RSSC Splendour Live Barcelona to Miami November 20th to December 4th

[mdunne48]

We are a few hours away from boarding RSSC’s second newest ship, Splendour. We have a few cruises on Regent under our belts. Maybe you remember my live review from last year’s Voyager North Atlantic cruise where I had a slight altercation with some of Greenland’s hardest granite. The score of that encounter was Greenland WON, Matt fractured left arm….

First we are Matt & Susan from North Carolina. We have been in Spain now for 25 days. We have really enjoyed ourselves. Week long stays in Madrid, Seville and LaHerradura were the precursor for our first cruise on Splendour. More on those stops a bit later.

 

I am ready, the bags are ready BUT Las Ramblas is calling Susan. I think a morning walk is in my immediate future. More to come after boarding.

 

 

 

[liptastic]

Matt wishing you and Susan a great cruise. Looking forward to your photos and updates. Jean and Bill .

[mdunne48]

Thanks, Jean. Our best to you and Bill.

 

Now for a short update. We left the apartment, close to Plaza Catalunya, at 11:15 a.m. We arrived at Moll Addosat Terminal B at 11:35 and we were on board by 12:00 pm. The holdup, if you can call it that, was that there was only one security line opened until we went through that single checkpoint. Of course, the port authority opened a second as soon as we were through.🤣🤣🤣

 

Everything Regent handled / responsible for was accomplished very efficiently. Now to hope that our considerable amount of luggage makes it to the cabin. Off to find some lunch. Later…..

[IrishKathy]

Matt and Susan,

Tony and Kathy (me) boarded Splendor in Rome.  We lived in Spain for five years.  Would love to get together and compare notes.   We are in Suite 855.  Let's ge together for a cocktail.  Would love to hear about your 25 days in Spain.  Please give us a call when you finish unpacking.  Kathy 

[edgee]

We are booked on the reverse of your cruise (Mia to Bcn) on Splendor in late March. Looking forward to your comments!

[pingpong1]

And if Matt will indulge me, Mary and I boarded this cruise this morning in Barcelona, as well, at about  11:15.  Our first time on Splendor but not our first time on Regent.  Splendor is a beautiful ship.  We're now all unpacked and settling into our "home" for the next two weeks.  Our room steward just knocked on the door to introduce himself and take our mini-bar order.  I might "chime in" from time to time as the cruise progresses.  Our dinner will be at 6:30pm in P7 tonight.  The staff is super friendly.  Regards to all.

[mdunne48]

The more, the merrier! Welcome aboard! I hope that the casino is kind to you over the next fortnight! 
 

We are dining in Pacific Rim, also at 6:30. 
 

Great service and food this afternoon in La Veranda. Ran into Ko Ko, a very good man, who remembered us from the infamous Greenland adventure. I think he has been promoted since his Voyager days. Almost ready to leave Barcelona. They are still loading more supplies. As a side note for bourbon drinkers, Makers Mark is no longer available. I wish they had Angel’s Envy but alas will have to settle for Woodford Reserve. 
 

The Mediterranean Sea beckons, in about a hour. Right now it is a lake with hardly a ripple. Enjoy your evening. I know we will.

 

[mdunne48]

Evening awaits…..

 

[Gray Lady]

11 hours ago, mdunne48 said:

As a side note for bourbon drinkers, Makers Mark is no longer available. I wish they had Angel’s Envy but alas will have to settle for Woodford Reserve. 

As a Maker’s Mark Ambassador, I find that very sad. 😢

[mdunne48]

Sorry, no food pictures from last night. We had a slight change in plans.
 

The Splendour left Barcelona about 2 hours late. We have been clipping along at around 19 knots to make up the lost time. Very smooth sailing so far. We are now about to pass Cartagena, one of the few places in Spain that we did not get to visit.

 

This is this morning’s sunrise. I believe those are the Dahra Massif mountain range in Algeria.

 

Twilight

Sunrise over the Alboran Sea.

[Flgreg]

16 hours ago, mdunne48 said:

The more, the merrier! Welcome aboard! I hope that the casino is kind to you over the next fortnight! 
 

We are dining in Pacific Rim, also at 6:30. 
 

Great service and food this afternoon in La Veranda. Ran into Ko Ko, a very good man, who remembered us from the infamous Greenland adventure. I think he has been promoted since his Voyager days. Almost ready to leave Barcelona. They are still loading more supplies. As a side note for bourbon drinkers, Makers Mark is no longer available. I wish they had Angel’s Envy but alas will have to settle for Woodford Reserve. 
 

The Mediterranean Sea beckons, in about a hour. Right now it is a lake with hardly a ripple. Enjoy your evening. I know we will.

 

Interesting as we requested a bottle of Maker’s Mark prior to boarding this cruise and it was in the cabin when we arrived. We haven’t asked for it in the bars or Compass Rose.

[mdunne48]

Our request could not be fulfilled according to our butler. Also, the Spendour Lounge did not have any last night. However, there was a bottle of Buffalo Trace 😁😁.

[Bruce61]

53 minutes ago, mdunne48 said:

Our request could not be fulfilled according to our butler. Also, the Spendour Lounge did not have any last night. However, there was a bottle of Buffalo Trace 😁😁.

On Explorer in September (Seward to Vancouver) they seemed to have a real problem with their supply of Bourbon.  I had asked for Woodford in the room and they had no Woodford, Elijah Craig, Buffalo Trace or Makers for the rooms (had a few bottles of each in the bars).  Was given Bullett.  As the cruise progressed they seemed to run out of most of the Bourbon.  At the time I chalked this up to boarding in Seward and a supply problem..

[pingpong1]

As Matt has stated, the sea is "like glass" at the moment!  Either I'm being lulled into a false sense of serenity or "Splendor" is rolling along on fantastic tires and shock absorbers.  There's not the slightest feeling of motion (at least not last night).  It was my best night's sleep since leaving Arizona a week ago.

 

No food pics from here, either.  But still a delightful meal in P7, too. A huge shrimp cocktail, filet (medium rare) and mushrooms, accompanied by a Silverado Cab (off the premium selection list), and then finished off with the popcorn sundae. Yummm!

 

We went to the show in the theater after dinner (a nice brief but very talented musical review), and then dropped a few (unrewarded) "bucks" in the Casino before retiring for the night.  A nice unhurried breakfast in LV this morning.  Mary is off to Coffee Connection and then on to a lecture ("All Roads Lead to Spain").

 

After breakfast, I reconnoitered the Connoisseur Club after leaving LV, but didn't have my cigars with me (but will definitely be back there this evening). Met two very nice sets of folks while I was there.  Tomorrow night will be dinner at Chartreuse.  All for now.

[mdunne48]

Our first full day at sea is completed. What we have noticed. The ship is full but relatively empty. The different activities has everyone pretty well distributed throughout the ship. It was a cool (65) but sunny day. Plenty of guests taking advantage of the deck chairs by the pool. The jogging track was a very popular place to be in the morning. A word of caution, make sure you have good treads on your shoes as that area was very wet in the morning. 
 

They need more than 1 barista at coffee connections in the morning. Service was orderly but slow. 1 order taker and a second barista would alleviate the logjam. Luncheon and dinner service was impeccable. We dined at LaVeranda for lunch and had a French themed midday meal. We made it to Pacific Rim for an excellent dinner (sorry no pictures). The duck was moist and perfectly cooked. Susan had the Miso glazed black cod that was superb. We had an assortment of appetizers with our main courses. Everything was excellently presented, prepared and very timely. Definitely a ‘fine dining’ experience.

 

We made it through the straits of Gibraltar around midnight. The captain is expecting some rougher seas through tomorrow afternoon so our balcony furniture is tied down. There is some gentle movement of the ship as we pass Rabat, Morocco but nothing extreme. It might delay or postpone our morning walk but that is still hours away. 
 

I was expecting that with Grandeur coming on line that the service on Splendour would be negatively affected by personnel transferring to the new ship.That has not proven to be true. The service so far has been up to past Regent sailings standards. 
 

Looks like I’ll be making a trip to the Future Cruise Consultant before this journey ends.

 

Twilight-Atlantic Ocean November 22, 2023.

 

[mdunne48]

23 hours ago, Flgreg said:

Interesting as we requested a bottle of Maker’s Mark prior to boarding this cruise and it was in the cabin when we arrived. We haven’t asked for it in the bars or Compass Rose.

It seems that you may have gotten the last bottle! No bars that we have been in so far have any Makers Mark. Maybe you could sell it back to Regent🤣🤣🤣

[Flgreg]

19 minutes ago, mdunne48 said:

It seems that you may have gotten the last bottle! No bars that we have been in so far have any Makers Mark. Maybe you could sell it back to Regent🤣🤣🤣

I’ll give it a try. Nothing ventured nothing gained!

[mdunne48]

Our second sea day completed. The weather was decent. Mid to upper 60’s with a fair amount of sun. We enjoyed the ‘couple couches’ on deck 12 before lunch. There was plenty of lounge chairs available around the pool deck. Lunch yesterday was Italian themed. Some very good vegetables and an exceptional filet wrapped with bacon and served with polenta. Otherwise a lot of meandering throughout the ship. We do have to pay more attention to the daily Passages as we missed a few events that we would have enjoyed.

 

They held the Block Party last night at 6

 

  

[mdunne48]

Sorry……didn’t mean to post 

 

The Block party was held last night at 6:00 pm. A pretty good turnout on deck 8. Last night we ate in Prime 7. A mixed bag but definitely enjoyable . We had a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Cloudy Bay, with dinner. A clear winner,

 

Excellent appetizers:

 

Goat cheese & Portobello tart

 

Ahi Tuna & Avocado Poke

 

Average entrees:  

 

Prime 7 Seafood Sampler

 

 

Beef Loin Steak

 

Great desserts

 

Small popcorn sundae

 

Raspberry sorbet

 

They had an issue last night in Prime 7 with their automated iPad ordering system. All orders needed to be hand written. That probably hampered the quality of the overall dining experience as well as certain portions of our meal. Coffee didn’t arrive with desserts ……just a reminder was needed.

 

We can’t complain. We are enjoying an experience few people have the opportunity to experience! 
 

To be continued. ..

 

 

[mdunne48]

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that celebrates this holiday.
 

Today will be our first port day, Arrecife, Canary Islands. We are going to self explore. Google maps will come in handy. 
 

It is mostly cloudy this morning but the forecast has sunny skies by 11:00 and temperatures in the mid 70’s. Looking forward to getting out and about. You never know what treasure(s) Susan will find. But first breakfast…….hoping Ash, our butler, delivers it a bit early.

 

to be continued….

[Visigoth]

Is this over?