Just off the Splendor....YUCK!

[KillaFee]

I have no doubt I'll get flamed for this, but after 8 days of wanting nothing more than to hop on a helicopter and magically land in my front yard, I feel that I'm able to speak on the subject. :p Please feel free to ask specific questions!! I'll be happy to expand on anything.

 

Bugh. That basically sums up our vacation.

 

First let me give you some background info on us. We're both 32 from CT. We love to travel. I'm a seasoned cruiser. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean 23 times, 2 Carnival, 2 Celebrity, and a variety of 1-2 night cruises back in the 1990's. I've done various island vacations in condo rentals in St. Martin, all inclusives in Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican. We travel a minimum of 2X a year for week long vacations, and at least 4-5 weekend vacations around the country, so I'm relatively familiar with what to expect depending on the class of hotel / resort / ship you're staying at/in. It's 100% fair to say that you tend to get what you pay for. I WILL say that we got this cruise FOR A HECK OF A DEAL, so it's all relative, and when it comes down to it, I think we got exactly what we paid for.

 

So it's safe to say we'll never cruise w/Carnival again, and I'll tell you why. We might just not cruise at all again after this, since we realized we prefer the calmness, beauty, simplicity, and overall relaxation that an island vacation offers, as opposed the the bonkers ship that we just got off of. It's just not our cup of tea. The aggressive, pushy, pajama clad passengers on this ship just aren't our style. That combined with the crummy itinerary, crummy weather, freakish lido deck which felt like a mix between someones living room and a wonky indoor pool from the twilight zone....just NO.

 

That being said.....we made the best of it because we have fun together and can enjoy ourselves in a 4x4 room for a week if need be. Soooo let me elaborate on a few things.

 

Things we DID like:

-The food in the dining room was fantastic. We ate there every single day for brunch or breakfast and dinner.

-Our steward, Made (pronounced Made-E) was awesome.

-Our room was great! We simply had an outside, but it was a shockingly great size and decorated very nicely. Everything was right where it should be. The beds were pretty cozy as well.

-Embarkation and debarkation were great! Self assist debarkation was WO:NDERFUL. We were able to leave that thing ASAP!! We were OFF the ship by 8:30am and were out and in our car by 9am. Yipppeeee! Bbye Splendor!

-The adult comedy was very entertaining.

-Daniella, the hostess at the Black Pearl at night and Gold Pearl for brunch was wonderful!! She was so cheerful and prompt and always greeted us by name.

-Yurgita from the Martini Bar (El Mojito) was great! She makes an amazing extra dirty goose martini.

-The Gym was nice. We all got kicked out one day because the seas were so high, but I did enjoy the layout and the equipment was great.

-Kieth, the solo guitarist. His sense of humor and wit were wonderful. His condescending jokes and hatred for the cruise ship itself were spot on. He basically said exactly what we were thinking.

-The warm chocolate melting cake.

-The Serenity deck was ok. But why on earth the mini golf is directly above it is beyond me. There are constantly little children running around with swinging golf clubs on the Serenity deck. Not very serene....

-......YUP.....that's all we can come up with.

 

Things we DIDN'T like

-Everything else. :p

-The Lido deck. It needs to just be bulldozed and re-done. I'm not saying that I don't like the layout of the ship.....it takes like a 20 minutes to figure it out. I'm saying that I just don't like THE SHIP. It's so dark and cold feeling. I get it. I've been on a Carnival ship so I know what to expect and I know all about Joe Farcus style. I do have to say that the lime green grout with black tile ALL OVER was a nice touch. :eek:

-The Lido buffet is just crazy. Thousands of people with NO MANNERS just walking around in a confused stouper, piling plates full of bacon and then waiting in line for 5 burritos, pizza, the deli....really? How much food can you eat?! It's so poorly laid out. I've never experienced such mayhem in a buffet before. Gross. They need to dispense Xanax at the door or something because the whole area is just an anxiety attack waiting to happen.

-The music on the aft deck was just bizarre. I have no idea what was coming out of those speakers. Again, I suddenly found myself in the twilight zone.

-The passengers. Why do people think it's ok to walk around in their pajamas whilst on a cruise ship? Oh and if not pajamas, bath robes! I'm sorry, I've always thought that being on a cruise was something special. It's just disrespectful to treat the ship like it's your own stinking living room. I don't want to see what you wear to bed, ok? One night, while walking through the Splendido, a guy flags down my husband and says "yo sh$&*t!!! Is it FORMAL night or something?!". Mind you my husband was wearing a dress shirt tucked into pants and I was wearing a maxi dress. No, it's not formal night. We just like to look nice. Geeze. A memo really needs to go out clarifying that there is no pajama night. It just makes the whole atmosphere seem so low class.

-The Promenade was freezing and smelled like cigarettes. I tried to avoid this area, but most things are off of the Promenade, so it was difficult to avoid.

-The ports of call were crummy and the weather was horrible, but I realize that's beyond the ships control, so I'm not going to fault them for that. It just didn't help the situation. The seas were crazy because of 60 MPH wind gusts, so the decks were all closed off to passengers. Again, it's obviously for our safety, and beyond their control, but having been stuck inside from Monday night until Thursday morning just made us a little stir crazy.

 

In closing, I think this experience made us realize what we like and DO NOT like in a vacation. I think I've just grown out of cruises. I hate to be negative, and I'm usually the first one to point out "what someone might have done wrong to have a bad time" when I read reviews, but this was HONESTLY the worst cruise (out of....28 or something?). I didn't have high expectations, and we pretty much got exactly what we expected. I just thought MAYBE we'd like it a bit more that we expected. The highlight was the food and service. But that's pretty much where it ends.

 

Please feel free to ask questions or flame away, teehee!

 

Laura

[Isa65]

Thanks for your review. I hope no one flames you for just being honest.

You put in lots of things you did enjoy, so your review is balanced.

Maybe another Carnival ship (with a better itinerary) will make you forget this one.;)

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write and to share your review.

 

Keith

[KillaFee]

Thanks for your review. I hope no one flames you for just being honest.

You put in lots of things you did enjoy, so your review is balanced.

Maybe another Carnival ship (with a better itinerary) will make you forget this one.;)

 

Thanks! I did mention to my husband how different a cruise is when you're island hopping down in the deep southern caribbean, but it might be hard to convince him after this. :eek: Maybe in a few years we will. The Breeze looks nice. I just really, REALLY didn't like the enclosed lido. I've been in enclosed Lidos before (Royal Caribbean ships always have an enclosed solarium) but never have I felt so enclosed. There's just one little pool and everyone is in loungers facing a big tv screen. I felt like I was on a ship with a bunch of zombies. Someday in the future maybe! It does look like they are trying to make their ships more tame lately. :D

[KillaFee]

Thanks for taking the time to write and to share your review.

 

Keith

 

You're welcome! I have to say that I debated posting this over and over, because I'm usually pretty darn upbeat and "whooohooo" about everything but I felt I needed to get it out of my system.

 

Oh and speaking of "whohoooo", Malcolm Whohoooo Burn was the CD and he was fine.

[OCruisers]

No flaming here! You actually gave a very fair and balanced report of what you liked and did not like.

Thanks for doing it! :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[alymb03]

Thanks for the review! It seems that the things you liked have more weight than the things you didn't like, so I'm sorry you didn't have an overall better experience!

[Oppalopa]

I have no doubt I'll get flamed for this, but after 8 days of wanting nothing more than to hop on a helicopter and magically land in my front yard, I feel that I'm able to speak on the subject. :p Please feel free to ask specific questions!! I'll be happy to expand on anything.

 

Bugh. That basically sums up our vacation.

 

First let me give you some background info on us. We're both 32 from CT. We love to travel. I'm a seasoned cruiser. I've cruised with Royal Caribbean 23 times, 2 Carnival, 2 Celebrity, and a variety of 1-2 night cruises back in the 1990's. I've done various island vacations in condo rentals in St. Martin, all inclusives in Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican. We travel a minimum of 2X a year for week long vacations, and at least 4-5 weekend vacations around the country, so I'm relatively familiar with what to expect depending on the class of hotel / resort / ship you're staying at/in. It's 100% fair to say that you tend to get what you pay for. I WILL say that we got this cruise FOR A HECK OF A DEAL, so it's all relative, and when it comes down to it, I think we got exactly what we paid for.

 

So it's safe to say we'll never cruise w/Carnival again, and I'll tell you why. We might just not cruise at all again after this, since we realized we prefer the calmness, beauty, simplicity, and overall relaxation that an island vacation offers, as opposed the the bonkers ship that we just got off of. It's just not our cup of tea. The aggressive, pushy, pajama clad passengers on this ship just aren't our style. That combined with the crummy itinerary, crummy weather, freakish lido deck which felt like a mix between someones living room and a wonky indoor pool from the twilight zone....just NO.

 

That being said.....we made the best of it because we have fun together and can enjoy ourselves in a 4x4 room for a week if need be. Soooo let me elaborate on a few things.

 

Things we DID like:

-The food in the dining room was fantastic. We ate there every single day for brunch or breakfast and dinner.

-Our steward, Made (pronounced Made-E) was awesome.

-Our room was great! We simply had an outside, but it was a shockingly great size and decorated very nicely. Everything was right where it should be. The beds were pretty cozy as well.

-Embarkation and debarkation were great! Self assist debarkation was WO:NDERFUL. We were able to leave that thing ASAP!! We were OFF the ship by 8:30am and were out and in our car by 9am. Yipppeeee! Bbye Splendor!

-The adult comedy was very entertaining.

-Daniella, the hostess at the Black Pearl at night and Gold Pearl for brunch was wonderful!! She was so cheerful and prompt and always greeted us by name.

-Yurgita from the Martini Bar (El Mojito) was great! She makes an amazing extra dirty goose martini.

-The Gym was nice. We all got kicked out one day because the seas were so high, but I did enjoy the layout and the equipment was great.

-Kieth, the solo guitarist. His sense of humor and wit were wonderful. His condescending jokes and hatred for the cruise ship itself were spot on. He basically said exactly what we were thinking.

-The warm chocolate melting cake.

-The Serenity deck was ok. But why on earth the mini golf is directly above it is beyond me. There are constantly little children running around with swinging golf clubs on the Serenity deck. Not very serene....

-......YUP.....that's all we can come up with.

 

Things we DIDN'T like

-Everything else. :p

-The Lido deck. It needs to just be bulldozed and re-done. I'm not saying that I don't like the layout of the ship.....it takes like a 20 minutes to figure it out. I'm saying that I just don't like THE SHIP. It's so dark and cold feeling. I get it. I've been on a Carnival ship so I know what to expect and I know all about Joe Farcus style. I do have to say that the lime green grout with black tile ALL OVER was a nice touch. :eek:

-The Lido buffet is just crazy. Thousands of people with NO MANNERS just walking around in a confused stouper, piling plates full of bacon and then waiting in line for 5 burritos, pizza, the deli....really? How much food can you eat?! It's so poorly laid out. I've never experienced such mayhem in a buffet before. Gross. They need to dispense Xanax at the door or something because the whole area is just an anxiety attack waiting to happen.

-The music on the aft deck was just bizarre. I have no idea what was coming out of those speakers. Again, I suddenly found myself in the twilight zone.

-The passengers. Why do people think it's ok to walk around in their pajamas whilst on a cruise ship? Oh and if not pajamas, bath robes! I'm sorry, I've always thought that being on a cruise was something special. It's just disrespectful to treat the ship like it's your own stinking living room. I don't want to see what you wear to bed, ok? One night, while walking through the Splendido, a guy flags down my husband and says "yo sh$&*t!!! Is it FORMAL night or something?!". Mind you my husband was wearing a dress shirt tucked into pants and I was wearing a maxi dress. No, it's not formal night. We just like to look nice. Geeze. A memo really needs to go out clarifying that there is no pajama night. It just makes the whole atmosphere seem so low class.

-The Promenade was freezing and smelled like cigarettes. I tried to avoid this area, but most things are off of the Promenade, so it was difficult to avoid.

-The ports of call were crummy and the weather was horrible, but I realize that's beyond the ships control, so I'm not going to fault them for that. It just didn't help the situation. The seas were crazy because of 60 MPH wind gusts, so the decks were all closed off to passengers. Again, it's obviously for our safety, and beyond their control, but having been stuck inside from Monday night until Thursday morning just made us a little stir crazy.

 

In closing, I think this experience made us realize what we like and DO NOT like in a vacation. I think I've just grown out of cruises. I hate to be negative, and I'm usually the first one to point out "what someone might have done wrong to have a bad time" when I read reviews, but this was HONESTLY the worst cruise (out of....28 or something?). I didn't have high expectations, and we pretty much got exactly what we expected. I just thought MAYBE we'd like it a bit more that we expected. The highlight was the food and service. But that's pretty much where it ends.

 

Please feel free to ask questions or flame away, teehee!

 

Laura

Thank you for your honesty.

[Linerguy]

Please feel free to ask questions or flame away, teehee!

 

No flames, but, I wanna make sure I've got it straight:

 

You thought the ship was ugly.

People in the lido had no manners.

You didn't like the music out by the aft pool.

You didn't like that people wore pajamas and/or robes.

You didn't like the itinerary.

 

But...

 

The food in the MDR was great.

Your room steward was great.

Your room was great.

Self-assist was wonderful.

The comedy act was entertaining.

Daniella, the hostess at the Black Pearl was wonderful.

Yurgita from the Martini Bar was great.

You liked the gym.

Keith, the solo guitarist was wonderful.

You liked the warm chocolate melting cake.

You thought Serenity was ok.

You got a "heck of a deal."

 

You're right, that had to suck (flames are one thing....sarcasm is another).

[3ricT]

Sadly, I agree with the description of the passengers in the buffet - it IS a horror show. You'd think they were going to run out of food - very disappointing to witness. And the music sucks on the Lido - what ever happened to the steel drums, man?

 

That being said, I can ignore all that - I still love it. Can't wait T-99

[LakeMomNY]

I think your review is very fair and reasonable.

 

We will be on the Splendor in Feb. Good service, no responsibilities, and warmer weather are our main goals for this trip.

 

The 8 days, bed and board included, will cost us less than just the airfare to the Bahamas would, and we just can't swing anything more expensive this year.

 

Cheap trip or not, we'll still be dressing for dinner.

[LakeMomNY]

Oh, and we pretty much just stay away from the buffet.

[martinchem]

I think this experience made us realize what we like and DO NOT like in a vacation. I think I've just grown out of cruises. I hate to be negative, and I'm usually the first one to point out "what someone might have done wrong to have a bad time" when I read reviews, but this was HONESTLY the worst cruise (out of....28 or something?). I didn't have high expectations, and we pretty much got exactly what we expected. I just thought MAYBE we'd like it a bit more that we expected. The highlight was the food and service. But that's pretty much where it ends.

 

 

That's how my wife felt and so we switched to a different cruiseline to change things up, and I will say give Norwegian a try, after we came home Jodi says to me, "I guess I wasn't tired of cruising, it was Carnival I was tired of". Something has changed within their company and I can't put a pin on anything specific, but it has changed over the couple years and the cruise seems more about numbers than about us.

[KillaFee]

No flames, but, I wanna make sure I've got it straight:

 

You thought the ship was ugly.

People in the lido had no manners.

You didn't like the music out by the aft pool.

You didn't like that people wore pajamas and/or robes.

You didn't like the itinerary.

 

But...

 

The food in the MDR was great.

Your room steward was great.

Your room was great.

Self-assist was wonderful.

The comedy act was entertaining.

Daniella, the hostess at the Black Pearl was wonderful.

Yurgita from the Martini Bar was great.

You liked the gym.

Keith, the solo guitarist was wonderful.

You liked the warm chocolate melting cake.

You thought Serenity was ok.

You got a "heck of a deal."

 

You're right, that had to suck (flames are one thing....sarcasm is another).

 

I hear you. We did like some things, but the overall feeling was definitely bad. Battling the insane crowds was the exact opposite of a relaxing vacation. We tried to make the best of it. We looked forward to dinner every evening, because it reminded me of what I feel cruises used to be like. However, I'd like to look forward to more than just eating and drinking.

 

I guess it just comes down to what I like. I like the sun. I like warmth. I like tropical music to go with my tropical drink. I like relaxation on my vacation and not to have to worry about being pushed, tugged, and run over by the masses. I like fellow passengers to be respectful of the ship and fellow passengers. :D This had none of that, sooooo....blam! Total fail on our part. ;)

[KillaFee]

Oh, and we pretty much just stay away from the buffet.

 

YES. It just wasn't worth it. We were able to avoid it most times except for lunch. During that time, we tried to grab something from Tandoori or the Deli on the aft where it wasn't as crowded.

[KillaFee]

I think your review is very fair and reasonable.

 

We will be on the Splendor in Feb. Good service, no responsibilities, and warmer weather are our main goals for this trip.

 

The 8 days, bed and board included, will cost us less than just the airfare to the Bahamas would, and we just can't swing anything more expensive this year.

 

Cheap trip or not, we'll still be dressing for dinner.

 

Thanks! I know that part of my bad feeling about the whole thing was that we didn't really have a single nice day. We had a "sort of" nice day in Freeport and enjoyed a trip to Junkanoo beach for a few hours, but I realized afterwards that I was just longing for more time in the sun!!! Again, this isn't the cruises fault, but it did contribute to my being a bit bummed. I'm sure in Feb it will be warmer down south. We just happened to go through a cold snap and nor'easter w/60MPH winds this past week. Eeek!

 

Laura

[Aplmac]

Good balanced review (I rarely read these things!)

 

It's making me rethink my vague plan

to book Splendor sometime Sept/Oct next year 2014 out of NYC :cool:

 

* Splendor may have a hex on her, especially after The Fire.

* Pics I've seen of her interior decor are not encouraging, either.

 

.

[Buckeyefn31]

Hmmm, griping about the weather, and overly judgmental of others. Fantastic!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Linerguy]

I guess it just comes down to what I like. I like the sun. I like warmth. I like tropical music to go with my tropical drink. I like relaxation on my vacation and not to have to worry about being pushed, tugged, and run over by the masses. I like fellow passengers to be respectful of the ship and fellow passengers. :D This had none of that, sooooo....blam! Total fail on our part. ;)

 

As far as fellow passengers, I totally get where you're coming from, believe me, I really do. But it's all but impossible to predict how people are going to act. The look of the ship and the itinerary are things that are known well before one steps on board, so I really have no sympathy for people who complain about those types of things. As far as things like music, it's all personal preference. When I was on SPLENDOR earlier this month, yes, there was a DJ playing obnoxious Hip-Hop out by the pool. But it was only occasionally, and there were plenty of places to go to escape it. I overlooked it....you didn't. No problem.

 

Sounds to me you're just over the whole cruise thing.

[cjknox]

Sorry that you had a bad cruise and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Greatly appreciated.

[Carolin]

What port did you sail out of? Just curious on my part.

 

I thought your review was well balanced. I will never understand the pj's and bathrobe thing but if someone wants to walk around with bed head... just sayin.

[clarkrock7]

Bad weather and obnoxious people will make any vacation difficult. I wonder what the difference is in passenger attitudes/behavior for southern ports vs. NYC.

 

And I absolutely agree about the crappy lido deck set up, there is nothing less appealing than the 'twilight zone' box with a pool in it.

[Linerguy]

It's making me rethink my vague plan

to book Splendor sometime Sept/Oct next year 2014 out of NYC

 

Really? Wow....

[Carolin]

Thank you clarkrock7. I think you answered my question. :)

 

I've been reading reviews on here for a while. And for some reason, people always comment on their fellow passengers who sail out of NYC being very New Yorkish. Don't know what that means. I've never been there so I can't say for myself. I usually sail out of Florida, New Orleans or San Juan. I like to start my winter vacation WARM. :D

Edited December 3, 2013 by Carolin
bad spelling

[CoconutJD]

If it was that bad, why didn't you just take advantage of the Carnival guarantee and get off at the first port?