Carnival Splendor Review
A Comparison of Splendor vs. Mariner of the Seas
Rating by category
Additional details
Our family loves to cruise. We like to all go together and have a great time. This is what we were expecting when we booked our Mexican Riveria vacation on the Carnival Splendor for March 7 through 14, 2010.
As background, we have cruised on Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas before and absolutely loved it. There is no comparison. The reason why we decided to try the Carnival Splendor this time was for a few reasons; 1)Camp Carnival for my grandkids, 2)the water slides and mini golf and teen programs (more family oriented we heard), and 3)just to try something different.
First, the dEcor of the Splendor is ABSOLUTELY awful. We tried to keep an open mind even though the garish dEcor of the Carnival Splendor hits you everywhere you look. It has been called the pink ship, and for good reason. There are pink donuts everywhere, elevators, walls, ceilings. It is just awful. It's not even bad taste glitzy, it's just bad taste... and it's everywhere! There are what look like sunny side up eggs plastered all over the ceiling of the main dining area. The whole ship is gaudy and tasteless and in your face. We all agreed that we don't know what they were thinking when they designed and decorated this ship. It is horrid. By contrast, the RC Mariner of the Seas is a gorgeous ship and well laid out. The Mariner is classy.
Cabin Review
Good use of space in the cabin. The bathroom was as roomy and as well laid out as could be expected. We liked having a flat screen TV on the wall instead of taking up room in the cabin. We really liked having an adjoining room with our two teenage daughters. It gave us all our privacy but yet we could open the door between the rooms and all be together to talk. It also made it seem roomier. The decor of the Carnival's Splendor's rooms were a big disappointment though. For being a fairly new ship, the bedspread and throws looked old, faded and worn.