The good the bad and the ugly from my adventures on the Carnival Splendor

[lovelearnteach]

Keep on and ignore the negative Nellies. There are people who are enjoying your report!

Thank-you :)!

[lovelearnteach]

Thanks for taking the time to recap for us. Keep it up...

Thank-you :).

[2 cruzen]

Dec. 20th, 2013

 

Today is a sea day. I got up about 5:45a.m. and wanted some hot tea so up I went to the buffet to get some. They were starting to set up the buffets, but they weren't open yet. I grabbed a banana and a orange, got my tea and headed back to the cabin. Not many people out and about that early, but a few.

 

We lazed around until brunch started at 8:30a.m. and that's where we headed. I got the fruit plate and eggs benedict with home fries. We got to sit at a window table for 8 but ended up being the only people to sit at our table.

 

Service was good this time, and they food was okay. The hollandaise was a bit to citrusy and the home fries were not cooked all the way through. Sorry I forgot to get a pic of the eb and hf :(.

 

ALWAYS order the EB with the sauce on the side. Much better. Little trick I learned here on CC. :D

[karinvt]

ALWAYS order the EB with the sauce on the side. Much better. Little trick I learned here on CC. :D

 

I ALWAYS do that too! I learned it here too and what a difference it makes.

[lovelearnteach]

ALWAYS order the EB with the sauce on the side. Much better. Little trick I learned here on CC. :D

Oh man good tip for sure thank-you so much :).

[lovelearnteach]

I ALWAYS do that too! I learned it here too and what a difference it makes.

I bet, made so much sense the second I heard it, I'll remember for next time as that's probably a good tip at just about any restaurant :).

[lovelearnteach]

Dec. 22, 2013

 

Today is a port day, we are at Port Canaveral from 7:00a.m.-6:00p.m.

 

I booked us a boat tour of the 1000 Islands Channel with Boat Line Tours at 2:00p.m. at the Sunset Cafe on my own. It just so happens that the morning tour with this same operator is for the cruise ships at almost triple the price :eek::D.

 

We get up, get ready and head to the MDR for breakfast. They sat us at a table for 8, there were 6 of us sitting there at first. We had to ask for pastry and our drinks were filled only once during the entire breakfast.

 

A little off, but nothing that was a major catastrophe.

 

We ordered and our food had just arrived when they sat 2 more people at our table, really how rude. They ended up being the nicest people at the table, they were the cutest young couple from New York. They were telling me and Terry all the free stuff to do in Manhattan, so sweet :).

 

I got poached eggs on wheat toast, bacon and hash browns, all very good. Later in the week when I ordered poached eggs on wheat toast the waitress said I put 2 pieces of toast on the plate and they still put it on one I brought the other piece of toast if you want it, I hadn't even asked her or said anything about it. It was a little strange but in no way a tragedy.

Edited January 2, 2014 by lovelearnteach

[Nisky18]

I'm also cruising on Splendor Saturday and I, too, am enjoying the thread. I find it personal and fun to read.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

[lovelearnteach]

I'm also cruising on Splendor Saturday and I, too, am enjoying the thread. I find it personal and fun to read.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Thank-you :).

[PortSideCruzan]

 

I'm such a sucker for towel animals

the one thing I really miss with Princess,

as they don't do them. Loved coming back

every night to a little friend.

 

:)

 

 

Hi Ken (Lovelearnteach) :)

 

My wife and I as well. We love the evening friends created by the

stateroom stewards on Carnival. I too wish Princess stewards would

make them.

 

During our last 18-day Princess voyage my wife made towel animals for

our steward, LOL! Sometimes she would place a post-it note on the little

friend with a mere "Hello have a great day!".. And sometimes she would

attach cash to the towel animal for our stateroom steward.

 

On our last Carnival voyage, 16-day Splendor, my wife saved each animal

created by our stateroom steward and his assistant, hahahaha!! (Pic Below)

The only towel friend missing is the monkey hanging from the ceiling.

 

It was too funny when she had to say goodbye to them on debarkation day.

I thought she was gonna need a handful of tissues......:)

 

 

:)

[lovelearnteach]

Hi Ken (Lovelearnteach) :)

 

My wife and I as well. We love the evening friends created by the

stateroom stewards on Carnival. I too wish Princess stewards would

make them.

 

During our last 18-day Princess voyage my wife made towel animals for

our steward, LOL! Sometimes she would place a post-it note on the little

friend with a mere "Hello have a great day!".. And sometimes she would

attach cash to the towel animal for our stateroom steward.

 

On our last Carnival voyage, 16-day Splendor, my wife saved each animal

created by our stateroom steward and his assistant, hahahaha!! (Pic Below)

The only towel friend missing is the monkey hanging from the ceiling.

 

It was too funny when she had to say goodbye to them on debarkation day.

I thought she was gonna need a handful of tissues......:)

 

 

:)

That is too kewl, I love the pic thank-you so much for sharing :)!

[lovelearnteach]

So after breakfast we head back to the cabin to get out stuff and prepare to be gone all day. So we have the excursion at 2p.m. and I just want to go to a beach until then. So we go outside and walk around for a bit and can't figure out how to even get out of the port :confused::rolleyes::D.

 

So we go back to the taxi stand and ask the guy how much to the closest beach, he say's $6 each way per person. You pay for the round trip at the stand and they give you your tokens to give to the driver one for the ride there, and one for the ride back. They drop you at I believe the Sheraton, it's maybe a 3 or 4 block walk to the beach from there. There's a ton of shopping with Ron Jon's right next door across the street.

 

Edited January 2, 2014 by lovelearnteach

[Mira28]

I enjoyed your review/ account. I prefer the personalized in-depth ones. I'll be on the Splendor later this month and found your perspective to be very helpful. The Splendor will be my first ship! Without ever having cruised before, I assume that most experiences in life, such as a cruise, naturally will have some ups and downs, both good aspects and not so good. Isn't that all you tried to convey?

I'm new here. I like the site and the exchange of thoughts and tips. What I do find disconcerting is how negative many people are, not about a particular ship, the food or the experience, but about you expressing your thoughts about your own vacation!!!

I don't get it. Isn't that the point here???

[lovelearnteach]

I believe it's the Great American Surf Company or something such as that, attached to the hotel with a restaurant and shopping, and a kewl huge aquarium with eels and sharks. Terry hung around the area looking in all the stores, as that is what he loves to do, and I trotted off to the beach to bake myself, as that's what I love to do :rolleyes::D.

 

It was in the mid 80's and bright and sunny, perfect day for the beach. The water was rough and cold, but all the people taking surf lessons looked like they were having a ball.

Edited January 2, 2014 by lovelearnteach

[lovelearnteach]

Can I just take a minute here to talk about the itinerary and my thoughts on it, please :).

 

So Okay I was not in the least little bit excited for the ports of call for this cruise. It was all about New York for me, I've waited my whole life to go there, so this was the star of the show. The rest was simply a sideshow to get to the star NYC.

 

The only new port for me was Port Canaveral, as I've been to Nassau, on a cruise, and I've been to Freeport, for a land vacation. Well for personal reasons I have a bad attitude about the Bahamas, in reality they really aren't any different than any other Caribbean Island.

 

So as I'm sitting here chocking down my crow, I have to say we had an absolute fabulous time in each and every port :rolleyes::D. Really Port Canaveral is an awesome port with really anything you could want to do available or within access. We would have gone to Disney, as I love Animal Kingdom, if we had gone any other time of year. We've been to Disney for Christmas and it is so packed it's unbelievable, never again. Glad we did it, but no never, never again :eek::D.

 

Okay thank-you that's my thoughts for this vacation, I would go back to each and every port and be excited to do it too :).

 

 

[lovelearnteach]

So about 12:25p.m. I headed back to the drop-off/pick-up area to find Terry and head to the Sunset Cafe to eat lunch and meet for our tour. The shuttle driver told us exactly where we needed to walk and their directions were spot on. It was a bit of a hike, but not horrible, maybe 10 to 12 blocks.

 

The restaurant was really good and right on the water. I got their lunch special which was Tomato Basil Red Fish with Rice and Veggies and it was superb :).

[lovelearnteach]

So here is the highlight of my vacation, the single most amazing adventure the entire vacation including NYC. I was close enough to wild manatee's and dolphins I could have touched them. One of the top events in my life, so amazing, magical, stupendous, mind-blowing, freakin awesome, spectacular, unbelievable I can't even find the words to describe it :eek::D:).

 

So this one single event makes any minor inconvenience just that minor. It was worth every dime I paid not only for the tour but for the entire vacation to get to experience this. So now you know why I would never say this was a bad cruise, no matter how much we did or didn't enjoy the cruise itself.

 

We were so blessed in every aspect on this tour. There was only 6 of us on the tour. Terry and I, and a family of four who were from our rc :). Sherry was on the morning run through the cruise line and said both boats were pretty much full.

 

We had a magical 2 hours nature viewing, enjoying the beautiful day and the gorgeous animals, and the vibrant plant life.

 

 

[lovelearnteach]

We have seen dolphins in the wild on our Alaska cruise, but not this close, and I've only seen manatee's in Sea World. It was so awesome, I loved every minute of it!

[lovelearnteach]

Sadly the magic must come to an end, boo hoo :(. It's time to hike back to the Sheraton and catch our shuttle back to the ship. It was an awesome day, doing just exactly what we wanted and enjoy doing :).

 

There was quite a line to get back on, but it did move quickly and once past security check point it was fine.

 

We head for our cabin and lounge around until time for dinner.

[lovelearnteach]

For dinner tonight I had the Yukon Gold Potato Cream Soup, very delicious. Then I had the Chilled Peach Cream Soup, very good, but felt more like a dessert. For an entree I had Farfalle with Roast Turkey Breast and Green Peas, very good. For dessert I tried the other famous dessert the Bitter and Blanc, and I didn't care for it, but I'm not a fan of bread pudding, but the Tiramisu was wonderful :).

Edited January 3, 2014 by lovelearnteach

[lovelearnteach]

So we had another friend waiting for us when we got back to the cabin. In case you haven't figured it out we are not big nightlife people. I did get out a little more after dinner a little later in the cruise, but we are early to bed early to rise type dudes :eek::rolleyes::D:).

 

We had another awesome day, loved Port Canaveral which was so unexpected. Little did we know what a treat we were in store for, we are so grateful for the experience.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I think one of the biggest mistakes people may make at port is to just get off and walk around. The best way to experience the port is to plan SOMeTHINg. Rarely is a city that exciting at the airport. That is similar to a cruise ship terminal. There are some bands to welcome you or dancers whatever and people to sell you stuff but almost anything worth seeing takes a lil bit of effort to get to. This is the same with Nassau etc and most ports. What a great excursion you had! Our Dream cruise included 3 amazing port days, all of them were perfection. (It was the four cruise days that were just blah.) So a cruise IS going to be great if the weather holds out and you can see some amazing things. But sometimes the cruise part is just eh. The islands are always great!

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

Edited January 3, 2014 by TwinPrincessMermaids

[lovelearnteach]

I enjoyed your review/ account. I prefer the personalized in-depth ones. I'll be on the Splendor later this month and found your perspective to be very helpful. The Splendor will be my first ship! Without ever having cruised before, I assume that most experiences in life, such as a cruise, naturally will have some ups and downs, both good aspects and not so good. Isn't that all you tried to convey?

I'm new here. I like the site and the exchange of thoughts and tips. What I do find disconcerting is how negative many people are, not about a particular ship, the food or the experience, but about you expressing your thoughts about your own vacation!!!

I don't get it. Isn't that the point here???

Thank-you, me too :)!

 

Pretty much, but I knew it would upset some people to say I would not be cruising with CCL again. If you love sailing CCL, you could take it personally, you shouldn't, but they do.

 

Really the reaction has been mild to what I've read on other threads, I guess because I'm not slamming CCL or the Splendor, so they have no meat to grab hold off and run with :eek::p:D:)! I also have found providing people an outlet through a survey helps reduce the negative feedback on the thread. If you ask people nicely to use it, most will respect your wishes, and I thank them for it :).

[lovelearnteach]

I think one of the biggest mistakes people may make at port is to just get off and walk around. The best way to experience the port is to plan SOMeTHINg. Rarely is a city that exciting at the airport. That is similar to a cruise ship terminal. There are some bands to welcome you or dancers whatever and people to sell you stuff but almost anything worth seeing takes a lil bit of effort to get to. This is the same with Nassau etc and most ports. What a great excursion you had! Our Dream cruise included 3 amazing port days, all of them were perfection. (It was the four cruise days that were just blah.) So a cruise IS going to be great if the weather holds out and you can see some amazing things. But sometimes the cruise part is just eh. The islands are always great!

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

Yes and no, as most cruise ports have plenty of tours and tour operators at the port for last minute deals.

 

I like to have plans in place even if the plan is to wing it in the port. It relieves the stress and anxiety for me having to plan and execute every detail of our vacation :).

[Vitamin_Sea]

Yes and no, as most cruise ports have plenty of tours and tour operators at the port for last minute deals.

 

.

 

and you usually pay WAY less for an excursion if you book with the locals.

 

Booking with CCL is likely the safer option but the most expensive.