November, 2002
Monday, Nov 11
We left Austin at 10 a.m. and arrived in Galveston at 3 p.m. (stopped and did some last minute shopping at the Galleria in Houston). The loading period of the Splendour was listed at 1 - 5 p.m. and leaving at 6 p.m. I was surprised to find no cars in the unloading area in front of the terminal bldg. It took only 1 minute to unload the baggage, and then drive about a ¼ of mile to the parking area. Hint: you must have cash to pay for the parking, which was $80 for 11 days. There were plenty of spaces even with two ships leaving together this day. We sat on the shuttle about 15 minutes before proceeding to the terminal again. The x-ray of our carry on luggage was very fast. Then we entered the new terminal area for check in. It was big, clean, effective, and cool. We stood in line maybe 15 minutes. There were plenty of agents on hand for check-in. I would say that this was the easiest check in of any of my six cruises. Hint: Fill out your embarkation form over the web and the agent will not have to enter all of the info while you stand around waiting. We came on board and found our room with no problem. Luggage showed up around 6 p.m. The first action was to get some seasick pills for my wife in case she needed them. You can get them only at the purser's desk, five pills no charge. Went to Windjammer and ate some lunch. Food was okay. We bought our excursions over the web a few weeks before, and the pre-paid tickets showed in our room about the same time as our luggage. Glad we did, as the line at the excursion desk was very long already. Ok, after all the reading about the drink cards on RCI, I decided to give it a try. We went up to the Viking Crown lounge before dinner and asked for a drink card. They said that they did not have any, and that we would have to go to the Schooner bar to get one. So we ordered a couple of beers instead. Do not know if they were telling the truth or not, but we had no problems with getting the card later and using it anywhere. We were the second seating, which was at 8:45 p.m. for the first two days. I had baked Cod, and Glenda had the Chicken Cordon Bleu, both were very good. Just about everyone else at our table ordered steak, which is always available. The entertainment show was at 10:30 p.m. today and tomorrow. Afterwards, the schedule changed to Show at 7:15 p.m. and dinner at 8:30 p.m.