Lizzybell1960

I feel ever so much better seeing all of your responses, thank you so much :)

I'm glad she was refurbished at some point as if she was launched in 2008, she would have been long overdue.

Its true about reviews, you cannot please everyone & it seemed that every review I read the other night was horrible @ ship being old, needed sprucing up etc.

Thanks again to all the recent cruisers of Splendor, you have set my mind at ease and I feel good about our choice to cruise on her next March to Mexico

We are taking our granddaughter who turns 7 on embarkation day. She is 1/2 Hispanic and has always wanted to go to the land of her heritage. She is in a bilingual school learning all in Spanish, so our lovely gd will be our interpreter whilst in the ports :)

If you have any spec suggestions for this ship as I'm brand new to Carnival, please do share with me, esp in regards to activities for kids. Much appreciate all the responses.

These posts were from 2015. The Splendor is here in Long Beach & sailing to Mexico every Saturday.

Does anyone on here know if she was over overhauled? she was launched in 2010(?)

We are thinking about doing this cruise, but now having doubts due to her age IF no rehab. or any recent passengers onboard the Splendor??

In the "old days"-1960s you could go down to the ships, P&O and have lunch onboard & walk around to

see the ship. The ship would blow an all off call and those people would have to go ashore. I remember friends of my parents joining us for lunch and then having to leave :(

We are going to see the ship on Saturday since its right across the bay but one cannot tell the state of the ship by her hull itself.

Thanks much,.

Liz in Long Beach

Help, I need advice from recent Carnival Splendor cruisers. Can anyone tell me if Carnival Splendor has been refurbished/overhauled? I think she was launched in 2010.

I read about the fire in 2016 and her quick haul out turn around time which indicated she didn't get a complete overhaul. Also saw things like "really showing her age" & "needs work everywhere & dated" me thinks wth?

If I am paying a lot of money for a cruise, those phrases shouldn't even be included in the same

sentence!! Now on a super deal, perhaps I wouldn't even ask :)

This would be my first cruise with Carnival, I've cruised with Princess and NCL 25 times and don't enjoy the huge mega ships, so the Splendors size seemed good.

We are not picky, but the above phrases are making me really reconsider specifically the Splendor....has she lost hers?

Choosing Carnival for kids program & very limited sailings at time frame & departure port we can go but now I'm having big doubts after researching tonite. Argh.

Can anyone please tell me who has sailed on the Splendor Recently IF she is in bad shape, really showing her age etc???

Thank you for your honest answers, they are very much appreciated as I gotta figure this out asap.

Liz

Long Beach CA

Hi Thank you for your detailed response, all info very much appreciated. RE the crime-its what has been on the news & I know it has to do with the drug wars going on. I did research on CC & no one has posted anything about violence in the ports, that I found.

I agree with your take on Princess re ages of cruisers. Even with it being Spring Break, I would guess a lot less kids on Princess.

I think the family is in agreement to try Carnival for the first time. We are excited about taking the cruise & thanks for your feedback.

Did you book this cruise? We are thinking about doing the Mexican cruise on Princess Royal 3/30. There are only 2 sailing out of LA area on spring break. The Royal and Carnival Splendor, I am surprised at the lack of cruises out of LA area. The pool sit on the Royal is sad, imo, going from 5 pools to 2, esp when the ship sails to the warmer weather locations. Just curious if you decided to go with the Royal. Thank you.

Hi-We are thinking of doing a 7 day Mexican cruise March 2019 with 3 generations. late 50s, mid 30s, 20 & 7 yr old.

There are not a lot of cruises to choose from as we need spec date & the choices are Carnival Splendor or Princess Royal.

I am hoping for a wonderful experience & vacation for all. None of us are heavy drinkers, & have heard Carnival is the "party boat" :)

It seems doing research that Carnival caters to the 7 year old, prob more than Princess...but not sure-please share with me your experience. Not so much the "drop off/babysit" but activities we can all do together and she loves to swim.

How are the kids pools and areas on these ships as if weather is good, that's where she will be :)

Part of our family is from Mexico, but have never been, esp our 7 year old who is very proud of her heritage and speaks Spanish. Any recommendations for cultural experiences & activities while in the ports is great appreciated.

Lastly, with all the media about the violence in Mexico recently, has anyone felt unsafe while onshore?? We will be stay in the main tourist areas & being sensible & aware- no off the beaten paths on this trip

Please share with me your thoughts on Carnival vs. Princess for our groups age mix.

Thanks very much

We just returned from Med cruise aboard NCL Epic & stayed pre cruise at Hotel 1898. It was lovely, beautiful rooms with very high ceilings. Beautiful woodwork through out and staff was wonderful. Location is perfect, on La Rambla & was close to so many great things. This is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in and def would book again. We got an amazing deal as we booked hotel as part of pkg w/airfare, so worth it :)

wow, by the news and what we experienced, you guys were very lucky. I would have guessed that by nighttime things would have been really backlogged-as that's usually happens :(

Glad you made it back without going thru those horrible lines, Ive traveled all over and it was the worst I have ever experienced.

Flew back sat 8/3, first day of "security soft strike" It was hellish. It took over 3 hours to clear the 3 security points BCN airport has set up. There was line cutting & 1000s of people in 2 hellishly long lines. We allowed for 2 extra hours and had to run for our flight as they were boarding.

On Sat 8/4 the full strike went into effect as well as the temps soaring. Allow extra time, bring water and your patience, you will need it all.

I read where the security has "scheduled" strikes with spec days and times. IF you are traveling during these timeframes, truly allow 3 extra hours at least. I also read about 1/3 of passengers missed their flights on sat.

It took us 30 hours to travel from Malaga, BCN, Montreal, LAX...we chased the sun & landed exhausted & happy to be home.

Be safe fellow cruisers and travelers.

Hello fellow cruisers-we just got back from 2 weeks in the Med, 1 week on NCL Epic. The cruise was great, port intensive & hot. The one port we did a tour was into Rome for the day. Its well worth the money & effort to see such an amazing city.

When it came time for lunch, we let the driver know we are on a very limited budget, going as far as to say "we want to be able to tip you at the end of the day" etc. He insisted on taking us to the most amazing place, the best pasta in all of Europe etc.

Despite our warnings of our limited budget, the driver took us to an out of the way restaurant that was deserted...except for a waiting staff. The four of us asked to see a menu and before those were handed over, the sparking water had already been opened. WTH?

The prices were very high, far more than we had paid for any other meal the prev 7 days so we were all upset, esp me.

I pointed to our driver across the room and asked him to come over to our group. As he walked up to me and asked what was wrong, I replied " I am too old for this bull****, why in the world did you bring us here? I feel very taken advantage of after our conversation with you in the car about prices. We are leaving" With this, we heard the employees swear while our driver claimed he had never had anyone reject this restaurant before.

We had him drop us off 1/2 mile away, had a wonderful & affordable lunch with beer and wine for 4 for less than the cost of 1 meal at his "recommended place"

I had heard this can happen and really wasn't too surprised, don't be afraid to say NO to the recommended place if for whatever reason you don't like it, esp if you have a conversation with the driver beforehand.

For the rest of the afternoon, he was great, prompt and polite. We got back to the ship in plenty of time, and even asked me to leave a positive review which I found amusing.

We are staying at Hotel 1898 next week, pre cruise. I've read many wonderful things & the basement pool looks amazing. We got the hotel for a great price as we booked airfare and hotel for 3 nites as pkg, otherwise quite pricey. Its in an amazing old building & with that pool...I am good.:cool:

We used Rome in Limo, outstanding :) Get any tickets you can ahead of time, Col. on line etc. as long as you know day visiting to avoid lines. Sister did vatican & all the guides were booked, its worth it, reserve early. Pompeii tcks are easily purchased at Pompeii, no lines. Have fun, Rome was amazing and RiL are best tour guides out there.

Chapter Five - The Ship (and anything else I can think of)

 

Epic, well it is not going to win any beauty awards is it.

 

From the outside you wonder what on earth they were thinking, and the Haven area just looks like an - "oh damn, we forgot about that, can we stick it there".

 

Inside the ship is pretty good. Not quite the 'wow' that you get with some, but pretty damn good.

 

The design of the restaurants is pretty good, for example although you know you are not sat in a French restaurant in Le Bistro, you don't feel like you are in a cruise ship restaurant.

 

There are some design flaws, such as only having lifts at the front and back, although to be fair, to get between deck 5 (Taste, Le Bistro, Guest Services, etc) and deck 6 there is an escalator up and down, and to get between deck 6 (Casino and Theatre) and deck 7 (bars, Cagneys, Moderno) there is a wide spiral staircase.

 

Deck 6 is one big casino all the way through, and for most of the time seemed to be wasted space as few people were using it. Even in the evening peak, 90% of the fruit machines were unused and 50% of the gaming tables.

 

I thought the design missed a trick with the bars, as they all seemed to be buried inside the ship, and there was nowhere of an evening to enjoy a drink and watch the world pass by outside. As mentioned before, they also seemed to cram together the two music bars so the music clashed. The other music venues, Fat Cats and Headliners were filled with only dining chairs and bar stools to sit on, almost a direct encouragement to make people go away and not linger.

 

The cabins, which are unique to the this class of ship, I have already commented on, and contrary to a lot of comments, I thought were a good design.

 

Water slides - Fun, even for those of us who last saw our teenage years a long long long time ago. I didn't see a single person using the bowling lanes the entire trip.

 

Smoking. As a non-smoker I can get irritated at the thoughtlessness of smokers, but I appreciate that they also feel put upon be having their freedom restricted. In the casino there seemed to be very few people smoking and you didn't feel like you were walking through a smoky room. The only areas it was obvious was a pen up near the pools where they were corralled the smokers and the side near the bar in Spice H2O.

 

Sunbeds. Even on sea days there was no problem getting a sunbed, although it might not quite be where you wanted one. There were always loads up on deck 18, and even in the section with the comfy chairs at the front I always found a space. Deck 19, the freestyle area had been emptied of sunbeds, and was just an empty space.

 

It surprised me the proportion of passengers that were American, given this was a European cruise. But on reflection, people get tied into a particular line, and for some, the ship seemed to provided a safe haven with no foreign strangeness to return to at the end of a day's excursion.

 

It is not a dressy ship. Not quite the putting on the best ripped jeans for the posh restaurant, but certainly not a black tie ship. I saw three or four people in dark suits, one man with a bow tie one night, and a few people in Le Bistro with jackets. In the evenings chinos or jeans and shirt was the standard clothing for 90% of men, with the remainder in even more casual clothing.

 

DSC. I don't want to make any comments on the rightness or wrongness, but just that I had prepaid it prior to the cruise to avoid the increase, but that fact had not made it as far as the ship, and they had to contact Miami for confirmation before it was taken off the room bill. A bit sloppy I thought.

 

In summary for British travellers - It is not a formal P&O or Cunard ship and Hyacinth Bucket would be most upset at 'standards'. It is not a European ship like Costa serving real Italian food. It is a fun, casual, American ship, entertaining Americans and serving American food to Americans.

 

I enjoyed it, and if that is what you are looking for, then you should as well.

Thank you for your review, I was on the Epic 5/24-5/31. On our cruise there were less Americans & more Europeans from different countries...Italy, Spain, Brits, & France as well as many Canadians. I loved having the mix of different nationalities & it was one of the best things about the cruise. I really enjoyed your British perspective & thanks again for the great review.

When our cruise ship docked in Civitavecchia, we decided to book a tour of Tuscany, since all of us had been to Rome before. We chose Rome in Limo Tours from reviews we read here and on Tripadvisor. Our first treat was when we saw our van. It was larger than any of the other vans we had been on for our other tours, although there were still only 8 of us on the tour. Additionally, we were given free internet throughout our ride. Our great driver, Nick, treated us all like royalty. He offered us lots of interesting information on the area, and yet gave us plenty of space and time to explore on our own. The two towns that we visited,Pitiglia and Sovana, were some of the most beautiful places we had ever seen. They were so clean, the people so welcoming, and the flowers so gorgeous. We know that we could not have found a better way to spend our day in Italy. You can't go wrong with Rome in Limo Tours!

Hi-I am so grateful to cruise critic and all the suggestions...Europe on a cruise is so port intensive, its exhausting just to do the research!

I am so glad that I decided on Rome in Limo, I know the tours of Rome and the Italian riviera with them will be wonderful, affordable and best use of time in a place we have never been to before.

We are very excited to be leaving in 4 days!!! My first vacation in 5 yrs and after all the research, I need one!

Thank you again to all for the great advice, its helped so much.

Everything I have read states to buy whatever tcks ahead of time you can. There is a link for Coliseum tcks, and I am sure the Vatican & Sistine Chapel. Its one less line :)

As a child in the mid-sixties I was on the Oronsay, with no en-suite facilities in Tourist Class, when class segregation was the norm. Even there, the menus seemed exotic, including a Farinaceous course on the luncheon menu...

 

Many thanks for commenting.

 

Kind regards

megacruiser

i remember being on F deck & 4 tucked into a tiny cabin w/facilities down the hall...the laundry & showers w/teak mats, the "tourist class" pool, the Fife room, ice cream at the pool, bingo, the open decks & the smell of fresh bread in dining room nightly....as well as many other wonderful memories. The menus were exotic & for many years we had a few...not sure where they are now. Thank you for sharing your memories of Oronsay :)

Hi all...we are flying into Barcelona early sat for cruise on Sun boarding the NCL Epic, we have approx 24 hrs to see the city. Most all of our questions have been answered, thanks to CC & all the informative posts, its very much appreciated & THANK YOU GUYS!! my search button has been very active!:o

what we have left are several unanswered but important questions....if I may ask your advice on the following-

1) We can't check into our airb&b til 3pm & we land at 730am & we have 1 large suitcase each which we don't want to schlep around the city.

What are your suggestions for where to stash our luggage from 9-am til 3pm on sat?..or til sun if there are lockers at the ncl term...we will pick up upon check in sun.

I don't suppose NCL will allow us to check/stash our bags til next day check in?? I highly doubt it but just thought i would ask...

2) We are planning on buying a case of water and a case of spark water & checking it with luggage. I was told this is allowed by NCL. During the same phone call, I was told me we can bring aboard 1 bottle of wine each w/$18 corkage fee. I know you can bring a case of wine, if you are willing to the corkage fees, thought they allowed 1 comp for cabin. I am not sure about the wine policy now.

We are staying Sat nite in the Gothic area & will be getting a taxi most likely to the port/ship. For ease, are there bottle shops/shops that sell these item at the embarkation area & is it reasonable, compared to markets in the city etc.

3) We are thinking about getting an on/off 24 hour bus pass for Barcelona. Does this on/off bus pick up at scheduled times at the airport as part of its route? We had thought of this as an option to help save $$..however...

Perhaps after such long flights, we will splurge and get a taxi.... Can anyone tell me the taxi fare(approx) from airport to Gothic area AND airport directly to the NCL dock for 2?(if they have lockers by the dock to store luggage for 24 hrs)

Thank you so much for your replies....we appreciate all the info. We are all very excited & will be celebrating my Dads 80th birthday on board.

Cruise Critic Rock

Liz in Long Beach

NCL Epic May 24-Med.

Past cruises

2005 NCL Star repo coastal Cali

2003 Princess Sapphire Alaska-Inaug. launch

1975 LA to Southampton back to back P&O Oronsay-final voyage

1972-1960

Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Oriana, Oronsay, & others I was too young to remember Once a sailor, always a sailor.

Thank you to all for the info...cruise critic is a great source & I appreciate all the feedback.

It sounds like there was a change in crew.. I am happy if the crew is happy :) They are refurbishing her in a few months, so valid complaints in some areas.

I am thrilled to be going....but sometimes too much info isn't a good thing...

I looked at the deck plans today for the Epic...oh dear...cabin 8144 looks to be directly above the bars on deck 7 & i then read there are issues with lifeboats obstructing views(to the point where you have to sit in the chair to see "out to sea" as if you stand, all you see is a lifeboat)

Again, not trying to be a negative Nancy but I have now read alot of "avoid deck 8 balconies due to lifeboat issues" & now wondering @ the location above the bars on deck 7 as they are open so late.

Has anyone out there stayed in any of the cabins @ this one & can tell me @ the noise level at nite, past midnite is really my main concern. I can handle the lifeboat issue, but do not want to be kept awake nightly by loud music til 2am.

I didnt book this cabin, & its gty, I will pay to move to quieter cabin, if 8144 has noise issues...so, what do you think CC members.

I did try searching the spec cabin link, but no cabins in that area came up. Thank you CC s for your input.

Thanks for posting. I was on the old Oriana twice and have two abiding memories. One was the fact that a large section of the dance floor was removed to winch luggage aboard and the second was a bar, beside the enclosed swimming pool, where free milk shakes made with fresh bananas were served. Those were the days.

 

My first cruise with P&O was on the old Arcadia and the present one is the third incarnation of that name. The most special ship had to be Canberra, but the lack of private facilities eventually sealed its fate. Memories...

 

Reagrds

megacruiser

Hi-The grand old ships you mentioned caught my eye. We also were on these ships & the Oronsay, my fav :) We have pics of my sissy & I in the QE & QM nurseries, as my parents believed in utilizing them! My mom was on the maiden voyage of Oronsay fr GB to NZ(early 50s?) and we were all aboard her final voyage in the summer of 1975. There was something very special about those old, smaller ships.....& for me some of the very best times of my life. Thanks very much for sharing your memories.

I was on EPIC for two weeks during this February and after returning I made my next reservation for next week - only four days and I'm back [emoji41][emoji41][emoji41]

Thank you, thats def a positive review :) Thats what I want to hear for obvious reasons and the fact you rebooked...good for you! Enjoy your cruise, the itinerary is amazing...if so inclined, please post a review.

Thanks to all for posting.

I have friends onboard the current TA cruise who are all having fun.

A couple of negative reviews out of many.

 

A lot of the crew will be changing this week as she switches to Summer Europe season. Then in September she is off to dry dock for 3 weeks and a good refurbish.

 

:D

Thank you...I was thinking that might be the case with the crew. They do work hard & by the end of a 5 month jint, I would be exhausted also :( I am glad there will be some new crew members & by all the neg. comments re torn carpet, worn out etc, it sounds like the Epic really needs a refurbish.

I know there are always good/bad reviews and if the experience is a bad one, the cust is more likely to post...that being said, the last few months and in particular the 4/15 cruise that the sewage hit the fan, so to speak, for an above average number of cruisers....not for all, thankfully!

When that many customers speak up, there is a problem...obvious enough for a few to have noticed and are concerned re upcoming cruises.

One of issues seems to have been an exhausted crew, who are now at home having a much needed rest. Yeah for them and yeah for us, the paying customer who hopes for a happy, rested crew as a tired, unhappy crew makes for a bad cruise experience, imo.

One can only hope the sewage issues have been fixed as thats a crappy sit to deal with(sorry! :) )

I am curious to see if the next couple of weeks turns this downtrend around for the Epic with lots of positive reviews, I really hope so!!!

Thank you :)

Hi-I am not trying to be negative as we are all so excited @ our Epic cruise out of Barcelona next month. That being said, I have been reading the most recent reviews on the Epic and many are bad.

Yes, there are a few good reviews, but enough bad ones have been posted in the last couple of days to bring the rating of the ship down I believe.

The posts all seemed reasonable, the common threads-strong sewage smells, ship not clean/run down/torn carpets, even bed bugs :(

I think the most troubling was the consistent complaint that NCL & esp the staff on the Epic did not care. Period. Whatever the issue, as one crusier put it "Sooooo Sorry" was NCLs response to every question/complaint & I believe him :(

I know the crew have long hours, many months away from their families and home. Perhaps they are at the tail end of their time onboard and were all "burned out"??? I get that...I don't like it(from their point and the paying customers), but I get it Perhaps this is the case, does any one know??

I am sure there were those who had the most amazing times of their lives, but these lucky souls seem to be few and far between on the last cruise(4/15).

I am now concerned due to all of these negative reviews...whats up with the Epic, these issues and her crew?

Thanks much.

Liz

Wow, this question was asked in 2009 and its still be referred to 4/25/15...pretty impressive on all accounts. We are using RomeinLimo next

month due to all the very positive reviews on CC, yelp & trip advisor. Thanks to all for sharing your experiences.