JohnSpo

Everyone. I believe the wine choice was Santa Carolina red or white.

I received the free bottle on my first night visit to the Pinnacle Steakhouse on Splendor in January. I tried the bottle of Santa Carolina red and it was a decent wine. It went well with my surf and turf. Try the shrimp cocktail for the appetizer. The shrimp were huge and fresh. The table side Cesar salad was great. The cheesecake was delicious and huge. I ate everything except I could only get halfway throuth the cheesecake.

It was an excellent meal and I went back a second time later in the cruise.

Enjoy!:cool:

I also just booked Paradise for the May 17th 5 nighter out of Tampa with ports in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. These are 2 of my favorite ports.

It is a smaller ship but the reviews are positive and people seem to enjoy the ship.

The only thing I will miss is no steakhouse.

Enjoy the Paradise.:cool:

The Taste Bar is very good but I really do miss the nightly Sushi with a cold beer or a glass of wine. I have to remember to look out for the night they serve sushi in the MDR. It is good you can order more than one.:cool:

One of the nights they should try the Pinnacle Steakhouse. It is $35 per person but well worth the price. The steakhouse offers a free bottle of wine on the first night of the cruise.

Before dinner they have the Taste Bar on the inside promenade that offers 2 small appetizers on most nights.

The thin crust pizza on Lido is awesome.

As mentined above, on sea days they have the MDR brunch instead of the usual morning breakfast in the MDR. They have some good brunch entree and a tasty danish basket.

The Mongolian Wok for lunch on Lido is very good with some good mild and spicey sauces.

As far as entertainment, the comedy shows are always good and they offer a family version or a late night adult version. The lounge production shows are all good especially Vroom. The live bands around the ship were very good. You had to look at the daily Carnival schedule to find out when and where they were playing.

There is a lot to do on the ship so make sure they know to look at the daily Carnival shedule that is in the cabin every day. There is certainly something fun to do for everyone. Oh, and don't forget the shopping.

Overall the Splendor is an awesome cruise out of NYC.:cool:

our experience on the splendor was INCREDIBLE!!! We were treated like royalty and we were sad that we could not make it back a 2nd time! i'm sailing again in 2 weeks and have planned 3 nights at the steakhouse:D

 

Tasty food, excellent service, amazing atmosphere....all for an affordable price.

 

Well worth it to us!!

I also went to the Pinnacle steakhouse on Splendor on the Jan 20th sailing. I went the first night and received a free bottle of red wine. The wine was good. I loved the shrimp cocktail for the appetizer. The shrimp were huge and fresh. For the entree, I had a delicious surf and turf. I had the cheescake for dessert. It was huge but I was able to eat about half. I had such a great meal that I went again on day 5 of the cruise. It is definitely well worth it.:cool:

The thin crust "Italy" style pizza on Lido on the Splendor is excellent.

Also in the Pinnacle Steakhouse on Splendor, the shrimp cocktail, surf & turf and the cheescake for dessert are all excellent. Well worth the $35 charge.

The apple crumb cake at the Lido lunch buffet on embarkation day is my favorite cake at the buffet.

You will enjoy the Splendor.

Enjoy!:cool:

I think this list may be a bit out of date. I checked my upcoming repositioning cruise on the Dream which was on the list and there is no break for singles anymore.

 

I am very happy that CCL is using no supplements on some sailings to help fill the ships since I enjoy sailing solo. I hope they will continue to do it in the future.

Yes. Hopefully Carnival continues the no single supplement cruises. I usually book Early Saver a year or so in advance since I know my vacation dates. If I want to take advantage of the no single supplement deals, I will have to start booking a month or 2 out. Great deal. I took advantage of a no supplement deal this past Nov-13 on a 5 day Ecstasy cruise out of Port Canaveral. I was taking an 8 day Florida land vacation and I was able to fit this Ecstasy cruise in. A great deal.:cool:

They will make Veggie burgers at Guys (on Liberty) but they cook them when you order so just order one, go get a drink from the bar and when you come back it's waiting for you. Literally the best veggie burger my husband or I have ever had!

 

 

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This is good to know. Hopefully they have the veggie burger at Guy's on Conquest.:cool:

My favorite is New York City. The port is organized and it is easy to get on and off the ship. I never experienced long lines.

 

I enjoy the 7 day New England/Canada north itinerary and the 8 day Florida, Bahamas, Caribbean itineraries.

 

Living on Long Island, it is an easy train ride to the port so that saves on airfare.

 

Hopefully Carnival resumes year round cruising out of NYC.:cool:

Oh yes, how can I forget. NYC sailaway is spectacular!:)

My favorite is New York City. The port is organized and it is easy to get on and off the ship. I never experienced long lines.

I enjoy the 7 day New England/Canada north itinerary and the 8 day Florida, Bahamas, Caribbean itineraries.

Living on Long Island, it is an easy train ride to the port so that saves on airfare.

Hopefully Carnival resumes year round cruising out of NYC.:cool:

Yes, Carnival offers wine packages at 3 pricing levels depending on the price point you want. I always choose the first (cheaper) level and the wines have always been great.

Shorter cruises offer a 3 bottle packages. Longer cruises such as 7 or longer days offers 5 bottle packages.

On my recent Feb-2014 7 day Splendor sailing, I purchased the 5 bottle package at $114. This is the first level (cheaper) package and I thought all of the wines I chose were great. In Nov-13 on my 5 day Ecstasy sailing, I purchased the 3 bottle first level wine package for $67. The choice of wines are the same for the 3 or 5 bottle package.

Keep in mind that Carnival will add an automatic 15% gratuity to the wine package so there is no need to pay a gratuity to the bartender.

I heard to not purchase the wine package while the ship is in port because they will charge you tax. I purchased while at sea so I did not pay the tax.

I have purchased the wine package in the Formalities Shop, in the MDR and also at a display on Lido Deck. The location to purchase the wine package depends on the ship.

At time of purchase, they will give you 3 or 5 small vouchers to present to the bartender or MDR staff. The back of the voucher will show the wine that is available to select.

You can redeem the vouchers at any bar on the ship or the MDR. I found it is better to redeem in the MDR because the wait won't be as bad because the wine will be with your meal. When I redeemed at a ship bar, most of the time the bartender had to go off site to get the wine because they did not have all of the selections at the bar. If I did want the wine at the bar, I would just ask the bartender which wine in the package they had at the bar. I would then choose the wine they had at the bar and not wait. Everytime the wine was great.

Carnival says that the wine package will save you 25% off of the individual bottle price.

Give the wine package a try. You will enjoy it. :cool:

As far as clothing, I suggest pants, long & short sleeve shirts and a light jacket. Dress in layers and later in the day and after walking, you may feel warm and then you can just take off the layers. I did not need shorts at any of the 4 ports during the 3rd week of Sept. The ports were Boston, Portland, St John and Halifax.

I did see the omlette cooks put a small ladle of oil into the pan before cooking the omlette. Perhaps when they were cooking your omlette, there was enough residue oil from a prior cooking. Does anyone know if they use a clean pan after each use or do they just wipe it out. Not sure.

I also use Pam at home and my eggs do not come out oily.

I did the 7 day on Glory out of NYC on Sept 22, 2012. I did walking tours on my own at both St John and Halifax. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, and bars within walking distance of the ship at both ports. Make sure you vistit the Citadel in Halifax. Great views of the city and a lot of History of the city.

The weather in St John was rainy and in the upper 50's that day. Halifax was sunny and warmer, closer to the mid 60's and windy.

Both were great ports. You will enjoy them.:cool:

As mentioned above, yes they have the egg whites at the omlette station. If you want to keep the omlette as healthy as possible, make sure you tell them not to put too much oil in the pan. The omlettes tend to be on the oily side. You can also load it up with a variety of vegetable they have on offer.

You can also request egg whites in the MDR. :cool:

I did a steakhouse reservation change. I used the email address from the email confirmation and asked them to change the time. I received a new email confirmation back the next day. It worked out just fine.:cool:

I do like the consistency of excellent service, clean ships, great food, large cabins, good entertainment, good schedules, good ports and great value for the price. I also like the size of the ships and layout of the ships. Especially the Conquest class ships. Not too big but they offer the ammenities I want. I have only sailed on Carnival, 7 cruises in all over the last 10 years. I feel right at home on Carnival and they treat me great. Keep it up Carnival. :cool:

I was on the Jan 20th Splendor out of NYC. I thought the pizza was excellent and had it almost every day. It is a thin crust "Italy" style pizza. If you like this type then I am sure you will love it. If you like a thick chewy heavier style, then you may not enjoy it. I enjoyed it because it was not too filling but it hit the spot. I usually got the basic tomato sauce/cheese pizza. The tomato sauce is delicious and so is the cheese. It comes with fresh basil. If you are willing to take what is already out of the oven then you will not wait long. If you order a specific pizza then you will be waiting from 10 to 20 minutes during peak times.

The food and overall experience on Splendor was great on my cruise. Enjoy.:cool:

I need to book by sailing date first then price and Carnival has won out. This is fine because I have enjoyed all of my Carnival cruises. I live near NYC and I am receiving a lot of advertisements from RCL and NCL for their NYC cruises. I would be open to trying them since CCL will be reducing service out of NYC.:cool:

Is it $35 per person for the Steakhouse?

 

Thank you.

The Pinnacle Steakhouse was awesome. Get the shrimp cocktail. Service was great and not too intrusive. Certainly worth the $35. I went twice.:cool:

anytime dining was filled up and so was the early dining. we didn't have a choice. we had to do the late dining.

Yes, it is getting more difficult to get into YTD. It is has gotten popular and at times fills up before early or late dining.

Overall we had a very nice time, atet a lot of food and was sad for it to end. but in the future, my son and I think we will do norwegian because of the anytime dining and more activities on those ships.

Carnival does have their version of Anytime Dining called "Your Time Dining". I have done Carnival's YTD for the last 2 years and it is very good. You can choose to eat from 5:45pm to 9:30pm. You can also choose your wait staff and table if you find staff and a location you like. The flexibility of YTD has worked out for me when I wanted to see shows at a speciic time.:cool:

I was on the Jan 20th Splendor cruise out of NYC on an 8 day Florida/Bahamas Itinerary. Based on the reviews, I wasn't expecting a great cruise but it wound up being awesome. The NYC sailaway was spectacular.

I had YTD in the MDR. The service was excellent. The food was very good. The food in the buffet was good but I did not eat there much except for breakfast a few times. The omlettes were excellent but let them know not to put too much oil in the pans when cooking them. The sea day brunch was very good with a nice selection of items.

Remember to go to the Taste Bar before dinner to enjoy various appetizers on certain nights. They were very good.

I went to the steakhouse twice and it was excellent. Especially the jumbo shrimp cocktail and the surf and turf. There is no Guy's Burgers, but the thin crust "Italy" style pizza was excellent.

The entertaiment was plentiful and very good from the live bands to the lounge shows to the comedy shows. Vroom was a great show.

The ship was very clean.

The only negatives were the over crowding of the Promenade area, especially when taking photos. The other negative was there being way too much cigarette smoke in the casino area.

Overall an excellent cruise.:cool:

My first ship was Inspiration out of Tampa back in Sept 2003. It was a 7 night West Caribbean porting in Grand Cayman, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

I remember how large the ship seemd even though it was a Fantasy class ship. I was recently on sister ship Ecstasy. It seems Carnival did a complete re-do of Ecstasy because I see no resemblence to Inspiration. I guess I really just forgot Inspiration and I have been on mostly Conquest class ships more recently.

:cool:

If going with family, we will sometimes book a year or more out. Now with the no single supplement deals, I have started booking last minute solo cruises.:cool: