Splendid Splendor (Long) Review - May 17 to May 24

[iggy's mom]

Just off of the Carnival Splendor this morning. I always have the best of intentions in posting a review when we return, but never do, so I thought I would get to it early this time.

A bit of background on us.... DH and I are 40 something year-olds/no kids, who are loyal Princess and DCL cruisers. DH had never cruised on Carnival before, while I had once in the early 90's. I have been reading John's blog thingy since it started, and knew that we had to try Carnival. We booked this cruise about a 6 months ago, and we selected it based on the fact that the Carnival Splendor is currently the newest ship in the Carnival fleet, and that Long Beach is about an hour's drive from our home. Flash forward to the swine flu and changed routes -- we are in the minority in that we were actually pleased with the change as we have cruised to Mexico in the past and already have plans to do so in the future.

 

Embarkation

We arrived to the ship at about 1:30pm and we were on board by 2:30pm. While the whole check-in process seemed to drag on, it actually was efficient and well run.

 

Stateroom

We were on the Lido deck, stateroom #9278. My first reaction when we entered the room was that it was tiny. However, it was actually a good sized room for us, with plenty of storage space. The cabin is not too far from the pool area. There was only one night when it was really noisy, but that had more to do with the surrounding cabins. We did learn a lesson, and that is, next time we will travel with a small power strip.

 

The Ship

I had read reviews about how pink the ship is, and yes it is; however I never found it to be too overwhelming. Once we got use to the layout of the ship, we found it easy to navigate. There was plenty of spaces (clubs, lounges, etc.) in which to read or play games during the day, and at night each of these areas was in use with music and the like.

 

Entertainment

We completely enjoyed the Carnival Splendor production shows. The only one we did not see was Fiesta Latina. Lawrence Neals, the male lead singer, is fantastic.

 

We did not care for the comedian who was on the ship the first few days, because we didn't find him to be funny. Later in the cruise different "fly on" entertainers came on, and we enjoyed them much better.

 

On the sea days, there was plenty to do. I am a "joiner" and like to go to all of the trivia contests, the backstage tour, and all of the other activities that are hosted by the Social Hosts.

 

Food

We found the food on the Carnival Splendor to be wonderful! Not everything was great, but nothing was all that horrible either. We had Main Dinning in the Golden Pearl, upstairs. Raj and his assistant were terrific!! We had requested a table for 2, and we were happy to see that our requested had been granted.

 

We had breakfast twice in the dinning room. The 2nd time, the service was really slow, so we stuck to the breakfast at the buffet.

 

For lunches, I enjoyed The Deli and the Tandoori, while DH ate hamburgers at The Grill or pizza from the Pizza Bar.

 

We had dinner one night (Tuesday) at the Pinnacle Steakhouse. The food and the service was first rate.

 

Ports of Call/Shore Excursions

We booked our shore excursions on board the ship.

 

Astoria, OR (Tuesday) -- We did the Fort Stevens Behind the Scenes tour. The bus ride to the Fort was a little annoying as we seemed to be on a bus with a select group of people who were displeased with just about everything (how cold it was, not going to Mexico, not getting their favorite waiter at dinner, upset that their was child on our tour, etc.). Once we got to the Fort, we enjoyed the tour. The guides were very smart and knew their stuff.

 

Victoria, BC (Wednesday) -- We were late getting into port. We arrived on time, however due to wind and sea conditions, it was deemed unsafe to dock, so the Captain had us putter around for a few hours until the winds died down. We were about 3.5 hours late docking. We did the Butchart & Butterfly Gardens tour. Butchart Gardens is a wonder to see. It is not something I would typically go and do, however I am happy that I did.

 

Vancouver, BC (Thursday) -- We did the Stanley Park & Scenic Grouse Mountain shore excursion. It was a perfectly clear day and the view down the mountain was incredible.

 

Staff

We found the staff to be wonderful. Brad (the CD), Matt (Asst. CD) and Social Hosts Owen and Grayson seemed to really enjoy what they do. We found each to be very approachable and good humored.

 

Raj in the dinning room was excellent and funny!

Our room attendant (I don't remember his name) was not too out going, but he kept our room looking spotless.

 

Debarkation

We did self assist this morning. We were off the ship around 8:35am and home by 9:30. It was easy and quick.

 

To sum up -- We really enjoyed our cruise! It was fun, relaxing yet busy. The ship is magnificant as is her crew. Although we are not giving up Princess or DCL, we loved the Carnival Splendor so much, that we now want to cruise on Carnival again (and again....). :)

 

I know that I have left out a ton of stuff, but did not want an already long review to be even longer. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will try to answer.

[cathyz]

Thanks for the really quick review! We have a friend who was on the Splendor with you so waiting to hear his review too, I'm sure he had a great time! We'll be on the Splendor in October so glad to hear you had a good time!

[tink24]

We just got off on 5/10 and had a great time as well. We compared everything to DCL and found that Carnival excelled in the food, cabin service, dining room service and kids club. We prefer the shows, TV programming and ship decor on DCL. I priced out our next cruise and DCL was over $2k more expensive than Carnival so I think we will be sailing Carnival again very soon. Glad you enjoyed the excursions. We did the same ones. Did your bus driver in Vancouver take you to Chinatown to get fresh apple tarts from the bakery? That was the best part of the whole excursion. YUM:D

[iggy's mom]

Nope, our driver didn't take us to the bakery. He did show us several of the venues for the upcoming Olympics. Plus, he took us on sort of a restaurant tour....several different couples asked good places for lunch for we did "drive-bys" of his favorites down by the pier.

[mistyinca]

How was the weather up and back? Did the Lido lid stay closed the whole time?

 

And how about the seas going up and back? Was it rough on the way up?

 

Thanks! :)

[azbaby8062]

I am glad that you liked your cruise. We will be on her in two weeks from today. At first I was disappointed in missing Mexico. However, we were there once before and since we have already broken a record for the consecutive days above 100 for May, being out of the heat is not a bad thing.

[Sea Hag]

Ooooh! Your review makes me even more impatient for our 5/31 cruise! Thanks! :D

[Chacooe]

Some of us have asked Carnival if they could do this itinerary all year round or even like they do the Alaska cruises. I think people would like this as a change for the West Coast. If any of you agree, please send an email to the Carnival Guest Relations ask them to keep this itinerary or offer it more often. Like I told them, with 22 ships and 2 more coming, they could put one more on the West Coast for this cruise, even if it is one of their smaller ships.

[tink24]

Some of us have asked Carnival if they could do this itinerary all year round or even like they do the Alaska cruises. I think people would like this as a change for the West Coast. If any of you agree, please send an email to the Carnival Guest Relations ask them to keep this itinerary or offer it more often. Like I told them, with 22 ships and 2 more coming, they could put one more on the West Coast for this cruise, even if it is one of their smaller ships.

That would be awesome! Living in SoCal I get so tired of Mexico and Catalina as my options. We LOVED our cruise to Canada even though the first half was only in the 40s & 50s. Our trip back was in the 60s and 70s. The PNW is so beautiful any time of year.

[iggy's mom]

How was the weather up and back? Did the Lido lid stay closed the whole time?

 

And how about the seas going up and back? Was it rough on the way up?

 

Thanks! :)

 

 

 

The seas going up was overall probably a bit rough. I don't get seasick, however DH does, and he was glad to have plenty of seasick medicine. Besides the rough seas, it was VERY windy on the way up. On the way down, the seas were much calmer, but it did get a tad rough late yesterday afternoon.

 

The weather on the way up was cold, and wind did not help at all. It was a better on the way down, but certainly still not warm. The Lido lid stayed closed the whole except for a few hours while in port in Vancouver.

[calicruising]

It is interesting that you should mention this because when I called the other day about my June 7th sailing, they said that many people had called and were disappointed that it was not available after June 14th and were requested it be a regular itinerary. I told them that RCCL is adding it to their itinerary for the Mariner in conjunction with the Mexican Riviera Itinerary. Good Idea.. just switch them around. I booked this cruise because of the price and the itinerary. We have so little to see from the West Coast.. so this is an excellent choice.

 

Some of us have asked Carnival if they could do this itinerary all year round or even like they do the Alaska cruises. I think people would like this as a change for the West Coast. If any of you agree, please send an email to the Carnival Guest Relations ask them to keep this itinerary or offer it more often. Like I told them, with 22 ships and 2 more coming, they could put one more on the West Coast for this cruise, even if it is one of their smaller ships.

[tink24]

It is interesting that you should mention this because when I called the other day about my June 7th sailing, they said that many people had called and were disappointed that it was not available after June 14th and were requested it be a regular itinerary. I told them that RCCL is adding it to their itinerary for the Mariner in conjunction with the Mexican Riviera Itinerary. Good Idea.. just switch them around. I booked this cruise because of the price and the itinerary. We have so little to see from the West Coast.. so this is an excellent choice.

How did you hear about the PNW being added for the Mariner as a regular itinerary in conjunction with Mexico? I checked the website and it wasn't listed. I would love to test out the Mariner on that route.

[calicruising]

I am a travel agent and got a press release on it the other day. It is not a definite yet, but with all of the calls and letters, it is very likely that they will do it. The story appeared in USA Today and the link is below.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=66980185.blog

 

How did you hear about the PNW being added for the Mariner as a regular itinerary in conjunction with Mexico? I checked the website and it wasn't listed. I would love to test out the Mariner on that route.

[watersprite]

thanks for putting up your notes. Did you use the thermal suite for the spa? Did you try the tandoori option?

 

I saw some complaints about cigarette smoke, was that an issue?

[victory2020]

Thank you for your great (& speedy review). Am going next week - yes, only because of the itinerary. If all of us who go put it on our comment cards along with writing to them it may work to get this as an itinerary a few times a year (I'm thinking early September while it's still warm & the kids have just gone back to school - normally a slow couple of weeks for them).

A couple of questions - our room is right around the corner from yours. Did you get Lido traffic in the hall? What were the goodies in your goodie basket? Was the sea day weather comfortable? How close do you tender(or dock) in Astoria? Close enough to walk into town? - we walk alot.

As I remember, no more beef wellington on the menu? I'll probably have more questions soon. Thanks

[iggy's mom]

thanks for putting up your notes. Did you use the thermal suite for the spa? Did you try the tandoori option?

 

I saw some complaints about cigarette smoke, was that an issue?

 

 

We purchased the week pass to Thermal Suite, and it was wonderful! It was busy at the first part of the week, and less so as the week went on. For some reason I did not pay attention when the Thalasso Pool was being explained on the spa tour, and when I got in, I was shocked that it was not hot water, rather it's in the low 70's.

 

Yes, I ate at the Tandoori, and will certainly eat there again the next time we are on the ship. The first couple of days it didn't seem busy as I don't think people had discovered it yet, but once they did it was well used during the lunch rush at noon.

 

I can see how people could complain about the cigarette smoke. I'm a non-smoker, and it usually doesn't bother me. However, the one time it did was on the first sea day....back to back to back trivia challenges and the like were scheduled in the Robusto Bar....so the venue was filled with many smokers plus people playing the games. I was actually irked at the person who schedule the activities to be in the room. Also, even though the lounge chair outside of the casino are designated as non-smoking, people were smoking at those tables. It didn't bother us, but we did over hear a table a dinner one night making those comments.

[iggy's mom]

Thank you for your great (& speedy review). Am going next week - yes, only because of the itinerary. If all of us who go put it on our comment cards along with writing to them it may work to get this as an itinerary a few times a year (I'm thinking early September while it's still warm & the kids have just gone back to school - normally a slow couple of weeks for them).

A couple of questions - our room is right around the corner from yours. Did you get Lido traffic in the hall? What were the goodies in your goodie basket? Was the sea day weather comfortable? How close do you tender(or dock) in Astoria? Close enough to walk into town? - we walk alot.

As I remember, no more beef wellington on the menu? I'll probably have more questions soon. Thanks

 

 

No, we did not have Lido traffic coming by the room. We were actually surprised by that.

 

In Astoria, where the ship docks, I am not sure of the exact distance into town, but our bus driver told people on our bus that if they wanted to walk into town it was about a 20 to 25 minute walk. I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

I did not see Beef Wellington on the menu.

 

The goodie basket in the bathroom had 2 razors, 2 packets of Tyneol, and Crest toothpaste samples.

[tink24]

Our "goodies" included Zicam, Pepcid, Multiple razors, 5 flavors of Crest, and Arm & Hammer toothpaste.

[victory2020]

Thanks for the reponses!

[cowboycruiser]

They have shuttle busses to take you downtown. I think we paid $5 each. It's not too far to walk, but a little uphill. We took the shuttle and would again. We walked around the town and it was very cute. The theater was beautiful as was the Favel house. The people in town were super nice and the town was so clean you would have thought you were in Canada. It was a huge difference to pulling into LA with air you can slice.

[victory2020]

Hi Iggy's mom, a couple more questions; how did you like the upper level 2top in the Golden Pearl? Could you see the "show" after dinner? Did people dress for formal night on this ship? (I'm sure not like Princesss) Also, what is DCL cruise lines?

[calicruising]

DCL should be Disney Cruise Lines

 

Hi Iggy's mom, a couple more questions; how did you like the upper level 2top in the Golden Pearl? Could you see the "show" after dinner? Did people dress for formal night on this ship? (I'm sure not like Princesss) Also, what is DCL cruise lines?

[victory2020]

DCL should be Disney Cruise Lines

Thanks!

[firefly4423]

Thanks for taking the time to do your review!!!

[iggy's mom]

Hi Iggy's mom, a couple more questions; how did you like the upper level 2top in the Golden Pearl? Could you see the "show" after dinner? Did people dress for formal night on this ship? (I'm sure not like Princesss) Also, what is DCL cruise lines?

 

I really liked the upper level in the Golden Pearl as we had a table along the railing, and could look down onto the 1st floor. It made for good people watching. :)

 

Yes, we could see the show. The people who were further back up on the 2nd floor (closer to the windows) all moved forward to see the show.

 

There was a variety of dress on the formal nights. Not a lot of tux's and formal gowns, but some. White tux's seemed to be the choice for men as I saw more of those, then the traditional black. Mostly men were wearing really nice suits and ladies wearing nice dresses or nice dressy pants outfits. The level of "formal" dress was no less and no more than on our past couple of Princess cruises. We did have a family on the first formal night in the Golden Pearl who was all wearing jeans....they got a few head turns and stares.

 

DCL is Disney Cruise Line...sorry, I should have written that out.