We just returned from the Jan 10-17 sailing of the Splendor. There were many things that we loved about this ship -- enough that I'm speaking with my travel agent already about booking my second Carnival trip. (We have been on HAL once, RCCL five times and NCL four times. This was our first try with Carnival.)
What made the trip was the crew. Every single crew member went out of his or her way. We've had excellent interactions with crews before but the Splendor crew was exceptional. In particular, Miguel and Castor in the Gold Pearl; Nanyni (I'm sure that's spelled incorrectly -- cabin steward on the Empress deck); DJ Shannon; and Mihai (photographer) and his wife Emilie (Info desk). Note to Carnival Marketing Department: The Splendor crew should be a key selling point. It's what is bringing us back.
There were things that were not so great. For example, the food in the Gold Pearl was very uneven. I had some of the very best dishes I've had anywhere and some that were barely palatable. (As a general rule of thumb, ask your waiter what to order!) Ditto for other food service areas -- some great food and some that is dreadful.
The decor has a lot of pink but it's the color of strawberry ice cream and paired with peach tones. I personally liked the combo. I also enjoyed the decorating in most other areas of the ship -- and everything is pristine and immaculate! The atrium/lobby is beautiful. Lots of elevators and very little waiting (although it ALWAYS seemed faster to take the stairs if you are mid-ship.)
We had a balcony cabin that was port/aft. It was very, very quiet and no vibrations or ship noise. If your neighbors are on the balcony, you will feel like a part of their conversations. However, once inside the stateroom, it was pretty quiet, even with a fussy baby in stateroom next door. I thought the beds were very comfortable. My daughter was on the sofa/bed and thought is was very uncomfortable. (It didn't seem much different, so I guess it's a matter of personal taste.)
The shows were okay -- not as good as NCL (consistently the best, in our opinion) or RCCL. We didn't do many of the crew-led games or shows. Carnival seems more tight-fisted about bingo -- the jackpots seemed smaller to us than with other cruise lines; and also tighter about gifts. For example, my in-laws were interviewed the first night on our NCL cruise last year as the longest-married couple. They were asked to give advice to the newly-weds on-board. In exchange, they received a bottle of wine and dinner for the whole family in the the specialty steak house. On the Splendor, those interviewed received Goose's thanks. My daughter has participated in guest talent shows on NCL and RCCL. On the latter she walked away with just about every logo item that RCCL made, just for participating. (She still sometimes wears the glow-in-the-dark RCCL boxer shorts!)
There weren't too many kids on our sailing. The spaces for the kid's programs were fantastic. The few children we talked with, however, did not seem to enjoy the programming and thought it was boring. When my daughter was younger, the RCCL programs were wonderful and quite interesting: e.g., "mad scientist" shows where a physics teacher would perform all of those "oohs and ahs" experiments; parent/child Olympics; scavenger hunts, etc. I think Carnival can do much better here.
Ports: We did the bioluminescent tour in San Juan -- very, very interesting. We took the Jeep Beach safari in St. Thomas. It was not at all what we had expected but a very fun way to tour the Island. We would do both of these shore excursions again. We tried the clear kayak tour in Nassau. It was cold and windy and we froze our butts off! Also, the coral reef was not very good compared to just about everywhere else in the Caribbean. We would definitely skip this one. As a personal note, we had not kayaked before and were a bit nervous about the two kayak tours. For both shore excursions, they put us in a kayak with a guide.
My daughter is studying Spanish in college and we decided to explore La Romana on our own. We found the "locals" to be very friendly, courteous and helpful. There is a general store, "Jumbo," about 10 blocks from where the Splendor docks. It is like a mini-Target or mini-Walmart. We ended up buying locally grown coffee in the grocery aisle as gifts -- with a lot of help and suggestions from other shoppers. ($2 for a 10-oz can.)
My daughter wanted to get Spanish-to-Spanish dictionaries and some novels by an author she likes. We kept getting directed to a religious book store. She also was looking for CD's by Dominical Republic hip-hop artists. The 15-year-old who advised my daugher about which artists to get thought she could find the books she wanted at another general store, "Iberia." However, he thought we would get lost trying to find it. So, he had his sister watch the stand and walked us to the store. When we were done shopping, he walked us back to the ship. He even insisted on carrying our packages for us. He accepted a very small tip, only because we insisted the he take something. I would go exploring only with someone who has a good foundation in Spanish. We had a great time and got a good sense of the local culture. (Note: When we were there last week, the exchange rate was $1 = 33 DR dollars. The coffee was $1.50 USD for a can and the books were $52 USD. We charged them to VISA and the bill came through for $2 for the coffee and $56 for the books. So, there seems to be some fluidity but we consider the prices to be bargains for what we got.)
Again, it was a great trip. I envy those of you who have your trip to look forward to. I have to wait a whole year!