KristiZ

Sail away was supposed to happen at 5p, but we didn’t leave until nearly 6p. Drinks in the Suite Lounge before dinner. The Lounge on Serenade is on desk 13, next to the Viking Crown. It has both indoor and outdoor space.(Interestingly they are definitely rebranding the Concierge Lounge, even if the product is a bit different from the bigger ships): We were already at dinner as we exited the Port, so this is the only photo I got, through the window of Giovanni’s: Bye, LA! Our first towel art:

Hi, everybody!

Correct. US will accept vaccinations from both CDC-approved and WHO-approved lists. The only large group that is out of luck right now is the people who have received Sputnik V.

Our boarding time was 1p. We arrived at about 1255p, and by 120p we were collecting our SeaPass cards off our door. As we walked down our hall, we saw our bags in a small group, staged for delivery. After checking that no one was looking, we stole our own suitcases and brought them to the room. We’re very sneaky. Next stop was our muster station for scan in and completion of the safety brief. Super easy! We popped up to the Windjammer for a bit of lunch. There’s a scan in and out system for capacity control, although with the rumored “less than 700” passengers onboard I’m not sure it’s necessary. Having the food served to you in the buffet is actually quite nice. I’m glad they’re planning to continue that! Serenade has a nice outdoor seating area for part of the Windjammer, too: The specialty restaurant staff were out trolling for customers. We snagged a half-off Giovanni’s for dinner and then headed off to unpack, grab a frosty adult beverage, and revel in actually be on a ship. Even though the crew onboard had been sailing in Alaska for a few months, we’ve already run into a number that don’t know about the Diamond drink changes — they understand the availability all day part, but not the any drink up to $13 part. So far it has been quickly remedied if we politely ask. Giovanni’s was lovely. I prefer it to Jamie’s, personally. I got the filet, which I had never considered ordering before, just because of all the “which is best” talk on these forums. It was perfectly cooked, and has a rustic cooked-over-a-campfire flavor. Definitely different than Chops. The special was Linguini Arrabiatta. MisterZ had that. He said it was tasty but not at all spicy like it should have been. MomMe had the Branzino and was pleased with it (no photo of the fish because it was not at all photogenic). For desert there was Tiramisu, cannoli, and Torte di Chocolate Something Something. We were in bed early after the prior long travel day and short night’s sleep. We did, however, sail past Navigator! She’s puttering along off the coast near San Diego. She’s also a little blurry. Hopefully they’ll get that fixed before she starts revenue sailings

Swag! Cabin tour, grand suite 1048 - Cabin is really great size, decor is typical: The nice sized balcony: The bathroom and amenities: The first day handouts: The safety swag: The first day discount offer: We’re getting a crystal block on this sailing. Here’s the new process for that: I’ll get photos of MomMe’s cabin tomorrow.

Boarding was remarkable for how normal it was, provided you could overlook the fact that there were hardly any passengers. MisterZ had to work in the morning, so we stayed in our hotel room until 11a checkout and then camped in the lobby, mooching off the wifi for another hour. Next, the hotel staff all made me feel very old with their “I think I remember there used to be a thing called a taxi…” and “what do you mean you don’t have an Uber account?” and “no, I don’t have a phone number for a taxi company”. (I am reluctant to Uber/Lyft/etc for Reasons Not Germaine to Cruising.) Fortunately, it turns out there’s a taxi stand about 10 yards outside the hotel door that the staff were completely oblivious to. A nice, polite older gentleman scooped us up and whisked us off to the World Cruise Ship Terminal, Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro. Took us about 25 minutes, some of that time driving 80 miles per hour. Oh, right, we’re back in the US! Ha! (There are no roads in Nicaragua you can drive 80 on. At all. Not just because it’s illegal but because it is physically impossible.) Royal docks at Berth 91, 92, or 93, and you can see your ship from a ways out so the whole process is painless. The USS Iowa is also docked right there as a museum, if you need a google-able landmark. Turns out there is a mobile Covid testing location right next to the Iowa, open every day but Sundays. For future reference, all you future Navigator folks! As we pulled into the near-deserted docks, the porters were staging impromptu dance routines in the road. Very sorry I wasn’t able to photograph them! The taxi stopped, and by the time I paid the guy our bags were gone. The porters were very bored, it seemed. They pointed us toward the tent-covered prescreening area and off we went. The first door into the tent was Suites/Pinnacle. Once inside, while waiting for the one couple in front of us, we could see the “regular” line, which looked like this: This was the first person we showed all our paperwork (vax cards, tests, passports, setsail passes). Then we proceeded into the regular building through this door: At this point, the (also very bored) CBP agent threatened MisterZ with vague but ominous penalties for photographing “in the building”. We apologized and hustled along before anything could stop us from GETTING ON THE SHIP. All told, we showed 4 different people all our papers. ****I highly recommend you just print hard copies of your test results and setsail passes**** People who didn’t were constantly fumbling for the right spot in the various apps on their phones, with the sketchier-by-the-minute cell signal as your got further into the building. Also, when you print your setsail pass it ends up HUGE, making it very easy for the, um… optically challenged older folks working the check in Finally, we were onboard! Amazing! We were greeted by lots of happy crew members, plus all these guys:

Some more pre-departure details for those that are interested: We (KristiZ and MisterZ) are in GS 1048. My mother (MomMe) decided to join us; she’s using the cruise as her transportation for her semi-annual cross-country pilgrimage. She summers in the Pacific Northwest and winters in Jacksonville, Florida. She chose a balcony cabin on the same deck, opposite side, 1510. The plan is we will be able to spend time on each side of the ship during the canal transit. As an added bonus, she will go from Platinum to Diamond on this trip, with her 4x points! When the Labor Day sale came up, I mentioned to my mother she should call Royal and check on a reprice. (She booked direct, so she had to do this herself. Sorry Sharla, I’m trying to teach her!) Turns out that particular promotion was exceptionally good for singles — she ended up getting more than half her money back as OBC. And since it’s non-refundable, she immediately started planning all the things she was going to spend it on. MisterZ and I have graciously volunteered to assist her with this chore. We’re generous souls, we are! RoyalUp did not become available for us until 5 days prior to embarkation. I’ve never seen it so late! Also, the minimum bids were insanely low — we had the option of bidding on an Owner’s Suite, and Owner’s Suite 2-br, or the Royal Suite. The minimum on each was $45pp, $50pp, and $100pp, respectively. We were happy with our cabin and did not bid. We got the Concierge email 8 days out: Conciege_Email.pdf

We currently live in Managua, Nicaragua. Flight logistics can be odd in the best of times from here, but right now it’s still a pandemic mess. Also, my job has a big fiscal component and for us the fiscal year ends September 30. So piles of work leading up to departure as you can imagine. I’ve earned this vacation for sure! With air miles to burn, I started trolling for flights. Miami to Managua on the back end was easy, and I scored us business class for a reasonable number of miles plus a few dollars in taxes. Then I started looking for flights to LAX. And looking. And calling United when the website gave me errors. And explaining to the United customer service rep that Avianca was indeed a real airline and is indeed a Star Alliance partner. But finally success in the form of two coach tickets on the route I wanted. Whew! Then the Covid testing had to be wrangled. Earlier in the year we had been able to get tested at my work, but in the past few weeks that shifted to the proctored self test. Needless to say I then had a minor panic attack when it seemed that Royal was not going to accept those tests. The only other option for us in Nicaragua is to go to the government health center in Managua at 7am and wait with several hundred of our new best friends for a government issued test. Did it once, not interested in doing it again, thank you. Here’s our test box: And here’s what it looks like when you’re done. I may or may not have had an argument with the box… Negative test result in hand, we were ready to fly to El Salvador, the US, and get on the ship. Hooray! Requisite suitcase shot: We flew the day before, because that’s what the smart cruisers do (I say that because the last time we sailed Serenade we were literally the last passengers on the ship, walking in while everyone standing in the muster drill stared at us. But I digress.) We departed Managua, flew to San Salvador and changed planes, then on to LAX. Since we got in very late, we stayed at our go-to LAX hotel, the Courtyard Marriott on Century Blvd. The rooms are nice for a Courtyard, but it is definitely only a transit hotel. I recommend lower level rooms on the east end of the building for less runway noise. In case you were curious what the Augusto Cesar Sandino International Airport (Managua) looks like: And here is Monsenor Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport (San Salvador): (I’m not going to lie — I included these shots just so I could write out the names of those two airports…) We finally made it to LAX at nearly midnight. Global Entry, some of the best money I’ve ever spent! We zipped through Customs and then had to wait (im)patiently for our bags in zombie-apocalypse-like bag claim: Finally off to the hotel to sleep the sleep of the dead.

That flight was the one from Managua to San Salvador on Avianca. The only saving grace was that it is only about 45 minutes

I didn’t want to start my blog early, or really mention the cruise at all to anyone for fear something would go wrong. But HERE WE ARE! ON A SHIP! I can hardly believe it! A Panama Canal transit has been on my bucket list forever. Once cruising started up again this summer I was feeling some severe FOMO with the live blogs trickling in. Looking at what was available I suddenly noticed a Radiance repositioning through the Panama Canal. What? Had I just missed this, or was it a new offering? There were even suites available which shocked me — those sell out fast on rare trips like this. I emailed the incomparable @Sharla on July 30th and snagged a GS. It was a 14-day Canal transit, leaving from Los Angeles, with stops in Ensenada, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, San Juan del Sur, Puntarenas, Cartagena, and ending in Miami. Woohoo!! And then, 4 days later, it canceled. Noooooooo! One big drawback to reading this blog obsessively is that I knew right away my trip was done. If I had been blithely going about my daily life, the first I would have known is when Sharla emailed about the switch to Serenade and I would have been spared some grey hairs. As it was, I’m pretty sure it went something like this: Me: SharlaSharlaSharlaSharla!! My shiny new cruise is canceled. Waaaaaaaaah! Is the world ending? I feel like it’s ending! Sharla: Um, what? Calm down, let’s see what’s going on. Me: <Breathing into a paper bag> OK, I’ll try… The next day came the switch to Serenade confirmation, and the itinerary came shortly after that. Now we had a 13-day trip (slight price break), with stops in Puerto Vallarta, San Juan del Sur, Puntarenas, and Cartagena. So we lost 1 day and two ports. Oh well. This trip is about the Canal. And vacation. And cruising again finally! Then 9 days before sailing, San Juan del Sur was canceled and replaced with a sea day. Bummer, for a number of reasons I’ll talk about later. Now this really feels like a repositioning cruise, with only three ports in 13 days! But I don’t care one bit! I’m sitting in my cabin waiting for sail away, with dinner at Giovanni’s up tonight and a massage tomorrow morning. More to come! What’s that? Oh, right, the blog title. About that… I was trying to come up with something catchy. Maybe something musical, because Serenade. Or iconic, because bucket list trip. Or memorable, so everyone will want to read. I also assumed that the flight to LAX would be a good time for brainstorming. Seems logical, right? Well the tiny human sitting behind me on the first flight had other ideas. He spent taxi and takeoff kicking my seat (yay.) and then his mother got out a tablet for his entertainment. Which would have been fine, except there were no headphones for him to use. And I think the tablet only had one volume level, which was nowhere near whisper. What did he listen to? That’s right, the catchy, iconic, musical, memorable ditty, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”. It earwormed it’s way right into my brain, and so I share it with you. You’re welcome.

A lot of local pharmacies will do the testing for anyone, just not always for free. Any place that offers travel testing would be where to start. You’re in Jacksonville, yes? Unless there are current local restrictions due to lack of test kits, CVS will test non-citizens.

You're flying in the day before? If so you can test at IAH on arrival. It won't be free, but it will be certain. xprescheck.com

Yes, this test qualifies.

It will be refunded immediately.

It is -- it's just part of the Viking Crown and turns into Vortex later in the evening.

Welcome to the boards! The nightclub on Serenade is called Vortex. I'm guessing Dazzles is on Oasis-class ships, like Harmony and Allure.

The app should have all the information and schedules, but it won't be laid out like the compass -- there's no pdf equivalent if that's what you're looking for.

It does have to be at the same time. (Otherwise it's a tracking nightmare I imagine!)

If the restaurant is open and has space, you can use it!

Might have to do with you cabin category. They might not be offering Royal Up to your group. Or it may show up later after some other categories have shifted. I have a cruise next week where I've never been eligible.

It's probably too big of a file. I think the size limit is like 50k or something super small. I had to resize/save my pic about 4 times to get it to load

As the rules stand right now, yes that would be allowed.

I use an app called Image Sizer (h/t @twangster) that does a nice job of squashing photos to a reasonable size for uploads.

I don’t know. I’ll have to test it and see! Our retirement plan includes big chunks of time onboard, just enjoying life. 8 years to go and I’ll get back to you

Code share is when two or more airlines enter into a marketing agreement to sell seats on one another but pretend they are on one of their own flights. If you ever listen at a gate that’s making announcements for boarding you can hear them say “welcome to flight 456 on JumpUp Air, flight 1234 on HappySmiles, and flight 999 on Stanglobe Air, departing Kalamazoo for Timbuktu”. That means it’s JumpUp’s flight and the other two have sold seats as part of a marketing agreement. It’s a way to make your flight network seem bigger and keep more of the pennies to yourself. Maybe more than you wanted to know