Ramblings-Splendor 9/30

[WMQueenie]

My DH and I (late 50's) were on the 9/30 Splendor cruise. This is our 8th cruise, 3rd with Carnival. Here are some random rambling thoughts -

 

CABIN - We booked our first ocean view cabin - we had stayed inside twice and had balconies 5 other times. The shape of the room intrigued me - cabin 2470 Aft - so I inquired on CC and saw pictures and heard good comments so we decided to go for it. We LOVED the cabin! It was huge compared to any other cabin we ever had including a "mini-suite" on NCL. Yes, there was noise but it didn't bother us. Some vibration, especially when pulling into port but it did serve as an extra alarm clock! The only thing that bothered me some was that the 2 big windows were so dirty that at certain times when the sun was shining in you could not see out! I wonder how often the windows are washed...does anyone know? The room was pretty clean with the exception of the big mirror in the cabin had splatters all over it and when the sun shone through you could see finger prints all over the walls. We never really "met" our steward, guess he was the guy in the hall we said hello to everyday. We requested an ice bucket and a little 6 pack cooler to be filled with ice everyday and it was, twice a day. Towel animals and chocolates every night. I would most certainly book this cabin again!!

 

We had Your Time Dining and won't be doing that again. The line was long every time we went and the one time we decided to wait we were seated less than 6" away from a young couple next to us. We found that to be very uncomfortable. If I wanted to dine with others I would of said to seat us anywhere. A table for two is NOT a table for two. We ate in the buffet 7 out of 8 nights. Not impressed at all. The first few days the food was mediocre at best, it seemed to improve on the 3rd day but never was very good but we always found a nice table for two! The set up is bizarre...at breakfast the brown sugar, raisins and nuts for oatmeal were in front of the bacon police?! Took me awhile to find that...made no sense. I didn't think the scrambled eggs were as bad as most people think, certainly not the best I've ever had but not the worse either. The bacon was always greasy, the sausage was just weird. Flavored butters (which were rather good) we no where near the toast/bagels and I felt rude to keep going back looking for condiments and trying to get in between people to get something. The drink stations...cups in the middle...ice to the right, drinks to the left??? Why not have the cups first!? And then cream or milk for your coffee/tea is a few feet away. Weird. No drink stations out by the pool where the pizza and hot dogs & hamburgers were. A lot of the seats were wet- thank you wet bathing suit people! (sit outside!) Plus the cushions lost there firmness and you squished down...felt like a little kid at the table! The Mongolian Wok was not there the first 3 or 4 days, just trays of what looked like Chinese Lo Mein. Brunch, The Deli, Burrito Bar, The Rotisserie and The Grill were all very good. The Tandoori was too spicy for me! DH liked it. The sushi bar is no more, they have the Taste Bar which we did like.

 

Bar service was always quick and with a smile. No complaints there.

 

Slot machines in the casino were not friendly but that didn't stop me from trying!

 

The music on the Lido deck was too loud most of the time. We would only stop by there to people watch. We liked sitting upstairs, it never seemed crowded. Played Bingo once outside and enjoyed it out on the deck. We actually saw someone win $2000 on one of those pull tab things. Restored my faith that not all wins are $1.

 

Grand Turk, to us, was awful. We have been there before and enjoyed it. We had booked a tour which was cancelled the night before around 10:00 for lack of interest. So, on this particular day we were a little slow moving in the morning, tour was cancelled, no big rush to get off. The gangway was shut for almost an hour while another ship docked. By the time we got off there wasn't a chair or a piece of sand to sit on. We wandered around and felt bad for the people on the rocky side who were having such a hard time climbing over rocks to get into the water and felt awful for a few older people who sat in the shallow water before the rocks then couldn't get up. Carnival should not schedule two ships in that port at the same time. Wayyyyyy too crowded! We gave up and went back to the near empty ship and enjoyed the pool which we never even attempt on sea days.

 

Half Moon Cay was wonderful! We did the Sting Ray Adventure and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was reasonable, easy and fun. By booking an excursion through the TV, the tickets were delivered to our room with a tender number on it. We met in the El Morocco Lounge and were escorted to the tender. So easy! After our adventure the tram dropped us off at the barbeque where we had a pretty good lunch then went to the beach and had no trouble finding two lounge chairs. It was a great day.

 

Nassau....eh....we stayed onboard and went swimming. Nice relaxing day. Wish they would find somewhere else to go.

 

Why is the chocolate buffet during the day? Not really in the mood for all that right after my eggs.

 

Entertainment was good. Really enjoyed the "Rock Star Juggler"...very talented, funny young guy. Lots of trivia going on. Just seemed like there should of been more activities on sea days.

 

We found the crew to be polite and friendly. The overall cleanliness of the ship was fine. The passengers were pleasant.

 

Embarkation & disembarking were fine, no problems there. We did self assist debarkation and were in our car by 8:40.

 

I am happy to answer any questions! Thanks for listening to my ramblings...

[mking8288]

Woo Hoo ...

 

Thanks for sharing - need a "LIKE" button. We too, thought we would not be on a Fun ship but ... the size of our cabins were "Wow" compared to NCL's Breakaway - and our PCC from NCL's been emailing & calling us to book.

 

Would you sail CCL again - being from MA?

[WMQueenie]

Woo Hoo ...

 

Thanks for sharing - need a "LIKE" button. We too, thought we would not be on a Fun ship but ... the size of our cabins were "Wow" compared to NCL's Breakaway - and our PCC from NCL's been emailing & calling us to book.

 

Would you sail CCL again - being from MA?

 

 

Yes, we would...leaving from NYC or Boston is so easy being from MA, we hate to fly! The price for this cruise was so reasonable that I shouldn't complain about anything! LOVED our cabin. Did you sail on the Breakaway? That is the ship I really wanted to go on this year but it was over $1000 more!

[KruuzinAgain]

The sushi bar is no more, they have the Taste Bar which we did like.

 

This is awful news for me. My wife and I were soooooo looking forward to the sushi bar for our January cruise. Just last week, I read something that said that the sushi bar would not be converted into the taste bar until the ship gets the Carnival 2.0 upgrade, which will be sometime next year.:(

[WMQueenie]

This is awful news for me. My wife and I were soooooo looking forward to the sushi bar for our January cruise. Just last week, I read something that said that the sushi bar would not be converted into the taste bar until the ship gets the Carnival 2.0 upgrade, which will be sometime next year.:(

 

I was looking forward to the sushi bar too but it is gone. I had read on recent reviews that it still was the sushi bar...it looks like a sushi bar but it sure isn't. Maybe during the 2.0 upgrade they will get rid of the physical set-up. The tastings bar is pretty good but it's only open I think 5 out of the 8 nights.

[KruuzinAgain]

I was looking forward to the sushi bar too but it is gone. I had read on recent reviews that it still was the sushi bar...it looks like a sushi bar but it sure isn't. Maybe during the 2.0 upgrade they will get rid of the physical set-up. The tastings bar is pretty good but it's only open I think 5 out of the 8 nights.

 

What a bummer. Thanks for the info though!!

[taragl]

We had a similar experience with Your Time Dining. We were seated at a table for two, but it was no more than a few inches away from another couple.

 

It's not Carnival's fault, but the other couple was obnoxious and kept interrupting our dinner conversation to show us apps on their phones. The second night, we were next to them again! We've done fixed time dining since.

[WMQueenie]

We had a similar experience with Your Time Dining. We were seated at a table for two, but it was no more than a few inches away from another couple.

 

It's not Carnival's fault, but the other couple was obnoxious and kept interrupting our dinner conversation to show us apps on their phones. The second night, we were next to them again! We've done fixed time dining since.

 

Are the tables for 2 better with the fixed time dining? We had a great table for 2 on 2 of our RCCL cruises with fixed dining.

 

It seems more and more couples want to dine alone and like I said earlier there were plenty of empty 4 top tables, I think the cruise lines need to try and rearrange the dining rooms.

[murphyarnold]

Thanks for your review!! Did you notice parasailing at HMC??? It use to be on the excursion page and when I went on the computer to purchase it ,that activity is no longer offered???

 

Thanks so much!!

[WMQueenie]

Thanks for your review!! Did you notice parasailing at HMC??? It use to be on the excursion page and when I went on the computer to purchase it ,that activity is no longer offered???

 

Thanks so much!!

 

Now that you mention it, no, I don't remember seeing any parasailing at HMC!

 

Love HMC. :rolleyes:

[mking8288]

Yes, we would... we hate to fly! LOVED our cabin. Did you sail on the Breakaway? That is the ship I really wanted to go on this year but it was over $1000 more!

 

Absolutely agreed on dislike in flying with domestic legacy carrier's nickles & dimes - fees for just about everything - not to mention TSA's security theatrics. We're looking at the NCL Breakaway seriously for this Fall but just couldn't hit the "Enter" button with the pricing and no way for getting a "tiny" balcony - which we stared at across Pier 88 in person as we board the Splendor. Feedbacks from our BIL/SIL that sailed were .... reasons for us to reconsider.

 

Perhaps, with the possibilty of lowered pricing in 2014 - we would do it then - Bermuda is one of our favorite port to visit & relax. At the moment, we are looking at the Splendor again in early 2014 (as a late winter/early spring getaway - with crazy prices NOW, lowering it more with (Shareholder's) OBC - 2 of us with an OV deck 1 or 2 midship would be fine (OMG, Inside is literally dirty cheap ...) as we don't feel the need to always book a balcony on all sailings. Been to Nassau several times but not Freeport, so that would be a new port for us.