JasonD

Matt, Did you book this independent of the ship? How much does it run and how far is it from the terminal?

I've gotten there a few different ways... I've taken the water taxi, walked, and taken scooters..

7 June - Freedom - as a group that Michelle is so greatfully booking for us. and yes there is some room left if anyone wants in

I'm with Matt, we always hold the kids on our laps.. Not the best, but I can't imagine trying to find space in the cabin for car seats and a stroller and luggage and toys and....

For me, once you hit that 90 day mark and you can start reserving dining options it becomes more tangible. I've got a group going in June of 4 rooms right now and we are in the early planning stages and its about to get real complicated.

I am not aware of a cutoff that the vendors impose.... The last time I was there I just hit the stores right there in the port area just before getting back on the ship and was fine getting back on board.

Greg, which islands? I have done this in St Martiin and St Thomas with much success.

I've even had RCI refund the cost of my excursion the night before because we decided we didn't want to do it anymore.. Helped a lot that there was high demand for it, but it was a pleasant outcome for us.

Living in Italy, I myself have packed wine in my checked baggage to fly back home many times. We had some visitors this summer that bought about 12 bottles and spread them out in 2 checked hiking style backpacks and I am happy to say that ALL wine has made it back to the states intact. If you wrap it well enough ( i usually roll it in some jeans) you shouldnt have a problem.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant DCL has no limit restriction... And in Europe, they could give a rats about whats in your luggage because they are too lazy to care...

Yea but according to their site, they do not explicitly limit the number you bring on board beyond saying it has to fit in one carry on size piece of luggage...

I think its time for a new list... We found on our last two European itineraries, security wasn't taking the wine you purchased in port... We ended up at one point with 6 bottles in the room that we had purchased across a few days... Would be great if they went the DCL route and just let you bring whatever wine you want on board...

Michelle, what are you other sources? I have a few that i need....

We did it on the Liberty in Sept and our daughter loved it so much that we signed up for the one later in the week.. She (3y/o) had a great time. The have 3 characters come out and dance and take pictures with the kids..

Can anyone help me with a few models? I need the Enchantment and the Monarch... Willing to pay top dollar!!!

We made it back unscathed and had a great trip.. I will create a review when I get a few free minutes. We had some rough seas causing us to have to skip Mykonos which was a major bummer, but overall another great trip.

Successful posting from a fantastic taverna in Santorini, we are happy to say we are noro free and doing great. We had a few nights of rough seas and a bunch of rain but the sun has finally peaked and temps are great!

We got on the Serenade yesterday headed for the Greek Isles. We were greeted in the room by a note from the staff stating the last cruise had a minor norovirus issue. Cause for concern? Any one go thru the virus and have any advice? We have 8 days left onboard. With two kids under three wish us luck!

Slow doesn't begin to describe it.... 6 days for us too... Can't..... come.......fast.......enough!

They do hand out stickers at the character breakfast which she could put in her book instead.. Just a thought...

I've been lucky once on RCI and got upgraded from an interior to an oceanview. We had already left port and I went to the desk and asked what was available and within a few mins, they handed me a new seapass card... Happened about 10 years ago and hasn't happened since.. Although I ask everytime I get on the ship...

Derek, The pursers desk will give you Bonine... Its not as strong as dramamine, but still causes drowsiness.. They make a low dose dramamine which is equivalent to the Bonine. Start with a half of one and see what it gets you...

20-29 October - Serenade OTS - Greek Isles

The cost of the drinks are slightly higher on EURO sailings, and yes they do still add 15% service. In addition they add VAT (value added tax) onto the price. So if you sail out of Spain you pay a 10% VAT on top of it all.

Ready...Set...Go! Time for my review.. First off, we had a fantastic time. Our dining experience was fantastic and overall we had so much fun. I'll break down my review by categories for easy skimming.... This cruise for us was considered an interport cruise. 80% of the ship embarked/disembarked in Barcelona, and 20% turned over in Rome. This was quite an abnormal experience as when you join a cruise where most people are on the tail end, the atmosphere is much different. There was no true "first day" for us, so the typical sail away party etc didn't exist. It also made it difficult in many aspects for the crew as it wasn't obvious when you were getting off. We had breakfast on our balcony the morning we arrived in Barcelona that was cut short by crew pressure cleaning the balconies before the turnover. For those turning over in Barcelona, not a big deal, for us trying to have breakfast on our balcony, a minor disturbance. We also ran into issues with our wine being returned to our stateroom the last night that we bought in port, but more about that later.... Embarkation As I said above, we joined the cruise in progress. We drove to the port and utilized offsite parking. 80 Euros for the 7 day cruise was much more affordable than private transportation. The parking lot had a shuttle and dropped us shipside right at the terminal. The terminal was virtually empty as we arrived around 11:00. They had about 15-20 check-in counters, all empty, when we arrived. After filling out a quick medical survey we were directed to a check in counter. They took our check-in papers and passports, then took our pictures and within 5 mins or so we had our sea pass cards and were allowed to board. We took a quick picture and then headed for security. We brought on 2 bottles of wine with us and 6 1.5L bottles of water (water was for baby formula) and not once did anyone say anything about either of these. We could have brought a whole suitcase of wine and no one would have said a word. 2 mins thru security and we were on board. We had about 20 mins before the Windjammer started lunch service so we walked around the promenade a bit. We ended up buying the wine package (7 bottles for 225+15%service + 10% VAT (more to come on my feelings about VAT)) and by that point it was time for lunch. Because the ship was in Rome, it was like a ghost town. It was almost eerie how few people were aboard. We had our luggage within 2 hrs or so in our stateroom. Another strange aspect of interporting was mustering. They showed a video in the theater and then escorted us to our muster station to "show us where it is". Ship The ship was in pristine condition. She was clean, well maintained and operating wonderfully. With a similar promenade to the Oasis class it seemed familiar and was very welcoming. Johnny Rockets was in an interesting location tucked behind Adventure Ocean, and had strange hours, but overall was very easy to navigate. I really love having the Cafe Promenade right there for small snacks/drinks open 24 hours. It reduces the need to go find a "Bar" to go get a non-alcoholic drink. Cabin We were in stateroom 8244, which was starboard forward right outside the elevators. It was a superior oceanview with balcony with a 3rd pullman no sleeper sofa. The room was nice, spacious, as was the balcony. There was a pack and play waiting as requested and it was set up when we returned from dinner the first night. We requested the glass table be removed which really added much needed space for a cabin with 4 people. We ended up not using the pullman bed, and quickly had it put away when I slammed my head into it within 5 mins of us being in the room with it down. The balcony had 2 chairs and a small table. The glass went from deck to almost (if not more than) 4 feet tall and had no gaps in the bottom. The bathroom was standard issue, small but enough space for one person to get around. Service Dining service was fantastic. Our waiter was Clinton Reece from Trinidad and Tobago and he was great. He was attentive, had a great memory, and made us feel like we were his only table. The rest of the crew was really helpful as well. They all seemed to love our little girls and it seemed like we always had a crew member somewhere entertaining our children... I have to knocks to the service on this voyage though... The first was the Guest Relations desk.. This may not have entirely been their fault, but every time you needed something from them it took 30-45 mins. The lines were extremely long and it seemed like their time-to-resolution on a majority of issues was rather long. They may have been shorthanded, or the guests may have been extremely needy, either way, it made it difficult to stop by really quick and ask a question. The second complaint I had was the sheer number of public discipline I heard in 7 days. On numerous occasions I heard officers discipline their staff, and even heard the cruise director doing this.. IMO this should all be done behind the scenes and guests should never be witness. in my 10 previous sailings I can't say I ever experienced this so much. Ports Naples, Italy Since we live in Italy we didn't get off the ship in Naples so I have little to review. Again the ship was empty all day so it was a great day for the pool. Barcelona, Spain Because this was a disembark day, we let all that traffic happen before we considered getting off the ship. We opted to explore Barcelona on our own and being that it was a Sunday, there was not much open. Once we got off the ship you have to transit the terminal where everyone picks up their luggage. After exiting the terminal you have a few options for getting into the city.. Taxi (didn't get the rates), foot (about a 45 min walk) or city bus (15-20 mins depending on traffic). We opted for the bus which cost 2 euro/person each way or 3 euro round trip. The bus dropped you at the base of Las Ramblas where we began our exploration. Again since it was Sunday we weren't able to do much but explore. We walked up Las Ramblas, to the Cathedral of Barcelona, thru the Gothic quarter and stopped at Resteraunte Grill Room for a quick lunch. The food was decent but they didn't open until 1pm. After lunch we hit a local grocery store for a few bottles of wine and then walked around a bit more before heading back to the ship. When we got back to the terminal we went thru security there (port security and not ship security) and no one said a word about the bottles of wine in our backpack. We didn't go thru any additional RCI security and thus brought two more bottles on board. Provence (Marseilles), France When you get off here you are not near much of anything. The ship offered a shuttle (read water taxi) at $20/person to take you to the port city of Marseilles. Once you get there you are dropped off by a really impressive looking church that was not open when we got there. The "city" appeared to be up a few flights of stairs and we couldn’t find an elevator. We walked around a bit and found a few side streets leading up. We walked down to the viewport area where the tourists flocked to. The harbor was lined with seafood joints whose menus seemed to differ only in the order of plated. I wouldn't be surprised if they all shared a few common kitchens. They were all very seafood heavy (muscles/clams) and were not what we were looking for. There is a beautiful cathedral (Notre Dame de la Garde) which we choose not to go to. We heard it was beautiful and had great views, but were also informed that it would be an extreme challenge with a stroller and 2 small ones. We opted to head back to the ship early (230) and hang by the pool. Villefranche (Nice), France Our favorite day by far. We opted for the Nice and Monaco on Your Own tour provided by the ship. After tendering in to Villefranche (which is very tiny, so if you do not do an excursion be prepared to take public transport a long distance) we jumped on a bus and took an hour long senic drive to Nice. Nice was very nice, clean, lots of boutique stores. We went to the market in old town and poked around a bit. We found a nice wine shop that sold regional wines. We bought 2 bottles with hopes that we'd be able to take them straight back to our cabin just like Barcelona. The bus dropped out in front of a huge park, so we hit the park for 15 mins to let the kids play before taking the hour drive to Monaco. Monaco was nice as well. More touristy for sure. We arrived at lunch time so the first order of business was lunch. All the of places served Italian/French-Italian cuisine and all were touristy. We picked one and had an average lunch. We walked around a bit, saw the Prince's palace and then the church Grace Kelly was married in. Since we hit both Nice and Monaco we had little time in each (2 hrs Nice, 3 hrs Monaco) and spent a lot of time on a bus (3 hrs). Great day but exhausting. If I had to do it again, I would take a tour to Nice and spend more time. It was a cute little village with more to do than we had time for. The tender ran pretty frequently back to the ship and we didn't have to wait more than 10 mins to get on one. We had to go thru RCI security to get back onto the ship and they confiscated our wine and said it would be delivered on the last night. Because it was an interport cruise I was waiting at guest services until 0100 the night before we got off since the wine wasn't delivered. La Spezia (Florence/Pisa), Italy Same as Naples, since we live in Italy, we enjoyed the pool and an empty ship. Overall Thoughts We had an excellent time. The ship was nice, crew was in good spirits, and our oldest daughter loved the kids club. The kids pool was great and we never found ourselves searching for something to do. The entertainment was as good as any other one and the shows kept us all entertained. We happened to be in the photo center when one of the photographers was doing some processing work. I saw a sign mentioning the option to have all of your photos put on a cd for one flat rate. She said that if we purchased that day, it would be significantly cheaper (it was the last day for those getting off in Barcelona, second full day for us getting on in Rome). We opted to purchase this and since we got it early enough we took advantage of every photo op with the family. We ended up with 173 photos on a DVD. They are all good quality, but you can tell that they are either not shooting at full resolution on their cameras or reduced them to put them on a dvd. Great deal and we really got some great shots. One thing that I was very peeved with was the fact that we had to pay VAT on everything. For those of you unfamiliar with the European tax system, they have something called VAT (Value Added Tax) that is placed on everything. It varies based on country and based on the good/service. Since the ship sailed from Barcelona, they were forced to collect Spanish VAT on everything sold. Not RCI's fault, its European law, but it would have been nice to know beforehand that I needed to factor in an extra 10% for EVERYTHING. So your $6.95 drink of the day after 10%VAT and 15% service was now almost $9, but more importantly the $225 7 bottle wine package was now $281. More of an annoyance than anything, and it would have been nice to know ahead of time. Lastly - I splurged and took the All Access Tour on the sea day. What an excellent tour. You truly get to see the inner workings of the ship and can grasp a true appreciation of what happens so that you can enjoy your vacation. If you ever get the opportunity (especially on these newer ships) I highly recommend taking the tour. I could go on for hours, but will spare everyone..