Serenade - Easter Week ... A Cruise Journal

[emeraldcity]

Due to the captain’s warnings the previous evening, we were expecting that the seas might be a bit rougher than they had been. I celebrated my last day aboard by starting the day off late. The whole sleeping-in thing is such a novelty for me that I generally have a hard time getting my body to cooperate. But a week of training, and I had finally figured it out. DD actually was ready to get up when I did. I couldn’t talk her into breakfast, however. Given that this is a daily struggle with her, I have to admit that I’m surprised this was the first day she’d fobbed me off. She announced she wasn’t hungry and I figured she’s a big girl. When she’s hungry, she can certainly go get something to eat. She announced that she just wanted to go catch some rays. I’d been preaching the sun screen sermons all week and I think she was worried that she might return home a lovely shade of Cleveland white. The only thing she’d had spectacular success at burning so far was her nose, which was not necessarily what she had in mind when she planned for a great tan this week.

 

It’s really rather novel to have a kid who’s 16. On all our other cruises, I never felt I could let her go her own way, so we had to agree on every activity. Of course I possess the power of the veto, so I had the upper hand in these agreements. But it’s a fact of nature that the adolescent female of the species can be particularly unpleasant to be around when they’ve lost a battle. So our first sea day, she headed off to go find a deck chair in the sun and I headed to breakfast. After breakfast I took my puzzle book and notebook and found myself a nice spot to relax in the Solarium. Having arrived there shortly after 9:00, I found plenty of chairs available. I took one on the port side right by the pool in the shade. Laying my head back for a bit I reflected on how lucky I was to be where I was at that very moment. A normal Friday would find me at my desk at that time. I would have already steered my way through morning rush hour, polished off my bagel and coffee, handled the first batch of emails and would be settling into my main project for the day. Instead I was relaxed on a cushioned lounge chair, listening to recorded birdsong, and watching the reflected views of the pool in the glass ceiling overhead. The perimeter of the glass roof is filled with lush greenery – too blue-green to be the real thing, but pleasant to contemplate. I carefully recorded this little video in my head to replay over and over again in the years to come. It was one of those golden moments you have to savor. If I never get a chance to do this again, I will have gotten the chance to do this at least once. The last day on board is always the time when every moment takes on a special urgency to squeeze out every last special memory. I watched the few people in the pool for a bit. They were getting sloshed back and forth as the ship did a bit of rolling. Occasionally, the water would splash out of the pool and slop over the steps. I wondered if someone would show up soon with one of the yellow signs warning of a wet floor, but they didn’t do so while I was there.

 

It was getting close to 11:00 when I realized that my legs were in the sun. I tried to deal with it, but when I started getting the second hot flash I had to accept that I needed to find a more hospitable environment. The Solarium was full at that point. I merely leaned over to pick up my sandals and a lady headed my way to ask if I was leaving. I smiled and told her to enjoy the chair. Rather than head back to the cabin, I figured I’d better make sure that DD wasn’t still out baking in the sun. I went to the main pool area and circled the pool deck scanning the lounge chairs looking for her. I’m sure the chair occupants figured I was one of those circling hawks, hunting for a vacant chair to pounce on. I didn’t see her and I decided I’d check below before I made an attempt to circle the sun deck as well. It was a good call. My DD was stretched out on her bed. She said she was feeling rather queasy. Granted, the ship was rolling a bit, but she’s weathered this sort of thing in the past better than me … and I wasn’t having any problems with the motion. Honing my mom skills to their finest, I went right for the jugular, “Did you ever have breakfast?” Of course she hadn’t. I noted that if she had some bread in her stomach to absorb some of the stomach acid, maybe she’d feel better. She must have been wallowing in misery for a long enough time, waiting for me to show up, that she was ready to accept my advice without further protest. I went up to the Windjammer and got two different kinds of rolls, a piece of pineapple and a box of Frosted Flakes. I figured that would give her a choice of what might appeal to her. She ate it all … and by halfway through the little meal she was sitting up and smiling. It was an instant fix … and I tucked that little incident away to be used over and over again for months to come – every time I want to drive home the “mother knows best” theme.

 

With her nausea now a distant memory, she brought up her concern that she had some small red bumps around her ankles. I told her that I’d had experienced some itching while swimming the day earlier and wondered if I’d come into contact with something in the water. Although it hadn’t bothered me later in the day, I’d taken a precautionary Benadryl the previous night (oh, maybe that’s why I slept in), and I suggested she might want to take a couple. But I warned her it was likely to make her sleepy. She declared that Benadryl doesn’t make her sleepy, and she decided to take two. We decided to relax in the cabin and watch the waves … which is always one of our favorite things about having a balcony cabin … it’s mesmerizing, like watching a campfire. I went and made a salad at the Windjammer to bring down to the cabin for myself. Meanwhile, guess who had fallen asleep. I ate my salad and worked on one of my puzzles until it was 1:00. It was clearly time to go find a spot on an upper deck for the Men’s Belly Flop competition. We’d looked forward to this one and I had to at least make an attempt to wake her up. She never remembers me doing so, although she clearly listened to my question and said she’d rather go back to sleep. Ah well, she’d have to catch this one on the video.

 

My first stop was the pool bar, where I got a strawberry smoothie in one of those wonderful heavy glass souvenir cocktail glasses. These make the best dessert dishes at home. Then I went up to the sun deck and easily found a spot in the shade above the end of the pool where the band plays. This event is always a lot of fun. The decks were crowded with passengers maneuvering for a good view of the pool area, like a bunch of ancient Romans crowding around the arena to view the spectacle of grown men enduring pain and humiliation in pursuit of the dubious honor of walking away with a gold medal. It boggles the mind that they can find 6 guys so easily that will agree to do this. As a matter of fact, it turned out that last year’s champion felt that his crown was so valuable, it warranted defending it. So he was back to do just that. One by one, the five challengers did their best … and the crowd rated their performances by a show of fingers. Our champion however, was a clear favorite as he rated a large number of 4s and 5s. Just to be sure that the competitors had the grit to endure the pain a second time, given that the memory of the first attempt was still pretty fresh, they were all obliged to make a second attempt. And the champion easily defended his crown with another might smack. Chalk up another medal winner from Ohio! Meanwhile I had gotten some great shots of guys poised mid air, parallel to the water just before the big smack. They were destined to be the source of great mirth during the office slide show when I went back to work.

 

I took my glass with me and headed back to the cabin, where I got a chance to relax with a book until DD woke up. We decided to go get her something to eat and then check out our pictures. She spotted the glass I hadn’t washed out yet and wanted to know how many we had at that point. There were four. We had two each of the ones with the yellow circles and two with the red. I told her I’d seen multi-color ones being served in the Solarium that morning and wondered if there was a chance we could trade our duplicates for something else. She decided that sounded like a worthwhile expenditure of time. The guys are probably dismissing this as a ridiculous thing for a woman to be focused on. And you’re absolutely right, but your opinion matters not a bit to me. We each took one of the duplicate colored glasses and headed out of the cabin. First stop was the Windjammer for some food, then it was down to the Schooner Bar to see if we could make a trade. I am fully aware that there is little likelihood that the job description for servers on the Serenade has a line item requiring that they handle glass exchange requests. But they were terribly nice when we asked and told us that all their remaining glasses had been sent up to the pool bar. So we headed up there. None of the glasses were in evidence when we stopped at the bar and waited till the bartender had finished with his current customer. He came over to us next and we set our clean, empty glasses on the bar and asked if there was a chance we could do an exchange for another color. If he thought we were tiresome and annoying, he never betrayed it by so much as a raised eyebrow. He just offered to check. He returned with one multi-colored one and took one of our duplicates in exchange. DD snatched it in triumph and announced it was hers. I’m trying to decide where that rationale came from. I had paid for the cruise, and paid for the drinks. She was still hoarding her money. I didn’t fight the issue. I figure I have a number of years before she decides to move out. Until then, ownership of that glass is rather a moot point, since we both use the same kitchen.

 

Next we headed down to the photo studio to make some selections. We managed to find all of our pictures except the boarding one. I would have bought that if I could have found it, but I had to settle for the formal ones only. It was a tough choice. I didn’t like any of the ones of me, of course, but I liked all of the ones shot of my DD. We finally picked one with both of us on the staircase, and two of her in front of different backdrops. I planned to keep the one of her looking over her shoulder and would give the other one to her dad). I was just about to head for the register to pay for our pictures when I heard a gasp of shock behind me. I turned and found a tall man and his wife staring at the screen where the cruise-in-review video was being played. The segment running at that point was the Quest. Clearly this man must have been a first-time cruiser who didn’t do any research on Cruisecritic. He stood there with his mouth open and his eyes fixed on the screen. From time to time he leaned down a bit to blurt out to his wife, “Did you see that?” Of course she had. She was getting an eyeful too. Both of them were rooted to the spot. I commented to them, “You didn’t go to the Quest last night, did you?” He asked me incredulously if that was for real. I assured him that it was most certainly what was going on last night, and added that he was only seeing part of it.

 

At some point during the afternoon the captain came on the public address system to advise us that we had been fortunate in that the seas weren’t as rough as had originally been predicted the previous evening. I had to admit, I’d forgotten about the motion issue once DD was feeling better. He advised us that the part of the ocean that the ship was crossing was 6000 feet deep (or 20,000 toes). I was finding it a rather unique experience to have a captain who didn’t speak with a pronounced Norwegian accent. I really thought that RCI made that a job requirement, sending captains to school to perfect their accents before they were allowed to mingle with passengers. Before he signed off, he also told us that the ocean was 6000 feet deep at the point we were traveling and by the end of the trip, we would have covered 1160 nautical miles. I was pretty startled. I hadn’t realized the ocean was so deep around the Caribbean Islands. Somehow, the most logical concept is that the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean would be somewhere out in the middle. When I made that comment to my DD, she advised me that actually the deepest part was the Puerto Rico Trench and it was about 5 miles deep. I kept wisely silent. When you don’t believe a 16-yr old, the smartest course of action is to say nothing. Trying to contradict their information leads to an emotional display and I didn’t want to go there. Where I did want to go was the internet. So when I got home, I goggled it. Darn. She was right (but please don’t tell her I said so). I guess I just have to accept that this is a case where my tax dollars are at work.

 

Before dinner, there was a trivia contest and we decided to give it a shot. Teams were being formed of up to 6 people each. We ended up on a team of 4 and we made a respectable showing, but we were no match for the team that was apparently dominating the contests that week. I think by the end of the cruise, they were running out of give-aways the group hadn’t received as yet.

 

We had a marvelous final dinner with our 8 tablemates. They had enhanced our cruise experience by their congenial company and we will remember them for a long, long time. Thank you again Matt, Luann, Beverly, Terry, Brian, Susan, Sherri, and Mike. Given that this was to be the last dinner, the dining room staff gave us the third of the three shows they do every cruise. This was to be the “Hey! Look me Over!” song … Royal Caribbean style. It was great fun. We ended the evening with the memorable raspberry terra cotta dessert, which will live forever in infamy.

 

There were a number of activities that night, but my DD and I didn’t go to any of them. We finished our packing and put our suitcases out into the hall. Then we went and wandered the upper decks of the ship. It was a quiet evening and the night sky was filled with a billion stars. There was nobody in the pools, although a few kids were cavorting on the pool deck in swimsuits. We chatted about the things we’d done on this trip, sharing our favorite moments and laughing over some of the funniest ones. We leaned on the rail and watched the white frothy swirling waters get displaced as the ship moved forward. We agreed that it had been a fantastic trip in every way, Maybe if we got to do this more often, it wouldn’t be as fun. But we cherish the trips we’ve been able to take together and tuck away the memories to tide us over until we get a chance to do something special like this again.

 

This was the first trip my DD had been relatively involved in planning. Largely that was due to the fact that our last trip was a total surprise. She hadn’t known what I was planning until I advised her the night before that we’d be leaving for the airport in the morning to head to Hawaii. This time around, she wanted to make sure she knew what was in the works.

[CruiserTK]

Mother-daughter cruises are so special. Two of the cruises I have taken were with just my daughter. Lifetime memories are created. I have thoroughly enjoyed your writing. Thank you.

[Cruzin-K]

Mother-daughter cruises are so special. Two of the cruises I have taken were with just my daughter. Lifetime memories are created. I have thoroughly enjoyed your writing. Thank you.

 

I'm looking forward to my cruise next year with my Mom. I'll be 43 and Mom will be 69 and it will be her very first cruise. I go on so many cruises and I'm treating Mom to a mini-suite on Princess for her (early) 70th birthday. I'm hoping it will be filled with great memories for both of us.

[emeraldcity]

I'm trying to get my DD to add a post or two about the trip from her perspective, but I haven't gotten anything yet that could be considered a commitment. I have two more posts to go ... Disembarkation and trip home, then the random thoughts and observations. Those won't be anywhere as long as these have been. I promise.

[amyphil]

No, no don't promise to make them short....we love long, long, long

Amy

[lcguy]

It's clearly obvious that you don't travel that much. Too bad.

[cruiserone]

This review was better than the book I am reading:D

 

Thank you for making my day a little brighter and looking forward to the same cruise next year in March on the Serenade.

 

Think of the many smiles you brought to us with this blog!!

 

Bless you.....Cruiserone

[BroncosFan2010]

Sounds like a great sea day! Thanks for the reminder to pack some Benadryl!

[BroncosFan2010]

I'm trying to get my DD to add a post or two about the trip from her perspective, but I haven't gotten anything yet that could be considered a commitment. I have two more posts to go ... Disembarkation and trip home, then the random thoughts and observations. Those won't be anywhere as long as these have been. I promise.

 

I would love to hear your daughter's perspective!! Does she have her mother's writing skills???

[LBumb]

excellent writing, thanks.

[LouALOH]

Your review of Sasha kind of saddens me. It sounds like it was crowded and not as good as other places. Barbados will be our first island on our B2B, and we were really looking forward to this excursion..... maybe it was different because it was your last excursion and you were worn out??? Help me out here, it sounds kind of lackluster. We have lots of time to switch excursions if necessary.... Did you talk to anyone who did a different excursion that they liked better? What should we do?

For BroncosFan2010... Regarding Sasha...

I just returned from a 4/17/2010 Serenade of the Seas cruise with the same itinerary as EmeraldCity. My wife and I also had booked Sasha and had an absolutely wonderful excursion. In the first location for snorkelling with the sea turtles, there was one small "glass bottom boat" tour pulling away as we pulled up. The 12 of us (which is pretty much the max Sasha will take) had the area TOTALLY to ourselves. No other folks anywhere. For the second location, he suggested a venue change to avoid the cruise ship crowds at the "shipwreck" and instead took us to a man made reef area where we again had no other ships or swimmers in the area at all and saw a large number of fish.

 

I am not an avid snorkel person - I get claustiphobia breathing through tubes, so I just go with goggles and enjoy things from the surface. But there were two couples who do a lot of snorkeling who said it was the best experience they'd had the whole cruise (keeping in mind this is the last port...). And my wife - who loves to snorkel - really enjoyed it.

 

My opinion is that for these excursions in general, a lot depends upon how many ships are in your port on any given day as well as what time some of the operators happen to hit a certain place vs. other operators. Granted, that's part of what you're paying for with these off cruise line excursions - you expect them to know who goes where and insure you have an enjoyable experience. But even so, there are limits and I'm guessing it might have been fairly busy the week EmeraldCity was cruising (spring break territory) - conversely we were the only cruise ship in Barbados on 4/22.

 

We also (like EmeraldCity) used Levi Baron (bumpiingtours) for an excursion the day before in Domenica. I agree he and his staff provide a tremendous experience. But to illustrate my earlier point further - at the very end of our time at Champagne Reef, a large catamarn pulled up in the area and essentially dumped 50 people into the area immediate area where we were snorkelling. As Levi put it "I had nowhere to go..."... Here he was basically guiding you through a series of underwater sights in an organized fashion and some other tour company just throws 50 people in the water within 100 feet of you in a mass that blocked both your intended path and the way you came.

 

It's hard to blindly pick the operators the way we do before a cruise, but I'd suggest that if operators (such as Levi Baron and Sasha) have a decent number of positive reviews here on the boards, you're likely to have a good experience. Isolated cases can always happen but the good operators are reading these boards like we do and they work at it.

 

Hope that helps... Enjoy your cruise... you will absolutely love Serenade...

[BroncosFan2010]

For BroncosFan2010... Regarding Sasha...

I just returned from a 4/17/2010 Serenade of the Seas cruise with the same itinerary as EmeraldCity. My wife and I also had booked Sasha and had an absolutely wonderful excursion. In the first location for snorkelling with the sea turtles, there was one small "glass bottom boat" tour pulling away as we pulled up. The 12 of us (which is pretty much the max Sasha will take) had the area TOTALLY to ourselves. No other folks anywhere. For the second location, he suggested a venue change to avoid the cruise ship crowds at the "shipwreck" and instead took us to a man made reef area where we again had no other ships or swimmers in the area at all and saw a large number of fish.

 

I am not an avid snorkel person - I get claustiphobia breathing through tubes, so I just go with goggles and enjoy things from the surface. But there were two couples who do a lot of snorkeling who said it was the best experience they'd had the whole cruise (keeping in mind this is the last port...). And my wife - who loves to snorkel - really enjoyed it.

 

My opinion is that for these excursions in general, a lot depends upon how many ships are in your port on any given day as well as what time some of the operators happen to hit a certain place vs. other operators. Granted, that's part of what you're paying for with these off cruise line excursions - you expect them to know who goes where and insure you have an enjoyable experience. But even so, there are limits and I'm guessing it might have been fairly busy the week EmeraldCity was cruising (spring break territory) - conversely we were the only cruise ship in Barbados on 4/22.

 

We also (like EmeraldCity) used Levi Baron (bumpiingtours) for an excursion the day before in Domenica. I agree he and his staff provide a tremendous experience. But to illustrate my earlier point further - at the very end of our time at Champagne Reef, a large catamarn pulled up in the area and essentially dumped 50 people into the area immediate area where we were snorkelling. As Levi put it "I had nowhere to go..."... Here he was basically guiding you through a series of underwater sights in an organized fashion and some other tour company just throws 50 people in the water within 100 feet of you in a mass that blocked both your intended path and the way you came.

 

It's hard to blindly pick the operators the way we do before a cruise, but I'd suggest that if operators (such as Levi Baron and Sasha) have a decent number of positive reviews here on the boards, you're likely to have a good experience. Isolated cases can always happen but the good operators are reading these boards like we do and they work at it.

 

Hope that helps... Enjoy your cruise... you will absolutely love Serenade...

 

Thanks for the reassurance about the Barbados tour. MY husband and myself are avid snorkelers, and we are always looking for the best spots. Since we are the only ship in port, I hope that the areas are not busy, and that Jason will take us to the more "secluded" areas.

 

I do LOVE the Serenade, my favorite ship in the RCCL fleet.

[cruiserone]

Now at the age of 64 I have the most wonderful memories of vacationing with my mom and my daughter. My mom loved Disney and was the only birthday present she ever wanted; a trip to the Magic Kingdom. Our trips were filled with memories both with mom's grand daughter, my daughter and just mom and I. Mom has passed but the memories will live on forever both with me and with my daughter. I have kept up the tradition by taking my daughter and now my grand son, to Disney whenever she can find the time between teaching and being a summer camp director. She will have these same memories and hopefully carry them with her and her family.

 

You have made the best memories with your daughter and she will carry them with her forever :)

 

Thank you for sharing them. I intent to write my memories down for future generations. Carol

[nunk]

For BroncosFan2010... Regarding Sasha...

I just returned from a 4/17/2010 Serenade of the Seas cruise with the same itinerary as EmeraldCity. My wife and I also had booked Sasha and had an absolutely wonderful excursion. In the first location for snorkelling with the sea turtles, there was one small "glass bottom boat" tour pulling away as we pulled up. The 12 of us (which is pretty much the max Sasha will take) had the area TOTALLY to ourselves. No other folks anywhere. For the second location, he suggested a venue change to avoid the cruise ship crowds at the "shipwreck" and instead took us to a man made reef area where we again had no other ships or swimmers in the area at all and saw a large number of fish.

 

I am not an avid snorkel person - I get claustiphobia breathing through tubes, so I just go with goggles and enjoy things from the surface. But there were two couples who do a lot of snorkeling who said it was the best experience they'd had the whole cruise (keeping in mind this is the last port...). And my wife - who loves to snorkel - really enjoyed it.

 

My opinion is that for these excursions in general, a lot depends upon how many ships are in your port on any given day as well as what time some of the operators happen to hit a certain place vs. other operators. Granted, that's part of what you're paying for with these off cruise line excursions - you expect them to know who goes where and insure you have an enjoyable experience. But even so, there are limits and I'm guessing it might have been fairly busy the week EmeraldCity was cruising (spring break territory) - conversely we were the only cruise ship in Barbados on 4/22.

 

We also (like EmeraldCity) used Levi Baron (bumpiingtours) for an excursion the day before in Domenica. I agree he and his staff provide a tremendous experience. But to illustrate my earlier point further - at the very end of our time at Champagne Reef, a large catamarn pulled up in the area and essentially dumped 50 people into the area immediate area where we were snorkelling. As Levi put it "I had nowhere to go..."... Here he was basically guiding you through a series of underwater sights in an organized fashion and some other tour company just throws 50 people in the water within 100 feet of you in a mass that blocked both your intended path and the way you came.

 

It's hard to blindly pick the operators the way we do before a cruise, but I'd suggest that if operators (such as Levi Baron and Sasha) have a decent number of positive reviews here on the boards, you're likely to have a good experience. Isolated cases can always happen but the good operators are reading these boards like we do and they work at it.

 

Hope that helps... Enjoy your cruise... you will absolutely love Serenade...

 

Thank you for this reply. We are booked with Sasha for June and this just confirms that these boards can really help make decisions when we just don't have first hand experience! Your description of the tour is what we have read before and why we booked Jason to begin with.

[gijoe76]

My husband and I are doing B2B cruises on June 6 & 13. I know that the Serenade does not have laundry facilities. Were you offered the "laundry bag special" at some point during the week?

[ValerieJo]

My husband and I are doing B2B cruises on June 6 & 13. I know that the Serenade does not have laundry facilities. Were you offered the "laundry bag special" at some point during the week?

 

 

We were on the Serenade in March and were offered the $25 laundry bag special mid week. I believe it was on Wednesday that it was offered on our sailing.

[BroncosFan2010]

My husband and I are doing B2B cruises on June 6 & 13. I know that the Serenade does not have laundry facilities. Were you offered the "laundry bag special" at some point during the week?

 

We are also planning on using this on our B2B. Keep in mind that they will not include shorts, jeans, or another other large items. If you put them in the bag, they will charge you for them.

I am planning on bringing a small sample sized package of Tide and doing a bit of laundry in the sink if necessary. It is so hard to pack for 2 people, 4 formal nights, snorkeling equipment (refuse to use anything buy my own) and enough clothes and STILL Meet the luggage restrictions on the airlines. Grrr.... I hate those luggage fees!

[emeraldcity]

For BroncosFan2010... Regarding Sasha...

I just returned from a 4/17/2010 Serenade of the Seas cruise with the same itinerary as EmeraldCity. My wife and I also had booked Sasha and had an absolutely wonderful excursion. In the first location for snorkelling with the sea turtles, there was one small "glass bottom boat" tour pulling away as we pulled up. The 12 of us (which is pretty much the max Sasha will take) had the area TOTALLY to ourselves. No other folks anywhere. For the second location, he suggested a venue change to avoid the cruise ship crowds at the "shipwreck" and instead took us to a man made reef area where we again had no other ships or swimmers in the area at all and saw a large number of fish.

 

I am not an avid snorkel person - I get claustiphobia breathing through tubes, so I just go with goggles and enjoy things from the surface. But there were two couples who do a lot of snorkeling who said it was the best experience they'd had the whole cruise (keeping in mind this is the last port...). And my wife - who loves to snorkel - really enjoyed it.

 

My opinion is that for these excursions in general, a lot depends upon how many ships are in your port on any given day as well as what time some of the operators happen to hit a certain place vs. other operators. Granted, that's part of what you're paying for with these off cruise line excursions - you expect them to know who goes where and insure you have an enjoyable experience. But even so, there are limits and I'm guessing it might have been fairly busy the week EmeraldCity was cruising (spring break territory) - conversely we were the only cruise ship in Barbados on 4/22.

 

We also (like EmeraldCity) used Levi Baron (bumpiingtours) for an excursion the day before in Domenica. I agree he and his staff provide a tremendous experience. But to illustrate my earlier point further - at the very end of our time at Champagne Reef, a large catamarn pulled up in the area and essentially dumped 50 people into the area immediate area where we were snorkelling. As Levi put it "I had nowhere to go..."... Here he was basically guiding you through a series of underwater sights in an organized fashion and some other tour company just throws 50 people in the water within 100 feet of you in a mass that blocked both your intended path and the way you came.

 

It's hard to blindly pick the operators the way we do before a cruise, but I'd suggest that if operators (such as Levi Baron and Sasha) have a decent number of positive reviews here on the boards, you're likely to have a good experience. Isolated cases can always happen but the good operators are reading these boards like we do and they work at it.

 

Hope that helps... Enjoy your cruise... you will absolutely love Serenade...

 

 

Thanks Lou for posting your experience. I'm so glad you had such a great time with Shasa. Our experience was due to circumstances beyond the control of the tour operator and I'm glad you didn't run into the same thing.

[emeraldcity]

Ever since I’ve had balcony cabins, I’ve always been up early enough to sit out on my balcony and watch us enter the port and go through the docking process. There is a special magic to these early morning arrivals. There are a few lights visible on shore as you glide through the harbor entrance and wave to the occasional scattered observers on shore. Typically these are fisherman, who also appreciate the golden quiet moments when most of the area’s inhabitants aren’t crowding into your space. I treasure those special moments-in-time that I had in Miami, Galveston and Honolulu. I was planning on a similar experience in San Juan, but I missed it. The captain got her docked before I woke up. I guess that means I’ll have to go back some day so I get another shot at it.

 

We hadn’t figured we’d see our table mates again, but before we made it to our gate at the airport, we individually ran into all four couples. We spotted the first couple as we were coming back down from breakfast at the Windjammer. We decided to have our usual breakfast one more time before going to the Platinum and Diamond Departure lounge. There was to be food available there, but it would be of the continental breakfast variety. I wanted to get in one more serious feeding before I was thrown at the mercy of airport and airplane food. After breakfast, we stopped at our cabin long enough to gather our carry-ons, do one final check and then step out of 7608 one last time. We arrived in the Reflections dining room about 20 minutes before the group was to depart and found that the passengers were gone. We were greeted by representative who told us that everyone had been escorted off the ship already and she led us down to the gangplank to join them.

 

I hadn’t attached a $40 value to the concept of letting RCI schlep my bags to the US Air check-in counter. Consequently, it took us a bit longer to make it to the gate than those who used Luggage Valet. But I timed the process, so others can judge for themselves. We stepped off the ship right at 8:00 and we sat down at the gate just under 2 hours later.

 

I want to pause here long enough to thank the busy little elves who off-load all that luggage and arrange it in such an accessible manner. Whoever they are, you never see them. It strikes me that they spend far more time with the luggage and provide a much more sterling level of service that the porters you meet at embarkation (with their hand out). Yet the disembarkation elves are nowhere in sight by the time you're collecting your bags. We spotted our bags immediately upon entering the terminal, so we quickly fastened them together and wheeled them to customs. With barely a break in stride, we were soon outside.

 

Once we got through customs we were directed straight to the luggage counter where we were separated from our luggage. Luggage went on the truck, passengers went on the shuttle bus. Nowhere along the line did anyone ever ask for any proof that we had paid for the service of having Royal Caribbean handle our pier-to-airport transportation. I had asked about what I needed at the pursers desk the day before and they said they would just ask for the sea pass card. Yet, nobody asked for that either.

 

The shuttle bus filled quickly and they headed off for the airport. Once we got there, we were off-loaded into a group of other cruisers who had gotten earlier shuttle buses, but were still waiting for the luggage truck. Among them, we spotted another couple from our dining table. When the 2 trucks showed up about 15 minutes later, it was last one on -- first off. Consequently, those who had gotten off the ship the earliest, were the last ones to get their luggage and join the agricultural line. US Airways had someone posted at the ticket line to warn you to go through the agricultural inspection first, so those who weren’t up on the process didn’t end up getting confused by it.

 

I simply cannot accept that those involved in the placement decision of the agricultural screening equipment ever considered traffic flow logistics. We were directed to enter the terminal at the point where US Air check-in occurs, but you can’t check in. You have to turn left and head for the screening machines. Of course, when you reach the cubbyholes they are housed in, you discover that you have only just reached the head of the line and must go in search of the end of it. Like a bunch of lemmings, we followed the luggage train in front of us until we came to a halt. At this point, we had either reached an indeterminate end of the screening line, or a stationary group of people who had nowhere else to go. The only discernible movement was the screening line which was edging back from the direction we had come. So we simply turned around and blended into the line. I still am suffering from guilt pangs that I may have cut into the line, but I really couldn’t figure out what was going on. So if I cut into your line, I humbly and publicly apologize.

 

The actual screening process was very quick. We got our orange stickers affixed to the luggage and proceeded to the airline check-in line. There were only about 8 people in front of us and one of them was the famous Mr. Sexy Legs. We chatted with him a bit. He was such a nice young man. It was his first cruise and he’d had a wonderful time. He noted that he seemed to be the only one on the ship from Massachusetts, because whenever it was announced, no regional cheerleaders would yell in support. We got to the front of the line and we were directed to an empty check-in kiosk (unfortunately located at the end of the counters), where I stepped through the process and got my boarding passes. Getting the attention of someone to actually take my check-in bags wasn’t nearly as painless. Perhaps their check-in staff for the day had staged a mass call-off. There seemed to be only one person to roll luggage to the x-ray machine and two people to pull it off the scales and affix baggage labels. All you needed was a couple of passengers who had special requests (like the seat-change guy) and the process ground to a halt. It was nearly 10 minutes before my apparent cloak of invisibility dissipated and someone came over to process our bags.

 

OK. Now all we have to do is get through security and we can go find seats at the gate. I expected that to be relatively simple. It wasn’t. As we were waiting to go through security, I noted that the process to get people through was sluggish, resulting in screened items piling up on the finished section of the conveyor belt. Reasoning that I wanted to reduce as much as possible the amount of time that my purse might be out of my reach, I positioned the tub that held our two purses at the end of our four pieces to be screened. It looked like my strategy was working. As I got through security and reached the belt, the fourth tub was just coming through the machine. I grabbed my shoes from tub 3 and looked down to put them on. When I looked up again, the purses were gone. Somebody else’s luggage was coming through the machine. “Where’s my purse!” I demanded. The security folks ignored me. Their reaction did nothing to stem my rising panic so I repeated myself. My DD got similarly alarmed. If it had only been mom’s purse, I wonder if it would have hit her so hard, but she had a nice chunk of cash in her purse and it was gone too. The people behind me got their stuff and moved on and I stood my ground and repeated my demands. Somebody glanced my way and mumbled something, but they were clearly unconcerned about my situation. Three more tubs came through before my tub with the purses showed up again. I determinedly stood my ground blocking the efficient flow of traffic (Hey! I was already pretty clear that traffic flow is not a big issue in San Juan anyway) and emptied my purse in front of everyone, taking inventory, counting my credit cards and checking my cash and identifying key items like iPods, blackberry, cell phones and passports. DD did the same. I can only guess that they decided to put it back through for whatever reason, but nobody had the courtesy to tell me that, despite my obvious concern.

 

We finally headed off in the direction of our gate, which was at the very end of the concourse. Having been forewarned on cruisecritic that the airport lacked enough seating for the quantity of cruise passengers that arrive en mass on the weekend, we knew we needed to get our seats staked out before we checked out the airport’s amenities. Seats were filling up, but there was some selection available before 10 a.m. We found two seats together and settled down. Our flight was at 12:40 so we had a good couple of hours to await boarding. It wasn’t long before all remaining seats within view were taken and people were sitting on the floor. Any wandering we did during the wait was done solo, while the other person watched the luggage and saved the seats. When it was one hour till boarding, it was time to make a meal decision. DD opted to have a pizza and I decided to wait till I got on board. So I made the meal run. I couldn’t find anything on the airport concourse that looked like it could beat that pastrami sandwich on US Air.

 

When they started to board our plane, we began to collect our things in preparation for them calling our zone. The legions of floor-sitters and aisle-pacers began to close in. I felt like a piece of carrion waiting for the vultures to descend. I hadn’t even stood up yet and somebody was standing by my seat ready to claim it. I abandoned the seat and stood to stretch my legs, since I wouldn’t be doing much of that for the next 4 hours. We boarded, stowed our carry-ons and settled in. I had an aisle seat this time and DD sat next to a girl about her own age who was in the window seat. I anticipated that they would find lots to chat about during the flight. But, again, this is me … being wrong. It was nearly the end of the flight before they started to talk about books. DD was reading her book on dog training in preparation for the puppy we’re looking for … and the other girl commented on it. One thing led to another and before you knew it they were chatting about books in general.

 

During the pre-flight safety instructions, they showed the same video we’d seen when leaving Cleveland (was it only just last week?). Somehow it wasn’t amusing this time. On our out-board flight, we were wound up and giddy. Now we were mellow and relaxed, just dealing with the logistics of getting home. When they announced that they’d be offering a snack box for $6 while serving the in-flight beverages I was sure they’d just forgotten to tell us the rest of the menu. Surely, there was going to be that sandwich box. I found that the people across the aisle from me were dealing with a similar desire to take a trip down pastrami memory lane. But it was not to be. The snack box was the closest thing to a meal being offered, and since all other dining venues were 30,000 feet below us (unless, of course we were still out over the ocean in which case there wasn’t even that option) I handed over my credit card and accepted my snack box. It was sustenance, but that’s about all I can say about it. I was hungry enough to eat every bit of it (except that fruit roll-up … I handed the over-the-top sugar thing to DD), but I focused on the issue of finding something considerably more satisfying during our layover in Philadelphia.

 

We were deplaned in Philadelphia at Terminal A, and had to go to Terminal F to get our connecting flight to Cleveland. We followed the signs until they sent us down an escalator to a waiting area for the shuttle bus. If you ever follow in my footsteps at this airport, don’t get on the escalator till you make sure there’s clearance at the bottom. Until the shuttle bus gets there, the amount of space available at the bottom is pretty limited and as the area continued to fill up I had mental images of people tumbling all over each other as the relentless escalator kept delivering more people to a space that was already elbow-to-elbow. The shuttle arrived and we were among those who were lucky enough to escape the sardine can and leave the building to board the waiting shuttle bus.

 

This isn’t the first airport I’ve been at where they send you outside and a shuttle bus takes you to the next terminal, so I was expecting it would travel on a road that skirted the outside of the complex. We were to break fresh ground here, since in Philadelphia, these shuttles share the same concrete used by jumbo jets and baggage carts. I was a bit startled, but I suppose transporting human baggage around isn’t that much different from hauling inanimate baggage. What was unsettling for me however, was the fact that the bus stalled out every time the guy stopped … and he stopped at every right-of-way that an airplane might be needing. I remember the clunkers my dad used to provide me with as a novice driver and I was having flashbacks. When you have a vehicle that stalls every time you come to a stop, it doesn’t take all that long to realize you should keep a foot on the gas as you’re braking. If it can’t idle without dying, chances are you may have trouble getting it going again. I had mental images of having to hike across those airplane right-of-ways when they declared the engine had finally given it up for good. The temptation to state the obvious to the driver was overwhelming, but I learned long ago that back seat drivers are never appreciated (especially when they’re female and they’re right). So I let him continue to demonstrate his refusal to indulge in experience learning. We eventually made it to Terminal F … and, of course, as he stopped the shuttle bus, the engine died again.

 

It was time to grab something to eat before our connecting flight and we weren’t terribly excited by the airport selections, but it could hardly compete with the food we’d been enjoying all week. We settled for something forgettable and then went in search of our gate. It was at the end of the concourse, tucked behind a sizeable partition. Our little jet was waiting and we soon boarded. We had the front row … but of course in these little commuter jets, that doesn’t mean first class. Our carry-ons had to be gate-checked, since they wouldn’t fit in the overheads. We settled into our seats and I glanced into the cock-pit. I was surprised to see a woman in the pilot’s seat. I asked the flight attendant if our pilot was a woman and she laughed and told me the co-pilot was too. Wow! Women drivers! I love it. And unlike the shuttle bus driver, it was a smooth ride … no stalled engine. A nice way to end the trip. The flight attendant and I chatted throughout most of the flight, since I was practically sitting in the galley anyway. She’d worked for the airlines for over twenty years, so it was an interesting glimpse into the type of life that a flight attendant leads. I guess the biggest surprise was that her schedule always changes and when she ends her four-day schedule each week, it’s not necessarily in her home city. She’s stuck making her way back sometimes by bus!

 

We got back to Cleveland on time and the luggage showed up in record time on the carousel. As we wheeled our luggage toward the taxi desk to grab a cab for home, we passed the empty carousel that would be hosting the luggage for the inbound non-stop from San Juan. It wouldn’t be arriving for another half hour. So we didn’t manage to score the non-stop I would have preferred, but we got out of San Juan earlier, got home earlier and had no issues with connections. All in all, it worked out OK.

 

We were assigned the next taxi, which turned out to be driven by the Arabian counterpart to the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. He kept up a constant stream of conversation and was educating me about how everything has it roots in Arabia. He was a big improvement of the dour taxi drivers I always seem to get stuck with. It’s a relatively short ride to my home from the airport and soon I directed him to turn onto the next street. The taxi pulled around the corner and our house came into view. Wow! Spring had exploded all over the neighborhood in our absence. The daffodils had been just ready to open when we left. We arrived home to find the neighborhood a riot of color. Forsythia, magnolias, daffodils, flowering cherries and crabs … and the grass was that brilliant shade of new April green that is practically neon. Vacations are wonderful … full of excitement, good company, relaxation, new experiences … but the best ending to a vacation is coming home to a place where you belong and finding everything just as it should be. I wish you all wonderful vacations, and happy homecomings.

[emeraldcity]

It's clearly obvious that you don't travel that much. Too bad.

 

Tee Hee. :) You're right. I've only made it 49 states so far. Still haven't had a chance to get over the pond ... if nothing else, I'm going to Rome someday. DD is pushing for a Med cruise for her HS graduation, but I don't think I can let myself do that till I get to state #50.

[emeraldcity]

My husband and I are doing B2B cruises on June 6 & 13. I know that the Serenade does not have laundry facilities. Were you offered the "laundry bag special" at some point during the week?

 

It's in the Day 5 compass ... Wednesday. Price was the same for our cruise too - $25 for the bag.

[cruiserone]

US Air out of Philly for our cruise. I hope that I get to taste the pastrami sandwich :)

 

Take the Med cruise with your daughter! Since you are an early riser, you will get to see some of the most beautiful ports in the world. Entering Venice is truly an experience.

 

Enjoy life. Thank you for sharing yours.:)

[gijoe76]

Thanks for all the laundry info!! I'm trying to learn how to not overpack--you know, less underwear and more shoes!!

[ahawco]

Thanks so much for such a great review emeraldcity. I am just sad to see it end :( I kind of feel the way I do when I come to the end of reading a really great book. It was a fantastic insight into a cruise and all that comes with it and I truly enjoyed your humorous, honest and detailed way of re-telling your trip to us. I am glad you had a such a great vacation with your daughter. It is a great memory that will last for a lifetime.

[BillOh]

One of the most entertaining reviews I've read, and you haven't even got to the cruise! I can't wait to read the rest :)

 

The OP definitely has some talent as an author.