Carnival Splendor review: Nov. 1-8, 2014 - San Juan to Miami

[k2excursion]

Better late than never. There are several other reviews of this sailing, but I enjoy doing reviews. After returning home from this trip, I came ill, and was dealing with that for a few weeks, including the side effects of the prescription. Then, the holiday times began. But I knew that others were doing a great job reviewing this cruise.

 

For those who haven't seen the other reviews, this 8-day cruise began in San Juan, Puerto Rico and ended in Miami. It was the 2nd leg of the Splendor repositioning from New York to Miami. It included 5 ports: St Croix, Martinique, Grenada, Dominica, & Grand Turk. 4 of those, Carnival very rarely goes to. None of the 5 ports have we been to before, nor have we been to San Juan. That made this an easy decision for me & my mom to book this. We booked it within days of it being released in December last year. We booked a porthole room, which is more than good enough for us.

 

A brief summary: I loved the Splendor. She is a great ship. We had great room stewards & the best wait staff ever. Plus, the ship's entertainment was amazing! There was so much live music going on all over the ship. There was no way to take it all in. Most of Carnival's 2.0 ships are getting rid of as much live music as possible (but not all), which made this ship such a breath of fresh air. Every night, all the venues had live musicians. Some of them would rotate to different venues on different nights. Plus, there was a showband in the theater for the shows!!!!!! Half of the Carnival fleet has no live music for the shows. And Splendor's shows were very entertaining. The nightlife on the ship was 2nd only to the Dream of all the ships that I've been on. The promenade deck is set up exactly like the Conquest class ships.

 

Splendor has a sliding roof for the main pool, which would be great during storms. It was closed a few times during the cruise just for atmosphere & briefly on the last day when there was potential for rain. It is nice to have, but I do prefer the tiered seating of Conquest/Triumph class. The waterslide is the same as Conquest/Triumph, and the pool setups are basically the same. The hot tubs near the main pools are in different spots. There were only 2 sea days on this cruise, but the crew did a great job with the deck games on those days. There was always plenty to do on the ship, by day & by night. I would highly recommend this ship to anyone who wants the full cruise experience, with plenty of fun by day & by night. Carnival has been trying to phase out the good nightlife on many of their other ships. Plenty of great food, even without the special burger or lizard cantina place. I gained 6 pounds on the trip, but I kind of needed to. I will take the good nightlife over upgraded burgers & burritos.

 

The ports were great. The only one I wasn't that crazy about was Martinique, but we already understood the issues there going in. It's hard to get a good tour there, but the island is beautiful. All of them were. Grenada's tour could have been better with a better driver, but it was a nice tour and an amazing island. But nothing can top Dominica: the crown jewel of the Caribbean! Totally spectacular. If you haven't been there, book a cruise that goes there! Grand Turk was surprisingly my 2nd favorite port. I typically prefer the more mountainous islands, but GT is flat. But I really enjoyed the lazy beach day, right in front of the ship. And the beach is beautiful with nice snorkeling.

 

My review won't be an all-out praise report about how totally spectacular every moment was. No cruise is perfect, and I won't try to present it that way. I try to be balanced, by presenting the negatives along with the positives. However, this cruise was amazing and I totally enjoyed it, so most of it will be positive. I don't think anything will ever top my 1st Dream cruise in 2010, but this Splendor cruise would have to take the silver medal. I would also say that the Splendor & Triumph are tied for my 2nd favorite ships, with my favorite still easily being the Dream.

[k2excursion]

We flew in 3 days early, giving us plenty of time to check out Puerto Rico. We stayed 3 nights at the Embassy Suites. I won't include pics of the hotel, unless somebody wants me to. But this hotel was totally amazing! It's probably my favorite hotel that I've ever stayed at. It has everything I look for in a hotel: a beautiful lobby/commons area with plenty of open space & high ceilings or atrium, free drinks at night, a great hot breakfast (both cooked-to-order & buffet), a beautiful huge pool, & nice rooms. There were some minor issues with the room we had, but not really worth being bothered by with how much this hotel had going for it. I should qualify our experience by saying that there were 3 of the 7 floors of rooms blocked off for renovation. That means that once renovations are done, there will be as much as 75% more guests. When that happens, the free drinks in the evening & the breakfast will be very busy, and it may not be as good of an experience as what we had. For us, the only thing that could have improved the hotel was if they served dinner like the Drury Inn does. Embassy Suites had chips & dip, but no protein foods. But the free drinks are unlimited. The pool is huge and spectacular, ranking right up there with the Radisson by Port Canaveral, maybe even better. I loved it out there. They did have some Halloween festivities going on, but nothing that was disruptive at all.

 

The hotel is very close to the airport, but a little ways from Old San Juan. We loved our location. We felt comfortable walking the streets, even at night. There is a grocery store next door, where we picked up some food & the sodas to carry onto the ship. A couple blocks away is a Taco Bell, Wendys, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc. Just beyond that area is the beach, where Embassy Suites has their own area, and their guests get free chairs & umbrellas. Also near those fast food places is where the bus stops that you can ride into Old San Juan for 75 cents each 1-way. Our location was perfect.

 

East of Florida:

 

Arriving in Puerto Rico:

 

Conquest in port in San Juan. More on this later:

 

El Morro fort. More on this later:

 

Edited December 12, 2014 by k2excursion

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for your review. The Splendor is in my future plans, though it will be on the northern run later next year. Sounds like a fine ship to me.

 

I fell in love with San Juan on my recent cruise, and briefly considered cancelling my Splendor cruise and booking one out of San Juan, but since then have decided to stick with original plans ( really want to do that one too ), and then for 2016, hope to be able to do a cruise from San Juan, with a few days there before the cruise, to really see the place.

 

Great photos btw. Thanks for the review, I will be following.:)

[k2excursion]

Our first full day in Puerto Rico, we took the bus into San Juan and walked around both forts. $5 gets you access to both for 7 days. It was really interesting and beautiful checking out the forts, and there were some great views. We even got to see an NCL ship making her way in. It was quite hot that day. We did bring water. We went to El Morro first, the most prominent one from the air, that we could easily see out the left side of the plane when coming in. It's further from the ships. It can be walked to/from, as long as you don't have trouble walking short distances. There is also a free trolley that goes around town, although it is quite often full. San Critobal fort is fairly close to where the ships dock, and you can get a great view of the ships from there. Carnival Conquest was in port that day. On the bus ride back, we were at about 300% capacity on the bus when one of the riders had a seizure. That slowed us down, but at least he got taken care of well, by fellow riders then by the ambulance, which took quite awhile to get to us. I don't think people pull over for emergency vehicles here.

 

Our 2nd full day, we simply walked down to the beach and utilized the free chairs & umbrellas. It is a nice beach, and we hear it's better than the beach in Condado to the West of us, but the nearby Virgin Islands have much better beaches! I don't know if Puerto Rico has better beaches elsewhere, but if they do, they are probably too far to get to for a cruise stop. We got back to the hotel at noon, when it started raining, then enjoyed the hotel's pool in the afternoon.

 

We met some great people at the hotel, and we even shared a cab to the cruise port with 2 other people, which helped cut the cost. It was $21 plus $1 per bag.

 

more pics from El Morro

 

 

 

 

Now at San Cristobal, looking back (west) towards El Morro

 

[k2excursion]

NCL Gem coming in

 

 

from San Cristobal. The NCL Gem & the Conquest. You can see what great views you can get from here.

 

 

The beach a few blocks down from Embassy Suites:

 

Edited December 12, 2014 by k2excursion

[NCTribeFan]

Yippee! I get to re-live this yet again!

 

I'm just starting my Freedom review, so I may not be able to keep up with you, but looking forward to more! :D

[VacaLovers2]

Great Review...Keep it coming!:D

[MrsPhoenix91]

K2, your pictures are simply magnificent. Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

[k2excursion]

Yippee! I get to re-live this yet again!

 

I'm just starting my Freedom review, so I may not be able to keep up with you, but looking forward to more! :D

 

My mom had to tell me later that you were sitting behind us on the bus from Miami to FLL. I didn't realize. I'll have to take a look at your review too. I have never done cruises that close together before. 4 months was the shortest inbetween. After this Splendor cruise, most of those standard itineraries seem so bland.

 

Thanks to you & the others for the responses. I'll continue the review soon enough. I need to get us on board the ship already.

[k2excursion]

The cab dropped us off right in front of the ship. From there, came the confusing mesh of "where do we go next". Just be prepared to have to ask plenty of people questions here, and it's no big deal. This cruise had probably over half that were at least platinum, so we had a longer line. But we got on board soon enough, dropped off our bags in the room (we didn't check anything), and headed upstairs for lunch.

 

After lunch, we headed back off the ship, so that we could go back to San Cristobal & take more pictures. We wanted pics of our ship from there. And here it is:

 

 

 

Here's a view without the zoom. It's pretty close, just a few blocks to the north of the ships. There were 2 other ships at the other port, much further from Old San Juan. It's nice having this port as our embarkation port, because it's frequently the port for the port of call ships.

 

 

Here's the fort from the ship. San Juan is a beautiful place to spend the day or a few days.

[092306]

Wow, really great pictures and of the fort in particular. Thanks for posting!

[GreytRacer]

Hooray! Another review! My husband and I were on this cruise and I'm thoroughly enjoying all the reviews and pics! Thanks and looking forward to more!

[Crusin Karen]

Nice start! LOVED the Splendor!

[gapearl]

Great pics and great start! I love reading reviews from people who also were on the same cruise as me. I've read some in the past where me and the other person had TOTALLY different experiences, both good and bad. It'll be interesting to see this cruise from your point of view. Looking forward to more!

[k2excursion]

Great pics and great start! I love reading reviews from people who also were on the same cruise as me. I've read some in the past where me and the other person had TOTALLY different experiences, both good and bad. It'll be interesting to see this cruise from your point of view. Looking forward to more!

 

I was doing my best to follow your review as well. It was very interesting reading about all that you got to do.

[k2excursion]

When we got back on the ship after the return visit to the fort, the workers at the port seemed very confused, wanting to send us back through the check-in line. They didn't seem to understand that we had already done that.

 

We were back on in time for me to ride the waterslide a few times. There weren't a ton of kids on this sailing, as expected given the time of year & it being a 1-way sailing. But there were more than I expected, and I got to know a few of them thanks to our enjoyment of the waterslide. My back got the typical red marks on it in the first couple days, but the skin gets used to it, and it doesn't hurt anymore by the 4th day of riding it 10 or more times a day.

 

Dinner was open seating on the first night, and we got to meet 2 nice ladies that were sisters. One of them mentioned that she loves sea days the best, but they somehow ended up on a port intensive cruise.

 

The muster drill was at 9:30, and I made sure that I got there late, since we would be standing outside. I not only got the front row, but I also had an aisle spot, so I was able to get oxygen. The announcements said that they would put the shortest people in front, but that only happened by accident. I was surprised that it was done only in English.

 

Afterwards, I went upstairs to take in the sailaway deck party. We did several dances out there, and it was a lot of fun. Some people may get tired of these dances, but I can't get enough of them. These parties never last long enough for my taste. I did get a chance to watch us sail around El Morro fort, which was really neat to see at night. I then took in some of the nighttime entertainment on deck 5, but tomorrow was an early port day (8am), so I didn't stay up too late.

 

 

 

 

The kids' splash area is around midship. Go back from where the main pool area is. Several of the kids seemed to enjoy this throughout the week.

 

The main theater:

[k2excursion]

Our first port was right off the bat, in St Croix of the US Virgin Islands, which Carnival very rarely visits. We were in port from 8-4, so an early morning after a late night. For the ship, it helps that St Croix is less than 100 miles from San Juan. We had a few decent options on this island. We decided not to take a tour, because the other Virgin Islands have all had great beaches, so we wanted to check one out. We decided to take a cab to the beach by Sand Castle. It was $6pp roundtrip by cab. It was $20 for 2 chairs & an umbrella. The beach was very nice. Much better sand than we had in Puerto Rico, and nice clear water. There were a few small fish that were swimming around my feet when I was in the water. They liked whatever was being kicked up when we would take steps. We had a clear view of the ship from the beach, so it wasn't too far away. We didn't partake of any of the drinks here, but some others were partaking of them plenty, and they seemed to be enjoying them (a bit too much).

 

After getting back to the port, I decided to walk over to the beach that's close to the ship; to the left as you're facing the land from the ship. There were more people there than the one we were at. Our beach was also a little nicer & not quite as rocky. So we got a better beach, and we got a little bit away from the port, which is always good.

 

Talking to one of the ladies that works at Sand Castle, she was saying that they don't get too many ships in, and that they aren't really prepared to handle the huge crowds that come with the cruise ships. Most of them aren't really interested in becoming another St Thomas, which can get 4 ships a day average at times. They are happy with a quieter island, but they aren't snobby about it either. They are willing to work hard to accommodate the cruise crowds when they get a ship in. So even though they don't want tons of ships, they are still happy to have the occasional one there. I really enjoyed getting to visit St Croix. I have now been to all 3 of the major US Virgin Islands, plus Tortola of the British Virgin Islands. They have all been beautiful, but the best is still St John, which can be easily accessed from St Thomas on a cruise stop.

 

This is a view of the ship from the beach at Sand Castle, using the camera's zoom:

 

We did still have rocky spots, but they were easy to avoid

 

 

Further down from where all the people were gathered:

 

Here is the other beach, closer to the ship. It can be easily walked to. I believe that it's called Rainbow Beach.

 

A view of the ship from that beach

Edited December 16, 2014 by k2excursion

[girlscruise2011]

When we got back on the ship after the return visit to the fort, the workers at the port seemed very confused, wanting to send us back through the check-in line. They didn't seem to understand that we had already done that.

 

We were back on in time for me to ride the waterslide a few times. There weren't a ton of kids on this sailing, as expected given the time of year & it being a 1-way sailing. But there were more than I expected, and I got to know a few of them thanks to our enjoyment of the waterslide. My back got the typical red marks on it in the first couple days, but the skin gets used to it, and it doesn't hurt anymore by the 4th day of riding it 10 or more times a day.

 

Dinner was open seating on the first night, and we got to meet 2 nice ladies that were sisters. One of them mentioned that she loves sea days the best, but they somehow ended up on a port intensive cruise.

 

The muster drill was at 9:30, and I made sure that I got there late, since we would be standing outside. I not only got the front row, but I also had an aisle spot, so I was able to get oxygen. The announcements said that they would put the shortest people in front, but that only happened by accident. I was surprised that it was done only in English.

 

Afterwards, I went upstairs to take in the sailaway deck party. We did several dances out there, and it was a lot of fun. Some people may get tired of these dances, but I can't get enough of them. These parties never last long enough for my taste. I did get a chance to watch us sail around El Morro fort, which was really neat to see at night. I then took in some of the nighttime entertainment on deck 5, but tomorrow was an early port day (8am), so I didn't stay up too late.

 

 

 

I was on this cruise too and had a great time. Actually my group is in your AFT pool picture.

 

Can't wait to relive it through your review.

Edited December 16, 2014 by girlscruise2011

[k2excursion]

Tonight was the elegant night, even though we were in port until 4:00pm. We finally got to meet our tablemates for the week. They were really nice & great to talk with all week. I'm friends with them now over on fb. We also got to meet our wait staff for the week. Right off the bat, we were very impressed with them. They were having so much fun, and Rolan in particular was hilarious the whole week. He was always joking around, and the other staff confirmed that he's like that all the time. I did order 2 lobsters tonight & finished both plates. I thought I was done, but Rolan was asking me if I wanted another. He kept looking over to me, so I finally gave in and took another. They had extra lobster plates sitting over on their table, prepared for people wanting more.

 

In the theater tonight, the singers & dancers did their first big production show, called Fiesta Latina. Even though I didn't know most of the songs, the show was very entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went back for the 2nd showing of it. The live music for the shows makes all the difference in the world. There was plenty of latin music throughout the ship, as it seemed to be the theme for the night. I also went to see the piano man, Russell Blues. He's a really nice guy, and has a powerful voice in that small body. He was always taking requests from the people, and didn't get bogged down with chatting too much. He kept a great balance. I spent plenty of time in there during the week. For my cruises, only Joel Sarakula can beat him, and Joel is long gone from Carnival. I saw him on the Valor in 2007.

 

A few more pics from/of St Croix:

 

 

 

Beautiful island!

Edited December 17, 2014 by k2excursion

[k2excursion]

Martinique is an absolutely gorgeous island. It is truly a part of France, not just a French property. It's as much a part of France as Paris. It's like Hawaii is to the U.S. So all who were on this cruise and got off the ship can say that they've been to France. I've still never been on the European continent though.

 

Here's where I might get in trouble with some people. Way ahead of time, we weren't thinking that this would be a very good port. It took Carnival forever to get even just a few excursions here, and they seemed overpriced and didn't sound that great. We knew that they didn't accept U.S. dollars here, which I find odd. It's not that I don't understand that this island is a part of France. I totally get that. It's not that I think that the U.S. dollar should be accepted all over the world. It's not that I've lived in a bubble, thinking that our slice of the world is how the whole world works. None of that is the case. It's just that there are tons of islands all over the Caribbean, and most accept U.S. dollars. If an island wants to be competitive with the other islands, they need to also accept U.S. dollars. If they don't care whether or not they get more ships or whether they keep the ones that are coming, then they don't need to accept U.S. dollars. Not all islands want cruise ships, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you want the ships and you're surrounded by other beautiful islands that accept dollars, then you better accept dollars also. It makes perfect sense to me. I do have a business degree, but it doesn't take that to understand this. If you want more business or if you want to keep the business you have, you need to remain competitive. New York doesn't have competition with Euro-accepting ports nearby. Neither does Hawaii. Ports over in Europe don't have competition with US dollar-accepting ports nearby. Martinique does have that competition, and they are choosing not to be competitive with them. You cannot get an independent excursion that takes dollars here. I have been to 19 non-US ports of call on my cruises, and this is the only one not taking dollars. And the excursions that they worked out with Carnival were not nearly enough to meet the needs of 3000 cruisers. Maybe the island just doesn't understand; maybe they're so rich that they don't need our money; maybe they don't have the manpower. Whatever the case, it's not good business, and makes cruisers feel unwanted.

 

But still, since that's how they do things, we wanted to be prepared. Unfortunately, we live in a part of the country where you cannot get Euros anywhere, not ever. It's not an option. The only options we had to try to get Euros ahead of time were ridiculous: paying steep fees & waiting weeks for them to be shipped to us or making a full-day or 2-day road trip just to buy Euros. But we heard that Martinique has a currency exchange, so no need to go through that trouble when we can just purchase Euros when we get there. When we got to the island, sure enough, the currency exchanges were all closed. Many things were closed. We didn't realize that Monday is considered to be a part of their weekend. So we were just out of luck. Again, good businessmen would open up their currency exchange just for cruisers on days that ships are there, realizing that there is money to be made there. But they didn't do that.

 

Fortunately, we were with a group of people, and one of them had some extra Euros that he sold us at the exchange rate that he paid. But the whole mess of figuring things out took 2 hours. We had all planned on going out to Saint Pierre, the city that was destroyed in 1902 by the volcano, Mount Pelee. We needed Euros. We finally got a tour set up that would take us out there, plus a couple short stops, for 20 Euros each. There was a couple from the ship that wanted to join us at the last minute, and there was plenty of room for them in the van, but they only had dollars. The driver basically started yelling in anger that these people would dare try to pay in dollars. But, we're going out there anyway. This is 100% profit for him. He would need to get it exchanged tomorrow, and he could've asked for 30 dollars each or even more, but whatever he clears is total profit. But he still wouldn't do it. So you can tell that the vibe we were getting from this island was very negative.

 

But the island was so pretty. We had some great views along the drive. We stopped at a rum distillery, as was very common at these ports we visited. It was interesting. We also stopped at an overlook point. We had some time in Saint Pierre. We had a great view of Mount Pelee from there, with clouds covering the top. Fortunately, it didn't erupt while we were there. My mom & I checked out the church, at the heart of the destruction, which has since been rebuilt for the most part. We didn't bother venturing off to find the museum. We're not really museum kind of people anyway, but the church did have several displays with some interesting information, and it was in both French & English. The sand on the "beach" is dark, so it's very hot. I felt that maybe our "tour", with no speaking at all from the driver, was slightly overpriced, compared to just taking a shared taxi for half the cost. But it wasn't much money, so no big deal. I would recommend to others to do the shared taxi instead.

 

My overall impression of the island was that it was naturally gorgeous. Totally beautiful! So much potential here. But the people that live here don't seem interested in the cruise or tourist industry overall. Some tourists will totally love that about the island. But for a more untouched, non-touristy port in the Caribbean, I would prefer St Croix or Tortola. I'm glad that I went to Martinique for something different, but it won't break my heart if I never return. My sentiments about Martinique were being echoed all over the ship from everyone that we were talking to, even one of the most positive, optimistic people that I've ever met in my life. It's the only negativity that I got from him all the times I talked to him. Now, it isn't my intention to diminish the experiences of those that totally loved this island. I know that there were some good experiences here, and there will certainly be some people who fell in love with the island, and that's great for them. I don't think I would say I was disappointed, because it's about what I expected, other than the currency exchange being closed. But I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. In some ways, I was, by the beauty of the island.

 

One final note about the Euro/dollar thing. Many of the vendors near the ship will take dollars. The exchange rate might be favorable or it might not be, but many do accept them. Prices for products seem quite high. A t-shirt which would be $5-$10 at other ports was running 20 Euro or $25 here.

 

Here's the church in St Pierre:

 

 

Mount Pelee, the volcano that erupted in 1902. Very ominous, and stunningly beautiful

 

Our overlook stop

 

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by k2excursion

[ibcnusoon]

Thanks for posting! I loved the Splendor when I sailed her out of New York this past summer.

[MrsPhoenix91]

It is unfortunate that you were not able to convert your U.S. dollars into Euros while at home. There were no banks such as PNC or Fifth Third to assist you? Even AAA or CAA could have sold your some Euros...

[luv2trvlnow]

It is unfortunate that you were not able to convert your U.S. dollars into Euros while at home. There were no banks such as PNC or Fifth Third to assist you? Even AAA or CAA could have sold your some Euros...

I am k2excursion's mother. AAA here does not provide that service. Not all AAA offices provide financial services and must be done by mail order which adds to the cost. We checked with our bank and they said there was a minimum $25 fee to exchange $ into Euros and would take 2 to 4 weeks. That is on top of their exchange rate. For the amount of Euros we wanted we felt that was robbery. Everywhere we turned it seemed that it would cost us a lot to get Euros. Driving 4 1/2 to 5 hrs to get them would also cost us gas and a lot of time.

 

We thought we would do the exchange there. It seemed so much easier then the other options, but we were unaware of the closure of many things on a Monday in France. I wish we would have read this on the Martinique forum. We have since made sure to let people know that currency exchanges and banks are closed on Mondays there. Important information that might come in handy for future cruisers. It looks like several Carnival cruises will be stopping there in the future and a lot of them are there on a Monday.

[TrqoisWtrs]

Another Splendor review, yay! DH and I loved this cruise/ship also. Had a blast.

 

It took Carnival forever to get even just a few excursions here, and they seemed overpriced and didn't sound that great.

 

DH and I ended up signing up for one of those excursions, I think it was kayaking. The night before, we got a letter stating it had been cancelled due to lack of participation. So we ended up just getting off and wandering a bit into town but that was it. I did stop in a shop a couple blocks away from the port and they were more than happy to work with me, changing it so I could pay in US dollars. Guess some folks were more than happy to take our money. :)

 

Talking with some folks later, turned out three other excursions were also cancelled - which just seemed odd, and added to the all around off vibe we had been getting about Martinique.

[gapearl]

I didn't know that a lot of stuff in Martinique was closed on Mondays, especially the money exchange. That had to be a big inconvenience for a lot of people wanting to change money there. Did you set up your tour in advance or did you get a driver once you got to the port?