My Summer Cruise, Part 1: The Ship

This is the first of a two part post. In Part 2 we will explore the Ports of Call.





The Carnival Glory--Home Away From Home

On June 4th through 9th 2013, I took a cruise out of Boston to Canada, with stops in St. John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard the Carnival Glory.

Given all the bad press Carnival Cruise Lines has had the past year or so, let me start with the really, really, very excellent news: this was an uneventful trip. There were no mechanical failures, fires, or epidemic illnesses (although I did catch a cold), and no one disappeared overboard. Even when we spent a day sparring with Tropical Storm Andrea, the ship remained steady and true.

Having said that, this cruise could be rated "OK" at best.

 First off, there are a lot of what I'll call "vendors" on board. In food service, there's Guy's Burger Joint, as in Guy Fieri, the Food Network personality.  The entertainment department has "Punchliners Presented by George Lopez", which are comics personally chosen by the veteran comedian. Also in entertainment, there's "Hasbro: The Game Show", life size versions of popular Hasbro games. Finally, the shipboard sports bar is called "EA Sportsbar", named for EA Sports, the popular sports video game company. These are the four most obvious examples. My point here is that Carnival seems to be starting to lose their own personality, almost like they own the vessels and simply rent out space.



Chocolate Shake from Creamers Coffee Shop

Although, when it comes to the food, I do have to admit the burgers at Guy's are excellent, as are the fries! The Carnival Deli is also a good choice if you want a simple, light sandwich. The Red Sail Restaurant, the buffet style food service on Lido Deck, for the most part is good, however the food was a bit cold on occasion. (One way around that at breakfast is to use the omelet station, where they are made to order.) As for the dining room for dinner, the portions are a good size and taste good, but one of the people I traveled with had to send back the food three times over the course of the week because it was cold. On the other hand, I am glad to see that Creamers Coffee Shop still had their chocolate shake--the single best ice cream-based food on the high seas.


As for the entertainment, I can't say anything about Punchliners as I didn't go to any of those shows, but I did see both sessions of Hasbro: The Game Show and frankly thought it's just plain stupid and made me wonder what happened to my childhood. There were three Broadway-style production shows; I did see one of them and it was canned music-no live band-and it is possible that even the singing was lip-synced.

Other entertainment around the ship included a couple of soloists with guitars (one of which really stunk), and a husband-wife piano and singing duet called Summer Breeze who are really good.  There was some bingo, but not as much as in past years, and tons of trivia contests. The movies chosen for the Seaside Theatre, the outdoor big screen on Lido Deck, was an interesting mix running from Gone With The Wind to Men In Black 3. In the end, the entertainment, under the purview of Cruise Director Matt, was a mixed bag.

A quick note on the staff. The crew members overall were excellent. From the cabin stewards to the dining room waitstaff and bartenders to (from what I can tell) the Camp Carnival (the children's program) staff. The one exception here, unfortunately, is the cruise director staff, including Matt himself. There was a real edge to this group. Matt was very sarcastic (all cruise directors are to some point), but he took it to a new level, almost to the point of  being just plain mean. One of the trivia contests I participated in was hosted by Jessie, and he seemed really bored.


With all that, one of the most disappointing bits of news came from Kai, the host of the Future Cruise Talk. One good thing about this itinerary is that, being from the Boston area, it is a good cheap vacation; no flights needed. Well, no more. Starting in 2014, Carnival will no longer be going out of Boston. Fortunately, other lines will still depart Boston.

I started cruising roughly 13 years ago, all but one on Carnival.  In fact, this is the same ship and itinerary as last year. (We actually got the same cabin, too.) But this is the biggest year-over-year change I've seen in the line. This "new" Carnival Glory is part of the company's "Funship 2.0" concept, and of course this is based on one voyage on one ship, but if this is what's happening fleet wide, then maybe Carnival has lost its way.



The view from Lido (Deck 9) down to the Lobby (Deck 3)