Splendor 4/15 to 4/22 review as best I can

[FightOnRon]

THIS IS THE BIGGY.................

 

So after armegeddon quieted down,,we went to the first of 2 bingo session of the day. Prior to it starting I went to the bar in the lobby to get a beer,,the man asked what I wanted,,then he proceeded to ignore me as he served all the female customers before getting to the lone male,,,so I got ticked and walked away. My friend and ding dong joined me. I complained about the beer and my friends wife said she would get it for me as she is a women so she won't be ignored (she won't be ignored anyhow,,if she wants something it is her's).

 

She comes back and proceedes to tell me this tale,,now I have referred to her as ding dong during my tale and she is pretty dingy but she is not a liar so I take her word for this as I was not there.

 

She tells the bartender what she wants and she noticed there was a beer of the type I wanted on the bar (that new Thirsty Frog red they serve,,it is pretty discernable vs any other beer on the ship). She claimed someone had just bought it, took at look at it (she is not sure if the took a sip or not but she thinks they did),,she heard this person claim they didn't want it afterall and left it. She claims the bartender took it off the bar, she watched him go to the other side of the bar, pour it into a new glass, then hand it back to her as if it were right out of the tap.

 

She demanded a new one and he did pour one out of the tap,,but the point is he tried to give us a used beer. Now I find that outrageous.

 

I went to the front desk,,they took a report and said something would be done,,but they offered us nothing in return for this. You'd think they would have at least removed the beer from the tab.

 

So did the Armegeddon on the Lido want me to rank this cruise lower,,not at all. Stuff happens and it was actually entertianing to see all those people going nuts at the same time. But this bar incident has me reeling. It doens't seem like a big deal but then again it is. It didn't ruin my cruise at all,,but man it is not the right thing to do.

 

And I lost at bingo again.

 

t/b continued

[FightOnRon]

During the beginning of Armegedon,,they had a Groove for St Jude on the Lido. Pay 10 bucks, get a t-shirt, a wrist-band and if you're able (and I was not,,Ihave pretty bad knees) dance for the hospital on the deck. I think it is a great idea and I was lucky they hadn't run out of shirts in my size when I did this.

 

the end of the day we all know how they go You see the last activities you want,,you pull some handles if that is your thing and we of course had dinner in the MDR with Alejandro, Rina and Steven for the last time. They wanted to pose with pictures with us so we did. BTW,,they had prime rib again (amoungst other things) and it was very very good,,better then the first time this week. So picutres and big hugs all the way around.

 

I regret that I didn't stay up longer to see the Legends show but we wanted to get up really alry and be the first wave off the ship. My friends ahd to drive back to San fransico with a side trip to San Jose so we wanted to get them off the ship early. Ding dong didnt' understand why we couldn't sleep in and leave when we wnated like she doe sin a hotel. For 7 days now we had to fight her for scheduling and such,,she never really got the hang of having to actually do something when the time called for it rather then them waiting for her. So when all else failed,she gambled and gambled and gambled,,,and won then lost, then lost, then won ,then lost, then lost. Telling her we are leaving at 7 am just didn't compute. She wanted to call the front desk and ask for a late check out.

 

We love her dearly but maybe 4 days is the max at a time.

 

Next up,,we leave the boat

[FightOnRon]

Debark day (boo hoo)

 

So I am waiting for a tap on the door for room service to deliver. I look in the hall and discover they don't actually pick up cards for the lst morning. So I call and they say they will serve until 8am so I read off of our card and our friends and it is there in 10 minutes.

 

NO the night befor or the day before,,,they are all blurs now,,we get the paperwork and the zone tags for our luggage but we decided to take it off our selves. upposedly there iwll be an announcement for all the self debarks then an announcement for each zone.

 

Well I recalled armageddon day and how well people will follow instrucitons,,I also remember on the Paradise everyone left at the same time no matter what was called,,so at 7 am we head out,,even though there is no annoucnment. I go to the lobby and people have started forming thier own line by the exit. the crew is yelling at them to go into the Spectacular Spectacular (that is what we called the showroom,,,I supposed they meant for it to be the Spectacular showroom but all the signs call it the Spectacular Spectacular) and maybe 1/3 listen. Now we are pinnined in with the people going one way to what they thought was the exit (they were wrong) and the people trying to follow instructions. Now I honestly do not think this was the entire ship,,I think this was just all the self-debarkers coming at once since no one paged anyone.

 

Turns out the showroom was the correct nd final answer because people were starting to be lead off from the opposite side of where everyone was jumbled up. HOwever before any of us left,,Customs boarded and hauled away one family,,,why,,dunno,,not my job.

 

So even thogh this seemd like mass confusion,,and it was,,we were off the ship by 730-745. But We got stuck in the Custom area as ding dong said she would fill out the form,,she did not,,and we had to wait as she was taken into the naughty room to fill out her form.

 

So our journey has ended. I hope you enjoyed my review/tale. I am reayd to go again if someone wants to pay for me !

 

 

 

 

I may interject in a few thoughts as they occur like this one. I bought two bottles of tequila in Los Veranos. when I got back to the ship they scanned me and told me to go to that special desk to check them in.

 

Honestly, many of the tricks I have read on here would have worked. They were busy so I could have just walked away. Or, someone said once they separated thier purchases and turned in only half and left the other half hidden in their bags,,that would have worked also. My bottles were brought to me by 6 pm the night before we left. Coudl have used them then !

[FightOnRon]

test,,I could attach pictures but don't know how

 

I took 340 pictures at least,,,need to filter them

[FightOnRon]

So I am in the shop that sells sundries and booze. A lady goes nuts because she wants a bottle of tylenol and finds out they are 15 bucks a bottle.

 

My take on ships is they alwyas are reverse pricing,,except for their branded junk which only lasts a week. On land when ther eis a sale you want 2 items for the price of 1. On a ship you get 1 itme for the price of two.

 

The lady went storming our of the shop muttering " ******,,I wonder how much I payed for potatoe chips?". I wanted to tell her she could have gotten them for free from room service,,but she wold have thrown me over the railing.

[AZCAMM]

Hi Ron- Oh how I loved and enjoyed reading the review of your cruise experience both on and off the ship. Me and my DH are going in December 2012. This cruise will be our first on the Splendor and our 7th cruise with Carnival. We ususally try to book a cruise at least every other year so 2012 is it! We are ready NOW to get away and enjoy the warm sun and the solitude the our balcony cabin will provide.

 

Our last cruise was a 9 day on the Spirit. I love the Spirit but found by day 7 that the food was beginning to look and taste the same..the last few meals I skipped and usually ended up having a nice bowl of Cherrios which suprisingly hit the spot.

 

Look forward to reading more of any last minute items you care to share!!!!

 

Take care and thank you again for sharing your cruise with all of us.

[welldone60]

Enjoyed your review. You guys sound like you would be fun to cruise with. Yea, the beer thing would have bothered me to. Hope it was just a bad call by the bartender and a one time deal.

[cvpends]

I had a similar experience with the Lido on the last sea day of our recent Splendor cruise. I wonder if this lady

 

 

I watched a lady take a bite of something, if she didn't like it, she put it directly on a table instead of back on her plate.

 

 

was related to a certain teenager boy on my cruise. He was sitting there with his family at the table next to us on Deck 10 in the Rotisserie area, and he decided he had had enough of what was on his plate and wanted to go get more. So he put his partly eaten plate of food on OUR table :eek: and walked away to go get more! I was so shocked that my usually sharp tongue (the tongue that gets paid to correct the behavior of children -- I'm a teacher, after all) couldn't come up with a response before he had left. His family acted oblivious.

 

Luckily, I didn't run into your bartender, but in my feedback to Carnival I did mention the barstaff as an area of concern. They just weren't as friendly as I might have expected.

 

Anyway, you are an awesome writer who knows how to keep us all in suspense! Thanks for taking all the time to write your review.

[CruzerDeb]

Thanks for the great review; I really enjoyed reading about your trip. I hope the bartender was disciplined for his poor choice with the beer.

[FightOnRon]

I was one of the few, the proud, the selected,,,,selected for an online survey form CCL about this cruise. I did write about the bartender,,,I seriously doubt anything will come of it. It would have stunk big time to come home with something I didn't leave with in the form of a disease. they need to make the staff watch Contagion.

 

Random thiguth,,I was looking over some of my pictures and forgto to mention,,for those that didn't know,,in the Formalities Shop there is a candy store. NOt sure of the conneciton or whe you would need it with so much junk to eat on the boat,,but there it was.

 

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

[FightOnRon]

Afterthought..........

 

Props to dancer Elaine. You knwo the dancers have to run the bingo game amonst other things (I saw one selling jewlery) and one of those other things are the "leanr to dance the _____" classes. Elaine go the Learn to Dance the Michael Jackson thriller Dance class. I was amazed that after 25 minutes how much she had that group doing. And I was amazed at the group that they could recall everything she threw at them.

 

I liked the show Vroom and the snekay way they got you ready for audience participation. They play music before the show and at one point they do YMCA and get everyone on thier feet to do/learn the moves. Then about in the middle of VROOM what happens,,YMCA,,and everyone rises and joins in on the fun. Very sneaky Carnival. I like it.

[mooshell92374]

Fantastic review, so much so that I am wondering if I should even bother writing mine. We were on the same cruise and your review is pretty comparable to ours, minus the bar experience that is just unexceptable. Sorry to hear about your wife's ring that is so sad.

[Poorplaya]

Wow, crammed with great info, thx for posting

[FightOnRon]

Thanks,,,sometimes I get carried away. When I worked I would get in trouble because I would write stories instead of getting to the points and I had to learn to not do that,,but here I just get carried away.

 

A friend asked if I ever did this on my HAL cruises and the answer was no. HAL is pretty much eat breakfat, do an excursion, read, go to dinner, wander then sleep. We decided that what we like the most about CCL is the goofy things they schedule for entertainment. I think that turns a lot of older cruisers off as it is not "traditional." All I know is on a HAL boat I watch a DVD or movie in the room almost every day when at sea. Never even need the TV on CCL druing the daylight and most night time hours.

[lovestheH20]

Ron, thank you for your highly entertaining and thorough review. I cannot tell you how many times I laughed out loud....especially Armageddon day. So darn funny. I am so glad you guys had a great time, but I suspect you would enjoy a vacation no matter where it was. Again thanks for the laughs...the bit about the belching lady with burrito and cat poo breath just has me in hysterics! Haven't laughed like that in a while. We will be on the Splendor in September. Blessings to you and your wife...and ding dong (so,so, funny).;);)

[FightOnRon]

Well ,,if anyone wants to buy me and the DW and ticket,,we would gladly sail with you !

 

 

Thank you everyone for your kinds remarks.

 

YOu know what I keep thinking aobut in Cabo. On the excursions we took,,all of the guides could not stop talking about what a wonderful person Jennifer Aniston is. I guess she helps out a lot in that town, getting involved with the community. Everytime I see her picture in one of my DW's magazines (the ones that helped us win a ship on a stick) I have to think of her name the way it is pronounced down there. I find it very enduring. Of course I can't type it the way they pronounce it.

 

The other thing that bums me out,,I didn't bring home enough tequila. I actually learned a lot about it down there,,,its not just for college kids to get drunk on! And some of it is actually very good and very smooth to drink. I just can't figure out what here in the US would be as good as the homemade traditional stuff we tasted down there.

[FightOnRon]

I know this is way after my review but I had another afterthought.

 

1st full day is a day at sea. My DW immediatly decides to lock a bunch of valuables in the safe as we go wandering. When we return to the cabin we need something out of the safe. My DW forgets the code she used to lock the safe with. It won't open.

 

I call the maintenance people and they say they can send someone to open it. 10 minutes later it is open. I write this not because I am suprised they have the easy technology to open it,,but that the entire ordeal lasted just 10 minutes from phone call to open safe.

 

Good customer sevice in that respect (It was the room steward's supervisor that opened it).

 

Oh,,and try to remember the codes you use !

[cvpends]

It's nice to hear from you again, Ron....I've been missing your words of wisdom!