Macbeth09

My family of 5 (my wife and I and 3 sons, 17, 15, and 12) just completed the Serenade of the Seas June 4-16 Mediterranean cruise, and I’d like to offer the following review. To put things in perspective, my wife and I had made a similar trip 5 years ago and wanted to share it with our kids. Our family is reasonably fit, and we chose this cruise based upon the ports and the schedule, not the cruise line.

Ship:

The ship was very elegant. We sailed on Celebrity Summit 5 years ago, and although built on the same hull, I would say this is the prettier ship. While cruising the motion only occasionally rose above gentle, until the final night, when all of us felt slightly seasick. Common areas were spacious, and there was no real issue finding a deck chair if you were willing (and we were) to sit away from the pool. Crew and staff were generally friendly, but service seemed less prompt and more harried than past cruises we have been on. We had a regular stop with the friendly staff at Latitudes to grab coffee and a pastry on many mornings, but did not spend a lot of time in the clubs. Music was usually awful throughout the ship, with a target audience I guess beyond my 49 year age. Speaking of age, I believe I was in the younger third of the population at 49. Not a lot of young people on board, and I have to say that the older generations were remarkably rude en masse, shoving to fronts of lines and incessantly complaining when overheard. I thought cruising was something that many older people enjoyed, but from the looks of things they want to be the only ones enjoying it, and looked miserable if they felt someone else was getting an advantage or having a good time. If this was my first cruise I might never do it again just because of the average demeanor of the company you must keep.

Cabin:

We were in 1054, recently converted from the former concierge lounge. The cabin was quite large, with 2 beds and 2 pullmans in a side bedroom, and a joined queen in the master. The master had a tub/shower combo, and the separate bathroom for our boys had the typical small shower. There was plenty of closet space, and the big selling point was floor to ceiling windows on the forward port side of the hump. We had a sofa and two side chairs around a coffee table, and there were 4 more chairs around a small dining table. Flatscreen TVs were mounted in the master room and the living area, none in the side room shared by our boys. This is probably the next best thing to a grand suite, without a balcony, but at a substantially lower cost. I highly recommend the room. Two cons were a musty smell outside the cabin door which thankfully never penetrated the room, and a lot of creaking, perhaps due to the retrofit, particularly on the final night when the noise and motion sickness made sleep next to impossible. Centrum noise was I suspect typical for rooms in this area, but thankfully tailed off at midnight each night.

Food:

Food was mediocre, perhaps just a minor step up from the food on the Summit 5 years ago. My earlier cruising days recall a more gourmet experience, but this was not much better than cafeteria food. There were a few good items to be had, which included from what I recall; ranger cookies, grilled salmon in the mdr, lamb meatballs in the windjammer, chilled fruit soups (essentially smoothies), and the pumpkin cheese bread. No steak, including what we had in Chops (not recommended for the price and absent any real ambiance), was better than I can cook on the barbeque. We tend to eat fresh ingredients and season things well at home, and the meal experience onboard was disappointing more than not. I understand the ship is feeding a lot of people so some allowance can be made, but hardboiled eggs being boiled green and similar mistakes make no sense to me. Another negative was trying to find real food after the normal dinner service ended at 9:30. Other than park café (usually only one item available) or the limited room service menu, you were stuck with pastries and nothing savory.

One final note on My Time Dining. I loved the flexibility and didn’t mind waiting for a table, but once seated, of the 8 times we ate in the MDR, we only had exceptional service once, and usually were stuck with a waiter and assistant that couldn’t be bothered to fill our glasses with water or even take our order in a timely fashion. On one of the nights we waited 20 minutes for a table, and then another 20 before our order was taken (no exaggeration). I think because you are not paired exclusively with a wait staff, your ability to develop a relationship and garner some relative attention is limited. We are not complainers and as this was not life or death I saw no reason to assume our staff was lazy instead of overworked, and therefore only mentioned the exceptional service to the maitre’d.

Itinerary:

Barcelona – We arrived a day early, took a taxi to our hotel midway between La Rambla and Sagrada Familia, and on the same block as the under renovation La Pedrera, and then headed off to Gaudi’s extraordinary church. On the way we passed Casa Terrades. Having been to Barcelona before, but never inside Sagrada Familia, I think this is the number one thing to do in this beautiful city. After exploring the church and then the museum, which shows some of the mathematical genius behind Gaudi’s organic architectural style, we wandered down La Rambla, pausing to look at the Block of Discord (trio of Casas; Battlo, Amatller, and Lleo Morera) and eventually finding a stop for dinner. Note: During the evening you will see a large number of men holding a six pack ring with a couple of cans left, and selling “cold coke”. These are actually drug dealers and are pervasive around La Rambla. Cops walk the beat and the drug dealers just disperse and then return minutes later. They do not appear to be a threat, but be cautious about what you think you may be purchasing. In the late morning we got a taxi to the port. I do not recommend the subway as the nearest stop to the port requires a significant amount of walking with your bags.

Villefranche – We neglected to show up early at the Safari Lounge to get our tender tickets, and got off the boat later than we liked. Our intent was to go to Eze le Village, but after the walk up the hill, didn’t pay attention to the bus numbers, got on the wrong bus to Nice, and ran out of time to make it worthwhile. In retrospect, the cost of a taxi would probably have been worthwhile. After getting off the bus in Nice, we wandered the long way down to eastern side of the Lido, and walked to the flower market looking for Socca bread. Unfortunately the “Socca Lady” was not there and we settled for a small restaurant for lunch on the market square. Because we could not get to Eze and the Galimard perfumery, we found a Fragonard storefront and collected gifts for our nieces there, before walking back up to Place Garibaldi, and catching the bus back to Villefranche. We wandered the alleys there and hopped the tender back to the ship.

La Spezia – Unfortunately we didn’t stop in Livorno as we did on our last trip, and this added an extra hour to get to Florence by train. As a result we took the RCI sponsored tourbus, which after a brief stop at a leather shop on the way, allows ~5 hours in Florence. We opted not to stay with the tour and set off on our own from where we were dropped near Piazza San Marco. We wandered down past San Lorenzo to the Duomo, which we entered to take in the full scope of Brunelleschi’s mix of architecture and art. We could only catch a glimpse of the Doors of Heaven on the Baptistry due to renovation which has almost the entire structure covered. Leaving the Duomo we walked to Santa Maria Novella, where on the backstreet you can find the oldest perfume maker in the world, opened in 1612, with their signature scent having been made for Catherine de Medici in 1533. After this we walked down past Dante’s house to the Palazzo Vecchio where we looked at the copy of David, standing where the original had stood, as well as the gallery of other remarkable statues, including Cellini’s Perseus. We continued through the Uffizi courtyard for a view of the Ponte Vecchio. Turning back we headed to Santa Croce, where we were to meet the rest of the tour before the bus ride back to the port. My oldest son had seen a leather jacket he wanted to buy near San Lorenzo, which seemed a better value than what we saw in Santa Croce, so he and I ran back and forth across Florence in the 40min we had left. Not something I would recommend in the summer heat and without clear recognition of the fastest path.

Civitavecchia – The boat docked and we took the shuttle to the bus stop, which was actually farther away from the train station than the port. We walked to the station and bought Birg tickets, good for all day train and subway in Rome. Based upon past experience we knew to get off before the Termini at Ostiense, where we took the metro to the Colosseum. Avoiding all the ticket vendors, tour guides, and long ticket lines at the Colosseum, we crossed past Constantine’s arch (under renovation) to the Forum, where we got tickets (combined Palatine/Forum/Colosseum) immediately and wandered through to the Forum and down the Via Sacra to see the Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Julius Caesar (where his body was burned). Back up through the Arch of Titus we continued to the Colosseum, where we bypassed all the ticket lines and went immediately in and up for the stadium. After that we headed to back north to Campidoglio, crowded with some sort of protest, and down past the Don Emmanual monument to Trevi Fountain, which unfortunately had been fenced off for renovation. We tossed our coins over the fence and then moved west to the Pantheon, Agrippa and Hadrian’s 2000 year old marvel of engineering, and on to Piazzo Navona, with its three beautiful fountains, before heading north again over the Bridge of Angels to Castel St Angelo, remade from Hadrian’s mausoleum. Entering Vatican City we were disappointed to find the Basilica closed due to a special blessing from the Pope for a plethora of children’s sports teams that had gathered in the Piazza. Not having the time to even attempt entering the Vatican museums we circled the southwest side of the Basilica, went down to San Pietro station, and caught the train back to Civitavecchia.

Salerno – We took the long but pleasant waterfront walk to the train station, where we hopped the train to Pompeii. From the city station we walked down to the back Anfiteatro entrance of Pompeii ruins, asking a friendly citizen directions when I lost my place on the map. Starting with the large stadium, visiting the vineyard homes and continuing to the more popular ruins of the main entrance, this ancient city, with Vesuvius in the background, remains an impressive place to visit. The city is big (it is a city after all) and could easily take a whole day to see, but we made our way across in only a couple of hours, exited via the main entrance, and took the Circumvesuviana train from Pompeii Scavi to Naples. We ate lunch at Trianon at the east end of Spaccanapoli and afterwords walked west, eventually tiring of the street vendors and lack of any real shops being open on a Sunday. Capella Sansevero, home of the unbelievable sculptures of the Veiled Christ and Disenchantment, unfortunately was also closed by the time we arrived. Note: Throughout Italy there was a significant increase in street vendors, which appear to be immigrants from North Africa and perhaps a peripheral result of the Arab Spring. In any event it made many of the places we visited feel cluttered and less welcoming, and I’m sure the locals don’t like what it is doing to their own economy. In Naples it was sufficiently bad for me not to want to visit again. From Naples we took a train directly back to Salerno, walked the waterfront again, and returned to the ship.

At Sea – A much needed day of rest for our feet.

Venice – We entered the lagoon and made our picaresque way to the port passing San Marco and arriving on time at 2:30. This I imagine is the best view of any cruise into port anywhere. We disembarked and walked the 10 minutes to Piazale Roma and Venice proper. From there we took a purposefully long route through the alleys and bridges of Santa Croce and San Polo toward the Rialto Bridge. On the way we looked for Balocoloc mask shop (they have an outlet at Epcot in Disneyworld of all places), but their storefront on Calle Longa appeared to be taken over by one of the many to be avoided inauthentic mask sellers. We followed the ubiquitous signs pointing you to Rialto and San Marco, although I am suspicious that some were meant lead you off track to favor specific alleys and shops. Surprisingly we found the Basilica open, and jumped in line, but were too late and found ourselves still out in the square when the doors closed. We shifted to the Doge’s palace and repeating the path we took 5 years earlier, crossed the Bridge of Sighs into the prison, which, while claustrophobic, was again well worth the mazelike journey to the bottom. We wandered back through the rest of the palace seeing one piece of remarkable art after another, until we were near numb to the opulence. After exiting the Doge’s palace, we moved north to Canneregio, finding a quiet place to eat on the canal Rio Della Misericordia. After dinner we returned south to the Rialto, crossed the bridge and slowly made our way back to Piazale Roma and the ship, taking one unknown alley after another, and picking up gifts for friends back home as we went (Murano glass varies widely in price but the jewelry is generally much cheaper here than onboard the ship). The next day we set out for Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari, the largest church in Venice and home to the tombs of Canova, Titian, and some of Venice’s Doges. We stopped nearby for lunch before heading again to San Marco, this time making it inside. We took the treasury tour for an addition 3 euro per person, then the loggia tour for another 5 euro per person. The latter is well worth the cost and the steep climb up to see the tetrarchs, the original bronze horses dating from the 2nd century BC, and the view of the piazza from the top of the church. Exiting, we returned to a mask shop that caught our eye and then made the long hot walk back to the ship.

Ravenna – We decided not to venture out for any tours and instead spent a couple of hours on the beach right next to where we were ported. Basically a day of rest.

Kotor – We chartered the Monte B, a 44 foot ketch owned by a Tim and Katie, a remarkably friendly British couple, for a four hour tour of the bay. We set out from Kotor past Perast and around Sveti Dorde and Our Lady of the Rocks, out to the larger bay and ending in Tivat. On the way we paused to swim in the bay twice, and were provided a wonderful snack of local cheese and bread. The views, the history, the company of Tim and Katie, and their two dogs, were among the highlights of our vacation. I highly recommend if you visit Kotor that you take advantage of this unique tour, made even better with a shandy or G&T. After being dropped off in Tivat, we took the 12 euro cab ride through the mountain tunnel back to Kotor old town. There we climbed a bit up the mountain wall and took in the view over the bay, before wandering through old town and back to the ship. The Venetian architecture, charming alleys, and crazy profusion of cats, warranted more time here than we spent.

At Sea – Two days, the second devoted somewhat to packing.

Barcelona – We elected to self disembark and were off the ship by 7:15 to catch our bullet train to Paris at 9:30. Except our train was “cancelado” due to the strike in France! We got refunded the cost of 2nd class tickets purchased 60 days in advance, and then had to pay for 1st class tickets purchased the same day. For 5 people this cost us ~$1300. And a day lost in Paris, spent instead in the train station. Ouch.

Paris – Arriving late the night before, and having had to eliminate some of our intended sights, we set off early, heading south from our hotel near Place de la Republique toward the Louvre, while passing (Richelieu’s) Palais Royal. From the Louvre (unfortunately it was closed, although we had insufficient time to visit anyway), we walked halfway through the Tuileries for a distant view of the Place de la Concorde, before cutting back and across the Seine for the Musee d’Orsay. Apparently everyone that would have been at the Louvre thought the same thing we did, and the line was too long for us to spend the day for this one attraction. We continued down the quai to Les Invalides and the military museum, taking quite a bit of time in the first rooms to absorb the weaponry before picking up the pace through the seemingly endless parade of firearms, armor, and swords. After a brief tour of the Musketeers exhibit (as I was midway through Dumas’ D’Artagnan Romances, this was a must), we made our way out and back in to Napoleon’s tomb. We circled round and down to the base level, although the view from the top is probably better. Leaving the tomb behind, we headed toward the Eiffel Tower, periodically reorienting ourselves as it became visible between and above the buildings. On the way we stopped for lunch, then continued our walk to the surrounding park and examined the quintessential Paris landmark from multiple angles. For the sake of time, we decided not to go up the tower, and continued our walk down the quai, stopping next to take a snapshot of the cutoff prow of the SS France, AKA NCL’s Norway, which my wife and I had cruised on in the early 90s. A relatively short distance past our cruising reminiscence, at Pont de Grenelle, we took a quick look at the copy of the Statue of Liberty, featured in the 2nd National Treasure movie, and facing our own larger landmark in New York. We hopped the subway and headed to the Pantheon, which unfortunately was closed, and then headed back to Notre Dame, stopping to add a lock to the Pont de L’Archeveche (ugly touristy thing to do but we couldn’t resist). We waited in line for 20 minutes to enter the gothic masterpiece of a cathedral, and afterward, worn out, we returned by subway to our hotel. After a brief rest, we caught the subway out to the Arc de Triomphe, which we climbed for the excellent view of the Eiffel Tower at night and Haussmann’s spectacular design for Paris. After descending, we walked a short way down the Champs-Elysees and spent the last few hours in Paris with a late dinner, enjoying the marvelous weather and view.

London – We hauled our bags via the subway to Gare du Nord, where after passing through the friendly French customs and the rude English customs agents (playing against type I suppose), we caught the train to London. We exited Kings Cross St Pancras station and caught a cab to our Westminster hotel. Note: Subway tickets, like everything else in London, are crazy expensive. With an Oyster card you can drive down the cost from ~$7 to ~$4 one way, but you must have a ~$9 deposit on each card in addition to the amount you want to store for debits. Because all the subway windows were closed on our last night using the subway, and having to leave our hotel straightaway early in the morning, we got stuck with something over $50 worth of useless Oyster cards. Also, because of inconsistencies in the machinery, and the need to swipe the card again before you are let out of the stations, we had to reswipe cards a couple of times to get ourselves free. Of the subway systems we used in Europe; in Barcelona, Rome, Paris, and London, the last was the most expensive and difficult to use, regardless of directions being in our native tongue. Locals no doubt understand the routes for Jubilee and Bakerloo lines, we had to constantly refer to a map, not something we really had to do anywhere else. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t rocket science and you can figure it out in short order, but it is not intuitive. I don’t know if this is more a credit to the other cities or an example of British peculiarity. OK, enough of my digression, after dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed across the bridge for a quick look at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, which is across the street from Westminster Abbey. Turning right we walked down Whitehall past the Cenotaph and various other monuments, past the original Scotland Yard, to Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column. Breaking right at Strand and down Northumberland we found mediocre but expensive food at Sherlock Holmes Pub for lunch (a burger at current exchange rate ran ~$17, fish and chips ~$20, this is about normal for London pub prices we found). After lunch we entered the National Gallery (one of the best things about London is that museums are all free entry) and discovered quickly that no pictures are allowed. We spent a few hours looking at the vast array of paintings before exiting and catching the subway back to our hotel. After a brief rest, we headed back across the bridge to Big Ben and turned left this time, passing the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey before circling right to Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial. We took a leisurely walk along the mall, observing some swans in Saint James Park, and returned to Trafalgar Square, where we took the subway back to the hotel again. The next day dawned and we took the Queen’s walk on the south bank past the London Eye, Blackfriars bridge, the reconstructed Globe Theater, the Southwark Bridge (of iron) and London Bridge (of stone), pausing on the way to walk to the midpoint of the Millennium bridge for a view of St Paul’s with our back to the prison like Tate Modern. For lunch we stopped at the Anchor Bankside, where a pub has supposedly stood for 800 years, and is the last surviving tavern from Shakespeare’s time. While this was typically expensive, the fare was better than most we had in London, and it is recommended. We also took a quick family tour of the Clink prison. A bit of a tourist trap, but affordable and a quick bit of fun. Having to dodge away from the waterfront around the uninspiring London Bridge, we finally made our way to Tower bridge, which we crossed over to enter the small park on the north bank of the Thames at the Tower of London. We cooled our heels in the park, then circled around the Tower and caught the subway to the British Museum, where we viewed the Rosetta Stone (they should definitely keep), and the Elgin marbles (they should definitely return), among other amazing antiquities, including the famous Egyptian sarcophagi, and a fascinating display of watches and clocks. Leaving the museum, we caught the subway back to Westminster and walked the south bank again until finding a restaurant for dinner. After dinner we returned to the hotel and packed for our journey home. On our final morning we hired a cab for the hour drive to London Gatwick, which was about the same cost we would pay for the 5 of us to travel by subway and train.

The trip went by in a blur, largely due to how much we attempted to see in such a short timeframe. The cruise was fantastic in allowing us to go from stop to stop without packing and unpacking, but not ideal if you want an in depth view of a city. The places we found most worth returning to for such an in depth view were Barcelona, Rome, Venice, and especially Paris. I could revisit Pompeii and Kotor again, but they are not top of the list. London was too expensive for what it offered IMHO, and Naples has lost its chaotic charm. I doubt I would visit either of these cities again unless on business perhaps for the former. I would travel with RCI again, but honestly don’t have any specific reason to pick that line over their competitors.

 

I have emailed RCI and been told that the formals nights are day 2 ( Villefranche) and day 6.

 

My family is also on this sailing. Not having the intelligence to communicate with someone who actually knows, I looked at compasses offered by the friendly reviewers of last year's cruises on these boards. My conjecture was as follows

Day 1 Barcelona casual

Day 2 Villefranche formal (matches your information)

Day 3 La Spezia casual

Day 4 Civitavecchia casual

Day 5 Salerno casual/white

Day 6 Sea formal (matches your information)

Day 7 Venice casual

Day 8 Venice casual

Day 9 Ravenna casual

Day 10 Kotor casual/70s

Day 11 Sea formal? (can't remember why the ?, but maybe I just assumed 3 formal nights for the cruise)

Day 12 Sea casual

Day 13 Barcelona

hmmm, here in Georgia, not known as the produce state (and shouldn't really be known as the peach state if that implies fresh quantities available in my opinion) limes have increased in price, but not by an order of magnitude. I can only imagine that RCI gets them in really cheap bulk and my local grocery store is allowing a drop in margin instead of just eliminating them from stock.

Perhaps we will see this in the near future...

Royal Caribbean International reserves the right to impose a citrus supplement on all guests if the price of limes exceeds $0.65 per lime. The citrus supplement for 1st and 2nd guests would be no more than $10 per guest per day, to a maximum of $140 per cruise; and for additional guests would be no more than $5 per person per day, to a maximum of $70 per cruise. NOTE: There will be no charge for drink package guests now paying in excess of $1000.00 per day.

With all the places to drink and meet people on board, why would anyone want to just go to one venue with one set of (potentially pretentious) clientele, I don't know. Regardless of the perqs of being a frequent cruiser I expect you could meet people to like just about anywhere onboard, and more easily avoid those you don't.

Lest any of you think I am ignorant of this topic, I used to travel quite a bit and have had status with airlines and hotels granting me access to a variety of what I imagine are similar lounges. The benefits are limited in my opinion, and are readily beat by a good view or better company.

My philosophical view, which might inflame some, is that the value of a kind word or a smile to a young couple who spent a good portion of their annual income on their first cruise, and perhaps only vacation in multiple years, trumps a free drink and a special chair for someone on their 4th cruise this year. I fortunately don't fall into the former category, and probably won't ever join the latter. Just saying...

Taking our 3 sons on Serenade OTS for a med cruise in June. The oldest is between Junior and Senior years, and the rate he is going, would be tough to convince to spend any time with the family after he graduates. Would rather hike through Europe with his friends. I'm hoping this trip opens his eyes to the wider world, and is perhaps the last chance for the big family vacation before a little more maturity sets in. Kudos to you who have kept your kids sane through their teenage years. :D

Macbeth 09

 

I am a little confused by your statement that 1056 is right next to 1054, which used to be the CL. According to the deck plan (April 2015 and later), 1054 and 1056 are separated by the Centrum elevators, and 1056 is AFT of 1054, not forward. We haven't been on Serenade, but have cruised a lot on BR and JW, and usually in 9078, which is right below the old CL, and that room had a lot of creaking (9078) so I don't know if it's the fault of bad installation or just a part of the ship that creaks a lot (like me, I'm old and creaky:D

 

I know the ping pong table on JW and BR is right in the passageway between the pool seating and the WJ seating, and I was concerned about that and the noise from the pool seating.

 

Did they enlarge the balcony of 1054 so it could be used, or is it still the same as it was when 1054 was the CL?

 

thanks,

I think this question might actually be directed to ChicagoBound, as I have not yet sailed, but I see from the deck plan your question makes sense. I might offer that Windjammer is I believe open during dinner hours, so I imagine it may be relatively quiet during the late nights. Perhaps better than 1054, and forward cabins, which may be subject to the reorg of deck chairs by the crew. I'm not sure about the ping pong tables.

Unlike Brilliance and Radiance, there is no small balcony for 1054 on Serenade. It does have floor to ceiling windows, which is probably the same as when it was the CL.

1056 isn't under the ping pong tables and the WJ outdoor seating. It's a little forward of that. It's right under some of the pool seating. We just got off Serenade in 1054, which is right next door to 1056 and is just aft of 1056. We didn't hear any noise from above (but we did hear a lot of creaking, perhaps because of faulty install of the new 1054, which used to be the Concierge Lounge). But that's a post for another thread. But we heard no noise from above.

We are in 1054 in June. Looking forward to that other thread and any pics you may have. :)

When I started reading this thread I was just sure the second post of the OP would be a complaint about nobody agreeing and calling People rude. CC just never disappoints;)

 

Why oh why are People rude, just because they don´t support the OP:confused:

I'm not sure if I am supposed to detect sarcasm here, but I think there are always diplomatic ways to disagree, which sadly some folks here don't always exhibit. I don't think the OP really has a right to complain, but I also don't think it's necessary to blame her for the situation. I tell my kids that some things just are, and spending your energy finding someone to blame is usually non-productive if not just mean. It's a lesson we can all benefit from.

Received new passports for my sons last month. All three of their birth certificates arrived about a week later in separate envelopes. I'd wait another week and then start calling someone.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Some good advice to be found in all your notes. The challenge remains how to cram it all in before we leave in June. :D

For Europe I think most Americans would at least glance at Rick Steves and some other travel books. In addition to that, I tend to read fiction to get a human perspective before we arrive at the various stops:

Our upcoming Mediterranean cruise on Serenade of the Seas in June:

Barcelona – Shadow of the Wind and Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz-Zafon a few years back. Excellent and atmospheric mysteries set in the first half of the 20th century. Thinking of picking up the 3rd book in the unfinished quartet, Prisoner of Heaven, before our trip.

Villefranche, Nice – Nothing identified yet for this stop. Open to suggestions.

Florence – Currently reading Romola by George Eliot, which is not light reading, but seems to be getting more engaging about 100 pages in. Thinking of Agony and the Ecstasy, about Michaelangelo, by Irving Stone next. I also have Room with a View by E.M. Forster set aside.

Rome – Recently finished Roma and Empire by Steven Saylor. Roma runs from 1000 BC to Julius and Augustus. Empire runs from Augustus to Hadrian. You get a good overview of key Roman events without having to trudge through a dry historical text. I went back and forth to Wikipedia to verify and expand my understanding, and the author seems to have done his homework. However, both books are a bit simplistic from a literary standpoint. I understand his Roman mystery series is supposed to be better.

Naples, Pompeii – Just finished Pompeii by Robert Harris. Standard disaster movie type book and quick reading. Had some good background on the aquaducts though. Still looking for something on Naples.

Venice – Read Death in Venice by Thomas Mann earlier this year. Not as fulfilling as his longer novels but with his trademark philosophical observances. Perhaps not a good travelogue though, with only a limited view of the city. I have Casanova’s complete memoirs (which are not nearly as salacious as you might think), but they are far too lengthy for me to plough through before we leave. Thinking of Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, but even though I like the author my impression is that only a limited time is actually spent in Venice.

Ravenna – Nothing identified yet for this stop. Open to suggestions.

Kotor – Nothing identified yet for this stop. Open to suggestions.

Paris – (we travel here from Barcelona after our cruise) Read Les Miserables last year and loved it. Have Notre Dame queued up on my tablet. Also just for fun thinking of rereading The Three Musketeers and following it with a first time read of the rest of d’Artagnan’s Romances, which run about 3000 pages all told. However these may not really help with getting a view of Paris.

London – I’ve read about half of Dickens novels over the years, as well as the biography of that author by Peter Ackroyd, which I loved. As a result, I’m thinking of reading Ackroyd’s biography of the city, London. A few years back I read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, which has me looking forward to riding the tube for the first time, having only flown through London and never stopped in the past. As an english speaking American, I’ve read a lot of books set in London, but without a real eye to what steps I might like to trace when there myself.

Anything you have read or that is on your list that you might recommend?

Seems like we are talking more about our initial cruises and not a comprehensive list, so I'll pitch in with the SS Constitution for American Hawaiian Cruises in 1983. Nothing like today's ships, but at the time I thought it was amazing.

You have three things going for you:

1. For whatever reason I've always found traveling west seems easier on the jet lag.

2. You are going on vacation and adrenaline should help keep you awake.

3. Jet lag doesn't really kick in for most people until a day or two after you arrive.

Coming back is another story.

I tend to have a terrible time sleeping on planes, and as a consultant who travels frequently I speak from much experience. Not for me, but for some, you can take a mild sedative or antihistamine on the plane to help you sleep. You could also try rearranging your hours somewhat in advance of your trip to compensate for the time change. Good luck.

I get it. I totally get it.

As one who cruises for the destinations, I am fascinated by the cruise line loyalty mystique. Sometimes I wonder what all the extraneous minutia have to do with the bliss of being at sea, the grandeur of ancient civilizations, the splendor of the Mediterranean.

 

Put me on a ship, any ship, headed where I want to go. Give me decent food, wine, and a place to sleep, and all the rest is pretty much irrelevant.

Agree wholeheartedly. I believe the singular point of cruising the ability to travel to new places with a reasonable level of comfort. You can find better food, more comfortable beds, and some similarly spectacular views on land, and as the years have gone by the ships have gotten so big as to not even feel like you've left solid ground. If the sea air is your thing, I'd opt for sailing, and minimize all of the structure that removes you from the actual water.

As long as the itineraries are good, I'll keep leveraging the ability to keep my luggage in one spot while visiting multiple locales, regardless of when and where I get to eat onboard.

Before I am shot for my opinion, I must say that I respect the folks on these boards that help out with answers to all the details of cruising, and can certainly understand why some would expect some perqs for being loyal to a single line.

Also to all you people who are like oh your a one time poster etc. A large amount of people who look on CC do just that look. Some don't create an account until they feel need to mostly because people on here flame posters over the littlest things.

 

A lot of the time when Poster only post one time is they just wanted to let people know something they might like to be aware of and know what response they will get for posting what ever they post. The reason they don't respond is they don't want to waste there lives defending themselves on a online forum when they could be doing god knows what. We all use to be a first time poster

Completely agree. I fail to see how 100 posts complaining about others constitutes a more positive contribution to the board than perhaps a single review.

I believe the OP would be better served by sharing of an experience contrary to her own in having the drinks confiscated, and IMHO the RCI website seems somewhat contradictory to me:

"Guests are not allowed to bring beer, hard liquor or non-alcoholic beverages onboard for consumption or any other use."

but...wait for it...continues

"Security may inspect containers (water bottles, soda bottles, mouthwash, luggage etc.) and will dispose of containers holding alcohol."

seems to imply that soda bottles with soda may not be disposed of.

Having not brought any external beverages onboard, I can't speak to personal experience here. However, I find it amusing to think you could bring on a couple of bottles of wine, but not a couple of bottles of soda. Could they just charge a corkage fee for the pepsi and have done with it? :D

We walk everywhere we can on our own, and on a prior trip shared the following stops with your itinerary (from a post I made in 2009):

Barcelona – The walk from the port to the Columbus monument took 30 minutes. We walked up Les Rambles then past Casa Battlo and La Pedrera on our way to Sagrada Familia. Because I mistakenly wandered off track, we ran out of time and had to journey back to the port without going inside. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the metro, which I did not, and you could likely see more than we did in the 3 hours we had available. We made it back by 4:30 and the boat departed on time at 5.

Villefranche – We got off the boat before 8 (tendered), walked up the hill and took the bus to Nice (buy the ticket when getting on). From Nice we took the bus to Eze le Village (not sur la bord, and there are no direct lines from Villefranche) arriving a little after 9. We had the beautiful medieval city almost to ourselves for 2 hours wandering the small artisan shops and up to the garden for the commanding view of the Cote d’Azur (worth the 5 euro entry) before stopping at Galimard for perfume (recommended over the touristy Fragonard) and departing back to Nice just as the tourist buses were unloading. In Nice we wandered down to old town as the market was wrapping up and got some socca (must try chickpea crepe) and a basket of strawberries for lunch. After wandering the shops and then the promenade, we took the bus back to Villefranche and the boat.

Livorno – We took a taxi (fixed price 20e) behind the shuttles to the train station (don’t take the shuttle, it doesn’t take you all the way and you’ll still need a cab). Easily bought a ticket and followed the signs to our track, where our train departed for the one hour plus trip to Florence. Arriving in Florence, it’s a quick walk across from the station to the main part of town. On our way to the Duomo, we ducked into a small café, where my wife had what she declared the best cup of coffee she ever had. From there we continued to the Duomo (entered) and Baptistry (Gates of Heaven observable from outside). Then we made our way down past Dante’s house to the Palazzo Vecchio where we looked at the copy of David, standing where the original had stood, as well as a gallery of other remarkable statues. Leaving that behind, we walked through the Uffizi courtyard, admiring the local artists’ work intermixed with fake purses and posters, to the Ponte Vecchio, which we crossed and came back. We wandered back to Santa Maria Novella and the train station, where we bought a ticket to Pisa. On the train I second guessed myself, thinking I had taken the wrong route (I hadn’t), and got off in San Miniato, where we waited another 45 minutes for the next train. By this time we had to make our way back to the boat, and unfortunately missed the Field of Miracles and the Leaning Tower.

Civitavecchia – The boat docked late, and my wife and I ran to the train station (we were told the free shuttles to the port gate didn’t start until 8, not true), arriving too late to use our pre-purchased tickets to Rome. We waited another 45 minutes for the next train. Because we had lost time, we shifted our itinerary and got off at Ostiense, where we took the metro to the Colosseum (saves time to do this instead of going all the way to Termini). Avoiding all the bogus ticket vendors, tour guides, and long ticket lines at the Colosseum, we crossed past Constantine’s arch to the Palatine, where we got tickets (combined Palatine/Forum/Colosseum) immediately and wandered through to the iron age huts (Romulus’ home) and the houses of Livia and Augustus (which was unfortunately closed). Continuing through to the Forum we wandered down the Via Sacra to see the Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Julius Caesar (where his body was burned and flowers are still placed). There is a remarkable density of things to see in the Palatine and Forum, you need to be quick if you hope to see other sights in Rome on the same day. Back up through the Arch of Titus we continued to the Colosseum, where we were able with our tickets purchased at the Palatine to bypass the long lines and go up and in to the stadium. After exiting we walked south to San Giovanni in Laterno, where my wife said a prayer at the foot of the Holy Stairs (taken from Pontius Pilate’s home and tread by Jesus on his way to be condemned). We then headed back the way we came to San Clemente (3 levels of worship, 11th century built on 4th century Christian, built on 2nd century pagan). We listened to the beautiful choir finish mass, but didn’t have time to stay for the opening of the excavations afterward. We continued past the Colosseum, and stopped for a pizza before resuming our journey past Piazza Venezia and the Don Emmanual monument to Trevi Fountain, where we tossed our coins and stopped for gelato. Moving west we went to the Pantheon, then Piazzo Navona and its fountains before heading north again over the Bridge of Angels to Castel St Angelo. Entering Vatican City we stood in line for about 20 minutes to get into St Peter’s (Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museum are closed Sundays). Afterwards, we stopped for a coffee before wandering down to San Pietro station and the train back to Civitavecchia. Because of our late disembarkation we had to cut Piazza del Popolo, Mausoleo di Augusto, and the Spanish Steps from our trip. Because I wandered off track on the way to Trevi fountain, we missed the Campidoglio. All in all, still a magnificent tour and one of our best if most tiring days.

Naples – From the port we walked to the train station, which is exciting as crossing the crazy traffic in Naples is always a risky venture. We wandered through the station until finding the Circumvesuviana section off to the right, where we purchased our tickets and hopped the train to Pompeii Scavi. Arriving in Pompeii we went right a block up the road to the entrance of the ruins on the left. Do not bother to buy any maps on the way, as to the left of the ticket counter is tourist information where you can get a map and guidebook for free. The ruins are big (it was a city after all) and could easily take a whole day or more to see. We hovered in the southwest corner near the entrance, wandering blocks up and down entering various sites, including the house of the tragic poet, to the bathhouse, and out to the smaller amphitheater. The notorious plaster casts of Pompeians reside in the cages of pottery past the entrance and to the left. After satiating ourselves with the tragedy of 79 AD, we grabbed the train back to Naples and walked through alleyways to Spaccanapoli. At the east end on the way from the train station we looked for and found Trianon and ate some of the best pizza you will ever have (remember it was invented in Naples and Trianon has been open since 1921) before matching it across the street with the best tasting gelato we would have on our trip. Walking down Spaccanapoli we ducked down an alley to stop at Capella Sansevero, a private chapel with statuary and marble work you would not believe, including the breathtaking Veiled Christ. Our day near complete, we stopped for what was my best coffee (and I don’t drink coffee) before heading back to the boat.

Great trip you have planned. We're doing something similar again, this time with our teens, in the summer.

In addition to cruisett.com, I've used cruisetimetables.com to determine the port load for our itinerary. Both are free, but appear to update at different intervals.

FYI, I'm booked in this stateroom with my family next June, and I've called and exchanged emails with RCI looking for pics or a layout with no luck. From the deck plans on the RCI website it appears there are differences, perhaps not just the balcony, between Radiance, Brilliance, and Serenade. The square footage indicates a much larger room than the typical Family Ocean View, but of course being next to the elevators might detract from that being a win. Barring someone sharing their own pics before we sail, it looks like the room will be something of a (hopefully pleasant) surprise for us.