Didn't have a SPLENDID time, but...

[lrowe70]

This is my review of our recent trip on The Splendor. Never posted something like this before, but found all of your reviews so helpful before the trip that I hope this will help someone else.

It reads a little strange because it is actually a cut and paste of my personal blog, so I apologize if it is hard to understand.

 

Background: My husband and myself in our 30s. We've been on 2 small ship cruises (Star Clippers in the Med. and Windstar in the W. Indies) Our 6 month old baby(6 months and 2 days on departure) and my mother in her 60s who has never been on a boat except for a few ferries, also never been out of the country. We live in Alaska, it was -14 the day we left for Long Beach.

 

We were hesitant to do Carnival, it was pretty much our last choice. We liked the small ships, but they are not child-friendly and we were not about to leave our baby without us. When looking over scheduling and whatnot our only option was Carnival Splendor on Jan 29th.

We'd heard awful stories about Carnival being full of drunks and trashy people which was why I started reading at cc because I was honestly scared that we were signed up for a trip to he!!

 

Because we weren't sure we'd like the cruise we got a spa balcony cabin(1105) with the plan to spend the week sitting on the balcony sipping wine while watching the sea go by. During the 7 days we spent a collective total of about 20 minutes on the balcony, so will probably never do that again. People had told us a balcony is good for the baby due to naps, but my baby can sleep anywhere he doesn't need dark and quiet so this was a nonissue for us. My mom was in room 6203 which is an interior with picture window. Very nice room with a partial view. At night she had to close her blinds because of something with navigation. She said there was lots of noise due to the anchor. Also there was a TON of rocking up there. However I noticed a TON of rocking for the last 3 days of the trip. Much more so than either of the small ship cruises we'd been on.

 

Interior with picture window room: second photo is the view from right outside the room

[lrowe70]

Random musings:

Dress Code: I have no idea what people here were all in a panic about. I didn't see ANYONE on the dressy nights wearing anything other than very nice clothes. A few tuxes, lots of suits/ties and sparkly dresses. It was quite nice.

 

Camp Carnival: my baby was only old enough to go to camp with us on the mornings of sea days. We could've paid for evening care, but since my mom was there, it wasn't needed. Camp was NICE. We got a chance to speak with the head teacher who has over 10 years experience on the boat. They had a ton of age-appropriate toys and books as well. We observed them cleaning and sanitizing things often. I would fully trust her and her staff to watch my baby. She said there were about 300 kids under 17 on the boat and 31 under the age of 2.

Outlets: I read here several times that there was only 1 outlet in the rooms, so I brought a 3 prong plug. This information is Incorrect. There are 3 outlets in the room. 1 in the bathroom near the celing, one by the desk mirror, and a second on the desk that uses a European plug. Wish I had known this beforehand because my husband took his adapter plug out of his carry on about 2 minutes before we left because he didn't think we'd need it.

 

Door decorations: I brought a teeny bit of tape to put up a photo of my baby on both our doors. On the last sea day my husband noticed there were small magnets stuck to the celing. I don't know if that's in every room or just something someone left behind, but wish I'd known when we first arrived.

Germs and public restrooms: I didn't notice anyone not washing hands and they even have paper towels at the main door to use to open the handle to get out of the restroom. However I found that I'd use the towel, turn the handle, toss the towel in the trash , but would then have to put my other hand directly on the door to keep it open-which totally defies the purpose of having the towel in the first place. I observed many others doing this as well, so while germs may not have been on the door handles, they were all over the doors.

 

Laundry: We had brought quarters and soap with the plan to do laundry 1 day. However they had a deal on 2 days where you could get 1 bag for $15 or 5 bags for $50. The catch was you had to do all 5 bags at once and they couldn't be spread out over the week. My husband stuffed as much as he could into 1 paper bag, and my mom did 1 too and we were able to get everything except 1 pair of jeans washed early in the week. Later on the deal was offered again and we fit 22 items into 1 bag-it came back wahed and folded in 3 bags.

 

The night before we used the Long Beach free shuttle thing to go to Wal*Mart to get diapers, wipes, formula, laundry soap,and our drinks(48 sodas and water, and 3 bottles of wine at the Fresh and Easy next door). The Wal*Mart was in a pretty shady neighborhood and reminded me of the "People of Wal*Mart" website. Trashy place all around. We almost didn't have room for all the stuff. But I wasn't about to take a return trip there. I did not know that plastic bags are banned in Long Beach as I had planned to use the plastic grocery bags for packing things. Thankfully I had brought a few from home as well as several ziplocks.

 

Crowds: One of my big concerns with taking a large cruise. My previous big cruise had 300 people and I found that a bit crowded, but people said this boat is so big you don't notice the crowds. Ummmm all the people that say this must live in New York City. I noticed the crowds, A LOT. There were lines, crowds and noise everywhere you turned. You had to go 30 minutes early to get decent seats at shows, we had to wait 2 hours to get off at ports, Sometimes we took the stairs because there we so many lined up for the elevators. We never even got to try the Mongolian grill because the line was always long. Same for the treadmills.

[lrowe70]

Meals: we tried to eat most of our meals in the Gold and Black Pearl restaurants. I HATED the buffet. Not only was the food dreadful but the decor was offensive to the eyes. They had these weird glass things on the

walls and celings that looked to have been designed by a 12-year-old girl. They had little flower stickers or something on them.

photo: some of the 'splendid' decorations

Of course the decor of the entire ship is quite garish. Everytime I went there I felt like I was in a hospital cafeteria-except for it was 100 times louder. The sushi bar was alright but sometimes they let you pick your sushi and other times they would just hand you a plate. My husband liked the Tandoori. We both liked the ice cream and frozen yogurt. The pizza was hit or miss, sometimes it was under the heat lamp too long. The worst food of all was the popcorn. We couldn't stomach more than 1 handful. It was stale and lacking butter or salt. My husband said it tasted like it had been made last Christmas.

photo: Baked Alaska? ummmm ok

 

In our dining room they always brought a plate of carrots and cucumber for my son. He is breastfed but teething, so likes to suck on these. We really appreciated the wait staff having this for him. Not sure what all the fuss is on the chocolate melting cake, tried it once ans wasn't impressed. The lobster in the steakhouse(and in Mexico) was very good, in the dining room-not so much. I tried all the didya ever foods which were all pretty good. A few times I couldn't find anything on the menu Iliked so got the salmon which was fine. I also ordered the banana split from the kids menu once because the desserts didn't sound good. By the end of the week they were out of bananas so I couldn't get it again.

 

We tried room service once which was fine, I got grilled cheese and a salad.

 

One thing I do like about Carnival versus other ships we'd been on is the amount of free drinks on the lido deck. We especially liked the hot chocolate and lemonaide. By the end of the week we left about 9 of our sodas and waters because we never needed them since there was so much to drink for free on board.

 

Weather: we were cold almost the entire time. I wore a sweatshirt all over the ship and wished I'd brought a few more. It was -14 when we left and the reports said it was up to 90 degrees so we'd packed only shorts and tanks, this was a mistake. Portions of the ship are cold, and the decks can get windy.

 

Decor: yup, this is the pink ship. But it's really not pink, more of an ugly mauve or granny rose colored. The color didn't bother me so much as all the mish mash of textures and designs. It's as if the entire ship was decorated from scraps at a going out of business sale. Nothing matched. circles, flowers, checks, stripes... ugly, ugly ugly. When I hear the word Splended, I think of regal, beautiful, and elegant. I picture a beautiful French palace. The Splendor is decorated more closely to Chuck E Cheeze than anything beautiful.

[lrowe70]

*This section is specific to traveling with a 6 month old.*

 

Baby stuff: Rather than tell you what we brought, I'll tell you what we used. A fold up umbrella stroller, and Ergo carrier for carting around my son. These worked perfectly, we used the stroller on the boat and the carrier at ports. Also the stroller was perfect for lugging our carry ons.

 

We bedshare so brought a crib bib(waterproof mat) for the bed in case of an accident which didn't happen. I have no idea how anyone fits a crib in a cabin and am glad we don't use one. We also brought a few small toys, books, 2 blankets, 2 binkies, first aid kit with extra Tylenol for teething. Baby sunblock, large hat, swimsuit, swimdiaper, about 6 outfits, formal suit, sailor suit, 3 pairs of socks, pjs for plane, sweatshirt, bib, about 45 diapers.

 

Though my son is breastfed we brought a container of formula for just in case as well as 4 single serve packets. We brought 25 ounces of frozen milk from home. We put ice in the container at the airport,wrapped it in ziplocks and stuffed it into the middle of our suitcase. It was still mostly frozen when we arrived 10 hours later. I also brought my handpump, 3 bottles and 25 storage bags. Each day I was able to pump 5-12 ounces for my mom to have for the baby. She ended up only using 1 packet of formula. The room stewards kept the ice buckets full so the milk would stay good. On the way home I carried about 12 ounces of milk in my carry on. At each airport I found a restaurant which gave me ice and the milk arrived home safely. I mostly nursed my son in our room, but did nurse a few times at meals as well as a quiet corner of the Cigar bar(where there is no smoking, I don't know what the name is all about).

 

The handheld thing could detach in the shower so we bathed the baby that way.

[lrowe70]

Day 1:

We stayed at the Hotel Maya the night before using the Carnival code so it was only $99. They took us the next morning at 9am to the pier to drop off our bags. We didn't realize we could check in too, but luckily had our passports and boarding passes so we waited a total of about 5 minutes to get our tickets and stuff. We were given a Zone 2 tag and told to return about 11.

 

We went back to eat breakfast and pack up our carry ons, we had exactly 3 bottles of wine and 51 other drinks(12 x 4 people plus 3 waters to sip while waiting for Zone 2 to be called). I carried my baby in our Ergo on my back while my husband pushed our carryons in his stroller. We walked to the pier about 11 only to find the place PACKED. I'm soooo glad I read at cc and knew to get there early. Those people must have stood in line over an hour. We walked to were we were told Zone 2 would wait only to find it empty. Turns out they were already on Zone 4, so we hopped into a line. It wasn't until we finished through security that I realized that we had 3 extra drinks. Funny I wasn't even trying to smuggle anything on, but ended up doing so accidently!

 

Once on board I went to find the Rotisserie since people here on cc said it was less crowded than the buffet. You were right! thanks! Later we got settled in our rooms (1105-spa balcony and 6203-interior with picture window) and went on the spa tour while we waited for our bags to arrive. Only the box of diapers had arrived at first. The spa tour was a bit long and of course they tried to sell us everything under the sun, I wouldn't recommend taking it. There really wasn't any information that you couldn't have read in their flier and the deals weren't any better than what was offered later in the week.

 

About 4 was the muster drill, in light of the recent Costa tragedy I was quite concerned about this. My husband and I were assigned station C while my mom and son were in A. On other boats we've been on the captain just got over the intercom and said go to the drill, here there was an actual alarm. This concerned me bacause I knew my son had been sleeping while my mom unpacked, and since they don't know each other well I had visions of him screeching his head off during the entire drill. The drill was very orderly and everyone around me took it quite seriously. Everyone was quiet and I was happy to see them attaching tags to all the children(around the ankles of the youngest ones). There was one woman by me that was a bit rude to a crewmember in asking what precautions they were taking since the Costa incedent. (it's not what she asked, but the way in which she was asking) However the crewmember was very polite in her response. After the drill we met up with my mom and baby only to find he'd slept through the entire drill. We had asked for an infant lifevest and took this time to try it on him. He hated this and kicked and screamed, during this tantrum his muster tag came off his ankle.

They had a drink tasting at the shops so we stopped by, boy the line was long and you got 2 teeny capfuls of a liquor(which of course you can't have until the last night)

 

At 8PM my husband and I had reservations at the Steakhouse. It was very nice and similar in quality to the previous cruises we'd been on. Also since it was the first night, we got a free bottle of wine. If we do Carnival again, we will probably plan on at least 2 dinners at the steakhouse and maybe not the first night since the food is all downhill after it.

escargot and tablemade cesar salad

After we went to the martini bar, the ship was pretty quiet all over which was great. We were the only ones at the martini bar and had a great time. The bartender told us the first night is always really quiet.

[lrowe70]

Day 2: sea day

Honestly I don't remember what we did this day. We had breakfast at the buffet which was awful. It was basically cafeteria food and the line to the omlette station was super long. Also bacon and ham were at the end of that line rather than were you could just grab them at the buffet.

 

I know we went to the Spa(we did every night) which was nice, though I'm not sure it was worth the extra money. The T Pool ranged from cold to burning hot, and the rooms with the heated chairs had this issue too. I did like the aromatherapy steam room, though wish they'd put a rag or something on the door handle because it gets HOT to touch. It was a bit of a pain getting a key and wristband each time and wish they'd come up with a way for all the spa room keys to simply open the spa door. Twice I accidently grabbed someone else's key and had to go back and find mine.

 

This was the first elegant night and we dressed up a bit. We also got family photos(the first we've ever gotten) and were shocked at the quality of them. Other cruises had snapshot type photos so we've never bought any, on this cruise we spent around $200! eek, I'll have to remember to budget for that next time around. Kudos to the Carnival photographers.

This is how a 6 month old spends elegant night:

 

At dinner they brought my mom a cake I'd ordered through Bon Voyage. I thought it was to be delivered to her room and they thought it was her birthday...By the end of the week we'd only eaten half of it. In the future I'll only get drink and photo coupons from bon voyage.

We saw the show Vroom which was alright but much too loud for my taste. This ship is lacking a volume switch.

[lrowe70]

Day 3: Cabo

We got off the boat in group 17 and went to Cabo. We got a glass bottom boat and tour to Los Arcos and around for about $4 each(baby was free), and then went to Medano Beach.

It was a bit cold but we swam for a bit and then sat under an umbrella. They were offering hour massages for $30 so I did that while my husband built a sand castle with my son lol. He ended up with a mouthful of sand and 2 days of sandy diapers!

We then bought a few trinkets and got lunch somewhere and were back on the boat. Unlike the previous night my son was awful at dinner. Our location was right by were they bring the dishes so there was a lot of clanking and movement. I personally didn't really like the dinners(or any of the meals for that matter) because of the "entertainment". It was too loud for my tastes. Also I like to relax, talk and have quiet family meals. The dining room is not set up for this sort of thing as it(and everywhere on the ship actually) are lacking fabric, carpet and other soundproofing measures. This became a BIG issue for me as the week went on and is one of the main reasons I probably will not sail Carnival again.

 

After dinner my husband and I wanted to have a drink and relax. However we could not find a single place to do this. Everywhere we went had music BLARING to the point where you could not hear the person sitting right next to you. The outside decks were much too cold and windy and our balcony was too small(and cold) to do any relaxing.

looking off our balcony:

[lrowe70]

Day 4: Cabo again

Seriously lame to go to Cabo twice. It wasn't that great the first time around.

 

I noticed we used the Cabo tenders rather than the ships'. Don't know if this means anything, just an random observation. I wanted to go whale watching but my husband didn't. I regret not pushing for this.

 

We didn't do anything this evening as it seemed all the events involved loud music. I remember being tired and sore and after twice stepping into elevators with all the buttons pushed, I decided to call it a night.

 

My mom went to the auditions for the Legands concert. I found it to be really cruddy karaoke and didn't stay, but she enjoyed it.

 

My baby's new outfit:

[lrowe70]

Day 5: Puerta Villarta

We had a good time here, though the numbers of people selling things was outrageous. While trying to enjoy lunch on the beach we were bombarded by people in white selling all sorts of junk on an average of every 1.5 minutes. Ugh and I made the mistake of showing interest in a necklace that a man said was "1 dollar". This was later changed to "1 dollar off."

 

That evening I was selected to go on stage and play Sea Feud which my team won a "ship on a stick". That was fun.

Later was the midnight Mexican buffet. It was quite good and we got a good chuckle that someone had thrown a bunch of wrapped Saltines into the cheese tray.

Food presentation was hit and miss all week long.

I saw a guy walking off with 2 of these large wedges of watermelon.

My mom saw the Mexican Folkloric show this night and said it was wonderful.

[lrowe70]

Day 6: sea day

Today was mostly fun, we spent most the day running from deck to deck to play many trivia games. I won another 2 ship on a sticks.

One complaint I have here is that during one game(gender showdown I think) they had us do different activities. One of them was to stick a medal in our rears and walk to a cup to drop it in. It's games like this that give Carnival it's Trashy name. Two of the ladies on my team backed out when hearing what they had to do. I was quite embarrassed and wanted to quit, but didn't. The woman who went before me refused to stick the medal in her rear and instead held it between her thighs. I held it between my knees on my turn.

Carnival if you're reading: not everyone on your boat likes trashy disgusting acts, some of us do have class and deserve to be treated to classy games and activities. Same goes for the hairy chest contest and the couples game. I didn't participate or view either of these because I'd heard what they were all about and find them to be repulsive.

 

I believe we went to the comedy club this night as well as 1 other. 1 comedian we liked the other not so much.

My mom went to the afternoon tea which we wanted to meet her at however she said it was all "old people" so she didn't think the baby would be welcome.

[lrowe70]

Day 7: sea day

More trivia and fun. One game we did was Scattergories which was very unorganized, the lady said she hadn't expected so many people. We were in about 6 teams of 15 and people had to name things that started with a certain letter. It turned into chaotic screaming and went over by 30 minutes. There wre too many rounds and she should've had a rep from each team go up to view answers. In the end my team won, but the prize was 2 ship on a sticks and 2 medals-to be shared among 15 people!

 

Later we did the scavenger hunt and they gave a ship and a medal to everyone who showed up, including a woman who had done nothing but sit on a couch and sip her DOD while everyone was out scavenging. Kinda of strange. It was fun, but we finished in only 6 minutes. I wish there had been a bit more to find.

 

I really wanted to go on the waterslide today as I haven't been on one in several years. each time I tried to go, it was closed and today I was simply too busy and tired to partake. Oh well, next cruise I guess.

 

Another highlight was going to towel folding class where we learned to make 3 of the towel animals. I recorded the instructions and some day plan to give it a try for our guest bathrooms.

Some of our towel animals:

 

We also participated in the Michael Jackson Thriller dance class. There was a lot of confusion as to if the class was just for fun or were we a part of the Legends concert that evening. We decided to go to the Legends concert in case we could perform Thriller and much to our disappointment we didn't. Even more to our disappointment was the concert was AWFUL. The last time I saw something so bad it was held in a cafeteria and performed by 7-year-olds. Some old guy would couldn't hold the mike playing James Brown, a terrified looking girl playing Britney Spears...ugh dreadful, just dreadful. Our sloppy Thriller dance would've fit right in.

dance practice:

Oh the farewell party was this night too. WOW, we were dumbfounded by the amount of drinks they passed out. At no time were there ever less than 3 drinks in front of us. I think I had about 8 while my husband had about 10. A lot of people went stumbling out of there. Also you don't have to have the drinks they were passing out, we asked for red wine and Voila! it appeared. Wow, 3 cheers for Carnival here!

[lrowe70]

Day 9: back at Long Beach

We got a refund! Wow, a check was slid under the door that morning for the balance on my S&S card. We also got a $24 credit which I have no idea why.

We had brought an extra bag and ended up using it for all the junk we'd bought(and ship on a sticks we'd won lol) And would you believe it, we left 1 bottle of wine, never opened it. Actually we left quite a bit of stuff: wine, 10 other drinks, baby formula, a few diapers, and a backpack thing. There simply wasn't space so we were hoping the crew could use some of this and maybe the baby stuff could be sent to Camp Carnival.

 

photo of our ship docked by the queen mary

[lrowe70]

Overall:

Except for the tender boats, my mom loved it. My husband liked everything except the alcohol policy and some of the food. One night he ordered broccoli soup where the veggies were crunchy. I thought it was really a good trip for children which is something to keep in mind when planning future cruises.

 

My honest opinion: It was a good trip, not a great trip but good. I'm glad I went but am not making an effort to go back. I'm not sure a large ship is for me. Our next cruise we'll just have to find a small boat that does accept kids. Honestly I found the cruise to be overwhelming. There was simply so much to do that I began to feel like I was at work and not on vacation. Carnival claims that they are the "Fun ship" and this they are. Just as advertised, they were a lot of fun. However when I vacation I prefer a "relaxing ship." My initial plan of sitting on the deck with a glass of wine while watching the sea go by...it never happened.

[Mulege]

Glad you had a pretty good time. Based on your review definitely try Celebrity next time, preferably their Solstice class ships. It is much more quiet and the food is better. No announcements every 30 minutes or heavy sales pitches.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

Hopefully on your next cruise you will have time to sit and relax on the balcony.:)

[treasure4two]

I have one question, one comment, and one suggestion.

On the days in Cabo-how did you get your tender info and what time did they start letting you off the ship?

 

Your little boy is ADORABLE!!

 

We have sailed on the smaller ships on Oceania and Azamara and they hold about 670+- passengers, but very few children, so no real places for kids to play if you want to go off on your own.

[RuthlessBoss]

Thank you for your review.

Hopefully on your next cruise you will have time to sit and relax on the balcony.:)

But, she had the balcony, but opted to attend the many activities offered. The next "quiet cruise" she takes might turn out to be a little boring, like "something is missing".

[Buster27]

If you wanted to relax....why didn't you just find a quiet spot and relax. I've been on huge congested ships....there's always lots to do.

 

I choose to NOT participate and relax. I don't remember there being anyone forcing me to do all the games ....activities et.

[Cushing985]

We went on the Splendor and had a great time though we were diverted to Canada due to the Swine Flu thing going around.

 

I agree you can have a tough time finding a quiet bar but because I tend not to participate in the silly stuff going on in the pool areas (Hairy Chest contest, belly-flop contest, etc) I always found a nice, quiet place back aft and either enjoyed a book and just watched the sea go by. We do make it a point to see the Couples show...we love it!

 

The decor of the ship tends toward pink but after a couple of days I just never noticed it. Like you, we found most of the passengers obviously dressed to the nines on the Elegant nights. I don't understand all the threads talking about slobs in the dining room unless they're on the 3-4 day cruises.

 

For the cost I found the cruise a great value.

[jeansaussie1]

I had a similar problem on my first cruise. I was having so much fun that on the final day I realized I didn't get a chance to just sit and look at the water.

 

Glad you tried Carnival and gave a balanced review. When your son gets older you might want to give it another try because the 8 to 12 year old club is a blast.

[jks336]

If you wanted to relax....why didn't you just find a quiet spot and relax. I've been on huge congested ships....there's always lots to do.

 

I choose to NOT participate and relax. I don't remember there being anyone forcing me to do all the games ....activities et.

 

it WAS what her plan was.. but we all know how plans/schedueling can change lol.. she Wanted to experience more after all. but now knows it was (as she says) more like work than vacation.

[LSEA]

Cute Kid. Thanks for posting your review.

[meatloafsfan]

You have the cutest child I have ever seen.

 

The Carnival Miracle will be coming to the West coast next year. You may want to try that ship.

 

It's a little smaller and I found a number of "quiet" places to sit and relax.

[sanmarcosman]

Your cruise sounds exhausting, better luck on your next vacation.

[Vanessa L]

If you wanted to relax....why didn't you just find a quiet spot and relax. I've been on huge congested ships....there's always lots to do.

 

I choose to NOT participate and relax. I don't remember there being anyone forcing me to do all the games ....activities et.

 

Exactly. This is precisely why we book a balcony. To get away from all the activity and just RELAX. Since DH and I started cruising for RnR and stopped feeling like we "weren't getting our money's worth" if we didn't participate in every activity, I have no longer had to go back to work to rest from a cruise ;) There is absolutely no reason anyone should come back tired from a cruise. If they do, it's by their choice.