Carnival Splendor

Over $12,600 in medical bills on an Australian cruise! I'm writing this review on behalf of a 90 year old Australian pensioner who recently travelled on an Australian based cruise with Carnival. The cruise was entirely within Australia. The passenger is too old to be able to obtain health insurance (like many cruise passengers). This elderly… Read more

woman presented to the onboard doctor with acute stomach pain. She spent two days in sick bay and had some medical tests done. The cost, just for being in sick bay for 44 hours was $4620. With medical testing, medication and medical evacuation (within Australia by Australian services) the total bill was over $12,600. They even charged her for sandwiches she didn't eat! Before being allowed to leave the ship to escort his wife, her husband, also 90, was pressured to sign a "promissory note" for the cost of treatment and has since been told that if he does not pay on time there will be a $140 PER DAY fee applied.

They were not offered any partial refund on the part of the cruise they were unable to complete, nor any reduction in fees that took this into account.

No opportunity to make payment over time and this couple are pensioners. Had they waited overnight and gone ashore they could have accessed free medical care within Australia.

The couple don't want to speak to the media because they are elderly, and she remains seriously unwell. They DO want other elderly people warned about the potential cost of needing medical treatment on a Carnival cruise, even if they are within Australia. They are now facing significant financial hardship in order to pay the bill. Ironically, this couple are regular cruisers who would have spent more than the amount of this bill over the next few years on cruising, but who will now never cruise again.

Carnival's site warns travellers that medical treatment may be "expensive" and recommends travel insurance, but for those unable to obtain travel insurance the best advice it to avoid cruising and stick with domestic travel within Australia, where you will be able to access our wonderful medical system wherever you go for little or no cost.

Great food staff was excellent could not fault the ship the only thing I would recommend not to stay above the casino on level 6 but it wasn't terrible i had a great time would not hesitate to go on carnival spendlor again Show details

Be warned - if you need to visit the medical centre on a Carnival Cruise you will pay more than you ever could have imagined! My husband and I both had to see the doctor on the last day of our cruise. On presenting to the medical centre we were each told that the consultation alone could cost $290. Being desperate for help, we agreed to that cost.… Read more

At no other time we were advised the cost of tests or medication (and when you're feeling ill, you don't think to ask, you're just desperate for relief). Believe it or not, for a SINGLE nasal swab which tested both Covid and Influenza, we paid a total of $295! A course of 10 Tamiflu tablets - $231.80. Bottle of cough syrup - $44.94. All up, when we received the bill the morning we disembarked, we were staggered to see a total of $1,555! To add insult to injury, my husband was taunted by the staff for not having had a flu vaccination! Another warning - be sure that your travel insurance covers medical costs. Don't be like me and trust when your insurance company tells you that because the cruise is a domestic one, your medical will be covered by Medicare. What a joke! And then when you try to make a complaint you go to Carnival's "Guest Care" page, type out your complaint, click Submit, and .......... nothing happens. It doesn't go anywhere. Never Again!!!

We took our two grandchildren on a 4 day cruise out of Sydney. It is fair to say that a cruise spent mostly at sea with another 3800 passengers is not one we would normally select, but our grandchildren wanted teen clubs and waterslides so we headed… Read more

from Sydney to Moreton Island and back. We had balcony suites on deck 10 which were relatively spacious although the decor was tired and worn and there was considerable noise from our neighbours and from the corridors. Priority boarding and disembarkation was a real godsend and the meals in the dining room were good but not great. The staff were efficient and very accommodating. The focus for many in board was drinking and gambling but that had little impact on us. One incident however really spoiled the cruise for us. Whilst my wife was in the Spa she handed in her cabin folio card at Reception was is required and it was then used by someone to purchase a $535 Seiko watch. It took nearly an hour to settle the dispute ant disembarkation even though the ships cameras could have proven it was not my wife who made the purchase. No apology was received and it took four days for the charge to be reversed.

Impressed with how the employees stood out to be of service with their guests. Room service were all excellent, good job to James and all who service our family rooms ( 23/04 - 2430, 2038, 2392). Restaurant was at its finest bec of Alit, Wayan and Gelyn! Kudos everyone!  Show details

I enjoyed the professionalism of the staff and my children liked the children's programs. We had a great time wondering around the ship, including the shows and spas. It was a great family holiday and I would do it again. Life is cruising. Leave the negative attitudes behind on the dock. You will love life. Show details

The Guest Services team, especially Subhankar Bera, was very kind and helpful. I really appreciate their support and the gesture they made. Thank you for making my cruise enjoyable

This company should be avoided at all costs. We just went on 8 nights carnival splendor cruise from Sydney and they put every effort to ensure we do not book them again in the future. Staff at Casino are rude and are racist especially [Name Removed] and [Name Removed]. I went second day at the poker table and the female dealer couldn’t be bothered… Read more

and actually said she is over it .Bar staff make their own rules person to person. I had full alcohol package and to get bottle of water after a drink you have to wait ten minutes. Doesn’t make sense. Bar usually runs out of salt or other ingredients to make cocktails and mocktails . The whole trip was under staffed , people on duty were grumpy and just couldn’t be bothered to provide any sort of customer service. Even the guy with mop at the pools yell at you if you walk to get your towels . Two days at the end weather was bad so they had to close pools and other outdoor activities for safety reasons but no alternative entertainment was provided so people were just stuck in cabins . In the buffet area there is may be 2 staff looking after more than 500 people. The only one good thing we found on this cruise was staff at the gold pearl Restaurant table 533. team leaders name was [Name Removed] I think . The food and service at this one restaurant was exceptional and the house keeping guys are awesome. Our kids loved the towels animal made everyday by house keeping dude . We went on Royal Caribbean cruise two years ago and carnival is at 25% of that at every aspect whether it’s staff, service or entertainment. Royal Caribbeans motto is PLEASE BOOK US AGAIN and Carnival motto is DO NOT BOOK US AGAIN so we are a group of 35 friends and will be booking Royal Caribbean next year. There is nothing to do for kids apart from a small water park. I mean nothing unless you want to drop them at onboard child care system even there if kids age gap is more than 3 years they can’t be in one area. Staff and food at Masala Tiger is also awesome. The after dinner parties at the pool area are fantastic. DJ guys are awesome. What frustrates me that the cruise itself has all the infrastructure available just the behaviour of staff / couldn’t be bothered attitude kills the vibe . It is just not planned properly.

We were due to sail to New Caledonia on 16/1/26. On the evening of 15/1/26, after travelling to Sydney for our cruise, we were informed that due to weather, the cruise to New Caledonia was cancelled - this weather system had been predicted for weeks. We were offered cruise credit, or a cruise to Queensland. We rejected both the cruise credit and… Read more

QLD cruise, and requested an immediate refund. Carnival said that under their terms and conditions, they were not required to refund our cruise. Carnival is still holding on to thousands of dollars of ours, and will now not respond to emails regarding the matter. I requested that Carnival confirm that they received our legal documents and they still have not responded. They have not issued a refund or cruise credit, stating that we rejected the credit. Carnival's conduct constituted a major failure in the supply of services under Australian Consumer Law.

Please don’t waste your money on a holiday that is terrible and disappointing. The food was terrible unless you paid a lot extra. Everything needs a booking with long queues and wait times despite paying for the cruise with the assumption you would not need a physical credit card or you would be cut off. I’ve been on holidays all over Australia and the works this is the worst and has put me off cruises forever . Show details

Our cruise was paid for by my daughter as a gift. A few days before we were due to sail I had a fall and fractured the neck of my femur. I called Carnival to postpone our cruise and was told that I could not and in fact I would have to pay a hefty penalty to cancel.

ZERO STARS HONESTLY My daughter just got back from NZ 10day tour-FIRSTLY-hardly ANY VEGAN FOOD-even though the cruiseline was informed SEVERAL TIMES leading up to her holiday-THEN her wildlife tour was cancelled and they werent told-until the day -and THIS was her main reason for going- they ALSO arrived at most cítíes at 6am- THEN they made them… Read more

pay for a shuttle -to the CBD- where ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is open for 3-4hours! ALSO be warned you may NOT even get to SEE the fjordlands at all-OR even be informed by the cruiseline if they have decided NOT to go there -AS this happened to my kid too-which sadly was her other reason for going -NATURE AND WILDLIFE-she got neither

Very disappointing. The food was appalling and the ship is so over populated you can’t get a seat anywhere and feel like you’re in stampede whenever you go anywhere.

If I could give a 0 star I would. I booked my cruise, left a $400 deposit and due to medical reasons my doctor advised I couldn’t go. I contacted the Cruise Line 2 days after leaving my deposit, as well as my medical report. They said because I was outside of their 24 hour cooling off period, they wouldn’t be refunding me. My friend was going on… Read more

the same cruise, same dates, different booking. I asked if my deposit could be transferred onto their booking since they hadn’t yet payed the balance. The answer was no. No leeway. All this cruise line are, are money hoarders. I do not recommend.

Avoid like the plague! This was to be our 6th cruise with Carnival, but no loyalty or trust given to us. We paid a deposit, have a receipt. We paid the balance, have a receipt and email stating paid in full. We then get an email saying we owed $1000, but if you've paid this disregard the email. We disregarded the email as we had all confirmed… Read more

emails and receipts stating, paid in full. We then find out cruise was cancelled as we didn't contact them in time to fix the problem. Remember we had paid in full. We called carnival customer service who treated us like we were st>pid, it was all our fault and we needed to sort it out with the bank. We then find out the link from the website was a scam and we paid a dodgy on seller who no one knows about. Carnival still treating us like id*ots. Absolute joke.