Carnival Splendor Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We left Kansas City, flying into Ft. Lauderdale, and had transportation take us to Miami, which was about a 30 minute drive. We had already gone on Carnival's website, and put ALL the info in that they needed to know before we boarded the ship. I had read that the Splendor had a LOT of pink, which it did, but then I don't mind that color. I have been on all sizes of ships, and I think this may have been a smaller ship, but we were still happy with it, and found through CC the BEST way to get to our dining room each evening. It sure saved a lot of time of winding around, etc., like I have done on all the other cruises I have been on.
For an older ship, it was very clean we found. We ate in the MDR, and the ones that waited on us, were the best. To top this off, almost every night, one of them would do a magic trick for us. I ask if the other tables get this, and they said no, so we were really pleased that we had them. The food was very good. I will say, if there was something not on the menu (example dessert), and we didn't find anything on the menu we wanted, and had had it earlier in the week, we could ask for that, and they would bring it to us. I will say the food was the RIGHT temperature, not worrying about it being too hot or too cold. The Lido deck has the buffet, as well as pizza and grill. The next deck up is the rotisserie area, and they have more room to sit there with other food too. There is also a burrito bar, Mongolian Wok, deli, ice cream, Taste Bar, that are all FREE to eat.
The entertainment in the theatre was the Best. The singing, dancing and costumes were really good. The Love & Marriage is always good to watch, as well as the ice carving. The Serenity for adults is a good place to relax, and they have great minature golf on the top deck. I will say ALL the personnel were very friendly, even if we were not in personal contact with them. There was two elegant nights on this ship, and some people did, others did not dress up. One thing I noticed that was PUSHY on the ship was at dinner time, they were always wanting people to buy liquor. I know on some ships, they are pushy to have people take pictures, but they were not this way on the Splendor. I forgot to mention, a couple times during our evening meal, they would have entertainment, which was good to hear, or be involved in.
Cabin Review
Interior
We had a nice inner room on deck 1, or called the Rivera deck. As you can expect, it was a little cramped for two people, but we found different ways to make it more comfortable for us. We either put our luggage in the closet, or under the bed. There were plenty of hangers if needed, although I always bring what clothes that need to be on hangers, already on hangers. There was body and hair shampoo in the shower if you want to use it. My friend decided to use this shampoo (I had brought my own)in the shower and was very pleased with it, so I did the same, and found it was good to.e is ONLY one plug in, so we had to take turns plugging in our cell phones, etc., but it all worked out. There is a hair dryer and I found it worked good for me. A small vault came in handy too. A small refrigerator, but I really don't think it kept things very cool, but we really didn't need it, as we ASK for a bucket of ice, and Wyan always had it ready for us. Very nice big/warm robes are waiting for you, if you want to use them. Best of all, I am a child at heart, so I LOVE the towel animals they have waiting on the beds for us when we return for the evening. I failed to mention that the shower is fine, but it does FOG up the mirror pretty bad, if you want to see/use it when getting right out of the shower. Plenty of closet space to hang things up, of need to.
Port Reviews
Half Moon Cay
We visited Half Moon Cay by tender, and before we could get there, oh my, it looked like someone had put food coloring into the water, as there were so many beautiful colors. Half Moon Cay is very nice, although I was unable to see all of it, as my friend could not take the humidity. There was a nice area for the children to play in, and a nice small church with a few pews, and very cool sitting there, looking out either door to see HMC. Carnival served a very nice lunch, and there were several activities that were to go on (sack race, sand sculptures), but we were unable to stay, and went back to the ship.