Carnival splendor - june 2015- trip report

CARNIVAL SPLENDOR - JUNE 2015 - TRIP REPORT

 

This was the free trip from Carnival due to the negative issues that I had on the Carnival Breeze cruise back in November of last year. It departed from Manhattan last Wed., June 17th, which was my wife's birthday. The cruise was 8 nights and the ship stopped at San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. For the whole trip the seas were very calm, almost lake like and the sun was shining every day. The temperatures were around 82 degrees at each port we visited. Our stateroom was an ocean view on deck one and it was large being 220 square feet. The cabin steward, Angel, was absolutely great. Our room was taken care of every day by 9:30 and if we needed anything he got it for us immediately.

 

My wife had fractured a bone in her right foot about 2 weeks before the cruise but she was mobile with the boot on her foot. Since there is a lot walking on a cruise ship we brought her on board in our wheelchair. Luckily she was recovering very quickly and we only used the chair for the first 2 days. After this she was walking with her regular shoes and did fine.

 

I had no complaints on this cruise over the wait staff in the main dining room, the Gold Pearl. Our head waiter, Willmer from Peru, was great. We ate in the dining room 6 nights and our total time including dessert was never more than 1 hour 15 minutes. I've been on other cruises where at 1.5 hours you still didn't have the dessert menu in your hands.

 

Almost every day except for St. Thomas we had our breakfast and were out at the pool on the back of the ship, adults only, by 7:30. I would typically stay until 9:30 or 10 am. So after this we both have nice tans. By noon time is was getting hot and the sun was intense and we wanted to avoid this.

 

There were a few things that I noticed on this cruise which I've noticed before but this time I'm going to contact Carnival customer service about. My last time on this ship in December, 2013, I commented about the bathrobe people in the buffet dining area. At that time there were around 150 instances, on this cruise there were only 6. This is not one of the issues though.

 

First - men coming to the buffet dining area with no shirts or anything on their feet. This applies to women also not having a cover up over their bikini. I'm not a prude but in my mind this is totally inappropriate in a public dining area. In fact Carnival has signs up saying that you must have a shirt on to enter the dining areas but this is ignored.

 

Second - They have an outdoor big screen near the main pool where they show movies in the evening. We went one night to watch Hunger games Mocking Jay #1 at 7 PM. However the pool was still open with a bunch of kids in it making a tremendous amount of noise. After one hour of watching the movie, being able to only make out 1/3 of the dialogue, we left.

 

Third - Kids constantly running all over the ship. One night walking in the main corridor running the starboard side of the ship near the casino with a whole bunch of other passengers; 2 teenage girls came running at us trying to weave through the gaps in the crowd. They were unsuccessful because both of them ran into my right side, one right after the other. Now I'm 200 pounds and could have put them both on the floor but I didn't and both of them bounced off of me. My concern is that there are so many disabled people on a cruise in wheelchairs, walkers, canes, scooters that this behavior is a real safety concern.

 

Now its casino time. Before I get to craps, I've got to report on my wife Eva's, middle name lucky, great results in the casino. First, she had a 46 throw hand at craps which was the best of everybody on the ship for the whole cruise. Second, at roulette her number is 17 and she won twice within 5 rolls with $10 on it each time for a $700 win.

Third, at ultimate Texas hold em she got two 4 of a kinds within 10 minutes for another $800 win.

 

CRAPS:

 

PLAYER METHOD #THROWS #POINTS #CO WINS

 

6/17

 

EVA PARR 5 1

BOB UH 8

BOB UH 6 1

BOB PARR 11

BOB UH 10 1

BOB UH 11

BOB UH 23 2 1

BOB UH 12

 

6/18

 

EVA PARR 46 5 10

BOB UH 15 2

EVA PARR 12

BOB UH 4

EVA PARR 10 1 1

BOB PARR 5 2

BOB UH 10 1 3

BOB UH 11

BOB UH 5

 

6/19

 

EVA PARR 13 2 1

BOB UH 13 2 2

EVA PARR 8 5

BOB UH 9 1 3

EVA PARR 12 1

BOB UH 9 3

EVA PARR 9 3

BOB UH 10 2

BOB PARR 10 1

EVA PARR PSO

BOB UH PSO

EVA PARR 11 1 2

BOB UH 6

BOB UH 9 1

 

6/20

 

BOB UH 6 1

BOB UH 16 1

EVA PARR 14 1 3

BOB UH 8

EVA PARR 20 3 1

BOB UH 8 1

EVA PARR 20 2

 

6/21

 

BOB UH 4 1

BOB UH 15 2 2

EVA PARR 11

BOB UH 4

 

6/22

 

BOB UH 12 2

EVA PARR 5 2

BOB UH PSO

EVA PARR 5 1

BOB PARR 29 1 1

EVA PARR 11 1

BOB PARR 20 1

EVA PARR 8 1 1

BOB UH 7 4

EVA PARR 10 1

BOB PARR 12 1 3

EVA PARR 6

BOB PARR 9 2

BOB PARR 6

EVA PARR 3

BOB UH 14 2

BOB UH 11 1 1

BOB UH 11 2

BOB PARR PSO

 

6/23

 

BOB UH 7 1

BOB PARR 10 2

BOB UH 7 1

BOB PARR 6

BOB UH 24 3 1

BOB UH 6 2

BOB UH 14 4

BOB UH 25 2 1

EVA PARR 16 2

BOB UH 4 1

EVA PARR 5 1

BOB PARR 31 2 1

BOB UH 9

 

6/24

 

BOB PARR 8 1 1

EVA PARR 6

BOB UH 13

EVA PARR 9 1 1

BOB PARR 14 2

EVA PARR 8 1 2

BOB UH 6 1 1

BOB UH 6

EVA PARR 13 2

BOB PARR 21 3 3

EVA PARR 4 1

BOB PARR 19 1 2

BOB PARR 8

BOB UH 7

BOB PARR 9 3

BOB UH 6 1

BOB PARR 13 1 2

 

To summarize the craps play on this ship. The playing conditions were fairly good. The crew was absolutely great, there were about 6 regulars who were there every day and there was no heat at all. When we played usually when the table opened at 1 pm on at sea days and at 8 pm after dinner there were very few players, in fact quite a few times it was just Eva and me for maybe 30 Minutes.

Oh, on the last night Eva bought the casino crew a big jar of cookies and they appreciated it immensely and they were all coming to her and thanking her.

 

There were 2 negatives to me. First, the height of the chip rail and the table surface from the floor were higher than normal. The table height was maybe an inch too high and the chip rail was about 1 to 2 inches too high. Because of this I could not get into a really comfortable position for my Underhand throw. My Parr throw was not affected at all.

 

My second and biggest issue was worn dice. I always expect new dice to be put in play at the start of each day. I asked a few of the dealers and they said new dice every day. I took notice of the dull edges on the second day and they continued to get duller for the next 2 days. That evening I went to my stateroom to get my dice that I brought from home which after 150 throws were still sharp on the corners. I asked one of the pit bosses to get the casino manager for me. I was told that she was busy and would be out to talk to me in about 15 to 20 minutes. I waited approximately 40 minutes and she never showed up. The next day new dice were put into play although in my mind they were still not as sharp on the edges as my dice from home. These same dice then continued to be used for the balance of the cruise. To me it appeared that in a 8 night cruise they only used 2 sticks of dice. Worn dice in my opinion cause more randomness and it gets worse as the wear continues. I had commented on this same issue in December of 2013 when I wrote my first trip report on this ship.

 

Our results although not spectacular were solid and we were up $500 plus for the cruise. Combining the results for both of us we made 69 points in 90 total hands along with 92 come out wins.

 

Overall it was a good cruise and we had a enjoyable time.

 

Dicenator

Thanks for the report!

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Dicenator: Liked your report about the cruise. When I was on the Splendor a lady injured her leg and ended up participating at many trivia events. She won a ship-on-a-stick. She was happy about that. Congrats on your success in the Casino. I remember it was a nice casino. Belated Happy Birthday to your wife.

I took my wife on a cruise and she had to wear one of those surical boots which did the job but hard to walk around in. We did get a handicapped room and were one of the first people off the ship when the cruise ended. I told her to keep that boot. LOL.