Carnival Splendor Alaskan Cruise Review with Photos May 10-17, 2022

[lovestocruise19]

Hubby surprised me by booking an Alaskan cruise for our 10 year wedding anniversary. We cruised on the Magic with my parents in February/March of this year and had this Alaskan cruise to look forward to for May! It is SO HARD to pack for a cruise to Alaska, but in the end I think I did a pretty good job. It was literally months of tweaking while hubby just tosses some clothes in a suitcase three days before the cruise. Although, he did purchase new hiking boots and a new jacket after I did. 🙂 Lol! 

 

We arrived in Seattle late on Sunday night and spent Monday in Seattle. The cruise ran Tuesday-Tuesday, which is different. This was our 14th Carnival cruise. We stayed at the SpringHill Suites.

 

The hotel had free breakfast and I was impressed with the way the breakfast attendants kept the area clean and the food well stocked. We walked (approx. 20 minutes) to the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens and Glass. Hubby wasn't that excited to see the glass art, but even he was impressed once we toured through.

 

 

 

 

 

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If you look closely at this picture, you can see the reflection of the Space Needle and of me and hubby.

 

 

 

 

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at an Amazon Go place that hubby wanted to go to. I ended up being impressed with this. You enter by your Amazon app and then pick whatever food items you want and there's no checkout. The cameras see what you pick and it bills your credit card on file with your Amazon account. It felt like we were stealing! 

 

My sister sent me this skit about Amazon Go from SNL and I cracked up while watching it! Take a look if you want a good laugh! 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS9U3Gc832Y

[lovestocruise19]

Tuesday morning, we took a Lyft to Smith Cove Terminal. This was THE MOST disorganized port in my 14 sailings. Not sure if it was because it was one of the first few sailings in awhile from Seattle or if it was because there were two ships in port or what. There was no clear direction on where to drop your bags off so we ended up schlepping all our bags onboard ourselves which is the first time we've ever done that. And we had one extra suitcase than normal this time which had our jackets and hiking boots in it. There was a sign that said "Luggage Drop Off," but even the attendants in that section said we should just take our own bags on. Probably for the best because if I left my luggage down there I might not have seen it again! 

 

Another thing that bothered me was the darn Arrive CAN app QR code. Three different people in line asked for us to show it to them. Yes, we did it!  I had printed it from an email instead of having it up on my app and the QR code was on one page and our names were on the other which I think confused them. We waited for a little while in the terminal, but not as long as I thought we might given all the disorganization. 

 

Once onboard, we went to the shore excursions desk to book the Carnival bus for transportation back to the airport. We paid over $100 for a Lyft to get from the airport to our hotel and we were not about to do that again! The Carnival bus was only $57.98 for the two of us. We dropped off our luggage in our room and met our steward, Marvin.

Edited June 5, 2022 by lovestocruise19

[lovestocruise19]

Our first impression of the Splendor is that her decor is quite gaudy! Lol! 

 

We ate lunch at Lido at 11:30 a.m. One big bummer (for me) is that Carnival Splendor does NOT have a Blue Iguana taco place. I love those tacos and missed them very much. We sat in a "nap shack," as my husband dubs them, on Serenity for a bit, but we actually got a little hot since the sun was beaming down on us. The whole ship felt hot to me that first day. I was wearing black leggings and a black Carnival funnel shirt, so that didn't help. Lol! We wandered around until our rooms were ready at 1:30 p.m. We found our muster station, which was outside on Deck 4, but it was super fast. I had a momentary flashback of the old squish you like sardines muster drill, but all we had to do was watch the life jacket demo after we got checked in and that was it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pics from Promenade, Deck 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

The roof was closed over the mid ship pool since it was an Alaskan cruise, but even if it had been open, I felt like the Splendor felt a bit closed in. Especially the deck one up from Lido. There were extra seats/tables and a couple of random hot tubs up there, but it felt very claustrophobic to me.

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

Our room was on Deck 7. We got an offer for an upgrade to a balcony and I jumped at the chance. Even thought we didn't spend tons of time on the balcony because of the cooler weather, it was nice to get fresh air and it was great to be out there on Tracy Arm Fjord day since the ship is moving slowly so there isn't much wind. One thing I didn't like about the room was that the couch seemed really large and it abutted up to the bed really closely, which also left very little room between the window and the bed.

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

We ate dinner in the MDR. The service was very quick and the food was yummy. We watched the Welcome Aboard Show.

 

This is me showing off the clutch I got on Amazon which will now become one of my cruise essentials. It holds my phone, my S&S card and a retractable straw on the nights I wear dresses and don't have pockets or don't feel like wearing my S&S card on my lanyard. 

 

 

Some of the questionable decor in the dining room. Lol!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

Sports Bar

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

We got up at 830 a.m. and went to the Sea Day brunch. I curled my hair the night before in anticipation of elegant night. In the pic below, you can also see me in a new tunic top I bought on Amazon specifically for the cruise. It was very cute and comfy and not too warm, not too cold to wear on a Sea Day. Money well spent. Lol!

 

My Android phone didn't pull up the "What's Happening" (aka Fun Times) on the Carnival Hub app for a couple of days. Hubby had an iPhone and his worked. Come to find out, it was a ship-wide issue. Our TV was on the fritz as well. A tech fixed it the first night, but it wasn't working again the next day.

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

I was disappointed that this cruise didn't have Alaska lectures. In my research, I had seen that they had lectures about Alaska during Sea Days, but it was mostly trivia on this cruise. I didn't see any craft time, either, which I've enjoyed before on cruises. I'm not sure if this was due to the staff shortages or what. Needless to say, between our TV not working and there not being much to do, we spent a lot of time reading, napping and hubby played a game on his phone that I actually got into too where you had to read clues and guess the word. Lol! 

 

I was going to eat lunch at the deli, but there was a long line and it is in the back of Lido on an outer deck and it was cold, so I just ate from the buffet instead. There was no Thousand Island dressing which was a bummer because that is my favorite. They had it off and on throughout the cruise. Must have been another shortage.

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

We ate in the MDR that night for elegant night. Hubby was grumbling about a fellow cruiser dressed in a hooded sweatshirt. I guess it was their most elegant hoodie? Lol! Alaska definitely has a more casual vibe for clothing. However, I like to wear dresses to dinner even on non elegant nights, but that is just me. 

 

Just realized you can see the hoodie lady in the background of this picture. 🤣

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

I loved this display shelf that resembled the Carnival funnel in the gift shop. So cool!

 

 

We watched the Epic Rock show that night and went to a PG comedy show. The comedy was held in the Moroccan Lounge, 5 aft. 

 

 

 

Funny thing about this selfie. I made hubby pose for elegant pictures that night, but the next day I didn't like any of them (I kinda had a feeling I wouldn't because the photographer had us doing dumb poses like with our arms crossed and standing back to back. It made me feel like brother and sister and not a couple on their 10 year anniversary cruise!) so I ended up framing this one of us as our elegant night photo.

 

[lovestocruise19]

The next morning I woke up early (twice) and caught a bit of a sunrise.

 

 

 

 

 

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We ate on Lido for breakfast and wandered around the ship a bit, taking in the scenery. Quite different than a Caribbean cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We then watched from our balcony as we approached Tracy Arm Fjord. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 hour ago, lovestocruise19 said:

Tuesday morning, we took a Lyft to Smith Cove Terminal. This was THE MOST disorganized port in my 14 sailings. Not sure if it was because it was one of the first few sailings in awhile from Seattle or if it was because there were two ships in port or what.

It was a very challenging embarkation day with seemingly every passenger on both ships arriving before 11 AM.  Adding to the confusion,  was Carnival not making it aboundingly clear that ArriveCan was mandatory.  Towards the end of the day with the lines still long, the decision was made to just get passengers onboard without checking for ArriveCan.  Carnival was fined by the Canadian gov't for the large number of passengers without ArriveCan, which prompted Carnival to deny future passengers entry to the Pier 91 terminal building until the ArriveCan registration is completed.

[lovestocruise19]

We went to Lido to get lunch right at noon so we could go back to the room to view more scenery. Seemed like everyone else had the same idea. I was in line at the deli for a good 25 minutes. I got the falafel wrap, which I didn't really care for and it wasn't worth the wait. However, while in line, I did chat with a nice girl from Portland, OR who was on her first cruise. After eating lunch in our room, we went back and forth from our balcony to the secret deck on Deck 7 to see the sights of Tracy Arm. We didn't make it all the way to the end, though, because it was too icy and the ship had to turn around for safety's sake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

This was my favorite shot of the day. I just love the contrast of the white snow, green trees and blue sky!

 

[lovestocruise19]

 

The secret deck was colder since it is in the bow of the ship. Hence my jacket. Which was a GREAT purchase! It had a windbreaker material on the outside with a hood and a fleece liner. In Seattle, I used it without the fleece liner since it is a style where you can convert it. Very nice jacket and I will definitely get more use out of it in NH. The hat was made by my Mom. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too icy to proceed

[LatinaInTexas]

44 minutes ago, lovestocruise19 said:

We ate in the MDR that night for elegant night. Hubby was grumbling about a fellow cruiser dressed in a hooded sweatshirt. I guess it was their most elegant hoodie? Lol! Alaska definitely has a more casual vibe for clothing. However, I like to wear dresses to dinner even on non elegant nights, but that is just me. 

 

Just realized you can see the hoodie lady in the background of this picture. 🤣

 

 

 

That is the best looking prime rib. Mine NEVER looks like that lol.

[lovestocruise19]

That night, we had reservations for the steakhouse for our 10 year wedding anniversary. I don't eat red meat, but I knew the steakhouse had chicken and we had never splurged on the steakhouse before so I booked it as my anniversary gift to hubby. 

 

 

There was a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law seated next to us from Mississippi and Florida. There was a big suction noise, which ended up being a crew member fixing the men's bathroom right next to our table. They asked what the noise was and I told them and mentioned that it was our anniversary. Luckily the repairman didn't take too long. Lol! The daughter-in-law makes bracelets and she gave me one with turquoise beads and a little silver ship that says Alaska in honor of our anniversary, which I thought was so sweet. We all ended up chatting some more in between courses and the mother-in-law ended up buying us champagne to toast our anniversary. She also gave us sage advice, "Don't marry someone you can live with. Marry someone you can't live without." I don't know if they will ever see this, but I just want to thank them so much for making our anniversary even more special. 

 

 

They took a picture of us:

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

5 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

That is the best looking prime rib. Mine NEVER looks like that lol.

 

The food was quite delicious. Desserts were lacking in taste and quantity, but the food was spot on.

[lovestocruise19]

Steakhouse food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't a fan of the rosemary chicken, but man, this "Art at the Table" dessert made up for it for me! And, of course, hubby enjoyed his steak.