I've read a lot of reviews of our ship prior to sailing to find out what everyone thought and to give us a good idea of what to expect. We are veteran "Frequent Floaters" with 12 cruises under or belts (Carnival, RCCL, Princess). After just completing our Christmas cruise aboard the Splendor (12/20/09), I realize that some of the reviews are accurate, and some are just plain hateful. I will write as honest and detailed a review of our cruise as I can with hopes that it helps some of you to better prepare for your upcoming cruise aboard Splendor. Embarkation and Debarkation were the most simple and streamlined process that we have ever experienced on any cruise line. Carnival really had this process down at our Long Beach terminal. Since we live in Orange County, we didn't have to fly in or stay in a hotel prior to sailing. We were called by Carnival 2 days before our sail date and told that we should arrive around 2PM for boarding. I always like to be there a little early and get on the ship as soon as I can, so we arrived at 1PM. No problem. There was plenty of curbside drop off area and signs to the terminal and drop off areas were well placed. As a suggestion, to streamline your boarding process, I suggest that you get a porter as quickly as possible (that's pretty easy as they are curbside to assist you when you pull up) and let them handle your bags. If you have your luggage tags on each piece of luggage when you arrive, the process goes much faster. If you need luggage tags, they can help you with that as well. I tip $3 per bag and let them go from there. Our bags always arrive at our rooms in tact and well taken care of. Once your bags are taken care of, walk over to the terminal building (white dome - former home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose airplane) and a Carnival official will direct you to a line to enter the terminal. Once inside, there is plenty of people to assist you and direct you to open gate attendants to help you complete your on board registration (shipboard account, issuance of sign and sail cards, etc). The entire process from curbside drop off to walking on the gangway to board the ship took about 20 minutes. It was extremely efficient. Debarkation was just as fast and just as efficient. We had #1 debarkation tags on our luggage, but we waited and had breakfast before getting off the ship. Customs is fairly fast and easy. One official checks your passport, and another checks your customs declarations. Quick and simple. Debarkation from the time we punched our sail and sign card for the last time aboard ship took about 15 minutes. The Splendor is a beautiful ship. Aside from the newly launched Carnival Dream, Splendor is the newest ship in the Carnival fleet. There was a lot of talk about all the pink on the ship. Maybe because it was Christmas and there was a lot of Christmas type decorations on-board, it didn't overwhelm you. It was actually quite subtle. All of the lounges, casino, Splendor auditorium, restaurants, and common areas were clean, comfortable, and in great condition. The entire ship was constantly being cleaned by the crew and there were hand sanitizer stations all over the ship. It was nice to see many people actually using them too. The Christmas Cruise sailed at 102% capacity. Not one room was available. I was told that they calculate capacity by the number of rooms and guests. Each room is equal to 2 guests, but some rooms have 3 or 4 per room. That's how you can get 102% capacity. Of the 3,000 passengers we had on board, 1,200 were children. The ship is so large, and Carnival did a great job of keeping them occupied, that we didn't realize there were that many children on the ship. Most all were well behaved and respectful. Even the teenagers and young adults (20 somethings), seemed well mannered. All the families on board were there to have a little fun and a memorable vacation. I think everyone got off with the experience they came for. We did and it was great. Every single staff member that we met (from bus boys bussing tables to our room steward) were friendly, happy and a pleasure to deal with. We didn't run into one grumpy employee and didn't get attitude from anyone during the cruise. We ate in the Black Pearl dining room (there are two dining rooms: Black Pearl and Gold Pearl. They are the same with the Gold Pearl being at the stern of the ship and the Black Pearl being a little more forward). Food was good and our dining staff (Oksunna and Snizhana from the Ukraine) were excellent. If I could have taken them off the ship and brought them home, I would have done so. It was a teary good bye on the last sailing night, but we exchanged e-mails so we will keep in touch. We also ate in the Pinnacle Steak House and the Lido buffet. The Pinnacle Steak House had wonderful steaks and seafood, but the evening we ate there, our food was slightly over cooked. Food from the Black Pearl dining room was prepared perfectly. We all commented that the evening we had lobster in the Black Pearl dining room, it was the best we've ever had. Prepared flawlessly. Note: Dining in the Pinnacle Dining Room will take about 2 1/2 hrs. We were warned and I didn't think it was possible, but our dinner took exactly 2 1/2 hrs. It didn't seem like we waited long in between courses, but the evening was relaxing and a pleasure. The Lido buffet had everything from rotisserie chicken to the stand by pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers. Breakfast, lunch, and late night snacks (pizza, hamburger, or hot dog) hit the spot. The burrito station, sushi bar, deli sandwich station, pasta station and morning omelet station are definite must eats. Juices are very (I mean very) sweet. Coffee is good, but the iced tea is bitter. Our balcony stateroom was on deck 8. I would not recommend this deck as it is immediately below the Lido deck (deck 9). The Lido Pool, cafeteria's, outdoor theatre, bars, etc are on this deck. Our room was just below the tables next to the pizza kitchen. You could hear Charis being scooted around all night above you (thank goodness the tables are bolted down). It was annoying, but I couldn't change it, so we just grinned and bear ed it. The noise is akin to having an upstairs in your house or apartment and having someone move around all night. Not enough to drive you crazy, but enough for you to know it's there. Next time, it's deck 7 as there are only rooms above you. The rooms are well insulated from cabin to cabin. We never heard our neighbors. My one complaint is that there are only 2 decks (5 and 9) that you can navigate from bow to stern. Even on the last day, we had to search for a way to get down to the lobby on deck 3 to debark. There are plenty of elevators and stairs, but depending on which set you took, you could end up somewhere different each time. Usually, I can get the layout of a ship rather quickly. Not on this ship. I was confused until the last day. The Casino wasn't too bad with cigarette smoke. Although this is one of the places where smoking is allowed, it wasn't real bad. The Sports Bar was ridiculous with smoke. I couldn't stay in there for any longer than the time it took to walk through it. The Casino staff was friendly and helpful. My sons have never gambled before, but they learned how to play Blackjack, Roulette, 3 Card Poker, and some slots. They quickly realized that Blackjack and Roulette were there games. They each won about $300 over the week of the cruise playing these table games. My wife commented that the slots seemed loose the first night out. The same machines the rest of the cruise didn't pay off as often. The Serenity Deck (adults only) is a very quiet, relaxing area to sit and enjoy the sun and the view. It's away from the masses and is quite pleasant. My wife, daughter-in-law, and son enjoyed the Cloud 9 Spa. They had massages, facials, manicures, and pedicures. They enjoyed the staff and had a wonderful time each visit. Ports of Call were Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. This was our 4th Mexican Riviera cruise, so we did things we haven't done before at each port. In Puerta Vallarta, we did the Bandaras Bay Sail and Snorkel excursion. It was fantastic. We saw 8 or 10 whales in the bay (we saw whales from mid-Baja around Guadalupe Island all the way down to Puerta Vallarta)and the captain and mate on the sailboat were entertaining. In Mazatlan, I booked a private tour with Mazatlan Frank. He had one of his drivers meet us at the cruise terminal and pick us up in a newer full size van. There were only 5 of us and the van had plenty of room. This was by far the best excursion of our trip. We saw more of Mazatlan in one day than we have in 3 previous cruises here. I would highly recommend contacting Mazatlan Frank to book your tour. It is not through the ship, but he guarantees to get you back to the ship on time. They know the drill and are really good about making sure you are safe, comfortable, and satisfied. Cabo San Lucas is always too short a port of call. It was a little disappointing this year as many places were closed (it was Christmas day when we arrived). The bars and restaurants around the marina were open so it wasn't a total bust. It was however, the highlight of our trip for my wife. She got to hold baby lion cubs (one was about 9 weeks old and the other was about 6 months old). We have many pictures that will be memories for ever for my wife. Now, she's talking Costa Rica to hold a baby monkey. Sheesh. All in all our cruise was a great time. This was our daughter-in-laws first cruise and now she's hooked for life. She made friends aboard from the Ukraine, Australia, Canada, Jamaica, and Japan. We're already planning a Costa Rica cruise. I can't wait to go. Best of luck to you all. I hope everyone has as good a time on their cruise as we did on ours.