daledoe

Is there shuffleboard in Red Frog Pub on the 5th floor?

Doing a 5 day on the Elation out of Jacksonville in a few weeks....What should I know about the ship? Compared to others. What type of crowd is generally on this cruise?

I am used to doing a 7-8 day cruise...not sure what to expect with a 5 day cruise. Dining menus? Fun Times?

Thanks in advance!;)

Dale

I was in that room 2 weeks ago! loved it!

hope they changed the sheets though! ;)

Nice review man! Also, thanks for your service!

Can't wait to hear about your Dream Cruise...me and the wife will be sailing on the Dream in July for our 10 year Analversary. Hoping you are loading the photos of your trip on to photobucket as I type this hahaha

We really enjoy your reviews and was glad to see that you had just a good time with your Krewe!

Hello everyone. I received an email tonight from a friend saying that I needed to come check out cruise critic because there was a thread of people who were looking for me.

I'm here. I did go on the cruise on the Elation. I had my Krewe with me plus many of my best friends also came along for support. I had my moments on the cruise where I just needed to get away and talk to my dad. I know I was right where I needed to be. I miss my dad everyday but I know that he would have wanted me to go and have fun with my friends. At our meet and greet we had a toast in my dad's honor. It was very touching that my friends thought about my dad like that.

Not a day has gone by that I don't continue to think about him. I have my good days and my bad days. I'm not really looking forward to Christmas. But my best friend (who was also on the cruise) is flying in on Christmas Eve to be with me.

Welcome back...can't wait to hear all about your cruises!!

Thanks Again everyone. I can't even begin to express the love that I have felt from all my cruising friends.

When I do my photo reviews of my cruises with me and my dad I guess I never realized how many people were impacted by the bond that my dad and I had. He was my cruising buddy and my best friend.

Not a day goes by that I don't think about him.

Thanks Again for all your thoughts, prayers, and positive thoughts through this extremely difficult time

Will you be doing a review anytime soon from your past cruise? They are the best!!

You know there is a search function on here in the upper righthand corner.

Hey Brianna, me and my Brother Kyle are really considering booking the repositioning cruise as well. Is your Dad going to be joining you or just the Krewe?

Can't wait to hear to more....my DW and I are going on the Breeze in a little over a month. Can't wait to do the single digit dance. Hopefully you have your whole review posted by the time we get on the ship, this one is rather lenthly.

How was the food? Particularly in the dining room? We hardly ever eat the buffet other than to grab a burger or something light when we are laying out in the sun.

Did they get rid of the Texas Hold em Poker machines that were on the ships? (Poker Pro)

I was looking at booking another cruise and it wasn't included in the onboard activities. I wasn't really a big fan of it, but I am curious if they got rid of it and what they will be replacing it with.

Thanks

Dale

I forgot to mention the Cruise Director Malcolm. I thought he did a good job. He didn't try to impress people with tacky jokes like some CD's, he was friendly, and professional. I also appreciate that he wasn't on the microphone making annoying announcements all the time.

Thanks for the review and glad it was a fun time. It's amazing how the staff remembers passengers from past cruises given all the people they encounter. How did your friend who has never cruised before like it? We're going on the Splendor again and have friends going that never cruised before so I was curious if he was wowed or not.

He had a good time. On the ride home from the airport he said he thought it was better than what he expected. He was really impressed with the food and the value for the money.

glad you had a good time! i was on the same sailing as lisa and we all had a blast.. glad you got lucky with good weather the whole way through. we had a rough day at nassau.. cloudy and VERRRRRY WINDY with 6 ships in port that day. my hubs spent a lot of time in the casino at the craps table and did pretty good throughout the week so momma was a happy camper!:D

Not to rub it in, but it was in the 80's everyday other than the last day at sea. Beautiful weather!!!! We were also the only ship in every port, which was nice becuase it wasn't crowded at all!

I just got off the Splendor a few days ago and figured I would do a quick review.

First off I believe a cruise is as fun as you want to make it.

Back ground information. I booked this cruise after I was comped this from the casino from the previous cruise I took over Christmas with my family on the Sunshine out of New Orleans. I (25) booked an interior room with my brother (26) and later added his girlfriend (30) and one of our friends who this was his first cruise (26).

The ship is nice and I believe well decorated. A lot of people on reviews complained that it was too pink, I however thought it was beautiful, especially the artwork on the walls in the stairwells. The ship has a retractable roof that can be utilized on windy or rainy days. I believe it was used only once or twice. We got really lucky and had nice weather the whole time, unlike the Christmas cruise. The main purpose of our cruise was to party and have a good time. We all bought the Cheers package, which was nice because we didn't have to worry about racking up a huge bill on our sail n sign cards, and we hit our limits everyday except for the last. Those Long Islands and Sex on The Beach went down like water. We also drank quite a few "Classic cocktails" because we would get a 5 dollar match play from the casino.

Embarkation was a breeze, our flight got into Laguardia from Akron at 8:35, so we had some time to kill. By the time we got our bags and a taxi it was a little after 9. I thought traffic was bad getting to the ship, it took about 50 minutes. However the driver said it was fairly good. We got to the Ship and there were still some stragglers getting off, so we dropped off our luggage and decided to walk over to Times Square. From the Pier it is only about a 15 or 20 minute walk. My Brother had never been before, so I wanted to show him around a little. I wish we had a little more time to show him Central Park, Wall Street, and China Town. We ate a quick lunch at a small deli near the Ed Sullivan Theatre and then headed back to the ship.

Once on board, we started to drink and got some more food. I ate a burrito and Mongolian Wok. They were delicious. I thought the burrito bar on Splendor was better than Sunshine, I just wish it had Guys Burger Joint like the Sunshine did. As far as food, we didn't eat the buffet too often, other than lunch. We ate dinner every night in the Main Dinning Room. We ate Brunch and Breakfast a few times as well in MDR. We didn't try the Steakhouse, however I talked to a few people that said it was really good. I want to try it out next time. The Dining room staff was excellent. We were in and out within an 1 hour and 15 mins on most nights. This was a big impovement from the Sunshine, it took forever every night to get our food and always had empty drink glasses. The menu was pretty much the same as Sunshine and tasted similar. It was all good non the less. I want to give a shout out to our servers Nadeena (head waitress), Samuel, and Crispin. They were quick and friendly. Also a shout out to our bar server Mustafa. He always took good care of us and a fun guy to talk to.

We weren't in our room, other than to Shower, ****, and Sleep. However, my only complaint about it was that it was a little too warm. I woke up sweating most mornings, but it was nothing to complain about. Our TV, wasn't working the first 2 or 3 days until I told our Room Steward Lary, and he was quick to call and get it fixed. He did a good job for us and was nice. Although I will say our Cabin Steward from Sunshine was more outgoing and a lot more sociable.

The crew on the Sunshine was very good, aside from the Casino staff. I always enjoy talking to the workers from different countries and making friends with them for the week. I met a few that were really cool and I miss. The Pizza man at night Anak, was on the Sunshine and on the first night of getting pizza before bed, I almost **** my pant becuase he was making the pizza on Splendor. I asked if he remembered me and he did. He said he was going to ask the same thing. We talked every night. A server that I talked to every day was Daniela from Bulgeria. Not only was she sexy, but she was very smart. We talked everyday, in fact I think she might have got in trouble by her supervisor because she would talk to us for so long. Another guy I talked to every night was Dimo, he worked as a server in the MDR and cleaned and refilled machines on Lido deck at night. This guy is hilarious, we would talk about girls, and share funny stories everynight. He too was a bright individual and a pleasure to get to know. We also wanted to give a shout out to the bar staff throughout the ship for being very friendly, especially Milan who worked on the Lido bar by one of the pools. Banks, who was part of the entertainment staff was another guy we would talk to. He did a lot of the sports, trivia, and did DJ from time to time.

We spent a lot of time at the Casino. I liked the layout of this casino better than the Sunshine, although it only had 1 poker table. I wish they had live dealers for poker though, I HATE PokerPro!!! As far as casino staff, I didn't think they were very friendly. I only like two dealers Lili and Ziti. The pit bosses sucked. Like I said before, I got this cruise comped from my previouse cruise (Sunshine) I was in the casino playing for hours every day and I didn't even get a free drink card. The last cruise I had it by the third night. I tipped EVERYTIME I got a blackjack too. It took forever for them to log me into their system when I would buy in. Luckily I won about 1K, or I would have had a really bad taste in my mouth about it. Complete 180 from the Casnio Staff of the Sunshine. Also, the times I tried to get a drink, the bar servers in the casino were slow to come around. I tipped them too. Carnival could probably hire a few more staff. It isn't fair to them or the guests.

We went to a few shows. Vroom was really good. Although I think they said we were their last cruise on that ship. They could sing and dance! I'd hate to say how much the costumes cost too! It would definitely rival a broadway show. We also saw a Hypnotist. He picked people from the crowd, it was pretty funny. We saw quite a few comedy shows. They were pretty funny, espcially the little Puerto Rican guy, sorry I forgot his name, but he was on the first and second night. My only complaint is that I think they should put the comdey shows in the theater, especially if there isn't a show going on that night or time slot. There were many times it was standing room only or people were turned away because it was at capacity.

The Red Carpet lounge (disco/club) was pretty fun, the DJ played good music and would play a song if you had one that you wanted to request. Although, I will say I liked the Sunshine's club better, it had better light effects.

The biggest dissappointment was the Piano Bar. I think the guys name was Dana, but he sucked! Didn't stop to take requests, played behind back up music, and had a terrible voice. Big difference from the piano bar on the sunshine.

Disembarkation was pretty easy. We were off and out of customs within 20-30 mins.

Overall, it was a good time had by all. We met a lot of fun, interesting people and had tons of laughs. As long as the food and service is good, you can't really complain about a cruise and they both met or excelled our expectations. It is definitely better than being at home and at work.

If you have any questions feel free to ask or drop me a message.

Can you purchase it immediately when you get on the ship?

Do any of the Ships have Video Blackjack? Rather than a live dealer?

Self dicipline always works for me

FYI that hand sign your son is doing is pretty dirty, you might want to look up "the shocker" hand signal before you hang that one! lol

Hey Mother Theresa.... just because you're familiar with the missionary position, doesn't make you a missionary.

I was just wondering....and wishfully thinking. lol

I recieved a free cruise from the casino while on my last cruise in December. I've got the free cruise booked for later this month. Does anyone know if you get any "freebies" right off the bat? Drinks on us card? Match play? Casino cash? Strawberries? Steakhouse? etc.

Thanks

TURKEY WRAP! I LOVE me my TURKEY WRAP! :D;) Put a little scoop of mayo on the side and dip it just for a little bit more creaminess....Oh, I LOVE my turkey wrap! :p

I agree!!!

Solid review! Grand Turk looks amazing! What is the casino like??? Is it that ship?

How far away is the casino from the Carnival Cruise port?

Would like to check it out...anybody have any information about it?

no, you just took away where I wanted my emphasis...

 

if you want to be a school teacher, there are forums for that. If I capitalized something I might have had a reason and would prefer you not to think you know better. but if that's all you can contribute to the thread. it really proves my point

 

instead of concentrating on wrongly changing someones post, why not debate the subject unless changing someones post is all you want to do.

 

now if you decide you want to change something on this post, we will all know you really have nothing to say.

 

bless your heart

I think it should be 16 drinks, instead of 15.