crvng4mr

Stef......you talk about my pictures being beautiful, yours are spectacular!

Is Michael Kors a restaurant? I'm not familiar with that one.

It is a high end designer store. They sell handbags, accessories, limited clothing and shoes.

We just booked our flights to Barcelona from LAX to Barcelona. I am so releived to read a positive review after having read so many bad ones. I am praying we have an awesome experience like you!

I am sure you will have an awesome experience! Lucky you!!! Please come back and tell me how wonderful it was.[emoji6]

Thanks for the great TR! Your photos really make me excited for planning our next trip! I think we're going to do a land only trip - splitting the trip between London, Paris & finishing in Amsterdam.

Thank you! I love that split! Planning a long weekend to London, my first time, in January. I wish they had a section for land trips on here. I love this format for reviews much better than trip advisor. Have a fabulous time!

All good things must come to an end, but thoroughly enjoyed reliving our adventure and your extension. Beautiful pictures!!!

 

Haven't been on lately - George is not well, and we've been catching up on MD visits. Until he is well, can't "sub for cruise money."

 

Braeden made the football team - tight end/wide receiver.

 

God speed and hope our paths cross again.

Thank you! I haven't been on in a bit either. So sorry to hear George isn't well and we will pray for you both. Please email me and keep me posted.

 

So happy for Braedon! We are driving up to Acworth, near Atlanta, Friday because Cai is in a Regatta there this weekend.

 

I hope to see you again but we will definitely keep in touch.

Hi Ayasha,

 

Thanks for your wonderful review. It took me back to that wonderful cruise on the Serenade of the Seas in June, which seems such a long time ago now!

 

It was great meeting you and maybe we'll meet again on another cruise sometime! All the best to you and your family.

 

Margaret and Geoff xx

Thanks Margaret! I hope you both are well.

 

I know it seems like so long ago. Hopefully we shall meet cruising again!

over????? NNNoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! How am I supposed to live without new pictures to blow me away? When's your next cruise? and please promise to take a gazillion pictures and show them to us!!!!!! Africa sounds stunning as well --- heck if it's not a cruise tell us where we can find THAT review as well!!!!! Thank you so much for having written this! It was a feast for the eyes and I think I'll go back many times to daydream with those fantastic pictures of yours! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!

 

Stef

Stef!!!! I haven't booked one yet but I am looking. I will be doing 3 land trips in January, April and May so we shall see when I can fit maybe a 4 day cruise in.

 

Now I am also taking photography online so watch out world!

 

Thank goodness I have your review to hold me over. The Africa trip might be land and cruise so......

WHAT A FANTASTIC MOMMA YOU ARE.

 

I'm so sad your review has come to an end, it was so so enjoyable. And you're making me look at flights to Paris - I so need to go back after seeing your photos!

 

Looking forward to seeing the pictures of Copenhagen and maybe you can write a little more about your flight home or what was in the mail when you got their, who cares, hell make up a story, anything, I just don't want it to be over!

Thank you Cath!!!! I am sad as well.[emoji17] But.....that only means I need to book another one asap.[emoji6]

 

At least I have your review, windjammer, melissa's, Kreu*&5#$(u know who I am talking about) to get me through!

Thanks for taking the time. It was fun vacAtioning ( in my mind) with you.

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Forums mobile app

Thank you! Anytime. [emoji14]

Love your review. Leaving Friday for 7 day Greece & Turkey on the Splendor of the seas. I love the pictures of Santorini. I am really leery of the cable cars, but would not want to miss what you saw. I really think I will skip the mules, they are even more scary. I do hope your kids appreciate what you are doing, a lot of our kids never get to experience travel like this.

Awesome!!!!! Enjoy and we want to hear all about it when you get back!

You rock Ayasha.:)

Thank you! I wish there was a curtsey imogee I could use right now.

Melissa. .......oh Melissa. .........

 

Don't worry, we will be here as long as it takes!

You know it!

 

Thanks for saying everything I meant to say, lol.

Couldn't agree more with all of these statements windjamming. Lucky lucky animals to have someone to care for them and arschbombe is also my new favorite word and I shall endeavor to use it whenever possible :D

 

Stef - do I remember correctly that last year during your Serenade review your photo's disappeared ? Mine are no longer visible and at the moment I don't see the point in continuing my review if no one can see the photos! :(:( What did you do ? I really don't want to pay to upgrade to more bandwidth when the only reason I use the site is for the review. I'm so annoyed by this, the people hosting these websites are a bunch of arschbombes :D

I agree also. [emoji17] So sorry.

 

Irish Cath you are not getting out of your review that easily. Get back to it as some of us are waiting to read it. [emoji12]

Thank you for telling us what it is called! I was there and had no clue what it was called because I did no research on Copenhagen except Tivoli. Excellent! Hanging on your every word.

We are still here! We look forward to your next post! ;)

That's great, Irish Cath!! The new port in Cape Liberty is supposed to be ready in time for the Quantum in just a few months, so (I hope) the boarding experience will be quite different! We spoke to a few folks who either did 3-4 days in the city pre-boarding or were doing it afterwards. It really is convenient!

 

Your may also want to consider one of the cruiselines that sail from NYC directly. I realize it's bordering blasphemy to mention this on the RCI board, but it is definitely a valid option if the city is in your itinerary. The Manhattan cruise port is right in midtown, just blocks from Times Square and loads of taxis and public transportation available.

 

Anyway, happy to help with any questions! I think Ayasha also has NYC roots, and for a comprehensive "tourist's" view, Sherri (Middle Aged Drama Queen) wrote up an extensive review of her trip to NYC on her personal blog last summer (link is in her signature). As you'd expect, her trip and writeup were hilarious and informative. She went to places and saw things I never even knew existed!

 

Karen

Yep! I'm a New Yorker (18 years), don't hold it against me.[emoji6] I lived in every borough except Staten Island. I usually make it up there once a year.

Ayasha!! Welcome!! I'm still digesting that glorious feast for the eyes your review is!! It takes me so long to read because I just stare at the pictures. I'm just onto your Paris portion and so looking forward to the rest. You're an awesome mom!!

Well thank you! The sail away photos you posted are amazing. I love my NYC! This is an itinerary I would like to do someday. Can't wait for more.[emoji14]

Subscribed! Yay, I am so looking forward to this!

[quote name='luvincruzin']Hey Catherine (and Ger!)! Thanks for the shout out! I am really enjoying your photos and remembering what a great time we had on that cruise!
I can't wait for the cruise next year. Jodi (remember her?) and I are busily planning excursions.
Have you been to Paris? (If so, could you please email me at bwiles@roadrunner dot com so I can pick your brain?).We will be spending 4 days pre-cruise there, then fast train back to Barcelona.

crvng4mr, YEP! Cannes was the missing port!! :)[/QUOTE]
Hi luvincruzin! I did that exact itinerary in June. If you haven't already seen my review it might be helpful. I also did 3 full days in Paris on the back end which is in the review.

I didn't mean to hijack but wanted to help.

 

 

 

 

 

So we left off landing in Copenhagen and that airport is big. The airport is modern and clean as well, at least the part we were seeing that night.

 

The plan was to grab a taxi to the hotel as I really hadn't planned for Copenhagen.:confused::eek: I wasn't sure if the taxis took cards , euros etc. I asked an airport employee and they told me how much I should expect to pay from the airport to the hotel. With this information I decided I needed to just get some money out of the airport atm.

 

On the way to the atm we ran into another American mother/son traveling team who also just arrived. The son was in his early to mid twenties and he wanted to take a cab to their hotel but his mother was insisting they take the train. After speaking for a few moments they were off to the train station and we were off to the taxi stand.

 

There was a line for the taxis but it moved very quickly. We hopped in ours and headed to the hotel. I was a little anxious as at first the driver didn't seem to immediately know the location and what kind of place did I pick. He then confirmed he knew the street but didn't remember this particular hotel.

 

On the way we had a slight detour due to roadwork but only about 3 minutes out of our way. None the less the meter, I was keeping a watchful eye, was creeping up and up and going beyond the amount the gentleman at the airport told me it should be. Luckily this taxi took cards as well as I had only taken out a bit over the amount I thought it would cost. *sidenote* The atm at the airport gave only 4 selections for krones and there were big differences between the amounts.* We soon reached our destination only 2 blocks from Tivoli Gardens and the train station. Now I was excited......but that only lasted a few moments as for some reason the driver couldn't get the meter to work correctly for the card amount. So we had to drive to an atm so I could get krones. Crisis averted!

 

I booked the Omena Hotel. It is very different than your typical hotel. There is no reception at all. They email you a code to get into the building that is also used to get into your room. Checkout is noon and your code is no longer any good. Leave it to me to try this out for my first trip to Europe. We put the code in the first door......and it worked! Then there was a second security door and it worked again. Lastly we get to our room and we are in!!!!

 

The room had a fridge, microwave, kettle and coffee maker. I did note it didn't have a/c but the weather was cool and we opened the windows. The only thing is that with the windows open you need to keep the curtains open and you can into the building across the street and vice versa. The bathroom was nice but had a slight smell of mildew or mold and you could see that they had either fixed or was fixing a water problem but with the door closed you couldn't smell it in the room and it was so slight it really didn't make using the bathroom a problem. I would definitely stay here again because it was comfortable, the beds and fluffy duvets were the best and we didn't want to get out of them the next morning, it is so close to everything, and it was inexpensive.

 

We only had until 1:30 the next afternoon, not even a full 24 hours, so the original plan made that night was to get to Tivoli Gardens when it opened and stay until we had to leave. Unfortunately it doesn't open until 11 am and it didn't make sense to pay for only 2 and a half hours. We decided to just walk around and take in some of the culture. First we would grab a walk and go breakfast at one of the many 7-elevens around and drop out bags off at the locker hold at the train station.

 

Right after coming out of the 7-eleven we ran into the mother/son team from last night. We wound up talking for a good twenty minutes. They told us of their train experience and they happened to have stayed around the corner from us. They had visited London first and were going on a cruise from Copenhagen. We talked about our cruise and our days in Paris.

 

After we walked the half block to the train station and found the time we needed to be back to get the train then we put our luggage in the locker. Then we headed out to explore. We were ale to do about a square mile before we had to head back to the station. We made the train just in time. I believe it only took 15 minutes to get to the airport.

 

We unfortunately only saw a smidgen of Copenhagen. What we saw was definitely a city vibe and reminded me a little of people in New York going to work and biking. We definitely saw street performers and fruit/vegetable stands and shopping. It has definitely wet my appetite to go back and since Norwegian has a direct flight from Florida for very cheap that I will return for a long weekend or longer by next summer.

 

Our flight was on time, our carry ons were never weighed and the flight had empty seats so Cai sat in a row by himself in front of us. We arrived back to Ft. Lauderdale just under an hour early but had to wait an hour on the plane because the immigration room was full. Originally I was going to book another flight from there to Tampa and we only had a window of an hour and a half. Glad I didn't as it took us a total of 2 hours after we landed to get out of the airport. I rented a car for the 3 and a half hour drive home but I decided to spend the night in a hotel in Palm Beach and get a fresh start in the morning.

 

I hope this review made you smile , laugh and provided you with great information. We enjoyed every experience very much and would do it over again in a heartbeat. Now on to trying to plan the next cruise, and our next big amazing trip to Africa in 3 years.

 

Last of the pictures to follow soon.

[quote name='luvincruzin']Catherine!
How are you??? I just happen to be on our old Serenade thread and saw that you had a review. So here I've been sitting reminiscing about the good times we all had on the Serenade cruise!
Jodi, Rich, Dave and I are going on 12 day Vision of the Seas Oct 7, 2015. Some of the same ports (Rome, Amalfi coast, Florence) but gain Santorini Greece, Pireaus Greece and Kusadasi Turkey. (I know I'm forgetting one of them....).
Come join us!!!![/QUOTE]
Cannes?

 

 

 

 

I have no clue why that last picture posted. I don't even have it in my photo album.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the bars/restaurants.