Just returned from the 7 day Eastern on the Glory.  Would have to say that if it was my first cruise I would probably have rated it better as I would have had no other comparison.  That said, I have cruised on 7 different lines encompassing a total of 12 cruises.  This being my second on Carnival and this one  was slightly better than my first Carnival experience, but not by much.  This was a free cruise for my husband and I as his parents were celebrating their 50th anniversary and brought us along to celebrate.  Therefore they chose the cruise line and destination.  There were 6 of us total in the party between 45 and 75 years of age.  Teenagers stayed home for this trip. 

The ship layout is one of the worst of my experience.  This is the first cruise I have been on that I actually felt all the 3,000 people on board.  Other ships I have been on (both smaller and same size) have a ship layout that disperses the guests better so a guest doesn't realize how many people are on board  This ship bunches folks up onto several very small common areas.  This was by far the worst ship with regards to smoking/non smoking areas.  I never escaped the smell of cigarettes and cigars, it was awful. 

While most staff were courteous and friendly, many were not - but that was primarily experienced in the Red Sail restaurant.  I found in general, that unless English was the crew workers native language, it was extremely hard to understand and communicate with the mostly Eastern Indian and Philippine crew.  Therefore there where numerous times when guests were frustrated.  I saw this on numerous occasions. Read more