Mini Review Splendour

[Lokalona]

Just got off Splendour yesterday and am going to provide a mini review for now.

 

We booked air through RCI due to the location of the port from the airport and us living in IN. That went off very smooth. Had a direct flight out of Indy to George Bush and arrived there by noon local time. We waited about 40 minutes at the airpot for the transfer bus to fill and then were off. There was a tragic accident on the freeway so we were in dead stop gridlock for over an hour and Lifeline lifted off right in front of the bus, bad thing to see on the way to vacation and for a bit I couldn't stop thinking about the poor people in the accident. We arrived at the terminal and walked right on the ship (we are diamond) so no waiting.

 

Windjammer:

I must say that this is one place on the ship that I was very dissapointed in. The layout is not traffic efficient, and the food choices are minimal IMHO. It is cramped and very confining feeling and I am hoping when they drydock her, they remedy this area. I avoided eating inside this area as much as I could.

 

Dining Room:

We had an awesome table for 6 (five in our party so we had an open spot) number 135 right next to the windows and our wait staff was very friendly and effiicent. Hans the head waiter had to be the best head waiter by far on any cruise we have been on. Food for the most part was better than usual here. We enjoyed the dining room.

 

Staterooms:

We had JS Balcony cabing 8570 and our kids interior quad 8571 (3 boys ages 18, 18, and 24) The quad was quite spacious, had a full size couch so one of them used this as a bed and they used the pull down bunk for storage. Our cabin was nice, needed new bedding of course and the carpet was stained, glass balcony panels were cracked but the balcony was nice sized for a JS. It is hard to compare and not fair to compare Splendour to the Brillinace that I had just gotten off of 3 weeks prior... I sure missed the Brilliance and longed for her beauty and spaciousness...We were right under the pool deck and could hear quite a bit of what was going on up there, but it didn't bother us.

 

Public areas:

The casino was spacious as can be for the size of the ship, one craps table and 3 Black Jack tables, a few poker tables and not many people seemed to be winning. I know we didn't, and most guests we played with were also complaining here..We usually win or break even but I have never seen a dealer (Black Jack) come up with 20 and 21 so many times in a shoe in my life. I could count on my fingers and toes how many times the dealer busted the entire time we played cruise long...I played craps as well and did better there. I didn't play slots but they was some winning going on there.

 

The centrium areas were pretty, spacious and clean and the band playing there was good; Rock the Boat was their name and they really did a nice job. The Schooner bar was busy and the entertainer there butchered most of his songs. I watched many people get up and leave when he came on. It is a small bar and too small for the loud speaker system they used.. Bar staff here was very good.

 

Theater: 42nd Street, it was smaller than I am used to but did hold the public very well and most seats were easy to see the stage, the offending pillars and seats were placed better on this ship. The comic was funny, juggler very good and one singer I heard was good. I only went to the welcome aboard show, juggler and the late night comedy act in the Top Hat Lounge. That is a very nice arena for a smaller crowd.

 

Pool decks:

This is also an area that hopefully dry dock spiffs up. The loungers are beginning to really show the wear and tear. There were plenty of deck chairs and the chair hogs were not as greedy as usual. I missed having the Sky Bar on the upper pool deck though. Solarium was clean and nice and I only went there to use the hot tubs a few nights.

 

Shore Excursions:

Well this experience turned out to have it's moments! First stop Cozumel and the hurricane damage is evident and really makes you sad to see if you have ever been before. The docks are literally destroyed, and tendering here is the only way in. We did the Deluxe Beach Break and the beach was clean and had plenty of room for all. Food was awful but to be expected on one of these all inclusives. Drinks were free and they had plenty of bars, the staff running this was very adament no liquor given to anyone under 18 and you had to have ID if you looked like a teenager. My kids could drink and had one learn his lesson not to mix different liquors the hard way...he got sick and we had to do the "I told you so" phrase to him. Of course mom knows nothing...LOL.

Belize was the next port and you anchor so far out the tender ride is very long due to the barrier reefs. We did the Jungle Landrover River tour and got off the ship right onto the flatboats and took about 45 minutes up the river into the rainforest. We saw a few birds and things but not much. We then got off and into our standard shift landrovers. We took these way up into the off road jungle paths and this was very cool. Arriving at out destination for a walking tour of the caves and jungle we were given head lamps and divided into small groups with a guide for each. Very interesting and the caves were at times a challenge to climb though. Swinging bridge freaked me out some and I felt like I was in the Indiana Jones movie! We then were served a fresh fruit buffet and free rum punch. Took the Jungle Party bus back to the terminal, rum punch was flowing...

 

Costa Maya:

We docked here along side the Legend of the Seas and Celebrity Galaxy. This adventure was by far a "High Five Thank God We Lived" :eek: shore excursion sponsored by RCL. We did the ATV Adventure here and I must say the guides were nice but the equipment was in such poor condition I could not believe it. Given our ATV's were so badly maintained I am suprised we did not end up with a medical emergancy here. None of my family and most of the others 4 wheelers had any brakes. I slammed into the guy in front of me at least 6 times. The guide slammed into my son quite a few and not one tail light was intact. My husbands 4 wheeler had a front tire on the rear so he was lopsided the entire trip. The poor girl in front of me, (husband moved b/c I kept hitting him I think):o lost her muffler mid trip and I ducked it as it skimmed off my helmet and hit my husband's ATV. We stopped and the guide kept the caravan on going for a good 10 minutes until he realized half the people were missing....the follow up guide had gone back to get a working ATV for someone else who kept stalling. My kids had fun but even as daring as they are figured out this was an accident in the waiting. The sand storm from the vehicles ahead of you made it difficut to see and if you didn't have glasses you'd have been blind from all the salt and sand. I looked lke I needed embalmed I had so much salt and sand all over me! After deciding the girl with the missing muffler could still use her ATV w/o out one, off we went again. About 20 minutes later here she comes full speed in reverse right at me. I avoided her and she got her bike over to the side of the road and her husband stopped with her...I told them I'd ride ahead to alert the guide...or so I thought...my bike would not go too fast full throttle and I tried like heck to catch up....10 minutes later I got his attention and we all pulled over and waited while he went back to the rescue. They got her a different ATV since hers was stuck in reverse...I will say she was very good natured about it as were the rest of us, but if she had not been experienced at riding one she could have really hurt herself and whoever was near her. We then headed to the beach for a break...were allowed 20 minutes and I think we all headed to the bar for a beer! No problem having one and driving, there was only time for one anyhow. We all made it back in one piece and did some shopping at the pier and back on ship by 2:30 for 3:00 sail...we waited quite a bit for 2 people that were missing, Capt. honked the horn a lot....they got left behind.

 

Days at sea were lovely, weather great and all in all an exhausting vacation.

 

Disembarkation went smooth with the exception of sitting on the bus for an hour waiting for it to fill up for the trip to the airport.

Any questions I would be happy to answer.

[Lokalona]

...I forgot to mention. Stateroom Attendant; I tipped him cash up front as always $20.00 to keep us supplied in pool towels and bath towels and to have to clean my teenage boys room...a war zone usually. I feel the room attendant deserves hazzard pay! MY DH also tipped him $20.00 upfront because he didn't know I had already done so....So you'd think we would have awesome service right??? Nope he was mediocure at best. He had the room cleaned every morning and the boys were suprisingly neat (24 year old is anal so he was on top of the other two to keep it clean) so he had no extra work there...I asked him I bet 10 times for 3 bath towels instead of 2 and never got 3. I like to shower in the morning even if I am going to be out in the sun all day sweating, then shower again before dinner, plus the DH does the same...I reused my one towel 3 times a day...now I don't mind using the same towel twice, but 3 times is not cool, plus it never drys in between. He never replenished the mini fridge so I learned to grab a bottled water from the bar before bed so I had water in the morning to drink. I only called for service one time for pool towels to use in the hot tub one evening because there was not any in the Solarium at night. I was told he was off duty and to get a pool towel from the pool attendant...at 9:00 at night there was no attendant to be found and no towels so I used the reused bath towel and just figured oh well....So I rate this one area rather low..BTW he still got the full tip because I prepay the gratuities on my Seapass, plus he got an extra $40.00....

[NHRedSoxFan]

Lokalona,

Did any of the crew say what was to be done during the drydock. I'll be sailing her in September and was curious is they were doing maintenance only or are they going to refurbish with new carpeting, etc?

Thanks.

[Xine]

The drydock happened already. It was in Jan (I think). It was mostly mechanical upgrades/replacements, not so much of an interior workover. I've gleaned this from all the other posts on here about Vision's drydock, not from personal experience. I'm going out on her on May 7 for the repositioning cruise from LA to Vancouver.

[CAT GIRL]

What was the name of your room steward? We were on the

Splendour in January and absolutely loved him. We were in

room 8502 (OS) Our guy was from Bali.