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

Ahem…. Oh, hi there! Welcome aboard – glad you could join the ride. You’re in for a quite an adventure. So sit back, relax and get ready to travel the Mediterranean with Melissa (me) and Malana (my mom)!

First a couple of disclaimers (the start of what will be many disclaimers I suspect, through this review):

1. This is my first cruise review (in other words, be kind!)

2. I’m not cool and my mom isn’t crazy (well, not really), but I had to come up with a cool title to rival Middle Aged Drama Queen

3. This cruise took place Oct 22, 2013 - Nov 3, 2013. The shame I feel at being so delayed in writing this review can’t be fully expressed. You’ll just have to trust me when I say my head couldn’t be hanging any further down.

OK, disclaimers 1-3 out of the way… oh wait, one more….

4. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. If I offend anyone throughout this journey, I truly don’t mean to (honest!)

4.a. There will be lots of disclaimers in this review…. Fair warning.

Alright, now that that’s out of the way… on with the show!

........

Melissa

Having sailed this itinerary looking forward to your review.

Ok I am ready and waiting for your review , slightly delayed ! Cheers, Buzz.

Having sailed this itinerary looking forward to your review.

Ok I am ready and waiting for your review , slightly delayed ! Cheers, Buzz.

Yeah!!!!!! I have followers!!!! I'm feeling encouraged :D - thank you both!!!!

Melissa

We are heading to the Med in November. Eagerly awaiting your review.

Ready when you are :D

LOL! Ok, Ok , I will post Chapter 2 ASAP then since I have folks eagerly waiting on it :p (which truly makes me feel very humbled and inspires me to keep at it!)

Seriously - y'all are the best!

Melissa

LOL! Ok, Ok , I will post Chapter 2 ASAP then since I have folks eagerly waiting on it :p (which truly makes me feel very humbled and inspires me to keep at it!)

 

Seriously - y'all are the best!

Melissa

Subscribing!

Can't wait for your recap of adventures. :)

Subscribing!

Can't wait for your recap of adventures. :)

OMG - You're "subscribing"... I've never had a subscriber before... this is seriously so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did I wait so long to do this review?????

Ok in your honor, Celebrity, let's go ahead and post Chapter 2 a day early :)

........

Hey – howdy! Glad you’re still with us.... awesome :D

.........

Attention! Attention! Fasten your seat belts for a ride on the way-way-back machine where we will journey to where this adventure all started….. Picture it, a Thanksgiving dinner table, Southport, NC 2012…..

Bob (my dad), Malana (aforementioned "Crazy Mom"), Mike (my brother) & me (aforementioned "Cool Girl") are finishing up a most fabulous Thanksgiving dinner prepared by….moi! Here’s the conversation:

Crazy Mom: So, I was thinking it would be great to take a family trip

Me: (not out loud, but in my mind): OMG – is it still just the four of us around the holiday table???? Obviously my brother will never get married, but what’s up with me??? (disclaimer #5 – I was married for 10+ years… lesson learned, I guess….lol!)

Me: (out loud this time): Sweet!!!! What were you thinking?

Crazy Mom: Your dad and your brother have never been on a cruise before, so what if the 4 of us did a family cruise… just something short out of Charleston… instead of exchanging gifts at Christmas.

Me: Sweet!!!

Mike (brother): I’m not interested. I’m trying to save my money to move back to Pittsburgh.

Me: (not out loud, but in my mind again): Huh?! People don’t move BACK to Pittsburgh after they have moved to the beach. Am I even related to this person next to me or was there a screw-up in the nursery during one of our post-natal stays?

Dad: No, I don’t want to do that.

Me: (again, in my mind): Seriously?! Do I know you two? What is wrong with you??? CM, just suggested a “cruise”!!! Do you need a dictionary to look up the meaning of “cruise”??? Oh wait, this is Dad…. Bless his heart, he doesn’t like to travel further from home than a 5 mile radius.

Disclaimer #6 – “Bless his/her/its heart” is a phrase used by Southerners in lieu of “He/She/It is such a loser/idiot/goofball, etc….” It’s the Southern way of saying something mean without sounding mean.

Me: (out loud this time):Well,if they don’t want to go, that doesn’t me we shouldn’t go (“we” meaning Crazy Mom and Cool Girl).

Mom: I agree. You two can stay home and we’ll go without you. Melissa and I will have more fun that way anyway.

Score one for Crazy Mom!!!!!

So, it’s decided. Mom and I will start planning a cruise, but to where and when?????

………

Yay Melissa, I'm glad you are going to write a review of our trip. Better late than never and better you than me. It was a wonderful cruise but I can hardly remember it so I am waiting to hear what you have to say.

Lynn (and Karl)

Yay Melissa, I'm glad you are going to write a review of our trip. Better late than never and better you than me. It was a wonderful cruise but I can hardly remember it so I am waiting to hear what you have to say.

 

Lynn (and Karl)

Is there something even cooler than "OMG," because if there is, I want to type it?!?! Seeing your name pop up in my review warms my heart! You and Karl played such big role in making our cruise (and the Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrol call) memorable. I am positively THRILLED that you are here!!!!

I hope I can do "our" cruise justice in my review :)

Melissa

Looking forward to your review, already enjoying the prelude.

Yay Melissa, I'm glad you are going to write a review of our trip. Better late than never and better you than me. It was a wonderful cruise but I can hardly remember it so I am waiting to hear what you have to say.

 

Lynn (and Karl)

Yahhhh, Melissa!! So looking forward to hearing your perspective of our cruise! So far so good!! Way to go 'DIL'!

Enjoying this already and the belated review hasn't even started yet! :-)

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

Subscribing. Your writing style is cracking me up.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I also sailed last year but did the other itinerary (Med and Greek Isles) in August. Now you're making me consider writing a review! Either way this seems like it's going to be great. Subscribing!

Hi Melissa,

:D:D:DYou did it!!! I'm so proud of you!!!:D:D:D

...and what a fantastic, addiction-causing start! Like a book you can't lay down which will make you stay up all night reading! Damn, Melissa, this will rock! Can't wait for the rest. Subscribing and eagerly awaiting the next post! You go girl!

Stef

Hello - can't wait to read some more and relive the cruise from a different view point.

I was on the ship with you and am busy looking at 2015 too - considering transatlantic. Your Brilliance cruise sounds amazing!

Definitely waiting for more

;)

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hey Melissa,

We had such a fantastic time on the cruise with you guys.....it seems so long ago...can't wait to relive it again through your review..way to go girl!!

Ernie and Peggy

Ahem…. Oh, hi there! Welcome aboard – glad you could join the ride. You’re in for a quite an adventure. So sit back, relax and get ready to travel the Mediterranean with Melissa (me) and Malana (my mom)!

 

First a couple of disclaimers (the start of what will be many disclaimers I suspect, through this review):

1. This is my first cruise review (in other words, be kind!)

2. I’m not cool and my mom isn’t crazy (well, not really), but I had to come up with a cool title to rival Middle Aged Drama Queen

3. This cruise took place Oct 22, 2013 - Nov 3, 2013. The shame I feel at being so delayed in writing this review can’t be fully expressed. You’ll just have to trust me when I say my head couldn’t be hanging any further down.

OK, disclaimers 1-3 out of the way… oh wait, one more….

 

4. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. If I offend anyone throughout this journey, I truly don’t mean to (honest!)

4.a. There will be lots of disclaimers in this review…. Fair warning.

Alright, now that that’s out of the way… on with the show!

 

........

 

Melissa

I sailed the Serenade in August, '13 and anxious to compare and comment, if possible.

Melissa!!! So happy you started the review! I was just thinking that we hadn't seen many Mediterranean reviews yet this year. Really looking forward to hearing about the adventures of cool you and your crazy-only-in-good-way mom!!

And if it makes you feel better, I've posted 6 days of my March NCL Breakaway cruise review but for whatever reason have completely procrastinated on the 7th and last day. So in a virtual way I guess I'm still on that cruise ... And you haven't even started your fun 12 days yet! :)

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

I'm following along, too! Better late than never!!

Hi folks! First let me say how honored I am that so many of you have "subscribed" to my review... of course, now the pressure is really on :D

I do have to give a shout out to a couple of people.....

Yahhhh, Melissa!! So looking forward to hearing your perspective of our cruise! So far so good!! Way to go 'DIL'!

Laura & Scott - I am so happy you joined the ride! I will try to do our cruise justice. BTW - for those of you following along, Laura and Scott are my secret future in-laws ("secret" in that their son doesn't know we are to be married). This will make sense halfway through the cruise :p

Hey Melissa,

 

We had such a fantastic time on the cruise with you guys.....it seems so long ago...can't wait to relive it again through your review..way to go girl!!

 

Ernie and Peggy

Peggy & Ernie - Yay!!!! You're here! You will actually come into the review later today (if I can get that chapter written by the end of the day....). Note to the fellow subscribers, Peggy & Ernie had the cabin next to ours. They were a trip!

Now, we met Laura, Scott, Peggy, Ernie, Lynn, Karl and many, many others on our Roll Call (which was very active). I have to say, this truly added to a wonderful cruise experience as we felt we "knew" so many people before we even got on board.

Melissa