Carnival Splendor Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,476 reviews

Can you say RIP OFF

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Carnival Splendor
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carnycritic
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Mar 2011

For our honeymoon we decided to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera because neither of us have traveled much and we figured it would be relaxing, safe and that we'd get to see a few of Mexico's popular ports.This seemed like a steal. Room and board with three ports. Almost immediately, things went south. My bride got a new job and we weren't sure she'd be able to go. On the very same day, I got an email notice from my travel agency (NOT CARNIVAL) that our cruise would stop in only two ports but that we'd get an extra day in Cabo to make up for it. I called to see what our options were for cancelling. I found that we were not allowed to cancel (without paying a 75% fee) and that I couldn't even give the cruise away!!!! Can you say POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE?Needless to say we pulled all the strings and went on the cruise. NOTE: Carnival never alerted us to the change in ports until we were already on our ship. In fact, they continued to advertize our cruise as stopping at three ports (and I checked the day we left!). Can you say FALSE ADVERTISEMENT?We got on the ship and found out about the change. Oh well, nothing we could do except go with the flow and make the best of it - our honeymoon afterall. After a few hours, we noticed we had turned around. Then we heard over the speaker that someone was sick so they had decided to turn the entire ship around to take them back to Long Beach. No worries though, we'd still make our ports. The first night was fine. We met some cool people and enjoyed ourselves. But the next morning! We get an announcement that, due to the turn around, they were cancelling one of our days in Cabo! Everybody was livid. How could they ruin the vacation of 3000 people for one person? Couldn't they mediflight or something? To add insult to injury, we got a letter in our room from carnival explaining the issue and refunding us, $8.25!!! Can you say RIP OFF?After getting back and doing the math, it's clear we were on a 7 day cruise and got to be on land for a total of 12 hours. That's crazy. If I'd have known it was only two ports (which they probably knew when they sold me to stupid cruise) I'd have picked a shorter, cheaper cruise where I could a greater percentage of time on land. This has left a very sour taste in my mouth. I may never cruise again and definitely won't be joining Carnival. In fact, it will be my life's mission to talk every potential cruiser that I can out of sailing with Carnival!!!!

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