Splendor May 17-24th! My review

[ameliabedilia]

This cruise was LOTS of fun! There were 15 of us travelling together ages 4-62 so we covered pretty much every demographic! We booked this when it was still headed to Mexico, so I was not thrilled with this itinerary, but ended up pleasantly surprised.

 

Embarkation- C although this could have been our fault for getting there at the worst time- 11:30 am. Our original plan was to get there at 9:30 but of course we were all running behind schedule. The process seemed fairly smooth, just long because there were soo many people involved.

 

Decor- I could care less! :D. Having seen pictures of the different Carnival ships, they all seem gaudy and Vegas style to me. As long as you like (or don't mind) lots of color and sparkles, you will be fine. I am more concerned with things looking worn out, and this did not look like that. I do wish the main atrium/lobby was a little more like the Elation, with the staircase behind the bar and the elevators positioned diffently. This one didn't seem so open and grand. On this boat you really feel like you're at the bottom of a bunch of floors and it seems kind of narrow. Still very pretty.

 

Food-A I really thought the food was excellent at dinner. I especially liked the ribs, flatiron steak and most of the starters. My husband loved the lobster and the crab cake. I thought the corn chowder and the cream of potato soup were excellent. I was a little disappointed in the cheatuebriand. It seemed kind of flavor deprived. The prime rib was very good. Polenta sides were yummy.

The buffet food was fine. There is always something else if you get one thing you don't like. I never tried the tandoori because the line was always so long. I did try the rotisserie and was a little underwhelmed as well as my chicken was a little dry. I always found at least one thing I really loved. I personally like the style of pizza they serve so I had several of those. Some of my family members had the late night Mexican seafood buffet and thought it was wonderful. Bacon was always perfectly crispy. We ate breakfast in the dining room twice. The atmosphere in there is much more calm, but sometimes we didn't want to be there with all the kids since they were in there every night as well. I think they did a great job considering how much food they were preparing for all those people.

 

Camp Carnival- I can't really rate it because we didn't spend much time there. There were not that many kids going to camp-I think there were less than 10 in the oldest age group. Our kids were all happy to be with their cousins so they spent alot of time doing mini golf and arcade and swimming.

 

Pools and Hot tubs- C This would be an A+ if they had kept the lido pool warm. The first two days were awesome, like bathwater. Then the next day it was freezing. I called and was told that someone had thrown up and they had to drain it and reheat it. The next day it was freezing. Was told that they had drained and refilled it so it would be warm by noon. Never happened. A few kids still went in it, but for those of us that still need to get in the water with our kids (4 and 5 yrs), it was miserable and we ended up using the hot tubs.

 

Another thing I thought was strange- The weather in Vancouver was amazing. Probably 70 degrees. We decided to come back to the boat about 3pm so the kids could use the water slide and we could lay on the deck. The water slide and pool were closed, even though there were tons of people laying on deck sunbathing. The lido roof was also closed except for one section. There was some type of mishap at the barbecue grill and the whole lido area was filled with smoke. I watched the worker go upstairs and open the lido roof one section and it was awesome! Tons of light and fresh air. Then he put the cover back on the little machine and that was it. It only stayed open for a few hours. Honestly, it looked SO easy to open and close it, I don't know why they didn't do it more.

 

Shows/Entertainment- B I can't really grade all of these because we only saw two. The comedian the first night was terrible. He just wasn't funny. The Legends show on the last night was really funny and entertaining. We tried to see the other shows, but we didn't get there in time. The theater is really not big enough for that size of ship. Several shows were one showing only, and unless your whole group got there at least 45 minutes in advance, you couldn't get a seat. Also, we managed to get the last row on the bottom level for a show and the view is completely obstructed. The overhang from the balcony cut off half the performers. We aren't that into the shows, so we weren't heartbroken.

The casino was fun. We ended up about $50 down, so I consider that successful ;). The karaoke was fun. I liked the size of the bar. We never made it to the piano bar for the show, but heard it was fun. The little contests were kind of cute. The singers were all very good. I liked the two in the lobby/atrium area. The songs were cheesy, but perfect for dancing and also being able to talk while in the same area.

 

Astoria- we didn't get off the boat. The weather wasn't great and I just didn't have anything that I really wanted to see.

 

Victoria- very nice! We took the waterfront walk from the boat to downtown. We mostly just walked around a little then took one of the horse drawn carriages back to the boat. That was the highlight of the trip for most of the kids. The weather was really nice. I had on jeans, a tee shirt and a sweatshirt and that was perfect because in the shade I needed the sweatshirt but in the sun I could take it off.

 

Vancouver- very very nice! I loved this place. The weather couldn't have been better. We walked around downtown and walked the silk road path to Chinatown. There we went to Dr. Sun Yat Sen garden and it was beautiful. We took a city bus from there to Stanley park which was also amazing. Did the little miniature train ride- a great deal at $3 a person and it's about a 15 to 20 minute ride through the foresty part of the park. The kids loved it. Walked back along the waterfront back to the boat.

 

I really had a great time and was not expecting to have so much fun in the ports. I know I will get back to Mexico again, but I might not get back to Victoria or Vancouver again anytime soon. The overall attitude on the ship seemed really positive. I think there were TONS of people that got great deals that most of them really had nothing to complain about. There were several tragel agents and their families that had gotten the cruise for $55 a person!

[Tgianco]

Good, fair-minded review. We'll be on the Splendor this coming Sunday, 5/31.

 

Where were you on the ship? How were your accommodations?

[floridacruzin]

Thanks for sharing. Glad that you enjoyed your crusie

[deck chair]

Hi

 

Thanks for sharing. I am curious what time you were able to get off teh ship when she returned to Long Beach. Thanks.

 

DC

[ameliabedilia]

Good, fair-minded review. We'll be on the Splendor this coming Sunday, 5/31.

 

Where were you on the ship? How were your accommodations?

 

 

We were on the verandah deck in room 8249. The cabin was really nice and I thought it had plenty of room. I really liked having the couch and little table. My group had three rooms on one side and three on the other. No one complained about anything.

[ameliabedilia]

Hi

 

Thanks for sharing. I am curious what time you were able to get off teh ship when she returned to Long Beach. Thanks.

 

DC

 

IMO- Efficiant, too efficiant for us actually!

We did the self disembark since I can never figure out what to pack up and what to keep for the next morning:o. We had a 2:30 flight out of LAX. We had heard all the horror stories about disembarking so we made sure to get off at 9:00 am. We were on the 8th floor and the elevators were getting crowded, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes or so for one that wasn't full. The line downstairs moved really fast and we were off the ship, in a cab and at the airport by 10:00 am. We were actually too early to check our bags and had to sit with them for 30 minutes before we could get rid of them. I was thinking we would get to the airport closer to noon. I don't know if everyone had this experience, but it was a piece of cake for us.

[mistyinca]

IMO- Efficiant, too efficiant for us actually!

We did the self disembark since I can never figure out what to pack up and what to keep for the next morning:o. We had a 2:30 flight out of LAX. We had heard all the horror stories about disembarking so we made sure to get off at 9:00 am. We were on the 8th floor and the elevators were getting crowded, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes or so for one that wasn't full. The line downstairs moved really fast and we were off the ship, in a cab and at the airport by 10:00 am. We were actually too early to check our bags and had to sit with them for 30 minutes before we could get rid of them. I was thinking we would get to the airport closer to noon. I don't know if everyone had this experience, but it was a piece of cake for us.

 

For the life of me, I could not understand all the whining and complaining about debarkation (and embarkation for that matter) for our 4/5 Splendor cruise. I, too, found it to be very smooth. We didn't even do the self-assist, and it seemed to go fine for us too! :)

[iggy's mom]

We were on the same cruise with you and had lots of fun too! We agree with your comments about the first comedian.

[ameliabedilia]

We were on the same cruise with you and had lots of fun too! We agree with your comments about the first comedian.

 

He was truly unfunny. Nothing offensive or anything. Just not funny. I love stand up so I was hoping for some good laughs. Cruise Director Brad was actually funnier than he was! I just read your review and it sounds like you had a good time as well. It was nice to not see too much complaining. People seemed very relaxed.

[gtarbet]

So if you got there at 11:30, what time did you actually get checked in and on the ship? Were there long lines at the Long Beach Terminal. It seems to be such a hard thing to figure out since we will have carry on bags and little ones. Timing is everything.

[ameliabedilia]

So if you got there at 11:30, what time did you actually get checked in and on the ship? Were there long lines at the Long Beach Terminal. It seems to be such a hard thing to figure out since we will have carry on bags and little ones. Timing is everything.

 

I think it was close to 2:00, but I could be off. I know my husband was really wanting to see the nba game and was only able to see the last quarter. I heard a crewmember tell someone that no one was on the ship before 1:30. We were in boarding group 6 and the lines were long but organized. It did seem easy to always find a seat as there were cement benches all around. They did have some balloon artists/clowns that were wandering around. It seemed so strange, but it really kept all our kids occupied. Timing is everything and I seemed to get it wrong.

[mistyinca]

I wonder what is up with Splendor. The past two cruises before yours, people reported being able to board before noon. It seems to be very inconsistent. Our boarding on 4/5 wasn't until after 2pm, but then the boat didn't even arrive in port until after 1:30pm. I wonder why the wait.

 

Also, one of the comedians we had on that sailing wasn't very funny either. I wonder if it was the same guy.

[calikak]

Thank you so much for your review!

[firefly4423]

wow! thanks for your review!

[vacationbug]

We were on the Splendor 5/17 cruise as well. We had a good time but the debarkation process was horrible for us. We did not do self-debark because my mother is mobility challenged and can't handle the luggage. Although we were No. 1 group off, the escalator broke down and they only have ONE elevator. It was truly unbelievable to us.....after sailing out of many many ports....they are not set up in Long Beach properly for debarkation.

[ameliabedilia]

We were on the Splendor 5/17 cruise as well. We had a good time but the debarkation process was horrible for us. We did not do self-debark because my mother is mobility challenged and can't handle the luggage. Although we were No. 1 group off, the escalator broke down and they only have ONE elevator. It was truly unbelievable to us.....after sailing out of many many ports....they are not set up in Long Beach properly for debarkation.

 

Wow! That's too bad. You're so tired anyway after the cruise that you want getting off to be simple. Are you talking about the escalator inside the terminal?

[kkaren]

We were on the Splendor 5/17 cruise as well. We had a good time but the debarkation process was horrible for us. We did not do self-debark because my mother is mobility challenged and can't handle the luggage. Although we were No. 1 group off, the escalator broke down and they only have ONE elevator. It was truly unbelievable to us.....after sailing out of many many ports....they are not set up in Long Beach properly for debarkation.

 

I fully agree with this. We got off the ship on the 17th as well.

 

It was frustrating, being platinum, to watch people who were clearly incapable of handling their luggage (this was a week-long cruise) trying to get off. In my opinion this was probably why the escalator broke down, too much heavy luggage.

 

When we were told we could leave, the Carnival rep just left us to go down two floors from our meeting place on our own by which time, Zones 1-5 were being called.

 

Then we were further delayed by people with luggage trying to use the stairs, who got stuck half-way and had to have assistance from Carnival(?) to get to the bottom. They didn't want to wait for the elevator.

 

This was by far the worst Platinum debarkation I have had, especially compared to San Diego.

 

The rest of the cruise was great.

[mistyinca]

We came back from the Paradise on 5/15 and that one escalator was broken then too.

[tink24]

We were on the Splendor 5/17 cruise as well. We had a good time but the debarkation process was horrible for us. We did not do self-debark because my mother is mobility challenged and can't handle the luggage. Although we were No. 1 group off, the escalator broke down and they only have ONE elevator. It was truly unbelievable to us.....after sailing out of many many ports....they are not set up in Long Beach properly for debarkation.

I was on the 5/10 sailing and the escalator broke for us as well. We were not off until 10:45am and we were in the 2nd group to be called after self-assist.

 

Mistyinca: Did you do a review of the Paradise? I want to know your comparison. Thanks!

[mistyinca]

Mistyinca: Did you do a review of the Paradise? I want to know your comparison. Thanks!

 

I did. It is in the reviews section. :)