GAPearl Goes Solo on the Splendor! 11/1/14 SJU-MIA Repo Cruise Review.

[gapearl]

Random pieces of paper.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

The last day of the cruise means the chocolate buffet!

 

 

 

I want one of those....

 

 

And one of those....

 

 

And one of those....

 

 

And one of those too....

 

[gapearl]

Ohhh and two of those!

 

 

 

 

This after an hour and 20 minutes in the gym this morning. SMH :o

 

 

I didn't clean my plate but mostly nibbled and sampled everything, and it was all fantastic. I was going to take my chocolate plate back to my room but spotted these lovely ladies from my roll call and decided to sit with them instead.

 

[gapearl]

All that chocolate sent me into a sugar coma and I took a nap until 5ish. The inevitable time had come and it was time to start packing. I had sent out two bags of laundry throughout the week (and got both back within 24 hours) and my second one arrived just in time. Everything I was taking home was clean with the exception of what I was wearing today and what needed to go to the dry cleaners. Platinum guests receive three free bags of laundry on 8 day cruises, and I happily took advantage of it. I asked my stateroom steward Joaquim about my bottle of rum and he brought it right to me.

 

Be sure to tell you cabin steward on the first day if you'd like to keep all of your towel animals until the end.

 

 

 

The new platinum gift, a toiletry bag.

 

 

 

Another ship out in the distance. I thought maybe it was NCL Epic, but I didn't see Epic in Miami when we arrived the next day.

 

[gapearl]

It's our last dinner on the Splendor.

 

 

Sweet potato soup.

 

 

For dinner I had the fried chicken from the every day menu and a side of mashed potatoes. Sorry, I forgot to upload a picture of it, but I'm sure you know what fried chicken looks like. It was really good. I didn't even bother trying to use my manners and just ate it with my hands. Fried chicken was not meant to be eaten with a knife and a fork! Our servers sang Leaving On A Funship tonight. That's when it gets real and you know your cruise is really over.

 

 

After dinner, I went back to my room to finish packing so I could leave my bags outside my door. Joaquim left me debarkation tags for zone 1 since platinum guests get priority debarkation. However earlier in the day I took this letter to guest services, told the representative I wanted to debark between 8:30-9 am, and was given zone 8 tags. I wouldn't be in any hurry to get off the ship, so I used the zone 8 tags.

 

 

I ran into CC member ktinnc, who has written a couple of great reviews. We recognized each other from our pictures! LOL

 

 

No dress tonight, but a fun romper instead.

 

[gapearl]

Our roll call and social media group had an informal meet up planned at our unofficial hang out spot, which was the aft lido pool. It was time to say our farewells and see you laters. Our Splendorifics/Troublifics group is planning a reunion cruise on the Liberty southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan exactly one year to the day after this cruise. As much as I would like to join this fun group of people again on another cruise, I don't think I wll be able to because of other travel plans I have in store for 2015. I'm sure our paths will cross again at some point in the future.

 

My good friend Sean and I.

 

 

Steve laying some of his famous wheelchair macking on me. LOL

 

 

I hung out with Jenna and her crew at the 11:15 pm comedy show of Ronnie Bullard. We left The Punchliner and went to spend our final night at the club. I went to my cabin to grab the bottle of champagne I scored a few nights ago at Quest. We got some champagne glasses from the bartender and toasted to our last night of the cruise.

 

 

Steve looks like he's up to something.

 

 

What do you do with an empty champagne bottle? Start a bar fight, of course? Poor Sean. haha

 

 

 

I headed back to my room around 1:30 am or so to get in a good rest before having to get up bright and early the next morning.

[gapearl]

Sunday, November 9

Miami- Debarkation Day

 

Daylight come and me wanna go home! I had considered turning this into a back to back, either staying on the Splendor for another seven days or leaving the next day on Ecstasy for four days. That cruise was selling for just $100 for an inside guarantee! However I was glad I didn't book either because at this moment, I was ready to get home.

 

Before grabbing a quick breakfast I went up to the lido to get a few pictures of Miami.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I can't believe I completely forgot about the Serenity deck all week! I didn't think to come up here once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I forgot about the miniature golfing too.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

 

My last picture of the Splendor.

 

 

I left the ship around 9 am and called SAS to let them know I was ready for pickup. The ride to the Sheraton Ft. Lauderdale airport/cruise port hotel was less than 30 minutes. It started to rain as we were leaving the ship and rained in Ft. Lauderdale all day! I felt bad for those starting their cruise in the rain.

 

 

I was dropped off first before the driver took the others to the airport since I was last to get on and my bags were on top. I used a combination of 3,500 of my Sheraton points and $50 to pay for my room. I prefer not to deal with the FLL airport craziness on cruise day, which is why I chose to spend the night and fly out the next day. I was back in Atlanta first thing the next morning and ready to begin my vacation from the vacation. :cool:

[gapearl]

So here are some final thoughts about this cruise in a bit of a ramble that I never covered- good, bad, and just random.

 

**When my luggage arrived on day one, the wheel of my suitcase literally popped off. I immediately took my wheel to guest services and the representative filed a claim for me. Either I can get it repaired or buy a new suitcase, and they'll reimburse me once I send them receipts. This is the second time in two years I've had luggage damaged on Carnival. :mad:

 

**Speaking of luggage, mine didn't arrive on day one until 4:45 pm. It should have been delivered right away since I had priority tags. From what I heard, boarding was delayed and the FTTF people didn't get their luggage until almost as late as I got mine. If I wasn't platinum, I would never spend $50 on it when there's no guarantee that you'll have an expedited boarding or luggage delivery. Some people have paid for it and love it, but personally I wouldn't do it. :rolleyes:

 

**I was under the impression that you would not be able to make this a back to back cruise from New York to San Juan and then San Juan to Miami because of the Jones Act. I think some people on the roll call booked it and had to cancel the first one. Well about 20 people were somehow able to fly under the radar and made it. I'm sure the Jones Act penalty would be added to their sail and sign bill at the end. Plenty of people probably would have gladly paid that fine (roughly $300 I believe) to stay on both cruises if they thought they could have.

 

**Cruise director Malcolm didn't make too many announcements. He seemed to be a cool guy.

 

**The Cheers package price had dropped to $37.50 per day this summer, and I had considered giving it a try this cruise. That didn't last too long and the price went back up to the original $49.99 per day, so I definitely would not be purchasing it. Even at the lower price, I honestly didn't need it. I drank my fruity rum drinks in port and had two bottles of wine and a bottle of rum I brought on day one in my room. In the end I only spent about $80 on drinks.

 

**I was hoping to catch myself on tv from the hypnotist show. Usually you can catch them playing the various shows with passengers from throughout the week, but there wasn't a channel that did this.

 

**The outlet in bathroom only works if light is on.

 

**The blowdryer wasn't very good. It would take me 30 minutes to get my hair dry.

 

**I'll never book an adjoining room again, not even if I'm traveling with the people next door. Somehow I missed this when I booked (or maybe I did realize it and didn't care, who knows), and it was noisy. It's not that my neighbors were extremely loud, because they weren't. I could just hear them ALL the time.

 

**I didn't like the enclosed feeling of the lido pool. I like the lido layout of the Conquest class ships the best, where you can be close to the pool and still see the ocean. Even with the roof open, it felt like being at an indoor pool.

 

**The 24 hour pizza cafe is forward. Every other ship it's aft. That totally threw me off when I went to look for it in the back.

 

**As I've said many times before, the nightlife on this cruise was REALLY slow compared to my other cruises. The Piano Bar isn't my thing but it mostly stayed empty and I heard the entertainer in there was just ok. There wasn't as much live music around the ship either.

 

**In response to some behavior I saw from a small handful passengers, remember that PLEASE and THANK YOU will get you a LONG way. Do you bark orders to your server at Chili's back home? If so you need to go take an etiquette class. That's rude and classless and surely someone taught you better than that at some point in your life.

 

So here ends another Georgia Pearl review! I can't believe it's been a month already since this vacation began. Besides the boring club at night it was a great cruise. I visited four new islands and a new city on an old one. I ran a 5k in the Caribbean. I rappelled down waterfalls. I rode in a helicopter. I snorkeled at two amazing underwater sites. I got to brush up on my French. I got hypnotized. I entered *that* contest. Most importantly I met a ton of new friends. :D

 

So what's on my travel agenda for next year? As of right now, I'm planning Costa Rica and Panama for winter and spring trips. Carnival Magic is tentatively my birthday trip next summer, and I'm bringing my mom and two first time cruisers along. I've been to 40 states and have a goal to visit the last ten next year, so I may have a few weekend trips throughout the summer. I'm not sure about next fall but I'm seriously looking at a cruise from Singapore to Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, but I'm also thinking of flying to Thailand and staying for a week. I need to crunch some numbers to see which will be more feasible so that's up in the air. But before all that, I'm headed to Mexico next month on a quickie two day cruise with a good friend. Hopefully there will be some better nightlife on this one. At some point in the next few weeks, I plan to link my noncruise travel blog in my signature, so to those of you who have asked be on the lookout for it.

 

Thank you all so much for reading! Until the next cruise..... :)

[Delta Dear]

Hey Kim, as always I loved the review. I'm already hyped for our cruise on the Freedom in TWO weeks.. 12-13-14, here we come. You know I'll do a review when I get back. I'll let you know when it's up.

 

Each time we've been on a cruise, I've come back with things I, 'meant to do.' so this time I have a list of Must Do Items or Must Try. Believe me though, my list does NOT include anything like hiking through the rain forest or riding in a helicopter. My list includes, having a piece of chocolate cake from the specialized coffee shop, trying the Spring Rolls, taking pictures around the ship on Embarkation Day before it is too crazy.

 

Speaking of links, you MUST make a link of the 'Original Corn Bread,' thread. Only those of us who remember it well can really relate to what you included on this review. LOL, that corn bread thread should go down in history.

 

Your travel plans sound fantastic which means more GA Pearl Reviews on tap. YAY !

 

Now, one techie question for you which maybe I asked before but can't remember the answer. When you write your reviews and use a certain color text, or font size, do you have to reset that each time you write a post, or is there a way to make that your default setting for the review portion ? I notice your replies are in blue text, regular font size, but I love the larger font for your review posts.

 

Keep making the fun happen wherever you are. I love your sense of adventure, thanks for sharing it with the faint of heart. (the second rung of a ladder is as high off the ground as I wish to go, other than when I fly, that is.)

 

Happy sails and trails to you, until we meet again.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Delta Dear

[NCTribeFan]

We went to brunch both sea days. I talked about both in my review. The last sea day was an epic fail for us, too. Three of us, there early, every food order wrong multiple times. And I wanted the rolls, not the mixed pastry basket. When those rolls are warm, they are The Best Thing Ever!

 

Am I the ONLY person on that sailing that didn't get the toiletry bag? I got a little insulated tote bag! It's only about the size of my laptop. Not that I mind, because I'd just bought a new toiletry bag, but I doubt I'll ever use this...

 

 

Delta Dear - I'm packing this morning, flying to FLL at 1:40 to board Freedom tomorrow for a solo cruise. I hadn't really planned on taking this cruise but the Premier Casino offer was too good to pass up. But, honestly, I have no enthusiasm for this. I mean, I haven't even been home from Splendor for 3 weeks yet! I'm sure I'll have a great time and will be excited once I get to Ft Lauderdale. Three more new ports!

 

There are still a handful of cabins for the Splendor to Bermuda! It would be great if you could join us.

 

Kim, I thought maybe you were at our table the last day for afternoon tea but I didn't see you mention it. I was thinking maybe we did meet, briefly, after all, but it seems not.

 

I was one of those people who insisted that it was NOT legal to do a B2B NY-SJU SJU-MIA. My PVP had told me that when I wanted to book both legs on Conquest last November. I asked him again about this Splendor cruise and he was adamant. I was shocked when Malcolm made comments during the PG party about people being on the ship for both legs! Not fair! In fact, I had meant to say something to John Heald when we got back and forgot. I still might when I get back from Freedom.

 

Maybe in the future we'll cruise solo together. :D

[Hogladyrider]

Another FANTASTIC review!

 

I would love to follow your non-cruise travel blog, I find that is the BEST way to learn, from others experiences.

 

I could not agree with you more, the behavior of certain people on cruises leaves a lot to be desired. Personally I believe those people are out for whatever they can get for nothing.

 

We always make it a point to take care of wait staff, bar servers, cabin stewards etc they work so hard. We even had a bar server on our latest Liberty cruise tell us they preferred to work the shorty cruises because the turnover of people is faster.

 

Happy and safe future travels!

Susan

[KPfromCT]

 

What crappy weather on your debarkation day.

:(

Edited November 28, 2014 by KPfromCT

[Jamman54]

Thank you Kim, for another wonderful review!!! I look forward to your next adventure!! :)

[wrigley80]

Thank You so much for another wonderful review. I am not sure what I am going to do with myself at work....with both your review and Jamman's reviews over on the same day. It's just not right ;) :p :)

 

It's a darn good thing I had a cruise in 6 days to look forward too. Bring on the Carnival Dream

[Boozebabe]

Bravo ! ! !

[medianeh]

Not sure if you already have your Costa Rica trip planned....

 

When I go to Costa Rica I want to stay here!

 

http://www.costaricatreehouse.com

[MrsPhoenix91]

Awesome & detailed review - thank you for taking the time!

[lifeisgoodPat]

As usual, the review was awesome! You are a wonderful biographer!

[rrraydon]

Wonderful review. We were on the first leg of Splendor's journey. The week before your sailing. We were still able to get the Cheers package at the reduced rate, and let me tell you.. I drank it up!! :D

 

Sorry to hear your night life sucked. I think we may have tired them out the week before. The night club on our cruise was rockin' every single night. There wasn't one night the entire week that I got back to my cabin before 4am. We were lucky enough to meet a great bunch of cruisers on our cruise that we all met up with at the casino bar every night. Also, there was a gay/lesbian VERY large group on our cruise (a few hundred). I don't know if you've ever hung out with gay guys but let me tell you they are an awesome bunch to hang out with for a great time!!

 

We are now FB friends with a couple of the bar tenders onboard who invited my friend and I on a cruise they are taking after the first of the year. Who knew they like to go cruising on their vacation time! :)

 

Thanks again for another great review and happy sailing!

 

Absolutely loved our cruise, it was one of the best cruises I've ever had.

Edited November 28, 2014 by rrraydon

[crazycatlady82]

Thank you for your review! We also had a poor experience with the sea day brunch on the glory...maybe just poor guidance fleet wide.

 

Also, I'm sure North Dakota is one of your last 10 states to visit-most people haven't been here. When it's time to cross it off your bucket list, message me and we'll try to get together. I love to meet another cruiser!

[blueangel74]

Enjoyed your review. Have to agree with you about the roof on Splendor. Did not like it at all.

 

It was a pleasure meeting you in person & talking with you. Hope I get a chance to cruise with you again. Wish you safe travels on all your future trips. Enjoy the Magic. I may sail on her in the fall(or the Breeze or Dream if I go solo. Still may sail Magic or Breeze solo.). And I will definitely make sure I bring a box of Jiffy to show them what cornbread is. :)

[riclop]

Kim thanks for another entertaining review.