Summary of our 7n Greek Isles & Dalmatian coast out of Venice with RCCL

This is a (somewhat long) Trip summary of our May 10, 2008 sailing on RCL's Splendor of the Seas (7n Greek Isles & Dalmatian coast out of Venice)

Executive Summary:

Excellent itinerary, overall still a nice ship, average shipfood, inexperienced staff, perfect time of year for the climates.

Arrival into Venice:

Arrived on flight from Frankfurt on Wednesday. Collected luggage and proceeded to the ATVO kiosk to purchase transfer to Piazza de Roma (3Euro per person). Boarded blue bus right outside terminal (look for signs). Remember to validate your ticket in one of those yellow boxes. Noticed a flyer posted that advised of a possible transit strike on Friday (ugh!). This bus took us directly to Piazza de Roma.

Pre-Cruise:

Stayed 3 nights pre-cruise at Hotel Abbazia (a converted old Abbey) which is tucked away down a little alley just across from Ponte Scalzi, close to the railway station. Area around railway station is quite nice and we did not see any justification in the reports we read about avoiding the area.

Getting to the Hotel was a slightly challenging 15 minute walk (with luggage), having to cross 2 smaller and one larger bridge (none of which had ramps for strollers/rolling suitcases). From reading posts on CC, we knew to restrict ourselves to one easy rolling piece of luggage and a carry on each.

The new "4th" bridge over the Grand canal looks to be about done and will provide an easy way to get to the railway station (and the hotel we stayed at) from Piazzale de Roma.

The Hotel was very clean, had helpful staff, good (free) breakfast, excellent coffee but the rooms were tiny (we booked the cheapest rate). Our room, 104, was on the ground floor and one of the newly remodeled ones. One complaint though: the bathtub water spout was long, modern-edgy and installed on the long side towards the front which severely impedes movement when taking a shower. The room came with a safe and wired internet access was available.

Make sure you are somewhat familiar with the overall layout of Venice before venturing out for the first time. Going by street names can be quite cumbersome, instead I advise looking for the directional signs attached to the houses that guide you towards the major points of interest to get you into the correct vicinity. Some alleys look like they dead-end but often you get to a little underpass at its end.

Due to the pending strike on Friday we changed our plans and took the train to Padua on Thursday (12Euro round trip per person). Visited the Anatomy Theater at the University of Padua (requires ticket purchase in the University court yard next to the refreshment Kiosk) and also visited the Scrovegni chapel which is in the park close to the train station. Timed-entry tickets must be purchased in advance online unless you want to take your chances on any last minute availability (unlikely) or risk your entrance time being several hours later. Giotto's frescos in this chapel were magnificent and worth the hassle of getting tickets in advance.

Restaurants in Venice were a disappointment for us. Check to make sure they are even still in business before trekking across the island to find any of the ones that were recommended by travel books or friends that had been to Venice before --, three times we stood in front of closed doors and had to scramble to find something that the four of us agreed upon. And don't believe the posted opening hours either as we experienced with one of the hotel attendant's recommended place. Due to the latter, we ended up at the "Blues Bar" (an inviting little bar/bistro in one of the squares) but unless you like spending 7Euros for a beer and 12Euros for what seemed like microwaved spaghetti entrees, I recommend skipping it.

The food in Venice itself was nothing too special either, but then again we did not chose any of the 40+Euro per entree places. I am sure there are nice economic restaurants to be found though.

Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge are tourist madhouses and I was glad that our hotel was not anywhere close to those areas.

The Doge's palace is definitely worth a visit. Purchase the Museum/Doge's palace combo tickets from the museum across the large square to skip the long lines at the palace entrance itself.

You can safely skip the view from the tower in the middle of the square since your cruise departure out of Venice provides a magnificent view.

There is apparently somewhat of a controversy relating to the pigeons which swarm this square. The various pigeon food vendors have recently been prohibited from selling bird food to the tourists and they have a little protest area set up in the middle of the square. Tourists still hang around though feeding the birds with food they brought and you can catch pictures of pigeon-covered tourists and snap photos of their various antics (e.g. having the birds eat from morsels they hold between their lips -- yuk!).

Be advised that any major transit strikes may affect vaporetto operations, as we had to experience on that Friday. The vaporettos had a severely reduced schedule and stopped only at the major stops, only we had no warning and saw no signs about this. You can imagine how packed the ones were that were actually running.

We did laundry at one of the Laundromats close by on the morning before boarding the ship.

Hotel-Ship transfer:

A water taxi for the 4 of us including luggage would have cost us 70Euro total. In our case the taxi stop was right next to the Vaporetto ticket booth in front of the train station. Not sure though how close they get you to the pier.

Also, looking at the Vaporetto route map, there is a stop that looks to be close to the pier as well, but again I am not sure how close that gets you to the pier itself.

We decided to "rough it" and go with the initial plan and proceeded to Piazza d. Roma on foot crossing the three bridges again. At the Piazza, look for excursion busses parked in the corner where the refreshment kiosk is located. It was not immediately obvious that one of those busses was the free shuttle to the Pier.

Embarkation:

Once dropped off at the Pier complex, we took the short walk to the assigned pier where the RCL luggage crew efficiently took our luggage and directed us inside.

We did the online pre-check in and actual check in was fast. We also decided to sign up for the 7 bottle "Platinum" wine plan which you can do before going through security (you can also decide to do this onboard which gives you more time to study the various options).

Security was a breeze and before we knew it we were on the ship.

The announcement was that staterooms were going to be ready at 1pm so we proceeded to the Windjammer cafe to take in some lunch.

Ship:

(Skip to "Ports of call" if you are not interested)

Overall, the Splendor is still a very nice ship. Layout is among the better ones that I have been on, having the specific-use areas located around the central atrium stretching from floors 4 up to 9 and floors 4 and 5 forward to aft. As I understand, it has undergone some refurbishment in 2004 but I doubt it included the staterooms, as those seemed somewhat dated (but quite acceptable).

Not to dwell on them, but here are some Negatives:

-- Crew overall was very "new" (most seemed to be from Brazil). Of all 5 previous cruises, this was definitely the one with the most inexperienced crew. Many of the things that usually blend into the routine background were somewhat more noticeable on this cruise (e.g the roaming bar staff was paying noticeable attention to the drinks on their trays, we saw two major "tray accidents", the Windjammer food attendants were in need of getting directions from the more senior personnel, the table waiter/assistant waiter teamwork was not as good at the beginning of the cruise and other little things I'm forgetting now).

-- The main Dining Room was nicely appointed but (what seemed to us) packed with tables and chairs. There were even chairs located in the main walkways where only one person could pass through and one would have to pay attention not to bump into the chairs of the guests.

-- Our 4 seater table (#61) location was a major disappointment and I can not understand why they even put a table in a location like this. It was located directly at one of the exits walkways to the kitchen. The people sitting with their back to the walkway are able to directly look into the kitchen hallway and see all the hustle and bustle that occurs there (along with hearing the constant kitchen noises and shouting). The wait staff for the entire quarter section of the restaurant (this is one of four kitchen exits, two at the top level and two at the bottom level) would constantly pass back and forth immediately behind your chair, all in all not making it an enjoyable place to eat. The head waitress was not able to change our table for the first 2 days but luckily the neighboring 4 seater table moved to the first seating and so we were able to move and keep our main waiter whom we liked very much.

-- Although the ship sailed very smoothly through the seas, there was an ongoing vibration that other travelers commented on too. One could quite noticeably feel it at dinner and one could see the rhythmic ripples in the glasses of water / wine. Sometimes it subsided completely for a while. Perhaps it was worse where we were sitting on the 2 floor of the dining room since it is constructed to sort of hover over the 1 floor.

-- Our hall way had a certain area where one water pipe or another was leaking. Cleanup was always attempted, but it seems that the leak(s) were never really fixed. So after a while the area smelled musty when walking through.

-- We would have liked to have a self-serve laundry to make packing easier.

OK, enough of that, -- I am hoping to not come off as too negative...

Food/Drinks:

Ship food overall was just average. Besides the first formal night, the menu wasn't anything special and lacked some of the choices that we had gotten accustomed to on other cruises (e.g. beef wellington, lobster, baked alaska, etc). Also, regrettably, there was no noticeable attempt to offer region-typical dishes.

Drinks on the other hand were well above average. We always tried the cocktail-of-the-day. With one exception, the bartenders definitely did not skimp on the alcohol content of the drinks which was a pleasant surprise and kept us coming back for more.

A bit more on the Platinum Wine plan we had signed up for:

At $200 including tip for 7 bottles, that puts you just over $28 per bottle which is not too outlandish. As a point of reference, the Faustino VII Rioja (which is on the Platinum plan) is sold for $36+15% tip a la carte and is available locally for around $13+tax.

Cabin Service:

Our cabin steward was just hired on the day we boarded. He did not even have his official uniform yet. He did a great job though, was very friendly and always managed to service the cabin while we were out / at dinner.

Onboard Activities:

Since the other couple that we were travelling with enjoys them, we actually attended most of the shows and on this cruise did not regret it. We really enjoyed the performances that we did attend -- especially the Magic performance and the acrobat/juggler from Argentina. We did skip the Elton John impersonator (which many people loved) and would have skipped any tall feathered-hat dance shows -- had they been on the schedule.

We also participated and thoroughly enjoyed the dance lessons that were offered for Merengue and Swing. The dance instructors were very patient and could handle dancers of different abilities.

The Fitness room was a bit small and warm, and the low ceiling not conducive to the quite decent treadmills. They should really reconfigure the area and take over some of the spa "waiting room" area that faces the rear of the ship since it was always empty. That would eliminate the awkwardness of having to step over yoga participants to get to the equipment. The treadmills were all used in the 4-7pm time range but wait times for them did not exceed 5 minutes. The 0.25mile track around the top deck was a good alternative once the main seating dinner had begun.

The pools were ok -- we spent most of our pool time in the covered solarium pool area. One annoyance though is that you pretty much have to endure the constant shouting from the folks that are in the Jacuzzies that don't realize how loud they are actually talking.

The climbing wall at the rear of the ship seemed to draw a good bit of attention, but we did not try it for ourselves.

Surprisingly, we made use of most of the coupons from the booklet that we each got as GOLD members. Coupons included $5 free internet, discounts on Specialty coffee, Ben&Jerry's, photos, spa, 2for1 drinks, free admission to the wine tasting session.

At the beginning of the cruise I inquired about the fuel surcharge refund at the purser's desk and they did not seem to know anything about it and advised that not all account activity was "received yet", so I decided to wait and see (we were affected by the retro-active surcharge even though we had booked and made payments well in advance of the policy change). Well, we were indeed credited the $35 per person fuel surcharge towards the end of the cruise. An envelope delivered to the stateroom advised us of this on a detailed form letter. Oh the trouble RCL could have spared themselves from by just ignoring the advice they got from some internal policy maker about this scheme. The money and effort they spent cleaning this mess up must have been quite substantial.

Ports of call:

Port of call Dubrovnik:

We did not do any ship tours as we wanted to visit the ancient town wall on our own. Definitely take the $4 shuttle into town as it is quite a walk from the port. We were pleasantly surprised by this town. Very clean and picturesque. It reminded us of Tallin, Estonia which we visited a couple of years ago. The tour of the wall is not for the faint of heart as it requires climbing quite a few stairs right at the beginning and lacks many of the (overprotective) safety measures that we would find here in the US. So, this sort of thing was right up our alley. They do take Euros, however, you pay just a bit more compared to paying in the local currency. Not having to deal with exchanging funds made it worth it for us though. It took us a good 2 hours to completely do the tour in a leisurely way, taking in the scenery and stopping at a few of the snack bars that are on the way. For those that worry, there is a cafe with very clean restrooms about halfway around. Make sure you keep some small change available since tipping is quite customary when visiting the facilities (and keeping the restroom attendants happy increases the likelihood of other fellow visitors in encountering a clean restroom). Afterwards we ended up in one of the narrow alleys to enjoy a decent meal and a local brew. We then visited the world's oldest pharmacy that is right next to the main entrance for the wall. It only takes 15 minutes or so to visit and spent the remaining time strolling through the town. Croatia is known for inventing the neck tie and there is a store where one can purchase nice (but expensive) ones next to the big church across from the palace.

Day at sea1:

Don't remember doing much other than relaxing, exercising and taking part of the various shipboard activities. We also participated in the Wine Tasting session and in the Captain’s Welcome reception.

Port of call Kusadasi (Ephesus):

We had pre-arranged a private tour for 4 with Ekol (Ephesus, terrace houses, museum in Selcuk, temple of Artemis). Disembarked right after the ship was cleared and met our tour guide right outside the port building from where we proceeded to meet up with our driver. In no time we were on our way to Ephesus in an impeccably clean air-conditioned Mercedes van and were given an overview by our knowledgeable guide who spoke excellent English. I'm not going to go into detail on the various sites we saw, but having a private tour like this is definitely worth it since the guide can adjust the tour's course depending on surrounding crowd-level, knows how to usher you to better viewing spots or shady spots to explain the sites in more detail, etc. We did agree to the visits at the end of our tour to the silk and ceramic "demonstration-centers". We were actually kinda looking to buy a carpet so we did not feel awkward in taking up the shop's time and enjoying the apple tea and sweets that they provided during the showings. They definitely are looking to sell you something though and we Americans often get uncomfortable with such back and forth during haggling or being led to areas where the product demonstrator can give you a more private showing of their carpets. We ended up haggling a while and ended up with a carpet that we chose to carry with us (instead of them sending it for “free” to the U.S.) Didn’t think to inquire about the Tax Free shopping procedure, -- we probably could have saved some money there. I felt they would have been ok if you at least gave them an opportunity to show their goods even if you did not end up buying from them -- and it is definitely something to experience (at least once). I guess the sales "pressure" depends on the store too.

If you are in a somewhat larger group then one could "blend into the background" whilst still enjoying some of the atmosphere, but I imagine the dynamics are a bit different. We got dropped off back at the port and still had plenty of time to walk around the port and shopping areas in Kusadasi.

Port of call Santorini:

Many of the ship's tours had us meet at 6:30am and so there was a run on the only available breakfast spot, - the early morning coffee bar. However, it was only stocked with the usual complement of croissants, coffee etc. and an increasingly impatient line of hungry passengers was forming in front of empty trays and empty coffee dispensers. Even though a senior staff member was notified, no announcement or additional food was provided. Finally, the doors to the adjacent Windjammer cafe opened a bit earlier than normal and so the hungry crowd quickly swarmed in. Overall not the best of situations and I am sure senior staff had to listen to complaints many times over.

We did book a ship tour to avoid the morning rush on the ascent from the port to the town which is high up on the cliffs. Instead of having to use the cable car, walk or ride the donkeys, you instead get ferried to an adjacent port where busses pick you up. Incidentally, one can still see the spill containment from that other cruise ship that sank here a while ago. Our tour guide commented about the "mysterious" disappearance of 2 of the passengers on that ship.

The tour we booked was the visit to Oia and wine tasting. We made our way up the winding road and towards Oia while the tour guide, a native of Santorini, informed us about the island. About 2 miles out of the town, we hit a road block that was manned by police. Turns out that the road (the one we had already travelled on for several miles) was closed for cleanup/construction. Ironically, the police did not let the bus pass through the last few meters past the barrier to get back on the open road, -- I guess their instructions were to let no one pass regardless of the direction. Gotta love this strict adherence to rules. So we ended up having to get out of the bus and walked the remaining distance to the town. The bus apparently had to backup (on the closed road) and find another road into town further down on the coastline. Walking was not a biggie for us as we quite enjoyed it, but there were some people not very happy about it. The town is very picturesque with lots of photo ops of the white houses against the Cliffside. There was a long line for the public toilets (several busses had unloaded their passengers by now -- I guess the other busses got wind of the roadblock and took an alternative route). Instead of wasting time waiting in line we decided to just grab a coffee at a nice cafe with picturesque view and visit their clean (and available) facilities.

The visit to the winery was a bit of a let down. After a very short introduction to the facilities in a room full of benches (one could really not see much of anything besides antique wine making artifacts) we were led to the terrace where we were able to sample 3 different types of wines and enjoy a few typical appetizers. Of course we were encouraged to visit the gift shop where the owner made available not only the wines for purchase but also items from his "prior work" as a jewel crafter. The view from the terrace towards the bay below is quite spectacular though.

After the visit we were dropped off in the heart of town where one can wander around for a bit, visit the shops, restaurants and a Greek orthodox church (most of the ones you see are small churches belonging to families and closed to visitors) and then use the tour-provided cable car passes down to the port to catch a tender back to the ship.

If I remember correctly this was the second formal night and we also attended the C&A reception where the captain gave a Q&A session.

Port of call Corfu:

As we approached the port for this half-day visit we got a nice view of the old fort and noticed a quite small cruise ship anchored in the bay. Turns out that it was the QE2. This was my first time seeing this ship in person, -- it actually looks quite small compared to today's cruise ships.

We decided to do a tour of the town on our own and decided to walk the distance from the port to downtown area instead of using the shuttle or the taxis. On our way out we were solicited by eager taxi drivers that wanted to give us scenic tours of the area (or just a ride into town). Definitely something to consider if you want to avoid the bus tours, but make sure you agree on the price beforehand. It's about a 1.5 miles non-descript walk into town and we first visited the old fort. There is really not that much there to see, but the view from the top is quite nice. We were glad we went there when we did though, as upon exiting (at around 3pm, I think), they were closing the facility for the day leaving many potential visitors looking at the closed gates.

On our way back through the shopping areas we stopped at the Fodor's recommended Pete's Pizza which has a nice patio with a view. Entrees were just ok, but the greek salad received high accolades.

Day at Sea2:

Again, don't remember doing much other than relaxing, exercising and taking part of the various shipboard activities (and also started the dreadful packing process).

Disembarkation / Transfer to Marco Polo Airport:

Ship arrived in Venice at 6:15am. Our Friends had registered for Express disembarkation, so they hauled their own luggage off the ship at 6:30am.

We did not have cruise coordinated air arrangements and were given luggage tags corresponding to a 7:30am disembarkation. The disembarkation was quite efficient, -- we walked off the ship, collected our luggage and walked 10 min to the free Shuttle Bus pick-up to Piazza de Roma at the entrance to the piers. Again, the busses don't necessarily have signs in the windshield, but they wait in a location marked with a sign. At P. de Roma we waited 20min for blue ATVO bus to Marco Polo Airport (3Euro per person purchased from driver but make sure you are buying tickets to Marco Polo and not the other airport) and got to the airport after short 20min ride. All in all less than 2 hours transfer time.

There were long lines for check in for the a.m. flights, we used the Lufthansa Check-in Kiosk which allows you to print your boarding passes and drop off your luggage at a special counter, however all luggage check in starts no earlier than 3hours before your flight. So we waited downstairs, away from all the hustle. Noticed long lines for security check (for the a.m. flights), and also noticed the priority security lines that you can use if you book one of the ship-to-airport transfer packages that they offer towards the end of the cruise. There are two "VIP" packages with the more expensive one allowing you to check in your luggage at the pier (selected airlines), a person that accompanies you through to airport check in, and allowing airport lounge access once through security. Definitely something to consider if one does not want to mess with the "on your own" transfer.

Weather:

Aside from the last day (arrival into Venice) we had perfect weather. Although there were several days where rain was in the forecast, it never materialized. Although we still looked for shade whenever possible, and kept our sunscreen fresh, the summer heat had not set in yet and made all excursions comfortable.

Summary:

Overall this was a very enjoyable cruise even though the food was average and the service just above average. A pre- (or post-) stay in Venice (although quite expensive) is quite advisable.

Thank you so much for the wonderful review! This was so chock full of info that I will have to read it again.

We are doing this trip in Nov and planning to add a B2B on Splendour.

What deck were you on? Was the ATVO bus easy to do, ie get a ticket, get your luggage on/off? We are staying one night pre-cruise on the mainland and the bus is right near the hotel, so we are thinking of taking this to the ship. I understand you can get off right by the pier entrance, a stop before P. Roma.

Thank you so much for the wonderful review! This was so chock full of info that I will have to read it again.

 

We are doing this trip in Nov and planning to add a B2B on Splendour.

 

What deck were you on? Was the ATVO bus easy to do, ie get a ticket, get your luggage on/off? We are staying one night pre-cruise on the mainland and the bus is right near the hotel, so we are thinking of taking this to the ship. I understand you can get off right by the pier entrance, a stop before P. Roma.

We had an inside cabin on deck 7 mid-forward. I was glad we were far enough from the open midsection to not hear all the activity from below.

I am not sure about the ATVO bus that stops near your hotel. That might be a "regular" public transportation bus which is different than the blue ATVO airport express bus that picks up at the airport and directly goes to Piazza de Roma. The ATVO ticket kiosk is adjacent to the rental car booths. There is also a automated ticket machine at the bus stop right outside the terminal. On the Express Bus, the luggage is stored in the large compartments under the bus. Make sure you keep your valuables in a small carry on that you can take on the bus (roll-ons do not fit inside bus luggage compartment and are stored in the large luggage compartments).