Carnival Splendor review: Nov. 1-8, 2014 - San Juan to Miami

I am enjoying your review very much, especially the info and photos of Dominica. I have read so many reviews and remarks on here from those who say that Carnival should drop Dominica, and that they did not like it, and some even said they hated it there. For the life of me, I cannot understand that sentiment. I guess to each their own, but this seems like a destination that I would love. And that would be because it does not immediately greet you with a senor frogs or a margaritaville, as you step off the ship. It seems to be unspoiled by the frequent tourist trappings of some ports of call in the Caribbean. I would love to go there. Sorry for the rambling. Thanks again for your review, and I continue to follow your very informative review.:)

Tonight, the showband was downstairs in the deck 4 lounge that is under the dance club near the back. They were playing some Motown & soul. It's not my favorite style of music, but they did a great job with it, and I enjoyed it. There was a female singer there, but I never caught her name, and didn't see her anywhere else. The band drew an enormous crowd in there. Truly standing room only for most people. That could have been held in the main showroom. Show up early for that if you want a seat. There is a dance floor in there, and they like for people to get up and dance.

I also spent a little time in the piano bar, since Russell was back from his day off. Also, I went to the 11:30 close-up magic show in a small room on deck 4. It was the 2nd of the cruise. I missed the 1st. I definitely enjoyed it. I always enjoy any type of magic.

So even without a show tonight, it was still a fun evening. The Splendor just seems to do such an amazing job with the evening entertainment. It totally blows the Breeze out of the water in this area. They are right up there with my favorite ship, the Dream. For those that enjoy good evening entertainment, or if you aren't happy with the new Playlist movement on half of Carnival's ships, then the Splendor is definitely an excellent choice!

The female singer with Rich Ellis and the show band was Ty Nelson. I hope you enjoyed their Motown set. They usually draw a large crowd. Ty was super sick that cruise but still performed with her band when she could. That show band has some fantastic musicians!

That was the bands last cruise of their contracts. They have all either gone on vacation or to other ships. Ty is my daughter.

I am enjoying your review very much, especially the info and photos of Dominica. I have read so many reviews and remarks on here from those who say that Carnival should drop Dominica, and that they did not like it, and some even said they hated it there. For the life of me, I cannot understand that sentiment. I guess to each their own, but this seems like a destination that I would love. And that would be because it does not immediately greet you with a senor frogs or a margaritaville, as you step off the ship. It seems to be unspoiled by the frequent tourist trappings of some ports of call in the Caribbean. I would love to go there. Sorry for the rambling. Thanks again for your review, and I continue to follow your very informative review.:)

I can't understand any dislike of Dominica either. Maybe what you say is the case for them. Maybe for some of them, they just wound up with a bad tour or bad tour guide. Just bad luck. It can happen even in ports that are known for great tours, which Dominica is. Bumpiing Tours is definitely a great one! And they offer all types of tours. Ours was just one of many options that they have. It sounds to me that you would totally love Dominica. Natural beauty like you wouldn't believe!

The female singer with Rich Ellis and the show band was Ty Nelson. I hope you enjoyed their Motown set. They usually draw a large crowd. Ty was super sick that cruise but still performed with her band when she could. That show band has some fantastic musicians!

 

That was the bands last cruise of their contracts. They have all either gone on vacation or to other ships. Ty is my daughter.

Wow! Thank you for providing that information. That is so cool that Ty is your daughter, and you happened to catch the part of my review where I brought her & her band up! She was amazing at that show, despite being sick. And the band was great as well, and she was very complimentary about them. I know that Carnival is cutting more & more musicians & singers (and entire showbands) with this 2.0 movement, so I hope that Ty & the band members that are vacationing are able to continue on with Carnival if that's what they want.

The female singer with Rich Ellis and the show band was Ty Nelson. I hope you enjoyed their Motown set. They usually draw a large crowd. Ty was super sick that cruise but still performed with her band when she could. That show band has some fantastic musicians!

 

That was the bands last cruise of their contracts. They have all either gone on vacation or to other ships. Ty is my daughter.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ty, and watching her perform with the show band on the first leg of the Splendor's repo cruises. She, and the band, were fantastic. You should be proud!!

Wow! Thank you for providing that information. That is so cool that Ty is your daughter, and you happened to catch the part of my review where I brought her & her band up! She was amazing at that show, despite being sick. And the band was great as well, and she was very complimentary about them. I know that Carnival is cutting more & more musicians & singers (and entire showbands) with this 2.0 movement, so I hope that Ty & the band members that are vacationing are able to continue on with Carnival if that's what they want.

Thank you for you kinds words regarding Ty and the band. They are a wonderful group. I think many of the band members are returning to Carnival ships at the end of vacation. Rich is on the Triumph now I believe and a few of the others are joining other ships in the fleet and one ss trying out land work.

Ty is now with Princess Cruise Lines, performing as I write this, on the Ruby Princess as a Guest Entertainer. I'm excited for her. Guess I'll be cruising Princess now..:)

I will make sure to forward your words to the band members.They love hearing that folks enjoyed their shows!

I had the pleasure of meeting Ty, and watching her perform with the show band on the first leg of the Splendor's repo cruises. She, and the band, were fantastic. You should be proud!!

 

Hey there!!

I sent this photo to Ty and she loved it and remembered you too! She absolutely loves when the crowd is having fun, that it makes for a good time for her an the band too! and HELL YEAH!!! I am one proud Momma!! LOL!

Thanks again!:D

Thank you for you kinds words regarding Ty and the band. They are a wonderful group. I think many of the band members are returning to Carnival ships at the end of vacation. Rich is on the Triumph now I believe and a few of the others are joining other ships in the fleet and one ss trying out land work.

Ty is now with Princess Cruise Lines, performing as I write this, on the Ruby Princess as a Guest Entertainer. I'm excited for her. Guess I'll be cruising Princess now..:)

 

I will make sure to forward your words to the band members.They love hearing that folks enjoyed their shows!

That is so weird. I have been on the Ruby Princess, the only non-CCL ship that I've been on. It is a beautiful ship. Definitely a totally different feel from my Carnival ships. I hope that Ty enjoys singing for Princess. And I'm sure that you'll enjoy cruising Princess. It is different, but they have a lot going for them.

Finally, our first sea day!!! And we were all ready for it. 4 straight port days to start the cruise. Actually, 5 straight port days if you include San Juan. We finally got to see how it looks to sail the seas when the sun is out. Also, a chance to sleep in.

It was a nice, relaxing day on the ship. They were doing the Dr Seuss parade today. I wanted to take a peak, since it's something new & different. It started in the back lounge of deck 5. The cruise director, Malcolm, was there, helping lead the way. Several parents were there with their little ones. I never was that much into Dr Seuss as a kid, so I didn't get all the references, but it looked like everyone was having fun with it. The parade ended in the theater. I didn't stay for the story time. I also didn't do the Dr Seuss breakfast, which costs extra. Some people did, and there were mixed reports. One of the kids at the waterslide said told me that it wasn't that great, but some people enjoyed it.

This evening, the show in the theater was "Motown and more with Consuela Ivy". I was so shocked when I saw her name in the Fun Times. She was on the Magic when we sailed that ship in 2012. She was the singer for the showband, and it was clear how amazing she was. Then, a year later, she was on the Breeze, which doesn't have a showband. But she was the singer for the band that played along the promenade deck, and they always drew a great crowd. I knew that she would wind up getting her own show. After all, she & the band put on a show on the big stage on our sailing, when something else had to be cancelled. Now, it would seem that she's a fly-on performer, and she is well-deserving of that honor. Future Splendor cruisers will not be getting her on every cruise, since she is not stationed on this ship. But if she is now a fly-on entertainer, she will be on many different ships. It's also possible that she's on vacation from a ship and just doing a few fly-on gigs.

Whatever the case, we were happy to have her on board for our sailing. She has such a powerful, amazing voice. She's great at getting the crowd into it, and she even was able to get some help from a few brave couples who joined her on stage. You'll never get me up there! If you have the chance to see her show on this or any other ship, don't miss it.

We had early dining, but unfortunately for late diners, they had to choose between her show or the 3rd deck party, both happening at 10:30. So it was a smaller group than you would normally see, plus it didn't last very long. It was still fun. It was very odd that they did not have the late night Mexican buffet tonight. Some of the crew thought it was, and one of the hosts up on deck even said that they had it. But nope. That's tomorrow night. Schedules got mixed up, and the word didn't get around to the crew, so there was confusion. That happened a few times on this cruise. Not that big of a deal, but there were definite communication issues on this sailing. It probably is better with a normal roundtrip sailing. For those that might be wondering, this late night Mexican buffet only exists on ships without the Blue Iguana cantina. Even though I do like the cantina, it's existence forced the elimination of the full Mexican buffet, because only the cantina is allowed to serve Mexican food. So this is a benefit to sailing a ship without the cantina. More late night food, and it always looks really nice too. But that will be tomorrow night.

Our porthole room, down on deck 2. These are the best types of rooms, in my opinion.

Thanks for your great photo review...I enjoy your reviews. :):):):)

Thanks for your great photo review...I enjoy your reviews. :):):):)

Thank you for that. And thanks for helping me realize that I never finished this review. I'll get to it. Better late than never.

Here we are again!

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I was trying to remember which port we were at where we stopped and I had a Lime Shandy. I couldn't even remember which ports we had on this cruise! :o

I knew there were some new ones for me, but absolutely could not remember the itinerary or what I'd done where!

So first thing this morning, I log in here and see your review thread back on Page 1. :D

It was Grenada. But shame on me for not being able to remember! I've been known to go back and re-read my own reviews because it starts to fade after a while. But that's the first time I've forgotten which ports I've visited! :eek:

Going back to Dominica! I'm on the 11-night Sunshine Journeys sailing from Port Canaveral to San Juan. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to spend any post-cruise time in San Juan. That will be my 3rd cruise this year (I did a post-tax-season 8-nights on Conquest on 5/31), so I'm running out of PTO.

Only new port for me on this one will be Tortola but we're going to Nevis from St Kitts, so that's new, too.

Port Canaveral, At Sea, Grand Turk, At Sea, St Thomas, Tortola, St Kitts, Dominica, St Lucia, Antigua, St Croix, San Juan!

Fantastic itinerary. You and your mom should consider joining us. Some of last November's people are booked. Prices are very reasonable (I'm in an inside on a casino rate, sharing with a friend so it's only about $50pp/night!!).

While I don't sail for the ship, it will be fun to see what I think of Sunshine. With only 2 sea days, won't have much time to do much of anything, but I will certainly check out her expanded Serenity Deck.

Join us!

Here we are again!

 

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I was trying to remember which port we were at where we stopped and I had a Lime Shandy. I couldn't even remember which ports we had on this cruise! :o

 

I knew there were some new ones for me, but absolutely could not remember the itinerary or what I'd done where!

 

So first thing this morning, I log in here and see your review thread back on Page 1. :D

 

It was Grenada. But shame on me for not being able to remember! I've been known to go back and re-read my own reviews because it starts to fade after a while. But that's the first time I've forgotten which ports I've visited! :eek:

 

Going back to Dominica! I'm on the 11-night Sunshine Journeys sailing from Port Canaveral to San Juan. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to spend any post-cruise time in San Juan. That will be my 3rd cruise this year (I did a post-tax-season 8-nights on Conquest on 5/31), so I'm running out of PTO.

 

Only new port for me on this one will be Tortola but we're going to Nevis from St Kitts, so that's new, too.

 

Port Canaveral, At Sea, Grand Turk, At Sea, St Thomas, Tortola, St Kitts, Dominica, St Lucia, Antigua, St Croix, San Juan!

 

Fantastic itinerary. You and your mom should consider joining us. Some of last November's people are booked. Prices are very reasonable (I'm in an inside on a casino rate, sharing with a friend so it's only about $50pp/night!!).

 

While I don't sail for the ship, it will be fun to see what I think of Sunshine. With only 2 sea days, won't have much time to do much of anything, but I will certainly check out her expanded Serenity Deck.

 

Join us!

Enjoy that cruise. That's a great itinerary. I have been to all of those ports. I won't be able to join you on that one. This Splendor cruise last year was quite the splurge. I knew that it wasn't something I could do regularly. All my vacation money & time off is being used on smaller, cheaper things this year. That's why I have no cruises planned. If I do another one of those in the future, I would probably look at going out of Galveston or New Orleans, ending in San Juan. Those ports are much closer for me. Ideally for me, it would be an 11-night on the Dream that includes Aruba & Bonaire, to give me 2 new ports.

After nearly 8 months, the review continues. Apologies to anyone who was following and wondering what happened. I just didn't realize that I hadn't finished it until recently. How could I forget to comment on Grand Turk!?!

Our 5th & final port, and another new one for me, as every port was. This was the perfect final port, since no planning was needed here. Just a short walk to the beach and grab a chair & enjoy a beautiful beach day. Turning left at the end of the pier are a ton of chairs, and all are free. It's a part of the big Margaritaville that's right there. They have a huge swimming pool at their facility, which is also free to use, as are the chairs around the pool. There was music playing and games going on all around the pool the whole day. With all the freebies, there are more people at this area than if you go further down the beach, where you have to pay for chairs at Jack's Shack. I did take a walk down to there later to check it out. It's a much smaller setup, and far fewer people, so it's great for those that want to get away from the crowds. Although, I never felt that the Margaritaville beach & pool got very crowded. Of course, we headed out there somewhat early and had plenty of chairs to choose from.

It was such a beautiful day for a lazy beach day, after all the running around at the other ports. The sand and the water were very nice & we had a great view of the ship. With the port & ship being so close, I wasn't expecting there to be good snorkeling. But I was pleasantly surprised at how many fish were right out there in the water. I really enjoyed the snorkeling. Plenty of fish, and you don't have to go out very far to see them. One time, I came across a barracuda. He was just hovering around at the bottom of the water, about 6 feet down, so I just hovered above him & watched him for awhile. I tried to point him out to other snorkelers, but for some reason, all but 2 of them ignored me or refused to come take a look. I don't think that I looked like someone who was trying to sell something. Oh well, their loss. I didn't have an underwater camera that I could trust, so unfortunately no underwater pics. I thought that I would find Grand Turk underwhelming, but it actually became my 2nd favorite port on this itinerary. (Nothing can beat Dominica!)

These are over at Jack's Shack. I enjoy climbing on these kind of things out in the water. I'm sure they charge extra to do it.

The ship from Jack's Shack.

Back at the Margaritaville area

A small section of the giant Margaritaville pool, with the ship in view

If you ever get to visit Grand Turk, be sure to check out the NASA exhibit that's right next to the port. You would turn left to go to the beaches, or turn right right to go to the NASA exhibit. I checked it out later in the day. It's free.

From a very modest, almost deserted beach near the NASA exhibit.

Heading back to the ship

The show for this evening was "Vroom". I have read some people on these boards mention that they've seen this show so many time, that they have it memorized, and never want to see it again. This, my 15th cruise, is my first chance to see it. They did a 7:00 showing for the late diners, and we made it in there after we were done with dinner, to catch the last 1/3 or so of it. It was very good, and I was excited to see the whole thing. But, just before showtime, Malcolm came out to let us know that the male singer got ill between shows, and he was getting treatment and wouldn't be able to do the show. Everyone was very understanding that they would need to cancel the show, but Malcolm left the door open to a possibility of a matinee performance of it tomorrow. I got to talk to one of the dancers, who came by the martini bar as I was there around 11:00. She told me that the singer was recovering and doing better.

More Grand Turk pics, from the ship

Sailing away

Mini martini tasting

We awoke to find countless intruders taking over the entire lido deck. Rotten chair hogs!!!

Staff were helpless to contain the infestation

Thank you for this review ~~!!~~ cant wait until there are some from the itinerary i am going on :p