Hello everyone!! My name is Jeff "Jamman" Maskall, and I am a cruise addict!! As are my DW Patti, we're in our mid 50's, DS Kevin (18), and DS Ryan (16). On Carnival, we are a Platinum family, myself being only several days away from Diamond after this cruise. Shortly before final payment, Kevin informed us that he had an opportunity to go out of state for the summer, so he would not be joining us this time. We will miss you son!!
I have always appreciated and admired the time and effort that some posters spend putting together picture reviews, or any review, for our enjoyment and information. I felt that to payback those in this and other cruise forum communities, that I should do the same. We took tons of pictures and video, so why shouldn't we share them? Now, we are by no means professional photographers or carry thousands of dollars worth of equipment, so please don't expect all the pictures to be perfect, but they will tell a story, and we want all of you along for the ride!! Up front, I will you tell you some things that you won't read about or see here:
I do not scan every single page of the Fun Times and other paperwork from aboard ship. I did scan the front pages of the Fun Times, which I will use as a cover page for each day. I also scanned a few pages of what I considered pertinent information. I have all the information, so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
Food Porn: (with a few exceptions). Don't get me wrong, I love the pictures people post of the various food and dessert items. They make my mouth water sometimes. But when that waiter puts that plate down in front of me, I'm not stopping to take pictures!!
Production Shows / Music in general: My wife is hearing impaired, so we don't attend these, as she doesn't get much out of them. She does lip read, so we do attend the comedy shows, quest, magic shows, or any other show that is more visual.
There are pictures with some of my fellow roll call members present, but I will not identify anyone in my text. If they want to chime in and say "that's me, that's me!!" that's fine too.
I think that covers everything, so let us begin!
After 14 months of waiting, the day has finally arrived!! It is an absolutely miserable morning. It is POURING rain, and the weatherman says it will be this way all morning, but it will gradually clear up in the afternoon. As long as it is nice for sail away, I'm OK with that. Living in New Jersey, we are normally about a 45 minute to an hour drive away from the pier. It took us an hour and a half, but because we left home a bit earlier than usual, we arrived at the terminal at exactly 10:30am. The Splendor is waiting for us in all it's glory, the only ship in port today. Up the ramp to the rooftop parking booth, which is located on Pier 92. After paying the $35./day, ($280.), parking fee,(cash or credit card), we were directed over to Pier 90 were the Splendor was located. Now, if you are driving in, there are other places to park around the area that are cheaper, but may involve a taxi / shuttle ride, and multiple handling of luggage. We elect to pay the extra money for convenience. After arriving at Pier 90, we were instructed to open our doors so that the nice dog can have a sniff. That done, just down a few feet is where normally there are porters to take your luggage. Their carts were there, but no porters. I was able to get a very close parking spot, jumped out of the van, in search of someone to help us. Keep in mind that it is still POURING out. I saw one porter who was returning back inside after taking someone's luggage out to their car after the previous cruise, and asked if she could take ours. She said she couldn't because she wasn't working receiving yet, but she would get someone for us. As promised a few minutes later a porter came out to help us, going as far as to going right to our car to load the luggage. That is something that is not usually done for incoming bags! He attached additional FTTF sticky tape around the luggage handles, and off our bags went. He was tipped very well!! Just to note, that as Platinum members, we get all the FTTF benefits for free.
It was now about 10:50, as we rode the elevator down to the terminal level. As we walked into the VIP line, there was no one in front of us, and from what I could see, very few people in the regular line. First up was the scanner. We followed the rules, and packed our allotment of soda and wine into a 12 x 12 cooler bag. It went through without any problem, in fact no one even opened it to check what was in there. I could have put my whole bar in there and got away with it!!! We were next directed to the VIP lounge, where we were greeted at the door, asked for our names, then were directed to have a seat until our names were called. There were about 10 people already in there, and there was water and lemonade available. Once called, the check in process took about two minutes, got our sail and sign cards, then sat back down to wait. We met a couple of roll call members at this point. About 11:15 we were told it was time to board!!
Our cruise was officially beginning!! We took our embarkation photo...
Then we boarded the Splendor for the first time. The Lobby Bar...
Atrium Elevators...
Looking up the Atrium...
Looking all the way up to the skylight...
Once onboard the first order of business, besides a drink, would be to reserve our cabana at HMC (Half Moon Cay). Though the posted Shore Excursion Desk opening time was Noon, there was a young lady behind the desk, so I went to say hello. When I told her I was going to reserve my cabana, she said she would take care of it right now!! I had planned all along to get cabana 7 or 8, but when she pulled out the list, cabanas 7,8,& 9, had already been assigned to the same person. How could that be, I' the first in line? I didn't think to ask that as now my mind was focused on a back up plan. Didn' want #6 as it was right next to the first three villas, didn’t want to go further down the beach, so I settled for Orange #4. We had been there before. We made our beverage selections, gave her the sizes for the snorkel gear, then she gave me an envelope with all the tickets for the excursions I had bought for the cruise.
First at the excursion desk....
That done it was time to go check out our cabin. Here are a few pictures taken along the way. Wine selections....
Bottomless Bubbles table in the Lobby....
Lobby chairs....
It's been said before, but anytime I order a pink frosted doughnut at my favorite doughnut shop, I will think of the Splendor...
To be continued....
I have always appreciated and admired the time and effort that some posters spend putting together picture reviews, or any review, for our enjoyment and information. I felt that to payback those in this and other cruise forum communities, that I should do the same. We took tons of pictures and video, so why shouldn't we share them? Now, we are by no means professional photographers or carry thousands of dollars worth of equipment, so please don't expect all the pictures to be perfect, but they will tell a story, and we want all of you along for the ride!! Up front, I will you tell you some things that you won't read about or see here:
I do not scan every single page of the Fun Times and other paperwork from aboard ship. I did scan the front pages of the Fun Times, which I will use as a cover page for each day. I also scanned a few pages of what I considered pertinent information. I have all the information, so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
Food Porn: (with a few exceptions). Don't get me wrong, I love the pictures people post of the various food and dessert items. They make my mouth water sometimes. But when that waiter puts that plate down in front of me, I'm not stopping to take pictures!!
Production Shows / Music in general: My wife is hearing impaired, so we don't attend these, as she doesn't get much out of them. She does lip read, so we do attend the comedy shows, quest, magic shows, or any other show that is more visual.
There are pictures with some of my fellow roll call members present, but I will not identify anyone in my text. If they want to chime in and say "that's me, that's me!!" that's fine too.
I think that covers everything, so let us begin!
After 14 months of waiting, the day has finally arrived!! It is an absolutely miserable morning. It is POURING rain, and the weatherman says it will be this way all morning, but it will gradually clear up in the afternoon. As long as it is nice for sail away, I'm OK with that. Living in New Jersey, we are normally about a 45 minute to an hour drive away from the pier. It took us an hour and a half, but because we left home a bit earlier than usual, we arrived at the terminal at exactly 10:30am. The Splendor is waiting for us in all it's glory, the only ship in port today. Up the ramp to the rooftop parking booth, which is located on Pier 92. After paying the $35./day, ($280.), parking fee,(cash or credit card), we were directed over to Pier 90 were the Splendor was located. Now, if you are driving in, there are other places to park around the area that are cheaper, but may involve a taxi / shuttle ride, and multiple handling of luggage. We elect to pay the extra money for convenience. After arriving at Pier 90, we were instructed to open our doors so that the nice dog can have a sniff. That done, just down a few feet is where normally there are porters to take your luggage. Their carts were there, but no porters. I was able to get a very close parking spot, jumped out of the van, in search of someone to help us. Keep in mind that it is still POURING out. I saw one porter who was returning back inside after taking someone's luggage out to their car after the previous cruise, and asked if she could take ours. She said she couldn't because she wasn't working receiving yet, but she would get someone for us. As promised a few minutes later a porter came out to help us, going as far as to going right to our car to load the luggage. That is something that is not usually done for incoming bags! He attached additional FTTF sticky tape around the luggage handles, and off our bags went. He was tipped very well!! Just to note, that as Platinum members, we get all the FTTF benefits for free.
It was now about 10:50, as we rode the elevator down to the terminal level. As we walked into the VIP line, there was no one in front of us, and from what I could see, very few people in the regular line. First up was the scanner. We followed the rules, and packed our allotment of soda and wine into a 12 x 12 cooler bag. It went through without any problem, in fact no one even opened it to check what was in there. I could have put my whole bar in there and got away with it!!! We were next directed to the VIP lounge, where we were greeted at the door, asked for our names, then were directed to have a seat until our names were called. There were about 10 people already in there, and there was water and lemonade available. Once called, the check in process took about two minutes, got our sail and sign cards, then sat back down to wait. We met a couple of roll call members at this point. About 11:15 we were told it was time to board!!
Our cruise was officially beginning!! We took our embarkation photo...
Then we boarded the Splendor for the first time. The Lobby Bar...
Atrium Elevators...
Looking up the Atrium...
Looking all the way up to the skylight...
Once onboard the first order of business, besides a drink, would be to reserve our cabana at HMC (Half Moon Cay). Though the posted Shore Excursion Desk opening time was Noon, there was a young lady behind the desk, so I went to say hello. When I told her I was going to reserve my cabana, she said she would take care of it right now!! I had planned all along to get cabana 7 or 8, but when she pulled out the list, cabanas 7,8,& 9, had already been assigned to the same person. How could that be, I' the first in line? I didn't think to ask that as now my mind was focused on a back up plan. Didn' want #6 as it was right next to the first three villas, didn’t want to go further down the beach, so I settled for Orange #4. We had been there before. We made our beverage selections, gave her the sizes for the snorkel gear, then she gave me an envelope with all the tickets for the excursions I had bought for the cruise.
First at the excursion desk....
That done it was time to go check out our cabin. Here are a few pictures taken along the way. Wine selections....
Bottomless Bubbles table in the Lobby....
Lobby chairs....
It's been said before, but anytime I order a pink frosted doughnut at my favorite doughnut shop, I will think of the Splendor...
To be continued....
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