Royal Caribbean's
Splendour of the Seas
December 22, 2003 - January 3, 2004
Cruise Review
by
Becki Villareal
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 16:15:57 -0500
From: bvillareal@irvingisd.net
(Becki Villareal)
Subject: Review
Just to let you know up front, this was my first time
to cruise so my remarks will come from that point of view. We booked a 12 day
cruise on the Splendour of the Seas out of Galveston for December 22-January
03. Ports of call were in this order: Cozumel, Mexico; Belize City, Belize;
Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Panama Canal, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Roatan,
Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico.
Pre-cruise experiences: We chose to drive down to Galveston a day early and
stay in the Harbor House hotel right on the harbor. Since we booked online 9
months in advance, the prices were very reasonable--about $89 per room. The
rooms were very pleasant, large and cool with a nice breeze when you opened
the windows. The room lighting was dim due to no overhead lighting, only lamps
in various places. Parking is right next to the hotel and you pay $8 for overnight.
They will also allow you to park for the duration of your cruise, but we chose
not to since there is no security. In the morning a cereal/rolls/coffee/juice
type breakfast is complimentary, but we chose to eat at the Phoenix bakery instead.
They are within walking distance from the hotel/pier and they have breakfast
offerings of omelets, quiche, oatmeal, fresh fruit plates, huge cinnamon rolls,
scrambled eggs, scones, fresh fruit juices, etc—all at reasonable prices.
Dinner the night before the cruise was also right t here at the harbor at Fisherman’s
Wharf. Earlier in the summer, we had dinner there and it was packed. The waiting
line was about an hour and the patio was a fun place to eat. We chose to eat
out on the patio again and it was a little chilly. Service was slow which was
unusual because there weren’t that many customers. The food was delicious.
We had oysters on the half-shell, crab and lobster bisque served in a bread
bowl (yummy!!) and grilled fish. After breakfast, we toured the “world’s
largest military surplus store”, Col. Bubby’s, for an hour and then
checked out of the Harbor House. Drove over to the pier, unloaded the luggage
and my husband went to leave the car in the “official” pier parking
lot. We had downloaded a $10 coupon so the total parking fee for 12 days was
$75. I’m pretty sure it has to be paid in cash. Husband was back in 15
minutes and off we went. Check-in seemed easy to us. We passed a number of people
in line because we had a suite. We started the boardi ng process by 11:30 and
were on board by 12 noon.
Our stateroom: We booked the Royal Family Suite (category
AA) and were in cabin 8532. This stateroom is right next to the Crown and Anchor
study on deck 8. On the floor plan on the RCI website, a large walk-in closet
is shown on the right just before the small bedroom. This does not exist. The
carpet was faded and the upholstery and drapes looked older. There was a crack
in the lower portion of the sliding glass window off the master bedroom. However,
the stateroom attendant kept the room neat and clean, so we were not bothered
by these aspects. Here’s a description--Master bedroom: sleeping for two,
smaller TV with cabinets above and below it, lighted vanity area with chair,
one large closet and one smaller one, bathroom with tub, sliding doors made
out of wood framing with inset opaque glass panels which separate it from the
living room and entry hall, large glass sliding doors leading onto the balcony.
Smaller bedroom: two twin beds and one Pullman bed in the ceiling, two m id-size
closets and lighted vanity area with chair. The door to the smaller bedroom
is solid and locks, so it’s great for sleepers who want complete darkness.
Smaller bath: right across from the 2nd bedroom and has a shower. Entry hall:
two small closets and a cabinet with a mirror above it. Living area: one couch
which sleeps two, glass coffee table, two cushioned chairs, two end tables on
either side of the sofa with storage areas in each, lighted vanity area with
center mirror, glass-fronted shelving on either side and cabinets below (the
refrigerator is in one of these cabinets), large TV with cabinets above and
below it (the safe is located in the cabinet above the TV), sliding glass doors
leading onto balcony and large window which does not open but faces the ocean.
Splendour of the Seas staff: I can honestly say that I
never encountered anyone on the entire ship who was not friendly, helpful and
courteous. Our stateroom attendant, Oleg from Lithuania, was prompt in meeting
our requests for extra pillows, blankets, mattress pads, copies of the daily
Compass, wastebaskets, etc. Our daughters raced back to the cabin each night
to see what kind of towel animal he had left for them. He was a very personable
young man. Our head waiter, Kelley from Brazil, was present from the first day
and smoothed out many situations at other tables in a very professional manner.
She paid special attention to our two daughters and always asked us how our
day was. The waiter, Adrian from Romania, was always prompt, made many excellent
suggestions and tried hard to please. Robert from Lithuania was the assistant
waiter and had us smiling all the time.
The ship itself: I did notice some stains on upholstery
and a crack in our balcony window but in general, the condition of the ship
is good. You would frequently see staff cleaning windows, handrails of stairways,
etc. I never found any area to be unduly messy or uncared for.
Onboard entertainments: My family doesn’t drink
or gamble and we are not really interested in the late night shows, but the
Splendour has all of these and most guests seemed very pleased. I can comment
about the destination lectures since I went to 3 out of 4 of them. A very knowledgeable
biology professor from Colorado was the speaker and we enjoyed his programs
on the Panama Canal, the rain forest and the coral reefs. Another entertainment
that most people seemed to be enjoying was the food. There was always food to
be eaten somewhere at any hour of the day and I found it to be very tasty. Presentation
in the dining room was attractive and I found myself ordering two entrees and
sometimes 3 desserts!!
Ports of call: This is the area where most of my frustration
and disappointments happened. It was probably due to my inexperience that my
expectations were not met in some instances.
Cozumel—We toured the Museo de Cozumel (our 2nd
time), shopped at Cinco Soles and other places and ate lunch at El Capi Navegante
(which is a great place for seafood). After lunch, we located Sally who runs
the mini-golf and had a great time playing 9 of the 18 holes. I made a hole-in-one
right at first and never repeated it again!
Belize City, Belize—We had arranged to river tube
with Reggie and had a good time. He really takes care of each passenger! The
path through the forest was a bit daunting for my older mother but she made
it! The caves are actually one long cave, not a series of separate caves as
I had imagined. Since it was Christmas Day, none of the restaurants Reggie usually
uses were open, so we returned to the pier about 3 o’clock and were starving.
The kids didn’t want to stay and shop so I left Belize without even a
postcard to show I had been there! If I could do it over again, I would have
brought sandwiches from the ship just in case and then we could have shopped
a little.
Georgetown, Grand Cayman—This was probably the most disappointing port
of call of them all. The itinerary was listed as 1:00-5:00 (a change by RCI
in October from the itinerary that we originally booked in March which resulted
in less time ashore). I had arranged for an independent excursion with Captain
Marvin for Stingray City for 1:45, but because of the tendering situation, we
didn’t make it on time and missed it completely. The line for tender tickets
stretched from the Centrum all the way back into the King and I dining room.
Many passengers didn’t even get onto the island until it was almost time
to come back at 4:30. I was told the line to return to the ship was about a
half mile long and some passengers were late for the 6:00 main seating for dinner.
It was a sad situation!! I had a hard time listening to those RCI commercials
on ship where they show all the stingrays after that. I guess the only answer
would have been to go ahead and pay the extra money to book a RCI!
excursion. Those folks got off first.
Panama Canal, Panama—We got up at 5:30 am and got
good seats right up front in the Windjammer. It turned out to be a good decision
because it started to rain as we entered the locks. It is not a good place to
be able to hear the comments about the canal however. I had read somewhere that
a calm descends on the ship as it passes through the locks. That person must
not have been in the Windjammer! People talking and dishes clanking made it
really hard to hear what was being broadcast. After the Splendour cleared the
last lock, we had about an hour before we left by tender for our RCI excursion
“canal locks by ferry”. A nice air-conditioned bus took us to Gamboa.
The RCI website says that the passengers will be taken to Balboa and transit
back up through the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks but we actually did the
reverse and thus got to experience being lowered inside a lock. We had a great
tour guide named Velma. The bus was stopped 3 times by police checking licenses
and perm its until Velma made a phone call on her cell. After that, we were
not stopped again. This caused us to arrive later at Gamboa than planned and
affected our position in the canal. We had to get behind a big freighter and
wait for it to be maneuvered into position by a tugboat every time we went through
a lock. Our tour got back to the pier at 6:00 pm and we had a little time to
shop. If you have any time to shop, check out this place! They have really unusual
gift items. We got tagua nuts that had been carved into iguanas and frogs. Molas
are a very popular item. They have men’s shirts with the molas embroidered
on the shoulder areas which another passenger got and we wished we had.
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica—We had originally planned to check out the red
tent government taxis and vans (which are green tents now) and take an excursion
to the Tortuguero canals or the banana plantation, but we ended up just staying
in port all day. We shopped among the venders at the end of the pier and bought
pillowcases with molas, lots of beautiful wooden boxes in animal shapes, and
all 5 of us had manicures or pedicures (including my husband!!) The cost was
$12-$15 per person. A few blocks away in town is a grocery store called Mas
x Menos (More for Less) and we picked up some personal items for a fraction
of the cost back home. My husband and I had a delicious lunch of steamed lobster,
broiled fish, and shrimp soup with 2 Cokes and 2 bottled waters for $30. The
restaurant was owned by an Oriental couple and was called M & M.
Roatan, Honduras—Another disappointment! The itinerary said we would be
there from 12:00-7:00 pm. However, a Carnival ship was already at the pier and
we waited out in the bay until it left. We didn’t get off the ship until
3 pm and by 6 pm it was dark. The captain had said we could remain ashore until
7:30 but there is not much you can do after dark. Roatan does not have street
lights like the U.S. and most of the activities need daylight. We tried to squeeze
a horseback ride in the hills and a swim at the beach at Foster’s resort
in these 3 hours of daylight. Because we were late, we ended up with a horseback
ride down the sandy road to the West End and 45 minutes to swim at Foster’s.
Costa Maya—This port of call got cancelled entirely due to weather conditions.
We had planned to shop, relax and eat some local food or rent a golf cart and
let our girls “drive” us into Mahajual. We ended up coming home
with fewer souvenirs and more money (not something we really wanted to do).
Over all, we did enjoy the cruise but have realized that a ship is not the best
guarantee to get you where you want to go if ports of call are an important
factor to your vacation enjoyment. As someone else has said before: “Book
the ship, not the itinerary”. The itinerary can and probably will change.
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