Splendor - Greeek Isles & Turkey Cruise - Review with lots of pictures

[softail]

I will try and explain the legend or myth or miracle as it was explained to me about the nunnery. I would like to say something probably got lost in translation but, the true fact is that I was in complete horror of those tiny steps on the side of a cliff with a railing that could double as dental floss and was having a panic attack.....lol.

Any it was explained to me that a woman who could not concieve made some promise to god that if she would have a child she would throw it from cave entrance down the side of a mountain. (why someone would ever promise this I will never know. So low and behold she is with child. When the child is born she makes her way back to the cave and tosses the child out down the mountain. The baby is then retrieved and is fine, healthy, unharmed and without a scratch.

 

Hi Brett any idea what you are going to do to replace the 4-6-13 Brilliance sailing?

[milliemine]

They told us before we went there so we had a chance to decline as it was our tour. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience

 

As I said, we did have a great day, but forewarned is forearmed, so we'll be ready next time!

 

Great review and pix, we have been to most of these places and it brings back happy memories, well done :)

[Brett2657]

Hi Brett any idea what you are going to do to replace the 4-6-13 Brilliance sailing?

 

Hey Larry! I would love to see a review and some pics from your sailing! Bill and I are going to switch to the Allure.

[PCWalton1]

Friday found us at sea and starting the depressing day of the cruise as we will be leaving the ship tomorrow. So all day long they bring things to the cabin to remind you that you are leaving: Drop off new luggage tags, drop off customer survey, drop off tip vouchers, and make announcements to pick up passports. It is also the night we need to get our luggage out in the hall by 11pm. Just another reminder that you have to go, sigh.

We tried to find dome things to do during the day to take our minds off of leaving but our timing was such that we kept finding activities when they were half dine. We did make it to a towel animal folding demonstration in the centrum that was a lot of fun. They gave out flyer after with instructions on how to create some of the animals.

 

 

 

For lunch we hit the windjammer then headed to the solarium to enjoy the afternoon as it was a nice warm sanctuary with the sun being out. I brought my Kindle Fire along to enjoy some reading but with the warmth and the gentle movement of the ship, I kept reading the same page over and over and over.

That evening our dinner plans was for the group to eat at Chop’s Grille at 7:30pm. We figured it would be a nice way to end the cruise and it was though maybe not for some of the people around us as we occasionally got a little loud (give us a break, there was 13 of us). Actually with all the superstitions at sea I was surprised they would seat a party of 13.

Anyway it was a great way to end the cruise and it was nice to see that our group had grown by 4 more people. Nothing liking cruising to add to your circle of friends.

So for dinner Marie ordered the shrimp cocktail for starter and the petite filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. I had two starters, the Dungeness crab and shrimp cake along with the mushroom soup. My steak was a beautiful big rib eye on the bone with chimichurri sauce which was great but could have been better if the chef could have figured out the difference between rare and medium rare. I love a rare steak and would have sent it back if it had not taken so long to get the first one. A few others had miss-cooked steaks as well, come on guys it’s not that hard to cook a steak.

Since there was so many of us at the table they just brought out all of the sides, some of them twice. I would have to say my favorites were the mushrooms and the roasted potatoes. For dessert decided on the Crème Brule and I had the chocolate mud pie. Both great choices but not really enough room in us after that meal to really appreciate the desserts.

There was a nice group picture taken I and hope Brett might upload it here one of these days. If you have realized by now, I don’t take many pictures onboard the ship. Sorry but when I get back on the ship it is time to relax and I stow away the Nikon for the night. Even when we had the sail away from Venice the pictures were taken on Marie’s little point and shoot.

I do have one major complaint about Chops on Splendour and that was the slowness in closing out our evening. Once done eating and talking we asked several times to pay and essentially had to push our seapass on the waiter. Then we sat for another 15-20 minutes and still not bill. So I had enough and got up to leave, but first grabbed the maître d’ at the entrance and told him I had waited long enough, go get my seapass now. Not sure he appreciated the tone but nothing pushes my buttons faster than a person in a customer service job giving lousy service. He ran into the back room to yell at the waiter who had still not processed any of our bills yet and he gave me mine. Thus a memorable evening ended on a bit of a sour note.

Marie and I headed to the casino for her to play one last $20 in the slots and see if she could earn enough points for a free tee-shirt. If you put your seapass in the slot machine you earn points for playing, much like the cards you get in the casinos in Vegas. Well going into the evening she had over 240 points so it took no time at all for her to clear enough for the shirt. She looks at it as a free tee-shirt; I look at it as a $140 shirt since she put $20 a night into the slot machines for 7 nights. But it was really more for the entertainment so maybe it really was a free tee shirt. After that since we had already put our bags out and it was getting late it was time to just call it a night and get some sleep.

[luciabox]

Thanks for sharing. Amazing photos and very very interesting review!! :):)

[2tall]

Loved the picture of your group at the starting line "getting ready" for a race. Priceless for remembering where you were and who you were enjoying it with when you took the picture. Plus, it's just darned cute.

[Cindylee]

Friday found us at sea and starting the depressing day of the cruise as we will be leaving the ship tomorrow. So all day long they bring things to the cabin to remind you that you are leaving: Drop off new luggage tags, drop off customer survey, drop off tip vouchers, and make announcements to pick up passports. It is also the night we need to get our luggage out in the hall by 11pm. Just another reminder that you have to go, sigh.

We tried to find dome things to do during the day to take our minds off of leaving but our timing was such that we kept finding activities when they were half dine. We did make it to a towel animal folding demonstration in the centrum that was a lot of fun. They gave out flyer after with instructions on how to create some of the animals.

 

 

 

For lunch we hit the windjammer then headed to the solarium to enjoy the afternoon as it was a nice warm sanctuary with the sun being out. I brought my Kindle Fire along to enjoy some reading but with the warmth and the gentle movement of the ship, I kept reading the same page over and over and over.

That evening our dinner plans was for the group to eat at Chop’s Grille at 7:30pm. We figured it would be a nice way to end the cruise and it was though maybe not for some of the people around us as we occasionally got a little loud (give us a break, there was 13 of us). Actually with all the superstitions at sea I was surprised they would seat a party of 13.

Anyway it was a great way to end the cruise and it was nice to see that our group had grown by 4 more people. Nothing liking cruising to add to your circle of friends.

So for dinner Marie ordered the shrimp cocktail for starter and the petite filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. I had two starters, the Dungeness crab and shrimp cake along with the mushroom soup. My steak was a beautiful big rib eye on the bone with chimichurri sauce which was great but could have been better if the chef could have figured out the difference between rare and medium rare. I love a rare steak and would have sent it back if it had not taken so long to get the first one. A few others had miss-cooked steaks as well, come on guys it’s not that hard to cook a steak.

Since there was so many of us at the table they just brought out all of the sides, some of them twice. I would have to say my favorites were the mushrooms and the roasted potatoes. For dessert decided on the Crème Brule and I had the chocolate mud pie. Both great choices but not really enough room in us after that meal to really appreciate the desserts.

There was a nice group picture taken I and hope Brett might upload it here one of these days. If you have realized by now, I don’t take many pictures onboard the ship. Sorry but when I get back on the ship it is time to relax and I stow away the Nikon for the night. Even when we had the sail away from Venice the pictures were taken on Marie’s little point and shoot.

I do have one major complaint about Chops on Splendour and that was the slowness in closing out our evening. Once done eating and talking we asked several times to pay and essentially had to push our seapass on the waiter. Then we sat for another 15-20 minutes and still not bill. So I had enough and got up to leave, but first grabbed the maître d’ at the entrance and told him I had waited long enough, go get my seapass now. Not sure he appreciated the tone but nothing pushes my buttons faster than a person in a customer service job giving lousy service. He ran into the back room to yell at the waiter who had still not processed any of our bills yet and he gave me mine. Thus a memorable evening ended on a bit of a sour note.

Marie and I headed to the casino for her to play one last $20 in the slots and see if she could earn enough points for a free tee-shirt. If you put your seapass in the slot machine you earn points for playing, much like the cards you get in the casinos in Vegas. Well going into the evening she had over 240 points so it took no time at all for her to clear enough for the shirt. She looks at it as a free tee-shirt; I look at it as a $140 shirt since she put $20 a night into the slot machines for 7 nights. But it was really more for the entertainment so maybe it really was a free tee shirt. After that since we had already put our bags out and it was getting late it was time to just call it a night and get some sleep.

 

 

Bill thanks for a great review and pictures. I actually feel like I was on your cruise. Perhaps next time.

 

Cynthia:)

[PCWalton1]

For lunch we hit the windjammer then headed to the solarium to enjoy the afternoon as it was a nice warm sanctuary with the sun being out. I brought my Kindle Fire along to enjoy some reading but with the warmth and the gentle movement of the ship, I kept reading the same page over and over and over.

That evening our dinner plans was for the group to eat at Chop’s Grille at 7:30pm. We figured it would be a nice way to end the cruise and it was though maybe not for some of the people around us as we occasionally got a little loud (give us a break, there was 13 of us). Actually with all the superstitions at sea I was surprised they would seat a party of 13.

Anyway it was a great way to end the cruise and it was nice to see that our group had grown by 4 more people. Nothing liking cruising to add to your circle of friends.

So for dinner Marie ordered the shrimp cocktail for starter and the petite filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. I had two starters, the Dungeness crab and shrimp cake along with the mushroom soup. My steak was a beautiful big rib eye on the bone with chimichurri sauce which was great but could have been better if the chef could have figured out the difference between rare and medium rare. I love a rare steak and would have sent it back if it had not taken so long to get the first one. A few others had miss-cooked steaks as well, come on guys it’s not that hard to cook a steak.

Since there was so many of us at the table they just brought out all of the sides, some of them twice. I would have to say my favorites were the mushrooms and the roasted potatoes. For dessert decided on the Crème Brule and I had the chocolate mud pie. Both great choices but not really enough room in us after that meal to really appreciate the desserts.

There was a nice group picture taken I and hope Brett might upload it here one of these days. If you have realized by now, I don’t take many pictures onboard the ship. Sorry but when I get back on the ship it is time to relax and I stow away the Nikon for the night. Even when we had the sail away from Venice the pictures were taken on Marie’s little point and shoot.

 

Thanks for the group picture Brett, I knew there was one somewhere. :)

 

[PCWalton1]

Saturday morning found us back in Venice and getting ready to disembark. I was such a beautiful morning I sat on the balcony and snap a lot of pictures as we came up the canal. After that Marie and I took out time packing up our overnight bag, grabbed a bite to eat at Windjammer then headed off the ship. Our luggage tags were group two which had a 7:30am departure time but I don’t think we left the ship until 8. Our bags were waiting for us on the pier and so was a nice big shuttle bus that took us over to the people mover station. On the way in we had to walk from the station to the ship so it was a pleasant surprise to find a bus. A quick ride on the people mover and we were at Piazzale Roma and back to the Hotel Olimpia. Of our group I think we were the only two that decided to stay another day in Venice. Some headed straight home, some went to Milan to explore the area (Lake Cuomo, Bellagio, etc.) and two even headed out to visit Budapest.

[PCWalton1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

At the hotel our room of course was not ready but they willing took our bags and we were off to the vaporetto stop. A ride down the Grand Canal and we were ready to actually go inside some of the sights at St. Mark’s Square. However we took the #2 heading in the other direction by mistake which actually was fine with us as we had been down the Grand Canal several times already. Along the way we got in a chicken match with the Ruby Princess which was leaving port that morning (we lost). Once we arrived at the square first up was St. Mark’s Basilica and a long line was waiting for us. When we finally tracked down the end of the line it stretched almost to the water so I settled in for a long wait. But it was surprising how quickly the line moved and 10 minutes later we found ourselves at the door already.

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

The basilica was amazing but I quickly noticed that there did not seem to be any enforcement of the ‘no camera’ signs at the door so I quickly switched to my low light lens and began snapping away before someone changed their mind. I had heard you only get 10-15 minutes inside but there wasn’t anyone pushing us along so we just took our time exploring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

After that I was planning to go to the Doge’s Palace but Marie needed to use a bathroom so I looked for someplace I could get a coffee and she could use the facilities. We stopped in Bar Al Campanile where I stepped up to the bar to order a cappuccino and a sweet roll. Marie pointed out there was a table open but from what I have read it costs more getting service at a table so I stayed at the bar. The coffee and roll were tasty, what little I got as Marie ate most of it (after saying she didn’t want anything, I should have known better).

From there we head to Doge’s Palace and using our museum passes by passed the line, and it was a considerable line. The palace was a fun experience, seeing what wealth can do with all the elaborate ceilings, paintings, even the weaponry displays. We got to walk over the Bridge of Sighs (it looks better from the outside) as we headed over to the prison side. One thing we found out about the palace is if you want to get out early, forget about it. You just need to go with the flow and follow it all the way through. I did get some pictures in here as well but the people working inside the palace were for diligent so it was a limited opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

From the square we began to walk back towards the hotel with the intent of taking a different route than our previous walk. So I decide we would head over the Accademia Bridge and walk through the Dorsoduro section of Venice. On our way out of the square we stumbled on the Hard Rock Café, a favorite of Marie’s. She collects the jackets form the different locations and has ones for Hawaii to Amsterdam. Only was she didn’t care for the style of the Venice jacket (black on black) so that was one less article of clothing I needed to haul back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

So we continued our walk through Venice stopping in a bar for lunch (paninis and Coke Light). Shortly after eating we came upon the Accademia Bridge and saw something remarkable, there were rows and rows of padlocks attached to the bridge. I had no idea what this was about so I had to Google it. Turns out this is how lovers show their devotion, they write their initials on the locks, attach them to some monuments and throw away the keys.

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

 

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

 

After crossing the bridge we headed in what we thought was the right direction to get back to Piazzale Roma wandering through a few shops and generally just enjoying the afternoon. I found my sense of direction was pretty good today as I managed to get us back in a fairly direction path.

 

 

 

[PCWalton1]

 

That evening we ate again near the hotel, I had baked lasagna and Marie had salmon and pasta in a cream sauce. A little house wine to top it off and we once again had a perfect meal. One thing we did notice was the wind picked up and became cooler as it appeared the weather was about to turn. After another stroll through the area (and a little gelato) we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

One final note was we were woken up about 4 am and the earthquake that hit Bologna which we felt in our third floor hotel room. Once we figured out what had happened (and that we were fine) we went back to sleep for a couple hours before getting up for our trip to Milan.

[Artemis]

Kudos on a fabulous photo and text review! Sounds like you two had a wonderful trip, and it is so great to have your memories captured in such fine images. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[PCWalton1]

Kudos on a fabulous photo and text review! Sounds like you two had a wonderful trip, and it is so great to have your memories captured in such fine images. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Thanks, I need to add our stay in Milan tonight and I think I will finally be done.

 

Bill

[leeselee]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts.

 

we were on the Splendor last year, a slightly longer but similar cruise.

 

I have been to Venice many times, but crusing in and out brought tears to my eyes. so beautiful.

 

we too enjoyed the amazing service from Antonio! what a lovely chap!

 

thank you for your posts. delightful

:D

[DivasDare]

I loved your review, it brought back such great memories and a little envy... I missed some of the great adventures that you and Marie had. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm off to read your other reviews now.:D