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Carnival Cruise Lines 7/17
Carnival Splendor Staying the Course Cruise Week correspondent Art Sbarsky attended the christening of Carnival's newest ship, Carnival Splendor, and then sailed for three nights. Here's his report. Perhaps the most striking feature about Carnival Splendor is that there are no truly groundbreaking features, like we're seeing with new ships coming from other lines. Carnival is very much staying the course with its decades- old philosophy of "fun." Carnival Splendor is just slightly bigger than the five Conquest-class ships, at 113,000 tons and carrying 3,006 guests, and those travel agents and past guests familiar with the template of those ships will have no problems navigating Splendor. The ship is filled with a variety of designer touches created by Joe Farcus and his team of designers and architects. Most significant may be the use of pink as an overall color and the "pearl" look in the main dining rooms. The pink comes through heavily in the atrium, with walls decorated with a composite material of stainless steel and four-inch circular cutouts of pink-stained woods. The main dining rooms, Black Pearl and Gold Pearl, have pearl-encased chandeliers, horns of plenty filled with pearls, and ceiling decorations of pearls in shells. Other design features around the ship include a line of stylish mannequins waiting to get in the nightclub (a "security" mannequin is there to direct guests to the red-carpet entryway), and in the main show lounge--which is three decks high with good sight lines and superb sound systems reaching the far back corners-- there are large domed chandeliers draped by long strings of beads. A very popular and colorful room is El Morocco, the aft lounge on the main public deck, with colors and features such as zebra-patterned leather and palm trees evoking the famous 1930s NYC club. The Cool jazz bar has Miles Davis- inspired artwork featuring photos of the famed trumpeter and his sheet music. Among the evolved public rooms is the pool area, the children's play area, and the spa. The central pool area, two decks high, features "Carnival's Seaside Theater," with a large 270-square-foot outdoor screen and two hot tubs inset into either side of the deck for unobstructed sea views. The new retractable roof will be put to good use when Carnival Splendor undertakes her Northern Europe season. Farcus says this pool area is the largest public room on any Carnival ship. The kid's area is 5,500 square feet on two levels with a water spray park; there's also a multi-deck water slide. Interestingly, the outside water facilities on this newest ship are not as extensive as the spaces being retrofitted on earlier Carnival ships. Significantly expanded is the spa area, now 40,000 square feet. Included is the line's first thalassotherapy pool (protected above by Farcus' fun pair of Foo Dogs), an extensive thermal suite, indoor and outdoor quiet rooms, and 17 private treatment rooms (including rooms for couples). Another first for Carnival are the 68 spa staterooms that have private access to the spa areas via a glass- walled elevator. The rooms themselves are essentially the same as deluxe balcony rooms. Not really part of the pool deck but now repositioned over it is the Pinnacle Supper Club, with a skylight and glass dance floor suspended over a mini-atrium. Carnival continues to raise the bar for quality dining on large ships. Items on the dinner menus were extensive and well cooked and presented. In Splendido, the casual deck restaurant, there's a custom-made stir-fry area, buffet, and deli-- quite possibly the best at sea. [Ed. Note: one significant tweak on another Carnival Ship--Legend--is the current testing of partial open-seating dining. If this is successful, look for it to roll out more extensively in the fleet.] The ship is now sailing the line's first ever 12-day Northern Europe season roundtrip from Dover. It's to be followed by a schedule of 12-day Mediterranean cruises round trip from Civitavecchia/Rome through October 17. The ship then repositions to the Caribbean for seven-night sailings before a three- part South American cruise repositioning to Long Beach, Cal., for year-round Mexican Riviera cruises. Carnival calls Splendor the first in a new class of ships for the line. But next up in 2009 and 2011 are the Carnival Dream and Carnival Magic, both 130,000 tons and carrying 3,652. It will be interesting to see what changes will come with the larger size ships. www.1cheapcruise.com |
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