Three Day Serenade - Escape From The Deep Freeze

[h20skibum]

Back on the ship to enjoy our last afternoon in the solarium. With the cooler weather, this was a popular spot on this cruise. We tried to check our account, but the information was taking forever to load on the RC Tv system.

 

 

We seemed to encounter this a lot. Maybe it is a problem trying to get newer, faster technology on theses older ships. The one thing I liked about the last Princess cruise we took was the ability to check your account on your smart phone for no additional costs.

 

We have a lot of OBC that we have not spent, and this is our last night onboard. We are lucky that all of it is refundable, but we still decided we would spend some of it down.

 

 

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[CruisinCons]

Great review so far! We're on Serenade in October for a 12 night, can't wait!

[h20skibum]

Great review so far! We're on Serenade in October for a 12 night, can't wait!

 

 

 

Got to love those longer cruises. We only have a short 7 day on the Allure scheduled for March, then we have to start looking for the next one.

 

I see that Serenade just got added to the Royal Caribbean app for use onboard. Looking forward to seeing what capabilities it has once we board the Allure.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Since we had never tried one of Royal’s specialty restaurants, we decided to use up some OBC at Chops. We stopped by, and they said “Sure, we can squeeze you in at 5:30”. We arrive at 5:30, drink in hand (using up more OBC), and they show us to our table by the window.

 

We look around, and it must have been the invisible passenger dining hour because no one else is here but us and the waiter. So much for squeezing us in.

 

We both started out with the lobster bisque, which was great.

 

 

 

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[CruisinCons]

Got to love those longer cruises. We only have a short 7 day on the Allure scheduled for March, then we have to start looking for the next one.

 

I see that Serenade just got added to the Royal Caribbean app for use onboard. Looking forward to seeing what capabilities it has once we board the Allure.

 

 

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Our favorites are 9-10 days. Just perfect - not too short, not too long that you have to pack a ton of stuff. This will be our first 12 night sailing.

 

The new app is supposed to be really cool! I know someone who got to play with it at the tech release event and he said it will be pretty neat.

[h20skibum]

Next up was something there ought to be a law against. I ordered up a heart attack in the making, also known as the grilled black pepper bacon. Whoa, was this good. I thought about ordering six more of these, but wasn’t sure if I would get charged for six Chops meals if I did. I know you can get extras in the MDR, but who knows what the rules are here.

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Main course for both of us would be the filet.

 

 

And we had the shareable sides of sautéed mushrooms, and Yukon gold mashed potatoes.

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Desert would be a warm chocolate cake for DW

 

 

And warm apple pie with salted caramel sauce for me. And yes, there were raisins in the apple pie. I guess that must be their standard recipe.

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

During our entire time in Chops, only one couple, and a family of 4 came in before we finished up at 7:00. All the food was a step up from what you get in the MDR, and the presentation was better. We may need to do this again, just for the bacon.

 

The sad thing is, I can remember when you got a meal and presentation like this in the MDR. I know, now I am sounding like an old person. Sonny, I remember when gas was 25 cents. Ha ha.

 

With the meal over, and with this being the last night onboard, it is time to go to the dollar store, or in RCI’s case, the $10 Store.

 

 

 

 

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[kuddles14]

Loving your review! Hopefully you will do a review on your March sailing ...you have a great sense of humor .

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Loving your review! Hopefully you will do a review on your March sailing ...you have a great sense of humor .

 

 

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I guess that remains to be seen. It depends if DW lets me take any photos on that cruise. Plus, I have to try to get this one finished before then. 🤣

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Finding nothing at the $10 tables, we venture in one of the shops to find something to purchase. The good thing about making this kind of purchase on the last night is you can bring it all back to your cabin.

 

 

DW tried the Bailey’s salted caramel at the liquor tasting earlier in the cruise, and she loved it. I don’t know where Royal gets such small sample cups. You have to go through the sample line 20 or 30 times for a decent taste.

 

 

She kept going to every bar on the ship, trying to get a drink with some of the salted caramel in it. But it was always the same story...You can’t get that here, only in the shops.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

This is the night of the Quest in the Safari Lounge. This is such a much nicer venue than what the have on the Oasis class ships. No photos from it. I knew I would probably not best my runner-up status for Miss Serenade of the Seas, that I received the last time aboard this ship. That was the only time I ever bought one of the cruise in review DVD’s. And I still have my runner-up medal.

 

 

Do they still market these DVD’s? Since we usually avoid all ship photographers, we are never in the photo area.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Last night, so it is time for the disembarkation information.

 

 

 

 

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[BillOh]

Missing the snow, we had to build a little sandman.

 

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I'm joining this a little late, where in WPA were you starting from, I'm originally from Erie, if you were starting from there you missed a lot of snow! My sister got 70" over the weekend.

[BillOh]

Next up was something there ought to be a law against. I ordered up a heart attack in the making, also known as the grilled black pepper bacon. Whoa, was this good. I thought about ordering six more of these, but wasn’t sure if I would get charged for six Chops meals if I did. I know you can get extras in the MDR, but who knows what the rules are here.

 

 

 

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Glad to hear this was good on Serenade. It was wonderful on Freedom in 2015, horrible on Oasis in 2016, and tolerable on Adventure in 2017.

[h20skibum]

I'm joining this a little late, where in WPA were you starting from, I'm originally from Erie, if you were starting from there you missed a lot of snow! My sister got 70" over the weekend.

 

 

 

We are far enough below Erie that our area only got a foot or so out of that storm. I have a sister-in-law that lives in Erie, so she got to enjoy all of that snow.

 

 

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Edited January 29, 2018 by h20skibum

[h20skibum]

It is the morning of disembarkation, and we plan to do the self assist since we drove to this cruise, and we only have the one bag (now loaded down with liquor). If we were flying, the bag would have been well over the 50 pound limit. Well, that would be until an airport baggage sorter would smash the bottles and drain the liquid.

 

 

We finished our last breakfast omelettes at Windjammers, collected our bag from the cabin, and made our way to deck 5 to disembark. We get to deck 5, and the line is already long. It is backed up in front of the elevators, making it difficult for people trying to get off.

 

The RCI people are yelling “Don’t block the elevators, don’t block the elevators!!!” But of course, no one wants to move and lose their place in line. So after everyone had waited there, the RCI people then told everyone to turn around and follow them. This made the people at the back of the line now at the head of the line.

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

No problem, we have plenty of time. Plus, I had downloaded the mobile passport, so we should be able to save time and breeze through customs. We are coming in at terminal 18, so they should have that nice express lane.

 

I open the app and fill out everything for customs and submit it, only to be greeted with this message.

 

 

So now I am multitasking. I am walking and chewing gum at the same time, while also dragging the bag in one hand, refilling the data on the smartphone app in the other hand, while scanning for a sign that says “Mobile passport express lane”, or whatever they call it. I do this the whole way to customs, only to find they didn’t have one open today.

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

The line wasn’t too bad, so we were through customs and out the door in no time. Since we left from terminal 26 and came back to terminal 18, we walked back to the terminal 26 parking garage.

 

It was cold in Ft. Lauderdale, because the Deep Freeze from the snow bomb cyclone, or whatever they were calling it, was still going on.

 

It was so cold..... How cold was it? It was so cold that iguanas were falling out of the trees.

 

 

It was 40 degrees. Ha! People in Florida think that is cold. You know what we call 40 degree weather in Pennsylvania? Summer.

 

 

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[kbklcamp]

Thank you! Your review was a treat to read[emoji39]

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Thank you! Your review was a treat to read[emoji39]

 

 

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Ah, but it is not quite done. I still have a couple of posts to get us back to Pennsylvania. It is, after all, a complete trip report.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

We are on the road and headed north, checking the weather reports as we go. We decided to just drive the 340 miles to Jacksonville today. We had enough hotel points on the way down to give us a couple free nights for our return trip.

 

Same exit, but different hotel. We would get to see this guy again for supper at Fujiyama’s.

 

 

 

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[accio_7]

Thank you for your trip report! Glad to hear that you arrived home safely and had a great time on your cruise :)

[h20skibum]

Cruise day+1. We are up and on the road, trying to figure where we will stay tonight. It is 36 degrees in Jacksonville. The gps says it is a little over 880 miles to get home, so we start punching in exits to find one around 440 miles away. We wanted to get further than Charlotte, where we stayed on the way down.

 

The weather gods are with us, and it is a beautiful, sunny day. Cold for the folks down south, but a nice driving day. We cross into Georgia.

 

 

Wait, what is that on that car?

 

 

And on the side of the road?

 

 

 

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