Another Splendid Splendor cruise (with pics) 6/29/15

[Jamman54]

Minions. What do you have to do to win one?

 

It's a claw machine.... :)

 

 

Patty sure does take some great photo's Love this one of me! lol and of course everyone else...

 

Hey Barb!! I was wondering when you were going to show up! :D

[Jamman54]

Great review, love it all smiles!!

Looking forward to the rest, also very kind of you to give away your shore excursion! :D

 

Thanks for following along!!

 

 

Thank you for doing this review Jamman54! I am really enjoying it so far and looking forward to what happens next.

 

What I really like are your pictures around the ship and I have never been on the Splendor before. Also, I enjoyed your pictures sailing out of New York. It is so different than sailing out of a Florida port.

 

Anyhow, thanks for your pictorial.

 

Thanks for reading!! I have to give a BIG shout out to my wife Patti, as she takes the bulk of the pictures!

[Vitamin_Sea]

Thanks for reading! Though she is not our favorite ship, we do love the Splendor!!

 

Hey Jeff... which ship is your favorite?

[WendyCn]

I also thought the Splendor was getting the new American Feast menus prior to October when we cruise on her.

[Jamman54]

Hey Jeff... which ship is your favorite?

 

Any one of the Spirit Class ships. We have sailed them all multiple times, except the Spirit. Then I would put the Liberty ahead of the Splendor.

[nybumpkin]

Hi Jeff - I'm enjoying your review. NYC sailaways are our all-time favorites. We just returned from Breeze (Southern) on Sunday and had one of the "bowling alley" cabins. I think you will like her a lot. I'm just getting caught up here before I start posting a review, but hope to have most (if not all) done before you sail.

[Jamman54]

Hi Jeff - I'm enjoying your review. NYC sailaways are our all-time favorites. We just returned from Breeze (Southern) on Sunday and had one of the "bowling alley" cabins. I think you will like her a lot. I'm just getting caught up here before I start posting a review, but hope to have most (if not all) done before you sail.

 

Thanks Kathy! Patti and I are really looking forward to your Breeze review!

[Jamman54]

Today is our 2nd consecutive sea day……

 

 

We slept in again today, and we awoke to another hazy day. It wasn’t raining, and the wind had diminished since yesterday. The seas were nice and calm…..

 

 

 

We went up to the Lido for our breakfast today and we both had omelets. I was going to the casino to try my luck once again, while Patti made her way to the El Morocco Lounge for this morning’s bingo session, followed by the Fun Finds Shopping Show at the Spectacular Show Lounge. BTW, Patti didn’t have any luck at bingo today, despite the fact that I wasn’t there! Lol. Here is a shot of the back of the Spectacular Show Lounge…..

 

 

The Fun Finds Shopping Show…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Today was the first blackjack tournament of the cruise, so I went to get my buy one get one (BOGO), entries from the casino cashier. I would use one entry today, and the other later on in the cruise. Patti got this shot just before my qualifying round started…..

 

 

I wound up being the 4th highest qualifier at this point, but would it hold up?

 

 

No it wouldn’t. I was knocked out in the last round of qualifiers. Patti and I played blackjack for a few hours, and we broke even for our time. We heard, and then saw the Dr. Seuss parade go by on the promenade, so Patti made her way to the Spectacular Show Lounge to get some pictures. The stage is set for the parade’s arrival…..

 

 

 

The parade started in the El Morocco Lounge and went the whole length of the ship to the Spectacular Show Lounge. Then Malcolm, assisted by some staff and parents, read and acted out the story of the Cat in the Hat. A great time was had by all. Patti took a bunch of pictures…..

 

 

The kids sat right on the stage…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

A page of Seuss a Palooza…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti decided to try a Mocha Chocolate Getaway and gave it two thumbs up!!

 

 

 

At 5pm we attended the Diamond Party…..

 

 

It was held in the Grand Piano Bar. This must be the right place…..

 

 

 

The Diamond Party with the Captain is my favorite Diamond perk. I like to joke that I’m collecting Captains, though Captain Candeloro Donato is a repeat, since we was the Captain on my Splendor repo cruise last October. Though the invitation had said “Tea with the Captain”, no one was drinking tea. The drinks were free flowing, and the snacks provided were great. The best part though, is just sitting and chatting with the Captain, the Senior Cruise Staff, our CD Malcolm, and fellow Diamond members for over an hour like we were old friends. Since there were only 8 Diamonds on this cruise, and not all attended, this gathering was quite small…..

 

 

To be continued….

[Jamman54]

The Diamond Party ended just in time for our 6:30 reservation at the Pinnacle Steakhouse. We always go to the Steakhouse at least one time, on the ships that have them. Here are Patti and I at the Pinnacle Steakhouse…..

 

 

 

Though we both know exactly what we are going to order, we love to let our waitress give us the entrée presentation…..

 

 

 

Here are a couple of Pinnacle Steakhouse views…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

The Chef’s are busy preparing our meal…..

 

 

 

 

These are compliments of the Chef…..

 

 

 

The Foccacia is to die for…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti started off with the crab cake….

 

 

I had two orders of the Portobello mushrooms…..

 

 

Patti also had the shrimp cocktail…..

 

 

Patti had the Caesar salad, which was prepared tableside…..

 

 

 

I had the beefsteak tomatoes…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti had the Maine lobster for her main…..

 

 

She had a baked potato with all the trimmings….

 

 

I had the 18 oz. spice rubbed ribeye, cooked medium, with the wasabi mashed potatoes…..

 

 

At this point we were both so stuffed that we decided to have very light desserts. Patti ordered the fruit plate, which she took back to the cabin……

 

 

I had the homemade mango sherbert, which was fantastic…..

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

What a GREAT meal. To top it off, we were told that the Food and Beverage Manager had paid for our wine. We would be sure to thank him when we saw him.

 

We could barely move, we were so full, so we took a nice romantic moonlight walk on the upper decks. There was a full moon out tonight. It was simply gorgeous…..

 

 

 

Since we knew we would be having a busy day tomorrow, we decided to call it an early night, and made our way back to the cabin. Tonight’s towel animal was waiting for us……

 

 

It was another great day. Sorry for the lack of pictures today, but the cameras were resting up for their big day tomorrow! Lol.

 

Coming up next: Grand Turk. Did I get my cabana?

[RaiderFaninNM]

Wow that steak was HUGE!...........:eek:

 

 

I have not eaten in a Carnival steak house, just never made time to, we did while we were on the Allure of the Seas and it was awesome, call me old school but I do enjoy the MDR with the various entertainment that is lined up.

 

Once more great review, thanks for sharing!

[hockeyluver]

I am really enjoying your review!!! I think we have had the "bowling alley" balcony 5 times now with our 6th coming up on our Splendor cruise.

 

 

We keep saying we are going to go to the steakhouse every cruise and never do. This time I made reservations!!! We usually eat at the early seating, this time we chose anytime dining. We figure it is just the two of us, no friends or family this time, so we will play it by ear.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review I love Grand Turk!!!

[Selva]

Great review as usual. Can't wait to see if you got your cabana. Thanks for sharing your cruises with us!

[anonmom]

I can't get over this review! It is so helpful for someone like me who has never cruised before. I'm learning so much about the Splendor, but also about cruising in general. After 2 years of being confused by the differences between the dining rooms and restaurants and the different seating times, I finally get it!

 

Another thing I don't quite understand is the thing about having to go up and down to get all the way across the decks. Is this a problem on the upper decks, too, or just the lower ones? For example, I'm thinking of booking a Cloud 9 spa balcony on deck 10. Would we be able to just walk down the hall from our cabin to Camp Carnival and from there to the Rotisserie? Or would we have to go down to another floor and then take an elevator back up once we cross over to the middle or aft of the ship?

[julescruisin]

Thanks so much for your great review, we are about to leave for the Splendor~it truly added to our excitement!!! Can't wait to finish reading it when we return from our first Splendor cruise!! Bon Voyage!!

[NCTribeFan]

...

Another thing I don't quite understand is the thing about having to go up and down to get all the way across the decks. Is this a problem on the upper decks, too, or just the lower ones? For example, I'm thinking of booking a Cloud 9 spa balcony on deck 10. Would we be able to just walk down the hall from our cabin to Camp Carnival and from there to the Rotisserie? Or would we have to go down to another floor and then take an elevator back up once we cross over to the middle or aft of the ship?

 

I can answer this one so I'll jump right in.

 

Look at your deck plan. All of Carnivals ships (except the Spirit-class ships) have two dining rooms. Between them is the galley. Obviously, you can't walk through the galley.

 

If you're on a lower cabin floor, you just walk forward or aft to the elevators/stairs that will take you closest to where you want to go. If you're on an upper deck, yes, you can just walk to your destination.

 

Decks 3 & 4 are blocked by the galley.

 

It really isn't that difficult to figure out, but for a newbie on a ship this size for the first time, I can see why it might be confusing.

 

There are floor maps posted at all the elevators and you can get a little deck map of the ship when you board. Deck 5 is your friend for navigating the interior of the ship. It has no cabins and goes all the way forward to aft.

 

Just plan your route before you set out and you'll be fine.

[KrisMusc313]

What are these "bowling alley" cabins I'm reading about? Are they on all the boats?

[BIG GUY]

Luckily, once we came out of the tunnel, it only took 15 minutes to make it to the New York Cruise Terminal at 12th avenue and 55th street. It is now 10:40am……

 

 

We headed up the ramp to the parking level, where we got our first glimpse of the Splendor…..

 

 

At the top of the ramp we paid our $320 for parking for our cruise. The rate is $40 / day, payable in cash or credit / debit cards. Yes, there are cheaper options around the port that usually involve multiple handling of luggage, cab rides, etc. We choose to park at the port as a convenience. It really comes in handy at the end of the cruise, but I don’t want to talk about that now. Here’s the Carnival Splendor docked at Pier 90…..

 

 

This is the luggage drop off area, and there is the cute bomb sniffing dog that will check out the inside of your car before you can drop your luggage off….

 

 

We are parked for the cruise…..

 

 

Down the elevator one flight, and right into the VIP line…..

 

 

To be continued…..

 

Hi,Jamman we are on Splendor next week. Can you let us know how full the parking was when you got there? We planned on getting to the pier around 10-1030 .

Thanks

[Aldeya]

Wonderful review!

 

We'll be on Splendor in two weeks.

 

I can't figure out if Splendor has an wrap-around deck like some ships. We'd love to take walks outside but would need to have a rest once in awhile.

 

Can you tell me which deck would be best for walking AND has chairs available too?

 

TIA