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

[little britain]

..still waiting for Mykonos....;)

[Hailzmick]

I'm soooooo hoping to get the best chunk of this finished today!!!

 

Sooooo... Mykonos hey!!! This was the vision we saw when we drew the blinds first thing in the morning!!! Not bad hey!

 

 

 

 

A gorgeous teeny tiny island.

 

 

 

I was super excited about going here- as when we had stopped on our Vision cruise at Santorini, we weren't able to get off the ship as the water was too rough and we weren't allowed to tender. Boo. But that's ok. Royal Caribbean can't control the weather!

So we were super excited about seeing a real Greek Island and what it had to offer.

We had booked another shore excursion for the day... (It better be better than yesterday's excursion!)

It was a tour of Ancient Delos.

So, the ship docked at 7am and there was clearance about 7.15am. We got off the ship quite early, in our group and boarded a medium sized boat to take us to the island of Delos.

 

This was our boat

 

 

Unfortunately the weather wasn't so kind to us and it was super windy, making the 40 or so boat ride, not very enjoyable. Well... I had fun, but others didn't look so great!!!

 

Looking back at the Splendour. Stunning ship she is.

 

 

Here we are... Lol, it was just a bit of Delos.

 

 

 

This was our lovely guide. He was SOOOOOOOOO knowledgable. And a little bit funny too.

[Hailzmick]

Looking over to another island

 

 

For the next couple of hours, we walked around with our guide, telling us the most amazing facts and stories of Ancient Delos.

It is said that Delos has had people living there since the third millennium BC. Apollo and Artemis were said to be born here.

The people living there didn't want any graves within eye sight of the main temple there, so they dug up all of the dead bodies and moved them to another island. Well... I thought that was crazy, but it gets worse.

There was to be no one BORN on the island and no one to DIE on the island, so if you were pregnant, or close to death, you were removed to a neighbouring island to get the job done! Ha ha. Isn't that absolutely nuts?!

 

 

Shop fronts

 

 

Houses

 

 

Houses

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

Just listening to our commentary

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

This was part of the house of Cleopatra. The women were the bosses... Just saying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just showing the greatness and size. Wow.

 

 

 

Selfie

[Hailzmick]

This island has one of the biggest excavations in the whole Mediterianian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shop fronts. They used these to sell to people buying or selling slaves or other things on the island.

 

 

The house of dolphins.

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The theatre. Wow. Can you imagine all of the many thousands of people here watching the plays?

 

When our guide was talking about the theatre, some absolute idiot asked how it could have been a theatre when there was no cinema invented yet. I had to walk away because I was laughing so much. It wasn't even a young person who asked either!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think these were the exact copies and the real ones were in the museum inside.

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got some free time to walk around and enjoy the museum and use the bathroom facilities. In Greece, in most places, they DO NOT FLUSH TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILET.

That's right... They put it in the bin next to the toilet. It was a bit of a culture shock for me... Quite a smelly one infact.

So I lined up for about 30 minutes to use the rest room. Eeek. It was disgusting.

 

After walking around for a while, we met back at the boat to take us back to Mykonos.

The ride back was HORRENDOUS. OMG. The wind had picked up and so did the seas. I sat outside, watching people being sick and I wasn't far from that. Poor Mick was trying to make me laugh but I just wanted to be on land, or our big ship. Ha ha.

 

In the next set of pics, I didn't move at all. It was the boat that was moving up and down.

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

When we were back on dry land, I asked our guide where we should have lunch. He told us about a little restaurant that was on the water front. I'm glad we asked him. It was lovely.

Our platter

 

 

 

Our squid

 

 

 

The view from our table of Mykonos. It was still quite overcast- but oh my gosh, we were in Mykonos

 

 

After lunch, Mick and I went for a bit of a stroll around. The streets were amazing!!!

 

 

So were the houses. Just like in the movies

[Hailzmick]

Mick was still hungry and so far, he hadn't eaten a GYROS in Greece. We had to find a place!!! (Mick actually said that we wouldn't leave the island without eating a gyros, lol).

We were walking around some back streets and found a tiny little restaurant on the corner of a street. Actually, it wasn't a restaurant, it was more like a little fish n chip shop. Well, for €1.60, Mick got the biggest, most amazing, chicken & lamb gyros, filled with hot chips!!!

 

 

After devouring that, he ordered another one. What a piggy!!! This time, he just got chicken so I could have a bite too. (I'm intolerant to Lamb). Yes, it was deeeeeeelicious!!! Look at him go!!!

 

 

 

We walked back slowly to the cruise ship.

 

 

 

Stunning

 

 

 

Amazing

[Hailzmick]

We headed back to the ship... And I got a gelato. Yummy. Tiramisu of course.

 

We got ready for our Captain's Cocktail Reception and headed to the SPA area. When we got there, we were told the weather was too bad, so it had been cancelled until the next sea day and we would get notification. Ohhhhhh! I wish they had told us before I had done my hair. Ha ha.

 

We had a few drinks poolside then had a nap.

 

Dinner that night was in the MDR. We got chatting to our waiters and after dessert, Jeff and Steph got up and left the table. Weird. I think they were getting annoyed because they weren't really part of the conversation because we were talking about race horses... (Mick got one for his birthday & I've always ridden horses... Pretty much from when I could walk!)

 

There was a "White Party" on tonight. We walked past it pool side, did a bit of a dance and then headed to bed.

 

The moon as we were going to bed at 11.30pm

[Hailzmick]

Day six of our cruise on Splendour of the Seas and we were going to do something very cool today. But first, we had to do something not so cool.

Once again, we were on a Royal Caribbean shore excursion. Yesterday's Ancient Delos was worth the €45 per person, because our guide was tremendous! Where ever you can get a local guide, my hot tip is to do it!

 

So we docked at noon and met in the 42nd Street theatre at that time. Once again, it was super packed and I'm very sure, everyone was there for the same excursion!!! The MELISSANI CAVE!!! (Please do yourself a favour and google this. It is truly the best, most amazing place to see!!!)

But first, we had to get herded on to a bus, like cattle... Where we drove along the coast line, then country side...

 

 

 

Rolling hills

 

 

 

Gorgeous countryside

 

 

Ok, here we went to a monastery. Our bus driver didn't tell us ANYTHING. no one did. (Except what time to meet the bus, which gave us about 50 minutes to look around!)

Most things were written in Greek, (of course).

 

This was the front of the Monastery.

[Hailzmick]

Then I didn't take any more pics while we were here. I was bored out of my brain. Without knowing where we were or what we were doing, it had no meaning whatsoever. I should have done some research before coming along, but our booking had only said Mellisani Cave.

 

Some vineyards. (I'm assuming that's what they were. Sorry!)

 

 

 

A CEMETERY!!!!!

 

 

 

More gorgeous views

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the Mellisani Cave entrance and had to get our tickets. There were HUGE queues. Any tourist attraction will have this, of course- but the trick is to get to the attraction super early, like when we went to Pompeii.

There was a tour guide pushing her group in front of us. I know a lot of reviews I've read on here have said that Europeans can be very pushy, (as in they can push in line and be quite rude), but we had never really seen much of that at all. This lady was one of only a few.

Anyway, the lady who worked there told the tour guide to wait like the rest of us! Ha ha.

[Hailzmick]

This was so exciting. We could see the light at the end of the tunnel. LITERALLY. LOL

 

 

 

OK, so once we got to the start of the line, any fear of being in a tiny row boat escaped me.

It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Well, it was in my top 10, as we had seen some truly amazing things in our 7 weeks in Europe!

This was our first pic of the water!!! Oh em gee!!!

 

 

 

We jumped in a row boat, 10 of us, and a man paddled us around for about 10 minutes.

 

 

 

Check out this water!!!

 

 

 

We were about to go in to the cave

 

 

 

It looked fake!

[Hailzmick]

OMG

 

 

 

 

 

Selfie moment

 

 

 

Another Pic of us

 

 

 

Going in...

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

The water kept changing colour depending on where you saw it from

 

 

 

After our amazing adventure, we got back on the bus for a bit of sight seeing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

Wow. Greece is seriously stunning!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another selfie. Crazy hair

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

The excursion was over and I was all in all pleased with what we had seen! I guess if it was the first monastery I had been in, I would have been more excited. I think I was just missing home and wondering what was wrong with mum.

 

 

 

When we got back to our room, we had a bottle of sparkling chilled and waiting on ice for us. Whaaat?! There was also a note, apologising for the poor food we had eaten at Chops. We had only mentioned it to Kaveendra at dinner, as he had asked how it was. Awwwww. Are we allowed to take home the wait staff?! What a thoughtful person!!!

 

We decide to save it for the next day, (a sea day), as we had to be ready for dinner at 5.45pm... Ready and waiting for The Chef's Table!

[Hailzmick]

We had the Chef's Table experience on Vision, where I made good friends with the Sommelier, Maxi. The food was 10/10 and so was the service. The room was at the back of the MDR, in a room with big mahogany doors.

At the Chef's Table, it's expected that you wear formal attire. I love getting dressed up for nights like this!

As we walked our way to the back of the MDR on Splendour with a glass of bubbles in hand, we realised the Chef's Table wasn't in its own room, it was behind a partition, but you could still hear everyone in the dining room, and it was very loud.

 

We sat down and it was set out in a beautiful way. We were really excited to see how the food would be different.

 

The table set up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our place cards

 

 

 

Our warm bread to start

 

 

 

Our chef! I'm quite sure he was from Jamaica. Awesome guy, but we couldn't hear what he was saying because of the noise from the dining room unfortunately.

He explained what we were eating, where it was sourced from and exactly how he prepared and cooked the food. Sometimes he talked so much that our food was cold by the time we ate it. Lol. I love a guy who is passionate about his food!

[vickiw0318]

Ready for more here. I am doing this itinerary on the Vision next fall. From what you have said, that is going to be a win-win.

 

P.S. I agree with you about setting sail from Circular Quay. I was lucky enough to spend about 10 days in Sydney. What wonderful memories!

[Hailzmick]

The sommelier was nice, but he wasn't anything like Maxi on our last cruise. I have to say, he knew his stuff!!! He was so full of knowledge and it was brilliant. He realised we were from Australia and he spoke to us about wines from Australia and New Zealand, then even was able to go into great details about local wineries to our house!!!

 

 

Course one was confit of Atlantic salmon, with pea purée, poached lobster tail, fresh fennel, baby lettuce salad and snow pea pods.

We drank Pinot Grigio from Italy.

 

 

 

Our menu

 

 

 

There was very little chat between everyone at the table, which was a bit of a shame. I asked everyone where they were from, but no one was really up for a chat. After the first course, the couple at the end of the table, got up and walked out.

We assumed they would be back, but when course two was served, they hadn't come back. Was it because I asked what they did for work? Were they secret agents?! Ha ha.

 

 

Course two was Celeriac cream double duck consommé with toasted duck confit brioche sandwich.

We drank Estancia, Pinot Noir, Monterey County, Pacific Coast.

 

 

 

Course three was Seared diver scallops on brown butter hollandaise fried capers.

We drank Pouilly Fume, France.

 

 

Course four was slow roasted veal tenderloin with artichoke purée, mini fondant potatoes, baby vegetables, Shiraz and shallot reduction.

We drank L'E cole, Walla Walla Valley, Estate Syrah

 

 

 

Another couple got up and left. At least they excused themselves and told us they weren't really dessert people. Even so, a bit weird. They didn't even stay for the wine!!! Oh, talking of wine, our sommelier was a free pourer! It was amazing. Anytime our glass was becoming empty, he was there to fill it up!!!

[Hailzmick]

Course five was caramelised pear over nougat montelimar parfait with biscotti syrup and forest berries.

We drank Graacher Himmelreich, Riesling, Germany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was dinner delicious?! Most of it was. Was dinner differently presented to Vision? Yes, but that's good that every chef does their own thing. It was better cooked on Vision though.

 

 

Next up, the MDR manager came in to talk to us and ask if we had enjoyed the meal. The people who were left, (six of us) said we were very happy with the experience.

 

If you have read my other reviews, you'll know that I absolutely LOVE magic. I revert to being a child again when I see it. The MDR manager asked us if we would like to see some magic... I shouted, "YESSSSSS!"

 

This was him doing a rope trick. I couldn't keep my eyes off him.

 

He showed us magic for about 20 minutes, including taking money from behind Mick's ear... (My absolute favourite!!!)

Our experience was GREAT.