Splendor 4/15 to 4/22 review as best I can

[FightOnRon]

PS: Our zip tour was in El Nogalito. We zipped and had lunch there. they also had a tequila tasting deal and I bought some homemade for the friends that watch my doggy. Really top drawer operation,,for a city that would fit well on my block at home and have leftover room.

 

There was a family of 3 with us from the ship , the dad and mom our ages,,,actually with him we were 63,62,61,60 and 59. The oldest ones zipping,,the youngest was 6. When we were done thier 19 year old daughter wanted to do anything but go back to the ship. She was bored to tears there because she fell into that forgotten group and to make it worse,,she hated their cabin because they were in an inside,,she claimed for her it was like a cell. She was a very conservative young lady and they were from a desert city so she wasn't used to a lot that she saw. So she asked if she could go with us and our private driver. We took her because her parents said it was okay. I notcied that evening ont he program there was a meet and greet for 19-20 year olds but we couldn't find her to tell her about it. As I said, I noticed a lot of the appropriate age group in theri little,,what is it Club 02 (?),,but it wasn't overly crowded in there,,nor was the arcade. I personlly would have done the arcade as I grew up palying video games and still do,,,but I didn't want to spend the money.

[Osbert Kootie]

Thank you for your wonderful review. I am really enjoying reading about your cruise.

 

Our family will be on Splendor this fall and I have been seriously contemplating the Los Veranos zip line tour. I have read nothing but good reviews about it. I'm hoping you can answer a couple of questions for me.

 

How did you get to the start of the tour? Did you take a taxi to the LV office or catch a shuttle? What was the cost for this?

 

What time did you book your tour for? Would you say that was about right or would you go earlier or later? How long did it take from start to finish?

 

I'm so confused about ship time versus local time. What is the deal with that?

[cathyz]

cathyz, thanks for those menus. We have never eaten breakfast or lunch in the MDR. We like the buffets and I love to people watch at the pools/on Lido! :rolleyes: I'd much rather wait on line than wait for a waiter to bring me food. :cool: I was looking at the 'everyday menu" which is a new feature since we sailed last May. I have heard a lot of talk about the bacon mac and cheese side. We are 13 months away from our cruise, but I am already excited about it! :D:pI didn't see it on the menu...OP or anyone else, is this offered every night? I also thought I read about alligator fingers??? :confused::confused: TIA

The Bacon Mac n' Cheese is an entree, not a side and has typically been on the last night, but that can change I guess. It's the 'comfort food' for the day it's on. I've had it a couple times and liked it, so have fun with that and your cruise!

[FightOnRon]

Thank you for your wonderful review. I am really enjoying reading about your cruise.

 

Our family will be on Splendor this fall and I have been seriously contemplating the Los Veranos zip line tour. I have read nothing but good reviews about it. I'm hoping you can answer a couple of questions for me.

 

How did you get to the start of the tour? Did you take a taxi to the LV office or catch a shuttle? What was the cost for this?

 

What time did you book your tour for? Would you say that was about right or would you go earlier or later? How long did it take from start to finish?

 

I'm so confused about ship time versus local time. What is the deal with that?

 

Ship time is one hour behind port time. When we port in Cabo we are one hour behind. When you go to PV we change our clocks forward but still are one hour behind when we port. I actually believe the ship is trying to match some type of GMT.

 

Because we ported at 9 ship time (in PV) it is in reality 10 thier time. I booked the excursion for 1030. The office is about a 10 minute walk off the ship. I booked through an independent broker and I think it is against the rules to mention them here (but you could PM me). When I go the e-ticket from them it had a map on there where to walk to. It was a 2 for 1 so it cost 60 bucks for a couple. We couldn't go earlier. I arranged for the private driver to meet us at 330 pm so we couldn't go later because of our driver and it takes about 4 hours total. It is about a 30 minute drive to Los Veranos,,and a rough ride at that.

 

You actually only zip for like an hour and 15 minutes or so but you have to be taught how to do it. There is one pretty steep climb you have to make and everyone was winded pretty good. You get two really short practice runs but soon you will be going 350 meters or more and you get up to 50mph. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

Afterwards they funnel you into a tequila tasting but you can bail out if you want. You can swim in their river or eat at the restaurant. We ate there and I just had a beef quesedilla appetizer and it was a full meal. It was not a cheap meal,,but it was very good.

 

the key to leaving is to check with someone about when you can catch a ride back to where you stared. Coming up we were in the back of an openair truck with a bunch of people that were picked up from hotels. going back we were in a van with just our ship friends and we went back tot he office. You tell them you are form the ship adn they get you in the right ride.

 

The staff there were jsut outstanding and very funny. the women all fell in love and my DW kept saying,,if I was just 30 years younger.............hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[FightOnRon]

The Bacon Mac n' Cheese is an entree, not a side and has typically been on the last night, but that can change I guess. It's the 'comfort food' for the day it's on. I've had it a couple times and liked it, so have fun with that and your cruise!

 

The bacon mac and cheese was offered on night for sure as an entree but you could put a gun to my head and I still couldn't tell you what night,,but it was one of the last ones. I did have the regular white mac and cheese one day at he rotiserrie and it was tasty.

[Osbert Kootie]

I don't think that PM is enabled for CC. Could you please send me the info for the zip line company information. My email is osbert.k@gmail.com.

[FightOnRon]

I don't think that PM is enabled for CC. Could you please send me the info for the zip line company information. My email is osbert.k@gmail.com.

 

 

Done. By the way,,the description of the brochure says the ziplines are 250 meters long. There are two that are actually close to or over 350 meters. Also they are a lot higher on a couple of them too.

[FightOnRon]

I wanted to mention another reaosn why we didn't MDR on sea days. We wanted to eat dinner in the MDR and we were getting really filled up. We would eat breakfast and barely lunch so we could have dinner. A plan that will fail tomorrow.

 

 

This is the day (PV) that the regular singers and dancers are off and the only show is a Mexican Folklorico show that is actually a troupe from PV. Their one show was when we were eating (we live in Los Angeles,,we can see these types of things all the time) so we did not make it. I thought,,man when this is over the MDR is going to get slammed,,and they were. The line went forever for the anytime dining.

 

I did cover this was my night of steaks but I am pretty sure this was the one night ont he didja menu they had oysters rockefeller (or whatever it is called). My buddy wanted to try them. he said they are like 35 buks on a menu at a nice restuarant and he would never pay that (honestly,,he would argue with you if something was free). Since he had no basis to compare this with all he knew was it was one of the best things he had ever tasted and Alejandro brought him 2 more servings and he ate them all. YOu know for the mostpart,,this is not 5 star dining but it is pretty good eating. I have not one complaint about the MDR food (expect the pork steak which that said I could have asked for something else but they were so busy I didn't want to mess with it).

[FightOnRon]

Comment on activities.

 

To this point we had seen and participated in two trivias and the Battle of the Sexes game. We also attended one I forget the name of it but it was like the Newly Wed game with 3 couples on stage answering questions. this one on stage was hosted by the cruise director Todd. Todd must at one time have been a standup comic but if not,,he missed his true calling. THis was one of the funniest shows I have ever seen with audience participation.

 

We also did the cha cha dance class and I will tell you,,I can't dance a lick. I was fortunate that my DW had a couple of margarits in her so she gave up before me.

 

This night in PV they had a show in the rear bar,,,the El Morrocco,,,called superstar live. It was karioke with part of the showroom band. It was really funny to watch some people fluonder and we stayed for both shows. Some people were legends in their own minds and they are the ones that will really tickle your funny bone. Some act so nonchalant and are actually talented. I noticed there is a certain type of person that wants to be seen and thinks they are a star and you see them do the same activities all the time,,thier 15 minutes of fame. which is fine,,because some of them can give us a real chuckle. this phenominun is not on on CCL ships,,the same people live on theHAL boats too.

 

I will say the showroom band,,The Splendor Orchastra,,is very good. In my youth I was a musician and I can appreciate when a band sound good,,and these guys were good (especially the electric guitar player). when they used the full band,,as they did for Beat and they will for Vroom,they really filled the room. The stripped down version (no horn section) was good too for the Superstar activity. the two lead singers were not bad but they really hammed it up doing thier thing. I suspect it has more to do with the director then the performers because their facial expressions and mannerisms were the same,,so that had to be a directors call.

 

Also regarding the shows. We went to two main ones,,the Beat and Vroom (which was yet to come in my review timeline) and again my DW loved this compared to anything she has ever seen in HAL. These kids really work hardand the costume changes and energy these people put out are amazing.

 

I think the Bingo on CCL is bogus,,but it is what it is.

 

ONe our last day in PV we styed up really late for us,,why not,,we didn't have to drive the boat and we coudl sleep in the next day.

 

BTW,,we sleep with earplugs so if kids wee running amok,,who knew. I only heard noise from one cabin ever and only once,,unfortunatly is was my friends when they had a spat on night 2.

[waASPCrusier]

Done. By the way,,the description of the brochure says the ziplines are 250 meters long. There are two that are actually close to or over 350 meters. Also they are a lot higher on a couple of them too.

 

Great review :) Could I also get the info. Last time we used a company just south of downtown and would like to try a different one.

 

aspdotnet @ comcast . net - no spaces

 

Thanks :)

[FightOnRon]

Day 6,,,fun day at sea. Still ate in MDR for breakfast. I just changed up what I ate eveyday. One thing I will say though,,if you like egss this is where to go. Instead of waiting in those lines,,you can order what you want (any style egg) and get it cooked hot. A couple of times I had omlettes but if they were made from powedered egss,,I sure couldn't tell.

 

Nothing every appealing on the docket until the afternoon for me. I would spend a lot of time walking to the back of the boat to check the internet. Partially for an update on my DW's lost ring,,which we assume now is totally gone. Did go up on the track for the 3rd time this trip and do some speed walking. Also more private balcony time to read (deck 3 of course) and watch the ocean. Also walked around checking out the crowds. I really liked living on deck two as during the day most of the stuff I wanted to see/do were in the showroom or in the Lobby and I was right there. Also, it was very quiet. they had a lady almost every afternoon/evening sitting with a guy at the piano singing inthe lobby and they wre loud,,I was amazed how fast the sound dissapated when going downstairs.

 

This was an absolute beautiful day. The chairs by the pool were mostly gone as were the nearby chairs if that is what you wanted,but on that 10 deck there were a lot of available chairs in the sun. One day,,I think the first sea day,,it looked like someone was playing the old favorite "How Many Kids can you Stuff in a Hottub" game. It was funny seeing a hot tub stuffed with kids. This day wasn't as bad.

 

Again another group of 20 somethings were being read the riot act by security.

 

to be cont

[mcarney]

I don't think that PM is enabled for CC. Could you please send me the info for the zip line company information. My email is osbert.k@gmail.com.

 

Hi Ron...

 

can you email me the name/address/email of the zip line company and the independent broker/company for the tour @ mcarney@sc.rr.com

 

Thank you :)

[FightOnRon]

this morning,,around 10,,we all of a sudden swerve and start heading towards land. I think a lot of people freaked out so the announcment had to be made that we were heading to Cabo as we had a medical evacuation to do. So from deck 3 I watched them unload a lady onto a tender. Who knows what was wrong,,but she was not old and judging by the guy with her,,maybe mid 30s. So we lost some time and the Capt had to step on it a bit. We kind of rocked a bit today but I think the faster you go the less you rock so it could have been worse. My friends goa bit seaskick.

 

Again we had lunch at the Deli and the pizza or the burgers because my group sort of all got hungry at different times. this morning on the PA systempeople were given a weather report saying it was going to be great today,,not so much tomorrow,,so sun when you can. I think that contributed to people not jamming up the lines for food. People must have been staggering thier feeding times so it was not problem.

 

This afternoon was the past guest party. They band was playing,,the liquor was flowing as were the h'ordeuvres. Some officers wre there and also Funship freddy. After a bit you could tell the commercials were going to come so we popped out.

 

So tonight was elegant night number two. thanks to our happy 45 minutes (not a Happy HOur!),,and the fact we overate lunch,,,no one in my group wanted to dress up for dinner and the menu wasn't too appealing. We opted for room service sandwiches. My two friends are sandwich nuts anyhow,,so we all ordered 2 of everything. Room service has a limit of 6 sandwiches per order but since we had connecting staterooms it wasn't a problem. And don't you know,,they were really pretty dang good. We even got one we didn't order. We also got some deserts and the chocolate cake was very good. When I placed the order I asked about how long,,they said 30 min,,,it was there in 30 min.

 

Later we went to see VROOM. Lots of music we grew up with,,some that drove us nuts when we were growning up. But we all left smiling. IMHO I really like that theatre and it is like stepping into another world,,a world where you lose the pink color everywhere else. I think the sight lines on the second deck sort of suck unless you get the front row,,those bars used to keep people from tumbling down onto each othere really are in your sightline unless you slump (or are short). But like everything you do in Carnival,,get there 30 min early to pick your seat.

 

I neglected to mention we did play a bit ont he slots,,very little. Maybe we lost 100 buck total. Our ding dong friend though,,,,,wow is all I can say. My question to anyone is,,how much do you ahve to gamble to get over 1500 points for free drinking? she got there in 4 days.

 

So we called it a day, not knowing tomorrow would be armageddon on this ship

[cvpends]

 

So we called it a day, not knowing tomorrow would be armageddon on this ship

 

NOOOooooooooooooooo!!! You can't leave us hanging like this!!! :eek:

[salmon54]

NOOOooooooooooooooo!!! You can't leave us hanging like this!!! :eek:

I want to read more!!! We enjoyed Splendor the week before 4/8 -4/15 our waiter in MDR was Steven. Wonderful

[Osbert Kootie]

Armageddon! What??? I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight waiting for more... This review is more suspenseful than the book I'm reading!

[crazycath]

Can you look in the fun times or do you know what day the Chef's table is?

 

Thanks!

 

Cathy

[FightOnRon]

Can you look in the fun times or do you know what day the Chef's table is?

 

Thanks!

 

Cathy

 

NOt really and the reason is,,you know how that side part you can tear off and carry with you,,the part with the schedul? I tore all those off. The first sea day,,SUN,,there is a mention of it (the day I didn't tear that part off) to sign up but no hint on what day (unless it was that day). I will read more carefull and get back to you

[glrounds]

We are on her this coming Sunday :D

 

same here . . . . :D

 

[reerun25]

Enjoying the review so far, great job!!

[FightOnRon]

Before I get to the last sea day I want to preface this with my own opinion.

 

When you fisrt get onboard, people, not matter who,are very polite. They hold doors open for you, they let you board the elevators first (if you're older). Everyone has a smile and everyone gets along. As the cruise progresses and people become more comfortable in thier zones and a little less comfortable with big masses of people the politness factors start to diminish. The elevators open and no one will let the people getting off get off,,rather they charge ahead to board. Two people are going for the same thing,,a machine, a door ,a toilet, a piece of cake,,,,whatever,,and the "oh no, you go first" attitiude seems to wane and the " it's me before you" starts to take place. This of course is not Carnival,,this is human nature I suppose. So now that we are getting to our last day on the Funship,,,,,it is becoming glaringly noticable.

 

Day 7 coming up

[FightOnRon]

LAst day at sea started normally enough. Rooms service had coffee for me on time. I looked out of my window and noticed no sun but rather grey cold and hazy,,I recalled they told us the weather may be bad today but I thought it will burn off.

 

When to MDR breakfast,,spot on again as usual. There were nothing of interest to me on the schedule until this afternnon so it was to be a day of reading and wandering until later.

 

After breakfast settled in,,by friend and myself decided we would do a few laps around the track. We head up there and we are alone except for muscle beach man and his muscle beach lady. And for good reason. It was windy as all get out,,and freaking cold. I was glad I had on sweats as it was freezing. Did our laps ,,this is about 1030,,head down to check out the pool and they finnaly arrived. The chair hogs. NOw I must say everyday I would turn on the TV to look at the Lido via TV cameras and never did see,,by 7am,,chairs being hogged. Well today was different.

 

With the weather knowingly going to be bad,,people were fighting for the coveted chairs around the pool,,followed by any other chair there could be that was under the dome. And all the tables on the first level. Yeah,,you could go up to deck 10 and get any chair anywhere,,and get blown off the deck by the wind. Even my private balcony deck was worthless.

 

Side Note : MAny time when we wnet up to the track there were hoops games going. Almost always the same people in pick up games. One night we went up there to check it out in the dark and there is this one young lady about 6 foot 4 (that was in every pick up game we saw) up there shooting. Well not today. If not for the net,,the ball would have flown away.

 

So the beginning of Armegedon was set. Bad weather, no where to go, weak program of activities,CHOGS already at full strength,,and kids that were getting cabin fever after one day at sea. It would happen at approimately 1130 am,,when the food lines opened.

[CruzerDeb]

Please hurry and tell us what happened!!! :eek:

[FightOnRon]

Please hurry and tell us what happened!!! :eek:

 

The end of the civilized world as we know must have been happening because 3000 people desended upon every bartender and eating station on the ship at the same time. It was pandamonium as people charged around the ship trying to eat every last bit of food that was left in case there was no more dining times this day or anyother day in the history of mankind.

 

Trying to find food was the hardest hting to do,,unless you wanted to wait in lines that streched as far as the eyes could see. Children are running amok all over the Lido and above the Lido,,ice cream is flying everywhere. you have to watch where you step because the ground has been covered with spilled drinks and ice cream. there is no where to sit,,no where to graze. Even though it seemed that every passenger was eating at once,,they were also all in line at the same time pushing the hired help to the brink of insanity.

 

Severs can't clear tables, bartenders can't sever drinks,,cooks can't get food out fast enough,,only the stong will survive this next 3 hours next the Splendor. Free drinks were running out in all the machines,food can't come out of the back fast enough, now even the places that had short lines on all previous days had lines going for ever. It got to the point where you get in a line to see where you end up.

 

And all the while children are running wild,,all of them (you know who was hiding,,the 20 somethings,,they were out of site,,or maybe in the brig).

 

I thought I would go to the rotissirre,,I was told by CC no one goes there. Well it has to absorb the overflow and it is packed up there but at least they kept running out of chicken. People waited so long when a couple of chickens were cut up,,the first 2-3 in line took it all. then you had to wait again. this is where I met my first ever line blocker. He wanted salad and it you even thought about going around him before the salad was brought he was going to eat your toes off.

 

My friend decided,,desert,,this could be easy. The lady behind him,,when it was his turn, screamed at the server to serve her first. she wanted slice of EVERYTHING they had and didn't want to wait. She was loud, obnoxious and the server caved and ignored my friend (squeaky wheels get the grease). then he asked for the one thing he wanted the first server had and the lady couldn't wait for him to get his one slice and jumpe in front of him and demanded a slice of EVERYTHING ELSE that wasn't on her 2 plates.

 

I saw people with 3 or 4 plates of food per person on their trays. I watched a lady take a bite of something, if she didn't like it, she put it directly on a table instead of back on her plate.

 

My friend hit a kids ice cream cone that was in the middle of the floor and almost went down with his one slice of cake.

 

We walk away an another lady walks right in front of me and with her face not a foot from mine,,belches right into my face. Obviously she had a burrito and perhaps some cat poo for lunch.

 

At this point we call a retreat and decided deck 3 may be safe,,there is nothing to eat down there so we leave. As we leave I see one of those spa ladies. the spa ladies were stationed on deck 9 and deck 5 trying to sell things. I look at her and say it's insanity out there,,she goes that she hasn't seen kids going this nuts since,,well,,last cruise.

 

Now even this day can't dissuade my opinion. I was still thinking 4 out of 5 because everything was above what I expected. But that will soon change too and now I am not sure what to rate this cruise. I don't want one little thing ruin my review,,it didn't ruin my cruise,,but it was way not right

 

I'll be back

[FightOnRon]

BTW,,the rotisierre chicken is very very tasty,,i really enjoyed it. Or maybe waiting 30 minutes for it made it taste better.