Mini Splendor Review ( From Miami Apr 2-9)

Hi All

Will do a mini review from our cruise aboard the Splendor and happy to answer any questions. Not sure how long this will go one for at the moment :-)

Took my (now) 70 year old Mum for her 70th Birthday and we arrived at Miami Port around 11am and as Mum is Platinum we sailed through Check In, got taken to a private lounge and about 20 minutes after that we were on board. Superb Start, S&S cards were in the post box and we dropped our walk on luggage into the room and went up.

Heard a few negative reviews about the Splendor and whilst i don't think she was my favourite ship ever, i couldn't find any fault at all. Always loads and loads of sunbeds about although not always on Lido. You only had to go up one deck and there were hundreds. I found the "enclosed" feel of the Lido about the only slight criticism, and that's being picky.

We were late leaving by about 3 hours due to a problem getting fresh water on board or something, but the drink was flowing and no one really cared, it didn't delay the cruise at all

Ship Itself: Can't see why people complain. No problem at all with the ship, i didn't like the "Boxed In" feel of the Lido deck by the screen, i prefer the open deck plan of say the Glory, but apart from that, very nice.

Room: Balcony Cabin Deck 8 Aft. Nice. Comfortable. Water fine, temp a bit warm but was clean, well presented, pretty standard stuff.

Entertainment: Pretty good. Solo guitar singer by the casino most evenings was easy listening. Shows: 1 hit, 1 miss, 1 ok. Rock Night was superb.

Cruise Director Mar'Q was really good. His party's by the Atrium was superb viewing, really good fun. I thought his "Good morning good morning....." speech would get a bit annoying but it didn't. Very good fun, Always around.

Absolutely addicted to that "Wobble" song you guys all do, could watch it for hours. :-)

Food: Generally do think the food, especially in the evening, has gone downhill. The buffet stuff was very nice, and always plentiful, and always plenty of place to sit. Breakfast was lovely, the burgers, Deli and Tandoor were out of this world although cant eat another burger for a while. Dinner, though, was a bit of a let down and i agree in the main about the service being poor(er). Years ago we used to have a head waiter, a waiter, a drinks waiter, and a bus boy or two. This time it was just a waiter and a drinks bloke who came round at the start of the meal and didn't see him again really. Plus some man selling shots every evening! May have been where we sat (right by the door in the golden pearl) but thought the songs the waiters did was poorer as well, but memory plays tricks i guess. Our waiter was lovely, really friendly, and food apart from one evening was delivered quickly. No major complaints, but anymore than 7 nights and i think i'd have eaten on the Lido deck.

Oh yeah - the Deck Party. Is it my memory or has it always been that short? 25 mins or so? Was good while it lasted. Very good ending :-) But they just wanted to get people into the nightclub it seemed. Good fun though.

Comedians: I think it would be unfair to pass judgement on this, UK Humour is so different to you guys when it comes to Stand Up. "Fun Dude" was anything but in my opinion but listen, you guys seemed to be laughing so i'll not comment. Did feel sorry for him when two of the comedians missed the ship in Belize though haha!

Pools: Do get very dirty and very warm quite quickly, you do wonder what you are swimming in......but if anyone reads this who was involved in the 40 person "keepy-uppy" in the aft pool on the first sea day, thank you! That was hilarious. Slide was also decent.

Had a walk round the serenity bit. Looked quite nice and peaceful. Didn't use it though.

Had the Cheers package. No problems. Got to 15 most days but on port days it was a struggle :-) Even over heard one guy ordering a double, but was told as he was on Cheers he would have to pay for the 2nd shot or wait 5 mins. So they seemed pretty laid back.

Cabin Steward: Perfect. Was offered morning, evening or both. Just chose morning as we're not greedy and as we knew we were hardly going to be in the room we weren't that fussed. Decorated our cabin for Mum's birthday (well he sprayed the mirror!) and was generally very pleasant.

Ports: Grand Cayman: Did some shopping, went to Margharittaville. Can't remember much after that ;)

Cozumel: Got a private Taxi to Paradise Beach. Very nice, had a private pool, right on the beach (given the name!) with a bar, direct access to the beach. $3 each was fantastic value

Belize: Been her before and loved it. This time we decided to do something a bit different so took an excursion from the private operators at the end of the pier and went Cave Tubing. Was a bit "meh" about it. Was peaceful, and glad I've done it once. Was really worried about the time all day as we appeared to be behind schedule and as we've always been a "get back to the ship an hour before" kind of family, we were less than impressed when the driver pulled up at the pier at 16:17 when our last tender was 16:15. I ran off ahead of Mum thinking i would run at 100mph and cling on to the Tender shouting "Waaaaaiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!" in a heroic fashion, only to be greeted by about 780 people in a massive queue all nice and relaxed while i had sweat pouring off of me! Anyway lesson learned.

Isla Roatan/Mahogany Bay: WOW. Beautiful. In my top 3. Chair lift was different and lovely. I got a kayak while MUM stood and laughed as i fell in before getting the hang of it. Mum had the best time watching these 4 women trying to drive a boat thing and getting stuck under a bridge ! I swam, sunbathed, then we had some lovely food in one of the bars, before heading back to the ship via the portside bar there, just watching people dance their way back to the ship.

Wonderful Wonderful port. Cant' wait to go back there.

So all in all a very nice time. We are looking to switch cruise lines in the future though, nothing really Carnival have done, although the entertainment/food is a little downhill, but having spoken to few RC cruisers and them saying how good their ship was, and being a UK option as well, we'll head over there soon. Carnival are amazing, but after 11 cruises its all very samey. Plus with my earlier comments about the Comedy Club, am looking for a UK version. Maybe P&O.

Having said that, we met some WONDERFUL people on this cruise, so please don't think it's because of any passengers! i wont name them all (can't name some of them!) but everyone i met, was fun, friendly, had some great fun with, and some i would love to meet again but sadly won't (well never say never i guess but highly unlikely!)

So for those i met, thanks for memories! Feel free to ask any questions will answer as best i can. Please don't be put off by the negative reports about the Splendor, its as good as any other Carnival ship. Would gladly sail her again if and when Carnival becomes an option again.

Thanks for the review - I'm on her in 52 days! Can't wait!!

Cabin Steward: Perfect. Was offered morning, evening or both. Just chose morning as we're not greedy and as we knew we were hardly going to be in the room we weren't that fussed. Decorated our cabin for Mum's birthday (well he sprayed the mirror!) and was generally very pleasant.

 

Ports: Grand Cayman: Did some shopping, went to Margharittaville. Can't remember much after that ;)

 

Cozumel: Got a private Taxi to Paradise Beach. Very nice, had a private pool, right on the beach (given the name!) with a bar, direct access to the beach. $3 each was fantastic value

 

Belize: Been her before and loved it. This time we decided to do something a bit different so took an excursion from the private operators at the end of the pier and went Cave Tubing. Was a bit "meh" about it. Was peaceful, and glad I've done it once. Was really worried about the time all day as we appeared to be behind schedule and as we've always been a "get back to the ship an hour before" kind of family, we were less than impressed when the driver pulled up at the pier at 16:17 when our last tender was 16:15. I ran off ahead of Mum thinking i would run at 100mph and cling on to the Tender shouting "Waaaaaiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!" in a heroic fashion, only to be greeted by about 780 people in a massive queue all nice and relaxed while i had sweat pouring off of me! Anyway lesson learned.

 

Isla Roatan/Mahogany Bay: WOW. Beautiful. In my top 3. Chair lift was different and lovely. I got a kayak while MUM stood and laughed as i fell in before getting the hang of it. Mum had the best time watching these 4 women trying to drive a boat thing and getting stuck under a bridge ! I swam, sunbathed, then we had some lovely food in one of the bars, before heading back to the ship via the portside bar there, just watching people dance their way back to the ship.

Wonderful Wonderful port. Cant' wait to go back there.

 

So all in all a very nice time. We are looking to switch cruise lines in the future though, nothing really Carnival have done, although the entertainment/food is a little downhill, but having spoken to few RC cruisers and them saying how good their ship was, and being a UK option as well, we'll head over there soon. Carnival are amazing, but after 11 cruises its all very samey. Plus with my earlier comments about the Comedy Club, am looking for a UK version. Maybe P&O.

 

Having said that, we met some WONDERFUL people on this cruise, so please don't think it's because of any passengers! i wont name them all (can't name some of them!) but everyone i met, was fun, friendly, had some great fun with, and some i would love to meet again but sadly won't (well never say never i guess but highly unlikely!)

 

So for those i met, thanks for memories! Feel free to ask any questions will answer as best i can. Please don't be put off by the negative reports about the Splendor, its as good as any other Carnival ship. Would gladly sail her again if and when Carnival becomes an option again.

We are sailing this weekend on the Splendor...Do they keep the lido roof closed all the time...not sure if I will like that!

We are sailing this weekend on the Splendor...Do they keep the lido roof closed all the time...not sure if I will like that!

They only close it during bad weather.

Thank you for the review. Be on her in 76 days. Can't wait!!!!

Thank you for the review. I will be sailing her in 40 days :D

We will be on in 40 days as well. Nice to hear some good stuff about the Splendor. Thanks for the review.:cool:

Thanks for the review.

Lovely review, thank you. I have to agree about the Lido - I did NOT care for the closed in feeling of that area, much prefer the Conquest or Glory for the open tiered deck.