Carnival Glory Review
Wonderful Spring Break Family Cruise with Excellent Ports to Visit
Rating by category
Additional details
This is the 9th cruise that my husband and I have taken together. I have now been on 12. We have cruised with several different companies, and really, it seems to come down to the ship. This ship was refurbished a couple of years ago, and still seems pretty fresh to me. It isn't the glitzy, gaudy Carnival cruise ship of days gone by; they seem to be changing that look, and I liked it. The ship was very clean and I often saw people tidying things up around the ship, and sterilizing general areas that people might touch with their hands. If you want to avoid kids, the serenity deck is pretty quiet. I have kids, so I only spent 30 minutes there reading a book one day when everyone else was busy. By the end of the trip, I knew which way to go. It's a nice sized ship, but not a behemoth, so you can eventually get around the ship.
They have a nice selection of activities. There are all types of trivia, which I tried; it was fun and I even won the "food trivia!" Karaoke is very entertaining. I'm a music teacher and was a voice major, but I'll tell you, no matter how well or badly people sing, it's a great bonding experience on the ship. They have all kinds of healthy activities; I didn't participate, I just walked a lot. There's a small but nicely stocked library. There are several shelves of new books you can choose to read, and also quite a few board games. I saw different people in there at various times enjoying the games. The gym is very, very nice, although I didn't bother actually using it. You have to remember that these are the "fun ships," so they have a lot of silly games and competitions. You don't have to participate, but be ready to pass some silliness at times. All in all, in this regard, if you complain of being bored, it's because you are boring or because you may prefer something a bit more high class.
I found the service, overall, to be very good. Our room steward consistently cleaned our room and bathroom like clockwork. He did an excellent job. We are not very messy and tried to keep things fairly tidy, but wow, do I love having someone tidy up my room twice a day! He always made sure we had fresh towels and plenty of paper products (tp and kleenex). A word to the wise...the guest services desk was quite slow. I don't really know why. It was a good bit slower than other cruises I have been on. The people working there were nice, it was just slooooow. Service in the shops was good. There is a Brazilian guy in the store that does the "watch and bracelet sales" and he was HILARIOUS! I think that he enjoys watching the craziness of all of those people cramming in to grab the items on sale. It's worth going just to listen to and watch him. But, seriously, the watch sale is BANANAS. It's like people trying to get bread from a UN food truck...ridiculous!
Cabin Review
The room is quite spacious. There are three closets and a good bit of storage. The room is quiet, although every once in a while we heard a funny sound that either had to do with the plumbing system or the AC system. It didn't wake us up ever. It's a good location, because you are just a few doors from one of the elevator entrances. There were four in our cabin, and you have much more room. The two extra beds are out of the way of the double bed my husband and I used (queen or king sized, I'm not sure). In an inside cabin, they are right above your bed, and I worry about it falling on me (yes, I am paranoid). In this cabin, the sofa becomes a bed, and the other bed is just above it. The room had a nice amount of space and was very comfortable and clean. The bathroom wasn't huge, but it was very adequate. The window in the room is nice and big, and there's a shelf inside the window, so you can put extra stuff there if you wish. Late at night, you sometime wake up to the sound of loud people in the hallway walking by. I fell right back asleep, but it is on a long hallway.