Splendour of the Seas October 13-20

[AggieCard]

I'm going to post review when I get back into town, but if you have any questions about the cruise, the ports, the ship, anything in general, feel free to ask in the meantime!

[Carol4158]

Hi. We leave next week for the same cruise. Looking forward to your comments. Can you tell me what you did in Katakolon? We are hoping to use the train to Olympia. However my guess is that it will be packed! Jusy wondering what our options are.

 

Thanks

[KirkNC]

Welcome back!

[AggieCard]

Hi. We leave next week for the same cruise. Looking forward to your comments. Can you tell me what you did in Katakolon? We are hoping to use the train to Olympia. However my guess is that it will be packed! Jusy wondering what our options are.

 

Thanks

 

Carol

 

You are going to love this trip. I don't know if you have been on the Splendour before but it is a great ship.

 

As far as Katakolon we actually used katakolotaxi.gr!!! Andreas was a wonderful driver and will take you anywhere you want to go. HE IS NOT A TOUR GUIDE THOUGH. He took us to where we wanted to go, dropped us off and then waited. He charged us €120.00 for like 5 hours. He even took us by his house and gave us a bottle of his home made olive oil. I would highly recommend using him.

 

As far as what we did, we went to the archaeological site at Olympia then to the museum. We then stayed in Olympia for lunch. This is what we wanted to do, if you have other ideas Andreas will work with you.

 

Not real sure about the train, because honestly I don't remember seeing one.

 

Let me know if you have other questions.

[furryal]

Hi Carol

 

We're also just back from this cruise. We did RC's 'Olympia On your Own' for $12 each. This was a 30-40 minute bus ride there and back. Once at Olympia we had 3.5 hours to walk round the ruins, the museum and see a little of modern Olympia.

 

We did see the train (in Katakolon) but for a paltry $12 thought the organised trip was a safer bet.

 

Al

[LBumb]

Ready for review

[Carol4158]

Hi

 

Thanks for your advice. Glad to hear you had a good time.

 

Carol

[samtheman]

I'll be on Splendour next month, can you tell me if the casino has a craps table and if english premier league matched were on live

Tks

[xxHadleyxx]

Thanks for startng this thread! There seems to be so little out there about the Splendour--espeially post rehab.

 

ANYthing you want to share about upgrades to the ship and what is where (like we have one RCI booklet with deck plans which shows they added a bungee trampoline, but I can find nothing about that online and wonder if that was never put in and the booklet just went out anyway with the plans for Enchantment?) would be greatly appreciated :) (we sail on her in just over a week).

[Carol4158]

Hello again!

 

We are really grateful for advice received so far. One more question - I have been told by friends who travelled to Turkey by air that there is a £10 entrance fee at customs. Are they winding me up?? They told me to take lots of £10 notes for the port!! I know that I have paid an airport fee in Vancouver and just wondered if this is the same sort of thing.

 

Carol

[xxHadleyxx]

We were in Kusadasi last month on the Navigator and not charged any fee.

 

We have never flown into Turkey, but have never been charged a fee (unless it was rolled in as a port fee or tax when we paid in full, of course) to visit either Kusadasi or Istanbul by ship.

[CruiseIreland]

Hello again!

 

We are really grateful for advice received so far. One more question - I have been told by friends who travelled to Turkey by air that there is a £10 entrance fee at customs. Are they winding me up?? They told me to take lots of £10 notes for the port!! I know that I have paid an airport fee in Vancouver and just wondered if this is the same sort of thing.

 

Carol

There is no fee for cruisers, just at the airport! No need for tenners. It would be useful to have Turkish lira.

[AggieCard]

I'll be on Splendour next month, can you tell me if the casino has a craps table and if english premier league matched were on live

Tks

 

 

They do not have craps tables on the boat. I talked to one of the people in charge of the casino because I was wondering why and what he told me is that typically the casino isn't very busy on the European cruises. How true, I am not sure. I can tell you during our cruise the casino was only busy the last night.

[AggieCard]

Hello again!

 

We are really grateful for advice received so far. One more question - I have been told by friends who travelled to Turkey by air that there is a £10 entrance fee at customs. Are they winding me up?? They told me to take lots of £10 notes for the port!! I know that I have paid an airport fee in Vancouver and just wondered if this is the same sort of thing.

 

Carol

 

 

Carol

 

As everyone els ehas said, there isn't a fee to get into Turkey. It is the same routine as the other stops. Make sure you have your Seapass Card and make sure you are on the boat by time it departs :)

[AggieCard]

OK guys, I am so sorry it has taken so long to get started on this review. I just got back home Sunday night and all I did yesterday was laundry and rest.

 

I want to go ahead and warn everyone, this is my first review of a cruise so it might not be the best, but I will give you as much info as possible. I feel like I should do that because I typically get so much from the other reviews. I will answer any questions you have and hope you enjoy the reveiw. I am going to try and add pictures later, but as of right now the computer is cooperating.

Background on Cruise:

This cruise was for my honeymoon, it was myself (27) and DW (24). We actually spent a week in Italy prior to the cruise, so by time we got to the cruise we were ready fir sie rest and relaxation. We spent one day in Venice prior to the cruise and if anyone is looking for a precruise hotel in Venice I would highly recommend the Aqua Palace Hotel. It is a little pricey, but a very nice hotel.

 

Embarkation

Ok so finally Saturday October 13th, arrived and it was time to head to the ship. We had decided the night before that we wanted to get to the ship early, but needed to do a little more shopping in Venice before we got on the boat. So we did our shopping and headed for the boat at about 11AM. We took the Vaporreto, which is basically Venice version of the subway, and got off as Piazzale Roma. This is the stop right after the train station. You can actually walk from the train station to Piazzale Roma, becasue its only about a 5 minute walk, but you do have to go up steps and over a bridge. Doing this with luggage isn't fun, which we learned after the cruise.

So once we got off we took the People Mover to the cruise terminal, got off at the cruise terminal and headed towards the boat. We dropped our luggage off and headed into the terminal. I think we got into the terminal about 11:30AM and were litterally on the boat by 11:45AM. Boarding was so easy and there wasn't a wait at all.

 

Just a quick note about the getting on board. Like I said before my DW and I were on our honeymoon and spent a week in Italy prior so we had purchased a couple bottles of wine throughout our trip. Our plan was to not check them in our luggage, because we didn't want Royal to think we were trying to smuggle on our own drinks. So once we dropped off our luggage, we found a Royal agent and told her and she said not to worry they would take them from us at security and they would return them to us at the end of the trip. So we go in get checked in get our SeaPass cards. Once we got the cards we again explained to the check in clerk about the wine in our backpacksm she again said the same thing, that security would hold them for us. So we get to security and again nothing happens. So long story short we made multiple attempts to have them hold our wine, but no one every did so we ended up just taking it to our room.

 

Now back to cruise, like I said it took about 15 minutes for check in and we were finally on the boat. Another note, if you are not an EU citizen, Royal takes your passport until the last day of the cruise. As soon as we walked on the ship we immediately went up the wind jammer, to get the lunch. Lunch was very good as I just piled my plate with anything that I could find. One item of note missing from the buffet was the Honey Stung Chicken. So if you are looking forward to that on this cruise I am sorry to tell you it wasn't there. Windjammer was as usual very crowded on embarkation day, but I think we only had to search for a couple seconds until we found a seat. After we ate we went and signed up for the coke pass, $7 per day plus 15% gratuity and also signed up for the wine package which we always do.

Another option that was available is the all you can drink package, which is $45 per day for house and $55 per day for premium. We didn't sign up for this package, but a lot of people did and found it to be very useful. The reason we didn't is because everyone in your state room has to sign up and being that there are 5 ports we weren't sure we would be able to drink $90 worth of alcohol per day. Now had this been in the Caribbean, with more sea days I would have signed up.

After wandering around the ship a bit, it was finally time to try the CC famous Roast beef sandwich from the Park Cafe. All I can say is that I HIGHLY recommend this sandwich. I probably had about 5 everyday, because they really are that good. I always got mine with the Au Jus and horseradish. As I sit here and type about it I wish I had one right now. Following the Roast Beef Sandwich, I then had to go directly to the Boardwalk Doghouse and try that out. Again I highly recommend the dogs. The only disappointing thing about the Doghouse is that the buns are very hard.

 

So after gaining about 15 pounds within the first hour of the cruise, it was time to head to the room and the rooms were available right at 1:00 and it wasn't long after that the our bags arrived. After unpacking it was time for the muster drill and sailaway.

 

If you haven't sailed out of Venice before, which I hadn't prior to this cruise, it is something not to be missed. You pass right by the Grand Canal and St. Marks and this is such a great time to get so many wonderful pictures. I recommend getting up on top early because it was hard to find a spot on the rail and just be prepared to not move for at least an hour, because the views are incredible.

 

I will finish with Day 1 later today...

 

(I do have all the cruise compasses and if my computer will cooperate, I will post along with pictures.)

[JM-1972]

Thank you for the review, we are on her next May and I am really looking forward to it. What time was your muster and then sailaway? I always find it is a rush to get from the muster drill to the bar, drink in hand to then get a good spot for sailaway. Also can you remember if they offered a late departure and what the charge was?

 

Did you notice duty free shop in the terminal at the dock?

 

Sounds like you had a fantastic honeymoon, I look forward to some pictures!

[louhun88]

Looking forward to the rest of your review, im on the Splendour next May so can't wait!!

[AggieCard]

Thank you for the review, we are on her next May and I am really looking forward to it. What time was your muster and then sailaway? I always find it is a rush to get from the muster drill to the bar, drink in hand to then get a good spot for sailaway. Also can you remember if they offered a late departure and what the charge was?

 

Did you notice duty free shop in the terminal at the dock?

 

Sounds like you had a fantastic honeymoon, I look forward to some pictures!

 

 

You are going to love the ship, because we sure did. Muster drill was at 4:30 and it lasted about 10 minutes. I had plenty of time to go to the bar and grab a drink and make it to the talk deck. You will not have to rush at all. Yes there was a late departure, i think it was after at 10:00 AM. I am not sure what the charge was.

 

There were duty free shops at all of th eports except for Venice. All of the shops are very close to the boat.

[AggieCard]

Day 1 Continued...

 

So after finally getting out of Venice it was about 6:00, because it takes a good hour to finally get out of Venice an out to the open sea, the DW and I decided to head to the room and get ready for dinner. We had 2nd seating which is at 8:30PM, 1st is at 6:00PM, so we were planning on going to the show at 7:45PM.

 

The first evening show was a aerialist and a variety show by a couple from Cirque du Soleil via Russia. The only complaint I really have about the cruise was I didn't think that the shows were as good as I have to come to expect from Royal with the exception of the aerialist in the Centrum. The shows took place in the 42nd street theatre which is very nice, but bar service is limited so make sure you come with a drink. Not going to go into much detail about the show, mainly because it really didn't leave much of a memory with myself or DW. I will tell you with the shows starting at 7:45PM, if you have second seating a lot of the times they run over so we were late to dinner a few nights.

After the show we headed for dinner, excited to meet our waiter and continue to pack on the pounds. One thing that I love about the Splendour is that the boat isn't very big, so you can get wherever you are trying to go in a short amount of time, which is the exact opposite on the larger ships.

 

Dinner was good and I will let you know what I had as soon as I get home, but really I don't think any of the dinners where bad. Each night there were multiple things to choose from and I know a lot of people don't think the food in the MDR is good, but I truly have no complaints. Following dinner, which included 3 apps, 3 entrees and 2 desserts, I promise I am not a big guy, we headed out to see where the party was. We ended up in the Top Hat Lounge. The Top Hat Lounge is where a lot happens on this ship. Karaoke, The Quest, Battle of Sexes all happen here, tonight was just karaoke was we grabbeda drink and proceeded to listen to many fellow cruisers make fools of themselves for the next hour. Whats great about cruising is that you can make a fool of yourself in front of these people, because chances are you wont ever see them again.

 

So we stayed in Top Hat Lounge until about 12:30 and met a lot of people, but see I have the problem on a cruise that I always want to do way too much on the first day. So instead of going to bed, we felt we needed to continue the party, so we headed up to the Viking Crown Lounge, which becomes the night club at night and danced the night away until about 2:30AM. This was a lot of fun, because many of my fellow cruisers had the same idea and it was ok because we didn't dock that morning until 12:00PM. We danced until they finally kicked us out and finally Day 1 which ran into Day 2 had come to an end. We headed back to the run and called it a night.

 

Day 2 Bari

I will begin Bari later on today.

[scottishwee35]

Congratulations on your marriage and lovely for honeymoon.

 

thank for your time to write it and I enjoyed to read it.

 

Roll over next one:p

 

Scottishwee35

[scottishwee35]

My question about Embarkation... We booked hotel Santa Chairi in Piazzale Roma and we have two teenagers and we think we go for People Mover to the cruise terminal. My problem that I have bad knee (arthritis) and I want to know how far to walk to Port? I try to planning to buy new luggages with wheels for each and we pulled it along from hotel to People Mover and walk over to port but I hope it is easy?

Scottishwee35

Embarkation

Ok so finally Saturday October 13th, arrived and it was time to head to the ship. We had decided the night before that we wanted to get to the ship early, but needed to do a little more shopping in Venice before we got on the boat. So we did our shopping and headed for the boat at about 11AM. We took the Vaporreto, which is basically Venice version of the subway, and got off as Piazzale Roma. This is the stop right after the train station. You can actually walk from the train station to Piazzale Roma, becasue its only about a 5 minute walk, but you do have to go up steps and over a bridge. Doing this with luggage isn't fun, which we learned after the cruise.

So once we got off we took the People Mover to the cruise terminal, got off at the cruise terminal and headed towards the boat. We dropped our luggage off and headed into the terminal. I think we got into the terminal about 11:30AM and were litterally on the boat by 11:45AM. Boarding was so easy and there wasn't a wait at all

[debway]

Thank you so much for all the information on the cruise and congratulations on your honeymoon! What a great way to spend it. We leave on Friday (2 days!) for Venice. We are also spending the night at the Aqua Palace Hotel - glad to hear it is nice. How did you get to the hotel? I think we are going to splurge on a water taxi from the airport to the hotel. Was there no Vaporetto stop after the Piazzale Roma? For some reason I thought we could get closer to the ship and avoid the people mover.

Where did you go for sailing? I want to make sure we have a good view of beautiful Venice as we depart.

Can you tell me which nights were formal nights?

I'm really looking forward to the rest of your review! Welcome home!

DW

[Carol4158]

Hi - we leave on Friday too. I guess we are on the same sailing!

 

See you there.

 

Carol

[wolfcathorse]

if you have any questions about the cruise, the ports, the ship, anything in general, feel free to ask in the meantime!

 

who was the captain...I'm trying to keep my Current Captains forum up to date. Was the master Capt Iv Vidos or Carl Graucob

[AggieCard]

My question about Embarkation... We booked hotel Santa Chairi in Piazzale Roma and we have two teenagers and we think we go for People Mover to the cruise terminal. My problem that I have bad knee (arthritis) and I want to know how far to walk to Port? I try to planning to buy new luggages with wheels for each and we pulled it along from hotel to People Mover and walk over to port but I hope it is easy?

 

Scottishwee35

Scottishwee

Not exactly sure where the hotel is loated, but if it is in Piazzale Roma it has to very close to the People Mover. From the People Mover to the cruise terminal it isn't more than about .25 miles, so it isn't a long walk. It is a very easy walk, my DW packs A LOT, we had 4 bags and we had no trouble at all getting to the terminal. Just give yourself enough time and enjoy the walk. Remember you are going to be on vacation so take your time and enjoy it :):):)