Carnival has seriously gone down hill with service, quality and offerings on there vacations. I feel like I spent a week waiting in one line or another and lost a bunch of money. To wrap it up I spent the last 2 days on the ship with food poisoning which I’m still recovering from now that I’m back to work. I need a vacation from this vacation. Never again. Thanks carnival!
Embarkation
1 out of 5
I’m not sure why they have you choose an arrival time to the port! We chose 11:00am to embark and had to wait around for 2 hours in a crowded noisy terminal. When we were called to board it was like animals herded and barked at though the maze of stairs and a hot zigzagging gangway before finally reaching the ship. Not fun with bags!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
In the restaurant the food wasn’t great but for the most part it was passable. Some of the dishes were tasteless or just tasted bad. Fortunately you can order another dish upon request. The service was very good as you would expect. The buffet was terrible. Food wasn't kept hot and some things were left out so long they dried out. The desserts had no flavor either. We tried the key lime pie and banana cream pie and they both tasted like a bland vanilla custard. Very weird!
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The mini golf was okay. We spent time mostly relaxing in the sun on the lounge chairs. It’s a good thing they provide towels because all of the chairs are discolored from mold and dirty.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The song and dance performances were what you expect. Out of the 4 comedians 2 were good but the other 2 just weren’t funny.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Many of the workers did well. Our dining room wait staff were great. The lido restaurant buffet staff seemed overworked and tired and wished they were anywhere else. The room Stewart tried to tricking us into choosing either room cleaning or night turn down service when both are the norm for what you should expect.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
You can only clean so much, you can’t make up for old worn out furnishings and decor. This ship needs a major make over. The tacky pink decor has got to go.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
The room was satisfactory but the couch was old and discolored with marks on the nasty pink vinyl cushions. One of the lights was permanently dead. It was nice to have a window but the curtains were broken and they looked like they had been for a long time. The bed was comfortable and I could sleep well enough on it. The bathroom was functional but needed attention. The shower had cracking in the walls and the walls were showing their age as well.
Ship tip
I wouldn’t book a cruise on the Spendor ever again.
We really enjoyed the beginners scuba diving. Don's scuba had very good instructors. We felt total at easy and cared for at each step of the lesson and the diving outing to at the coral reef. I would recommend this excursion highly if you interested in trying scuba.
We wanted to do the horseback riding since my wife and I go when we get the chance. The strange thing was that the guides walk along instead of riding with you. Our guide would not stop talking the whole time so you couldn’t even enjoy the ride. Also as soon as you get to the sight where the ride takes place they are pumping you for money. $10 for a locker to keep you close dry, a tip for the guide, driver and some guy who greeted you. Don’t get me started on the over priced food at there snack shack, and the women trying to sell junk and braid hair.
Cave tubing with lunch. Ok the tubing was alright, but just alright. We could’ve done without the nature observations on the walk to the river. What we would've liked was being able to tube independently. What they did was rope all of the tubes together so that everyone was on top of each other. I would skip the lunch and bring my own if I knew what I do now. The food was not worth the money.
Tulum an cenote swim with lunch. Tulum was great. We’ve been there before and it is beautiful as always. The cenote was nice with very clear water, just as you expect fro the photos. The only thing with this excursion is that it’s a tight schedule and would’ve like more time at the cenote. The food here to wasn’t that great but satisfactory. We wished we had just and hour or two more at this port to do some shopping afterwards. Apparently Carnival tries to trim port time down to cut down on costs as much as possible.
You can stay and eat breakfast until 10:00am if you can stand all of the suggestions they give to kick you off of the boat as soon as they can. They were announcing for our floor to get off the boat at 6:45am. That would give you exactly 15mins to go up 9 floors, wait through crowded the buffet lines, sit were you can find a seat and wolf down your breakfast before leaving for a day of travel back home!
You just sound like you're better off staying home and staying off all cruise ships for all cruise lines. Room Steward tried to trick you? Come on they now offer Morning or evening but you have the option to say both. Even your reviews about each port you griped about everything; in the future do a resort vacation or Better yet stay home. Hard to please you are.
You should stay home, we sailed the Splendor last year and it was a pleasure. Yes the ship has some age but it's still has a special place in my family heart and will definitely sail her again 😎
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