April 26, 2019 Serenade TA - Is it LIVE, or is it Memorex🤔

[Coralc]

Are you recycling the towel animal? 

[Venice Cruising]

Thanks for doing this John. My phone is popping up pictures every day too. I should have been on Serenade at the moment 😥, somewhere in the Caribbean.

[SwissMiss USA]

On 4/27/2020 at 3:54 PM, John&LaLa said:

Pat serving and Julie on the right.  Not knowing better, I had high hopes for a shipboard romance. 

Over here waving ... I would love to meet someone who likes to cruise!  Single, ready to mingle 🙂

[L454S]

Daily TV map, now we're really out in the middle of the Atlantic.

[Ocean Boy]

9 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Interesting enough, Pat wasn't interested in doing this on the Allure. I was suprised.

Maybe a little like me going to visit someone in a hospital and getting a tour of their operating room suites while I'm there? No thank you. I don't even check out the medical facilities on ships any more.

[John&LaLa]

8 hours ago, Coralc said:

Are you recycling the towel animal? 

 

I think I'm intertwining our animals with Laura's animals.

Just looked forward a few days and I have two different ones tomorrow night, but both are sitting on Day 8 compasses

[bobmacliberty]

10 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

As I said earlier, I had asked Mario to arrange an Engine Room tour for Pat.

 

Was this just a typo and you really meant Engine Control Room rather than Engine Room?  I'd love to see the Engine Room but I didn't think that was a possible due to security and safety concerns.

 

We saw the Serenade ECR as part of the All Access Tour.  There was a large Russian guy telling us about the ECR.  Very funny with a dry delivery in a Russian accent.  Somewhere in this picture is a switch that they can move between the Bridge and the ECR to determine who actually has control of the ship.  The Russian guy said they let the bridge think they have control but it's really the ECR that's in charge. 🤣 

 

He also said that there must be at least one person in the ECR at all times, no matter where they are or their sailing status.  It's the only place on the ship that has been continuously staffed since Serenade was launched.  I'm a geek for this kind of stuff.

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 6 - still at sea

Happy May Day

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

23 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Was this just a typo and you really meant Engine Control Room rather than Engine Room?  I'd love to see the Engine Room but I didn't think that was a possible due to security and safety concerns.

 

We saw the Serenade ECR as part of the All Access Tour.  There was a large Russian guy telling us about the ECR.  Very funny with a dry delivery in a Russian accent.  Somewhere in this picture is a switch that they can move between the Bridge and the ECR to determine who actually has control of the ship.  The Russian guy said they let the bridge think they have control but it's really the ECR that's in charge. 🤣 

 

He also said that there must be at least one person in the ECR at all times, no matter where they are or their sailing status.  It's the only place on the ship that has been continuously staffed since Serenade was launched.  I'm a geek for this kind of stuff.

 

 

Yes, Engine Control Room. Thanks for the picture. I'm not sure if Pat got any pictures. I need to call him and ask if he wants to share anything from our trip. He works crazy hours. Seven 12 hour days, then he's off seven. Makes it easy to take a long cruise, though.

[Milwaukee Eight]

10 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Noticed this in the CL this evening. 

Apparently the Royal Suite guests were peeved that they couldn't get a seat for Happy Hour, so Mario reserved them a table

 

 

Mario is the best. We had a great experience with him as Concierge. 
 

I remember non Suite guest getting into the CL  early to “reserve “ seats for about a dozen guests. 
 

Picture quoted for effect 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Milwaukee Eight

[sgmn]

41 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Yes, Engine Control Room.  He works crazy hours. Seven 12 hour days, then he's off seven. Makes it easy to take a long cruise, though.

Wow that's a punishing roster. I've worked 4 on, 4 off before, 12 hour shifts,  and you felt when you were working you had no time for anything else 

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, sgmn said:

Wow that's a punishing roster. I've worked 4 on, 4 off before, 12 hour shifts,  and you felt when you were working you had no time for anything else 

 

He's 30 and recently out of Navy, this is a piece of cake he says. 

 

It may change after this shutdown goes away

[purduemom1]

Thanks for sharing this cruise with all of us.

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, purduemom1 said:

Thanks for sharing this cruise with all of us.

 

We still have 9 days to go.

 

The ports should be nice

[pstone1]

20 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

FWIW, I may not do any more Progressive, it's to big a commitment

Jim and I never want to commit to a team everyday, however we usually go to PT and quietly sit up in the back with coffee, and keep track of how many answers we know.  We never missed a day on SR.

 

A couple of cruises later on the AD, they had Progressive Trivia in the Schooner Bar at 5PM.  That did not work for us so we only made it twice.

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, pstone1 said:

Jim and I never want to commit to a team everyday, however we usually go to PT and quietly sit up in the back with coffee, and keep track of how many answers we know.  We never missed a day on SR.

 

A couple of cruises later on the AD, they had Progressive Trivia in the Schooner Bar at 5PM.  That did not work for us so we only made it twice.

 

Best time we ever had it was around 3pm on a Rhapsody TA. After game we would stick around for the overflow lounge.

[purduemom1]

7 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

We still have 9 days to go.

 

The ports should be nice

 

Looking forward to it, John!

[Sunshine3601]

On 4/30/2020 at 10:52 AM, Sea Dog said:

Curious how you liked Serenade to other ships you have sailed on?  Positives and negatives?

We have sailed on serenade several times.  The last 2 or 3 years we have done b2b2b on her for the month of january.  Very sad that she will be leaving the area to do Australia cruises.  If that happens.

We love this size ship.  Feel the service and food is much better than some others.  We are not fans of the royal promenade.  I dont do much shopping on a ship.  

Did wish the serenade had better late night snacks but otherwise not much else I would change about her.

We have made friends with a couple of the staff that have been on her for last couple years.

Also like her sister ship jewel basically same footprint of the serenade.

[John&LaLa]

Bridge Tour

 

Pat and I did the bridge tour after lunch.

I think I've done Radiance Class bridge tours more than any other type of ship

 

Once again very different than his Carrier😉

 

Scotty, take the helm

 

After the tour we headed down to the Pub for Water Pong

 

It's like Beer Pong, but not as fun. 

I made it thru a couple rounds, and Pat ended up just off the podium

It was a younger crowd, you ended up seeing the same folks a lot.

 

For some reason Pat was surprised how old the average passenger was. 🤣

[John&LaLa]

Controversy strikes 😱

 

Ok, sometime in the afternoon we got an invite to a Captain's Table hosted by the Chief Engineer. 👍

 

All three of us were on the invitation. No doubt since Pat had hit it off with Dennis yesterday. 

The dinner is for the next day. Laura is very happy that Pat was included.

 

And a couple hours later it was rescinded. 😥

Laura is no longer happy. 😠

 

Turns out that ships management had decided to limit all the Dinner events to upper suites, special occasions, etc..

They were specifically excluding Pinnacles so as not to rock the boat.  With close to 100, some would get left out.

Laura was still pissed, however. She got over it.

 

Here is her frownie face at dinner

Edited May 2, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Voytek

 

If you ever get a chance to see Voytek on a ship, make sure you do.

He is a Polish classical guitarist, but he can rock. Plays an awesome Nothing else matters by Metallica

 

Here is a very short clip I took from the Colony Club. He played there a lot during Happy Hour

 

We saw him several years ago on Freedom. He would play at dinner in the MDR and later in Boleros

I even bought his CD in the gift shop. Half Classical and Half Classic Rock

 

Found this on YouTube, Stairway to Heaven from the first CD I bought on Freedom

 

I bought another CD on this trip. This time it's all Classic Rock. 

 

 

Pretty sure he got tired of playing Bohemian Rhapsody by the end of the trip

 

Happy Hour improved Laura's mood, funny how that works🍷🍷

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Walked by these two painting almost every day on the way to Laura's cabin.

Two of our favorite places

 

Now this is a pet peeve of mine with Park West and Serenade.

They put these 'auction' paintings all over the elevator lobby and destroy the views outside and toward the Centrum

It's odd that all the folks who rave about the Radiance views rarely mention this atrocity. 

 

Pics from the Aft Balcony

 

Goodnight

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 7 - At Sea (but almost to the Azores)

 

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Back track a little to yesterday morning

 

Here's a speed test from the middle of the ocean. Crappy and no one is awake yet.😥

Had to look up Sydney, NS

 

Oh yea, Canada.

Specifically Nova Scotia 

 

I should have remembered, that was a port stop on the 2018 Serenade TA that we cancelled

Edited May 2, 2020 by John&LaLa

[bigeck]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I should have remembered, that was a port stop on the 2018 Serenade TA that we cancelled

Halifax was also bumped from Anthem Ta in April this year. 

In the end the whole cruise got bumped