An honest Splendor review 1/13/2013

[travelexplore3]

Thanks for your honest apprasial of what happened on your cruise. It certainly sounded like a mess, but things do happen out of everybodies control.

 

agreed. It's unfortunate that this was our first and last taste of carnival. I read good reviews and bad reviews of all ships, and each person has their own experience they walk away with. SOme chose to post reviews and others do not.

[travelexplore3]

They don't cancel cruises unless there is a real disaster, like a hurricane or the ship catching on fire or sinking. Have you ever tried to organize 3000 people off a ship and another 3000 on in a limited time span?

The carnival rep actually told us there was a chance they could cancel altogether and they would let us know the decision at 4p.m. 2 days prior to sail. I have not tried to organize that many people on and off ships, however NCL and Disney and RCCL seem to do it just fine without a 3 hour wait to board. Besides if everyone investigates before speaking smart remarks you will see that both ships were NOT sharing the same port or slips. Splendor was is Long Beach and the other ship was rerouted to San Pedro. There was no confussion to be had...had carnival communicated that to the passangers of the other ship at san pedro who were arriving at long beach unaware their port was changed. (I felt horrible for them) But indeed that was not the hold up, neither was anyother reason others have listed, we found out once on board from guest services that the hold up was there was only 3 people there to check in 3000 passangers....and there was only a handful of people that showed up to do security, that was the issue. We were not waiting for people to disembark since the ship actually arrived at 5am and passangers were off by 8am is what we were told. We never saw ANYONE exiting the terminal when we arrived, just 3000 people upset trying to figure out why no one was boarding.

[CanWeGoYet?]

That does sound like a miserable embarkation. I am surprised though that guest services reimbursed you on the spot for the damaged luggage. Wasn't it likely done by the porters, and they are not ship employees - they are employed by the port I thought.

 

I saw lots of vegetarian items on the menu in the MDR, at least 1 entree a night & lots of appetizers, soup & salad. As you have taken many cruises before, you know the menu would change nightly. But I agree with the person who said it would be helpful to have a set dining time when your dietary needs are different. The wait staff typically work very hard to make sure the passengers are happy with the service. I've never opted for Your Time Dining yet, maybe that is part of why I've always had decent service.

 

I think if you are unhappy with the service, as you were, I can understand not wanting to the tip the recommended amount. Or maybe if I had tried to get my dissatisfaction resolved and even that failed - I might feel justified in totally pulling my tips. Don't know, I am not someone who has ever chosen to stiff the people who wait on me. But it sounds like you never communicated what you were unhappy with to your steward, or his supervisor, or to your wait staff, maitre d', etc during your cruise while the service deficiencies could have been resolved. Telling guest services at the end of your cruise, as you are pulling your tips does not count.

 

Several times the cabin steward did not get our cabin serviced in the AM, this is because my son is a bed slug and the cleaning staff are not allowed in the cabin until the passengers have vacated. But they sure tried, they knocked on the door asking when they could clean, & when I said he's still sleeping they didn't give up. I saw them waiting in the hall to clean - it isn't normal at all for the cabin steward to skip your cabin and not want to do his job.

To me it sounds like you weren't happy with things, and chose to keep it to yourself. Some people are relieved to find the problem that justifies pulling their tips. They would rather say "AHA this was where they messed up" and never try to resolve it, because then they can save $ on tips and it was someone else's fault - not their own choice. That's my hunch. As you have said many times in your review, you have a right to your opinion. And others have a right to theirs.

[richstowe]

Your repeated posts, including the one above, clearly demonstrates now, that for whatever reason, you are deliberately not telling the whole truth and so therefore, I give no weight at all to any part (initially there was some) of your “honest” review anymore. There is so much slanted info in the above reply alone.

 

 

so you can scream and rant and rave at me too, for the things i have said in this post, because i can see you don't take kindly to not being agreed with. It's not gonna change my mind one bit.

Brilliant step by step dismantling of the OPs distortions and fabrications.

I don't have the energy or inclination to lay it all out so clearly and systematically but applaud you for your efforts.

 

Bravo. :)

[funinthesun1964]

Sorry that your cruise didn't go well for you, we loved the Splendor and have great memories of the trip.

 

I guess we have been lucky, in six cruises we have never missed a port, had no problems with embarkation, never lost luggage or had it damaged.

But - we have had rain when we had an excursion planned in a port -- things happen.

 

I don't think Carnival deliberately intended to give you a bad cruise - they were willing to refund. They want the passengers to be happy. Sometimes things happen that are beyond their control and out of their hands.

 

Any cruise line could have the same issues. I'm not a rah-rah, but just saying that you could have went on NCL or DCL and could have had embarkation issues and damaged luggage very easily.

 

In the MDR, I eat vegetarian meals constantly. I know several people who have special dietary needs, and if they call ahead of time, their needs are met while in the dining room.

 

Again, sorry. Hope your next cruise is better.

[Fydlstyx]

Thank u for ur response. Ur right the itinerary change at the last minute and the shorten port days and the broken bag set the tone. I probably could have tried harder but I was so disappointed and felt defeated that I figured forget it. As I forgot to mention they actually refunded every single passanger for their extra hotel night stay and food for 1/13/2013...it wasn't just me...I just had them pay me out for everything at once to get it over with. I didn't bother to ask for veg. Dishes in the dining room because the servers seemed dishoveled, confused and super slow. Many people around us were complaining and I just wanted to be done and get out. It was uncomfortable. I'm sure carnival is great at what they...unfortunatly we didn't get to see that great side of carnival. I so wanted to like it but the negatives outweighed the good.

 

But what you are saying here really supports the fact that you COULD have had a better time. You "didn't bother" asking. That's not Carnival's fault. I am sorry you were disappointed in your cruise.

[truecruiser]

Travel- - You are entitled to your opinion, but when it doesn’t present the full picture, people will most certainly post an opposing view. For some reason, you think this shouldn’t be allowed and you are flaming me for doing so.

 

I am absolutely not a cruise critic member who is a CCL cheerleader looking to bash anyone who posts a negative review. Not the case at all. But your negative review left out so many facts that when read, it appears to be an ordinary cruise that CCL just decided to, for the sheer heck of it, summarily change, just to ruin your individual trip.

 

The fact that you state that you didn’t need to mention any of the surrounding circumstances in your review because everyone but me “knew” about them is faulty. I could be anyone, signing into CC for the very first time today, looking to book a cruise on Splendor, and see your review on Page 1. Without my posts that lay out the unusual circumstances of your sailing, your review would have stood as is, and would have continued to look like a regular sailing which was horribly inexcusable. If it was a “regular “ sailing which was horrible, that’s one thing, but it wasn’t. And the thing that got me most with your review is that you liked things, accepted all sorts of comps, and still stiffed them. Don’t blame me for putting things into context. Had they been put into context by you my posts would have been unnecessary. Now at least anyone reading it can see a balance of your bad, and the rest of some of our comments, as to why things might have been this way. There are people on this thread who were on your sailing who acknowledge that it wasn’t the best but that considering the circumstances, they went with the flow and made it as enjoyable for themselves as they could.

 

I see there are some DCL guests on here who love that line. I sailed DCL many years ago and never went back because it wasn’t for me. I didn’t post a negative review because the things that weren’t for me were very subjective to me. I thought the food was the worst of all lines I have sailed (NCL, CCL, DCL and Celebrity). It was the most boring cruise I’d ever been on. The ship was filled with many little kids, and while my kids were also little, the whole ship seemed to be back in their cabins with their children by 8 pm. The ship was dead at night. And while we are not big gamblers, we find that casinos do bring people out and about at least. And the fact that the ship had no casino only added to the deadness of it at night. We were a whopping 2 of only 6 people in the comedy club, which I guess they expected to be the norm because it was in a small back lounge. I never saw a single body in the disco. I am sure things on DCL have changed since I have sailed, because I sailed so many years ago, but the reasons I never went back were personal to me. The ship was beautiful, the staterooms spectacular, but it wasn’t for me. I didn’t stiff on tips because the food was the worst. I still ate. I didn’t stiff on tips because I was bored and ended up back in the cabin and in bed earlier than I ever would have even been had I stayed home.

 

Bottom line, if I sailed DCL again, I’d probably have a very different experience just like if you sailed the Splendor next week instead of when you did, you’d likely have a very different experience. There are many on here who have stated that their cruises on this particular ship prior to the trouble were great, so it’s unfair to alarm the people who are booked on upcoming Splendor sailings that their cruise is destined to be doomed when you don’t put things into context.

 

It’s all about context, particularly in a self-titled “Honest” review.

 

As others have said about what happened with your sailing, while rare, could have in fact happened on any other line is so true. So you would do well to prepare yourself to find a way to deal with this better because you may find yourself stuck in the same unfortunate circumstances again one day.

 

I know having a cruise ruined stinks. It’s awful that you got stuck with it, but you knew ahead of time that things were already messed up. You accepted decent compensation and then some, and decided to go.

 

I think it is best if we just agree to disagree and move on.

 

I wish you happy sailings. :)

 

 

P.S. For future reference: Individual Cabin Stewards are responsible for cleaning countless staterooms. If the cabin steward was still on duty but way down another corridor, he would have no clue that a guest who has been in their cabin all day has finally decided to leave for a 60 to 120 minute period. This is why they tell you to page them if you ever need anything. And if they are off-duty, which isn’t until the overnight, housekeeping takes care of things. Considering you were in the cabin 90% of the time, you should have walked down the hall and found him, or paged him. Guaranteed if you had done so your stateroom would have been perfectly clean.

[firerunner]

I read all four pages and at first I though OMG that poor woman...and then I read about the mechanical issues and my opinion changed.

 

Crap happens and I too think she was dishonest in how the review was presented. It is unfortunate that they had mechanical issues, BUT I think they went out of their way to accommodate ALL SIX THOUSAND GUEST.

 

and the OP was just ungrateful.

 

as for the tips....

 

This is a BIG beef of mine. You removed the tips so not ONE single person treated you well. You didn't eat pizza or deli, they didn't clean up after you, NOT ONE. So you remove tips and penalize them all. Guilt by association???

 

Why not cut the tips in half and explain why? this way at least the ones that DID give you service received something. But to just take it all away.

 

No sorry..I do not believe that every single staff on that ship was rude..

 

 

Honest review?

 

I think not.

[MissMeggieMurphy]

thanks truecruiser for an honest reply to the op's honest review.

 

i, too, don't sail disney, mainly because none of the teens we travel with would be caught dead on one of their ships, just like they gave up disneyland when they were tall enough to ride the super rides at mountain magic or other grown up amusement parks.

 

my biggest issue with the op is her vegetarian comments. and i want to make it clear that there are always tons of vegetarian appropriate dishes on carnival or any cruise line, for that matter. if anyone wants to eat healthy, do a cruise. sure there are tons of sugary desserts, and calorie laden entrees but there are loads of soups, salads, fresh fruits and veggies, meatless ethnic dishes, great sides.

[terri910]

I read all four pages and at first I though OMG that poor woman...and then I read about the mechanical issues and my opinion changed.

 

Crap happens and I too think she was dishonest in how the review was presented.

I believe the OP assumed (not always a good idea, but we all do it from time to time) that everyone KNEW about the whole Splendor debacle. From the first post (emphasis mine):

We had been looking forward to this trip which we all now know was shortened by 1 day making this 6 night into a 5 night cruise followed by a port cancellation of Puerto Vallarta...why oh why didn't I just cancel?

I do not believe the OP was being dishonest at all. There was a LOT of thread activity on this website regarding the Splendor's problem....both by people on the cruise where the repairs had to be made (their cruise was impacted, too), people who were going to be on the next cruise (like the OP), and any and everyone else interested (like me, who were also booked to sail on the Splendor, sometime after the OP's cruise).

 

A person may have a different perspective and opinion, but I do not see any reason to question the person's integrity or honesty. I've seen reviews where people had much less to complain about rip Carnival apart and cast aspersions on the quality of the people that sail on Carnival ships. I believe those kind of people have an agenda; I do not believe the OP in this case did.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

I have just read all the pages of this thread. I am going on the Splendor in a few months and took the posters complaining with pretty much a grain of salt. It was her opinion and she has a right to it. I feel badly for those new to cruising and using it as a tool in order to book or not. It really is not completely reflective of the cruiseline.

I wonder if all the fuss being made by all is that hackles were raised with the title. It is inferred that all other posters on this subject were less than honest.

I hope that the OP will re-think her title from now on, but she does have the right to her opinion whether I agree with it or not.

I am disappointed in her that she stiffed the staff. If she did not partake of any of the staff's offerings I could see that, but she did-she ate, used a room and had waste collected. I am sure that someone went beyond the call of duty--especially Guest services with giving her comps for a suitcase breakage that they probably had nothing to do with. Those guys are not paid by Carnival. But this is my opinion just like she got to voice hers.

[minivanmama]

I understand what the poster is saying. We waited in NYC terminal for over eight hours waiting for the very late Carnival Miracle to arrive. We had kids in tow. The overcrowded port did not offer us refreshments of any kind. It is understandable that the ship was late due to bad weather but we hadn't eaten since breakfast. There was no seating. We had to stay in line the entire time and sit on the floor.

 

Our stateroom was great and our steward was gracious. We had a good cruise after that. We were given a $50 cruise credit.

[QTPieRye]

DH and I were just talking and we felt that we were adequatelty compensated for the shortened trip. We ended up with $350.00 additional OBC ($50 x 7 people), plus we are getting one-day prorated refund back. Although we didn't need to, CCL also offered the hotel, airfare, extra costs, reimbursements for those who needed it. Stuff happens..... plain and simple!

 

Again, although it wasn't our best or favorite cruise, it was still great! We still love cruising, still love Carnival and have already booked the Liberty for next January :)

 

From a planning standpoint, we actually did learn a few things from our Splendor trip. We learned that mechanical issues do arise and itineraries due change. All of these things should be considered when booking airfare, outside excursions, etc. Always book outside excursions with companies that offer "no port, no pay" and check airlines flexibilities, flight schedules before booking.

[TacAlert]

So Carnival, not the staff, shortens your cruise, and you stiff the stewards, waiters, etc?

 

I always love reading Carnival reviews when people say things like, "...this other cruise line (not Carnival) gives free (fill in the blank)..." You notice those other cruise lines also charge a LOT more for the same itinerary. It is not really free.

[tootsiescurly]

Ahhh thank you for catching that, I never write reviews and i'm not to good at it. I pretty much figured they would take the alcohol....we only tried to smuggle because most people seem to get away with it, it was ok though I did expect that and they did return it to us when we were disembarking the cruise, and I figured this is why the bg was late, so I wasn't mad about it arriving late either. I was upset about the broken bag. We just bought it the night before, it was a very expensive Samsonite 28 inch spinner suitcase. If it had gotten some marks or something like that on it I wouldn't have complained. But 2 wheels were not just snapped off but the bottom of the suitcase the hard plastic was shattered off and torn. It was unacceptable.

Did you tip the porter when you dropped off your bag? Just curious, because lack of tip could be hazardous to your luggage. This is true of any embarkation port!!!

[TacAlert]

 

P.S. For future reference: Individual Cabin Stewards are responsible for cleaning countless staterooms. If the cabin steward was still on duty but way down another corridor, he would have no clue that a guest who has been in their cabin all day has finally decided to leave for a 60 to 120 minute period. This is why they tell you to page them if you ever need anything. And if they are off-duty, which isn’t until the overnight, housekeeping takes care of things. Considering you were in the cabin 90% of the time, you should have walked down the hall and found him, or paged him. Guaranteed if you had done so your stateroom would have been perfectly clean.

 

Didn't you know on other cruise lines the stewards automatically know when you leave the room? ;)

[TacAlert]

Did you tip the porter when you dropped off your bag? Just curious, because lack of tip could be hazardous to your luggage. This is true of any embarkation port!!!

 

The most important tip is the porter!!!! That's why my bags are always waiting for me at my door.

[TacAlert]

Haha what I meant by honest...was to include all info that most people leave out of their reviews. Again these statements are just my opinion and its what happened to us. I did say how I liked the ship, and how much we liked our stateroom. Carnival has some good points, I never said they didn't. But the bad outweighed the good in our case. I'm not sure that anyone liked having their cruise cut short, missing a port, having the second day of a port cut way short, and I'm not sure anyone else would like their bag broken they just bought the night before. We didn't really pay attention to any staff except the ones we spoke to directly. I removed my tips because only 3 days our room was cleaned, the one time we spoke to the room steward he was rude. We only ate in the dining room 1 time. As for vegatarian food....I'm a non meat eater. No meat/fish/eggs. So I was hoping they had options like the other cruiselines I've been on. None of them have a plethera of options for vegatarians but they certainly have more than 1 thing on the menu. I've had quasadillas, fajitas, enchiladas, burritos, rice bowls etc. That we're all vegatarian on other lines. I was assuming they offered the same. That's all. I was not saying we had a horrible vacation at all, we were bored on the ship...yes. and did not enjoy the cruiseline. There were good points on the ship like the comedians and such but overall it wasn't for us. And yes we chalked it up to a lesson learned. We give everything a shot and if its not for us we don't do it again. This is why we only cruised rccl one time. It wasn't for us. We prefer disney and ncl.

 

What did the steward do that was so rude?

[gusandgidgetsmom]

The porter doesn't even work for Carnival. The OP was upset because a non-employee most likely broke a part of their bag. When we were on our way back from my step-son's wedding on a cruise ship, his Mom's (my husband's ex) brand new suitcase was run over by one of the fork lifts in the port. She wasn't real happy but sure did not expect to be compensated and did not come on this board to complain.

The most important tip is the porter!!!! That's why my bags are always waiting for me at my door.

[Surfwench]

Did you tip the porter when you dropped off your bag? Just curious, because lack of tip could be hazardous to your luggage. This is true of any embarkation port!!!

 

Good question!!!!!

 

Some people just go through life collecting insults and slights because of how they treat others.

[travelexplore3]

Yes we tipped the porter $10 at curbside. Guest services told us due to the nature of the bag and how it was broken they believed it was one of the carnival employees, something to do with the alcohol in the bag. Anyways they kept our suitcase to investigate the employee who searched our bag. I didn't expect to be reimburssed, but they felt it was deliberate so we were reimburssed.

[QTPieRye]

Did you tip the porter when you dropped off your bag? Just curious, because lack of tip could be hazardous to your luggage. This is true of any embarkation port!!!

 

Although I don't necessarily agree that not tipping could be hazardous to your luggage... I have to laugh because my 18 year old daughter, who I gave the porter tip money to, tipped the porter $20.00 for 7 bags because she thought he was cute!!! Bahahahahaha

[CanWeGoYet?]

Yes we tipped the porter $10 at curbside. Guest services told us due to the nature of the bag and how it was broken they believed it was one of the carnival employees, something to do with the alcohol in the bag. Anyways they kept our suitcase to investigate the employee who searched our bag. I didn't expect to be reimburssed, but they felt it was deliberate so we were reimburssed.

 

That's good, I was thinking to show up at curbside with brand new suitcase and no tip, might not go over. I've heard jokes about tipping the porters to keep your suitcases from dropping into the water, etc. Not that a lack of tip justifies deliberate damage.

 

And to go through your suitcase without you present - that is not how it's supposed to be done. I've heard people who have questionable items are called down to the naughty room, and are to be present while the bag is searched. Considering the kind of time pressure & constraints the screeners are under, I'm surprised he or she had time to spare to bust wheels off new luggage.

[Hpycmpr]

Carnival has some good points, I never said they didn't. But the bad outweighed the good in our case. I'm not sure that anyone liked having their cruise cut short, missing a port, having the second day of a port cut way short, and I'm not sure anyone else would like their bag broken they just bought the night before. ... We prefer disney and ncl.

 

I have sailed both Carnival and NCL, I like them both. If I had to choose one it would be a tough choice. Carnival has some things that NCL doesn't and NCL has some things Carnival doesn't. On my NCL cruise they cut out the stop to their island(GSC), it was a georgeuos day but the Captain decided to cancel because he felt that the water was too rough for the tenders - was I disappointed? Yes I was, however I did not let it RUIN my cruise. I was still in the SUN and away from home and work! IMO you should have taken the refund and not gone on the cruise.

[QTPieRye]

 

And to go through your suitcase without you present - that is not how it's supposed to be done.

 

Could not agree more! Thanks to CC, we learned to zip tie all of our suitcases closed, so that they cannot just freely search through our luggage!