'Fun ship' Glory offers plenty of entertainment

On Wednesday, I tagged along with a team from the Ministry of Transport and WEDCO for the Carnival Glory’s inaugural visit to Bermuda.

I’d actually sailed on the Glory in 2006 when I did back-to-back cruises out of Port Canaveral. The ship has aged well and a few improvements have been added since then.

The main change is the addition of a big screen (12’x22’) TV on the deck upstairs to give passengers one more entertainment option.

One of the things Carnival does right is offering lots of shows. There are 20 comedy club sittings and three shows in the main theatre the Amber Palace.

It also has several venues for bands to play and a nightclub for those of you who don’t like to go to bed until the wee hours.

On the cruise to Bermuda there are 318 children on board and they have Camp Carnival (for 2-11-year-olds), A Circle of Friends (for kids 12 to 14) and Club O2 (for older teens).

But if you feel like a need to escape there is an adult-only Serenity Retreat, billed as a “chilled-out kid-free oasis with its own hot tub.

My wife has never cared for the décor on Carnival ships (we’ve done three trips with them) and while the Glory is more subdued than most of the line, it still sports plenty of neon and bright colours.

Carnival is known as the “Fun Ships” and the décor is meant to reflect for everyone to hang out and have a party.

Besides the main dining room, The Glory has its own sushi bar, steak house and high end coffee shop.

The Glory has 42 oceanview ocean suites and junior suites and 10 oceanview grand suites. It also has 521 oceanview balcony staterooms.

Suite prices start at $799 for seven day cruises but on some cruises they start at over $1,700.

An inside cabin starts at $319 for seven day cruises, but to check with your travel agent to help you get the best price,

The ship is doing a variety of itineraries over the coming year. It will alternate between eastern and western Caribbean cruises from Miami through May 6. The Western cruise will take in Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Cayman while the Eastern tour will take in Bahamas, St Thomas, Puerto Rico and Turks and Caicos.

After three, six-night Bahamian cruises, it will head up the eastern seaboard and start alternating four and five night Canadian cruises on June 10 from Boston. Both cruises stop in Saint John, New Brunswick with the five-nighter adding Halifax as a destination.

In August the ship shifts its home port to New York but continues the same itinerary. In September its goes to a seven night cruise with additional stops in Portland, Maine and Boston. October and November sees the Glory returning to the Bahamas before it finishes off the year with its Eastern and Western Caribbean schedule.

Next week: The perks of Air Canada