Trip of a Lifetime - Med Cruise - Serenade of the Seas 5/23/2014

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Thanks! Barcelona definitely needs a few days to enjoy. We didn't add any to the end because I knew once the cruise was over, I would be ready to get home to the kids...both two-legged and four-legged kids!!

Understandable.

 

It looks like you're getting some beautiful 70's weather this week.

[PCWalton1]

Does the room still look the same?

 

One picture I could find of the room, but yup. Still pink. :p

 

[Scarlette]

Did you hear any street noise at the Hotel Continental Barcelona?

 

We will be there over a Saturday night before we get on the Serenade and I have read some reviews about making sure you pack earplugs.

[Karemark]

One picture I could find of the room, but yup. Still pink. :p

 

 

OMG, it looks exactly the same...LOL!!

[Karemark]

Did you hear any street noise at the Hotel Continental Barcelona?

 

We will be there over a Saturday night before we get on the Serenade and I have read some reviews about making sure you pack earplugs.

 

We didn't hear anything, but that could also have been because we were completely exhausted!

[DiJohn]

We didn't hear anything, but that could also have been because we were completely exhausted!

Hi, Karen is my sister and we were on the trip with her and I'll be chiming in occasionally (she's doing a great job).

 

I think the outside noise at the Hotel Continental depends upon where you room is located. Early in the morning, the restaurants break down the tables at the outdoor dining areas (located in the median across from the hotel). They actually put the chairs, tables and canopies into storage bins and that is very noisy. Even with that street noise, I would still stay at the hotel. The location is perfect and the staff very helpful.

 

Dianne

[Karemark]

We were dropped off at the plaza across the street from Hard Times Cafe. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk around. First, we headed to lunch for more tapas. Then, we went for a walk through the gothic section and came across a beautiful old church.

 

 

 

 

 

[Karemark]

The streets are so charming.

 

 

 

[Karemark]

We stopped along Las Ramblas for a bottle of Cava and it turned out to be the worst and most expensive bottle we had so far. A couple of people had warned us not to eat directly on Las Ramblas, we should have listened. We then went to the Plaza to buy wine to take on board and then off to dinner at Bar 1600 for more tapas. The food was fabulous, especially the octopus and fried potatoes!

 

We were much more awake this day, we didn't have dinner until 7 p.m.!!

 

More about the hotel: It has free beer and wine. the guys enjoyed having the beer but the wine was aweful. They also have a 24-hour buffet which looked OK. There wasn't much of a selection, so we ended up going out for all of our meals. We did enjoy their coffee maker though! Also, the front desk staff at the hotel was very helpful!!

 

This was a wonderful day! The weather was beautiful, we took another tour with our CC friends, great food. Absolutely great day in Barcelona!!

[Cancruizer]

It is great reading your review. We too are sailing June 16th so I will be following closely and can't wait to read more :-). Funny, that you mentioned the packing... I have a spare room with lots of folded and hanging clothes but hate to pack in in the suitcase too early. I was thinking tomorrow...

[masonpips]

Subscribing to thread! Thanks for sharing

[cinnamon]

Me too. :-)

 

 

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[Karemark]

I'm glad you all are enjoying the review. It was a phenomenal trip!

[Karemark]

Embarkation Day - May 23rd!

 

After getting up, we went back to BuenasMigas for breakfast...the sausage and onion focaccia is my favorite!

 

 

 

The front desk had arranged for transportation the night before. Check out was very easy and we waited in the lobby for the taxi to arrive at 10 a.m. Since the elevator is so small, I would suggest putting one person in the elevator with the luggage and the rest should walk down the steps.

 

We arrived at the port at about 10:20. Everyone at the port was very friendly and helpful! Check-in was probably one of the easiest we've ever had. We were told we could get onboard by 11 a.m. We sat down for a few minutes and we heard the announcement it was time to board!!

 

Once onboard, this is a beautiful ship!

 

We signed up for their new dining pakage - three specialty restaurants for 20% off, four for 25% off, and five for 30% off. We had already signed up for Chef's Table and Mystery Dinner beforehand, so we just added three more and received 30% off on all of them!

 

We wanted to avoid the crowds at Windjammer, so we opted to wait for Park Cafe to open; however, Mark and I did head over to the Windjammer just to get our traditional embarkation Honey Stung Chicken, but they didn't have any :(. We were very disappointed! The lunch at Park Cafe was yummy though as we really enjoy their roast beef sandwiches.

 

We wandered around taking pictures on the upper decks until our rooms were ready.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2014 by Karemark

[Karemark]

A little after 1 p.m., we headed down to check out our rooms. Since Mark hasn't seen a Junior Suite before, I was very excited to see his reaction. Boy was Mark pleased with the room, he absolutely loved it!! Now he doesn't want to do anything smaller...ughh!

 

Plans were made to meet with our CC buddies to have an unofficial Meet & Mingle at the Schooner Bar at 2:30, so it was time to head on down. Quite a few people showed up. It was so much fun to finally meet the rest of those we had been chatting with for so long. We drank and talked and laughed a lot! There is an amazing bartender in the Schooner Bar, her name is Susie Q. We knew we were going to make this our bar for the trip because of her!

 

[Karemark]

After the Muster Drill, we all met again, this time at the Sky Bar for our Sail Away Party.

 

 

 

 

And off we go!!

 

 

[Karemark]

As part of the dining package, we had reservations for dinner at Giovanni's. It was absolutely delicious!!

 

 

 

 

[Goodtime Cruizin]

Karen, I'm enjoying the review. We have close to the same itenary this Sept on the Liberty. The pics are very nice. Inforutnately, our Roll Call is'nt to active. It appears that the Liberty embarks out of Barcelona and a few days later, Rome, so it's kind of slow on both boards.

 

You are correct about Suzy Q. She's a great bartender. We enjoyed her service and company on the Navigator out of Galveston. She's been with RC for I think 17 yrs. Wishing she was on the Liberty this Sept.

 

Looking forward to reading & seeing more! Thank you for your review as I know this takes time!

[DreaAST]

I can't wait to follow along with this review!!! We have been to most of these ports on the 2 Europe sailings and they were the best cruises ever!

[nosyparker]

Hi Karen! I can't it was already a week ago that we were enjoying our last day at sea....

 

 

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[Karemark]

Karen, I'm enjoying the review. We have close to the same itenary this Sept on the Liberty. The pics are very nice. Inforutnately, our Roll Call is'nt to active. It appears that the Liberty embarks out of Barcelona and a few days later, Rome, so it's kind of slow on both boards.

 

You are correct about Suzy Q. She's a great bartender. We enjoyed her service and company on the Navigator out of Galveston. She's been with RC for I think 17 yrs. Wishing she was on the Liberty this Sept.

 

Looking forward to reading & seeing more! Thank you for your review as I know this takes time!

 

I'm glad you're enjoying it. We were with Suzy Q right before her vacation, so she was very excited!

[Karemark]

I can't wait to follow along with this review!!! We have been to most of these ports on the 2 Europe sailings and they were the best cruises ever!

 

These are definitely amazing ports!!

[Karemark]

Hi Karen! I can't it was already a week ago that we were enjoying our last day at sea....

 

 

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Macie!! I know, I can't believe we've been back for almost a week...I wanna go back!!

 

I miss you guys!

[Karemark]

Saturday, May 24th, Cannes

 

We arrived in Cannes!!

 

 

 

 

Cannes is a tender port. The ship arrived and was cleared early, so the tendering began. You will need to get tender tickets ahead of time. We had tender tickets #4, so we were ablet o get off the ship pretty quickly. Since we arrived at the pier early, we needed to wait for our tour guide. We used Riviera Premium Tours and our tour guide/driver was Anthony.

 

Since the Grand Prix was going on this weekend, we were unable to visit Monaco, so we headed to La Turbie to get a panoramic view of Monaco from above. This was a beautiful place to stop and we were able to take some amazing pictures and the coolest part was that we could hear the engines from the race cars while they practiced!

 

 

[Karemark]

More view of Monaco: