Splendour of the Seas, Nov 17-24, 2012 - Long Review

[Baseball fan]

Sorry this is late, as I have had so much to catch up on since I got back.

 

Flights and Venice: I traveled with one of my best friends. She lives in Los Angeles and I live in Phoenix. I’ve traveled a lot (try to use my passport at least once every year). My friend has only been to London and Paris (outside of the US). We flew American and connected to British Airways. We started by connecting thru Chicago. Due to a schedule change I had a 5 hour connection in O’Hare. We met in Chicago and boarded our flight to London. All of the flights were uneventful . We changed planes in Heathrow and due to arriving early and a delay to Venice we ended up with a 2 ½ hour connection which gave us more time to spend in the shops:). Our flight to Venice was fine and we arrived 30 min late at around noon.

 

We got our bags and purchased tickets for the ATVO bus to take us to the Piazzale Roma. We were staying that the Hotel Arlecchino which is one bridge away from the P. Roma. Due to the floods earlier in the week in Venice, I had contacted the hotel on Tuesday and they said the water had receded so there was no concern. We walked with our bags to the hotel and luckily our room was ready. We got to our room (Canal view) and decided to get out and spend a bit of time in the area.

 

We headed toward the Ghetto but due to it being colder than I expected, we didn’t make it there. We stopped to eat and split a pizza (excellent pizza). We decided to head back to the hotel as it was getting dark and we were both really tired. We did some shopping along the way.

 

Our first morning we woke up with plans to walk to St Marks and spend time in the area and then take a water bus back to the P.Roma. The weather was crisp (mid 50’s) so we bundled up. Since we are from AZ and Southern California, this is rather cold to us:). We followed signs to the Accademia to walk over the bridge (great place to take pictures) and then headed to St Marks. We spent the day around St Marks Square and the Rialto Bridge. We found a little trattoria for lunch a few blocks from St Marks. The food was good, but the service…not so much. We took a water bus from St Marks (San Zacarria??) back to the P.Roma. My friend sat down and I stood in the open area to take pictures. Fun day overall and I do love Venice.

 

Embarkation Day: The following morning, we had decided to sleep in a bit and eat breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out at 11. We headed out of the hotel about 11 and walked to the People Mover. Bought our tickets to the People Mover and got off at the Maritime stop. Apparently there was a shuttle bus from that stop to the ship but we missed the signs so we walked to the ship. It wasn’t too far but not clearly marked (we just kept heading toward the ship). Check-In was quick as they were already boarding. Since the cabins weren’t ready yet, we headed up to the Windjammer for lunch. It was pretty crowded but we did find a place to sit. WARNING….the employees are instructed to tell everyone to go to the Windjammer but the Park Café is open (we went there on our sea day since we did not know).

 

The ship: Due to multiple price drops we ended up with Grand Suite #8008. For sailaway out of Venice, you do want to be on the port side. Our cabin attendant was Elvie from the Philippines. She was fantastic. We didn’t ask for much but what little we did, she didn’t hesitate. Our room was fantastic. Thanks to the review by Lita, I knew what we could expect. When we arrived to our room, the beds were together. They were separated by the time we got back from dinner the first night. When the cabins were open, we went to drop off our carry-on in the cabin and explore the ship. The ship is well kept up and everything looked great. They did have the hand sanitizer throughout the ship to use. I even noticed in the public bathrooms that they suggested you open the door with a paper towel.

 

We did go to Guest Services a few times as I had a shipboard credit from our TA that I needed to give half to my friend. One day we went to see if they could give us some smaller bills that we had gotten from the ATM. It wasn’t a problem and everyone we encountered was very friendly and helpful.

 

The meet and mingle was held at the Viking Crown Lounge mid-morning our day at sea. There were about 30 people there and some food and beverages. They did give each attendee a gift and did draw a few names for raffle prizes. It was good as I got to meet some of the people who we were sharing tours with. It was a bit of a rough day at sea, so not everyone attended.

 

The Food: This is the one thing that I think RCCL is lacking. Last time I sailed RCCL (a few years ago, I don’t remember the food being this bland). We had My Time Dining and had made our reservations online prior to sailing. We did go to the dining room the first 3 nights. We had really nice dining companions and saw them throughout our cruise.

But the food was awful. I had read really good things about the Vidalia Onion Tart so I ordered it day one. I thought it was very bland. It had no flavor. The second thing I ordered was the Caesar salad. How does one mess that up? Apparently RCCL forgot any hint of anchovies or garlic. I realize they are cooking for thousands of passengers, but I was very disappointed in the food in the dining room. All other nights, we either filled ourselves up in the Concierge Lounge (later on that) or we went to the Windjammer where I could eat a salad.

 

Concierge Lounge: Our Concierge was Telma Santos from Portugal. Telma was great. So was the bartending server (sorry, don’t remember her name). About a week prior to sailing we received an email from Telma telling us what she could help us with and what we could expect in the lounge. We went to the lounge on day one to introduce ourselves. We went to the lounge everyday when we got back from our shore excursions to grab something to eat (which at times ended up being our dinner) or to grab a cappuccino from the machine which was there 24/7. The pre-dinner food in the lounge was far better than what was offered in the dining room. On our day at sea, Telma had arranged for a bridge tour. I was hoping for a galley tour too but that could not be arranged. The bridge tour was in the morning of our sea day so we could not sleep in. I found that tour very interesting.

Ports: Our ports were Split, Naples, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Toulon and then disembark in Barcelona.

 

For Split we took the tender over and walked around the Diocletian Palace area. It was a Sunday so many things were closed. Since it was a tender port we waited until about 10am to get off the ship. We got back to the ship about 130p and the water was much rougher.

 

Naples: We booked a tour with Joe Banana Limos for Pompeii, Positano and Sorrento. There were 10 of us (initially 12) so we needed 2 vans. We had one van with 6 passengers driven by Paolo and the other with 4 passengers driven by Giovanni (Joe). Paolo is fantastic. He was very informative and was easy to understand. Our first stop was Pompeii as we had a tour booked with Gaetano Manfredi (recommended by Rick Steves). Although it was drizzling, it was good to get there early and beat the crowds. He took us thru Pompeii for almost 2 ½ hours. Then we boarded the bus again and headed to Positano. The drive along the Amalfi Coast is not good for those that get car sick. I would never drive the winding, narrow roads. We stopped a couple times for pictures and then we had a little bit of time to spend in Positano. We boarded the van again to head for a lunch at an Italian restaurant. The served it family style so there were plates of food that you passed around. The food was excellent and on a day with good weather I am sure the view is amazing. We then headed to Sorrento for about an hour. Then we boarded the van again for the long drive back to the ship. We had a fantastic time and I would highly recommend Joe Bananas in the future.

 

Rome: We had purchased transportation only thru Smartcruisetours.com prior to leaving the US. The cost was about 19 euros (approx $25 each) for roundtrip transportation to Rome and back to the ship. Their drop off point is a parking garage near the Vatican. We had nothing booked but I wanted my friend to see the main sites in Rome. It was more walking than I expected and we were exhausted by the end of the day. With map in hand, we looked around St Peter’s Square and then headed to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Colisseum (outside only), Piazza Navona and Pantheon. We arrived in Rome about 1030am and left about 4pm. The pickup and drop off spot outside the port in Civitavecchia is near Forte Michelangelo.

 

Livorno: We shared a tour with others from our ship thru Smartcruisetours.com to go to Florence. I driver was Diego and he was great. He lives in Livorno. He was very knowledgeable about the area and easy to understand. Our first stop was the Piazzle Michalangelo to get a great view of Florence and take some pictures. We then headed to the Accademia for our 10am reservation to see the statue of David. I had made reservations by phone prior to leaving the US so we purchased our tickets and headed inside. Diego picked us up outside and took us to the main section of town. He got us situated and gave us a few hours to shop and wander around. We did both and he picked us up for our ride to Pisa. He dropped us in Pisa (right near the Leaning tower) to spend time taking pictures and walking around. We then headed back to the ship.

 

Toulon: I had made a reservation with Catherine from Tour Designer in Provence. We did not have Catherine that day but did have her partner, Marjorline (sp?) who I really liked. Our first stop was high up on the cliffs overlooking Cassis. The view was fantastic. She then took us down to the town of Cassis to wander around the town and the market. Our next stop was Aix en Provence. She first drove us around the new section of the town (to the south of the main street) and then dropped us off for lunch and shopping for a couple hours. We then met up again and she took us on a walking tour of the old part of the city. I would love to get back to this part of the world again.

 

Disembarkation and Barcelona: Because we were in a suite we were allowed to go to the Concierge Lounge the morning of departure. We had breakfast and spent some time talking to Telma. We got off the ship about 9am. Since we had departure number one we figured our luggage would be there waiting for us. Well mine was…my friends wasn’t. I asked for assistance and they could not find it on the floor either. I had left my friend with my bag and went off to look for hers. Right as I was completing the lost luggage form, her luggage showed up. Who knows where it was….We stood in the cab line to get a cab to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Continental Barcelona. It is on the Las Ramblas just south of the Placa Catalunya. The cab cost us about 17 euros. We checked into the hotel and our room was ready. We unpacked a few things and headed out to our tour with Runnerbean tours of the Gothic Quarter. We arrived a few minutes early. The tour was supposed to start at 11 but started a few minutes past that. I also thought the tour would be smaller but it was about 30 people. Since my friend had injured her foot the last night on the ship, we were not sure how much we would be able to do. The tour was good but about ½ way through, we had to stop. We had told the guide before we started that we might not make the whole tour. When she had stopped for people to wander around near a church we dropped off. We gave her a tip and went on our way. I wanted to go to Gaudi’s Palau Guell which was near the Las Ramblas. We toured the house and then stopped to have paella. We stopped at La Boqueria for pictures and then headed back to the hotel to rest. Since we had a really late lunch we weren’t really hungry for dinner. We were about a block from El Cortes Ingles (sp?) so we headed over to the Placa Catalunya. They had all of the Xmas lights up and it was really crowded. We found out that they had just set up the ice rink so many people were there to skate. We wandered around a bit and then headed back to the hotel since we had a 10am flight Sunday morning and wanted to leave the hotel to catch the bus about 7am.

 

We left the hotel about 7am and walked to catch the Aero Bus. The bus was 5.5 euros per person. We boarded the bus with our luggage and it took about 30 min to get to the airport. BA was slow to check people in so that took a while. They checked our luggage thru to our destinations (me PHX, my friend LAX). The flight to London was late due to weather in London. My flight to PHX was apparently on time. BA did not board by rows for this flight. They called general boarding like herding cattle. It was awful. I asked one of the gate agents why they did not board by rows and she said they wanted to get the flight off on time. Well once we boarded, we found out that there was an issue with the air on the flight so we had to wait for that to be fixed. So they should have boarded everyone more orderly and they could have left at the same time. They didn’t leave the gate until almost an hour late, so I arrived in PHX about 45 min later than expected.

Overall a great trip but too many days at sea and not enough relaxing time. I would use all of the tour companies again and I would stay in the same hotels if back in those same cities. Would I sail RCCL again, yes but would look at others unless the ports were unique.

 

Ask questions, and I will try to answer.

Dena

[johnlcruise]

Nice review. Thanks for thanks the time to report on your Most Excellent Adventure.

[ms8654]

Thank you for the review. I just booked a Greek Isles cruise for next year. I'm Diamond level, but haven't sailed RCCL in a while. What level is allowed to use the Concierge lounge? I know they've made changes since I last sailed.

 

 

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[Wriggler]

I'm Diamond level, but haven't sailed RCCL in a while. What level is allowed to use the Concierge lounge? I know they've made changes since I last sailed.

 

Hi

 

You need to be Diamond Plus, Pinnacle or in a suite to be allowed into the CL these days. There are Diamond lounges though (and Diamond events where there is no lounge) for Diamond guests to enjoy cocktails :)

[anandaindonesia]

Wonderful trip. Wonderful review.

Thanks for sharing.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[ms8654]

Hi

 

You need to be Diamond Plus, Pinnacle or in a suite to be allowed into the CL these days. There are Diamond lounges though (and Diamond events where there is no lounge) for Diamond guests to enjoy cocktails :)

 

Thanks.

[Coolcruise02]

Overall a great trip but too many days at sea and not enough relaxing time.

 

WOW, sea days are when I do all my relaxing! :)

Thanks for the review!

[Skier52]

You were very lucky with your suite attendant, Elvie, she was our suite attendant (Suite 8010) when we sailed the Greek Islands in the last week in August, and a you could not meet a lovelier person. Did you know her husband was a rigger for the arial shows and in the theatre?

 

And your concierge, Telma was our concierge when we did the Brazil to Barcelona repositioning in April, was the most fun concierge that we have had to date on RCI. On our cruise in August she was the diamond lounge concierge and we made a point of popping into that lounge just to see her.

 

I loved the review and it brought back pleasant memories of our two cruises on Splendour this year.

 

Thank you very much for posting it.

 

Pete

[critterchick]

WOW, sea days are when I do all my relaxing! :)

Thanks for the review!

 

I think there was only one sea day; perhaps OP meant too many port days.

 

OP, thanks for such a thorough review. I would love to sail on Splendour again.

[travellingshoes]

Just found this. I'm on the same cruise (same ship, same itinerary) THIS November. I'm in Southern CA too, so I'm a fellow weather wimp. Glad to hear that no ports were cancelled bc of weather. Did you encounter any rain? Anything especially cooler/ warmer than you would have expected?

 

 

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