A Do Over Trip Report from the 5-7-17 Carnival Splendor

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[TeknikDC2]

 

Logan and Stirling swam out in to the ocean a bit and told me that there were fish not too far off shore. So I grabbed the GoPro and swam out myself to go see them. Sure enough there were all sorts of fish that would swim all around you. And the water was so clear that they were very visible. It was hard taking photos on the GoPro of them as I was taking photos blindly. However the video turned out great. I would recommend if you have some snorkel gear to bring it to shore with you as it would really come in handy here.

 

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After hours of swimming and sand play we decided to go find some food. We really had no idea where to go to find the food pavilions so we went back to the hub to find a map.

 

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It was probably about a 1/4 mile away from the hub so it wasn’t a bad walk. By getting to the island a little later then the initial crush of people that meant we also missed the lunch rush too. When we got to the food pavilion they only had 1 line for food still open and 1 drink station. Everything else was being cleaned up. Lunch was pretty standard Burgers and Hot Dogs but it was free so I we wouldn’t complain.

 

 

 

We took a different walk back to the beach which was very pretty and passed by the islands wedding chapel.

 

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Back at the beach we continued relaxing and also playing in the sand and water.

 

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Then we took our traditional Beach photos. I mean look at hour gorgeous this beach is. We wouldn’t find a better one to do it at. At least not on this trip.

 

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It was nearing the time that we needed to get back to the ship. While the others cleaned up our stuff I decided to walk down to the Pirate ship that was about half way down the beach. It was crazy how quickly the beach seemed to clear out as people were making their way back to the ship. Really started to show the beauty of this beach. However it also showed how disgusting people are leaving their trash and beer bottles littered all over the beach.

 

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With all of our stuff gathered up we made our way up the hub and the mile long line to get back on a tender. This line moved so slow with everyone trying to get back to the ship. We waited in line for probably over 30 minutes before we were boarding the tender.

 

 

The tender was obviously more packed heading back then it was going to the island but it was fine. We even wound back up sitting with Kiera’s parents and Kena who left a few hours earlier for a horseback riding excursion.

 

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Back on the ship we returned to our cabin which had been cleaned up with a towel animal awaiting the kids.

 

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While Kiera and the kids got cleaned up for dinner I went to one of the upper decks to watch the sail away and set the GoPro up for a time lapse. I found a spot near the Aft Pool where I sat for the sail away. It was beautiful.

 

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We really enjoyed our day at Half Moon Cay. In fact it has now become our favorite Beach of any of the Cruises we have gone on. It is a port I would definitely want to go to again. So perhaps someday we will. It was so beautiful and the water so amazing. The color was unreal.

 

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With the ship in the open sea I returned to the cabin to also get cleaned up for our quickly approaching dinner time.

 

 

For Dinner tonight we ordered a Pizza for Lizzy and Chicken Nuggets for Daniel.

 

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I had my usual starters of a Caesar Salad and Shrimp Cocktail but I’m sorry I’m unsure of what the 3rd Item I got was. I really need to take photos of the menu each night. Kiera got a Greek Salad and Egg Rolls.

 

 

For the main Dish Kiera and I both went with what I believe was the Braised Style Short Ribs. I believe it was a Chocolate Melting Cake night for our Dessert.

 

 

Dinner was great as always but with it being just our 2nd night with this wait staff we realized how slow they were. We were typically among the first to be seated at our table area but every day we were always the last ones to receive our food and leave. The wait staff was alright. It just was never the quality of service we have got on past cruises.

 

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Tonight was the first night we checked out the Punchliner Comedy Club which we got to just in time. Of course we only attended the family friendly shows since we had the kids with us. But it was great as always. I don’t have my Funtimes with me right now so I don’t recall the comedians names. I guess I could try to edit them in later.

 

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After the show we checked out the Video Arcade which was probably the biggest one I had seen on any of the ships we’ve sailed. Daniel thought it was awesome but we didn’t play anything.

 

 

What Daniel really wanted to do was play Mini Golf. So we decided what the heck. It was lit and always open. Well what we didn’t consider was with the ship at full speed was how windy the Mini Golf area was. It was blowing so hard that it presented a new challenge blowing the balls off the course everywhere when you hit. But Daniel didn’t care. He was having a blast. And hey this was the first in 6 cruises that we actually played Mini Golf on the ship. Poor little Lizzy couldn’t even stand on her own without being blown over.

 

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We grabbed some late night snacks of Popcorn and Ice Cream and just enjoyed hanging out on the Lido deck for the rest of the night.

 

 

Then it was off to bed. Our 3rd day of the cruise would bring us to our 3rd Port of Call of Grand Turk. But we had some fun stuff to do in the morning for the kids before docking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that concludes Day 4. I am now working on Day 5 and hope to have it posted soon. Thanks to those reading and following along. Its much appreciated. As always if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

[422Melissa]

Enjoying your review.

[TeknikDC2]

Day 5: Grand Turk

 

Our 5th day of vacation would probably be our busiest as we packed so much stuff in to this day. The day would start off early for Kiera. Remember back to the first day of our cruise that she won a Spa credit? Well this was the day the she used it. She ended up using it on a Bamboo Massage. But early this morning was the only available time to do it.

 

That left me and the kids to sleep a little longer. However it would be an earlier morning for us too as I would need to get the kids ready on my own to take them to the Seuss-a-Palooza Parade. This was one of those things the kids were really looking forward to.

 

 

The Parade festivities would begin in the El Morocco Lounge at the aft of the ship. We got there pretty early but soon the lounge was full of many kids that were on the ship. Kiera finished with her Massage shortly before the parade began and meet me at the lounge. Her Mom and Dad joined us too. The parade was hosted by the Cruise Director and also featured the Dr. Seuss characters Thing 1 and Thing 2 as well as Sam from Green Egg’s and Ham.

 

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Each kid was given a prop of some sort and then the Parade began as it would go the length of the ship up to the Spectacular Theater at the front of the ship. Lizzy was still pretty tired though and was not wanting to walk or really participate so I got to carry her instead.