With the Splendor being an older ship I wasn't sure what to expect. We laughed about the "pink donuts" and the weird pearls in the dining room. MarQ is my new favorite cruise director and made the trip fun! Was pleasantly surprised by Playlist Production shows and overall the good outweighed the bad.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We lyfted to the terminal from the Sheraton Four Points LAX. Our check in time was 11:30. We were greeted warmly by a Carnival agent with an I-pad and walked right through to board the ship. The only "delay" was us stopping to take pics. The long beach cruise terminal was AWESOME! In fact, the embarkation process has never gone so smoothly and we were already on the ship at 11:30!! The process will be hard to beat at any other port.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We give the lunch selections and the buffet three stars. The Splendor does not have a Guy's Burgers or Blue Iguana. The burgers and dogs from Off the Grill were ok, but tasted like they were cooked on someone's backyard grill and the buns were a little hard. The MDR deserves four stars, and the steak house five! I was so excited to learn the Splendor still had the OG dining menu(for now)
The Pinnacle Steakhouse
5 out of 5
We enjoyed speaking with the manager, he was very personable. As mentioned above, we love the original menu, and were very happy to be able to order cheesecake and see the beautiful Versace plates for our amuse buche.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Our favorite activities were MarQ's trivia parties! We planned our evenings around them, as they were SO MUCH FUN!!! He's hilarious, very out going and so friendly! We attended a few daily trivias, which were okay, but the Friend's trivia used the same questions as another ship and it was the same people winning all of them. This was a VIP premier cruise for us, so my husband spent a lot of his free time in the casino. I tried to visit the pool, but the water was too cold. Other cruisers were saying it wasn't as cold as they day before, so it must be really cold! My husband treated me to some spa pampering so I got a mani, massage and a hair do for formal night. The comedy shows were good but I did not care for Veronica, the comedy club manager, she was rude in the comments she made to cruisers and her attitude.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The stage shows were the best I've seen on ship so far! They weren't as cheesy and they were on par with some Las Vegas shows we've seen. Kudos to the Playlist Productions team!!
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
First negative was my hoodie being thrown away on embarkation day. We were told our room was ready, we dropped off our carry on stuff and went to eat. I folded my hoodie, and left it in the drawer and when I came back a few hours later it was gone. Long story short, they assumed it was left behind by the previous cruisers and instead of being kept in lost and found, it was thrown away. Second issue was with the spa staff, and being made to wait 45 minutes before my massage. They said they forgot about me as I "checked in early" No apology was ever offered. There were some positives, Rachel, the casino host, and her staff were awesome! As was the steakhouse manager.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship is old, so LOTS OF PINK. But it was clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Just your standard regular Carnival interior cabin.
We both loved this port, and want to come back for a vacation! We booked an excursion via Resorts for a day and took a taxi to Riu Palace. We stayed there for four hours, enjoying two meals, the pool and beach. We then took a taxi to the Malecon and went shopping.
Ooops. Was reading comments and accidentally sent “n”. I have been on at least 2 ships that had a section that was just salads without going through long buffet line. I can’t remember if it was on Splendor or not. The Splendor, Dream And Legend are 3 of our favorite ships!
It does not have a separate salad bar. That's only on one ship right now, the Horizon I think. Basically that salad bar is coming to the newest ships in the Serenity area. As for the Premier event, they had many different drawings for contests. My hubby was chosen for beer pong where he had the opportunity to win thousands, but he only won $75. On the last night there was a slot tournament for Premier invitees only with nice cash prizes. They had an invite only welcome reception reception the first day with drinks and appetizers. They also treated us to a welcome bag with goodies!
Great review! Sorry about your hoodie! This is my next ship! Does it have a Salad Bar location (not the one in the Lido Buffet area) but a separate one? It says that on the carnival website about the ship and I've never seen it on any other ships, so I'm a little confused. How was the Premier Cruise part? I have casino offer for one, but havent done one yet? How were the Casino drawings?
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