Carnival Splendor Cruise Review with Photos!

[YankeeFan4Ever]

not to take away from your Splendor review but what were your thoughts about the Norwegian Gem. Reason I'm asking is that when we sailed on the Celebrity Summit 2 years ago we were docked next to the Gem in Bermuda and I asked quite a few people how they liked the Gem and the majority of those I asked said they'd wished they had been on the Summit...

 

We've cruised twice on the Gem out of New York and LOVED her both times. In fact, we have another 9 day cruise on the Gem booked for next Spring. :)

 

Please feel free to check out my Hurricane Sandy Gem review with pictures at the following link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1784338

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great review and photos.Where are you from in Canada and did you fly or drive to NYC,

 

Thank you! We are from the Ottawa area and always cruise out of New York. I don't like to fly, so we drive down to my dad's place in Edgewater New Jersey, right across the Hudson from Manhattan. The drive takes about 8.5 hours with a few stops along the way.

[Avril]

Hey YankeeFan4Ever!! Thanks so much for your review, I really enjoyed it. I'm sailing with a group of friends on the Splendor (same itinerary as you) in October 2014 so it's great to read about the ship and see pics of it!! :D What did you think of Grand Turk? I'd especially like to know about the port area (right beside where the ship docks). That's the only port on the itinerary I haven't been to yet, can't wait!! :D

 

By the way, I'm from Canada as well (Burlington, Ontario). Were are you from?

[eggroll]

What camera are you using?

[inlinesick]

love the review, nice its from a fellow Canadian!

[twinzzz]

Thank you! We are from the Ottawa area and always cruise out of New York. I don't like to fly, so we drive down to my dad's place in Edgewater New Jersey, right across the Hudson from Manhattan. The drive takes about 8.5 hours with a few stops along the way.

 

 

We're sailing on Splendor in March 2014 and are driving down too. However, we are stopping in Albany, NY and taking Amtrak in to NYC- combining 2 of DS passions in 1 vacation!

 

Thank you for the great review and pics- still 9 months away but get more excited with every review i read!

[Froufie]

Great review - but wondering why exactly it is you had to switch rooms? Just to get some OBC?

 

Also from Ottawa :)

[clairentommy]

Great review - but wondering why exactly it is you had to switch rooms? Just to get some OBC?

 

Also from Ottawa :)

 

 

his post explained that their inside cabin they were given just before their cruise was below the pool/lido deck and they couldn't sleep. if you mean before the cruise then they took advantage of a price drop.....obviously not knowing how bad the new room would be.

[lovelearnteach]

Thank-you for the review with pix :)! A friend of ours is trying to talk us into sailing on the Splendor in Dec. This has really helped a great deal in helping me to decide :).

[lifeisgoodPat]

Hey YankeeFan4Ever!! Thanks so much for your review, I really enjoyed it. I'm sailing with a group of friends on the Splendor (same itinerary as you) in October 2014 so it's great to read about the ship and see pics of it!! :D What did you think of Grand Turk? I'd especially like to know about the port area (right beside where the ship docks). That's the only port on the itinerary I haven't been to yet, can't wait!! :D

 

By the way, I'm from Canada as well (Burlington, Ontario). Were are you from?

 

I'm sailing on the Splendor on Sept 27th of next year (2014) and we will be on ship till October 4th, going to Canada and New England. What day in October will you be going south instead of north.

[Crusin Karen]

My bff lives on Golden Ave in Ottawa if that rings a bell. She owns a very successful real estate company with her DH. We summered together at my grandma's camp on Long Lake in tiny Buckingham, Quebec.

[Froufie]

his post explained that their inside cabin they were given just before their cruise was below the pool/lido deck and they couldn't sleep. if you mean before the cruise then they took advantage of a price drop.....obviously not knowing how bad the new room would be.

 

ya that's what I was wondering - hope it was a good price drop! But if they were booked early saver - they should have gotten the price drop without having to switch cabins??? Why couldn't they keep their original cabin? (I know with ES you can't downgrade either...??)

 

Originally I had booked an inside cabin on deck 7 but two weeks before our sailing the prices for this cruise dropped dramatically and since we were booked as Early Saver, we did get the difference in OBC...the only catch was we had to switch to a cabin on deck 8, right under the pool area.

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Hey YankeeFan4Ever!! Thanks so much for your review, I really enjoyed it. I'm sailing with a group of friends on the Splendor (same itinerary as you) in October 2014 so it's great to read about the ship and see pics of it!! :D What did you think of Grand Turk? I'd especially like to know about the port area (right beside where the ship docks). That's the only port on the itinerary I haven't been to yet, can't wait!! :D

 

By the way, I'm from Canada as well (Burlington, Ontario). Were are you from?

 

We're from the Ottawa area! :)

 

Grand Turk is great if you're a beach person! They have a nice shopping area and beautiful beach right by the pier!

[YankeeFan4Ever]

What camera are you using?

 

The Nikon Coolpix 9100.

[YankeeFan4Ever]

love the review, nice its from a fellow Canadian!

 

Glad you enjoyed it!

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Report Card

 

Embarkation: B

We arrived at the pier around noon and onboard by 1:00. Not too shabby.

 

First Cabin 8318: F

The noise under the lido deck was bad. We could hear chairs scrapping as early as 6:00 AM and as late as 2:00 AM. Luckily we were able to switch to a quieter cabin on deck 7.

 

Second Cabin 7441: B+

Although small, it was clean and comfortable.

 

Ship: B

The decor is a little wacky but that’s part of the Carnival “Funship” experience, am I right? Overall the Splendor boasts good facilities and a terrific crew. Although we still prefer the layout of a Spirit class ship, we did enjoy the Splendor!

 

Crew: A+

Terrific. The crew aboard the Splendor was always helpful and smiling.

 

Food: B

 

Breakfast: We typically ate a light breakfast in the buffet and found the variety of items offered were good.

 

Lunch: For lunch we’d usually grab a salad and/or sandwich combo from the buffet or some Indian food from the Tandoor. It was always great!

 

Dinner: Since my wife has a special dietary requirement (no gluten or dairy) we decided to have dinner every night at the Black Pearl restaurant and the food quality/variety was good. They even assigned a special waiter named Aristina to make sure her dietary needs were met and she took excellent care of us each night. At the end of the trip I gave her some extra $$$ for her great service.

 

Drinks: A

Bar service was very good and the variety of drinks offered was excellent. Also, my wife thought their strawberry daiquiris were way better than Norwegian’s. As for myself, I’m a happy camper as long as I can have a cold Guinness in a glass and a nice selection of decent tequilas! Our morning coffees at the Coffee shop were also great!

 

Entertainment: C-

This is where the Carnival Splendor lacks in my humble opinion. The comedy shows were great and we really enjoyed them but for us, it was all downhill from there. We tried watching VROOOM and left about 5 minutes into the show. It was that bad. Also, Carnival doesn’t seem to have as much live music as Norwegian does. We could definitely see the cutbacks in this department.

 

Ports: B+

 

Grand Turk: Always a nice relaxing beach day for us!

 

Half Moon Cay: What can I say? Paradise!

 

Nassau: Stayed on the ship for most of the day then walked around downtown for a bit.

 

Disembarkation A+

No problems here, Carnival has their debarkation process down to a science.

 

 

Well folks, that’s it for us.

 

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read about our Carnival Splendor review. Also, thanks to everyone who posted comments, my wife and I truly appreciate the kind words.

 

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions that you may think of. I’ll do my best to answer them.

 

Up next for us is a 7 day cruise to Bermuda in the fall aboard the brand new Norwegian Breakaway, followed next spring by a 9 day Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Gem and then another adventure on the Carnival Splendor in 2014. (This time we booked a premium balcony cabin) What can I say; we are 100% cruise addicts!

 

Until then, safe travels everyone! :)

 

[YankeeFan4Ever]

We're sailing on Splendor in March 2014 and are driving down too. However, we are stopping in Albany, NY and taking Amtrak in to NYC- combining 2 of DS passions in 1 vacation!

 

Thank you for the great review and pics- still 9 months away but get more excited with every review i read!

 

Sounds like a great trip! Enjoy your upcoming vacation! :)

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great review - but wondering why exactly it is you had to switch rooms? Just to get some OBC?

 

Also from Ottawa :)

 

Our TA explained to us that since the price drop was only available for a certain category of interior cabins, (4G I believe ) and we were booked in a 4F, he would have to upgrade us to the higher category on deck 8 in order for us to get the OBC. I tried staying in my original deck 7 cabin since I figured noise would be an issue, however it wasn't possible to do so without losing the OBC.

 

The OBC from that price drop was $155 per person. That combined with some promotional OBC offered at the time of booking, plus a Future Cruise Certificate brought down our price to approx $350 per person!!! (including port fees and taxes) :D

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Thank-you for the review with pix :)! A friend of ours is trying to talk us into sailing on the Splendor in Dec. This has really helped a great deal in helping me to decide :).

 

You're very welcome! If you do end up sailing on the Splendor, have a great cruise!

[Cupcrazy]

Great review & pictures! Thanks for posting. A few years ago on the Glory I had a cabin under the Lido deck and it was pretty noisy with chairs moving around on the deck above. I feel your pain.

 

A Yankees fan from Ottawa??? How does this happen?

Edited June 7, 2013 by Cupcrazy

[YankeeFan4Ever]

My bff lives on Golden Ave in Ottawa if that rings a bell. She owns a very successful real estate company with her DH. We summered together at my grandma's camp on Long Lake in tiny Buckingham, Quebec.

 

What a small world...I grew up a couple of blocks west of Golden Ave, in those brown townhouses by the river on Richmond Rd, just North of Wavell Ave!!!

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great review & pictures! Thanks for posting. A few years ago on the Glory I had a cabin under the Lido deck and it was pretty noisy with chairs moving around on the deck above. I feel your pain.

 

A Yankees fan from Ottawa??? How does this happen?

 

LOL, I'm not too sure myself but I grew up watching the Yankees in the 80's with players such as Don Mattingly, Rickey Henderson and Dave Winfield!

 

I was also a Montreal Expos fan with Tim Raines, Hubie Brooks and Andres Galarraga!

[nchikk]

Lunch: For lunch we’d usually grab a salad and/or sandwich combo from the buffet or some Indian food from the Tandoor. It was always great!

 

 

I'm looking forward to the Tandoor when we sail on the Dream later this year. Glad to hear you enjoyed. Do you recall what dishes they offered? Thanks.

[Avril]

I'm sailing on the Splendor on Sept 27th of next year (2014) and we will be on ship till October 4th, going to Canada and New England. What day in October will you be going south instead of north.

 

We sail from New York on October 16th, super excited!!!! :D You'll love the Canada cruise, we did a 5 day one on the Victory in 2008, very foggy at sea but an awesome cruise!!!!

 

We're from the Ottawa area! :)

 

Grand Turk is great if you're a beach person! They have a nice shopping area and beautiful beach right by the pier!

 

Oh, awesome, I know that area really well. Our family cottage is 30 minutes north of Ottawa in Alcove, Quebec!! :D

 

Awesome, definatly a beach person!!!! :D Shopping is always good as well. And they have a Margaritaville right close by, is that right? It's always fun going there!!!! :D

[YankeeFan4Ever]

I'm looking forward to the Tandoor when we sail on the Dream later this year. Glad to hear you enjoyed. Do you recall what dishes they offered? Thanks.

 

Everyday they had salad with a light dressing, hummus, (which isn't really Indian!) mint and cucumber raita (yogurt dip), fresh naan bread and tandoori chicken

 

Then they had some type of vegetarian dish and curry dishes that changed daily.