My first review attempt!!! – Carnival Splendor May 12-20th w/pics!!

[Crusin Karen]

I "lost my subscription" to this for some reason, so just caught up. Reliving the cruise thru you. Seems like a LONG TIME AGO.... :(:(

[hunter14]

Awesome Review!!!! My first cruise is in August and I am so excited after reading your review. Different ship, different ports but still excited!!:)

[cruisinbabs]

I "lost my subscription" to this for some reason, so just caught up. Reliving the cruise thru you. Seems like a LONG TIME AGO.... :(:(

 

awwww!!!! :-( well welcome back!!! i know it seems so long ago but seems like yesterday too...

 

i am getting ready to finally finish this review cause I have another cruise to research to plan for!!! woohoo!!!

 

i am hoping to do a better review this next time around.. and remember to take some more ship pictures... everyday stuff has just been nutso lately.. especially back to roller derby practice to start prepping for start of season for us in September.. i am one busy lady!!! plus i feel bad for keeping everyone hanging...

[cruisinbabs]

Awesome Review!!!! My first cruise is in August and I am so excited after reading your review. Different ship, different ports but still excited!!:)

 

why thank you so much! feels good that people are still reading.. lol... as you can see in my response to karen i have been a tad busy.. but I am still here! heheh..

 

how exciting for your first cruise!!! start planning your next one now.. :D

[cruisinbabs]

Awesome Review!!!! My first cruise is in August and I am so excited after reading your review. Different ship, different ports but still excited!!:)

 

forgot to ask.. where are you gong?? :-)

[cruisinbabs]

Last sea day.. booooooo.... I always hate cruises coming to an end!! So I was going to make the best of it!

 

Today was behind the fun tour day! I had been looking forward to it since we knew we got our tickets for it delivered to our cabin... All three of us had room service breakfast early since we had to be at the library at 8:30.

 

We got to the library to check in, they had some muffins, coffee (yes I had another cup.. you should know this by now that I love my coffee), orange juice, tea. Once they checked everyone in they started off talking a little bit about how the tour was going to go etc. While they were doing this they handed out fun fact sheet.. pretty interesting!

 

 

 

When everyone was ready and scanned by a wand... we were ready to start our tour!!

 

*DO NOT try to smuggle your camera/phone/tablet for the tour.. please do as they say and leave them in your cabin.

 

*do wear comfortable closed toe shoes. save the pretty flip flops, sandles or high heels for other times on the ship.. it is not fashion week people.

 

First place we went was to the bow of the ship that you can see from the "secret decks" which is where crew has some down time.. SUPER SUPER WINDY.. but OH SO COOL to be able to go up that far.

 

---Group shot taken by the ships photographer (sorry took pic of it with my cell phone and kept turning up blurry.. grrr)

 

The tour guide (cannot remember his name for the life of me now.. so sorry..) then told us to follow him... we went up the crew stairs all the way up to the bridge... workin off the warm chocolate melting cake folks!!

 

Now, for me, going up to the bridge and being able to see the view from there... AMAZING.... WORTH EVERY SINGLE PENNY SPENT IN MY BOOK.. it was so cool! Captain showed us a little bit of what they do, people asked questions etc.... now the coolest view was walking out on the wing part of the bridge with the window in the floor to see down to the ocean and down the side of the ship without the wind knockin ya around.. again... AWESOME!!!

 

---Captain, me & mom

 

Now there is something that happened over night that someone asked the Captain about...I shall explain.. but first I need to post this before it times out and I lose it.....

[cruisinbabs]

I had what happened at night all typed out and my computer decided to restart on me out of the blue.. I had it copied and ready to paste and save in here and it did not work.. I will have to retype it later today since it is now 1:36 am PST... :mad:

Edited July 16, 2014 by cruisinbabs

[cruisinbabs]

So during the middle of the night come to find out via Captain the ship encountered a large swell (note:not rogue wave) due to a storm off in the distance and he had to maneuver a bit to counteract it which caused the ship to list 4 degrees.... lots of people were asleep when this happened so they did not have a clue until they heard about it on this day... others, including myself were not asleep.. lol

 

I remember headed back to my cabin around 1 am after being at the club. Taking all the bobby pins out of my hair, washing off makeup, getting into jammies. Now I know the ship was movin and groovin some, I remember seeing flashes of light off in the distance and thinking.. "well that is weird"... so I lay down with my tablet to play some angry birds til I fell asleep... as soon as I lay down I REALLY FEEL THE SHIP MOVE.. so I get out of bed and go to the Balcony door and look out...all of a sudden the railing is wayyyyyy up high for it seemed like we were trying to make a sharp turn... which seemed very weird... then it comes back down and the railing is REALLLLLY low from my sight line... and there is what looks like a flippin monsoon just pouring water everywhere... come to find it tipped so much water came out of the pool!

 

After it did that I was like "I am going back to the club where there are people and its midship.. less movement"... where is my husband you might ask??? Sleeping.. he slept through everything.. lol... he was RACKED OUT.. did not want to wake the sleeping bear and there were no announcements coming over the intercom so I figured it was not an emergency... so I get regular clothes back on and head on back to the club where I knew some Splendidos were still there. They felt it there too, some thought they were just REALLY drunk...

 

So when we were done there we went to pizza and there was a chick wearing her lifevest... remember.. safety is sexy!!!!

[cruisinbabs]

All in all I highly recommend the behind the fun tour!

 

If you have specific questions please feel free to ask me. :-)

 

After the behind the fun tour which I finished out by myself... it was time for the final day of super duper trivia!!!! (I did lots of trivia this cruise!) Time for this captain to report to duty... We really had a great group together and mostly everyone remembered to show up all 4 sea days.. so we were kind of like Trivia Family.. Super duper trivia consisted of all sorts of categories so there was a little something for everyone!!! Today was the last day to try to pull ahead..

 

---Hubs trying to roll the number 5.. which means we got a sports question.. his favorite category..

 

We finished trivia and my team gave a great effort but most of all we had lots of fun.. that is what you are supposed to do right??!! After all we are on a Carnival FUNship!!!

 

With our attaboy medals handed to us... I got a bottle of champagne for being a captain and being there for my team.. score!! That brought my final medal count to 2!!

 

After trivia we were all hungry so we went and grabbed some lunch on the lido deck...then I saw there was Disney trivia!!! I love Disney!!! I finished scarfing down my food so I could get there in time to get a seat....wrong.. that trivia was the busiest trivia session!!! That lobby was PACKED.. One of the ladies that pretty much had like 25 ships on a stick from trivia was there and she remembered me and invited me to her group for this trivia round.. I cannot remember her name for the life of me but she was SUPER NICE!!! Some of the questions were hard, even for a Disney fan as myself...lol.. There were some questions however that our group did not know and I was able to rattle them off.

 

No prize for me.. one lady got all 20 out of 20 correct!! Impressive!

 

I guess a ship on a stick was not in the cards for me this trip.....or is it??

[cruisinbabs]

The day was kind of a blur and just did ship stuff. However tonight for dinner we decided to skip the MDR and just do final dinner via Lido deck with Splendidos and planned on getting to the Legends show due to the fact that we had 2 from our group in the show this evening!!

 

---Three amigos waiting for the show to start

 

Nichole was Gloria Gaynor and David was Bruce Springstein this evening and they did such a great job!!!! GOOOOO SPLENDIDOS!!!!

 

---Bruce and Gloria

 

---Reception after the show to "Meet the Stars"

 

---Was able to get a picture with Malcolm... WOOHOO!! He was a great CD in my eyes.. he made me laugh, kept us informed and took the time to answer any questions people had. I know some people don't care for him that much but I LOVED HIM!!

 

During the reception we decided for all of us to meet one last time in our cabin for a drink.. Our superstars went to change out of their costumes and we waited for everyone to show up... when hubby and I get back to our cabin these were waiting for me..

 

---Happy Anniversary roses... yaaaa I think I will keep him around for awhile longer..heheheh.

 

---This lil fella I think is from the previous night and I got him and the ummmm.. seal mixed up.. still had to show him off cause he was cute!!

[cruisinbabs]

One last cabin get together...

 

 

 

 

---I'm going to miss this crew!!! Made new friends and cruising buddies for life!!!

 

---My towel animal collection from the week.. (I think one of them got destroyed..)

 

---WORST AND SADDEST SIGHT EVER!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

[cruisinbabs]

Today is the day that all cruisers dread.. means your vacation is just a few hours from being over and you have to get back to reality.. ::sigh:: I set my alarm early, called mom to our cabin so we could take photos coming into the harbor..

 

 

 

 

---LAMESAUCE!!!

 

---Then we headed to the front of the ship for some pictures

 

 

[cruisinbabs]

---Good morning beautiful!

 

---Moon!

 

 

 

Mom and I were hungry for some breakfast and I needed my coffee!! So we head to Lido deck to grab these items and find a table while we finish pulling into the pier..

 

 

 

 

We finish up our breakfast and coffee then head back up to our cabins to wait for them to start calling people to start disembarking....

 

---SAD PANDAS!!!!!

 

We were not ready to leave... we were zone 1 but we did not really hear what zones they were calling so we missed them calling our zone but we quickly figured it out when our room steward basically told us we had to go... ok fiiiiiine if we HAVE to... I guess we will let other people start their vacations.

[Lisa0719]

Barbara, enjoyed reliving this cruise with you. Very nice to have met you, your hubby and mom. Great review!!!

[cruisinbabs]

Barbara, enjoyed reliving this cruise with you. Very nice to have met you, your hubby and mom. Great review!!!

 

 

Same to you lady.. :-) and thank you for taking the pic of me and Malcolm!

 

i just have a few things for post cruise and then I am done with this review.. :-(

[Rene2.5RS]

I will miss reading your review and reliving an amazing cruise we shared with you three :(

[cruisinbabs]

I will miss reading your review and reliving an amazing cruise we shared with you three :(

 

 

Awwww we miss you guys too!!

[cruisinbabs]

We shuffled off board to go find our luggage.. you know its always chaotic but our zone for luggage was right when we walked through the door to the terminal.. grabbed our luggage, zipped through customs and were in the waiting area for the huge elevator by 1030.. pretty quick and efficient.

 

This was the only part I did not plan but I figured there would be enough cabs that we would be able to snag one to Newark airport.. we walk out of the elevator and in the middle cement part between the drop off lane and 12th ave.. a guy said "you guys need to go to the airport?"...it's like he "knew".. lol.. of course we needed to get to the airport!! I asked him how much and he said $90 bucks including toll.. So we follow him to a nice black suburban and I literally asked him "are you legit??".. he showed me all the licenses and what not.. ok fair enough.. take us to newark airport please..

 

NOW.... sounds steep for a ride to the airport but that is what it would have cost us for a post cruise transfer with Carnival and we would have had to be like sardines with tons of other people.. for the same price we got to ride in a comfy suburban with tinted windows and leather seats with just the three of us... totally worth it to us!!!

 

 

We got all checked in for our flight and now we had about 4 or so hours to burn.. we were hungry and ate lunch in the airport.. some diner (can't remember the name of it)... but it was soooo delicious!! and they had PEPSI!!! A diet Pepsi never tasted so good! And then you really know you are not on a cruise anymore when you have to pay for your meal afterwards!! Lunch took about an hour, decided to hang out by our gate and get all caught up from being off grid for 8 days... This was my view for awhile....

 

---Yay for power stations to charge my phone for the long flight...

 

We went and bought some snacks and soda for the flight.. then before we knew it, it was time to board our flight from Newark to San Franciso..

 

---Til next time New York!!

 

---Great Salt Lake

 

This flight was almost a flight from you know where.. it was just really long and it was so hot in there... poor mom was OVER IT... I was about over it too... almost done!!! Before we knew it we were decending into San Fran....

 

---That was a long flight!!! Those little tv's were my saving grace.. we each purchased direct tv in flight and we got a discount on using the same card for 3 screens... best 5.99/per person spent the whole trip!!!!

[cruisinbabs]

We had a short layover in San Fran, then we hopped onto the commuter lil jet home... There was a seat up front with some leg room for my husband so right before departing we were able to get him to that seat.. so I got two seats to myself.. after that last flight, I needed some SPACE....

 

---Last sunset of vacation....

 

After I took this pic I bundled up my sweatshirt for a pillow and snoozed for the hour or so flight home. I was so exhausted from traveling the whole day and I could not wait to sleep in my own bed. We got home, got our greetings from our pooches who were SOOOO excited to see us home... brought our luggage in and went to bed... The only person missing was our lil dude who was supposed to be brought to us the next day by gramma but she called us the next morning and asked to keep him one more day... ALRIGHT!! I get one more day to relax and get rid of my sea legs.... This was my view.....

 

 

---I think someone missed me???

 

---Her too.... lol

 

As you all know it is hard to get back to reality after a cruise. So what do true cruisers do??? That's right, start looking for your next one which is exactly what I started doing.. lol... I am headed back to the Eastern Caribbean again as you can tell from my countdown clock. This time a girls trip while my hubs goes on a road/foodie trip with his best friend at the same time... oh and Gramma already has it written on her schedule for next year...

 

 

Oh and you must be wondering if I ever got my ship on a stick.....I sure did!!!!

 

It was a gift from paulypride because he knew I was trying really hard for one this whole trip and he had extras. Love my Splendido Crew!! So everytime I look at that ship on a stick I think of what a great epic trip we had and the great new cruising family I have gained...

 

So that my cruise critic friends brings us to the end of my first review. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it. Stay tuned for my next review of my Glory Gals cruise because hopefully it will be bigger and badder the second time around!!

 

 

Cruisinbabs... over and out.

[mia10010]

I am loving your review with the great pictures!!

 

I have a quick question regarding your forward cabin location. Was there lots of movement up there? I have had many midship and aft cabins, but had to book one forward cabin on the Splendor for 8/4, and don't know what to expect.

 

Thanks.

[cruisinbabs]

I am loving your review with the great pictures!!

 

I have a quick question regarding your forward cabin location. Was there lots of movement up there? I have had many midship and aft cabins, but had to book one forward cabin on the Splendor for 8/4, and don't know what to expect.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Hello! thank you for your kind words and glad you are enjoying the review.. I did not realize how much work does go into them but I had a lot of fun doing one..

 

ummm.. just that one night when the ship listed a bit was really the only time i could "feel" it.. all i know is that being in the dining room i am really glad i did not have a aft cabin... there was A LOT of movement to me.. these past two times we have had a more forward cabin and I dont mind it.. but that is just me.. :)

[wrigleysbuddy]

Love your review......especially your pics of New York City. It's so nice to see a review of the Splendor

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paulypride]

I am so happy that I had the extra Ship to give you. You were so much fun! I can't wait to cruise with you again!

[babsee101]

Excellent review! I can not believe this is your first one! Thanks so much for putting it together. It's easy to tell that you are a very fun person. I hope to end up on the same ship as you one day! :)

[Chelleum]

Great review and pics!! I really enjoy reading your review, I will be on the Splendor in Nov, but it will be leaving from San Juan. (repositioning). I live in NY and hopefully next year when the Splendor is back. I will be able to sail from NY instead of flying out.

 

Thanks for the detailed review on GT, it really helped me with my planning. I loved HMC too, and I hope to get back there soon.