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Sailed on Splendor in October. Also saw a large number of negative reviews, including for the actual week we sailed. I have sailed Carnival 10 other cruises, including the Breeze. I would rank Splendor in the top couple spots of my favorite Ship. Thought it was very clean and well maintained. Food was good. Steakhouse was excellent. This Ship does not have a Guys Burger Joint but DID offer Late Night Bites at the grill each night offering burgers, dogs, fries, etc.

Funny about the negative comments from the week I sailed... They mentioned dirty ship.... I thought it was one of the cleanest Ships I had been on. Always saw crew out cleaning.

I think you will have a great time!

There are several Downtown Miami Hotels (Intercontinental, Marriott Marquis, YVES,) that are an easy stroll to Bayside Market Place (Restaurants, Bars, Gift Shops, etc.) Very popular on these boards is the Hampton Inn Mary Brickell Village. Lots of restaurants here too.

A bit north are 2 popular hotels, Doubletree and Marriott Biscayne Bay. They have a joined underground restaurant/shop area. Just a couple blocks from a metro mover station.

Downtown has a free metro mover tram system that has 2 routes. 1 Circles the Downtown Core, the other goes south through Mary Brickell Village area.

I have stayed here twice in the past 3 years and will be staying here again March 4. 10 minute safe stroll to Bayside Market Place. Have never felt unsafe. It is a large city so general awareness of your surroundings. $12 or so Cab Ride to port the next day. Taxi from MIA is about $35. They have a wonderful pool at this hotel that is nicely heated.

They also have a Starbucks in the lobby where we typically grab a sandwich or oatmeal for breakfast on cruise morning.

Close to a CVS for last minute items. Also near 2 Metro Mover stations (the free monorail system that circles downtown. Can also ride to Mary Brickell Village area on the Metro Mover.

Everything I purchase in advance for a cruise has shown in 'my documents' for the cruise.

Reservations to the Steak House do not appear as there is no charge until you are on the ship.

I may have misinterpreted your question. I thought you meant purchasing from Bon Voyage using your Carnival Card. I see now you likely meant using your Carnival Points to get Cruise Cash. Not sure if that will appear on your booking or not. Apologies for the confusion.

In Miami last October, I turned Platinum and they had a separate waiting room for us with cookies and ice water.

If you have a tender port (Grand Cayman, Belize, Half Moon Cay), you will get priority tendering (ship to shore only). Also get a dedicated guest service line that saves a lot of time waiting.

Enjoy!!

Sail on Vista on March 5 so can't compare. Have been on Breeze, Dream, Miracle, Splendor and several of the Conquest class ships.

Was on Splendor this past October and thought she was a lovely ship and thoroughly enjoyed what was offered. There were many poor reviews about dirty ship, rude staff, etc. even for the exact cruise I was on. I was amazed at the number of poor reviews as I was ranking it as one of my favorite cruises (out of 11 on Carnival).

Point being.... don't let someone's poor review sway you. Only YOU can decide if you like the ship or not.

I too have seen poor views of the Vista. Not going to keep me from having a grand time!!

My first Carnival Cruise was in 2010, the last week of March on the Freedom. End of cruise, the cruise director said there were 900+ kids under the age of 18. I was surprised as I had not noticed many. Have sailed Spring Break every year since (either last week of March or first week of March). Have not ever really noticed obnoxious kids but then, I'm not looking for them. Spend most sea days in Serenity area. Now, obnoxious adults....that's another matter. When the grown ups show up to early dining blitzed to the point of knocking their wine glasses over (every single night).... Let's just say... never again will we remain at a table with that.

Carnival does do a pretty good job of keeping the kids entertained. There will always be exceptions.

It should be noted that if there is an emergency and you all have to fly home for whatever reason, you will not be able to fly with your children without a passport. The birth certificate is only for the closed loop cruise. You'll be stuck having to try to get emergency travel authorizations if something happens that interrupts your cruise.

 

 

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While this is true, if there is an issue with the ship that requires a flight back to U.S., Carnival will handle all the details. This happened in 2012 when the Dream spent a few extra days in St. Maarten and ultimately arranged flights for all back to the States. Many on that sailing did not have passports.

If the family finds themselves needing to fly back to the States mid-cruise, not having passports for the kids is probably the least of their worries. If this was common, the boards would be plastered with horror stories.

Just want to emphasize the need to have 'official' birth certificates. The souvenir ones many hospitals use with feet prints are not 'official'.

You need the ones you get from county registrar (or such entity in your community). Frequently, these will have an embossed 'seal'. Some school districts require 'official' copies of the certificates so you may have these on hand. These are the same certificates you will need if/when you do decide to get Passports for them.

Didn't want you to get to port only to be denied boarding. Have fun. The kids will have a blast.

Don't remember if they offer specials during the tour, but they will let you put your name in for a raffle drawing during the tours. The drawing is usually held at 5:00 and the spa will be packed with people waiting for their name to be called.

I do recall there would be printed Spa Specials delivered almost daily with the evening turn-down service. Available times may be limited. Also, last couple cruises, at least one person in the cabin will get a 'spa' certificate good for $$ off a service or product. Not enough to get anything free and very fast expirations so if you get one jump on it.

If you belong to John Healds page, he frequently at the beginning of months will provide a code to get a discount and strawberries or such if you book with his code.

Thanks all! He'll be relieved, and I will too. No argument. :)

Go and enjoy. We ate 1st night in the Steakhouse on Splendor in October. Food was FABULOUS!!!

As others have stated, cruise casual is the dress code night 1 as they are sensitive that not all have their luggage.

We really enjoyed Splendor.

Hi everyone,

We are considering a cruise on the carnival spirit but am having some trouble with finding a room that has suitable bedding for my family. Previously we have cruised on royal and the sofa in the room would fold out to make a double bed which was perfect for my 2 young kids. however all the cabins i have looked at on carnival seem to over 1 queen bed and then a single bed and a bunk. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

thanks!

What I have noted many do with young kids is to pull the mattress off the bunk and place it on the floor for sleeping if the fear is a child falling out of bed.

Will be cozy. A Google search shows this picture:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FuZprVFjsTxM%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuZprVFjsTxM&docid=M0pOrPBR9xR7oM&tbnid=7qPaYAgaxA351M%3A&vet=1&w=1280&h=720&bih=927&biw=768&q=conquest%20inside%20cabins%20for%204&ved=0ahUKEwjV8uGd0s_RAhUi6oMKHUUlB8IQMwgpKA4wDg&iact=mrc&uact=8

If the link does not work, just search conquest cabin for 4.

I have read on these pages that this property has been sold so depending on timing, may want to keep options open. Intercontinental is just a block or so away and same chain as HI.

I cruised from Miami this past October and got Marriott Marquis for $159/night on the 'last minute travel' site. a Google search will get you to this site. If you keep an eye on that site, they frequently offer free or other good membership deals.

Watch for deals on the various 3rd party travel sites and see if you can get one of the nicer hotels for a good price.

6-day March 5, 2017 Booked in July, 2016 during a $200 OBC Sale. Required paying in full to get the OBC.

Inside Cabin for 2

$1138 (Net of 938 with OBC)

394 Taxes/Fees

158 Insurance

$1,690 Total Paid with $200 OBC.

Used 100,000 Carnival points to 'get' a statement credit for $1,500 so actual cash paid for cruise was $190. :D:D:D I'm ahead $10 for the cruise but took a hit on airfare from Central IL during Spring Break. Still happy though!

Breeze has the Thrill Theater and Ropes Course. Slightly bigger ship.

A couple inside 'gems' on the Freedom are 6393 and 7345. They are labeled as 1A (upper/lower) but actually have twins on the floor that can be made as a king. These cabins are slightly wider than the standard inside and have the closet/vanity configuration like the balcony cabins. They are located mid-ship, starboard and just behind the mid-ship elevators. Very convenient location. I have stayed in 6393 (Conquest) and 7345 (Glory and Freedom). Avoid the 1A cabin on deck 8 as it will get noise from Lido (is under the drink station).

If the 1As are not available, my next favorite location is Lido Deck. Close to all the action. True for either Freedom or Breeze.

If you are sailing for the Ship, go with Breeze. If sailing for the Ports, go with the better price.

Good luck!

You will get priority boarding, etc from the beginning. Your ship card will be platinum.

Last Minute Travel Club has some Downtown Miami 3 or 4 Star hotels on the non-member site in the $150-$200 range. If you are a member (or join), there are better deals.

I have had good luck with this provider.

Otherwise, for your price range, not much available during spring break timing. Do you belong to any hotel reward programs where you can get a free or discounted stay for using points?

Good luck in your search.

Was on the Splendor in October. First time on her. I thought she was a great ship and very clean and well maintained. Saw a review from our sailing stating the Ship was dirty and staff unfriendly. I sure didn't think so. If you have anytime dining and get Dejan (Dan) as your waiter, he was delightful.

The Casino was also very good to me!! Saw reviews where people qualified for 'drinks on us' during the sailing and complained about lack of service. I also qualified for this and found the servers to be very attentive to me. I made sure to tip them $1 for each drink they brought me. Otherwise, they would not have gotten any tip for serving me.

I was very surprised at the negative comments on Splendor. Not my experience at all!

Thanks! I really just want to book FTTF, but no excursions show up. FTTF is probably sold out for that date already anyway.

 

Thanks!:)

Keep checking daily for FTTF. They do open up periodically and sometimes just a week or two in front of the cruise.

then you have been very lucky with 6393 as this is located in a very high noise area. There is a band that sets up across from the casino bar and starts playing after 9pm and plays til the wee hours of the morning

 

but 7345 is an awesome choice

6393 is over the Coffee Bar and very near Club 02. I was a bit concerned when I booked it that I would hear music from Club 02. Never heard a thing but I tended to be out fairly late. Looks like 6373 would be right over where the band sets up by the casino.

On Conquest class ships... Inside cabins 6393 and 7345 are 'technically' 1A cabins but set up similar to balcony. 2 beds on floor CAN be made as a king. Get 6th or 7th floor convenience for cost of 1A. There is also a cabin on deck 8 (8357) in the same location but being under Lido/possible kitchen area worries me.

Have stayed in both 6393 and 7345 with no noise issues. Convenient mid-ship location. These cabins are slightly wider than the standard inside cabin.

Be aware that some of us call Carnival Casinos DOU the " Cocktail Server MIA " promotion :mad:

That was not my experience last month on the Splendor. Although, I'm not a big drinker, I found the servers to be quite attentive. I did tip $1.00 each time they brought me a drink so maybe that made a difference. In fact, I was not paying attention to my points at all and a server is who brought it to my attention.

The Intercontinental has a full service Starbucks in the Lobby. We usually get a breakfast sandwich or oatmeal there with our coffee.

The people mover station where you can catch the free transport to Mary Brickell is just a couple blocks away.

Last month we stayed at the Marriott Marquis (got a great deal on LMT Club) and it was nice too. Just a couple blocks from IC and across the street from a people mover station and Whole Foods. However, we boarded our cruise on Sunday and while I was searching for the hotel coffee shop, theirs was not open as of 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Thanks for the heads up. Got my $200 card and that pays off our Vista cruise on 5 March 2017.

Hello.... We're on the 3/5 Vista too!!

_____

Karen