Splendor 3/3 to 3/10 quick review and report

Just thought I'd post a quick review of our time on the Splendor from last weeks cruise. Overall I'd give it a good review. We really enjoyed the appetizers and soups and the Carnival melting chocolate cake with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, in the MDR (one of the two MDR's). I had the cake and ice cream four times. Some of the main dishes were great, others so-so, but I have fond memories of the French onion soup and Gazpacho.

Other food of note was the Mongolian wok. There were long lines for a reason. We found a short line close to the end of lunch on the day in Mazatlán and got lunch there and it was great. I had a noodle bowl with beef and the spiciest sauce. Almost a little too spicy, but very good.

Originally we were scheduled for the late dining, but they were able to move us to early dining by the second night, so that was really good, as we wanted to see as many of the comedy shows as possible. We were in a table for just the two of us, me and my wife, and while this was socially limiting, it also meant we got our food quicker and made all the 715 shows. We really enjoyed the comedy shows, especially the PG/Pg-13 rated shows. I feel that in the R-rated shows the comedians are almost trying to hit that R-rating as much as possible, and in doing so shutout so much funny stuff in life that doesn't fit into that category.

I'd love it if the shows in general went longer, as so often they were only 30 minutes long, and to me that's too short to really get into it, but of course there is the overall cruise schedule to fit in. Oh, best show of all for us was the love and marriage show. That was hilarious. Next post I'll go over day trips and the importance of remembering that Puerto Vallarte is not on the same time as Carnival.

Thanks for the review.

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

You are off to a great start and I too look forward to your next post.

Keith

Great review so far!

Following...thanks for the review !

Thank you! Looking forward to reading more....we sail in 5 days 😍

Very interested in your review. We board Splendor this Saturday March 24!

Sorry for my delay on part two but I've been busy of late. For Cabo San Lucas my wife and I decided to visit Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach, and after negotiating the price of 25 dollars (which also included seeing lands end) we were dropped off at Lovers Beach. Unfortunately disembarkation went badly as my jump off from the boat coincided with the force of a wave and I fell in the water (but didn't lose my glasses like I did on our other Mexico cruise in 2012), and it could have been worse as the boat moved toward me and came close to hitting me but didn't.

The beaches themselves weren't that exciting, but I did enjoy the fact that one side was the bay side (or Sea of Cortez sided depending on ones analysis) and the other the Pacific side. Looking back I think we would have enjoyed just hanging out at the local beach right near where the tenders dock. I believe that's where locals go.

We had gone whale watching last year in Monterey so didn't feel the need for a big sea life boat trip, and were content not doing much that day.

In Mazatlán the next day I believe we had our most successful excursion. We walked to the old town, and visited Plaza Machado, looked at some historic buildings, visited the Cathedral, and the archeology museum. We rested up at the Plaza, and it is in a nice location to do so. We saw some performers from a distance. After doing that we walked along the water and saw a cliff diver in action. Then we walked back toward the old part of town and spent time at the local beach there Olas Altas. We didn't go in the water, but it was a nice contrast just being there after all the walking and sight seeing.

From there we took a pulmoneria back to the ship with three students from the University of Arizona, who we met just after leaving the beach. I felt bad for them as they had stayed just around the beach and hadn't seen any of the city. We paid 11 dollars total for the ride back to the ship, on one very crowded pulmoneria.

Next day, Puerto Vallarte the centerpiece was to have been the free walking tour leaving the city tourist office at Plaza Principal at 9 in the morning. No problem as we were able to leave the boat by 830, got on a bus and made it just in time for the tour. Only problem was the tour left an hour before as we were on ship time, not PV time. I was irritated at this travel failure on my part, as had we realized the time situation we would have left the boat later in time for the 12 oclock tour. So we wandered around on our own. I really liked the Rio Cuale pedestrian bridge and that whole area. I think it would be a great spot for a park right along the river.

We walked along the Malecon, and visited the recently opened Mexican Navy museum. It wasn't all that memorable, but I enjoy seeing these small museums that usually only natives of the country end up visiting. I don't think there were other non-Mexican visitors at the museum. After walking along the Malecon we spent time at the beach toward the northern portion of the Malecon. Then we got a bus going back to the ship. For the buses we paid two dollars one time, and one dollar the other time I think that had we got the walking tour that would have been nice as it would have given us more structure to our visit, but I believe we covered much of the area on our own that the tour would have shown us, but without the extra information of course.

I believe that night back on board was the Love and Marriage game, and we really enjoyed that. I think it really depends on who the couples are, and how well the host (in this case Marq the cruise director) interacts with them. One final highlight was my victory in a trivia game. It was guess the year, so my history knowledge finally came through and I won the famous ship on a stick, which I proudly presented to my wife at her deck chair on lido. Our cabin was on deck 8 aft, right below the adults only pool and hot tub on deck 9 and I was concerned that it might be loud, as we are light sleepers, but things were pretty quiet outside of one night were there was a lot of chair scraping going on in the early hours of the morning.

Our flight home was from Long Beach airport (we had it transferred from LAX for a nominal fee) on Southwest, on the Saturday evening, so after departing the ship we went to the Queen Mary and hung around on that ship for a few hours before going to the airport. We went via uber which worked fine. The airport terminal reminded me of the Burlingame Caltrain station from my commuter days in the bay area, it was so small, but it was a good way to get home, non-stop to Sacramento.

All in all a nice cruise, with good service, good food, some nice excursions and meeting friendly fellow cruisers.

Nice review! Thanks for taking the time to share!

Sorry for my delay on part two but I've been busy of late. For Cabo San Lucas my wife and I decided to visit Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach, and after negotiating the price of 25 dollars (which also included seeing lands end) we were dropped off at Lovers Beach. Unfortunately disembarkation went badly as my jump off from the boat coincided with the force of a wave and I fell in the water (but didn't lose my glasses like I did on our other Mexico cruise in 2012), and it could have been worse as the boat moved toward me and came close to hitting me but didn't.

The beaches themselves weren't that exciting, but I did enjoy the fact that one side was the bay side (or Sea of Cortez sided depending on ones analysis) and the other the Pacific side. Looking back I think we would have enjoyed just hanging out at the local beach right near where the tenders dock. I believe that's where locals go.

We had gone whale watching last year in Monterey so didn't feel the need for a big sea life boat trip, and were content not doing much that day.

In Mazatlán the next day I believe we had our most successful excursion. We walked to the old town, and visited Plaza Machado, looked at some historic buildings, visited the Cathedral, and the archeology museum. We rested up at the Plaza, and it is in a nice location to do so. We saw some performers from a distance. After doing that we walked along the water and saw a cliff diver in action. Then we walked back toward the old part of town and spent time at the local beach there Olas Altas. We didn't go in the water, but it was a nice contrast just being there after all the walking and sight seeing.

From there we took a pulmoneria back to the ship with three students from the University of Arizona, who we met just after leaving the beach. I felt bad for them as they had stayed just around the beach and hadn't seen any of the city. We paid 11 dollars total for the ride back to the ship, on one very crowded pulmoneria.

Next day, Puerto Vallarte the centerpiece was to have been the free walking tour leaving the city tourist office at Plaza Principal at 9 in the morning. No problem as we were able to leave the boat by 830, got on a bus and made it just in time for the tour. Only problem was the tour left an hour before as we were on ship time, not PV time. I was irritated at this travel failure on my part, as had we realized the time situation we would have left the boat later in time for the 12 oclock tour. So we wandered around on our own. I really liked the Rio Cuale pedestrian bridge and that whole area. I think it would be a great spot for a park right along the river.

We walked along the Malecon, and visited the recently opened Mexican Navy museum. It wasn't all that memorable, but I enjoy seeing these small museums that usually only natives of the country end up visiting. I don't think there were other non-Mexican visitors at the museum. After walking along the Malecon we spent time at the beach toward the northern portion of the Malecon. Then we got a bus going back to the ship. For the buses we paid two dollars one time, and one dollar the other time I think that had we got the walking tour that would have been nice as it would have given us more structure to our visit, but I believe we covered much of the area on our own that the tour would have shown us, but without the extra information of course.

I believe that night back on board was the Love and Marriage game, and we really enjoyed that. I think it really depends on who the couples are, and how well the host (in this case Marq the cruise director) interacts with them. One final highlight was my victory in a trivia game. It was guess the year, so my history knowledge finally came through and I won the famous ship on a stick, which I proudly presented to my wife at her deck chair on lido. Our cabin was on deck 8 aft, right below the adults only pool and hot tub on deck 9 and I was concerned that it might be loud, as we are light sleepers, but things were pretty quiet outside of one night were there was a lot of chair scraping going on in the early hours of the morning.

Our flight home was from Long Beach airport (we had it transferred from LAX for a nominal fee) on Southwest, on the Saturday evening, so after departing the ship we went to the Queen Mary and hung around on that ship for a few hours before going to the airport. We went via uber which worked fine. The airport terminal reminded me of the Burlingame Caltrain station from my commuter days in the bay area, it was so small, but it was a good way to get home, non-stop to Sacramento.

All in all a nice cruise, with good service, good food, some nice excursions and meeting friendly fellow cruisers.

Thank you for your review. I am a little worried about having a cabin on the 8th floor aft. Can you tell me how the motion was? I figured there would be some chair scraping early in the morning. What about during the day? Which cabin were you in?\

Thanks

couple of more question.. Did they have the middle pool covered the first two nights? Did this affect the dive in movies showing? How early did you show up for the comedy shows?

Thanks

Cooltj, the motion wasn't bad at all, and during the day the chair noise wasn't bad either. I believe our room number was 8445. It was pretty far back. I didn't notice about the pool being covered, but I just don't like the whole outdoor movie idea. Too distracting for me. Concerning the comedy shows it seemed like as the days went by they got more and more crowded. We never had a problem for the 715 pg rated one, even showing up pretty close to time, and also the later pg one at 845 wasn't too bad but we usually were early for that, maybe 15 or 20 minutes early. The first adult only show got crowded after the first few nights, one night was standing for me and my wife got a single seat, another time we sat separated from each other. Even being there quite a bit early, like half an hour or so, this was the case. We didn't go to any of the late night shows.

Cooltj, the motion wasn't bad at all, and during the day the chair noise wasn't bad either. I believe our room number was 8445. It was pretty far back. I didn't notice about the pool being covered, but I just don't like the whole outdoor movie idea. Too distracting for me. Concerning the comedy shows it seemed like as the days went by they got more and more crowded. We never had a problem for the 715 pg rated one, even showing up pretty close to time, and also the later pg one at 845 wasn't too bad but we usually were early for that, maybe 15 or 20 minutes early. The first adult only show got crowded after the first few nights, one night was standing for me and my wife got a single seat, another time we sat separated from each other. Even being there quite a bit early, like half an hour or so, this was the case. We didn't go to any of the late night shows.

Thank you for the info on comedy club. First time we ever sailed on 8th floor and in the aft. We usually book middle of ship in between passenger cabin. I am kind of looking forward to being only 1 floor down from buffet though. Love the idea of hitting the steps and getting coffee and other stuff at my leisure instead of waiting for room service:D

Great info Rob - we sail on 04/07 do you remember which nights were formal nights? I want to book the steakhouse but not on one of those nights.

Formal was the second night (Sunday night) and the second to last night (Thursday night).

Thanks for this review! My sister and I doing this trip in July! Can't wait! :)

Courtney :):)

Sorry for my delay on part two but I've been busy of late. For Cabo San Lucas my wife and I decided to visit Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach, and after negotiating the price of 25 dollars (which also included seeing lands end) we were dropped off at Lovers Beach. Unfortunately disembarkation went badly as my jump off from the boat coincided with the force of a wave and I fell in the water (but didn't lose my glasses like I did on our other Mexico cruise in 2012), and it could have been worse as the boat moved toward me and came close to hitting me but didn't.

The beaches themselves weren't that exciting, but I did enjoy the fact that one side was the bay side (or Sea of Cortez sided depending on ones analysis) and the other the Pacific side. Looking back I think we would have enjoyed just hanging out at the local beach right near where the tenders dock. I believe that's where locals go.

We had gone whale watching last year in Monterey so didn't feel the need for a big sea life boat trip, and were content not doing much that day.

In Mazatlán the next day I believe we had our most successful excursion. We walked to the old town, and visited Plaza Machado, looked at some historic buildings, visited the Cathedral, and the archeology museum. We rested up at the Plaza, and it is in a nice location to do so. We saw some performers from a distance. After doing that we walked along the water and saw a cliff diver in action. Then we walked back toward the old part of town and spent time at the local beach there Olas Altas. We didn't go in the water, but it was a nice contrast just being there after all the walking and sight seeing.

From there we took a pulmoneria back to the ship with three students from the University of Arizona, who we met just after leaving the beach. I felt bad for them as they had stayed just around the beach and hadn't seen any of the city. We paid 11 dollars total for the ride back to the ship, on one very crowded pulmoneria.

Next day, Puerto Vallarte the centerpiece was to have been the free walking tour leaving the city tourist office at Plaza Principal at 9 in the morning. No problem as we were able to leave the boat by 830, got on a bus and made it just in time for the tour. Only problem was the tour left an hour before as we were on ship time, not PV time. I was irritated at this travel failure on my part, as had we realized the time situation we would have left the boat later in time for the 12 oclock tour. So we wandered around on our own. I really liked the Rio Cuale pedestrian bridge and that whole area. I think it would be a great spot for a park right along the river.

We walked along the Malecon, and visited the recently opened Mexican Navy museum. It wasn't all that memorable, but I enjoy seeing these small museums that usually only natives of the country end up visiting. I don't think there were other non-Mexican visitors at the museum. After walking along the Malecon we spent time at the beach toward the northern portion of the Malecon. Then we got a bus going back to the ship. For the buses we paid two dollars one time, and one dollar the other time I think that had we got the walking tour that would have been nice as it would have given us more structure to our visit, but I believe we covered much of the area on our own that the tour would have shown us, but without the extra information of course.

I believe that night back on board was the Love and Marriage game, and we really enjoyed that. I think it really depends on who the couples are, and how well the host (in this case Marq the cruise director) interacts with them. One final highlight was my victory in a trivia game. It was guess the year, so my history knowledge finally came through and I won the famous ship on a stick, which I proudly presented to my wife at her deck chair on lido. Our cabin was on deck 8 aft, right below the adults only pool and hot tub on deck 9 and I was concerned that it might be loud, as we are light sleepers, but things were pretty quiet outside of one night were there was a lot of chair scraping going on in the early hours of the morning.

Our flight home was from Long Beach airport (we had it transferred from LAX for a nominal fee) on Southwest, on the Saturday evening, so after departing the ship we went to the Queen Mary and hung around on that ship for a few hours before going to the airport. We went via uber which worked fine. The airport terminal reminded me of the Burlingame Caltrain station from my commuter days in the bay area, it was so small, but it was a good way to get home, non-stop to Sacramento.

All in all a nice cruise, with good service, good food, some nice excursions and meeting friendly fellow cruisers.

What did you do with your luggage while you were at the Queen Mary?

Thanks for the great review. How was the weather on ship when leaving and returning to Long Beach?

Thanks for the great review. How was the weather on ship when leaving and returning to Long Beach?

We are on Splendor now. Just arrived PV. Weather from day of embarkation in Long Beach, all the way along has been pool and suntanning weather. Kids were in pool before we left port of Long Beach. Has been great beach weather in the ports of Cabo and Mazatlan.

Thanks for the report/review.:)

enjoying your review.

was on the Splendor a bit over a year ago, loved the ship, had a few issues, but generally a nice cruise, and always love to hear how others are enjoying the ship now.

thanks for posting