Carnival Splendor 4/22 Review/Info (LONG w/ Pictures)

[hotinphoenix]

Great review. Thank you for taking the time to do it. We were on the Splendor a year ago and really enjoyed the ship as well.

[SweetpeaOne]

Very nice review. Thanks for sharing..

[Silent Penguin]

I am enjoying your review layout - not too wordy. I was going to skip it, because of the warning that it is long, but I'm glad I didn't.

[Markmom18]

We enjoyed Mexico very much...can't wait to go back. I would like to spend more time in Puerto Vallarta. :)

 

My husband had our honeymoon in PV waay back in 1988. We've been back many times on land vacations, and most recently on cruise vacations. We highly recommend PV, the people are friendly, my gosh, SO many restaurants....don't do an A.I., AND don't stay at a resort in Nuevo Vallarta.

[riclop]

Thanks!

The lobby was "Dancing Music with Take Two" a male/female duo. Both sand and he played piano

Thanks so much for your response, looking foward to them on our next Splendor cruise.

[PathfinderEss]

Nice review, can't wait for the rest.

[CinAngel75]

Hope not cuz I have excursions that day!!! Hope it is on a sea day!

 

I found it strange that they did it on a port day. I would have thought maybe Sat. since Friday is the 2nd elegant night. We did the steakhouse this time, but want to do the Chef's Table next time.

[CinAngel75]

I am enjoying your review layout - not too wordy. I was going to skip it, because of the warning that it is long, but I'm glad I didn't.

 

Thank you! I wanted to try to make it easy to read...:D

[crazycath]

I found it strange that they did it on a port day. I would have thought maybe Sat. since Friday is the 2nd elegant night. We did the steakhouse this time, but want to do the Chef's Table next time.

 

I hope I get to do it this trip, dont know what to do if it is on Thursday I have the Rhythms of the Night Excursion paid for :confused:

[CinAngel75]

My husband had our honeymoon in PV waay back in 1988. We've been back many times on land vacations, and most recently on cruise vacations. We highly recommend PV, the people are friendly, my gosh, SO many restaurants....don't do an A.I., AND don't stay at a resort in Nuevo Vallarta.

 

We did a dune buggy tour to El Eden then on to Mismaloya for a Tequila Factory tour and tasting with lunch in Mundo Nogalito. It was beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time after that...we went by the Cheeky Monkey for drinks then back to the ship.

 

Thanks for the warning on the resort!

[CinAngel75]

I hope I get to do it this trip, dont know what to do if it is on Thursday I have the Rhythms of the Night Excursion paid for :confused:

 

I would call Carnival and confirm. It'spossible it may have been Wednesday...A couple we met on the cruise and sat with at dinner did the Chef's table and I know both Wed and Thursday we ate at the buffet instead of the MDR...but it was definitely Wed or Thur.

They did the steakhouse on Friday the same as we did and we had dinner with them every other night.

[DEERINH2O]

Great review doing this cruise in september looking forward to reading yhe rest

 

Kathy

[RenoNanaOz]

Enjoying your review, we leave on Sunday!!! We did this same cruise last June and loved it. This review is really increasing the anticipation I am feeling;) thanks for sharing.

[4hunters]

Excellent start to your review, Cin! Keep it coming and post lots of pics - I want to see if I'm in any of them. ;)

[hannahsmomtoo]

I know I already said this - but HOOORAY !!!

 

Glad you mentioned the hair dryer too... I am thinking I may need to bring my own !!!

 

Also glad you mentioned the 2 hour PV time difference... we have a Carnival excursion and I would hate to miss it !!

[4hunters]

I know I already said this - but HOOORAY !!!

 

Glad you mentioned the hair dryer too... I am thinking I may need to bring my own !!!

 

Also glad you mentioned the 2 hour PV time difference... we have a Carnival excursion and I would hate to miss it !!

 

Yes, the time difference is two hours compared to Long Beach. However, the ships jumps ahead one hour the night before PV so you'll only be one hour behind the time in PV.

[CinAngel75]

Excellent start to your review, Cin! Keep it coming and post lots of pics - I want to see if I'm in any of them. ;)

 

 

Yea, that's not fair, you never posted any pics so I wouln't have known if I did see you!!:eek: I will get more up soon LOL

[4hunters]

Yea, that's not fair, you never posted any pics so I wouln't have known if I did see you!!:eek: I will get more up soon LOL

 

What do you mean? That's me jumping on a trampoline in my avatar pic. I know it's a bit small... lol These days I'm just leery of posting my pic on a public board.

[CinAngel75]

What do you mean? That's me jumping on a trampoline in my avatar pic. I know it's a bit small... lol These days I'm just leery of posting my pic on a public board.

 

I can understand that...I figure in the world of Facebook and Twitter a post on here isn't so bad, LOL

 

That said if I had smaller kids I don't think I would post their pics on here. I have seen a lot of reviews etc with a ton of kid pics in them very clear and a good bit of personal info in them...if there were a creeper out there it would be easy for them :(

 

Of course my oldest is 6'8 and the twins are 6'4 so I think they're safe :D

[wayland168]

Thanks for the review, we are sailing the Splendor next June out of NYC. So curious about the ship and there are not many reviews on her.

[CruzerDeb]

Marking my spot . . .;)

[dramaqueenjan]

EXCELLENT REVIEWim cruising 11/11 seems so far away but so excited thanks for all the usefull info are there mant singles? Im cruising with my best friend our first cruise and we are both single in our 40's

[CinAngel75]

Again let me start by saying these are only ther opinions of myself and those I spoke to - others may vary greatly. What one person tries and hates another will try and love. I consider myself a pretty good cook and I am from the south, so I do like flavor and spices, so some of the things I call bland may not be to others.

 

v Dining:

Ø

Menus:

https://www.goccl.com/irman/bookccl/sections/shipboard/DiningOnboard_master.html

§

You can also check the dining room menus on the TV in your room daily.

Ø

Schedules (may vary slightly)

§

Breakfast

·

6:30-10:30 – Continental Deck 9 Aft

·

7:30-12:00 –Lido Buffet Deck 9 Mid

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8:00-10:00 –Open Seating Gold Pearl Deck 3 Aft

§

Lunch

§

11:30-6:00 –Grill Deck 9 Mid

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12:00-2:30 –Lido Lunch Deck 9 Aft

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12:00-2:30 –Burrito Bar Deck 9 Aft

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12:00-2:30 –Mongolian Grill Deck 9 Mid

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12:00-2:30 –Rotisserie Deck 9 Aft

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12:00-1:30 –Open Seating Gold Pearl Deck 3 Aft – NOT ON PORT DAYS

§ Dinner Black Pearl-Deck 4 Fwd /Gold Pearl Decks 3 & 4 Aft

(Monday and Friday are Cruise Elegant nights in the MDR)

 

From the Fun Times regarding dress code:

 

"Not allowed in the MDR during the Cruise Elegant dinner for the ladies and gentlemen: shorts, T-shirts beach flip-flops, bathing suit attire, cut-off jeans, sleeveless shirts for men, sportswear and baseball hats"

 

 

I didn't see anyone blatantly disregard this, I heard one person saw someone is shorts and a tank asked to leave and someone else said they saw someone in jeans being seated. So I guess it depens how far you push or who sees it.

·

Early Dining – 6:00 (I am not sure if they split this one between both dining rooms)

o

Can be a challenge on port days, especially if you have excursions, allow time to get on board and get dressed for dinner. Port days aren’t elegant, but you can’t wear beach clothes either.

·

Your Time Dining - 5:45-9:30 (Black Pearl This was what we had initially)

o

Our initial choice- We changed to Late to sit with friends we met during sail away from LB. The Maitre D was very accommodating. I’m glad we changed as I was told later by others with anytime that they had to wait as much as 45 min for a table and felt as if they were rushed through their meal.

·

Late Dining – 8:15 –this was what we changed to (Gold Pearl)

o

Works much better for port days - if you want to see certain shows, games etc, check your Fun Times (delivered to your room the night before by your steward) to plan accordingly.

§ Misc

·

Splendido Restaurant 9 Aft (6:00pm-9:30pm)

o

We had the buffet on nights 4 and 5. The buffet has items from the MDR menu each night as well.

·

The Grill 9Mid (11:30am-6:00pm)

o

It’s burgers, fries and hotdogs…what more can I say…lol The chili dogs are pretty good. The fries get cold fast, if you want them hot, you need to get there when they come out.

·

Pizza Bar 9 Fwd (24 hours)

o

Open 24 hours…decent pizza. Nice to stop by for a slice after going to one of the late shows.

·

Deli 9 Aft (11:00am –11:00pm)

o

Conveniently located at the end of the Lido deck by the Liner Lido Pool and Bar. Pretty good sandwiches.

·

Sushi Bar 5 Mid (5:00pm-8:15pm)

o

I didn’t try this, someone told my DH it wasn’t good and the timing was never right. Had it been open for lunch, I would probably had to have checked it out myself.

·

Ice Cream

– Deck 9 fwd soft serve & frozen yogurt –self serve 24 hours (coffe, tea and lemonade as well)

 

·

The Pinnacle Steakhouse ($30 per person -make reservations under manage cruise)

o

Menu:

https://www.goccl.com/irman/bookccl/shipboard_knowledge/supperclub.pdf

o

We did this on Friday night (2nd elegant in MDR) @ 7pm -dress is Cruise elegant.

 

 

o

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner here. The food was very good and the service was outstanding. FAR beyond the MDR. We were checked on regularly but not over bearing, once by one of the chefs. More on food a little further on

J

(with some photos)

·

Bottomless Bubbles (purchase at lido bar, lobby and casino)

o

This is a sticker that is placed on your S&S card -covers soda and fruit juices from the bars.

 

o

The cost is $6 per day for adults/$4.50 per day for kids + 15% gratuity & tax. Not cheap but if you drink a lot of soda its very convenient and you really can go through it pretty fast since you aren't getting a full soda.

 

o

With the sticker, you can order soda from any waiter/server at bars, dining rooms, showrooms, pools etc.

 

o

Sodas are about $1.75+15% at the bars/$1.95+15% in room fridge.

 

o

Sodas are poured in cups of ice, you actually get about 7-8 oz from a 12oz can. We heard them say you couldn’t get canned sodas , only from the mini bar in room.

§

Room Service- 24 hours (PDF menu attached)

·

You have the option to order room service via the interactive TV system or phone

 

·

You can order basic breakfast (muffins, Danish, cereal , coffee etc) on the door tags that need to be placed by 5:00am.

 

·

2 mornings –Cabo day 1 and a sea day, they didn’t pick up the door tag, though they were out WAY before 5am. DH has to eat with his meds in the morning or he gets very sick with them (these are anti-inflammatory meds etc so he can walk). On Cabo Day 1 it really put us behind. I didn’t realize it wasn’t picked up until about 15 minutes after it should have been delivered.

We ended up at the Buffet but it cost over an hr of our time – someone said they used room service as an alarm clock, I would urge against this.

 

After that I checked as soon as I woke up. The 2nd time I caught it and called them -it was there in 15-20 min. A couple of times it was slightly wrong but no biggie.

 

·

Coffee – I like a little coffee with my cream and sugar. :pWith a carafe for 2 you get a cpl of shots of creamer. I ordered a milk just in case and was happy. If you prefer non-dairy, you would want to call and let them know you want extra.

 

·

You can order Apple, orange and grapefruit juices (from concentrates…super sweet, we ordered ice waters as well and diluted them), coffee, iced tea (from a mix, not brewed..I didn’t care for it), milk, choc milk.

 

·

Various cold sandwiches w/ chips (turkey was good)

 

·

A few warm sandwiches

grilled

cheese, hot pastrami etc.

 

·

Salads, desserts, fruit salad

 

·

bucket of ice, water, glasses of ice.

 

·

You can’t order soda/alcohol using the TV menu; you must do that over the phone. You can’t use the Bottomless Bubbles sticker for room service.

Ø Throughout the week there are various specials all listed in the fun times: Drink of the Day each day will be featured by the servers on the decks etc , Martini tasting(costs), Bar Promotions (funnel cups, disco ball cups et). After the “Latin Mardi Gras party, they had a Late Nigth Mexican Buffet from 11:30p, - 1:00am and served Tapas at the sushi bar that day.

 

 

Ø Overall, I would say the food was OK on this cruise. I may have gone on with my expectations set a bit high. But for feeding 3k + people, not bad. My biggest complaints were food came out not really hot most times and things were salty at times especially on the buffet or were lacking in seasoning over all. But I wouldn’t say anything was terrible.

 

My thoughts:

 

 

§Main Dining Room

·

We were only in the Black Pearl the 1st night, the food all comes from the same kitchen, so it is what it is. That night, we went in late, around 9 and had the BEST servers. They were constantly joking and laughing. Even though our friends were assigned to Late Dining in the Gold pearl, they were able to seat the 4 of us right away and we were served promptly.

o

I had tomato soup…it was OK…kinda hard to mess that one up . Sweet and Sour shrimp wasn’t exactly what you’d expect. It was more like tempura shrimp w/a side of sweetened cocktail sauce, The shrimp was crisp and not greasy.

 

The Crème Brule was YUMMY (I’m pretty sure I would say that about any Crème Brule) it was creamy with a very thick, crisp sugar crust.

DH had Heart of iceberg salad and braised brisket, which was probably one of the better items of the week. He wasn't feeling well, so he skipped dessert :eek:

·

The other evenings we were in the Gold Pearl/Late Dining. Unfortunately, our lead server was far less friendly and personable. When you tried to engage him he just looked at you like he’d rather be somewhere else. That said, the

service

was good, just not the fun experience I was looking forward to after reading other’s stories and the previous night’s experience.

He had no personality and it seemed the rest of the group was intimidated by him. We heard other tables servers having a great time. but not ours. And when they did the performances he wasnt anywhere to be seen.

 

o

Food –

o

Day 2-

Baked mushrooms –pretty good –a lil different, served in a tomato sauce. DH had the Spicy "Alligator" Fritters. First off, they aren’t very spicy so don't let that scare ya and secondly they aren’t alligator lol :eek:. I had heard they weren’t but wanted to check them out anyway. It’s a lot of breading and it' pretty tasty - very crispy. When the server cleared the plate he smiled and asked "how much did it taste like alligator?" and when I said not so much he just nodded and with a grin, said "exactly". Some have said it has something to do with “being in season” I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was pretty good LOL.

Main both had the Lobster tail and shrimp. (DH had 2 actually) I expected the tail to be over cooked simply due to the volume they had to turn out, but was very pleasantly surprised. It was very tender and sweet. Some others said they weren’t so lucky, all at our table were very pleased.

Dessert – Both had the Caramelized Apples on Puff Pastry w/ vanilla ice cream – it was decent, puff pastry is had to do for a crowd, it doesn't do well sitting. I’d rather had Crème Brule :D

 

o

Day 3

– DH had the Smoked Chicken Quesadilla, very good, lots of flavor. I had the black bean soup, pretty basic, needed some spice for my preference. It said it was served with rice, but mine wasn’t.

Main – Originally I ordered jerk pork loin and didn’t

like it at all. The sauce wasn’t like any jerk seasoning I've

had. It was sweet and had an odd tang to it. One of our table mates didn’t like it as well. I wasn’t

going to say anything I was going to eat it, but when the

server came back by DH stopped him and sent it back as did our table mate. We all had the braised short ribs instead.

They were much better. Very tender and the eggplant was tempura -very crispy.

 

Dessert –DH had cheesecake, said it was a bit dry, I just had a scoop of Butter Pecan ice cream

 

o

Day 4

– we did the buffet, we were just too tired after port to deal with dinner after an extended lunch @ Senor Frog (that may or may not have involved some tequila). They have a couple of items from the MDR menu on the buffet also – this night they had Yukon Gold potato soup (it was salty and cold

), Assorted Seafood Newburg style (pretty good) and Beef Stroganoff, I didn’t care for it, DH liked it. All were MDR menu items. There were several other items as well. These happened to be the ones we tried.

 

o

Day 5

- Another port day and another buffet day (do we see a theme here). This was P.V. day and it was after 7 when we got back to the ship and I just didn't have the energy to get dressed for dinner after our muddy dusty dune buggy tour :D (which also went to a tequila factory, yep definitely a theme).

Lasagna Bolognese hubby didn’t like it very much, I didn’t try it, it looked really dry. There was a stir-fry that was ok, braised fish fillets I think as well. Nothing amazing.

 

o

Day 6

-This was the steak house

§

Starters –Me -New England Crab Cake –very good, lots of crab and not too much filler and a tasty remoulade sauce. DH -Baked Onion Soup – He said it was very good and we were surprised at the portion size…it was a pretty large bowl.

 

§

Salads – Me- Sliced Beefsteak Tomatoes with Gorgonzola – had a touch of balsamic drizzle. Very simple & light. DH - Heart of Iceberg with Blue Cheese dressing. Their BC dressing is different, almost oil based as opposed to cream. DH loved it, said it wasn’t too tangy as some are.

 

§

Main – both had Surf and Turf- Maine Lobster tail and Grilled Fillet Mignon. Steak was tender and cooked as ordered, lobster was good (small), served with butter & baked potato w/ trimmings

 

§

Dessert-DH Caramelized WA Apples in a Puff Pastry Dome – it was in a puff pastry bowl, but he said it was yummy and the apples still had texture. I had the Choc Sampler – can we say choc overload! The tiramisu was yummy there was a mango mouse on top of one that was amazing as well.

o

Day 7

DH had the frog legs from the

Didja

menu. He said they were OK. I'm originally from TN and his family is from MS so he is used to deep fried , these are more pan sautéed. But they were tender. I had the crab cake – not very good, a little mushy.

Main DH had the Bacon Mac n Cheese w/ grilled chicken – he said it was very good. Mac n cheese was creamy and plenty of sauce. This is the only night I ordered 2 entrees. I ordered the Panko crusted shrimp and the prime rib. The dipping sauce for the shrimp was great and the shrimp was really crunchy (about 3 pcs). The prime rib was OK, it came out basically room temp and not very flavorful at all. The au jus was the same

 

D

essert – We finally broke down and had the Warm chocolate melting cake – it was really quite good. The 1st night our table mate had gotten it and it was over done, so it wasn’t very appealing, but I had to give it a try (she tried it again as well) and it was much different. We also tried their Grand Marnier Soufflé, which was very tasty as well.

I will say this is a good opportunity to try something different. The started portions aren't huge, so try 2. Some of the entrees are larer than others. The shrimp entrees were smaller3-4 pieces. The beef and pork (short ribs/brisket/pork loin) were more sizable. If you aren't sure about something, order something you know you like and share an "iffy" dish. If you like something you can always order more LOL!

 

Next I will get to the shows and ports. I am trying to do this between work and getting home to cook dinner and such with the kids it gets a bit crazy lol

 

I have scanned in a couple of Fun Times, one from a sea day and one from a port day so you can see what they are like as well. Hopefully they will be clear enough to give you an idea of what goes on :p

 

Room Service Menu.pdf

Fun Times 4.23.12 p1.pdf

Fun Times 4.23.12 p2.pdf

Fun Times 4.26.12 p1.pdf

Fun Times 4.26.12 p2.pdf

[CinAngel75]

Thanks for the review, we are sailing the Splendor next June out of NYC. So curious about the ship and there are not many reviews on her.

 

We enjoyed her. Sad to see that if we do this trip again we will have to start from scratch on a new ship :(

[CinAngel75]

EXCELLENT REVIEWim cruising 11/11 seems so far away but so excited thanks for all the usefull info are there mant singles? Im cruising with my best friend our first cruise and we are both single in our 40's

 

Ya know, I can't say if they were "singles" but I saw lots of women hanging out together and guys hanging out together. Rather they had other elsewhere who knows... Their were a lot of couples, but definitely not everyone. This is definitely a fun atmosphere, I would imagine there are a good # of single people on these cruises.