I started out my cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on the Carnival Glory in mid January 2008. I had arrived by bus along with several friends and neighbors from the St. Petersburg area on the west coast of Florida. The embarkation process went very smoothly. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. Upon boarding the ship I was immediately impressed by how clean and new everything appeared to be. I later heard that they had just received a cleanliness inspection in the high 90's. The ship looked immaculate.

My cabin was also in very good condition. I was a little disappointed by how small the cabin was though. I had an oceanview room and there was what seemed like less than 3 feet of space to walk between the twin beds and the desk and drawers. While trying to get around the dressers in the dark so as not to disturb my cabinmate I twice injured myself by hitting the shelf that the TV sits on. It sticks out too far. One evening I caught my left eye on it. (Fortunately my eye was closed at the time.) Another night I bruised my collar bone on it. I was told by other more seasoned travelers that they were some of the smallest cabins that they had had. The bathrooms were actually slightly bigger than others I've seen.

One thing I was not prepared for was that apparently they were doing construction work on the ship during the cruise. For about the first 5 days the noise would start between 7:30-8:00 am. It sounded like it was coming from in between floors. The sound of hammering and whining drills would wake me up at that hour and keep me awake. Read more