World "shakedown" cruise on Serenade starting next week (Semi-Live Review)

[orville99]

10 minutes ago, kernow said:

It's cruise day for us😁. Arrived in LA yesterday afternoon and just waking up at the Westin LAX.

See you all onboard later, hope boarding is not too delayed.

It is 6:30 and we are docked, so no delay so far at our end - we arrived exactly as promised.

Edited November 21, 2023 by orville99

[gatour]

12 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

It was that way in Latitudes too.  We like non fat milk in our hot cocoa.  We were six days at sea.  They ran out.  Then two days later they had it and we had not been to a port.  So it was on board, just not right there.  It seems like poor planning or they could call someone to get it but it doesn’t  to work that way. 

I imagine ships operate like on shore resorts.  They have a  central stores which supplies the various venues.  

Someone  goes to the central store and signs out what they need/taking.

For example part of my job was to figure how much oj we would need until the next day or to get through the weekend.  I would then get the items.  In between if we ran out tough luck we were out until the next day.

[island lady]

31 minutes ago, gatour said:

I imagine ships operate like on shore resorts.  They have a  central stores which supplies the various venues.  

Someone  goes to the central store and signs out what they need/taking.

For example part of my job was to figure how much oj we would need until the next day or to get through the weekend.  I would then get the items.  In between if we ran out tough luck we were out until the next day.

 

On a related theme....there is also a store on board the ships for crew purchases.   Laughingly called "The Slop Chest".  😄 

[orville99]

5 hours ago, kernow said:

It's cruise day for us😁. Arrived in LA yesterday afternoon and just waking up at the Westin LAX.

See you all onboard later, hope boarding is not too delayed.

Hope you are at the port already and on the ship. Apparently they chose today to conduct a “blackout” test, where they cut power to the entire ship to see whether the emergency generators all kick in properly. We expect to lose power (hopefully only momentarily) in about 20 minutes.

 

Of course having more than 100 pinnacles doing B2B’s didn’t help speed up the turnaround process either - we didn’t get back on board until after 11AM.

[island lady]

19 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Hope you are at the port already and on the ship. Apparently they chose today to conduct a “blackout” test, where they cut power to the entire ship to see whether the emergency generators all kick in properly. We expect to lose power (hopefully only momentarily) in about 20 minutes.

 

Of course having more than 100 pinnacles doing B2B’s didn’t help speed up the turnaround process either - we didn’t get back on board until after 11AM.

 

OH no...not those Pesky Pinnacles again!!  😄 😄 

[orville99]

56 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

OH no...not those Pesky Pinnacles again!!  😄 😄 

Yep - a Pesky Pinnacle Parade - we even had floats (well actually walkers)😇

[kernow]

We're onboard😁

It was easy, arrived around 12 and onboard within 15 minutes, the only queue was to drop off luggage then straight through. Had our first cocktail and then a light lunch in the Solarium.

[orville99]

Nightfall in LA. Still waiting to depart. 5,700 miles down, 5,700 more to go.

Edited November 22, 2023 by orville99

[heatherb1958]

Friends  I know from over the pond get off and new ones get  on , how cool is that... look forward to the continuing adventure vicariously. 

[island lady]

Thanks again Orville...for once again taking us along on the 2nd half of your journey!  Really enjoying your review and the Serenade report.  🤗  

 

Hope you have smooth sailing on the way back to Miami. 

[orville99]

Woke up this morning to Mylar seas off the Baja coast. A bit chilly out (64 f) but the humidity went from 18% yesterday in LA to 81% this morning.

 

One thing we noted that DW reminded me to mention:

There appear to be all new chairs in the MDR.

As for the ship, there was frenzied activity in the Solarium Monday evening to varnish every square inch of woodwork, and when we docked in LA, the fumes were a bit heavy in there. Hopefully they will dissipate sometime today.

They had a crane up repainting one of the bridge wings yesterday and we didn’t cast off until ~5:30 (90 minutes behind schedule).

 

[ONECRUISER]

19 hours ago, orville99 said:

Hope you are at the port already and on the ship. Apparently they chose today to conduct a “blackout” test, where they cut power to the entire ship to see whether the emergency generators all kick in properly. We expect to lose power (hopefully only momentarily) in about 20 minutes.

 

Of course having more than 100 pinnacles doing B2B’s didn’t help speed up the turnaround process either - we didn’t get back on board until after 11AM.

Seen this done last yr on Serenade and on Radiance last month. Though we were on Port stops both times. Air Con kicked off, Lights, TV's, Internet. Was on my Aft Balcony chilling both times as the thick smoke kicked up from Below my Cabin.

Edited November 22, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[orville99]

34 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Seen this done last yr on Serenade and on Radiance last month. Though we were on Port stops both times. Air Con kicked off, Lights, TV's, Internet. Was on my Aft Balcony chilling both times as the thick smoke kicked up from Below my Cabin.

They somehow blew the circuits on the middle elevator in the forward lobby during the test. It was working when we came back from turnaround, but hasn’t been operational since the blackout test. At least no one was on it at the time.

[orville99]

They started decorating for the holidays this morning😇

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

They somehow blew the circuits on the middle elevator in the forward lobby during the test. It was working when we came back from turnaround, but hasn’t been operational since the blackout test. At least no one was on it at the time.

Wow, thanks for sharing! Came so close to Joining Ship yesterday, was going Book it Saturday with the short following Cruise before WC. Few min before I jumped Daughter decided to do Thanksgiving at home. We had CV last Thanksgiving after she brought it home from a Cruise last Nov

[orville99]

For you nostalgia buffs - this is how Captain Stig had Brilliance decorated back in 2015:

 

 

[orville99]

Sunset and Moonrise off the Baja coast:

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by orville99

[island lady]

15 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Sunset and Moonrise off the Baja coast:

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving my friend!   Gorgeous photo!  🤗

[orville99]

26 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Happy Thanksgiving my friend!   Gorgeous photo!  🤗

You have a good one as well😇

[orville99]

Had our first whale sighting this morning - mom and baby - unfortunately they didn’t breach so no pictures, but it was neat to watch them surface and “exhale”🐋

[kernow]

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from the US. Looking forward to dinner tonight to see how you celebrate.

[crzndeb]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

Had our first whale sighting this morning - mom and baby - unfortunately they didn’t breach so no pictures, but it was neat to watch them surface and “exhale”🐋

Daughter and granddaughter are on Navigator in Mazatlan today. I told her to keep an eye open for whales. No luck yet. We did see them on our New Years cruise on Navigator.

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

Daughter and granddaughter are on Navigator in Mazatlan today. I told her to keep an eye open for whales. No luck yet. We did see them on our New Years cruise on Navigator.

Blue whales should be very active there at this time of year.

[orville99]

Good news on the ship maintenance front:

 

They got the forward lobby elevator back working late this morning, and the varnish fumes have finally dissipated in the Solarium.😇

[orville99]

For a change in pace, we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner in the WJ last evening instead of doing the MDR. Very happy we did! They were carving a fresh roasted whole turkey, the mashed sweet potatoes were excellent, and the pumpkin pie and pecan pie were the best I have ever tasted. DW enjoyed her Brussels sprouts (UGH - I can’t stand those). The only thing missing was the cornbread stuffing (which we never eat anyway).😇

 

Another sea day today with calm seas and blue skies so far. Spotted three more whales yesterday, and have already been races by a pod of dolphins this morning.

 

Maintenance and refreshing continues on he ship, but at a much less noisy pace, and they managed to rescue all 8 slot machines that were flooded out last week.

 

We were treated to another beautiful Pacific Ocean sunset on Mylar seas last night as well.

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by orville99