So, Our cruise left Long Beach CA on Sat around 4:30 pm. Sailed all day Sunday and arrived in Cabo on Monday.
After we got on board, we checked out our room and unpacked our luggage. They had 3 large closets. Plenty of room for all our stuff. Then we went to a bar to activate our prepaid drink package. They charge for pretty much anything you want to drink and the prices are higher than on shore, so it made sense to us to buy what they called the Cheers beverage program. It gives you up 15 alcoholic drinks a day and unlimited water and soft drinks. And that even includes any of their specialty cocktails. We never hit the 15 limit, but after the cruise I figured what we had and we came out way ahead of what we would have if we payed as we went. Regular cocktails were $7.50 and specialty drinks went up to $15. Anyway, we got a drink and began to explore the ship. The Carnival Splendor is a large ship. Holds 3000 passengers and 1000 crew. The typical ship in their fleet holds 2000 passengers. The main decks with things to do were on decks 3, 5, 9, 10, and 11. The other decks were all guest rooms.
Here's a floor plan of deck 9.....
Our room is marked with a black arrow. So we were close to everything on this deck.
This deck had 2 pools, the lido restaurant which is a buffet and 4 satellite fast food outlets that included 24 hour pizza, a deli, a hamburger, hot dog place, and a tandoori place.It also had 3 bars.
And on deck 5....
In front was the balcony entrance to the showroom, then shops. then a casino and bar, a coffee shop, piano bar, wine bar, nightclub, and the Moroccan lounge where they also had smaller shows.
Down on deck 3...
In front was the main entrance to the showroom, then the main lobby and lobby bar, then in the middle and back the 2 sit down restaurants.
Up on deck 10 was the second level of the Lido restaurant and lot's of deck with lounge chairs and deck 11 was more deck with lounge chairs and a spa.
So on Sunday, our first full day at sea, we got a good feel of where everything was.
Our 7 day cruise included one day at sea down one day in each of the 3 ports, and 2 days back. The day we boarded was considered the first day.
Monday, we arrived late in Cabo for some reason ans because there was another cruise ship there, there weren't enough tender boats, so it took a long time to get people to shore that wanted to go. We decided to stay on the ship and enjoy all the amenities. Oh, and did I say, all the food is included in the fare. You could literally eat 24-7. I believe we each gained 20 lbs that week. :-)
We sailed that evening and arrived the next morning in Mazatlan. Spent the day wandering the town and that evening we sailed again, arriving in Pueto Vallarta the next morning. This was our favorite stop as it's a big city with a lot more culture and sightseeing. We sailed again that evening and spent the next 2 days at sea heading back to Long Beach. They had dozens of activities scheduled throughout the day. A schedule was in our room every day so we could pick and choose what we wanted to partake in.
All in all, a very nice time. Would like to maybe do an Alaskan cruise next.
And here's some cute animals that were in our room each day.....
So that was pretty much our cruise. I could go on and on about the entertainment and food, but I think I've bored you enough. :-)
Very talented, the towel folders.
ReplyDeleteThat is something hubby and I wish we had done, a cruise to Alaska.
We did drive the Alcan highway both ways. Very interesting when you are leapfrogging a snow storm.
I expect the roads are quite possibly better populated now than they were in the late 70s, but who knows?
Glad your trip was a safe one!