OCD Planner's Mah-valous Mediterranean Adventure on Serenade of the Seas

[ace1zoe2]

Hello and welcome to my trip report, blog, review or whatever you prefer to call it. It will actually be a hybrid report, a little of each. In case you have never read any of my previous reports, I will tell you now that I tend to ramble on about my adventures but there will be lots of planning info along the way as I am a self-labeled OCD Planner - reading, researching and planning the best way to save money along the way. I love architecture, history and photography so this will be a picture heavy review as well. The views expressed in this report are mine. You're mileage my vary whether you were on this same cruise, have done it previously or intend to do it later. I hope that some of what I share will help someone with their planning along the way.

 

I have scanned all the Daily Cruise Compasses, Daily Offers, Port Destinations & Maps, Prepare Yourself for the Ports Flyers, Special Offers, Ship Information, Cruise Offers, Spa Prices, Excursions, etc which I will post for you as well.

 

I am Cindy, age 50, from Texas and travel with my husband, Charlie who is 5 years older. Normally we travel alone or maybe with one or two other couples every few years. However this cruise was totally different from anything we have done before. This trip started out with us and our best friends of 34+ years going to the Med to celebrate their anniversary... before long it grew to a group of 14 family & friends!

 

Along the way we did several private tours, DIY tours and a few people did a couple of ship tours. I will give you information on what we did in each port and all the DIY info for what we did and how you can do it yourself if you so choose.

 

This cruise was more about the itinerary than the ship. However, I do have lots of ship pictures that I will post. Since the itinerary was so port intensive we only saw one show which was fabulous. We did 3 specialty dining options and I will review each of them. Where there were problems on the ship I will say so. I love Royal Caribbean but there were a couple of problems along the way this time.

 

We flew in 4 days ahead of the cruise and spent 2 additional nights after the cruise. 2 additional days for the flights over and back and then an extra unexpected day - making this a 17 day trip for us from start to finish... which we did by the way in one large checked suitcase and one carry-on size suitcase and a backpack each for the plane.

 

Our itinerary was as follows:

 

 

Day 01 - Overnight flight from DFW (Dallas/Ft Worth) to FCO (Rome)

Day 02 - Rome, Italy to Siena & Florence, Tuscany, Italy - DIY Touring

Day 03 - Pisa, San Donato in Poggio, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Tuscany, Italy - DIY Touring & Winery Tours

Day 04 - Viterbo, Italy & Rome, Italy - DIY Touring

Day 05 - Rome, Italy - Private Tour Vatican & Sisten Chapel, Underground & 3rd Ring Tour of Coloseum

Day 06 - Rome, Italy - Rome by Segway Tour & boarding Serenade of the Seas

Day 07 - Livorno, Italy - DIY Cinque Terre Tour

Day 08 - Villefranche, France - Private Tour of Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo & Eze Village

Day 09 - Ajaccio, Corsica - DIY Walking Tour

Day 10 - Sea Day!

Day 11 - Palma de Mallorca - DIY Soller Train

Day 12 - Valencia, Spain - Private Tour

Day 13 - Barcelona, Spain - DIY Tour to Montserrat

Day 14 - Barcelona, Spain - Debark Ship & DIY Tour of Park Guell & Las Ramblas

Day 15 - Barcelona, Spain - Sagrada Familia Tour & Tower

Day 16 - BCN (Barcelona) to AMS (Amsterdam) to ATL (Atlanta) to DFW (Dallas)

Day 17 - Surprise!

 

I hope that you will follow along on our latest adventure. Feel free to ask questions, leave comments or words of encouragement - trip reports are a lot of hard work!

 

Cindy

[lemonade-sails]

Sounds excellent, looking forward to more :D

[ace1zoe2]

We started out with our best friends of 34 years, Tim & Debbie, wanting to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in 2013 by going to Europe. Initial planning for the trip began in early 2012. Shortly thereafter both of our friend's daughters set their wedding dates within 6 months of each other for 2013 so we pushed the trip back a year to 2014.

 

We booked the trip as soon as itineraries were released in early April 2012 for October 2014... yes! a year and a half in advance. Originally booked as a 10 night Venice (overnight) to Barcelona itinerary, in early June 2012 it disappeared from the RCI website.

 

After some undercover detective work we learned the cruise had been redeployed. Soon we contacted the resolutions department and we rebooked for the new 8 night itinerary sailing out of Rome on October 29, 2014. For the initial booking we had used a "next cruise certificate" which at the time gave us $150 OBC for a 10 night cruise. After much discussion with resolutions, we were allowed to keep our $150 OBC in addition to an additional $100pp (for a balcony & below) and $200pp (for a Junior Suite & above). Our friends ended up with $350 OBC and we now had $550 OBC - not a bad way to start out a cruise.

 

Before we knew it other friends & family wanted to join us in Europe for the cruise. Our group ended up including a total of 14 family & friends. Eight of us were from Texas, four were from Indiana and two were from Alabama. Everyone made their own travel plans and arrived in Rome anywhere from 4 days before the cruise until the day of the cruise.

 

By booking early everyone got balcony cabins for 8 nights in the Med for $1079pp - prices only went up, up, up until final payment date, so we were very glad that we all chose to book early, get the cabins that we wanted (5 aft balcony cabins, including 1100 & 9256, a balcony behind the hump and one inside cabin).

 

Our group in included the following players:

 

Cindy & Charlie

Tim & Debbie - our best friends of 30+ years

Taryn & Paul - our middle child & son in law

Kerry & Sue - our oldest daughter's in laws

Karl & Debbie - Kerry's brother & sister in law

Donna & Mike - Kerry & Sue's best friends of 30+ years

Debbie - my husband's friend since high school

Darlene - my 2nd cousin (who shared a cabin with Debbie)

 

This picture is from one of our tours and everyone is pictured here plus another couple from our Roll Call who joined us for the private tour. I'm the last female on the right side with the short grey hair and hubby is right behind me in the white ball cap... nothing says tourists in Europe like baseball caps on the guys!

 

 

14 people... 3 Debbies! I had to figure out a way to keep things straight! Our friend, we all referred to as "Debbie", then there was "Aunt Debbie" which was my older daughter's aunt by marriage and finally my husband's friend was "Deb" which is what she answers to most of the time. She was originally bringing a friend named... you guessed it, another Debbie, but it didn't work out. My 2nd cousin had asked me about our next trip and then asked if anyone was looking for a cabin mate so I gave them each the other's info and they made plans to share a cabin.

 

Since were were spread over 3 states and everyone had met before at weddings (plus we've done a couple of other cruises with the in-laws & their friends) I set up a FB page for our European Cruise and we all posted questions, ideas, suggestions, etc. for the past 1 1/2 years while waiting for the cruise to get here!

 

Like I said before, I am a planner, an OCD planner. I love to read about where I'm going, what there is to see, how to see it best and how to save money doing it ourselves if possible. I'm not a risk taker, but I'm also not afraid to venture out on our own and do DIY tours by renting cars, taking trains, ferries, etc.

 

I planned what my hubby & I wanted to do then put it out there to the group. If someone wanted to join us, they were more than welcome. If they didn't, I didn't take it personally. This was everyone's vacation and the first trip to Europe for all but 4 of us. I wanted everyone to have a great time but not be joined at the hip.

 

We asked for adjoining tables in the main dining room ahead of time so that we could meet up at dinner and exchange stories of what each of us did during the day... more about that later on.

 

I did lots of research on Cruise Critic, Trip Advisor and read lots of reviews over the last 2 years to get ready for our trip. One of our private tours was booked a year in advance, our apartments in Rome & Barcelona as well as the Tuscan Villa we stayed in were all booked a year or more in advance.

 

Our flights were booked early thru Delta airlines, who also decided to change my well laid plans 5 months after booking. We initially were on a one stop on the way home with a 4 hour layover at JFK - they decided to add a stop in Amsterdam, re-route thru Atlanta, changed to a KLM flight in Europe, cancelled our pre-paid Economy Comfort Seats in aisle 11 and put us in standard seats at the back of the plane... all for the same price we paid to begin with. This all happened in late July. We tried to find better flights but this was the best they could do. At least we did get the side seats with only 2 together instead of being stuck in the middle of the middle 5 seats. We initially paid $49 for the upgraded seats for the return trip and when they changed to KLM flights they wanted 129Euro per person which would have been an additional $325 ... and you couldn't prebook them you had to wait until 24 hours before at which time they would have all been taken... but I would not have paid 3 times the price we originally booked for any ways.

 

Sometimes things don't go according to plan... if the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal! We rolled with the flow and in the end everything worked out and we have a fabulous vacation with lots of memories to share with our family & friends...

 

In fact 5 couples and one of the singles all booked B2B cruises out of San Juan in 2016 while onboard this cruise. One of the couples had never sailed before and now I think that they are hooked as well!

[ace1zoe2]

On all of our previous cruises I have carried "THE BINDER", you know the one... the one that has ALL the information for everything we will see and do. The daily itinerary, pre-purchased tickets, maps, directions, email correspondence, set sail pass and on and on.

 

This trip I finally decided to go high-tech and put EVERYTHING on my iPhone/iPad using the app Trip It, which I then shared with Debbie so that she could have all of the plans. I could add pictures of tickets, etc. to each activity as well as directions and more. It worked out great and I think the binder will be a thing of the past.

 

 

 

 

Now I have converted to this:

 

 

It really was much easier not hauling the book around, flipping thru pages, etc. Everything was at our fingertips instead.

[ace1zoe2]

Our flight left DFW at 10:50AM so we left home about 7:00AM for the one hour drive to our friend's house. There we loaded all the luggage and their daughter dropped us at the airport. We, unfortunately, had group 3 tickets and were the last to board the plane. By the time Tim & Debbie got on they had forced everyone to check their carry-on bags... bad news was they checked them straight thru to Rome - their headphones, eye covers, etc. were all in their carry-on... not a good start for the day for them.

 

The first leg of our flight was to ATL (Atlanta) and we had a 2 hour layover which gave us time to get some lunch. Luckily Debbie & I discovered there is a Pei Wei in the airport so we had lunch there. The guys ended up with a burger from somewhere else. They only gave us one fortune cookie so I told Debbie to take it since her day wasn't going according to plan... her fortune: A quiet evening with friends is the best tonic for a long day. Thought it was fitting for the occasion.

 

Our second flight boarded right at 4PM and flew overnight to FCO arriving at 7:30AM local time (1:30AM for us on Texas time). We had economy comfort seats on the long haul portion of the flight which gave us a few more inches (4-6") of legroom and featured 30% more recline (not much, still too uncomfortable to sleep).

 

 

We settled in and watched a few movies, had a couple of drinks, they feed us dinner shortly after we were in the air and then breakfast an hour or so before landing. Our airline dinner was something in our tummies for the long flight, not the best meal but it was "included" as well as free drinks on the international flight.

 

 

Our seats were on aisle 11 so we were in group 1 this time with the upgraded seats. That was an advantage upon landing as we were able to debark fairly quickly and get our bags and rental car.

 

 

Our first views of Rome:

 

 

We debarked on the tarmac as there was no gate available for our Delta flight:

 

 

Next we were put on shuttles and bused to the terminal where we would go to claim our luggage.

 

Edited November 11, 2014 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

While waiting on our luggage we were able to get cash euros at the ATM. After much research and reading we had decided this would be the most cost effective way to get cash.

 

We had pre-booked a car through AutoEurope Car Rental for 3 nights. They ended up being the Hertz dealer at the airport. We had pre-paid in order to get the discount and with all insurances included (which is pretty much required in Italy) it was $320.57 in USD for a Ford C Max or similar, which is a midsize class there. LUCKILY when we arrived they upgraded us to a BMW that was larger...

 

 

I don't think that there would have been anyway possible for us to fit the luggage in a smaller vehicle!

 

 

This is a picture of the flight details from earlier in the flight. I found the information interesting. I never realized it was so cold outside in space. We were about 2.5 hours to arrival when I took these pictures.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2014 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Once in the car we set our sights on Tuscany where would be exploring during the next 2 1/2 days before heading back to Rome. First stop would be in Castelnuova Berardenga, in the southernmost part of the Chianti region, at Canonica a Cerreto Winery where we would spend our first two nights.

 

 

I found this place on VRBO more than a year before. It is located about 30 minutes from Siena and 1 hour from Florence, both of which we will explore later in the day. The winery was originally established centuries ago and was home to a Rectory where the monks resided. There are three "apartments" available for rent. Two of them have 1 bedroom & 1 bath. The apartment we rented was called il Priore and featured 2 bedrooms and 2 separate baths. Our apartment was on the far right up the stairs and went down to the second window from the right.

 

 

The stairs to the apartment are worn with time and feature a lovely patina. The grape vines cover the wall in the spring and summer months.

 

 

The property is no longer listed on VRBO but can be found on the winery's website: canonicerrato dot it

 

The website states that there is a 7 night minimum during the high season and 3 nights otherwise, however we only rented for 2 nights. The property is a working vineyard and is not "in town". It is about a 20 minute drive down winding roads to arrive at the property. I'm so glad we decided to go there first before heading on to Siena & Florence, I'm not sure we would have ever found it in the dark!

 

I LOVED this place. It is historic, quaint, has the required comforts yet still retains the charm of the original rectory. There is a church that the apartments back up to that was built in 1780. The church is used mostly for weddings nowadays. The church bell tower is shown in the picture and the apartments are behind to the left of the church. The second picture is the entrance to the church.

 

 

 

We rented here for 2 nights and split the cost with our friends. For us it was cheaper than staying in a hotel and allowed us room to spread out and a place to relax and hang out. I highly recommend this agritourismo (similar to a Bed & Breakfast in the US).

[ace1zoe2]

When we arrived at the winery we pulled in to the driveway and started trying to figure out where the "office" might be located. We knocked on the door, no answer. Next Debbie & I walked around looking for someone. We finally found a lady who spoke Italian and understood no English. Tim found a couple of guys near the barn with the same communication problems Debbie & I had run in to.

 

I tried calling the number for the winery and there was no answer. We walked all around and couldn't decide what to do. Finally Debbie suggested we check the door to see if it was unlocked... we weren't sure at the time which door/apartment would be "il Priore" but soon located the keys in the downstairs apartment with a different room name on it. Debbie checked the upstairs door and viola' we were in business!

 

The guys brought up the luggage and we took a look at our cute accommodations. You walk in to the common areas which included a kitchen with fridge, dishwasher, microwave and cooktop. There was a dining table and a seating area.

 

 

Our bedroom featured a terra-cotta brick ceiling, a queen size bed, sitting area and an on-suite bath:

 

 

The view from our window:

 

 

The second bedroom featured a queen bed, terra-cotta tile and wooden beam ceilings, as did the rest of the apartment, and its own bathroom:

 

 

The view overlooking the vineyard:

 

[ace1zoe2]

After settling our things in the "villa" as we called it, we headed out to see the Tuscan countryside on our way to Siena and Florence.

 

Sights along the way:

 

 

 

 

 

[Bailey & Sophie]

This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing.

I'm thinking of the Serenade for 2016 so I will be interested to read what you have to say about her.

[ace1zoe2]

The drive to Siena was a short 30 minutes. The hardest part was finding parking while staying out of the ZTL zones. Most of the walled towns are limited zone traffic areas and no non-resident traffic is allowed. The signs are camera equipped and I had read that most people don't realize they will be ticketed for entering the area. We tried to be VERY careful and are praying that we don't receive any surprise tickets in the mail!

 

These are the signs to watch out for:

 

 

After making a circle or two and trying to stay out of the ZTL areas, we finally found parking in a lot and paid our 2 euros for parking. We had only planned for Siena to be a picture taking opportunity and it was wonderful!

 

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

More photos from Siena:

 

 

 

 

 

Basilica of San Domenico:

 

Edited November 12, 2014 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing.

I'm thinking of the Serenade for 2016 so I will be interested to read what you have to say about her.

 

Sounds excellent, looking forward to more :D

 

Thank you both for following along. I hope that some of my information will be helpful to you for your future cruises!

[ace1zoe2]

More from Siena:

 

 

Siena Cathedral:

 

 

 

 

[Raxter54]

Nice trip report. Looking forward to the rest. We are cruising on the Serenade at the end of February, might have some questions for you all later :)

[ace1zoe2]

Up close details of the Siena Cathedral:

 

 

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

Nice trip report. Looking forward to the rest. We are cruising on the Serenade at the end of February, might have some questions for you all later :)

 

Thanks for taking time to read my report. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. If I don't know the answer, I'm sure someone else with more knowledge will chime in.

[ace1zoe2]

Ok, I think that's about it for tonight. I work full time and trying to get back on my "Texas-time" sleeping schedule. Woke up at 3:45am yesterday and worked all day. Today was a holiday for me so I finally got to sleep in until 9am.

 

This report will be a work in progress. I will be posting each day of vacation in order so it will be a few more days until we board Serenade of the Seas.

 

If any one has any questions regarding the cruise or the ports please feel free to ask. If anyone reading was on our same cruise you are more than welcome to share your comments as well.

 

More to come...

[windjamming]

What a fantastic start! I love the photos. There is something about the sky in Tuscany that is like no other place in the world. Looking forward to the rest of the review, and thank you for sharing your vacation with us!

[kftw]

Looking forward to your next installment.

[iamsunnysarah]

We started out with our best friends of 34 years, Tim & Debbie, wanting to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in 2013 by going to Europe. Initial planning for the trip began in early 2012. Shortly thereafter both of our friend's daughters set their wedding dates within 6 months of each other for 2013 so we pushed the trip back a year to 2014.

 

We booked the trip as soon as itineraries were released in early April 2012 for October 2014... yes! a year and a half in advance. Originally booked as a 10 night Venice (overnight) to Barcelona itinerary, in early June 2012 it disappeared from the RCI website.

 

After some undercover detective work we learned the cruise had been redeployed. Soon we contacted the resolutions department and we rebooked for the new 8 night itinerary sailing out of Rome on October 29, 2014. For the initial booking we had used a "next cruise certificate" which at the time gave us $150 OBC for a 10 night cruise. After much discussion with resolutions, we were allowed to keep our $150 OBC in addition to an additional $100pp (for a balcony & below) and $200pp (for a Junior Suite & above). Our friends ended up with $350 OBC and we now had $550 OBC - not a bad way to start out a cruise.

 

Before we knew it other friends & family wanted to join us in Europe for the cruise. Our group ended up including a total of 14 family & friends. Eight of us were from Texas, four were from Indiana and two were from Alabama. Everyone made their own travel plans and arrived in Rome anywhere from 4 days before the cruise until the day of the cruise.

 

By booking early everyone got balcony cabins for 8 nights in the Med for $1079pp - prices only went up, up, up until final payment date, so we were very glad that we all chose to book early, get the cabins that we wanted (5 aft balcony cabins, including 1100 & 9256, a balcony behind the hump and one inside cabin).

 

Our group in included the following players:

 

Cindy & Charlie

Tim & Debbie - our best friends of 30+ years

Taryn & Paul - our middle child & son in law

Kerry & Sue - our oldest daughter's in laws

Karl & Debbie - Kerry's brother & sister in law

Donna & Mike - Kerry & Sue's best friends of 30+ years

Debbie - my husband's friend since high school

Darlene - my 2nd cousin (who shared a cabin with Debbie)

 

This picture is from one of our tours and everyone is pictured here plus another couple from our Roll Call who joined us for the private tour. I'm the last female on the right side with the short grey hair and hubby is right behind me in the white ball cap... nothing says tourists in Europe like baseball caps on the guys!

 

 

14 people... 3 Debbies! I had to figure out a way to keep things straight! Our friend, we all referred to as "Debbie", then there was "Aunt Debbie" which was my older daughter's aunt by marriage and finally my husband's friend was "Deb" which is what she answers to most of the time. She was originally bringing a friend named... you guessed it, another Debbie, but it didn't work out. My 2nd cousin had asked me about our next trip and then asked if anyone was looking for a cabin mate so I gave them each the other's info and they made plans to share a cabin.

 

Since were were spread over 3 states and everyone had met before at weddings (plus we've done a couple of other cruises with the in-laws & their friends) I set up a FB page for our European Cruise and we all posted questions, ideas, suggestions, etc. for the past 1 1/2 years while waiting for the cruise to get here!

 

Like I said before, I am a planner, an OCD planner. I love to read about where I'm going, what there is to see, how to see it best and how to save money doing it ourselves if possible. I'm not a risk taker, but I'm also not afraid to venture out on our own and do DIY tours by renting cars, taking trains, ferries, etc.

 

I planned what my hubby & I wanted to do then put it out there to the group. If someone wanted to join us, they were more than welcome. If they didn't, I didn't take it personally. This was everyone's vacation and the first trip to Europe for all but 4 of us. I wanted everyone to have a great time but not be joined at the hip.

 

We asked for adjoining tables in the main dining room ahead of time so that we could meet up at dinner and exchange stories of what each of us did during the day... more about that later on.

 

I did lots of research on Cruise Critic, Trip Advisor and read lots of reviews over the last 2 years to get ready for our trip. One of our private tours was booked a year in advance, our apartments in Rome & Barcelona as well as the Tuscan Villa we stayed in were all booked a year or more in advance.

 

Our flights were booked early thru Delta airlines, who also decided to change my well laid plans 5 months after booking. We initially were on a one stop on the way home with a 4 hour layover at JFK - they decided to add a stop in Amsterdam, re-route thru Atlanta, changed to a KLM flight in Europe, cancelled our pre-paid Economy Comfort Seats in aisle 11 and put us in standard seats at the back of the plane... all for the same price we paid to begin with. This all happened in late July. We tried to find better flights but this was the best they could do. At least we did get the side seats with only 2 together instead of being stuck in the middle of the middle 5 seats. We initially paid $49 for the upgraded seats for the return trip and when they changed to KLM flights they wanted 129Euro per person which would have been an additional $325 ... and you couldn't prebook them you had to wait until 24 hours before at which time they would have all been taken... but I would not have paid 3 times the price we originally booked for any ways.

 

Sometimes things don't go according to plan... if the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal! We rolled with the flow and in the end everything worked out and we have a fabulous vacation with lots of memories to share with our family & friends...

 

In fact 5 couples and one of the singles all booked B2B cruises out of San Juan in 2016 while onboard this cruise. One of the couples had never sailed before and now I think that they are hooked as well!

 

I can't wait to follow along! Four of us are starting to plan our first European adventure, and I can see it growing along the way- thanks in advance for your review!

[boaterette]

Enjoying your report.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your report and photo's, thanks.

[ace1zoe2]

Enjoying your report.

 

 

 

Enjoying your report and photo's, thanks.

 

 

Gratzi!

 

Thank you for following along! I hope to have the next installment later today & there will be many, many more pictures.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ace1zoe2]

Later in the afternoon we drove on to Florence to spend a couple of hours. We had decided early on that we wouldn't spend the time in the museums, but instead enjoy the outdoor "museum" which is Florence.

 

We found an underground parking garage where we left the car to be placed on a rack until we returned.

 

 

Then we headed out to see the sights. First up was the Duomo... it's hard to imagine until you are at these historical religious sites, just has enormous they are. It's hard to believe that all of the duomos, basilicas, cathedrals and churches were built hundreds of years ago without the use of electrical or power tools. Everything is done by hand, hoist, hammered, chiseled by the light of day.

 

 

Close Up of the Building Facade: