Just off the Splendour, had a fantastic time

[dlbaqua]

This cruise exceeded my expectations and suceeded in getting my dh hooked on cruising. We are already planning the next one. Thanks to all you cc people, I really knew what to expect.
The food was mostly excellant (with the exception of one bad room service experience). The service was fantastic, the ride was smooth as silk. The ship was in good shape, except for the rusting on the balcony which I had read about. There were a great number of children on this trip. I had thought we were past spring break but nope. For the most part, the kids were well behaved, there were just a lot of them around. We enjoyed everyone we met, and generally had a fantastic time.
Cozumel-did the Catch the Wave excursion, very fun. It's not a "luxury vessel" as billed but it was clean and the people were friendly and the guacamole was fantastic.
Costa Maya- "C" ruins tour, our guide, Ivan was so knowledgable, we throughly enjoyed this tour. The "refreshments" provided were pepsi or beer after the walk through the ruins. I strongly recommend you bring your own water! It was more walking than we expected, but well worth it. The port of Costa Maya reminded me of Disney World, very new and very clean. The shopping was not good, same junk they had in Cozumel with high prizes and not much bargaining. We didn't get a chance to go to the fishing village, so maybe the shopping was better there? There was a band playing in port and everything was clean at the restuarants and beach there. Wish we had more time there to explore.
Any questions?

[RKardos1]

Were there any opportunities for dancing, besides the disco? How were the shows? How was the shopping on board?

[Elaine&John]

Glad you had a great time. We're on the Spledour 2/05. What cabin type did you have?

[dlbaqua]

RKardos, I'm sorry, I didn't do any dancing at all (my husband won't), but I think the only dancing was in the disco? Maybe someone else who has been onboard could answer that better. The shopping on board was ok, they had some good deals (like pashima type scarfs for $10) and some overpriced stuff. It's not a very large shopping area.
The shows were ok, not exceptional but entertaining enough if you keep the right frame of mind.
We had a Cat. D balcony cabin. It was very nice, pretty narrow but long. The balcony was big enough for two chairs & a table. The balcony railing was worn and the metal was rusty. I was very envious of the Grand Princess balconies when they were parked accross from us in Costa Maya. The balconies were the only part of the ship that looked worn to me.

[BirmanCrazy]

dlbaqua: Have you decided on your next cruise yet??? LOL! You know, the Grand Princess is sailing out of Galveston starting in November. We're going to try them out for the 1st time. I love RCL but I get curious sometimes. I would try the Galaxy out of Galveston if it was doing a 7 day. Just can't take 10 days off of work. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

Fantasy '94
Fascination '95
Enchantment of the seas '97
Rhapsody of the Seas '98
Rhapsody of the Seas '00
Enchantment of the Seas '01
Rhapsody of the Seas '01
Celebration 2-02
Adventure of the Seas 9-02
Jubilee 1-03
Navigator of the Seas 9-03
Splendour of the Seas 4-17-04
Grand Princess 11-13-04
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=2325FF&cdt=2004;04;17;18;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  Splendour of the Seas 4-17-04

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=2325FF&cdt=2004;11;13;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  Grand Princess 11-13-04

[dlbaqua]

The Grand Princess is a beautiful ship! And HUGE! I'd love to sail on her. I was looking at Thanksgiving/Christmas cruises for this year. I'm depressed with no cruise to plan for now.

[sailor moon]

What time could you board??

JB
UPCOMING CRUISES:
Splendour of the Seas 4/04
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00bfff&cdt=2004;4;22;18;0;00&timezone=GMT-0600[/img]
Sovereign of the Seas
9/04
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=228b22&cdt=2004;9;18;17;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]
Rhapsody of the Seas 11/04
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=228b22&cdt=2004;11;21;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0600[/img]
Grandeur of the Seas
1/05
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=dc143c&cdt=2005;1;3;17;0;00&timezone=GMT-0600[/img]

[Woodywoman]

We were on board with dlbaqua. We boarded at 11:30ish. It was a great week. I wrote a review with pictures on this board and Cruise Buggie.

Dlbaqua is right. The Grand is a beautiful ship. We've sailed on her twice. Our next cruise is a Princess ship in November and the Brilliance in March/April 2005.

Anyone interested in joining us?

Southward ~ 1984
Tropicale ~ 1985
Sun Cruise Lines ~ Stella Solaris ~ 5/91
RCCL ~ Song of America ~ 7/92
Carnival ~ Fascination ~ 9/95
RCCL ~ Sovereign of the Seas ~ 10/97
Princess ~ Grand Princess ~ 10/99
RCCL ~ Voyager of the Seas ~ 10/00
RCCL ~ Adventurer of the Seas ~ 11/01 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 2/23/02
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 2/28/02
RCCL ~ Radiance of the Seas ~ 11/23/02 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Explorer of the Seas ~ 2/22/03
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 5/8/03 (Price was right)
Princess ~ Grand Princess ~ 11/23/03 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Splendour of the Seas ~ 3/29/04 Diamond Status

[CruisinSusan2001]

Were you on the 5 night cruise and where in Cozumel did you port into - Downtown or the other? Thanks!

[BirmanCrazy]

WoodyWoman and DlBaqua: Did anyone mention at the Captains Party or the Crown and Anchor parties what RCI's going to do here in Galveston with the short cruise market? The Rhapsody will be by herself again. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] I'm praying for a longterm stay for an RCI ship in Galveston doing 4/5 day cruises. Please don't leave me with Carnival! PLEASE!!!!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] I would rather do a 7 day out of Florida etc and sneak in a 5 day cruise out of Galveston. However, if they keep bringing new ships to Galveston-even for a 7 day cruise-I will have to try them out(Grand Princess)! I've been on Carnival before-it's just not a good match.

Fantasy '94
Fascination '95
Enchantment of the seas '97
Rhapsody of the Seas '98
Rhapsody of the Seas '00
Enchantment of the Seas '01
Rhapsody of the Seas '01
Celebration 2-02
Adventure of the Seas 9-02
Jubilee 1-03
Navigator of the Seas 9-03
Splendour of the Seas 4-17-04
Grand Princess 11-13-04
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=2325FF&cdt=2004;04;17;18;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  Splendour of the Seas 4-17-04

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=2325FF&cdt=2004;11;13;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  Grand Princess 11-13-04

[dlbaqua]

Susan, yes the 5 nighter, and we docked at the International Pier about 3 miles from downtown. I didn't make the Captain's or C&A parties but I'd like to know the answer, too, Birman. I'd take the exact same cruise next year if it were available.

[Woodywoman]

We went to both the Captain's party and the C&A party. Nothing was mentioned about the Galveston market.

We picked up a 2004-2005 itinerary reference guide. It appears the following ships will go out of Galveston:
Splendour until April 26, 2004
Rhapsody until April 24, 2005 and then ?

New Orleans:
Grandeur Jan-Apr 2004, Nov-Apr 2005
with a special Christmas 2004 sailing (10 day)

With Galveston building a new pier, I can't imagine why RCI wouldn't put a ship down here. After all, The Grand is coming!

Southward ~ 1984
Tropicale ~ 1985
Sun Cruise Lines ~ Stella Solaris ~ 5/91
RCCL ~ Song of America ~ 7/92
Carnival ~ Fascination ~ 9/95
RCCL ~ Sovereign of the Seas ~ 10/97
Princess ~ Grand Princess ~ 10/99
RCCL ~ Voyager of the Seas ~ 10/00
RCCL ~ Adventurer of the Seas ~ 11/01 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 2/23/02
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 2/28/02
RCCL ~ Radiance of the Seas ~ 11/23/02 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Explorer of the Seas ~ 2/22/03
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 5/8/03 (Price was right)
Princess ~ Grand Princess ~ 11/23/03 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Splendour of the Seas ~ 3/29/04 Diamond Status

[dlbaqua]

That's exactly what I was thinking, with a new pier and a huge new ship from the competion, I sure hope RCI continues to sail from Galveston. I put that thought on my feedback form, hopefully they'll read it!

[cruzaholic]

WoodyWoman and DlBaqua:

Who was your CD and captain?

We have also sailed on the Grand and Star Princess...nice ships.

Thanks [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Woodywoman]

Captain was new - Captain Petter Sundet
Cruise Director - Warren Melhuish

Southward ~ 1984
Tropicale ~ 1985
Sun Cruise Lines ~ Stella Solaris ~ 5/91
RCCL ~ Song of America ~ 7/92
Carnival ~ Fascination ~ 9/95
RCCL ~ Sovereign of the Seas ~ 10/97
Princess ~ Grand Princess ~ 10/99
RCCL ~ Voyager of the Seas ~ 10/00
RCCL ~ Adventurer of the Seas ~ 11/01 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 2/23/02
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 2/28/02
RCCL ~ Radiance of the Seas ~ 11/23/02 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Explorer of the Seas ~ 2/22/03
RCCL ~ Monarch of the Seas ~ 5/8/03 (Price was right)
Princess ~ Grand Princess ~ 11/23/03 (Thanksgiving)
RCCL ~ Splendour of the Seas ~ 3/29/04 Diamond Status

[cruzaholic]

Thanks Woodywoman.

[4 cruisers]

Do you happen to know if they stock "Wild Turkey" in the store on board?

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;8;28;19;00;00&timezone=GMT+0100[/img]
...until our August 28, 2004 Splendour of the Seas