Carnival Splendor Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We all had a great time on this Carnival cruise! Service, food, excursions all exceeded our  expectations!  Miko, from Cruses Only, helped me plan this trip. She was always there to check on our trip and she took care of everything  professionally and courteously! 

All in all the cruise was pretty good. This is not the most glamorous ship I've ever been on. The dining room in the Golden restaurant had a poached egg decor on the ceiling. It looked very cheesy. The main swimming pool area had a retractable roof which was a nice touch on the last day of the cruise when it was raining. However, the night of the pool party it should have stayed open so the guest could party under the stars. It felt like you were in a high school gymnasium.I like the Carnival cruise line and have enjoyed many of their ships, The Slendor however was not as appealing.  

We had a wonderful week of entertainment, delicious meals, and captivating ports of call on the Carnival Splendor. We were pampered by the attentive staff, and treated to fabulous entertainment, and enjoyed a wide variety of sumptuous meals during our week long cruise. Even the excursions we took were exciting! We would recommend this cruise to everyone! The only weakness on this cruise was the condition of the ship. It is time to refurbish and redecorate it. 

Wonderful experience for my honeymoon. However, wish we had more freebies as honeymooners . Loved the excursions. Zip lining and swimming with the stingrays was GREAT!!!

The overall cruise experience to the 4 ports were good. The staff are amazing; working what seems like 24 hours a day. Rubi, our room steward was great!

Ir was a great cruise. Everything on the ship was Excellent: the food and dining, the service, the cleanliness. The shore tours were very well organized.

I love to cruise and went on cruises for more than 10 times during last 8.5 years. I always cruised with Carnival and always was satisfied with the food, service provided, and also with the entertainment.

It was fun. Not sure cruises are for me but it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless. The boat was great and the stops we lots of fun! My kids had lots of fun. The only downfall was the bad weather on the last day that made for a very rocky boat :(

This has been rhe largest ship I have sailed on to date.  For a large ship, most of the time we felt rhe staff and crew gave it a small ship feel.   There were only a few times where the ship felt crowded.  The staff was very personable and friendly.  There was only once where we werent addressed by our first names.  Before sailing we purchased the Faster to the Fun package for both of our staterooms.  I highly recommend this if you are not a Platinum or Diamond member.  Check in is faster, boarding is faster, rooms and luggage is faster, getting to tenders is faster, amd even disembarkation is faster and smoother.  We were able to unpack and unwind before the muster drill which was a first.  Most of the other guests got there luggage around dinner time.  We enjoyed every almost every aspect of the ship and will sail on her again to take in the few things we missed.

the dine anytime dining room is very crowded if you do not like your meal just reach over and take some food off the plate at the table next to you they are that close. only one fancy restaurant to eat at on the ship and we ended up eating there three nights at a cost of 35 dollars each per night, food was good but why should you have to do that just to get some kind of nice eating experance.????

This cruise was the worst of the 5 cruises I've been on ,I wouldn't recommend taking it to any of my friends .First night waited almost 3.5 hours for dinner to be ready and served in main dining room that went on for 3 days gradually getting to the 1 hour time span at the end .missed many of the entertainment opportunities due to poor service in dining room ,alot of the food in the buffet was cold all the time .they promised a burrito bar but it stayed open for 3 hours max in middle of afternoon and when you are stopped at islands there was no chance of eating one .room service brought cold water for tea and coffee was cold every morning I ordered it .food quality was very poor .islands were restricted to certain areas could not go beyond points on island without being warned about possible theft or harm .no beaches on Belize to visit at all grand cayman way to expensive to purchase anything .limited drinking availableper day  even when alcohol package was purchased .overall bad experience will probably never take another carnival cruise due to poor service on both of the ships I've taken from them stick to royal carribbean or Norwegian better bang for your buck and much classier on board also way better service .

We were on this ship in January 2015.  Being an older, refurbished ship we weren't sure what to expect.  We were pleasantly surprised the first time and when we saw a great deal on this cruise we decided to try it again.  We were not disappointed!

Embarkation was one of the best.  We were on the ship and eating lunch within one hour from arrival.

I would like to comment on the smoking policy.  I'm aware that smoking is frowned upon everywhere, however, there are still quite a bit of smokers.  Since it is no longer permitted in the cabins (or balconies if you have one), there should be an additional designated inside area.  And all areas where it is permitted should have ample ashtrays. 

We were on Carnival Splendor and we had absolutely a good time. The food was good and the weather was nice all week. The cruise started from Miami Sunday November 29 and ended Sunday Dec, 6. lots of fun and shopping was nice.

Carnival used to be my goto cruise line for fun and affordability..but I don't know what happened with this cruise. There were soooo many cutbacks. I understand you want to trim were you can and make more profits but the very things they cutback were the things that made carnival..Carnival....the reason why I'm a repeat customer. 

PROS - Ports were beautiful 

          Food was Great ( that was the only thing that didn't change ..Thank         GOD!)

           Waiter Jose' and his team Edwin and Christian were awesome!

CONS- 1) Sail away party Sucked!  No offense to Vini and his guitar and Dj K1x but what happened to the reggae band? You used to see the DJ in the club and during events like the hairy man chest contest...but now the DJ is EVERYTHING!  I looked fwd to the steel drums...that's what made me feel like i was on vacation, and that joke of a sail away party was a snooze fest.

2) No more Chocolates on the bed at night. CUT!!

3) You must ask your cabin steward for Ice or else you get none (huh?)

4) No more reception for repeat guest,,,we used to get a 1 hour reception with unlimited drinks and appetizers...that has now dwindled to a 1 drink coupon you could used after 5pm on the last full day of your cruise (Say What?)

5) AND THE BIGGEST OF ALL....WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE FUN? CARNIVAL IS KNOWN FOR BEING THE PARTY CRUISE LINE NOT AN INFOMERCIAL FOR DETOX WRAPS, JEWELRY AND ART BUYING. SINCE WHEN IS BEAN BAG TOSSING EXCITING ENOUGH TO BE THE MAIN EVENT ON A CRUISE???   IT JJST SEEMED LIKE ALL THE FUN WAS SUCKED OUT INTO THE OCEAN...OR MAYBE BEING INVESTED INTO THE NEWER SHIPS. 

OHHH and 1 more thing....I was traveling with family we had 2 separate cabins on 2 separate floors.  Monday night my uncle pops up with itchy mystery bumps all over his body we advised him to go to the infirmary but him being military didn't make a big deal about it. Wednesday morning my aunt appeared with the same thing and Thursday morning mystery bumps finally got me..now i didn't want to assume the worse because we've been to the jungle and the beach but they did look like BEDBUG BITES. so after the bumps appeared on me, we decided as a group to go to the infirmary. Once there we explained what happened, my uncle tried to show her as well as I did but she seemed dis interested....and instead interrupted my uncle asking us did we go to the beach in Roatan, we answered yes and she explained that this happens all the time and that for some reason the insect bits in Honduras always appear 1-2 days later and that its normal then kinda dismissed us....I would've accepted that except we all got the bumps before gettiing to Roatan (which was thursday). I explained that to the nurse and she still tried to tell us that's what is was....I told her my Uncles bumps appeared Monday night which was a sea day, how do you explained that? She skips over that question then asks are we in the same cabin which i told her no...She then tells me she's going to send housekeeping to inspect both our cabins...I agreed to that then left...well by the time I got to my room on the 7th flr,.I see my door almost closed as if i forgot to pull it shut to lock the door..I softly open the door to find 2 strangers going thru my things tearing the room apart....I asked them to identify themselves as they could see the surprised look on my face and they explained they were from house keeping and were there to do the inspection. I then said well you could've called first or arranged a time to do this not just enter without permission they apologized....I then asked them were they going to my uncles room as well and they said yes, At dinner I told my uncle what happened and asked did they check his room, he said no one ever showed up! Hours past and we didn't hear anything so I called guest services and they checked and told me it was negative for bed bugs....i don't believe them! Not to mention I ran into a fellow cruiser that i met on an excursion and he told me his friend had a similar issue with ROACHES earlier in the week and was quietly moved to another cabin.  I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN CARNIVAL ESPECIALLY WHEN IM SO CLOSED TO BEING A PLATINUM MEMBER.. GET YOUR *ISH TOGETHER OR YOU WILL LOSE LOT'S OF CUSTOMERS

over all it was a nice Cruz,but,my room was just below night club and we could not go to bed early.

Late at night you could not fine hot water for tea.

the food was ok.

the service was very good and the people that work there were very nice and helpful.

I was quite thankful to have taken the trip on the Carnival cruise line. However, there were many things that just were not up to par. For instance, after two days of food poison, I observed the hygiene from the cooks. It came to my surprise when I hadn't noticed them using gloves while preparing the food (pizza for example), sneezing and coughing in-front of the food. I was appalled with how un-hygienic the workers on this cruise were. Another reason why I gave this cruise experience a 1 star was the entertainment. It lacked engagement, hype, and fun. Speaking of hype, the DJ on this cruise did not deliver. Who in there right mind plays slow dancing music from the 70s out at the Lido, at noon, while it's a day out at sea. Maybe i'm stubborn or i've acclimated to how things are done nowadays for a party, but when you want to make a party jump and get the crowd hyped, one plays a genre that gets the crowd pumping like EDM, Dance, Electronic, Top-40s. In conclusion, the food and the entertainment value did not deliver and was sub par. 

Let me start with the ending: My husband and I wash our hands religiously and use the hand sanitizer so often it seems nothing could live on our hands. Yet I left the ship Sunday (Nov 29, 2015) morning with the NOROVIRUS! By 7pm that night I was taken by ambulance to the local ER. I am still recovering 3 days later. God only knows what my hospital bill will be as my health insurance doesn't cover at 100%.  The day before we got off the ship we spoke to a young gal who said she was sick all the night before. Then, as we were getting off the ship, in the elevator a guy was vomiting in a bucket, clue #2. I was tested for the "flu" in the ER and it was negative. ER doctor said Norovirus. I wonder how many others ended up sick. On our drive to the ship we drove through some Biblical rain. Just stormed and stormed. The rain made the drive longer so we didn't stop for lunch. We arrived at the port at 1pm (wanted to arrive at 12) The ship was sold out and there were so many people that we spent 2 1/2 hours in line and didn't get on the ship until 3:30. Lunch was closed down and then came muster station so we didn't get to eat till late. Upon arrival to our cabin the A/C wasn't working at all. Couldn't get anyone there to repair it by 8:30 pm (part of why we ate so late) and we were concerned as we were informed the ship was sold out and no other cabins were available to move to. We went to Guest Services where the rep didn't believe us that it was hot and went to check for herself, with someone from maintenance (she managed to get them to respond). It registered 80 degrees in the inside cabin. It was repaired and the cabin was cool by 11pm. For our troubles, Helene from GS gifted us a complimentary bottle of wine at dinner the next night. Not being avid drinkers we asked the bar to save it for us for additional nights. The 2nd and last time we asked them to retrieve the bottle they didn't save the 1/3 bottle and insisted we drank it all.(we had a 2 beer bar tab the whole cruise that's how much we drink) I was more angry at being accused of lying than the loss of the wine, actually. They comped us a glass each the final night. The second night we waited 1hr and 10 minutes for dinner after we were told 30 minute wait. (We were comped a small gesture of fudge for that inconvenience, as were many others I learned.) We spent I'll bet about 1/3 of our vacation time in long lines for everything, food, to get on/off the ship,events etc. After a port outing on the 3rd day we headed up to the grill for a burger just in time to watch the sprinklers douse a small fire on the grill. Scary and smelly as our cabin was almost directly below the grill.  Although I am accepting of the gay/lesbian lifestyle our nerves were grated by the flamboyantly gay Cruise Director's voice for 7 days. We both felt he was the worst one we've met on all our cruises as he didn't even seem a genuinely happy person but rather caustic. During a (supposed to be a family) skit in the theater one actor in nothing but a pair of skimpy briefs ran from isle to isle, jumped up on the seats and girated in womens'  faces at close range. Children were present! Then, if that wasn't bad enough  the cruise director dressed as a Ballerina and paraded around the stage. Consensus around us was that it was creepy and people were walking out.  No fault of Carnival but due to rough seas and bad weather the last two days, all theater shows were cancelled as was our only snorkel excursion we had planned, that was very disappointing. Often those last two days the pools and jacuzzi's were closed as well. All the ship's activities were limited and way too much trivia, no creativity or diversity of activities. Never got to putt putt or table tennis too many people in line.  They just want you in the bar, the gift shop, the spa or the casino spending money. Even Bingo isn't free. Bridge/Galley tours are $95 per person! Serenity is just below the putt putt and basketball court, not a well thought out design. We always heard people talking and yelling, it was not, in the least, serene. If you are hungry during non meal hours your option is pizza 24/7 or deli from 11am-11pm. And last, not having sailed out of Miami in a while with having to park, we parked in the terminal. Bad choice. Neither of us saw a sign of how much it was to park per night. We figured 10 bucks. No, it was $20 per night! Cost $140.00 for 7 nights. Outrageous. They need a bigger sign telling you the parking rate. Awful trip, worst ship experience we've had.

The cruise and all it's ports were good.

We had trouble with the airconditioner in our room.

It was never fixed even though they sent a tech twic eto our cabin.

Finally they brought us a fan to help cool the room. The fan was provided by the room steward who was excellent but the tech to fix the airconditioner was usless!

The food was good but service in the main dining room was not.

I recommend going to the buffet if you want to eat in less than 2 hours.

Frank

Tampa

Way too many people.    I guess it was a bad weather or something...but the ship was very unstable  Lots of people got sick.

I did not like the fact there is Smoking in the casino,. It was terrible the cigarette smell. 

Let me start off by saying that our cabin steward Erikson was AWESOME and we did love our suite on the ship.  However, I felt that the ship was understaffed for it being Thanksgiving and we had to wait a long time for everything - buffet lines, dinner seating, excursion desk, customer service, etc. One particular experience, we were playing trivia one afternoon and my three year old tripped and fell into the table.  He hit his face against the table and had a bloodied his nose and lip.  We had just ordered a round of drinks and he spilled them all.  After I helped the waiter clean up the mess,  I explained to the bartender what happened she said that it was not Carnival's fault that the drinks were spilled.  I was pretty upset at this comment since I was with my parents and in total our 2 suites were over $6K.  That was not a very good response.  This was our third Carnival Cruise and I've always been very happy with the ships and service, but we were very disappointed in our experience this past vacation.  We live in Florida and cruise quite often.  I'm not sure I will be rushing to go back on another Carnival Cruise in the future with the service that we received.