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

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Venice (part seven of thirteen)

 

Evening and night

 

 

In the evening we watched another Centrum show:

 

Jack and his magic beans. It was cute and fun to watch.

 

 

 

Sigh – now what's up next will be tough even to write about it, but I’ll try to swallow my aggravation and continue. Remember that we chose this itinerary because of the romantic overnight stop in Venice? Tanja and I were really looking forward to a romantic night, strolling around deserted streets, seeing St. Mark’s square at night and heading into a romantic wine bar which would be opened late.

 

First we had a nice and relaxed late dinner in the pretty empty MDR. Then we brought Tarik to the cabin and made sure he had our cellphone number and everything else he would need. He wanted to crash anyway, since it was a long day. We finally left the cabin a little before 10:30 pm.

 

We had heard the cruise director say that we could stay out all night – or did we misunderstand him? We decided to doublecheck with the guy at the gangway, who scanned our seapasscards. Big mistake --- worst mistake all cruise long! He told us that we’d have to be back by midnight.

 

Ahhhh -----only one and a half hour to go?

 

We asked again: Really? We have to be back at midnight? We thought that we could stay out all night in Venice?

 

Answer: No, this gangway will only be open until midnight!

 

Well – to calm down every future cruiser booked on this itinerary right away: don’t listen to this! Of course it was possible to return all night long---they did close this gangway and I believe the main terminal building at midnight --- but they opened up a small check in plank down on deck two instead with an own security tent in front of it….

 

We didn’t find out about this valuable piece of information until 6:00 am the next morning though… We thought that if we’re not back on the ship by midnight, we’d be camping outside…with the kid inside…no way to get to him if anything happened…we couldn’t let that happen. So from now on we were on a severe timelimit. We almost jogged to the people mover…oh fun, it’ll run only till 11:00pm. So now we knew we’d have to calculate even more of our precious time to head back on foot over that tall bridge. On the Piazzale Roma we decided we wouldn’t have enough time to take a vaporetto all the way to St. Mark’s. Bye bye romantic square at night. We rushed over the first bridge over the Canale Grande and just started walking towards town…Venice is pretty dead after a certain time – since we didn’t get to go to St. Mark’s square at night I don’t know if it would have been any better there. We ended up walking over the Canale Grande again one bridge further down. We didn’t find an open bar and were too scared to keep on walking because of the time it would take us to get back to the ship. Okay – Improvisation… There was a kiosk that was still open We got two cute small screwtop bottles of Italian wine and headed to the steps of a nearby illuminated church.

 

(OUR churchsteps during the day time – you can even see the little blue kiosk on the left)

 

 

These would have to do. We sat down on the steps, toasting with our two little bottles and took in the atmosphere.

 

 

 

We were across the railway station and there was still some coming and going. Shortly after we sat down, even the little kiosk closed down. Sigh, somehow I expected this evening to be altogether different. We sat on those steps chatting and sipping our wine while looking at the dark Canale Grande. We tried to at least not rush this part.

 

After finishing our wine however it was back to frantic rushing mode, since we had to hurry now to get back to the ship on time. We made it at 23:50 gasping for air!

 

 

We managed the time…But a romantic night is something completely different in my book. We just slumped back into the cabin and went to sleep feeling frustrated and betrayed.

 

We ended up feeling even more betrayed, when we found out the next morning, that we could have come and gone as we pleased afterall. All that rushing and missed opportunities…..this really was the ONE disappointing episode of our cruise. It still feels frustrating to me – we went to a Venice overnight cruise – but didn’t DO Venice at night. GAH!

 

More to come!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

I have a question, tho (and doesn't require photos) -- why do you refer to the Fiats as Pandas? Those Fiats are just now becoming popular again the U.S. DH and I had a 1975 2-door sedan type, and let me tell you it was the worst car ever! It was truly a "Fix It Again, Tony"!! We finally unloaded it in 1978.

 

But I do have fond memories of one of the little ones. My father had one in the early 1960s, a little one with a partial cloth roof that snapped off. My friends and I would sit in the back seat and blow bubbles out the roof! Sadly it was stolen from a parking lot in 1963. While it was recovered there was more damage than the car was worth and that was the end of that fun.

 

Hi joand452,

 

Lol -- I know Fiats can be quite frustrating.

 

Just like you have different Ford cars, like Ranger, Explorer, Crown Vicroria, Mustang or Fiesta there are all kinds of different Fiats as well. The Fiat Panda is the smallest and cheapest one they have. Since they produce soooo many of them we figure it's the routine to build this small car, that makes it less faulty than the other ones. We love our little Panda. I do have a Fiat pick up truck as well -- this one's a Fiat Strada. The one with the cloth roof is the Fiat 500....really cute little car...they still build it today with that cloth roof...Hidiously expensive compared to the Panda though.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

less faulty than the other ones

 

oops, sorry -- have to add a little info on that one, since of course you can't know that. In German we have a similar saing for FIAT: "Fehler in allen Teilen" meaning "faulty in all parts" ...so that was what I was referring to...Just completely forgot the language barrier:o. We do love all of our Fiats...although Tanja's Fiat Palio (wrecked by now) had a habit of eating up sparkplugs on a weekly basis and my truck -- my Fiat Strada is known to kill one headlight bulb a month. He's prefering the left -- the driver's side, but will kill the passengers' side bulb as well oonce in a while -- for a change, I guess:D.

 

We're a Fiat family...Go Italy! But one day I'll be the proud owner of a Maserati:cool:.

 

Stef

[windjamming]

We ended up feeling even more betrayed, when we found out the next morning, that we could have come and gone as we pleased afterall. All that rushing and missed opportunities…..this really was the ONE disappointing episode of our cruise. It still feels frustrating to me – we went to a Venice overnight cruise – but didn’t DO Venice at night. GAH!

 

Oh NO! I'd be so upset too. Nothing makes me more upset than someone telling me wrong information. Grrr.

 

The security guys seem to be really hyper vigilant about people making it back to the ship. When my mom and I decided to wander around the port a couple of hours before sail away, they told us no less than 4 times to be back by 2:30!

 

Still loving your review - I bet your full day in Venice was amazing!

Edited August 29, 2013 by windjamming

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Oh NO! I'd be so upset too. Nothing makes me more upset than someone telling me wrong information. Grrr.

 

 

Hi Windjamming,

 

you know what I think is worst? They didn't actually tell me a WRONG information! All he said was that they would close this gate at midnight...which they actually did...But of course he was implying that there was no other option...and THAT's what's making me mad! You can't even complain, because he wasn't actively lying. But trust me, his english skills were well enough that he knew EXACTLY what we were asking. GRRRR!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Venice (part eight of thirteen)

 

 

Rialto Market

 

 

The next morning we got up at 5:30 – the only time we used an alarm clock. We wanted to go see the Rialto market, which supposedly starts very early. So we had a real early breakfast at the outside WJ again and wanted to leave the boat. Off course we headed down to deck 5, since we thought this is where the gangway would be…

 

No gangway… everything closed up.

 

???

 

Did they lock us in? At this time we still believed that there was a curfew the night before and wondered when they would open up for going ashore. Would we miss the Rialto market now as well? We asked a passing through officer. She was very astounded and made a call…then she told us that there was a permanently open gate down on deck two until the big one on deck 5 would open up again later that morning. Gulp! We’re such idiots! All the rushing and worrying for nothing! We missed out on Venice overnight and it was our own fault! Argh – the pain! But enough of that now. Past is past and we wanted to move on without our bad mood ruining the rest of the day. We once again took the tall bridge walking into Venice, since the people mover didn’t open up until 7:00 I believe.

 

Here I really need to pause to say how impressed we were with Tarik getting up in the mornings without one single grumpy word ---ever! For a 13 year old going on 14 I believe this is downright phenomenal! You Go Tarik!

 

But back to Venice way early in the morning. Really, really nice. It’s a completely different feeling than during the day time. The air is still a tiny bit foggy and there are NO tourists out and about. The Canale Grande is a pleasure to ride on in Vaporetti only half filled with local workers on their way to their jobs. We used this opportunity to use our drive by guide for the Canale Grande. Even at this early time the Canale is not deserted by any means—you have all kinds of boats heading up the Canale Grande with goods for the restaurants and market.

 

One of my favourite goods. I wonder how much fits into one of those huge bottles.

 

 

It’s the locals who stand at the side of the Canale, waiting for their goods to arrive and probably enjoying THEIR city the only time a day this is possible without the tourist hordes.

 

On our way to the market we walked by this:

 

 

Who sleeps here? Are the tents here during the day as well? Strange stuff.

 

But let’s move on to the famous Rialto market.

 

 

 

We had to learn, that German “early in the morning” is by no means equal to “Italian early in the morning”. Meaning – we were way too early. But actually we didn’t mind, because this way we got to see the vendours starting up their stands and were mainly surrounded by locals who wanted to buy fish or vegetables to cook that day. Boy and did they have a huge variety of both:

 

Never seen such beans before – didn’t even know they exist.

 

The fish stands were amazingly big and all their seafood looked incredibly fresh. Some crabs and snails still tried to escape off the table. Tarik really is into fish, so he took about a gazillion pictures of different fish for sale. No worries, I’ll spare you.

 

But ONE fish I just have to show you…

 

May I introduce--- Emilio!

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the market and the early morning atmosphere. Tarik loved it, since he’s really into all “cooking” related stuff. Who knows, maybe we have a future chef growing up with us.

 

More to come

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Day 08 -- Venice

 

Oops, forgot to post the cruise compasses first thing for this day…sorry about that. Here you go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come!

[kirian]

 

 

 

Sorry once again for all this picture chaos! Sure hope you all will stay nonetheless for the rest of the review:o!

 

 

 

Oh Stef, I don't think you have to worry about any of us leaving you now.... you're stuck with us for the rest of this journey :p You have us all hooked now and this little "photo fiasco" isn't going to change that :D

 

Melissa

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:Dthanks Melissa!

 

Glad you're still onboard:)!

 

Let's go on with the installment about St. Mark's Square, shall we?

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Venice (part nine of thirteen)

 

Piazza di San Marco

 

After we thoroughly enjoyed the rialto market and crossed the famous bridge as well, we felt much better and were in good spirits again to continue exploring Venice. We hopped on a vaporetto to continue our drive-by guide all the way to St. Mark’s square. We especially liked to drive by the Ca Dario – a spooky palazzo with an even spookier past. It was under construction! Who on earth would voluntarily buy this thing? The sign on the construction grit looked like some public banner…so I guess they’re planning to open it up for the public. Way cool!

 

Once we arrived at St. Mark’s square we roamed around to take it all in – carefully avoiding to walk through those two columns.

 

 

 

First of all of course the madatory gondola picture.

 

 

Who’s the star here, the lion or the sea gull?

 

 

 

Just WOW!

 

 

 

It is truly a very beautiful Piazza. Full of Grandeur, Style and Luxury. But all three of us weren’t “in love”. Can’t really explain why. We were already anxious about our tour of the Palazzo Ducale (doge’s palace), so maybe this was part of our lack of excitement for the square.

 

Well, we did want to see the church though before our prescheduled tour and we still had lots of time. It was now 8:15 am and people were slowly starting to form a line to get into St. Mark’s. We thought, oh well – hardly any line, how cool, let’s stand in that line as well. And that line grew quickly…by the time the church doors opened at---was it 9:00 or 9:30? I forgot, but the wait sure was long – the line went down all the way to the columns!

 

See me? Notice how I'm wearing a sleveless shirt and shorts that show my knees? Bad idea, but you'll have to wait just a little longer for that episode.

 

 

While waiting, we got to experience how close the cruise ships drive by the square. It feels different to view this from down here than from the ship the day before.

 

Lol -- notice that sea gull hasn't moved yet?

 

Time can really stretch when you're waiting for admission to a church.

It was really cool to see these metal figures move to hit that bell. And it was a nice treat to have a clock there as well…even if it only tells you the time in 5 minute intervals. While waiting, 5 minutes sometimes felt like 20! Oh, and looking at my own picture now I realize that St. Mark’s really did open at 9:30…since I apparently took this picture at 9:05 still standing in line. Mystery solved.

 

More to come!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Venice (part ten of thirteen)

 

St. Mark’s Basilica

 

Since we had gotten in line so early, we were one of the first people to enter the church. Well – we were amongst the first people who wanted to enter the church, but I was the sinful Eve without any proper clothes on! I can’t believe that happened to me…I KNEW about it…but just blanked out in the morning while getting dressed. My clothes fault-pas didn't even enter my brain once until this very moment when I got stopped by the guards. But at least we didn’t have to leave… I was able to purchase two paper “scarves” for 2 Euros each. One to cover my naked shoulders and one to cover my as naked knees. Sigh! Look at the result:

 

orange – I felt like a Hare-Krishna guru.

 

 

Of course Tanja and Tarik had lots of laughs on my behalf and had serious fun with the darn scarves once we got back out of St. Mark’s.

 

 

Tanja, making fun of me and Count Dracula...Sigh -- I love my family!

 

But I’m drifting…back to the church. Once properly covered we were finally able to enter the church. I had seen many pictures of it and was expecting to be blown away by golden light. Well, there was a LOT of gold…pretty much the whole inside of the church was covered with it. Looked like ancient pure gold wallpaper.

But ancient--- not shiny anymore… maybe it was just the wrong time of the day, but all three of us didn’t warm up with St. Mark’s. There wasn’t this special feeling that you get in various churches, you know…the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona has a very unique feeling as does for instance the St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valetta… both very impressive, but in a whole different way. They’re both mindblowing because of sheer beauty each in it’s own style. St Mark’s was impressive as well – but I somehow couldn’t find the inner beauty.

This may be completely different for you all who will be visiting in the future (or have already in the past), but for me this church didn’t come close to my top ten churches. Here’s a picture of what it can look like when the lighting is better:

 

Foreign picture:

 

 

You could pay an extra €2,00 to go see the Placa d’oro … but there was no one there yet and a line was forming already.

 

Foreign picture:

 

We didn’t want to stand in line again for the whole rest of the cruise. There was no line however to enter into the treasury room to the right. Adults pay €5,00 each. Tarik was allowed to enter for free. It was very small and had all kinds of golden artefacts on display. Tarik loved this place because of the bones.

 

Foreign picture:

This is supposed to be St. Mark’s shin bone! Tarik’s favourite though was a complete mummified tiny hand – no clue as to which holy person had to be the donor of that one.

 

I thought that this is the place where you could see the “real” horses represented by their fake impersonators up on top of the church… but this really was only a tiny room with glass vitrines…We must have missed the other real entrance to the cool stuff. Tarik thought this was way cool though, so we let him enjoy his bone frenzy for a little longer. Then we decided to stroll over to the Palazzo Ducale to get our vouchers exchanged into tickets.

 

More to come!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

We're off to an official foster-family get together hosted by the youth agency over the weekend. This ought to be interresting...herded together in a hostel with loads of other foster families with their kids for 3 days:eek:. I feel a hint of danger. But hopefully everyone will get along. God, I haven't slept in a youth hostel in decades. I really didn't think I would have to again in my lifetime... Sigh! At least it's in the beautiful Hartz mountains (an hour drive). We hadn't gotten around to show that area to Tarik, so this is a great opportunity. Just hope, we won't sit in lengthy seminars all day long.

 

Now here's the sad part:

I won't have access to a computer there, so I'm afraid the remaining Venice posts (all about the doges palace) will have to wait until monday morning:(.

Really sorry about that!

 

Hang in there -- the Palazzo Ducale sure is worth the wait! See you all on monday!

 

Stef

[nickthecruiser]

Fantastic review and pictures. Can't wait to read more. It seems like you had a great time.

[joand452]

Stef, Hope you, Tanja and Tarik have fun this weekend in the mountains! Don't worry about us--we'll be here when you return.

[windjamming]

Stef, I am so glad you posted that pic of the Magic Beans show in the Centrum. On our cruise, they had it in the afternoon on one of the sea days. Of course, I forgot all about it and was bummed to have missed it.

 

In fact, I'm thinking now that there doesn't seem to be anything we did that was the same as you despite being on the same itinerary. That's SO cool, because now I get to experience a parallel cruise thanks to you!

 

Have a wonderful weekend in the mountains with Tanja and Count Dracula, erm, Tarik!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Edited August 30, 2013 by windjamming

[Ebear]

Sounds like an interesting weekend Stef! Can't believe you persisted with the Vaparettos, one ride was enough for me- lots of very rude people pushing and shoving in the heat and a cramped smelly ride. We resorted to walking!

Emma

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Elmartellama]

Shortly before Christmas 2012 the cruise fever hit us real bad again. Under the Christmas tree we started debating about the summer holiday vacation.

 

That’s us – in front of our Christmas tree – already giddy about an upcoming cruise.

 

It had to be a cruise – we were hooked, no way around it. But where would the summer cruise take us? We had some things we knew for sure. We wanted to be in the Mediterranean region again, since we enjoyed it so much the summer before and we felt that we didn’t even scratch the surface of the things to be seen there. We wanted to travel with Royal Caribbean again, since this would be a great opportunity for Tarik to practice his English. And last but not least we wanted to be “on the road” heehee – or sea:) in this case for more than 8 days. So after typing in all of our wishes we had 6 cruises that fit perfectly:

 

 

Sorry, some of the words are in German , but I’m sure you can figure it out anyway. Pretty much Ports, Departure and Arrival times. We were on the Adventure the year before, so this was the first two routes we deleted in the planning process --- not because we didn’t like it, but we wanted to experience something new. So we still had the two Independence cruises and the two Serenade cruises. This was hard. We really would have loved to try out the Flow Rider on the Independence, but several other factors made us decide on the Serenade after all. First the embarkation port. The flight to Southhampton would have cost the same as the flight to Barcelona. But being in Barcelona already we would be in the Mediterranean region right away and wouldn’t need two seadays right in the beginning of the cruise to get there. Plus the Serenade cruise would have the two sea days at the end of the cruise, so we would be able to recover from all the port excitement. So now we only had the two itineraries of the Serenade to decide on. This was by far the toughest decision. Greece or Venice overnight? We loved both of these equally and only decided on the Venice overnight cruise because – well the romantic overnight stop (sigh, little did we know what would happen – but more on that later).

 

All these decision makings took until maybe the end of January. On Feb 7th I checked the Internet once again for prices and availability and saw much to my surprise, that one of the cheapest inside cabins was once again free to book. We really don’t want to spend any more money than necessary on the cabin, since we only use it to crash at night. We had an inside cabin on the Adventure the summer before and didn’t mind. Okay, this time we would share it with a teenage boy, but we were pretty confident, we would get along. So on February 7th we couldn’t hold ourselves back any longer. We booked the cruise, the flight, and the hotel online. Whoooohoooo we’re going on a cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

more to come!

 

My friends & family laugh at me for being such a detailed planner as you are. I don't care since we get the best results afterwards :D

 

Lovely thread and very nice family story!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Fantastic review and pictures. Can't wait to read more. It seems like you had a great time.

Hi nickthecruiser,

 

Welcome to the review! Glad you like it! Yup, we had a blast:)!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stef, Hope you, Tanja and Tarik have fun this weekend in the mountains! Don't worry about us--we'll be here when you return.

 

Hi Joand452,

 

Thank you! It was a great weekend! The only down part was that I had to sleep on a matress on the floor. But we had wonderful family together time all weekend long! Only one 3 hour lecture for the adults, which wasn't enlightening, but we suffered through it patiently. We once again realized how lucky we are to have Tarik as our fosterson...Lol -- I believe, after having seen some of the other foster families Tarik is pretty happy about having "scored" us as well:).

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Sounds like an interesting weekend Stef! Can't believe you persisted with the Vaparettos, one ride was enough for me- lots of very rude people pushing and shoving in the heat and a cramped smelly ride. We resorted to walking!

Emma

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

Hi Emma,

 

Once you were out on the lagoon, you could get seats outside and it was a whole other experience...but I totally agree...Vaporetti during peak times in July on the Grand Canal are a no go!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

My friends & family laugh at me for being such a detailed planner as you are. I don't care since we get the best results afterwards :D

 

Lovely thread and very nice family story!

 

Hi Elmartellama,

 

Welcome to the review! Thank You!

 

Lol -- at least your folks laugh ... mine are rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at me!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Venice (part eleven of thirteen)

 

Pallazo Ducale

 

We had prebooked the “secret itineraries” tour and had to collect the tickets beforehand.At first we stumbled into the wrong ticket line for an art exhibition. The entrance from the Piazza is only for special showings, the entrance facing the water is the one you want to use in order to get into the doge’s palace. The line wasn’t bad at all – maybe 5 minutes max. It was approximately 10:15 now.

 

Our tour would start at 11:15. With our tickets and our special tour stickers all set up, we decided to roam around the streets to get something to drink and gelato for the kid before entering the Palazzo. For once I didn’t carry our own supplies. I very much enjoyed the luxury of being backpack-free.

But now we were thirsty without our ship-water along. Of course you can sit down in one of the two famous cafes on the Piazza – but be prepared to a substantial bill for a sheer cup of coffee! We didn’t feel like €10,00 coffee and decided to try the side streets. By this time the hordes had arrived and it was horribly crowded. We did manage to grab three outside seats in front of a cheaper looking café. Here we got one coffee, one water and one coke for €11,00 plus the additional tip. It did the job –nothing special, or memorable about it.

 

The only sight I thought was fascinating was the young men, pushing those carts through the crowded narrow street. They have that job down to perfection. It was amazing to see what a variety of goods and what sheer amounts they moved with these not too sturdy looking devices. What a rough job!

 

After our liquid needs were taken care off, we got Tarik some gelato to take along while we headed back to the doge’s palace. By now the line to get tickets had substantially grown. But since we had our tickets and stickers already, we could walk right in.

 

When you enter you’re pretty much standing in the inner courtyard:

 

 

 

We still had a little time left, before we would have to meet with our tour, so we decided to roam around this yard a bit.

 

An old gondola

 

 

 

Just in case the statue up on the column is too far away for your taste, you can have a close up look at it here.

 

 

 

He looks a little uncomfortable, doesn’t he?

 

 

 

But now it was time to attach our stickers:

 

 

And head to our meeting place. But where did we have to go? We were clueless. We thought the lady at the ticket office said to meet below the stairs…Which stairs? The pretty ones which were closed off? We waited there and nobody else came…mmmhhh, this can’t be right. We started to roam around the court yard…and luckily met three more Cruise Critic friends from our roll call, who were booked for the same tour! Finally having found our meeting place AND nice people we knew from the ship sure was a good feeling.

 

The meeting place is pretty much right in front of the restrooms. The tour starts at that gate behind Tarik.

 

 

Shortly after we met Carol and her sons Liam and Ryan, we met our tourguide. She was tiny! Almost smaller than Tarik! This didn’t make it easy to understand her, when all the bigger people stood around her. But it worked out okay--- for us at least…not for Carol and her sons.

 

Poor Carol got all pale and sweaty once our guide told us that this tour would lead through real narrow passages and people with claustrophobia should be warned. The first room she led us into was a prison cell. The ceiling was so low, that we all had to tilt our heads a bit (besides Tarik and the tiny tour guide) in order not to bump against it. It was a little stuffy and Carol looked more panicky by the second. By the time our tour guide was ready to start off the tour, Carol was bathed in sweat and finally had to give up. She told the tour guide she wasn’t up to it afterall and she would like to not go along with the tour. Both of her sons walked straight out with her mom without any questioning or grumble…Cool guys! I believe they took good care of her, because once back on the ship, when we saw her that evening, she was fine again.

 

But now of course, all three of them missed out on this wonderful tour. So starting in the next post, I’ll try to recap the most important parts and sights along the way of this tour, so at least they can get a feel of it…of course…once again no pictures were allowed…but who needs a camera if there’s public pics online?

 

 

More to come!

[bdoster]

Late to your party Stef, but thoroughly enjoying the review.

 

We leave 10-25-2013 for 5 days in Venice, train ride to Rome, tour Rome, then to Civitavecchia for one night, boarding the Reflection for TA 16 days to Miami. Really excited. There are 4 of us traveling

 

Thanks for your time & insight

[Wriggler]

Venice (part eleven of thirteen)

 

Shortly after we met Carol and her sons Liam and Ryan, we met our tourguide. She was tiny! Almost smaller than Tarik! This didn’t make it easy to understand her, when all the bigger people stood around her. But it worked out okay--- for us at least…not for Carol and her sons.

 

Poor Carol got all pale and sweaty once our guide told us that this tour would lead through real narrow passages and people with claustrophobia should be warned. The first room she led us into was a prison cell. The ceiling was so low, that we all had to tilt our heads a bit (besides Tarik and the tiny tour guide) in order not to bump against it. It was a little stuffy and Carol looked more panicky by the second. By the time our tour guide was ready to start off the tour, Carol was bathed in sweat and finally had to give up. She told the tour guide she wasn’t up to it afterall and she would like to not go along with the tour. Both of her sons walked straight out with her mom without any questioning or grumble…Cool guys! I believe they took good care of her, because once back on the ship, when we saw her that evening, she was fine again.

 

But now of course, all three of them missed out on this wonderful tour. So starting in the next post, I’ll try to recap the most important parts and sights along the way of this tour, so at least they can get a feel of it…of course…once again no pictures were allowed…but who needs a camera if there’s public pics online?

 

 

More to come!

 

I wondered if I would get a mention here, Stef... :oI was so sorry to miss this as the website had made it sound so fabulous - but nowhere did it mention anything to do with claustrophobia!! Ryan thought if she hadn't mentioned it then I would have been OK - but I think it was better to leave right there and then rather than get any further into the tour and have to disrupt everyone else as I left. :o

 

Looking forward to your next posts (all of them actually!!) so I can see what I missed. The boys were fine about it all, weren't they? They look after me well :D

 

Carol

Edited September 2, 2013 by Wriggler

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Late to your party Stef, but thoroughly enjoying the review.

 

We leave 10-25-2013 for 5 days in Venice, train ride to Rome, tour Rome, then to Civitavecchia for one night, boarding the Reflection for TA 16 days to Miami. Really excited. There are 4 of us traveling

 

Thanks for your time & insight

 

Hi bdoster,

 

Welcome to the review. Glad you're enjoying it.

 

Cool -- 5 days Venice. That really takes some stress out of wanting to take it all in.

 

And I still have a Transatlantik way up on my bucket list...just that I'd like to do the southern route into Buenos Aires, Argentinia. One day in the far, far future. :rolleyes:hehee, I couldn't help myself to check out cruises next year, but I didn't find any that fit my phantasy about it ... yet. One day it'll just pop up on the screen -- I can hardly wait:).

 

Today is a real cold, gloomy, rainy day here -- so Miami actually sounds pretty nice right now as well! I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

 

Stef

 

Stef