Pirate's SPLENDID Cruise to Bermuda Review

[pirate4me2]

Hello Cruise Critic family!

We just debarked this morning from the Carnival Splendor after finishing a 7 day cruise to gorgeous Bermuda. I decided you all may enjoy reading a review of this adventure, and heck if you don't want to read it, at least it will help me to deal with my post cruise blues. I took a bunch of pics, which I am in the process of uploading. The pics will probably begin in the next post of this thread.

This was our first time cruising with a group of friends, first time on Splendor, and first time to Bermuda. Usually it is just DH and I on our cruises, so we were really excited about having friends along. However, as we would discover, cruising with friends can be rather...well, interesting!

But hey, I am jumping the gun here! Let's start at the beginning, shall we? We booked this cruise back the day that they released it on the Carnival website, so we had a LONG wait! I am glad we booked it so far out though...the price of this cruise skyrocketed. DH and I are balcony snobs, and I prefer aft balconies, so we booked cabin 7442 on Empress Deck. I like cabins with staterooms above and below as they tend to be a little quieter. By the time this cruise rolled around, there is no way that DH and I would have been able to afford that cabin with the way the prices increased. A few months after we booked, 4 of our friends/family asked if they could join us on the cruise. By this point all the balcony cabins had sold out, so they booked interior cabins on Empress, 7428 and 7424.

We all had a little over a year to plan out our "attack" on Bermuda, and somehow I was elected the official planner. I guess since DH and I are the only ones who have cruised Carnival before everyone decided it made sense. 3 of our friends would be first time cruisers, and one had cruised once before on RCCL. This was our 5th cruise. I made a list of everything I wanted to see and do in Bermuda, and I couldn't figure out why people kept saying 3 days wouldn't be enough for us to see it all. Surely we could fit it all in!

About 3 or 4 weeks before our cruise I came down with a nasty case of the flu. I had never felt so bad in my life. I felt like I had zero energy, I wanted to do nothing but sleep all day. I began to worry that I wouldn't get better in time for the trip, but thankfully a week and a half before I began to feel human again. I was worried DH would catch it, but by some miracle he stayed healthy.

We decided about a month before cruising that we would stay at the Mariott Courtyard Downtown hotel off Plume Street. It had good reviews, and they had a cruise package that included free parking for the duration of our cruise. It also included free breakfast for 2 people. Since we had to book 2 rooms with the 6 of us cruising, we figured we could all split the price of the 2 breakfasts that we would need to purchase. However, the day before the cruise we found out that one of our cruisers had come down with a nasty virus and wouldn't be joining us. We were down to just 5 of us.

From our home in Western North Carolina, the drive to Norfolk was about 7 hours. Upon arrival at the hotel, we found that it was valet parking only as the parking garage is tight. No problem. We handed off the keys for the 2 cars to the valets, and we got our bags into our rooms. The rooms were nice and clean, and the beds we SO comfortable. The staff were also excellent. With the downtown location, we were able to walk to a restaurant for dinner. Upon the recommendation of the hotel staff we went to Granby Street Pizza. The food was really good (I got a chicken parm sub, DH and his cousin got a pizza, another friend got baked ziti) but the service was VERY lacking. There was only one waitress working the entire restaurant, and we got the sub and ziti 30 minutes before the boys got their pizza.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and decided to call it a night. Tomorrow we would be walking to the port to board the Carnival Splendor!

[pirate4me2]

Hey, before I continue this review, does anyone know how to do the links in your signature for a review, where you type "My Splendor Review" or whatever? I have done it before but I cannot figure out how to do it again. :(

[422Melissa]

Looking forward to your review!

[pirate4me2]

The morning of embarkation, we went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. As we were about to redeem our breakfast vouchers (good for up to $13) there was some excitement: the fire alarm activated! :eek: They made the lobby evacuate, and DH being a firefighter was all excited to see the fire trucks. Go figure. :rolleyes: Within about 10 minutes they let us back inside, and we got our breakfasts. The hotel makes a pretty decent breakfast.

With full bellies, we decided to make the trek to the cruise terminal. From the hotel it is about a 1/2 mile, and we decided to walk it since we had rolling suitcases. Well, most of us had rolling suitcases...2 of the newbies had missed the memo. We all got to the terminal though and I have to say, Norfolk, y'all have your act together....this was the easiest embarkation port DH and I have sailed from! I thought Port Canaveral was good, but you guys have even beat them out of the #1 spot on my list! We handed our bags off to the porters, went thru security, and headed to check in. There were NO lines for check in at 11:30. We were given zone 10 cards, and sat down to wait. However, the wait was a joke, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It was quick!

We all stepped onboard Splendor and took in her very pink atrium. Then, even though we had just ate breakfast, the crew opted to head to Lido for lunch. I hit up the salad bar (trying to be a good girl, knowing how much I would eat this week!) while DH opted for a burger and cheese fries. His cousin got a hot dog (very picky, finicky eater there) and my 2 friends tried Tandoor. Everything was good.

By the time we finished lunch, our rooms were ready. We all headed to drop off our carryons, and I admired my aft balcony.

Our bags had not yet arrived, so we all decided to walk around the ship. Here is the deck 5 Promanade/Casino area (I didn't spell that right, sorry!)

Hot Tub on Deck 10

Looking down at the atrium

[pirate4me2]

I found these casino decorations interesting:

Shots of the arcade...DH's cousin, although 32 years old, liked the arcade.

[pirate4me2]

After DH's cousin had played a few games, we continued to the spa to do a tour. I have to say, I was tempted to buy a spa pass just to use the T-pool! I failed to get any pics of the spa, sorry. :( And for some reason, I never made it to get my spa pass...grrrrr.

We wandered around the ship a bit more, and checked out the Piano Bar.

I forget which lounge this is, sorry. It was the one near the Piano Bar and the Comedy Club...

We went back to our rooms at 2:30 and all our bags had arrived. I decided to proceed with door decorations!

Our door:

My friend Kristyn's door:

DH's cousin's door:

[pirate4me2]

Alright everyone, I will pick up with the rest of Day 1 tomorrow, including food porn from our dinner in the steakhouse. :) It's been a long day, and I am beat!

[HawksFan74]

We will be sailing on Splendor in 36 days! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Nuff_Said]

I forget which lounge this is, sorry. It was the one near the Piano Bar and the Comedy Club...

 

That would be the Red Carpet Dance Club.

[pirate4me2]

That would be the Red Carpet Dance Club.

 

Thank you. I couldn't remember where it was!!

[TrinaLC]

We were also on this trip. We had a splendourious time! Looking forward to reliving through OP's postings.

 

(Love the format of several days at sea, and then several days in one location -especially when that location is Bermuda. It was really nice to be able to plan extended activities without worrying about getting back to the ship on time "or else" ....)

[Jamman54]

Great start to your review! Looking forward to the rest.

[GrummanTiger]

What kind of decorations did you use on the doors? They look perfect! You can almost see the door pattern behind them... Let me know. These are the FIRST door decorations that I have LIKED! :)

 

GT

[pirate4me2]

We will be sailing on Splendor in 36 days! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Have a great cruise!!

 

We were also on this trip. We had a splendourious time! Looking forward to reliving through OP's postings.

 

(Love the format of several days at sea, and then several days in one location -especially when that location is Bermuda. It was really nice to be able to plan extended activities without worrying about getting back to the ship on time "or else" ....)

 

I agree, we loved the several days in Bermuda and the freedom to come and go as we pleased. It was nice to not have to worry about being back on board at a certain time. :)

[pirate4me2]

Great start to your review! Looking forward to the rest.

 

Thank you! I love reading your reviews, they have helped me learn a lot!

 

What kind of decorations did you use on the doors? They look perfect! You can almost see the door pattern behind them... Let me know. These are the FIRST door decorations that I have LIKED! :)

 

GT

 

I got them off of Amazon, they were called Kappier Tropical Beach with Palm Trees and Sailboats Peel & Stick Wall Decals. They are re-useable, which I really liked!

[pirate4me2]

Ok, where did we leave off? Oh yes, we had just unpacked and decorated our cabin doors. By the time that was done, they were telling us that it was time for muster drill, everyone's favorite part of cruising. :rolleyes: I understand that it is necessary, but I don't understand why people show up late and cause us all to be delayed. I have to say that this was one of the longest muster drills that we have experienced on a cruise, by the time it ended we were already pushing away from the dock. Our group ran up to our balcony to watch sailaway from there, and we made it there before we were spinning around.

Sailaway was at 5, and DH and I had steakhouse reservations for at 6. We enjoy starting out our cruises with a good meal in the Steakhouse, and I enjoy the "free" bottle of wine. So maybe it isn't the best wine in the world, it is drinkable and I enjoy it. We have done this on our past 3 cruises, and we continued it on this sailing as well. We headed up to the Pinnacle Steakhouse and we were immediately greeted by the hostess and sat at a table for 2. When our waitress came and poured our water I chose the white wine, which was OK, and we placed our orders. While waiting, DH and I were given these "compliments of the chef:"

Soup for me

Mini Cheeseburger for Chris:

We also enjoyed the yummy bread and spreads:

[pirate4me2]

I enjoyed looking at the lights:

We got to enjoy a pretty sunset while we waited for dinner:

DH and I both enjoyed a crabcake as our starter, which was really, really good:

I had the spinach and mushroom salad, which while good wasn't nearly as good as the ones I have had on Sunshine and Liberty:

[pirate4me2]

DH always orders the 18 oz spice rubbed steak, and while this one was good he said that it was nowhere near as good as the one he had earlier this year on the Sunshine

I always get the lobster ravioli, and as always, they were DELISH!

Side dishes of wasabi mashed potatoes (OK) and creamed spinach (good):

To finish off dinner, I ordered the chocolate sampler, which was SO GOOD.

After all that food and my bottle of wine, I needed to move. DH and I decided to check out the Piano Bar, which has been our go-to spot on our past few cruises. However, we were not impressed with Christine, the entertainer on the Splendor. She was a little too rough for our taste. So we decided to hit up the 11:15 comedy show with Tim Young, and he was pretty good.

By this point I was ready to call it a day. We went back to the cabin and I hopped in the shower, and that is when we had a nice surprise: our shower flooded. When I say it flooded, I don't mean just a small flood, I mean, we had to built a dam to keep the water from flooding into the stateroom. I thought maybe it was from too many bubbles (I may have used a little too many smelly beauty products :o ) and figured I would call to have to looked at in the morning as it was now 1 a.m.

All in all, day 1 was a success! :cool:

[pirate4me2]

I am trying to get pics uploaded, but our internet is having some issues. I will continue tomorrow with our first two days at sea, as those pics are uploaded. Please be patient everyone as I am trying to get this put together as well as return to "normal" life!

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Loving your review! Trying to decide which cruise we are taking either September or October 2016 and Bermuda is in the running. So very, very interested in your review.

 

 

Kim

[bingo3]

Loving your review! Trying to decide which cruise we are taking either September or October 2016 and Bermuda is in the running. So very, very interested in your review.

 

 

Kim

 

just be aware this is hurricane season and if one pops up, you might end up at other ports like some recently did because of Juaquin. As long as everyone is OK with that, I say go for it! Bermuda is incredible! :D

[JAXCRUISER]

Great start on your review. Thanks!!!

[NCTribeFan]

I'm going to go start my review now, if my photos have uploaded. I'm also having internet issues. Since I got home Friday, I've had to get up and reboot my wireless router at least 5 times. Don't know what's going on.

 

Anyway, I didn't take a lot of photos and didn't make ANY notes, so my review is probably going to be rather spotty, but if I don't start now, I'll forget a lot of the details. :o

 

Looking forward to comparing our experiences. :)

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Looking forward to your review too Joan!

 

 

Kim

[pirate4me2]

I'm going to go start my review now, if my photos have uploaded. I'm also having internet issues. Since I got home Friday, I've had to get up and reboot my wireless router at least 5 times. Don't know what's going on.

 

Anyway, I didn't take a lot of photos and didn't make ANY notes, so my review is probably going to be rather spotty, but if I don't start now, I'll forget a lot of the details. :o

 

Looking forward to comparing our experiences. :)

 

Joan, that is exactly what I am having to do! It's annoying me as I took a bunch of pics.