Carnival Glory Review
Much work needs to be done on the Glory to make her Glorious
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Okay, it took our third cruise for me to finally post a review. And unfortunately it is mostly for the wrong reasons. We're relatively recent converts to cruising, having taken two Western Caribbean trips of 5 and 9 days in the past year. Both trips were thoroughly enjoyable (one each on Carnival and Royal Caribbean) and would rate Five Stars.
Embarkation was smooth. The security line was long when we arrived at 1:15 but it moved quickly, the staff were pleasant enough and we were aboard in about an hour. Once aboard we went to the Fish and Chip Restaurant above the Red Sail Buffet for lunch. The quality of food from there was consistently good for the 4 day duration of the cruise. My wife ate from the Red Sail buffet and the food quality there was consistently poor for the entire trip. All of the food from the buffet was cold save for the fresh-made omlettes for obvious reasons. The burrito bar was another letdown with bland and tasteless burritos. Quality in the dining room was much better overall but the service was very uneven. We had Your Time Dining and had to wait 15-30 minutes on average to get seated each night. It took 2 1/2 hours to complete dinner on our final night as our head waitress was totally distracted taking care of her early seating guests and presumably focusing on boosting her gratuities from them. Food quality in the dining room was mostly good. Some dishes were served cold when service was poor. We ate in the steakhouse one night and the food was very good overall.
The staff on the ship are not a happy bunch. When we've cruised in the past, most staff were friendly and (at least pretended to be) happy to see you. Not so on the Glory. Our room steward was reluctant to empty our the minibar so we could put our sodas and water in. He would only greet us in the hallway if we greeted him first. Bar staff on Lido deck were unhappy when you used the soda card to get a beverage. Staff at the muster drill were downright nasty to many guests who were confused about where to go in the stifling heat.