My husband and I (ages 29 & 28) cruised on the Splendour out of Galveston March 25, 2004 with my parents who will both turn 60 this year. To give you an idea of where our opinions come from, I'll give a brief background. We are both middle-income families. My parents are retired and travel mostly by fifth wheel and cook their own meals. We on the other hand, enjoy finer vacations with nice hotels (Hilton Garden Inn types) and restaurants. This was our third cruise and my parent's first cruise.

We were on the four-night cruise visiting only Cozumel with two full days at sea. We all had a marvelous time and enjoyed the ship, service, and food. My husband and I cruised the Rhapsody out of Galveston in Nov. 2003 and found the Splendour to be a much nicer ship. They are sisters and therefore quite similar. However, we found the Splendour to have better dEcor and appear more upscale. Both were comfortable and offered a nice cruise vacation, but we would pick the Splendour over Rhapsody every time.

While the common areas on the Splendour were well kept, the wear and tear was obvious in our deck 2 inside cabin. The dEcor was out dated and the sofa and desk chair both had obvious stains. Most likely from someone carelessly sitting down in a wet bathing suit, but stains non-the-less. The size of the cabin was standard for an inside, so it was compact, but offered enough closet and storage space. There was plenty of room for two adults who are fond of each other. We did peak in the cabins on higher decks and found the dEcor, especially for outside cabins, to be more up to date and appealing. Read more