SUPER DETAILED review of 7 Nt Greece cruise out of Venice on Splendour of the Seas!

Super detailed review/recount of our 7 nights onboard Splendour of the Seas, Greek Islands cruise.

Well hello. If this is your first time joining me on a recount/review of a cruise, you're in for a lot of talking, lots of pics and a whole lot of fun!

Welcome to my cruise review. My name is Hailey and I'm addicted to cruising and planning cruises... And talking about cruises...and planning cruises for other people! Ha ha.

This review is coming off the back end of another HUGE review that I've just finished.

I am sharing with you my link from my last review which is mammoth- please read it me knowing that you have been warned! Ha ha!!!

It talks about mine and Mick's European adventure aka "Havereuro Adventure"- as our surname is Havercroft and I love a good pun. We had a Facebook page that allowed our friends and family to follow along as we became hard core tourists around Europe! (The good kind of tourist!)

As I said, Mick and I went to Europe for nearly 2 months. We completed just over four weeks on land before embarking on a two week cruise aboard Vision of the seas. I seriously loved writing a review as it put back so many amazing memories!

This review will be a little bit different. Splendour of the seas was absolutely amazing, the staff were very very awesome, but as you will read it wasn't our favourite cruise.

Stand by...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2224849

I'm hoping this is the link for my last review!!! Fingers crossed! Technology and I are not always good friends!

I will start my review when my last one left off here we go enjoy the ride!

As I said my name is Hailey & I am 30. I live in Melbourne Australia. My beautiful husband's name is Mick and he is 33. Mick and I met because of Rhapsody of the seas. More of our love story can be found in my previous two reviews.

We had just travelled to Manchester, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Paris, Bordeaux, Valencia, Ontinyent then to Barcelona, where we boarded Vision of the seas for a 13 night cruise around the Mediterranean and the Greek Iles. Some of the places we visited while on board were Monaco, Eze, Nice, Pisa, Florence, Rome, the Vatican City, Athens, Ephuseus, Santorini, Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Naples and Salerno. We met some of the most amazing people, had some of the best experiences and food that we have ever had in your entire lives and memories that will live on until we can do it again some day.

Our cruise on Splendour of the Seas was to start in Venice and go to Kotor, (Montenegro), Corfu, (Greece), Athens, (Greece), Mykonos, (Greece), Argostoli, (Greece) and back to Venice.

Flying in to Venice

Okay let our second cruise begin. Well at least the review of it.

We flew with Vueling from Barcelona, Spain after getting off our last cruise, to Venice, Italy. The flight didn't take long was actually really nice. We were meeting up with our friends Steph and Jeff in Venice. They had sent us a message earlier to say that their flight from Los Angeles was delayed so it would work out perfectly that we would meet them at the airport about 3pm. We had met Steph and Jeff 16 months earlier while cruising on Radiance of the Seas from Sydney, Australia. We have kept in contact with them, Skyping often.

When we got to the Venice airport I was super excited, but also very nervous because I didn't know where we were staying or what we were going to do for the next couple of days as Steph and Jeff had organised everything.

I am a hard-core planner but as I had planned our previous 6 1/2 weeks, tours, special dinners, transport, hotels, meeting up with friends and family etc, and Steph & Jeff would only be holidaying for 10 days, we decided to leave that part of the planning up to them.

Mick and I were the first two people off the plane. There was no immigration to clear which I found really interesting- but as we didn't fly in from another continent I could understand why.

It was 3:30 PM by the time we got out into the baggage claim area. We quickly grabbed our bags and practically run with excitement out to where friends and family were waiting for others.

Steph and Jeff weren't there. Maybe they were in another part of the airport?!

I went to the information desk to ask the lady about their flight number, maybe they have been delayed.

The lady told us their flight had landed at around 2:15 PM. Then she told us that the airport was very small so if they weren't there, they mustn't be there at all.

Oh no, Mick was annoyed. I had to turn on my cellular data so I could make a phone call to them. No answer.

Five phone calls later and Jeff finally answered. They were at our apartment already. Huh? Mick was so angry and it takes a lot to make him angry but considering we had no idea where we were going and we were meant to meet AT THE AIRPORT- this was it for him.

Jeff told us how easy it was to get to the apartment. We just had to go and buy a ticket for the bus and the water taxi, then get on bus number one and stay on it for about 45 minutes. Then, we would have to find a water taxi and take it to the stop which would take us to marketplace. Jeff & Steph would meet us there. That sounds easy right?

No it was not. Plus he gave us the wrong directions.

After purchasing our tickets for the water taxi and for the bus and getting the proper directions from the lady in Italian, we went outside to find the bus waiting there. PHEW!!!

Mick is such a superstar. Any time in Europe that there was stairs, He picked up both of our heavy suitcases and carried them without any hesitation. He is worth his weight in gold.

Anyway, about 35 minutes into our bus ride we had a problem... The bus broke down! We were ordered, in Italian, to get off the bus and immediately!

Thankfully there was another bus behind us waiting to pick us up and take us and the rest of the journey. Another 20 minutes or so later we were at an area where there were lots of buses and taxis.

We found the water taxi area and it was pretty much like working out the train system in Paris or London. (Let's just say, it is a lot easier and user friendly than transport in Australia!)

Five minutes into our water taxi adventure and I had to remind myself and mick that we were in Venice Italy!!!

Mick was still in a super bad mood. I'm not going to lie, I've never known him to be in a bad mood for longer than 10 minutes but this bad mood lasted about 10 days!

We only needed to go five stops. I was a bit overwhelmed by the sites and all the rushing but oh my goodness Venice was amazing.

The view from the water taxi

The route to take

Welcome to Venice

The little bridges and walkways that we are everywhere

Our first look at a gondola. This man look like he was going to gondola for the Italian Olympic team. Lol.

Wow

a church. Believe it or not after seeing probably about 4 million of these over the last two months, this was still beautiful to see.

Boats going past us.

A museum

There's construction going on all over Europe which is great because they are updating so many things. Even when there is construction, they put up facades that make it look like the building is there which is brilliant as you can totally imagine what it will look like when they are finished.

We were at our stop. I could see Steph and Jeff waiting for us. I knew that I was annoyed that they have left us, but I wasn't going to let it wreck our time with them. Dragged my heavy bags off the water taxi and onto dry land and ran to Steph.

I jumped into Steph's arms and gave her a huge hug and kiss. I did the same to Jeff. It was great to finally see them both again. They took us back to our accommodation but not before a few more photos.

I guess this is equivalent to an alley way.

A gorgeous gondola

Another amazing basilica

We had found our accommodation and had to take our bags up three flights of stairs with no lift. Well Mick and Jeff did. Even walking up them was hard in this hot heat. Jeff and Steph had already showered and found the king size bed bedroom. That was fine- I don't mind sleeping in a single bed in a teeny tiny room- ha ha.

Jeff said that we would come back later for showers but let's look around Venice first. Should I have put on my trusty sketches? Yes! But instead, I had my flip-flops on and I thought we would just go for a lazy stroll!

The lazy stroll ended up being a 10 km power walk around Venice! Oh my gosh!!! As long as I can have some tiramisu- I'm happy!!! I better find some before the day is up!

Although, my biggest fear in the whole world is PIGEONS and they were absolutely everywhere. I'm also terrified of water- (I stay well away from the rails on ships), but as Venice is literally surrounded by water, it was hard to keep a lid on my mega anxieties!!!

Wow! I was drawn into your review because I am taking this same itinerary on Splendour of the Seas in two weeks' time. If Mick's mood didn't improve for 10 days I'm already guessing that the friendship with the other couple became strained :o. Hope I'm wrong.

We were getting hungry, so instead of going back to our apartment, we thought we could go somewhere quite casual for dinner... So we tried to find something.

A gorgeous dining area in San Marco Square

Stunning

Now I look like a liar because there are not a lot of pigeons in my pics. Ha ha.

How romantic. This man was playing a piano outside this eatery.

Another basilica

Stunning, stunning, stunning!!!

Isn't that super pretty?!

Gorgeous light fittings, althought there are PIGEONS on them. Ewwwwwww.

An amazing bell tower

We went to the other side the following day

All the pretty gondolas lined up for the thousands of tourists that flock here every day.

As the sun went down, so did the number of tourists. It was awesome. We were so super lucky to stay in the city of Venice itself, (the accomodation was booked thru airbnb).

A pic of us. I was still in my comfy plane travel clothes! Ha ha.

The four of us

Another "alley". Soooooo pretty!!!!!

Standing on the overpass.

A drinking fountain

The weather was PERFECT!!!

Steph and I.

We are such selfie queens.

Mega cool shoes made out of cola cans! What?!

Lovers.

An amazing dinner location in any language

A gondola going around the side streets

Stunning

It's becoming night! :-)

There was an American man who walked past us and heard Jeff's American accent. He told us he had dinner the night before in this amazing restaurant then he pointed it out to us.

Eh. I wish he hadn't. I can't remember the exact name, but it had Diana in the title.

We paid mega bucks for a crappy dinner... And the service was absolutely TERRIBLE! Plus I didn't get any gelato! Waaaaaaa! Ha ha.

We finally got back to our accomodation super late, where I had an AMAZING shower, washed my hair and jumped into clean pjs. We were in a really busy area, near a busy restaurant, so it was quite loud. We didn't have air con, so we slept with the window open and although it was loud all night... I slept like a baby!

I woke up about 8am and Mick and Jeff had already gone for a seven km run. Ew. That sounds terrible to me. Ha ha. Mick didn't want to, but Jeff pushed him. Mick said he felt great after he got back! I felt great too... But it was from sleeping! Lol.

I had a small bite on my hand and passed it off as a mosquito bite. I later found out it was a spider bite of some kind. It has left a small scar... But it just reminds me of Venice and its beauty!

We spent the whole day sight seeing. It was super hot, mid 30s, and the air was thick. We got day passes so we could get on and off the water taxis without worry.

More happy snaps

The Rialto Bridge again

Delicious cookies and treats. I didn't try any, but Steph said they were delicious.

A fire engine... Venice style!!! Ha ha.

Inside a basilica

More inside

The alter

The roof

Amazing carved mahogany

More of the ceiling

These books were carved into the walls

We sat on chairs and just starred at this for such a long time

Gorgeous.

Mick had to get some pizza. He gave me a bite... Yup, it was delicious.

A floating market. Way cool.

More awesome pics of Venice.

This lady was begging outside this church. She was sobbing and begging us for money. Yes it was sad, yes I did feel sorry for her. That was until her cell phone rang and she answered it, then spoke like any normal person. Not upset at all. Hmmmmm.

Venice is stunning

This man was playing his cello, (I think that's what it is?!) It was such a surreal feeling to see this! Ah mazing.

This was outside a school. Very cute indeed. I also work at a school, so it was nice to see chalk drawings and know that this happens all over the world.

Gorgeous.

Working on my very slow building tan

Water taxi pics

Water taxi selfies

In lido... Right at the end of the water taxi line. It was such a cool place, but we ended up getting here too late, (around 7pm) to do anything too adventurous.

The beach was pretty. I can imagine when all of the tourists are here, it would be super packed.

We stayed at the beach, just splashing in huge water for about 30 minutes. It was lovely.

Now to get the water taxi back. This is where we decided how we would get to the cruise ship in the morning. (Jeff's idea).

We were so lucky to get the back balcony of the water taxi. It was a lovely ride back. Mick was still in a kind of a bad mood, but he was okay when it was just him and I.

Best view ever

So beautiful

We had dinner at a small restaurant, again, nothing to write home to and then walked back to our apartment. It had been a massive 48 hours and I was ready to get on the cruise ship!!!

We had a pretty early night- in bed by 11pm!

Next up... Cruise day is here!!!

CRUISE DAY... IT IS HERE!

The weather was 23 deg C, or 75 deg F, depending on where you're playing this game... However, as in my last review, I don't think the weatherman on cruise ships is very spot on with the weather... It always felt so much hotter than they said.

Okay, so here's where things went a bit South. Im generally not such an anxious person. But put in to play a city that I have no idea how to get around, a whole lot of water, my husband being in a bad mood and pigeons everywhere... I was at my peak of panic attacks... Well nearly...

Before we went to sleepy he night before, I let it be known that I wanted to be at the port, ready for boarding at 10am. Everyone could get there later, that didn't bother me, but I didn't want to have to negotiate my way thru crowds, lines, luggage, etc. I just wanted to make sure I was there and ready to get on the ship.

I was up by 7.30am and got showered and ready for the day. Everyone was keen for breakfast. Not me. Not me at all. But they wouldn't let me stay in the accommodation by myself while they got breakfast...

Ok, we can be back in 30 minutes, right?! WRONG HAILEY, SO WRONG!

We were going to get something quick and easy, and close by. Jeff wanted eggs. Really?! We are in ITALY! That's not Italian!

Anyway, 45 minutes later, we were no where near our accommodation, ordering breakfast. It was such a long wait too. Jeff had his eggs. They looked terrible. I had toast. Also non Italian, but I just wanted to GET ON THE SHIP. lol. Please note, this was not a belly laughing LOL, this was a nervous lol.

We didn't LEAVE the apartment until 10.30am. I was a nervous wreck.

Jeff and Steph wanted to check out the markets on the way to the water taxi. I piped up and said I'd meet them at the cruise terminal. Mick and I could work out how to get there. But no, we had to stay together.

Steph got a couple of things from the market, very quickly and we were on the way.

It was such a long way to get where we got to yesterday- up and down all the stairs, poor Mick, he kept having to take my bags cos I was being a snail and being super slow with mine!

Damn it being a Saturday. It was SOOOOO busy! People were absolutely everywhere!

We got a water taxi to where we were yesterday, all ready to jump on the water taxi that would get us there... But there was a huge line and the man said it would take up to two hours.

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!

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.

Interesting review. Like the photos. We will be doing the Greek Isles cruise from Rome next June. Looking forward to more of your review.

A review of the ship would be helpful, will be on the ship this coming month.

Thanks!