Carnival Splendor, Day THREE

Today was a Day at Sea...spent the day roaming the ship...tried the Burrito Bar for lunch, listened to music in the Atrium Lobby, blah blah blah. Also spent a couple hours in the Casino...started nicely, ended badly. In other words, the usual.

Really nice touch with the magrodome over the Lido Pool...warm and bright there.

It was a formal (or, as we say these days, Cruise Elegant) night. A surprisingly large number of people dressed up. I had the Supreme of Duck, it was excellent, along with a sushi starter that was interesting, and the chocolate melting cake for dessert.

After dinner, we went to the show. It's a new production number called "The Beat"...excellent...lot's of good rock 'n roll music, and great choreography.
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Finished the night in the Piano Bar. Best crowd so far. Apparently an overflow crowd in The Cool, where the "Legends" auditions were still going on, pushed some people into the piano bar, so it was packed, and Ron was in fine form, as well as my Montana and Arkansas friends (some of whom are actually from Utah...my bad).

Anyway, today we are pulling into Victoria around noon. Not sure yet what we are doing...it is around 50degrees and drizzling off and on...so it depends on the whether. However, the mornings cruising thru the Sound has been quite scenic.

All for now...

Carnival Splendor - Day TWO

Not that I had any real desire to go to San Francisco - but I am glad I did...the "Sail Under" of the Golden Gate Bridge was spectacular...I have sailed under the bridge before, in tour boats of various sorts, but I have NEVER been quite so close...it seems we cleared it by just a couple feet, and standing on the fantail as we went under, you could see the faces of the people lining the bridge to watch and wave.

And then, after docking, when we got off and started walking towards Pier 39, we caught a real break...Sunshine, glorious sunshine. Had to take my jacket off, it got so warm...a real surprise, after sailing all day thru fog. So, we walked from Pier 27 all the way to Ghirardeli Square (I forgot that last block was straight uphill, and on the way back went out the Hyde Street pier to look at the historic boats, stopped and had a bowl of clam chowder, got a sketch portrait down by a street artist (Mothers Day is coming), then walked out Pier 39 to watch the seals (some serious seal Sumo wrestling was going on, as two bulls fought for a spot), get a picture of Alcatraz, etc...all in all we spent 3 hours playing tourist and had to hurry back for dinner.

When we got back, we found our dining table had been re-assigned (the first night we were all the way in the back, and had to do some serious manuevering to get the wheelchair out). Not only did they get us a table right by the door, but the Maitre d' came and positively fawned, making sure our new table was right. Since a ton of passengers stayed in town for dinner, we spent pretty much the entire meal talking to our new waiters...I had the Jerked Pork Loin, which was as good as last time, Steve opted for the Penne Mariscos, which was loaded with shrimp, scallops and calamari - good dinner, great service.

After dinner we wandered the halls a little and listened to music. Paul and Linda, in the Atrium Lobby were excellent, Bruce, on the Promenade deck, outside the casino was as bad as I have ever heard on a ship, outside the Karaoke, and finally we ended up listening to the Legends Auditions...apparently the Legends show at the end of the crew has passenger/performers (as well as the regular entertainment cast)...the auditions were pretty much like the first episode of American Idol...from the ridiculous to the sublime. A couple of the passengers could easily be working on the ship, and a couple should really leave it in the shower. Most were just average, but they all deserve some credit just for giving it a shot!

Anyway, we finally sailed off at 10p.m., Steve went to bed and I closed out the night, you guessed it, at the Piano Bar....lot livelier crowd last night, including a couple celebrating their 60th Anniversary....nice to know it's possible, anyway...

Later

Carnival Splendor...Day ONE

Okay so far. Got to the port about 12:00, after a brief detour through Los Angeles (no, it's not really on my way, from Hesperia, to Long Beach, but stuff happens).
Zipped thru the line, onboard by 12:30, and a room service lunch by 1:30...Steve was a bit tired from the drive, so he chilled in the room, while I took a walk around and determined the Splendor hasn't changed since I last sailed her, all of 5 weeks ago.

The room is very cool. We are in a 4G, which is sold as an inside cabin but has a window. The window looks out over a walkway, and there is no view of the ocean with out standing on tiptoes, but it does let in light and blue sky. It's a triangular shape, with the bathroom at the base, so the main part of the room is an "L" shape, with two beds at the bottom, and the closet/vanity/fridge/tv along the right as you walk in....very nice flow, actually, with the wheelchair. I have a bunch of pics and will post them when I get home.

So, we sailed off at 5:30 after the Meditation...oops, I mean Muster Drill. Met three people from the Cruise Critic Roll Call...no one else showed up. Just me, Steve, Tycruiser and his friend, and Bacardibatgirl.

Anyway, after the M&G we went to dinner. The usual...I had a steak, it was okay, Steve did the Tilapia...I should have as well...

After dinner we walked around a bit, hit the casino, lost a little money, and Steve was ready for bed. I went on down to say "HI" to Ron Pass at the Piano Bar and stayed til 1am...great bunch there...11 family members from Montana, a nice couple from Australia and 3 ladies from Arkansas...As I suspected, some people on the ship are just trying to make the best of it, as they could not change their plans when the itenerary change came along, but an awful lot of us booked in the last 3-4 days, and are just loving life and Carnival and cheap cruising.

We finally hit some waves about 2am, the ship was rocking and rolling pretty good, but this morning it was dead calm and foggy. Now, we are hitting the Monterey Peninsula and she is once again moving pretty good. The biggest downside to that cabin right on the bow...but, oh well.

We are supposed to be getting into San Francisco about two p.m. I can't wait to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge...

Later

Carnival Splendor, 7day San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria

Okay, so one of the nice things about media hysteria, is the price of cruising goes down...I just booked me and my brother on this 7 day cruise to Canada at a stupid-low price...A personal thank you to the CDC for causing the cruiselines to pull out of Mexico!!!

Seriously, I have no particular desire to see Victoria, I have family in and around Seattle, and I can get to San Francisco a lot easier by car or airplane, and do so fairly regularly.

But with all the hoopla, I have an opportunity to take a 7 day cruise for $250...I don't care if it's sailing into a hurricane at that price.

And the Carnival Splendor, which I was just on in March, is a great ship, as I reported at the time.

So, Bro and I are looking forward to some nice sea days with the Magradome closed so it stays warm, some wonderful cuisine in the dining room, and all that great buffet food, which on the Splendor includes a Burrito Bar, Fish 'n Chips, Indian Tandoori, along with all the usual burger grill, pizza and deli lines...

And this time, unlike my 2 day in March, the Casino will be open! Maybe Lady Luck will smile...it wouldn't take much of a jackpot to pay for the cruise. :-}

Also, Ron Pass, one of the better Piano Bar guys with Carnival is still onboard, and we just love a good piano bar.

Anyway, I am leaving Sunday, the 3rd of May, and will probably be posting from the ship, so...
Stay Tuned