Ship was great with a lot of entertainment! Cabin was very nice and clean, our room was cleaned up quickly once we left. We were greeted by the steward and I was impressed that he remembered our name the entire time! Dinner was great, a lot of food choices was wonderful for my husband who loves food. My favorite was all the photos all through the cruise, we now have plenty of keep sake memories. Dressing up for a formal dinner and photos was a night to remember, everyone was so professional and helpful always with smiles on their faces. My only regret was spending so much money at the spa! I would have given a 5 star had I not felt cheated at the spa. At the time I didn't say anything however for I should have. Ladies don't waste your money with the ionithermie! I went for a walk through and the "deal" sounded amazing. All areas plus a temple massage for $129 well I never got any massage at all! And the equipment they promised to be so relaxing was actually horrible to feel like your getting shocked! Then after the process they recalculate your measurements to see how many inches you have lost. She said I lost 3" but as I looked at the paper I lost none. NOT worth the money I spent! I much rather could of used that money on something else on this cruise. That was my first time ever at a spa and probably my last time. Shore excursion was AMAZING! If I could give them a 10 stars I would. We did the Baja Off the Road Buggy Adventure. This was the highlight to our cruise. Those guys were fun, nice and professional. Money well spent there and if we were to go I would chose that excursion again. My husband and I both are wanting to do a longer cruise next time. Read Less

This is the local getaway booze cruise. Yes the ship is old and small compared to the destination cruises, but this ship is all about getting away for a couple of days. Keep that in mind when going on this ship. My wife and I just sailed this week. Embarkation and debarkation were easy as can be. Arrive when you are supposed to and you get on the ship very quickly. I think the room was ready in about one hour and our luggage was there within 2 hours. We were able to debark quickly at each port, I think the earlier you go the better. Final day debarking was quick, however we did the late time and enjoyed breakfast first. We had a cabin with porthole. The steward was good and he asked us how often we wanted the room cleaned. We filled out a form and the room was straightened up each morning and evening. The cabin was plenty big for the two of us. The bathroom is actually pretty roomy for a cruise ship. The water pressure on the shower was excellent. There is no luxury here but I think the room was plenty good for interior booking price. You get what you pay for. The food was very good. The portions in the dining room are small, so if you are hungry make sure you order a couple of things. The service was pretty good, a little slow sometimes. We did anytime dining so we had a different server for each meal. The buffet food is mostly good, but some of the dishes were not great. It's just regular buffet food. The pizza counter was actually very good. The Guy Burger joint is great. The pool and hot tub are small and did not look fun. I never went in. I think if I went on the ship intending to swim and lounge at the pool I would be disappointed. The entertainment was pretty good. No where near Disney level, which is the last cruise I went on. They had lots of games during the day which were usually fun. The main shows were OK. I did not care for the Divas show, it was loud and annoying. The Rock Show was much better. The bands / solo performers around the ship were usually pretty good, but not really worth going out of your way for. The comedians were excellent. We even had a close up magician come by our dining table twice. I did not attend any art events or bingo, so I cannot comment on that. The cruise director seemed to be a fairly engaging person, and most of the Fun Squad staff were fun to be around. I did not play any casino games, however the casino looked small and unimpressive. Also the bar next to the casino was sometimes the only bar open late and it was no fun having to smell the smokers. The ship had too many elevators not working when we were on board, which was very annoying. I know it is not that far to walk, but I really think they need to do a better job maintaining the lifts. Just an annoying complaint is that on port days none of the bars on level 9 were open and there were no servers, just the one up on the Lido deck, which was very busy. They should operate one bar on deck 9 just so those that don't want to go into port can easily get drinks. We also got the Cheers package and it was totally worth it. The best thing is you just order pretty much whatever you want. You can try drinks and if you don't like it, no problem just order something else. Also you can get as many water bottles, energy drinks, soda, and specialty coffees that you want. We spaced out our drinking so we never got drunk, however you certainly could if you wanted to. Most of the drinks are plenty strong. I think expectations are important when going on this cruise. If you expect a Disney/Destination cruise experience you might be a little disappointed as this is not a Luxury ship. If you go to have fun and eat and drink for 4 days, you will have a great time. Read Less

This was our first cruise, An anniversary gift from our daughter. We cruised as a group of 13. The only negative I have is Carnival should had provided some information or recommendations for travelers on how to survive the heavy seas we experienced from Hurricane Rosa. Maybe medications to bring or how to care for those who were really seasick. I did not get sick as I am an old Sailor who has never been seasick in much worse conditions. Many of our party were seasick along with other passengers and even crew members. Besides the bad day at sea the rest of the cruise was wonderful. The food was yummy and plentiful. I ate dinner each night in the main resturant that we were assigned. The menu was varriied and every thing I ate was wonderful. The crew very attentive and friendly. We were greeted warmly by every crew member we met. I saw 3 shows in the main theater and really enjoyed them all. I went to 3 comedy shows and really laughed hard. I enjoyed the aft pool. It was closed for 1 day due to weather. I did not book any shore excursions thru Carnival. We had an interior cabin on deck 8. Kind size bed was comfortable. Restroom and shower were large enough. Our Cabin Steward was friendly and attentive. I will cruise with Carnival again. Read Less

This was our second cruise on the Splendor. The first cruise included Mazatlan, but this cruise only went to Cabo and Puerta Vallarta, which was okay. We drove to the port and arrived about a quarter to eleven. We waited in line for about fifteen minutes to get into the parking structure. We were quickly processed and waited about a half an hour to get on board. Every crew member we ran across was friendly and helpful the whole trip. Our dining staff and room stewards were great. We opted for the one time morning service and he still made us a towel animal every day. The food in the dining room was very good. The sea day brunch was excellent. The regular items on the buffet was nothing to write home about, but there were choices like the Mongolian Bar B Q, sandwiches, the bar b q , all very good. The entertainment was good, and we especially enjoyed the comedy clubs. The only complaint I would have is that I missed a band. The entertainers were okay, but I love a band. We usually had no problem with seating except for some of the late comedy shows, advise to get there twenty minutes early. We had a balcony cabin on deck 10. The location was excellent, but the balcony was uncovered. I think a covered balcony would have gotten more use from us. It's never an easy process getting all those people off the ship at once, so I understand. Waiting to exit was not a problem, but the actual leaving was a mess. Nobody to guide us once we were near the exits. The baggage was easy to find, but not fair that the people using baggage handlers had a shorter line than the people with their own luggage. All in all, it was a great cruise. Can't wait to do it again! Read Less

1. Being disabled & in a wheelchair, they have you waiting for hours to disembark when we should go 1st for medical reasons. 2. They ran out of luggage tags and we couldn't get our luggage checked. They use to slide the tags under the door along with your bill. 3. The food is terrible and not cooked thoroughly. This was my wife & I 4th cruise and will be our last. The room was very warm and usually the air conditioning would be cold. The Internet was ridiculous & didn't work at all. 4. The Captain's dinner was nasty & it seemed like the cook rushed to make the food. The shrimp looked & tasted as if came out of a box and was like school cafeteria food. Carnival cruise ship is going down the pits!! If you're thinking about leaving from the port of Long Beach or Los Angels, save your money!! The parking lot spaces for disabled is also RIDICULOUS Only 8 handicap spaces available. Read Less

This was our second cruise on the Splendor to Mexico. The first one was several years ago and was a great time. We chose to go again as my fiancee didn't want to fly across the country to FL to cruise, and this was the closest. SHIP: The ship is unique in its decor, but it is very run down. In places water would drip from the ceilings. Almost the entire cruise at least one elevator in every bank was broken. Many of the hallways near cabins smelled like sewage as did our cabin most of the time. LIDO BUFFET: The seating is terrible -- ripped in places and so work out that you sit too far below the table to comfortably eat. Normally we love the buffet -- everyone can find something they like; however, this time everything on every buffet was horrible. Very limited selection, and what was there was not tasty. All of the fresh fruit was unripe so you couldn't even eat it. The buffet no longer has the wonderful chocolate lava cake. They do a "pudding" type desert with a crust and every night though a different flavor it tastes the same. CABIN: As with the rest of the ship the cabin has seen its better days. The bed was uncomfortably hard. The bed linens were great. The TV barely worked -- couldn't change the volume and had to get right up to it for the remote to work. As for cabin service -- the balcony NEVER got cleaned. The cups from the first day were still there when we left. What really grossed us out was there was a flip-flop on the floor under the table left from the previous guests that NEVER was moved the entire trip! Don't look under the beds if you don't want to be sick. We did as we lost a pair of sunglasses. On our previous Carnival cruises we always got a basket of sample products in the bathroom and always had robes in the closet. Nothing this time. Carnival quality has really gone downhill. SPECIAL DINING: The coffee shop was awesome, and the girls there work their butts off! The pizza was the best meal we had the entire cruise though the one little guy working there was more than busy all the time - probably because he had the only edible food on the ship! The grill was good. Burgers are always top notch though not open long enough. The deli was horrible -- microwaved food that was close to inedible. Who can screw up a hot dog? We wanted to try the BBQ, but every time we went there is was closed - same as the Mongolian Wok. The Steakhouse as always rocks! Incredible food, great service -- can't say enough about it. Worth every penny. We don't go to the dining rooms -- we don't like to sit with people we don't know. We aren't normal cruisers. EVENTS: The movies at sea were good except there are people around the movie area who don't care that others are trying to watch and hear the film. Screaming kids in the pool who parents just ignored. Also people playing ping pong during the movie. We encountered a few teenagers who acted like idiots banging the ping pong paddles on the table for attention. We actually went and got security when they wouldn't stop making excessive noise. MEDICAL: Yes we visited the medical center. One of us forgot all their medicines and had to scramble to get some for the cruise. Luckily the med center had some staples there and they helped us get the rest from authorities in Cabo who delivered right to the ship for a decent price. Caroline in medical went way above and beyond -- she was superwoman! EMBARK / DEBARK: Embarkation was really great in Long Beach. We got there early and only sat a short time before they put us right through. Luggage was delivered to the cabins when it was supposed to be. Debarkation was not so good. We did express and took our own luggage. Of course you couldn't get an elevator because all of the non-express people were hovering in the elevator areas though they were supposed to go to designated waiting areas. We had to carry our luggage down 5 flights of stairs. :( Once there we hung out in the theater on 3 waiting our floor to be called. They announced floors 9, 10, 11 -- the $$$ cabins and suites then called 1 which made no sense. Then they never made another express floor announcement. Finally they came into the theater and said everyone could go. Very unorganized and badly planned. Once off the ship everything was smooth. SHORE EX: We did a Carnival ShoreEx in Puerto Vallarta. It was the wild dolphin snorkel. It was a great time though we saw no dolphins, and the tour operator wasn't even looking for them. We also purchased the bus from airport to pier and pier to airport. Money well spend and very organized. Overall I feel Carnival has increased prices and reduced quality to the point where I highly doubt I'll sail with them again. I'm gold level and was hoping to move up to the next level, but I no longer see that in the future. Read Less

Warning - Sorry my report is so long but I like to share our experience as well as information that might be helpful to others. Hopefully it's worth reading! We arrived at LAX and ordered a Lyft ride to the cruise terminal in Long Beach. We arrived earlier than our assigned time but they let us get in a fast moving line and proceeded to work our way up the ramps to board the ship. Rooms aren't ready until 2:30 so we headed to the buffet which was very busy but we found a table and enjoyed some lunch. This was our 5th cruise. The Splendor is older but it was clean and I liked the decor others have complained about. We had a stateroom with a window on the 2nd floor that was more spacious than any balcony room we have had in the past. Our bed was very comfortable. Our stateroom was toward the back of the ship. We did anytime dining and were assigned the Black Pearl Dining room which was mid-ship. It was hard to navigate the ship to get there. We had to take an elevator to a different floor, walk awhile and then take a different elevator to get close to the Black Pearl. I found it harder to navigate around this ship than our previous cruises. Lots of extra walking until we figured it out! The Black Pearl Dining Room was very elegant with excellent service and good food. The Lido Buffet was good and was just an elevator ride to the 9th floor from near our room. The soft serve ice cream machine in the buffet was awesome! We could treat ourselves to a cone on these self serve machines at anytime! The premium internet package I purchased before the cruise didn't work. After complaining a couple times they didn't even argue about giving me my money back since they knew the internet connection was bad. I should have purchased the social package where you could communicate with others in your party and access Facebook. I would recommend this package if you are traveling with a group. This was the first cruise I didn't think our steward was the best. It was always his assistant greeting us by name and usually it was her I would see doing most of the work. I gave her a tip instead of him! Leon our cruise director was so much fun! He had so much energy, classy and also crazy clothing and a big smile when we would see him. His entertainment team were awesome too. They made the activities we attendend a lot of fun. The entertainment in the Spectacular Showroom was amazing! The 80's Pop to the Max, 88 Keys Rock N' Roll Piano Show, Studio VIP and Epic Rock productions had very detailed sets with creative stage props and impressive lighting. The floors on the stage moved up and down which surprised me since we were on a cruise ship. A grand piano was raised high and the cast were lowered underneath the floor at times. The costumes and singing and dancing were top notch and very entertaining. We thoroughly enjoyed the shows! They had 4 different comedians that did shows in the Punchliner Comedy Club. The shows were either family friendly or for adults only. We made it to see 3 of the comedians and enjoyed them all! Go alittle early for the adult shows to make sure you get a place to sit. There is a lot of seating but they usually filled up. They had a Hasbro Game Show where contestants were picked from the audience to compete and win prizes. It was giant versions of games that were played on the stage. If you have children on the cruise they could get picked to participate - adults too! Other activities included Hasbro oversized games to play in groups. Games like Clue, Yahtzee and Trival Pursuit. Times were listed in our Fun Times. There were lots of Trivia activities with fun themes, karoke, entertainment and dancing, so many things to keep the fun times going! Pick and choose what sounds the most fun to you. I looked forward to the craft classes but there was only one scheduled on this cruise. The fun team was late arriving and then proceeded to pass out bracelet kits, scissors and tape. They annouced that they knew nothing about this craft so don't ask them questions. Then they left us to figure it out ourselves. I am a very crafty person but this kit was not for beginners. It would have been nice to have someone helping us with the project like they have had on other cruises. On the pool deck they have a huge screen that you could watch current movies in the evenings. They pop popcorn during the movies but if you're used to butter or popcorn salt on your popcorn you will be disappointed. There is a retractable roof over the pool area but it wasn't needed during our cruise. I may have complained about a few things but overall we had a great time on this cruise and made some awesome memories! PORTS: CABO SAN LUCAS: They are not able to dock in the marina so tender boats bring everyone ashore. If you book a tour with the cruise ship you get priority to get off the ship. The numbers you needed to wait your turn to go ashore were hard to get a straight answer on where to find them the night before. They started around 10:30. We didn't get on land till almost 1pm. It was so hot by then! Our plan was to go on a boat tour to see the arch and there were guys everywhere ready to take you to a boat for $25 per person. The ocean was pretty wild this time of year but they sure know how to navigate those waves! There is a little part of the boat that was glass bottom and he took us to where there were fish to see. Besides the arch we saw some caves and a little beach in between the rocks where it is 2 different oceans on either side. They will drop you off at 2 different beaches if you are interested. You have to jump off the boat into the shallow water and then you have to get yourself back on when they come to pick you up. Lots of people were doing this but we had not planned on any beach time. We wish we would have had beach towels with us though as we got soaked with salt water on the rough ride to the 2 beaches before returning to the marina. We had a drink at Senior Frogs and did a little shopping but it was so hot we went back to the ship. The shops near Senior Frogs were high priced IMO. I was told if I had walked 2 blocks inland there was much better shopping. Maybe if it wasn't so hot! MAZATLAN: I booked a tour with Christian Mazatlan who was recommended in a post on TA. He was awesome! It was crazy stepping out of the cruise terminal where so many guys were after us to go on a tour with them, even after we told them we already booked one! Christian had warned us this would happen and said to just keep walking and there he was! He had sent me a picture of himself so I recognized him right away before I saw his sign with my name on it. We left on a city tour in his open air cab. He took us to some amazing places and shared a lot of the history with us. The Opera House, Cathedral, Onilikan Tequila Factory (with as many free samples as you'd like!), shopping square, scenic overlooks and the Malecon with the Mazatlan sign. We also walked by a leather factory that happened to be open. They do amazing work, it was like touring an art museum! We saw so many amazing things in Mazatlan! You can find Christian at mazatlanopenairdotcom. He is a top notch tour guide and is very reasonably priced! PUERTO VALLARTA: We didn't have a tour booked here but they had a booth set up selling $25 city tours in air conditioned vans. We needed 8 people and they already had a family of 4 waiting so our group of 4 joined them. There were all kinds of new vans parked but "our driver" pulled up in an older van. The van was ok but the AC barely worked and he left his window open most of the time. I was so hot! If you do this, I would recommend seeing the vehicle before paying! I don't think his English was the best as he answered my questions like I asked something else. He took us to a jewelry factory, a tequila factory (free samples), scenic overlooks, a beautiful rocky beach and dropped us off to walk along the Malecon Boardwalk. The last stop was the shopping square. This driver never opened the van doors for us to get out. My husband sat in the front and he was our door man. We didn't tip him much but he still seemed to be happy with our small tips. I tipped 4x as much in Mazatlan for much better service! Read Less

My very first time been on a cruise, overall was AMAZING the room, the service, the food, the activities. Leon the cruise director was a great motivator to keep up with the activities daily. The food was very variable, so fresh and delicious. DJ JD was pretty good playing all that fun music makes everybody dance keep it up!! !The bathrooms were so so clean, and every team member was so kind and helpful always smiling. The Latino group made my husband and i dance a lot when they played the Latin music. So many activities to do in just one day makes your day goes by fast. Our stateroom Steward HENDRA couldn't be more excellent Thank you so much for your great service and for remembering our names. we would love to see you again. Definitely my best birthday gift ever!!!! hopefully coming back soon enough. THANK YOU. xoxo Read Less

Leon was our cruise director and he was everywhere around the ship. We ran into him a lot and he gave us a complement. He said we were the first ones on board to stop and have a conversation with him. Every time we ran into him, he would say, how are you doing “lovely”. We never ran into anyone that was rude or didn’t speak to us. Fabulous crew! I would definetly like to take this cruise again as long as it has the same crew! Gerry has to plug in his CPAP at night and I had brought a power strip to plug it in but wouldn’t reach the bedside table. We asked Hendra our cabin steward if he could get us an extension cord and he went and got us one. To me that is “Service!” Thanks Hendra! The steakhouse staff, the dinning room staff and all of the cooks, servers and wait staff were always nice and courteous, much appreciated. Congratulations for a job well done to everyone aboard the Carnival Splendor! Read Less

We were given a lot of misinformation.. CONS: 1). We were told the buffet was 24/7. Not true. They shut down daily by a certain time. Everything has a schedule, some food vendors open early and close early. 2). Only 2 power outlets in room. One in restroom and 2nd next to bed. 3). Guest services (over the phone) some language barriers and they didn't pick up at times. Not sure if they close at certain times. 4). We were told every room comes with a fridge. Not true. They can provide u one if u have medications 5). We were told every room came with an iron. Not true. You had to take your close to another deck and iron it yourself there. 6). We were told there was a movie theater on board. Not true. PROS: 1). Team leader waiter Manoj in the Mardigra restaurant was by far the best. He went above and beyond to make sure I was pleased with my dinner. 2). Over all most staff on ship was professional and practiced good customer service. From food service to house keeping. Really good staff. 3). The ship overall was very well kept, clean including the public and personal restrooms. 4). A lot of food selection during the day and scheduled times. 5). A lot of eye candy. But my favorite eye candy was my wife. Dang she's hot. 6). Despite the misinformation my experience was very good. No rif raf or weird people that I could tell. I would definitely come back again. There's a lot of down time so pay attention to their app. It keeps you posted on weather, on board activities and schedules, including what food vendors are open. They had a stand up comedian who was funny, etc.. Read Less