Overall, this was a great week that exceeded our expectations. I’ll break this down into a few categories:
BACKGROUND: My GF and I are 25-30, fairly experienced travelers. I have cruised with Carnival, HAL, and Celebrity multiple times, also with RCCL and NCL. This was her first cruise. I was initially skeptical of the Splendor (and with returning to Carnival) after mounting negative reviews on CruiseCritic as well as some initial disappointment over the lack of post-dry dock additions. We selected this cruise 100% based on the ports.
ARRIVAL: We flew in early the day before for a nice pre-cruise stay at the Delano in South Beach. It’s a nice, but expensive hotel that epitomizes South Beach. I mainly include this section to advise everyone with pre or post cruise activities in Miami to stay away from “Jet Ski Tours of Miami.” We had a disastrous tour with them in which our craft ran out of gas (when we warned our guide about the fuel alarm before the tour), were left stranded in a storm in Biscayne Bay, and then got yelled at by the manager for inquiring about a refund and “disrespecting his day off.” The story becomes more appalling, but just stay away from that tour operation.