Serenade of the Seas picture heavy fun review–12 day Med cruise incl DIY port trips!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Cinque Terre (La Spezia part six)

 

 

Corniglia continued

 

 

 

We made it down here -- those steps were killer!

 

After changing in our swim gear we were ready to tackle the sea – or so I thought. Naive old me. The kid had some serious rejections. First of all the water was moving – duh it’s the sea! Plus it was cold – again duh – we’re in Northern Italy at a stony coastal bay. Third – there were algae on the ground – sigh I gave up. He hated it. I wanted to describe the snorkelling to him (and I really was very patient) but he didn’t want to try it – no way. Oh well. He did go into the water after all, swam a tiny circle and was out again in less than a minute. Even the inflatable waterball I brought couldn’t convince him to go in anymore. Bummer – somehow I had hoped for a different reaction. But it’s his decision afterall.

 

I didn’t want to miss out on snorkelling though, just because the kid was being a sissy, so I left him sitting there by our stuff and headed out there to snorkel by myself. Bad mom? I don’t care – he had his chance. No worries, I didn’t leave him there for long, but I must say that the snorkelling here was fantastic and I’d love to come back to try out all kinds of different Cinque Terre spots for that! After a while I came back, dried off (thanks Nazareth for letting us take the cabin towels) and we changed back into our regular clothes.

 

After having been gone for an hour, we met up with Tanja again. I had assumed that she would have used the spare time to sit in the shade in one of the many cafes… But no – my oh so smart wife (not in the last hour) decided to hang out in the roaring sun all hour long without sitting down anywhere.

 

???

 

Words fail me.

 

So now she had a gigantic headache. We decided it would be best to head back to the ship and skip the next trail part to Manarola. We absolutely loved the part we hiked and I was stoked about having snorkelled in Cinque Terre, but it was enough for one day. We were all a bit tired -- and everybody knows how awful a mean headache can be (or worse – a wife with a mean headache… Love you honey!). We started to head to the train station.

 

To get to the train station of Corniglia you had to descend a gazillion stairs.

that's the station waaay down there

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This downhill workout (at least it wasn't UPhill) didn’t really help to lighten Tanja’s headache at this time. But somehow we managed.

By the way, they have a free shuttle service from the Corniglia station to town with Minibusses. But space was limited and the line of people wanting to use it pretty long.

 

Down on the platform Tarik found what would become his favourite Italian gadget

 

Cold tap water on public places pretty much everywhere. Sheesh – I much preferred the ocean, but oh well if this makes him happy – so be it.

 

More to come!

[celly]

Just to tell you how much I enjoy reading your review and travel story! I am searching the board every day looking for your review, you are doing an excellent job and have a very funny way of writing.

We have also been on on the Serenade twice, both times Alaska. It is a wonderful ship.

 

(By the way, I can not add smileys into the text, only the ones below. No icons to the right to choose.)

 

Thank you so much for all the time and effort you are putting in this review and for all the great pictures and your sense of humour.

 

Have a great weekend!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Cinque Terre (La Spezia part seven)

 

The train to La Spezia arrived after about 20 minutes once we got to the platform. It was full, but we could still manage to grab three seats. In La Spezia we started to head back to the ship. Passed some strange stuff

 

What the heck?

 

 

Once we got back to the harbour it started to thunder and sprinkle a bit.

 

This is the ferry station to Cinque Terre by the way…when we passed by here in the morning there was a sign in front saying they would open at 9:15 a.m. So if you plan on taking the ferries…don’t feel bad to sleep in a bit. The drop off point for the ship shuttle busses is all the way in the back of this picture -- left of this red building by the way. That's the Serenade in the background!

 

See the weather getting worse?

 

 

This weather somehow seemed to follow us all cruise long. Beautiful sunshine during the daytime, thunder and (mostly) a few drops of rain in the evening or at night. I was pretty relieved that we didn’t continue our hike in this weather though.

 

Back on the ship early we for once didn’t have any problems finding seats in the park café area. The pool was nice and empty and I believe Tarik found room to play on the basketball court as well. A nice peaceful late afternoon.Tanja's headache was a lot better thanks to our pharmacy kit we brought along.

 

Although we didn’t manage to do half of the stuff we planned, we loved the impressions we got from this part of Italy. This evening – once again – we skipped the official show –sorry folks, but we rather had fun at the 80’s trivia in the schooner bar. Later on we went into the Vortex nightclub, but left very soon again because of pure boredom and fatigue.

 

What did we learn in Cinque Terre:

 

Don’t stress if things don’t turn out the way you planned – life goes on!

 

Snorkeling in Cinque Terre rocks!

 

Tarik is one great hiker with much more endurance than we thought!

 

Pesto and wine are a heavenly combination.

 

 

Next up: Rome!

[Wriggler]

I am searching the board every day looking for your review,

 

Hi

 

You can subscribe to the thread by going to the top of the page and choosing Thread Tools - you will get an email when a new post has been added - makes it easier than looking through the threads

 

Carol

[emeraldcity]

Another armchair traveler checking in to thank you for taking the time to post. There are two places I have on my "MUST" list that I need to visit yet in my life ... Alaska and Rome. So I'm eager to read about your next stop. I hopped on this thread this morning for a leisurely read with my coffee and bagel. The remaining coffee has gone cold and I really need to get the leftover cream cheese back into the frig, but I've been patiently hitting next at the end of each string and I am awed by the beauty you encountered in your incredible adventure.

 

I tend to be a rather obsessive planner myself, but I also know the value of adjusting for circumstances as they present themselves ... because the unplanned experiences can sometimes be far richer than what we originally had in mind.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Just to tell you how much I enjoy reading your review and travel story! I am searching the board every day looking for your review, you are doing an excellent job and have a very funny way of writing.

We have also been on on the Serenade twice, both times Alaska. It is a wonderful ship.

 

(By the way, I can not add smileys into the text, only the ones below. No icons to the right to choose.)

 

Thank you so much for all the time and effort you are putting in this review and for all the great pictures and your sense of humour.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Hi Celly,

 

Welcome to the review! Thank you so much!

 

I bet the Serenade is fabulous for Alaska...all those sea views must blow you away there. Still, it's (most of the times) so cold here in Germany that I'd rather spend my vacations in countries with a sun-guarantee:). I would however consider a cruise on the Serenade to the Norwegian Fjords ---hint hint to RCI:D. Just as cold I guess, but the departure would be pretty much right on our doorstep.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Another armchair traveler checking in to thank you for taking the time to post. There are two places I have on my "MUST" list that I need to visit yet in my life ... Alaska and Rome. So I'm eager to read about your next stop. I hopped on this thread this morning for a leisurely read with my coffee and bagel. The remaining coffee has gone cold and I really need to get the leftover cream cheese back into the frig, but I've been patiently hitting next at the end of each string and I am awed by the beauty you encountered in your incredible adventure.

 

I tend to be a rather obsessive planner myself, but I also know the value of adjusting for circumstances as they present themselves ... because the unplanned experiences can sometimes be far richer than what we originally had in mind.

 

Hi emeraldcity,

 

What a great comment. The part about the coffee and the bagel flatters me like no other. ...and I totally agree with you about the grandeur we were able to witness ... and I haven't even reached telling you about half of our adventures yet. Hope you stay with this thread despite the lack of coffee intake:).

 

That's so funny you just wrote about the value to adjust to circumstances ... wait for my first written post on Rome (I just wrote it while you posted)...let's just say, we came to a similar conclusion.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Day 4 -- Civitavecchia

 

Here are the cruise compasses for that day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

more to come!

[celly]

Hi

 

You can subscribe to the thread by going to the top of the page and choosing Thread Tools - you will get an email when a new post has been added - makes it easier than looking through the threads

 

Carol

 

Thank you Carol, I learned something after all those years.......

[Hobie]

Seth,

Thanks for your note. Yes, I'm excited about next week's cruise. One week from today I'll be in Cannes!

 

Our itinerary is: Cannes, Livorno, Rome, Athens, Ephesus, Santorini and Salerno. I have never been to any of those destinations.

 

I have a little bit longer air flight then you. 4 1/2 hours Los Angeles to Atlanta and 9 hours Atlanta to Barcelona.

 

i wish that you and Tarik were there to hold my hand!

 

Thanks again for your wonderful review.

 

Hobie.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Day 4 -- Civitavecchia

 

(Rome part one of six)

 

The plan for today was wrapped around our prebooked Colloseum third ring tour at 12:00, which should bring us into those sections, which you don’t normally get to see. Since we would have our Colloseum tickets, we thought we might as well look at the Forum, since it was included in the Colloseum entry price (but of course not only because of this).

 

Whoohoo, this was the ONE port we’d been to before! We felt like pros and loved it. Feel free to check out our first time in Rome in my Adventure review 2012.

At 7:00 am we left the ship and waited for a shuttle bus…we didn’t want to wait for long, since last year they started the busses quite a while later. We thought, okay, we’ll give them 5 minutes. After that time we started walking a few seconds towards the shore, just to see the busses arrive way in front…so we wandered back to wait for them. We only had to wait 5 more minutes till they manoeuvred around and stood facing the right (coastal) direction again. Then we were off to the port entrance…this time per bus. If you decide to walk … which isn’t allowed here either…but doesn’t seem to be enforced in the mornings – you can. It’s not dangerous here. There are even pedestrian signs telling you where to go. Just make sure to stay to the right of this building

 

The port entrance is in the back of it, but there’s no walkway to the left…plus you might run into security here afterall.

 

Anyway – we met another family on the way to Rome who would sort of be part of our cruise ever since. You know we always ran into Tatiana and Steven…they were the GOOD couple we always met. …and I guess where there’s a good enjoyable part there always has to be an evil counterpart. No – not evil – just overwhelming and a warning to never become like them.

 

If you read this dear family – please don’t be mad – your way of handling your vacation is absolutely up to you and might just be perfect for you! …but to us it was a warning. I am an obsessive planner, I think you might have noticed that by now. But this Mom topped me in sheer “Verbissenheit” ...sorry, don’t know an equivalent English term… It basically means to hang on to your planned schedule with clenched teeth.

She had the fastest possible walking pace – no matter if her family (husband and kids) could keep up or not. She was always the very first off the ship hurrying toward the next checkpoint of the day and they sure were one of the last to return in the evenings. We would basically see them at every activity we joined or walked by. She seemed determined to get the maximum possible out of her vacation – just that neither of them looked like they had any fun doing it. For us it was a warning example to never be as obsessed with having to do or see it all. We actually really appreciated seeing them hurrying around all the time – it sort of grounded us and we actively tried to take some pace out of our own vacation. Thank you dear family – thank you indeed!

 

But back to our voyage to Rome:

Since the shuttle busses started to tour so early, we were able to catch the 7:34 train to Rome.

The walk to the station is real easy… just follow the main street with the ocean at your right side and you can’t help but stumble directly onto the station. It’s a 10 minute walk once you reached the port entrance either by bus legally (2 minute ride) or on foot illegally (10 minute walk). Be sure to get a BIRG ticket for the day in Rome…this time we almost got the wrong tickets, because we ordered two tickets for Rome and back…last year that worked out fine with getting the “right” Birg tickets. You can use the Birg tickets all day in Rome for the metro and all public busses. This is how your ticket has to look like!

 

 

Make sure you validate it by pushing it into the machine right at the first platform. The old orange one was broken – you needed to step further a few steps to find the new grey machine around the corner! It needs to be pushed in with the arrow in front and the left side of the ticket close to the left side of the slot in order to work correctly.

 

The train was almost empty! It was a wonderful ride. We relaxed and enjoyed looking at the scenery. We exited at Roma Termini after one hour and nineteen minutes and changed to the Metro. This is quite a walk. Roma Termini is just HUGE! But this time we were able to find a walkway with lots of moveable bands to lead us there….where were these cool thingies last year?

Anyway, even with these bands it was quite a way to the Metro. We took the blue line to the Colloseo station. Just 2 simple stops.

 

Even the metro was almost empty. The ride was fast and easy. It spits you out right by the Colloseum.

 

More to come!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

i wish that you and Tarik were there to hold my hand!

 

Hobie.

 

Hi Hobie,

 

Lol-- that's so cute!

 

Stef

[relaxlynn]

Hi Celly,

 

Welcome to the review! Thank you so much!

 

I bet the Serenade is fabulous for Alaska...all those sea views must blow you away there. Still, it's (most of the times) so cold here in Germany that I'd rather spend my vacations in countries with a sun-guarantee:). I would however consider a cruise on the Serenade to the Norwegian Fjords ---hint hint to RCI:D. Just as cold I guess, but the departure would be pretty much right on our doorstep.

 

Stef

 

Stef,

 

Regarding the fjords at your doorstep, we were on Brilliance last year (sister ship to Serenade) sailing 19 May and the weather was so nice that a sweater was too warm (and no rain). Beautiful snow caps and only one mountain pass was still blocked with snow. The Queen was even in town the day we were in Bergen. So something to consider, we left from Amsterdam.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Rome (part two of six)

 

First thing we wanted to do was exchange our internet voucher into a “real” ticket. Even before 9:00 am the line for the regular collosseum tickets was insane! I’ll show you pictures later. If you have a ticket or a voucher, you get to pass the whole line on the left hand side and move on to the ticket booths (if you have a voucher) or to the entry machines if you have actual tickets. We went up to the ticket booth with not one single person in front of us which felt really strange, just having walked past minutes and minutes of standing and waiting people in the regular line. Since we booked the third ring tour, we each got a sticker additionally to the regular tickets. Once we had the tickets we passed the long line of waiting people into the other direction to get to the Forum. Our Collosseum tour wouldn’t start till 12:00 so we had 3 hours time to check out the Forum.

 

To get to the Forum from the Collosseum, you walk towards and past the Arch of Constantine…the only huge Arch next to the Collosseum that you can actually walk around. You keep walking down that street with the Forum on your right hand side until you get to this building:

 

 

This is the entrance. We were here around 9:20 am. The line you see is once again only for people without tickets. This time (as a proud owner of a ticket) you skip the line to the right side to go directly to the entry machines to slide through your ticket.

The line here was miniscule at 9:20…so if you want to buy collosseum tickets because somehow you forgot to do so beforehand… DO IT HERE, wait in this tiny line and then walk to the Collosseum and skip the gigantic line! By the time we left this entrance again at 11:30am to head to the Collosseum as well it was another story…the line had grown and reached half way down the street to the Arch of Constantine! Get there early – or even better: buy the tickets online before you go!!!!!!!!!!!

 

But now without further ado… The Roman Forum:

 

It’s basically all about ancient stones with a history to it.

 

Some are enourmous

 

 

 

Some are only partially left standing, but real pretty

 

And the part we were looking forward to the most was really hard to find and looked really unspectacular:

 

 

This is the “Umbilicus Urbis” – the navel of the world. The center of the ancient Roman empire and a place where our human world is supposed to be connected to the underworld of the Gods. Cool, isn’t it? It’s this small red round stone piece of rubble we’re sitting in front of. We found it! YES!

 

More to come!

[ElizabethA]

Stef,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this review, I am gripped and find myself logging in more often to see if you have posted more. I am also on the Serenade in October with Melissa and co.

 

I was particularly interested in your Cinque Terre review, one of the areas I am most looking forward to. I might avoid those stair though:D

 

Please keep the information coming

 

Liz:)

[Motleu]

Great review!

[JasonTehGreat]

Did I read correctly.....are 12-14 year olds invited to "The Quest"?

 

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Forums mobile app

[trackies]

I truly appreciate the time and effort involved in your cruise review. Your information is very helpful and entertaining! We are doing this exact cruise in 2014 on the Splendour in June. Thanks for all the tips. Liz

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Sorry folks,

It was a very busy sunday, so there was no chance to post...but I'm back today and will post the next part once I've written it today.

 

 

Hi to ElizabethA, Motleu and Trackies. Welcome to the review and thank you!

 

Jason,

 

I believe they had a separate quest for the teens in the fuel night club. They said at the adult quest that it would be adult content and each parent should decide whether or not to let their kids attend.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Rome (part three of six)

 

Forum continued

 

To understand a bit about the different structures we took a walk through guide from a travel book (from the local library) and copied it…this way we only had to carry a bunch of loose papers, which we could throw away afterwards. It worked out really well. Following some impressions from the Forum…I won’t tell you what you see, so you’ll still have fun exploring it on our own.

 

See me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a hard time finding this site as well – we sort of assumed it would be a yard, that you could wander around in, but it’s only possible to take a look from the side. Bummer.

 

 

Tarik’s favourite stone structure of the Forum…..sigh!

 

 

 

 

And next we’re headed out of the Forum to go explore this incredible building!

 

 

The Forum was really amazing. But I think if we wouldn’t have had our walk through guide, we would have been lost and it could have been even boring, since you really need the story behind the structures. We were happy we didn’t have a tour though. Once the tours started massively at around 11:00 the site was stuffed and it was no more fun to walk around anymore. Plus it was getting hotter and hotter. We decided to leave the hordes to head over to the Collosseum. It took us 2 hours to explore this sight as thoroughly as we wanted and to see all the things we wanted to see here (only missed Ceasar’s ashes…must have walked right by it without noticing).

 

Next up: Collosseum third ring tour!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Rome (part four of six)

 

Collosseum third ring tour

 

The lines for non ticket or voucher holders had grown to an enormity which was unbelievable…How could anybody in the back hope to be admitted that same day? Absolute horror!

 

Whatever you do… buy your tickets in advance!

 

This line continued all the way to the Arch of Constantine….which is a lot if you’re standing in a line! The point where you get to enter the Collosseum is a little further up than the second umbrella in the picture --- by no means you’re at the ticket booths then. If you believe you’re almost there once you made it to the inside---think again. From here on there was an even longer line, that almost went half way around the Collosseum – but at least you were out of the roaring sun then.

 

If you have a ticket or a voucher you get to pass all that on the left hand side….Cool! For people with vouchers there was now also a little line --- but that was doable. Since we already had our tickets from the morning, we were able to walk past even the little line and go right in. Life was good!

 

Like I said, we booked the third ring tour. They have certain times a day when this tour starts. The English ones (also Spanish and Italian available) which are manageable for a cruise day tourist started at 9:40 or 12:00. They were sold out a week before the cruise started. You’re supposed to meet by the elevator (there is only one) – there is a meeting point sign there as well, but we didn’t see it until we already met our group.

 

This is Tanja and Tarik, proudly showing off their third ring stickers.

 

After a couple of minutes waiting we met our guide Francesca. She was great! She told us so much in a fun, getting you excited about what you hear voice. It was wonderful! We all got little audio thingies in which we could hear what she said over a tiny microphone. We didn’t really need it. Tarik was bummed, because he thought it’s a German audioguide…this is his face when he found out otherwise…oh and that’s Francesca in the background!

 

Let the tour begin….

 

...by opening up an otherwise locked passway to the arena…..

 

 

What a grand way to enter the Collosseum with no masses around you at all! That platform is reserved for the third ring tours ...saying right now just for us...20 people max! This tour really rocks!

 

More to come!

[Ebear]

For a second there Stef I was truly concerned that the nightmare family was me......... Until you made reference to the nightmarish level of planning and then I knew it couldn't be! I was the opposite, tried to plan but didn't stick to it as we were usually too hot. Anyhow, loving the review, it's like reliving our holiday. Keep it up x

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

For a second there Stef I was truly concerned that the nightmare family was me......... Until you made reference to the nightmarish level of planning and then I knew it couldn't be! I was the opposite, tried to plan but didn't stick to it as we were usually too hot. Anyhow, loving the review, it's like reliving our holiday. Keep it up x

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Hi Emma,

 

Lol -- you were very pleasant! How could you have thought for one second I could think of you as a nightmare? I'm not quite easily tempted into such harsh descriptions of anybody -- but that family just was one tiny bit too much. No worries -- it it none of our CC friends. I do have pictures of them (to remain a constant warning in our private family vacation photo book) -- but because I want them to keep their privacy I won't post them.

 

You all were wonderful and it was so much fun to be on a cruise with "known" faces. Thank You!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Rome (part five of six)

 

This platform is really cool – it’s a pretend arena floor.

 

 

 

Look at this – all this space all to myself. The only difficult part was to listen to Francesca with one ear and to translate simultaneously into German, so Tarik wouldn’t feel left out completely. After Francesca was done with her explanations we still had a couple of minutes to enjoy the platform and look around.

 

Tanja and Tarik in front of the Senators seats.

 

The next location this tour visits is the underground of the Colloseum. Once again we got to walk through otherwise closed gates and took the stairs down into the Catacombs.

 

The door in the very back leads to the Gladiators living and training area.

 

Now we’re underneath the platform! Sooo cool! You get to see the spaces where thousands of slaved moved the elevators, A gigantic passage way to let ships enter the arena for water battles, a half circled “prep” room…where they prearranged the animals to be “used” that day in separate display -cages.

 

The arched cages with the spot light were for the animals to be up next. The floor of these cages had a cool construction with a sloped platform in the middle and flowing water a little lower to the sides to make manual cleaning almost unnecessary.

 

This is where the water was flowing off to cleanse all the gunk away. On the other side of the Collosseum there is the equivalent hole a little higher to let in this water…very cool planning for such an ancient building.

 

More to come!

[Mycraft]

Stef...I love such tours and places where you can go normally nobody is allowed...where did you booked it? We've been to Colloseum 2011 but only at the public places...

 

btw.

Thanks for the detailed review...in only 10 days i also will be there...so excited...