Donna McDonough

Age: 48
Occupation: Registered Nurse
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Glory
Sailing Date: April 23rd, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Still tanned from our cruise of the Western Caribbean, I wanted to share some of our experiences with other cruisers. I have a family of four with two teenage girls. We selected Carnival because of their child-friendly attitude and activities. The itinerary we chose was mostly because we didn’t want to spend too many days at sea without a port to stop at. The Western Caribbean itinerary took us from Port Canaveral on Saturday and on Sunday we were in Key West. Monday was a day at sea and on Tuesday we arrived in Belize. We then set sail and arrived in Cozumel on Wednesday, Thursday was Progreso and then Friday was another day at sea. We arrived back at Port Canaveral Florida on Saturday morning. Other itineraries to the Eastern Caribbean would have left us with only 2 or 3 ports and several days at sea for a 7-day cruise, even though we are dying to see the “true” Caribbean islands.

I have sailed on the Oceanic to Nassau and Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and on the Pacific Princess to the Mexican Riviera, which includes Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan. Having been on such fine vessels, I was a little hesitant to book on the Glory. From their website the ship looked gaudy with a very Las Vegas-style décor. The dining room appeared to have been spray painted in gold paint with a mixed array of non-matching fabrics. And in contrast, the cabins looked miserably dull and boring, devoid of any style. I also wasn’t sure that we would enjoy the ”fun” theme as we’re a bit laid back and stuffy. But with all that against sailing on the Carnival Glory, we put it aside and decided that the children needed the entertainment more than we needed the luxury and upscale living.

I booked two cabins, one balcony cabin located on the 8th deck, Veranda, in the aft corner. For $100 per person more than a standard balcony cabin, the corner cabin afforded us a wrap around balcony where we had views of both aft and the port side. The cabin itself was a cabin and a half in size. There were three closets with plenty of room, two nice terrycloth robes, and adjustable shelves for folded clothes, two end tables with cabinets, and a vanity with four modest drawers, a large mirror with makeup lights, a mini bar, and a hair dryer. There were two cushioned chairs and a small oval table for sitting. On the balcony were two chaise lounges and two chairs with a small table. The bathroom was stocked with sample hair products, toothpaste and soap. The shower was roomy with shampoo and body wash dispensers. And plenty of towels, as well as two beach towels we could take to the pool or ashore for water excursions. The bed was two twin beds pushed together to make a very comfortable king with four pillows and a down comforter. There was room underneath the beds for our empty luggage. The second cabin we booked for the girls was an inside stateroom across the hall. This cabin was much smaller with a king bed and two end tables. The room did not have chairs, but did have a table. The vanity was much smaller with a ceiling-high cabinet which housed the television and drawers, and a cushioned stool. They also had the same three closets that we had in the larger cabin. The bathroom was the same size and stocked appropriately. The only thing the girls complained about is the extreme darkness in the room without windows and they had to sleep with the bathroom light on because they lost their bearings in the dark.

As for the public areas, the Platinum dining room was actually very nice looking with impeccable service from our wait staff. There are 1400 crew members on this ship with only 4 of them being from the United States. They are all courteous, pleasant and well trained. The food in the main dining room was very good but the portions are quite small. We certainly didn’t gain any weight on this trip! We booked the late seating at 8:00 p.m. because we intended to be off the ship in port so we supplemented our appetites with crudites from room service. The only thing my family complained about was the lack of snack food. Pretzels were hard to come by and nuts, cheese, and crackers were non-existent. The pools were mostly crowded with 2900 guests on the ship, but most other areas we found to be spacious and relaxing. The only days we really felt the number of people on the ship were the days at sea around the pool and on embarkation.

The check in process was awful. You stand on line outside the station for security checks. Then they have you stand on a long snaking line to present your tickets and identification. Then you stand on another long snaking line to get your Sail and Sign card, which is your ship’s identification. Then two feet later someone is stopping you to check your Sail and Sign card and identification again. Then you stand on line to board the ship, but they stop you half way to pose for a picture and there’s no way around the picture line. Then you’re onto the gangway where they check your Sign and Sail card again and you board the ship. And all this time you’re lugging your carry on luggage, which is getting heavier by the minute! Whew! The whole process could be streamlined by giving you your card when you present your tickets eliminating at least one line. Debarkation was also a nightmare. We arrived one hour late in Port Canaveral due to an engine problem we experienced in Progreso. The engineering crew had us under way in an hour and a half and we made up some time on the way. We were told to vacate our cabins by 9 am and congregate on the Lido deck. They called passengers first who were carrying their own luggage, and then started at the upper decks for debarkation. We were on the highest deck with cabins both aft and forward so when they called the forward cabins on our deck we thought we would be next. However, they called all the forward cabins on all the decks before they came back to our deck for the aft cabins. Subsequently we didn’t debark until 12 noon! Breakfast was over at 8 am so we were getting a bit hungry by then. In preparation for the next cruise the staff had put away all the food. Fortunately some crafty guests had found some fruit stashed away in the restaurant so we had something to nosh on while we waited, but we had to steal it!

The ports were very nice for the most part. We walked around Key West, visited Sloppy Joes for lunch and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum, which was a lot of fun. Key West is a beautiful town. We took a catamaran in Belize to Horseshoe Reef and Caulkin Cay to snorkel with the stingrays. We were picked up at the ship, which anchored way off shore and basically never saw the mainland. We were told by others that we didn’t miss anything and that Belize City is very run down, dirty and poverty ridden. We had the best time in Cozumel where we took the Beach Buggy excursion. We zipped around the island and stopped to see lava rock formations in the sea and had lunch on a beach on the east coast. Of course we had to stop at the Pee Pee Station for souvenirs and, you guessed it, a potty break! In Progresso we went to Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins and Rodeo Show. The ruins were wonderful, but it was a very hot day and we all pined for the sea. The rodeo show was quite fascinating and the lunch they served was very authentic and tasty. The guides on all the excursions were very entertaining and informative. We booked all our tours through Carnival and although we knew we were probably spending more than we should, we felt comfortable with taking an approved tour rather than going out on our own with two young ladies in tow. We had time in most ports for shopping. Carnival recommends that you buy diamonds in the Caribbean, but we found the silver to be the most affordable. Of course liquor, cigars and cigarettes are dirt cheap here too. The onboard shops were pricey, but if you waited for their sales you could pick things up at a reasonable price.

We took in a few shows onboard and were most entertained by the cruise director, John Hale or Hill, I couldn’t be sure with all the different crew accents. He was hilarious with his side kick Wee Jimmy. They ran most of the games and evening entertainment and John with his dry English humor and Wee Jimmy with his Scottish wit were quite a pair! Unfortunately, John has been transferred to the Carnival cruise ship Liberty for its maiden voyage from Italy to the U.S. But if you have a chance to cruise with him you’re in for a great time.

Overall, the fun ship was fun and the cruise was a success, but we’re thinking we’d like to try another cruise line that is a little more reserved and smaller. The whole idea of having activities for the girls was a bust! They ended up hanging with us the whole time! Unfortunately there weren’t many young teens onboard and they were having trouble meeting up with someone their own age. The pools were small and crowded and the arcades were overrun with boisterous younger kids. Otherwise, we all enjoyed our vacation.

As a post script. If at all possible, do not book your flights through the cruise line. We found we overpaid for the flights and had to take a connecting flight back to New York from Orlando through Pittsburgh. The whole flight took us 5 hours to get home when it is only 2 and a half hours from NY to Orlando. Carnival assigned our seats and we ended up in the back row of the plane from Orlando to Pittsburgh in the most uncomfortable spot on the plane. And to top it off, the flight was overbooked in Pittsburgh and they had to ask people to give up their seats for us. When we checked in at Orlando the agent told us we would get our boarding passes in Pittsburgh for the second flight, whereas other passengers with the same itinerary had their boarding passes for both flights from the Orlando ticket agent. We ended up split up around the plane and with two young girls that was quite disturbing to us. I suspected there was a problem right from the beginning when Carnival forgot to send us our return flight tickets. We flew Spirit Air down to Orlando, but were booked on US Air for the return flights. Most itineraries have you flying the same airline round trip. That’s the most affordable way to go. We could have round trip nonstop flights for what we paid Carnival if we booked ourselves. I suspect that someone at Carnival forgot to book our return flight so we ended up with the leftovers and overbooked at that!

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