Splendor Review March 20th

We booked this cruise for Spring Break it was myself, wife and 10 year old. My wife and I are on our 16th cruise ( 8 with Carnival) and my sons 5th ( 4 with Carnival). I usually do tons of planning for cruises on this trip I was looking to get away and relax. I did do some planning just not as much as I normally do. I was a little nervous about being Spring Break with what the crowd would be like but this was no issue at all.

We orginally booked a forward balcony on Deck 7 but we got a call a few months ago to upgrade to a suite and we did.

We arrived at the port at 10:50 we got dropped off since we are from Wellington ( West Palm area) this wound up being great since we save $140 there were 7-8 ships in port that day. Since we were in a suite we had Priority Check In. We were in the lounge with our Keys by 11:10. We had enough time for my son to grab a crossiant and we were called to board. Onboard with Photo taken by 11:30. We headed to our rooms..since this was first cruise out of dry dock we thought rooms would be ready but they weren't. They let us drop our carry ons and went out to explore the ship.

I am going to just list a bunch of positive points and a few that I felt had room for improvemet instead of a minute by minute review. I do have all the fun times and if I can figure out how to work my scanner I will add them

Our room steward was Reynold, this was his frirst cruise in 21 years with the changed once a day service and he said he felt bad about it, we chose AM service but he was always around for ice, drop off Fun Times and beach towles at night. He did a great job daily. Our room OS7323 had toms of storage and a great balcony which I slent lots of time on reading and relaxing.

Overall food was good to very good. Steakhouse ate there 2x excellent food, service outstanding, love the plateware. Lido food was good great choice of selections. We ate at all stations except Wok. this was the ony line the whole week really. We should have done this Sunday as soon as we got on board. Dining room food was good. They still have the old menus. We enjoyed the dining had AT dining and had same server -Raul 4 nights.

Liked the taste bar also. Seaday brunch very good

Music was great Run For Cover Band was awesome we made a point to watch them nightly, Piano Gregg very good also as were other music acts. We didnt do any shows

Son loved Camp Carnival as usual, we let him sign in and out this time and he did very well with this responsibility.

Bar service overall pretty good, slow in some areas but no concern.

Future Cruise talk and cooking demo were fun and imformative

Spa was nice did a tour and wife did a spa treatment last sea day

Getting on and off ship pretty easy

Overall service on ship was great very friendly staff in almost all areas

Lots to do..we just chose not to do alot except eat, drink and relax. Did excursions in the 3 ports we landed

Cozumel- did ship tour Everybody Loves Rays and it was a great trip and fun.

Belize- Did ship tour for Cave Tubing and Zip Lining..great trip and Zip line was a blast !! Dont forget to try tacos and nachos at little stand. Only down side was the pictures too busy and poor quality of photos with a no refund policy.

Roatan- Booked outside Ship for Little French Key.. AMAZING great time beautiful area Highly recommended.

Costa Maya it has been well documented on these boards that we didnt make it too port. VERY WINDY and we had a tough dock position to get into. Relaxed back on ship

Overall good trip had fun, lots of relaxing and recharging of batteries. Ship was in good shape, wasnt sure what to expect from Drydock but I try not and let the details get in the way of my vacations. I recommend the Steakhouse highly. Beding in rooms was great !

A few points that I felt weren't the best

The number one complaint and at the risk of starting a war.. the smoke in the casino was very bad, this was a premier cruise so I dont know if that had anything to do with it. But very smokey and I didnt enjoy it as much. Better smoke eaters could maybe help.

Also rouletee tables went to $2 chips with seemed a bit different , tables were empty alot when I was in there.

Kitchen staff in Lido area didnt seem happy, saw same 2 guys in pizza area everyday at all hours

It seems that some people just drop there kids off and never parent them and let them run around ship at all hours. Nothing too crazy but some kids cant be unsupervised.

All in all nothing to ruin a vacation.

I will leave you with one little story that made me shake my head. we are at dinner one night and looking down at one level and there was a couple that sat down and there own table. After the waiter serves them bread the guy reaches into his back pocket opens up a jack knife, cuts his bread and butters his bread with it. Me and my wife sat there in amazement as well as tables next to them. Nobody felt scared or anything but I took it as normal behavior !

Hope you enjoyed Feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer !

Thanks for your thoughts.

Do you happen to have the fun times?

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Thanks for your review.

Enjoyed your review! Thanks!

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Hi Zino5 thanks for your review. So I guess it is really once a day service not like John said that we can request twice a day???

Thank-you for the feedback.

I have the fun times but will need to see if I can scan them and get them on line for you DebbieMo

As far as room steward I saw his list he had with all rooms on them most said am or pm a couple said both. Too be honest all was good with once a day because my steward was around at night. I could have asked but I didn't. The room steward said he felt bad as it was a change and we were the first cruise that he has to do this on

We were on this cruise as well and I have to say that Zino5 did a very fair and balanced review and I totally agree with everything that was pointed out! All in all, a great cruise and we had a relaxing and fun time!

Enjoyed your review.

Keith

Thank you for your review and comments! Glad you enjoyed your vacation.

We ALSO sailed this cruise and agree with everything that was posted and I will add a few more things.

We had twice a day cabin service. We were not even asked, just given it. I'm not sure if that is because we are Platinum, our Milestone cruise, or what - it just happened. If I had to choose, I would probably just request evening service with the caveat that they stop by and pick up the breakfast room service dishes in the AM.

Parking was a HOT MESS !!!! We left from Terminal E and had to park in Terminal C (where the Getaway was). This required a VERY LONG walk back. We were at the port at 11 AM and didn't expect this type of problem.

My DH and I are Platinum and we were sailing with 2 DGS who are not. Their account was secured by my CC, so I had to be with them to check in. The Platinum desk would not check them in and the regular desk would not check us in. As a result, we had to wait in 2 different lines. Between this and the long walk it was a VERY disappointing embarkation.

For a spring break cruise it was pretty calm. We saw many college age kids around the ship and in the casino, but they were all well behaved. We did see some of the younger kids roaming the ship unsupervised (ages maybe 6-9), but the seemed to be well behaved. I DID get into the elevator one day and found all the buttons pushed :(

Zino mentioned the casino was full of smoke and there is a reason for that. The only 2 smoking areas (outside of the casino) were SO WINDY that you couldn't stay there. One was starboard on deck 10 and it had absolutely no wind block. The other was on deck 3 starboard and again no wind block. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the smokers in an area where the wind is whipping at 15-20 MPH needs to be FIRED.

Despite the few negatives, we had a great time with our grandsons and did a lot of amazing things in port. I just booked the Magic for 7/23 (yay, she's coming to PC) for my DH and I (our anniversary). This will be a relaxing, do nothing, go with the flow cruise for us - we haven't had one of those in over a year :)

Our room steward was Reynold, this was his frirst cruise in 21 years with the changed once a day service and he said he felt bad about it, we chose AM service but he was always around for ice, drop off Fun Times and beach towles at night. He did a great job daily. Our room OS7323 had toms of storage and a great balcony which I slent lots of time on reading and relaxing.

 

Overall food was good to very good. Steakhouse ate there 2x excellent food, service outstanding, love the plateware. Lido food was good great choice of selections. We ate at all stations except Wok. this was the ony line the whole week really. We should have done this Sunday as soon as we got on board. Dining room food was good. They still have the old menus. We enjoyed the dining had AT dining and had same server -Raul 4 nights.

Liked the taste bar also. Seaday brunch very good

 

Music was great Run For Cover Band was awesome we made a point to watch them nightly, Piano Gregg very good also as were other music acts. We didnt do any shows

 

Son loved Camp Carnival as usual, we let him sign in and out this time and he did very well with this responsibility.

 

Bar service overall pretty good, slow in some areas but no concern.

 

Future Cruise talk and cooking demo were fun and imformative

 

Spa was nice did a tour and wife did a spa treatment last sea day

 

Getting on and off ship pretty easy

 

Overall service on ship was great very friendly staff in almost all areas

 

Lots to do..we just chose not to do alot except eat, drink and relax. Did excursions in the 3 ports we landed

 

Cozumel- did ship tour Everybody Loves Rays and it was a great trip and fun.

 

Belize- Did ship tour for Cave Tubing and Zip Lining..great trip and Zip line was a blast !! Dont forget to try tacos and nachos at little stand. Only down side was the pictures too busy and poor quality of photos with a no refund policy.

 

Roatan- Booked outside Ship for Little French Key.. AMAZING great time beautiful area Highly recommended.

 

Costa Maya it has been well documented on these boards that we didnt make it too port. VERY WINDY and we had a tough dock position to get into. Relaxed back on ship

 

Overall good trip had fun, lots of relaxing and recharging of batteries. Ship was in good shape, wasnt sure what to expect from Drydock but I try not and let the details get in the way of my vacations. I recommend the Steakhouse highly. Beding in rooms was great !

 

A few points that I felt weren't the best

 

The number one complaint and at the risk of starting a war.. the smoke in the casino was very bad, this was a premier cruise so I dont know if that had anything to do with it. But very smokey and I didnt enjoy it as much. Better smoke eaters could maybe help.

Also rouletee tables went to $2 chips with seemed a bit different , tables were empty alot when I was in there.

 

Kitchen staff in Lido area didnt seem happy, saw same 2 guys in pizza area everyday at all hours

 

It seems that some people just drop there kids off and never parent them and let them run around ship at all hours. Nothing too crazy but some kids cant be unsupervised.

 

All in all nothing to ruin a vacation.

 

I will leave you with one little story that made me shake my head. we are at dinner one night and looking down at one level and there was a couple that sat down and there own table. After the waiter serves them bread the guy reaches into his back pocket opens up a jack knife, cuts his bread and butters his bread with it. Me and my wife sat there in amazement as well as tables next to them. Nobody felt scared or anything but I took it as normal behavior !

 

Hope you enjoyed Feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer !

Hi Thanks for the review! I appreciate all of the insight. Just wanted to share some info with you about what Reynold your cabin steward said about once a day service. Cabin service was not changed to once daily so Reynold probably didn't "feel bad about it". See communication below from Carnival.

"Hello Holly,

I hope this email finds you well.

I do apologize for the misunderstanding. This information is not fact and our staff members are well aware. You will enjoy your cabin and cleaning services twice a day.

Please advise if additional assistance is needed.

Sincerely,

Quin Ton

Carnival Cruise Line | 3655 NW 87th Avenue | Miami, FL 33178 |

Message History

Customer By Service Email (lucy garcia) (03/29/2016 12:45 PM)

Thanks for you review. Haven't been on Splendor but have been looking at it. Like to try different ships. :)

Hi Thanks for the review! I appreciate all of the insight. Just wanted to share some info with you about what Reynold your cabin steward said about once a day service. Cabin service was not changed to once daily so Reynold probably didn't "feel bad about it". See communication below from Carnival.

 

"Hello Holly,

 

 

 

I hope this email finds you well.

 

 

 

I do apologize for the misunderstanding. This information is not fact and our staff members are well aware. You will enjoy your cabin and cleaning services twice a day.

 

Please advise if additional assistance is needed.

 

Sincerely,

 

Quin Ton

 

Carnival Cruise Line | 3655 NW 87th Avenue | Miami, FL 33178 |

Message History

 

Customer By Service Email (lucy garcia) (03/29/2016 12:45 PM)

This goes back to what others, including JH have said, about the cabin service. I think some of the cabin stewards are trying to use this as an excuse to get out of doing twice a day service, then saying it was a "misunderstanding". That's just MHO :)

Can any of you tell me who the cruise director is? Is he/she entertaining?

Can any of you tell me who the cruise director is? Is he/she entertaining?

The CD was Kevin but he was leaving shortly and then returning to the Elation. Don't know who his replacement will be.

Thank you for your review. It was very informative. This will be my first cruise since I quit smoking. It will be a pleasure to not have to always sit in the smoking section. Thanks again.

This goes back to what others, including JH have said, about the cabin service. I think some of the cabin stewards are trying to use this as an excuse to get out of doing twice a day service, then saying it was a "misunderstanding". That's just MHO :)

I agree. I'm not going to argue with anyone though, I will just ask for nightly service if they insist. Love the towel animals before bed for the kiddos!

The CD was Kevin but he was leaving shortly and then returning to the Elation. Don't know who his replacement will be.

Chloe Loddo, She starts this Sunday. If this cruise director schedule is still up to date

http://johnhealdsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/John-Version-1.29.16.pdf