A little note before we start: I’m back home from our 10-day cruise aboard the Carnival Splendor! I wrote these posts along the way, usually at night before going to bed, so they’re written as though I’m still on the ship. I’m just a little behind on actually posting them…
Oh hey friends! It’s been a minute since I posted, and that’s because I’ve been off getting ready for one of the biggest 52s on my list, “Go on a boat”.
You guys, today I boarded a 10-day cruise!! And so far it’s fantastic.
Last year my family and I decided to take a cruise together – my parents, sister, her wife, and the three of us: my husband, D, my son, L, and me. I’d never been on a cruise before and had no idea what to expect, but was keen for a holiday nonetheless.
We chose a 10-day cruise aboard the Carnival Splendor. We sailed out of Sydney today, and we’ll spend several days at sea before four days around the North Island of New Zealand, followed by several days sailing back to Australia.
Our holiday technically started yesterday. We flew to Sydney a day early, to make sure that we would arrive with plenty of time up our sleeve in case of flight delays or anything else going wrong.
After we booked the flights, I found out that one of my favourite bands of my youth, Guttermouth, would be playing in Sydney the night we arrived.
I hit up my sister to see if she’d be keen to go, and she was! My favourite part was that the concert started at 4pm with the support acts, and the band themselves would be on stage by 7pm.
Right now I’m in my “going to bed early is a luxury” era, so that felt like an absolute treat.
Surprisingly, they were done by 8pm (the tickets were cheap so I wasn’t mad about it), and right next door was an ice cream shop. The line was insane, so we skipped it, but we had a laugh about the mental image of going to a punk concert, followed by some ice cream, and being in bed by 9pm.
Lucky we were done early last night, because this morning started early for me. L woke up at the crack of dawn, and I cursed myself for passing on the genetics of being an early riser.
What was very cool was that when we looked out the window of our hotel, we could see a different Carnival cruise ship at the docks. Not ours, unfortunately.
“Can we go see ours?!” L asked.
So we decided to go down and see the ship first, then have some breakfast nearby, before returning to our room and collecting our luggage.
Not gonna lie, the ship was SO much bigger up close than I’d expected. I’ve seen cruise ships from afar, but this was the first time I’d ever been up alongside one, and it was huge. My husband has been on a cruise before so wasn’t shocked, but for L and me, we were in awe.
We had scored the earliest boarding time, 11am, thanks to my sister-in-law and me waking up at midnight weeks earlier to check us in as soon as it became available.
After having breakfast and picking up our luggage, we headed down at about 10am and waited for the others. The staff had already started letting people with later boarding times through, presumably because there weren’t many people around and they wanted to keep the line moving. So it was torture for us to wait for the rest of the family to arrive. We were able to check our luggage in, but then we waited, and waited. Finally they arrived.
They dropped their luggage off, and then we joined the queue. As we walked through, my husband and son took off ahead. I turned around to see that my parents were holding up the line; turns out they didn’t realise they needed to have their passports out (50 signs around the place and someone on the microphone wasn’t enough notice apparently).
As I went to tell D and L to wait, I saw they were being ushered into the priority area. Next minute I was in there after them, and the rest of my family never surfaced. Turns out they’d met up with a staff member who they’d befriended on another recent trip overseas, and had been brought through the check-in area that way instead.
After we boarded, we made our way to our muster station to get our names signed off, and then tried to find our way to the dining area for an early lunch, before it got too busy. After lunch, we started exploring.
The Carnival Splendor is nicknamed the Fun Ship, and you can see why. There’s nothing calm or relaxed about this ship. It’s all loud, bright patterns, with the feeling of a floating Las Vegas casino. Not to mention the super cool waterslides on the roof!
At 1.30pm we were able to access our room, so we went down, grabbed our cards, and went inside. We had forked out for a balcony room, mainly because I didn’t know how I’d fare seasickness-wise, and the ability to see the horizon and have a “private puking area” was appealing.
And then it was time to unpack.
You guys, I had been planning our packing for months. I’d watched all the YouTube videos, read all the tips, and written hundreds of lists (slight exaggeration, but not by much). So when we got into our room, I got to work.
- Our packing cubes went into the cupboard
- Shoes at the bottom of the cupboard
- Formal wear hung in the next wardrobe
- Magnets up on the wall to hold paperwork, swimming bag, and lanyards
- Even more heavy-duty magnets went up with a stretchy clothesline for our washing
- The new toiletries bag I purchased (thanks Elisabeth!) was unfolded, essentials unpacked and put onto the shelves, and the bag hung from the towel rack
- The main bench in our room was quickly filled with a charging dock, cables, books, sunglasses, sunscreen, and an endless supply of crap that I’m already trying to keep under control
And so much more. I have a plan to write a blog post on what did and didn’t work for us, so I’ll save all the details for that. But within minutes I felt like we’d set up our little base of operations for the next 10 days. I’m starting to feel quietly confident that all my stress over what to pack is paying off.
Also…we had a terrible view from our room. Just kidding.
After we’d finished unpacking, we found a spot on the deck so that we could watch the ship sail away from the dock. The amazing thing about departing from Sydney is the epic view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It wasn’t long before we were on our way out of the harbour, and into open water!
I didn’t know what to expect seasickness-wise, so I’d taken a few Kwells (seasickness tablets) and was wearing the bracelets as well. And as we made our way out to the ocean, and started to feel the motion of the boat, I was pleased to see that I was handling it pretty well.
We chilled in the room for a bit, then met the others downstairs for dinner at 5.30. We’d chosen the “Your Time” dining option, which means you use the app to check in, then wait for a table to be ready. Our table was ready within 10 mins, so pretty quick!
At the restaurant, dinner is always a three-course meal, ordered from a menu that changes each day. I ordered:
- Entree: Baked meatballs with polenta
- Main: Pesto chicken caprese salad
- Dessert: Carnival melting chocolate cake (basically a lava cake). Which is now my favourite thing in the whole world.
L ordered from the kids’ menu, and ordered a cheeseburger and chips, with a banana split for dessert.
I’d read a few comments from people complaining online about the quality of the food on the Splendor, so I’d set my bar pretty low. But the food was well beyond anything I’d expected, certainly for a meal that’s included in the cost of the cruise. If the rest of the food is this good, I’ll be very happy.
It’s super fun that the waiters and waitresses get up and dance during dinner too. Everyone gets their napkins and waves them in the air, then claps along as the waiters dance.
After dinner, L begged to go to kids club for a play, so after we dropped him off, D and I headed down to watch some karaoke with the rest of the family. D then went and collected L to take him to bed, and I stayed up to watch the welcome show in the theatre (some of the singers had voices that I struggled with a little… not that I can sing any better!)
And now, finally, it’s time for bed.
Wish me luck for my first night of sleep. Here’s hoping I don’t wake up to throw up
Such a great first day recap! What a huge ship. I really hope you slept well your first night and I’m eagerly awaiting to read all the adventures of day 2!
I am WILDLY impressed with your packing and overall levels of organization.
Hope that toiletry bag worked well for you. I was such a fan on our trip.
It worked so well! It held the toiletries for all three of us, excluding full-sized bottles of body wash, shampoo and conditioner I had packed separately (I wasn’t convinced we’d run out if I packed travel-sized bottles).
I’m so, so impressed with how much it holds and how easily it closes when full. Compared to my old one which wouldn’t roll shut after you put more than one thing in it.
Thanks so much for recommending it!
Sydney really turned on the weather for you. This day-by-day recap is really interesting to me because I know a cruise is one holiday we will never go on. Hubby is deadset against it, and I get terrible travel sickness which has only got worse in the last few years.
I adore reading about other people’s vacations, so I loved this. And yes, the chocolate melting cake is SO good!