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My trip report: Serenade 12-night Western Med (Venice) with many pictures


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Background

 

Cruise vacations are what you make of them, so I always like including a little background information so that you can better understand some of my views. I’m a frequent cruiser (D+ C&A member) even though I’m still working on finishing up my PhD. Since I’m a graduate student, I am very interested in the cost of things. I booked this cruise a little over 30 days before it embarked on a Tuesday special. For this trip, I traveled solo. It was my fourth solo cruise, though by far my longest and first to new ports. I haven’t been to Europe since the late 1990s when I took my high school trip to France, so these ports were a completely new experience (with a relatively short time to plan for them).

 

This thread will be a combination of a trip report and review. I will offer opinions about the ship and stops, but I will also spend time detailing the port stops. Please feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer the to the best of my abilities.

 

Ship: Serenade of the Seas

Embarkation date: 05/17/2012

Length: 12 nights

Ports: Barcelona (Sp), Cannes (Fr), Livorno (It), Civitivecchia (It), Salerno (It), Venice (It), Ravenna (It), Split (Cr)

 

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Columbus Statue by cmong, on Flickr

 

Getting Euros

 

While Royal Caribbean tends to keep the ship currency in US dollars, obviously Euros were needed for most of the ports (except Croatia, which has its own currency). The general opinion of most travelers that I’ve talked to is to simply not worry about currency before leaving and then use ATMs once abroad. While in general this is a good strategy, I personally don’t like the idea of getting cash at the airport as I think it tends to have higher convenience fees if ATMs are available. Since cash would be needed almost immediately upon landing for ground transportation, I wanted to make sure I had some Euros before leaving. I explored several different options (local credit union, online, etc) and, in the end, went to a local Chase Bank branch to order Euros. I do not have banking accounts with Chase, but since I have a credit account with them, I was able to have the currency transaction fee waived. I paid cash when I ordered, and while they listed a 2-day wait, my Euros were available to pick up the next day. The rate was not the absolute best, but I got enough to cover my first few days in Barcelona without having to worry about it.

 

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Port of Barcelona by cmong, on Flickr

 

Flights and transportation

 

As I alluded to before, I was taking this trip on a budget. The most reasonably priced flight for me was a Delta itinerary of Indianapolis – Atlanta – Barcelona which unfortunately had an 8 hour layover in Atlanta. It was not my favorite itinerary, but the wait saved me about $300 on the day I booked. I scheduled my flights on May 14th so that I would be arriving in Barcelona a little after 8:00 AM on the 15th, giving me a few days to adjust my body clock and see Barcelona before getting on the ship.

 

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Top of Ramblas by cmong, on Flickr

 

From Atlanta, Delta seems to fly Airbus 330s to Barcelona. These planes have a business class (I wish) and a 2-4-2 configuration in coach. I managed to snag one of the last window seats when I booked. Each coach seat had a personal video system with a wide selection of music, movies, television shows, and games that were mostly free of charge. I know I’m not the smallest guy in the world, but I’m not the only one who felt the seats were a little “cozy” in terms of width and knee space. It was a little over an 8 hour flight to Barcelona and dinner was provided. I tried my best to get some sleep.

 

Upon arrival in Barcelona, passengers have to clear passport control once deplaning. This was backed up for some reason on our arrival, but signage is in both Spanish and English. Americans need to head for the non-Eurozone passport lines unless otherwise directed. Other than the lineup, this was fairly painless as it consisted of mainly having the officer look at my passport, glance at my face, then stamp the visa page. Once that was done with, passengers can head to the baggage claim to collect luggage. There are no other immigration hurdles and no paperwork to be filled out.

 

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Pl. Catalunya by cmong, on Flickr

 

While the easiest way to get to your hotel will be via taxi, that is probably also one of the priciest options. I decided to take the Aerobus (http://www.aerobusbcn.com/), which is a service that shuttles passengers to several different stops in downtown Barcelona for 5.65 (as opposed to a 20-30 taxi). After collecting luggage, signage is pretty decent to get to the Aerobus loading zone. You can buy tickets from an automated machine if you want to use a credit card (there was a line and some seemed frustrated with the machines) or you can use cash and purchase tickets from the driver. The driver gave me a little bit of a hassle for giving him a 10 Euro note (which I found annoying), so definitely don’t try to pay for 1 or 2 people with a 50 or 100. The most popular drop-off point is the Pl. Catalunya (end of the line) which is located at the top of the Ramblas. I debarked one stop sooner (Pl. Universitat) as I was staying at the Hotel Jazz, which was about a 2-minute walk from the bus stop.

 

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Las Ramblas by cmong, on Flickr

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Ready to enjoy your review! :D

Even though I don't have a Europe trip planned I always enjoy reading your savings strategies! ;) You also have some terrific logistical details here for others traveling on this itinerary...I'll bet they will appreciate that!

Enjoying your photos too!

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Background

 

I’m a frequent cruiser (D+ C&A member) even though I’m still working on finishing up my PhD.

 

 

Does that mean you drink Boilermakers while cruising? Maybe not, I don't eat Buckeyes. Looking forward to the pictures and review.

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Does that mean you drink Boilermakers while cruising? Maybe not, I don't eat Buckeyes. Looking forward to the pictures and review.

 

Can't say that I do ... interestingly, I had never had a Boilermaker until last year. ;)

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Hotel

 

I did not have a lot of time to plan, but one of the items I spent a lot of time on was where to stay in Barcelona. I usually use Priceline and Hotwire when booking hotels, but I approached my stay for this trip very conservatively as I did not know the area and wanted to balance price with safety/location/cleanliness. In the end, I did not have any bids accepted on Priceline. I instead booked two hotels during my initial planning based upon the reviews on TripAdivosr and here on CruiseCritic: Hotel Jazz and Hotel Colon. Hotel Colon was the cheapest with a 120/night single rate and location across from the cathedral in the Gothic Quarter. Hotel Jazz was slightly pricier at 126/night single rate and location near the University of Barcelona. In the end, I chose the Hotel Jazz because of its great reviews (ranked 9 on TripAdvisor when I was looking) and because it was much closer to an Aerobus drop-off and I didn’t want to be wondering Barcelona jet-lagged, hauling my bags, searching for my hotel.

 

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Hotel Jazz room by cmong, on Flickr

 

In the end, I thought that the Hotel Jazz was a great place to stay. When I arrived around 10 AM on the 15th, a room was already available for me. The staff spoke very good English and there were no communication problems. They made a copy of my passport at check-in, so I had to dig that out. The room itself was quite clean and decent-sized. It consisted of a king-size bed, chair, table, desk, desk chair, closet (with safe), and private bathroom. The lights and environmental controls required the key card to be inserted into a slot in the room to be activated. The air-conditioning was quite effective and, since it was in Celsius, I manage at to turn the room into an icebox in short order. Free wifi was available and it was quite satisfactory for my needs … I used video Skype on my iPad to call home without any issues at all. I did not see much of the rest of the hotel, though there was a very nice pool area on the roof. Breakfast could be purchased from the hotel for 11 Euro, but I opted not to do this as that seemed quite pricey.

 

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Hotel Jazz bathroom by cmong, on Flickr

 

I found the location of the hotel to be quite convenient to just about everything except the ship itself. It was literally across the street from the Aerobus drop-off at Pl. Universitat (second to last stop), so it was a short trip with my bags. There were two different metro lines within a couple of minutes of the hotel. It was about a 5 minute walk to the Pl. Catalunya and the Ramblas. At the end of the day, I would not hesitate to book the Hotel Jazz again if I were to return to Barcelona.

 

Exploring Barcelona

 

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Sagrada Familia by cmong, on Flickr

 

I really did not have any specific plans for exploring Barcelona those few days before the cruise. Not knowing how jet-lagged I’d be or how easy it would be to get around, I instead decided to just go with the flow. In the end, I would say that this was the most relaxing route to take, though obviously I did not see as much. I had considered buying a ticket for the hop-on/hop-off busses that run from the Pl. Catalunya (around 25/pp for a day or 35/pp for 2 days), but when I looked at them, there were some big lines that I decided I did not want to wait in. Instead, I spent a lot of time walking the Ramblas, strolling along the marina, and exploring the Gothic Quarter. I never pulled out a map, but instead headed in interesting directions where crowds seemed to be moving. I found the metro to be quite easy to use, and I used it to visit the Sagrada Familia. Before leaving the states, I had purchased several Streetwise maps from Amazon (very useful, IMO), so I could see where the metro lines traveled. Metro tickets were 2 Euro each way, though you could buy a pack of 10 for 10 Euro. There were automated kiosks in the stations that were fairly self-explanatory and could be changed to English. There was a separate automated kiosk if you wanted to use a credit card, though I did not try that. I found the signage of the metro to be clearly marked, directions were clear, and it felt clean and safe.

 

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Pl. Catalunya by cmong, on Flickr

 

Food

 

I had two directives for buying food on my trip … I wanted to keep the costs down and I also did not want to eat at any American venues (such as McDonald’s, Burger King, etc). Since I was traveling alone, the idea of a sit-down restaurant did not sound overly appealing. In the end, I kept my food purchases extremely simple. I visited the Mercat St. Joseph on the Ramblas, which is the fresh food market. While there are many vendors selling fruit, meat, and other items, there are also quite a few take-away eateries. I opted to one on the far-right wall from the entrance that served fresh ham and cheese sandwiches (jamon y queso) for 2.95. This fit my bill … cheap, well-made, fresh, and tasty. I would pack the sandwich in my bag and then either eat it outside or take it back to my hotel room. I would also visit the department store Carrefour (on the top end of the Ramblas) as it sold groceries. This was a good place to buy water, soda, chocolate, or any other food item you might like. Lines tended to be long, but they moved fairly quickly.

 

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La Boqueria by cmong, on Flickr

 

Security

 

I had read and heard quite a few stories about pickpockets on the Ramblas as it is generally full of tourists and very crowded. Upon landing in Barcelona, I put my personal security measures in effect. Instead of a wallet, I used a money/document holder that went around my neck and stayed inside my tucked-in shirt. I kept my messenger bag holding my camera and maps slung across my body and not only looped over one shoulder. My phone stayed in my pocket next to my bag where my hand rested. I left a form of ID and a credit card in my safe, as well as a copy I had made of all of my cards and passport. On the Ramblas itself, I avoided any crowds drawn by street performers. In the end, just being aware of your surroundings is the key point, especially in situations where you can’t keep personal space. Also you have to be wary of anyone who touches you, either a bump or for some manufactured reason (ie, cleaning supposed bird poop off of you).

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Getting to the Ship

 

 

After a couple of days in Barcelona, it was time to head to the ship. Hotel Jazz had a noon checkout, though I headed down at about 10:30 with my large suitcase and messenger bag. I had gone back and forth about how I wanted to get to the ship (again … a balance of convenience and money). In the end, I decided to walk with my luggage down the Ramblas to the Columbus statue at the bottom. I could have also taken the metro down it, but I could handle my bags just fine and did not see the need. It was probably about a mile down the Ramblas, which wasn't too crowded as it was still a bit early and dreary. On the other side of the Columbus monument towards the marina, there is a bus stop for port busses. I boarded the bus (and was the only passenger), paid 2.5 Euro, and was immediately taken to the terminal. This would have been quite an extra walk from the Ramblas (and the ship was not visible from there), so I was glad to take this bus.

 

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Port Bus by cmong, on Flickr

 

Upon arrival, there were a few porters to collect bags. I dropped my bag off (I did not tip and it was not insinuated that I should) and got into the short line that had formed to get into the terminal. I showed my SetSail pass and passport to get in the door, and then there was a small wait to go through security. Once through the metal detectors and bag scanners, I headed to the empty C&A priority line, filled out a health form, and was quickly checked in. Upon receiving my SeaPass, I was told that boarding had not begun yet, though once I left the area, I noticed people heading up the escalator to the ship and boarding. I headed this way, past the duty-free stores in the terminal, had my security picture taken, and was onboard a little after 11 AM. Just a note … once on the ship itself, there was a second bag scanner which I assume was setup to find and confiscate liquor bought at the duty-free shop in-between the check-in security and the ship. Some people I talked to did not have their purchases taken from them while others did … just don’t assume that because you can buy liquor in the terminal that they will let you carry it on.

 

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Bottom of Columbus monument by cmong, on Flickr

 

 

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Gothic Cathedral by cmong, on Flickr

 

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Serenade of the Seas by cmong, on Flickr

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I am curious what seat you had on your ATL-BCN flight. We are booked on that flight in November for our Reflection TA cruise.

 

Francis

 

I was something like 26H ... it was the second-to-last row in the first section of the coach cabin. The seat was fine, though the aisle next to it probably wasn't the best in terms of proximity to the restrooms and people waiting in the aisle. Dinner was served on the way out (I think I had a pasta ... about what you'd expect on an airline). There were several full beverage services (wine/beer included, liquor at an up-charge) and more opportunities for water as well. A pillow, blanket, and headphones were all provided in seats upon boarding.

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