Live 'n Loose - Carnival Splendor, 26th Dec 2026

[arxcards]

I promise little, but hope to share some thoughts and comparisons from aboard Splendor over the next few days. First time on Splendor for me, and first time Carnival for Barb.

 

So far, so good. 1st on, even overtaking a few transit passengers that headed for X-ray ahead of us. One thing so far - so many with priority on Princess that there is a crowd when check-in opens. No so much with Splendor. First aboard at 10:45, and much fewer people in the conga line.

[MicCanberra]

Enjoy.

[rkmw]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

I promise little, but hope to share some thoughts and comparisons from aboard Splendor over the next few days. First time on Splendor for me, and first time Carnival for Barb.

 

So far, so good. 1st on, even overtaking a few transit passengers that headed for X-ray ahead of us. One thing so far - so many with priority on Princess that there is a crowd when check-in opens. No so much with Splendor. First aboard at 10:45, and much fewer people in the conga line.

Geoff if you haven’t found out yet, deck 9 and 5 are the only ones that go all the way thru unless you use the passenger decks 

 

best to use the Hub app to book your evening meal if doing anytime dining in the Black Pearl deck 3 forward near guest services , Set dining is deck 3 aft

 

MDR for breakfast is in the Gold Pearl 3 aft but need to book a time with the Hub app 

[arxcards]

27 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Geoff if you haven’t found out yet, deck 9 and 5 are the only ones that go all the way thru unless you use the passenger decks 

 

best to use the Hub app to book your evening meal if doing anytime dining in the Black Pearl deck 3 forward near guest services , Set dining is deck 3 aft

 

MDR for breakfast is in the Gold Pearl 3 aft but need to book a time with the Hub app 

Thanks. Even deck 5 is weird Bob, as it only works on starboard. We have walked around a bit. Boarded early, but not much open. A short cruise, so a large % were walking about with their trolley carry-ons till 1:30, and that was really strange to see.

 

Barb had a plate of salad, and I had a Guy's ringer. Nice enough, but nothing special. We are looking forward to trying out different eateries, and it will be 555 tonight. 

 

Looking forward to sailaway, both for the beauty of the harbour and for the venues around the ship to open.

[arxcards]

Clouds are rolling in. Big dark ones!

 

Will it be sailaway or hailaway?

[cheznandy]

Have fun Geoff n Barb. Love Carnival!

The comedy venues are great as well as piano bar etc. Head up front top for quiet and lounges...behind water slides.

 

[Chiliburn]

@arxcards  Enjoy Geoff .

I have Celebrity Edge coming up .

[aussielozzie18]

We had spectacular lightning last night.  Boom, crash, opera (thunder) almost all day today but thankfully only accompanied by rain, no hail (yet)…

You may get this storm as you sail away or you might just miss it…

 

Enjoy your cruise. Will follow to see what you think of the Splendour.

[arxcards]

13 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

We had spectacular lightning last night.  Boom, crash, opera (thunder) almost all day today but thankfully only accompanied by rain, no hail (yet)…

You may get this storm as you sail away or you might just miss it…

 

Enjoy your cruise. Will follow to see what you think of the Splendour.

The storm mostly died-out. Family & friends in the lower Hunter were smashed by hail early this afternoon. It has been an erratic December.

[rkmw]

If you want a lunch time snack try the deli on deck 9 aft Portside just at the Serenity Pool and they have a lunch time bbq on deck 10 inside just above the Buffett and it’s quite popular 

[aussielozzie18]

15 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The storm mostly died-out. Family & friends in the lower Hunter were smashed by hail early this afternoon. It has been an erratic December.

Sorry to read that.  Hope they didn’t suffer damage to their houses/cars.

[icat2000]

Splendour is a weird layout. Just got to remember the Dolly PArton song and you be fine. Its not my favourite Carnival ship (mainly due to layout), but the staff were fantastic on there. We had some very good dining room staff.

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, icat2000 said:

Splendour is a weird layout. Just got to remember the Dolly PArton song and you be fine. Its not my favourite Carnival ship (mainly due to layout), but the staff were fantastic on there. We had some very good dining room staff.

Dolly Parton song 🎵?

That would spoil a cruise, and there is also Sheena Easton. All good though, our cabin is on a deck that goes from go to whoa anyway.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Sorry to read that.  Hope they didn’t suffer damage to their houses/cars.

Some damage, insured, fixable. Inconvenient, but otherwise OK. One of Barb's workmates has learned that solar panels don't like hail, and our daughter has a pock marked car.

[colourbird]

3 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

@arxcards  Enjoy Geoff .

I have Celebrity Edge coming up .

 

Just home from Edge last week. Beautiful ship. It was our first Celebrity cruise and we were waiting to see how it went before booking another one. Ended up making another booking whilst onboard.

[Chiliburn]

48 minutes ago, colourbird said:

 

Just home from Edge last week. Beautiful ship. It was our first Celebrity cruise and we were waiting to see how it went before booking another one. Ended up making another booking whilst onboard.

I was told it’s good and has a bit of a younger clientele .

I think Geoff was going on it but decided on Carnival instead. LOL

Edited December 26, 2023 by Chiliburn

[colourbird]

9 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I was told it’s good and has a bit of a younger clientele .

I think Geoff was going on it but decided on Carnival instead. LOL

 

Yes a younger crowd and more upmarket than Carnival (and some of the others). The free ice-creams, sorbet and frozen yoghurt were really tasty and they had some great flavours at Scoops. You just have to watch out as each day there is one flavour they charge for, but if you can wait, that flavour is usually available free on other days.

[lyndarra]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

The storm mostly died-out. Family & friends in the lower Hunter were smashed by hail early this afternoon. It has been an erratic December.

I went windsurfing as there was a good breeze blowing. As soon as I hit the water the wind died. About 500m from shore the thunder started. As my board and mast etc are made of carbon fibre, which is a great conductor of electricity, I headed back to shore and called it quits for the day. This time I missed the brunt of it.

[resordanis]

20 hours ago, arxcards said:

I promise little, but hope to share some thoughts and comparisons from aboard Splendor over the next few days. First time on Splendor for me, and first time Carnival for Barb.

 

So far, so good. 1st on, even overtaking a few transit passengers that headed for X-ray ahead of us. One thing so far - so many with priority on Princess that there is a crowd when check-in opens. No so much with Splendor. First aboard at 10:45, and much fewer people in the conga line.

Enjoy your cruise Geoff. I am interested in your opinion of Carnival.

[resordanis]

15 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

@arxcards  Enjoy Geoff .

I have Celebrity Edge coming up .

Can’t wait for that review Chili. Will be keen to hear your views on Celebrity vs Royal.

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, lyndarra said:

I went windsurfing as there was a good breeze blowing. As soon as I hit the water the wind died. About 500m from shore the thunder started. As my board and mast etc are made of carbon fibre, which is a great conductor of electricity, I headed back to shore and called it quits for the day. This time I missed the brunt of it.

Good choice, take care. 30+ years ago, I had earlier worked with a guy who was struck by lightning while windsurfing on Lake Mac.

[arxcards]

Dinner at 555 was nice. The atmosphere is a bit lacking, but the food was amazing. The price has recently gone up to $72pp, but we booked at a cheaper price some time back.

 

Is that value for money? Well, we will often eat a similar quality meal at TGI Friday's for a similar price - but dining room food is already included in the fare. Thank heavens for all the OBC we have, as $60pp would be my value limit. All the same, the NY strip was about as good as it gets, and way superior to a $100+ Chops Grille steak on Royal.

 

The cabin. It is nice. This booking goes way back with covid cancellation credits and an Ocean suite was hard to pass up. Nice size, rather comfy, well laid out and maintained. The outward opening balcony door whistles in the breeze, a flaw compared to sliding doors that latch-up onto the seal better. Power outlets are interesting. For a suite, we have 1 x Aussie and 1× US. The US socket has a light switch adjacent to it on the panel, so it is a delicate balance using an adapter plug without turning the light on. Thank heavens for USB. There are 4 lamps in the room, each with 2x sockets. Plenty for your devices, but really restrictive if you rely on the power sockets. In the case of an Ocean suite, pack detached cables, not chargers with fixed wall plugs. Apart from a nicer cabin, a suite has limited perks  - a bit of priority and 2 x large bottles of water.

 

Brunch was nice. What a great option to have eggs benny followed by 7 layer chocolate cake at 9am. We skipped dessert. Only the $9 Java juices available. I am OK with them on the menu, but would prefer the free "carton" juices to be an option too. The app worked well to book. It said 10 minute wait, so we did the reservation as we were leaving the cabin, and got our alert just before we arrived. The lobby was jammed with people waiting for their table ready alert.

 

The decor hasn't scared us. It mostly sits in the background, and we love the retro cartoon-like panel art in the passenger corridors.

 

So far, nice. Just nice, as we haven't quite synced to the ship yet.

[Tripmode33]

23 hours ago, rkmw said:

If you want a lunch time snack try the deli on deck 9 aft Portside just at the Serenity Pool and they have a lunch time bbq on deck 10 inside just above the Buffett and it’s quite popular 

The buffalo chicken roll from the Deli is certainly worth trying one lunch.

And we found if we asked for included juice at brunch, even though it wasn't listed, they usually obliged. 

[Chiliburn]

@arxcards  Does the princess Medallion work on that ship ,like there’s a pretty good full moon 

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

@arxcards  Does the princess Medallion work on that ship ,like there’s a pretty good full moon 

Only in the Alchemy bar (I wish). Starting to find the vibe of this ship young Phil.