Just returned from first cruise on the splendour!

[wework2play]

I just got home from my first cruise on the splendour. I was very, very impressed. Service was nothing short of wonderful and overall we had a great experience. I want to thank all of you here at cruise critic. I found all the info I got from you guys to be very helpful. Even my family who had all cruised before would ask me questions. My best advice to new cruisers is stay out of the casino. We quickly blew our limit in there and had much more fun in bars anyway. BTW, I did see jeans in the dining room lots of times. No one seemed to care. I was surprised to even see hats on at the dinner table every night. There's so much hype about the dress code, but really, everyone is on vacation and they just want to be comfortable. I will say, this cruise was the the most worry-free, stress-free, and relaxing vacation I've ever been on. (Well, it's also the first vaca since our honeymoon without the kids ...could that have something to do with it??)

[PrairieGirl]

I just got home from my first cruise on the splendour. I was very, very impressed. Service was nothing short of wonderful and overall we had a great experience. I want to thank all of you here at cruise critic. I found all the info I got from you guys to be very helpful. Even my family who had all cruised before would ask me questions. My best advice to new cruisers is stay out of the casino. We quickly blew our limit in there and had much more fun in bars anyway. BTW, I did see jeans in the dining room lots of times. No one seemed to care. I was surprised to even see hats on at the dinner table every night. There's so much hype about the dress code, but really, everyone is on vacation and they just want to be comfortable. I will say, this cruise was the the most worry-free, stress-free, and relaxing vacation I've ever been on. (Well, it's also the first vaca since our honeymoon without the kids ...could that have something to do with it??)

Thanks for posting! I'm taking my husband on Splendour on April 15th, his first cruise ever, and he'll be thrilled to know about the jeans. Hhmmm, maybe I won't say anything. Anymore information that you could post (hotels that you used, activities in Coz and Costa Maya) would be most appreciated. And of course . . . . . . Whaaaaaat's on the Menuuuu?

 

:D

[dino62]

I was on the same cruise. A little disapointed that others didn't follow dress codes at dinner. We had a great time. Won alot of money on the last night of the cruise. We had an aft Balcony (7132). Awesome! We'll be going on another cruise asap. Service was great! Only problem we had had was the airline, lost our luggage. Still don't have one bag...

[wework2play]

I was on the same cruise. A little disapointed that others didn't follow dress codes at dinner. We had a great time. Won alot of money on the last night of the cruise. We had an aft Balcony (7132). Awesome! We'll be going on another cruise asap. Service was great! Only problem we had had was the airline, lost our luggage. Still don't have one bag...

 

What did you win on? I had my luggage lost once when I was a kid and got it back some two months later. But I was a kid so I don't think I really cared. I'm always afraid of that happening. My husbands parents got the jr suite and they LOVED it. It was aft also.

[wework2play]

Thanks for posting! I'm taking my husband on Splendour on April 15th, his first cruise ever, and he'll be thrilled to know about the jeans. Hhmmm, maybe I won't say anything. Anymore information that you could post (hotels that you used, activities in Coz and Costa Maya) would be most appreciated. And of course . . . . . . Whaaaaaat's on the Menuuuu?

 

:D

 

Well, my husband did the jeep excursion with the guys while us girls went shopping. He liked it and said he'd do it again. They take you through the city and to a private beach and let you snorkel, and they served lunch. The shopping was okay. Prices weren't as good as I expected. We still had a good time on the island. We only went to Coz. We stayed in the Galveston Days Inn because it was cheapest. I would not stay there again. The room was small and not as clean as it should have been. It was the least nice days inn I've ever been to. I don't know where you are traveling from but we also stayed in the La Quinta inn 10 outside of Dallas just off the hwy. It was great. Had laundry facility, waffles for breakfast, and large clean rooms. We used Lighthouse Cruise Parking. WOW! They were helpful, friendly, and very prompt. Never had to wait for them and they gave us helpful info. Their rate was 45.00 for the 4 nights but we had 3 vehicles so let us pay 40. per night. Worth it!!!! Food: the first night in the dining room I had crusted cod. Really good. 2nd night, well, can't remember, pina coladas I guess. 3rd night: tiger shrimp in garlic butter. Yumm! 4th night I had the maui maui tempura. Wonderful! I stuck to stuff I knew i'd like. They had steak and such everynight as an alternative. My husband had their pasta and loved it. One had an alfredo sauce with mushrooms and it was excellent! One night they had escarco and my aunt ordered it and loved it. I couldn't watch. The shrimp cocktail was the large shrimp so I didn't care for it. I like the little bite size shrimp. They had a variety of soups as appetizers. We enjoyed trying all of them. My husband loved the cold strawberry soup. (Can't remember name) I got the lobster bisque. Yuck! The artichoke dip was pretty good. I never tried the windjammers hamburgers, hotdogs, or fries. Their breakfast was good. We did breakfast everyday in the windjammer buffet. Oh, If you don't like anything on the menu in the dining room, just ask. We were shocked that they brought out chicken with corn on the cob for my picky brother in law because he didn't like anything on the menu. Room service: my fav was the tuna pita. Room service is just okay, I thought. Pizza was okay. Cheese plate was disappointing. Just about 6 slices of chedder, mozz and some wierd cheese and saltine crackers. The cheesecake was good. That's about all I can tell you on food. We didn't go hungry. Try the frozen yogurt cones outside of the windjammer. They were surprisingly good!

[PrairieGirl]

Thanks for all the food news! Heh, heh! I'll bet those pina coladas were worth the memory loss:D

 

We are flying Calgary to Houston, and staying the one night at the HI Sun Spree. 12 days to go!

[NancyIL]

My first RCI cruise was on Splendour last April out of Tampa, and I loved it, too!

[wework2play]

Prairiegirl,

I hope you have a wonderful time like we did! I submitted an actual review of the splendour but it takes awhile to show up. I took a hanging organizer thing that hangs in the closet and it was very helpful and kept me organized. I will always take one from now on when I'm going to stay somewhere. Also, the bartender let us take some pictures with him behind the bar. They turned out really good.

[lindalu62]

I know what you mean about the jeans! We had 8 at our table, and one man wore jeans every night, even formal night. His wife was dressed up each night, but not him. Seems a little disrespectful to me! We have tons of pictures of us all, and he sticks out like a sore thumb in them all!

[prairie_fox]

We leave on her in Three weeks. We also have an aft room right next to the one you had wework. How was the soot problem I always read about, did you feel much motion, and how do the rooms look (upkeep)???? I know lots of questions. You just hear so many things and I wondered on this ship how it was. We have a 12 nighter with her. If you can tell me any of those things it sure would be great.

[thekidsmom]

I'm glad you enjoyed the ship--we will be on her in November.

 

Having read all of the conflicting info re: buying bottles of liquor on board for in-room consumption, can you tell me if you did this, or was it available?

[wework2play]

We leave on her in Three weeks. We also have an aft room right next to the one you had wework. How was the soot problem I always read about, did you feel much motion, and how do the rooms look (upkeep)???? I know lots of questions. You just hear so many things and I wondered on this ship how it was. We have a 12 nighter with her. If you can tell me any of those things it sure would be great.

 

The room was very well taken care of. I kept commenting to my husband that the ship does not look ten years old! For example, on the last night of our cruise we noticed the toilet seat was just barely getting loose. No big deal, and our cruise was almost over anyway. We went on to dinner and returned to find our room all made up with a NEW toilet seat. I thought the bed was comfortable, but I like the hard type. The carpet looked near new. What do you mean by "soot"? The motion was about the same as the rest of the ship. Not bad. Every night I would hear a loud noise that sounded kind of like water draining or something, but it didn't last long. As for the motion- this was my first cruise so I have nothing to compare it to. Some of my family who had only cruised Carnival in the past thought the motion was worse on Splendour. I think it depends on a lot of uncontrollable factors like the weather.

[wework2play]

I'm glad you enjoyed the ship--we will be on her in November.

 

Having read all of the conflicting info re: buying bottles of liquor on board for in-room consumption, can you tell me if you did this, or was it available?

 

Well, somehow there was a couple bottles of captain and some other stuff in our luggage when it arrived in our room. I don't know who put it in there. Anyway, if you buy liquor on the ship they will not give it to you until 6 pm the last day. If you purchase it after 9am the last day, you can go ahead and take it with you to your room.

[thekidsmom]

Thanks for the info! I'm bummed about the new liquor rules--I had no problem paying the fee to take it to my room after buying it from the RCI store onboard. I sure did enjoy a homemade bloody mary on my balcony a couple of mornings (using RCI vodka and my special mix)......I wonder what someone would say if I showed up in my PJ's at the bar at 8am?

[wework2play]

I also had bloody mary mix and vodka appear in my luggage. I liked making my own. I really got hooked on the ships pina coladas! If I go again, I would just as soon pay the bar tab as their drinks were pretty consistently good. Although, I did not care for their bloody marys!

[ChoosinCruisin]

We sail the Splendour on Monday. How was the entertainment?

[krewzin]

I know what you mean about the jeans! We had 8 at our table, and one man wore jeans every night, even formal night. His wife was dressed up each night, but not him. Seems a little disrespectful to me! We have tons of pictures of us all, and he sticks out like a sore thumb in them all!

 

It's so nice to have a formal pic of your table...with one dolt wearing jeans (altho they were prolly under the table). Did he have a t-shirt on too?

 

Reminds me of my uncle Billy who, no matter the occasion always wore the same damn dirty overalls. Even at our wedding, Ol' uncle B wore 'em....those 'formal family shots' look a bit odd.

 

At least he left his straw hat at home. Glad the cruise was great!