We received this cruise as a gift. We were hesitant about how we would like being help captive on a boat with 3,600 other people. We are an active family -- our lives don't revolve around eating -- so you can see that we figured out that cruising isn't for us. We did not enjoy standing long buffet lines waiting to eat mediocre food. We thought of the ship as a floating cafeteria. The pools are useless -- they are tiny and always filled with people. The decks get very slippery and I fell twice, both with plates of food in my hands. That ruined my trip for me as I was sore the rest of the time. The service and the shows were 5+ stars.....and that's all I can say positively about this cruise. We spoke to the cruise director briefly and he suggested we consider cruising again but on a smaller ship, with less time getting to our destinations (2.5 days from NYC to Grand Turk).

As far as the Splendor goes, we loved that we could just drive to NYC and hop on the ship! The decor is tacky but you soon get used to it. Our cabin was huge, it was a basic oceanview on the lowest level of the ship. Impeccably clean, plenty of space, and a hot high-pressured shower. The food was mediocre except for their desserts. Chocolate bar...amazing. My kids hated the kids club, they went for one hour and busted out. They really forgot to make a plan to cater to 11 year olds. The most awesome thing my kids wanted to do was go to the 12 year old club at night -- they were not allowed in. My kids had nothing to do for 5 of the 8 days of cruising.