Iluvcruising2

Third and final part of the flags of the world event on board the Serenade of the Seas.

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These days, they are not fussy with dress code. I don't bring formal wear anymore.

Love the videos. Thanks.

Thanks for your note.

This was on Day 7, where they held a flags of the world procession at the Centrum. The ship carried crew from more than 60 countries. At first I thought it would just be a boring event where they named the countries, but I was wrong. It turned out to be quite fun!

Here is part 1.

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Here is part 2.

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There will be a part 3 (still working on the video).

We received invites for a backstage tour to the Tropical Theatre for Day 7 of our cruise. Since we hadn't attended this before, we decided to check it out. Turnout was good. There wasn't much to see backstage, it was rather cramped. Got a chance to meet up close with the singers and dancers, and ask them some questions. A neat Crown & Anchor perk.

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Snippets of the Schooner Bar menu.

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Made this video of the Schooner Bar's menu while on the Serenade of the Seas sailing out of Copenhagen in June 2016. Not sure if the menus are same fleet-wide. Any clue?

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Finish That Lyric?

Yes , that should be it.

There was a complete the song game going on in the Centrum. (not sure what the official name for this game was)

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And plenty of energetic passengers following the gym(or was it dance) instructor closely, every step. Aerobics in the Centrum! The passengers must have practised these moves previously? All seem rather co-ordinated.

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I appreciated the Captain's humour. Check out his funny goggles.

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I am on the Serenade on Oct 30 on the Repo cruise in room 1052. I guess my balcony is not that private.

 

Oh well.

Yeah. Be aware.

More cruise videos. After the dinner at Izumi, in what was becoming the norm for us, we headed to Windjammer to check out the food, especially the desserts. It was an Indian inspired evening! I couldn't resist trying the chicken Kathi.

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Earlier that afternoon, as the ship was sailing away from Helsinki, I spotted this pilot craft from our cabin.

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Thanks for posting! We did these ports a couple years ago on Vision.

Cool! Happy cruising!

In this video, we dine at Izumi (again). Really enjoyed the Sashimi.

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The afternoon of our departure from Helsinki, Finland, there was a mega Russian bazaar at the Centrum. Plenty of Russian-related stuff, and crew dressed as Russian soldiers. Quite fun. I didn't buy anything though.

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We sailed on the Serenade of the Seas in June 2016 and bought the 5 night speciality dining package on board, for $100 per pax. We could choose our restaurants.

Been a while since I posted on this thread. In this video, you can see the long lines of passengers waiting to board the Serenade of the Seas, in Helsinki Finland. We usually come back ahead of time, so we avoid being caught in such a line.

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Singapore celebrates her 51st birthday on 9 Aug 2016. Happy National Day! We have certainly come a long way.

Check out this video I made from a high floor of a commercial office building in the new downtown of Singapore called Marina Bay Financial Centre. This is my first time up a tall building in the relatively new MBFC and it was gorgeous!

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Nationl Day morning and I headed to a local coffeeshop to get some breakfast. Local noodles. Delicious!

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Here are more food videos from Singapore. Here, I have You Tiao (fried dough sticks), Porridge, Hor Fun, Singapore Fried noodles.

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Here are some snippets from the preview of our National Day Parade. This year, Singapore celebrates her 51st birthday.

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Singapore is famous for inexpensive street food, or hawker food as we call it. In this video, I am in line for some fried carrot cake. Delicious! The serving you see cost me Singapore $3. Freshly fried, piping hot.

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Very festive here at Christmas, good time to come. Don't worry, everything is open.

This video clip - final weekend before Christmas 2015, at the Takashimaya along Orchard Road. Gives you an idea of the atmosphere along Orchard Road, including the street lights.

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Haven't updated this thread for a while. Time for updates! More food updates. Some of you have may have read in the international media that Michelin has come to Singapore - Finally!

Here is the Michelin Guide declaring that Singapore is now home to the world's cheapest Michelin starred eats. Guide - https://guide.michelin.sg/

I must say I have not tried many of the Michelin or Bib Gourmand eateries, but here are two that I have tried.

Peony Jade @ Keppel Club is a Bib Gourmand 2016 winner. We had most delightful Dim Sum buffet.

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Had dinner at the Ritz Carlton Singapore, where there is a Michelin One Star restaurant called Summer Pavilion. Here is the meal.

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Enjoy.

After lunch, it was time to walk around a bit. The thing with cruising is that I really eat too much. To compensate, I try my best to keep more active by walking around. Might as well make more videos. In this video, I found my way down to the sun deck area for suite guests. Nobody was here. I then went into the gym to take a look. The gym was rather large. Not many passengers were working out. As this was a port day, most had gone onshore.

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And then, I caught sight of this Patrol Boat. At first I thought it was a navy vessel sailing out. But when my camera zoomed in, I could scarcely believe what i was seeing - a hot rub? Wow, that is not something you see everyday. When I got back home, did some googling, and found out that this PT boat belonged to this leisure company - http://www.vartiovene55.fi/in-english/ This Patrol Boat began her life as a minesweeper.

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The public bus is number 14. The driver accepted cash (in Euros). This video shows us alighting near the cruise port (we alighted one stop early), but no biggies, as the walk to the ship was very easy.

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Back on board, it was time for lunch! Today, the Windjammer did a very cool Poolside BBQ. Check out the video footage. Fortunately we went early. Later, the lines were very long!

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After the coffee stop, we wandered around some more. Followed the Rick Steves guide and found our way to the Esplanade Park. Not very large, but very pleasant. We had a good time walking around. Take note the large shopping center called Stockmann had clean (complimentary) toilets plus free (and strong) WIFI! Walked arouund the shopping center a bit before taking the public bus back to the ship. Our day in Helsinki was quite short.

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HELSINKI, FINLAND

Our final port of call for this cruise was Helsinki, Finland. The port visit was quite short, ship arrived at 7am and would depart at 2pm. The plan was to disembark once we arrived and make our way into town via public transport. We got to the Rock Church too early. The church opens at 0930hrs, and we were there around 0830hrs. We didn't want to wait, and there wasn't much around that place (very residential), so we couldn't find a cafe to wait either. So we just took some photos from the outside, checked out the top part (all rock!) and began our leisurely walk to the town centre. It didn't take too long, at most 1 hour to walk to the train station. A very pleasant walk. Check out our video.

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We noticed a Nespresso Boutique which just opened that morning! So we went in to take a look and bought some coffee pods, since the prices there were less expensive than Singapore. 4.2Euros for a sleeve of 10 pods of Arpeggio. It was a very nice boutique and the store manager was very nice to offer us complimentary Nespresso coffee for the entire family. A nice touch that morning. I'm a loyal Nespresso coffee drinker these days and I consume on average 2 pods per weekday (I put a machine in my office).

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We sailed from Copenhagen (Serenade of the Seas) in late May 2016 and stayed at Hotel Bethel. See my cruise critic review - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2367291

We did not take taxis. Took public bus. My parents, on the same cruise, took taxis.

Their FAQ still says $8 but on the Serenade, they said $10.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqSubjectName=Food+%26+Drink&faqId=3233&faqSubjectId=336&faqType=faq

Lady--I was there for 5 days prior to the cruise and bought a Copenhagen Card for the 5 days. Check it out and see if it is of value for what you want to do for 2-3 day card. Mine paid for itself twice over-great, great deal!

5 days in Copenhagen. Cool. What did you do for the 5 days? I don't recall that being so much to do in Copenhagen.