KristiZ

If you’re dining together you would combine your total credit. They’re going to assume you’re sharing everything you order.

Put a bit of water in it. Helps tremendously

Day 14 - Debarkation sigh. Hi there, Miami. I really don’t want to go! It was so, so nice to be back on a cruise again! I very much like the new “wait in your stateroom until your number is called” debarkation program. Much more pleasant than everyone crowding into the public spaces to wait. CBP was either very bored or specifically looking for something today. Lots of officers all over, and no breezing out waving your US passport. Still didn’t take too long, fortunately. The nice taxi whisked us to Miami airport, where we now sit awaiting our flight to Managua. I have to say, the departure PCR testing Royal offers worked flawlessly. In addition to Covid we were tested for Flu A, Flu B, and RSV, just for funzies I guess! We had our results in less than 2 hours, with all the stamps and signatures the government of Nicaragua requires. MisterZ declared he is once again fully #TeamSuite. I fear what will happen the first time we’re on Oasis-class… Thank you all for following along!

Day 13 - At Sea Our last full day! How can this be??!? The crew is looking forward to an extra day off between our arrival in Miami and the repositioning to Tampa. A number of them have talked about having a beer and laying by the pool for a day. The interesting thing that happened today was that Captain Stig was displeased with how the Canal treated his lady. He found us a calm spot of ocean and we sat for about an hour while crews cleaned up and painted some scrapes. The captain said he didn’t want to go into Miami looking like we had been in a fight We stopped next to a haunted lighthouse in the Bahamas. Our last towel art:

On Serenade right now dancing is allowed on both the pool deck and the Centrum when the band is playing. (Likely when they’re not playing too, now that I think about it ) There is no nightclub right now as that space is taken up by the Diamond lounge. Likely there would be some social distancing restrictions but the passenger count is low enough it hasn’t been mentioned. Fitness classes have been offered outside as well and have been well attended.

We got cups once when staying in a GS. It was on a ship that didn’t have a freestyle machine. It was just a thing they were doing for a short time, I think, not a regular suite benefit.

There are envelopes, and you can drop them off in the dropbox at Guest Services any time.

Or bottles of water to cash out your last vouchers, if you didn’t use them all!

Just yourself, or you’ll end up with VOOM for 4 devices. Not a stupid question at all — the planner is confusing!

We often just roll with the regular gratuities for dining and stateroom attendant. We will, however, look for exceptional service in some other areas and tip those folks. For example, we’re giving the lady who nearly always took our room service order this cruise $20 because she was always so personable. Plus in the GS the room service fee is waived so they don’t make money on us unless we tip. We also tip on the free Diamond drinks, since they still have to do the work. It is always appreciated! But whatever you’re feeling in the moment!

1 - no, the holiday dinner is not included 2 - personally I would choose B. There is a lot of great free food to chose from!

Suite Lounge on Serenade right now is unlimited drinks at happy hour, no vouchers needed/used. Options are a bit limited, but not overly. They are using the regular bar in the Suite Lounge.

Day 12 - At Sea The C&A event for Diamond and above was an entertainment talk. They had a nice slide show, and then various staff in the entertainment section talked about how different it was getting ready for the restart than any time previously. They couldn’t go learn the shows in the Miami facility due to Covid so they has to start learning the parts via zoom during quarantine. The singers all had cabins next to each other and could go out on their balconies to sing together. It was interesting to hear how they made it work. The nice part about the Centrum design on this class of ships is the ability to put on various demonstrations. For example, the cake decorating demonstration ended with us eating the result in the Windjammer for lunch: And the fruit carving demonstration ended in Windjammer decorations: When we went to Chops back on Day I-Can’t-Remember, they ended up selling us a Chops +1 package. It was a bit more expensive that purchasing it ahead ($65pp) but we didn’t have to use it on the first or second night, and we got to pick Chops again as our +1. This time we had a couple of photo-worthy items. Spicy Prawns (MisterZ asked for extra spice and declared them just right): Crispy Goat Cheese Salad: By choosing to do the specialty dining ala carte, we spent about 40% of what we would have getting the UDP and felt like we ate at the speciality restaurants as much as we wanted. (2x Chops, 2x Giovanni’s, 1x Izumi) The only drawback (if you can call it that) was that we couldn’t spread out the cost by prepaying. But it also meant we didn’t eat as much as we might have if we were trying to get our money’s worth out of the UDP Just something to consider if you’re on the fence about the UDP!

RIGHT??!?

More ship tour! The severely underutilized Adventure Ocean: The arcade: I kept trying to get a shot of the kids pool when it was open, and it took days before I realized that there are literally 4 tiny humans on the ship, 2 of them too small to use this pool. So you get a shot with the nets up. Sorry! The rock climbing wall: The mini golf: And bonus towel art:

We got our Canal certificates:

Day 11 - Cartagena We lived in Cartagena from 2011 to 2014. This is a great town. We were very interested to see what had changed since we left. We did not do a shore excursion and a lot of what we were looking at would mean nothing to anyone else, but here are some port shots for your enjoyment This is the fort on one side of the entrance to the port of Cartagena. There is a smaller fort on the other side. They used to have a heavy chain they could run between the forts to keep the pirates out of the bay. The view of Bocagrande and Castillogrande neighborhoods from the ship: So much growth and new construction! If you get a chance to grab an itinerary with a Cartagena stop, go for it! You’ll have a great time.

No, I did Chef’s Table. They are actually offering the Taste of Royal tomorrow but I think we will not be going. It is a seafood-heavy menu.

Day 10 - Panama Canal Wow. I love it when something you’ve built up in your head delivers in real life! The weather was a bit variable — thunderstorms, sun, on repeat, but it didn’t matter at all. Panama City in the distance: We approached the Miraflores locks at about 7am, after passing under the Bridge of the Americas. One of 6 mules that guided us through each section: Pretty sure this guy was some sort of supervisor : The entrance to the new locks on the Miraflores side. Hard to show, but that giant ship is already about 35 feet above sea level. Once past Miraflores, we had a stretch of more natural feeling waterway on our way to the last lock before Lake Gatun: One of the many tugs that shepherded the various ships: A closer look at workings of one of the locks: We had a couple of rain showers while we were in Lake Gatun so the photos weren’t stellar. Finally we came to the Gatun locks and the Atlantic Bridge: We reached the Caribbean about 4pm, so the whole transit took approximately 9 hours. The captain said that was about as fast as it is ever done. What an amazing day!

We got my least favorite thing in the cabin today, the departure flier. Nooooo! But we also go invited to a game night in the Suite Lounge. Something I hadn’t seen before. I think they were trying to add some value since there are no ship tours allowed right now. It ended up being sort of a quiz show, with many prizes handed out. I won this bag of logo gear — day pack, hat, water bottle, cell phone charms, and bottle opener: I also noticed today that there is breakfast served in both Chops and Giovannis. Chops is for suite guests and Giovannis is for Pinnacles. I don’t know if that sort of thing has always been the norm, but since the two restaurants are right next to each other it was more obvious. We also did a Macallan whisky tasting in the pub. I know next to nothing about whisky, so it was fun!

Day 9 - At Sea More ship tour! Here’s Guest Services: And Cafe Latte-tudes: Business Center: Photo Gallery: Sample hallway: The view from the outer elevators: Serenade trivia: And the Theater, where we had a nice lecture by the Captain and a travel writer about the Panama Canal:

Boy, memory is a funny thing! I was sure it was Speednoodles that talked about the Oberon, but it was @mom2mybugs! Belated thanks for the suggestion!

Hey @SpeedNoodles, MisterZ thanks you again for the reco!

Here’s what’s in Vintages right now on Serenade: and here are the options at the rest of the venues: But each ship will be a little different, probably.

Internet To put it all in perspective, Serenade is this old: Any time you’re on one of the older ships you need to temper your internet expectations. It was remarkably good the first few days of our journey, but then we hit some rough patches as the weather got stormy. Here’s the speed range we’ve seen (note that “FAST” is the name of the testing app and in no way indicates the actual speed! )