Splendor Transatlantic in April 2008 - ??s

[Dot Wonder]

Going on the 14 day Brazil to Portugal sailing of Splendor of the Seas in April 2008. 2 questions:

1. how's the ship looking? i've heard it was refurbished recently?

2. who else has done transatlantic sailings? how's the weather? i'm not normally a patch wearer, but wondering if i should get some - just in case?

 

(5 previous cruises: 4 in E. and W. Caribbean and one Pacific - Mexico)

Thanks

[Druke I]

We did a Buenos Aires to Barcelona cruise, 3-98, on the late great Royal Princess, and had very smooth seas all the way, with pleasant weather.

 

It was our smoothest crossing yet - but sea state/weather is very changeable.

[jbond]

Going on the 14 day Brazil to Portugal sailing of Splendor of the Seas in April 2008.

Hi there,

Why don't you join us on our Roll Call thread. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=366200 There are lots of fellow cruisers who have Trans Atlantic crossing experience that will be happy to help you. Hope to see/hear from you soon.

[FionaMG]

Hi there.

 

We're just back from the Splendour's Lisbon to Brazil transatlantic. The ship looks fine. I can't say I noticed anything that wasn't the way it was supposed to be. We had very good weather apart from one morning when it rained but it had cleared up by lunchtime. We noticed some movement on a few days, but nothing we couldn't cope with. I took one of the bonine pills they give you at reception every day to be on the safe side but we had rougher seas in the Caribbean in January. Of course, we were heading southbound into the southern hemisphere's late spring/early summer so that might make a difference. If there's anything in particular you'd like to ask, feel free and I'll answer if I can.

 

All the best.

Fiona.

[jbond]

Hi Fiona,

Did RCI do anything special when you crossed the Equator?

Did you get a chance to check out the Concierge Lounge?

[FionaMG]

Hi Fiona,

Did RCI do anything special when you crossed the Equator?

Did you get a chance to check out the Concierge Lounge?

 

Hi.

 

We crossed the equator at midnight between the 11th and 12th of December. There was a party on the pool deck and the captain sounded the horn exactly at the moment we crossed. It was a bit like New Year's. Then the next day there was a special ceremony where they reenacted King Neptune's court. Three passengers were "found guilty" of doing things like using the lift to go up just one floor, helping themselves to six servings at the buffet etc. They were given "punishments" like drinking "blood" (which was either tomato juice or, if they were really lucky, it might have been a bloody mary) and then they were all thrown into the pool. It was great fun (I'm fairly sure the passengers in question were all volunteers). Everyone also received an "Equator Crossing Certificate" before the end of the cruise.

 

I'm afraid I didn't get the chance to see the concierge lounge as we were in a humble oceanview stateroom on deck 2 and don't yet have sufficient C&A status. I did walk by it, though, but as it has frosted glass windows I couldn't see in.

 

One thing which you might be interested to know is that the cruise was effectively bilingual, as the majority of passengers were Portuguese speakers (300+ Portuguese and 400+ Brazilian) so everything was done in English and Portuguese, and a huge number of Portuguese-speaking crew boarded in Lisbon to handle the situation and in preparation for the Splendour's current South American season.

 

Hope this helps. Anything else you need to know, ask away. :)

[jbond]

Thanks for the information. We were wondering about a ceremony for crossing the Equator. We'd planned on making our own certicates just in case RCI didn't come through.