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Carnival Splendor - Southern Caribbean

We saw this cruise early and were intrigued by the really unique itinerary so we booked at a great price of $1000 for both of us including taxes and port fees for our inside room.  What was different for us about this particular sailing was the repositioning aspect of it - San Juan to Miami.  We flew into San Juan from Orlando on Southwest and rented a car from Miami back up to Orlando.

Like the San Fran and Napa trip of 2012, I was in a boot for another stress fracture.  This put a pretty big damper on some of our plans.  I had really wanted to hike the rain forest in Puerto Rico, but that didn't happen this trip.  Guess we'll need to make another trip back when I'm not hobbling around:)

Hotel in San Juan (2 days pre-cruise)
The Renaissance La Concha in Condado.  We used the hubs' Marriott points and stayed two nights for a total of 60,000 points.  Very nice resort, good location, a couple of pools, and right on the beach.  Across from the hotel is a great breakfast joint - Pinky's.

 Restaurants
Pinky's - Really great place for breakfast in Condado.  We went both mornings and had different items each time.  It was all fantastic!  Prices are attractive, too.

Casa Cortes - If you love chocolate as much as I do, stop at this place for dessert or a mid-afternoon snack.  Can't wait to go back to try more of their menu offerings!  This place is downtown Old San Juan,

Ship
Restaurant service: Painfully slow almost every night.

Steakhouse: Worst steakhouse experience we've had - bad service, food mediocre relative to our usual steakhouse meals.

Common areas and room always really clean.

Entertainment: Laughable.

Overall, we enjoyed our cruise, but the service just wasn't good.

Ports of Call
St. Croix
We had an island tour scheduled with a friend of a friend, but a medical emergency of a friend in our tour group changed our plans quickly.  The beach is pretty and the plantation ruins cool, but the hospital visit was a unique part of the tour that none of us were expecting.  I definitely want to go back and re-do this port.

Dominica
Sadly, the boot I had to wear on my foot did not allow me to go with the rest of my group on the Sheppee Pirates of the Caribbean tour.  From the pictures I've seen along with the commentary from the hubs and our friends, I'm really glad I didn't attempt this tour.  In fact, if you have any physical limitations at all, not a good swimmer, and adverse to cold water, don't choose this tour.

Instead, I joined up with a smaller group and took the Discover Dominica tour with Exodus.  Normal price is $50pp (same price for the same tour through Carnival), but the group leader negotiated down to $40pp for our group of 10.  Definitely recommend this tour if you are unable to do strenuous activities.

 Martinique
We had a heck of time coming up with something to do here that did not require knowing some French and need euros so we took the usually-avoided ship excursion through Carnival - The Historic St. Pierre tour.  So NOT worth it!

 Granada
I set up a private tour with AJ Meddy for our group of 6 and chose the West Coast Half-Day.  It was $32pp.  We had a great day with this tour company and would definitely use his company again.  Very personal service from the beginning, and we really enjoyed the tour guides he set up for us.  Very nice guys!

Grand Turk
LOVE this place as a beach day!  So easy!  Walk off the pier, and BOOM, you're there.  Next time we'll wander down to Jack's Shack, I think.

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