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Carnival Splendor Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 48

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Splendor

7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 27, 2015

Ship: Carnival Splendor

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1071

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

I love cruising and enjoy Carnival, so they were my 1st choice to bring in the New Year. The itinerary was good, a stop in Grand Cayman, instead of Costa Maya, would have been a better choice, since there was very little to see or do in the latter. Food, housekeeping, waitstaff, and the Spa techs were all outstanding. My issues began w/the initial check-in. 40 minutes for security, another 15 for passport review and then over an hour to get to the actual check-in counter. This is unacceptable!!! We stood like cattle w/o benefit of even a cup of water. This process should be streamlined, if you did online c/i, have your docs in order, you should be allowed to board from security. I u/s Carnival now wants to charge people to expedite the process, but since everyone on this fully booked cruise already paid a premium in excess of 30%, this was just poor service. It along w/the lack of staff made this an unforgettable start to the cruise. Additionally, forcing people to pay a mandatory tip for a drink, coke or lukewarm coffee was insane. I had no problem w/tips for waiters, stewards & such, but I don't tip folks in Starbucks. 50 cent tip for a glass of soda is outrageous and this process needs to be ended immediately. The rest of my trip, especially ziplining in Honduras was outstanding!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Rommel and his team ain the dining room, along w/our Steward Paquitoand his team were fantastic!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

Loved my room, unobstructed views, great noise insulation and we were usually portside which was great

Ship tip

on fully booked cruises, all hands need to be on deck!

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Belize City, Belize

5 out of 5

Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5
South Shore Ziplining made my day!! Highlight of the entire cruise for me!! Panning a family reunion during Christmas on the Vista b/c of this location

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

3 out of 5
Either develop this location or discontinue it.
Was this review helpful? 48

9 Comments

Krjones    8 years ago

Come on they have to work too

GreenJean    8 years ago

wow Ziplining in honduras sounds so much fun.

sandrakaymorgan    8 years ago

Hope so.

sandrakaymorgan    8 years ago

That is why I choose who I tip. The man who cleaned our room was very nice and would ask when I was leaving the room he would clean then...but 2 days we OK only received fresh towels....not his fault. I should say I am older and the boys are 2 of 5 grandchildren I adopted...so money was right first trip for me in 20 years.

sandrakaymorgan    8 years ago

true also due to medical problems I stayed out of the sun and did not tip the towel people and the boys had their own. I may have eaten 5 times outside our room....for the most part the boys brought me something. Due to cancer and other health issues I was not at my best. Saved my strength for the day trips .

sandrakaymorgan    8 years ago

You are correct I did not mention them ,sorry, there were 4 I saw every day and yes r they were tipped. My boys had a few people that they were fond of and they were also tipped.

godsruby    8 years ago

We also chose to prepay $100 for our drinks but it ws the tips on these items we objected to. I love coffee, so off to the coffee bar we went. Only ordered one soda w/its .50 tip...lol 

sandrakaymorgan    8 years ago

tatt2ed only two times in fine dinning. never had same waiter

sandrakaymorgan    8 years ago

For tipping I went to the front desk and had the gratuity of $60.00 each person in the room (3)removed. I only ate twice in fine dining and my children did not eat there at all. saw no reason to "tip" them. I did leave a nice tip with our steward (desk gave me envelopes) and with the people in the kids clubs. Did not charge drinks or soda so no preadded tip. Also I placed cash in my account and the night before I had a $20.00 credit...so nothing on my credit card. Best way to keep track of what you spend. Also my kids could not charge anything. I gave then each so much money to place on their room card and once they reached their limit they were done. No surprises!

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