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Cool Girl & Crazy Mom do the Med-Venice: A (very delayed) review of a Serenade voyage


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Back on board, we had to get ready for what was sure to be a big night. Not only was it the Quest tonight, but it was also Halloween and the staff and crew went all out! My last cruise was over Halloween also, but it was aboard Princess in the Caribbean. They did nothing for Halloween. I don’t even think I saw a pumpkin. Other than CM and I wearing our Halloween hats, we only saw one other person dressed up on that cruise. Boy was this one different! We saw lots of folks dressed up, both crew and passengers and the ship was completely decorated. Here are some photos of how amazing the Centrum & entrance to the Windjammer looked when we got up this morning (I can’t believe they did all of this overnight):

 

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Not to be outdone, The Munchkin and I had done a little decorating of our own. We swapped out our Venetian door decorations for these (also courtesy of the Dollar Tree store… I love things that cost a buck!)

 

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And of course, we were decorated too…

 

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It's a little difficult to see, but CM has a big spider on her hat and my fascinator is complete with a little witch's hat

 

Off to dinner we went. I forgot the details of what I ate (even though I wrote in my journal that same evening.. it must not have been memorable in the least). I did note that I had the sirloin and that it came medium-well instead of medium-rare (I like it still moo-ing a bit) and I had to send it back. Surprisingly, Cleevdan didn’t even give me a hard time about this. They brought me one at the proper temperature, but it was still tough and stringy. I normally enjoy sirloins, but those they had on the ship this time, were just about as average to below-average as you could get. No worries though, because "blah" steak would soon be forgotten amongst the hoopla of The Quest!

 

We met up with our usual group (Peggy, Ernie, Laura & Scott) as well as some others from our Roll Call (Donna, Steve, Alyssa & Tom). Alyssa and Tome were on their honeymoon and they had never been to a Quest. We “encouraged” them to come sit with us and told them they would make great team captains….bwwwwhaha! They were good sports about it and it was probably for the best since they were the youngest and therefore the fittest and fastest to get to the stage each time.

 

Now, so as not to spoil the fun for those that have never been to The Quest, I won’t go into detail. Suffice it to say, we had a blast!!!! Our team came in 2nd (woohoo!) and the 3rd place team was also made up of folks from our Roll Call (Hadley and family and Sarah and her crew). All in all, it was a simply amazing way to end what had already been an unforgettable day in Dubrovnik!!!

 

Up next, our 2nd Sea Day (time to relax!)

 

CG

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I just love the red tiled roofs of Old Town. I have almost as many "roof" pics as I have "laundry" pics...almost.

 

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Even though I was on the trip of a lifetime, I was still missing my pup back home. So, when I came across this fella (a Saint Bernard like my dogs), I had to stop everything I was doing and give him some love

 

Wow Melissa, I really am enjoying all of your pictures. And although like everyone else I wish you posted more often ( cos we miss you) its certainly worth waiting for when you do post.

 

I wanted to comment on the above two pics because firstly we simply cannot seem to pass any kind of dog we meet when we are on vacation because we miss our two guys sooooo much. We like to think that there is a form of doggie telephones that they communicate through and we tell all of the dogs we meet to please pass the message on to our two boys that we miss them very much and will be home very soon to give them special sausage treats. ( it's ok we are aware that we are completely insane ) :D:D

 

Now, back to something a bit more serious! I'm sure it was Ger that gave me a nugget about the rooftops when we visited Dubrovnik on our honeymoon. When we look at the rooftops it seems that all of the tiles are that bright reddish colour but some pics ( including your great one above) shows a clearer image of the roof tiles that are actually not all that red. It seems that these are the roof tiles from before the war in 1991. Something unbelievable like 80 or 90% of the roof's were destroyed and had to be rebuild. Can you imagine how devastated the whole city must have been - makes me so sad.

 

Anyway that's enough of a takeover from me. Looking forward to what you and CM did on your second last sea day.

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Hi PesterGal! From one "yinzer" to another, thank you so much for your kind words and for following my review!!!! Like you, I am just thrilled that this review has picked up such a great "cast of characters" along the way. I think all of the folks you mentioned (along with Windjamming, Irish Cath, Ayasha and so many more) have really made this review so much more fun than if it were just my ramblings :D

 

Yes! I am originally from Pgh. I lived there until 2000 when I finally found a way to move to a much warmer climate (where people freak if there is even a forecast of flurries within 100 miles :eek::p) I grew up near the airport (Moon Twp), but also lived in your neck of the woods (Irwin) for a couple of years. We actually have a pretty thriving ex"pit" community here in Wilmington (kind of like expats in the rest of the world, but these are folks from Pgh). However, finding a decent sauerkraut pierogi or loaf of Mancini-like bread is still proving difficult :mad:

 

Aww, thanks for the shoutout, Melissa! Your review is so lively and descriptive, and it's like we're there with you. You have a really nice way of including people - it's hard not to join in the fun!

 

Oh - went to Pittsburgh for a wedding this summer and had my first Primanti's experience.

 

O. M. G. The bread. The slaw. The meat. The FRIES. I *will* be finding ways to go back to Pittsburgh.

 

And the wedding had a cookie table (!!) which I'm sure will be your impending wedding, right? :)

 

Looking forward to the last couple of days and the bonus 4 days in Rome. It's starting to get chilly here in the Northeast, and the beautiful Mediterranean sun in your photos is very welcome. I might be the only one hoping your review stretches all through the winter ! (Sorry Stef!)

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[quote name='Cruzin-K']I love the Halloween decorations. I hope they do the same next year. :)

Thanks for the photos of Dubrovnik. It was a great city to explore, but oh my those stairs :eek:[/QUOTE]

The crew of the Serenade really did go all out for Halloween.... it made it so much more fun! Fingers crossed that the crew on your cruise does the same!!!

The stairs on some side streets are really very steep (the photos never seem to show just how extreme they can be). I would hate to have to move furniture into a house.... heck, I would hate to lug my groceries up those steps....lol!

[quote name='Irish Cath']

Wow Melissa, I really am enjoying all of your pictures. And although like everyone else I wish you posted more often ( cos we miss you) its certainly worth waiting for when you do post.

I wanted to comment on the above two pics because firstly we simply cannot seem to pass any kind of dog we meet when we are on vacation because we miss our two guys sooooo much. [COLOR="Red"]We like to think that there is a form of doggie telephones that they communicate through and we tell all of the dogs we meet to please pass the message on to our two boys that we miss them very much and will be home very soon to give them special sausage treats[/COLOR]. ( it's ok we are aware that we are completely insane ) :D:D

Now, back to something a bit more serious! I'm sure it was Ger that gave me a nugget about the rooftops when we visited Dubrovnik on our honeymoon. When we look at the rooftops it seems that all of the tiles are that bright reddish colour but some pics ( including your great one above) shows a clearer image of the roof tiles that are actually not all that red. It seems that these are the roof tiles from before the war in 1991. Something unbelievable like 80 or 90% of the roof's were destroyed and had to be rebuild. Can you imagine how devastated the whole city must have been - makes me so sad.

Anyway that's enough of a takeover from me. Looking forward to what you and CM did on your second last sea day.[/QUOTE]

Hahahahaha! I love the thought of the Doggie Telepathic Network (DTN)! I think I might just try that the next time I am away from them. The summer I lived in Bosnia, my folks watched by dog and cat (both of whom have since passed). I used to Skype my parents and it was all I could do to exchange "pleasantries" with them before I would ask that they put the dog and cat on the webcam so I could talk to them. See, I'm just as insane as you, I guess!

Very interesting about the tiles! I don't know if I had heard that before (and just forgot) or not. It makes perfect sense though. On the plus side, at least Dubrovnik (and most of Croatia) has been able to rebuild. The town in Bosnia where I was in 2008 still had bombed out shells of buildings everywhere (I'm talking like 1 in every 5-10 buildings you walked past).... it was really sad.

Melissa
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[quote name='windjamming']Aww, thanks for the shoutout, Melissa! Your review is so lively and descriptive, and it's like we're there with you. You have a really nice way of including people - it's hard not to join in the fun!

Oh - went to Pittsburgh for a wedding this summer and had my first Primanti's experience.

O. M. G. The bread. The slaw. The meat. The FRIES. I *will* be finding ways to go back to Pittsburgh.

And the wedding had a cookie table (!!) which I'm sure will be your impending wedding, right? :)

Looking forward to the last couple of days and the bonus 4 days in Rome. It's starting to get chilly here in the Northeast, and the beautiful Mediterranean sun in your photos is very welcome. I might be the only one hoping your review stretches all through the winter ! (Sorry Stef!)[/QUOTE]

Thanks Windjamming! I love when you chime in (it always reminds of all of our back and forths on Stef's review last year before our cruises :D

Oh yes, the ever present cookie table at any wedding that takes place in Pgh. I swear, I sometimes think it's more important than the cake! The trick is you or your family (if not Italian) have to know someone Italian (preferably over 40) and then cajole that person and all their Italian friends to make the cookies for your wedding. Really, store bought just doesn't cut it at a "true" Pgh wedding.

And, as you correctly noticed, we put fries on EVERYTHING... from the Primanti sandwich to chicken & steak salads.

BTW - I apologize in advance for the upcoming photos.... day 11 was not very sunny :(

Melissa
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[quote name='Folk Singer']Melissa,

That wasn't you both drinking was it. I would have never believed it.;);)

The pic. of the Gnome in the window was too funny.

Don[/QUOTE]

That gnome cracks me up to this day whenever I look at that photo. I was so hoping to see him again on last year's trip, but I'm afraid we didn't walk to that section of the wall. I would LOVE to know if he's still in that window!!!

[quote name='denisey']Oooooooh! It's almost time to see how CM handles day 11 with only 10 fingers!

Still loving the review![/QUOTE]

Ask and ye shall receive, Denise.... the mystery is about to be solved in the next post.... :D
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[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%202/SAM_2193_zps30f8e9e3.jpg[/IMG]
[COLOR="Purple"]For day 11 onward, we had to get creative in counting. Me, being the awesome daughter that I am, gave CM a reprieve from using her toes and I helped out by lending a finger (or 7) from this point forward (trust me, she was holding up all 10 in this photo).[/COLOR]

After four port-intensive days (2 days in Venice, Ravenna and then Dubrovnik) it was thankfully time for our 2nd sea day. Honestly, in looking at my journal notes, it looks like we took full advantage of a day without plans and did…. well, absolutely nothing….lol!

We started this day much like all the others with breakfast at the Windjammer (where we of course ran into our fellow roll callers, Peggy & Ernie). After breakfast, we just strolled the ship.

At one point, we found ourselves in the shops where I swear, I saw an older gentleman shoplift!!! What I saw was him looking at some junk item (I think it was a cheap watch or something similar). He looked around while the item was in his hand. The next thing I noticed, he had moved away from the shelf where the item “was” and the display it had been on was empty. WHAT?! You can afford to go on a cruise, but you need the thrill of stealing a $10 watch. “Sir” (term used lightly) if you are reading this, you are a first class JERK and LOSER!

Now, if I had actually seen him put the item into his pocket with my own eyes, I would have turned him in without question and faster than you could scream “thief.” However, I did not technically see the item go into his pocket, so I kept quiet. However, I did follow him around a bit and made sure he knew that I was watching him (basically, I wanted to creep the creep out).

Now, if my ire wasn’t already up enough, as I walked out of the store, I walked smack into the middle of the $10 sale craziness. It was like a feeding frenzy!!! People pushing and shoving each other this way and that in the tiny area between the shops where they were having the “sale.”

[B]Disclaimer #25[/B] – I LOVE a good sale. Heck, I have even bought things at these $10 sales in the past. Were they super great bargains? Nope. Were they worth $10? Yep! In particular, I have scored some nice wraps/scarfs as well as some decent gloves and evening purses that I would never want to spend more than $10 on (since I only use them 2-3 times a year if that). So, I am not a hater of these sales, but I don’t like people being rude and pushy….especially in confined spaces. When I was on a previous cruise (I think it was Princess… don’t hate me) the sale was held in one of the dining rooms. It was great! Lots of space to move around, a separate check-out line near the door, etc. It was just set up in a more shopper-friendly manner that made the experience considerably more tolerable, if not actually somewhat pleasant.

Crazy Mom and I made our way out of the chaos, meandered over to the casino where I spent a whopping $5 in the penny slots (yeah, I’m a high roller!). From here, it was time for the art auction…aka Free Champagne Event… so of course we visited. During the auction, the Munchkin even won one of the door prizes! It was a free excursion for two in Barcelona… which we couldn’t use since we were flying straight to Rome once we docked. We had them pick another number and hopefully, whoever won the excursion was able to use it and enjoyed it. No complaints though…. These auctions don’t cost a thing to attend, the sparkling wine (albeit cheap) flows freely and they typically don’t conflict with anything else we want to do (we aren’t “lay around the pool” people).

On our way to the Windjammer for lunch, we dropped off our “Future Cruise” paperwork (we didn’t meet with anyone… we just dropped the slip in the box (we weren’t booking a specific cruise)). While enjoying lunch, we started our passage through the Strait of Messina. We enjoyed it mainly from our aft table outside the WJ, but did venture to other decks for different views.

The weather which has been so pretty that morning, was very quickly taking a turn for the worse right as we were in the middle of the Strait. It went from sunny to windy, chilly and grey in a matter of minutes. So, sadly, my photos of the transit aren’t fabulous….

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[COLOR="Purple"]You can just make out the two "sides" of Italy in the distance[/COLOR]


Except for these which were a bonus:

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Not only was I able to capture the full rainbow, but for the first time EVER, I was able to see where it ended! Seriously, I have never seen the spot where a rainbow ended, until now. I was so excited. Then I suddenly realized something was missing….the leprechaun.

Seriously!?!? I finally find the end of the rainbow and the goofy leprechaun, and his pot of gold, are out stocking up on milk and bread for the approaching storm. Grrrrrrrr….. I seriously considered never again celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in protest, but I decided to give the little guy a break… this time!

Previously, I had planned to tackle the climbing wall today, but the weather was just not cooperating, so I did the next best thing… took a nap. I went back to the room mainly to warm up (yes, it had gotten that chilly). I decided to lie down for just 15-20 minutes while I got my blood circulating to my extremities again. An hour and half later, I woke up, sunglasses still atop my head. I guess I really was exhausted after all the port days!

Tonight was to be our 3rd and final formal night. On our way to dinner, we stopped in the Centrum for what proved to be a great “mini” show put on by none other than the amazing Housekeeping staff. There was only one “show” and it was held in-between the 1st and 2nd dinner seatings.

Wow! These folks really have some amazing “hidden” talents (beyond just creating adorable towel animals and picking up after all us crazy cruisers in a way that makes our tiny cabins actually look neat and organized). One of the female housekeepers turned out to be a truly fantastic singer. It was really awesome being able to see these hardworking folks really having a great time showing off (they definitely deserved to show off!).

This evening at dinner, Cleevdan was actually in rare form (either because his boss gave him a talking-to, or because it was only 20 days and counting until this particular contract was up and he could see his girlfriend (whose contract ended with Serenade’s prior voyage, hence Cleevdan’s moodiness) or because it almost the final day… aka the day diners would be coughing up tips above and beyond the auto-grats). No matter the reason, he was quite pleasant and chatty this evening. In fact, his conversation was all over the place from one topic to the next. It was like he was trying to make up for a week and half of hardly speaking beyond what was required. Anyway, suffice it to say, he was actually quite a joy to be around this evening.

Tonight, CM and I both started with the seafood salad (which consisted of crab, lobster & shrimp atop a jicama slaw). We both agreed that it was pretty tasty. Keeping with the Bobsy Twin theme, we had the same entrée – baked jumbo shrimp. Again, another very good choice (RCCL seems to do seafood rather well in the MDR…. As opposed to steaks…haha!). For dessert, we went our separate ways. I chose the white chocolate mousse with berries and a peppermint stick. This proved to be an odd combination. Peppermint candy and berries just don’t go well together, IMO. It should have been just one or the other with the mousse and that would have been nice. The Munchkin had the angel food cake with bananas and apricot cream and she LOVED it!

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After dinner, the themed party was 70s night. Usually we would have been all over this! Sadly, tonight we both agreed we weren’t up for loud music and were just generally pooped. So, we headed off to our cabin. Turns out it was a good thing we got a lot of rest because the next day, our last day, would prove to be chalk full of one fun activity after the next!

Up Next… Our Last "Cruise" Day :(

CG Edited by kirian
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[quote name='windjamming']
[COLOR=Red] I might be the only one[/COLOR] hoping your review stretches all through the winter ! (Sorry Stef!)[/quote]

Lol -- you're definitely[B] not[/B] the only one wishing that. I absolutely adore Melissa's review and believe nobody on here will leave before she hopefully tells us every tiny detail about Rome to stretch it out as far as possible!

:pabsolutely no need to apologize :p


Stef
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[quote name='denisey']See, you are the best daughter, [COLOR=Red]giving Mom the finger[/COLOR] when she needs it! :)[/quote]

:eek::eek::eek: Is it just me ... or is this a not so nice saying in English as well as it is in German?

I'm sure it wasn't meant that way ... but I almost choked on some coffee when I read that.

:oDarn, I hate when I don't realize a joke at once... it was just that... a joke ...right?

Stef
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[quote name='Kreuzfahrtneuling']:eek::eek::eek: Is it just me ... or is this a not so nice saying in English as well as it is in German?

I'm sure it wasn't meant that way ... but I almost choked on some coffee when I read that.

:oDarn, I hate when I don't realize a joke at once... it was just that... a joke ...right?

Stef[/QUOTE]

Right on all counts! It is not normally a nice thing in English, but it was a joke!

:)
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[quote name='kirian']Once off the wall, we all realized we were starving! So, we headed down one of the side streets (the one that parallels the main street) until we came across an amazing pizza place called Mea Culpa.

One thing I had always remembered about my previous visits to Dubrovnik, was how extremely friendly the people are… and this time was no different. We had an excellent server, great drinks and fabulous pizza. If you stop by here, trust me when I tell you that one pizza is more than enough for two people to share (notice in the photo below that 1/2 is almost as big as the placemat). Here’s what CM and I split (and the server was kind enough to bring it out on two separate plates for us so that we wouldn’t have to split it at the table):

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Dubrovnik/SAM_2094_zpse12d5672.jpg[/IMG]

And here’s Ernie with one of his “Big Beers” (the big beer, small beer things was a running joke throughout the cruise)

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Dubrovnik/SAM_2092_zps369767a7.jpg[/IMG]

So, bellies full, each couple decided to split up and meet back on the ship. CM and I did what we do best… shopped! I was on a mission this visit to get earrings to match a necklace I had purchased on an earlier trip. Dubrovnik makes these special pieces to replicate the buttons worn on the old soldiers’ uniforms. It’s quite a beautiful design IMO. So, we found a little shop and went to town. The silver prices are really good in Croatia and Bosnia (well, to me they are). They also sell by weight. So you might be looking at two pairs of earrings that look similar in size, but they will put each on a scale before giving you the price. I found my perfect earrings and CM ended up buying her own set of “Dubrovnik Button” earrings and necklace. Mission accomplished, I was now free to just browse around the little shops along the street. Of course, I also had to buy some slivovitz…. The fruit and herbal brandies they are known for there. This stuff packs a punch and takes a bit of getting used to. Most of the little shops though will allow you to taste before you buy….
Bonus!

Shopping done, we decided to just relax with a glass of wine at a little café. When the bill came, we suddenly realized they only took Kuna. No credit cards, no Euros… just Kuna… which we had none of. So, off I went in search of an ATM (which wasn’t too hard to find) and took out the smallest amount I could. After paying, we still had 30 Kuna left (about $6). So, we forced down some gelato from another shop (yes, it was pure torture to have to eat that creamy yumminess…lol) and I gave my remaining coins to a street musician playing near the gate as we made our way to the bus stop. We didn’t have to wait long and by 5:30, we were back on the ship.

So, to sum things up, Dubrovnik is an extremely easy town to DIY. It’s also very affordable. The people are fantastic and there is something there for everyone from culture, to history, to shopping, to scenery. If you ever have the chance to visit, please don’t pass up the opportunity.

Up next, Halloween Night!!!!

CG :cool:[/QUOTE]

Hi Melissa...Peggy here

Love the pic of Ernie with his "big beer"...brings back soooo many great memories...hard to believe its been a year already!!
Absolutely love reliving our fabulous cruise through your review..you're doing a great job...can't wait to hear about your experiences in Rome since we'll be returning next year. Maybe we can pic up some tips!
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I'm really enjoying your review! I've read it over the last few days & finally all caught up. We did our 1st Med cruise this past summer (with 3 teens & a family friend) & had such a great time that I'm still reading Med trip reports when I can find them. We're looking to go back to Europe in 2016. A land trip this time to London, Paris & Amsterdam. We loved the cruise, but just wished we had more time in the ports, so we're going to try to slow it down next time, with several days in each city. Can't wait to read about your adventures in Rome.

Tina
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[quote name='denisey']See, you are the best daughter, giving Mom the finger when she needs it! :)[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Kreuzfahrtneuling']:eek::eek::eek: Is it just me ... or is this a not so nice saying in English as well as it is in German?

I'm sure it wasn't meant that way ... but I almost choked on some coffee when I read that.

:oDarn, I hate when I don't realize a joke at once... it was just that... a joke ...right?

Stef[/QUOTE]

Hahahahaha! Denise, that cracked me up and Stef, you cracked me up again with your reply..... :D

Melissa
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[quote name='crusinpeg']Hi Melissa...Peggy here

Love the pic of Ernie with his "big beer"...brings back soooo many great memories...hard to believe its been a year already!!
Absolutely love reliving our fabulous cruise through your review..you're doing a great job...can't wait to hear about your experiences in Rome since we'll be returning next year. Maybe we can pic up some tips![/QUOTE]

Hi Peggy! Yes, I thought this was a great pic of Ernie... glad you liked it, too!

You can bet that my posts on our days in Rome will be just as detailed as the posts from the "cruise" days. Hopefully you will find some useful tips in there that you can use when you go to Rome next year... and hopefully I will be done writing up those post before you leave....haha :eek::p:D

Melissa
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[quote name='wnycruisefam66']I'm really enjoying your review! I've read it over the last few days & finally all caught up. We did our 1st Med cruise this past summer (with 3 teens & a family friend) & had such a great time that I'm still reading Med trip reports when I can find them. We're looking to go back to Europe in 2016. A land trip this time to London, Paris & Amsterdam. We loved the cruise, but just wished we had more time in the ports, so we're going to try to slow it down next time, with several days in each city. Can't wait to read about your adventures in Rome.

Tina[/QUOTE]

Hi Tina - Welcome to the review! Thank you so much for your kind words... I'm glad you are enjoying the ride :) If it makes you feel better, I still read reviews of cruises that were the same or similar to mine. I just love reliving the whole thing. When I am reading a review where someone did something different in the same port, I especially love it because it gives me a chance to "see" whatever it was that I missed the first time.

I think a land-trip will definitely give you that extra time you are looking for. For me, I think that's one of the nice things about cruising first.... you get a feel for places that you might want to go back to and spend more time on a future vacation (as opposed to the places you are happy you only had to spend 6 hours at during a short port day and never need to go back to again :eek:....lol)

I have never been to any of the three cities you mentioned, but I have always heard amazing things about them. I know you will have a fabulous time!!!!

Melissa
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Sorry about leaving you guys in the dark last Sunday and missing my weekly post. I had a slew of computer issues....ugh!

But the good news is that everything has been corrected (well, mostly) and the next post is coming right up!!!

Thank again for putting up with me and my slow pace :p:)

Melissa
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[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%203/SAM_2295_zpsf987556e.jpg[/IMG]

So, this is it. Our last full day aboard the beautiful Serenade of the Seas. While we were sad our cruise was coming to a close, we were also getting excited for our upcoming days in Rome. But Crazy Mom and I weren’t about to mope around the ship this final day. Nope. We had a jam packed day ahead of us…. Which of course, started with breakfast in the Windjammer.

Now, I have told CM that on our next cruise, we have to try breakfast in the MDR at least once (I’m thinking “chocolate day” would be a must-try!), but we really do find it hard to break away from our favorite spot on the aft deck…. And today was particularly spectacular! It was probably the most beautiful morning we had experienced so far, and there were many lovely days, so you can only imagine how amazing today must have been to take top honors. There was a light breeze moving across the sea, the air temperature was a perfect 70 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course) and the sun was in her full glory shining brightly from up above is a perfectly blue sky. Ahhhhhh… this is the life!

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%203/SAM_2233_zpsc68e263a.jpg[/IMG]

After soaking in every last morsel of this most perfect breakfast, we headed to the Centrum for the 9:30a towel folding demonstration. Call me silly, but I never get tired of learning how to fold towels into animals (even though I forget everything I learned as soon as the demo is over….lol). While there, we ran into our cabin neighbor, Peggy, and chatted with her about how we were sort of sad that we never had a towel monkey (although we had plenty of other non-descript animals… seriously, we really couldn’t tell what most of them were, but we liked them just the same). Well, turns out she mentioned this to our cabin steward, James (being neighbors, we had the same steward). He said he wanted to make us a monkey, but couldn’t find any empty hangers in our room to use (believe me, this is entirely plausible because I think we had 2-3 things hung on every hanger we had.. including the extra ones James brought us to begin with…. Remember, CM is the queen of overpacking!).

Peggy to the rescue! She gave James a pants hanger from her cabin and when we got back to our cabin later in the day, this is what was waiting for us:

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%203/SAM_2279_zps6ae46f85.jpg[/IMG]

Now the cabin portion of our cruise experience was complete at last (see, it doesn’t take much to make CM and me happy!)

At 10:30a, there was a Q & A session in the Centrum with Captain Rune, the chief engineer and the hotel director. Crazy Mom got up the courage to ask the Captain the following question, “When you go home, is it weird to drive your little Smart Car after captaining the Serenade?” Oh, CM… only you would think of a question like this. Captain Rune laughed and said it was actually easier to drive the ship since it can go sideways as well as forward and back. Gotta love Captain Rune (he has been our favorite Captain to date!). Someone also asked what he would do if there was a refugee boat nearby in need of assistance. Without hesitation, he said he would divert from our course and itinerary and help in any way he could. Everyone in the Centrum cheered at his response. Did I mention, I love Captain Rune?

Around 11:15a, I finally got my opportunity to climb the wall. Not only did I make it all the way up to the bell, but I did it without breaking a nail. Now that takes talent! It helps that I had the Munchkin, Peggy and Ernie cheering me on.

Noon came and it was back to the WJ for lunch. Afterwards, we headed to the final champagne art auction where yours truly ended up winning the grand prize. It was a print of Sorrento…. I think. I forgot to go and pick it up later that day during the allotted time, so it never made it back home with me (probably a good thing since I would have had to frame it anyway). We also won a smaller print, but it wasn’t our style, so we gave it away. I guess you could say as far as prizes at the auction went, we were 0-3 for the week. We won an excursion we couldn’t use, a print we forgot to pick up and another print that was just kind of ugly. Oh well, we got our fill of free bubbly and learned a little bit about some art. We were happy campers (like I said, it doesn’t take much).

Keeping up our non-stop pace for the day, we headed back to the Centrum at 3:30p for the bean bag (corn hole) toss. I can’t tell you when the last time was I played this game (probably on some previous cruise years ago). The competition was stiff, but somehow I managed a third place win and more importantly, I completed my trifecta of RCCL medals. I had a bronze from this game, a silver from the Quest and a gold from the 60 second challenge. So, like the cabin portion of the cruise experience, my gaming experience was now
complete as well. Thing were going very nicely today!

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%203/8d0648fe-e27e-4450-8456-fc7dda4fe19d_zpsc3cdc65a.jpg[/IMG]

5p was trivia time with fellow roll callers Sarah, Greg, Rio and his friend, Wil. We tied for 2nd place… not too shabby.

The best part of the day though came at 7p when we met the whole gang including Peggy/Ernie, Laura/Scott, Donna/Steve, Suzanne/Mike, and Marla/Dave (sorry for any mispellings) at the Schooner’s Lounge for one last round of drinks and a million photos (where we were assisted by Georgio, the IT Mgr from Greece who we got to play the role of cameraman with all 5 of our cameras for about 15 minutes… he ended up getting one of my WOW cards… it helped that he was pretty easy on the eyes too…. Just saying).

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%203/SAM_2303_zpsd66a14dd.jpg[/IMG]

We had an amazing time!!! Truly, this gang was made up of some of the best, most fun-loving folks we have ever had the good fortune to cruise with and I would consider it a pleasure and honor to sail with them again one day!!!

[IMG]http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y430/kirian88/Med-Venice%20Cruise/Sea%20Day%203/SAM_2301_zpsbcbe37d1.jpg[/IMG]

Dragging ourselves away, we headed to the MDR for our final dinner. I started with the onion soup (it was just ok), then had the lamb shank which was excellent! For dessert, I had the key lime pie… or it might have been a lemon tart… Cleevdan couldn’t give me a straight answer on what exactly it was, but it was good, so it didn’t really matter. CM had the same soup and dessert, but for her entrée she had the daily pasta which was spaghetti with red sauce (she said it was quite good).

Finally, at 10p, we made our way one last time to our cabin to finish packing. We were in bed and fast asleep by midnight… which was a good thing because we had another exciting, jam-packed day coming up!

Rome here we come!!!!

Next up – Disembarking & parting thoughts on the Serenade.

CG
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Still enjoying your ride, Melissa. I went and came back from the Serenade to Greece during your review and loved comparing your thoughts on the ship.

I, too, love the back behind the Windjammer in the sun and took that exact photo to remember it.

Can't wait to hear your experience with Rome. I love that city, but some don't. Can't imagine that!
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  • 3 weeks later...
[quote name='Kreuzfahrtneuling']:confused:are you okay? starting to really worry![/QUOTE]

Hi Stef! I'm so sorry to worry you :( (and I'm sorry for keeping the rest of you wonderful thread followers in suspense these past two weeks). My laptop has been giving me all sorts of trouble (think blue screen of death-type trouble :eek:). I'm waiting for a new one to arrive, but I am going to try to add a new post tomorrow (we have to get off the ship eventually!)... oh wait! Maybe that's why this review is taking so long... my sub-conscious mind doesn't want to get off the ship :p

Melissa
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