Just Back From Splendour Yesterday!

[4marty4]

Hi, Well we made it back safe and sound after a long day travelling. The trip was alot of fun but there were a couple of things that I was disappointed in. First of all unless you consume more than 2 soft drinks a day, DO NOT, get a pop card. That became a real waste for me the first day after my 14 year old daughter took a liking to strawberry daqueris (virgin of course). They cost an enormous $4.00 plus tax and gratuity per drink. Needless to say by the end of the week I was looking at $100 in her drinks alone plus the cost of the pop card that went un-used. I know that the cost of drinking when away can add up. I found the prices of the drinks outrageous. I really think that Royal Carribean should come up with an "all inclusive wine/beer package". Every glass of wine I had was just short of $7.00 per glass in U.S. funds, thats about $10.00 here in Canada for a glass of $6.00/bottle wine. Also note the size of the wine glass was tiny. Celebritys wine glass was double the size.

 

The other major beef I had was the price of the arcade. I think that they should come up with a "one price plays all package as well". Something like $50.00 for the week. My son was limited to $10.00 per day so $70.00 for the week. It took him all of 10 minutes to use his $10.00.

 

I sailed the Monarch of the Seas in 1996 and I have noticed a dramatic drop in the food quality.

 

The entertainment was great all nights with the exception of the husband and wife magic act. They were dreadful and really cheesy!

 

The staff overall was excellent. The ship overall is wonderful too. The staff really does go above and beyond to please.

 

The bingo is a ripoff at $35.00 per card for the final bingo. They advertised the prize to be $7000.00 but it was under at $6800.00. When I was on the Monarch of the Seas the prize was $15,000.00. So I guess now they decided to charge more and keep a bigger chunk for themselves.

 

The best tour that we experienced was in Grand Cayman. We booked through the ship the Stingray Swim Tour. There were only 9 of us on a big boat that would hold 200 people. Our guide Chester was amazing with the kids. This was one tour that was worth every penny. It was funny to see all these other boats just packed full of people where we were given all this undivided attention. Chester even lifted a huge stingray out of the water and placed in on my daughters back to give her a back rub. He even got her to kiss the stingray good bye. Thanks Chester.

In Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach and it was great. Don't miss the guacamole there! We missed Costa Maya due to the ship not being able to dock in the rough weather. Book an excusion in Belize or don't bother going. It was boring for us. We just went to the internet cafe to check home.

 

Any questions, I would be happy to answer.

 

Take Care.

 

Marty

[SharleneinTexas]

what did you think of your cabin?

[Sheffie]

Marty, We leave in 5 days to go to Tampa to take this cruise. We are sooooo excited! It doesn't matter how many I've been on, the next on is always so great to think about and plan for. Hope we get to dock at Costa Maya. We are going on a ruins tour and are looking forward to that. If not, oh, well!

 

I don't buy the pop card (I am one of THOSE who brings it in the luggage ;) ) and don't play the arcade, nor Bingo, so I guess they won't disappoint me.

 

So, overall, it sounds like you had a great cruise!:)

 

Speaking of cabins, we have booked aft on the 6th deck, any thoughts? (and if you have negative ones, please don't tell me!!!:D )

 

Michelle

[readyforadventure]

I just got off the Splendour, too, and you'll have an amazing time. We've only cruised on Celebrity previously and we were all very happy with RCI. The boat is in excellent condition for it's age and the service is wonderful. I was also quite pleased with the food. It was great. Everyone at our table loves to eat and we had many nights where we all sampled every dessert offered. Don't miss the banana cream pie.:D

 

Our favorite port was Belize. We went cave tubing with Wet and Wild. It was amazing and not terribly difficult. However, it was hot on the walk through the jungle and one teenage girl got quite sick.

 

My 15 year old son hooked up with other kids and really had a blast. The spring breakers were fun and not at all obnoxious. I agree that the entertainment was great except the horrible magic act. Don't miss the comedians or the hilarious and talented juggler. I wish I could sail again.

[Apex Cruiser]

A few other comments/suggestions from the Splendour.

 

Definately carry on soda, we did and it worked fine.

If you are an adult the Solarium was very nice and the staff policed things very well. It provided sunny and shady areas, tables for eating and a place out of the wind if it is like a few days we had at sea.

They had a taco/nacho buffet each day around 3:30 that was great for a nice snack by the pool bar. The grill in the solarium was good and the burgers were fresh not frozen. The only real disappointment was the cool temperature of windjammer breakfast food. This has been reported by others and was definately noticable compared to our other recent cruises. Otherwise the food was very good and we had some of the best service ever on a cruise.

The service overall on the Splendour far exceeded what we have had on our Voyager class trips recently. We do not use the ice rink or sports areas enough to justify the higher prices and reduced service compared to what we received on Splendour.

 

Overall this cruise exceeded our expectations and our future cruise plans will revolve around the smaller size ships that offer better service.

 

We were fighting colds all week so we tried to avoid contact with others as much as possible, sorry we missed the meet and mingle but we did not want to spread those germs.

 

We did stingrays and snorkeling with Capt Marvins on Cayman.

Tubing in Beleize which I would not recommend unless the water gets higher

Swim with the sealions and dolphins in Cozumel. This was great fun and I highly recommend booking through the operators mentioned on the ports of call board. Great way to spend a day there.