Carnival Splendor in Sydney today - 9th June 2023

[Hogbay]

Lido buffet near the cakes ??? They have super salads choice of two change daily and im a meat eater .

 

[Hogbay]

Guy's cheese burger with mayo😋

[Hogbay]

 Indian ...yep included in fare .🙂

 

 

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, Hogbay said:

 Indian ...yep included in fare .🙂

 

 

Indian food was so good, I ordered it every time it was on the menu on Luminosa. 

[Aussieflyer]

I am just off Splendor and as they say 'a day at sea beats a day at work' and whilst I did enjoy the cruise there were things I wasn't so keen on. Everyone's view is subjective but here are my (random) thoughts.

The good?

Foodwise:

On the whole the buffet food was very good I thought. I don't usually frequent the buffet but it was better than the main restaurant. The additional Masala Tiger curries and the Pizzeria were both excellent. Guy's Burgers looked great but I didn't get a chance to try them as there was often a long queue.

There was usually a table to be found in the buffet at dinner (though didn't try at lunch or breakfast). 

The Deli was great too and if you went early or later, there was not a long queue.

Seafood shack hot platter for 2 was very tasty and very filling ($20 and well worth it).

Chef's Table was very good but of course $140 per head. One dish (steak) was quite tough though.

Long Lunch at Sea (Fahrenheit 555) was quite good as well ($45 per head).

Alchemy Bar was by far the best in terms of skill of bar staff but their drinks were more expensive that others. It is on a par with the good bars on other lines.

Soft drinks were well priced - only $2.95 for coke etc.

 

Other:

Lots of live music around the place which is great.

The films on the big screen were 2022 and 2023 releases so very new.

The App seemed to work well for booking in for meals and gave the estimated wait times (busy dinner could be up to 110 mins). You couldn't request a time though.

Getting people on and off the ship was pretty well organised - lots of shuttle buses available in Noumea so hardly any waiting. Water shuttles in Lifou and Mystery Island but we went outside peak time.

I had an inside cabin - fine for one but wouldn't want any more in there as it would be very squeezy. Bathroom small but good shower and hot water.

The ship was in pretty good condition - some of the chairs seemed to have lost their springs and padding but overall nothing to complain about at all.

Lots of cleaning going on all the time - tables wiped quickly, floors mopped etc. 

 

The not so good?

Foodwise:

Meals in the main restaurant were not great - edible but nothing 'wow'. Red meat was tough, seafood a bit dry and my son had pasta which he said was 'ok'. 

Service was a bit hit and miss in the main restaurant as well - sometimes rushed and other meals we seemed to be in black hole.

Nowhere to have coffee in a 'proper' cup around the ship - the coffee outlets only had paper cups.

No little snacks from the coffee shops (free) like on say Princess or Celebrity. You could buy donuts or cupcakes for $6.50 though.

 

Other:

The bed was the lumpiest I have ever had at sea and quite uncomfortable.

Cabins are only serviced once a day (which is fine but having turn down is nice and a little extra to look forward to on other lines).

Towels are quite small - certainly not big and fluffy.

Photos were a big thing and there were lots of photographers set up every evening - taking away seating areas to set up their gear - but it must have been worth it for them as there seemed to be lots of people having photos taken.

Meal orders were taken for all courses at once - on other lines it is usually entree and mains then the waiter comes back for the dessert menu/coffee etc. 

No table cloths in the main restaurants at all and if you wanted a printed menu you had to request it, other wise it was expected you would use the QR code on the table.

It was school holidays and as expected the ship was packed - quite hard to find a spot to sit at times (especially one day when it was cool and there was some rain). I wasn't really prepared for the big extended family groups though.

 

It is just me but I am not a fan of the theme nights and dress ups - and this was big on this cruise - Grinchmas in July, White Night, 80's, super heroes etc. I wondered why people seemed to have such big suitcases for a short 9 day cruise - well now I know - it is all their costumes!

 

 

[arxcards]

Not just pizzas for late night snacks any more.

 

Starting over the next couple of weeks, there will be a late night snack menu in the buffet, ideal for a couple of drinks after a late night comedy show.

[2022cruisey]

That’s great.  When we were recently on Splendor, I really missed the ability to get something to eat that wasn’t pizza later on.  If they had something like the International Cafe on Princess, even better.

There were thousands of people wandering around after the food outlets had closed and the wait for pizza was long.

[Hogbay]

18 hours ago, 2022cruisey said:

That’s great.  When we were recently on Splendor, I really missed the ability to get something to eat that wasn’t pizza later on.  If they had something like the International Cafe on Princess, even better.

There were thousands of people wandering around after the food outlets had closed and the wait for pizza was long.

Two thousand starving cruise passengers after dinner ....🤣🤣🤣

[Aussieflyer]

1 hour ago, Hogbay said:

Two thousand starving cruise passengers after dinner ....🤣🤣🤣

If they had eaten in the MDR I can understand. People are different, we never really eat anything late at night after dinner so we didn't have a problem. We might have a drink though 😁.

[2022cruisey]

Especially if you have early dinner, then go to the show and a comedian, you need your supper.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, 2022cruisey said:

Especially if you have early dinner, then go to the show and a comedian, you need your supper.

Yes. That is where the pizza with a couple of drinks is a great way to end a night, best shared with friends. For me, pizzas are one of Carnival's standouts. Not only the late night ones, but the bacon & egg breakfast pizzas (has been a while, please tell me they still do them).

 

The international café on Princess is great, but mostly only if you want another dessert or something reheated by sandwich press or microwave. 

[Tripmode33]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yes. That is where the pizza with a couple of drinks is a great way to end a night, best shared with friends. For me, pizzas are one of Carnival's standouts. Not only the late night ones, but the bacon & egg breakfast pizzas (has been a while, please tell me they still do them).

 

The international café on Princess is great, but mostly only if you want another dessert or something reheated by sandwich press or microwave. 

No breakfast pizza on Carnival Luminosa as pizza closed about 4am and didn't reopen until 11am. Pre-covid I think they were 24 hours.  You could get a breakfast burrito from the Mexican place though but I didn't try.

I'll be checking out Splendor next month.

Great they'll be having a late night snack menu soon. 

 

[arxcards]

16 hours ago, Tripmode33 said:

No breakfast pizza on Carnival Luminosa as pizza closed about 4am and didn't reopen until 11am. Pre-covid I think they were 24 hours.  You could get a breakfast burrito from the Mexican place though but I didn't try.

I'll be checking out Splendor next month.

Great they'll be having a late night snack menu soon. 

 

A bit of further digging, and it seems they ditched the breakfast pizza back before covid 19 was invented. By their website listing, the ships with Pizza Pirate are 24hr pizza, while those with Pizza del Capitano (including Splendor & Luminosa) are 9am till 4am. Both have the same 5 pizzas on their menu - 

 

Brekky burrito - sounds yum & potentially dangerous.

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

 

 

Brekky burrito - sounds yum & potentially dangerous.

SOT.

Source Cafe at Wickham do a great brekky burrito.

[icat2000]

You really can't compare cruising Carnival with Princess. You pay a lot more to cruise on Princess than Carnival.  I never really been overly fond of the food served on Princess or Carnival. Which is probably a good thing. I never starved though.

 

I did like International Cafe on Princess. But I guess that what you pay extra $$ in cruise fare for. 

 

Carnival were selling off their cabins pretty cheap with  lots of OBC. We cruise on Splendour on 21 August and have 1000 OBC to spend. 

[arxcards]

27 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

SOT.

Source Cafe at Wickham do a great brekky burrito.

We used to have group work functions there, but it is close to 10 years since I have been there. Might be worth a diversion, as they do good food in general.

 

For something ruggedly similar, the servo at Steel River does a breakfast wrap. Not as tasty as a burrito, but has bacon, egg, sausage, hash brown & BBQ sauce jammed into a tortilla. Very popular.