OMG! A Z review! 1/25/07 Splendour

[ChoosinCruisin]

Don't want to rush you or anything but when do we get the rest of the story? :D Inquiring minds want to know.

[zantedeschia]

Don't want to rush you or anything but when do we get the rest of the story? :D Inquiring minds want to know.

Spent the night last night with Scott which is why I haven't done Day 4 yet. Each segment takes 3 to 4 hours or so to compose and type. Sitting down now to do so.

 

Patience, grasshopper. :)

[zantedeschia]

Do they also offer a continental breakfast at that spot?

I always had breakfast in the Windjammer. I looked at the Compasses, they don't say anything about breakfast in the Solarium.

[vickiw0318]

DH and I were in the Schooner Bar also. There was a big group of people laughing and I got my nerve up to ask if they were from Cruise Critic - and they weren't! Sorry we missed you.

[zantedeschia]

Yesterday at dinner I forgot to mention I got the garlic soup as well as the strawberry. They brought them together and it was an interesting contrast. The garlic was a smooth puree and nicely zingy; last time I got it it had pieces of garlic in it, the time before that it was very bland. It's better garlicky.

 

Also forgot to mention the pushy vendors on the tenders. I bought a couple silver chains from them. They started around $35, I paid $15 each for them, Scott picked up a cigar or two.

 

The big news today was the captain's announcement that he made around 10am. He said that there was a medical emergency and we had to turn back to Cozumel to let someone off the ship and we were running 5 to 6 hours behind schedule. They had kicked the speed up to 25.5 knots but we were sailing into a head wind so we were going somewhat slower than 25.5. The captain had said at the reception that at 26 knots, Splendour was the fastest ship it the fleet so we were running near full speed. There were various rumours on what time we had to have our bags out and what time we had to vacate the room. I heard everything from putting the bags out at the usual time at midnight to 8 to 10am in the morning. We did not pack that evening, but I'll get to that. The captain says that because our cruise has been extended an extra half-day, they've printed up additional Compasses for it, Day 4.5 that we'll be receiving in the evening.

 

Headed up to the Centrum at 10:30 for the cooking show. It was already in progress and looked to be about 75% through the presentation. Confused, I look at the Compass. 10:30 it says. I look at my cell phone. Again, 10:30. I estimate they started around 10 but don't know the reason why they started early. They had one chef decorating a cake, one chef carving a melon - it was an Indian head which I swear was the same design the guy did last August on Rhapsody. Then the 2 food dishes, fresh strawberries in a sabayon sauce and a sauteed shrimp dish. They gave samples of the shrimp and the strawberries but not the cake like they did last time I attended one of these. I thought the sabayon sauce was a bit rich for me that early in the morning, but the shrimp was rather tasty. Unfortunately as you already know from reading this thread, the cooking demonstration pamphlet did not make it home with me so I am unable to post the recipes.

 

On the way back to the room, I run into Antonio. Knowing there's no way I'm gonna pull Scott out of bed, I ask Antonio if he would come and do everything but the bed and also the towel animal from the day before. He tells me he'll do our room as soon as he's finished with the one he's on. Now this is the cool thing - when he makes the animals, he first shows us how to make the dog and then shows how to do the monkey before he pins it on the curtain.

 

In the elevator I run into someone wearing a NIN Spiral t-shirt, he says he's going to the pool deck for some BBQ. There's nothing about it in the Compass, but someone at dinner later says they had ribs, comparable to the ribs they serve at lunch in the dining room.

 

Speaking of food, Scott and I head to the dining room for lunch. I tend to avoid the dining room for breakfast and lunch, mainly because chances are good my tablemates are going to be less than stellar. This opinion is based on previous experience, tho I have been pleasantly surprised once or twice. But only once or twice. I am drawn there however, because the lunch menu is pretty damned good.

 

We get seated at a table for 8 by the window with 2 other couples - a reserved older couple and a stout younger pair. Neither of them talking. Scott and I chatter along in our usual inane way, I'm hoping to break the ice. One of the things I like about lunch is the little dishes of tapenade they serve with the bread. I snatch both of them because no one's ever eaten the tapenade before. Scott relishes it with as much gusto as I do. The waiter brings a fresh basket of bread and the younger woman immediately takes the tapenade for herself, I'm like crap, I've offended her.

 

Speaking of our waiter, his name was Edream and he's from Turkey. "Do you know Sadika?" I inquire. Of course he does, and his tables are right next to her. "Come by at dinner and say hi!" Turn outs his tables are more like across the room but he does come by to see us - numerous times. I like him a lot, he's fun and I wish he had been our waiter for dinner! For lunch I have some fried calamari that was okay, the nicoise salad which is pretty good and the chocolate creme brulee which oh my goodness is so yummy I want 2 or 3 more. Scott has this grilled fish and when he sees that the younger man has ordered ribs, orders those as well. The younger couple leave early claiming they're not that hungry cause they had hamburgers not long before in the Solarium, I'm kind of thinking um, is it any wonder they're corpulent? No, that's mean, I shouldn't say that. It's the older couple who finally open up and talk which is a good thing because they turn out to be quite pleasant and charming (albeit still prim and soft-spoken).

 

Sated, we wander through the Centrum where we hear the auctioneer promoting the upcoming art auction. We pause and to each other try to figure out where he is, turn around and he's standing right next to us with a cordless microphone, overhearing our conversation. He's amused and says so. Into his microphone. (blush) I look at a few of the paintings and it is here that Scott claimed he talked to the girl in the band that played in the Centrum late night. I didn't think I spent that long perusing the paintings but he claims he talked to her for 7 minutes. (why seven?)

 

We amble into the Schooner bar, and Scott stretches out on one of the couches. I nudge his legs up and slip under them and get comfy with one leg on my lap, he kicks the other up onto the back of the couch. "This is how we sit on the sofa at home," I muse. He looks out the window and remarks, "it's the nature channel." "The Discovery Channel," I reply.

 

After a while I went back into the Centrum where the art auction was starting. I signed up for it for the free champagne, but this time I sat down and watched it for a while, rather than just getting a glass and leaving. This was advantageous in that I ended up snarfing 3 glasses of champagne. I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole concept of art auctions and after the while even the champagne's not enough to keep me from getting bored.

 

Which is fine cause I need to allow time for my body to metabolize the alcohol before the 4pm walk a mile. Remember the head wind? Up on the sun deck it was incredibly blustery with a wind so strong it was enough to push me around. The rock climbing wall was closed and the Trinidadian dude (was his name Robert?) wasn't there. I asked the woman there if the walk-a-mile was still on, she handed me a Shipshape dollar, packed up and left. I think she was impressed that I still walked. I took the stairs down to the area behind the spa and there on the ground was a discarded Shipshape dollar. I snagged to hear a woman exclaim, "She picked it up!" Someone else in her group asked me what it was. "A Shipshape dollar?" I returned. He told me he had tossed another one in the trash bin and I can't believe I actually went and fished it out. Between those 2 and the 3 I got this cruise and the ones I brought, I now have 18 SS dollars. Popped back up to redeem them around 5:30 expecting no one to be there, but the woman was. She counted them, said, "What do you want? What else? What else?" She gave me a t-shirt (10), a lanyard (3) and the workout towel (6) despite being one short. I'm a happy camper! Hang onto them tightly, she warned, lest they get blown off the ship by the wind.

 

OMG. I have to replenish the calories I just so carelessly expended. Had a slice of pizza that had whole kernel corn and sausage on it and a butterscotch crepe. Broke down and for the first time ever on a cruise, paid for a diet coke. Kids were in the Solarium pool again to noone's surprise.

 

Scott went to the purser's desk to settle his account and came back mad -- they had put his tips on his account and he had to argue with them to get them removed. When I got my statement both sets of tips were on there so I'm not sure what happened.

 

Someone tells me because of the delay we have free Internet. I check and indeed we do. I was so smug because earlier I submitted the free Internet coupon and used up exactly 10 minutes, the amount the coupon was for. Logging on still shows a $5 credit for the coupon, oh well. So what do I do online? I read Cruise Critic!

 

Tonight's show is Los Pampas Gauchos featuring the artistry of fluorescence. This is the show I missed on Rhapsody so I was avid to catch it. Plus I try to attend at least one show per cruise. It was also the farewell show, Leo Papa from Brazil was our Cruise Director. The show was pretty good, we enjoyed it. Franciela was here serving drinks, I ordered a shooter from her and tipped extra. It was a shot that Frank and Deb told us about, called a blue-eyed-blonde (Scott is about as blue-eyed and blond as one can get). IIRC it has blue curacao, bailey's and white creme de cacao in it. Very tasty. I got it in the clear souvenir glass so we could see the pretty layers.

 

For our last dinner everyone showed up! Tonight they served a salad "family style", in 2 large bowls at the table. Had spinach leaves, tomato, fresh mozzarella in it, was very good. For dinner, I ordered the hummus, the onion soup which was very good but a little salty, the berry soup which was okay, it's not one of my favorites and the orechiette which I mistranslated as "little hats." I was close, it's actually "little ears." For dessert I got both the strawberry shortcake (erroneously listed as pound cake on the menu) and the key lime pie. I was amazed, they got the shortcake right! A sweet biscuit with strawberry sauce and whipped cream; it could have been improved by having fresh strawberries and freshly whipped cream. Still scrumptious, I preferred it to the key lime pie.

 

After dinner is where the evening gets weird. I wanted to do the Life Style portraits as backup since the first set of pictures didn't come out and the second set was pending. So we went out to the Centrum. Remember the girl Scott allegedly was talking to earlier? She's here singing with her band, a guitarist who also does vocals, and a pianist. We're on deck 5 at the railing, overlooking the performers. The song ends, Scott yips loudly in approval. She looks up, sees him and in her microphone goes, "Oh I remember *you*." He says something back I don't remember, she responds again in the microphone. Now here I am leaning against him and not once does she look at me. I'm like *****!!?? He wants to get a picture of her, I assume it's like what we just did in the dining room, when he took a picture of me & Sadika. To make a long story short, the band breaks, he goes to talk to her, motions me over. Hands me the camera, he wants me to take a picture of the 2 of them together. Insulted, I hand the camera back and climb the stairs to deck 5 where the portrait photographer is. When he doesn't follow, I seek him out, find him in our room. He's irked and cocky, but I am pissed. I tell him I'm not going to sleep in the room that night and leave. Ironically, I go to the champagne bar which is next to the band playing their next set tho their music no longer enchants me. I order a Royal Caribbean which is champagne with rose syrup. It is divine.

 

When I return to the room maybe 45 minutes later, Scott tells me to come to bed, he's not mad, all is good. And you know what? It was.

 

If anyone still cares, our towel animal was a bunny. And ... with all the drama, we did not feel like packing.

 

As you can see this isn't the end of the saga! There's still Day 4.5! Stay tuned.

[benandelena]

Looking forward to the details! I will attempt to make our cruise review this detailed, but with it being our honeymoon such detail may not be CC appropriate lol :D

[ChoosinCruisin]

Thanks for the installment. Did you ever find out what the medical emergency was? We were on the Splendour in Dec. and a crew member had a ruptured appendix. Same scenario, back to Cozumel.

[zantedeschia]

Thanks for the installment. Did you ever find out what the medical emergency was? We were on the Splendour in Dec. and a crew member had a ruptured appendix. Same scenario, back to Cozumel.

No, the only thing I heard was that it was a young passenger, the next day the Captain announced that he was doing much better.

[zantedeschia]

Posted a couple new pics, one of the door decorations and one of the new bedding plus a couple of me. Done with a little disposable camera, so they're a little grainy. Here: http://www.taronga.com/~arielle/cruise

[Echo Queen]

Thanks so much for sharing your report, waiting for 4.5:D I cruise next month for the first time with RCCL. Loved your report and great pictures:)

[Echo Queen]

Thanks so much for sharing your report, waiting for 4.5:D I cruise next month for the first time with RCCL. Loved your report and great pictures:)

[dnoble74]

HI Z! Hey, another great cruise blog!!! I finally finished it! I've been uploading the pics on webshots, don't have them all up yet. here's the link:

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/557355369rOQIAj

 

We've been keeping busy--things are hectic at work and last week we had our grandson, James. He's a handfull! Grandson #2 is due in a couple of weeks. Frank's ready to go on another cruise! He has to work overtime for the next month or so. Tell Scott hi for us.

 

Deb

 

PS. Day 4.5: slept in, breakfast in Windjammer, Splendour arrived at Galveston Pier at 1 pm, sat on our butts in Latte-Tudes waiting for our "color" to be called! :D

[zantedeschia]

PS. Day 4.5: slept in, breakfast in Windjammer, Splendour arrived at Galveston Pier at 1 pm, sat on our butts in Latte-Tudes waiting for our "color" to be called! :D

Thanks! Got distracted by the trip to New Orleans, gonna start writing day 4.5 today.

 

I'm glad you posted, Scott got his pictures developed, there's one of you and Frank on the tender. Is it okay to put it on my website with the other cruise related stuff?

 

Btw, I'm probably going to book the April 12 2008 Grandeur cruise out of Tampa. This'll please me cause it's a 7 day but won't stress out Scott cause there's only 3 ports. I have a feeling this is very tentative and may change when they come out with the new cruise itineraries in a couple months.

[dnoble74]

Hi Z! After reading the cruise blog, I wondered about Day 4.5 but I thought, "hey, we didn't do anything 'cept sit around." We didn't even get anything for lunch! And I don't think we took any pics that day at all. While I was waiting with the luggage for Frank to drive up, I stood next to a couple who were waiting to board the Splendour. They were a little peaved that they had to wait 2 more hours but glad they were getting some shipboard credit. Frank said the EZ Cruise parking lot was chaos and right as he drove to the terminal, Eric showed up and helped put the bags in the car. By the time we got gas and fast food, it was 4 pm and we drove straight through to Austin.

 

I think I've uploaded all the Splendour cruise pics to Webshots, now I have to rearrange 'em. Yup, it's okay to put our pic on your website. I'll be glad when RCI announces the new itineraries. All these rumors are making me sick!:confused: Frank said he'd like to cruise Rhapsody before she leaves, but we'll see.

 

TTYL, Deb

[zantedeschia]

OMGoodness. Procrastination is a .... um, word that's not very appropriate to say here. I think I stalled also because of the negativity and I didn't want to write about it.

 

It's not like I don't know about his flirting, and in the cruise I tried to use it to our advantage. When I was trying to get Scott out of the cabin, I suggested he join the Sexy Legs contest. He insisted he wouldn't win because he claims he has "Popeye" legs (big calves). I said just get flirty with the judges the way you do and I bet you'll have a good chance. I think it was because the singer didn't acknowledge my presence. After I walked off she said "I think your friend is upset" and Scott countered, "She's not my friend, she's my girlfriend." I was spitting tho, at one point I was ripping the decorations from the door and throwing them on the ground. I was upset we missed the photo shoot, Scott said he didn't want the photos cause he didn't want me spending any more money; I was like it wasn't the photos, it was the girl. Besides, it doesn't cost anything to take them. But anyhow.

 

Because of this we didn't get any packing done, all our bags were still in our cabin. Got up around 8 and decided not to stress about it (we were supposed to be out of the cabin at 9 but I figured we could push that to 10) and we went up to the Windjammer for breakfast. And who did we run into but Deb and Frank! We plopped down at their table and had such a delightful breakfast with them we ran over time, at 10 we had to beg off cause I was planning on being out of the cabin by 10! Of note, I ran into Ishkra, she's everywhere on the ship! Asked her for some soymilk, she asked if I was allergic. I said no I just didn't like cow's milk. I don't recall if I mentioned but I noticed that the biscuits at breakfast in the Windjammer were much improved, they now resembled (at least in IMO) what biscuits are supposed to look/taste like.

 

Back at the room, I figured Antonio would probably do our room last as usual, he never seemed to mind our erratic schedule the entire stay. No matter, we were packed and cleared out in about 15-20 minutes (I had 3 bags, Scott had two).

 

Anxious to see if the portraits we took before dinner the night before came out, I dragged Scott and all the bags up to Deck 5. Dumped the bags by the Centrum railing and was so pleased with the pictures, I bought 3. (look here: http://www.taronga.com/~arielle/cruise/steph+scott.jpg )

 

This area on Deck 5 is where they squeezed in the Seattle's Best and Ben & Jerry's next to a lounge area. It had an open table surprisingly, so we grabbed one. Now who comes along pulling their little carryons but ... Frank and Deb! I pointed at them and loudly proclaimed, "Quit stalking us!!" We scrounged up 2 more chairs and they plopped down alongside us.

 

Frank pulls out his laptop. They had been taking advantage of the free wireless but their battery only lasts a couple hours. Said he was reading CC and asked if I was that Z person. He's ferreted me out! And asks the usual how do you pronounce it, what does it mean? Zantedeschias are calla lilies, I've seen a number of ways to pronounce it, I say it zan-ta-DEE-sha. (also seen: -DEE-she-a -DAY-sha -DAY-she-a -DES-key-a etc).

 

Was amusing when we got back into cell phone range, everyone's phones go off. Scott I know has been dying not being able to use his phone, he runs off immediately to make calls. I apologize saying he's such a cell phone slut. He comes back several minutes later and apologizes, saying he's a cell phone whore (he is!) and runs off to make more calls. I discover Deb's phone has Bluetooth on it; so does mine! She and I get all geeky playing with Bluetooth. Right about here we cross over onto the continental shelf, it's pretty amazing the demarcation. Looks like someone took a straightedge, drew a line and colored one side blue and the other side green.

 

And how could I go this long without talking about food? The Seattle's Best was closing up and I went and snagged something for the table - I don't recall now, cookies I think. Which made me think the Windjammer was closing so I dashed down there. Turned out it was nowhere near to closing so I grabbed some sandwiches and other stuff. Back at the table I took a bite of a roast beef sandwich and immediately spit it out as it didn't taste right. Took a sniff of the sandwich and EUUUUUUWWWWW. It was *spoiled*. I couldn't believe it was in my mouth! It didn't make me sick however the taste lingered for a few minutes. Upon inspection it was ascertained all the other sandwiches were okay but my appetite was ruined.

 

I tell you it was weird being on the ship at 11am and still sailing. I didn't note any of the times, I think we got in around 1:30pm, it may have been closer to 1pm. As Scott and I had the last color tags and Deb and Frank had second to last, we settled down for a wait. Frank would make note of what time what tags were called and extrapolate when we'd be able to debark from that. I think we finally went around 3:15? They were really trying to expedite debarkation.

 

We grabbed our bags, all 5 of them, and lugged them out. Showed Scott the area where people were picking up their bags which we didn't have to do. Got in line, we weren't too terribly close to the front but the line all of a sudden got real long behind us. It was all those people picking up their bags that we bypassed because we already had ours. Got up to immigration/customs about 20 minutes later, spent maybe 5 minutes there (she said she typed me in manually instead of scanning my passport which is why it took so long). Scott scooped up some beach sand in a bottle which I insisted he claim, but the agent gave our customs form nary a glance.

 

Outside waved at Eric & Heather on the way to our shuttle. Waited a few minutes for the Lighthouse Shuttle to show (we had *just* missed one), then waited a few minutes for other people. I handed the driver a 5 dollar bill for a tip which he handed right back with the explanation that he was the owner and he was making money from us parking on his lot. Scott starts chatting with the guy, decides they have things in common and before you know it they're exchanging off-color jokes. OMG. Driver decides to go back to the lot with just us on board and the jokes get even more off-color! :eek: He points out his wife as we turn into the lot, that's the cheerful lady who greeted us when we first parked, I commented. Anyhow, we liked the whole Lighthouse experience a lot, please consider parking there if you go to Galveston.

 

Normally the trip would end here but I had planned a surprise for Scott which got derailed from arriving 6 hours late. His daughter lives in Lake Charles and he doesn't often get to see her so I was going to surprise him by taking the Bolivar Ferry off the east side of the island and driving out there. I figured it was too late to get there but since I've never done the ferry, started driving that way. After a few minutes, Scott dryly remarks, "Don't you think we'll get home faster if you were driving in the right direction?" I was like I was hoping you wouldn't notice. :o To make a long story short, we ended up "almost" going to Lake Charles, we connected into I-10 about an hour and a half shy of Lake Charles and about 75 miles outside of Houston, extending our trip home by 2 hours or so. He called his daughter and said hey, we're in Port Arthur. It wasn't quite that close but it was a bit frustrating not being able to get there. As it was, we didn't get home until after 8pm, I insisted we take the Beltway and he fussed over having to pay the toll.

 

Since Scott survived the cruise, I came home and booked a 7 night on Grandeur next April. Hopefully our tumultuous relationship will still be going as strong as it is currently! (10 months so far and counting ....)