Another Splendor - 01/10/10 Review

[BKozaki]

Thanks for the review and the pics of Victor's shrimp!

 

So you must have gone over to Stone Island in Mazatlan. Did you book the Carnival excursion or did you go on your own. If you went on your own, where do you book the water taxis to take you over there. We're planning on doing this, but I don't know where to book the taxi. ARe there reps inside the terminal in Mazatlan, or do you have to go out into and past the marketplace?

 

Thanks!

Hey Misty,

 

I booked mine through Mazatlan tours. Seemed a bunch of people said they were reputable. Also there is Randi's Horses. Both are a bunch cheaper than the ship. Carnival wanted $75. We got the same deal for around $35. So we added the ATV thing for another $20. Still cheaper than Carnival's. We leave in about 14 days. I will be sure to post a review one way or the other when we get back!

 

Brian

[Prairie_Gal]

Great review & pics. I'm really enjoying it!

[mandms40]

I love reading reviews, and this one is awesome. We will be on her next year and this is the first time out of California. Can someone tell me if we should fly into LAX or Long Beach? Which would be the least amount of stress? I hate traffic so Im thinking LGB.

 

Also, does anyone know if LGB has shuttles to the LGB Hilton? Just starting to do some planning now. Thanks in advance. Sandy

[mistyinca]

Hey Misty,

 

I booked mine through Mazatlan tours. Seemed a bunch of people said they were reputable. Also there is Randi's Horses. Both are a bunch cheaper than the ship. Carnival wanted $75. We got the same deal for around $35. So we added the ATV thing for another $20. Still cheaper than Carnival's. We leave in about 14 days. I will be sure to post a review one way or the other when we get back!

 

Brian

 

Thanks Brian,

I'm actually looking just to take the water taxi over. I hear talks of it being $2/pp. The excursion with the open bar is a waste for us since Dh and kids don't drink.

[cjtravel]

... As for Shuttle to LAX airport, as you leave the ship, walk over to where the drop/pick up are, there are a couple of guys standing there working for Super Shuttle, Primier Shuttle..they can arrange for your transfer to LAX.

 

Does anyone know if either of these two shuttles go to Long Beach Airport?

 

Great review btw. We will be on the Splendor at the end of May. :)

[Drew B]

When I travel I love to talk to people from other countries about their country's history, culture, lifestyles, and their views on world politics and what they think of the US. Americans sometimes have an over inflated opinion of ourselves and traveling overseas tends to bring oneself back down to earth. I am more of a global thinker by nature. :D

 

Randi is an American woman living the expatriate life in Mazatlan. I think that's why folks were put off about what they perceived to be anti-American comments. I suspect that the people I spoke to who were angry about her commentary, though, would not have minded in the LEAST if she had spoken ill of the previous administration...

[new2cru]

There are two sets of water taxis, one is to the left when you exit the port and one is to the right in the fish market. You have to go all the way out the gates to the main street before deciding to go left or right. The one to the left appears to be a shorter walk, the one to the right, we took Randi's taxi trucks too.

 

Randi prefers the ones in the fish market as they are more reliable and work all day long and night too.

 

If you search stone island water taxi on cruise critic, you should be able to find a few threads on it. I even remember a coupld of pictures from google earth that clearly outlined where each one was.

 

Jeff (posting from my wife Jayne's account)

[mistyinca]

There are two sets of water taxis, one is to the left when you exit the port and one is to the right in the fish market. You have to go all the way out the gates to the main street before deciding to go left or right. The one to the left appears to be a shorter walk, the one to the right, we took Randi's taxi trucks too.

 

Randi prefers the ones in the fish market as they are more reliable and work all day long and night too.

 

If you search stone island water taxi on cruise critic, you should be able to find a few threads on it. I even remember a coupld of pictures from google earth that clearly outlined where each one was.

 

Jeff (posting from my wife Jayne's account)

 

Thanks!

[tracyvansmith]

Can't wait to read the rest!:D

[EmmaJean]

Hi MyMoses, my wife and I are enjoying these pictures also, we notice you are on the Splendor on 1/31 also!! We too have a 2 year old daughter and a 4 year old boy. I am sure we will be running into each other in Camp Carnival.

 

Stay or go, thanks so much for the detailed pictures so far, looking forward to the rest of them!!

 

We'll be there with our 4 and 5 year old boys. :)

 

Have you planned any fun excursions? We planned a Mazatlan tour through Carnival. I was looking at pezgato.com. Maybe the whale watching would be fun like this great OP. + under 5 years old and they are free. Kids 5+ are half price.

 

I am excited, but not at all prepared to sail in a week. I want to get something planned for each port or we'll probably stay on the boat.

 

I love this review. So fun and exciting! The pictures are the best!

[kchobbs]

We'll be there with our 4 and 5 year old boys. :)

 

Have you planned any fun excursions? We planned a Mazatlan tour through Carnival. I was looking at pezgato.com. Maybe the whale watching would be fun like this great OP. + under 5 years old and they are free. Kids 5+ are half price.

 

I am excited, but not at all prepared to sail in a week. I want to get something planned for each port or we'll probably stay on the boat.

 

I love this review. So fun and exciting! The pictures are the best!

 

Hi Emma Jean, great to hear there will be other boys my son's age, we will probably see you first night at Camp Carnival registration.

We were thinking about maybe going to Dreams resort in PV for the day, not sure about Mazatlan before and in Cabo, probably go to Lands End, Lover's Beach, a bit of shopping and then over to Medano Beach. We were in Cabo in October and my wife had a real nice massage right on Medano Beach for $20. If you are interested, you and others on the Jan 31 trip can talk more about excursions on the Roll Call thread.

 

Yes, I am finding this review to be a great way to count down this last week. I do hope the rest of the review is done by Wednesday as we are flying out to Disneyland on Wed. for some pre-cruise fun!

 

Great job stay or go!!

[stay_or_go]

Friday January 15th : Cabo San Lucas

 

We awoke Friday morning to another beautiful day as we started the process to anchor in Cabo. As you can see, the weather on the cruise was absolutely beautiful and waking up to Cabo was no different.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Fine Splendor Sunrise with the Celebrity ship in the sun as a bonus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shot a little later on, but it fits in well here:

 

 

 

 

 

We anchored in Cabo at about 7:00 am and since it is a tender port, we were all up and ready to go early. We had breakfast and got into the Spectacular lounge for our tender stickers about 8:00am or so. We were on Tender 18 and were called to the tender within about 10 min or less.

 

 

As I sat in the tender and was leaving the ship I realized that we had two sea days down, two port days down and only 1 and 1 to go and realized that the next time I left the ship it would unfortunately be in her home port.

 

Sometime in every cruise you come to the realization that the current one will end and that they will kick you off the boat when the cruse ends (how rude), after all the research, all the planning, all the waiting and finally the cruise is here and over before you know it. That moment happened for me as we were leaving the ship on the tender. Oh well, I thought, have to start all over getting ready for the next one. :---)

 

 

We arrived in the port after about a 10-15 min tendor and set off to walk around a little bit. We had about an hour to kill before the Pez Gato Whale Watch would begin so we walked up and down the docks and toured some of the shops.

 

We went into the Market and bought a dress for Melanie and a couple of other trinkets then waited on the dock to board the boat.

[stay_or_go]

Friday January 15th : Cabo San Lucas (continued...)

 

The Pez Gato whale watch tour left the dock at 10:00 and returned us to the Port around 12:00.

 

We slowly left the port (lots of traffic in the Cabo port) and first made our way to Lover's Beach, the Arch and the Sea Lion colony.

 

They took a few pictures with their camera and with our own camera of passengers that were interested before heading out into the sea to search for whales.

 

We found two whales almost immediately and followed them and others for about 1 hour and a half before turning around and heading back to the port.

 

The whales were fabulous and the crew was very nice and friendly. Drinks were included in the tour and after being in the hot sun with no shade, they were certainly welcome even though technically it was before noon.

 

After the whale watch, we did some more shopping in port prior to boarding the tender back to the Splendor.

 

The family and the arch (kids were required to wear the PFDs) :

 

 

 

 

The Sea Lions:

 

 

 

The Whales :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melanie having a whale of a time (sorry, could not resist the pun)!

 

[stay_or_go]

Friday January 15th : Cabo San Lucas (continued...)

Sitting at the front of the boat is great, provided you don't mind getting completely soaked in the swells.

 

 

 

 

Following the soaking, shopping and the tender back to the ship, we binged our sign and sail cards for the second last time. The next time we used the binger, we would be leaving the cruise. :(

 

Once back on board, we ordered room service:

 

A shrimp sandwich for Jayne:

 

 

 

A BLT for me:

 

 

 

It was the only time we ordered room service all week and it was at the door in under 10 minutes. Both items were good, just like the rest of the food the whole week.

 

After room service, we wandered around the ship again and got ready for dinner which will be up next (more food porn).

 

 

Melanie won a coveted 24k gold ship on a stick earlier in the cruise for the best "twist" at one of the camp carnival dance events and we are proud to show it off here. I know you all want one, but don't bother offering any cash, she is not going to part with it!

 

 

 

[luv2cruise391]

Check out their web sites:

www.supershuttle.com and www.primettimeshuttle.com

Toll Free#s are on both pages.

 

I'm thinking we will reserve a private van through Prime Time as this looks to be the best buy and alternative for 6 of us.

 

I am assumming that if Carnival knows we have a12:30pm flight, they will get us off in one of the first groups, right????

 

Not crazy about doing the self assist debarkation, but may have to!

 

I, too, wondered about flying nto Long Beach and for me it was quite a bit higer to fly inot LGB. However, we are paying $39 to Super Shuttle for transfers from LAX to Hotel Maya in Long Beach. So check on your hotel choices and whether they have shuttles to /from airport in question and to the pier. Our hotel provides shuttle to the pier, but if it had not - we might have been just as well off to fly into Long Beach.

 

Thanks everyone for the info - please continue with your great review and pictures! Hoping you will finish it before we fly out Friday!

Debbie in MS

[stay_or_go]

Friday January 15th : Cabo San Lucas (continued...)

Okay, dinner time:

 

The focus is a little off on these for some reason, could be because I started drinking at about 11:00am on the Pez Gato:

 

 

Fruit Salad:

 

 

 

Escargots:

 

 

 

 

 

Kids Pasta:

 

 

 

 

Chateaubriand:

 

 

 

 

 

Some kind of Chocolate Cake:

 

 

 

Baked Alaska:

 

 

 

 

Following dinner, we went to check out the photographs from the previous evening and then went to the Vroom show.

 

The Vroom show was the best show all week where the dancers had the most energy and the singers actually got into the show. If you are not that into the shows, this is probably the one you don't want to miss.

 

We also attended Russ Nagels adult show in the El Morocco Lounge at 10:45. It was a great show, lots of laughs and very R rated. Two words of advice, if you don't like adult comedy, don't go but if you do, get their early. We got there at 10:00 and could barely get a seat!

 

Following the show, I hit the craps table and Jayne hit the pillows.

 

Next up the last day at sea!

[stay_or_go]

Saturday January 16th : At Sea

 

 

 

 

The last sea day finally arrived and we took it easy getting ready for breakfast and did the normal lido breakfast.

 

Jayne and Melanie went to the scrap booking party first thing in the morning and then to the towel folding demonstration after that and learned a few new animals. Melanie also went to the build a bear camp carnival time and came home with a new Moose called Ali named after Algonquin Park in Ontario where we spend non cruise vacations looking for moose.

 

I spent the morning quietly reading in various areas of the ship and also spent some time in the arcade with Jonathan.

 

After lunch on the Lido, Jayne and I gave Jonathan a lesson in Air Hockey in the arcade and met Melanie for Tea time at 3:00 in the Golden Pearl restaurant.

 

Tea time was alright, lots of different types of tea and lots of different things to eat. Tea time was at the very back of the dining room against the windows and let me tell you the vibration was pretty bad. I am not sure why everyone raves about aft cabins, because the ship was moving quite fast and the vibrations were loud and annoying.

 

After dinner we packed and wandered the ship a little more before Jayne hit the sack and I once again tried to extract millions out of the craps table.

 

 

Here are some photos from the final day at sea:

 

The dreaded craps table (good to me early in the cruise but not later)

 

 

 

The casino:

 

 

 

 

Jayne teaching Jonathan a lesson at the air hockey table:

 

 

 

 

 

More arcade action :

 

 

 

Tea time with Jayne, Melanie and Ali G.

 

[stay_or_go]

Saturday January 16th : At Sea (continued)

 

Beautiful day at sea!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last sunset!

 

[stay_or_go]

Saturday January 16th : At Sea (continued)

 

 

Dinner time on the last day of the cruise is always bitter sweet. It is the last time you will be pamperred and waited on hand and foot and the wait staff let you know that when they sing their "leaving on a fun ship" song.

 

Oh well...

 

 

Lobster Bisque:

 

 

 

Mango Soup:

 

 

 

Navy Bean Soup:

 

 

 

 

Price Rib:

 

 

 

 

Chicken in Mushroom Sauce Pasta:

 

 

 

Cappuccino Pie (the only thing I ordered two of all week it was that good):

 

[stay_or_go]

Saturday January 16th : At Sea (continued)

 

 

Cheese Plate:

 

 

 

 

Final Towel Creation:

 

 

 

Following dinner, we finished packing, hit the casino and then went to bed. We did not attend the legends show as three times on previous cruises was enough.

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed the trip with me so far, up next debarkation, final comments, singing in the rain and on the airplane.

[logbook]

So fun reading about your trip! We are going in 6 weeks - and are booked with Pez Gato for the morning whale watch. Did you guys get wet?! How many people fit on this boat you are on? I need a double dose of my sea sickness meds, don't I!?? :eek:

[kchobbs]

Jeff, I want to thank you for sharing your pictures with us, you have done a great job with this review and it has been more informative then any others I have seen thus far. Pictures do say a thousand words, however I think I gained about 5 lbs just looking at the "food porn".

What were your thoughts of the whale watching tour in Cabo? Was it worth it? We have two kids age 2 and 4, would it be safe taking them on board or would we be worrying about there every move. Do you know if they have life jackets for young kids?

Thanks again.

[stargate fan]

More More More :) We leave in April.. I'm more excited now than I was before... and that was pretty dang excited!

 

Please, please remember to write about your trip. We are sailing Spelndor in April 2011. I am now worried about the air temperatures on the ship and the water temperatures in the ports. We have sailed the Caribbean five times in the winter and have always had nice, hot weather.

[stay_or_go]

you guys get wet?! How many people fit on this boat you are on? I need a double dose of my sea sickness meds, don't I!??

 

 

Yes we got wet, but only because we were sitting on the bow of the boat and on the mesh part. Had we been sitting on the benches along the side of the boat (like everyone else), we would have been fine. We sat on the front knowing we would get wet!

 

The boat seats between 25-50 people I think and you may need to take the sea sickness meds if you are prone to motion sickness. It was not to bad, only a couple of bad swells exiting and entering the port. Once you were out in the open water, the excitement of seeing the whales took over watching the waves.

 

 

 

What were your thoughts of the whale watching tour in Cabo? Was it worth it? We have two kids age 2 and 4, would it be safe taking them on board or would we be worrying about there every move. Do you know if they have life jackets for young kids?

 

 

The crew made all the kids wear the life jackets so I am sure they had some small enough for the youngsters. The whale watching tour was good for us and our kids, but our kids are significantly older. If your kids like going to the zoo and watching the animals without running around all over the place, then they should do alright on the boat. If they are more interested in running all over, then maybe the boat is not such a good idea. It really depends on the kids and only you as parents know what they will be like.

 

It is a two hour tour and two hours is just about right in terms of time. Any shorter and you might not see too many whales, any more and you might be a little tired of it.

[stay_or_go]

Sunday January 17th : Debarkation

 

Early Sunday morning, I was having a nightmare that the cruise was over and they would be kicking me off the boat soon. i awoke with a start and realized that it was just a bad dream until I looked out my window and we were back at the home port. Yes, they would be kicking me off the boat today.

 

 

Here, there and back again:

 

 

 

 

It is so unfair, they treat you so nice, they pamper you, they stuff you with food and drink, they make your bed, clean you room, entertain you and then in the end send you packing.

 

We dressed pretty quickly so that we could eat before we got off the boat, but unfortunately we ran out of time.

 

They called self-assist deck 9,10,11 at 7:30 earlier than scheduled.

 

They called self-assist deck 2 at 7:45 just when we were leaving the cabin to make it to the lido to grab some breakfast.

 

They called self-assist deck 8 at 8:00, just as we were starting to get food.

 

So we stuffed some cereal in our pockets and grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back to the cabin to grab our stuff.

 

We took the stairs so that we would not bog down the elevators and said goodbye to cabin 8248.

 

We then waited for the elevators and must have spent 20 minutes waiting for an elevator to take us from deck 8 to deck 3.

 

When we finally made it to deck 3, we got in line to leave the ship and sat in the same spot for another 20 min. The escalator had broken in the terminal and we had to wait for the backlog to clear.

 

Eventually we made it into the terminal, took the shorter line for customs as none of us are US citizens and then took the elevator downstairs, walked to the parking lot and met the shuttle.

 

We were on board the shuttle and moving at about 9:10:

 

 

 

 

The embarkation process could be a lot better organized if carnival would do the following:

 

1) Leave the rear ship elevators open for people going up and down from the lido and those not disembarking early.

 

2) Leave the mid ship elevators for people getting off the ship only. These elevators only work the floors disembarking only.

 

3) Leave the bow ship elevators for people getting off the ship only. These elevators only work the floors disembarking only.

 

 

There seems to be people who just don't understand the need for elevators for people leaving the ship. We had some people on deck 8 who needed to get to deck 9 and were younger than me. Hello, ever heard of an invention called stairs??????????????

 

I think with a little more though, the process could be made much more organized and much more pleasant for all those leaving the ship.

 

Had we not done self assist, we would have been Zone 34 and when we did make it off the ship, the luggage porters had only brought out bags from zone 1 to zone 8. We would have been waiting a long time.

 

The Prime Time Shuttle again was nice and quick and had us at the airport within a half hour or so. The driver dropped us off at AVIS so we could pick up another rental car for the next two days.

 

We headed up to Universal Studios and stayed at the Hilton Universal on Sunday night. They allowed us to check in early when we got there which was good. The hotel was well maintained and the continental breakfast we had Monday morning was great. A danish, a muffin, a croissant, a scone and a whole bowl of fruit.

 

We spent Sunday at Universal Studios avoiding rain showers but ended up being quite soaked:

 

 

 

We ate dinner at Bubba Gumps in the Universal City Walk and then called it an early night back at the hotel.

 

Monday morning, we packed our bags, had the great breakfast and packed up the car, left it in the hotel parking lot and went back to universal. It poured the entire day until about 3:00 when the sun came out, just in time for the delayed 3:00 pm showing of waterworld.

 

Jayne and Melanie singing and dancing in the rain:

 

 

 

 

Waterworld 3:00 Performance (notice the sunshine?)

 

 

 

Another Waterworld shot:

 

 

 

 

Following the show, we left Universal and drove to Disneyland for some dinner and some shopping prior to going to LAX for one more night in LA.

 

We stayed at the Airport Hilton Monday night and caught the Air Canada flight to Toronto the next morning.