Carnival Cruise Line

MS Carnival Glory

Rating: Submit your review here Operator: Carnival Cruise Lines Year Built / Last Refurbished: 2002 / 2002 Length / Tonnage: 951 / 110,000 Number of Cabins / Passengers: 1487 / 2974 Officers / Crew: Italian / International Operating Area: Year-round East and West Caribbean

Deck Plans Sky Deck Sun Deck Spa Deck Panorama Deck Lido Deck Verandah Deck Empress Deck Upper Deck Promenade Deck Atlantic Deck Lobby Deck Main Deck Riviera Deck Deck Legend

The 3,710-passenger vessel – the second in a new series of "Fun Ships" – entered service in July of 2003. As one of the largest "Fun Ships" in the Carnival fleet, the 110,000-ton CARNIVAL GLORY offers an unprecedented array of formal and casual dining options, everything from a reservations-only supper club to a pair of two-level main dining rooms, a patisserie and an expansive two-deck-high pool side restaurant with a 24-hour pizzeria, a New York-style deli and Asian and American specialty venues.

Stretching more than three football fields in length (U.S.), the 952-foot- long vessels houses an unprecedented 22 lounges, nightspots and bars, everything from pulsating dance clubs and three-deck-high, 1,500-seat theaters showcasing lavish Las Vegas-style revues to piano bars, jazz clubs, sports bars, wine and caviar bars, cigar bars and a host of live music venues.

Carnival Architect Joe Farcus describes the ship's theme as a "A Rainbow of Colors" and passengers get a taste of what he means as soon as they board the ship. The kaleidoscope of colors begins in The Colors lobby, where one finds the Color Bar and the main atrium, named Old Glory, featuring interpretative paintings of U.S. flags.

The central idea of colors is fundamentally felt by people," explained Carnival's interior architect Joe Farcus. "All of the public rooms center around the idea of color, which is reflected in the name and the décor, and the overall effect will be spectacular in a quiet, unassuming way."

Enhancing the ship's Kaleidoscope Boulevard promenade, as well as the atrium, are one-square-meter polished aluminum light fixtures faced with white glass. Each fixture is subdivided into geometric modules that are backlit with strips of red, blue and yellow LED lights. The result is thousands of different tones in slow-moving kaleidoscopic effects that offer a sense of motion as the lights modulate between colors.

The Colors Atrium alone houses some 70 of the lighting modules, but more spectacular is the way the kaleidoscope concept is presented on the towering atrium wall. The wall itself is silver with an array of light projectors mounted on the opposite wall that illuminate abstract shapes. With approximately 20 stage lights shining on the surface in constant motion, Farcus said the effect creates "a giant, constantly evolving abstract painting that never repeats a pattern."

Carnival Glory's main show lounge is the Amber Palace, named after Russia's famous Amber Room, a gift by Frederick the First of Prussia to Peter the Great in 1715. For Glory's Amber Palace, Farcus chose mosaics of amber for the walls along with design touches that include fancy rococo moldings, gold leaf columns with female figures, candelabra, cornices and a "double eagle" image of Russian lore, and paintings of famous Russian czars and czarinas.

The famed Silver Temple and Golden Temple in Kyoto, Japan, are the inspiration for the Platinum and Golden Dining Rooms. The restaurants employ a distinctive decagon-shaped window frame, while LED lights in V-shaped concave ceiling fixtures provide color-changing effects similar to those in the atrium and promenade. Wall coverings feature a pattern of traditional Japanese bonsai peony trees and flowers painted on silver- or gold-leafed backgrounds.

The Camel Club Casino features an Egyptian motif - not ancient Egypt, but the era of exploration when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the country. Life-sized kneeling camels greet visitors at entrances, and sandstone-like friezes of camel heads are found on the ceiling and slot bases. Statues of the jackal-faced god Anubus, papyrus-like columns, and Middle Eastern tent-style ceilings add to the atmosphere.

The design of the White Heat Dance Club is "Liberace-like," according to Farcus, in the form of candles - gigantic white candles 12 to 18 inches in diameter in silver candelabra bases ranging from two to five feet tall. The candles' "flames" are clusters of fiber-optic lights, and scattered around the room are smaller candles on silver trays. Carnival's trademark "video wall" displaying live shots from the dance floor and special effects is also featured.

One deck below the disco is the Ivory Club, featuring an Indian theme set off with elephant tusk replicas, intricate wall coverings with spindles and ivory-like squares, windows inset with mosaics of faux semi-precious stones, and a wood-paneled ceiling with embossed brass beams. The bar front sports elephant faces in bas-relief, and the bar stools and table bases replicate elephant feet.

Cinn-A-Bar, Carnival Glory's piano bar, offers a contemporary look in stylish reddish-brown hues. Panel-like columns - flat on the sides and concave on the face - curve up to a chrome band that extends from the top of the column in waves and connects the columns across the room. Walls are of curved aluminum with wavy streaks and anodized in cinnabar color.

Bar Blue is, appropriately, the ship's jazz bar. The main features of the walls are giant peacock feathers that extend from the floor almost to the ceiling. The "eye" of the feather is glazed with colored glass backlit with a soft incandescent light. The peacock feather motif is also found in the Tiffany-style glass ceiling and on the parquet dance floor.

The Ebony Cabaret has an African atmosphere, with dark ebony walls and ceilings, and hand-carved and painted authentic wooden African masks mounted in copper-like frames. Table bases and bar stools are in the shape of carved wooden heads, and table tops feature batik fabric laminated under a clear finish. There is also an elaborate mirrored geometric design over the dance floor.

The Black & White Library features three-foot checkerboard wood squares in alternating black and white patterns and medium-tone wood bookcases. Framed on the walls are the front pages of famous newspaper headlines. Black-and-white ceiling panels and light fixtures continue the theme. Wood-louvered shutters cover the windows.

The Red Sail Restaurant, a casual poolside eatery, offers a sailboat motif with highly varnished pine masts, sails, chrome hardware and light fixtures and a wood-beam ceiling. Teak railing, false portholes, stainless steel stanchions and large half-sailboat models carry on the theme, and vitrines located throughout the room contain small sailboat models under glass.

Carnival Glory's reservations-only supper club, the Emerald Room, features shiny, cobalt-blue walls and lighting fixtures resembling giant emeralds, which also are found in the ceiling and in a continuous cove molding around the room. A huge medallion on the wall is made up of hundreds of these light fixtures, creating a single massive emerald.

On the Green, the sports bar, celebrates the centuries-old game of golf, with vitrines containing clubs and other memorabilia from the sport's legends. Each vitrine is topped by a stained-glass golf hole flag, which also adorns the plush leather sofas surrounding the room. Walls feature murals of famous golf courses, and bar stools and table bases are half-golf balls on tees. Fabrics are Tartan green plaid, paying homage to golf's Scottish origins.

While CARNIVAL GLORY continues the tradition of multi-course full-service meals in the main dining rooms, she also offers a wide the quality and variety of casual alternatives.

These include a New York-style deli, a rotisserie, a specialty seafood venue, Asian and American stations, a sushi bar, extensive salad and dessert bars, complimentary 24-hour ice cream, pizza and stateroom service, and full breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets. There's also a reservations-only supper club offering the steaks, seafood and other gourmet cuisine.

The decor of the dining venues expands on Farcus' "Rainbow of Colors" theme with sometimes dramatic effect.

For example, the CARNIVAL GLORY's casual eatery, the Red Sail Restaurant, offers a distinctive nautical interior with red canvas sails, chrome hardware, faux portholes, teak flooring and sailboat models located throughout the sprawling, two-deck-high 1,250-seat room.

Here, guests can enjoy a wide range of alternatives. In addition to breakfast buffets and made-to-order omelette stations (both available until noon), the Red Sail Restaurant houses a 24-hour pizzeria serving seven different pies and calzone; a New York-style deli with corned beef, pastrami and turkey sandwiches and traditional side dishes; "Taste of the Nation" featuring a different international cuisine each day; a rotisserie with broiled meats and chicken; Sur Mer, a specialty seafood area with items such as bouillabaisse, calamari fritters and ceviche; a grille serving hot dogs, hamburgers, and grilled chicken and steak sandwiches; an elaborate buffet with various hot and cold items, and a plentiful 35-item salad bar. A dessert bar and complimentary 24-hour ice cream are offered, as well.

For those seeking a more intimate setting, there's the Emerald Room, CARNIVAL GLORY's reservations-only "steakhouse-style" supper club. At this cozy, 108-seat restaurant, guests can enjoy dry-aged prime beef, including a nine-ounce filet mignon, 24-ounce porterhouse, and a 14-ounce New York strip, along with a Carnival exclusive: crab claws from Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant, the signature item from Florida's oldest restaurant. A décor of cobalt-blue walls and light fixtures resembling oversized emeralds creates an atmosphere of understated elegance. The Emerald Room carries a $25 per person reservations fee.

Traditional full-service meals are available in the two-level Golden and Platinum main dining rooms whose interiors are inspired by Japan's famed Silver and Golden Temples, with bonsai- and peony tree-themed wall coverings and distinctive decagon-shaped windows creating a memorable dining environment.

Passengers have a choice of eight soups salads, and appetizers, and seven entrees nightly, including the Broiled Caribbean Lobster Tail which is served once each voyage. A full dessert menu and extensive wine list are available, as well, along with vegetarian and children's selections and health-conscious Spa Carnival Fare, delicious "guilt-free" items lower in fat, cholesterol, sodium and calories.

Other dining venues aboard CARNIVAL GLORY include Sushi Salmon, a sushi bar serving California rolls, tuna rolls and other Asian delicacies with traditional accompaniments; and Creams, a patisserie serving specialty coffees - lattes, cappuccinos, espressos and the like - along with decadent confections such as Black Forest cake, apple strudel and banana splits.

Complimentary 24-hour room service offering various continental breakfast items and a variety of sandwiches, wraps, salads, chips and desserts any time of the day or night.

Any ship that can comfortably accommodate 3,700 passengers needs to have a lot of cabins, and the CARNIVAL GLORY does. And on as many as seven different decks, she has 1,855 rooms. That gives her a double occupancy of 2,974 which means, of course, those other 800 passengers are sleeping in upper berths and/or sofa beds. Taking their cues from the FANTASY class ships' cabins to develop the private quarters on this new ship, Carnival has arranged these hundreds and hundreds of cabins into the same twelve easy to understand categories it has always used....unlike their competition out in Los Angeles who, so desperately hungry for a buck, have set up THIRTY-FIVE different cabin categories for their GRAND PRINCESS.

Don't forget, almost all of the standard cabins are the same size, and fitted with all the same amenities, the difference in price is a result of the three most important factors in the real estate biz¼location, location, location! And while we are on that subject, Carnival suffers no delusions of grandeur, unlike the folks out west, so there is no need to mortgage the homestead or dip into the baby's college fund to enable yourselves to take a cruise on the CARNIVAL GLORY. We won't bore you with details of every cabin type...but must tell you that the CARNIVAL GLORY's cabins have been furnished with a lot more soft fabrics and softer, attractive color schemes than cabins in earlier Carnival vessels. You will want to know that the overriding majority of cabins in every category from 4 through 12 have two beds that are convertible to a king.

Never mind that most of these rooms have a small sitting area...432 cabins have private balconies...16 rooms on Spa Deck have floor to ceiling windows. But okay, we give...confess...this ship has 40 suites with balcony and 8 penthouse suites with large balconies...and the décor in all of these is quite pretty. The three lowest grades have Carnival traditional one lower bed with one upper...in categories 1 and 2...and lower and an upper or 1 lower and a convertible sofa in some category 3s....these moderately priced digs make dandy singles. And yes, there is plenty of storage space for a one week cruise....and 110 volt AC outlets in the cabins means you can use your hairdryer.

Carnival has not left interactive technology on the dock...quite popular for those few minutes you are going to be in your cabin when not sleeping is fun vision, which besides allowing you to order pay per view movies, provides you with all kinds of fun and games and information options.

EVERYBODY who likes cruises ought to cruise with the CARNIVAL GLORY at least once. A typical passenger load includes a pretty fair cross section of the bulk of America's people. More clean cut and well scrubbed than you might think, and a lot younger than you will find most anywhere else, CARNIVAL GLORY can and does appeal to any age group from cradle to grave.

Is the CARNIVAL GLORY really perfect for everyone? Theoretically, yes....but practically, no. This is not a ship for you if you need the quiet ambience of a retirement home, the soothing confines of the nave of the Cathedral of Notre Dame...it's also probably not the ship for the insecure who need to be front and center, the star attraction among cruise passengers...because very few people are likely to be noticed for long here. This does not mean that you won't get good service, because you will...but don't expect this crew of over 1000 to remember your name. Nor is it for anyone demanding a high level of constant personal service and attention. Other ships in Carnival's extended family would be better choices for someone seeking that.

CARNIVAL GLORY operates year-round seven-day sailings from Port Canaveral, with alternating eastern and western Caribbean voyages departing every Saturday. Eastern Caribbean cruises call at Nassau, St. Thomas/St. John, and St. Maarten, while western Caribbean voyages will include Key West, Fla.; Belize City, Belize; and Cozumel and Progreso/Merida, Mexico.

If you still don't think Carnival's got the fun, you would be wrong....and if the other ships in this amazing fleet aren't for you....and we guess there are some people out there who wouldn't like them....you need to check out the CARNIVAL GLORY. Enough said.