Our 25th Anniversary Adventure - Baja Mexico & Hawaii on the Inspiration & Splendor

[mjrcruiser]

Hi Jamman54!  A fellow Jersey native here....lol....Happy Belated Anniversary!  We just got back from our first B2B on the Horizon celebrating our anniversary as well!  Best thing we ever did!  I am just loving your review, especially all the information about Long Beach!  We have booked Panorama for next May and are so excited to do the Mexican Riviera!! First time for that as well!  Also loved your pictures of Catalina!  We visited there over Christmas (my BIL lives in San Diego) and it's just gorgeous!  Thank you again for your review - can't wait to read about your trip to Hawaii. 🙂 

[Jamman54]

2 hours ago, mjrcruiser said:

Hi Jamman54!  A fellow Jersey native here....lol....Happy Belated Anniversary!  We just got back from our first B2B on the Horizon celebrating our anniversary as well!  Best thing we ever did!  I am just loving your review, especially all the information about Long Beach!  We have booked Panorama for next May and are so excited to do the Mexican Riviera!! First time for that as well!  Also loved your pictures of Catalina!  We visited there over Christmas (my BIL lives in San Diego) and it's just gorgeous!  Thank you again for your review - can't wait to read about your trip to Hawaii. 🙂 

 

A Happy belated Anniversary to you too! A B2B was a GREAT way to celebrate it. Thanks for following along. More going up shortly. 😎

[Jamman54]

Patti continues heading aft on the Promenade Deck. This is Club O2 for the 15 to 17 year olds….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sushi at Sea has replaced the old Taste Bar…..

 

 

Right next door is the Top Score Arcade…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Moving further aft we find the Red Carpet Dance Club…..

 

 

 

 

 

This is the El Mojito Wine Bar…..

 

 

 

 

Looking forward up the Oceanview Promenade…..

 

 

This is the Grand Piano Bar on the starboard side aft of the Promenade Deck…..

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

This is the El Morocco Lounge all the way aft on the Promenade. This is the venue used for the Punchliner Comedy Club…..

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Cool Lounge. It is located aft on the Promenade Deck port side…..

 

 

 

 

Patti moves down to Deck 4 and the Gold Pearl Restaurant which is all the way aft. This is the Restaurant that we will be eating at for this cruise…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Across from the Gold Pearl Restaurant is the Robusto Bar…..

 

 

 

 

The Dream Studios is where the internet cafe (The Web), used to be......

 

 

Patti has made her way back upstairs to the Splendido Lido Pool…..

 

 

 

She comes to collect me from the starboard bar so we can unpack and get ready for the muster drill. This is Ruther. We will be spending a lot of time with him this cruise…….

 

 

Everyone is ready for 14 days of fun!!!

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

The muster drill began at 3:30 pm and was fairly painless even though we had to muster outside. We were in Muster Station “H” which was on Deck 4 aft on the port side. We were allowed to go down the crew stairs which were right outside our cabin door.

 

Once the muster drill was over we went back to the cabin to finish unpacking and hang out until sail away.

 

We were supposed to sail at 4:30 pm, but we didn’t sail until 5:45 pm. Here we are sailing away from the Cruise Terminal at Long Beach…..

 

 

 

 

We have a Coast Guard escort…..

 

 

The Long Beach Pilot Boat…..

 

 

 

 

We are leaving the harbor. Goodbye Long Beach, next stop Maui…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[pblack]

Seeing your sail away pictures is really making me itch to be on a ship! Nov 2020 is still sooooo far away. 😥

[Jamman54]

I am going to hang out in the cabin until dinner, but Patti is going to check out the shops. She took a few more pictures along the way. She passes Sushi at Sea again….

 

 

 

There are even more goodies available at the Coffee Bar now……

 

 

 

The Aura Pop Duo plays on the Promenade by the Oceanview Bar. They played mostly Hawaiian music…..

 

 

 

Soon it was time for our first dinner of the cruise. We have the Late Seating at the Gold Pearl Restaurant. They changed the dining times for this cruise. Early Seating was at 5:30 pm, Late Seating was at 7:45 pm, and Your Time Dining was from 5:15 to 9 pm.

 

 I had emailed the Maitre’d prior to the cruise requesting a table for two, and that is what we got. Our wait team would be Rodelio, Ronal, and Miguel. We were seated at table # 575 on the upper level (Deck 4)…..

 

 

Here are Patti and I at our first dinner of the cruise……

 

 

 

Here are tonight’s menus…..

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

I know that some of you are chomping at the bit for some food porn, so here we go! Patti had the tomato soup, Caesar salad, and the grilled salmon…..

 

 

 

I started with a shrimp cocktail and duck potstickers, then had a pork chop and sweet & sour shrimp for my mains…..

 

 

 

 

 

Here is tonight’s dessert menu….

 

 

Patti had the caramel phyllo with caramel cream, and I had a banana split from the kid’s menu…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

After dinner we walked the Promenade where we caught a glimpse of Patrick performing in the Grand Piano Bar…….

 

 

Here is the Entertainment Schedule for our entire cruise…..

 

 

 

Here are the Casino Events for our entire cruise……

 

 

 

Patti was going to look at pictures and check out the shops again before heading back to the cabin. I went to hang out at Our House Sports Bar for an hour or so before heading back. Here is our first towel animal of the cruise……

 

 

We have also received all of the tickets for the excursions that we booked for this cruise. Tonight, we set our clocks back one hour as we begin our transition to Hawaii time. We will be setting the clock back two more times before arriving there.

 

Coming up next:   Our first sea day, including a Hawaiian lecture series, the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle, and first Elegant Night.

[Saint Greg]

2 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

This is the El Mojito Wine Bar…..

 

 

 

 

 

NOOOOO! That should be the Alchemy! How do they expect a person to survive 14 days on that ship?

 

I am surprised how familiar this ship feels. I guess I expected a very different layout since this is the one that was designed for another cruise line. It feels similar to Triumph. I do like that they have the Dream class style bar in the comedy club. The deli seems out of place. You may find me there at 1am trying to order a pepperoni with extra cheese.

[Jamman54]

32 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

 

NOOOOO! That should be the Alchemy! How do they expect a person to survive 14 days on that ship?

 

I am surprised how familiar this ship feels. I guess I expected a very different layout since this is the one that was designed for another cruise line. It feels similar to Triumph. I do like that they have the Dream class style bar in the comedy club. The deli seems out of place. You may find me there at 1am trying to order a pepperoni with extra cheese.

 

Hey Greg! If you want pizza on this ship you have to go where the Blue Iguana Cantina would be!

 

As you know the Splendor was originally being built for Costa as a Concordia Class ship. The Concordia Class and the Conquest Class are virtually identical, so that is why the ship seems familiar. The difference is up on the Lido. Costa did away with the stadium seating at the mid ship pool, enclosed it, and added a sliding glass roof. They kept the enclosed aft pool ala the Conquest Class. Once Carnival took over the Splendor they decided not to enclose the aft pool, and that became the norm with the subsequent Dream and Vista Class ships. I believe the Splendor will get an Alchemy Bar when she goes into dry dock in Singapore.

 

So, if you ever travel to Australia, you can take a cruise on the Splendor knowing that it has an Alchemy Bar!

[Saint Greg]

8 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

Hey Greg! If you want pizza on this ship you have to go where the Blue Iguana Cantina would be!

 

 

I can see an advantage to that. I wouldn’t have to walk through the buffet at 1am trying to  avoid slipping on their freshly mopped floor to get to the room with my pizza.

[Saint Greg]

17 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

Costa did away with the stadium seating at the mid ship pool, enclosed it, and added a sliding glass roof. 

 

 

That probably explains the smaller movie screen on Lido which is what stood out to me. I bet it’s nice to have that roof on a rainy sea day.

[watermelonqueen99]

Jeff, I feel you on that low shower-head situation. I'm almost 6ft tall and have encountered more than my fair share of height-unfriendly showers. Lol We sailed on the Splendor in '16 and had a great time, can't wait for the rest of your review!

[Jamman54]

20 hours ago, watermelonqueen99 said:

Jeff, I feel you on that low shower-head situation. I'm almost 6ft tall and have encountered more than my fair share of height-unfriendly showers. Lol We sailed on the Splendor in '16 and had a great time, can't wait for the rest of your review!

 

That shower was below low! 😀   More coming up now. 😎

[Jamman54]

Day # 11  (April 28^th)  -  Sea Day # 1.

 

Here are today’s Fun Times…..

 

 

 

 

We were up at 7 am to a cloudy and cool day with the temperatures in the 60’s. Patti didn’t feel like breakfast this morning, so I went up to the Lido to grab some coffee and Danish.

 

At 9 am Patti went upstairs to the El Morocco Lounge to check out Creativity at Sea. Today they were making lei’s. She then joined me in the Spectacular  Show Lounge for the Morning Show hosted by our Cruise Director Lee Mason…..

 

 

We enjoyed these morning shows very much and made them the first thing we did each sea day. It was a great way to meet the various staff members. For those that don’t know him, this is the Cruise Director Lee Mason…..

 

 

Today he is joined by Fun Squad members Tennessee Tyler and Dollar Dollar Danielle, who is also the Bingo Host…..

 

 

 

This is Fernando, who is the Shopping Expert aboard the Carnival Splendor…..

 

 

Lee interviews Jo, who is the female half of the Ballroom Dancing instructors on board for this cruise…..

 

 

He also interviews Jason, who is the Director of the Academy of Fun for this cruise….

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

The Morning Show was followed by “Wild Hawaii”, a ten part onboard lecture series hosted by Shannon…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the lecture was over, Patti hung around for the Fun Aboard, Fun Ashore show hosted by Lee. I made my way up to the Splendido Pool Bar on the starboard side for a few beers, and to watch the hula dance class.

 

At noon I met Patti down at the Robusto Bar for the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……..

[Jamman54]

They provided coffee, juice, and plenty of snacks….

 

 

 

 

Hotel Director Lars Juel, CD Lee Mason, and Tyler from the Fun Squad came and mingled and talked to everyone in attendance…..

 

 

 

Here we are with Tyler and Monroe the Entertainment Director who also took time out from his duties to attend….

 

 

Here we are with Lee and Tyler…..

 

 

Here is Cruise Critic member Darth Frothy and his wife Carolyn with Lee. It was a pleasure to meet you guys!

 

 

Afterwards, Patti and I went up to the Lido for some lunch. She went through the buffet line and I tried out the ol’ Fashioned BBQ, which was not bad.

 

After lunch I made my way to the Royal Flush Casino to play blackjack for a few hours, losing $100. Patti went to the $500 diamond bingo, but she didn’t have any luck either. Here is Dollar Dollar Danielle at work…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We stopped back at the cabin and found today’s towel animal…..

 

 

We also received a couple of plates of snacks and fruit…..

 

 

 

We then made our way up to the Cloud 9 Spa to utilize out couples thermal suite pass. We find that going later in the afternoon there is hardly anyone there. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the thalassotherapy pool and heated loungers. Pure bliss!

 

We head back to the cabin to get ready for the first Elegant Night dinner. Here Patti models her attire for the evening…..

 

 

We get our picture taken as we wait for the elevator…..

 

 

Our table is set and waiting for us….

 

 

Tonight’s American Feast menu…..

 

 

Here are Patti and I on Elegant Night…..

 

 

 

To be continued….

[Jamman54]

Here is our bread basket. We love the cranberry bread, so when it’s available we get a whole basket full…..

 

 

Patti gets the spaghetti carbonara as an appetizer….

 

 

We both have a shrimp cocktail and a Caesar salad…..

 

 

 

We both enjoyed the broiled Maine lobster and grilled shrimp…..

 

 

Here is tonight’s dessert menu…..

 

 

Patti had two scoops of butter pecan ice cream, while I had the coffee cream cake…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Our waiters surprised us with an anniversary cake, and they all came over to sing “Hoppy annibersary two shoes” to us!

 

 

It’s show time! Time for the wait staff to dance and sing for us…..

 

 

 

Our wait team, minus the young lady…..

 

 

Patti was tired so she went back to the cabin after dinner. I went up to the Comedy Club to see Kelly Terranova, who I discovered was a guy, and was pretty funny. I topped the night off with a few beers at the Our House Sports Bar.

 

Here is tonight’s turn down service. Our VIFP gifts are the Tervis cups. We also received our invitations for Tuesday’s Diamond Luncheon. …..

 

 

 

Tonight, we set our clocks back one hour again.

 

Coming up next:  Another relaxing sea day!

[SenatorsFan]

I agree, Patti has a very pretty dress. 😃

Heather

[Cherrys]

Jeff and Patty, greeting passed on to Ruther. Told him I expect a lot from him!