lou2003k

So.. we dock in Barcelona 6 of us on 27th May and our flight home isn’t until 9pm! We want a trip or private driver to take us to Girona or somewhere out with the city ( we’ve spent 3 days in the city pre cruise ) . Before anyone recommends Barcelona day tours we’ve asked them but they are full .

I really don’t want to spend 10 hours at the airport help!

Hi

Does anyone know if this ship sells british duty freee cigerettes on board.

Superking black or similar and price if you know.

Many thanks

not onboard but in the port you can

has anyone ever used Brenda n frankos fun tours? I was going to use Sunny liston but hes been getting some bad trip advisor reviews ?

That's us all booked 8th floor balcony room super excited now to research he ports and join the roll call yeeeey

Thanks to everyone for all your responses we will book asap and work the flights etc out next year xx

my oh is keen on flying into NYC as we can go direct to Newark cheaply and a short flight time so may do 2 nights in NYC then take the Amtrak train ( we love trains ) to boston seems pretty simple to do and stay in Boston for 2 nights pre cruise ? does this seem an ok option?

cruise finishes in Florida so we can fly home from there?

Of all you possible choices, I think you hit upon the best one. First and foremost, Serenade is a beautiful ship, in fact, one of my favorites. If you liked Rhapsody, then you will love Serenade--it's a larger and more sophisticated version, with a great layout, and beautiful public spaces that overlook the sea.

 

Boston, especially in October, is awesome. The weather is perfect for being outdoors and walking around sightseeing. Our favorite thing to do there is purchase tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus and just hit the streets running. I highly recommend lunch at Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in continuous use in the U.S.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Oyster_House

 

There is so much American history to absorb in Boston, and you will be able to enjoy much of it by just following the Freedom Trail.

 

http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/

 

This is a very unique itinerary, actually a repositioning cruise for this ship, and I think it would be a great honeymoon cruise. Congrats on your upcoming wedding, and I hope you enjoy whatever cruise you ultimately decide on and make wonderful memories.

Thanks so much for all the information Im thinking this is definitely the one and look forward to booking it! I was thing on waiting to see if a buy one get one deal comes on or an al inclusive free drinks offer but not sure I can wait haha!

I think this would be an awesome cruise for you! WE did our honeymoon on the Vision. The smaller ships are so perfect for a honeymoon, but then that is just our opinion!!! But, whichever you choose, congratulations!

thanks so much !

im thinking after the rhapsody we wont find the Serenade to small :)

Interesting you should say that because we notice a good number of UK folks on Adventure. Non-scientific, but it seems to be a higher proportion than on Florida based cruises.

maybe from England based counties they get all the good flights and cheap ones. Not so from Scotland unfortunately But il certainly take a look :)

I agree, double the length, and you are celebrating your honeymoon. I'm putting my official vote in for Serenade!

yeeey im thinking this could be the one then . Any must see areas / things in boston? and what kind of Boston weather can we expect around that time. This cruise is also tail end of hurricane season so im hoping I encounter good weather onboard :-)

Look at the cruise out of San Juan on the adventure. You get to do almost all the best ports in the Caribbean on that itinerary. I personally don't like the smaller ships so wouldn't do the serenade cruise, some people love them though. I need more to do than just eat and drink.

I had discounted San Juan just because its not easy for me to get to from Scotland at that time of year :-(

If you liked the Rhapsody, you will be ECSTATIC on the Serenade. :)

fab , I loved the independence but still enjoyed the rhapsody so im thinking the serenade will have a bit of both , aslong as theres an adults pool , food , drink and a casino and the odd good show then im sold on any ship :)

That is a fabulous cruise. Have you priced it? It's usually extremely popular, and thus very expensive, particularly at this point. (long after it was first released)

I have priced it and your right it is almost double the other cruises but its almost double the length and has way more stops so still appealing. I Guess for honeymoon its a once in a lifetime ( hopefully haha) thing so don't mind spending a little more. I checked and looks like a lot of balconys still available also getting 25% off a balcony room with our member status so that's a pretty good deal.

The Allure of the Seas is an amazing Ship, we just finished the Eastern Caribbean cruise on her in May (link to detailed review with lots of pictures of ship and ports are in my signature below)

 

The beaches of St Thomas and St Maarten are really good, ideal for a vacation with your new spouse.

 

Can't go wrong with any of the ones you've shortlisted. See where you get the best price.

thanks for this your review is fantastic and very helpful :-)

This sounds like a wonderful cruise!! I live about an hour from Boston, you may want to consider staying on Boston, it is beautiful that time of year. That is a very unique itinerary!!! Downside could be that Serenade is a much smaller ship than the Oasis class, but that's not always a bad thing!

Yeah we thought maybe boston for a few nights pre cruise would be a nice possibility also.

Serenade looks to have what we need , we were on the Rhapsody which I believe is a smaller class ship and thought that also adequate so im sure the serenade would also be fine. The stops look fantastic

ooooh I've found a new option :

12 nights - Beantown & Beaches Cruise

20 October 2017 - 01 November 2017

Ship: Serenade of the Seas

PORTS OF CALL: Boston - Massachusetts  Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas  Philipsburg - St. Maarten  Castries - St. Lucia  Willemstad - Curacao  Oranjestad - Aruba  Fort Lauderdale - Florida

could do a few night new York pre cruise and then maybe a few night florida after??

any opinions on that one?

A different take on those ports:

 

Haiti is the private port of Labadee and it is LOVELY. Just a fabulous beach day.

 

I love Cozumel - so much to do; so many different ways to spend the day.

 

Bahamas? feh

thanks for your comments that's why I came on here wanted to get opinions from people that have actually been and enjoyed or not enjoyed them . I googled the private beach in Haiti looks lovely with water sports which I enjoy. Someone advised me Cozumel was really run down? and the plus of those cruises is they include Jamaica and from looking online that port looks fantastic!

Prices are pretty much the same so no difference there , im pulling towards the one including the Bahamas on the allure , haven't heard good things about Haiti and don't fancy Cozumel ..

Ok so this will be my 3rd RC cruise - first on Independence ( Italian Med )second on Rhapsody ( Greek Isles ).

We have decided to get married in October 2017 in Santorini in Greece.

Were then hoping to honeymoon in the states due tot he time of year trying to find somewhere reasonable weather wise so thought Florida for a wee - 10 days , hire a car drive around etc ( we've been once before ) and then a Carribean cruise from Fort Lauderdale

so ... advice required are we crazy to cruise in October - Hurricane season?

and any recommendations of itinerary's would be great? So far I've seen a few on the RC website that tie in o.k - any opinions / suggestions?

Ship: Allure of the Seas 15/10

Itinerary: Fort Lauderdale - Florida  Nassau - Bahamas  Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas  Philipsburg - St. Maarten

Ship: Harmony of the Seas 14/10

Itinerary: Fort Lauderdale - Florida  Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas  San Juan - Puerto Rico  Labadee - Haiti

Ship: Harmony of the Seas 21/10

Itinerary: Fort Lauderdale - Florida  Labadee - Haiti  Falmouth - Jamaica  Cozumel - Mexico

Ship: Allure of the Seas 22/10

Itinerary: Fort Lauderdale - Florida  Labadee - Haiti  Falmouth - Jamaica  Cozumel - Mexico

boarded 24/06 in Venice boarding was speedy and smooth at around 11.30am

booked a inside cabin on floor 8 - was ready at 1pm and great size room clean and looked in good condition.

entertainment overall was good night time shows funny and always something on , show , football, piano bar , live music , movies on outside screen etc and Viking lounge was good at night.

Food quality good we ate at a mixture of windjammer and the main dining room and both were good. park café was good for lunch but the same food every day salads and beef sliders.

ports were 10 nights , corfu , Mykonos , santorini , Athens , zadar , kotor not in that order - we always docked on time or early , cleared quickly and rarely had to wait to get off which was nice , 2 ports we left late as the captain gave us extra time again nice.

We walked around most of the ports our self which was easily done apart from Athens and Santorini where we took tours organised privately.

the solarium area was fantastic away from the noise and music and children at the main pool , relaxing and pool always kept lovely

2 formal nights which they don't enforce - I like this as although I did dress up why force others to ? so in this was the ship is relaxed ..

Observations :

As gold members they left leaflet in our room with offers such as buy one one get one free for once time etc none of the bars etc recognised any of the gold offers and after going to guest services they said they would come back to us but didn't bother.

the ship was a lot rockier than the independence especially on the last night the boat was very rocky in the theatre etc

we went to the next cruise desk and the staff were soooo rude I had to walk away no customer service and down right not interested which we heard from a few people

I thought being on a smaller ship we would get a slightly more intimate personal service but I didn't feel like this at all no one learned /asked our names at the bars . cafes etc unlike the independence .

When booking my time dining I asked to sit at larger tables ie 8-10 people we enjoy socialising at dinner etc and this is how we met people on the independence .. not once were we sat at a large table always a table of 2 even when we said we didn't mind still always a table for 2...

they don't let you do a walk off with your bags you have to leave them outside the night before even though we asked.

you cannot check your bill etc on your tv screen like the bigger ships although this could be part of there upgrade on the dry dock...

overall another good cruise and we would cruise rhapsody again , the above are just minor things I noticed whilst onboard , ship was clean , didn't look old or in need of work...

I am in 8028 JS right now. Fairly quiet except when some lead-footed adult or child runs along the pool deck above. It's really tolerable. Would suggest not booking down at the end by the Centrum -- say around 8040. First of all, the loud music from Deck 4 is going to be heard, as well as the outer door slamming every time someone comes through it.

Glad to hear as I'm in 8027 inside cabin in 2 weeks and I would love it to be quiet lol

I think the journey from the Cruise Port to Airport in a taxi was about 20 mins.

Brilliant thank you someone else posted only about 45 euros in a taxi so that's not bad think that will be our best option !

I wasn't on this sailing, but I've been to Venice before. The bus ride is about 20-25 minutes. The people mover was super busy, so we ended up just walking to Piazza Roma. A private water taxi is going to run into the $100.00's and will take longer than the bus. You can do the Blue line $16.00 alilAguaNa run from the ship port to the airport, but they say to allow 2 hours for that tranfer so it depends on if you have spare time or not.

 

http://www.alilaguna.it/en/linea-blu

 

We are doing the blue line into Venice because we aren't under any time frame.

 

BostonJet (sorry for the auto correction) and Biker, where did dock in Mykonos? We've booked a yacht trip and need to get transportation from the boat to the yacht.

Thanks we have a flight at 12 to catch so want to be there in plenty of time we will wait and see what others are doing fastest way will suit us so possibly a road taxi then

We had a flight at that time. We pre-booked a transfer to the airport with A2B. It was no hassle. The driver is waiting for you when you get off the ship holding up a piece of paper with your name on. There are also plenty of taxis available just as you exit the ship.

Do you know how long it took to get to the airport this way?

Also does anyone know how much a water taxi would be to the airport?

This is a terrific trip report. I'm sure I'll have some questions if you don't mind. Right now, I can only think of one:

 

Did they offer MTD on your Rhapsody sailing? It's not a choice for us and we were forced to select a dining time. I'm wondering if it's an option I should ask to be waitlisted for, or if MTD isn't available on Rhapsody in Europe. TIA

MTD is defo available im booked on it in a few weeks