Our Splendid Splendor cruise (with pics) 8/13/13

[cruise pup]

I just have to remark on this because it kind of scares me. You are leaving Boston in mid December to drive to Manhattan and you are imagining a "casual drive of 4 hours" which includes stops? :confused: I imagine it IS possible, but this just scares me. You COULD have bad weather then and there is always the Christmas crowds in the city on top of the "regular crowds." Just sayin'.....I wonder if it is possible for you to drive down the day before, you could see the Christmas lights, the Rock Center tree, the window displays and have a relaxing embarkation on the ship. ;) Just MHO. Good luck and have a great cruise! :D:cool: I went to college up near Boston, in Beverly! Sorry for the highjack, Jamman. :o

If that really scares you, how about the folks flying in? If the roads are bad think of what is going to happen to the flights.

[phunmum]

Do any of the cruisers remember the name of the Asst. Cruise Director? She was awesome and I can't remember her name at all! I know I should be keeping notes in my old age ;)

[gymrat10]

sounds like you went to Becker.

 

Didn't tell you the rest of the trip to Orlando in Feb. I said we had a flat, well, we only had a donut in the trunk. That meant we could only do 55mph.on our drive down to Fla we couldn't find a Mercedes dealer to get a real tire. Long story short, once we got to orlando and took the car to the benz dealer that informed me that the right passanger tire was junk along with the rim..oh it gets better, another call from the dealer tells me that the rear passanger tire and rim are beyond repair.

 

But you know what, no one was hurt and everything got replaced and we made it to our business forum event on time. Life is good!!

 

Russell

[Crusin Karen]

sounds like you went to Becker.

 

Didn't tell you the rest of the trip to Orlando in Feb. I said we had a flat, well, we only had a donut in the trunk. That meant we could only do 55mph.on our drive down to Fla we couldn't find a Mercedes dealer to get a real tire. Long story short, once we got to orlando and took the car to the benz dealer that informed me that the right passanger tire was junk along with the rim..oh it gets better, another call from the dealer tells me that the rear passanger tire and rim are beyond repair.

 

But you know what, no one was hurt and everything got replaced and we made it to our business forum event on time. Life is good!!

 

Russell

You have a GREAT attitude! ;) No, went to Endicott in Beverly, MA.

[gymrat10]

so what do you think of the Red Sox! What 5 games up..Woohooo

 

just had to get that in. sorry

 

russell

[Crusin Karen]

so what do you think of the Red Sox! What 5 games up..Woohooo

 

just had to get that in. sorry

 

russell

We'll see what happens after this weekend! :eek:

[gymrat10]

We'll see what happens after this weekend! :eek:

time will tell. well gotta get some work done here. I think that is what they pay me for. Good talking with you!

 

Russell

[Jamman54]

I just have to remark on this because it kind of scares me. You are leaving Boston in mid December to drive to Manhattan and you are imagining a "casual drive of 4 hours" which includes stops? :confused: I imagine it IS possible, but this just scares me. You COULD have bad weather then and there is always the Christmas crowds in the city on top of the "regular crowds." Just sayin'.....I wonder if it is possible for you to drive down the day before, you could see the Christmas lights, the Rock Center tree, the window displays and have a relaxing embarkation on the ship. ;) Just MHO. Good luck and have a great cruise! :D:cool: I went to college up near Boston, in Beverly! Sorry for the highjack, Jamman. :o

 

Not a problem Karry!! Whenever information is being given or discussed, it is a GOOD thing!!

 

Do any of the cruisers remember the name of the Asst. Cruise Director? She was awesome and I can't remember her name at all! I know I should be keeping notes in my old age ;)

 

Sorry Angie, I have no idea, and a search thru the Fun Times didn't help!

[Jamman54]

You guys aren't far from us- we are in East Windsor!

 

Yep, not far at all, but I bet you root for the Philadelphia teams! :D

[Jamman54]

Hello Everybody!!! Time to tell you about our final sea day……

 

 

I awoke at 6:15am, and a peek behind the curtain revealed that today would be another beautiful day. The seas were so flat, that you would think we were sailing on a lake. I grabbed our camera and made my way up to deck 9 to have a cup of coffee, and take some shots of what was another beautiful sunrise…..

 

 

I went back to the cabin to snooze for another hour or so. When I woke up for good, I wasn’t feeling like having breakfast today, but Patti did, and afterwards she went to the internet café to check emails and other things. The internet manager told her that he was refunding 25% of our plan price because the internet was not working right for two days. We were happy about that!!

 

 

I started getting things together to begin packing and prepping for when they would be kicking us off tomorrow. The last day is so bittersweet for me. Yes, you are still aboard and there are plenty of things to see and do, but in the back of your mind you are also thinking about what you need to do by tomorrow morning. Patti stopped by to get Ryan, and go to the morning session of bingo, (no winners). I decided to walk around and snap some more photos. I made my way down to the Lobby Bar and decided to have a few Thirsty Frog Reds….

 

 

I started to make my way upstairs. The photo gallery……

 

 

Looking up the Atrium to the skylight……

 

 

To be continued………

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

The Splendido Pool….

 

 

The famous Farcus Funnel….

 

 

Look how flat the ocean is today…….

 

 

Because the ocean was so flat, there were a lot of Dolphin sightings today, but I didn’t catch any on camera….

 

 

Back to the cabin for a little bit, turned on the tv, and was given this visual on how close we were getting to home…..

 

 

We decided to go up to the Rotisserie for lunch, and as usual, there was absolutely no line. I loved the chicken, baked potatoes, and salads up there. We then walked down the stairs right into the Chocolate Buffet which is only available the last sea day from Noon to 2:30pm. Patti took the following mouth watering pictures…..

 

 

To be continued….

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

More shots of the Chocolate Extravaganza…..

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, Ryan went to hang out with his Club O2 friends. We wouldn’t see him much for the rest of the day. Patti went to her last session of bingo, and though she didn’t win again, she finished WAY ahead of the game. I went up to the Casino to play blackjack for a while, and I lost a little bit, but I made sure that I also went home a winner. I don’t think that I mentioned this before, but the Casino staff were extremely wonderful, and very friendly. I had even run into one of the pit bosses that remembered me from my last Miracle cruise in 2010!

 

Back to the cabin, where Patti and I hung out on the balcony, and did some packing. A little after 5pm, I went out for a final picture tour of the ship. It’s something I do on just about every cruise I’ve been on. Kind of my way of saying goodbye, and thanks for the good times!!

 

The Liner Pool and hot tubs…..

 

 

Splash Park…..

 

 

To be continued…..

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

The Basketball court…..

 

 

The Splendido Pool roof is closed……

 

 

Cloud 9 Spa Entrance….

 

 

Cloud 9 Spa Hallway….

 

 

Cloud 9 Spa Treadmills….

 

 

Cloud 9 Spa Cycles….

 

 

To be continued….

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

Cloud 9 Spa T-Pool…..

 

 

Splendido Pool….

 

 

 

 

Seaside Theater….

 

 

Looks like the pizza is ready…….

 

 

To be continued……

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

These were the only two slices of pizza that I had on the whole cruise. Very thin crust, but not bad at all…..

 

 

Another view of the Liner Pool and hot tubs….

 

 

Ship’s Wake…..

 

 

The Liner Bar. I had quite a few drinks there!!!

 

 

Looking down from the Lido deck to our balcony. (above the C A)….

 

 

Liner Pool ship model……

 

 

To be continued…..

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

The other Liner Pool ship model….

 

 

Back to the cabin where I found Patti just about done packing and relaxing on the balcony….

 

 

Our final sunset for this cruise was going to be another beautiful one!! Me and the setting sun….

 

 

Patti and the setting sun…..

 

 

Our final sunset……

 

 

 

To be continued……

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[Jamman54]

The full moon was rising in the east…..

 

 

Ryan had made a few more towel animals from his book and left them for us….

 

 

It was time to head to the Gold Pearl Restaurant for our last dinner aboard the Splendor. Once again Bertram and his assistants were at the top of their game!! I had the shrimp cocktail, portabella mushrooms, grilled chicken and bacon mac n cheese. Patti had the vegetable lasagna as her entrée. We both had the apple pie a la mode for our dessert. Constantine gave his goodbye speech…..

 

 

Then the wait staff sang their traditional “Leaving on a Funship” as their last song for us. I couldn’t help but get teary eyed…..

 

 

Bertram and one of his assistants……

 

 

We said our goodbyes, then headed back to the cabin to finish packing and put our luggage out in the hallway to be collected, since we would not be doing self assist debarkation. As Platinum members we were given Zone 1 tags.

 

Our final towel animal……

 

 

Patti decided to go out and walk around, then check emails, but I decided to just hang out on the moonlit balcony and have a few beers. When Patti got back we decided to call it a cruise. Ryan got in about 1am. Good for him!!!

 

Coming up next: Sailing back into New York, debarkation, and final thoughts.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Jamman54

[gymrat10]

If that really scares you, how about the folks flying in? If the roads are bad think of what is going to happen to the flights.

if you look back a couple of years, December has been a relatively a mild month and some years extremely warm for a December. Here is hoping for another warm Dec.

 

Russell

[2CoolCanucks]

Thanks so much for your great review!!! We are heading out on the Splendor at the end of the month. Your pics have now got me super excited about the ship and the itinerary.

 

Looking forward to your final installment. :)

[bjinouno]

NO NO please don't do the last morning,,, i don't want it to end again, Jeff thanks for reliving the cruise for us, David has just about finished a video that he will be posting on youtube, it's like 20 min long, but will give furture Splendor guest going to Grand Turk, HMC and Nassau another look on what they can see and do.

Hay check out next August 30th Carnival Legion cruise....Sure would like to do this one.. 23 days!! might just start spending those pennies now!

[Want2bcruisin]

Most of the shots were taken with our Sony DSC-H10. We also used our waterproof camera which is a Fuji FinePix XP60 for those in water and other shots.

 

You will have a GREAT time on the Splendor!!

 

I have been looking at the Fuji FinePix, but I can't decide if I should buy the camera or use the money for an extra spa treatment.

[bjinouno]

MMMM a moment of pleasure or a life time of memories...(oh wait that can go either way) LOL

[alreadypacked]

Great review Jamman!

 

I've been following for a while but am only just commenting now.

 

Thanks for the nice commentary and photos! Seems like you and your wife and son had a great cruise!

[jimbo5544]

Nice job Jeff! Great pics also. Love the shots at the end with the sunset!

[Linerguy]

EXCELLENT review and wonderful pics. Appreciate the time involved in sharing this with us.

It makes me look forward to my trip on SPLENDOR in November even more.

 

BTW, the two ship models are of the NORMANDIE (1935) and QUEEN MARY (1936)...probably the two most famous ocean liners of the 1930's. Glad to see that they are encased in glass, and protected from roaming hands.

 

-Russ