Advice on Splendor out of NYC. Excursions and Spa

[pseudochicken]

Hello all, I will try to make this quick:

 

Family is sailing out of NY on the Splendor in May. Itinerary is two days at sea, Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Nassau, then two days at sea.

 

1) I am looking for a good, activity intensive excursion one of the days in port.

 

2) Which ports are best for a "beach day"?

 

3) If I am interested in doing a Spa thing, which day should I do it and when should I book it for the best rates? And what kinda prices are we talking about?

 

Thank you in advance for any input you can provide. We are all very excited about sailing out of NYC! :D

[Crusin Karen]

Have been on this itin 5x. The only reason we are not doing the same one on the Splendor is because my GD'es 4th birthday is 5/4, so we "had" to pick the SJ, ST and GT itin! :eek: I would say GT and HMC are DEFINITELY AND MOST POSITIVELY beach days. GT just get off the ship, walk along the pier and either grab a beach chair or go to M'Ville. Or Jack's Shack down the beach. HMC, be still my heart...you can hang out on the beach, rent a cabana,whatever...there is a free bbq there courtesty of CCL. I absolutely LOVE both of these ports of call because I don't have to do one darn thing but RELAX! :D There are a lot of things to do in Nassau depending on your "mood" and "budget." We have done Atlantis, Blue Lagoon and recently just gotten off the ship for an hour to shop and buy some "liquid souveniers" to take back to the ship and made it a sea day. There is British Colonial Hilton within walking distance of the ship and Sheraton for a day pass...your best bet is to go on the ports of call board and find out what's the best for you. Have a great cruise!

[Crusin Karen]

Oh, just realized you will be getting ON the Splendor as we get OFF :cool: but again, different itineraries! Excited to have another ship here in NY!

[maryred]

Hello all, I will try to make this quick:

 

Family is sailing out of NY on the Splendor in May. Itinerary is two days at sea, Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Nassau, then two days at sea.

 

1) I am looking for a good, activity intensive excursion one of the days in port.

Nassau is your only bet for an excursion heavy day. With everything New Providence and Paradise Island have to offer you can go sun-up to sun-down just running from one excursion to the other. Even if you book exclusively with just the cruise line for tours it's possible to jam in 3-4 different types of things to do (as long as they are not the longer 6-8 hr tours).

Both of the other islands are quite small and have limited activities. There are some nice all day snorkel/dive trips you can book independently on Grand Turk. Half Moon Key is owned by the parent corporation of Carnival and they control all of the excursions that are there.

 

2) Which ports are best for a "beach day"?

Either Grand Turk or Half Moon Key, but since the diving is better on Grand Turk personally I would consider HMC the beach day/do nothing port.

 

3) If I am interested in doing a Spa thing, which day should I do it and when should I book it for the best rates? And what kinda prices are we talking about?

Port days tend to be when the Spa runs it's best specials. Still all in all even at their reduced rate their prices tend to be double what we pay locally and we live in a resort area ourselves. Figure in general a port day Spa special will run $99 to $149 for a 50 - 75 minute set of 3-6 mini therapies, which when compared to their full 50 - 75 minute single full therapy session at $145 to $269 seems like a bargain.

As for what day to book a session to get the best rate will vary based on how many people reserve services prior to sailing by booking the Spa under "Manage my cruise". Most times the specials will be decided upon by the Spa manager the day before, but you would need to check their specials desk fequently to be able to book both the best price and the best time. Once the special is announced in the FunTimes or on an in cabin flyer they tend to book up fast.

 

Thank you in advance for any input you can provide. We are all very excited about sailing out of NYC! :D

If you have not done so already have your booking number handy and go to Carnival's main website to create a user log on and start exploring the "Manage my cruise" tab. There is a wealth of excursions and on board venues you can purchase or reserve in advance of your departure day. Also read & re-read the FAQs and cruising 101 pages, and check out Carnival "community pages" for videos and their forum. Then check out places like John Heald's Blog for examples of the FunTimes daily activities sheets and Google things like Carnival's menu to get a preview of what is available.

[pseudochicken]

Thanks for your input guys. Does anyone know about the snorkeling at Grand Turk? How impressive are the snorkeling excursions out of Grand Turk? Are they worth the $$ and time on the small boat to get to the special reef?

 

And is the day pass at Atlantis really worth it? I'd almost prefer to find some off-the-beat-path excursion and avoid the touristy distractions, if that is possible while in Nassau (or Grand Turk), if that is even possible. If not, no biggie. :cool:

[maryred]

Thanks for your input guys. Does anyone know about the snorkeling at Grand Turk?

There's actually decent snorkeling by swimming 150-200 feet off of the beach

How impressive are the snorkeling excursions out of Grand Turk?

There further out you can get the more impressive the sights become. The area is currently not affected like other areas such as in the near by Bahamas from too many tourists touching the coral bare handed.

Are they worth the $$ and time on the small boat to get to the special reef?

Can't free dive that deep any more for medical reasons, try You Tube keying in keywords dive & wall to form you own opinion. I have yet to know of anyone that went out there complained unless the waters were cloudy that day from a storm.

 

And is the day pass at Atlantis really worth it?

My personal opinion, no the day pass it's not worth it. Basically you can come down to the Jersey Shore (Seaside & Wildwood) or go to Hurricane Harbor (NJ) or Great Wolf Lodge (PA) and do most of the same things (at least in the summer) for a lot less (one exception would be the tube slide that goes through the shark tank but I think Disney or Sea World does have some thing like it). The animal interactions are a different story but most of the time you can get something similar from near by Blue Lagoon Island for less. Also Atlantis sometimes does snorkel and dive programs in their aquarium (The Ruins) that can be quite interesting.

I'd almost prefer to find some off-the-beat-path excursion and avoid the touristy distractions, if that is possible while in Nassau (or Grand Turk), if that is even possible. If not, no biggie. :cool:

The Bahamas have a very good Board of Tourism site try that for some ideas but New Providence and Paradise Islands pretty much rely on tourism for an economy so little is left for that does not have touristy feel to it. If time permit see if you can sign up for the People to People program the Bohemian government will try to match you you with a cultural host that will give you a different perspective than the normal tourist attractions by taking you to the more residential areas.

Can't help you too much with Grand Turk's interior excursions but many people on our cruise raved about the ATV island tour and the horseback riding/swim at the beach. From what I saw of the interior the not much focus on tourist activities or attractions has been placed past the general area of the port. But if you think you you like to experience a more "local flavor" take a cab downtown and just wander, the beer there is pretty decent.

[pseudochicken]

The Bahamas have a very good Board of Tourism site try that for some ideas but New Providence and Paradise Islands pretty much rely on tourism for an economy so little is left for that does not have touristy feel to it. If time permit see if you can sign up for the People to People program the Bohemian government will try to match you you with a cultural host that will give you a different perspective than the normal tourist attractions by taking you to the more residential areas.

Can't help you too much with Grand Turk's interior excursions but many people on our cruise raved about the ATV island tour and the horseback riding/swim at the beach. From what I saw of the interior the not much focus on tourist activities or attractions has been placed past the general area of the port. But if you think you you like to experience a more "local flavor" take a cab downtown and just wander, the beer there is pretty decent.

 

Thanks a bunch!