Splendour Review 2/19...might be long!

We sailed out of Tampa, this was our first cruise and have nothing to compare it to other than our 1-2 time a year Disney vacations. There were 8 of us total, 4 adults, 2, 8 and 5 year olds, 2, 15 and 17 year olds. All of us family. First let me say that Tampa is a very clean and nice city, the pre-cruise hotel was a dump but I posted this in the hotel section of the boards. We arrived to the port at 11:30am and our luggage was taken by a porter, we proceeded upstairs to check in and were greeted by an older gentlemen that started out the trip perfectly, he was warm and friendly and the excitement was building. We checked in and got our seapass cards in about 5 minutes, we were told there were cookies and drinks waiting for us and that we would be able to board the ship at 12:00pm! We waited not even 10 minutes and our letter was called to board! All went smoothly and we were told we would be having lunch at 12:30 in the Windjammer and that our rooms would be ready by 1:00pm. We explored for a few minutes and got the girls there muster bracelets and then off to lunch we went. Lunch was your basic Fried chicken, salads, fruit, soups. I was not that impressed but was so excited it didnt matter. Done with lunch and off to our cabins, we were on the 2nd level oceanview room and it was very nice. 2 pullman beds, 2 twin beds, loveseat, desk, small table and large closet. It held all of our clothes and then some and there were more than enough hangers. We had 2 outlets at our desk area not 1 and it made it nice because I had brought a airfreshener/nightlight that could stay plugged in. We had a GREAT hairdryer that was 1600 watts provided and should have never brought ours from home, it worked great! We immediately met our staeroom attendent Edna and she was very friendly! We saw Edna several times per day and she always accomodated our needs big or small.I did bring post it notes and only used them once. Our luggage arrived by 2pm, very smooth operation and I unpacked and organized us by our 4:30 muster drill. Then off to the sail away party!!! The weather was perfect and the party was great, good drinks and wonderful friendly cruise director staff. Very fun atmosphere and the band Caribbean Force was excellent! The cruise was sold out so we had lots of people and a total of 450 kids under 18 due to the breaks in the Northeast. We sailed out of Tampa at 5pm and were on our way for 7 fun filled days!! More to come.....

Can't wait to read more. We just received our cruise Docs on Friday for our Splendour 4/2 cruise.

What are muster bracelets for the kids? Was it just for the little ones?

Any child under 12 must have one on the entire cruise, You will see a table set up right as you get on board and they will get you them. If for some reason your kids rip them off (like mine did) they will just give you a new one. Its so if they are in an activity without you the staff can bring them to you if there is an emergency.

with 12 people and we all had a great time. I was really impressed with the ship and our room exceeded our expectations. I was in room 6058 next to the photo gallery.

I had post-its on the door and had fun leaving messages for my group.

I'm already planning the next cruise!

Pam

just wondering if the ship has room safes available?

Looking forward to hearing more! Evildiva, do you remember what time your cruise docs said that boarding would be? We are on the same cruise 4/2 as you Art123. Noticed that our docs said boarding was at 2:00. Wondered if yours did also Evildiva, but that they usually let you board earlier, or if for some reason they are expecting a later boarding on the Splendour 4/2? Can't wait to hear more about your cruise. Did any of the kids in your group join the Adventure Ocean groups? We have a 9 year old and 13 year old who are both looking forward to the cruise. Hopefully you'll also be telling us about what you did in all the ports. Thanks for taking the time to review!

Sandy

Safes are available and you can use a credit card to set them up, they are free.

The documents said boarding at 2pm, get ther early though as you will most likely be able to board by noon.

We sailed on the splendour 2/12 and yes there are safes in the rooms. It says credit card.. but we found (actually my son figured it out) that you can just use your sea pass as they only require a magnetic strip to activate them. Our safe was above the TV in the cabinet.. (Sup Interior room) DONT put your seapass on top of you TV though... I think I did because it got de-activated :eek: and I had to get a new one. (No problem though) :)