An OK CRUISE

Carnival Splendor Cruise Review to Mexico

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Reviews: 0
Helpful Votes: 41

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Splendor

7 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 22, 2011

Ship: Carnival Splendor

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 13 years ago

Review summary

Overall it was a good time. Just surprised about mandatory tipping for everything. Originally sold, what I thought, was that all was included except for alcohol and 1 fine dining restaurant. We had to pay for bottled water and soda as well. You could order water in a glass, but when you did, waiters would ignore you and never come back until you actually ordered a soda, beer, drink. The 15% tip would kick in, and then they would serve. Happened multiple times, multiple days, multiple different servers. So this is a trend..They also automatically billed me halfway through crusie for $250 tip for housecleaners. Then at the end, there was an envelope left for our dinner server, that we could choose to tip more...Overall, ended up being an extra $550 in just tips that I wasnt completely planning on. Food was good, overall fun. Just seems like low price lead in to get you on the boat, then hammer you from there. Plan on paying double of what your original cruise price is for your days.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Breakfast buffet great, lunch was mostly a buffet, dinner was awesome!

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5
Great place for kids! Alot of the programs though were an extra and above charge. Plan on spending at least an extra $200 for kids activities on a 7 day cruise, not including any off the boat excursions.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
All the staff was great except most of the bar and deck servers. They were like a pack of wolves out there, only if you were a paying customer, clearly to gain the automatic 15% tip.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Nice big ship, balcony rooms were nice, overall nice ship!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5
More tropical in PV, love it! Dont miss going to "Las Carmalitas" restaurant on top of mountain behind PV. About a 20 minute taxi from Cruise Terminal, cost is about $25 round trip. REstaurant has 180 degree view of PV, best sunset around. Food is excellent and fair priced. This is my 2nd time at this restaurant in 3 years, new addition jsut opened. There is no other restaurant like this in PV, GO!
Don't Miss: Las Carmalitas restaurant in PV

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5
Cabo is awesome. Excursions are expensive. Actual activity is only about 1 hour. Total excursion time is 3.5 hours, so spend alot of time on boat, bus, transportation to arrive. Again, remember to tip
Don't Miss: snorkeling is awesome there. Bring your own gear, save some $$.

Pros: Great for Kids, safe to let them go and play

Cons: Mandatory 15% tipping, and so so service

Recommends Carnival Splendor? Yes!

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