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Carnival Splendor Cruise Review with Photos!

YankeeFan4Ever
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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Brief introduction

 

My wife and I sailed the May 1st Splendor cruise out of New York to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau. It was our 9th cruise overall but our first time on the Splendor. We’ve previously sailed this exact itinerary on the Carnival Miracle 3 times out of NYC. We are 31 and 35, married with no kids, from Canada.

 

Some of you may have read my other photo review of our adventures on the Norwegian Gem during hurricane Sandy. If not, feel free to check it out, the link is in my signature!

 

Me

 

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My beautiful wife

 

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We made the 8.5 hour drive from Canada a few nights before and stayed at my dad’s, who lives in Edgewater NJ, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. We always love to cruise from New York since I don’t like to fly and we can park at my dad’s place for free. Plus I get to visit and spend some time with him!

 

Day 1

 

Embarkation

 

We arrived around noon and proceeded through security without incident. After a brief lineup to check-in, we were on board by 1:00 PM. We dropped our carry-on bag in our room and proceeded directly to the lido buffet for lunch. Overall, embarkation was very smooth and efficient. Originally I had booked an inside cabin on deck 7 but two weeks before our sailing the prices for this cruise dropped dramatically and since we were booked as Early Saver, we did get the difference in OBC...the only catch was we had to switch to a cabin on deck 8, right under the pool area. More on that later.

Edited by YankeeFan4Ever
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sailorJo

sailorJo

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Thanks for starting this review. DH and I will be sailing the Splendor next month.:D:D I can't wait to hear more and see more pictures. If you can, please post some of your inside cabin. We have an inside on Deck 7.

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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After a few sailaway drinks, we proceeded back down to our cabin and our luggage had already arrived. We unpacked and showered/changed for our first dinner at the Black Pearl restaurant.

 

Black Pearl restaurant

 

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After dinner, we walked around on the promenade deck and checked out the karaoke at the robusto cigar lounge.

 

Promenade deck

 

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After a few more drinks in the atrium, we decided to call it an early night and retired to our cabin for the night.

 

 

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Regarding our cabin under the lido deck...I knew going into this cruise that noise might be an issue, however I never realized how bad it was until we tried to fall asleep. From approx 11:00 PM to at least 2:00 AM my wife and I could hear chairs scrapping and people running right above our heads. :eek: We finally drifted off to sleep around 2:30 AM. Around 6:00 AM we were woken up again by the sound of banging and scrapping chairs. Not an ideal start to our vacation!!!

 

We slowly got up and headed down to grab a specialty coffee in the hopes that a nice dose of caffeine would help us survive the upcoming day. While waiting in line a very nice lady overheard us talking to the girl behind the counter about how we barely slept because of the noise from the lido deck.

 

She immediately came over and offered to get us some extra ear plugs from her room. How nice of her was that?!! She returned a few minutes later and gave us a bunch of earplugs. We introduced ourselves and thanked her. Somehow, we always manage to meet great people while cruising. If you're out there reading this review, thanks again! :)

Edited by YankeeFan4Ever
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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Thanks for starting this review. DH and I will be sailing the Splendor next month.:D:D I can't wait to hear more and see more pictures. If you can, please post some of your inside cabin. We have an inside on Deck 7.

 

Have a great cruise! :)

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dcspada

dcspada

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Thanks for posting the beautiful pictures! Keep 'em coming, please! How was the food onboard? We're sailing on Splendor June 26th. Can't wait! This will be our first cruise!

 

:D

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Another reason we love cruising out of New York is that it gives us 2 full sea days to relax on the way down and 2 more full sea days on the way back. You are basically forced to unplug and unwind. :)

Our first two full days at sea were spent lounging around in the sun at the adults only Serenity area, enjoying drinks and just completely detaching ourselves from our hectic lives back home. Although the Serenity area is nice, whoever had the bright idea to place the mini-putt golf area full of screaming children right above it should be fired!!! :p

 

Food

 

We aren't really difficult to please when it comes to our meals, as long as we have some healthy options to choose from, we're good to go! My wife and I have recently cut down to eating meat only 2 times a week and try to eat as many vegetables, fruits and whole grains as we can. We figure by at least eating healthy, it'll balance out some of our other, not so healthy habits!!! :p

 

We enjoyed light breakfasts in the buffet and lunches either at the grill, or at the delicious tandoori station at the back of the ship. Our dinners were always at the Black Pearl restaurant. We did notice a slight decrease in the food quality since our first Carnival cruise back in 2009, but overall we enjoyed our meals and the service was always fantastic! Some of the vegetarian entrees were excellent!

 

At night, we checked out the adult comedy shows and made our donations to Carnival shareholders via the casino.

 

Formal night

 

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Sunset at sea

 

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Edited by YankeeFan4Ever
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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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Thanks for posting the beautiful pictures! Keep 'em coming, please! How was the food onboard? We're sailing on Splendor June 26th. Can't wait! This will be our first cruise!

 

:D

 

Overall the food was very good. Lots of variety to choose from: Pizza, burgers, Indian food, rotisserie chicken, steaks, seafood, salads etc. You will definitely not go hungry!

 

Enjoy your first cruise on the Splendor, she's a great ship with a terrific crew and I'm sure you'll have a great time!

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bingomamma19

bingomamma19

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Overall the food was very good. Lots of variety to choose from: Pizza, burgers, Indian food, rotisserie chicken, steaks, seafood, salads etc. You will definitely not go hungry!

 

Enjoy your first cruise on the Splendor, she's a great ship with a terrific crew and I'm sure you'll have a great time!

 

 

I am going on the Splendor june 18th--what is the rotissiere restaurant-what to the serve and when are they open. I have not seen that on my other cruises. Love your pics. Thanks

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YankeeFan4Ever

YankeeFan4Ever

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I am going on the Splendor june 18th--what is the rotissiere restaurant-what to the serve and when are they open. I have not seen that on my other cruises. Love your pics. Thanks

 

It's above the main buffet area and is usually open for lunch. They serve rotisserie chicken, coleslaw, mac & cheese, cornbread and a few other things. It's a good spot to eat when the buffet is really busy!

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