Splendor 3/20 Spring Break cruise review (late)

[jakesnana]

Cruise history – myself (59), DH (69) and 2 DGS (18 and 23). DH and I are Platinum and DGS are Gold in the VIFP program.

 

Parking was a HOT MESS !!!! We sailed out of Terminal E and had to park in Terminal C. This resulted in my DH having to walk a VERY LONG distance to get back to the terminal. Since he has mobility issues (walking is difficult), he was EXHAUSTED. It wasn’t like we arrived late, we got to the terminal at 11:00 AM.

 

Embarkation – As stated above, DH and I are Platinum and DGS are not. My credit card secured the grandkids S & S account so I needed to be present to check them in. The staff would not allow them to check in with us OR for us to check in with them. As a result, we ended up having to wait in 2 separate lines. Not a great beginning after dealing with the parking issue.

 

Cabins – we had connecting ocean view cabins on deck 2. The cabins were ready for us when we got onboard. They were good sized with plenty of storage. The décor was the original orange color palette with the pleather orange couch. The mattress, duvet and pillows were comfortable, but the soft furnishings were in tough shape with pulls on the drapes and bed spread. These items were obviously not changed during the dry dock.

 

Ship layout – I did not care for the dining room/galley in the middle of the ship. You could not walk the length of the ship on decks 3 or 4, so you need to plan your access to the dining room carefully and make sure you use the correct elevator.

 

Staff – Our cabin steward, Andy, was amazing. He provided twice a day cabin service while conforming to our weird schedule (my DH is NOT a morning person). We had AT dining and found 2 great servers in the first 2 days. We always managed to get a table at a table in one of their stations. Guest Services was EXTREMELY slow, even for Platinum guests. Cruise Director Kevin was great. He was all over the ship and was very approachable. Bar servers were quick, efficient and didn’t appear to be put out by my DGS requests for sodas with the Bottomless Bubbles sticker.

 

Activities – There were many varied activities to be involved in, if you wanted to be involved. Many of the trivia games were very well attended and Carnival needs to think about moving them to a larger and quieter area to both accommodate the crowd and allow for the staff to be heard.

 

Entertainment – we saw one of the production shows “80 Pops to the Max” and it was good. Between eating late and the Comedy Club, that was the only show we saw. We went to the Comedy Club almost every night and the comedians were great. I think Carnival has all of the cruise lines beat with the Comedy Club.



Food – we got food from the Deli, Grill, Pizzeria, Sea Day Brunch, MDR, Pinnacle Steak House and room service. All of the food was good to very good. Without question, the steak house was fantastic and well worth the extra fee. I was disappointed in the Cesear Salad in the MDR. They have changed the recipe for the dressing since my last cruise and it didn’t appeal to me. The pizza was a big hit for a late night snack, and not just for us. Someone needs to plan better about making some pizzas in advance since almost every night between 11:30 – midnight, there would be no less than 10 people waiting in line.

 

Smoking areas – I don’t want to start a debate about the issue BUT I have NO IDEA who could have thought that putting the smoking areas in the windiest part of the ship was a good idea  The open deck on deck 11 and the open deck on deck 3, neither of which has a wind block and on occasion they were closed due to the high winds. As a result of this many people crowded around the casino bar or sat at a slot machine without playing, just to have a cigarette. I MUCH preferred the smoking set up on the Sunshine.

 

Pools and hot tubs – We didn’t use the pool, however, the hot tubs on the side of the Lido deck were great. They were hardly ever crowded and I never saw any unattended children in them.

 

Dive in Movies – we didn’t use this feature as it was mostly too windy at night to enjoy it.

 

Casino – the area was crowded with players and non-players (see note above). They had a section of new machines and the new games were fun. On the last sea day they did open some additional tables when they saw the crowd growing. They do offer coffee, tea, juices and pastries in the early morning now, for those that want to play early, which is a nice touch. They also had servers going around with slices of pizza around midnight, again a good idea.

 

Ports of Call – we went to Cozumel, Belize and Roatan. We were a no show at Costa Maya (the winds were VERY BAD that day). DH and I had been to all of them many times, but the boys had not been to Belize or Roatan. We booked cave tubing and zip line excursions in the two ports and everyone had a good time.

 

Overall – It had been a year since I had sailed on Carnival and it delivered what I expected. We had the traditional dining menus and table service, although they were supposed to be starting the American Table shortly. While I DO enjoy the Carnival product, I don’t think I would sail on the Splendor again. There was something about the ship, it’s layout and crowd control that just didn’t appeal to me. My DH received an offer from the casino on the last night, so we are sailing on the Magic in a few months. We’ll see how I feel about that class of ship.

 

If anyone has any questions, fire away !!!

[Clarea]

Nicely written report, thank-you.

[Jeepenfun]

Did you win anything in the casino or did it just take your money fast or at least keep leading you on to keep playing more thinking you were going to walk away with something?

 

 

We're sailing on Splendor in just a little over a week with almost the same itinerary with exception of Grand Cayman instead of Costa Maya. This is our first ever cruise on any ship.

[Keith1010]

Excellent review.

 

Keith

[cruiseonthebrain]

Cruise history – myself (59), DH (69) and 2 DGS (18 and 23). DH and I are Platinum and DGS are Gold in the VIFP program.

 

Parking was a HOT MESS !!!! We sailed out of Terminal E and had to park in Terminal C. This resulted in my DH having to walk a VERY LONG distance to get back to the terminal. Since he has mobility issues (walking is difficult), he was EXHAUSTED. It wasn’t like we arrived late, we got to the terminal at 11:00 AM.

 

Embarkation – As stated above, DH and I are Platinum and DGS are not. My credit card secured the grandkids S & S account so I needed to be present to check them in. The staff would not allow them to check in with us OR for us to check in with them. As a result, we ended up having to wait in 2 separate lines.

 

If anyone has any questions, fire away !!!

 

Calling BS on this. Carnival will not kick Platinum out of the "regular" line. Guessing you loved your status so much that you would not give up your VIP place in line to go check the grand kids in. Nice priorities.

[cruiseonthebrain]

Excellent review.

 

Keith

 

Keith- you have cruised a ton. How many times have you been kicked out of the "regular" line because you were a VIP?

[sfaaa]

 

Dive in Movies – we didn’t use this feature as it was mostly too windy at night to enjoy it.

 

!!!

 

Odd. Did they not close the retractable roof during the movie showing?

[sun_lovin!1]

Wondering about the roof too. We are bringing my grandsons and hoping to catch one of the kids movies.

[jakesnana]

Calling BS on this. Carnival will not kick Platinum out of the "regular" line. Guessing you loved your status so much that you would not give up your VIP place in line to go check the grand kids in. Nice priorities.

 

My PRIORITIES were to get my husband (who ended up needing a wheel chair because he almost fell from all the walking) onto the ship and onto a bed so he could rest !!!!

 

For YOUR information, all of the computers were down and all check in information was being written manually (passport numbers, etc.) They couldn't/wouldn't send someone from the regular check in line over to the VIP lounge to get our S & S cards and told us we HAD to check in there.

[jakesnana]

Odd. Did they not close the retractable roof during the movie showing?

 

Wondering about the roof too. We are bringing my grandsons and hoping to catch one of the kids movies.

 

To be perfectly honest, I forgot the Splendor had a retractable roof until you mentioned it. When I went outside on deck 3 I saw how windy it was and decided I didn't want to watch a movie in those conditions. They MAY have had the roof closed, but I didn't go up to check. Between late dinners, the comedy shows, casino and early morning excursions, it didn't leave me a lot of time to watch a movie anyway :) I'm sure you'll be fine.

[jakesnana]

Did you win anything in the casino or did it just take your money fast or at least keep leading you on to keep playing more thinking you were going to walk away with something?

 

 

We're sailing on Splendor in just a little over a week with almost the same itinerary with exception of Grand Cayman instead of Costa Maya. This is our first ever cruise on any ship.

 

We didn't come home with any of their money, but they kept us in the game so that we were only losing a little at a time :) My DH and I each ran about 2k through the BJ tables and I ran an additional 2k through the slots. All totaled we only lost around $700, so not bad for a weeks entertainment and a free cruise :)

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for the review. How was the cabin temperature? I will also be on deck 2, and my last two cruises I found the cabins just a bit too warm for my liking.

Edited April 7, 2016 by SMSACE6

[jakesnana]

Thanks for the review. How was the cabin temperature? I will also be on deck 2, and my last two cruises I found the cabins just a bit too warm for my liking.

 

The temperature controls in the cabin seemed to work fine. My DH and I have temperature wars all the time (him making it warmer, me making it cooler) so I can definitely say that the controls kept up with whatever the current setting was. We did find that keeping the curtains closed while the sun was on our side of the ship DID help keep the cabin cooler. Sometimes the shelf by the window would get so hot that I would swear you could bake a cake there :)

[SMSACE6]

Thanks! Good to know. :)

[jocko4279]

Calling BS on this. Carnival will not kick Platinum out of the "regular" line. Guessing you loved your status so much that you would not give up your VIP place in line to go check the grand kids in. Nice priorities.

 

Geesh, that's not nice

[BattyL]

I agree with most of your review. This was our least favorite ship and would never sail on it again. The mattress on our bed was totally shot, the steward tried putting a topper on it. We never had a decent sleep the whole cruise, and the layout is just terrible. :(

[NYcruzzer]

Calling BS on this. Carnival will not kick Platinum out of the "regular" line. Guessing you loved your status so much that you would not give up your VIP place in line to go check the grand kids in. Nice priorities.

 

OP is not on trial.. Chill out.

[FLSteve11]

To be perfectly honest, I forgot the Splendor had a retractable roof until you mentioned it. When I went outside on deck 3 I saw how windy it was and decided I didn't want to watch a movie in those conditions. They MAY have had the roof closed, but I didn't go up to check. Between late dinners, the comedy shows, casino and early morning excursions, it didn't leave me a lot of time to watch a movie anyway :) I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

I was on the same cruise and went up when they had Spectre showing, and the roof was closed. What that meant is every sound in the pool, or people talking, was amplified and echoed so much that you could only hear every other word or so. Much too noisy with the roof closed. All 3 of us watching gave up at one point or another after 15-20 minutes.

[FLSteve11]

My PRIORITIES were to get my husband (who ended up needing a wheel chair because he almost fell from all the walking) onto the ship and onto a bed so he could rest !!!!

 

For YOUR information, all of the computers were down and all check in information was being written manually (passport numbers, etc.) They couldn't/wouldn't send someone from the regular check in line over to the VIP lounge to get our S & S cards and told us we HAD to check in there.

 

We had the same problem with the parking (had to Park waaaay down in Lot C, and we were there at 10:40) I think the fact that no one got off the ship (first cruise out of drydock) meant there were no spaces being emptied out, they were all taken by other cruises in previous days.

 

The computers being down were a pain. Definitely slowed down the check-in process.

[sfaaa]

Wondering about the roof too. We are bringing my grandsons and hoping to catch one of the kids movies.

 

When I was on Splendor a few months ago, they were showing Minions and the place was packed.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.