My husband and I were first time cruisers and as you can tell by my user name our daughter works on the Splendor at this time. She booked the cruise for us at the family rate (hint: urge your kids to get jobs on cruise ships--the family rates are great!) Sadly our start was delayed for a day due to engine repairs--this was not Carnival's fault, some idiots from a country of unknown origin left illegal fishing nets in Puerto Vallarta which got tangled in the ship's propellers during the cruise before ours, so the ship had to stay an extra day there for repairs. So our cruise was shortened at the last minute to a 5 day instead of a six day one which was disappointing, but Carnival did their best to make up for this with a refund of the cost for the missed day, help rebooking flights for travellers, and $200.00 for either rebooked flight fees or in our case, since we were going early and did not have to change flights, they gave us the $200 to pay for an extra night at our hotel in Long Beach.

The first day was a bit chaotic--arriving on a different day than scheduled meant that the "Splendor" had to bump the arrival of another Carnival ship, the "Inspiration" to the San Pedro terminal, so half the Carnival staff had to go there to process them, and the Long Beach terminal, where we were, was short staffed so lines were long and exhausting to get on the ship. However, I talked to lots of frequent cruisers on the trip, and they all told me that lines on most of the cruises they had been on with various cruise lines, were always bad, so be warned!

Once we got on the ship though, our cruise was fantastic! Since the cruise was not full and some people cancelled when it was shortened by a day, we were able to get an upgrade from our original interior cabin, with no windows, to a really nice ocean view stateroom with a big window. Clean, attractive, comfortable bed, plenty of closets and drawers--we loved it! Read more