Carnival Glory Review
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This was our 5th cruise with Carnival. We chose this cruise because my husband wanted to cruise out of New Orleans and spend a few days exploring NOLA ahead of time. Out last cruise was the Vista in 2018. Embarkation was pretty easy though we didn't get into the line until our time slot. We noticed other people in the line in front of us were holding boarding passes for a time slot one hour later, so we probably didn't need to wait it out. Once on the ship we did our muster (much improved process doing it on our time and not en masse) and then had the usual hunting session to find a seat by the Lido buffet for lunch since most passengers were parked there waiting for their rooms to be available. Finally we found someone vacating so we had lunch and left to explore until our rooms were available.
We sailed on the Valor in 2016 and I felt the Glory as her sister ship was just as easy to navigate. The biggest issues with crowds were the lido buffet and sometimes the elevators. The comedy club and the Amber Palace for shows often required lining up 30 minutes before the show but we are used to that.
What I like about Carnival is their tag line the fun ships is not just a tag line. I always have fun with the nonstop trivia, games, karaoke, comedy, bingo, etc. I found the food to be adequate which is all I expect. Portions in the main dining room are small, and the side dishes are even smaller than the entrees so vegetables were not exactly plentiful for dinner there. I can see why they do that, however, with all of the people leaving dinner having only eaten their entree and leaving the sides. It would be nice to have an option to add a normal sized side dish and maybe there is but they don't list that it is even possible. I thought I would miss the paper fun times, but I much prefer the App which you can see all of the activities and dining room menu for the whole week and plan when you want to visit the MDR vs buffet or pizza. We had anytime dining which I love since there is no pressure to get there at a certain time especially after a port day. Just check in on the app when you are ready and it was less than 15 minutes from check in to sitting and we could wait the time out in our room. Other than the first day when there was a server unexpectedly ill and we were "extra" for an already overworked team, service was always good.
Cabin Review
Balcony
We had a balcony cabin on deck 8 near the atrium elevators, which is my favorite place on most ships. Very convenient and the only time we heard any noise was people in the hall talking loud, luckily not when we were trying to sleep. We never heard the elevators. We did have cabins above us but we were still close enough to the lido buffet to walk there pretty quickly. The room was usually very clean and our steward managed to find a time to clean though we were in and out at different times every day. The biggest negatives (which are pretty small) were 1)there was a whistling sound from our balcony door pretty frequently, and 2) no channels on the miniscule tv that I could use to fall asleep to. I am used to falling asleep to droning voices on a drama show and there really wasn't any channel for that. Cartoons, HGTV, carnival channels and 2 bad movie channels. There have been more channels on some other ships. And no sleep timer for the tv so my husband ended up shutting it off if he woke up in the middle of the night. As i said VERY small nitpicky negatives, and still 5 stars.
Port Reviews
Belize City
This is more a review of our excursion than the port itself. We did the ATV, Ziplining, Cave Tubing excursion which was awesome. The bus ride is LONG but all 3 events were fun. Expect to get muddy on the ATV so I recommend wearing your swimsuit and water shoes (assuming you are doing the cave tubing AFTER you can clean off the mud in the water). We didn't know we would get muddy and our tennis shoes got ruined. The cave tubing was a unique experience. As far as the port goes, beware that the line for the tenders to return to the ship gets REALLY long and you will bake in the sun. We waited in line over 1 hour and they had to send 2 more tenders after the stated last tender time to get everyone back.
Roatan
We went on the Jolly Roger Snorkel tour which was really fun. Even if you don't go on an excursion there is a chairlift to the beach at this port so there are other things to do.
Cozumel
We did the VIP Dolphin Swim experience which was really great and also a unique experience. Just be warned you cannot bring your camera and the pictures they offer are outrageously expensive. Don't take the first offer they will come down in price. The port itself is nice enough and we did enjoy some port runners making their way up the long pier when they were late for the boat (a favorite pastime).