Splendour of the Seas 7 night Greek Isles, October 19th - 26th Review

[Loyal2RCCL]

I appreciate Pete's thorough review, esp. the pictures. I was on the Oct. 19th sailing of the Splendour with my wife, and also my cousin and her husband. My cousin and I celebrated our 60th birthdays while on the cruise.

 

This is my first post on this board.

 

Loved the staff, enjoyed the ship - but was disappointed with the food. Small portions, bland and uninspired in general. As Pete said, it's a subjective call. I was unhappy with this aspect of the cruise.

 

My wife made advance preparations to have my birthday and my cousin's birthday recognized at dinner two separate nights. This never happened, and the ship's staff took no accountability for the oversight. My wife and my cousin's husband visited the Guest Services counter twice to complain and try to get this turned around, to no avail. This was a poor showing as far as I am concerned.

 

I expect we will cruise again, but likely not with RCI. First impressions are lasting, and this one was not good.

 

I find that even though you note a special occassion on your reservation, more times than not the ship does not receive this information. I always let our waitstaff know that we have someone celebrating a special occassion and let them know which night we wish to celebrate. In reminding the crew once onboard we've never missed a celebration while onboard.

[scotsman]

One other thing that may be useful, the cocktail hours on Splendour were the longest I've known, 5:30 pm to 9:00 pm (I've only known up to 8:30 pm on other ships).

 

Interesting but still the same three and a half hours as most ships are 5 - 8:30

[Britisher in New York]

Hi Pete.Enjoyed catching up with your views and photos of Splendour.I agree with much of what you say although our experience was a little different as we were travelling with our 7year old grandson.best ever embarkation and disembarkation,back in Birmingham by 12.30.

[KeywestK]

Hi Peter......Thank you for your excellent and thorough review. As always, illuminating, and gorgeous pictures. I was afraid you would not be happy on a small(er) ship, but in all, you did have a good cruise. The issues with MTD are concerning to me, as I think that entire program needs some revamping. I know you are scheduled to sail on Brilliance this winter, and I hope you will be happier with that class of ship (nearly 20,000 tons larger than Splendour) and, as you know, my personal favorite class of RCI ships.

 

Thanks again for your review, and BTW, I also read Patrick's travel blog on FB. It was excellent too:)

[peteukmcr]

Hi Peter......Thank you for your excellent and thorough review. As always, illuminating, and gorgeous pictures. I was afraid you would not be happy on a small(er) ship, but in all, you did have a good cruise. The issues with MTD are concerning to me, as I think that entire program needs some revamping. I know you are scheduled to sail on Brilliance this winter, and I hope you will be happier with that class of ship (nearly 20,000 tons larger than Splendour) and, as you know, my personal favorite class of RCI ships.

 

Thanks again for your review, and BTW, I also read Patrick's travel blog on FB. It was excellent too:)

Hi Karen, I know what you mean about a smaller ship not being to our liking. It's my personal view that RCI are trying to cram too much in the smaller ships to the detriment of the relaxing cruising experience. Other than the service issues, I think the main problem was that you can't get away in the evening to a quiet space if you want as there are so few venues available on this size of ship. Yet, so strangely, they have the 'Top Hat Lounge' that appeared totally under utilised IMHO, but when not in use, no bar available as it is concentrated on the Centrum which has far less seating and not everyone wants to listen to a live band.

 

Anyway the ports more than made up for it.

 

I know we'll enjoy Brilliance better as we have sailed on her many years ago, albeit for a very short cruise out of Barcelona.

Edited October 28, 2013 by peteukmcr

[peteukmcr]

Hi Pete.Enjoyed catching up with your views and photos of Splendour.I agree with much of what you say although our experience was a little different as we were travelling with our 7year old grandson.best ever embarkation and disembarkation,back in Birmingham by 12.30.

I agree on the embakation and disembarkation, couldn't fault it.

[needhols]

Thanks for posting the extra photos, we have been drooling over them. Looking forward to the cruise, although your experience with your fellow diners is a bit of a worry. Hope our lot are from the 21st century. :rolleyes:

[peteukmcr]

Thanks for posting the extra photos, we have been drooling over them. Looking forward to the cruise, although your experience with your fellow diners is a bit of a worry. Hope our lot are from the 21st century. :rolleyes:

Don't worry, we only shared a table once at breakfast so that's hardly a good indication of how people react, and I'm not sociable at breakfast anyway!

[needhols]

Don't worry, we only shared a table once at breakfast so that's hardly a good indication of how people react, and I'm not sociable at breakfast anyway!

 

Thanks for the reassurance, the shared dining is our main worry. :eek:

[SICruiseGirlNYC]

We recently returned from the Splendour (same itinerary) 10/5-10/12. I noticed the same issues regarding the ship. It was generally in good shape however there was rust on our balcony as well as a cracked piece of glass.

 

We did not dock in Katakalon due to bad weather so we had an extra sea day. I found that there wasn't much to do on the smaller ships on sea days (it was a little to chilly to sit by the pool).

 

One of the other issues you mentioned was difficulty getting a table for 2 at breakfast. My DH and I were traveling with another couple. We prefer to eat breakfast in the main dining room. Every morning we requested a table for 4 and were ignored by the person at the door. We found him to be abrupt and a little rude. The second time he tried to sit us at a table for 8 we refused to sit and told him that we would wait for a table of 4. We went over to speak to one of the head waiters (Hans) regarding this issue. Hans was wonderful. He immediately found us a table for 4. Every morning after that we were seated at a table for 4 with no problem.

 

We would rather sail on the larger ships but would sail the Splendour again out of Venice.

[peteukmcr]

We recently returned from the Splendour (same itinerary) 10/5-10/12. I noticed the same issues regarding the ship. It was generally in good shape however there was rust on our balcony as well as a cracked piece of glass.

 

We did not dock in Katakalon due to bad weather so we had an extra sea day. I found that there wasn't much to do on the smaller ships on sea days (it was a little to chilly to sit by the pool).

 

One of the other issues you mentioned was difficulty getting a table for 2 at breakfast. My DH and I were traveling with another couple. We prefer to eat breakfast in the main dining room. Every morning we requested a table for 4 and were ignored by the person at the door. We found him to be abrupt and a little rude. The second time he tried to sit us at a table for 8 we refused to sit and told him that we would wait for a table of 4. We went over to speak to one of the head waiters (Hans) regarding this issue. Hans was wonderful. He immediately found us a table for 4. Every morning after that we were seated at a table for 4 with no problem.

 

We would rather sail on the larger ships but would sail the Splendour again out of Venice.

Sorry to read you experienced the same issues as us at breakfast, but glad that you had it resolved.

[SICruiseGirlNYC]

Sorry to read you experienced the same issues as us at breakfast, but glad that you had it resolved.

 

 

Thanks. We all were glad that Hans took care of the problem for us. I'm usually very quiet in the morning and didn't want to feel obligated to talk to anyone. Even with the small issues we encounted we will had a great cruise.

[mjldvlks]

Thank you for the review. Our first cruise in 2007 was a very similar itinerary [we went to Ephesus but not Athens or Katakalon] aboard Splendour. We were in what is now 7076 [i think the numbers have changed] almost directly across the ship from your starboard cabin. Your pictures bring back happy memories.

[peteukmcr]

Thanks. We all were glad that Hans took care of the problem for us. I'm usually very quiet in the morning and didn't want to feel obligated to talk to anyone. Even with the small issues we encounted we will had a great cruise.

So did we, as I said only a couple of niggles, not enough to prevent us having a great time.

 

Thank you for the review. Our first cruise in 2007 was a very similar itinerary [we went to Ephesus but not Athens or Katakalon] aboard Splendour. We were in what is now 7076 [i think the numbers have changed] almost directly across the ship from your starboard cabin. Your pictures bring back happy memories.

Glad they did.

[scotsman]

Just a Question

In Croatia did everywhere take Euros ? read somewhere that some places are still only taking the Kuna.

[peteukmcr]

Just a Question

In Croatia did everywhere take Euros ? read somewhere that some places are still only taking the Kuna.

Our guide advised that the government has passed a law that only Kuna can be accepted by retailers, restaurants etc. However, he did say that on days when banks are closed (like Sunday when we were there), some may take Euros in Dubrovnik. Our experience was that very few advertised taking Euros, except a few souvenir outlets. All food and drink establishments we visited only took Kuna. Edited October 29, 2013 by peteukmcr

[Loyal2RCCL]

Our guide advised that the government has passed a law that only Kuna can be accepted by retailers, restaurants etc. However, he did say that on days when banks are closed (like Sunday when we were there), some may take Euros in Dubrovnik. Our experience was that very few advertised taking Euros, except a few souvenir outlets. All food and drink establishments we visited only took Kuna.

 

In Split a few of the dining establishments took Euro as well as Kuna.

[scotsman]

Thanks.

[DEEDIA]

Enjoyed reading, thank you Peter, Looking forward to Saturday to meet friends New and Old.

[peteukmcr]

Enjoyed reading, thank you Peter, Looking forward to Saturday to meet friends New and Old.

Thanks for your feedback and have a great sailing away from this awful weather.

[cruizefam]

Enjoyed your review & pictures, thank-you for taking the time to post it! This itinerary is on my bucket list!

[peteukmcr]

Enjoyed your review & pictures, thank-you for taking the time to post it! This itinerary is on my bucket list!

Glad you enjoyed it, this is an itinerary we've wanted to do for such a long time too. There are so many other 'eastern med' ports to visit too.

[tahoemc]

Hi Peter, thanks for dropping in on the 2011 Liberty TA thread and letting us know about your review. As always, another fine review and great pictures! While you noted your concerns, I appreciate your upbeat and positive comments throughout the review. Thanks!

 

P.S. Hi George and Karen!

[scotsman]

 

P.S. Hi George and Karen!

 

Hi Mike

You still cruising ?

[tahoemc]

Hi Mike

You still cruising ?

 

Still plan to, just haven't done anything since the Liberty TA. Pretty sad, eh?:( Just been so busy with work and family stuff. Been looking at something Carribbean next spring, probably out of Galveston or New Orleans. No big cruises until we retire early 2015.

 

See your still a cruising maniac - so envious! Keep at it!