this is only the second cruise ship i have been on the one other was the ocean village.The ship was vary clean and our cabin was cleaned twice a day by our great cabin stewart Kevin.
food
great selection in the windjammers self sevice dinning room, food always hot. liked the area where you took your food to be cooked in front of you.
the formal king and i dinning was fantastic with a great set of waiters who performed magic tricks to us after we had eaten at our table.had a good laugh with them.the only thing i felt uncomfortable with was that our party of 4 was placed on a 10 seated table, 4 of which were from malta who did not speak much english so conversation around the table could be strained.
entertainment
the shows we watched in the main show room were good but could have been longer then 40 mintues. as we had the 8.30pm sitting in the king and i dinning room, so i felt we had to rush our meal and run to the other end of the ship to catch the 10pm show.
the top hat lounge bar one floor down never had any entertainment going on and was always enpty when we went in there.
tips.dos and donts
dont swim under water with yours eyes open, as the pool is filled with salt water, which no one tells you. ( fresh water on ocean village).

try to do tell trips on your own as they work out a lot cheaper. example : 4 of us got of the ship in
athens walked along the sea front to the metro, bought 4 return tickets at a cost of only 7 euros to the acropolis, five stops on the train and we were there. our waiter told us to do this it was so easy ,had a lot of fun and if we had done the same trip through the ship it would have cost 160 euros.

all in all a great ship but with the pros and cons i did not think it was worth the additional cost we paid from the ocean village we sailed on the year before. july 2007 will be cruising on the new ship ocean village 2

Food on ship was fairly good, but lunchtime buffet sometimes only lukewarm. good choice of evening meals. Ship was constantly being cleaned, and cabins attended to several times a day. All staff on ship extremely friendly and helpful, especially cabin steward. Amazed at lack of noise on the ship- no cabin doors banging and no noise when people going to and from cabins. Worried about feeling sea sick (usually a problem for me), but felt absolutely fine! Had problem with the tender bringing us back from Dubrovnik when the engines failed, but soon rescued!!
Two main gripes: 1)the 15% levy charged on drinks which really increases your bill.
2) when paying off your account in cash, your sea pass credit is suddenly frozen when you exceed $500.I feel we should have been informed of this when agreeing to cash settlement at start of cruise.
Generally enjoyed the cruise- very relaxing and would do it again.

ultimate luxury and spotless clean, food everything you could ever want and staff could not do enough for you. The weather was not very good and the excusion to marseille was canceled due to civil disruption also our luggage did not arrive from gatwick till the monday which was the airlines fault this was quite a common occurrence as passengers from america, south africa, china etc all had the same problem but after 24 hours you can buy clothes and keep receipts and claim through your insurance, we were given t-shirts and toiletries from ship till our luggage arrived and free laundry. There were only 4 scottish people on ship and we were 2 of them, if you are scottish please take highland outfit and you will become famous overnight. What more can I say fabulous holiday and captains nights was like a night at the oscars fabulous evening wear.

Flew into Barcelona in the morning caught a taxi to the cruise port cost about 20 odd euros and was there in about 15 to 20 mins.
Boarding the ship was a breeze, we were onboard in next to no time.
Very impressed with the ports with the exception of Toulon which was a change itinerary and the confusion it caused in terms of planning what to do.

Had a great time on the cruise even though we were placed on a table with 2 couples who spoke no English but there was a Dutch couple who we had great fun with.

Will be getting a 2nd helping of Splendour come May for the Greek Isles and Turkey cruise.

Review:- We flew straight to Barcelona airport on Saturday & caught an airport taxi to the ship costing about 22Euros. Embarkation was a breeze & we were on ship within 15mins. There must have been 40 desk assistants at the pier. Our dinner - time was 6.30 which too early for us so the Maitre d changed it to 7.00. The King & I dining room has 2 levels 6.30 sitting is on lower level which was not very busy & the second sitting at 7.00 is on the higher level. You can go into dinner 30mins after set time. The third sitting is at 8.45 on the lower level which is the most popular & 4th sitting is at 9.15 on higher level which is less busy. The food is first class & nothing is a bother to the waiters.
We always had dinner in the King & I restaurant & ate at the Windjammer for all our other meals apart from breakfast on disembarkation day. The Windjammer buffet food is excellent.
The entertainment during the day & night was good & we went to 3 shows which again were good. We also tried the bingo on the Sunday as the top prize was an upgrade to a luxury suite. The cards are either a three pack or six pack which cannot be separated at $25 & $35 which I thought was very expensive especially if 2 or more are in your group. We didn't win & that was the last time we played!!
Sunday we stayed on the ship relaxed in the beautiful warm sun around the pool until 5.00pm when we had the M&M party in the Viking Lounge, I thought that the ships part in the party was disappointing with soft drinks & a few appertisers & a free raffle for the priceless RCL mouse which the 2 organisers who were waiters wanted to raffle at about 5.10 before everyone had arrived so we delayed that until later when most of the party had arrived. The party itself was made by ourselves who had talked over the months with each other on cruise critics. Everyone mixed & talked about everything for ages & exchanged small gifts representing each others geographical area.
Monday, we tendered ashore, turned left & followed winding road up to the main street where we caught the service bus to Nice which cost approx 1.3Euro. It was so easy & only took about 15minutes. The train journey is just as easy, but one thing to be aware of in the train station, don’t stand away from everyone as 2 people on the ship were mugged at one end of the station by several teenagers but I believe it was an isolated incident.
Tuesday, we went on a private excursion to Florence & Pisa with Limoinrome. Florence is a beautiful city packed with so much art & beauty it is hard to appreciate. The statue of David is one of the finest masterpieces I have had the pleasure to see.
Wednesday. The ship changed it’s itinary & went to Naples because Pompei & lots of other tourist centres were going to be closed on the Thurs because several unexploded bombs from the second world war were to be detonated. We stayed on the ship & enjoyed the onboard activities.
Thursday. We shared a private excursion to Rome with our newly found friends from Australia. The excursion was booked with Limoinrome but because of the change of days Claudio had organised Vincent Macri to cover for him. He lives in Rome so knew every shortcut & took us everywhere & for lunch he took us to a beautiful restaurant near the Cattacombs which had a large garden & we sat among the olive trees eating traditional Italian food. It was the climax to the excursion.
On Thursday evening we had the pleasure of eating with the captain on his table. It was such an experience & we had an unforgettable time. I honestly don’t know why we were picked but I’m glad we were.
Friday. Seaday :- we sat on a table at the pool from about 11.30 until about 4.00 celebrating our Australian friend’s birthday drinking cocktails until they came out of our ears. We were joined by other friends we had met at the M&M party.
Saturday:- Coloured tags were left in our cabins to be attached to our luggage for disembarkation. We had to be out of our cabins by 7.00am & disembarkation started from about 7.10am. Our time slot was supposed to be 7.20 but as we were travelling independently we went to breakfast in the King & I dining room at 7.10 & enjoyed our last breakfast in luxury before disembarking at 8.00am.
The ship advertise a transfer service for 21.50 Euros each to the airport which can be expensive if there are 4 people travelling. Catch one of the many taxis available at the pier, total cost 27 Euro it was a doddle.

i thought the holiday was brilliant and id love to go again!!

what can i say words fail me. this was our second cruise the last also with RCI but on the large Explorer this vessel may be smaller than that but still bigger than most others but the service is every bit as good the crew cant do enough for you from the cabin staff cleaning your cabin twice a day to the dinning staff serving you as if you were royalty the meals were simply fantastic with plenty of choices the lobster and sea bass were to die for, a lot of time and effort must be spent on the presentation alone. the ship itself is getting older (1997) but it doesnt show they are constantly cleaning and painting.
I am not a great typist so no legnthy review, suffice to say another PERFECT holiday
if anybody has any questions i will gladly reply
P.S we booked while on board for our next one this time back to the largest class the Mariner,doing Eastern Carribean in March cant wait

Fantastic! Hope to cruise again from Venice