This was our third cruise with Carnival, and hands down the worst. If you are a smoker or unfazed by the pervasive smell of cigarettes, this cruise is great. They allow smoking in the casino, casino bar and the lounge areas nearby Deck 5 midship. As a result, Deck 5 midship is saturated with cigarette and cigar smoke. Additionally, we saw vaping twice in line at the Black Pearl restaurant, and no staff seems to notice or care. We have not experienced this On our other recent cruises (Celebrity and Holland, as well as other Carnival ships) and therefore were totally surprised with the liberal smoking policy on Splendor. This ship is getting pretty old. We noticed much wear on the outside wooden railings and also on the surfaces of the aft swimming pool. Also, at times our stateroom sink water ran brown. The positives: the food was excellent as was the wait staff. We ate in the Black Pearl all seven nights and thoroughly enjoyed the selection and the quality of all our dinners. Breakfast in the Gold Pearl was wonderful, as well. The Lido buffet was perfect for lunches, too. Bedding was very comfortable and everything in our oceanview stateroom was very nice, except for the brown sink water. Waiters and serving staff were wonderful. Bottom line, we totally enjoyed the food and service throughout the ship. Ports: all three Mexican ports were a pleasure. The locals residents were very nice and when we said no, they were accepting and respectful. The harbor side walk in Cabo was surprisingly clean and we felt very safe. Highly recommend a boat ride out to the arch where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortes. Amazing. We spent our day in Mazatlan at a hotel pool, which was perfect. In Puerto Vallarta we took an all day tour, including a seaside lunch of fresh fish and driving through several neighborhoods along Banderas bay. Beautiful town. In summary, except for the stench of cigarettes throughout midship Deck 5 and the very noticeable wear on this ship, we enjoyed this 7 day cruise. But, we will inquire before our next cruise regarding inside smoking policies, and never again cruise on a ship that allows it in the public areas as Splendor does. Read Less

A bit of background: My family and I have been taking various cruise ships with this similar itinerary from Los Angeles since the Viking Serenade sailed here (yes, that long ago). We do not get off the ship anymore, experiencing the ship is what we like to do. We've been on Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Alaska many times. Seasoned cruisers. BLUF: If you are currently booked on this ship, set your expectations **very** low, especially if you are seasoned cruiser. If you are not booked - do not book. Wait until Panorama comes or go on an entirely different line like Princess. Pay the extra money - it is well worth it. Highlights: Embarkation: We had assistance with embarkation/muster because we were traveling with a special needs person. Carnival did well with this. Dining room wait staff: Great and personable. Food was good, not exceptional, but good. No complaints. Zaya and Lena were great. And now, the lowlights: Parking: **NOTE** if you are going to park your car at the dock, the staff may direct you to an offsite structure. They told me to park "at Walmart." There is no Walmart. The next attendant said the structure is on 6th & Pine, but actually, it is past Pine on 6th street. There is NO signage directing you to this structure. No staff. I only found it because I happened to see a tour bus driving to it. Do a park & cruise at a local hotel instead - you'll be glad you did. Cabin: Filthy the moment we stepped on board. Layer of dust on the glasses/tray (I ran my finger through it), hair stuck to the shower wall, dried sauce (I hope it was sauce) on the small nightstand, and spare blankets stored under the bed that smelled like urine. No exaggeration - maybe a baby peed on it. Spoke to the steward, told him we thought the room had been skipped, and then they re-cleaned it. We never did get replacement spare blankets. In addition, no hot water - TWICE. We have never, ever, experienced cold showers on a cruise. First night was formal night! They fixed it while we were at dinner, after we had taken cold showers. Next night, same thing. I was livid to have to call again. It was fixed again. A fruit basket (filled with fruit that you could get from Lido) and a cheap bottle of champagne were sent. It was a gesture, but a small, very cheap gesture. Why not flowers? Why not chocolate strawberries? Something??BTW - my husband went to the spa to shower and said they had cold water too. :-( Ship quality: The ship is literally falling apart. All the mosaic tiles in any outdoor area are falling off the walls/steps. Everywhere. The decor is really harsh on the eye, and very dated. Silver foil wallpaper with pink polka dots and grey zebra-stripes. Seats are worn out in the Lido buffet. Wait staff: With the exception of the dining room service, the rest of the staff all seem tired, bothered, and even argumentative at times. On past cruises, everyone was treated like royalty and staff were personable and fun. Not the case here. It also seemed like the pool and main showroom were extremely short staffed. Not a waiter in sight. Camp Ocean: Our son went every night for two hours after dinner. The staff seemed friendly and energetic. The only drawback was that one staffer used a megaphone to talk to the children, which our son is sensitive to. It wouldn't bother other kids, but it wasn't great for ours. Breakfast in room: Not one order was correct. There was always something missing or cheapened. For example, cereal but no milk. Hot water carafe but only one teabag. They were usually on time, however. Entertainment: Tolerable. No orchestra during live shows. Only single or duo acts with one or two instruments, many with a pre-recorded soundtrack to play along to. They perform on the Promenade deck, not in any lounge. Cheap. Please note that if your cabin is anywhere near the atrium, there will be a full band singing on the 3rd floor and you will hear every note. Likewise for deck 6 fwd cabins, where you can hear both shows - speakers are situated right under the cabins. We did not go to bed until at least 11p every night of the cruise (which wasn't the greatest for our son). Shuttle post-cruise: The bus driver passed the street where he should have turned right for the lot. Instead of turning around, he made a left at the next street and proceeded to get on the 710 freeway. It wasn't until us passengers yelled out asking where he was going that he finally admitted it was his first day on the job and he was lost. Had no idea where he was going. The passengers GPS'd him to lot A. Really poor. We just could not believe our trip was ending on an even lower note. Special needs: On our last cruise with the Miracle, Dario, the Head Purser, gave us excellent personalized service throughout the cruise, even going so far as to call us every single day to see that we were doing alight. He escorted us onto the tenders without tickets. He escorted us off the ship at debarkation. All we got on the Splendor was a general welcome letter from the rep saying we should call if we need something. Disappointing. Summary: We still love cruising, yet this was the most disappointing one we have ever been on. This ship isn't scheduled for dry-dock until 2019 which is staggering, as it's on it's last legs. It should have been scrapped after the major disaster in 2010. Please, if you haven't booked yet, do yourself (and your family) a favor and save up a little more to go on another cruise line or wait until Panorama makes its debut. We will be doing the same. Read Less

We stay on 8th floor and I would recommend to get a room with a balcony. since 1st day you will spend sailing on sea and the second two last days will spend at sea. Balcony give you a chance to have private time to read or meditating without all the interruption /noises that surrounding you from the public and you can lie in bed watching the sea through the window of the balcony. It was kinda hectic trying to get to the right port and find parking but , it's smooth sailing from there because once you get off parking elevator, a worker who direct you to the porter for your luggages then off to the dome for complete checking in. Embarkation went smooth and fast. Once you are on the ship, there will be two elevators exclusively that will take you directly to the lido deck for lunch and unwind. They have your room ready by 13:30PM with the keys in the sealed envelope by the door so you can wind down before dinner. The safety briefing was more organized and also went smoothly since we don't have to carry the life jacket with us like we used too. Dinner was ok, food can be better but we have servers Jan and two others names I did not catch since it was hard to remembered but they are all sweet, attentive and trying to give you what you needs and more. Our room is always clean by Paublo and Sarah. In fact all the workers there work very hard and non stopped. Some are more sweet than others but ours I feel were the best in what they do. They do make you feel like family even though it is only 7days cruise. The nightly entertainment is lovely, it was part of our high light to end the night. Only complaints I have is I wish it was longer. Our cruise director Leon, he is so funny and always lively. Shopping deck was decent , I just browse through and couldn't find anything that really catch my eyes -We did buy the bubble program( all the sodas you can drink) but i think I will skip that next time since it is not worth the money and you have to stay in line at the bar to wait for bar tender to get you the drink ,you will still have to sign for the slip plus tips each time you get a soda, only time you don't have to sign any slip is when you are at dinner time . -Excursion wise, we like the sea safari by Vallarta adventures the best in Puerto Vallarta because you get to ride on speed boat, ,horses, swim under waterfall, snorkeling, beach and have a nice buffet lunch with open bar all in one excursion. Mazalan we took the city tour and it was ok since we briefly learn the rich history of the town has to offer and we did have some nice photo shots Cabos was too hot, the best part was the water taxi that took us from the ship to the port but because of the limited time and weather was so hot we did not last more than one hour there before we went back on the ship -Pictures galore and you can not escape from buying less than one to bring back home for memories Disembarkation went quick as well since they allow you to take your suitcases along when checking out. We got out and to our car by 8:45AM instead around noon like it was before. I truly enjoy this lay out of itinerary since it allow me to relax/rest before the ports and after the ports Read Less

The service on the cruise was outstanding. My waiter Ciprian or chip was amazing always made sure we had everything we needed. Everyone on the cruise was very welcoming handbags helpfu. Getting on and off the ship went very smoothly. There was 8 of us that cruises on the splendor, they always made sure to give us all the space we needed. The cruise gave us options once you got off the ship such as excursions and restaurants to go eat at or see. Entertainment on the ship was amazing. The shows on the ship they would do we’re so much fun and you could even talk to the cast afterwards. They were so sweet and fun to be around. The comedy shows we’re hilarious and they had family shows too so everyone can watch them. Certain nights they would hold deck parties and play music and just dance all night. On other nights they would hold movies out on the deck where everyone could lay out and watch them it was awesome. Read Less

I love Carnival and I have been 3 times in the past 8 yrs and I have every minute of it. when my family came up with the decision to do a cousins cruise I said let do carnival and we did, it was 15 of us and we had a fabulous time hands down and doing it again in 2020. I loved the staff they took very good card of us and keep the room clean and was always there when we needed something. At dinner we had great service (Golden Pearl Table 556 & 558 our servers were IDB Bagus, Victor & Shirly) I give them a 110% they gave us the best service ever and made my son's 21st Bday special. The only negative thing is that we had to pay for our souvenir cup separate when it was normally included in the price, other then that we were very happy. Sincerely Robin, Las Vegas Read Less

I chose this cruise because a friend wanted to celebrate his 30th birthday and that we definitely did! The ship itself is definitely tacky, but it's a cruise so I did not mind any of it at all. The pool area was TINY. I knew this from looking at pictures and the map prior, but it is tiny. The bars were great. ALL OF THEM. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE BARS I ENJOYED. For obvious reason. The main dining room was hit or miss with all entrees. The buffet was hit or miss with most things. The room service was very much a miss most of the time. However, Guy's burgers was pretty delicious. I wish I made more of an effort to eat there more often. The only show we caught was the lady comedy show. The comedian was extremely vulgar and borderline racist, but it was absolutely OKAY. My tip for this show is to let go of all of your ethnics, morals, and values for this 15-20 min skit, knowing that is all for jokes and humor. And you'll have a great time! We went to the nightclub every night and had a blast on most. Not much to say here because there usually isn't much to remember. The worst part of this trip was certain interactions with other guests. You will have your fair share of super sweet, friendly guests, but we encountered a handful of guests who were indeed out of line. Granted they were most definitely inebriated but that does not give anyone the right to treat other people the way they treated some of my friends. I would go into specifics but for the privacy of my friends, I will not. Overall, I had a great time. I came back on a Monday. It is currently the Tuesday right after, and I am still tired. ZZzzzzzzz..... Read Less

Needed a cruise that began and ended in the week of 7/16. This was the one available. When we take short cruises, we often like to go Carnival. they really do provide the most fun. Particularly as the end of the day.. This ship had 2 late night comics, that were hilarious. When I go on Princess and other lines, once the main show is over, there isn't much to do, unless you like gambling or dancing. Many people say that the food on Carnival isn't very good. That hasn't been our experience. While not the gourmet food one finds on some of the Luxury lines, it is more as good as most of the other ships we travel on. Our cabin service, as well as our food servers were outstanding. No issues with service. I've had much more difficulty with the service on Princess, which I usually take. Others providing excellent service include the pool bar staff, and the Customer Service desk. Read Less

We just got back from our first cruise on with Carnival on board the Carnival Splendor leaving out of Long Beach CA & traveling the Mexican Rivera - I found the experience to be in line with expectations but nothing amazing. We had previously only cruised with Norwegian on their Gem class ships & found that while the Splendor technically had everything we needed - it didn't wow us or really have anything outstanding. The Splendor seemed to be missing out a few key things for us; public spaces (a lot of the public area on the Splendor is near the Casino & smells of smoke), dining options (felt very limited & that we were pushed to the buffet, which we avoid at all costs), & the Spa experience (the layout on this ship makes it less than ideal - not very relaxing, multiple disconnected rooms, & noisy). The ports on this cruise seemed like good options initially, but once in port I found that I didn't actually enjoy them much. Cabo is not my scene at all, the trip & time at Medano Beach was not relaxing - way too many vendors attempting to sell things. Mazatlan didn't look appealing based upon where we docked, so we stayed on ship that day & did spa treatment. In Puerto Vallarta we found the location of the dock in relation to the things we wanted to see less than ideal & once on the beach area encountered the same issue with vendors approaching us during a meal. I'm sure that many people enjoy these ports (as evidenced by younger members of our party) but they just aren't for me. So what did I like? Since everything above seems mostly blah. The entertainers on board were great. The style of shows (basically a musical mashup) was well put together & performed. They managed to keep the attention of a wide age range & made some of my less favorite songs enjoyable. The Fun Staff were very nice & approachable throughout the week. They made us feel welcomed & engaged during trivia, events, etc. They really work hard to keep you entertained during those sea days. The Staff overall was very nice & warm. The bar-tenders get to know you and your preferred drink within 1-2 days. The dining staff address you by name & know what types of dishes you might like, how you want your baked potato, etc. The Embarkation & Disembarkation process is VERY smooth at the long beach terminal. In comparison to the way that we checked in/boarded in Seattle & New York this was much quicker & focused on less waiting around. All in all it was an ok experience - nothing outstanding happened (other than discovering that the Mexican Rivera might not be for me) BUT it fit into our schedule & allowed us to spend time with same family who were also on board. I'm in no rush to take another Carnival cruise, but wouldn't discourage others from going on board as long as they have realistic expectations. Read Less

My son and his wife who live in China were home here in Southern California for a visit and they treated me to this Mexican Riviera cruise. I've taken this itinerary before and like the fact that we didn't have to fly anywhere to board the ship. Before sailing I read many of the passenger reviews of the Splendor and noted that there were a lot of negative comments. Many of these complaints were about the decor of the ship and things that wouldn't bother me so I didn't let that affect my attitude. I disagree that the ship looks "tired", as that wasn't my experience at all. We had an oceanview cabin on the Riviera deck which was spacious enough for all three of us. Our cabin steward (Erfan) was awesome and always had our room made up quickly. My daughter-in-law was enchanted with the towel animals! I thought the food was just okay. I remember the dining room selections being a little better than they are now, but every night I found something that wasn't bad. Our wait staff was very good, especially Sorina, but the service was a little slow coming from the galley. The Lido Deck food was actually better than I remember from before. The most popular food was the Mongolian Wok but the lines were so long that I never tried it. Breakfast had many choices. Carnival really needs to get a better brand of coffee, though. It wasn't good. Shore excursions booked with Carnival are WAY overpriced. We found the same or similar excursions in the ports that were much cheaper. I definitely would recommend taking the excursion to Yelapa from Puerto Vallarta. We used the Beachboy company and it was a lot of fun. There is really only one thing I can think of that needs improvement and that is the Cruise Director. We had this annoying British woman called "JJ" who had this raspy hoarse voice that was very hard to understand, she stumbled over her scripts and was generally just horrible. I hope that Carnival replaces her. I would cringe every time I heard her over the loudspeakers! Entertainment was just so-so. The big production shows featured a lot of singing and dancing; the dancing was good but the voices were not. The late night comedian wasn't very funny. Embarkation and debarkation was efficient and now that they allow you to take your luggage off the ship yourself it takes WAY shorter of a time. Read Less

Overall, not impressed. The cabin was the worst part of the trip. It was incredibly cramped, the lights would have to sort of warm up and flicker to life on a delay, there was only one power outlet, and the bathroom was very poor. The bathroom was so cramped we had to sit mostly sideways on the toilet to use it, and the shower head was busted in two ways. It would constantly swing downward and needed to be held up half the time in use, and the head itself was partially damaged and was spewing a lot of water out of the seams. Also, the walls may as well have been paper. I could hear everything in the hall and the room next door. Every conversation, every person walking down the hall... Every time my neighbors decided to go at it in the bed... The staff was mostly fine, but guest services was not. I went looking for some dramamine and the stores were closed, so I asked guest services about some and they told me to go to the stores. I told them the stores were closed and they told me that they were open. Now, the store that sells dramamine is directly visible from the guest services booth. The gate was closed, the lights were off. I pointed this out and was still told that the store was open. It wasn't. It didn't open for another hour. I didn't use my steward, he seemed like a good guy. Food was okay. The fine dining is quality, but portions were skimpy. I ordered the grilled chicken with red potatoes. Should read Red Potato. The chicken breast was sized okay, but I got half of a typical red potato, cut in half. That's embarrassing. The same portion control was present in the buffet, with premium items like bacon, pork loin, ham, or roast beef. If you asked for any of those, you'd be doled out an extremely small portion, and servers were reluctant to keep cutting you more, though they would if pushed. The breakfast buffet was very unimpressive. Both mornings I tried it, the pancakes were cold, even when I grabbed them right after they were put out. The eggs were cold the first time, and only mildly warm the second. The butter offered is not suitable for use with pancakes or french toast as it is served chilled and is very hard to spread on food that isn't warm to begin with. Some of the amenities that are advertised are a LOT less than Carnival will lead you to believe. The Arcade especially is a total joke. It's by majority very shifty prize games to milk people for money. Very few actual games, and it's all jammed in a very cramped and uninviting space. The Carnival website leads you to believe that their arcades are actual arcades. This doesn't qualify. I've seen run down bowling alleys with more significant arcade offerings. The pool is not large or especially good. THE WI FI IS TERRIBLE. It's extremely expensive, and even with their best, fastest service, I was finding myself without connection over much of the ship, and when I did have connection, it was sloooooooooow. Sub dial up slow at times. It took 11 minutes to load a page, and it didn't even load any images from that page. It's a shameful ripoff. Overall, I don't intend to sail this ship again. Read Less