Serenade of the Seas picture heavy fun review–12 day Med cruise incl DIY port trips!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hey everybody,

 

:oI'm back. Sorry for having been absent for so long. This bug sure knocked me out. I still have a cough that rattles the whole house, but my head is finally out of the blurr again and I don't feel as weak anymore. I'll be writing the next installment sometime today! Promise!

 

:)Thank you all for your nice get well wishes!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I'm getting married on saturday.

 

 

 

sandra

 

Hi Sandra,

 

:D:D:DCongratulations on your wedding!!!! I'm sorry I'm late for wishing you a great wedding party -- but I sure hope you had a blast and I wish you all the best for your marriage:D:D:D!!!!!

 

Stef

[xxHadleyxx]

Geez Stef--that is NOT a fun way to spend the weekend :( I'm glad you are on the mend now--and I hope Tanja an Tarik don't end up coming down with the same thing.

 

thank you for your good wishes. We had a fab day, plus the weather played nice :D

 

Oh I am so happy for you! Nice weather in an iffy time of year and everything :) Congratulations!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi evelyn51 and Nyrina4life,

 

Welcome to the review and thank you. Sorry I had to keep you waiting for so long now.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I also need to go back & show her your pics. of what she'll end up wearing if she doesn't dress the way I've told her she needs to for the churches! I think she'll listen to me after she sees the photo!

 

 

Hi wnycruisefam66,

 

:DLOL -- yeah, if that doesn't shock her, nothing will:D!!!!

 

That made me laugh, thank you!

 

Welcome to the review, great to be able to give you some tips for your upcoming cruise. If you have any questions -- ask away.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Barcelona (part seven of ten)

 

First I wanted to go check on Tanja. So we headed back to the hotel. She was sound asleep. We left quietly again.

 

Next on our agenda was to see the cathedral. We decided to stroll towards Las Ramblas and into the Gothic quarter. Saw some cool stuff along the way:

 

Pretty, huh? And absolutely no people around. Cool!

 

 

 

What the…?

 

 

 

Quite … ahem … interesting ... way to fix up an old facade.

 

 

 

Okay, I guess EVERYBODY takes a picture of this one so there it is.

 

 

 

And finally we arrived at the Cathedral…it’s plain gorgeous!

 

On the outside..

 

As well as on the inside.

 

Please keep in mind that here, as well, you will need to have shoulders and knees covered to get in! Today (thank God) I wore a t-shirt. My shorts didn’t really cover my knees, but I managed to pull them down for the short second we needed to pass the security. Worked out perfectly.

 

The Cathedral was our last “must see” check for this city. We didn’t really wish to see the church itself (and were positively surprised how beautiful it is) … but the geese.

Yup, you’ve read correctly…geese. In the inner yard of this gothic beautiful impressing church there are always exactly 13 geese. And of course there’s a story to that.

 

Up to now – I thought I knew the story.

 

 

It turns out I was completely ill informed.

 

 

I had read somewhere that one of the monks which they housed there (did they ever? No clue now) had a flock of 13 geese which he cared for. One day the weather was so bad, that he brought them into the inner yard of the cathedral for shelter. That night some burglars tried to rob the holy treasure out of the cathedral…the geese however stopped them in their tracks and ferociously defended the holy treasure (whatever that might have been). Ever since, as a sign of respect, they made sure to house 13 geese in the Cathedral’s inner yard to honour the heroic action of the original geese.

 

Well – that’s what I had read and what I told Tanja and Tarik what this is all about…. Turns out it’s complete nonsense! (But I really liked that story – and I can’t remember where I had found it)

 

Now in order to write this post I looked up this story again. I just wanted to know if I remembered the number 13 correctly…and then was dumbfounded to read a completely different story about the existence of the geese!

 

Here it goes: Watch out…this story is a lot more bloody:

 

This is the story of Eulalia – a 13 year old local Cristian girl at the time of the Roman Empire under Emperor Diocletian. It was forbidden to be Christian. Eulalia didn’t want to accept this and wanted to confront the emperor. She was arrested and sentenced to 13 different kinds of torture – each for one of her years on earth. She was forced to walk over hot coals, they burnt her breasts, stuffed her into a barrel filled with sharp knifes and fleas and rolled her down a hill, just to lead her through town naked and for the grand finale had her crucified AND cut her head off.

 

Gulp.

 

Talk about a horror story. She was 13!!!! She was made a Saint in 633 a. D. Now Santa Eulalia is one of the Saints of the city of Barcelona. Her body lies underneath the main altar of the Cathedral. And for each one of the tortures she had to endure, they keep a goose in the inner yard. A white goose to symbolize the innocence of the girl at the time she had to endure these tortures and death.

 

Mhhh ---- I really liked the heroic geese a lot better. Maybe I won’t tell Tarik about my new wisdom, since he loved that unknowingly fake story as well. Tanja will read this post eventually, so no way to keep her ill informed…but then again…she didn’t get to see the geese yet anyway, since she was still snoozing away in the hotel.

 

Geese pictures coming up!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Geez Stef--that is NOT a fun way to spend the weekend :(

 

Hi Hadley,

 

Lol -- do you mean me because I was sick---or you because there were no new posts to read? Both was probably awful. Tanja had it yesterday-- only one day--but completely knocked out as well. Now she's coughing, but back to work as well. Tarik seems to have immune superpowers. He hasn't been sick, since he moved in with us.

 

Stef

[lorrdean]

Hi Sandra,

 

:D:D:DCongratulations on your wedding!!!! I'm sorry I'm late for wishing you a great wedding party -- but I sure hope you had a blast and I wish you all the best for your marriage:D:D:D!!!!!

 

Stef

 

Thank you Stef, we had a blast

 

I do hope you are feeling much better x

[lorrdean]

Oh I am so happy for you! Nice weather in an iffy time of year and everything :) Congratulations!

 

 

thank you :D:D

[lorrdean]

aw Stef, I much prefer the heroic geese story, the true one would give you nightmares.:eek:

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Barcelona (part eight of ten)

 

Coming right up:

 

The stars of the Cathedral of Barcelona:

 

He—no --- not you --- a pigeon seeking fame.

 

Here they are (notice the frustrated pigeon walking away)

 

Pretty sight with the old architecture. The ancient walls, the fountain and the whole feeling of this inner yard…Loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

Enchanted, isn’t it?

 

Next to the geese there is this fountain with several drinking outlets…or however you call that. People were crowding around here to get some of this water…is it special? Did we miss something here? Oh – and not to forget: that’s Saint George up on top of it. The dragonslayer. The other Saint of the city besides Eulalia.

 

But before we leave the Cathedral, one last picture of the geese:

 

Perfect timing, huh?

 

A tiny bit more to come!

[<3 2 Cruise]

I came here looking for pictures of the Serenade, as we will be sailing on her in December from New Orleans. What I found was a TREASURE! This is a great review and story. Venice is on my bucket list and I doubt if I will ever see it. THANK YOU for sharing your photos and stories.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I came here looking for pictures of the Serenade' date=' as we will be sailing on her in December from New Orleans. What I found was a TREASURE! This is a great review and story. Venice is on my bucket list and I doubt if I will ever see it. THANK YOU for sharing your photos and stories.[/quote']

 

 

Hi 3 2 Cruise,

 

Welcome to the review and thank you! Hope you'll have a magnificent cruise out of New Orleans! Jealous:)!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Barcelona (part nine of ten)

 

After visiting the geese in the Cathedral we strolled back towards our hotel. We took another route back and saw some more cool stuff. This post is all about statues of one kind or another. Watch and enjoy:

 

 

This guy was found in a little side street close to the Gothic quarter.

 

 

Theses cuties (cats – of course) were displayed in a store with lots of others like it. The eyes move from side to side every second. They also had sheep, dogs, horses and a bull. Very cute. Of course Tarik has numerous pictures of each and every one!

 

 

This is found on Las Ramblas --- see if you can find it on your visit :-)

 

 

And finally, when we reached the bottom of Las Ramblas, we found these artists:

 

 

 

 

And now behold --- the VERY last picture taken in Barcelona --- and the ONE thing Tarik loved BEST about ALL of our cruise vacation (sigh):

 

 

 

????????????????????????

 

He was in LOVE! He even has videos of this alien moving and apparently this is so cool, all of his male classmates envy him for that.

 

???????????????????????????

 

Teens are weird. But we love him and I was happy that he was so thrilled. I strolled back to the hotel with a happily skipping kid. Life is good.

 

Tanja was up and awake when we got there. And hungry! Tarik and I were starved as well, so we headed out to get dinner. We got cozy at a Tappas restaurant not too far from our hotel. There were a lot of hostels close by and the guests came from all over the world. Very cool place. And since people staying in hostels usually don’t have too much money to spend, the prices here were very reasonable. We feasted. We tried tons of Tappas. Loved some, hated others. Just one dish kept us wondering all night long. Anybody know what Bombas are? They look like a fuzzy tennisball and have a light and dark sprinkled inside. We weren’t fans…It tasted a little strange--- not bad, but undecipherable. Our best guesses were between fish, corn, lentils or rice. I know – completely different stuff – but we were seriously clueless. The wine was very tasty and we ended up drinking quite a bit as the dinner turned into an evening filling spectacle. We LOVED our last meal while on vacation. This was a worthy end to the wonderful time we had for the last two weeks. We somehow got back to the hotel hours later and all three fell asleep instantly.

 

Coming up: sad but true – the end of our trip.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Barcelona (last part)

 

The next morning we slept in --- a lot. Our flight wouldn’t leave until the afternoon, so we just loved to be sloths for the very last hours. Once packed and ready we ordered a taxi and were off to the airport. It cost a little more than 30 Euros and it took about 15 – 20 minutes. Pure luxury.

 

That’s it! A little over 2 hours flight and we arrived back in Hannover

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for following along. I hope you had a good time and maybe I could help with one or two details if you’re planning a trip like this yourselves. I’d love to hear your comments about this review and am more than happy to answer any questions that you might still have. It was a lot of fun to write this and it’s hard to believe I actually reached the end – but nonetheless – here it is:

 

 

The end

 

 

 

[Miryam1234]

Barcelona (last part)

– here it is:

 

 

The end

 

 

 

oh no! Please, not yet! Tell another great story, please-please-please! Plan another cruise maybe?

 

Well, evidently all good must come to an end. So I thank you sincerely and hope to get the chance to tag along to another "My German CC Family's" travel story some day in the future.

 

Vielen Dank und auf Wiedersehen!

 

Miryam

[xxHadleyxx]

I for one, am hoping lots of people have questions that jog your mind and result in MORE stories! Great report Stef, I truly enjooed reading it and feeling like I have gotten to know you and your family :)

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

oh no! Please, not yet! Tell another great story, please-please-please! Plan another cruise maybe?

 

Well, evidently all good must come to an end. So I thank you sincerely and hope to get the chance to tag along to another "My German CC Family's" travel story some day in the future.

 

Vielen Dank und auf Wiedersehen!

 

Miryam

 

Hi Miryam!

 

Whoohoo --It's my Finnish CC family!

 

There will be more cruises and therefore more reviews, but we're not planning anything in specific until christmas time. We're (loosely) looking at the Norway cruise of the Legend out of Hamburg for next summer.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I for one, am hoping lots of people have questions that jog your mind and result in MORE stories! Great report Stef, I truly enjooed reading it and feeling like I have gotten to know you and your family :)

 

Hi Hadley,

 

Thank You!

 

I was honoured to have you follow along, and who knows --- maybe we'll end up on the Legend for the same cruise afterall.

 

 

Stef

[windjamming]

Awww...Stef! The end of your review makes me feel like it's the end of my summer vacation, and I wasn't even on this cruise!!! Thank you so much for sharing your holiday, your family, and your adventures with us!

 

I'm curious, how did you like the Serenade? Personally, I wasn't too keen on it myself, which I'll comment on in my review. The crew just didn't seem to care that much, and many seemed like they were going through the motions. There were standouts for sure, but overall, I felt the Serenade was a notch below other ships. Interested in your thoughts.

[Member123]

Stef.

 

Hand up. Excuse me?!? Waving hand around... did you FORGET SOMETHING! Yes, you did!

 

Epilogue. As promised in the review of the Adventure of the Seas, who won the picture taking contest? Was it Stef? Was it Tanja? Was it Tarik? Who judged the contest? Impartial judge? Where is the picture?!?

 

Patiently waiting....

[mrchips14]

A great big thank you. I fly on Friday night to board the Serenade on Saturday morning and do a similar cruise. Your review and photos have me even more excited about our cruise.

 

Bye Mark

[joand452]

I'm so SAD that your travelogue is over! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your reports and seeing your photos.

 

You have a lovely family, and I look forward to your next trip report...

[jakesmom04]

Danke für den schönen Bericht und tolle Bilder (I hope that came out right...thank you for the wonderful review and great picutres) I can't wait for my time aboard her in 2015 from New Orleans.

Edited September 24, 2013 by jakesmom04

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Awww...Stef! The end of your review makes me feel like it's the end of my summer vacation, and I wasn't even on this cruise!!! Thank you so much for sharing your holiday, your family, and your adventures with us!

 

I'm curious, how did you like the Serenade? Personally, I wasn't too keen on it myself, which I'll comment on in my review. The crew just didn't seem to care that much, and many seemed like they were going through the motions. There were standouts for sure, but overall, I felt the Serenade was a notch below other ships. Interested in your thoughts.

 

Hi Windjamming,

 

We were sort of divided on our opinion on the Serenade. Tarik absolutely loved it, but would definitely have preferred more German speaking kids.

 

Tanja said that when travelling with a kid, she'd prefer the voyager class, just because there's even more stuff for them to do. For a romantic cruise for two, she'd prefer the Radiance class, because of the outdoor and scenery focus.

 

I definitely prefer the Serenade over the Adventure. I am in LOVE with the outdoor WJ, the glass elevators and the whole feeling of this ship. Tanja missed the Royal promenade...I was glad it wasn't there. Two people, two different points of view. But overall I loved it and would sail on her again in a heartbeat. We book because of the itineraries...so no Serenade for us next year. I spent all day checking summer cruises and I surprisingly found THE perfect cruise for us (this time not RCI though). I'm all giddy now and can't wait to book....and we're not even close to christmas yet ---sigh.

 

We didn't notice anybody to be unfriendly or worn down. I believe it's a rough job to work on a cruise ship and I definitely wouldn't want to do it. For the low wages (not even the normal tip amount changes that)they get I was amazed at just how nice, polite and accomodating they all were. I have read that this was very special on American ships though. We'll look at the differences next summer. If everything works out, we'll try out MSC then...and I heard that RCI is GOLD compared to what they call service. LOL -- I'll try not to be biased...We'll wait and see.

 

Stef