My wife and I are frequent cruisers and this is our second voyage on the Carnival Splendor and our twelfth cruise with Carnival which makes us VIFP with Platinum status. As such, embarkation was a breeze and our stateroom was ready for us to drop off our luggage within 15 minutes of arrival at the port. Generally speaking, the Splendor is an older ship which has not yet seen the 2.0 upgrade and is starting to show its age.

Having sailed with Carnival so many times, there is one common theme in all of our voyages and that theme is "what is being taken away this time"! Once upon a time, we could have espresso served free of charge in the Main Dining Room. Once upon a time, smoking was allowed in your cabin. Once upon a time, smoking was allowed on your balcony. Once upon a time, you could get a table for two in the Main Dining Room without breaking a sweat. Once upon a time, you could have lunch in the Main Dining Room every day. Once upon a time, you could order unlimited appetizers in the specialty (pay) restaurant. Once upon a time, stateroom turn-down service included a tiny little chocolate on our pillows. Once upon a time, access to bacon rashers was easy, now you need to do an Oliver Twist and "Please Sir, can I have some more"! There are more examples, but for purpose of brevity, I will stop here.

Our cabin was spacious, clean and comfortable. All ship areas where clean. The Lido deck buffet food was below cafeteria quality while the fare offered at The Grill, Mongolian Wok, Deli and Pizza where pretty good. The Main Dining Room offerings, with the exception of formal nights, was mediocre and lacking in variety and taste - just ok food. While the two formal nights did offer a better variety and the food was slightly better. The Pinnacle Steakhouse was a little better in their offerings and a little better in food quality and taste. Read more