EdmundXXIII

Sad that the Splendor will no longer sail from NY.

Norfolk has been sharing her with NY and Miami. :) I'm on the last sailing on her out of Norfolk on October 23-30.

Next year, Norfolk and NY are getting the Sunshine!

71 days until sailing on the Splendor to Bermuda (7 Days)

442 days until sailing on the Sunshine to Eastern Caribbean (8 Days)

Both are out of Norfolk, VA. My favorite port, by far! I wish Carnival had more frequent homeport service there.

What is the El Mojito Wine Bar like? What sort of menu does it feature?

I think not. If you're not interested in their offer, they'll just call the next person on their list.

Thanks, I am wondering the same thing. Was even told that I said that we would stop cruising with Carnival over this, shaking my head over that one.

 

 

 

Nice to save a few bucks on booze but not worth it in this case.

The one thing that probably will tempt me is getting some things on land that I can't get back in the states.

That will probably just be determined by post-cruise travel plans.

We're doing restless Native in Oct. (privately, it's less expensive than through Carnival). They have gotten wonderful reviews through TripAdvisor.

Thanks! I'll check them out on trip advisor.

Do you know who operates the one that Carnival markets as "Bermuda Snorkel Adventure," so I can research that one?

I'm going to Bermuda on the Carnival Splendor in October, and need help choosing a Snorkel excursion!

Does anyone have any experience with the Snorkel excursions offered directly through Carnival?

The options are:

Bermuda Snorkel & Glass Bottom Boat

Bermuda Snorkel Adventure

Ultimate Catamaran: Sail, Snorkel, Swim

Restless Native Discovery Cruise & Snorkel

None of them have reviews, and the descriptions don't give a lot information about the actual snorkel destinations. I'm leaning toward the Bermuda Snorkel Adventure; I really want to do one that will give the best experience in the water, hopefully seeing some really nice off-shore reefs.

If anyone has been on any of these excursions and can tell me a little about them, that'd be awesome! Thanks!

(I'll probably also do some beach snorkeling and possibly book some excursions directly on the island but do want to do one through the ship.)

I dont believe the crew will be reduced based on not delivering liquor and since they seem to work the crew to maximum hours dont really think they save anything.

 

 

 

It is hard enough to stay within baggage limits when flying so surprised that many people will still find it worthwhile to fly liquor home. We have learned to take an extra carryon bag with us when flying and move stuff around to get under limit.

I don't know why everyone's jumping on you for your opinion here. I agree with you completely.

I'll still sail with Carnival. I'm just less likely to buy liquor on board. Not being melodramatic. It's just not worth it to me when I weigh saving a few dollars buying tax and duty free vs. waiting in another line on embarkation day, and adjusting packing and moving out of the cabin accordingly.

I wouldn't sweat it much. There's not a lot of true monetary value in Carnivals VIFP.

 

 

 

And if you remove the monetary value of most "loyalty" programs, they are nothing more than an adult version of Junior High.

 

 

 

First in line, "LOOK AT ME!", a particular color card, "LOOK AT ME!", name on a hotel list at the check-in counter, "LOOK AT ME!".

 

 

 

Big Whoop. I'm guessing most of us graduated Junior High some time ago.

Maybe at the lower levels, but at Platinum there are some nice perks.

I'm currently Gold, and the perks aren't much to get excited about. But I'd be upset if I lost my VIFP points. I may still be 2 or 3 years away from hitting Platinum, but I am looking forward to priority boarding and free laundry.

you should never arrive 30 minutes late for dining room, it causes all kind of problems for waiters and everyone else, if you are this late go to Lido.

AMEN!

Assigned dining is highly advantageous. But you do need to show up on time.

One last pic from our Catamaran:

A shot of the harbor area with the other Carnival ship. It is the Valor.

And a view from the top of the Liberty, looking down the water slide.

After a great day of snorkeling and the beach, it was time to board the catamaran and head home to the Liberty.

Andrew looks a little tired from the adventure. :D

Pulling away from Water Island:

Drink in hand and feeling a bit more chipper!

Almost back to the Liberty!

After about an hour of snorkeling, we were off to the second location: a secluded beach on Water Island, one of the other U.S. Virgin Islands.

On the ride over:

Here's me on our catamaran:

A very cool tall ship that was docked at Water Island:

The beach they took us to was absolutely stunning. We got about an hour there t just hang out and have a good time. I snorkeled a little off the beach, but not much to see there. But it was so beautiful and peaceful!

Selfie on the beach: :cool:

We did the "Two Island Snorkel & Beach Safari by Fastcat" Excursion. It's here on Carnival's site if you're considering trying it: http://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/st-thomas-usvi/two-island-snorkel-and-beach-safari-by-fastcat-434078

It was an EXCELLENT excursion. The crew was friendly, knowledgeable, and experienced. The "Breeze" Fast Catamaran was a real thrill ride! The water was choppy on the way out, and we went airborne more than once.

Here we are departing on the catamaran. Andrew's head in foreground. Liberty in background. :)

Soon we were at our first snorkel spot.

Reefs:

Andrew's first time snorkeling!

I love this shot, because you can see a fish below water and a bird above!

A lovely little alley, filled with palms & shops! We got some coffee there to take home as gifts. I bought my Father-in-Law a Caribbean Rum Coffee in one of the shops.

We walked down to the waterfront. Here's a panoramic shot:

But now we were out of time for exploring, so we took a taxi back to the ship to get ready for our excursion.

Here's a view from the port area:

We had a few hours before our excursion, so we took a taxi into Charlotte Amalie for some sight-seeing and shopping.

Lutheran (?) Church in Charlotte Amalie:

Town Square area:

Bell in the square:

Description under the bell about the landing of the Virginia Settlers. (I was very interested in this as a Virginia native!)

Heading down the street into town:

Sorry it has taken so long to continue this! Between a busy couple of weeks at work and some beautiful weather on my days off, I haven't had a chance to sit down and pick out photos and type.

So, here we go with the beautiful island of St. Thomas, USVI!

This is our very first view of the island, and it's the first time here for both me and Andrew. We were both super excited to reach our first destination. Hurricane Cristobal was now to our West, and headed away from us.

As we got closer, we saw an airplane flying above.

A couple pictures as we are getting closer to St. Thomas:

And pulling up to port there was another Carnival ship. Either the Valor or the Victory. (I can't remember now!)

Thanks for your video.

 

Keith

Glad you liked it!

I've taken a lot of cruises, and this may be a rookie question, but how did you get the email address for the Maitre D'?

Each ship has a two letter email code. Type those letters followed by "maitred@carnival.com"

Maitre d' - xxmaitred@carnival.com

Steakhouse - xxsteakhouse@carnival.com (for ships with a steakhouse)

The codes are:

BR Breeze

CQ Conquest

DR Dream

EC Ecstacy

EL Elation

FA Fantasy

FD Freedom

FS Fascination

GL Glory

IM Imagination

IS Inspiration

LE Legend

LI Liberty

MC Magic

MI Miracle

PA Paradise

PR Pride

SE Sensation

SL Splendor

SP Spirit

SH Sunshine

TI Triumph

VA Valor

VI Victory

VS Vista

And an unrelated note: I should be able to continue the review with more pictures this weekend!

It had been planned to roll out the new menus fleet wide by the end of 2015, but now they're saying just two more ships will get it.

I'm pretty disappointed, since that means I'll have the old

Menus on the Splendor this October, and prefer the new ones.

I actually like pretty much all the things people are mentioning.

I enjoy Guy's Burgers, CMC, John Heald, Ceasar Salad, Blue Iguana Cantina, etc.

Perhaps one thing that is very characteristically "Carnival" that isn't my cup of tea is the feeling of a constant party atmosphere. When on vacation, I tend to avoid crowds and seek out a combination of solitary, but highly active, things to do. But I continue to cruise with Carnival because they do a great job of providing a good time for people like me in addition to those who want to dance and go to karaoke and hang out at a deck party for sail away.

I'm going to Bermuda on the Carnival Splendor in October, and need help choosing a Snorkel excursion!

Does anyone have any experience with the Snorkel excursions offered directly through Carnival?

The options are:

Bermuda Snorkel & Glass Bottom Boat

Bermuda Snorkel Adventure

Ultimate Catamaran: Sail, Snorkel, Swim

Restless Native Discovery Cruise & Snorkel

None of them have reviews, and the descriptions don't give a lot information about the actual snorkel destinations. I'm leaning toward the Bermuda Snorkel Adventure; I really want to do one that will give the best experience in the water, hopefully seeing some really nice off-shore reefs.

If anyone has been on any of these excursions and can tell me a little about them, that'd be awesome! Thanks!

I'd be annoyed if I could hear my neighbor's music. Keep it inside and turned down low. Or use headphones.

On our first sea day we were off the coast of Cuba. From what I understand, we were closer than they normally would go due to Cristobal.

We passed a raft of people who were apparently fleeing Cuba, and the ship came to a stop and turned around to rescue them.

I got some video, but it didn't turn out well so I am going to include a video I found on YouTube by someone else on the same sailing who uploaded it.

[YOUTUBE]

Later that night, during our late-seating dinner the ship rendezvoused with a Coast Guard vessel to transfer the refugees.

Our cruise director, Cory Rogers, kept us well informed through the hold process.

Speaking of Cory, he was my favorite CD so far from any cruise! He did a great job with the onboard activities.

I got a picture with him giving me a Ship on a Stick for winning the "Star Wars" trivia game. And I've got to brag, not only did I win but I got a record high score. :D

On Sea Day 2, I had the Sushi delivered which I had preordered on the Fun Shops on Carnival.com.

It was pretty awful. I can't recommend it to anyone. I'll be on the Sunshine in 2016, and am looking forward to trying the Sushi at the dedicated Sushi Bar onboard. I've heard it's much better!

And just because I love them (and I know lots of you do too) here's another towel animal:

As you can see from our FunTimes, the next day we'd be in St. Thomas! I was very excited to get there, since it was my first time. All the other ports were repeats.

That day, we had gotten a notice that the excursion we booked in St. Martin (high speed boat ride) was cancelled due to low numbers. We couldn't find another one in St. Martin that looked interesting, so we decided to book one in St. Thomas. We quickly purchased the tickets for a Snorkel & Beach Day excursion and went to bed.

More about St. Thomas and our excursion in the next few posts!

A little while later, I went down to the Alchemy Bar. The year before on the Glory, I never went to Alchemy. Later on, when I was reading reviews from fellow passengers, I regretted it so this time I wouldn't be making the same mistake!

Alchemy Bar became my favorite spot onboard. The two bartenders were Anna and Tetyana, and they were both spectacular.

Here's a video of Anna making my first Alchemy drink, the Martini Seduction. I had seen a video of a drink with an orange peel that was flamed, and I asked her to make me one of those!

[YOUTUBE]

My second drink was the Spicy Chipotle Pineapple Martini:

By the way, I got the recipes for both. I'll include them at the bottom of this post.

After that first day, I ended up dropping by Alchemy Bar every day in the late afternoon for a before-dinner drink. I was determined to try everything on the menu. That ended up being about 3 drinks a day, which is more than I usually have been I figured it was vacation, so why not?

Part of the fun of going the same time every day was making some friends.

Here we are with Sonny, one of the guys we sat with pretty often:

We also hit it off with another guy named Peter, but didn't get a picture together.

Andrew, who before this cruise was a teetotaler, even started trying things!

I don't think he could resist after seeing the artistry with which Anna and Tetyana made the cocktails!

Here's a pic of us with our favorite bartenders, Anna and Tetyana:

Aside from being amazing at making drinks, they were a lot of fun to talk to! On the last sea day, I took the Alchemy Bartending Class, which was taught by Tetyana. It was excellent, and I learned a lot. If you enjoy making drinks, definitely sign up for this on any ship that has Alchemy Bar. You'll also get to try a lot of things during the class.

On the last day, I had finished the menu and then let Tetyana make me a few off-menu drinks. I think that was probably the one time in my life I've been rip-roaring drunk. When it was time to head back to our cabin to get changed for dinner, I don't think I wouldn't have found my way home if I hadn't been following Andrew through the crowds! :D

One final note on Alchemy Bar: It's a great place to go when you're leaving a port. There are huge windows right by the bar, and it won't be crowded then.

Martini Seduction

2 ounces Stoli Orange Vodka or Skyy Blood Orange Vodka

1 ounce Monin Red Passion Fruit syrup

.75 ounces fresh lime juice

1 ounce orange juice

Add all ingredients in a shaker, fill with ice. Shake for at least 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled glass. Hold an orange peel over a flame for several seconds and then squeeze. The oils in the peel will cause a poof of flame. Rub the rim of the glass with the burnt orange peel and then drop it in.

Spicy Chipotle Pineapple Martini

2 ounces Vodka

1 once Monin Chipotle Pineapple Syrup

1 ounce pineapple juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup

6-8 mint leaves

Muddle mint leaves in a glass. Add other ingredients. Shake and strain into Martini glass. Garnish with one mint leaf.