A Great Cruise with a couple of first for us.

Item: Carnival Splendor
Rating: 4.9
Author: ctav

Carnival Splendor Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

ctav

Contributor Level: Admiral

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 6

Helpful Votes: 86

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5

6 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 08, 2017

Ship: Carnival Splendor

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 7309

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

I would sail on Splendor again if I get the chance before she is transfered over to P&O. We really enjoyed this cruise and the only down side was it went way too fast for us.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

We had priority embarkation and the staggered embarkation went very well even though Carnival requested that I arrive an hour later than the 11:00 am to 11:30 am arrival time I requested monts ago. The port was packed when we arrived and it took about 30 minutes to check in and then, it was minutes from check in until we were on board and sitting with a Fun Ship drink in our hands. We went to our cabin first to get our Sail and Sign cards that were in our mail box and I was leary of this new process until I went though it and had no worries about it. Oct 8th 2017 embarkation day was our 5th anniversary to the date of our disembarkation day for our first cruise together Oct 8th 2012 on Fascination.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

We had many selections to opt from. I normally avoid the Lido deck other than embarkation day because of the many hands touching everything and once I witness an adult sampling food and returning to the pan in the past. This time, we had places she liked and places I like where the food was protected from being sampled. Drink........ There was plenty of it for us starting with half price happy hour at one of the bars embarkation day.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

We had an extra day at sea due to Grand Turk port being canceled giving us a pleasant day between ports to relax near the pools and slide with plenty of places to get drinks and something to nosh. We played Bingo one night, watch a movie on later that night. I do not recommend the spa.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

We went to the Hasbro game show and we hung out on the Lobby Deck where the band was playing a couple of nights. Not much other than that. The entertainment was there, we just wasnt interested in it.

Children's Programs

No children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Our cabin steward Mr. Prawech was great. On embarkation day he met us in the cabin asking us if we needed anything and left us with a couple of large bottles of water. He also gave us his number to call should we needed him at any time of the day or night and every night, before we returned to our cabin, he was there and gone for the turned down. Our wait staff, Suardi, Reagan and Mustapha were happy to see us every night. Suardi would talk to us about what would be a good meal for the night and the night my DGF got a little sea sick because of the rough seas while sitting at the table, gave me some time for me take her back to the cabin, return to get the meal we ordered and take it back to the cabin. One evening, when we requested Suardi, the maitre d stepped in because the gals out front didn't want to seat us with Suardi's crew.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

It took a day to get the lay out of the ship down for us to get around and where short cuts worked for us. The staff was cleaning the ship every day and not once was there an issue with the common area's needing to be cleaned. However, there were times where passengers really showed how messy they live at home.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

The cabin was great. We had excellent closet space, the air conditioning worked very well and there was enough room under the bed to stow our luggage. The only negative was the the door on the shower/tub kept falling off the track and maintenance never did correct the problem. There was plenty of a/c outlets for charging phones, a vanity for her and a place for me to charge my CPAP. I took my battery travel CPAP for this trip.

Ship tip

Take some time a week before embarkation day to study the lay out of the ship to help navigate the ship. If you're not a smoker, I would use deck 6 to go forward to avoid the casino. Unfortunately, the coffee shop is next to the casino keeping us from it.

Thumbs up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

We had priority disembarkation. However, our flight home didn't leave until 5:30 pm and we wouldn't be able to check in until 2 hours before the flight, we decided to stay on board until the last minute and opt for zone 33 disembarkation. The only luggage in that section was our luggage making it an easy find. The real issue was with the Border Security having 2 officers screening 3,000 passengers and the long wait. This isn't the fault of the cruise line.