival. After, breakfast we went to the photo gallery and bought a couple of pictures we had taken at dinner the previous night. My wife decided to do some shopping in the fun shops while I attended the cruise director briefing Fun aboard and fun ashore which was a preview of the ports we would be visiting along with information about where the gangways would be. It was at this briefing that I found that the ship would be remaining on New York time and not changing over to Atlantic Time. As on the only other cruse I had where there was a time change the ships time and the local time were the same. After the cruise directors briefing I met my wife and headed to the Lido deck where my wife but some jewelry from the inch of gold sale. After make her purchase we went to the steak house on deck 10 for a wonderful cooking demonstration where the chefs prepared a starter, salad, main course and a desert. With each course the audience got a sample which was very generous. I would recommend this activity to any one who is interested in cooking or fine dining. After the demo we went and had a seafood lunch of fish and chips was quite good. After lunch my wife wanted to take a nap so I watched a free film on the in rooms TV which on the Glory are all flat-screens after within the movie I was going to go out for as walk I found a notice from the shore excursions desk where we found that our excursion to Hopewell Rocks was cancelled due to the tour not meeting the minimum number of participants. I talked with my wife and chose a replacement tour which I want and bought at the shore excursions desk. After taking a walk while my wife was napping. I returned to my cabin and we went to the afternoon tea and cake which was quite good. After tea it was time to start to get ready for Formal night after dressing. We went down to the promenade and had several formal pictures taken and then had dinner. After dinner we attended the Playlist productions show Motor City which was a wonderful production featuring Motown music. The only problem I have is that Carnival has reduced the number of dancers and has eliminated the live music during the show which made the shows much better however the new led back drops for the sets were out standing. After the show we went to the late night snacks which consisted of cookies, fruit and sandwiches. After our snack we went to bed as tomorrow would be the first of two consecutive port days. Read more