Splendor 11/22 - Cruise highlights

[tapdancemom]

Got off the Splendor and home to Vancouver, Wa last night. It was quite an adventure. Yes, there we delays but we had a wonderful time and glad that the captain is doing much better after being taken off the ship in Cabo.

We flew to Long Beach from Portland and got in at about 9:30am. What a tiny little airport. I sure was happy about that on the way home especially being the end of Thanksgiving weekend. It was our first time on Jet Blue and enjoyed extra legroom, above average snacks and the tv/radio combo for each passenger, a real plus.

Since we got in so early we figured we'd have a little wait before boarding. Gary and I usually get to the ship around 11:00 and are on by noon, not this time though.

The ship didn't get in that morning until 10:30 ( a medical evacuation we were told ) and passengers were getting off as we arrived. It turned out our registration was over at the Queen Mary so we went over there, checked in and had breakfast in the restaurant. We looked around a little because we'd been told at the desk that boarding was going to be delayed and probably would get on the ship at 2:30 or 3:00. Since I have arthritis and have to walk with a cane we were given a special assistance card and told to go to zone one. That was a blessing, though we did have to wait several hours, we at least had a place to sit and met a nice couple to visit with.

As the passengers were debarking some were very frazzled, trying to hurry to catch their flights. Several would smile at us and say "You'll love it when you get onboard, hang in there"

About 2:30 our section began to move onto the ship. It went pretty smoothly and we were in our staterooms by 3:00. We met Pambuti our cabin steward, nice man and always kept things clean and tidy.

We checked out some of the ship, then had some ice cream and relaxed until it was time to get ready for dinner. Our dining time was 6:00 and as we made our way to the main dining room passengers were still filing up the gangway.

We met two of our tablemates but the other two couples didn't make it on intime for the first seaing and ended up in the buffet, just happy to finally be on the ship.

Our waiter Richard was great, very friendly and attentive. That night I had the Tropical fruit, Shrimp Cocktail, Skirt Steak and Black Forest Gateau for dessert. The shrimp cocktail was dissapointing and I didn't order that again.

The show that eveing was a comedian, can't remember his name but they told us he has performed with Second City and has performed on HBO. He was going to do a "Adult" version of his act later, skipped that one.

We were pretty tired by the time the show had finished so we called it a night and went back to the cabin. I was happy with the size, bigger than the cabins we've had on Royal Caribbean and it had a balcony, it'll be hard not to have one the next cruise we take.

I'm doing this review in installments, be back soon.

[jimbo5544]

Nice start to your review. Look forward to the rest.