Since retiring in Ocala, Florida 9 years ago we have gone on 13 cruises...mostly out of Tampa and Port Canaveral. One was on Celebrity Century and one on Royal Caribbean. All the other 11 have been on Carnival. We just returned (Nov. 17) from a 7 day Eastern cruise on the Carnival Glory. Four years ago I became the group leader of cruises consisting mostly of members of our church. I might add we are all seniors. Usually, we have around 45 people and we always travel to the cruise terminal by charter bus, although it's less than two hours from our church. This year we only had 19, but we still chartered a bus. HOLIDAY BUS LINES OUT OF OCOEE, FL DID A GREAT JOB AND THEY WERE $500.00 UNDER ALL OTHER CHARTER BUS QUOTES.
This year the group decided on a repeat cruise aboard the Glory. This was my third cruise on the Glory and the group's second cruise.
We book our cruises at least nine months in advance. Last February we booked this November cruise and our agent blocked off 30 cabins. Two weeks later we were informed that Carnival was pulling all our cabins because the Glory is always a full ship. We were informed that all deposits had to be paid by 6:00 PM on the day they pulled the cabins. That stinks...because it normally takes about two months for a group leader to sell 30 cabins...especially to seniors who often have health issues. Consequently, we only had 19 on this cruise rather than the normal 45. Holiday Bus line was waiting for us at 9:00 AM and we all got aboard and the joyful laughter started. The check in at Port Canaveral was very good. They get a solid ***** stars. We had the early seating for dinner (5:45 PM) and Jossie, our head waiter was one of the best I have encountered. He's the only cruise waiter I have ever had that knew all of our names at our table for ten. Each night he greeted each of us by our first names. The food is always good and the pampering is even better. The dining experience and food gets ***** stars. The public rooms were all clean and the crew were constantly keeping the ship clean. They too get **** stars. We didn't see the cabin steward too much but he was obviously doing his job because he kept our messy room in very good order. He too gets ***** stars. ENTERTAINMENT: After 11 cruises in 9 years one would think Carnival would change the format of their shows. The musicians and show participants were great but it's somewhat like seeing the same movie 11 times. One more complaint. Someone should toss those player piano recorders overboard. It's a cop out to not have more pianist aboard. The entertainment program gets *** stars, but the musicians and show groups are solid at ***** stars. Carnival needs to change this if they want to continue having repeat customers. DEBARKATION: A disaster! I was off the ship by 8:30 and boarded our waiting bus. The other 17 of our group boarded the bus at 11:45 AM. Most every ship wants the debarkation complete by 10:00 AM so they can start receiving new passengers before noon. Carnival always clear the ship by the color of your luggage tag (Red, Yellow, Green, Brown etc). This time they cleared the ship by ZONES. There were over 30 zones to get off the ship. People were leaving the ship while new passengers were boarding. The problem seems to be as follows: ALL PASSENGERS WHO COULD HANDLE THEIR OWN LUGGAGE WERE INVITED TO BE THE FIRST TO LEAVE THE SHIP. This is a joke. They were dropping their luggage everywhere. Most had too much luggage to handle...which was stacked too high and some were even dropped in the security line. Some luggage broke open and they had to re-pack them holding up others trying to get off the ship. One elderly lady who was trying to carry too much luggage fell and was injured. Perhaps, a better idea would be: If you have more than one piece of luggage you cannot leave the ship early. DEBARKATION: A lowly * star.