SHIP: Splendour of the Seas Review

April 5 - 12/97

ITINERARY: Day at Sea, Aruba, Curacao, Day at Sea, St. Martin,

St.Thomas

BACKGROUND: Rick and Emily Schaffer from Ontario, Canada

2nd cruise - 1st cruise on Star Princess

43 years and 41 years old

Celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary

We selected this cruise because we had heard so many good things

about Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and we especially liked the

itinerary because it included Aruba, an island we wanted to check

out. The stop in Aruba was an extended one arriving at 8 a.m. and

departing Aruba at 1 a.m. the next day. Also on our previous cruise

we had enjoyed St. Thomas and especially St. Martin so were excited

to visit these great islands again.

I researched the cruise and islands extensively over the internet

so I was well prepared for this vacation which I feel contributed

tremendously to the enjoyment of the vacation. I met many many

great people over the internet especially on the RCCL newsgroup who

were very helpful in answering many questions and giving great

recommendations. I must mention two by name and that is Theresa

Shupp and Cathy Demlow who I was fortunate to meet up with on our

sailing. Thanks to both of you for sharing in our excitement of

cruising and for the information and friendship we shared.

SHIP:

The ship was just completing its first year of sailing and was in

great shape. The centrum area was stunning with marble, glass and

lots of brass. One of our favourite areas was the solarium pool

which was quiet, relaxing, served great pizza and lunches and was

a great place to nap on the comfortable lounge chairs.

The King and I dining room was quite ornate and the two levels made

it quite an elegant dining experience. We were seated on the upper

level at Table #111 and had two excellent waiters Jose from

Portugal and Mladen from Croatia. Our wine steward Derek Bishop

from South Africa was excellent and always a pleasure to talk to.

Our cabin was an inside one on deck 2. We had booked the cabin on

"run of the ship" and got exactly what we paid for. (no upgrade) We

had sailed previously in an inside and are quite satisfied with it

and find it a great way to save some money which I am able to spend

in other ways and believe me there are lots of opportunities for

that. The cabin was smaller than Princess but was very well laid

out with lots of storage space for clothing, luggage, toiletries

etc. We never heard any noise from adjoining cabins, no creaking

and the location midship gave us a smooth sail always.

With such a beautiful ship who wants to spend time in a cabin. Get

out and explore the public areas and enjoy what you have paid for.

HIGHLIGHTS:

There were three main highlights of this cruise that I never

expected. They all contributed to making this an above average

cruise.

The first night at dinner our table mates arrived two couples from

Finland. We started chatting and I inquired about what they did for

a living and they told me that they were ship builders from

Finland. I asked what kind of ships and they said cruise ships.

They proceeded to tell me that they were from a ship building

company in Finland that had won the contract to build the first of

the Project Eagle ships for Royal Caribbean to come on line in fall

of 1999 in time for the millennium cruises. Tiimo and Ray were the

two project managers for the project. They had business in Miami

and were only on the ship checking things out for three days. The

company in Finland had previously built Song of Norway, Nordic

Prince and the Sun Viking. The Carnival Fascination was also in

port and they had built that ship as well. Before they left the

last day Ray gave me a computer printout of the sketch of the new

ship which is yet to be named. He said they had nine architects

working on the design and will have a three level dining carrying

about 3500 passengers and will be 130,000 tons and the largest

cruise ship in the world.

On the 4th day of our cruise after shopping in Curacao we returned

to the ship for some lunch to find an envelope outside our cabin.

I opened it up and it was an invitation to dine with the captain.

At first I thought I had read it wrong and thought it wasn't what

I was seeing but sure enough it was. Dinner was to be late seating

and so because we were usually early seating we now had more time

to spend at the beach in Curacao. Needless to say the whole time at

the beach that afternoon was spent wondering and worrying about

this big dinner and trying to figure out how the invite happened.

We sort of had an idea of what to expect since the previous night

at dinner I had questioned our Finnish friends why they were not at

dinner Sunday evening and they said they dined at the Captain's

table on the first formal night and they told us about the protocol

etc.

About 5:30 that evening the hostess phoned us in our cabin to

confirm that we would be attending and told us to meet outside the

dining room. We did so and then met our honoured table mates two

of them being two girls from Delaware Amy and Sherri who were our

regular table partners, a honeymooning couple Catherine and Kevin

from Colorado, Margaret and her husband Kare from Oakland

California area. Everyone was first time cruisers expect Rick and

I. I only kept thinking of all the people who cruise many many

times and don't get to dine with the captain. For me it was a big

thing and if I had only met the cruise ship builders from Finland

it would have contributed to my cruise immensely but now it was

just getting better.

We met the hostess Jennifer outside the dining room and she lined

us up and was careful to separate the couples for better

conversation. We walked in after most of the cruisers were seated

and I heard one of the waiters jokingly say "there go the snobs to

the captains table":) We took our seats and the men were

instructed to stand when the captain arrived. The captain Johnny

Faevelen was quite easy to talk to and had a great sense of humour.

We were given complimentary wine and liqueurs and a captains's menu

signed by Captain Johnny as well as a keepsake photo. This was a

dream come true and so unexpected and Royal Caribbean had delivered

big time in my books.

The third highlight occurred the next evening and Rick and I

arrived for dinner first as usual the head waiter told us that we

would be having a guest at our table and another couple seated at

a nearby table for two joined us also. The guest was Staff Captain

Charles Tiege and his girlfriend Amy Evans who was sailing with him

that week. Well I could hardly believe our luck, so complimentary

wine, liqueurs and the photo were again the norm. It was also our

regular table mate Sherri's birthday which contributed to the

festivities. The conversation was again easy and relaxed. The

next day having some lunch at one of the cafes "Les Coctieres" at

Port Royale Marina in Marigot we ran into Charles and Amy having

lunch there also. I didn't recognize Charles without his uniform

and Amy without her formal attire. They had just finished

partaking in the America's Cup Sailing Regatta shore excursion and

guess what their ship won no wonder with a captain at the helm.

ENTERTAINMENT:

The entertainment in my opinion was excellent especially the

comedians and my favourite Mickey Dolenz lead singer from the

Monkees. The wave review dancers were only so so. We went to every

show and really did enjoy them all. Visited the casino a few times

and broke even.

PORTS OF CALL:

ARUBA: Arose early and got off the ship about 7:45 a.m. to head

down to the car rental spot just off the ship. You can actually

see it from the ship. We rented a jeep for the day $75.00 from

Touristica. We filled out the papers moved the jeep to the parking

area adjacent the ship and returned to have breakfast in the

Windjammer. It was here that I had a long conversation with the

Maitre'd Mario Valente the one that assigned our table the first

day on the ship. I think it was because of my conversation with him

telling him the Finnish couples were only on the ship for 3 days

and since we were seated at a large (10 ) table that he was the one

that managed to have us seated at the captain's table.

I must say that Aruba was a bot of a disappointment and this was

echoed by many others both on the internet and fellow cruisers. I

was prepared for the dry desert like landscape but it just isn't

what comes to the mind's eye when you say "caribbean island".

Anyway the beaches were just spectacular especially Baby Beach and

Eagle beach which we visited. We didn't get a look at Palm Beach.

It was fun going out on our own with the jeep and we saved quite a

bit of money doing this. The ship excursion was $67. per person

which included lunch and snorkeling and we did everything for the

rental of the jeep. The roads are not that well marked in Aruba

and did manage to get lost a couple of times but managed to see St.

Annes Church, Alto Vista Chapel, the windward side of the island,

natural bridge which is very nice and Baby Beach were the water is

calm and great snorkelling.

After dinner on the ship we went to La Cabana Resort and took in

the Jewel Box review a female impersonator show with the likes of

Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Joan Rivers, Whoppi Goldberg. The show

started at 9:30 p.m. and was over at 11pm and the taxi was waiting

outside the casino and took us back to the ship which didn't sail

until 1 a.m. Would visit Aruba on a land vacation but still like

St. martin better for overall vacation. Shopping is not as good in

Aruba but beaches are great and seems like there is lots of

nightlife.

Curacao:

This is an extremely underrated island and is quite pretty and

quaint in its architecture. The buildings lining the canal as

the ship sails into and out of port are pastel coloured and

certainly create a great photo opportunity. We did rise early about

6:15 a.m. on deck to watch the Splendour sail into Curacao. Even

more spectacular I thought was the sail as we left port. It was a

great site as the sun was setting and the towns people and tourists

would wave and whistle to us from shore as we passed by. I got some

great sunset photos that night as the sunset was beautiful. We

visited the downtown area for some shopping, the floating market

and took a taxi to the seaquarium and later some beach time at the

nearby beach. I found Curacao quite delightful.

St. Martin:

Ah... St. Martin. I didn't let me down the second time around. Here

we tendered into town to Bobby's marina and shared a taxi with

another couple $5.00 each person and took off for Orient Beach. it

was just as I had remembered it from the last cruise 2 years

before. Our taxi driver O'Neill was very friendly and was

originally from Aruba and he couldn't believe that we drove around

Aruba with a jeep by ourselves the first time. He says that when

he goes back to Aruba he still gets lost. Anyway spent about 2

hours here and walked up and down this great long sandy beach.

We then managed to grab a taxi at the beach and again shared with

another couple actually from our ship and headed to Marigot. Walked

up the huge hill to Fort Louis where it was definitely worth it for

the great view of the harbour and photo ops. Walked over to Port

Royale where we bought some chocolate croissants and shared a pizza

wine and a cappuccino at Les Cocotiers Cafe right by the water.

This is a beautiful area. Also picked up some french wine to bring

home with us.

On the way back in the taxi we ran into some heavy traffic which

eliminated the shopping opportunity that I so much wanted to check

out. Next time and we will definitely be back to St. Martin.

St. Thomas:

Another great island. Headed first thing that morning to take the

tram to Paradise Point. The view is amazing and worth the trip up.

I would not do it another time but once was definitely worth it.

Price is $10.00 per person.

We then walked down into town for some quick shopping. Made

purchases at Hard Rock Cafe, some perfume at Sparky's and also some

t-shirts. No jewellery as I had already purchased a ring in

Curacao and a gold bracelet in Aruba. Took the taxi back to the

ship had some quick lunch and then met our tour for St. John Beach

and snorkelling at Trunk Bay. This was a great tour and Trunk Bay

is truly paradise on earth. I was quite impressed with St. John and

the beautiful beaches there. Our bus driver was Wesley Easley and

he really provided some good entertainment on the way there and

back.

SUMMARY:

This is a great ship and a wonderful itinerary. On the negative

side the inside cabins are small but caught a peek at the outside

cabins same deck and they were quite a bit larger. The food in the

Windjammer Cafe was not as great as in the dining room where I felt

the food was great. Would not hesitate to sail Royal Caribbean

again possibly on one of the new Eagle Class ships that they are

building.

Do not miss sailing out of port in San Juan. The ship left late

about 11:45 p.m. but on both cruises we waited up for this event

and sailing out past El Morro is worth it even though we were tired

from the long trip there we had been up about 22 hours by this

time.

If you have any other questions re the Splendour or the islands

please e-mail me rschaff@soonet.ca.

Happy Cruising!

Emily