Carnival Splendor 6/10/13 ... a ramble

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We used dial 7 and were very happy with them. You can look at the prices on line and book that way also.

Hi Cyber Kat

 

You said you took a limo to the port, we are coming in from the Buffalo airport and would love to take a limo with our two granddaughters. Could you suggest someone. We're not sure which airport to fly into, any suggestions on that? We thought if we took a limo we could have him stop at a liquor store and pick up a couple of bottles of wine for our room.

Any suggestions would be helpful and if you don't mind how much did you pay for the limo?

 

Thanks!

 

Darla

[funfunfuncruzininthesun]

Here is the obligatory photo of my sister and I by the Bahamas sign. There was a line to take this picture! And this was after everyone got off the ship earlier.

 

 

 

So back on the ship, I headed for our cabin to see what my DH was up to. I found him on our balcony taking pictures of this osprey that came for a visit. The seagulls were not at all happy. The osprey was not at all disturbed that they were screaming at him/her.

 

 

I was ready for some Mongolian Wok and DH wanted a beer, so we headed up to the lido.

 

The line wasn't bad for the Wok, so I attached my self to the end and chatted with the other people who were waiting. Picked out my noodles and my veggies. They didn't have the cellophane (my favorite) that day. They had lo mein (thin) and I think ho fun (fat). I took the ho fun, but I think I would have liked the lo mein ones better. The ho fun was too much noodle once they were cooked.

 

I did just shrimp this time with Thai barbeque sauce and once again the food was scrumptious! If you like stir fry anything, this is a MUST do. Bite the bullet - get on the line!

 

I headed for the bar by the adult pool, where DH had secured us a table. The DOD was a Mai Tai - which I love and was so appropriate with my Mongolian stir fry, so I had to have one!

 

After lunch we wandered around the ship and took some photos while the ship was fairly empty.

 

 

Red Carpet lounge.

 

I couldn't resist goofing around with the nekkid guys at the door ...

 

The Promenade ...

 

We patronized this bar on the forward port side of the mid-ship pool area ... The bartenders were pretty quick!

 

 

6 pics and I'm out for now

Hurry home I cant wait to read more! We are enjoying this so very much! I love that you have put a photo of yourself, now I can put a face to all the great posts!

Wonderful Job!!!

[sailorJo]

Kath, before I leave on my Splendor cruise tomorrow I wanted to thank you for posting your very interesting picture review. It has helped me sooooo much during this long and agonizing wait! This and your "all things Splendor" thread have been a treasure trove of information, much of which I've collected into a file and transferred to my I-pad mini.

As if I weren't excited enough, I just received a call from Carnival with a proposal for an upgrade to a cat. 8c balcony cabin for a small difference. And here I thought I would be stuck with an inside cabin for having made my reservation too late in the process. Yoohoooo!

 

I'll be looking out for more of your reviews as my next cruise draws closer.

Happy planning!

[canadiangal40]

Kath, before I leave on my Splendor cruise tomorrow I wanted to thank you for posting your very interesting picture review. It has helped me sooooo much during this long and agonizing wait! This and your "all things Splendor" thread have been a treasure trove of information, much of which I've collected into a file and transferred to my I-pad mini.

As if I weren't excited enough, I just received a call from Carnival with a proposal for an upgrade to a cat. 8c balcony cabin for a small difference. And here I thought I would be stuck with an inside cabin for having made my reservation too late in the process. Yoohoooo!

 

I'll be looking out for more of your reviews as my next cruise draws closer.

Happy planning!

That's great on the upgrade!

I would like to thank CyberKat too for these great threads. I love, love, love the pictures and have compiled many pages of documents with great tips about all thing Splendor. Thanks so much ;)

[Cyber Kat]

Kath, before I leave on my Splendor cruise tomorrow I wanted to thank you for posting your very interesting picture review. It has helped me sooooo much during this long and agonizing wait! This and your "all things Splendor" thread have been a treasure trove of information, much of which I've collected into a file and transferred to my I-pad mini.

As if I weren't excited enough, I just received a call from Carnival with a proposal for an upgrade to a cat. 8c balcony cabin for a small difference. And here I thought I would be stuck with an inside cabin for having made my reservation too late in the process. Yoohoooo!

 

I'll be looking out for more of your reviews as my next cruise draws closer.

Happy planning!

 

Have a GREAT cruise and enjoy that balcony!

[Cyber Kat]

Thanks once again for the compliments and to everyone who is following along!

 

I don't have a lot of time this morning, but I'll give you some pics of the ship and the Nassau sail away ...

 

This is the atrium/Lobby. They left the flag from flag day up for a bit.

 

 

And this is a photo DH took of the lobby. His came out better than mine ...

 

Here's Atlantis from our aft balcony ...

 

Some parasailers

 

And the ropes are off ...

 

 

And so are we ...

 

Leaving the Imagination, Majesty of the Seas and the other RCL - ship - I forget which one. I have check my notes.

 

Later!

[Cyber Kat]

So I left you with some photos and I couldn't remember the name of the other RCI ship. It was Enchantment of the Seas ...

 

 

This is the British Colonial Hilton. It's right near the dock - within walking distance. If you want a quiet beach/pool day, they have a day pass for $60 US (adults) and $30 for children 6-12. You get use of the beach and pool, chairs, kayaks and floats, a towel and a $40 voucher for food and beverages. You can get it online here - it's one of the things we considered.

 

 

Lighthouse with Atlantis in the background

 

They hold up boat traffic through this pass until the cruise ship passes through - it's a bit narrow and would be dangerous for small boats.

 

Here are some that were waiting impatiently for us!

 

Here's another shot of the 3 ships we left behind ...

 

I know a lot of people don't like Nassau. It's not my favorite port, by any means, but I'd go back. I don't feel any pressing obligation to do something, so a trip to the Sheraton would be nice (since we didn't make it this time) and they are building some new resort to rival Atlantis, or you can just mosey around the town, shop, have a drink at Senor Frogs, grab a bite at the Fish Fry place or just hang on a nearly empty ship!

 

We left at 4, so we had some drinks. I had sushi. I think we went up to the aft pool for a bit. It was ALWAYS crowded and the water was kind of warm - which was disappointing. I needed some refreshment!

 

We also hung on our balcony for a bit. We really did spend a lot of time just hang on the balcony. If you are a balcony lover, put an aft wrap on your bucket list and save your pennies! You need to book early. We got an Early Saver rate - but don't expect any price drops. That doesn't happen because these rooms sell out fast.

 

I'd book this room (or the one on the other side) for EVERY cruise I take on the Splendor.

 

I'm looking at booking one of the cruises that they are doing in late 2014 and early 2015. The Splendor will sail from NY to GT, St Kitts, Antigua, St Thomas and then end up in San Juan. You have to either fly home from San Juan or book a B2B - which is what I want to do. I think I'm just going to book a regular balcony cabin, because I'd like to take advantage of price drips and because it's in the winter and I don't think I'd get as much use out of the large balcony for the sea days.

 

But I digress ... we went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner! And of course, once again we stopped to see Gabriale and Rowena at the El Mojito for our pre-dinner cocktail.

 

For dinner that night I had the Grilled Portabello Mushroom salad - which was very good, and the Baked Sweet Potato soup - which was VERY yummy. I just love the Carnival soups. I'm a soup lover to start with, so these were right up my alley! I chose the Panko Crusted Shrimp because they were really good on our last cruise - these were okay. Not as good - not really crunchy like I remembered.

 

I should have gone with the Mahi-Mahi or the Mac and Cheese - which looked very good. I'm looking at the menus at Zydecocruiser's web site and they don't seem to be the same as what we had. Perhaps they mixed things around a bit - or perhaps my memory is not as good as I thought!

 

Anyway - DH and my sister each ordered the NY Strip steak. I don't know what happened but this was the night of the steak screw-up - the only night we didn't get excellent service in the MDR.

 

There was something going on that night. Our whole wait staff seemed distracted - just not on their game. My sister ordered her steak well done and DH ordered his medium rare. The head waiter, Sutana came over and apologized to my sister that her steak had been burnt (which she would have loved) so he had sent for another. In the meantime, DH cut into his and it was too well done for him. I don't know what he was thinking, but instead of sending it back, he gave it to my sister. I'm thinking - DUH - hers is going to come out even MORE well done than that! Which it did, so neither one was happy with their meal that night, but it was a bit late to do anything about it because it was SHOW TIME!

 

 

I had heard that they were going to do Gangnum Style and I was looking forward to it, but our group never did do it. I heard from others that they had it, so I guess our group wasn't done with their rehearsals (which I also heard they had been doing). Great fun anyway - I LOVE the dancing.

 

Our head waiter Sutana didn't dance. We asked him why and he said he had retired, but we caught him standing over by one of the columns jigging around.

 

Back to the meal. Word to the wise - don't get the NY strip steak. I've heard from others who said theirs weren't good either.

 

I had the Almond and Phyllo Roll for dessert and it was scrumptious!

 

So I'll leave you for a bit here. We have 2 Fun Days at Sea (love the sea days) and then sadly our cruise came to an end. Why do they have to end?

[Cyber Kat]

Just a bit more ...

This was one of our wait staff - she was very nice, but I never caught the rest of her name it was Ni and something else. I wish they would put a card on the table with their names. Same with the cabin stewards. We had a difficult time getting the names and I wanted to mention them if I got a review email - which I did.

 

 

She was moving around a bit too much.

 

We never did figure out what those horn shaped things were. I don't think that's what oysters look like and I don't know anything else that would yield a Gold Pearl. I thought both dining rooms looked nice.

 

Here's another waiter - not ours.

 

After dinner we went back to the room, but my sister decided to wander. She came back to tell me that there had been an invasion of towel animals up by the mid-ship pool, so I had to go check it out!

 

So cute! I love this! I'm a sucker for a towel animal!

 

[Kazo]

Great review Kat. You seem like you are a veteran cruiser. I would like to get your input on how to handle guests in adjoining balconies that never hold their door handle and let the door slam every time they go in and out of their cabin and have loud conversations on their balcony all the time. We experienced this on our recent cruises and have found the aft pool areas to be quieter then being on our balcony. We love sitting out on our balcony but we never had any peace and quiet time. We are considering saving our money and not getting balconies anymore. Any thoughts on how to handle this?

Thanks.

[Cyber Kat]

Great review Kat. You seem like you are a veteran cruiser. I would like to get your input on how to handle guests in adjoining balconies that never hold their door handle and let the door slam every time they go in and out of their cabin and have loud conversations on their balcony all the time. We experienced this on our recent cruises and have found the aft pool areas to be quieter then being on our balcony. We love sitting out on our balcony but we never had any peace and quiet time. We are considering saving our money and not getting balconies anymore. Any thoughts on how to handle this?

Thanks.

 

I can't say that's ever been a problem for us. I guess we've been lucky. We never heard a sound from either one of our neighbors. And the way the balcony on an aft wrap is situated, you're not even that close.

 

On other cruises we've heard people talking but not loud enough to disturb us. Sorry - I can't help. My only suggestion would be to ask them politely not to let the door slam. It's quite possible they don't realize that it disturbs other people.

[Kazo]

Thanks Kat. Our last cruise we we got an aft balcony thinking it would be in the back of the ship and that would not be a problem. It was the same experience for us there too. I guess there are inconsiderate cruisers anywhere on the ship no matter where your location is. It was so bad our room shook like it was an earthquake.

Happy Cruising.

[Want2bcruisin]

Do you remember what nights are the formal nights? We want to make a reservation at the steak house, but don't want to do it on a formal night.

[irishlizz]

Do you remember what nights are the formal nights? We want to make a reservation at the steak house, but don't want to do it on a formal night.

 

First day at sea and second to last day.

[Lisa0719]

Great review Kat. You seem like you are a veteran cruiser. I would like to get your input on how to handle guests in adjoining balconies that never hold their door handle and let the door slam every time they go in and out of their cabin and have loud conversations on their balcony all the time. We experienced this on our recent cruises and have found the aft pool areas to be quieter then being on our balcony. We love sitting out on our balcony but we never had any peace and quiet time. We are considering saving our money and not getting balconies anymore. Any thoughts on how to handle this?

Thanks.

 

Between this and the cigar and cigarette smoking, we have stopped paying for balconies we couldn't use. We go for the inside room and then spend almost all non-sleeping time on deck.

[Want2bcruisin]

Thanks!

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We have not gotten the noise as much but certainly the smoke. I have a lung disease that makes me most susceptible to smoke inhalation so I have to avoid it as much as possible. Over the years (25+) we have gotten balconies and suites. Most of the times we have had smokers on either side and had been discussing what we would do about it. When on our Splendor cruise we decided to get two interior rooms instead of a balcony. Problem solved and great sleeping as well. I am not sure we will ever go back to a balcony again other than the one we had already booked going to Hawaii this Oct. I really love an Ocean Suite--not aft wrap or aft balcony so I will miss the tub but not as much as I will enjoy avoiding the smoke.

Between this and the cigar and cigarette smoking, we have stopped paying for balconies we couldn't use. We go for the inside room and then spend almost all non-sleeping time on deck.

[Cyber Kat]

Between this and the cigar and cigarette smoking, we have stopped paying for balconies we couldn't use. We go for the inside room and then spend almost all non-sleeping time on deck.

 

I love having my own little outdoor space and I'm too claustrophobic to handle an inside room. I like having a place to sit and enjoy the sea without having to fight chair hogs for a good spot on deck. We really do spend a lot of time on the balcony.

 

I know others complain of cigar and cigarette smoking, but it's never been a problem for us. Perhaps we've been lucky, but I've never even noticed.

 

After having that aft wrap, I want an aft wrap EVERY cruise, but we're looking at doing two of the winter cruises B2B in 2015 (it's when they are doing the NY-SJ and SJ-NY). I think we'll just do a regular balcony for that. We wont get as much use cruising in the cold weather, but there is a sea day between 2 of the islands, and the days in the Caribbean should be warm. I want to book it Early Saver and get the discounts or OBC - which you never get with the aft wrap.

[MariaNSteve]

Thanks for sharing this. I have never been on the splendor before so this is something new for us. We are also taking our 15 yo daughter. It will be great to see this experience through her eyes. She just loves life and everything is exciting for her. This is going to be great.

[Cyber Kat]

Thanks for sharing this. I have never been on the splendor before so this is something new for us. We are also taking our 15 yo daughter. It will be great to see this experience through her eyes. She just loves life and everything is exciting for her. This is going to be great.

 

We loved it! Have a super cruise!

[Crusin Karen]

Hey Kath, are you finished with your review?? :( Sure hope not!!!

[Cyber Kat]

Hey Kath, are you finished with your review?? :( Sure hope not!!!

 

 

No - I've got 2 more days and the return to NY (with LOTS of pics!). Real life and work just getting in the way! That and this stupid heat wave we are having. My computer is not in an air conditioned room - it's just too hot to sit there at night when I come home. Maybe, I'll fire up my laptop!

[Crusin Karen]

No - I've got 2 more days and the return to NY (with LOTS of pics!). Real life and work just getting in the way! That and this stupid heat wave we are having. My computer is not in an air conditioned room - it's just too hot to sit there at night when I come home. Maybe, I'll fire up my laptop!

I figured it was something like that. Good things are worth waiting for! ;) KEEP COOL! :cool:

[absolutely brilliant]

We loved it! Have a super cruise!

 

This is a really great review.

 

We also LOVED our Splendor cruise. We were nervous about it after reading so many negative reviews from California passengers & are so glad that we decided to go. We have been on many cruises on RCL, & Disney, & can honestly say that we had the best time on the Splendor & are looking forward to going again in 2015.

[funfunfuncruzininthesun]

We have not gotten the noise as much but certainly the smoke. I have a lung disease that makes me most susceptible to smoke inhalation so I have to avoid it as much as possible. Over the years (25+) we have gotten balconies and suites. Most of the times we have had smokers on either side and had been discussing what we would do about it. When on our Splendor cruise we decided to get two interior rooms instead of a balcony. Problem solved and great sleeping as well. I am not sure we will ever go back to a balcony again other than the one we had already booked going to Hawaii this Oct. I really love an Ocean Suite--not aft wrap or aft balcony so I will miss the tub but not as much as I will enjoy avoiding the smoke.

Hi just a note that All the Spa balcony cabins are None smoking even on the balcony. :D

[Cyber Kat]

This is a really great review.

 

We also LOVED our Splendor cruise. We were nervous about it after reading so many negative reviews from California passengers & are so glad that we decided to go. We have been on many cruises on RCL, & Disney, & can honestly say that we had the best time on the Splendor & are looking forward to going again in 2015.

 

Thanks! This was just the best cruise! I don't know if it was the ship, the great crew, our great roll call group, or the fact that everything seemed to fall into place.

 

I'm trying to talk DH into doing a B2B on the one way cruises in Jan or Feb of 2015. I'm thinking 16 days would be fabulous and he's thinking "I don't know if I want to spend 16 days on a cruise" - nuts, I know!

 

He's also worried about us having a blizzard at home while we are away. Our town has a regulation that the sidewalks (we have extra because we're on a corner) have to be cleared in 24 hours.

 

I figure we have 2 years to find a snow removal service. I keep knocking the objections down, but he keeps coming up with them :D

 

I've never sailed in the winter, but I think it would be great to be down in the warmer weather for 12-14 days in the dead of winter without flying anywhere! I used to love to fly, but it's such a hassle anymore. I'd rather cruise!