Recent Splendor cruisers? Food? Entertainment?

[Bobug]

We are real close to booking a cruise for the week of Thanksgiving. Thinking about the Splendor.

Any recent cruisers sail on her lately? Any and everything will be appreciated.

 

Thank you!!

[cheerjulez]

We just got off the Splendor today. I have no complaints! Entertainment was good, staff was friendly, and we really liked the CD Malcolm (I did NOT find his Woo Hoo's to be annoying, like some say.) They started the Dr. Seuss program on our cruise. It didn't seem to interfere with anything else that was going on. The only time you might notice anything Dr. Seuss is when they do a quick parade from the comedy lounge to the theater. We were planning on going to the Seuss brunch, but we were too late when trying to book the reservations.

[klaner64]

Just got off Splendor in January. The CD was supposed to be Malcolm but it was Eli because Malcolm had hurt his back I think. He was a great CD, but have heard good things about the other guy too. I didn't like the decor, but it didn't affect my cruise. Food and entertainment was fine.

 

Service was great. Just treat the staff with respect (and extra tips) and it goes a long way for getting treated well. It was disappointing that it was too cold most of the time to enjoy the pool, but we liked the whirlpools. You would be sailing out of Miami though, because NY will be done by then so you should be ok with the weather.

 

Wish there were more 2.0 upgrades like Guy's Burgers, but you can't have everything.

[JohnSpo]

I was on the Jan 20th Splendor cruise out of NYC on an 8 day Florida/Bahamas Itinerary. Based on the reviews, I wasn't expecting a great cruise but it wound up being awesome. The NYC sailaway was spectacular.

 

I had YTD in the MDR. The service was excellent. The food was very good. The food in the buffet was good but I did not eat there much except for breakfast a few times. The omlettes were excellent but let them know not to put too much oil in the pans when cooking them. The sea day brunch was very good with a nice selection of items.

 

Remember to go to the Taste Bar before dinner to enjoy various appetizers on certain nights. They were very good.

 

I went to the steakhouse twice and it was excellent. Especially the jumbo shrimp cocktail and the surf and turf. There is no Guy's Burgers, but the thin crust "Italy" style pizza was excellent.

 

The entertaiment was plentiful and very good from the live bands to the lounge shows to the comedy shows. Vroom was a great show.

 

The ship was very clean.

 

The only negatives were the over crowding of the Promenade area, especially when taking photos. The other negative was there being way too much cigarette smoke in the casino area.

 

Overall an excellent cruise.:cool:

[Linerguy]

Was on the SPLENDOR in November...had a great time. No, she doesn't have the waterparks or a Guy's Burger Joint, but she was spotless, in fantastic condition, service was great and food was good. For the price, it was an incredible bargain.

 

Yeah, the decor is a bit much, but it somehow works....it grew on me.

[sullyd]

Was on the SPLENDOR in November...had a great time. No, she doesn't have the waterparks or a Guy's Burger Joint, but she was spotless, in fantastic condition, service was great and food was good. For the price, it was an incredible bargain.

 

Yeah, the decor is a bit much, but it somehow works....it grew on me.

nice to hear good things about the splendor !!!

[Bobug]

Thank you!!! We will have our 5 yr old & 1 1/2 year old granddaughters with us so we will enjoy the Dr Seuss stuff.

Anyone with kids that went I have a question...is the little waterpark they have for the kids open all the time? Can parents take their kids there or is it just for them to play on when they are with Camp Carnival?

[nursemommy7578]

Is December recent enough?? I LOVED this ship! clean, great staff, food was so yummy, lots to do!

 

I'm back on the Splendor in a couple weeks!!

[Linerguy]

Can parents take their kids there or is it just for them to play on when they are with Camp Carnival?

 

It is not open all the time, but, when it is open, parents can take their kids...they do not have to be with Camp Carnival.

[buzz2400]

I just got off yesterday also. I enjoyed the cruise very much but I will tell you some of the things I disliked. First the food on the lido deck was not that great. It seemed like the same food every day. Loved the omelets. The scrambled eggs tasted like powdered stuff but if you go to the omelet station, just tell them you want scrambled eggs and they will make it there. We were unfortunate in that we had to do the second seating at dinner. We were unable to do the shows every night because of this. We chose to do the comedy instead which was good. They did a lot of trivia and bingo on the lido deck which was terrible because you couldn't hear the staff. Plus you couldn't find seating there because everyone had already "reserved their seats" by the pool. We enjoyed the entertainment staff especially Fluffy and Banks. We really didn't see much of Malcolm and Donkey. The whole staff on the ship were very very nice. Always said hello to us when we walked by anyone of them. One bartender actually took a liking to my son and his friend and always greeted us by our names. One of the waiters in the dining room also was very pleasant and remembered our names throughout the cruise. We did tip both of these men. Overall we had a very nice time, ate a lot of food and was sad for it to end. but in the future, my son and I think we will do norwegian because of the anytime dining and more activities on those ships.

[Mira28]

I love the Splendor! Beautiful, clean ship, very friendly staff, family friendly entertainment, great service and food. Got me hooked on cruising to be sure!

There were a lot of families with young children even in January, and they seemed to be having fun. There is a small, cute water play area. I hope you enjoy your cruise!

[klaner64]

That's so funny that they did bingo and trivia on Lido. They did Bingo in the main lounge and trivia in the lobby on our cruise. But we had Eli Sharplin for the CD. Saw Fluffy, Donkey, and Eli tons on our cruise.

[buzz2400]

That's so funny that they did bingo and trivia on Lido. They did Bingo in the main lounge and trivia in the lobby on our cruise. But we had Eli Sharplin for the CD. Saw Fluffy, Donkey, and Eli tons on our cruise.

 

they did the bingo half the time on lido deck and 1/2 time where they did the shows. Trivia was done in the lobby and sometimes in the lido deck. It was even worse on the last two sea days because of rough water, you couldn't even go out on the decks so all seats under the dome were completely filled.

[JohnSpo]

Overall we had a very nice time, atet a lot of food and was sad for it to end. but in the future, my son and I think we will do norwegian because of the anytime dining and more activities on those ships.

 

Carnival does have their version of Anytime Dining called "Your Time Dining". I have done Carnival's YTD for the last 2 years and it is very good. You can choose to eat from 5:45pm to 9:30pm. You can also choose your wait staff and table if you find staff and a location you like. The flexibility of YTD has worked out for me when I wanted to see shows at a speciic time.:cool:

[buzz2400]

Carnival does have their version of Anytime Dining called "Your Time Dining". I have done Carnival's YTD for the last 2 years and it is very good. You can choose to eat from 5:45pm to 9:30pm. You can also choose your wait staff and table if you find staff and a location you like. The flexibility of YTD has worked out for me when I wanted to see shows at a speciic time.:cool:

 

anytime dining was filled up and so was the early dining. we didn't have a choice. we had to do the late dining.

[JohnSpo]

anytime dining was filled up and so was the early dining. we didn't have a choice. we had to do the late dining.

 

Yes, it is getting more difficult to get into YTD. It is has gotten popular and at times fills up before early or late dining.

[Giantfan13]

We were on the Feb 13 sailing on the Splendor and loved the entire cruise. Got there in a huge snow storm, but once on board, life was great again.

Service was A-1, entertainment was much better than we had on previous Carnival cruises, and the food also seemed to be better than our last Carnival cruise last summer. Our only negative were the wildness of the teens that were on this ship. It was a holiday week and they ran wild. Other than that, and for the price we paid, couldn't have been better.

 

ON a side note and I forgot to mention this on my write up after the cruise. If you want some free playing cards, go the guest services and ask. I nice little memento.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[sgttami]

I was also on the 2/13 sailing with my sister and it was our first Carnival cruise. I couldn't say anything negative about it. Food was good in the dining room and we requested a table for 2 with no problem. Our cabins were great (8349 and 8353). Never ate in Lido except for the first day. Seaday brunch was excellent (we did that twice), Pinnacle was wonderful and we loved The Deli (never crowded).

Met some of the friendliest people in all the cruises we've been on and actually won in the casino!!

We're going back Monday on the 3/17 and this time I'm doing the Cheers package as I would have saved a bit had I done it the first time (about $108.00). My sister is going also and so is my BIL.

I'll be happy to check out things you are interested in.

Hoping to see some shows this time. We were just too busy having fun!!!

 

Pam

[Bobug]

Thank you for all your replies.

I am getting in touch with our TA tomorrow to get everything rolling :)

[lucky13cruiser]

I'll be sailing on the Splendor on March 25th, two weeks from today! Are there 2 formal dining nights on this 8-day itinerary? If so, which two nights of the cruise are they? Thank you.

[sgttami]

Formal nights were the second night going out and the second to last coming back...

Great fun!

[Laurab23]

Do you remember who was in the piano bar?

 

Laura

[lucky13cruiser]

Is it $35 per person for the Steakhouse?

 

Thank you.

[JohnSpo]

Is it $35 per person for the Steakhouse?

 

Thank you.

 

The Pinnacle Steakhouse was awesome. Get the shrimp cocktail. Service was great and not too intrusive. Certainly worth the $35. I went twice.:cool:

[klaner64]

John Heald has the piano bar schedule on his blog. Here's the link.

 

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2013/10/30/calling-time-on-lunch-time-and-the-new-piano-bar-schedule/#more-21511