Middle Aged Drama Queen's Eastern Med Review: Serenade, Pics, Surprises & Fun!

[lisabucsfan1]

Finally made it through the entire review and comments. Thanks for the effort!

 

DH and I are sailing on the Serenade on this itinerary in May/June of next year and cannot wait. I'll be celebrating my bday in Athens! :D DH is excited about going to Monte Carlo for F1 qualifying.

 

Like many others, I have found your review extremely helpful. Also, thanks for the link to your planning website - invaluable! We have a type-A-year-in-advance kind of planner in our group who is doing an amazing job, but it's good for me to be somewhat prepared as well. :)

Edited May 22, 2013 by lisabucsfan1

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

dear Sherry,

you are my heroine. I didn't plan on writing a review on our first cruise experience last year, but now I will try to anyway, just because of you! Would be honoured to have you take a peek. Just started it though and am being stupid on how to add pictures from my computer....can you help me? I guess I'm worse with computers than you are:). up until now I added them as thumbnails...but that looks completely stupid. HELP!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

oops, never mind...there's a thread that explains it....sorry!:o

[JerseyGirl911]

This is my first time involved with cruise critic. I am just thrilled with Sherri's review! My best friend and I are going on this cruise in August and staying an extra day in Barcelona - now I wish it was three days! Thanks for the making me feel at home in Barcelona, Sherri!

:):) Marie

[superdave57]

Not to diverge from this wonderful review for too long, make her wait till she can pay for it. ;) Having raised a daughter of my own (now 28 married 2 years) I can understand her feelings, but she is a beauty as she is, as an adult it may become less or more important to her later, there is time. I know return you to this wonderful pictorial feast.

 

just my two cents: The worse thing that Jennifer Grey did was fix her nose... she had her own unique look and distinguished her from a million other girls... I think she looks good the way she is.. As a father, I would advise my daughter not to change..

[superdave57]

We've found, through our travels, that often times cemeteries can be extremely fascinating...as well as interesting....The headstones, the monuments, the tombs - they can tell you a lot about the culture and the people of the town that you're in.

 

 

As far as Revelation Tours...I would give them an A+. We saw everything we wanted to see - and then some...we did it in a timely, efficient manner...Frank was informative, funny and had the kids (and adults) totally charmed.... I would recommend them and I will most definitely use them again if I'm ever back in the French Riviera.

 

 

Can you modify this tour... From your review, I loved both Nize and EZE more than St.Pauls.. do you know if you could modify the tour with those two stops and stay longer? Second question, was the $600 a flat fee or was it that much because there was 7 of you... traveling with 4 but you really have me hooked on this tour? Any advice? - thanks

[KansCocoa]

Finally made it through the entire review and comments. Thanks for the effort!

 

DH and I are sailing on the Serenade on this itinerary in May/June of next year and cannot wait. I'll be celebrating my bday in Athens! :D DH is excited about going to Monte Carlo for F1 qualifying.

 

Like many others, I have found your review extremely helpful. Also, thanks for the link to your planning website - invaluable! We have a type-A-year-in-advance kind of planner in our group who is doing an amazing job, but it's good for me to be somewhat prepared as well. :)

 

How wonderful! To celebrate your birthday in Athens! I will always remember my 2009 birthday - which was celebrated in Rome...those are memories that always stay with you! I'm glad my review was helpful - and I wish for you a memorable trip and happy planning....! :)

 

dear Sherry,

you are my heroine. I didn't plan on writing a review on our first cruise experience last year, but now I will try to anyway, just because of you! Would be honoured to have you take a peek. Just started it though and am being stupid on how to add pictures from my computer....can you help me? I guess I'm worse with computers than you are:). up until now I added them as thumbnails...but that looks completely stupid. HELP!

 

Stef

 

Stef - I LOVE your review! I've been reading it and enjoying it - and thanks for the Friend Request on FB! I love your adventures - and I look forward to future reviews from you! :)

[KansCocoa]

This is my first time involved with cruise critic. I am just thrilled with Sherri's review! My best friend and I are going on this cruise in August and staying an extra day in Barcelona - now I wish it was three days! Thanks for the making me feel at home in Barcelona, Sherri!

:):) Marie

 

Hey - welcome to Cruise Critic! Watch out - it will become an obsession...!

 

I am glad you enjoyed the review, and I KNOW you're going to have an amazing time on your upcoming cruise. Barcelona - yes, you'll fall in love with it!

[KansCocoa]

just my two cents: The worse thing that Jennifer Grey did was fix her nose... she had her own unique look and distinguished her from a million other girls... I think she looks good the way she is.. As a father, I would advise my daughter not to change..

 

I totally agree...now if I can just convince Mickey of this! (My own sinus surgery 7 weeks ago - and the resulting pain/side effects - may have done more to convince her than anything that perhaps surgery isn't the answer!)

 

 

Can you modify this tour... From your review, I loved both Nize and EZE more than St.Pauls.. do you know if you could modify the tour with those two stops and stay longer? Second question, was the $600 a flat fee or was it that much because there was 7 of you... traveling with 4 but you really have me hooked on this tour? Any advice? - thanks

 

You can most DEFINITELY modify this tour! Michel will work with you - via email - on YOUR wants & desires. Just let him know what you want to see, do, not see, not do...for instance, we decided to skip Monte Carlo - no problem.

 

Yes, the $600 was a flat fee...so, if you're open to meeting new people, see if you can get another couple or two to join you - you won't regret it, and you might make lifelong friends! It made it easier for us to split the cost...I utilized our Roll Call here on Cruise Critic extensively pre-cruise to round up other folks for my tour. Even if they didn't become my best friends, I figured I could tolerate their company for 6-7 hours for the price of a cheaper tour! ;)

[JerseyGirl911]

Hey - welcome to Cruise Critic! Watch out - it will become an obsession...!

 

I am glad you enjoyed the review, and I KNOW you're going to have an amazing time on your upcoming cruise. Barcelona - yes, you'll fall in love with it!

 

Thank you Sherri,

 

I also became your friend on FB while reading your review a few weeks ago!

 

Marie ;)

[BonTexasNY]

Hey Sherri, glad your surgery is over and you are finally able to "breathe" a sigh of relief.

 

Can you tell me if you ever posted a review of your Chef's cruise? I tried looking for it on Celebrity boards but couldn't find it. I did read what you posted on your blog but was wondering if you did a full blown review.

 

Stay well. You're a delight.

[KansCocoa]

Hey Sherri, glad your surgery is over and you are finally able to "breathe" a sigh of relief.

 

Can you tell me if you ever posted a review of your Chef's cruise? I tried looking for it on Celebrity boards but couldn't find it. I did read what you posted on your blog but was wondering if you did a full blown review.

 

Stay well. You're a delight.

 

 

Ugh - that surgery. Wow. Worse than I had expected - but doing better, day by day!

 

As far as my Top Chef review - no; I've been a total lazy sloth and haven't started writing yet. I want to blame it on "anesthesia brain" - as I seem to have lost part of my memory of happenings right before the cruise! We're getting ready to leave for a 10-day adventure in NYC, and so life has been crazy trying to get this planned. Once that is done, I'm heading down to Florida for some R&R, and peace and quiet...and I hope, hope, hope to get going on the much delayed Top Chef review! :)

[BonTexasNY]

Ugh - that surgery. Wow. Worse than I had expected - but doing better, day by day!

 

As far as my Top Chef review - no; I've been a total lazy sloth and haven't started writing yet. I want to blame it on "anesthesia brain" - as I seem to have lost part of my memory of happenings right before the cruise! We're getting ready to leave for a 10-day adventure in NYC, and so life has been crazy trying to get this planned. Once that is done, I'm heading down to Florida for some R&R, and peace and quiet...and I hope, hope, hope to get going on the much delayed Top Chef review! :)

 

Enjoy everything! NYC, my old home town. Now you can experience everything you missed when you did your Red Cross volunteer thing. I'll be following your blog, hopefully, to get my Drama Queen fix before your next review.

[Steppy08]

This popped back up on my recent threads. A year ago we were all soooo excited for this trip!!! Such great memories and new friends.

[celebrity]

Ugh - that surgery. Wow. Worse than I had expected - but doing better, day by day!

 

As far as my Top Chef review - no; I've been a total lazy sloth and haven't started writing yet. I want to blame it on "anesthesia brain" - as I seem to have lost part of my memory of happenings right before the cruise! We're getting ready to leave for a 10-day adventure in NYC, and so life has been crazy trying to get this planned. Once that is done, I'm heading down to Florida for some R&R, and peace and quiet...and I hope, hope, hope to get going on the much delayed Top Chef review! :)

 

Shari have a great time in NY. Been living in NY my entire life but on Long Island.

Can't wait to hear all about it.

[Lucinarei]

Sherri- thank you SO much for posting such a detailed and HILARIOUS review of your Med cruise. DH and I are starting to think about planning one to celebrate our 10th anniversary (in July '15)... and this has helped so much. It has been my nightly reading for the past few nights- and I'm sad that it's now over. :rolleyes: Thanks again!

[superdave57]

I totally agree...now if I can just convince Mickey of this! (My own sinus surgery 7 weeks ago - and the resulting pain/side effects - may have done more to convince her than anything that perhaps surgery isn't the answer!)

 

 

 

 

You can most DEFINITELY modify this tour! Michel will work with you - via email - on YOUR wants & desires. Just let him know what you want to see, do, not see, not do...for instance, we decided to skip Monte Carlo - no problem.

 

Yes, the $600 was a flat fee...so, if you're open to meeting new people, see if you can get another couple or two to join you - you won't regret it, and you might make lifelong friends! It made it easier for us to split the cost...I utilized our Roll Call here on Cruise Critic extensively pre-cruise to round up other folks for my tour. Even if they didn't become my best friends, I figured I could tolerate their company for 6-7 hours for the price of a cheaper tour! ;)

 

 

Sherri - I have been trying to reach revelation tours who did your Cannes trip to Nice, Else..I tried the link you provided... Is there another way to reach them... Have not heard back from them by email and I am trying to book this tour with another family... Do you have another way to reach them? - thanks Dave in Houston

[HomSchMom]

Sherri,

 

Thanks so much for your detailed review! DH and I are taking our three (ds11, dd9, ds5) on the same cruise in August (2013) to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We have 9656 which is a two-room suite on the back corner. Excited about that too.

 

I have a black presentation portfolio binder that looks suspiciously like yours which already had tabs per port and the details I've planned so far - so we must be related! I also like to plan daily details like in your blog entry though my spreadsheets aren't color coded. Will have to strive to get there. Don't know how you were able to part with your binder at the end after all that work!

 

I felt like I had everything in order until I started delving deeper into what our AAA agent had set up and what still needs to be done. So at this point I'm a little confused on our dining (she had set up 6:30 traditional) and some other options. This is only our second cruise (first being a 4nt Disney cruise) so I need to take a step back and get everything planned a little better.

 

We do have private tours planned in most ports (we used Viator private guides, which is different than the group Viator site). I've dropped inquiries to the groups you used in Barcelona and Cannes however as we'd not scheduled anything there. I'm also checking with Rome in Limo considering changing our plans for Florence. I'd previously chosen a guide and driver from Viator as Rome in Limo told me they only provide the driver, no guide. But it sounds like maybe that's sufficient and RiL sounds a bit more flexible than the guide I'd hired.

 

I guess my major question is do you have any advice for a family who is doing much what you did - only with much younger kids? (We do realize we won't be able to take it all in, which is partially why we're going with private guides. And our kids are homeschooled and together we've learned about all of these destinations. So they are quite excited and "get" that this is a spectacular opportunity.) A secondary question is how soon were you (as a suite guest) able to disembark in the ports? Trying to figure out how quickly we can get to Rome by taking the train to meet our guide and I don't know what to expect.

 

Thanks so much!

Kristen

[superdave57]

Sherri,

 

I've dropped inquiries to the groups you used in Barcelona and Cannes however as we'd not scheduled anything there. Thanks so much!

Kristen

 

Kristen, did you ever hear back from Revelation tours in Cannes.. I have sent multiple emails and enter the info into thier website but the screen goes blank when you enter submit. Curious if it me or are they no longer there? - Dave in Houston

[dolfans0704]

Kristen, did you ever hear back from Revelation tours in Cannes.. I have sent multiple emails and enter the info into thier website but the screen goes blank when you enter submit. Curious if it me or are they no longer there? - Dave in Houston

 

Hi Dave

We have 3 groups of 8 people touring with Revelation in May/2014. I received the below email yesterday from Michel saying that they have a new email address. I hope this helps!

 

Hello,

Some people didn't get our message mentionning the modification of our email adress.

Please note that for 3 months now our new email adress is :

revelationtour@aol.com (No S at tour)

 

Best regards,

Michel

 

Please note our new email adress : revelationtour@aol.com

http://www.revelationtours.com

Tel : 33.622.076.777

Villa Victoria, 1 avenue Cap de croix 06100 Nice FRANCE

 

 

 

Dolfans from Miami

[superdave57]

Hi Dave

We have 3 groups of 8 people touring with Revelation in May/2014. I received the below email yesterday from Michel saying that they have a new email address. I hope this helps!

 

Hello,

Some people didn't get our message mentionning the modification of our email adress.

Please note that for 3 months now our new email adress is :

revelationtour@aol.com (No S at tour)

 

Best regards,

Michel

 

Please note our new email adress : revelationtour@aol.com

http://www.revelationtours.com

Tel : 33.622.076.777

Villa Victoria, 1 avenue Cap de croix 06100 Nice FRANCE

 

 

 

Dolfans from Miami

 

 

Thanks so much for this info... I was really getting upset that they had not responded...I will reach out to the new email address... - thanks again - Dave in Houston....

[charlotteyork]

Sea Day.

 

 

 

Lots of things on the Cruise Compass and agenda today…World’s Sexiest Man Competition, the Captain’s Gala Reception, the Adult Dodgeball Competition, numerous trivia challenges, the Cruise Critic Meet ‘n Mingle, and the highlight – the Cabin Crawl. Whew.

 

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I am leaving for the same cruise July 6th and I am so excited. I have been reading your fantastic review and taking notes! Is the Captain's Gala Reception usually the first at sea day? We are cruising on the 5th day I believe. I'm trying to get an idea of when that formal night would fall. Thank you for this great review!

[HomSchMom]

Dave I had not heard back from anyone until I saw Dolfans' note with the email (rather than web form). Heard back from Michel right away. (Still trying to reach the Barcelona tour companies though). THANKS Dolfan!!

Edited June 24, 2013 by HomSchMom

[swwake]

You're welcome! We enjoyed Athens...the little restaurant for lunch in the Plaka was delicious! I SO wish you could somehow, some way get to the Acropolis museum - it was really cool...but it helped tremendously to have our guide, as I wouldn't have understood half of it! Enjoy your sailing flotilla -I've never heard of one, but it sounds fun and intriguing!

Sheri - we are back and I want to thank you again for the Athens portion of your review. We were in Athens for 2 nights and parts of 2 days (front and back of our 14-day flotilla). We were able to see everything we wanted to. The flotilla was AMAZING! 14 ports in 13 nights. We even got to see Hydra and Spetsai. I would comment that the food outside of Athens is much yummier and more "authentic" than in the Plaka (although what we had in the Plaka was good!). Happy to share any tips or my experience with anyone interested in a sailing flotilla and/or the Peloponnese. I won't do a full review, but I could start a thread in the off-topic areas of this forum.

[Cruisin Oma]

I would love to hear about it, but why not post it in the port area where people looking for things to do in that area of the world can gain from your experience?