Carnival Splendor Review
Carnival Splendor's last Mexican Riviera cruise
Rating by category
Additional details
First a little about myself. This is my 21st cruise overall, my ninth cruise with Carnival and my first cruise on the Splendor. I've been to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta four prior times. I booked this cruise for the ship. After this cruise it will do a two week cruise to Hawaii and then go around South America and end up in New York. I took a look at its New York itineraries and decided I would rather go to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta for a fifth time (besides, Long Beach is a drive to port for me). This cruise was original scheduled for six nights (more on that soon). I prefer one week or longer. I could have taken the prior cruise which was scheduled for a full week except that it spent two days in Cabo and I really didn't want to do that (though with the modified itinerary, that is exactly what I ended up doing anyway).
So I am at work on Friday, January 11 and I get a message to call my travel agent -- now. There can be only one reason for a message like. I figure that she is not going to inform me of the delivery of three million dollars as my share of the twelve million dollars that I earned helping some prince that I have never met smuggle out of some African country that I have never heard of. It has to be bad news, and it is. The Splendor is spending time in Puerto Vallarta to repair seals damaged by an underwater fishing net. I am trying to figure out what other kind of fishing nets there are, perhaps above water fishing nets to catch flying fish?
At any rate the repairs are taking longer than expected. The ship will arrive one day late. Okay, this is a drive to port for me, so I'll end up spending an extra day at home. I quickly realize things could be a lot worse. For example I could be on a ship that will arrive one day late, and have flight arrangements that are no longer good. Or, I could have driven to the port and be expecting a Sunday arrival, allowing me to be at work on Monday. Then I realize I could be flying to Los Angeles and suddenly need to make last minute changes to my flights or get a hotel for one extra night. So all in all, I'm in pretty good shape. It is also not lost on me that January 13 is the one year anniversary of the sinking of the Splendor's sister ship, owned by Costa.
Cabin Review
Balcony
The cabin is in a great location because it has cabins above, below and across the hall, thus very quiet. Also, walk forward a short distance and you are on one of the forward observation decks. Walk to the rear and you are next to the dome covered pool. Keep walking aft and you come to the buffet. Thus is is quiet and near the action. It only sleeps two. The two balcony cabins on either side of it sleep three.