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

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At the end of the parade route the stage was set up with a Circus like tent and large book of “The Cat in the Hat”. The kids were invited to come up and sit on the stage for an interactive retelling of the classic story. Daniel was excited to go up but Lizzy was not having it.

 

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During the story is when the Cat and the Hat character came out and joined the other 3 as he interacted with the kids as well as the story. This was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. This little show and the Seuss-a-Palooza parade are things that you really shouldn’t miss if you have your kids on the cruise with you.

 

 

We still had a couple of hours until we be arriving at our port of Grand Turk. We went back to the cabin to hang out and I took some photos of the decorations since our room was cleaned up while we were at the parade and our Towel Animal Frog was left. We would be celebrating my birthday on this cruise and instead of wasting money on Carnivals decoration package Kiera and her Sister decorated our room for me while I was gone.

 

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We also decided to eat lunch before getting off the ship in Grand Turk. If I recall right I think we watched the ship pull in to the island and dock while on the Lido deck for lunch.

 

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After the ship docked we returned to our cabin and got changed in to our Swimsuits. Kiera’s family had a Snorkeling excursion booked but we would be taking it easy by just having another Beach day. On our previous cruise in 2013 we fell in love with the Grand Turk beach and all the Sea Glass Kiera would find. So from the get go we figured that’s what we would do here today.

 

 

Docked next to us in Grand Turk was the Carnival Pride. It was great seeing this ship as it was the very first Cruise Ship Kiera and I sailed on during our Honeymoon back in 2008.

 

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Before heading to the beach we first decided to take a look around the shops in the port area. Having a stroller with us it was nice to see that they paved one of the market areas as it was all sand when we visited in 2013. The main beach area will also give some amazing photos opportunities of the ships that are docked. I don’t know of many beaches where you are this close to the docked ships.

 

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[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

 

There is also a small NASA monument to the Friendship 7 which splashed down off the shore of Grand Turk back in the 60’s. in 2013 there was also a shop of NASA licensed items and other space themed stuff but that store is now full of basic touristy type stuff now with only a small shelf left of NASA items.

 

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We went to the same beach area we went to in 2013 which is to the right of the Pier instead of to the right where everyone else goes. This is nice as it isn’t crowded at all on this side of the beach and we were easily able to get some shaded lounge chairs. Although the beach looked much different then we remembered from 2013 as it was significantly more rocky then we recalled. We remembered it being all sand. Which it was about 10 to 12 feet up from the rocks in most places. We were in this port much later in 2013 then we were now so I can only assume its because the tide wasn’t in yet. Still that wouldn’t stop the kids from having fun.

 

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[TeknikDC2]

 

We walked down the beach to the Grand Turk sign as well to get a photo. Along the way the Daniel and Logan looked in the rocks and found some Crabs. The Carnival Pride also set sail during this time of the day.

 

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After some additional relaxation we decided it was time to head back to the ship. Lizzy passed out on the walk back as she was so tired from all the beach excitement.

 

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We had to get back to the ship and I needed to get cleaned up and changed as just like Kiera earlier today I too had a Spa Appointment. I took received a Spa Credit from Carnival as a gift for my Birthday. I’m usually not the Spa type but I couldn’t let this go to waist. So I got a Pedicure done. I have to admit it was pretty relaxing and my feet felt great afterwards.

 

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I would be meeting the family at Dinner so with a few minutes to spare I walked thru the Ships Serenity area and also took in some of the views of Grand Turk before we set sail.

 

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[TeknikDC2]

 

The rest of the family beat me to the dinning room. But it would end up being another wonderful dinner. Daniel got some Fried Chicken for dinner tonight. I think Lizzy had Chicken Nuggets again.

 

 

Again I’m really sorry as I don’t recall what everything we had for dinner is. I really will take Menu photos on our next cruise. We obviously had Ribs. But I’m sorry I’m not sure exactly what everything else was.

 

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[TeknikDC2]

 

Although dinner was wonderful as always it again went way longer then it should have due to our very slow wait staff. We were the last table out of the dinning room again it seemed. And we didn’t want to be as we really wanted to see the Hasbro game show. By the time we got to the theater and found seats in the upper level the show was over half way done. We had never been on a ship before that had the Hasbro stuff so we really looked forward to this. It was a lot of fun and pretty funny. We wish we could have watched it all.

 

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When the Game show finished up we made our way down to the lower level of the Theater where we would next try our luck at some games of Bingo. We have played this on each of our cruises with now wins. Yet we still keep coming back again and again to play.

 

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They had changed up the game a little since our last cruise. Mainly the Bingo sheets themselves. Not only are they on cheaper paper but they also don’t have the push out tabs anymore. Instead you can only use one bingo sheet per game instead of using the same sheet over and over again. Also they try to upsell you on the “Bingo Marker” too. Kinda lame. But its still the same old game. It was fun and although we came close the curse of no wins continues.

 

 

Although it was getting late and we probably should have put the kids to sleep we instead went up to the Lido Deck where the Mega Deck party was taking place tonight. Honestly this isn’t something I care much for as I don’t like to dance. But the kids had a blast. Especially Daniel as he really liked dancing around with Kiera and Elizabeth.

 

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[TeknikDC2]

 

Afterwards we went to get our usual late night Ice Cream and saw the Mexican Buffet. We completely forgot about this Late Night buffet which has some pretty incredible Watermelon and Ice Carvings. The food can be pretty good too. So of course we dished us up some plates to eat before going back to our cabins.

 

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It was really late but we didn’t mind. We had another little later then normal docking time tomorrow so we would be able to sleep in a bit. We were excited as once again we would be visiting a new port tomorrow that we had never been to before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that concludes another day. The next update will have our final port of call. Thanks for the support. As always feel free to ask any questions you might have. Thank you.