Splendour....greek Isles....any...info

[darceyg]

Really looking forward to our cruise in July. Any info re ship (deck 7) and DIY:) shore excursions gratefully received. Thanks.

[psuboater]

Hi!

 

This is a first post for me - I'm usually not one to post, but I don't see any other reviews and I'll help you out.

 

We traveled on Splendour last year on the Med. Cruise and had a wonderful time. Maybe it was because this trip had so much to live up to, but we definitely had a better time last year. That being said though, I don't want to say we had a terrible time, our party (12 guests) all had a great time.

 

Embarkation at Venice is horrible -- because they're in the middle of construction, you can't proceed directly on the ship from the terminal. You're sent down some stairs and to a shuttle bus, and the shuttle bus transports you. You board on Deck 1 - and from last year's sunny boarding on Deck 4, this was completely different! Our luggage though, got to us fairly quickly (We were on Deck 6)

 

We ate at the King and I every night - our table of 8 first was split into a 6 and 6 table - so we went upstairs and we were switched right away, no problems. Our servers were good - our assistant waiter was the best out of all of them. We had exceptional service last year, but I don't have any complaints about the quality this year. The food was OK - some days were better than others, although we felt that the last day was comparable to dining hall food. Breakfast was always amazing (maybe because breakfast is my favorite meal?) - a few days in, they have the Greek yogurt out -- it's delicious, and I definitely reccomend getting some on some of the isles, even if you don't particularly care for yogurt!

 

Shore Excursions were really great this year - last year we did some private tours but decided it wasn't worth the price. All of our tour guides were knowledgable and friendly - the only ones I wouldn't reccomend was going to Lindos on the Rhodos day - those who went to the city of Rhodos had a great time and did some great shopping, but we felt that Lindos was a bit of a tourist trap. Also, the "seaside resort" tour in Croatia wasn't worth it - just stay in Dubrovnik as we didn't have enough time to see this beautiful city. If you're looking for a great place to eat in Mykenos, skip the restaurants directly on the main strip when you get off the boat and make your way to little Venice - the food is much cheaper, the view is much nicer and the food is great! The shopping people push Giorgio's on you for jewelry (If I saw the phrase "If he loves you, he'll buy from Girogios" one more time...) - we had friends who bought things there and were satisfied, but we went to the Lapis Diamond Club and met a really nice jeweler who gave us great deals. It's a bit inward on the island.

 

This year was the first year that I tried the spa - as last year they filled up the very first day - we booked on the 2nd day of the cruise and had no problem. I got the aromatherapy facial - it was really relaxing and really smoothed out my skin - other members of our party got the anti-aging facial and really enjoyed it as well. If you have the extra money/time - go for it!

 

Activities: Last year we spent a LOT of time at the pool and laying out in the sun, but this was not the case this time. The two days at sea the ship is flying, and the wind is basically hurricane force - it was very, very VERY cold and windy, so we didn't spend much time this year. A HUGE tip is to get the seats right in front of the pool bar, right near where the outdoor buffet is set up, by the two staircases, or on Deck 10 right in front of the doors, right above the Deck 9 bar. This is where the wind is bareable, and as soon as people discover this, the seats are taken fast! Granted, we took our Med. cruise middle of June and this was the end of May - so in July it might be warmer. Needless to say, we were dissapointed as the planned days lounging by the pool were a crapshoot. However, it was 90-95 in Athens and Myenkos. In Croatia, it was 65 and rainy, but our tour guide said it was highly unusual - as that day was colder than their winters.

 

Since we didn't have the pool this year, we relied on more cruise activities - and looking back at the activities sheet from last year to this - there was a lot less to do -- the inside page of highlighted things to do didn't cover 3/4ths of the page this year! We did a lot of trivia, a lot of bingo, and went to the "Love and Marriage" game and played in "The Quest" (that is certaintly crazy!_ which were a lot of fun. One of our friends saw the Motown group in the 42nd Street theater and said they were excellent.

 

This was our first Crown and Anchor Society reception, which we all enjoyed the free drinks. Most of the speech from the Cruise Director and Captain were about the Freedom of the Seas and the soon to be Liberty of the Seas, but everyone enjoyed themselves there.

 

Also - another note -- last year the alcohol you could buy on the ship you were allowed to take up in the room -- this year, this is not the case -- the cashier said that because of all the recent incidents from various cruise ships, RCL has been tightening their alcohol policy. If you want to take alcohol back on the ship - don't leave it in the duty free bag -- those bags were inspected right away and alcohol in other bags I noticed were left alone.

 

Disembarkation was even more horrible than the embarkation - probably because were in such a rush to get to the airport. We had the first group off - which was supposed to depart at 7:30. The first group wasn't called to close until 8:00, which no explaniation until I ran up to the purser's desk and demanded what was going on. Because of that damn shuttle bus, there was a mass of people on Deck 1 waiting for the next one - and our party was seperated as they kept roping people off for the next boat. As our flight was at 11:30, we were all very stressed out and it wasn't the best way to end the cruise. If you have a flight in the morning, make sure you're the first one off - we had the 2nd group off originially but another member of our party said we should asked to be switched - we're glad we did! The purser's desk switched that no problem - but with an 11:30 flight to NY and a 11:25 flight to Philadelphia and LA - half the ship gets off.

 

This year there were far more Europeans on the cruise - last year Nationwide hosted for their company, so everyone was from the midwest last year. This year there were many many British and many Italians (probably because Perelli was hosting this year). I read in the New York Times that European Cruise bookings are down, so I'm guessing that this was a "last minute deal" for Europeans as a Bermuda cruise would be for us.

 

This has been brought up, but I'll bring it up again - RCL did not enforce any of their rules. There were tons and tons of children jumping in and out of the hot tub, kids at the "Love and Marriage" game (The Cruise Director hosting this was not happy - and he "jokingly" kept bringing it up, but you could tell he was P.Oed), kids at "The Quest", deck chairs being saved (by the end of the cruise, we were just throwing towels off and sitting there after watching a seat go unoccupied for hours - it's one thing if your sunscreen and book and such is there, another if you're just throwing a towel on at 6am) - this year we felt people were very rude and it got frustrating by the end of the week. One person, pissed off that we were waiting for people on our tour before we left, stood up and announced that since he was waiting, he was going to make us wait and go get coffee - yes, the tour group waited. This all depends though by chance - everyone on the cruise the year before was no problems.

 

I don't want to scare you - we all had a great time, and all of us will travel with RCL again -we're looking into another cruise for next year. I think it was because this is the second time in a row we traveled on Splendour, so the routine got dull. Our rooms were great - and our friends who had a junior suite loved it - the staff was really friendly - and everyone can look back and say they had a good time - I think we're just ready for another ship!

 

Hope this helped - and happy cruising!

[sunvalley cruisers]

psuboater--

 

Thanks for your trip report. They are few and far between for the Splendour. We will be on the June 25th sailing, I hope it warms up by then. Was the weather better when you were on her last year in mid-June?

 

I also appreciate the tip for lunch on Mykenos. What was your favorite shopping purchase of the trip?

[Grumm]

Don't walk up the stairs in Santorini and PLEASE don't take a donkey as they're treated miserably. Use the cable-car. It's fast and cheap.

 

Alan

[psuboater]

When we went last year - the weather was beautiful - 85-90 every day, clear skies - spent all day at the pool :) We left June 18th - so I'm sure it'll be plenty warm by then. I'm interested to know whether that wind from this year was from the ship or from the time of year!

 

My favorite shopping purchase was a lace skirt in Burano - an island off of Venice (If you take a vaparetto from St. Marco - it's a bit over a hour) - it's hand made and absolutely gorgeous! We've seen (and shopped out) Venice before, so Burano was a great change of pace and had a lot of great shopping - Burano looks a lot like Nassau, Bahamas. Another favorite purchase was the slippers from Croatia -- they're cheap, but they're wonderfully warm and cozy.

 

Eeverything in Croatia is cheap - 8 drinks, two of them being beer, the others cappucino (best I had on the trip!) was about 10 US dollars. They don't use Euros, but to roughly figure out a price, just divide the sticker price by 5. If you don't want to bother exchanging, a lot of places, especially the stalls right off the boat, take Euros. We didn't have a lot of time in Croatia, but there's not much to buy. There's a tie place where apparently the first modern tie was invented - they're all silk, and they're very nice as well. This is a place RCL mentions - it'll be in the shopping guide.

 

Other noteworthy gifts was the diamond Greek Key earrings and diamond bracelet one of my friends had bought, and another bought a mother of pearl "Mykenos Heart" - RCL seems to always have that one piece of jewelry which is a must have which only RCL seems to say to get - last year was the "bell pendant" of Capri. The heart pendant was very pretty though. You can get a lot of good deals on Jewelry - I definitely reccomend the place that we went to - you can tell the quality is superior and the prices are VERY fair.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions while it's still fresh in my mind, I'm going on NCL for the first time in a week so things will start to get jumbled! ;)