The Splendor, Hurricane Miriam, Tropical Storm Norman ..and US !

[QTPieRye]

Can't wait to hear more :)

[jmwg49]

Can't wait to read more! We were on this cruise too and had a blast! I am interested to finally read what you thought! Your anticipation was palpable!!:D

[hannahsmomtoo]

Great review. I will check back later.

 

Sooooo!!!!!

 

Are you hooked on cruising??

 

 

Definitely hooked!

[hannahsmomtoo]

Day Two.. Fun day at Sea....

Due to a very early bed time the night before, we both woke up around 5am. After indulging in room service we went to the Fun Onboard Show. This is essentially where the Cruise Director (Craig) introduces himself and various other administrative types.

During this show, the Captain came on stage and announced that our itinerary was changing due to how close we were to hurricane Miriam. Instead of 2 days in Cabo and one in Puerto Vallarta, we would have one in Cabo and 2 in PV. This was fine with me.

We explored the ship some more.. stayed in suits all day.. and ate pizza !

I also pulled cash from the casino ( a CC trick.. thank you guys ! ) since I traveled with WAY more OBC than cash...

 

 

Oops no kids allowed.... :D

 

I made up for it by letting her blow some $ in the arcade...

 

 

Screwing around outside the disco....

[hannahsmomtoo]

Our favorite bar waiter, Roderick - got very accustomed to making "one strong and one virgin".. so much so that he started doing it all on his own !!

 

A stingray was waiting when we returned to the cabin for a mid day nap...

 

During our nap... a staff member came over the loudspeaker and said "Operation Bright Star.. Operation Bright Star..deck 2 Fwd ! "

I asked about this later... it ended up that a crew member had fallen and been injured.

More sea day pics...

 

[hannahsmomtoo]

This was the first elegant night... This was a big deal for us because we rarely have pictures together...and we never dress up.

We had a great time. We hung out with our embarkation photographer from South Africa "Gillian" who was just a doll. All the photographers were funny, kept us laughing the entire time. Here are our 3 favorites from Elegant Night

[Winterstale]

Great review! thanks for sharing with us!! I am going to miss the Splendor SO MUCH when she leaves :( We've sailed her twice.

 

Would GLADLY take 2 days in PV as opposed to 2 in Cabo -- I enjoy both places, but I really loved PV!

[deborahjo]

Love your review and pics. Been one her once and will be again in about 70 days. Keep it coming.

[hannahsmomtoo]

We pulled into Cabo...very excited about our first port. We received tender stickers for #5 and headed to shore...

 

 

 

 

Bad news was waiting for us.. Due to Hurricane Miriam the Harbor was closed.. NO water activities or tours would be permitted. Our parasailing that had been scheduled for months was cancelled. We decided to make the best of it - took a 3 hour ATV tour instead. This was very cool... and a little scary. Neither of us had even ridden an ATV. We got to see Cabo's hills and rugged terrain...

We also rode the incredible beaches... The screnery was amazing.

DD did fall off her ATV at one point on a steep hill..

Minor scraped elbow and a proud battle wound.

Our guide was really great - he made sure we all stayed together and went off to rescue a "lost sheep" ATV more than once !!!

 

 

 

 

 

Looming Hurricane sprinked on our ATVs a bit...

 

[Jackie81]

Loving this review!! :D

[hannahsmomtoo]

Leaving Cabo....and some friends waiting for us in the cabin...

 

 

Our Steward started making two sizes of every animal and labeling one "Christine" and one "Hannah" :D

[hannahsmomtoo]

That evening we went to the juggling / comedy show of "Tyler Linkin"... funny guy. We also saw a sea turtle swimming along the boat as we left Cabo !

 

The next morning was our First Puerto Vallarta day...

Here are some pics of the port from our Balcony...

 

 

 

 

 

Since we had no shore excursions scheduled for this day, we wandered around, haggled with shop keepers..and then returned to take advantage of the empty ship.. ( yep this was my waterslide day ! )

 

[hannahsmomtoo]

This was the evening that we had Steakhouse Reservations at the Pinnacle Steakhouse at 8pm. It Thundered and poured all afternoon.. and then we dressed up and headed to the Steakhouse at the top of the ship. ( on Spa deck )

While the steakhouse was good, I was not overly impressed by it. The service was attentive and the food delicious.. but it is not something I would do again.

I know that many people love the steakhouse, it just wasn't for us. I think we had SUCH good experiences in the MDR... that the steakhouse just didn't "wow" us. I actually had larger portions of lobster in the MDR than I did in the steakhouse ( they give you a 1/2 tail )

Anyway... glad that we tried it...

but we will spend the $70 elsewhere next cruise .

 

[erinpdx]

We're going to be on the Splendor in 47 days. I am loving your review. Great pictures. You and your daughter look like you have a very special relationship. Love that!:)

[hannahsmomtoo]

I do not have any pics from the steakhouse on Facebook ( that is how I am linking my pics ) but I will try and attach a couple here for those interested...

[hannahsmomtoo]

We're going to be on the Splendor in 47 days. I am loving your review. Great pictures. You and your daughter look like you have a very special relationship. Love that!:)

 

Thank you so much !!

[hannahsmomtoo]

We wrapped up our evening by watching several shows.. "Game show mania" "Sea Feud" and "Superstar live Karaoke".. all very fun !

 

The next day ( Day 2 in PV ) was our Sea Lion encounter. I can not say enough about this. We both consider this to have been the highlight of the trip. We got to play with Sea lions in a small group and then a fabulous lunch was served. I will post the pics but they do not do the experience justice

 

 

 

 

[Crusin Karen]

Oh, this is wonderful. Sounds like you both had a great cruise. Nice that you are making all these special memories! We will be sailing on Splendor when she comes to our "home port" of Manhattan in May. Sure going to miss the Miracle, but looking forward to sailing on a "new ship." We are booked in a balcony on deck 8. I like to be one deck below Lido so I can go up and down to get coffee, etc, to bring down to the balcony and not have to worry about room service. Wish I had known there were cabins on Lido deck! :(:confused: Oh, well, maybe we'll be on her again another time! ;) Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. :D

[hannahsmomtoo]

Sea lions jumping over our heads...

 

 

 

After a nice buffet, we wrapped up the evening on the ship by watching Karaoke with "Mr Li".. ( a VERY funny Karaoke host ) and the "Fiesta Latina" show..

[hannahsmomtoo]

A couple more random PV pictures...

 

 

[hannahsmomtoo]

Friday and Saturday were Sea days... and disembarkation Sunday was smooth and easy.. we lingered onboard until about 10am. I will leave you will some extra pictures.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.. Thank you for reading my review !

I think we ate our weight in ice cream..

Our towel animal family.....

 

 

Yep....snails... ( I ate half ! )

 

 

Our view from the dining room...

 

 

 

A couple notes...

We never even saw our neighbors on their balconies... ( which was great ! )

and

never had trouble getting a table for 2 in the MDR..never even had a wait.

Perfect !

[hannahsmomtoo]

"Towel snake" ( with a sock head ) that DD made for our room Steward ;)

ok I'm done I promise !!!!

Back to work and the real world tomorrow... ( blech )

[riclop]

Thanks for the great review and pictures. You and your ds are beautiful and seem to have a great relationship, which is fabulous.

[alreadypacked]

What a great review, thanks! Looks like you two had a great time. That sea lion would have scared me though--they're so big!:eek:

[hannahsmomtoo]

Thanks for the great review and pictures. You and your ds are beautiful and seem to have a great relationship, which is fabulous.

 

Thank you !!!!