Hailzmick

The next day we woke up around 7.30am. The weather was going to be 26C or 80F. No need for tender tickets as we were docking. This was the amazing sight that greeted us...

Wow

So pretty

How very Greek

So we went to the MDR for breakfast. Mick used to be a chef in Sydney, so I'm used to AMAZING meals. I also love not having to cook, so I'd never turn my nose up at anything I hadn't had to cook. Unfortunately however, my eggs Benedict was disgusting. I literally couldn't eat it. I ended up having some fruit instead which was a shame.

We got off the ship about 9.30am and got a free shuttle in to town. There was another bus that offered €12.50 per person, in to "old town", but we asked a taxi driver to take us in and for the four of us it was only €10 TOTAL! Winners!!!

We went straight to the shopping areas. Steph and I were keen to get a few things and this was the place.

I got a stunning necklace from a man in a shop, not a market stall. I talked him down in price and he wasn't pushy at all.

Then we sat down and had an iced coffee. YUUUUM!!!

I had Facebooked my sister asking how our dogs were... (Mum and Dad were looking after our two dogs, plus my sister's dog too!!!) & she told me she couldn't wait for me to come home. Alarm bells! We don't get on at all, (she has Aspergers and everything is 100% her way, or no way.)

We do get on slightly better now we don't live together, but she was going through a breakup, so she was even more extremely touchy than normal. When I asked what was wrong, she said, "Nothing", then changed the subject. I asked if it was Dad and she said, "No, but I have to go!"

Great! I'm literally on the other side of the world and I knew it had to have something to do with mum. She's a tough cookie... She has suffered with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since I was 2 years old & has been bed ridden for a huge majority of that time... Anyway, on with the story!!!

Walking up the beautiful streets

Stunning! Although there were a few BIRDS!

The chef sent this out as an apology for it taking so long. What a sweetheart!!!

We got back to our room about 11pm and we were soooooo full and sooooo tired. We had this little guy waiting for us upon our return.

We had dinner booked for 8pm in Izumi's. We brought our own wine and they were very pleased to serve it to us. Izumi's was at the top of deck 11, (I think) where the Viking Crown Lounge is, (looking forward). At home in Australia, we absolutely love Asian food of all kinds! Mick has travelled to Japan so many times and completely loves the cuisine. The manager of Izumi, who we had spoken to the day before when we made the booking, made sure to tell us that it wasn't just Japanese food that they offered and it was a huge array of different Asian foods.

The table

One amazing view!!!

I didn't want to be the only person not eating with chop sticks, so our waiter made me "special" chop sticks that they make for the kids on board, ha ha. That way I didn't miss out on looking the part. Way too cute!!!

Saying that, it was 9pm and we still hadn't eaten anything!

At 9.40, after us telling the waiter that we were starving, this amazing feast came out!!! Worth the wait!!! Tempura veggies and other delish things.

At 10pm we got our hot rocks. I don't think I'd order this again, but it was nice and very cool to cook it ourselves.

OMG, then the rest came out. So. Damn. Amazing.

Wow! Stuff that. Ha ha. I equally enjoyed my nap.

Thanks for having us, Montegegro

Amazing

Next up, dinner at Izumi's!!!

Steph and I went back to our rooms. I had a shower and took a selfie.. (Make up free!) I then had a nice snooze.

I was waken up about two hours later by Mick who had made it all the way to the top. What a winner!!!

This is what they walked up!!!

This little boy was fishing here.

After walking around for about 45 minutes, we decided to go to a teeny tiny local pub and have a drink. The beers were SO CHEAP, €1.9 each. It was great.

Plus they had free wifi!!! Score!

After Mick & I had been travelling around without wifi so much, it was super exciting when we did have it. On the cruise on Vision, our days were so jam packed to even think about checking in on Facebook or just sitting around not doing much, but on our Splendour cruise, we decided to relax and enjoy it a bit more. I was also missing my two dogs, Bronty & Tank so much, not to mention my Mum & Dad, who I hadn't spoken to in a few weeks.

A beautiful little cat that decided to have a drink with us.

After 30 minutes or so of relaxing, we went for a walk. We had to pay a man who was standing on a set of steps, €3 each to walk up to the fort at the top of the hill. We got to the first bend and I decided that as I was wearing thongs, (flip flops), that I wasn't too keen on the slippery, rocky, uneven surfaces. We got up another two steep inclines and Steph decided she didn't want to go up any further either. Mick was wearing flip flops too, but he and Jeff kept going. (Well done them!!!)

I can see our ship from here

Wow. This place could not be any more gorgeous.

Looking under the water

The mini moat

The front of the "castle"! I was so impressed!!!

A stunning church

Those bell towers

There wasn't one bit of flat ground

More stairs... Stunning though

A cute little cat. That's one thing there is all over Europe... Homeless animals. These cats didn't look underfed, but it was still sad to see so many around. I'm not much of a cat person, but I did want to take them all home. Lol.

This was from the inside of a fort looking out

Another selfie with this gorgeous man.

As the ship stopped and waited to get clearance, the four of us decided to have lunch in the MDR. We were seated at a table of 10. Everyone else was from the United States except Mick and I.

Everyone was quiet at first, but then we asked where everyone was from etc. It ended up being a nice lunch- despite Jeff telling everyone for the 1,000th time that they were on their seventh or so cruise and they are nearly at Diamond status. (Roll eyes... Not from being jealous- we were on our sixth cruise and will be Diamond within three years of Mick's first cruise, but I didn't tell everyone we met in our first breath!)

After lunch, we ended up getting our tender, (which became open tender after about 45 minutes due to lack of people leaving the ship).

The ride was short and beautiful. The "old town" was absolutely stunning. We had to pass lots of people who were offering taxi rides, hop on-hop off bus rides around town, private cars, tours, beach trips etc.

The day was super hot and we thought we would just walk around and see what there was on offer.

Stunning buildings

Wow. The city walls were built to keep people out

All of the city was on a cliff side. Steps to every house. Imagine having to carry your groceries up and down those steps constantly.

A gorgeous little private beach

Coast line

Selfie time

Wow

Million dollar views

Another amazing panoramic view

If you had read my other review of the Mediterranean you would know that I have a thing for cemeteries all over the world and how they differ from each other.

It reminded me so much of a New Zealand cruise I did in 2008. The captain told us some amazing facts as we were cruising through like some of the movies Montenegro had been the backdrop for.

Breathtaking

I could live here

This is why we always get an AFT facing balcony. No one had a view like this except the people at the back and I was literally sitting down on the balcony when I took these photos.

I'm going to get this photo on a canvas for my lounge room

The cute little towns at the bottom of the mountains

The view from my Sun lounge.

This was all the other people that were on the deck, bliss!!!

After about one hour I decided to go and find Mick. I'm so pale that I burn on the way to get the mail in our letter box! Ha ha. As I was walking back I saw that some people were practising for a show in the centrum.

I saw at the bottom there was a food demonstration, and I knew that's where I would find Mick!

Looking up from the bottom

And sure enough that's where he was enjoying the demonstration that one of the chefs were showing. I was lucky enough to catch it right at the beginning. They were showing the amazing food that you could find at the restaurants on board at Izumi's and Chops. I couldn't wait to try both restaurants as they were 10 out of 10 on the Vision of the Seas. Unfortunately Splendour doesn't have Giovanni's- which is an Italian speciality restaurant that was also 10/10, but we made sure we had booked in for the Chef's table!

Mick was super excited to see that the chef was also handing out samples of the food. I found it quite rude as he was talking, people were coming up to take samples without him actually inviting them up yet. He did tell them quite nicely to wait. Ha ha.

Finally it was a free for all and Mick got a nice little plate of delicious treats. And they were very, very nice!

The captain made an announcement to go outside and have a look at the amazing view we are about to witness. Wow. What a view it was.

We were ready at 9 AM and went next door to Steph & Jeff's room to get them for breakfast in the Windjammer.

Today we were going to KOTOR, Montenegro.

Before booking this cruise I have never even heard of the country but I am so glad that we did go and see it. More on that soon.

The weather for the day was 24C/ 76F.

We weren't getting to Kotor until 2 PM, but as it was a tender you had to get your tickets early. The captain had announced the day before, the tender tickets would be available from 8 AM. We learned a lesson on the last cruise that you need to get your tickets at least half an hour before the time they are available to make sure you're on the first or the second tender- (as always I like to beat the crowds and not be amongst all the people).

At dinner the night before, Jeff said that he was going to go for an early run so he would pick up the tender tickets at 7:30am. Awesome! That meant I could get a sleep in. And then we would meet Steph and Jeff at 9 AM outside their room so we could get breakfast together.

After a great sleep, Mick was in a brilliant mood.

That we short lived.

Steph and Jeff did not answer the door when we knocked. Weird. Mick insisted that we go to breakfast without them as they were probably already there and may have forgotten we were meeting. I know that Steph is super reliable and she wouldn't have gone without us. I called the room from ours and a very sleepy Steph answered... Anxiety suddenly hit me... They had been sleeping and they hadn't gotten the tender tickets!!!!! This was confirmed by Steph as she said, "We can just grab them before breakfast"

She had no idea! They have been on so many cruises- they know you have to wait for tenders! Grrrrr. I was very short in my reaction and I think a swear word even left my mouth. I told Steph not to worry and we would go and get the tender tickets before breakfast. My mistake, never rely on anyone else to do something that you can do yourself. This shouldn't have to be a lesson- I am very true to my word and I thought they were too. Not to worry.

So I go to the tender line with Mick as Jeff and Steph were getting ready after us waking them up!

No one is there, what great luck... Right? Nope! We end up getting tender 21 or something ridiculous like that. Grrrrrr.

Breakfast will make me feel better. And it did- the breakfast was beautiful.

After breakfast Mick did his own thing and Steph and I went to find somewhere to sunbake. It was super windy at the pool so we thought maybe toward the aft we could find something. Looking down from the top deck we saw ourselves seeing deck nine... We had to find that magic deck we had seen above our balconies. We went through the gym and the spa and we finally found it!!! There were seriously about 10 people on the deck and no wind at all. We positioned ourselves just enough in the sun and finally had a chance to catch up just Steph and I.

We went and got hotdogs. Well I had a roll with mustard and tomato sauce. Mick loves the hotdogs onboard. Like, has about 5 a day. Jeff got one but the man put the wrong mustard on.

When he asked the man who was serving, why American mustard wasn't put on, the man answered that they didn't have any onboard. Jeff put in a formal complaint about it- to an officer! We were so embarrassed that we walked away, pretending not to know him!

We decided to relax on the balcony for a little while before getting ready for dinner in the main dining room at 9 PM. We were super excited to find out who was at our table of eight people.

As the four of us set down, our waiter Keveendra and assistant waiter, Daniel introduced themselves. They were absolutely lovely and Mick and I ended up really liking Keveendra & having a lot in common with him. Unfortunately our table mates didn't turn up on the first night so we couldn't meet them.

We finished dinner at about 10:30 PM and we called it a night. We were so exhausted from such a full on day and we had another exciting day ahead.

WOW! She was gorgeous!!!!!! Although she is a small ship, (Her twin is Legend of the Seas) she was absolutely beautiful!!!

A few things about Splendour...

There were lots of young people on board. I think because it was a short itinerary. The people weren't as friendly as they were on our last cruise out of Barcelona, but we weren't as social either due to S&J walking off on us any time we started talking to anyone else... Even the staff!

We couldn't hear any neighbours. Our room was 8084, an AFT facing room and it was quiet as! Very nice!

We had soot on the balcony. We also had soot on our AFT facing wrap around balcony on Vision of the Seas. It wasn't too bad, but it was there.

The shops onboard were the BEST set out I've seen at sea. The shop assistants were REALLY rude and actually didn't care to sell us anything, but the shops themselves were in a great location!

There was a mini private deck above us. At first I didn't know how to get there... But we worked it out later on in the cruise. It is WELL worth checking it out!!!

The prices were soooooo different. On Vision, as I said we cruised out of Barcelona, so there was an 18% VAT tax on top of everything. Cruising out of Venice, we didn't have any of that- so we felt like everything was so much cheaper! Yay!!!!!!

They had chips, (as in crisps in packets) in the solarium. That's something they didn't have on Vision. Mick LOVES packet chips and I went there every day to get him different flavours. (Pretty good wifey!)

The theatre was small but beautiful. It was on a single level, which I'd never seen before! It made seeing the shows more intimate and exciting.

We didn't see the cruise director a lot. He was a fair bit older, but our activities manager was BRILLIANT!!! He had so much energy and was fun, fun, fun.

Thanks for doing this review. We're on Splendor next month! You're right--the sail-away from Venice is spectacular!

 

And don't worry, you're not the only one that has meltdowns while traveling. And it is so annoying when people want to do things THAT PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING ON THE SHIP. I am a total "B" if I don't board by noon.

Ha ha. I thought I might come across a bit harsh by writing what I did. But I was seriously ready to find my own way there and just wait with a cocktail in hand while the others were slowing making their way to the ship. Ha ha.

And we are off!!!

Check out all the thousands of people!

Selfie!

The sun setting

An amazing man on my amazing balcony! Life is good

The tug boat

A private ship, wow!!!

Venice. You are gorgeous.

We walked around and saw the ship. It was seriously gorgeous.

I went to the Solarium bar and got myself a drink. They didn't do a special "Drink of the day", but Deryk, my new favourite bar man, made me a special drink every day that knocked my socks off!!! He was great.

Next up was our muster drill. I was very excited to see that Deryk was our muster drill person and he remembered us and our names, which was nice.

After the drill was sail away. The Royal Caribbean dances were fantastic and very lively. They got everybody up and moving which was great. Sail away was something not to be missed.

Saying goodbye to Venice

See you in a week

It was lovely. I've heard that sailing out of Venice is the BEST place to sail out of in the world. It is definately amazing, but I'd say leaving Circular Quay in Sydney, with the Opera House, Darling Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge is the best thing ever!!!

Our room was really big and we were super happy!!! (We didn't really have a snooze!!! There was too much to see!)

OMG check out our amazing AFT balcony!!! Sooooooo great. Best balcony we have ever had. 1000% better than our wrap around balcony on Vision in my opinion.

Jeff got stuck trying to squeeze thru to our balcony. Yes, they were next door.

We went up to the pool deck to see what was happening. Our amazing cruise staff getting everyone in the spirit of dancing poolside.

Two of the other ships in port. We saw them both a few other times along our journey.

More ships

Ok, we had just boarded the ship...

We went straight to the desk to ask for them to punch a hole in our SILVER Seapass cards. Ohh la la. We had never had silver before.

I asked the lady about our points from our last cruise and she said they take two weeks to load on to our Crown and Anchor points, as they aren't done automatically. This was good to know.

The lady who looked after us was SOOOO nice! She asked where we were from and if we had cruised with Royal before. Every time we walked past her, she waved and said hello to us. GREAT customer service!

We checked out On Board Credit... $600- woohoo! (This was because RCI had cancelled a cruise we had booked without telling us, so they rebooked this one and gave us super OBC!!!)

We went to the Windjammer for lunch... You literally couldn't move in there or find a table- I'm guessing because we boarded much later than we usually would... so Mick and I left to find something else.

We ended up going to the Solarium Cafe, which Mick always prefers anyway. I don't have a preference. I can find food I like anywhere! Ha ha.

I ended up getting a salad and it was delicious.

It was past 1pm... And we headed to our room!!! Yay!!! I could not wait to see how the room was different to a standard D1 balcony. Mick & I do this thing, no matter where we are in the world, (even staying in our own city), where we open hotel door rooms together. It's a silly thing, but we are always excited to see what our room looks like.

We were right at the back, 8084, AFT facing, and we had reason to be excited... It was so lovely!!!

No carpet in the entranceway. It was awesome. So lovely.

The closest was roomy. I think on some RCI JS rooms, they have walk in robes. We didn't mind.

Our bathroom was very big. It did have a tub, which we never used as a bath. It was great to have a bigger area to wash in, but it didn't bother us either way.

The shower/ bath

The set up was lovely.

And Mick was ready for a snooze. I must admit, I was SO tired from my meltdown earlier on.

We got out of the water taxi after paying about €80. I hugged the driver and thanked him so much, then we headed to the baggage drop off area. There were three or four other ships in port, but there were a lot of signs up, telling us where to put our luggage so there was no confusion.

About 20 minutes later, we were heading towards the area where you sign the paper work and jump on board.

AND IT WAS ABSOLUTE MAYHEM! Oh my god.

The time was about 12.45pm... Yes, nearly three hours later than I wanted it to be, but we were here... Thank god.

We lined up in the "Suite" line... Yes that's right- we were trying the Suite Life... Well- we were in a Junior Suite for the very first time- not quite the high rollers of the Royal Suite... I guess the best thing about the Junior Suite was the double points. I'd never pay that much again for 7 nights, when we wouldn't be in the room that much. That's ok- it was so amazing to see what it was all about.

The line wasn't long at all, I cannot say the same for the other lines, and after about 10 minutes, we were going thru a screening area, then walking ON TO SPLENDOUR OF THE SEAS.

Ok, I've pre written this review, so not to worry, there will be more coming up!

I'm not the way to pick up a drunken Mick from a day at the races for the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

I lost it! I couldn't help it. This is where I had my biggest panic attack I've ever had. I cried and cried and cried. I'm sure I embarrassed poor Mick. We have been married for nearly three years and he had NEVER seen me with anxiety, let alone crying and shaking from it.

Mick grabbed my bags, gave me a hug and a kiss, then told me he would save the day. Within 10 minutes, we were on a private water taxi, heading towards Splendour of the Seas.

Yes, I am married to a super hero!!!

I was too shaky and anxious to take pics while we were in the water taxi, so these are from Steph. Yes, I look like I'm having a great time, but I was actually saying, "Take the damn picture!!!" Ha ha

Looking back, the taxi was actually brilliant. If I wasn't feeling how I was, it would have been a great way to see Venice!