LeeloLovesStitch

I'm going in September, so I guess I will know by then. I have not yet had the American table menu, but I do look forward to a change. I know some don't like it, but I am usually not too hard to please when it comes to food:D I am ok with the old standard menu too, but I do look forward to some new things.

Oh it's so good you're going in with such a great attitude!! I really think you'll like it. They have a different appetizer and entree each night themed to that day's port of call, which I thought was so cool. Maybe not 100% authentic all the time, but really cool. And the dessert on the first formal night - it's some kind of chocolate mousse cake with different sauces - I LOOOOOVED that (I mean let's put it this way, I still remember it 2 years later!). And I really like that you get to pick your "sides" with your meal and they were pretty good. Have fun!!

That works! Thank you:)

 

Was it in your review? or did I read somewhere else that Splendor was going to the American Table menu after dry dock? I know I read it some where, but only once. Just wondering if you heard anything. Thanks.

I think I saw it elsewhere too; I have not heard anything definitive so I didn't mention it in my review.

Personally, I LOVED the American Table menus when we had them on Liberty 2 years ago. There were a few things we had this trip that they don't offer anymore, but overall, the change is great.

Are you going before or after dry dock?

Here, let's see if this works.... Am trying to attach them...

carnival_dinner_7days.pdf

carnival_dessert_7days.pdf

Sorry, did not take any photographs of those. But the menus can be found here:

http://www.***********/info/carnival-cruise-lines/menus.php

The Dinner Menu 7 day is accurate for the Splendor; only difference on my cruise last week were days 5 and 6 were switched (as well as dessert menus).

The sea day brunch menu was SLIGHTLY different.

The room service menu is also different.

Ok - last post, unless anyone has anything specific I can answer (maybe...). I just wanted to say thank you for reading and I hope this has provided some useful information. Thank you so much for your kind words!

Happy cruising y'all!!

Day 6 – Sea Day

Today we really didn’t do too much. BF was kind of cranky and was pretty sunburned, so hanging out by the pool wasn’t so much an option. We did go to the empty Robusto Bar on deck 4 for a couple hours today and just hung out, read, and kind of cat-napped. We attempted to go to Bingo with his parents, but it was like $40 for a Bingo card, so we all passed. Mostly it was just a quiet day but I’d much rather be relaxing on a cruise than at work!!! We did go to one of the comedians after dinner.

Breakfast – Brunch – I’m sure I had the flamin’ tomatoes soup again! And maybe just some eggs?

Lunch – Lido – I brought some items down for BF and I for lunch; pizza and a hot dog for him, some Indian and Caribbean pepper pot soup for me (that was pretty tasty!). Finally got some samosas from the tandoor today! They were great.

Dinner – Dinner tonight was AMAZING. I started with the corn chowder, which was good. Then I had the chateaubriand…. WOW. That was fantastic. It was cooked perfectly and the flavor was great. I also ordered the spanakopita, because I am a sucker for good spanakopita – and this delivered! The couscous stuffed pepper was OK, but nothing special. I wish they had the spanakopita on the menu every night, or maybe just one triangle as an appetizer. For dessert, I tried the chocolate, vanilla, and raspberry cake – it was pretty good! Lighter and more gelatinous that I expected, but it was a nice change of pace (and I knew I still had tomorrow for one more melting cake!)

Day 7 – Sea Day

I don’t know what side of the ship the BF woke up on today, but he was SUPER cranky today. So mostly today was kind of a waste. I eventually went up to get some lunch and go to the chocolate buffet. We also saw both comedians that night; they were both OK. The second one mostly was following up on stuff from his show the previous night, so if you didn’t see that (which we didn’t), it was only but so funny. He was participating with the audience a lot that, which was pretty cool, though.

Breakfast – mid morning Brunch – BF had his pork chop, I had a Caesar with both the chicken and bacon, flamin’ tomatoes soup, and the mac & cheese with bacon. Soup and salad were good, and there was a lot more chicken and bacon on this salad than I’d gotten previously, so I was already pretty full by the time the mac and cheese came. It was just OK – nothing special. Overly salty.

Lunch – chocolate buffet!! The rum balls are REALLY good, as was the Bacardi mousse. There were also chocolate wontons that were pretty good. I think I tried a few things off the hot buffet today, but nothing super special. I took some pizza and rum balls down to my cranky-pants BF too.

Dinner – Again with the shellfish allergy, I couldn’t get the crabcake – bummer! So I went for one last round of spring rolls and Caesar salad. I had the prime rib again for dinner and it was good. Then one last chocolate melting cake, and also the grand marnier soufflé, which was just OK. Good, but not spectacular.

Random – I think also the night of San Juan was the night we went to the “adult game show” and Carnival Quest. The “adult game show” really wasn’t anything and Quest just turned out to not really be our thing – we aren’t always “joiners.” It was a little amusing to watch for a few rounds and then we left. But I could see how some people get really into it.

Overall it was a very enjoyable cruise. BF was pretty cranky off and on but I powered through :P I don’t know if I’d choose the Splendor again; there are a lot of other ships I’d rather try first. We definitely missed Guy’s burgers so we’d like to see that again, and we preferred the American Table/American Feast menus that we had on Liberty as well. There were several nights on these older menus that were just kind of blaaah for me; there was only one night I felt that way on Liberty. Actually, if Splendor had new mattresses, Alchemy Bar, Guy’s Burgers instead of the grill, and the new menus, I would do Splendor again. I liked everything else (the décor isn’t great, but that doesn’t bother me at all).

Sorry this ended up being longer than I intended 

Day 4 – San Juan

Well…. We definitely did NOT make the best use of our time in San Juan, but it was still a great day! Since we weren’t arriving in port until noon, we knew ahead of time that we wanted to eat an early lunch before we left the ship (why not, right??). We had breakfast fairly early in the MDR. I honestly can’t remember at the moment what else we did this morning…. Humph. Perhaps this was the day that my BF had wanted to go to the art auction. Yes – that’s it. The night before, he let the art staff sucker him into making a guess about the price of a (very ugly) sculpture. He got the rest of the fam to do it too and so we (they) all decided to go back to the art auction the next day to see if they won (riiiiight…..). I KNEW nobody was going to be buying, or was even really interested in, any of the art…. So I’m not sure why they wanted to do this? Whatever – no harm, no foul!  We went to art auction for just a few minutes…. And then all of a sudden BF was like, OK I’m bored – next! Argh. I KNEW it. So he, MIL, FIL, and I left. SIL and BIL stuck around for a while – no idea why. But to each their own! We went up to Lido for an early lunch and then decided to head out to good ol’ San Juan. None of us had really made any plans – overall, we knew we wanted to see a fort, SIL wanted to shop, perhaps go to a beach (MIL and FIL), and BF and I wanted to go to the Bacardi factory. Once off the ship, we decided to take a motorcoach tour of Old and New San Juan. It was I think $10 each and lasted just over an hour. We did enjoy this – we got to see a lot of San Juan and our tour guide was pretty good. We stopped at a few places to walk around and take pictures and then he dropped as back in the middle of old San Juan. At this point, we decided to go to Barrachinnas, where they originated the pina colada (I LIKE THIS ALREADY). We walked just a few blocks over and all had pina coladas and a couple appetizers to share (I wanted to try some local food). Afterwards, we all kind of dispersed and did our own thing. BF and I walked through a few local shops. We talked to a couple that had clearly just been at the Bacardi factory (guessing by their souvenirs), who told us where to go, but let us know that they closed at 4; we wouldn’t have had enough time to get there at that point. C’est la vie. We walked around a bit more but BF was getting cranky at that point so we just stopped at CVS for a couple things (got a 10 pack of 10 oz cokes for $3! Good deal!) and then went back to the ship. I would have liked to explore a little more, but did not want to deal with grouchy BF, so I just let it go. We ordered room service when we got back and then just hung around the ship until dinner. Can’t remember what we did after dinner….?

Breakfast – MDR – waffle, eggs – overall, pretty good. Better than lido!

Lunch – Lido – I tried the rotisserie up on deck 10 today – the chicken was pretty good and the gravy was yummy. I got some corn on the cob for my BF, which he LOVES. There is also a nice salad bar up there and it doesn’t stay busy. And oh…. The “corn bread.” HA! Good joke, Carnival! It’s not real cornbread that’s made with cornmeal…. It’s literally just yeast bread that they sprinkle corn on top! I had heard of this…. And it was just as funny as people say! I also got a little food from the regular hot line – it was French that day. I got some REALLY good braised French beef! (I mean… I don’t think the cow were from France or anything… just French style ;) )

Room service – Ummmm…. We ordered A LOT….. Turkey sandwich, BLT sandwich, PB&J sandwich, Caesar salad, chicken tenders ($5), and French fries ($1.5)… All the sandwiches were good (I combined the turkey and BLT to make a club-type sandwich); they toast the bread on the PB&J – kind of weird? The Caesar salad didn’t taste quite the same as what we get in the MDR and we didn’t like it very much. The chicken tenders are AWESOME – they are the crunchy panko-breaded ones you can get at brunch. You get 3 large-ish tenders plus dipping sauce and some veggie sticks for $5. I think they are a little overpriced, but BF really wanted them. The fries were good and were hot when they got to us, but they are the same ones you can get for free on Lido at the grill.

Dinner – For dinner, I had the spring rolls and a Caesar to start; the petit filet and cinnamon pumpkin, squash, yam, cheddar pie for my entrée; I remembered trying the squash pie on our last cruise and liking it. It definitely is interesting but I knew I didn’t want just that and wouldn’t finish it. I felt bad wasting it but I do like to have some of it! Another warm chocolate melting cake for dessert…. Soooo good.

Day 5 – St. Maarten

So today’s port is exactly why our itinerary was chosen. MIL and FIL LOOOOOVE St. Maarten and actually go there every year for 2 weeks, so they wanted to pick a cruise that would bring us kids there to see it. We started our day with breakfast in the MDR (service was horrible and slow today!); we were pulling into port and had a wonderful view – I could see already why they love St. Maarten – it is so beautiful! We decided today would primarily be a beach day and then maybe over to Maho beach to see the planes and perhaps a couple other of their favorite haunts around the island. When we got off the ship, we saw we were one of SEVEN ships in port that day! SEVEN. It was crazy! We took the water taxi over the Philipsburg beach and rented some chairs and umbrellas there ($15 per 2 chairs/1 umbrella; we just got 4 chairs and figured we’d kind of all be in and out of the water and walking around and such). The water was this warm, beautiful, crystal clear turquoise with soft sand alllll the way out. SIL and BIL rented a jet ski for $55 for 40 min; BF and I decided we wanted to go later too (*cue ominous music*). We hung out for a bit, in and out of the water. There are a TON of locals walking around selling jewelry, sarongs, bags – you name it! And then more ladies walking around with aloe plants offering massages. They are a little pushy – you usually have to tell them no at least twice – but not overly so. They are still very nice and don’t seem offended if you don’t buy anything, at least. But there is no just averting your gaze – they make sure to engage you! I made the mistake a couple times of saying something like, no thank you, but your (bags/jewelry/whatever) is very pretty! They took that as a signal to try to talk me into buying something. Make sure to just stick to “no, thank you!” So after some time in the water, we decided to rent a jet ski. I just KNEW BF was going to dump us off at some point…. And somewhat fortunately, it was pretty near the beginning of our ride before we got too far out. Well, I couldn’t get my fat butt (ok, more like my big boobs and fat tummy, made bigger by the life vest) back on the jet ski (THAT was embarrassing….) so I just had to swim back in to shore. I considered it my exercise for the day. I told BF to keep going and have fun. I think he did, but he also said it was actually really rough on his arms and shoulders. After a little while longer, MIL, SIL, and BIL wanted to go shop and go to Maho beach. BF, FIL, and I were really digging just relaxing on the beach and didn’t want to waste time in traffic, so we just decided to stay (Also? I don’t really have any desire to go there. I have lived near an airport and military bases all my life. I’ve seen planes up close. I don’t like loud noises. There is zero appeal for me. FIL said it’s OK, but unless you’re really into planes, you just go there to say you’ve been. So no loss for me and BF didn’t really care either). We also had a guy coming around to bring us drinks – BF and FIL split a bucket of beers – I think they were like $2 each or something! I got a guavaberry colada…. SO YUMMY. It was cheap too – maybe like $4 or $5 (I forget – BF paid  )? And he brought out some extra coconut rum for a “free splash!” Yes please! After baking in the hot sun for a while (BF got fried to a crisp that day! I had a little redness up by the bathing suit line), we decided to stroll through some of the shops. We didn’t really care about most of them, but did want to pick up a magnet, and FIL directed us down to the guavaberry emporium. We got a bottle of guavaberry rum for us, a bottle of passionfruit rum for my sister who was taking care of our dog, and a couple more guavaberry coladas. We headed back to our chairs – we didn’t leave anything of value – just towels and sunscreen and stuff – and it didn’t look like anyone had messed with it. We camped out a bit longer and played in the water a little more. MIL, SIL, and BIL made their way back to us and then we all headed back to the ship via the water taxi again. Back at the cruise port, I saw a little stand selling macarons, so I had to grab a few! Coffee, salted caramel, and chocolate passion fruit (I LOVE passion fruit) – they were pretty good, especially the chocolate passion fruit. I think sailaway was at about 5 pm that evening – we had gone back to our room to shower, relax, and get ready for dinner – we wanted to take family pictures that night. The ship was really starting to rock that night (reminder – our room was at the very front of the ship). I had been laying down for a while and was actually kind of enjoying it…. Until I was starting to get ready for dinner and it all caught up to me. I had put on my seabands by this time (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) and took both some bonine and some Dramamine naturals – which is really just ginger. No good. Too late. Got a close up view of our toilet (thank goodness our steward keeps it so clean!). After, I started to feel a little better and we at least went to meet his family for dinner. I had some bread and a bite or two of my peach soup…. And then realized I needed to leave. I stayed in the bathroom by the dining room for a minute, but seemed to start to feel better. I decided to go grab my meds from the cabin and also went up to the shop to see what else they sold (I then found out those nifty behind-the-ear patches are a prescription thing – will definitely look into that for next time, just in case!) (also became quite familiar with the fifth floor public restroom). By the time I got back to the MDR, the fam was on dessert (IT WAS BITTER AND BLANC NIGHT AND I DIDN’T GET TO TRY IT ) , but my BF wasn’t there – they told me he had taken my entrée I’d ordered down to our cabin. So I walked back out to go find him and he was just coming back to the dining room. He’s not always much of a dessert guy (candy is a different story though) so he said he’d go with me somewhere mid-ship where it hopefully wasn’t moving as much. We sat in one of the big comfy booths outside the nightclub, where there seemed to be less motion. I still wasn’t feeling super terrific, so I just decided to call it a night. I knew I had some Benadryl and figured I would just knock myself out. BF went to the love and marriage show with his family (he said it was OK) and then went to see a magician in the 4th floor boardroom (which he said was kind of pitiful). I kind of woke up when he came back in the room and he had very sweetly brought me some rum balls and chocolate cake from somewhere on Lido. I wasn’t up to eating them then, but we stuck them in the mini fridge and they were fab the next day!

Breakfast – MDR – Today I just got a bagel (no salmon) and an omelet…which was not very good. No hard feelings, just putting it out there. Service today was HORRIBLE. The table next to us ended up getting seated, served, and finished before we even got our drinks. The head waiter even kind of indicated his assistant wasn’t really doing anything (which we observed). It wasn’t the end of the world and we were slightly annoyed, but not upset. We had a great view of pulling into St. Maarten, so no worries on our end.

Lunch – hmmm. I think maybe we got a bit of food from the pizza, grill, and deli when we got back on the ship. I know MIL, SIL, and BIL got some spaghetti and chicken alfredo while we were in St. Maarten (although, how they ate hot, heavy pasta in the middle of a hot day was beyond me!!)

Dinner – I ordered the chilled peach soup – again, it was just too thin for my liking. I only ate a couple bites before I could tell I wasn’t feeling good again. I ordered the grilled pork steak for my entrée, but never ate it. I knew this was bitter and blanc night and I’d really been looking forward to trying it!!! No such luck…. Stupid motion sickness!

OK two sea days left! Those will really be pretty short and then I’ll kind of try to sum things up a little.

I will be sailing on my first ever carnival cruise in March aboard the Glory, and we paid a lot of money for this trip since we have to fly all the way from California. After reading all the negative reviews of the new menus, I am very nervous for the food. I'm not a very picky eater, but still nervous, especially for my family members. We sailed on Princess last year, and some of the members in my group, it'll be their first cruise and I really want them to fall in love with cruising like I did!

 

I know the food isn't going to be nowhere like it was on my Princess cruise, but I'm still going to give the menu a chance, still very nervous Lol!

I've only been on two cruises, both Carnival; our first cruise was 2 years ago aboard the Liberty with the new menu. I was pretty impressed with the food on that cruise! It was much better than I was anticipating.

Our last cruise just the other week was on Splendor with the old menu. I did NOT like it as much. It was more along the lines of what I had been expecting.

We want to ensure we have the American Table menus on our next cruise. I think Carnival should maybe still tweak a few things, but I truly think they are on a much better track with the new menus.

Day 3 – Grand Turk

We started the day off with a quick breakfast on Lido so we could get out to the beach as soon as possible! I had been a little apprehensive about Grand Turk – I’d heard some blah things about it as a port – but we ended up really liking it! So for those that aren’t familiar, Grand Turk is a very small island. There are a few excursion options, but they are more limited than most ports. There is, of course, the cruise terminal with all the normal sundry shops, and there is also a good size Margaritaville with a large pool. There is a beach right beside the pier and that’s where we chose to camp out. SIL and BIL went to Margaritaville to camp out for the day; BF, MIL, FIL, and I snagged 4 comfy lounge chairs right under a big palm tree right on the beach by the pier. We had a good combo of sun and shade (there are plenty of folks renting umbrellas for about $15 for the day too). BF and I went out in the water and it was a bit on the cool side – but it was also like 9:30 in the morning! Once you got in, it was pretty nice. The water was a very clear turquoise and the sand was nice and soft. There are some rocks in the water, but they are generally pretty large and flat/round (not jagged) and the water is clear enough that we could see where we were walking very easily. So I know a lot of people complain about them, and yes, I’d rather they not be there…. But for being a free beach RIGHT OFF the pier, we were actually very happy!! There were quite a few fish swimming around so that was cool to see. MIL stepped on a crab and we watched it scuttle away and then bury itself back in the sand – so keep an eye out! We also saw a sea urchin on one of the rocks. We met some really nice ladies from Michigan floating around in the water – they rented a couple floats for $5 each. I kind of wish we had too! Maybe next time! After hanging out in the water for a bit, we headed back in. BF, MIL, and FIL went to go see SIL and BIL at Margaritaville. I stayed with our chairs and belongings. BF brought me back a HUGE pina colada! It was pretty yummy…. But for $19, it darn well better have been!!! BF and FIL shared a bucket of beers that were really expensive as well. So a head’s up – Margaritaville lures you in with the free pool, but drinks and food are UBER EXPENSIVE! SIL and BIL got $28 nachos! We decided it was time to explore a bit so we walked past the shops and to the right of the pier where there is a pretty neat little NASA exhibit. Apparently, Grand Turk used to have an AF base on it! Who knew?!? John Glenn splashed down very near to GT and then was pulled in there to debrief. After reading through the exhibit there, we kept walking to the right and walked down a little beach. There were quite a few rocks here which made for some pretty cool waves. We kept going and found what must be the ATV and horse trail (some of the excursions you can do). We walked out to a helicopter landing pad (another excursion) and then walked back around to connect back to the beach. We passed by a sign that said 5 acres of beachfront property for sale…. And were REALLY tempted until we remembered we have no money to buy 5 acres of beachfront property!! Haha So we headed back to our chairs and then back out into the water for a bit. The fish started to come after my feet this time!! Not aggressively or anything…. But it was weird/amusing. MIL and FIL jumped back on the ship to make themselves a cocktail in their room and bring back out – that’s one of the things we liked so much about GT – you can get on and off the ship SO easily!! BF and I had planned to go aboard for lunch and come back off, but we just ended up staying off the ship a little longer and then went back in time to catch lunch before it closed. I will say I am VERY glad our ship got there first. Another Carnival ship docked about an hour after we got off our ship – the lounge chairs filled up REALLY QUICKLY after that! So overall, depending on what you like to do, my advice for Grand Turk would be to take it as an easy beach day. You can easily get on and off the ship and enjoy the nice little beach right by the pier. When planning your cruise, if you need some tie-breakers on weeks/itineraries, if Grand Turk is one of your stops, chose an itinerary that has your ship docking there EARLY.

Most of the rest of the day we spent at the Aft pool/hot tub. This is one of the days we noticed a big difference in some of the servers – one of the bar servers would go around and take a dozen or more drink orders and then take FOREVER to get all the drinks, run all the S&S accounts, and then get back to everyone. We made sure to stick with our main man Bernardo after that – he would get a few orders but get back to you with your frosty concoction much more efficiently (and we tipped accordingly too). After relaxing by the pool, it was time to get ready for dinner. After dinner, we went to see a comedian/ventriloquist – Taylor Mason – he was HILARIOUS! I was in stitches basically the entire set! (There was one part that dragged a little, but overall, he was FANTASTIC!) oh and I think I may have left off the night before that we went to one of the comics, Carl Faulkenberg (Faulkenberry?) – he was really funny! The line was pretty long to get into the comedy club, but they do fit a good number of people in. The night before, the line was really long and we didn’t even try, but it turns out we probably could have gotten in. The comedians and similar entertainment (there was a hypnotist on our last cruise) are our favorite entertainment so we try to go to a lot of those shows.

Breakfast – lido – blaaaah. SIL and BIL were already here when we got upstairs and they warned us that the bacon was really gross, so we avoided it. I had some cereal and yogurt and grabbed some sausage and potatoes from the hot line. Blah. Not too tasty. We decided we’d be getting breakfast in the MDR moving forward. FIL got some bacon when he came through the line and we all tasted it – SIL and BIL said it was much better than what they had; it still just wasn’t worth eating (in my opinion – but I can be a bit of a bacon snob….). I did get my first cup of POG juice today though!!! My favorite!!! I may have also started to hoard some Lucky Charms in my room…. For the kid in me….

Lunch – We jumped on up to Lido after getting back on board. BF grabbed a hot dog for him and a cheeseburger for me; I got a nice little platter of Indian food as well as some Caribbean pork (pretty good!) from the main buffet line. BF also grabbed a burrito and he was pretty pleased. AND THIS WAS THE DAY WITH THE MANGO POTATOES. If the main Lido buffet has Caribbean that day, GET THE MANGO POTATOES. SOOOO GOOD!! YUM YUM YUM!

Dinner – I was not particularly impressed with tonight’s menu. I ordered the smoked chicken quesadilla, which was OK, but had way more black beans than chicken. I also got the prosciutto ruffles, which were OK, but nothing special. It was a little too room temperature – it should have been a little colder. For my entrée, I got the short ribs – blaaaaah. They basically tasted just like pot roast. I know some people love pot roast…. I am not one of those people. IDK what it is, it’s just never “done it” for me. I got a melting cake for dessert; it was good, but not quite gooey enough tonight. Still yummy though! I snagged a bite of my FIL’s strawberry cheesecake – blaaaaah as well!! Not a lot of flavor and it wasn’t dense or cold and creamy like a cheesecake should be. Again, not bad…. Just not particularly good. I will NOT bother getting cheesecake on board again (maybe I’m a cheesecake snob too… I am OK with this).

More to come! San Juan, St. Maarten, and 2 sea days left!

We were on the same sailing and I agree, pink was everywhere. One thing that stuck out as the pink wooded handrails in the elevators. Who knew there was stain that pink! I also agree Kevin did a great job. He and i had a conversation about the woman who was the only person dancing during the Motown and 80's night trivia who fell, both nights!!! We both agreed she was very lucky to have not been hurt. He was very nice. I continue to agree that i too was disappointed that there was no hot tub in the serenity area. It would have been nice. Three disappointing issues we experienced were food, the steakhouse and FTTF. I felt the food was not up to par compared to previous cruises. We had never done the steakhouse or FTTF. Of the 18 oz steak a large portion of both our steaks were fat and inedible. If never been to Texas roadhouse where I ever had a single piece of steak I couldn't or didn't eat. FTTF was a waste of money. We got on the ship 5 minutes before they called zone 1. Poor judgement on our part for buying it as we didn't tender at any stop. If we had of, that might of made a difference. When we disembarked we did self disembark. We were to be in the dining room by 7:30 and got there at 7:00 and were off the ship by 7:45. FTTF didn't mean anything getting off of the ship. Those 3 things didn't not break our trip. We had a wonderful vacation and once again I would recommend Carnival to anyone. We will book again soon for next year. My one suggestion to Carnival would be that when and if and when a blizzard or disaster hits to have someone at the internet cafe to help and assist. There were poor little old ladies up there who had no internet plan, no idea on how to even use a computer, with no back up plan on how to find flights, check on cancellations, etc. I was there trying to print boarding passes and was kicked off 15 times before they finally printed. When I left a crowd had formed and people were on edge and starting to get ugly. On my way to find a chair to lay out I flagged down a security guy and suggested they get someone up there. Would sail the Splendor any day! Good luck and happy vacation to those on future sailings.

Oh wow - I missed that lady! Hehe :) I thought about doing FTTF this trip, but I did realize none of the ports were tender ports, so I figured it wasn't worth it. But we might try it another trip! Glad you also had a great vacation! And yes - that's a great idea about having a helper in the internet cafe when they could anticipate a lot of users.

Thanks for the review! I am booked on the Splendor later this year. Pink is also my favorite color:D I am looking forward to the tandoor grill, and hope they don't get rid of it in dry dock to make room for guy burgers. They did that on the Freedom dry dock a couple of years back, and I did miss it when I went on my second Freedom cruise. I don't mind guy's burgers, but given a choice I would prefer to keep the tandoor. Looking forward to more of your rewview:)

Ohhh! I hope for your sake they don't either!! The current grill is by the main pool - hopefully they would just convert that into Guy's, if they do it.

Your room steward brought you a fan for your room? is this something that you can request on ships/Splendor? I've always seen people say its a good idea to bring a fan for air movement in rooms. but Never seen anyone say that the steward brought them a fan. Were on Splendor in April but we have a Balcony room on Lido deck. I figure if we need a breeze in the room to open the door or window.

Yes! We have asked for a fan on both our cruises once on the ship and were able to get one. I made sure on this trip to ask for one the very first day, as I've heard on these boards that sometimes they only have a limited supply. We ALWAYS sleep with a fan on, even in winter - we like the circulating air. You MIGHT even be able to email them ahead of time and ask, but I decided to "risk it" and just asked the first day. It wasn't super powerful, but I have no doubt it helped.

Getting to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami – we flew in Saturday night from VA; the only thing I will say about our trip down is…. When you get on a shuttle from the airport to your hotel…. Make sure it’s going to the right hotel….  We got on the shuttle for the wrong Days Inn. We ultimately got to the right hotel (and it was nicer than the first one we went to – I highly recommend the Days Inn Airport South!) but it was a struggle. We took SAS transportation down to Port of Miami on Sunday morning – also highly recommend. Good price, good service.

Day 1 – Embarkation

We got to the port fairly early – maybe around 11? We waltzed right through security and check-in and had boarding zone 2. We were on the ship maybe around 12:30/12:45? Can’t quite remember, but it was definitely before the rooms were ready so we had to lug our carry ons (ok, the BF just had a backpack… I had my oversize purse, my empty Bubba Keg, and a big carry on, which was actually about half his stuff…. Just sayin…) around with us for a little bit. We went straight up to Lido for some lunch (and my first umbrella drink of the trip!!) and then went down to claim seats in the sports bar (we are BIG football fans so we wanted to watch the playoff games). We had the place practically to ourselves for a while and claimed one of the big comfy corner booths so his family could join us when they got on board. On our last cruise, we also watched games in the sports bar and they had some soft pretzels for sale. This cruise, they had wings or deep dish pizza for $5 each. We found it very odd that not a single server or bartender came to our table for a good two hours after we had been sitting there. Yes, it was pretty empty at first and we could have easily gone to the bar had we wanted something so I’m not complaining, per se… it just was odd. Normally the bartenders/servers are all about hustling some drinks, or at least are pretty personable. The sports bar staff was a bit more … reserved? Standoffish? Whatever.

His family trickled in and we settled in for some good football. The bar got full and had great energy with all the fans. I eventually took our bags down to the room and then we had to abandon our seats to go to Muster. Our Muster was actually a little hectic; a passenger was walking in front of everyone after the announcements were done and then she just collapsed! Fortunately, she was OK (don’t know what happened after she left, but she regained consciousness very quickly). By the time we got back down to the bar, our booth was gone and we ended up surrounded by some REALLY obnoxious Steelers fans. Like, banging cowbells and noisemakers in a small crowded space and yelling to each other even though they were face to face type obnoxious. They were so loud it gave me a headache and I finally went to watch the last quarter of the game in our cabin. Happily, Peyton and the Broncos won! Makes me wish I had stayed…. ;) But oh well. We unpacked and settled in a bit and then it was close to dinner by that time so we headed over to the Gold Pearl for our late seating. Dinner was pretty good (more details on food below) and then we all walked the ship after dinner. All in all, a lovely first day to our vacation 

Day 1 food:

Lunch: BF had a hot dog and burger from the grill; hot dog was good, but the bun just fell apart. Burger was OK but dry. I had a burrito and some chips and salsa from the burrito bar. Not as good as the burritos from Blue Iguana, but it was decent.

Dinner: Spring rolls – yum! These were delightful and I got them several more times through the cruise; the tomato sauce with them is really good. And they’re served with a small dollop of mashed potatoes?? We are pretty sure it’s mashed potatoes. But… kind of weird?? Caesar salad – yum! Basic but good. My entrée was chicken a la grecque which I was a big fan of! Basically, it’s chicken topped with pesto served over penne pasta. The chicken was juicy and tender and the pesto was delicious. For dessert, I tried the black forest cake. It was good, but not amazing. It was lighter than most black forest cakes – usually they are very dense, even the cream layers. The layers of this were very light (air = cheap volume, but this is NOT a complaint! When you were serving this many guests for such a good price, you have to stretch things a little. It was nice to end dinner on a lighter note, actually). I knew I’d be having at least a few warm chocolate melting cakes in my future, so I figured I would branch out at least once 

Day 2 – Sea day

We started our day with brunch – YUM – and…. We may or may not have gone back to brunch for lunch…. More on that later. Anyway – after brunch we played a little mini golf! They could probably do with a few extra clubs and balls, but otherwise, it was fun! Then it was down to some lounge chairs at the aft pool. It was actually a bit windy and chilly, but it was nice to sit and read for a while. We went back to brunch for lunch – my BF had his eye on the pork chop. After that, I wanted to play Harry Potter trivia in the lobby, so we headed there and then wandered the ship for a bit. The BF complained that he didn’t feel like there was as much to do on this ship as there was on Liberty…. I think he’s just a whiner. But I figured I’d throw his opinion out there at least. I think this was also the day we watched a little bit of the Dr. Seuss parade and the reading of the Cat in the Hat to the children. Kevin was adorable with them and got them really hyped up! It was pretty cute. I can’t remember what all else we did until dinner, so I’ll just jump to the food:

Breakfast – sea day brunch – flamin’ tomatoes soup – YUM! This was DELICIOUS. A little smoky, good rich flavor – I had this a couple more times throughout the trip. I also got steak and eggs for breakfast. The steak had a little too much “char” flavor – it drowned out the flavor of the beef, but the steak was cooked well. My plate didn’t come with the described béarnaise sauce and our server was nowhere to be seen, so I just did without. The grilled tomato was nice.

Lunch – back to brunch… – This time, instead of the basket of assorted breakfast pastries and croissants, they had popovers!!!! There delicious and I may have eaten all 4 of them by the end of the meal…. I LOVE popovers. I got the flamin’ tomatoes soup again and a Caesar salad with the jerk bacon – it kind of tasted like pepperoni!! But was very good. Only 3 bite sized pieces of bacon in a pretty big salad – I got this later in the week and there was a better amount of bacon. So if you get an entrée that you think doesn’t have quite enough, you might be right. My BF got the Caesar with the fried chicken – yummy panko crusted chicken! REALLY good. He also got his pork chop he’d been eyeing – grilled pork chop with a gorgonzola and caramelized onion sauce. Delicious! It was REALLY good.

Dinner – formal night – I had the strawberry bisque – I’ve heard such good things about Carnival’s chilled fruit soups that this was kind of disappointing (our first cruise had the American Table menu). It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have any body. It tasted like a melted strawberry milkshake. I definitely think “bisque” implies a thicker texture. I also had the spaghetti carbonara as an appetizer and this was GREAT. Since I have recently developed an allergy to shellfish (I THINK and didn’t want to test fate on vacation), I got the prime rib instead of the shrimp and lobster  The prime rib was good and the au jus with it delicious, but man did I want that lobster!! I got my first chocolate melting cake of the trip and it was soooo gooey and delicious…. I went to bed with a very happy tummy that night!!

More to come soon!

On both of our cruises, we had an interior room on deck 2. Our first cruise, the room was about mid-forward and it was great - quiet, not a lot of movement. My BF's parents were on that cruise and a few doors down - directly underneath the lobby. His dad said he heard dancing and music there a few nights. But on deck 1, you'd be underneath a passenger deck, so shouldn't be a problem.

On our cruise last week, our room was the second to the front of the ship and it was ROCKING. I got sick one night while we were in the room getting ready for dinner. There was a lot of noise and shaking from the thrusters when pulling into and out of port - personally, that didn't actually bother me and it didn't last long. But the movement and the noise from the waves were very bothersome to me. Go with deck 1, but get a room midship.

There are hair dryers in the cabin, but you can blow harder than they do!! bring a small travel size one!! There are a few added items to the room service menu that you pay for all the old standard choices are still free.

Actually, the free room service menu is about half the size it was. The hot sandwiches were taken off - I remember there used to be some kind of steak sandwich - it was definitely gone. They definitely still had the turkey sandwich, BLT, tuna sandwich, PB&J, caesar salad, veggie sticks, chocolate cake, cookies. Can't remember exact details so I don't want to post something that wasn't there.

They added several fee based items - chicken tenders (3 large tenders - the panko crusted ones you can get at brunch with the caesar salad; they came served with either honey mustard of BBQ and some veggie sticks); we did order those one day cuz my BF really liked them, but I thought it was overpriced at $5! There's also fries for $1.50 (same ones they serve at the grill) (make sure to ask for ketchup if you want it - they bring JUST the fries), sweet potato fries for $2, a chicken quesadilla for $5, pizza for $5 (different than what they serve on lido), and wings for $5. There may have been another item or two but can't quite recall.

Hello all!

We just got back from a SPLENDID cruise aboard the Splendor. Our itinerary was Grand Turk, San Juan PR, and St. Maarten. This will be a somewhat short review (well, compared to some) - I am going to try to not bore you with details - and I am not including pictures. I am not a good photographer and in fact, only had my phone with me as a camera! I have seen some other reviews with great pictures, so I will let you rely on those :) I will probably be a little heavy on the food.... because *I* am heavy.... and I like food.... :)

About me: this is my second cruise. First was on Carnival Liberty 2 years ago (and we LOVED it!). I will be making some comparisons to that cruise and ship as I go. I was cruising with my boyfriend, his parents, and his sister and her husband. For brevity, I will just refer to them as my in-laws.

Basics/General stuff:

Room - interior room 2206 - this was on the port side at the veeerrrrryyyy front of the ship. We definitely felt the movement of the ship quite a bit - I even got sick one night. There wasn't too much noise until the last couple days, and then we heard quite a bit of banging. I don't know if it was waves against the front of the ship or from the backstage area above, but am leaning towards it not being from backstage - there wasn't much going on in the theater so I can't imagine what it was. The TV might be on its way out - the volume was horrible. Some channels were super quiet, some were deafeningly loud, and some were super scratchy. Not a big deal but hopefully it gets replaced during dry dock in March. The mattress was NOT comfortable. It definitely felt worn out. We asked our room steward for an egg crate and he brought us some kind of foam topper, which helped, but only a little. Hopefully the mattresses get replaced during dry dock too!! Temperature was OK, but a little on the warm side. But that said, we like it to be VERY cold when we sleep. Our room steward brought us a fan, but it only helped a little. Our room steward, Harry, was fantastic! He kept our room spic and span. Overall, we don't mind having an interior room or being on a low deck (made it very easy to be on and off when in port!), but next time, I will definitely choose a room closer to the middle of the ship.

Ship decor - I feel like everyone always comments on the amount of PINK on the Splendor so I will too. However, in the interest of full disclosure, pink is my favorite color :) So I personally didn't mind it. Someone else mentioned that it looks like there are pink doughnuts everywhere, and yeah, that's pretty accurate! Walls, doors, elevators, you name it! We had late dining in the aft Gold Pearl MDR and that's the only place where I felt like things were just gaudy. There were these pink "pearls" that looked like pink fried eggs all over the walls and ceiling. Whatever. It doesn't bother me by any means, but for those people who are more appreciative or who notice things like that, one could definitely not call Splendor's decor sophisticated. Perhaps it's a faulty memory, but the Splendor atrium and lobby have NOTHING on the Liberty. I know they are very similar, but I seem to remember walking onto Liberty and being like OMG, this is HUGE! Splendor felt a little more cramped? Not quite as open? Or maybe just because Liberty was the first time. At any rate, the chandelier in Liberty really is pretty cool and makes for BEAUTIFUL photos, so that was definitely missed on Splendor. Overall, I didn't notice too many areas that seemed uncared for. I will say in the MDR, we were at a 6 top table along the outside edge of the dining room. Our table was right against a window (which in daylight, I'm sure is lovely) but the other side was a large tiled wall. While not a dealbreaker, it kind of felt like we were a bit outcast. Also, the inside most seats, next to the window, the chairs backed up into .... "decor." I don't know how to describe these things. They are big... horns? That are practically floor to ceiling. The chairs back right up into them and it makes getting in and out of your seat kind of difficult, and impossible when the person next to you is already seated. So the area on those... "sculptures?" is all scuffed up and dented.

Staff: overall, the staff was fantastic! As mentioned, our room steward, Harry, was great. We do set dining in the MDR every night and our wait staff, Roger, Jonna, and Michael, were excellent. They greeted us all by name from the second night forward and were very attentive and prompt. My BF said it seemed like the cruise director on our first cruise was more prominent, but I don't seem to remember that at all. Our CD on this cruise, Kevin Donohue, I thought was pretty good. Anytime I saw him, I just seemed to like him. I thought he had good energy. My BF and MIL said his voice got on their nerves a little, but I liked him :) (Side note - some people seem to live and die (OK, maybe an exaggeration) by CDs. Maybe we just haven't had a SUPERAWESOMEFANTASTIC one, but what kind of difference would it make? Honest question here - not being snarky, but I'm sure I will be later) We seemed to be at quite a few things that were hosted/MCed by one of his entertainment staff, Chris (from Connecticut), and we liked him a lot. The one other staff member that we really connected with was a bar waiter named Bernardo. He seemed to be more individually attentive as opposed to some of the others who would go get a dozen or more orders and then take 30 minutes to get back to you with your drink. Overall, we seemed to bond with more members of the Liberty staff than with staff on the Splendor, but other than long wait times from bar waiters, no real complaints about staff. I remember being SO impressed with pretty much every single staff member I encountered on Liberty and I didn't quite get that feeling again. Again - no complaints - just not quite as much of a rave. I would give the Liberty staff (when we went) a 10/10 and the Splendor staff maybe more of an 8/10 - so still VERY GOOD!!

Ship layout and amenities (will focus on food in more detail later) - Splendor was overall very similar to the Liberty. I prefer that the Liberty had hot tubs on their Serenity deck, but I like that Splendor had an open aft pool and hot tubs. Cloud 9 spa - I really wish we had tried the rasul mud treatment, but our pup has racked up quite a few vet bills recently, so we were trying to keep our onboard bill down. However, my BF was very disappointed that there was no real free steam room on this ship. There is a "steam shower" in the locker room but next time we would prefer a ship (his parents chose this ship and paid for our trip so we are NOT complaining) that just has the "regular" Carnival spa and the free steam rooms (Splendor does have free saunas). We (me more than the BF since I don't drink beer) REALLY missed having Alchemy Bar and the RedFrog Rum Bar! I like all the different cocktails they offer. However.... it was probably good this time since we were trying to keep our bill down!! As far as the food venues, we REALLY SUPER missed having Guy's burgers! Before our first cruise, I was grimacing that Carnival had a partnership with that living caricature of a human being, but daaaaang if those burgers weren't delicious on Liberty!! I still don't like Guy Fieri.... but I miss those burgers. We all said that is a MUST on future sailings! The burgers at the grill were always dry. However, the hot dogs were good. The burrito bar on Splendor was also not as good as the BlueIguana on Liberty. But I REALLY liked the tandoor and liked having the rotisserie instead of the fish-n-chips. Most other amenities were pretty similar, if I'm not mistaken.

Internet - since I needed to stay in touch with my sister who was taking care of my sick dog, I got the social media internet package. Service was generally pretty reliable just about anywhere on the ship. The whole week was $25 and you got access to various social media apps, including facebook and facebook messenger (the only ones I used/needed), instagram, pinterest, and a few others, as well as to airline websites (which was a HUGE bonus as we were trying to get back home to the midatlantic after winter storm jonas hit!). Definitely worthwhile if you need to stay in touch, but I wish I could have gotten on email. Hopefully on a future cruise I won't need it; I'd prefer to just unplug and relaaaaaax.

Next up I'll start a brief day by day review. If anyone bothers to read this, please feel free to ask any questions or ask me to focus on anything. :)

Yes, I did mean "boooo" that there was no chocolate milk on the room service menu.

however - I just got off the Splendor, and chocolate milk WAS on room service menu! It was on the regular menu, but not the door hanger menu for breakfast. However, when I just wrote in "2 chocolate milks" on the door hanger, they sure enough brought them! So I was very pleased :)

Hi folks, thanks for all your feedback! We just got back from our wonderful cruise and wanted to leave my input for anyone that can benefit:

Purchased the social media package: $25 for a 7 day cruise. Gives access to facebook (and FB messenger), instagram, pinterest, and a few other social apps - sorry I've forgotten already - I only use facebook. You also get access to most airline websites - this was VERY helpful.

We were on deck 2 at the verrrrrrry front of the ship (felt that ocean a lot....) and service was generally pretty good there. The messages with my sister were always instant, but pictures were sometimes slow to load and logging on to southwest.com was very slow (same everywhere on ship, not just in our room).

A nice bonus was when we were in grand turk, we still have wifi access from the ship while sitting on the beach!

It was very easy to log on and get access. You can also allow other people access on their device (or if you have multiple devices), but only one can be logged in at a time.

It will likely depend on the crowd on your particular sailing as to how lively and late it is. Yes sometimes a live band there.

Last cruise we were on, my BF's parents were under the lobby. They said some nights they could hear it, some nights not as bad. Sorry :(

I have a couple friends on that cruise!! Enjoy!!!

Thank you all so much for your insights! I really appreciate it.

I'm still nervous about leaving him, but of course, this trip was planned and paid for months ago by my boyfriend's parents. My sister said she is fine to take care of him, and I know she'll take good care of him - I'm just worried how stressful it will be for her.

Thanks!!

Can someone who has been on Splendor recently please confirm they have the new internet package? If you used it (looking at the social media package), was it reliable? We will be on the second deck, interior cabin, forward. Did you experience any dead spots? What apps were you able to use?

Sorry if this is a little redundant - I know I have seen quite a bit of info about the internet packages on here, but wanted to confirm specifically for Splendor and get someone's experience using it. We leave on 1/17 and my sister will be taking care of my dog (my baby!!), who has been having a lot of bad side effects from epilepsy medication and I want to make sure we are able to get hold of each other easily. I am thinking of getting the social media package and use FB messenger as our primary means of communication; I do recognize that will not work off the ship, so I am trying to figure out a plan for that, as well.

Thanks so much in advance!!

I thought fitbit only needed bluetooth to sync to your phone, not internet. Is there a way to have your phone on with just bluetooth but not connected to the network/internet?