Carnival Splendor 9/6/14 to New England/Canada Review

Just wanted to do a review while I’m still sort of in vacation mode. This is my second cruise ever and second time on the Carnival Splendor. I’m in my late 20s and went on this trip solo. I booked at the last minute and thought I got a decent deal despite having to pay some solo supplement. I had already booked a cruise for Oct 4th which had no solo supplement, but the base rate was higher…

 

Here was the itinerary for the cruise, starts and ends with a sea day with 4 consecutive port days in the middle:

 

DAY PORT OF CALL ARRIVE DEPART

Sat New York, NY 4:00 PM

Sun Fun Day At Sea (1st elegant night)

Mon Boston, MA 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Tue Portland, ME 7:00 AM 5:00 PM

Wed Saint John, Nb, Canada 8:00 AM 4:00 PM

Thu Halifax, Ns, Canada (2nd elegant night) 10:00 AM 6:00 PM

Fri Fun Day At Sea

Sat New York, NY 8:00 AM

 

 

I headed up to New York via Greyhound bus, it arrived right on time (11:15) and I got a taxi right away after exiting the Port Authority. It was a short ride to the cruise terminal ($5.5 for ride), was handed Canadian customs form right away at the entrance. I stopped and filled it out before getting in line, but it wasn’t really necessary for check in. There was some line (this was about noon), but moved quickly and I was able to walk on to board after checking in and getting my S&S card.

 

Headed up to Lido for some lunch and then headed down to my room on Upper Deck, 6. I had booked a guarantee and got 6206 which is a 4J and handicapped modified cabin. Room was awesome, bathroom was huge in it and I had easy access to the “secret” forward decks. The room has a picture window, other reviews said people couldn’t see in during the day, but I think they can… I would close the blinds if changing or change in the bathroom. Here are some pictures:

 

I went to the spa and signed up for the spa pass, it was $99 for the week. They put a plain looking sticker on my S&S card, when I went to the spa, I had to trade in my S&S card with one of the VIP access cards. The first couple of days, they also put on a special color wrist band. The VIP card basically let you into the thalassotherapy pool area and the thermal suite area. The thermal suite area had the steam rooms, heated tile chairs, and fancy showers.

 

The thalassotherapy is basically a big hot tub thing but with mineral water instead of normal chlorinated water. I think it was deeper than the other hot tubs, it had a large bench to lounge out on that I didn’t care that much for because it was difficult to read in that position. There were also two water spouts you could sit under to direct water on to yourself. The room has white body towels to dry yourself and small bench to put your stuff. I think there were also scrubs thing you could buy for a few bucks to use with this, I didn’t do that.

 

The other area had 2 steam rooms. One was high temperature and you are only suppose to stay in there 5 minutes. It was also suppose to have aroma, but I felt like I only smelled that maybe ½ the time. The second steam room was called the oriental steam, basically lower temperature than the other one, could be in there 10-20 minutes I believe. This room also had a “table” or a large flat surface you could lay on. I’m not sure that was it’s purpose, but felt good on the back. The other 2 rooms in the terminal suite area were heated tile sitting things. I forget the exact names, but one was normal chairs with one lounge type chair facing forward of the ship. The other room was all lounge type chairs, but they mostly faced into the room, rather than out. The rooms all had shower heads for cool down. There were also 2 separate shower type stalls, they weren’t really rooms and not private. The shower had buttons for water to come out as: tropical mist, tropical rain, and side shower. The mist button was broken on one of the showers for the duration of the cruise. The showers had dispenser like the in cabin showers for body wash and shampoo. The thermal suite area had hooks (like for robes if you want to wear that to the spa, I would put something in the pocket so you can recognize which is yours and another guest doesn’t take it by mistake, also a good place to put the VIP card if you don’t have pockets on your swim suit).

 

Locker room (open to all guests) had lockers to use, where you set the code to lock it, so no need to bring/borrow a lock. There 2 private shower stalls in the locker room (a regular one and a handicapped one), a few bathroom stalls, some hair dryer stations, and white body towels were plentiful too.

1st sea day

Started with some spa time and then did the Cruise Critic meet up for brunch in the Gold Pearl MDR.

There was a slot pull, started with $15 and ended up with $6.xx. Put $5 on red and lost that too.

Went to the Seuss-A-Palooza parade as that was something I had not seen on my previous cruise. The guest are the parade, the kids get little bells to make noise and the adults are suppose to hold up the characters on sticks and banners with Suess stuff on them. The Cat along with Thing 1 and Thing 2 did show up eventually.

 

I had to leave for some reason so I didn’t see the whole parade, but did rejoin them later for story time in the Spectacular Theater. The kids and adults were sitting up on stage and there was some guest participation in animating the story. The Cat made some appearances during story time. Unless you have young kids, you aren’t really missing much here.

 

 

Dressed up for elegant night and of course got the lobster tail. Wish I took a picture to show this, but the lobster tail was smaller than the shrimp! I recall another post about this and thought they were exaggerating, but it was really small. Others at my table did have larger lobster tails. I didn’t really complain about this because the waiters will happily bring you another entrée if you ask. I had also order ribs so really more than enough food for me that evening. You may want to bring your own wet naps if you have them as they do not have them, they will bring a cloth napkin that has been wet by hot water.

 

I went to see the comedians Seth Buchwald and Steve Burr, skipped the Fiesta Latina as I didn’t like it much on the last cruise. They called a brightstar around dinner time, later heard the guest died of a heart attack. When clearing the lounge after one of the comedy shows, a guest fainted, saw a medical person run by to the El Morocco (no code called). Heard it was a diabetic that had fainted.

Boston

The CC group had arranged for a Freedom Trail tour through the National Parks Service http://www.nps.gov/bost/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm

They have tours at certain times throughout the day and if you have a large enough group, you can do a private tour.

 

The tour starts at Faneuil Hall so I had to get into the city from Black Falcon Terminal. The SL2 (silver line) stops almost right in front of the port, it’s $2.65 for a ride. Best to have exact change, it is suppose to spit out a card with your change, but that may not always work. The SL2 looks like a bus, but then it goes underground operating on electric like a train. Ride it to South Station and then you can transfer to the Red Line. Now I could of transferred at Downtown Crossing to the Orange line and got out at State St to be within 2 blocks of Faneuil Hall. However, I rode to Park St on the Red Line on recommendation of another guest who had been in Boston before. I think I ended up in Boston Commons, but spotted some signs for Faneuil Hall that I followed. Talk to the ranger at the information desk and he doesn’t seem to know about the CC private tour at all, so I head out and explore a bit. I redeem my Living Social hop on hop off bus voucher and ride around a little. Luckily closer to tour time, they pass by Faneuil Hall again. I hop off and spot some CC people! Oh joy, now the same ranger from earlier gives me a sticker for the tour.

 

 

 

(Faneuil Hall)

 

(Paul Revere's House)

 

 

(Ranger and JFK's mom's house)

 

 

(USS Constitution)

 

 

A different ranger gives us tour and history lesson, we stop by Paul Revere’s house, JFK’s mother’s house, and end the tour at Paul Revere’s statue. CC group disperses so I look around to find a hop on for my hop on/hop off bus (there are a few companies and bus stops for these are not clearly marked). Find a bus and ride down to USS Constitution, it’s Monday so it’s closed for maintenance. The museum is open and I take a quick browse around in it. Then it’s back on the bus and I ride it through the rest of the city. There was a harbor cruise included with it so I get on that, get some nice pictures and the boat goes to the USS Constitution! Oh well, take some more pictures. It’s getting late in the day so I grab a quick bite to eat and start figuring out how to get back to port terminal. Decide it’s been a long walking day so I get on the Orange line at the Old State House. There are machines that accept credit cards here, YES! Transfer back to the Red Line then the SL2.

 

Tonight is hypnotist night with Asad Mecci, two ladies fell out of their chairs… lol. Catch some comedy, Seth Buchwald does some improve with the audience.

 

 

 

Bonus pic from the USS Constitution museum:

 

Portland

I didn’t really have any plans, but 2 other guests told me about their bus pass being $5 for the day. I ask about this at the information booth they have at terminal while getting a map. The booth lady incorrectly tells me I cannot buy the $5 pass on the bus and I need to buy it at the Metro office in tow so I can walk there or ride the bus for $1.50 to get there. Being cheap, I start my walk. Right by the port are people selling handicraft items like coasters, paintings, and jewelry. Not really my thing, but the vendors aren’t pushy about it either. After walking a while, I get to the Metro office and buy my pass. It’s basically a paper that they punch out the date on, not anything really fancy.

 

While all the other buses stop in front of the Metro office, you gotta cross the street to get the stop for Route 8 (it’s in front of Avesta Housing). There are other cruise people on this bus, the driver gives a recommendation of transferring to the Route 1 bus to go up Munjoy Hill and taking the walk down to see the big houses, water, and boats stuff. I sort of do that, on the way up the hill, I notice there is a park with a nice view overlooking the city. I continue up the hill and stop off at a park overlooking the water. I catch another bus to continue down. Back in the center of the city, I catch a bus going up the hill again and get off at that park overlooking the city, it’s right after North and Quebec streets. I get my pictures and try to catch the bus as it goes back down the hill, but just miss it. I wait around, but finally just start walking. I can see the ship after a bit so I just walk down to the port with the aid of GPS on my phone. There were no places to really use the restroom, only one I saw was in the Metro office and I think there was a homeless person doing a #2…so I just held it. Saw a seal when we were leaving the port.

 

Tonight is The Beat, I didn’t really like it for some reason this time. It’s also raunchy adult game night and Quest. I skip it and go to bed early after taking the Dramamine as the boat is feeling really rocky, think we were speeding up to get to the next port on time….

 

 

Monument Square

 

 

Panorama from that park I was talking about

Saint John, NB

We’re late getting into port, Malcolm came on twice to say it was due to low tides? Our taxi driver/tour guide reports there was an ambulance when the ship arrived… So not sure what happened there. With CC group, we did a private tour through Dave’s Taxi Tours http://www.davestaxitours.com/. Great guide, he even brought his own camera to snap some pictures in case you forgot yours. We first stopped at Fort Howe where the big St John Hollywood style sign is and took the iconic picture with the cruise ship in the background. Then to the reversing falls, we could really see the water moving “upstream”. We past by a neat house that has a widows watch that is in the shape of which from one angle, but I didn’t get any pictures. We made a pit stop where a lady sells cookies and paintings. Her place also has a nice view for some pictures as well. Then we continued our way to St Martin, made a stop where there were a bunch of lobster traps and a covered bridge. It was high tide so we didn’t see things looking funny with like no water. A further bit of a drive and we’re at the sea caves, but high tide so we can’t walk inside them. We stop for lunch at The Caves restaurant that is there. I got a lobster roll but even the other stuff is kind of pricey there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we go out to a lighthouse. I saw an eagle on the way there, but we couldn’t spot it on the way back for some pictures. We head back to the city, stopping at the reversing falls again to see what we could of it. It was flowing up, but not turbulent. We drive back towards the ship and get other tidbits of information.

 

 

 

(Dave shows us how lighthouses are automatic now)

 

 

Anyway, would really recommend Dave Gaudette, knowledgeable and funny. My only really con of the whole thing is that he has a newer style minivan so it doesn’t really seat six all that comfortably (the first row passenger seating are 2 individual seats, not a bench). I squished into the back row with a couple, luckily the wife was thin or else we might not have all fit. It was really tight, though I admit I got a lot of junk in my trunk.. Three average people might still be a bit tight but bearable.

 

Tonight was The Game of Love, given the demographic on the ship, they had a hard time finding a newlywed couple, lol. Then it was the Deck Party and Mexican Buffet, which I skipped since we have another port day tomorrow.

 

Mirage floating ship as we leave port

Halifax, NS

Do another private tour with a different CC group and another Dave. Dave Marriott and his site is http://nova-scotia-van-tours.com/. At the port there is a limo driver in a kilt, hehe. We drive around, Dave talks about the Halifax Explosion and more driving around. We stop at Acadian Maple Products to learn about maple syrup and have some samples; they even have a maple syrup wine. Then off towards Peggy’s Cove. We first stop at Ryder Lobsters Ltd and have some of the freshest lobster I have ever tasted. They also have oysters on the half shell, mussels, and little neck claims. BTW, this appears to be owned by a guy named Dave, sensing a theme here? Eating is outside on some picnic benches. The place is eat then pay, silly Canadians. We then get back on the road.

 

 

(kilted limo man)

 

 

 

(Dave talking about maple syrup)

 

(Dave's cave at the lobster place)

 

(nom nom, only pic of the food as we dug right after this)

Edited September 16, 2014 by CookieShip

Peggy’s Cove is basically a lighthouse on some big rocks you can walk on. If it weren’t for the lobster lunch, not sure if the trip would have been worth it ;). There are lots of photo ops , Dave gives us an hour to wonder about on our own here. There is a gift shop nearby, the toilets there use gray water so do not be alarmed if you use the restrooms there.

 

 

 

(got a pic from the back with no people!)

 

 

Back on the road again to the Titanic Grave Site, Dave gives a great deal of info on a number of the headstones. It was all very interesting, even though I’ve never been that into it or the movie. We round off the tour with a trip to the Citidel, but it is getting late in the day and rain has started to pick up, so we cut it short to get back to the ship. It is elegant after all!

 

(More kilts)

 

 

 

The show tonight was Vroom, I missed it to see the comedy acts of Thomas Brown and Tim Young.

 

2nd Sea Day

Cruise is nearly over! I sleep in as 4 consecutive port days is kind of exhausting. I have some brunch in the MDR, service was kind of slow. Half the table got the entrees and half didn’t until quite a bit later. One of the ladies I’m dining with mentions they are doing the towel animal demonstration thing so I head up to lido aft and see some kind of marine creatures in the water. I’m not sure if it were whales or dolphins. I could see two pods breathing; they were puffing up some water/air. I only have the point and shoot with me, so I skip the towel demonstration and head toward forward (where my room is) to get my DSLR, but it’s too late by then L. Figure I hit the spa for a while, then later it is lunch in the lido and hairy chest competition. There was even a guy with a walker competing, lol. Went to my room to see if I could spot any marine animals from the deck in front, was told I had missed a whale breaching in front of the ship! I don’t see anything so I go to my room for some TV and an inadvertent nap. Hit the spa one last time, go to some comedy, have dinner, and some more comedy. In between one of the acts, I head back to my room to attempt some packing. Run into 2 different groups that locked themselves out of their rooms putting out their luggage. I call housekeeping for them, but housekeeping says to call guest services. Can’t get thru to an actual person at guest services so I call housekeeping back who says they’ll attempt a call. Eventually the guests get back into their rooms and I go back out for some more comedy.

 

Debarkation

Do the self-assist thing and I’m off by 8:30 even though I was intending on lounging around a bit. Took forever to get an elevator that was free to take my luggage down from the Lido deck. There is a long line for the taxis, but there are port people making sure things are moving along smoothly. Ride to the Port Authority is $6.5, not sure where he dropped me off at, but I had to walk around a bit to find the correct bus terminals for Greyhound. My ticket is for 11, so I try to get it switched for an earlier bus, but $20 change fee. Since that is basically what I already paid for the ticket, I wait until 11.

Thank you for your review! We've done the 4 and 5-day Canada cruises but the 7-day cruises are offered at the wrong time for us - fall is not the time we can take vacation. Nice to read about extra ports.

Enjoyed your review and pictures. We've done this itinerary and the 5 day Canada a couple of times too. Going on the Splendor again in a month and looking forward to it. Glad you had a good time and thanks for posting!

 

 

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5 days would be to short for me!

 

Also, in the Canadian ports, they are 1 hour ahead, but you need to stay on ship's time. Probably also best to put the phone in airplane mode after Portland, I left it on and it jumped the hour ahead. I had an alarm for dinner and ended up going almost an hour early. I got there and noticed people had entrees already (early dining folks), looked at my watch and walked out, lol. :o

Probably also best to put the phone in airplane mode after Portland, I left it on and it jumped the hour ahead. I had an alarm for dinner and ended up going almost an hour early. I got there and noticed people had entrees already (early dining folks), looked at my watch and walked out, lol. :o

LOL - On a Western Caribbean cruise our oldest son (then 16) did that, but in reverse. We had early dining. Our ship sailed from Miami to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel and Belize. When we ended our day in Cozumel, we told our son to meet us in the dining room for dinner. He was a no show. Oh well, we figured he wanted pizza on the Lido deck. About 45 minutes into dinner he showed up in the dining room, dressed very nicely and looking very confused. Yes, he was using his cell phone to tell time and he was an hour behind. Our waiter laughed, handed him a menu, and said "entree and dessert only.":)

 

Today that son has literally sailed around the world. Now he knows how to account for time changes.

Edited September 16, 2014 by nybumpkin