Splendour of the Seas Review 5 Day Cruise March 29 - April 3, 2004
Cruise Day - We left Houston at 8:15 for an approximate 2 hour drive to Galveston through Monday morning traffic on 290 and Beltway 8. There were 4 tolls at $1.25 each. Once in Galveston, the directions to the pier were very well marked. My husband, Dave, dropped everyone off at the pier and the tagged luggage was taken at that time to the ship. There were plenty of inside (air-conditioned) seating while waiting for the driver. Dave parked the car. They take cash or credit cards. This charge is paid in advanced. Once Dave came back we waited approximately 1 hour before the computers were updated to accept new passengers. The staff helped make this time go by fairly quickly. Because we do on-line check-in, we were through check-in within 5 minutes. We checked with the pier coordinator regarding upgrades, but decided the price was not worth the room. We were in a category D. It was $300 extra for a category C. We had a small wait time until they opened the door to the ship. This was the first time that we boarded directly from the pier (no steps, escalators, elevators). I offered RCI a couple of suggestions regarding their boarding process: 1)Diamond and Platinum members check-in should be the closest to the boarding area. They are currently the farthest away. 2)They should check-in their Diamond and Platinum members before the other passengers (similar to airline travel). By 11:30 we were the first on board, after a wedding party.
We did the things that we normally do: 1) Checked out the rooms and unloaded our luggage. This was the first cruise we've been on that the rooms were ready when we arrived. Note that we are always one of the first on board. 2) Went to the Windjammer for lunch. My lunch consisted of salad, a small piece of salmon, a slice of beef, mashed potatoes and a small amount of pasta. My dessert was chocolate chip cookies. 3) Since it was raining most of the day, we walked around the ship until 3:00 when we met a small group of Cruise Critic people in the Viking Crown Lounge. Our group talked until about 3:30 then tons of people crowded in the Viking Crown Lounge for a tour of the ship offered by Royal Caribbean for the first time cruisers. I thought that was an excellent idea to help others learn the ship quickly. 4) We proceeded to the Crown and Anchor study to see the Loyalty Ambassador about getting my ship card corrected. My platinum status was not shown on my card and it could not be corrected at the check-in. Within minutes my card was corrected and a status of our trips were confirmed. Splendour was our 10th RCI cruise.