My first review attempt!!! – Carnival Splendor May 12-20th w/pics!!

[cruisinbabs]

Hello there fellow cruisers!!! I am going to attempt to do my first ever review on my most recent cruise aboard the Splendor to the Eastern Caribbean May 12th through May 20th from NYC stopping in Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay & Nassau.

 

But first, lemme take a selfie... JUST KIDDING!!... although I have a few from this cruise.. actually first I do want to do a test photo since this is my first time.. annnnnnnd get your mind out of the gutter.. lol.

 

[paulypride]

Babs looking forward to your review!!!

[litebender]

OK, good start. Waiting for more since I'm doing the same cruise in July.

Keep it coming!

[cruisinbabs]

This was my 4th cruise and also turned gold this time around. I decided to take a stab at doing a review for the first time ever. I do not know what writing style I will be doing but I will probably just type as I would talk to someone and basically be.. well... me. I will go in order but also throw stuff in there because I am pretty sure I will forget something. I am not a review pro by any means so please be patient with me??

 

 

Phew!! Now that my patience disclosure is out of the way, lets proceed shall we?? I know some people do not like reading pre-trip in a review, however I do have a pre-trip report so some people might just have to get over it! It might come in handy for someone planning their cruise out of NYC that has never been there before (I researched a lot since I had never been!). But this is my review and I can do what I want… right?!

 

Sooooooo lets get goin!!!

[cruisinbabs]

OK, good start. Waiting for more since I'm doing the same cruise in July.

Keep it coming!

 

thank you... i am nervous writing this review and hope people enjoy.. i believe it is my cruiser civil duty to do one since I have read so many to help me prepare for my last two cruises!

 

any questions you may have, send em my way.. i will answer the best i know how.. :D

[gizmo911]

Same cruise in July and can't wait to hear all about it....

[cruisinbabs]

I apologize in advance this may be long winded but hey.. its my review..:D

 

My name is Barbara (35) and I took this cruise with my husband Patrick(38) of almost 15 years and my mom Cheryl (wont post her age cause she would kill me). As I stated before this was my 4th cruise, husbands 3rd and my moms 2nd. We wanted to celebrate our anniversary a tad early and mom well... just needed to get away cause she deserves it..so I started looking at our cruise options around October 2013… FINALLY decided on this one in November because it was an 8 dayer that was cheaper than a 7 dayer out of Fort Lauderdale… Deposit was made November 30th. Let the obsessive planning, finding my roll call and researching commence!!! Final payment wasn’t due til February so we just sat on the deposit til taxes came in and gave me time to watch prices for price drops (which I was able to get one.. stayed tuned)! All the planning, researching, booking, watching sailaways on port cams helped pass the 5 months we had to wait til it was our turn!! What can I say, I think I am just obsessed with cruising and traveling in general… if only money grew on trees. ::sigh::

 

---huge shout out to a fellow CC member for these babies!!

 

---Stalked this page every week too baby

 

---Also tracked her on my phone app... obsessed much?... ya.. I am.

[cruisinbabs]

Now I do need to give a huge shout out to my in-laws in this review because if it was not for them volunteering to take our little dude Peyton (who is 4) for the time we were gone, we would not have been able to go on a well needed vacate!!

So kudos to them for being so brave and yay for grandparents!! My mother in-law basically told me to tell her what dates we booked and they would take the time off work to be with him. SCORE!! They live 3 ½ hrs away from us and they even came down here and picked him up and they brought him home.. DOUBLE SCORE!!!

 

So now onward to the start of what would be the most epic vacation for me… EVER.

 

Starting with our pre-cruise day of fun in NYC!

[cruisinbabs]

So our adventure to NYC starts on May 10th at o-dark thirty where our flight is scheduled to leave out of our “international” airport at 5:30am.. So that means up and at em to the airport by 4:30.. yup, you read that right.. 4:30.

 

---up and at em folks!! yup this was our luggage for 10 days..

 

Get checked in, through TSA, grab a coffee and we are at our gate by 5:00. We wait to board and what do you know… they have a maintenance issue. YAY!!! ::roll eyes:: They keep us posted and updates for departure… tick tick tock tick tock…. By this time I have already called United to tell them we are not going to make our connection and need the next available flight to La Guardia. They got me booked on the next and last flight out of Denver at 4:11. Awesome! Thanks United customer service! All in the meanwhile the desk agent is REBOOKING EVERYONE!!! I was ready for a drink already but I guess a 50 dollar breakfast at the airport would have to do….

 

--- Was so irritated already at this point.. soooo what else to do but take a stupid face selfie.. it made me laugh cause I looked ridiculous..

 

---Ya know... just chillin in Denver airport for a bit and watch this lovely weather... ::gag:: I am trying to LEAVE this weather behind dangit!!!

 

---Was able to sweet talk the counter agent to upgrade us for free to the "extra leg room" seats... the ONLY flight I was able to get these type of seats...

 

So long story short with our flight… we finally depart at 8:30am and arrive into La Guardia airport around 10pm.

 

---YAY!!!! Finally made it to New York! (hubs on the left, mom is on the right)

[cruisinbabs]

The only thing keeping me from losing my s*&* about the whole air travel situation was the fact that our best friends Keith and Heather drove 4 hrs from Shippensburg, PA to spend all day Sunday with us. They had booked at the same hotel as we did and were 3 rooms down and were waiting for us to get there. It had been 7 years since we had seen them last and that was while our husbands were in the military together. Now if this is not the coolest friend ever I don’t know what is… She was already getting irritated working at a certain chain restaurant and when they denied her request off for this weekend(not just because they denied this specific day but she busts her hiney when she works and they denied other stuff that she asked for way in advance).. she had enough and QUIT her job. She said there was no way in H-DOUBLE-L she was going to be 4 hrs away from her best friend and not be able to see her. She gets the award for coolest bestie.. EVER.

[cruisinbabs]

After landing, I got to cross something off my bucket list.. riding in a taxi.. I know that sounds totally lame but I have never rode in one before.. so why not go big or go home in NYC?

 

---Waiting in line for a taxi...

 

 

---Rollin past David Letterman, kind of surreal we were actually here!

 

Our poor taxi driver was suffering allergies really bad but he was super nice and got us to the hotel all safe and sound. As soon as we got there I texted my friend and they were right around the corner because they were already exploring since we were supposed to be there 5 hrs earlier!!! She came rippin through the hotel entrance and gave us huge hugs.

 

---Me and my bestie Heather... really sucks we live clear across the country from eachother. We only had a day but we never miss a beat no matter how much time passes that we don't see eachother.

[Jamman54]

GREAT start to your review!! Can't wait to read the rest!!

[champagne123]

Love your sense of humor Barbara. GREAT review so far. Looking forward to MORE MORE MORE. :D

[cathyoo]

Thank you so much for writing your review. I know I am going to LOVE it.

[pe4all]

Loving your style of writing! Have a long wait for my Splendor cruise, but will live through you for this one!:)

[jbhcw]

Super great first review:):):) Sailing the Splendor next year!! My niece lives in Oregon...sorry for your flight delays...they would have made me crazy too:eek:

[Lisa0719]

Barbara, it was so nice to meet you, Patrick, and your mom during the cruise. We had a fabulous cruise even though we didn't hang with the roll call that much. That is what is so great about cruising. There is something for everybody to make vacations special.

[boopsahoy]

It certainly was a fun cruise!

[wininbid]

Great so far, can't wait for more!

[reerun25]

Really great start, and I am looking forward to the rest of the review!!

[Crusin Karen]

Great start! I was also on this cruise and was active in the roll call. I missed the sail away M&G but had planned to meet up with everyone at the slot pull. Which I went to on TUESDAY MORNING and NOONE was there. :( Was afraid everyone had gambled all their $ away the night before :eek: As I was packing on the last day I found my "notes" and saw that the slot pull was on WEDNESDAY! :eek::o Met a lot of nice people on this cruise and each time we introduced ourselves we mentioned CC hoping it was someone from the roll call. The closest I got to any of you was when I walked to the secret deck on deck 9 to watch sailaway from GT and saw the SPLENDIDO sign on Paul and Shawn's door. (which I had on mine also, way down on deck 2!) This was our 3rd time on the Splendor, so I am looking forward to reading a "newbies" impressions. Thanks for sharing and hope you had an uneventful flight home. We were home and completely unpacked by 11 on Tuesday morning! :p

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Cyber Kat]

Great so far! I LOVE NYC - live right across the Hudson! Hope you enjoyed your visit. And I love the Splendor! We sailed to GT, HMC and Nassau last June on the Splendor and this ship nudged the Miracle from the top of my favorite ships list.

 

I missed her, so we're cruising to Canada 9/1 - I can't wait! In the mean time, I'm living vicariously and wishing I was going on an 8 day to GT, HMC & Nassau!

[martinm]

Great start to a first review, taggin along!

[Garycruz]

Nice start so far. I'm sailing on the Splendor on July 15th and am looking forward to reading the rest of your review. :)