Supplement to Travel Trade
September 2003

Carnival Glory:

Headed in a Broader Direction

By Marilyn Green

Carnival Glory, Carnival Cruise Lines’ $500 million newest ship, may well be the most beautiful in the fleet, with its theme of colors filling the ship with both rich and restrained hues, textures and light. It exemplifies the new broader direction of the line’s product, appealing to families and people of most ages and tastes, without the “singles” feeling of some earlier Carnival ships.

Art on the Glory looks as though the turn-of-the-century Fauves got loose on the cruise ship, pouring on rich and gorgeous color with a lavish hand against neutral or dappled backgrounds. Carnival is not traditionally synonymous with subtlety, but the Glory, for all its brilliant color, has great subtlety, with neutral surfaces, almost invisible shining threads, touches seen only days into the cruise.

Passengers commented very favorably on the art placed throughout the ship. When the elevators open, glowing, almost childlike colors flash from the paintings, and the stairwells glow with luscious and varied images; each public room takes its place in the spectrum.

Among the most beautiful of these are three very different rooms: the Amber Palace, the Ivory Club and the Red Sail Restaurant.

The three-level Amber Palace is the main showroom. It was designed after the famous Amber Room in Catherine’s Palace, outside of St. Petersburg, and features “amber” mosaics, gold leaf columns, a crystal and gold chandelier 12 feet across, the Russian eagle and paintings of famous Czars and Czarinas. As a showcase for two Vegas-style reviews — “Rock Down Broadway” and “Livin’ in America” — it works beautifully, seating 1,500.

The spacious Ivory Club harkers back to the English days of the Raj, with murals of Indian gods and goddesses and a theme of elephants carried out with replicas of tusks defining the wall areas and supporting tables. The feature of the room that made it the most discussed by passengers is a really magnificent cream-colored wall of elephants in high sculptural relief, echoed in a smaller size at the bar. The Ivory Club is used for special functions, art auctions, and late at night for an astonishingly good small jazz ensemble.

The Lido buffet is housed in the Red Sails Restaurant. The dark red sails provide privacy among the booths and delineate the spaces; there are real booms with sails, sailboat models, varnished pine masts and teak railings that carry out the theme. Lights set along the buffet echo the green and red of channel markers, although more than one of the younger cruisers thought they were stop and go lights for the tray-pushers.

The 24-hour Cybercafe is very comfortable, but clearly its nine stations are not enough for the ship’s nearly 3,000 guests. Even in port the room was always filled, and on sea days the lines sometimes stretched far out the door. The ship offers wireless capability (your laptop or theirs) in public spaces, and that may well be the best option for clients who need to be online whenever they wish.

The library, in suitable black and white, is small, with as many shelves of board games as books. Many passengers stood around to read the historic newspapers framed on the walls.

The Atrium is bathed, appropriately, in all colors, with a slow kaleidoscopic effect as hues wax and wane, go into patterns and reform in a new color family. The concept of Colors takes on another aspect applied to Old Glory, where two pieces of matched art combine images of Mt. Rushmore and the flag.

The two bi-level restaurants, Gold and Platinum, have basically the same design, with figured woods and lighting around the windows bringing warmth to the gold and a turquoise sheen to the platinum. The restaurant annexes, Copper and Silver, are used as meeting rooms, but when the ship is packed, with third and fourth passengers in the staterooms, they will be used for extra seating.

At dinner, seven entrée choices are served nightly, and there are vegetarian, children’s and Spa Carnival selections.

In addition, Sushi Salmon serves California and tuna rolls, along with other Asian selections. Creams displays a very tempting array of pastries and coffees. The Grill dispenses a continuous stream of cheeseburgers. One area that had guests lining up was the Deli, just inside the Red Sails Restaurant. Pound after pound of pastrami, corned beef, smoked salmon, tuna salad and more found its way into huge stuffed sandwiches. And, it was amazing that the frozen yogurt dispenser close by on the Lido didn’t burn out.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, the 24-hour pizza parlor and other kid favorites caused plates to be piled high, although children appeared in every dining venue, including the outstanding Emerald Room, the steakhouse-style supper club, with prime beef, exceptional seafood, chops and poultry, even extraordinary sushi. The $25 per person charge is really a token for the level of food and service, but the word gets out quickly, and it is important to let your clients know that they should book this as soon as they board.

Room service did a very lively business, especially when the ship was in port, as people rested before and after shore excursions, “ordering in” continental breakfast and sandwiches, wraps, salads and desserts.

Guests revived eventually to check out the midnight buffet, filling their plates as though they had been starving all day.

All this available food requires an antidote, and the spacious well-designed health club and spa is the answer. Spa Carnival has a Polynesian theme, with a waterfall, and green foliage. Several forms of massage and sophisticated treatments, including aroma stone therapy, are offered. The ship also has a full service salon, all the machines known to man and classes including spinning, low and high impact aerobics, Pilates and yoga.

Another active possibility, onboard and off, is the golfing program. The 2,974-passenger Fun Ship offers golfing at Mahogany Run in St. Thomas on its eastern Caribbean sailings. The Key West Country Club, Caye Chapel Golf Resort in Belize and Cozumel Country Club can be booked on the western Caribbean itinerary. Professional instruction is provided by a certified golf professional, and there is a netted and lighted “driving range” and golf clinics and putting contests to gladden the heart of the most fanatical. The pro also accompanies golfers on shoreside golfing excursions.

The 19th hole on board is the attractive little sports bar, the Green Room. Its beautiful custom-made green leather furniture is decorated with golf flags stitched in.

Games of chance drew large numbers, especially in the evening, although Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and CEO, said one-third of the passengers gamble at least once in the casino. Even for those with no desire to try their luck, the Camel Casino’s large kneeling camels were almost hidden by passengers taking turns getting pictures taken in the saddles. The dog-headed Egyptian god Anubis, repeated throughout, also got a lot of attention.

For those who prefer to burn their calories at night, the White Heat Dance Club, with its immense candles with fiber optic “flames,” was hard to predict. One moment it would be empty; then, as if an invisible signal had been sent out, it was jammed and the dance floor spilled into the seating.

More sedentary pleasures are found in the Bar Blue, the jazz club with giant stainless steel peacock feathers and blue neon light concealed in the ceiling. Ebony is an especially beautiful hideaway, with a warm coppery glow on the ceiling, an impressive group of masks and real African fabric inlayed in the tabletops.

The shops along the Kaleidoscope Boulevard promenade were nearly always full, and sales attracted shoppers even until the late closing hours.

Games for the young are found in The Kids’ Club, the same as on the Conquest. Under the Rainbow, the 4,200-square-foot play area, has a video room showing cartoons and movies, facilities for arts and crafts and activities that made the children on board protest when their parents came to retrieve them. The kids were unwilling to tear themselves away from computer labs with educational games and the latest from PlayStation 2; they can also rent the latest GameBoy Advance hand held videogame units.

Ultraviolets, the teen disco, follows a Monopoly theme, with giant red hotels, Chance cards as doors and Monopoly bills of various denominations throughout, along with game pieces worked into the furnishings. Fluorescent paint, ultraviolet on the ceiling and a large video wall give the space a changing, magical quality. Teens also have a “mocktail” bar, a high tech game room and shore excursions exclusively for their peers.

There are books, magazines, videos and computers for younger cruisers, and the twisting water slide was a prime attraction.

Unlike the Spirit-class ships, the Glory has no dedicated wedding chapel. The Crimson Club, used also as a meeting room, is intended to be the usual wedding venue. Wedding packages range from civil ceremonies with champagne, flowers, cake and photographic services to a deluxe Romance package with an hour and a half reception, ice carving, an open bar, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, coffee service, etc.

Brenda Wyatt, owner of Travel Made Easy in Hollister, CA does 80% group business, a great deal of it wedding groups booking up to 75 staterooms. She said the ship has “something for everyone — great for a diversified group.”

Wyatt was also pleased by the spacious cabins, with many triples and quads for families. “They’re great value,” she commented. Cabins run the gamut from 185’ for an inside to 220’ for an outside, with or without a balcony, to 340” for suites and 430’ for the penthouse suite. Bathrooms are bery will-arranged and ther is ample storage.

Wyatt often sells the first 7-day cruise to the bridal couple, family and friends, then adds a back-to-back honeymoon sailing for the couple alone. Carnival Glory’s alternating itinerary makes it very suitable for that kind of selling.

The Glory is expected to draw heavily on regional first-timers, and Carnival’s extension of the Vacation Guarantee through Dec. 13, 2004 was cited by agents on board as a strong persuader for the timid.

The 2,974-passenger Carnival Glory sails year-round 7-day western Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral, alternating Eastern Caribbean cruises visiting Nassau, St. Thomas/St. John and St. Maarten with Western Caribbean sailings calling in Key West, Belize City, Cozumel and Progreso/Merida