My trip report: Serenade 12-night Western Med (Venice) with many pictures

[Steppy08]

I wish we were going to Venice, but alas there are only so many ports you can fit on one cruise.

 

Passport question for you silentbob007:

 

You mention you had to take them ashore in Venice- were you allowed to have them in your possession for the entire cruise? Just curious... RCI apparently will be taking our passports on the June 22 sailing.

[silentbob007]

Day 8: Venice

 

From shuttle in Venice by cmong, on Flickr

 

One of the reasons I chose this cruise was because of the overnight in Venice. While I did not stay out to see the night life, I did wake up fairly early to once again explore. This time I headed to the Alilaguna shuttle located past the front of the ship and bought a round-trip ticket to visit Murano. This was definitely a bit pricey at 18 Euro, but it seemed like something interesting to do. I suppose that catching a vaporetto would have been cheaper, but the shuttle I grabbed was a) convenient and b) had lots of seats available so standing was not necessary. By the way, this shuttle is also what one would take to get to the ship from the airport or other stops in Venice if your cruise was departing from there (Maritime station).

 

Murano by cmong, on Flickr

 

With all of the stops, the trip to Murano on the shuttle was about an hour as it was the second to last stop (with the last being the airport). Since I had started out early (around 8 AM), Murano was quite empty and peaceful. I explored the area, looking at various shops, restaurants, and even the residential district. As you may know, there are many glass factories on Murano, so that was the focus of many of the stores. Good Murano glass is quite expensive, however, so I could only guess that the cheap, tourist-grade stuff was probably imported from China. I did not purchase any glass (thinking about the nightmare of transporting it ... nevermind the price for good pieces). Some factories had glass-blowing shows, though many charged for this. I refused to pay as I watched probably 6 hours of glass-blowing on my Celebrity Eclipse cruise for free.

 

Murano by cmong, on Flickr

 

Around 11, Murano started to get more and more crowded with boatloads of visitors being constantly offloaded. The shuttle I good departed on the :15 and :45, though many different craft used the docks, so you had to pay attention to what pulled up. Sitting and waiting in the floating dock was its own experience as it was quite bumpy when ships approached. When the shuttle I thought I needed approached, I was unsure of its direction when the crew called it was gong to "Lido". However, I pulled one crew member aside and asked about going to Maritime Station and he indicated that this was the correct ship. I had initially thought about getting off at St. Mark's and walking back after a bit of sight-seeing, but by this time it had turned into a very hot day, so I resigned to return to the ship. I met quite a few people traveling to the Crown Princess which was boarding in Venice that day ... they loaded onto the shuttle (evidently after a hotel stay) to get to their ship (docked next to the Serenade).

 

Doge's Palace by cmong, on Flickr

 

In the end, taking the shuttle on my own was much cheaper than a cruiseline tour, though I suppose I missed out on some of the history and narration (though others told me on their tour that most of this was hard to hear over the sound of the boat motors). It was nice to visit Murano, especially before the crowds, and I also essentially got a lower-level 2 hour boat tour of the outer canals of Venice.

 

St. Mark's Square by cmong, on Flickr

[silentbob007]

I wish we were going to Venice, but alas there are only so many ports you can fit on one cruise.

 

Passport question for you silentbob007:

 

You mention you had to take them ashore in Venice- were you allowed to have them in your possession for the entire cruise? Just curious... RCI apparently will be taking our passports on the June 22 sailing.

 

Yes, we kept them. I talked with a few couples who had been on from the previous cruise and they told me they collected them from some, but not others. It sounded like they were not sure what they were going to do regarding passports during their first couple of runs.

[silentbob007]

Here are the Compasses for the second day in Venice:

 

Day 8 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 8-1 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 8-2 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 8-3 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Leaving Venice by cmong, on Flickr

[mrobstad]

Bob, I'm hanging on your every word.....I'm going on the serenade as a solo and I'm a little worried. You are helping me a great deal!

[mjaruse]

I was checking out the cruise compasses and noticed that no movies were listed. Did they not have movies showing in the movie theatre?

[silentbob007]

There was a sign on the theater door for the entire cruise that it was out of commission.

[NYCrews]

Day 5: Salerno (Naples)

 

Evidently it was new that the Serenade would dock in Salerno as opposed to Naples, so make sure when you arrange these tours that you have the correct starting port. There did not seem to be a lot around the port, though honestly, I did not explore.

 

 

Thanks for pointing that out. We docked in Naples last year, and I was assuming that we were docking there again this year. I didn't notice that on the itinerary. Thanks for saving us a whole lot of aggravation!

[Jacru]

Thanks a lot for your post. I always enjoy your detailed reviews as they are so balanced and straightforward. No "fanboyism" or over-the-top criticisms, but well laid out, factual and good detail of what made your trip good or not-so-good, plus important planning details.

For similar cruises that we have been on (or ports visited), your reviews have always been opportunities to either relive or compare, and in some cases, agree or disagree. For ones that are on our bucket list, fantastic hints and items that we can consider, plan for, or look forward to Once again, thanks.

[cruzluvr54]

SilentBob007,

 

My DH and I were on that sailing and loved every minute of it. We enjoyed all of the ports (Ravenna, the least), loved the ship and met some wonderful people along the way, including you! We shared a breakfast table with you in Illusions near the end of the cruise.

 

Your pictures are wonderful and so was your review, thank you!

[Princess & 4 Princes]

Could you give me some info about how the photo packages worked? I am on the June 22nd sailing, and got info for a pre-purchase deal to save 20% on the "Buy every photo" package. Do you know if this included a CD for all the poses? And how many photo ops were there and how were the lines?

 

We are sailing with our 3 boys, who are not fond of photos to begin with, much less long lines for photos!

 

Thank you so much!

[Princess & 4 Princes]

Could you give me some info about how the photo packages worked? I am on the June 22nd sailing, and got info for a pre-purchase deal to save 20% on the "Buy every photo" package. Do you know if this included a CD for all the poses? And how many photo ops were there and how were the lines?

 

We are sailing with our 3 boys, who are not fond of photos to begin with, much less long lines for photos!

 

Thank you so much!

 

Also, did they have the ship iPhones available to rent onboard?

[silentbob007]

Could you give me some info about how the photo packages worked? I am on the June 22nd sailing, and got info for a pre-purchase deal to save 20% on the "Buy every photo" package. Do you know if this included a CD for all the poses? And how many photo ops were there and how were the lines?

 

We are sailing with our 3 boys, who are not fond of photos to begin with, much less long lines for photos!

 

Thank you so much!

 

I believe a CD is included for everything, but I'm not 100% sure. There were definitely quite a few photo opportunities ... leaving the ship in each port as well as in the evenings. I didn't take any notice of lines, though I posed for a few pictures because the photographers were begging for people to stop.

 

As for iPhones, I do not think they are available on Serenade as I think they are only on Oasis/Allure ... though I didn't notice one way or another. Hope this is at least a little helpful.

[sstepson]

Did you spend much time in the casino? If so, am I correct to assume that the gambling is done in USD? Also, did you happen to notice what the table game minimum bets were?

[chipq]

Very thorough review. Thank you for sharing. The pics are great also.

 

 

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[silentbob007]

Did you spend much time in the casino? If so, am I correct to assume that the gambling is done in USD? Also, did you happen to notice what the table game minimum bets were?

 

I spent some time in the casino ... the machines, as expected, were deadly. USD is the currency used. The table minimums fluctuated ... I played quite a bit the first night when they were $1. Many other times they were $3. The base rate was $5.

[silentbob007]

Day 9: Ravenna

 

After Venice, I suppose, it would be pretty easy for the next port to be a let-down. Ravenna fit this expectation perfectly. It was quite easily, for me, the least interesting location visited on this cruise. I suppose the first clue was on my Salerno tour ... the driver's response to our future stop in Ravenna was, "Why?".

 

Ravenna by cmong, on Flickr

 

Probably the thing that made me the most upset about Ravenna is that the ship docks in a "nowhere" location near what appears to be an oil refinery. It is not actually Ravenna. Instead, Ravenna was a 15-20 minute bus ride from the terminal. How did Royal Caribbean sell this stop? Oh ... go in and see the wonderful mosaics ... and by the way, if you don't want to take one of our tours, you'll need to buy a $15 bus ticket from us to get to town ... BUT ... you can use the ticket to go back and forth AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! The idea that I had to pay to see anything but oil refineries left me in less than a cheery mood, especially since we are not talking about a huge, inland tourist stop (like Rome) where people expect to pay to get to.

 

Ravenna by cmong, on Flickr

 

I bought the ticket because I didn't see the point of visiting Ravenna without seeing what it was like. In the end, I was less than impressed. We were dropped near the train station and given maps. There were some events going on in town, but the town itself was not that impressive. I walked around for a bit and visited a few of the churches that had mosaics ... but they of course wanted a decent sized entry fee (around 10 Euro), I wasn't that into mosaics, and I had, not thinking, worn shorts and didn't want to buy a ticket then be denied for austerity rules. In the end, my goal was to wander and find where Dante's tomb was located. I tried to stumble across it, later pulled out my map, found the location, and realized I had already been there. All-in-all, I was just unimpressed. Some people said that they found the high-end shopping pretty decent, but obviously that was not something I was looking into.

 

Inside church by cmong, on Flickr

 

I also heard that, if you stayed around the ship, you could take a 1 Euro ferry across the nearby channel to a small, ocean-side village. Evidently there was not only an extremely good and popular seafood restaurant (with free wifi) here, but also a city bus stop so that you could pay a much lower rate to get into Ravenna. I would suggest investigating this if you just want to check out town as I did not find much worth my $15 and there is plenty of time in port to try alternative transportation.

 

One of Dante's resting places by cmong, on Flickr

[silentbob007]

Here are the Compass scans for Ravenna:

 

Day 9 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 9-1 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 9-2 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 9-3 by cmong, on Flickr

[Princess & 4 Princes]

I believe a CD is included for everything, but I'm not 100% sure. There were definitely quite a few photo opportunities ... leaving the ship in each port as well as in the evenings. I didn't take any notice of lines, though I posed for a few pictures because the photographers were begging for people to stop.

 

As for iPhones, I do not think they are available on Serenade as I think they are only on Oasis/Allure ... though I didn't notice one way or another. Hope this is at least a little helpful.

 

Thank you for the info. And thank you so much for your trip report. I am such a detail person and am loving it...even though we are on the Eastern Med itinerary!

[seren123]

Thank you so much. I often travel with just my 9 year old son and on 28th July we will be on board the serenade. You have put my mind very much at ease regarding solo cruising.

[silentbob007]

Well, I have finally reached the last port day ... I've been trying to get these written as quickly as possible as I know some are anxious for information as their cruise departs soon. After this, I will circle around and review the ship and cruise as a whole.

 

Day 10: Split, Croatia

 

Split was something of a mystery on the ship. No one who I had talked to (crew or passengers) had ever visited it before. In the end, many crew still didn't visit, as they were required to purchase a 25 Euro visa if they wanted to go ashore. However, for most everyone else, no visa was required.

 

Split Croatia by cmong, on Flickr

 

The most unfortunate thing about Split is that it is a tender port. As far as I saw, no local boats were used for the tendering process ... only the lifeboat tenders. Also, for some reason, tender tickets were not distributed at this port, which made absolutely no sense to me. General tendering was to start around 9:00 AM, though I know that the call for general tendering did not occur until about 10:15. From what I heard, the lines for tendering early were nearly the entire length of deck 3 ... which of course ticks people off because a) they are waiting and b) when you have a line that big, you find that many people take the stairs and elevators at the front of it and cut in front of those who have been waiting. All in all, it was a mess. I went down at about 11:00 and had about a 15 minute wait in line. If you were in a suite or D+, the concierge would walk people to the front of the line, but I did not do that as I'm not a huge fan of line-jumping and I had no real reason to rush ashore. The tendering itself was fairly short ... perhaps 10-15 minutes. One thing to note ... it was quite a large step up off the tender once ashore. Many older passengers needed to be lifted up to clear the step as there was not a step or ramp in the tender itself.

 

St. Dominus's Bell Tower by cmong, on Flickr

 

Once ashore, Split felt very busy. There was a stage set up a ways down the waterfront, and all of the ocean-facing cafes and restaurants seemed packed. If you turned right a little bit once you were off the ship, you would come to the large open air market selling all kinds of meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. There was also a hop-on/hop-off bus you could buy tickets for near the tender area. Otherwise, you can simply walk around town and explore the narrow passageways that were once Roman emperor Diocietian's palace. Since Croatia is not a Eurozone country, they have their own currency, the Kuna. I heard that if you were from the cruise ship, stores were legally bound to accept Euro, though I have trouble believing that. Some restaurants and attractions would accept Euro, but for the most part, everything is listed in local currency. There were several exchanges around town, and the rate was about 7.5 kuna to a Euro with no fees. I found that items in Croatia seemed to be much cheaper than in other ports, with gelato in a cone for example, costing about 7 kuna where as in Italy it would be 2-3 euro at a minimum.

 

Arches in Split by cmong, on Flickr

 

For my time ashore, I simply walked around the city with no real direction. I was looking for marble pieces (I figured I'd want as heavy souvenir pieces as possible) and found most of the stuff I was looking for in the underground shopping area slightly to the right of where the tender lets off. I also decided to clime St. Dominus's Bell Tower. This was 1.5 euro (with change in euro given). I would not recommend this climb to anyone who a) doesn't like steps or b) anyone who is claustrophobic. The initial steps are steep, narrow, dark, and without railing. The hard part is really timing your ascent and decent as there is only one way up and down and no real way to pass on the steps. Once you get through the initial area, the tower widens out and you have metal steps and rails in the inside of the tower. I thought that this climb was worth the nice view.

 

Bell tower stairs by cmong, on Flickr

 

After walking around for a bit, I decided that I would go ahead and trade some euro for kuna. I ended up purchasing a nice (heavy) mortar and pestle for 120 kuna. I also went into a local supermarket (Tommy) near the outside market. I bought local cookies and chocolate, but they also had decent prices on water and soda if you wanted to stock up for the last few sea days on the ship. They also had beverages in a cold case if you wanted something to drink at a cheaper rate than the bodegas.

 

Split from the bell tower by cmong, on Flickr

 

In the end, I really liked Split. Everyone seemed very friendly, and there seemed to be plenty to see within a few steps of the tender.

[silentbob007]

Here are the Compass scans for Split:

 

Day 10 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 10-1 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 10-2 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Day 10-3 by cmong, on Flickr

 



Serenade anchored at Split by cmong, on Flickr

[Iamthesea]

Thank you! Having only been to Dubrobnik, climbing the tower in Split sounds like a good idea for views, as does the HOHO bus for seeing the sites quickly. :)

[bigeck]

Thanks Bob,

Great review and the we will do it next year. Ship excursion prices are ridiculous.

 

Alex

Edited June 6, 2012 by bigeck

[Verfai]

Thanks for posting, we were looking into this cruise, is was that or two separate ones …Maybe next year.