We hit up the Carnival Splendor for a Mexican Riviera cruise. Yep, you guessed it, we did this exact same cruise, even the same ship 8 years ago. At first, we weren't super excited about the itinerary, I mean we've done this itinerary at least 4 times already, and even the same ship, but hey, it was a chance to get away, right? Plus, we had planned to have other family members come with us, but in the end, nobody could come, so it was just the 4 of us. We actually didn't have an OK time, we had a GREAT time! It was so fun! Weather was so warm and perfect! The cruise director was so good!
I'll just get right to it. Lots of pics and videos to show you.
On the way down, we stayed the night in "Yermo" California, just outside of Barstow. There are two things in Yermo - three things actually. One hotel, and two 50's diner restaurants. Weird.
The next morning we head out again and ended up at our destination - the Port of Long Beach.
We got our first view of the Splendor and as we boarded, it all came back - the pink ship we called it.
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| We normally spend the first hour or so on a ship exploring it - finding the best places to play games, hang out or sit out on deck etc. |
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| Carnival has the best options for "free" food offering many different choices. All other lines have limited "free" options. Shall we get a burrito? |
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| Maybe some BBQ? (This is what we ended up with) |
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| Or maybe some sweets? |
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| The Splendor has unique decorations like these lights |
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| One of the first things we also do is check out where our table is in the dining room in case we want to change it. We were seated at a table for 4, which we liked. |
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| Time for the Sail Away party. The Splendor is very unique in that it has a retractable roof over the pool and lido area. Very helpful in cooler weather. |
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| Can you see Jacob and Hannah at the top waving? |
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| Time to get this vacation underway! |
VIDEO-Sail Away Time Lapse:
Make sure to watch all the videos in Full Screen for best experience!
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| The first of MANY ice creams. THIS is the ONE thing Jacob and Hannah were looking forward to most! Unlimited ice creams 24 hours a day, not limited to the lame 3 hours a day on Royal Caribbean! Jacob and Hannah had a goal of having 50 ice creams during the week. |
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| Ummmm.. So good! |
To make it even more interesting, I brought these:
When we used these, we always got looks of "where did you get those cones?" We had several adults and kids (and one kid who followed us for sometime before asking) where we got those cones. Our answer? We got them from our very nice cabin steward, and they should ask theirs. :-) What??? We were just trying to start a dialog between passenger and cabin steward!
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| Our first sunset |
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| First dinner, but not sure what's going on here. |
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| Of course you have to try at least once, the melting lava Carnival chocolate cake and ice cream |
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| Hannah was trying to be healthy for her first "dessert" - but don't worry...she didn't do that again |
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| Splendor had these chairs, just as the Carnival Breeze did - they wanted to recreate the photo |
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| Here is the photo from the Breeze Jan 2016 |
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| Here we are relaxing in the cabin |
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| Not entirely sure why this is blurry |
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| The first full day was a day at sea on our way to Cabo. How about a game of Chess |
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| The had a lifesize game of Clue, so here they are introducing all the characters, Ms. White, Mr. Green, Ms. Peacock, The Professor, you get the idea. Each day there were new clues provided |
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| They also had a Lip Sync Contest that went on the entire cruise. The first day, the passengers all narrowed it down from 10 to 2 - one guy and one girl. The last night of the cruise, they would perform on stage, complete with lights, costumes and back up dancers to see who is the winner. During the week, they would have performances out by the pool. This guy here, Lance, was the guy finalist. He is 82 years old! He never really lip synced - he didn't move his mouth at all, but did I tell you he is 82?? |
VIDEO of the two finalists:
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| How about a bean bag toss game? |
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| I thought was kinda a cool photo - seeing the name of the ship through the slide |
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| We just so happened to find the coin for the Splendor. When a ship's keel is first laid, a coin ceremony is done where a coin is inserted into the keel. |
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| Hannah found this tame parrot to pet and feed while playing mini-golf |
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| How does the trail of water stay there so long? |
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| The second dinner night was the "fancy night" (there are two nights) so we also had fancy desserts |
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| This is done on about every cruise ship - the waving of the napkins while the waiters dance and sing |
VIDEO: It's Showtime!
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| Hannah got a special (but strange and yellow) cake to celebrate her birthday |
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| It was rainbow colored inside! |
VIDEO: Happy Bday Hannah!
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| Every night they have a movie and popcorn on the big screen |
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| How about a game of ping pong? |
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| Being a sea day yesterday, we did a lot of walking around. We try not to take the elevators, and my watch keeps track of how many staircases I go up. It only tracks going up - not down. So yesterday, we climbed 34 stair cases! I should say that our cabin was on Deck 1 and the ice cream and pool area was on Deck 9. |
Here is a video showing you how that happens:
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| The next day we woke up in Cabo San Lucas, with the familiar Land's End rock formation and arch |
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| We went into some of the shops and Hannah was haggling a little too much and was told to leave one of the areas. She was looking at a shirt or something, and the lady said it was $15 and Hannah said, how about 2? The lady laughed and asked her to leave ha ha |
EVERY "shop" had vanilla, magnets and shirts - all the same things!
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| We saw someone carting this big fish around |
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| We went whale watching on some smaller zodiac raft boats, which a lot of fun |
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| This was like the boat we were in |
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| We were quite a ways out! |
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| And then we saw some whales! This was the best time of the year to come, as it's right in the middle of the whale migration |
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| This was amazing! Our tour guide was more amazed than we all were though! He kept saying WOW!!!! |
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| There were actually 5 whales to start, and they were all fighting for dominance, then two left (the loosers) and the remaining three would jump out of the water and faceplant the other whales by falling on top of them. It was very loud as they made interesting noises |
VIDEOS of the whales
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| On the way back, we saw these houses just above the rocks..Talk about building on the edge! |
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| Here is the arch from the other side. This separates the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortez. |
Our whale watching tour was amazing! Our tour guide kept saying how he's hardly ever seen what we saw - the whales fighting and so forth.
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| The next morning, we started out at the omelette station, which was very yummy! |
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| And we were off in Mazatlan for a day at the beach. We have never booked an excursion with the ship, simply because you pay way too much. This is a great example. The best beach in Mazatlan is Stone Island Beach, which you can take a taxi to from the port for about $30 per person and a 40 minute ride. The same cost is about what it would be to buy it from the ship. OR, you can do like the locals do, and take quick 15 minute walk to the local water taxi for a 5 minute ride across the channel for $2 per person round trip - you know which one we did. The brick wall with razor wire is actually the port-and it's an industrial working port, thus they don't want anyone climbing in. |
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| Here we are on the "water taxi" - it's the "law" you have to wear a life jacket for the 5 min ride. I don't think Jacob's is very sturdy though looking at how it's coming apart at the shoulder |
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| Most of those on the water taxi were locals going over to the beach to sell their wares |
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| We were like the first ones on the beach! There was nobody there! |
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| We saw several of these on the beach |
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| Hannah ran away with my phone taking some pics of herself when nobody was looking |
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| Finally, others were arriving at the beach |
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| Jacob and Hannah went on the banana boat and they said it was pretty scary as they almost flipped over |
VIDEO - Banana Boat:
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| To get to the "water taxi" you have to walk through this hidden little trail that goes by several homes being built |
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| This is how they keep the floor propped up while the cement cures |
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| On the walk back, a local sidewalk cafe |
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| View of the city from the ship |
VIDEO: It's Showtime again at dinner!
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| Carnival still gives you a towel animal each night |
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| The evening's show full of fire and laser lights |
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| Here we have Lance and Forbes - the two Lip Sync contestants going at it again mid-week with some performances |
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| Jacob figured out the ladder was a swing to be easily entertained with |
VIDEO: Hannah felt a need to give a video tour of our cabin:
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| The nights were warm enough to have the roof opened during the movies at night - and even someone in the pool! |
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| Welcome to Puerto Vallarta! This is where our room was - right above the gangway |
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| As we were getting off the ship, we noticed this and wondered why, why would you need to bring a giant blow up unicorn duck on a cruise?? These people got off the ship - with this!!!!!! |
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| We went zip lining here in PV-there are about 8 different zip line tours here. We had to walk about 15 mins to the pick-up location. Jacob has the map/directions and is leading us the way |
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| Mexican Six Flags! Not sure how the circular roller coaster works, but looks like it might be a bumpy ride at the top |
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| On our way to the mountains |
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| Most of the roads in Puerto Vallarta are made from this cobblestone |
Short video of part of the ride:
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| Jacob and Hannah getting outfitted with zip lining gear |
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| They won't let you bring your own camera because they want you to buy the pics they take, so no pics of us zipping. But we did have a good lunch after |
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| And went exploring while the other members in our group were at the "free" tequila tasting |
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| Can you see the little arrow? That is someone zipping across |
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| Here is another one |
VIDEO: Zipping:
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| Going through town on the way back |
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| The local hair stylist |
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| And ice cream shop |
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| PV is very flat - we had to go all the way to the mountains in the background to go zip lining |
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| City view from the ship |
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| Each night at dinner, there was an "exotic" food - this one was beef tongue, which Hannah actually had last time and liked it. |
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| Jacob even tried it this time |
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| What do you think? Did he like it? |
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| One of the activities today was the Hasbro Game Show - this was Simon Says game |
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| Every night, and especially on the fancy nights, they have locations around the ship to have your pic taken (and then to purchase). Jacob and Hannah went to many of them and did funny pics. Every dinner time, a photographer came around also to take pics, and Jacob and Hannah (and maybe me too) tried to see who could take the silliest pics. The photographer never laughed or anything - he just always smiled and said "ohhhh..that's a good one" |
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| The next two days were sea days as we were heading back. This is the view from our window |
Interesting story, as we were having brunch in the dining room this day, all of a sudden the ship starting vibrating and shaking and a loud noise happened and then we started listing and tilting A LOT to one side. So much so, glasses and pitchers of water were sliding off the tables onto the floor! The ship was making an extreme turn.
No announcements were made, and nothing was ever said about it again. But at dinner, the two tables across from us, were talking and we overheard them saying they found out the captain was trying to avoid hitting whales, thus the sharp turn, and the rumor was that we actually hit one. Again, all rumor and speculation. We did see a lot of whales though from the ship on the sea days.
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| What's this? Looks like Cabo again! It is! We actually stopped to medically evacuate a passenger there. Remember where our room was? Right above the gangway? We could see the whole thing - the paramedics coming on board, and then the passenger being offloaded in a stretcher |
And everyone else was trying to get a look.....
But we had the best view from our cabin!!!!
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| Just relaxing and reading |
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| Here we have the typical hairy chest competition, which then turned into a fashion show where the guys had 2 mins to transform themselves into models using items from other people |
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| This guy had a secret admirer who, after everything was all over, wanted him to model for her and she took her own photos of him - it was weird. |
VIDEO of the three finalists:
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| Our table was all set for dinner! Let's eat! |
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| Remember the silly pics Jacob and Hannah did for the evening photographers? Yeah, it was like this. We then would go to the photo board and find the pics |
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| I'm not sure what's happening here |
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| Of course, time for more ice cream |
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| This evening's show was a rock concert with lots of laser lights |
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| No towel animal tonight - just a heart from our cabin steward |
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| Hannah trying to get herself through the ladder rungs. Why? Why not!?!?! |
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| Game of Guess Who anyone? |
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| We finally found the gym and had to try out the treadmills |
VIDEO: Hannah and Jacob picked up some confetti from a show and then went to the top of the atrium to drop it: Silly kids.
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| The mini-golf course always provides good props for photos |
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| As we got closer to Long Beach, it was getting cloudy and cooler. You can tell - the roof is closed and nobody is out on deck |
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| But the water slide and pool water was heated!!!! Jacob and Hannah had to give the one employee who had been sitting out here for hours with nobody sliding something to actually do! |
VIDEO of Jacob/Hannah doing some synchronized swimming:
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| Ice Sculpting -went from a huge block.... |
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| to and Indian Chief Head-dress in 6 minutes |
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| Time for the chocolate buffet |
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| This evening's dinner exotic dish was alligator, which Jacob and Hannah both said remind them of chicken |
VIDEO: Alligator eating
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| Baked Alaska on fire for dessert |
Various towel animals throughout the cruise:
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| And the final show of the cruise - the Lip Sync Battle - each contestant was on the main stage and sang 2 songs with lights, costumes and back up dancers. Here is Lance |
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| And here is Forbes, who LOVED the attention. We found out later why - she actually is a very successful woman. She is the most successful woman seller of products on infomercials and home shopping channels, and has an estimated net value of over 2 Billion dollars! She is known as the infomercial Queen! She was right at home on stage. |
VIDEO: Forbe's final lip syncs:
VIDEO: Lance's two final lip syncs - remember, he is 82!
Turn this one way up!
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| Time for some strawberry and raspberry daiquiri's |
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| Jacob had been watching these deceiving quarter games in the casino all week, thinking how easy it would be to push the quarters over the edge. He finally got his chance to see it wasn't so easy after all |
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| The last night's party / balloon drop - the cruise director and his staff are dancing there on the bar! This party was crazy! |
VIDEO:
From up top:
VIDEO: All of Jacob's ice cream cones:
VIDEO: Not sure what's happening here - we are going back to the room:
So, the moral of the story is, we had a GREAT time! Won't you come with us next time?
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