Cruise date: January 29-February 05, 2012.... What can I say? I am privileged enough to get away from work for a little while and enjoy some of life's beauty and serenity. I chose Carnival as I had cruised with this line before and found the experience beyond stellar. The cruise with the Glory is a little closer to "cellar." In an attempt to be fair here, I do realize in this economy everything is about bottom line. Cruise lines offer incredibly cheap prices and attempt to make it up in other ways. I was surprised though to find that some of the corners Carnival cut on this vacation left gouges that will likely have long lasting residuals.

Pros: the cleaning staff are amazing. They cleaned the ship incessantly and our room was re-made at least twice a day. In fact, most of the staff are the true value in this ship. They tried to make most things right and improve our vacation dollar value. ROOMS: The rooms are spacious (I was in 2405 with guests in 2403) and designed with all the basics. FOOD: the burrito bar was fantastic, although it had very limited hours of operation. Sandwich bar was great; however, very limited hours. The sushi bar is a nice touch - would be even better if you could choose your sushi to order - and if the hours of operation were not during the supper hour. None of us really had the additional appetite to truly enjoy the Sushi. ENTERTAINMENT: The Illusionist is a must see, as well as comedian Percy Cruze II. All other performances were fairly decent, despite being a canned routine done week to week. My compliments to the performers.

Cons: HOT TUBS: oxymoron - hot tubs were shut down on the first cruising evening (for cleaning?). The hot tubs were also luke warm at best and found many people complaining. I told the Ship staff, to no avail. The pool hours were also very strange - despite being a fun ship they closed the tubs down at 9pm. This complaint received some response and the times were amended by 1-2 hours depending on the location. DECKS: the top deck which houses a lot of amenities was closed most of the trip due to winds. The winds were moderate and their decision left me stymied. Several thousand people tried to cram into the remaining pools and 2 decks on sea days. FOOD: I go for the food and entertainment! But alas, the food was awful - my wife thought I was trying to save room for the rum. Even the waiters would apologize as so many plates were sent back relatively untouched. The food left me embarrassed for the rave recommendations that I had given my friends who joined me on this vacation. Expensive fish food at day's end. When I took the Conquest years ago, the memories of the food are what remains. If Chef Ramsay was on board, there would have been a lot of cursing coming from the kitchen. Read more