Carnival Splendor Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Let me first say that I was very apprehensive about taking this cruise. My husband and I are in our mid 50's and I was taking my parents who are in their late seventies. The only other cruise we took in the past was with Holland America to Bermuda and it was a very lovely time. The impression I always got from a Carnival cruise was that it was a huge party ship with people that were crazy, drunk 24/7, and loud so I never had an interest in booking a cruise with Carnival. My daughter and son-in-law went on this cruise at the beginning of May. They came back and said what a wonderful time they had and that we really should try it. Because we live in Connecticut about a little over an hour from New York City we decided let's give it a try.
Clearly the decor of the Carnival Splendor is not to my taste however, as the week went on I got used to it. We had a balcony stateroom which also was a Cloud 9 room so we were able to access the spa at any time. The Cloud 9 spa saunas and warming rooms and whirlpool were just amazing. My husband who is a cheap accountant didn't want two spend extra money for the room but at the end of the trip he said it was well worth the money because he enjoyed the spa so much. And he normally is not one who wants to go to a spa.
I don't understand the people who are complaining about the food. There was always something for everyone. If you couldn't find anything that you liked, maybe it was because you weren't looking hard enough. When we ate dinner at the Black Pearl, there was always a set menu plus an additional daily menu. For lunch when you ate on the Lido area of the buffet you also could go to the aft of the ship and have deli sandwiches which included wraps, panini, etc.. Or you could go to the Tandoori line were they had lovely Indian food. The lines were never really horrible, you would probably be fed within 10 minutes. The only thing I ever saw that had a big line was the Mongolian wok. My husband had to wait about 20 minutes but then again you have all day to eat so what's the big deal?