Stay away from this ship!  We just returned from the WORST trip ever.  Let me start off by saying we normally stay in Marriott and Sheraton hotels.  I expected a small room...  I expected 3000 people...  what I didn't expect was the following:

1.  food was cafeteria style at best.  we ate in the gold pearl restaurant every night and were rushed through the meal faster than I have ever in my life.  40 minutes and they were giving us the boot...  "thank you have a nice evening...".

2.  lack of respect to the passengers from the staff.  I realize they are all from foreign countries and for some they come from very poor countries- but Carnival should train them better in regards to customer service.  For this I blame Carnival not the staff.

3.  the people.  I know that Carnival can't control their passengers.  I can tell you that the level of class on the ship for passengers was extreme low class.  I am not upper class or a snob...  I am just looking to share my space with people that are considerate, clean and polite.  pushing and shoving like cattle was the norm at the buffet lines.  seriously if you can't fit in the small bathroom as it is...  skip a few buffet lines people!!!  rude and pushy people thinking lines aren't for them.  i'm sure they must have not been sold out with the economy and they only sail full...  i guess they went to the locals and offered them the cheapest price ever...  i can't see how these people could ever afford to spend the money it costs on a cruise.

4.  lack of supervision with regards to children.  we have 2 children and they are 11 and 9.  they refused to go to the camp carnival because the kids in the 9-11 group were so misbehaved and the staff didn't even discipline them.  i realize they can't go overboard with regards to discipline, but seriously they can at least tell them not to hit each other.  there were kids roaming the ship at all hours alone causing havoc...  throwing food at each other in the elevators, trying to go down the closed water slide with buckets of water, jumping from the top of the glass that separates the pool and hot tub...  running and screaming around like animals.  staff did nothing even when people complained.

5.  the design of the ship makes no sense.  the serenity adult only area is below the minature golf and water slide!!!  seriously???  come on people think... kids unsupervised with mini golf clubs, balls and a sea of water?!  "accidently the ball went overboard"...  and when they missed overboard they landed in the adult only area!

6.  never in my wildest imagination could i have imagined what happened when we left PVR.  3am we were awoken by banging on our door.  I stepped out of bed in a pitch dark room to have 3 inches of water covering my feet. Did i mention we were on the 11th top floor?  Spa level- pay more to be there!!!  I opened the door to find out the entire odd numbered rooms on the 11th floor were completely flooded with water.  2 things came to mind...  sewage and we are sinking.  well it wasn't sewage- but in days to come it smelled in our room like sewage!  it wasn't that we were sinking...  it was due to the rain water coming from the pool area outside our rooms rushing in the cabins.  there was apparently  a need to slope the odd sided ramp outside down for those with wheelchairs.  so you have an entire outside deck area sloping down hill into a drain about the size of a cantelope.  the automatic doors were opening automatically when they sensored the rain and kept the water rushing into the ship.  extreme bad design of the ship.  I can't imagine this hasn't happened sooner.  we were out of our room all night while they tried to put down towels and *** up the water with industrial vacuums.  for the rest of our trip we were constantly disrupted.  we had towels and large fans in our room constantly.  we would leave our room to eat or swim and come back to have everything on our floor stacked on the beds...  did i mention everything we had on the floor when it flooded was soaked and they did take them to the laundry- apparently washed them with the smelly towels and didn't use soap or fabric softener- they stunk and were full of white fuzz.  management did NOTHING to help us out.  the ship sails full so there isn't a room to move us to...  management was basically like yeah- we are working on it.  our room steward was awesome- worked his butt off.  when all was said and done management refunded us 3 days of our trip because "that was all you were inconvenienced"...  ok- true only Thursday at 3am through Sunday when we debarked at 10 but seriously???  it only affected 6 cabins total- they REFUSED to refund us our cruise.  oh- they did give us a 25% off a future cruise- like I'm going to use that???  Customer service on the ship is awful! 

Stay away from this ship!  If you are looking for service and a nice trip...  book somewhere else!  we spent over $4000 for the cruise, $1500 for our flights and an additional $1000 on the ship (yeah- not everything is included!  We didn't realize for our kids to watch the movie on the deck we had to pay for the popcorn!! and did i mention we didn't do any planned excursions?!)  Go to a place where you pay $250 per night on a beautiful spacious hotel room...  $1750 then with your flights say $1500...  that leaves you with $3250 for food and activities...  I think you could eat really well... do some activities that are safe and nice...  because the excursions on the ship are not only expensive but Mexico is not a safe place...  several people who paid lots of money for excursions were really dissappointed. 

i plan to persue this with Carnival off ship management but wanted to warn you...  stay away- if you are used to Motel 6 and buffet style restaurants go for it.

seattlefamily4:

food was cafeteria style at best

What cafeterias do you know have chateaubriand, escargot and creme brulee?

40 minutes and they were giving us the boot

I seriously doubt that. ...unless you were uncommonly late to your dinner.

lack of respect to the passengers from the staff

Specifics would help.

I am not upper class or a snob

You are if your local cafeteria has chateaubriand, escargot and creme brulee.

lack of supervision with regards to children

Many of the examples you give are incredible -- literally.  "Not credible".

management did NOTHING to help us out.

They did your laundry.
They did their best to clean up the mess.
They apparently fixed the doors.
They comped you a few days of your cruise.

If you're going lodge a complaint you need to make it at least facially valid.

Go to a place where you pay $250 per night on a beautiful spacious hotel room...  $1750 then with your flights say $1500...  that leaves you with $3250 for food and activities... 

I would urge you to do exactly that.

Wow!!!! you claim you spent an extra $1000.00 on the ship!!! then You state that you were upset that the kids had to pay for Pop Corn!! Hope that whole $1000.00 didn't go for the Pop Corn or they 2 may not fit in the bathroom(as you stated about other passengers)!!!! and from what I have heard it $1.50 for the pop Corn and your complaining!!! wow are you one of the Locals they pulled on board for less then half Price who can't afford it, as you stated right after you CLAIMED not to be a snob!!!!!! you know something I read all things on here good bad and Now Your ugly!!!! have you ever seen the Movie over Board You remind me Of Goldie Hawn's Part!!! so go find a Rich person and buy your own Yacht!!! cause honestly from what I'm hearing no cruise line would be good enough for you!!! the only thing you didn't complain about in you Blog was the Toilet Paper!!!

I'm sorry I usually keep shut with the complaints But this one really ticked me off!!!

seattlefamily4:

 food was cafeteria style at best. 

lack of respect to the passengers from the staff.  I realize they are all...from very poor countries...Carnival should train them better

I can tell you that the level of class on the ship for passengers was extreme low class.   

I am just looking to share my space with people that are considerate, clean and polite

i can't see how these people could ever afford to spend the money it costs on a cruise.

we have 2 children and they refused to go to the camp carnival because the kids in the 9-11 group were so misbehaved

Mexico is not a safe place...  several people who paid lots of money for excursions were really dissappointed. 

if you are used to Motel 6 and buffet style restaurants go for it.

"I am not upper class or a snob..."

I was on the Splendor in May, going to Canada instead of Mexico due to swine flu. Best Carnival ship I've been on so far. LOVED my cabin, the food was wonderful (and I live in a foodie city), activities were numerous and varied, and the ship was very well-designed. The buffet was good as well and even room service was a step up from the usual. But the staff was the shining star - well-trained, friendly and quite helpful when we hit the day of rough seas. Of course, it can hardly measure up to the sumptuous elegance and concierge-level service of a Sheraton or a Marriott - a fact of which the rest of us who stay in Motel 6 are keenly aware.

Sorry to find out the wheelchair ramp design inconvenienced you. I am sure the Captain and crew were not happy with the situation but from what you say, they tried to ameliorate it and offered you a more than ample partial refund. Perhaps you could arrange to have the ramp removed if you sail on Carnival again. After all, people with mobility problems shouldn't be on your ship if it inconveniences you, right? Let's just kill all the cripples now and put them out of their misery.

So, I guess I'm one of the "extreme low class" people you will find on board. I appreciate you letting me know that not only did the ship not meet your standards, but apparently I don't measure up either.

Do the rest of us peons a favour and never sail on Carnival again. I don't want to take the chance of sharing my air or personal space with a pain in the a$$ like you.

Have a nice day.

Sin City Suzie

My post went to moderation but when it reappears from the Twilight Zone, I think you'll want to read it.

Have a nice day.

 I was just on the Carnival Splendor July 26 sailing. The ship was full, lots of kids, which we barely saw. It was a wonderful vacation. I have a hard time believing the staff was not friendly to the guests. They were awesome when we were there. Maybe it was your attitude towards them. As for dinner in the dining room, we ate there every night, got there on time and we were there almost an hour and a half, every night. You know when they do thier dancing that its time to finish up dessert and leave so they can get ready for the next dinner service. 

 I agree with you on the design of the ship, putting the miniature golf above the serenity area. Not the best location, but hey why let that ruin your trip. As far as spending $1000 on board, you must have been doing alot of drinking or something. We spent $700 for a family of 4, and I didn't feel that was unreasonable. We had drinks, let the kids have a fewdrinks (virgin miami vices were their favorites). Bought a few photos, used the video arcade. We could have cut back but it was a once in a lifetime trip for us, we were celebrating some big milestones in our family. We saved for 2 years to go on this cruise and we were ready for anything!

As far as being low class, maybe we were considered one of the low class passangers because we were in awe of the whole ship. It was our first cruise and we laughed and had a great time where ever we were. We  had the sewage smell a few times outside of our cabin but I didn't let it bother me. I think I would have been upset as well if my room flooded but hey you got a 3 day refund! Wow, I would have loved that! and 25% your next cruise. For something that Carnival had no control over, weather!

 I thought the buffet was pretty good when we are there. Lots of variety and pretty tasty. We only ate there for lunch though, can't say about dinner.  I am sorry you had a terrible cruise but from what I read on these boards, its all in your attitude on how your cruise is.We decided that everything wasn't going to be perfect and it wasn't but it was a perfect vacation for us!

 I just posted but it went to moderation, it was my view on theCarnival Splendor when we were there 3 weeks ago..far different than this review. 

I sailed on the Splendor last year and had a great time. We spent over $1000.00 and that was because on the first night of sailing my hubby spent over $700.00 on liquor to bring back home as Christmas presents.  If you had early dinning then yes, you might had been rushed , and it is because they need to get ready for the late dinning crowd. You put alot of people down by saying that they might fit in bathroom if they turned sideways sounded like you are a snob. I had a flood problem when I cruised on the Destiny last year, was not given any credit for my inconvenience, only 2 towels and box of candy, the mess was cleaned up and it did not smell after they used  the odorizer in the room. I'm not rich by now means, but I do live well, and I don't turn my nose down on people, I been there before and know how it feels when people look at you as trash. I have been places where someone did not have enough to finish paying for their item and I would chip in with what they needed, my hubby has even bought drinks for complete strangers while on a cruise, we did not treat them any different just because of the way they look. I have spent time with one of my husband partner and he did not look like a millionaire, he had on jeans with holes in them, a shirt that had seen better days, and he was at home around us. Also I'm glad that they have handicapped ramps for the people in wheelchair, they have as much right to take a cruise as you do, and to be able to get around that big ship, My advice to you is stay home and spend your money on motel rooms, and the extra like entertainment , gas, food, as for me I will be cruising and enjoying the opportunity to see parts of the world that I have never been to and only have to worry about what to do for the day. Only you can make your vacation good or bad, things do happen, but if you look at it as a disaster, then your vacation is ruined, if you go with the flow, then you will have a good time. I been there, done that, I went with the flow and had the time of my life, flood and all, we still laugh about our flood on deck 8 on the destiny. Carnival here we come again, going to have another great time.

Wow.  I was on the Splendor in April and the only real problem on my cruise was my sister and Carnival had no control over her.  My experience on the Splendor was much different the OP's "nightmare" experience.   My mother (87 years young) and I spent quite a bit of time on the Serenity Deck and I think only once did a golf ball come down our way.  Oh, and the waterslide is NOT directly above the Serenity Deck so I don't quite understand that complaint.

What I experienced on the Splendor was...

• The food as usual, was WONDERFUL.  
• Room stewards... WONDERFUL.
• Waitstaff and maitre d'... beyond WONDERFUL and very attentive to my mother.
• In regards to out of control kids, blame the parents and not Carnival.

irishlizz:

 the only real problem on my cruise was my sister and Carnival had no control over her.

 

 Hey....UPPER class!  This is the "lower class" talking to ya...  I was on this very sailing with you!  Yeah...I may not have been a high roller like you.  I was on deck 2 interior sailing on a low budget with my wife on our honeymoon.  I don't know how it works in your world, but all the complaints you seem to have are ridiculous.  I'll admit, this was my first cruise so I don't have a basis for comparison.  I found the experience fantastic.  I still keep thinking about it and want to return.  Yeah...there was a storm in PV...but hey...  whatcha gonna do?  It happens...I think the staff did a great job trying to resolve any issues over the weather (something they have no control over).  As for spending a ton of dough....  if you want, I'll be happy to do it for you.  I'm sorry you spent so much money and think you got nothing out of it.  My wife and I spend just over $400 (yes..that number is correct Four Hundred Dollars) in extras while on the ship.  This included any drinks, shopping, and the $140 for tips.  It's not that I'm cheap...I got laid off from my job last September and have been doing what I can to get by.  I've yet to land a job that pays what I got with my old company...but that's my sob story and no one elses to worry about...  like the one I'm replying to.  We paid for our wedding and cruise by saving all we can.  Many might think that because we didn't spend much on the ship that we didn't have a good time or good food.  This is completely incorrect!  This was the best time I've ever had! Any restaurant I go to now I compare the service to the ship.  I was in the Black Pearl Table 107 Late Seating every night and I was never rushed.  I know...I was late seating...so they didn't have to rush me right?  I was still in there when they were resetting and still never once did I feel like I HAD to leave!

The food on the ship was awesome!  All kinds to choose from!  Even room service was fast and very good.  Although, I don't eat fish eggs...so perhaps my level of quality needs to be looked at.

As for kids and rude people...  yeah...  there were a few...keyword few...  guess what?  I run into those kinds of people no matter where I go.  This ship is not designed to keep "upper class" and "low class poor people" away from each other.  The way I see it... if you're that much of a snob, then why not go buy your own ship (as it seems you've got enough to float on) and do what you want and have who you want then.

If this ship is a Motel 6, then DAMN!  It's the best Motel 6 I've ever been in!  I've stayed at some of the "big" places like the Four Seasons in Santa Monica and that floating Motel 6 wins hands down!

BTW...too bad you had to spend so much on flights....  I had to drive from Oregon to LA and you know what...I still had a good time.

As for your request for a FULL refund for the water issues....are you high or something!?!  It's like like they when through your stuff, spit in your food, and kept you locked up....you still got food and use of the entire ship...  you should feel lucky you got what you got.  If I could get a great deal on Deck 1 or even where the baggage carts are I would take it!

As for excursions...we did one at each port.  PV we did the Jungle tour (was only like $35 each) and in Mazatlan we did the city tour for about the same price.  In cabo we did the Sea Trek Helmet Dive which was spendy, but well worth it in my opinion.  Mexico didn't seem that unsafe to me...even when we went to areas not on the Carnival info.  I don't know who you talked to, but we were really happy with our excursions.

I think I've repeated myself enough here.....oh yeah...  if you don't want your 3 days of credit back and your 25% off, please just send it my way!  I'll be happy to use it on my next cruise with Carnival...on the Splendor!

So to EVERYONE ELSE...  Go enjoy the Carnival Splendor!  Perhaps I'll see you there one day with the other lower class people like myself.

Thank you for your reply.I love carnival ready to go on 7th and never disapointed.

I love the Carnival boards because I get to hear the good and the BAD. I never saw so many people try to dispute what people say when they have had a bad experience. All companies have good and bad days and if this man had a bad cruise, I myself would like to hear about it. I really don't think Carnival needs everyone jumping to their defense. They are a GREAT company and they have been around a long time and will continue. I love them and I'm addicted to cruising after 2 cruises, but really people let the man air his complaints. I would find these boards very unbelieveable if NO ONE ever had a complaint.

Robin:

I love the Carnival boards because I get to hear the good and the BAD. I never saw so many people try to dispute what people say when they have had a bad experience.

Not really sure if anyone at all is disputing that they had a bad experience, most were just saying that they had great experiences. it would be remiss of people not to post the good things too. Or even the not so good things, and how they dealt with them.   I think the overall concensous was that perhaps the expectations were too high.  People really need to read the contract before they sign on for a cruise. 

Robin:

but really people let the man air his complaints. I would find these boards very unbelieveable if NO ONE ever had a complaint.