Carnival Splendor Photos; Cruise destination Tortola

This week we cover two topics.

First, we have a new photo feature on Carnival Splendor. It includes both photos and a video of the ship leaving her berth in New York. I hesitated somewhat in publishing this feature because we published a similar feature about Carnival Splendor earlier in the fall. However, it was a fine autumn day and the pictures and the video from this sailing came out very nicely. In addition, since I know from experience that Carnival Splendor has many fans, I thought they would appreciate seeing these photos. The feature begins at http://www.beyondships2.com/carnival-splendor-in-new-york-2.html

The second topic this week is the cruise destination Tortola. Visiting Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) is a different cruise experience than visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands. (See our Tortola overview page http://www.beyondships3.com/tortola.html ). The topography is similar. Like St. Thomas, Tortola is a mountainous island with many fine sandy beaches. However, that is about the limit of the similarity.

Tortola is an offshore financial center. Some absurdly high percentage of the world's international corporations are BVI companies. Yet, Road Town, Tortola's only urban center, is not full of corporate headquarters buildings. They are essentially there in name only. The corporations get the benefit of the BVI's more business-friendly laws and the islands get a boast to the economy. In fact, Tortola is one of the most prosperous islands in the Caribbean.

As a result, while Tortola is tourist-friendly, it is not in a tourist-mad. There are shops in Road Town but it does not have the shopping frenzy of Charlotte Amalie in nearby St. Thomas. In addition, the island is not as developed for tourism as the USVI.

Another difference is the island's British background. The islanders tend to be polite and more reserved. A conversation is expected to begin with “good morning” or “good afternoon.”

So what is there for a cruise visitor to do in Tortola? First, there is the scenery. While it is possible to hike to the top of Mt. Sage, the island's highest peak, most visitors take a tour along Ridge Road, which runs along the mountainous spine of the island. It is a wild ride, going up and down steep inclines and rounding some sharp turns. However, from the top on a clear day you can see not only the surrounding British Virgin Islands but the U.S. Virgin Islands as well. Our page on Tortola scenic views is at http://www.beyondships3.com/tortola-scenic-views.html

Second, you can spend some time at the beach. In Tortola, the first name people think of when it comes to beaches is Cane Garden Bay. It is a quite pretty horseshoe shaped beach with white sand and palm trees. There are restaurants and other facilities. Of course, because it is the best known and most developed, it attracts the most people. Tortola has some other more secluded beaches but the tradeoff is that they have less facilities. Our page on Tortola beaches is at http://www.beyondships3.com/tortola-beaches.html

Sailing and snorkeling are also popular activities on Tortola. In addition, many visitors take an excursion over to the Bathes on nearby Virgin Gorda.

Our page on the Tortola cruise port with photos of some of the ships that have called in Tortola is at http://www.beyondships3.com/tortola-cruise-port.html We also have a links page with links to cruise line web pages about Tortola and to other sites with information about visiting Tortola. http://www.beyondships3.com/tortola-links.html

Carnival Splendor Revisited

The first time that I saw Carnival Splendor was a few months after she entered service in 2008. She was doing a series of Caribbean cruises from Miami before heading around South America to her new home port, Long Beach, California. This year, she returned to the East Coast to take up station as Carnival Cruise Lines' year-round ship in New York. In between much has happened to the ship including a fire that attracted media attention and subsequent repairs and upgrades that did not get much news coverage. Consequently, I felt it was about time to go back and look at the Splendor again to see what kind of cruise experience she is providing these days.

Carnival Splendor is a unique ship in the Carnival fleet. Her design can be traced back to Carnival Destiny. However, no other Carnival ships are this variation on the design. She lies between Carnival's Conquest class ships and the line's latest ships, the Dream class. As a result, Splendor has more features than the original Conquest ships but not as many as the Dream class.

One feature that makes her well-suited to sailing year-round from New York is that her main pool area has a retractable glass roof. Consequently, her pool deck is still usable during cold weather sailings from New York. Another notable feature is her large spa area, a precursor to the spas on the most recent Carnival ships.

Her interior décor is more flamboyant than the newer ships. It is the work of Carnival's long time designer Joe Farcus. The object was to lift the guests out of the ordinary and into a holiday world. Along with the strong colors and unusual shapes are some intellectually interesting features such as the giant half hull models of the original Queen Mary and the Normandie in the Liner Lido Pool area.

Overall, I found Splendor little changed from the way she was in 2008. Also, as in 2008, her passengers seemed to be clearly enjoying themselves. Why not, the food was certainly quite good.

Our updated profile of Carnival Splendor is at http://beyondships.com/CarnivalSplendor-Profile.html. We have also updated our photo tour of the ship with many recent photos. http://beyondships.com/CarnivalSplendor-Tour-1.html

A new feature is a menus page with copies of menus from Splendor's two main dining rooms and from her specialty steakhouse. http://www.beyondships2.com/carnival-splendor-menus.html

We also have a new daily programs page with programs from a recent cruise. http://www.beyondships2.com/carnival-splendor-daily-programs.html

Finally, we have added a new photo essay with exterior photos of the ship in New York. http://www.beyondships2.com/carnival-splendor-in-new-york.html

Cruising on Carnival Splendor

Carnival Splendor is an evolutionary ship. Nautically, she is a refinement on a design that has been developed in a series of ships from Carnival Destiny (1996) to the Costa Serena (2007). Over this period the ships have grown larger, with more decks and more features. At the moment, Splendor is the largest of this series but will be surpassed by the Carnival Dream in September of this year.

Splendor also reflects the evolution of Carnival Cruise Lines. With the development of the cruise industry, the cruising public has become more demanding. Consequently, in order to remain competitive, Carnival has striven to improve the food quality, the variety of activities and the level of service. In addition, the ships have had more and more features. Splendor, for example, has an expanded spa complex incorporating new amenities and with associated spa staterooms. The midsection of the ship has a retractable glass dome so that the main pool can be used and movies shown on the giant LED screen no matter what the weather. The children’s play area has been expanded and an outdoor water park added.

The feature that impressed me the most on my recent cruise on Splendor was the alternative specialty restaurant, the Pinnacle Steakhouse. Having one or more alternative specialty restaurants on new ships has become standard throughout the industry. However, the level of service and the quality of the food at the Pinnacle was outstanding. In addition, a very pleasant ambiance is created by the live music and large dance floor. It was comparable, if not better, than the equivalent venues on some of the premium lines.

My profile of Carnival Splendor is at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalSplendor-Profile.html and the photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalSplendor-Tour-1.html.