Pacific Encounter vs Carnival Splendor. Which Cruise ship Reigns Supreme?

In this video, I'm putting Carnival Australia's Splendor and P and O Australia's Pacific Encounter into a competition to see which one I liked best.
I decided to do this after going on the Carnival Splendor in December 2022/ January 2023 and the Pacific Encounter in June 2023
I've only compared the things that I did on both ships and things that have a comparison on both ships.
So things like P&O Edge expirence and blanc de blanc isn't included as an equivalent isn't available on both ships.
Just remember that this is my opinion and yours could be different.
Also, over time, something's may change on either one, and I'm only going by the sailings that I went on. So, by the time you had seen this, everything could have changed on both ships.
Enjoy.
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Chapters
Intro 00:00
Sail away party 00:33
Theme Nights 00:44
Theme Parties 00:59
Look of the main atrium 01:35
Pool 01:55
Waterslides 02:33
Waterparks for the kids 02:58
Buffet 03:33
Pool side eats 04:16
Included restaurants 05:30
Quality of the food 06:23
Ice cream 06:58
Quality of the entertainment 07:32
Comedy Shows in the secondary theatre 08:12
Night time Entertainment 08:52
Daytime Entertainment 09:44
Movies on Deck 10:26
The Staff 11:11
Final Verdict 11:32

[@ElizabethStone-TolcherJames]

I have only cruised on p and o before and the speciality restruant lukes bar and grill was worth the price. Best steak I have ever had. I would love to try a carnival cruise one day aswell as royal carribean.

[@CruiseCrazedFam]

Great video. Also when you spot yourself in the video! Haha 🙈

[@travelwithdebandnick]

Im very interested to watch this video ❤

[@NRL_Editz432]

Guys burgers are the food I also get when I board a carnival cruise aswell

[@travelwithdebandnick]

Wow that was really interesting :) we have done two cruises on p&o and have a cruise booked on virgin voyages resilent lady, RCCL quantum of the seas and carnival, carnival splendor and another on P&O. So to hear how good carnival is is great as that cruise will be our longest cruise we will be on is for 8 nights to new Caledonia. Sounds like we will have a fantastic time ❤❤

[@cruiseyseadays]

I didn't hate P and O, but definitely felt that Carnival offered more with what was included and the activities

[@johnsmith-hi4kk]

You will have an awesome time. NZ cruise from Sydney is also amazing!!

[@CruiseCrazedFam]

I love Carnival. I’m one of those people who has to be doing something all the time and found P&O a little snoozy for me. Also noticed all the additional charges onboard which was a turn off. Definitely a Carnival girl here.

[@travelwithdebandnick]

you sound like me, i like to be on the go constantly whilst on holiday, im not really one to sit sunbaking by the pool reading a book. i like to be go go go. i didnt find much to do on P&O so hoping carnival will be the fun ship for us :) im a bit worried about our virgin cruise though and finding much to do as that seems to be all excercise orintated and i have mobility issues after having cancer 3 times, so cant excersise@@CruiseCrazedFam

[@bradp8355]

I have to disagree about the buffet. On carnival we referred to it as The Trough as it was like feeding a heard of annimals and we avoided it to retain our sanity. P&O was at least civalised!

[@arokh72]

Thank you for this mate, just what we were looking for. We recently sailed on Pacific Adventure for a 4 night cruise and were quite disappointed by the lack of inclusions, the obvious cost-cutting, and lack of sea day activities. It seemed like most of the daytime activities were dodgy sales pitches disguised as 'seminars'. The Gatsby Night, and White Night, being held in the atrium was ridiculous. I wanted to get an even glass of milk for my partner from the Avalon Cafe, and I couldn't move around due to the Gatsby Party being on int hat area. We are looking at Splendor for the next cruise...we'll just deal with all the pink, our only concern is that many people have said the Splendor is difficult to navigate due to having a poor layout. This is a concern because my partner has mobility issues and uses a walker. How did you find the layout? Being able to have more options for lunch, at least, other than main dining or the buffet, already give the Splendor a win. Me being able to hint up some Indian tucker, and my partner just having a sandwich, both included, for example, makes it worth the extra $400, over P&O, for the cruise we're looking at. I will say one place where P&O does win is having a beverage package that includes all non-alcoholic drinks, including speciality coffee and tea, whereas Carnival only offers a soft drink only or everything including booze package...and we don't drink alcohol.

[@cruiseyseadays]

The only main issue I found with the Splendor was the location of the golden pearl. There is no way to access it on deck 3 unless you go either under or above it as the galley is in the middle of that deck.

[@arokh72]

@@cruiseyseadays how do you if you're dining on deck 3 or 4 of the Golden Pearl? I suppose the limited access to the Golden Pearl is no different to the limited access to Dragon Lady on the Adventure, in that you can only use the aft lifts to access it as well, as it's located in a similar spot on the ship, right at the aft.

[@cruiseyseadays]

I believe your cruise card will tell you. You'll only be in the golden pearl if you have my time dining. If you have any time dining You'll be in the black pearl.

[@arokh72]

@@cruiseyseadays I saw you mentioned the difference between the two in the video, we're set dining time type folks on a cruise :) Edit: I'd also like to add, to my initial comment, that whilst we found Blanc de Blanc to be a good adult's only show, overall, we also found it wasn't worth the $30 premium P&O asked for it.