Carnival Splendor Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I highly recommend this cruise to everyone including first time cruisers. Many fun activities..comedy clubs...games...good food....the only complain is in the gold pearl restaurant sometimes the food was slightly cold...but it was still good!! Kenroy and vlad served us.. They were the best!!! Our matre'd was mr v... He had wonderful shows for us after dinner... Which were funny and entertaining..overall it was a great cruise and hope to do it again.

My Sister & I were celebrating our 25th Anniversary with our husbands. My husband & I have cruised before and was looking forward to this one. (My husband 6th & my 7th cruise) The entertainment was fair. Food was Fair. The ship decoration was horrible. Staff was great!!! as well as the Islands.

We had a great time as always. The service was great, the food very good and the destinations were wonderful. The trip was very relaxing. A cruise is the best value for your money hands down!! We highly recommend it.

The food and food services were horrible on the Lido deck and Golden Pearl. The reason why was,the Lido buffet ,nobody came to your table and asked you if they could get you drinks like on other cruises I've been on. So adults and children were forced to bumping into one another and knocking drinks off their trays. The lemon aid was way too sweet and sour. The food wasn't hot and the lines were out of control. Too out of control. like total chaos. So after waiting for a table , then waiting for food , I had to now go on a line and wait for a drink? Then The food staff did not come to pick up the used trays either. One woman on the table next to us had so many used trays that she decided to place her used tray with used food onto our table. I hate eating at those "all you could eat buffets". I like to be served and pampered when I'm on vacation. But, when you read the following you'll see why I couldn't most of the times. Another thing I didn't like and, I was not used to because of my previous cruising experiences, was that I could not eat a sit down breakfast and lunch at my normal formal dinning area which was the black pearl. You could have only had what "they"' call a brunch which pretty used the same menus for breakfast and lunch every day and was served only at the Golden Pearl. Then during port calls if you wanted to have a formal dinner or sit down "brunch" at the Golden Pearl You couldn't because it was closed which meant that you had to do upstairs and eat at the filthy Lido deck with the other 3000 plus passengers bumping into one another and scrambling for food and spilling their drinks, looking for tables while the food staff people watched on. At one "brunch " I went to and asked for a medium rare steak and got a completely cold raw steak. I asked the waiter If he could exchange it and he said yes but after 20 minutes of waiting , he never came back to my table . And here's the best part, there weren't a lot of people seated for service. The pizza bar and hamburger bar were suppose to be open 24 seven but they weren't . And, I could confirm it because anther passenger on board complained about it as well. Malcolm (cruise director) and the entertainment made up for some of the bad experience but that wasn't enough for me to rate the cruise experience higher. I look for 2 things when I go on cruises: 1. The food and service and 2. The entertainment and carnival did not come through on the food and service. So there you have a dissatisfied customer after sailing on 4 previous cruises.

I was part of a small group which consisted of 4 generations. We all enjoyed the cruise. The crew was pleasant and accommodating. Although the travel agency did not seat us at the same table for dinner as was requested, which is important to our family as it is the one time of day we are all together, Carnival was able to correct the situation. I wasn't too happy arriving at San Juan at 3:00PM leaving limited choice of activities. The other ports were wonderful, plenty of time and beautiful beaches. It was nice to have some quiet times in public areas without having someone push the "drink of the day" every two minutes. We did miss an outdoor venue on one of the lower decks where we could go for a leisurely stroll around the ship. I did, however, love the Tranquility Deck for reading. I was sorry to see that the Thalassotherapy pool required an additional fee, which was not the case on Celebrity. The entertainment, although not terrible, left something to be desired. The performers weren't as strong as I have seen on other cruises. I would recommend this cruise. I think Carnival is making a true effort to provide a relaxing, enjoyable vacation.

Being the same 9 people that were on the Pride and the Miracle, we were all very disappointed with the quality and selection of the food on the Lido deck, It was the worst buffet ever. Not much variety, everyday the same thing and not that good either. Only the salad part had a good selection. The hambergers we dryed out, the pananis were not toasted very well so insides were cold. Scrambled eggs were the worst. One of the couples that ate on the other 2 ships at night finally went to the dining room because the buffet was so bad. It was a life saver that they had the brunch where you could get decent food. Everything else was fine .(rooms &entertainment)

This is my 7th Carnival Cruise and it truly went just as I expected. The layout was a little confusing and although this ship is a little larger than others I felt it was also more cramped..with that said the food was good, the weather was great, the captain and staff were very informative and our wait staff in all the dining rooms were Exceptional. This is also the Cleanest ship I have EVER been on.. our room steward (Reynaldo) did an amazing job everyday.. Just a few disappointing factors were that the basketball court was down for nearly 1/2 the cruise as the net was broken and my son and others were not allowed to play in that area.. As activities are minimal at best on this ship that was a loss..and there were NEVER enough deck chairs on the ship or on Turks & Caicos or the private island..when asked for assistance we were told sorry..nothing we can do..the staff were very friendly otherwise and the cruise itself was enjoyable.

We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise. Not a single complaint, from the moment we stepped on the ship until the moment we left. Ship was spotless, staff was fantastic, food was delicious, weather was great. Just perfect.

Our family of four had a wonderful time on the Splendor. The ship was immaculate, the food was great and staff was more than attentive. We were celebrating a college graduation, a 50th bday and a 16th bday. The crew in charge of our table in the Gold Pearl (Alix, Angela & Jonard) was nothing short of fantastic. Kudos to all who work tirelessly to keep everything running smoothly. Yasa kept our cabin perfect. We truly felt spoiled.. : ) The only thing about visiting the islands ( puerto Rico, st. Thomas and grand Turk) Was that there wasn't a lot of time spent at each place so it was kind of rushed. Our snub a experience in grand Turk was a ton of fun. Big John and crew were very patient and reassuring. I can't wait to do it again! I would do this cruise again in a NY minute. Way to go Carnival!

Great Cruise. Fun for families & the young at heart. Food in main dining room delicious & u could order as much as u wanted. Lunch Buffet ok--better off with deli, pizza or wok. Staff friendly & ship always clean. Shows w/ special guests (comedians, juggler, magician, etc) good. Dancer/singer shows a little boring. We saw the same "Vroom" show 5yrs ago on the Carnival Victory & didnt need to see it again. Best port Grand Turk w/ Margaritaville/beach right off boat & free.

I liked the layout or the "Splendor" and the design of the stateroom with balcony and the smooth sailing. The dinner cuisine was excellent but lunch I rate just average. I woulld like to have an italian "Gelateria" included on board.

The selection of food was excellent . We enjoyed the food every night in the dining. The buffet for lunch is good as well. Service was good, our waiter and assistant waiters call our names each time we met. The cabin is really clean, our cabin Stewart is very friendly. We have cruised 8 times, we feel the food of this ship is better than on the Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, also much better than on Carnival Miracle we cruised on back in 2009. The entertainment programs is good. We enjoyed the shows, we only went to adult comedy once, it was not too good. Overall, we would go on the Carnival cruise again.

Our experience overall was good, the staff was great and the food was also very good. The lido deck food was definitely less desirable than the ala carte fare. Definitely would recommend going to the dining rooms. The only negative was the waiting in lines going and coming back onto the ship. Wasted way too much time. Seemed highly disorganized and the it got a little frustrating. Also the club area, piano bar were very smoke filled, which was disappointing.

This was our 1st time on Splendor. I love the ship except for the fact that it could be tricky getting to the main dinning room. The galley splits up the hallway so you have to go up a level then down or down a level then up. Also, I was not crazy about the serenity deck. On Miracle, Serenity has its own pool, hot tub and bar. This one did not.  It certainly did not ruin my trip because there is so much going on most times. The crew was just wonderful as usual. I am amazed at how the stewards and dining crew can remember your names. They always have a smile on their faces.  We did the steakhouse on the 1st night. You get a free bottle of wine then. Dinner was delish. It only cost $35.00 per person. and is very well worth it. The one day it was very foggy and the fog horn was going often. That's OK with me because I love that sound.  Also, my sister talked me into getting a day pass for the spa. It cost $40.00 and you have 24 hours to use it as much as you want. It was REALLY nice.  It was my aunts birthday a few days before we left so I had their room decorated as a surprise. They did a really good job. I also had a birthday cake delivered to dinner that night. We had choppy waters one day so they hung "barf bags" all over the ship. I giggled when I first saw that.

Not a happy camper...I was sick the whole trip. Stuck in bed..I only had dinner the first night and I was never seen after that...how is that I'm all well at the start of my vacation and ready to enjoy the cruise and once I came in contact with the smokers it was all over then. The only reason I had to come across the smokers was due to having to cut through the casino...after that my asthma stared and illness became my vacation.....not a good cruise experience..all my life I knew the effect smoking had on me so I knew how to stay away...on this cruise I thought I never had a chance due to not knowing how to best stay away....this was only one thing that bothered me believe e I have more.....

This is the sixth time we took a cruise, but the second time we went with Carnival. Overall, this cruise ranks at the bottom. The food was below average. The Mogolian Wok line where they cooked to order noodle was too long, and hardly moved for half hour in the line. They had only two cooks servicing many people. The exercise room was crowded, and hot. The entertainment was just ok. The best island on this trip was Half Moon Kay, but on the day of embarkment, two inters broke down. Passengers had to wait two hours to get onto the island.

First, when we booked our cruise we were assured that since there were several of us going, we would be gauranteed to all be at the same dinner table. We were not. We were celebrating 2 "40th" birthdays, 1 "30th" birthday, 1 "30 year" anniversary and a 13th birthday. Hard to celebrate together when we were at different tables. Furthermore, both of my sisters had one of their children, (7 year olds) sitting at different tables than their parents. The dinners took over 2 and a half hours regularly and it took so long one night, as soon as we got our dinners we had the dining room head make an announcement for everyone still eating to hurry up for the second seating. We had just gotten our food, still hadn't even had desert. Worst part is is that we were literally the first ones in the door when the dining room opened. Continuing on, all the pools were closed on the ship for the first 2 days (days at sea). The entertainment was very cheap and cheesy, so to speak. I've seen better theater at high school plays. Also, the plays were all altered to where they advertised "The Beat" show one night. We went and they had moved the show to the next day and had a magician that night. The next night we went hoping to finally see "The Beat" and they had moved the show again and had some Latin dance show. We never ended up seeing the show after it had been advertised and hyped up by the cruise director. The cafeteria food was horrible, almost not edible. My wife and I each found 1 thing we liked and ate it every day. The islands were wonderful, but we refered to getting back onto the ship as "back to prison." ID be willing to bet prisoners received better food. I've been on many cruises (mostly royal carribean) and I will never travel on Carnival again.

The food: average at best. But lines are everywhere, especially the Cook to order "Mongolian Wok", we would like to try it out, but the line was just too long. The exercise room is small, crowded. Half of the room has air conditioning, the other half was hot especially near the bikes. The ship visited Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau. Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay are gorgeous. The sand are soft, and white like fine sugar. The water was clear. Half Moon Cay is the private island and it does not have a port. They transported passengers to the island by small boats, but on that day 2 boats broke down. And here was the line again. We waited for two hours to get off the ship! Nassau was not as good. Before we landed, we got a warning from the ship captain that the crime was rampant. We went to Copper beach and were not pleased. The merchants met us at the beach entrance, and tried to sell us immediately excursion, ski jets,... They wanted $35 for a beach umbrella, $25 for a beach chair, $2.50 for a bottle of water! Further the beach was polluted by gas smell from the ski jets.

Staff not happy and rude. I'm from the midwest and I guess not used to the east coast culture, but wow the people on the boat were loud, rude, and obnoxious. We thought that Carnival was know for being geared for families, but it is obviously for party people. There were drunks all over the boat and several were violent and yelling profanities to all the men walking by trying to fight them. My 10 year old son was cut off at the buffet line by staff telling him that the buffet was closed, but shortly after an adult was allowed to still get in line as they got loud with the staff. I attempted to talk to staff at the customer service area, but was pretty much blown off. The story goes on and on, but to sum it up, I WILL NEVER GO ON A CARNIVAL CRUISE AGAIN!!!

WHEN WE DOCKED IN GRAN TURK IT WAS A VERY BEAUTIFUL AND SUNNY DAY ONLY I WASNT VERY HAPPY WITH THE BEACH THERE, THE OCEAN WAS VERY BEAUTIFUL BUT THE BEACH WAS ROCKY WITH VERY JAGGED ROCKS QUITE PAINFUL TO WALK ON,SOMEONE PONTED OUT THAT THERE WAS A POOL BEHIND THE BEACH , SO WE WENT TO EXPLORE , I WAS VERY HAPPLY SHOCKED TO FIND A HIDDEN OAISES WITH A VERY LARGE POOL SWIM UP BAR AND A D.J PLAYING A KINDS OF MUSIC, DANCING IN THE POOL, GAMES , FOOD, IT WAS WONDERFUL I REALLY ENJOYED MYSELF LET ME ADD THE I AM 52 YR OLD WOMEN, IT WAS PARADISE,, AND THE SHOPPING WAS GREAT ALL IN ALL I WOULD RECOMEND IT FOR ALL INCLUDING FAMILY S WITH CHILDREN