FionaMG

Hi Richk.
We did an 11-night Serenade cruise in November/December 2017 for our wedding anniversary and it was great. Our itinerary was not exactly the same as yours but we did visit 3 of the ones you'll be going to. I did a post-cruise review of it but it was over on another forum, so I'll send you a private message with the link so you can read it if you like.
I'm sure your going to have a fabulous time! 

PMs sent. Hope I've done it right and you all get them. Thanks again to @tiny260 for suggesting it. 

Oooh, I didn't realise that was a thing (brainwashed by CC). I will do that. Thank you for the tip. ?

Oooh, I didn't realise that was a thing (brainwashed by CC). I will do that. Thank you for the tip. ?

Well, I'm pretty much all packed. Everything's all printed off. I've painted my toenails (twice! ). I've just got a manicure and a facial tomorrow morning to ease me in to the holiday relaxation before we head down to Southampton.As it's not an RC cruise, I won't blog it here. However, I enjoyed blogging my cruise on Independence so much last year I've decided that I will blog this cruise on my own (until now largely defunct) blog which you can find at https://fat-fighting-foodie.com/
I'll be visiting:
Cadiz, Spain Barcelona, Spain Livorno, Italy Civitavecchia, Italy Cartagena, Spain Gibraltar, UK I'll also be Periscoping. My user name is hayley_bopp . Both blog posts and scopes will be intermittent as I'm probably not going to get an internet package (but never say never...).
If you've got any questions feel free to ask on here or on the comments section on my blog.
After the cruise, I'll post a review of the cruise on here comparing it to RC. Who will win...? ?
Fingers crossed the gales that are forecast to hit the south coast all day on Saturday (50-60mph gusts of wind!) don't delay our sail away for too long ?

The curries and, for dessert, the hot bread pudding. Yum. ?

Yes, it is totally allowed. As far as I know, pretty much every restaurant will plate up and cover food for you to take away with you or, in the case of the WJ, you can just get it yourself.  I have heard  various people say they especially do this with dessert at dinner because they're too full to eat it at the time but want to enjoy it later, as a late night snack.
One thing to bear in mind is that the "fridges" in the rooms are not really fridges, more like coolers, so you shouldn't store anything perishable in them for any more than a couple of hours at the most. 

Personally, it would not bother me in the slightest if you ordered large amounts of food as long as you actually ate most of it. What really does bother me is when I see people piling their plates as high as they possibly can in the buffet and then leaving most of it. If you enjoy eating then why shouldn't you take the opportunity, especially since you'll get to try dishes you might not get to try at home.

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?
 
 

Yes, it is totally allowed. As far as I know, pretty much every restaurant will plate up and cover food for you to take away with you or, in the case of the WJ, you can just get it yourself.  I have heard  various people say they especially do this with dessert at dinner because they're too full to eat it at the time but want to enjoy it later, as a late night snack.
One thing to bear in mind is that the "fridges" in the rooms are not really fridges, more like coolers, so you shouldn't store anything perishable in them for any more than a couple of hours at the most. 

Ha ha, us too! ?

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?
 
 

Haha, this is me too. DH always says that if he loses track of me on the beach he just needs to look for the whitest person in sight and that'll be me. ?

Perhaps everyone who enjoys doing Chef's table should start suggesting this on their end-of-cruise surveys. It seems to me that Chef's table should be exactly that: Chef's table and not corporate table. After all, these are all qualified chefs; I'm sure if corporate just gave them a budget they'd be more than happy to give free rein to their creativity. 

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?
 
 

Yes, it is totally allowed. As far as I know, pretty much every restaurant will plate up and cover food for you to take away with you or, in the case of the WJ, you can just get it yourself.  I have heard  various people say they especially do this with dessert at dinner because they're too full to eat it at the time but want to enjoy it later, as a late night snack.
One thing to bear in mind is that the "fridges" in the rooms are not really fridges, more like coolers, so you shouldn't store anything perishable in them for any more than a couple of hours at the most. 

Yes, it is totally allowed. As far as I know, pretty much every restaurant will plate up and cover food for you to take away with you or, in the case of the WJ, you can just get it yourself.  I have heard  various people say they especially do this with dessert at dinner because they're too full to eat it at the time but want to enjoy it later, as a late night snack.
One thing to bear in mind is that the "fridges" in the rooms are not really fridges, more like coolers, so you shouldn't store anything perishable in them for any more than a couple of hours at the most. 

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?
 
 

Ha ha, us too! ?

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?
 
 

Haha, this is me too. DH always says that if he loses track of me on the beach he just needs to look for the whitest person in sight and that'll be me. ?

Personally, it would not bother me in the slightest if you ordered large amounts of food as long as you actually ate most of it. What really does bother me is when I see people piling their plates as high as they possibly can in the buffet and then leaving most of it. If you enjoy eating then why shouldn't you take the opportunity, especially since you'll get to try dishes you might not get to try at home.

I did actually hear of some people who signed up to their local (can't remember what sport it was) club because even with the cost of the membership fee they were still able to save on the cost of the hotel room with the MVP rates!

Personally, it would not bother me in the slightest if you ordered large amounts of food as long as you actually ate most of it. What really does bother me is when I see people piling their plates as high as they possibly can in the buffet and then leaving most of it. If you enjoy eating then why shouldn't you take the opportunity, especially since you'll get to try dishes you might not get to try at home.

Haha, this is me too. DH always says that if he loses track of me on the beach he just needs to look for the whitest person in sight and that'll be me. ?