Splendor review 8/21-8/29 2013

[windsbud]

Let me start by saying that I don't have a tremendous amount of photos, just a handful. There is no food porn either. I had planned on taking so much more but it just didn't happen.

 

First a little background info. This cruise was a special celebration with my niece Amanda who is 29 years old. She is a recovering heroin addict and has 3 years of being clean and sober. She was an addict since she was in her late teens. She attempted many times to get clean, many rehabs and sober houses, living on the streets and slowly killing herself and her family as time went on.

 

In 2006 during one of her "clean" times we booked a cruise which I paid for, 7 nights on RC to the southern Caribbean. 5 weeks before we were to leave her mother called me and told me that Amanda had relapsed. Sadness and anger were all rolled in to one. I wound up taking my husband and we had a great trip. That was our first cruise.

 

Fast forward to this year. In April, just before celebrating her third year of sobriety we started talking about it again and decided it was the right time. Her life has completely changed. She is happy and healthy and in love! She got certified to counsel alcohol and drug abusers and works with teens. She also has taken the major step in going to college. She started Long Island University Post this past week and is shooting for a Masters in the field of drug and alcohol abuse.

 

Life is good:D

 

It will probably take me a few days to complete my review. I tripped and injured myself pretty bad after I got home and have been in a pain medication haze! I will do my best and get it done asap.

 

This is my Amanda. So happy to be on the ship!

 

Me and Amanda

 

Freedom Tower

 

Cleared the bridge!

 

Yours truly

[Crusin Karen]

Looking forward to the rest of your review and congrats to Amanda! May each day ahead be brighter for her! :)

[riclop]

Great for Amanda.

[alreadypacked]

You've got me hooked--can't wait to read the rest of the review! Congrats to Amanda!:)

[megnut78]

Can't wait to read the rest :)

[windsbud]

So, embarkation went smoothly. My nephew drove us in to the city from central Long Island and dropped us off at the terminal. We were checking in 3 pieces of luggage and they were grabbed right away. I made sure to tell them FTTF and the porter put an orange FTTF tag on one as we walked away.

 

Once we got inside we were directed to the priority boarding area and after a short wait for a wedding party to board, we were on! Amanda was like a little kid. So excited! This was her first cruise and my third. We went to our room right away. We had an OV cabin #2312. It was clean and pretty spacious. Lots of closet space and storage. I loved how there was plenty of room to sit on the window sill and watch the ocean. I honestly did not miss having a balcony.

 

We dropped off our carry on bags and went in search for lunch and the smoking area for Amanda. We found a smoking area on deck 10 aft and it became Amanda's hangout for her coffee and smoke time. This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for her. We had discussed about her finding where there would be a Friends of Bill meeting. She attends AA meetings at home instead of Narcotics Anonymous. She found AA to be a better environment for her. She met alot of people on the cruise while she was back there and found herself discussing her journey to sobriety with others and received so much positive feedback that she felt she didn't need the meetings. One of the things that got people talking to her at first is her tattoo's. She has quit a few and a very large one on her torso as you will see in some pics. Plus she is very personable.

 

We decided to try the deli because I read some good reviews about it here. We both had Rueben sandwiches which were very good. Later in the week I tried the grilled ham and cheese and it wasn't that good. The young man making the sandwiches never smiled. He may have been new. He seemed pretty shy and didn't make much eye contact. We had lunch two more times on the cruise and had a rueben each time.

 

We decided to go back to our cabin to check if the bags came and they did not so I went to guest services. It really paid off having FTTF because there was no line for priority guests. The other line was very long. The person at guest services called someone about our bags and was told they were with the regular luggage and should be there soon. So we walked around a bit more. We went on the spa tour and tossed around paying for access for the week but decided we would rather spend our money on excursions. Before long, it was time for muster.

 

It went pretty smoothly. There were some stragglers which held things up a bit. It was at this time that I got to see how rude some people can be! We were standing right near one of the doors with a bunch of people and a crew member asked us to move down about 3 feet and this woman started giving him a hard time about it. She kept asking him why she had to move, she was there first. He explained we couldn't block the door and she was having none of that! She went on and on and he was being very patient but she got really nasty and he finally had enough. He just smiled, shook his head and walked away, She kept looking for someone to agree with her. Nope, no one did.

 

We got through muster and sail away started so I went back to the cabin and luggage STILL hadn't arrived! There were bags being delivered to other guests outside their rooms. That is when we met our room steward Yasa. He is from Bali. He assured us that he would put our bags in the room when they arrived. We stopped at guest services again and told them we still didn't have them.

 

This is our steward Yasa and a few pics of our cabin.

 

 

Our room on arrival and when turned down for the night.

 

 

 

 

[windsbud]

I guess these are typical sail away photos but seeing NYC from the ship was amazing.I've lived on Long Island my entire life and only once have I been on a boat in the harbor. When I was 12 we had a class trip to The Statue of Liberty but being 12, I really couldn't appreciate it. Freedom tower is beautiful and looking at it choked me up a bit, thinking about how it used to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[windsbud]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll post more a bit later today.

Edited September 10, 2013 by windsbud

[Lisa0719]

Loving your review. Congratulations to Amanda. My son is a recovering addict so I understand the struggles. He has been sober for almost 4 years.

 

We will be on the Splendor on Saturday. I can not wait!!!

[megnut78]

I'm really glad you are posting this, as I love to see the same cruise from another perspective. I believe I saw your niece on the ship at some point. It looks like we weren't too far away from eachother in terms of rooms too! I too, spent a lot of time in the smoking section with my husband. I really like how they had it set up. Cant wait to read more. Sorry to hear that your luggage didnt arrive immediately for FTTF, but wasn't it great to go to guest services and not have to wait?? :)

[PittsburghGirlee]

GREAT start....keep it coming...

CONGRATS Amanda.....I meet some of the best folks in the smoking areas:D.

[Seago2]

Excellent beginning and hooray for sober cruising!

[windsbud]

I'm really glad you are posting this, as I love to see the same cruise from another perspective. I believe I saw your niece on the ship at some point. It looks like we weren't too far away from eachother in terms of rooms too! I too, spent a lot of time in the smoking section with my husband. I really like how they had it set up. Cant wait to read more. Sorry to hear that your luggage didnt arrive immediately for FTTF, but wasn't it great to go to guest services and not have to wait?? :)

 

I met KS1159 aka Kathy from our roll call in the smoking area. My niece was there early one morning and when I went to find her she said "Aunt Mary, this lady knows you"! She asked if I was on CC and told me who she was and I said who I was. I had mentioned on the roll call that I had a special reason for the trip with my niece that I would share in my review. Amanda was telling her this was her first cruise and a special one for her and her Aunt. Shen knew then who I was.LOL Then it turns out that her husband is a salesman in a furniture store on LI and that my nephew and my sister had bought alot of their furniture from him. I also recognized him from my visit to that store also. Small world!!

[windsbud]

Loving your review. Congratulations to Amanda. My son is a recovering addict so I understand the struggles. He has been sober for almost 4 years.

 

We will be on the Splendor on Saturday. I can not wait!!!

 

Congrats on your son's recovery! Those that live through it can understand the pain and struggles we go through as a family. We also know that it's one day at a time. You will love the Splendor!

[windsbud]

We had early dining so we went to the Gold Pearl and met our table mates. There were 10 of us. There were two sisters, a mother and daughter and 2 pairs of father and son's. We all hit it off pretty good but the one father was pretty loud and very full of himself. Especially as he added liquor to his dining experience! It was all good though. Amanda and I really hit it off with the other father and son. The son Frank had brought his dad Peter on the cruise as a gift for his 81st birthday and it was his first cruise!

 

Peter was quite a comedian and knew some magic tricks. His jokes were pretty corny. Although we didn't get to see him, he took the stage during open mike time for comedy. I heard he did a great job! Anyway, they were really great and their love for each other was very apparent. It was great to meet them and we looked forward to dinner every night. By the end of the cruise I had gotten Frank's FB info and we are keeping in touch.

 

 

Peter and Frank with Amanda and me.

 

 

So my thought on the dining room experience? We had great service. Our dining room team was attentive and we had no real waiting. The food was very good and it was hot when served. I can't really say what I ate when but I was happy with the food. I only had one disappointment and I can't believe it was this. The chocolate melting cake!

 

I have read so many reviews and couldn't wait to try it. Well they bring it to me and I dig in and it was not melty inside. What???? I ate it but was really bummed about it. Amanda's apparently was fine because she was like "OMG this is so good!" I figured mine must have just been over cooked. Amanda said it would have been better with more ice cream so I told her the next time ask for extra. She did later in the week and they asked how much extra. Keep in mind these are very small scoops so she said 3 or 4. Look what they brought her! Three more dishes of ice cream! LOL!

 

I did have it every night the rest of the week except for the night we went to the steak house and it was done right and it was delish! But one more night it was over cooked again

 

After dinner we were going to explore more but we were so full and so tired we decided to make our first night an early one. When we got to our room, the rest of the luggage was there. One thing I noticed was that the bag that arrived first had an additional orange tag on it for FTTF that we saw the porter put on, and the ones that arrived later did not. Just the tags I printed and they did say FTTF. It really was no big deal because the benefit of having FTTF was used during the rest of the cruise.

 

I'll try to post some more later today. Thanks for reading.

[jerseyralph]

I am a social worker who has done significant work with addicted women, incarcerated and otherwise. Please tell the truly gorgeous Amanda that she is my Superhero of the Day!

 

Gina B.

[cathyoo]

Loving your review. Congratulations to Amanda and Kuddos to you.. what a wonderful supportive aunt. Thanks for sharing your memories I can't wait to read some more.

[clairentommy]

Great review so far, sorry you had a bit of disappointment with the warm chocolate melting cake....your niece is doing great and looks amazing. Can't wait to read the rest of it

[Maraprince]

Did you ever find out what the delay was in delivering your luggage since it was tagged (orange) as FTTF? Just curious to know where the luggage was until it was delivered at turn down!:confused:

 

Congrats to your niece on her accomplishment!:D

 

MARAPRINCE

[cathyoo]

Did you ever find out what the delay was in delivering your luggage since it was tagged (orange) as FTTF? Just curious to know where the luggage was until it was delivered at turn down!:confused:

 

Congrats to your niece on her accomplishment!:D

 

MARAPRINCE

I read on some FTTF thread that someone did not get their luggage timely and their money for the FTTF was refunded.

[nursemommy7578]

i'm a nurse and I work in the field of addictions....please tell Amanda a huge CONGRATS from me!! It is hard work and it really is one day at a time (even one hour at a time for some) and she should be so very proud of herself:)

 

Thank you for sharing:) We are on Splendor in 92 days and I cant wait!!

[windsbud]

I am a social worker who has done significant work with addicted women, incarcerated and otherwise. Please tell the truly gorgeous Amanda that she is my Superhero of the Day!

 

Gina B.

 

Thank you Gina. I will make sure to tell her!

[windsbud]

Both sea days were pretty much the same. Amanda up and out by 7am to sit by the pool. We only went to the adults only pool. I passed through the lido pool on one or two occasions and it was too crowded and noisy and full of kids! There didn't appear to be too many chair hogs at the adults pool. Those that did grab chairs to save usually were back in a reasonable amount of time. I didn't get out there until 8-ish and there were still plenty of chairs.

 

We decided to have breakfast at the buffet and I guess because it was so early the lines weren't so long. I did have an omelette and the "bacon police" were generous with the bacon! The coffee was ok. I've had better but this was fine. After this first sea day I started having breakfast in the cabin from room service. I'm not a big breakfast eater and ordered a bagel or pastry and coffee from them. I did not order ahead of time. They were there in less than 30 minutes. I did tip the person that brought it to me.

 

I did attempt the breakfast buffet on the way back home, on the 1st sea day. It was HORRIBLE!!! I decided to try pancakes and sausage. The pancakes were so over done and/or stale that I couldn't cut it with a knife! I literally had to saw through it. I didn't even bother to taste it. The sausage was cold. Not barely warm, but cold! We did not try the buffet any other time.

 

I only have my two cruises with RC to compare the buffet to and in my opinion, RC wins hands down. From choices of food, taste and temperature to layout of the buffet, RC just was better. If I were to sail Carnival again, I don't think I would bother with the buffett at all.

 

We attempted to try the pizza this first sea day but the line was really long and people were complaining how long it was taking. No thanks, back to the deli. We did manage to have pizza later on during the cruise and it was good.

 

I never did get around to trying the tandoori or the rotisserie.

 

We had dinner that night in the Steak house. I thought it was worth the extra money. The atmosphere was very nice and the food was great! I had surf and turf as my main course and the chocolate sampler for desert. The sampler was really very good! I don't recall what Amanda had for her main course or dessert but I know she had the baked onion soup and said it was awesome!

 

Neither one of us was very interested in going to any of the shows and Amanda was really tired so she headed back to the cabin and I went to the casino. The first night I won $160 on the quarter slots. The next night I won another $90. I went back a few times during the week and lost most of what I won. I did take some of my winnings and had a fire and ice manicure. That was a nice experience.

[windsbud]

These pics were taken over the course of the 8 days. No specific order to them at all.

 

My view of the aft pool deck

 

Panorama view of the aft pool deck

 

Amanda and a new friend

 

My favorite beverage..Absolut and cranberry

 

Amanda got as brown as a little peanut. That's some tattoo she has!

 

overlooking the aft pool deck from "the smoking area"

 

 

 

I'll post more later about San Juan with some pictures.

[cathyoo]

Loving your review and pictures. Hats off to Amanda I can't even imagine the patience it took to get a tattoo like that.