Thanksgiving On Splendor - Eastern Caribbean - CruiseXLife's Photo Review!

[cruisexlife]

Very excited to read this, I'll be on the Splendor next week! Hope you had a great trip! :)

 

You will have a great time!

 

Yay, I'm looking forward to the rest. Great pictures so far. I love a review with pictures.

 

I cannot wait to share more pics!

[cruisexlife]

So happy to see you have started your Splendor review as I have been looking forward to it. I've been out of Miami and to all of the ports except for Amber Cove, so really excited to read about what you did there. And you know I LOVE your pictures! Thank you for doing another review! :)

 

I cannot wait to write the rest and show you! Thank you for always following along on my reviews!

 

Thank you , looking forward to reading and seeing the rest of your cruise as we'll be departing on the Splendor in 9 days for the Western Carib!!

If you have the menus I'd really like to see them

Thanks

 

I have a few menus, but not the whole cruise. I'm sorry. Hope you still enjoy the review!

Edited December 4, 2015 by cruisexlife

[gapearl]

Yay I'm looking forward to reading another review of yours! I saw your question in my review, but it looks like you've already found your answer. Hit the """ icon in the middle on the bottom right. Press that for the 2 posts you want to reply to at one time and hit quote. Bam, that's it! Looking forward to more. :)

[jpm1973]

Looking forward to another of your reviews!

[cruisexlife]

Yay I'm looking forward to reading another review of yours! I saw your question in my review, but it looks like you've already found your answer. Hit the """ icon in the middle on the bottom right. Press that for the 2 posts you want to reply to at one time and hit quote. Bam, that's it! Looking forward to more. :)

 

Yes, I figured it out. Thank you though! And thank you for following along! :D

 

Looking forward to another of your reviews!

 

Thank you!

[cruisexlife]

After dropping things off at the room, and checking things out, we went up to sky deck 11 to get some pics of the other ships and the city.

 

 

Splendor's sky deck

 

 

It began to rain, so we headed into the lido buffet to get lunch. I had a burrito, which became my go-to option for the rest of the cruise, and Katie had a salad.

 

 

After getting our food, we settled for a table on Deck 10. For anyone who does not know, this ship was originally built for Costa cruise lines, but was transferred to CCL during construction. So on the upper decks, it is very European style. Thus, having tons of extra tables that no one knows about on Deck 10 above the pool.

 

 

After lunch, we headed back to our room, and our suitcases were there. We began to unpack. I snapped pics of the free spa supply samples that come in your bathroom. You receive shower gel, lotion, shampoo and conditioner, two of each.

 

 

[cruisexlife]

After unpacking, Katie took a little nap. I wanted to call some friends and post some pics before we went to muster so I went out to the secret deck in front of our room. Here is the AIDAVita, a German cruise ship docked behind us.

 

 

The famous ship bench!

 

 

I left the secret deck and went down to Deck 3 to get a ship map for Katie, and I went outside on the Promenade. Very pretty!

 

 

South Florida weather is like:

 

To the Right

 

 

To the Left!

 

 

I love the palm trees!

 

Edited December 5, 2015 by cruisexlife

[cruisexlife]

I shot up to the upper deck and got more pics, the sun seemed to want to stay now!

 

 

Liner Aft Pool. I spent some time here this week!

 

 

Norwegian Getaway docked in front of us. I met a group of 25 doing a family reunion on the Getaway, and that was only the family from Baltimore, that traveled the day of! There were many more apparently.

 

 

Last stop was the promenade. Here is Club O2 for the teens.

 

 

Looking down the promenade towards aft. I like the little slight thing Splendor has going on.

 

 

Shot looking down the atrium from Deck 5

 

[NeuroQueen]

Loving your review!!! We were on the ship as well and had a great time. I love the Liner pool! Keep up the good work!

[SHORTKATHLEEN]

Great review!!

[HaliMakai]

Great Review

[jimbo5544]

Great start to your review, love the Splendor, have sailed her 3 times.

[cruisexlife]

Loving your review!!! We were on the ship as well and had a great time. I love the Liner pool! Keep up the good work!

 

Thank you! And yes, it is a nice place. Very peaceful.

 

Great review!!

 

Thank you! :)

[cruisexlife]

Great Review

 

Thanks!

 

Great start to your review, love the Splendor, have sailed her 3 times.

 

Thank you! This was my second, of hopefully more! I would love to catch her again before she moves to China, or possibly hop on her Panama Canal (if it is ready) cruise, or her transpacific. But I hope they do not do what they did with Carnival Australia, where they don't keep it connected to Carnival, and make it its own line. I hope to do a cruise from China soon!

[cruisexlife]

Muster was at 3:45, so around 3:30 I headed back to the room to get Katie up and charge my phone and camera for sailaway shortly after. We waited for the muster drill, but I guess we weren't paying good attention, and when the Cruise Director said "the muster drill is now in session", we heard :the muster drill will soon be in session", and we were late. Late as in walked down as the CD began the life jacket seminar over the intercom. Oops! We stayed for the session and tried to go to the secret deck afterwards for sailaway, but it was raining. So, both of us threw on our spa robes and headed up to the spa facilities!

 

We didn't plane on staying for long. Just long enough for the ship to cruise to the turning basin, turn around, and get halfway down to Miami Beach, so we could change out and see the beach, rain or shine. We took the little spa elevator up, and went into the Tepidarium. After hanging there for a few, we tried both the Oriental and Aroma Steam Rooms, and let me tell you. The Aroma steamroom is very powerful. Soothing, and hot, but powerful. Prepare yourself. Then we went into the Laconium, where we spent most of the time. They have the heated loungers and benches, as well as a little bit of steam and heat. It faces the bow dead on. This was a relaxing place to hang out. Sorry I did not get any pictures of these!

 

At about the time the ship passed where the Carnival Breeze docks, we left the facilities and went back to the room, changed, and went out onto the secret deck. To my happiness, the sun was beginning to set.

 

 

Leaving the AIDAVita behind

 

 

I love the bridge wings, and I took a good amount of photos from Splendor's the cruise. It was on Deck 9 so I would just walk down the steps.

 

 

Rainbow!

 

 

The beautiful city and marina

 

 

Looking out to sea, the sky is starting to turn

 

[cruisexlife]

Beautiful Miami Beach

 

 

 

The famous lighthouse!

 

 

I flipped sides of the ship again and ended up with this beautiful new.

 

 

Wow, tonight's sunset really turned out beautiful.

 

[cruisexlife]

Our pilot boat after getting the pilot before it began turning around

 

 

At about that time, we turned our phones off and went back to the room to get ready for dinner. We were all at the same table. We had 6:00PM dinner in the Black Pearl. At 6:00, we went down.

 

 

Pretty restaurant!

 

 

The menu tonight.

 

 

I ordered a shrimp cocktail off of the daily menu, as well as the chicken a la greque. It was a good meal! For some reason, my mother and Elron were an hour late to dinner, so we just ate without them. They came in as we were walking out. When they came in, they told us that they changed our dining from 6:00 to 8:15. I do not like late dinner, but it made better sense with this itinerary, having 2 late departures.

 

We left the dining room (Katie & I) and we went to the Taste Bar.

 

Blue Iguana is always my favorite day.

 

[cruisexlife]

Katie and I did some ship roaming after dinner.

 

 

We decided to watch a movie on deck I don't remember what movie it was. But I do love they have it set up on Splendor, it is very nice.

 

 

After the movie, it was about 9:45. We decided to grab some pizza, and do some more ship touring. Here is the Liner Pool at night.

 

 

Then, we walked all the way back to the front to the top deck of the ship and did some touring up there. Here is a shot of the upper decks.

 

 

Between getting up at 4:45AM, the flights, the moving around, and the jitters from the first day, we were both very tired. We decided to head back to the room and call it a night, we had the rest of the day tomorrow at sea.

 

Here was our location around 10:15PM.

 

 

Next: Day at Sea

Edited December 7, 2015 by cruisexlife

[Halftocruz]

I.m on the exact cruise in kate January!! So excited to see it through your eyes. Thanks for doing this review!!:):)

[pe4all]

Loving this review! We have the same itinerary in Feb. - 2nd time on Splendor. Can't read to follow the rest of your "splendid" review!:)

[Beeslilmama]

Loving your review! Seeing the pictures of the ship makes me want to experience her firsthand!

[pghsteelerfan]

Still following along and have to tell you....I LOVE your sunset pictures with all of the different colors in the clouds and the one you got of the rainbow is excellent. One of the best sunsets we ever saw on a cruise was out of Miami. :)

[cruisinsly]

Great review so far. Cant wait for the rest.

[ALWAYZCRUISEN]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to do it!

[cruisexlife]

We awoke around 9:30AM, and since it was a sea day, I decided to take Katie to Sea Day Brunch. She had to shower first, and I had a weird feeling to go down to Deck 3 and check out the beautiful ocean.

 

 

Today was certainly a calmer sea day compared to others I've had, and I was very excited to have a great day onboard. After hanging out on outer Deck 3 for a little, I headed back up to our room, and got changed. I then took Katie outside onto the deck in front of our room to see the ocean.

 

 

This was her first sea day ever, and the look on her face was pricesless. After checking out the secret deck view, we made our way down to brunch. Here was the main pool around 10AM.

 

 

We walked all the way aft, taking in the breeze and sunshine, then walked down the steps to Deck 9 and got this shot of the Liner Pool.

 

 

We took the elevator down to Deck 3 for brunch, and I got this shot of the mini atrium that is in the back of all of these ships.

 

 

For brunch I had my usual order that never fails to disappoint. A Flamin' Tomato Soup for my entrée, and an omlette for my main. Very good food, and I love the pastries that come with it. Katie really liked brunch too.

 

This is when we decided to split for the day. She wanted to meet some people at the trivia games and events, while I wanted to catch some sun. So we split up and arranged to meet at 3:00 for tea back in the Gold Pearl. It was now about 11:15, and I headed back to the room and got my bathing suit on.

 

I went back towards the liner pool but found a chair on deck 10. Couldn't help but stare in awe at this beautiful view.