Carnival Splendor Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This was my 16th cruise and I have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess, Cunard, Seabourn, Carnival, Norwegian, the Maxim Gorkey and the Stella Maris. My last cruise was in March on Norwegian, also going from NYC to the Caribbean (9 nights).

Let's start by saying I had a good time. Cruises remain a reasonably priced vacation if you don't send on all the extras they push.

Ship had a lot of kids, sometimes the parents actually took care of them.

The ship is in good, not great shape. Staff were generally friendly, especial cabin and late seating restaurant. Traveling alone, I asked to be seated with many people. The large table I sat at was half empty (or full). This ship has fewer specialty restaurants and I heard very mixed reviews of the steakhouse.

The itinerary is a little awkward. You get in to San Juan at 3PM, limiting day activities. We got into St Thomas at 7AM and had to be back on ship by 3PM. Because it was a Sunday, stores started to shut down at 1PM. Grand Turks is almost like going to one the the cruise lines private islands, love the beach and water, nothing else to do.

Large shows were OK. The time where you would get top guest talents seems long gone. Comedy shows were mixed. Of the four comics who appeared, two were good, one fair and one needed to go to therapy and fine a new occupation. DJs seem to have replaced live music in many places.

Gym is OK; several pieces of equipment needed to be fixed ( I mentioned it to staff, they said they put in a work order, nothing was done). Locker room often had dirty towels lying around. Trend on ships is to limit amenities in locker rooms and then sell extras like steam rooms and nicer facilities.

As with most ships, they are about capitalism in its most pure form. Their mission statement must include how many bingo cards can they sell.

Travelled from Baltimore to New York to board the Splendor.  It was very easy getting to the ship.  Once at the ship, the service was excellent from beginning to end.  I travelled with two teenagers.  They both enjoyed the activities at the O2 club.  The shows were very nice also.  I enjoyed the TV  screen at pool side.  There were plenty of lounge chairs available for the guest.  The food was just okay.  However the service from the staff made up for the quality.  I will defintely plan another trip for the Splendor in the coming year.

i thought the ship was very clean and the restrooms were very clean. the food in the buffet was just ok and the food in the dinning room was a little better. our waiter was great and the service on board was very good. i really like rccl and celeberty much better. the production shows were very good but the entertainment that was brought on was cheap entertainment. some of the comady was ok but  i wasnt that impressed.getting on and off the ship was ok

What a great itinerary. Two of my favorites. Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay, the private island. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful destination. I just wish they stayed here over night. My sister is the group leader so she rented a villa on HMC for all of us to enjoy. If you have the money, I would do it. You get fruit, snacks and drinks. It is 2 levels with a hot tub and private bathroom, AC, ceiling fan, kitchen, scuba gear, beach chairs, etc. 

Our villa.

The cruise was very nice,but a little long at sea.  Because of the distance, we got to San Juan at 3:00 and found many things (forts and some stores) were closed between 5:00 and 6:00.  It also gets dark earlier there.  Then the next port starts at 7:00 in the morning.  At St. Thomas there are taxis lined up.  They fill them and then go.  Fares were $4.00-$8.00, and you could go to the beach for $8.00 each way.  No need to book a tour.  At Grand Turk the beach and shopping are right off the ship.  The beach is free and there is a huge pool on the upper side.  We took the semi-submersible tour there and really enjoyed it.  Our granddaughter (9) enjoyed the kid's program.  The food was good.  Our room was nice and things were kept very clean.  The ship is huge and it was a long walk from our room in the front of the ship to the food in the back.

the staff was great we had a ball it was our first cruise and not our last we plane to book our honeymoon soon the food was great you it's none stop fun the shows were awesome our room was great

This is a good itinerary with Nassau being highly developed and the other two predominantly  undeveloped. Great that it is accessible from Canada and northeast.. Parking on the pier is $320 plus so I would recommend finding a hotel with a shuttle bus.

 Entertainment is very good - the lead singers are far above average. The band is excellent good and its great that they play in the lounges as well where you can see their real talent up close. A lot of good live music on board and very little canned music.

We ate mainly at the buffets which were excellent with a large variety - all of it very hard to resist. Decided on day two to throw the diet out the window - it was worth it.

Service was always very good both room service breakfast and the cabin steward although they seem to be stretched a little thinner than on past cruises maybe to close to the limit.

Tons of on board activites and a huge beautiful ship maybe just a touch more crowded than say the Pride or some of the other ships but still lots of space.

I wouldn't recommend this cruise. Poor intertainment,poor food choices,cannot even compare to Royal Caribbean.I will never travel with Carnival again.

It was an awesome experience. Most of the workers were very friendly and polite while others were standoffish. There were a lot of activities, but the timing frame was small. The activities were about 30 min apart when most of them lasted 1hr and a half. Room service could have been better. My parents room was cleaned at least twice a day. Whereas, my sister and I room was cleaned at the end of the night right before bed. They slacked towards the end of the trip. I do recommend a cruise for couples or a big group of family and friends. I went with three people but could have been better with more company.

We had a wonderful time! The cruise members did an excellent job! The chef worked with me to adapt some of the menus to fit my milk allergy. Everything tasted great. I would highly recommend this cruise line to everyone. We enjoyed being treated special the whole week. The shows were great there was never a moment we were bored. This is at least 4 trips weve taked on Carnival!

we had a great time, will do it again and would recommend for anyone to experience this. It was so much fun they have everything as far as entertainment on the boat. good time :)

My son and I were traveling with friends that we have taken cruises with since 2009 - this being our 4th Carnival experience.  We have also been on the Princess line which we didn't enjoy as much and also the Royal Caribbean which is just as enjoyable but much more expensive.   We were thrilled that Malcolm Burn was the Cruise Director as we had met him on our prior cruises (on the Miracle too) and enjoyed his company.  By last year he recognized us and the same this year.  Our room was beautiful and our stateroom(balcony) attendant Diana was terrific and always helpful.  We loved our waiter Maros and his assistants Alexis and Christian.  Dinner was always a fun and delicious experience.  What can I say about the Lobby Bar - a great meeting place with mouthwatering martinis and mojitos - even though they ran out of limes.  One bartender even made me one not on the menu - a French martini.  It was also great to see and hear Keith singing again.  I hope to take another Carnival cruise in the future.  The only thing I would ask is that the temperature inside the ship be a little warmer.  

First time on Carnival Cruise Lines it was good, food, service, was GREAT.The only downfall I found was we had to go through the Casino to go from one end of the ship to the other and the Smoking was AWful.

 I wish the food wasn't salted so much. I was trying to eat the more sugar free items but they were mostly salty . Also needed more things for the younger set, my grown children 23 years old and who don;t drink found that there wasn't enough of this for them to do on board othert hen eat

We  had a great time on the carnival splendor. The boat left New York and went to Puerto Rico st thomas and grand Turk. All the islands were beautiful even though it rain in PR and st thomas we still had a good time. The staff on the boat was great. My only negative was that I wish there was more goin on at nite on the lido deck. They had wat they said was lido deck party's but they only lasted about  45 min to an hr but other than that everything was great. I highly recommend a trip to the steak house it cost 30 bucks per person but was so worth it

Our cruise aboard the Splendor had it all, morning coffee on our balcony to late night at the piano bar and everything in between. the crew were always friendly, polite and helpful. the food was great and varied everyday, we loved the steakhouse for a special dinner and the martini tasting bar was my favorite ! being seniors looking for a relaxing time the serenity deck was wonderful and we loved having access to the spa that came with booking a cloud 9 spa suite. the only let down was the dress code for the dining room was was ignored. most guests were nicely dressed for dinner but then along came some in old tee shirts and jeans. we have sailed with carnival several times and will do so again soon, i hope!

Mediocre cuisine!  Once, actually became ill after dinner.  Clearly, they want you to choose the steakhouse option for an additional $35 per night. I have experienced fine cuisine on every other cruise I've taken.

This was the best cruise!! The staff was friendly and helpful! The food was good and many many things to do on the ship!! Ive cruised with Carnival before and aill cruise with Carnival again!!

From the moment we stepped on this ship till the moment we came back to New York, we had the best vacation ever. Nothing but praise for the entire week.Would take this cruise again and highly recommend it to others.

Very disorganized for a major cruise line, food was less than mediocre, Entertainemnt / shows were awful ! They ran out of alot of things on this cruise, very poor planning on the Management staff and when it was brough to someones attention they made it sound like it happens all the time. Ive traveled on several cruise lines, one other cruise on Carnival many years ago. not sure Inwould ever travel them again.