Splendor March 3-10 novel and review

[Bulldogsoc]

Kits... I think that the FTTF people could go into the lounge but we didn't. They said you needed your boarding paper/bar code. You are not going to be there very long and it is really nothing special... lower ceiling, windowless area. Again, you will likely be waiting less than 15 minutes if you get to the terminal when it just opens and and if you come later and you are FTTF, you will just walk directly on.

[Laurenran]

Great review, thanks for sharing. We are headed out on a NCL Mexican Riviera cruise next week and are also thinking of doing Medando and Stone Island for beach days with the kids.

[Bulldogsoc]

My kid 9 and 11 really enjoyed both beaches.

[jennandchadhoneymoon2017]

My husband and I are doing this cruise for our honeymoon in April and we are both first time cruisers (I think it says we’ve cruised already in my signature but we had to rebook our honeymoon). Your review is super helpful! I’m super sad the FTTF is already sold out for our cruise! Sounds like it’s well worth the money.

[Linsuesue]

My husband and I are doing this cruise for our honeymoon in April and we are both first time cruisers (I think it says we’ve cruised already in my signature but we had to rebook our honeymoon). Your review is super helpful! I’m super sad the FTTF is already sold out for our cruise! Sounds like it’s well worth the money.

Keep checking! Sometimes FTTF spots open up just before cruising. Check a few times everyday and you might snag one. Enjoy your first cruise!

[jennandchadhoneymoon2017]

Keep checking! Sometimes FTTF spots open up just before cruising. Check a few times everyday and you might snag one. Enjoy your first cruise!

 

Thanks for the heads up on that!! I will keep checking! I was also wondering about room upgrades, does Carnival do that? We were originally booked on NCL but had to rebook due to me switching teaching jobs and I had researched a TON on NCL, I haven't had as much time to research CCL. I know on NCL you might get an email allowing you to bid on a room upgrade, does CCL do that as well?

[Bulldogsoc]

Ok back from a few days away.

 

So it was day 5 and we are at Los Veranos Canopy tour. I spoke to the owners about how I did not get the discount when I booked. The couple (owners) assured me it would get credited back to my card (and a it was!). We had some food and beers and went for a swim and down the plunge (20 feet) slides. We did the tequila tasting and zoo and then back in the jungle buggies back to the boat. On the way back to the cruise pier they stopped in the cove when the valley goes into the jungle and told us this was where Preditor was filmed. They toured us around Les Arces and fed the fish. Really amazing value for $75.

 

Back on the pier we walked to Walmart across the street. Checkout zoo. We gave up. I did not think it possible to have slower checkout lines than Wal-Mart at home. Nope. Cashiers are responsible for making sure their count is right and when dealing with thousands of cash pesos transactions, they count the money x3. Also, almost all clothing has security tags and in some cases inside the packaging, so if someone in front is buying a cart load of under garments... well you get the idea. We gave up. Kids were tired. There is a mall next door.

 

Note that the entrance and exits gates that cruise passengers can use are at the horn and south ends where customs officers are. If you try to use the gates in between (bus traffic) you will be redirected. The gates are about a 10 minute walk between them. There will be a marketplace set up right outside the ship with vendors and a bar.

 

By mid to late afternoon it was hot and it was nice to get back on board to relax. We hit the Golden Pearl that night. We did an early show and I had a nap before taking in the last adult comedy show at 11pm. It was packed and standing room only by 10:45. Very funny. Certainly R rated.

 

Before bed I grabbed a few Vitamin waters at the coffee shop and stopped by the SnS machine across from guest Services. You can use this machine when you first board to set up your password and you can email or print you balance and statements whenever you want. With the password it then allows you to look up your account on the TVs in your room.

 

The TVs in the rooms are in a sad state. They have a green or orange tint to them. There are a tone of Carnival info channels. We did not watch much TV but the kids always had it on.

 

Day Six - I was up early to watch the streaming coverage of the world Jr Curling as my niece was on team Canada. The rest of the day was spent aft in the adults only area. Bar service was good. We got to Walt h some humpback whales which people went Apesh$t over. Lol. We skipped the formal night and did pizza and the buffet.

 

Day Seven - was our last sea day. Looking at the Fun Times we saw an egg toss sign up for 11am with a 4pm event so the Lad decided to do that. We picked up the invitation (required to get the egg) at 11. Our plan was to use Layers of Fun Times around the egg and plastic bags. It worked as did 90% of the other creations people made and which were dropped from level 5 in the lobby. The lad got a Boat on a Rope. It was fun MaeQ did a good job.

 

 

We also dis the Groove for St Jude on the Lido in the afternoon. Ten bucks gets you a tshirt and bracelet and then about 10% actually bust a move.

 

 

We packed, did some ping pong. Did some jewelry shopping for the good doctor’s Bday on the 13th. Lunch was a combo of the BBQ and Tandoor. Lots of cocktails. MDR and then we watched the Lip Sync battle in the theatre followed by the 10pm adult comedy. It was really good. Packed again for 10pm show. I took in the 11pm which was less crowded. I think that was the last show of the cruise. Both were very adult oriented.

 

 

I finished the night by printing my SnS accounts and packing Xander getting ONE HOUR of sleep as I had to get up at 1pm... 9am in Scotland to watch the Gold Medal Curling Final between Canada and UNDEFEATED Sweden. What an amazing match. I went for my last Pizza Pirate at 3am at the half and then watched Canada Win gold. I watched the Canadian men win gold on my phone a few hours later.

 

 

So we got up and put the last of our stuff in our bags and grabbed breakfast. Unlike the rest of the week the buffet was a very busy spot a seven AM.

 

 

The day before departure we got FTTF letters in our box explaining departure. We had a 1:15pm flight out of LAX to Toronto. We planned to do self assist. The ship was pulling into the dock while we ate breakfast. We were told to assemble in the Black Pearl by 8am. The only issue is was dreading was our four large suitcases, carry on each plus backpacks. LOT O LUGGAGE navigating the halls, elevators and Black Pearl. It turned out to be not as bad as I thought. Not too many Diamond or Plats did it. We were off the ship by 8:15. We debated ordering a drive service or using the Carnival transport $30 each but a CC user answered my question and told me there were lots of cabs and they We right. Not 100 yards from the terminal exit on the North East side is a great taxi stand and as fate would have it, there was a minivan as the first Cab which was a must given our quantity of luggage. We were off and at LAX before nine am.

 

 

I had some problems figuring out the back of the seat credit card machine to work, but the driver gave me a hand, but not before giving himself a 25% tip punching in the numbers. Lol. Fine. The bill was $60 +$15.

 

 

Ok... pulling into Union Station so I will sum up my thoughts on the ride home later.

 

Cheers Mark

[Alaskan Joe]

First off great review, my DW and I will be sailing her in Aug '18 for our Alaskan Journey's cruise:D. Also please figure out how to add pics I want to see them.

 

CarnivalSplendor March 3-10, 2018

We had 6 487 which is an aft extended balcony directly in front of thestarboard hallway and 6 477 which was a twin inside room. Both were open andwaiting for us but we never saw our steward until later that afternoon. Later…Mark

Great info about room because my DW and I have for the first time an AFT balcony. We have always gotten a balcony (5 cruises) this will be our first AFT one. We have cabin 6 456 which is only 3 doors down from the one you have, I can't wait to see (well except for the soot).

 

 

 

 

I said they sent 3-4 people? Yep… anyway. They fixed it in 1 min andapologized… good laugh. The princess asked if I lost my job or somethingbecause, “this hotel sucks!” LOL it was fun family moment.

Just like the show "Kids say the darndest things". This did not make me chuckle, rather it made me laugh out loud a lot. In fact, I was at work when I read this and my boss's office is right next to mine:(. He came over to see if I was alright, I'm just glad as long as I have my work done he does not mine me coming on CC. Hey at least princess did not say this while the hotel staff was there...LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My niece was curling for team Canada at the World Jr Curling Championship inScotland this same week. After getting ONE HOUR of sleep as I had to get up at1pm... 9am in Scotland to watch the Gold Medal Curling Final between Canada andUNDEFEATED Sweden. What an amazing match. I went for my last Pizza Pirate at3am at the half and then watched Canada Win gold. I watched the Canadian menwin gold on my phone a few hours later.

Congratulation on your niece winning GOLD. I'm not Canadian, but when the Olympics are on that is one my go to events to watch, other Americans think I'm crazy.

 

So it was fun watching the"pier" runners for a half hour

This is something I have only done on YouTube. However, next cruise I will be watching for the "pier" runners. Although there probably will not be a lot because it is a 2 week cruise in which we will have more mature PAX on board, but then again there is always one in the crowd...LoL

Ok I will wait for pics if you get them up would love to see the cabin pics. Again thanks for the review.

 

 

 

 

[cvpends]

Loved your review, and congratulations to your niece!

[IDKaren]

Thanks so much for your wordy wonderful review! Really loved it!

[Bulldogsoc]

Thank you all for following along and your kind words. I have tried to post some pics from my iPad but I just get errors. They may be too large. I will try again when I get some time.

 

So I told the family before we left I was going to ask them what they thought of this cruise vs the Breakaway Aft Haven Suite from March of last year out of NYC. I told them that I thought this cruise was about half the cost of the other. Was the NCL twice as good?

 

As I said early on they are very different room and service categories, so factor that in.

 

I think our Haven Suite for the four of us last year with the free drinks, specialty restaurants and internet was on sale for just shy of $10k Canadian. Our Carnival cruise with one aft extended balcony, on inside stateroom, two cheers, two bottomless bubbles, FTTF x2 and internet was about $5600 Canadian. Remember, that Haven cabin was 650 soft and both the master bath and the Balcony were bigger than our inside room! But that $10k was on sale by about $4-5k when we went.

 

We normally spend about $12k-15k Canadian including air for nice all in Caribbean resort for a week each winter so even adding the $1600 for air for the four of us to LAX (yes, $394.00 CDN return each!!!!), the Carnival cruise was a total bargain.

 

So in the cab on the way back to LAX I asked the question and basically we thought this was a great cruise and while the Haven experience certainly beat out on the room and service side, BUT IT WAS NOT TWICE AS GOOD. The lad would gladly go on two Carnival Cruises vs One Haven trip.

 

Look, we really don’t have a budget issue, but we wanted to compare. I enjoyed the Splendor more than the Breakaway overall for what I got and what I paid. If I could get a two room suite with FTTF priority service and Cheers, I would be choosing Carnival over NCL Haven.

 

The wife and I are doing an 11 Day Baltic Sea cruise out of Hamburg in Sept on the MSC Meraviglia in the Yacht Club, so we are looking forward to seeing how that compares.

 

In closing, Carnival given great great value. I truly believe that just about every working joe and Jane can afford to take a family of 4-5 on a week long cruise each year even if they are on a budget. That is the beauty of the product. Although through good fortune and work we can choose different (and more pricey lines) I frankly will be showing up at another Carnival entry ramp with our new “Red SnS Card” in the future.

 

Two thumbs Up!

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Later... Mark

[homesclcruisers]

Great review! Thank you.

[peteandpris]

Great review I really enjoyed reading about your adventure. We are booked for a Back to Back cruise on the Sunshine out of Port Canaveral on Sept.8-21. and we will be turning Platinum. We can't wait. Thanks for the heads up on Cheers with the water and can beer. We always get Cheers but didn't catch on about this.

[kbklcamp]

Awesome review. Thank you

 

 

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