The Carnival Splendor was a great value for the money. An inside cost me under $400 for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise in November. The main negative was they refused me their anytime dining saying they were "overbooked." I didn't like the early dining the first night, so I settled for the late, 8:15 hour in Gold Pearl aft. I usually can't eat that late, but it turned out great. Fairly empty. Good waiters, and fun. Some of the problems of this ship was having to get from forward to aft by going 2 decks above or below 3 where they foolishly put the Black Pearl restaurant to block easy access. Another problem was you could not see the bow of the ship easily. This is definitely not an Alaskan type of ship.

The decor was pleasant and low keyed. Carnival is skimping on the entertainment. They converted a beautiful club, The Cool, into a cigar bar. No one was ever in there. Like other Carnival ships, all the clubs were on 5 aft, with one on 4 aft. That was The Moroccan, which is their Punchliner Comedy Club. They had 3 comedians on board at times, so there was some variety there, if you like today's comedy.

The main theater was lacking in good entertainment. They presented 3 production shows with the kids in the cast, and one terrible hypnotist. One of the cast shows was cancelled without notice. Read more