Carnival Splendor Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I was in a group of 4 in a Cabin unit - although the cabins are small, we all fit adequately and had no problems.  Our steward "Lucianno" was great, always provided excellent service and add'l towels when needed.  Our waiter Bryan was always very attentive and always used our names.  The décor of the Splendor is the old 'gawdy' type décor - but the service and services provided were great.  Good food, wonderful staff, and lots of activities to keep one busy (if they so desired).

I highly suggest the following......

1) offer photos starting in 5x7 size - 8x10's are just TOO BIG for many folks - I strongly believe more photos would sell if they could simply buy 1 or more 5x7's from the start!!  (I and everyone else in my cabin would have bought them, or more of them if we could simply buy a 5x7!)

2) Have an "Access Code" to review ones sign & Sail account on the tv screen.  The way it is now, anyone in the cabin can review another cabin mates sign and sail account (which should be a personal account and treated as such).  We all know each others folio because they are consecutively assigned!!

3) Have the sign & sail account summary in individual envelopes addressed to that folio person - vice all open and placed in the mailbox on the last night of the cruise - again, treat it as personal information, no one else should be able to just view another cruise members folio (regardless if they are in the same cabin on not!!)

Other than that, I think the overall experience was wonderful - as before! :)

t.

Excellent service, shows, music, food, etc. I highly recommend it. No complaints at all at this time. Keep up the good work. Planning to go again very soon. Thanks.

HAVING GONE ON SEVERAL CRUISES, THIS CRUISE WAS NOT UP TO EXPECTATIONS.

THE DINING EXPERIENCE WAS ALWAYS  TO BE LOOKED FORWARD TO.   THIS TIME WAS DISAPPOINTING.  FOOD WAS GOOD, WAITERS WERE GOOD BUT OVERWORKED. SLOWED UP SERVICE, TO LONG TO COMPLETE MEAL.

MAIN SPECTACULAR  ENTERTAINMENT NOT TO OUR LIKING. 

SMOKING IN CASINO PREVENTED USAGE AT TIMES.  

STATEROOM SERVICE VERY GOOD.

COLOR SCHEME OF SHIP LOOKS LIKE PEPTO BISMO

Ship needs some uplifting.

Employee were very cordial .

entertainment needs some improvement.

Specialty dining was advertised but not there.Not many choices to eat at your own time.Formal Dressed events were a joke.Nothing there.

Much better experience with other cruises.

Dining room service was the slowest I have ever had with Carnival.  On one night, 25 minutes (after seated) to get our water glasses filled and talk to a waiter; 20 more minutes before they returned with bread -- NOT FUN WAITING THAT LONG.

I enjoy seeing other places in the world and that I can return at another date if I want to.  Grand Cayman is a place I'd definitely go back to.  The boat was too crowded for me.  Next time I'd pick a smaller ship.  The service on this cruise was amazing.  Although I can't say that  booking with Cheap Cruises.  The person that helped Ed Sai was not "helpful" at all.  I would never book with or use Cheap Cruises again.  He added insurance after not explaining the cost and he was extremely hard to contact on other issues like transportation to the airport.

the night time entertainment was sub standard,I have been on a lot of Carnival cruises and I would say this was the worst. I did not think the first 2 comics were very good, till the second 2 came on  and were worse

The ship was quite outdated, the decor was a little tacky and overboard in my opinion. I probably wouldn't think much of it except that I was on the carnival magic ship before which was a lot newer! There are not many hot tubs on the ship so they were very crowded, finding a lounge chair was also difficult if you wanted to be in the sun! They did not seem to enforce the rule for saving lounge chairs either - which I do understand. We were placed in a room above one of the clubs...when I booked through we were told that the room was very quiet which is why we picked it! Unfortunately it was far from quite between 5pm and 1pm. We could hear the music in our room and feel the bass shake our room. It was very frustrating when we were not feeling well and could not sleep. When we put our heads down on the pillow it just seemed to amplify the sound! We called down and someone was sent to our room to hear the noise, then someone called up to us and said they would turn the music down in the club. Almost every night on the cruise we had to call to turn down the music, keep in mind it took over 15 minutes for Guest Services to even pick up our call and then they had to call the club to turn it down. There were a few nights when we had to call back to Guest Services an hour after our initial call to let them know we could still hear the music. VERY frustrating when you pay all this money for a vacation and cannot get a good nights sleep. We were compensated but as someone who worked in guest services before, it was not near enough for the pain. 

On another note, Nemanja who is the Sports Bar bartender was amazing! We visited him almost every night and enjoyed just talking with him. He definitely made us feel like we made a friend on the ship. Maria was a bartender waitress at the pool and was great as well! 

We had a few great dinner staff as well but we did not get seated with them every night. Beni Y. we had on our last night and he was very welcoming, wish we would have had him night 1! A lot of other people who helped us let us call them other names since theirs was extremely difficult to pronounce, one man had us call him George (his name was like Guijitazan?) and then another had us just call him number 2 because he was listed second under George! And then we cannot forget the man who walked around serving us shots at dinner! He was great! 

As for the entertainment, the first night at the punchliner was funny but a little offensive, and I am not a prude. I just thought his jokes were rather hurtful. He made a joke about fat people being stuck in a closet or something...just insensitive. The last night was very funny and respectful! We watched several of the night shows with the singers and dancers. I gotta say that CJ was THE BEST dancer on the stage, he always seemed be having a good time and really got into it. The red head, forgot her name, but she had an incredible voice! The other girl who sang most of the time was like nails on a chalkboard. But it was entertaining to say the least, however the costumes were not very appropriate for younger ages in my opinion. There were a lot of booties showing as well as stomachs and boobs all over the place. They weren't cover up any more for the 7pm show vs. the 10pm show either. 

The ports were great! We decided not to do excursions through Carnival since a lot of them are very similar. I wish we would have done one at Amber Cove though. It really was just a section of the DR with a pool and restaurant. You couldn't just walk somewhere else. It was nice to have the option of a free pool but it was a little boring for adults. 

At St. Thomas we just took a shuttle to Magans bay for 8$ each way and 5$ to get to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. The beach is huge and has plenty of room to spread out. There are also chairs you can use for about 10$ or so and I think you get money back when you turn it in. There is also a restaurant with a bar. 

Grand Turk has a beach on both sides of the pier that is free with lounge chairs and umbrellas. It is right by Margaritaville so there is a bar with food. 

San Juan we just walked to the forts ourselves and paid 5$ a person to tour it on our own. If you keep the receipt you can get into the other forts free. The shops didn't open until 10 or 11 so going to the fort before then really helped! There are a lot of shops to visit and little markets along the way! 

The boat and the staff were all unbelievably great. Our room was very nice and our cleaning lady was awesome. The thing I didn't like were the shows that were once, like off Broadway were not good at all. The comedy club was enjoyable. We had also bought the prepaid soda option for each of us. I drink a lot of soda but since you are off the boat a lot, I think it is cheaper to buy by the glass. I did not like that the pop cans sat outside and not on ice or refrigerated so were warm and when you poured a can of pop over ice, your drink turns to water. Would be nice if you chilled the pop as you do beer. Overall was still a nice trip and I would return. Our suite was worth the trip alone so when we were not happy with shows, it was very pleasant to come back to a super room with huge balcony.

The food served in the dining room were the same items served on the Lido Deck, with the exception of the Lobster Tails. I ordered from the Steakhouse Menu most nights. (SURCHARGE $20)  Carnival has started charging for just about everything now. And what happen to the destination T-shirts. They only have Carnival Cruising or some port we didn't visit. And the sizes were limited. The line to buy T-shirts was like a Black Friday sale. Get there early or else. Now I see why real cruisers are switching to Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and even Disney. The entertainment was the best. Broadway nights with the singers they have on the Carnival Splendor. Much better than the cast on the Carnival Conquest. Hats off. They made the trip bearable. The lead male rocked the house. And the sultry female lead was giving him a run for the money. Outstanding. Cruise was okay. Entertainment was phenomenal. 

WE loved the warm weather and beautiful ports we visited.  The ship was wonderful, very clean and had plenty of entertainment while onboard. The shows were excellent and the variety of food was great. We never went hungry. 

The dinners were the high lite of most or our days.  The excursions were well planned and most enjoyable.  Really liked the tendering to the ports on two occasions.  It was an excursion by themselves!

  More balcony rooms or  at least where the other outside cabins could listen to the ocean when we go to bed.  Sheet shooting of the aft area toward the sea would be great.  A zip line would be a activity that some us love to do, when we can have a nice one to try.

  I would recommend this cruise line and its employees to any fried or family.

     I never got my bill for my room expenses.  I would like that.  I checked the mail box and under the door.  NO LIST OF PURCHASE ON MY CABIN CARD.

Overall, despite rough weather the first day at sea, the cruise was excellent. I liked the layout of the ship and the crew/staff were great! Now comes the negative...as part of the overall fee charged for a cruise, I'm assuming that a certain percentage goes to the food that we consume while on board. My wife and I are not big eaters so the cruise line is definately not losing money on us. But it would be interesting to see the reaction of the passengers as they lined up for their desserts (cakes, sweets, etc.) and instead of finding the variety they are accustomed to, instead there was one dried out, crumbling piece of pie/cake. That's it, no other choices. Each day brought a "new surprise" of just one selection, take it or leave it. I bring this up because like millions of other's in the world, I cannot eat foods containing sugar. On a ship the size of the Splendor, based on the statistics, I probaly represent one third of the passengers on that ship who cannot and/or should not consume sugar. But yet what I described above is exactly what I found each day while on the cruise. I'm basically subsidizing other's who get tremendous variety in food and dessert while I get the dried out crumbs of one selection. Overall I thought the food was very good, but it's hard to stand in line with fellow passengers who are holding a plate heaped high with 6-7 desserts (or more!) and not one decent offering for someone like myself. One more observation; all of the custard machines located throughout the ship dispensing chocolate, vanilla and strawberry custard and NOT ONE sugar free custard (I'd even settle for plain vanilla!). If others think my complaint is trivial, then I would ask the cruise lines to eliminate desserts and sweets entirely from the cruise menu. The negative feedback would be HUGE. I've brought this subject up on cruise line survey's in the past, the dessert chef's on the ship's themselves, with customer relations person's who asked for feedback. Nothing has ever been done about the subject; it falls on deaf ears. 

We really relaxed and enjoyed the cruise...(aside from the fact that every port offered the exact same shopping experience) we enjoyed the ship the staff was wonderful and the food was very good... and we did some exploring at port and met lots of fun people!!!..The entertainment was really much more than we expected....BEWARE of the casino on the Splendor..it is very, very smoky so if you do not smoke its a problem..many people complained because it was so unusually  terrible....they really need better ventilation it was the worst I have ever experienced...to bad we wanted to visit it more than we did.

but.. BOOKING it was not so fun..no one at delta could help me with my hotel and transfers to and from the hotel/airport..Because we booked it through Delta-- Carnival said they could not help us..so I had to do all the hunting and travel vouchers pickups,hotel etc.. my self..but ended up with a great hotel a good price ..They picked us up at the airport,no charge.  The Renaissance was very nice and affordable....then they provided us with transport to the port and a good breakfast.....exactly what we wanted ..no hassles!!!...we were leaving from the west coast so we had to arrive a day early.

I have booked similar cruises that took care of  everything so I was expecting the same service.

The comedy Club was the best. Over all the cruise was not my cup of tea. This is the second time I went on Carnival and I just don't like the set up of the ship, not easily navigated. I didn't care for the food, it was basically tasteless. I understand all Cruise lines have come down in the world since you bought some of them, and that is truly a shame.

We had a wonderful time on the cruise.  However, it seems that Carnival is not providing services as they had in the past when we cruised with them.  We did not receive as much attention to our cabin.  Our steward was nice and did what we asked, just not as attentive as in the past.  Food was good, but not as good as in the past.  Chocolate day not so festive or special.  I never felt the need to go back and get something from the buffet because nothing was that great.  Nothing was bad either.  It just seems some of the polish is off the cruise line.  Shows were not as enjoyable, directed toward one group of people not a larger group.  My parents were along with us and they did not go to shows because they didn't interest them at all.  My sister went once and she didn't feel a need to go after that.

the waiters and cabin boys were so polite and had a great sense of humor. 

Remembered our names and made us feel so comfortable.

we enjoyed the way the waiters danced and

sang at dinner- it was much fun including three 

Maitr'd joined in. All staff was helpful and 

polite.

I hadn't been on a cruise in two or three years so the new "cattle call" style embarkation procedure was a frustrating surprise.  It began waiting in a ridiculous line to go in the building at our scheduled check-in time, meeting up with a guy sitting on a stool who checked our passports and confirmed we had entered our credit card information for our on-board account.  Next we waited in another ridiculous line to be handed a number and directed to a waiting area to guess what? WAIT for our number to be called to get on the ship! Once our number was finally called , we waited in line to have our picture taken.  Meanwhile, I had to ask as we waited in line to get on the ship when we would receive our sail and sign cards.  The new process leaves your card in the mailbox outside your cabin.  We had scheduled our embarkation for noon, and by the time we got on the ship, it was after 1:30 and our room was ready.  It was the worst and frustrating way to start a cruise.  Once on board, we made our way to the Lido deck to get some lunch. It was impossible to get near the buffet, to get a table, to move.  Too many people.  Not relaxing whatsoever.  This set the tone for the entire cruise.  Waiting in lines to eat, waiting in lines to disembark at each port, waiting in lines to get back on board.  We could never get a decent chair on deck unless we were at the pool before breakfast.  We couldn't get in any of the hot tubs because they were always packed with people.  The same people.  As for the ship, it was fine.  I understand it had recently been renovated.  The décor was typical of a cruise ship.  Nothing spectacular or to write home about.  The layout was pretty simple to memorize so I felt like I knew where I was going by the 2nd day.  The best thing about the cruise was the crew.  Everyone was pleasant and helpful.  I felt like I mattered and wasn't just one of millions of passengers they encounter every day.  We had an inside cabin on the 6th deck in the very front of the ship.  We felt a lot of movement but after speaking with people on the same deck in the center of the ship, they felt a lot of movement too.  Our cabin had that "boat" smell.  If you've cruised before, you know what I mean.  It isn't unpleasant but it is distinct.  It was roomy enough and had plenty of storage space.  I was pleased that the bathroom was roomier than other cruises I have been on.  There was a curtain rather than a shower door on the shower so I didn't feel claustrophobic when I shaved by legs.  As for the on-board entertainment, we attended a show the first night that was supposed to welcome passengers aboard.  It started with little vignettes pre-recorded by towel animals.  After tolerating bad jokes and puns, the live show began with maybe 10 dancers who encouraged the audience to participate in an aerobic routing.  It was after 11 at night and the last thing I wanted to do was exercise or watch people exercise.  The cruise director was next and called two couples on stage to do some stunts and games.  It was ho-hum and we ended up leaving before it ended.  We had the same boring time at a comedy show.  There were no seats so we had to stand in the back of the theater.  It turned out to be a blessing because we were able to escape soon after the comedian started.  His jokes were lame and his biggest "haha" moment was doing the same impression for multiple people.  Exit stage left.  At no point on the cruise were we able to catch a big, broadway style show that we were expecting.  It was all "Hasbro" inspired game shows, mostly about CLUE.  One of the most annoying aspects of the cruise was being hassled everywhere we went by the posse of photographers.  Walking to dinner?  Pass by "photographer row" where there were at least a half-dozen sets, each with a photographer soliciting you to pose.  Sit down to dinner? Cue the photographer.  Getting off the boat? Wait and pose!  Ca Ching! The other money making enterprise was the terrible art they were trying to auction.  Or the crappy souvenirs they marked down drastically the last day to sell as if you're getting a good deal on a watched marked $698 with 75% off.  Carnival wants your money and will do whatever they can to entice you to spend.  This cruise may be my last because of all the waiting, all the high pressure selling we had to endure, and being stuck on a floating hotel with thousands of annoying people.  I'd rather fly to an all-inclusive resort and deal with less people.  By the way, the four ports in four days was a lot.  I was exhausted getting off the boat, exploring each place for a small amount of time, getting back on the boat, and doing it all over again the following day.  There wasn't any time to recuperate and I felt like I needed another vacation after this one.

Wonderful ice cream LOL! The breakfast and dinner was very good.  The entertainment need some improvement.  Should have more than just 30 minutes of Motown music. Instead of having a trivia of Motown music have it doing the entertainment or an evening of dancing and enjoyment.  Everyone loves Motown.  Also out of all the pictures taken, at least 1 could be given to each guest or couple as a complimentary gift from Carnival. 

The Main Restaurant was fabulous. Great food excently prepared and served with a smile. The room was nice with lots of storage and the bed was comfortable. We found however, that once you choose a restaurant, you can,t change. The buffet however was terrible. Now the ugly. The upper decks stunk of a sewage smell that got worse as you approached the bow. We were upset that we could not bring our favorite brand of water and soda on board, as we have on other cruise lines. Because of the odor we would never book this ship again, nor would we recommend it