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We are experiencd cruisers, almost always on Carnival, so knew what to expect. In 2008 we were on the first cruise on Splendor so knew the ship well.
On the plus side, our cabin was a SPA balcony, and this was our second time in that category. It was excellent and our steward was very attentive. The refreshing several times daily was exceptional and he always called us by name. Nothing could be better than this.
The SPA was very good and my wife used it often. We had enjoyed this on our last Splendor cruise and were not let down at all. I even had a pedicure, my first, and have to say it was a fine experience. We came to know several of the staff there and feel we got good value for our money.
I read several reviewers who found fault with the weather, but that is not Carnival's fault. It was mid winter and here in Ohio, where we live, this was so much better. Yes, the sea was quite choppy, but Carnvial did their best to cope with it. The main pool had to be closed due to the high waves in it caused by the rough sea splashing all over the guests.
We dined in the upper level of the middle dining room and the experience was the normal for Carnival - good but not excellent. They were slow but the staff tried very hard to cope with what seemed like being short some people. The Maitre D was extremely nice and we loved the attention.
Now the only negative - the embarkation procedure. We are Platinum guests with priority boarding and Carnival really let us down here. When we exited their bus from LAX, there was nobody in sight that knew what to do. Only our past experience told us how to continue. We placed our bags at the proper place as others stood in bewilderment, and walked to the VIP check in.
They were overwhelmed with VIP guests and took our boarding passes in advance and told us to sit in this small room and wait. Well after a long time, we went up to see what was holding this up only to find their computers had broken down and our sign and sail cards were in another building. The clerk had to leave her station and go to that place and retrieve our documents. She also said she needed to reboot the system as our passports had to be entered manually. Carnival has never been known for state of the art IT systems, but this was awful. Whatever went wrong, Carnival management needs to get this fixed.
My final rating would be B+, held back for a normal A+ by the embarkation.
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