We had a very pleasant cruise form Dover to Amsterdam and back. Our only other cruise experience was with P&O on a 14 night journey around the med. I would say P&O and Carnival are a very similar standard. The staff were a little better on P&O and it was a little more up market but the atmosphere on Carnival is a little more lively. Avoid the art auctions at all cost. The splendour was a very smooth ride and its best feature is the Lido deck with retractable room. We spent most early evenings up their after dinner watching the film on the big screen. The casino is a good size but they play black jack from card shuffling machines which is disappointing if your a card counter. Drinks are expensive, I am not sure why as its supposed to be tax free but to me $5 + 15% mandatory gratuity is a lot for a bottle of Bud when they are less than $1 to buy wholesale. The tipping is confusing if your a Brit like me, its supposed to be included (or so I thought) but they still give you an envelope to leave tips at the end of the cruise confused? I was.
Food was great, lots of it all day and all night, the restaurants for dinner were particularly good. The ship layout takes a little getting used to but its okay. Smoking is permitted in some places like the casino so beware if your a non-smoker. The entertainment was the average caberat stuff, I did not watch much of it as I work in the music business so wanted a break from that sort of thing, but its looked good enough.
Parking at Dover is a nightmare, book well in advance and make sure your not at the hoverport as we were. As you disembark you have to get a coach, well imagine my surprise as 100's of pensioners fought there way to the front with elbows in your face as they got in the scrummage for the coaches. I thought at 29 I was too old for that sort of behaviour but some people more than twice my age were being very rude pushing and josseling, so we got a taxi instead.
All in all it was a positive experience and I have only highlighted the negative stuff so you know about it. Don't let it put you off as its all minor stuff really. The cabins are clean, the service is good and the ship is splendid.

Check in on 31 January 2009 for the Brazil/Carribean cruise was diabolical. Carnival were not prepared for such a large contingency of passengers, why not? They knew we were coming!!! We queued for 2.5 hours before eventually arriving at baggage x-ray machines (only 2 for 2,500 passengers), only to be sent out of the Terminal because of some security alert (we never did find out what). Another 4.5 hours later, after standing waiting in another Terminal across the road, we boarded ship, with no explanation or apology from Carnival. In fact, it was as if it had never happened.

Carnival does not seem to care about its passengers once they have paid up. Service from the staff is excellent but that should be expected shouldn't it, they sell the cruises on this being a fact.

Glitzy ship unfortunately seemed to have lost its Fun appeal maybe this will be found again in the Carribean. Should have ensured they had more entertainment and all facilities were available for families with children, Overall typical Carnival not formal. Certainly not be put off of cruising with them and I have cruised with most of the big Cruise Lines. (You get what you pay for and no more) Gratuities should not be added automatically this would improve service.

Overall we had a wonderful experience. The cabin was nice and well taken care of. Towel animals were cute, although some were unrecognizable. We would sail with Carnival again.

Although we have been on quite a few cruises we have never actually travelled twice with the same line. Odd I know but at least we're not biased to any one company which is a fault we often find with fellow passengers.

We like the American approach to vacations and thoroughly enjoyed our Baltic cruise and the Carnival ship. We would have liked more formal evenings but thats not the style of this particular line. This is probably the best ship for families (both young and old) because there is so much space and such an easy going style.

Good points, ports of call, food in Golden Pearl restaurant, room stewardess and waitresses in the restaurant. Bad points, Entertainment during the day, rudeness of some staff, cruise director. The ship seem to be lacking something. Not as enjoyable as the two previous cruises we have had with Carnival.

Staff always had a smile and saying hello, ship was clean. A great holiday, staff and food made it for us, ship let it down.

Overall the Carnival Splendor ship was great, we had a fab time and there was pleanty of choice for evening entertainment. The restaurants were fab too and the main restaurant (black or gold pearl) was great. At the end of the meal the waiters would get up and dance on the tables. Very entertaining.

Also try out the spa, $35 for a day pass. It was great and even though we went when we had a day at sea it wasn't as busy as we thought it would be.