Paddy41

Anyone who disembarked the Splendor today 2-4 what time did they start letting those off with check luggage, I am mostly interested in time for Diamond

Not sure if I'm any help but we had luggage tags 17 and were off the ship before 10 a.m. Disembarkation for those with all their luggage seemed to take forwever but once they started on the tags it went quickly. Would diamonds have tag #1? I'm pretty sure they were off around 9:15. The ship took a long time docking and then starting to call decks though.

Nothing for Adult nightclub the first night?????

Do you mean the Punchliner Comedy Club. There were two adult shows the first night.. One at 9 pm and one at 11 pm.

Do you recall if the ship changed from PST time to MST time when you were in Cabo?

 

 

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Yes, the ship time changed. One hour forward at 2 a.m. before arriving in Mazatlan and one hour back during night between last two sea days. Never been on a cruise where they did this (except transatlantic), always just stayed with ship time from start to finish Does anyone know why they did this? I know Puerto Vallarta is 2 hour time difference but it still doesn't make sense to me.

We had to return the van we had rented at LAX to their Long Beach lacation plus had to check out of hotel so we ended up early at the terminal. Our time was originally 12:30, delayed by an hour to 1:30 (they emailed and phoned us to make sure we knew), but we still had to arrive around 12. By 12:45 we were checked in and eating lunch. Didn't see anyone taking embarkation pictures though. Many FTTF were boarding at the same time as us.

We went up to deck 10 aft to the BBQ place where there was lots of table space. Went up there again during the week because the meal was delicious. Potato salad, coleslaw and choice of smoked beef, pulled pork or chicken and a soft roll plus Guy's sauces for the meat. Really good.

Went to the steakhouse first night and as previous poster said it was a delicious meal. Free bottle of wine the first and second nights. Our server also explained that any wine on the list was 1/2 price tonight so after thinking that out we realized that we could each order a bottle of wine (4 of us), have them uncork it, taste it and then ask them to keep it for us for dining room use until gone and that's what we did. This made our wine way cheaper than buying the wine package and we got to try more expensive wines. Great deal! I don't know if they do this all the time or not. We've been on Splendor before and in the steakhouse first night and never heard of this deal!

My friend and I did go to tea time on the first sea day. It was at 3 pm in the main dining room. Cucumber and smoked salmon small sandwiches and a variety of desserts plus tea.

Over the week we saw several of the comedy shows, both family and adult and did enjoy them. The room fills up fast so go early. We would have gone to more but there was always a conflict with dinner times and/or the show they were offering in the theatre.

Sunday was the oyster day. Fried oysters as an appetizer. You could taste they were oysters but they were heavily breaded and deep fried so kind of overcooked.

Excursions: As seniors who can't do a lot of walking my friend and I chose the Land's End boat tour in Cabo and we enjoyed it. In Mazatlan we went on the 10 Best tour and enjoyed that as well. Nothing planned for P.V. but off ship they were selling a tour of the area for $25 so we decided to go after lunch. The price is for a full van but by that time no one else was looking for a tour. We ended up having a tour for the two of us for an extra $5 each and it was just the greatest few hours. The driver was an excellent tour guide. The highlight of the whole tour came at the end when he took us just off the road into the rain forest to see a 'neighbourhood'. We could not believe the little community in there with hydro, running water and 2 small convenience stores. Some homes were shacks, some were modest dwellings and a few were larger although nothing outlandish. Saw a few vehicle plates from Washington state and Arizona. Americans staying the winter. Really great tour.

Mazatlan: shrimp capital. Our tour stopped near the Shrimp Factory and we ordered a plate of beer-battered shrimp 6 jumbo shrimp and I do mean jumbo with dipping sauce, rice, veg, nachos with sauce. I believe it was around $14US and well worth trying that fresh shrimp.

We were with my friend's son and 2 of his friends and in PV they all did the scuba excursion. They just raved about it. They said so much of it was completely unexpected because it was not in the tour blurb they had read. Excellent time they said.

Don't miss the show on Monday night. 88 Keys, the Rock and Roll Piano Show. One of the best shows I've seen on a cruise.

The new dinner menu: well, you'll judge for yourself but I do love trying different foods and yet there were 2 nights of the cruise where the menu had nothing that appealed to me and I resorted one night to the flat iron steak and the other to the pork chop. There were a few really good dishes, one with fillet mignon and beef short ribs, and prime rib served two nights. BBQ ribs were good as well. Some great desserts like Grand Marnier Souffle (but I think that was also on the old menu) and vanilla creme brulee. I found the pies were a miss. A different pie was offered each night. I tried the blueberry and later the cherry and the crust is really not good while the fillling is dry. Unless you don't see anything else you like I'd pass on the pies. Sorry to say there was no Baked Alaska as some posters thought there would be. We were told it will only be offered on cruises longer than 7 days.

I can answer a few questions but I was with another friend who, it turned out, didn't want to do hardly anything except sleep so I missed a lot.

All the menus were new ones except for the steakhouse and the seaday brunch.. Our favourite meal was part way through the week when they had filet mignon and beef short rib on the menu. Served with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was yummy.

Starbucks coffee served in the dining room on sea days.

Thanks for the reply....Did you attend a comedy show? If so, did you find it overly crowded? Meaning do we need to go 1/2 early to get a decent seat?

 

Thanks in advance...

Yes. Go 1/2 hour early. It was crowded most of the time. Just came back from our cruise on the 17th.

Did you happen to eat at the Steakhouse? If so, can you confirm if it was the "new" menu or the "old" menu?

 

Thanks in advance...

Just returned from the Splendor on the 17th Feb. It was the old menu in the steakhouse.

Did not know anyone whould like them. I just left ours in one of the drawers in the cabin. Can't see a use for a dozen pins the same.

Just returned from Splendor yesterday (17th Feb.) and there was no delay boarding on the 2nd. The notice was likely sent because we were told it was the official opening of the terminal and all the press and major networks were there and they thought that might delay boarding but it didn't..In fact they paid no attention to the boarding times we were given and we were going on at the sme time as those who bought FTTF.

That is interesting. I guess that means FTTF aren't supposed to arrive until 1:30 then...everyone will be slower to the fun!

I was wondering about those who paid for FTTF as well. We did not. Our arrival time is 12:30 which now means 1:30. Doesn't give those who paid extra much of a head start.

I wonder if the delay is due to some problem in the new terminal?

I was on the 13 day cruise through the Panama Canal on the Splendor that docked in Long Beach on Jan. 27. I can't help with the Mexican Riveria, but I can tell you some things about the ship. The pink didn't really bother me. The thing that did bother me was the poor condition of the seating in the buffet area on Lido. Most of the seats sunk almost to the floor when you sat on them. If you sit in the chairs, you will be fine, however, they badly need to do something with the padded seating. The seating in the dining rooms is crowded, making it difficult for the waiters to maneuver, and leaving little room for getting around. The breakfast in the dining room was great! That was the best meal of the day to our group. Don't miss the fried oysters on the appetizer menu! We were quite disappointed in the entertainment onboard. I realize it might appeal to some, it just didn't appeal to us. Ice cream and pizza are fantastic!

What menu were the fried oysters on? You were talking about the best breakfast menu and then mentioned oysters. ...on the breakfast menu? I sure don't want to miss them. I had heard they were on the new steakhouse menu but does Splendor have any of the new menus.

Sadly it's too late for the taste bar for you and suggest you attend tea the first sea day or it may disappear as well. SAD!!

I hope I find Tea Time listed somewhere in the Fun Times. I just looked at the one I have here for the Splendor which is the one I'm going on again and there is no place I can find on it where they list times the dining room or even the lido buffet are open let alone anything about tea time.

They're considered cat 4's (interior) instead of 6's because your window faces the forward deck, and not directly outside. This means people can (and do) walk right past your window. You can have your ocean view or your privacy but not both simultaneously.

You are right to a point about the privacy or view but keep in mind that nobody seems to know that the decks outside of these rooms even exist so no one is every on them. In our week in one of these rooms we actually never saw another sole. There actually is no view from these rooms because there is quite a high railing on the deck so you can't see anything but sky from your cabin. I remember that the railing (solid one) was so high that I had to stand on tip toe to even see over it when I was on the deck. I still liked the rooms because they are a good price and have light which makes me feel better than a dark interior room.

On previous cruises I have taken two bungee cords about 3 feet long. I used them when there was rough weather and the closet doors or drawers started swinging open and banging shut. I've travelled on numerous cruise lines though and I can't recall what the closets are like on Carnival. All the cruise lines have different designs and in some cases there is no way to hook the bungee cord on to keep the closet door closed tight. Does anyone know if they will work on Carnival? I'm leaving for Feb. 10th cruise and won't even pack these if they won't work. Not that I'm expecting bad weather, ha!

Of course they have choices on every course in the Splender Steakhouse! OP trust me, we eat different things every night when we dine on all of Carnivals Steakhouse....sometimes I enjoy something very much that I would have it two or three nights, but trust me you have choices and you can eat there every night and have something different. Not only is it for better food, but the atmosphere and service overall is excellent.

 

Carnivals steakhouse blows NCL Cagneys steakhouse away in a heartbeat! Ugh, now you brought back some bad food memories of NCL lol.... but reminding me that Ocean Blue is excellent!

For a 3 night cruise there would be a good choice of food if eating at the Steakhouse every night. For 7 nights, not so much. We're going on Splendor which has the old menu. My 3rd time on Splendor with the same menu in the Steakhouse. We are going to go the 1st night but once is enough.

The old menu has 8 starters so as long as you are not a picky eater you can have something different each night. There are 4 salads so you'd have to duplicate here. There are 5 sides. And actually there are 10 entrees so long as you like steak of which there are 4 choices out of the 10. Desserts = 6 choices. I find the dining room menu much more varied and in general very good.

Have not been on a Princess cruise so I don't know how dressy their formal nights are but on Carnival I do not find them very dressy. Some men do wear a suit and others do dress up a bit. Women wear a dress or other nice outfit but very few wear really dressy clothing. The rest of my family likes Royal Caribbean best because more people do really dress up and my granddaughters just love putting on their best dresses. Sometimes even long gowns. But Carnival is far more casual.

On our Feb. 10th cruise there is one sea day before the first port. That sea day will be the formal/Elegant night. There are two sea days at the end of the cruise. The first of those two will also be elegant night. I have never been on a cruise where the last night before disembarkation is an formal night because a lot of people have already packed up.

Thank you for this! I am looking forward to tea time and the taste bar!

I read on another thread that the Taste Bar is no more. I hope that is not true and I'll be checking it out on our Feb. 10th cruise. Thank you for saying where tea time is listed. I might not have found it and I'm looking forward to trying it.

If the Carnival ship has a Steakhouse we are so there every night! There are many choices so you can have something different each evening....Nothing like true dining at the steakhouse, compared to the banquet fair food you get in the MDR.

You must be thinking of some other steakhouse. The one on Carnival Splendor at least, doesn't even have 7 appetizers, 7 salads/soups or 7 entrees. Assuming there would be a couple of things you don't like, you would be having the same meal over several times and paying an extra $36 for the privilege of repeating meals. However, if there were other specialty restaurants to choose from that would be a different story. That's what I loved about NCL. Lots of choice.

This is a cautionary tale from a friend just off a cruise.Two couples flew in to Fort Lauderdale the day before the cruise.Another couple decided to fly in the day of the cruise from Buffalo NY.The flight was cancelled due to a winter storm.

After much calling and anxiety a flight was located coming from Toronto ON. About 100 miles from Buffalo where the couple were stranded they had to drive in a blizzard to get to the Toronto airport .

The plane from Toronto was delayed two hours.They arrived in Fort Lauderdale and had to bribe the cab driver to break the speed limit and got to the ship with 5 minutes to spare,they were the last people to board.

The moral of the story"Do NOT fly in the day the cruise departs for ANY reason!":cool:

I was very lucky the one time I booked air for the day of the cruise.but I took that as my lesson. The airport we were flying out of was fine but a snow storm hit just south of NYC and all airports just south were closed. We were just SO lucky that NY was still open.

Another lesson those people learned was how expensive it is to fly out of Toronto. I bet they paid at least double for their flight.

My thoughts exactly! Why isn't their first priority post-vacation posting a review for us ;p ?

I agree. We're on the Feb. 10th cruise. Not much time for me to read up.

It’ll depend which dock you’re at. There was construction going on in November. At the North dock it looked like your only close-ish choice is the taxis at the pier. The gas station is about 1/4 mile (to the right, diagonally from Walmart). You will pass the busstop and cross the port street.

If you’re docked at the South port (has a permanent Flea Market and a round building) I’d say its about 1/8 mile. It’s on concrete and can be hot.

 

Once on the Malecon, there’ll be lots of places to sit. Taxi back is about $8-$10US.

This answer is quite different from the answer from the person who looked it up on google. I did not realize there were different docks so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what we think when we're there. Thanks.

Measured it on Google maps and its about 920 feet. 0.17 miles. Very short stroll. There are Taxi's right outside the embarkation area, but they are more expensive.

Thanks. We can certainly walk that.

Anyone have information on if the Splendor has the new breakfast menu?

Are you kidding! The Splendor never gets anything until every other ship has it.

Third time going on Splendor next week. Not my choice. Did not do the booking. I'm company for a friend. But there is nothing new on the Splendor that I can find that wasn't there several years ago when I first sailed on it. Seems like the 'forgotten' ship.

Get you some BBQ. It's aft-upper level. Most people won't find it until the end of the cruise, it's kinda hidden.

When you are in the Lido buffet area look for a staircase up to the next level. You'll find the BBQ spot up there (lunch only). There is an eleveator near the stairs as well. Since this area is not noticed by the masses there is nearly always a place to sit.

Empress and upper deck forward: There are doors port and starboard where you can go out to a deck which extends just along the front of the ship. These decks are usually empty. Great spot to watch from as the ship goes into a port. There are a few cabins along the front as well and these cruisers seem to be the only ones who realize the deck is there. As far as these cabins go they are considered interior cabins but do cost more because they actually do have quite large windows. My husband and I had one on Glory and they are really worth looking for when booking. Probably shouldn't be advertising them!

The only specialty restaurant on Splendor is the steakhouse. You can look at their menu on your booking. We go on the first night when they offer a free bottle of wine per table. They usually offer free wine the 2nd night as well but that is usually Elegant Night in the main dining room with lobster and prime rib.

Can't remember if you said this was your first Carnival cruise or just first Splendor cruise. Great comedy shows in the evening. Brunch on sea days. Serenity deck near the spa for adults only. Aft pool supposed to be adults only but not always enforced. Tandoori station aft on lido deck.