Back from Splendour 4/3 - Review/Thoughts

[clingandclatter]

Myself and three friends (ages 24-26) went sailing on the Splendour this past week. Despite the fact that there was a severe lack of people our age to hang out with, we still had a fabulous time.

 

We're from NY so we flew out the night before and stayed at the Wingate Inn, ~3 mi from IAH. It was a nice hotel and had continental breakfast in the morning. It would be a good, cheap choice for anyone flying in the night before. I booked it through Travelocity for ~$54 dollars after all the taxes were included. We rented a car through Enterprise. If you call the local Galveston office, they have special cruise rates and can set up one way rentals for you.

 

4/3

We left the hotel ~10 to start down to Galveston, stopping at a Walmart along the way to pick up some water/soda. We made it down to Galveston at about 12:30. The lines to check in were pretty short, however we made it just in time as a whole bus full of some family in matching t-shirts had just arrived at about the same time. Check in took us about 10 minutes and then we were on our way onto the ship! We had booked adjoining outside staterooms on deck 3 aft. The adjoining doors are locked and your stateroom attendant has to open it for you.

 

We had lunch at Windjammer's and explored the ship. When we got back to our rooms around 4, our bags were all inside. We had the obligatory muster drill and had our first bit of unexpected amusement. One of my friends is rather short and was standing in the front and the staff came by checking wristbands on the kids and asked her where hers was. OOOOPS! A lady standing next to us was trying to hard not to start laughing out loud.

 

We set sail and then got ready for our late seating dinner. We were really pleased with having late seating because we were always doing stuff in the afternoons and it gave us time to shower and dress. The first night show was a comedian which we all found to be really funny. We were all doing impressions of his impressions all week.

 

4/4

This was our first day at sea. It was quite warm and we got chairs at the front of the ship on deck 10. We liked it here as it was quiet and we had sun all day since we were sailing south - no shadows! We didn't really do much during the day except sun as we were sun-starved!

 

The show this evening was "Starstruck". I wasn't very impressed with it, but I could attribute it to seeing many shows on Broadway so the comparison may not be quite fair. Two of my friends felt the same way as I, one liked it a lot.

 

This night was formal night. There was a wide variety of dresswear, very few tuxedos. I would say the dress is more of a semi-formal rather than really formal.

 

The comedian from the first night did an adult comedy show this night, so we went to see it. He warned us at the beginning that it was going to be very adult themed and two people actually got up and left. I don't know what they expected considering the tag "adult" was attached to it. He was funny here too, but I think I preferred his comedy at the dinner show.

 

The gala buffet was this evening. I don't know how people can eat so much food - it's insane. We walked around and looked at the food but didn't really eat anything as we were still full from dinner.

 

4/5

Today was Cozumel day. We were about an hour late in docking, but we had gone through a pretty bad storm the night before - it started lightning and thundering about 10:30 and was still going strong until about 2am when we went to sleep. Lucky for us though, the water didn't really get too rough. We docked at the pier downtown so everything was quite close to us. My friends were rather unnerved by the Mexican guards with their very very big guns.

 

We did the Catamaran Sail, Snorkel, Beach Party excursion. The catamaran was docked right outside our ship. We got on and they gave us our gear, a quick safety lesson and then took us out to snorkel. We had about 45 minutes to snorkel. The water was so cold. I had thought it would be warmer but once we were in, we got used to it. The snorkeling wasn't really great. I only saw two different kinds of fish, otherwise I just saw sea floor. We then sailed over to the company's private beach where we had an our to spend. There were two other groups from the same company, but one was leaving just as we got there so the beach emptied out. The other group left after we were there for about 1/2 hour. We then sailed back to the ship.

 

Since we still had some time before we had to get back on the ship (we were supposed to leave at 7pm, but since we were an hour late, we got an extra hour to stay at Cozumel) we went to the stores nearby. We weren't too impressed with the stores. A lot of them were fixed price and weren't interested in bargaining. We ended up at Senor Frogs and had ourselves some daiquiris.

 

After getting back on the ship, I had my first attempt at the rock wall of evil. I'm pretty afraid of heights but I like to do things just to say I've done them. The wall is 30 feet high and 110 feet above the water level. I got strapped in and started on the easiest climb. I got a little less than halfway up, looked up, and freaked out so I came down. We played some miniature golf which we weren't too fond of. All the holes just kind of run into each other so there was a lot of other people's balls coming onto our greens and vice versa which was rather annoying. I had some time to calm down and decided to give it a 2nd try on the wall (you're allowed 2 climbs per day). This time I made it halfway up and just absolutely faltered. My hands were sweating and I couldn't grip so I was done again. One of my friends tried the easy one and got up with no problems. She then went up the blue and got up to about 3 grips below the top and got stuck for a time, but eventually made it up to ring the bell.

 

We did not go to this day's show so I can't comment on it. Tonight they had a Caribbean Buffet and music on the pool deck. Two of my friends were out asleep, my other friend and I just walked around Deck 10 a bunch of times while listening to the music.

 

4/6

Today was Costa Maya day. Again we were about an hour late in docking. Myself and one friend went to the Chacchoben ruins, passing through a military checkpoint on the way. Ships only started docking here in 2001 so it's still a pretty undeveloped location. The ruins were nice and jungle-like so it's quite humid and there is a considerable amount of walking so you should bring a bottle of water with you. Our guide was Luis and he was very good.

 

We got back to the port around 12 and had about 2.5 hours left so we changed into bathing suits and went out to the pool there. If I ever go there again, I don't think I would sign up for an excursion as there is a beach, pool, restaurants, shops so it makes for a nice beach day. Everything is also still very new so it's all in good condition. We had lunch at Mamasita's and it was quite good.

 

Back on the ship was try #3 on the rock wall of evil - I wasn't giving up until I made it to the top! The sports supervisor, Jonathan, was down doing the ropes for me and was really encouraging, but I still didn't make it. There is one spot about halfway up that I just could not get past. Jonathan then sent me over to the blue climb, which is supposed to be slightly harder, but he said some people find it easier. I got stuck at one spot again and didn't make it still. Grrrrr.....

 

The show this evening was another production show "Make Mine Broadway". Good, but again I wasn't that impressed.

 

We went to the adult scavenger hunt "The Quest" and it was quite amusing. We didn't do so well as we had nothing they were asking for, but it was a ton of fun to watch how crazy some people get. The best part was the end, with men doing sexy dances and stuff, but I'll leave that for you to see for yourselves.

 

4/7

Today was our last day at sea. We again sat up in the front of the ship. Before lunch they had a short flag parade with a bunch of staff around the pool.

 

Today was also my very last day for attempting to climb that darn rock wall. It was organized a bit differently today: on the two port days, it was open session meaning you just come whenever it's open and you can climb, today however it was only open for sessions meaning they sign up 20 people on the hour and only those 20 people can climb during that period. People showed up early and there was a lot of them. I made it into the first afternoon session at #14 so I felt it was a good omen for success as 14 is my lucky number. I had Jen from the staff doing the ropes. Once again I got stuck halfway, but she really kept good tension on the ropes and I was FINALLY able to make it past that spot. Once I got past it, the rest of the way was very easy and I got to ring the bell!!! Success!! It only took 4 tries on the red course, but I made it. I then tried the blue again for my 2nd climb but got stuck and gave up because I made it up once which is all I really wanted. My friend and I got our "trophies" in the gift shop - they sell miniature rock wall figurines for $12.95 so we considered them our trophies for making it up the wall.

 

Tonight's show was Duo Dillon - a hula hooper and juggler. I liked this show the best out of all of them. It was really good.

 

It was also our last dinner, sigh. We were disappointed that no one would be cooking and serving us everyday anymore! We got pictures with our servers. Our server was Carmina and she was saying how she's in pictures all over the world and sometimes people even come back and give her copies. It's kind of weird to imagine that you're picture can be all over the place!

 

4/8

Debarkation day. They ask that you be out of your rooms by 7am, but we weren't out until 7:30 and no one was by to check, nor was anyone on our deck cleaning, etc. We went up to the Windjammer and had breakfast. Since we were on deck 3, we were the 2nd to last color to be called at about 10am. Customs (once we got there) was rather painless and we were off the ship in no time. (Nooooooo, take me back!)

 

We took a taxi back to IAH which was much more cost effective for us - our taxi driver charged us $100 (instead of the posted $110). We gave him $15 for tip, so among the four of us it worked out cheaper than anything else. We were at the airport at 12:30 with a flight not leaving until 5:40. However, we were able to move our flight up to 3:40 so we didn't have too long to wait and then, a too short time later we were back in 47 degree New York.

 

It was a grand old time and without a doubt would do it again!

[Lyssakaye]

Thank you for a terrific review. Sounds like you had fun. The rock wall sounds alot harder than I thought it would be.

 

Just a quick question about the Catamaran Sail, Was it fun or do you wish you would have done something else? We are signed up for the excursion in 10 days.

 

Thanks again for the review. Very thorough.

 

Lyssa

[khinscem]

I'm wondering too if I should cancel my Costa Maya excursion to Uvero Beach? The beach right were the cruise ships were looked kind of rocky in some pictures I saw but maybe that was just a small part of it? Is it hard to find chairs on the beach? My 12 year old son and I would just like a nice beach to hang out.

I also would like to know too about the Catamaran Sail, we also booked this and wondered if it would be worth it or not. It will be his first snorkel trip and my second. The first one I did was in Hawaii and the water was very cloudy that day but it was still a great experience. Do you think the reason you couldn't see many fish was it was a bad location or just bad luck that day?

Thank you so much for posting your report, I still can't believe we are finally leaving in two days!

 

Sherri

Splendour 4/12/04

[little miss s]

I'm afraid of heights as well, but was considering the possibility of trying the rock wall anyway. What was so tricky about the spot you were talking about? Does it take a lot of arm strength? or is it more leg strength? I'm nervous, so any tips would be appreciated.

 

Also, do you recall hearing if the snorkeling is any good at that beach near the dock in Costa Maya?

 

Thanks for your review.

 

Coming Up

Splendour of the Seas 4/04

Adventure of the Seas 9/04

 

Past Cruises

NCL Sea 9/1999

NCL Sea 5/2000

Carnival Celebration 9/2003

Carnival Elation 12/2003

 

 

[clingandclatter]

Lyssakaye:

The catamaran sail was fun all in all. There were a lot of people in our group, but while snorkeling I tried to stay away from the big groups. I don't know if there's usually more fish or not. That was the one down side. I was snorkeling in Hawaii once before and saw all kinds of fish so that was the only thing I was really disappointed in. The beach we went to was really nice as well with floats you could use and stuff. The crew was also really nice and even let one of my friends steer the catamaran, so ask and they might let you too!

 

khinscem:

The beach on Costa Maya is very rocky. There is actually a sea wall made out of rocks and the beach is built on top of it. I guess I should've been clearer about calling it a "beach day" because I don't think you are actually allowed into the water. It is quite rough and wavy and I don't know if you'd want to go in there in the first place. There is however a big sandy beach with chairs and hammocks and such. So, if you're looking for a place that you can go in the sea water and have your heart set on that, maybe you shouldn't cancel. Also Uvero Beach may be less crowded if you're looking to avoid lots of people. A Carnival ship was docked at the same time so there were a lot of people milling around.

As for the fish, who knows. One of my friends commented on how we could've had a lack of fish just because there were so many people. One of the crew photographers had fish food and there was a large school of angel fish following him everywhere. So who knows what the situation will be another day?

 

little miss s:

The place on the wall where I kept getting stuck was at a place where the wall juts out a bit so you have to go up and around. They say it takes a lot of lower body strength because you're actually supposed to be pushing up with your foot, but I noticed after the first day that I was really using my upper body more (oh, the soreness!). I would get stuck and just have no energy in my legs so I was trying to pull myself up instead. When you try it (notice I say when, not if! ) see if you can get either Jen or Jonathan (and tell them hello from Michelle, the girl who took three days and 5 climbs to get up to the top!). They both keep good tension on the ropes which helps in getting you up (because you won't fall down if you let go, you'll stay right where you were). I tried once with someone else and when I would slip off, I would go down a couple of inches and have to start where I had already been. I got over the height thing really quick because you are so close to the wall, you don't really feel like you are up high. Also when you try, keep yourself as close to the wall as you can. The first day I had my butt out and stuff and one of my friends while she was watching other people go up noticed that most people making it were staying as close to the wall as possible. I tried that the 2nd day and noticed a big, big difference.

I don't know anything about the snorkeling near the dock, but it is very rough and I don't think anyone was allowed in the sea near the dock.