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Review of the Splendour 1/08/05

Cruisin' Patty

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Cruisin' Patty

Cruisin' Patty

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We were on the 3rd deck, we had a pullman bed for my 30 yr old DD, there was a little vibration, but, nothing we couldn't adjust to. We really enjoyed this cruise, she's a beautiful ship.

Embarkation went smoothly, we were on board within an hour. Their security machine had broke, which made for a wait of 20 minutes. But, Lemonade and cookies were served in the waiting area.

The Centrum area is awesome. It goes from the 4th to the 10th floors, center ship.

There wasn't a lot of activities to do on the first sea day, Sunday, that was also the first formal night. On a percentage scale, there were 5 % tux's on men, 10 % in casual wear,75 % in suits, and 10 % in jackets with no tie, my husband wore a suit. The ladies were 70 to 80 % semi-formal, 10 % formal and 10 % casual.

We had main seating, table 157, a table for 4, there were 3 of us, so that made my DH & DD happy. We were on the 5th floor, of the dining room, it is 2 floors, 4th & 5th.

We were disappointed in Grand Cayman, we choose to just shop and look around, it looked like an outlet mall area. Those we talked to said that Stingray City was great.

Tues. We docked at Cost Maya, and rented a golf cart to drive up the coast (about 3-4 mi) to the fishing village of Mahahual. That was FUN. Watch out for the speed bumps, they are huge ropes going across the streets. We enjoyed this day tremendously! We ate on the gorgeous beach in front of Oxtankha's, very good mexican food. The service was great as was the food and reasonalbly priced. This is a good day to spend the day in the water, the beach was fabulous. I can't say enough about it. the golf cart was $12. an hour, with the 5th hour free, and your last hour pro-rated. Shopping was very good in Mahahual. Everyone was so nice. We were even serenaded as we ate lunch on the beach.

On Wednesday we tendered into Belize, Honduras, Central America. Tendering took awhile. They have you get tender tickets, then call 2 or 3 numbers at a time...instead of just calling #1, which looked like 100 or better, but all in all about an hour and we were ashore. The pharmacy's prices weren't all that good..but, the arthritis cream that is NOT available in the US, was $10. a tube, or 3/$8. each, I bought 1 tube, not knowing if it worked or not, it DOES work. I'm sending for more. The pharmacist gave me an e-mail and a phone # to contact her. We rented a horse and carriage for $25. for an hour, and went through town and around the higher and lower income parts of the city. That was also nice.

This was the second formal night, with Lobster tail and shrimp on the menu.

Thursday, we docked at Cozumel, and took a taxi, $4. pp each way to Paradise Beach. We got there around 9:30 and left about 2:30. It started getting crowded about 11:30am. Beach chairs and umbrella's are free to all. It's $5. for the all day use of a floating mat, ice berg to jump off of and the floaating trampaline. Food was ok here, not cheap but, not to bad. We shopped back at the dock area, they had good buys.

Friday was a sea day, with quite a lot of activities to pick from. We did Trivia, (not that good) the Back stage tour (very informative) and the Arts & Craft (NOT at all planned out, a miserable failure, 20 min wasted).

The food in the Dining room was very good, one night did not have a lot to choose from, but, you always have the alternative selections of Salmon, steak and chicken to pick from. We had shrimp coctail 2 nights, the prime rib was outstanding, desserts were ok to good. Our wait staff was the best, Sener as Head Waiter, was fabulous, Luis our waiter was outstanding and Auturo the Assis. Waiter was ok.

The Solarium food, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, and the best french fries you will ever eat, was ALWAYS very good.

The Windjammer buffet food was ok. There was not hardly any fruit, but a selection of everything else. The afternoon taco bar was very good. And my DD loved having the ice cream machine available 24/7.

We went to all the evening producitons EXCEPT the singer Elaine Lesley, which we are very glad we didn't. We were told she was NOT good. ALL the other shows, comediens, juggler, and magaician were good to great.

We had rough weather on Friday, a little cool and rainy, and the ship really rolled..I thought it was fun though.

Disembarkation went quickly and smoothly, we were off within 30 minutes of our color being called.

I would recommend the Splendour.

I'll be happy to answer any questins.

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joni2001

joni2001

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the review! We leave on Splendour on 2/5. I was wondering if there were midnight buffets? I would love to go to a chocolate buffet! We were on Enchantment a few years ago and all regret being to tired to stay up for the buffets.

 

Thanks,

Joni

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Cruisin' Patty

Cruisin' Patty

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We had the Gala Buffet on Thursday night at midnight. It had all types of foods, a bread bar, a fruit bar, or' derves, cheeses, shrimp cocktail, etc. AND a table of chocolate desserts. They let you in on the 5th floor for viewing and picture taking @ 11:30pm, as you came down the steps to the 4th floor, it was a spectacular sight! where the buffet was, you walked around, then you left, and started a line outside the door on the 4th floor entrance to get in at midnight.

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JDee

JDee

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Thanks for the post and glad you had an enjoyable cruise. Will be doing the same on 2/26.

 

As for that ice cream machine being available 24/7, that's a real bummer.....I can already see an additional 3 pounds and haven't even boarded yet..icon10.gif

 

Happy cruising.....

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Phoebe

Phoebe

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Great review! Lots of details and info...thanks! We're on the Splendour 2/12 and I have a question about Belize. You said that the tendering process took about an hour. Is that from the time you got your ticket until you stepped ashore? What time did you get your ticket? I know the dock time is supposed to be 7am...just wondering what time we would want to try and get tickets so that we could be ashore by 9am, which is when we are scheduled to meet our guide for a trip to the zoo and Altun Ha. Also, on the return trip, was their a wait to get a tender back, and what time did you reboard?

Thanks again!

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Got2bsunny

Got2bsunny

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Did the ship time change from Eastern to Central during the cruise or was it always the same?

 

I'm thinking about doing a Sting Ray city Dive/snorkel through a local company that would go from 12:30pm to 3:30pm (includes travel times to & from excursion company). Would this be a safe option?

 

Pam

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Cruisin' Patty

Cruisin' Patty

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Mr. Spuds..Grand Cayman was a 15 min. tender ride over, we got our tender tickets at 8:00, they started calling about 8:30, they load the whole tender before it leaves, so once they called our number (#1) it was approx. 50 -60 min. total til were were on shore. The line forms fast, so be ready.

 

Phoebe..tendering in Belize was the same way..be ready.

 

Got2bsunny..We changed from eastern to central time on Monday night, after leaving GC, we changed back on Thursday night, after leaving Cozueml. Your time frame is OK for the afternoon.

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Cruisin' Patty

Cruisin' Patty

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We had one pullman, which is directly over top of one of the floor beds, so it's exactly the same size, you are up against the wall,.... the ladder is narrow, our daughter's only complaint was that she had to have some kind of shoes on going up & down, and it was hard on the knee to turn when she got up there. Definitely a challenge, we won't get a pullman again, BUT rather, a third bed on the floor, like we had on the Norway. There is a small half rail at the front of the pullman. This was a N catagory cabin on the 3rd deck, so space was limited, but, we knew this when we booked. Next time I'll go for size again, and an outside room.

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lostinplace

lostinplace

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In Belize, there was an 'early-bird' option for a tender. It was listed from 7 am to 7:30 am. No ticket needed, no excursion booked through the ship required. We got on at 7:15 am and were on land by about 7:45 am. It's a smaller boat, but very quick.

 

We returned to the tenders at about 4:15 pm. We just walked onto our tender. The line for the NCL ships was really long (and all the ships left within 10 minutes of each other).

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  • 5 months later...
arrowskin

arrowskin

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We will be on the Splendour Jan.30, 06. A 5 night cruise out of Galveston to Cozumel and Cost Maya. It is our first cruise for our 10th anniversary. Could you tell me what your weather and average day temps were like? And any other tips you found worth sharing.

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