Serenade - Easter Week ... A Cruise Journal

Pre-Cruise

Everyone should be as lucky as I and have a saintly neighbor who insists on taking us to the airport at 4:30 a.m. He dropped us off and then I suspect he headed back home to go back to bed. We breezed through flight check-in and went in search of breakfast before our flight. I have never flown US Air before and was surprised to find that they board the front of the plane first. Somehow, it seems more logical to board the back first, but I’m sure they have their reasons. Our 6:45 flight for the first leg from Cleveland to Charlotte boarded on time. We got the usual safety video, which we treated as an opportunity for high entertainment. We decided that the inflatable slide looked like great fun and it was a damn shame that they don’t consider offering it to departing passengers. Given the current airline mania for finding new and creative ways to squeeze extra money out of their passengers, this looks like a missed opportunity. Who wouldn’t pay a few extra bucks to while away a tedious wait by leaping onto the slide of a nearby plane that they could park right up by the terminal just for that purpose. Parents traveling with kids would happily fork over serious cash to keep their kids occupied when they have a long layover. But … I digress. The video then moved on to the kid who is angelically gazing at her mom. Mom is putting on an air mask before “Assisting small children who are traveling with you”. Now really … if the kid needed air, wouldn’t she be gasping, or at least showing some level of stress? Next, they move on to the guy who appears on screen to advise us put on our life jacket and calmly wait until after we have exited the aircraft to pull these little tabs to inflate it. There is no question in my mind that the highly stressed passengers who are jostling into these things as the plane is going down, are going to be highly prone to yanking on every gadget the life jacket has to offer. By the time the guy advises us to blow into the tube to inflate the life preserver, we were both so seriously giggly that it was the funniest thing ever.

This was clearly a vacation bus and everyone seemed in high spirits as the plane gathered momentum and we left Cleveland behind. But I worry somewhat about the kid who was behind us. As we took off she called out, “Good Bye World.” There’s a great career ahead for her in theater.

Once airborne, the early start to my day began to take its toll and I laid my head back and dozed a bit. The flight seemed relatively short and we were soon landing in Charlotte.

What a nice airport! We arrived on one concourse and would be departing from another, but it was a relatively short walk. We had enough time to check out the main terminal and spend a bit of time enjoying those rocking chairs I’d heard about. I tried to get a decent shot of that sculpture/mobile depicting different types of air travel, but the photos simply don’t do it justice.

DD spotted a Starbucks and fell into wheedling mode. She seemed to be in dire need of a frappachino. One of her friends turned her on to this rather expensive treat and it is now my lot in life to be badgered for one from time to time. She got her frappachino and some chicken fingers. Then we headed for the gate. I attempted to find a sandwich to buy to take on the place, but I didn’t see anything that looked good enough to pay airport prices to acquire one. I decided I would wait and buy the turkey sandwich that the US Air website had advertised would be available for $7.00. I downed a peanut bar to hold off the hunger pains.

Our flight to San Juan boarded and took off on time. We were in the air for an hour before the food carts came out. By this time, I was getting seriously hungry. I kept picturing that professionally posed turkey sandwich on the web site and visualizing how nice it was going to look sitting on my tray table. The lunch cart finally made it way down to my row and I ordered the turkey. Sorry. No turkey. They advised that they had pastrami sandwiches. What is a pastrami anyway? I’ve been to my fair share of zoos and farm yards and I can say with utter certainty that I have never seen a pastrami. Maybe it’s one of those exotic animals that don’t do very well in captivity. In any event, it’s the only game in town, so I fork over my $7.00 for the lunch plate. It turns out to be quite tasty. I’d go so far as to claim it was fabulous, but my recollection of the issue may be heavily shaded by the degree of hunger I’d reached. In any event, it was made with a thickly-sliced marble rye bread and included a cookie and some chips. As it turned out it was a much better deal than the sandwiches I’d passed up in Charlotte that cost 7.99 … without the side dishes.

It never ceases to amaze me the innovative ways that companies find to advertise. Some enterprising go-getter at US Air managed to sell Verizon on the concept of buying advertising space on the fold-down tray tables on every seat. The advertising is bright and colorful. Every tray seemed to be different. I had a bunch of surfers from Australia and my DD had Indian women in saris. The message had to do with all the countries that Verizon offers services in. Somehow the whole concept strikes me as being curiously at odds with the fact that you aren’t even supposed to have your cell phone turned on in the plane.

In any event we worked a few puzzles and solved a couple word searches and my DD read a few chapters of the book her English teacher assigned for Spring Break (now I ask you, was that nice?). And as the 1:00 hour approached, we saw Puerto Rico’s shoreline creeping up on us below. The puffy clouds gave way to a sparkling hot sun and we landed in our destination city, with temperatures in the mid 80s.

We deplaned and made the trek to the baggage carousel we were assigned … and the baggage soon showed up at the carousel beyond it. Everyone quickly adjusted and people began to drift away as they got their bags. We were among the last to get ours and join the line for taxis. It was a long line and it moved more slowly than I would have liked, but you have to factor in the impatience quotient here. I did have the bonus of finding that a couple of people behind me was one of the other members of our roll call. I hadn’t even made it to the ship, but I had already had a chance to put a couple of faces to a screen name and collect their real names at the same time.

We eventually got our taxi and were on our way to our hotel. Unlike so many others who had scored great deals on Priceline, I had given up when my bid kept getting rejected (despite the fact that I was bidding considerably higher than others reported for winning bids). I wanted a hotel in Old San Juan so everything would be within walking distance. So I ended up booking Howard Johnsons. It turned out to be a good choice for us. It is a narrow building squeezed in between others and the only rooms with windows are the ones in the front. The other rooms are arranged around an open area that has a glass roof. If it was wider, you might be able to call it an atrium, but that’s a bit grandiose in this instance. The rooms at the front were more expensive, and offered the certainty that your sleep would be disturbed by the Friday night party in the open plaza. I chose the room without a view, reasoning that it was no different than those who book an inside cabin. We were only there to sleep and it would make a nice contrast to our balcony cabin on board. The only downside was that the air conditioning was merely adequate … I would have liked to have reported that it was efficient.

We checked into the hotel and were assigned our room. As we headed for the elevator, the manager advised “Hang on tight, because the elevator is super fast.” Having researched this hotel on tripadvisor, I knew it would be anything but fast. We stuffed in our 4 pieces of luggage and squeezed in ourselves; then closed the door and hit the button for our floor. There was a slight hum and the elevator began to inch upward. We burst out laughing. My DD asked, “What floor are we on?” In an imitation of slow motion, I replied “Fff-ooo-uuuu-rrrrrrrr”. We both burst out laughing.

The building had been extremely well restored and when in the room, I would have never guessed how old it was. The room had incredibly high ceilings. I’m sure those doors were early 1900 vintage at least, and were extremely well cared-for. They were solid wood paneled doors that were at least 9 feet high. The ceilings were another 1-1/2 to 2 feet above that. The newly tiled bathroom was a surprise and the room was very tastefully decorated.

The first order of business was to tour San Christobal, so we dumped our stuff and headed back toward the fort, which we had passed in the taxi on the way to OSJ. We walked along narrow streets paved with adoquine, a blue stone brought here hundreds of years earlier as ballast on Spanish ships. They are rutted from the weight of modern traffic that their designers could never have planned for, but they are still passable. The sidewalks are generally patches of concrete, slapped down over the years as needed to smooth things over. An occasional curbside corner is hacked away to provide wheelchair access, but don’t expect the consideration to be uniformly available on every corner.

We paused at Plaza de Colon (Columbus Square) long enough for a few photos of the statue of Christopher Columbus and the surrounding area. Then it was on to the fort.

Castillo de San Cristobal is purportedly a strategic masterpiece which features five independent units, each with its own moat and tunnel. We certainly explored the tunnels, but it was hard to determine (even from the highest vantage point) what those five units were. Maybe if the moats were filled it would have been evident, but then the standing water would have been a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The tunnels themselves are not especially well lit, so if you have vision issues, you might want to make sure you’re with someone who doesn’t. One of the surprises for me is that I would have expected the tunnels to be rather cool. The temperatures had climbed into the high 80s and my Ohio thermostat was struggling a bit with the transition. My only guess is that the thick stone walls never really get a chance to cool down since it is almost always hot here, so the tunnels were a place to shelter from the sun, but they weren’t especially cool.

We were especially intrigued with the water collection system. Apparently any rain falling on the fort would efficiently be channeled to gullies that diverted the water to the fort's cisterns. We spotted a couple of iguanas climbing on the lower ramparts, but we failed to have the kind of photographic equipment that would give a good sharp close-up.

As so many others have stated, the views of the city and the ocean are awesome from this vantage point. But it was the fort itself that merited the climb.

Due to the heat and our failure to remember to apply sun screen before leaving the hotel, we didn’t linger. We headed back toward the hotel, trying to determine what would be a likely place to eat. The open air restaurants we passed held little appeal. I had reached the point that I didn’t care about either ambiance or cost … I needed to find a restaurant that was air conditioned.

I wanted a fresh deli sandwich and DD craved pizza, so we ended up at Subway, on the corner across from Plaza de Armas (Arms Square), which is OSJ’s main square. Just after ordering a pizza for my DD, a querulous old lady butted in and demanded a pizza as well. I stepped back to let her complete her mission so she could become a part of my past as quickly as possible. We watched in shocked silence as she badgered the patient man who had the bad luck to be in front of her when she got revved up. He asked what kind of crust she wanted and she demanded “Thin!” He didn’t have thin, so he offered wheat. She snapped “Thin!” again. His inventory hadn’t changed, so he tried to point out it was white or wheat. Frankly, I would have grabbed one of the premade pizzas and whapped it repeatedly with a mallet and said “How’s that?” She just grudgingly agreed to the one he had selected and demanded more sauce. He dipped the ladle into the sauce and she demanded “No Meat!” It looked to me like he was safe, since I didn’t see anything in that bin but sauce, but she raised her voice several more notches and repeated “No meat! This is Good Friday!” Wow! While I can appreciate her determination to be faithful to her religious tenets, it is unfortunate that she lacked consideration for her fellow man. As he carefully spread sauce on her pizza, she made it clear it was either too much or too little. Of course, next she wanted more cheese and her directions on quantity and dispersement were an embarrassment to everyone in earshot. The tall older gentlemen who had been behind her in the beginning had faded away. As her pizza was slid into the oven, she began to ask where her husband was. I suspect he crawled under a table or slipped out the door and went elsewhere to buy a sandwich.

I then ordered my sandwich and we went to eat in a delightful room toward the back that was relatively empty, pleasantly cool and blissfully quiet. “Quiet” is not something you can expect to experience much in San Juan. If you find it, hang on for dear life. It will be short-lived.

After eating we continued our trek of the town. We headed toward the bay and then walked along the walls till we reached the Capilla del Cristo, a small chapel built over 250 years ago. It literally sits on the street … not at the end of it … on it. The story is that someone once went over the cliff on horseback and the structure either commemorates his miraculous survival or prevents someone else from reliving the tragedy. Next to it was a plaza that seemed to attract plenty of locals. Kids were holding bird food in their hands and pigeons would sit on their wrist and chow down. We called it the Pigeon Plaza. When we walked deeper into the plaza under the massive spreading trees, we discovered the nearby wall designed with dozens of niches the pigeons had adopted as home. The charm of pigeons underfoot is not one that can mesmerize me for longer than two minutes, so we moved on.

I was intrigued by the crowds ahead, so we walked that way and pushed through the gathering crowd to determine what was going on. There were television cameras in evidence, street vendors, and lots of people, both locals and tourists … all looking in the same direction. I realized from the pictures I’d studied that it was the Cathedral de San Juan. Good Friday services were obviously in progress. Given the devotion of the Spanish population, I would have loved to stay and be a part of whatever event was about to unfold, but DD wasn’t about to let something as tiresome as religion interfere with her Easter holiday.

I agreed to let her pull me away, but it was with a fair amount of regret. We returned to Plaza de Armas and decided to stick our nose in the nearby souvenir shop. We had browsed the shop for some time and found nothing. We headed out of it and we walking toward another one when I realized the cross street up ahead was lined with people all looking eastward. Plenty of expensive camera equipment was in evidence and I reasoned that I might still get a chance to experience the local observance of a deeply religious holiday. I dismissed my DD to the nearest shop and joined the crowd. Presently an open truck carrying an enormous speaker system approached. I believe it was broadcasting the mass. It was followed soon after by a passion procession. The Christ figure was carrying the cross and was surrounded by at least a dozen Roman soldiers. They were followed by the two thieves and Roman officials. Lastly came the common people of the period. As the procession passed, the locals joined in the hymn that was being broadcast and when the procession had passed, they joined in at the end. Soon the street was empty and I had experienced a treasured moment that went far beyond the original plan to visit the cathedral itself, which was closed that weekend.

I rejoined my DD who was still browsing. She eventually settled on a purchase of a necklace.By 7 p.m., the music had begun in the Plaza de Armas. Children were chasing each other, friends and families were settling down to visit. Plenty of chairs were set up facing the stage. Some people sat, others stood – swaying to the music. The streets were totally choked with cars inching along. I’m not sure where these folks expected to park, since parking garages were not part of the master plan laid out by the Conquistadors. Even so, the locals were clearly coming into OSJ for the evening and the plaza in front of our hotel seemed to be ground central. While I enjoy a great deal of Latin music, this particular offering wasn’t much to my taste. We wandered around the square a bit, but eventually returned to our room, blessing the internet advice that had led us to choose the quiet, interior room. By 8 p.m. we were climbing into bed to call it an early night after a day that had started at 3 a.m.

In the morning, we were out and about early. Wisely, we chose to use the stairs in the hotel. That speedy elevator should only be summoned if you’re hauling luggage.

Following the advice on cruisecritic, we headed for breakfast at La Bombera. Yes, our hotel included breakfast, but so many recommendations can’t possibly be wrong. And they weren’t. DD went for a traditional American breakfast, but I ordered a mallorca. It was very good. If you go, be sure to arrive before 8 a.m. if you want to beat the crowd. By 8 there was a line-up of folks waiting to be seated. While seated be sure to take the time to study the tilework around the walls. I was amazed at the involved tilework I’d seen throughout OSJ, but you don’t get to study it very well as you are just walking by.

We left there and wandered through the streets in the general direction of El Morro. There seemed to be quite a large number of stray cats and DD amused herself by counting them. She totaled 9 on the way there and 11 on the way back. Not sure how many of them ended up in both tallies, but she was quite satisfied to simply decree that she had achieved a net gain of 2. One of the streets we turned down turned out to be no street at all, but a shaded alleyway with a series of broad steps that went up. When we reached the top, we turned left and soon found ourselves in a shaded plaza with a full view of the fort beyond it. The plaza dropped down in a series of steps and appeared to have once consisted of a series of pools that fed each other. The grass at the bottom of the pools was a clear indication that it had been quite some time since it had been working. It had a deserted air about it that was rather sad and I couldn’t help but believe that if the pools were restored to working order, people would be drawn to this spot.

We arrived at El Morro about 10 minutes before it opened, so we wandered along the fortified sea wall and took a few pictures. A group of 4 or 5 parakeets flew by me and perched on a nearby wall. My first thought was that it was odd so many of them had escaped. Then I remembered this wasn’t Ohio, where the only time you see a parakeet outside, it has managed a jailbreak.

The temperature was still rather pleasant at 9 a.m. so we were able to have the stamina to visit every level of the fort. Walking the upper levels affords you to most stunning views of the surrounding area. We discovered the triangular staircase and used it to descend to a lower level. Here in a central courtyard there were four chambers side-by-side. Each one was larger than the next due to their location under a ramp. The smallest one was for storage. Next came the forge and then the kitchen. Curiously, the last and largest was the latrine. DD expressed pity for the men who had to work in the kitchen. I have an ugly suspicion that somewhere in the upper reaches, there was an officer’s latrine used by the jokesters who designed this place.

We went down to the very lowest level where you were supposed to be able to see the gouges made by the cannonballs of the US Navy in the Spanish-American war. None of us studying the walls there could determine what was natural deterioration from the weather and what was war wounds.

As we left the fort, it was around 10 a.m. and I was already starting to feel hot. My original plan of taking a Segway tour was abandoned as I felt it was too warm for this Ohioan to enjoy it. As we walked out that broad paved walkway, I noted the locals starting to select picnic spots in the hot sun for a family weekend outings. Kites were already flying and children running and playing games. Clearly these people can handle this heat. All I could think of at that point was collecting our bags and heading for the ship. We made a slight detour to pass by La Fortaleza (Governor’s Mansion) so I could take a few pictures. Then we headed back to the hotel to check out. Incidentally, I timed the descent in the hotel elevator … it was nearly 30 seconds per floor.

One of the most entertaining reviews I've read, and you haven't even got to the cruise! I can't wait to read the rest :)

Although we’d been able to see the ship from the seawall near our hotel, it was tough from the angle and the distance to determine what was the Serenade and what was the Summit. As the taxi skirted the bay, we got our first clear views of our ship and the excitement level began to rise. Everybody has their own personal preferences, but I think the general design of the RCI ships is the most striking. I love the green glass and the sleek lines. Celebrity has the darker glass and the sharper lines, which seems a bit jarring to me … but I’m sure the Celebrity cheerleaders will disagree with me on that point.

The taxi driver dropped us off in front of the ship’s terminal at 11:10 and there was already a line of dozens of people. We followed the direction of the RCI staffer who gave us a form to be filled out and then directed us to the first line to drop off our larger bags. The porter who met us by the luggage carts was polite, which was a relief. I’ve heard plenty of warnings about pushy porters, but that was certainly not the case. He did offer to be open to receiving a tip and I gave him $2 for the 2 bags. He seemed satisfied and moved on to the next passenger headed his way. We were advised that the ship normally started to board about 11:30, but they were running a bit late that morning. Unfortunately, there is little to look at as you wait, since the terminal building completely blocks your view of the ship. So we just watched the parade of arriving passengers who have ignored the paperwork (like us) that said they can’t board till 2 p.m. I wondered if the folks we met at El Morro that morning had taken my advice and checked out of their hotel by then. They were also whiling away the morning with some sight-seeing till it was time to board and they were planning on showing up at 2.

At 11:45 the line started to move and we shuffled along until we got through the preliminaries and through the x-ray machines. At that point, we were able to slip into the Priority Check-in line and were next up for the check-in process.

Maybe my memory is failing me here, but I always remember this point as being terribly exciting. I picture being greeted by a bright smile and a welcoming face of someone genuinely glad to see me. That person wasn’t working my station. I handed her our passports, she looked them over and then asked immediately for my Permission to Travel. Frankly, I’ve encountered more jolly people working a U.S. Customs checkpoint.

I dug out the notarized statement from my DD’s father and the woman studied it carefully before handing it back and continuing on with the requests for the Set Sail pass and the charge card. I thought maybe her mood would lighten up once she realized I wasn’t trying to smuggle my DD out of the country, but it didn’t. She processed our paperwork quickly and produced our boarding cards. We happily left the sourpuss behind and headed to get our security mug shots. These folks were appropriately cheerful and as we moved past them, we got our first real close-up view of the ship. We headed up the escalator and I had some trouble getting my DD to slow down long enough for a picture of her with the ship in the background. We were met by more cheerful folks … the photographers … and posed for the welcome-aboard shot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these on RCI where they really do a nice job with the background. They pose you by a sign, but there is always a very busy background. I even have one where it was taken in the carpeted hallway leading to the ship with some happy smiling passengers behind us who would be next up for their picture.

But we took the picture and then headed for the gangway. By noon, we were stepping onto the ship, and by 12:05 we were settling down at a table in the Windjammer. It was time for the party to get started!

Great and humourous review so far- it is Deja Vu for me. We just got back last Saturday from our Serenade cruise and stayed at the HoJo's as well. We did splurge for the balcony room though. We slept with the balcony door open- the nightlife surpisingly didn't keep us awake. We love the place and stayed there two years ago also.

We were surprised by the same Good Friday procession two years ago. What a wonderful sight.

Does this look familiar?

great start.

Great review so far! Can't wait to read the rest!

Great review so far....don't stop now!!!:D:p

We are booked on the Serenade in October, and your review makes me want to wish away the summer and begin our trip! Thank you for such a wonderfully detailed account of your cruise thus far -- it will be our first time in San Juan, and I feel as if I already know the area! ;)

Can't wait to read more of your review.

seabunkie - My DH and I are also booked on the Serenade in Oct. Which date are you going? We are doing B2B on 10/3 and 10/10.

Ooh, sorry -- 10/17. But hopefully I can read YOUR review before we sail!

Ooh, sorry -- 10/17. But hopefully I can read YOUR review before we sail!

If I'm reading the schedule correctly, you'll be getting on the day they get off from the second leg of thier B2B.

You're right, cruiseguy1016. Maybe I'll just wave at them as they debark!

This is a fantastic review!! I love hearing all the details and can almost picture myself there as I read....maybe you missed your calling as a writer :). My DH and I will be on the Serenade on august 1 and I am waiting with great anticipation to hear about everything on the ship and all the ports!!! Hurry hurry...lol!

Cruising with Leo Tolstoy

OK, I'm all into this now, now where's the rest? I want it NOW!

Dang, well that didn't work, so I guess I will check back in a day or three... sigh...

Yes, you write well, and we're really feeling it...

B

Great review, keep it coming. Brings our trip there from January back again!

I agree, so well written and funny too.

Thank you for all the positive comments. I used to just write these up for myself, but I posted the last one two years ago and had so much fun with it that I decided it do it on this trip. I hope you've got plenty of patience. It took me a couple of weeks to get it done last time.

We checked out our cabin (7608) shortly after they became available at 1 p.m. As expected, we had a nice-size balcony. Frankly it would have been big enough for one lounger and a chair with the table, but the 2 chairs were our preference. I would have been seriously disappointed in the balcony if I’d had the one next door (7606). Yes, I admit it … I peeked around the corner, after I made certain no one was there. It was really small. The two chairs were placed sideways, facing each other so the occupants would have a place to put their feet. If you book 7606, you’d better insist on a really big discount.

DD was delighted that the beds were twins. She always claims that I’m a bed-hog. Frankly, I think it’s the other way around, but the arrangement gave her one less thing to complain about … and she would have done so on a daily basis.

We had plenty of storage space, but not nearly enough hangers. Fortunately, I’d packed about a dozen hangers, so DD and I didn’t end up having to negotiate hanger use like we had done on a previous cruise. We’re girls … we don’t pack light. I know there’s plenty of women out there who insist that they can do with just that simple black dress and a few accessories to make it look different every night, but I could never pull it off. I’m tall enough to get noticed easily and I can just hear some old biddy whispering “My God, Ethel. She’s wearing that dress again. You don’t suppose they lost her luggage?”

One feature of the room was a big relief for me. One of my earrings dropped down the drain one night. I stood there in shock staring at the drain and wondering how I was going to tell my boss I’d lost one of the earrings she’d just bought me for Christmas. I reached down and pulled up on the metal plug and was amazed when the whole assembly came out. There in a wonderful little basket was my earring! Wow! I don’t know who thought of that, but I want that kind of plumbing in my bathroom at home.

Frankly, I’ve never been on a ship that had so may unused balconies. Usually when you’re leaning on your balcony rail, you spot plenty of folks along the ship doing the same. Not on this ship. Maybe it’s because the ship itself is so incredible that they aren’t using the balcony that they paid extra money to book.

We discovered in our ship explorations that the suites on deck 10 apparently have doorbells. There’s a feature you certainly don’t need in our lowly E1’s. The rooms aren’t big enough to entertain anyone in!

This was my first starboard cabin in 8 cruises. I couldn’t adjust to the fact that forward was to the right as you came out of your cabin. DD got the ship’s layout down pat early in the week. I never did. Fortunately, we were right around the corner from the stairwell, and I had that part right. The key objective was to try and figure out which way I should head as I started up or down those steps, before my incredibly savvy 16-year old could set me straight.

I love the pool design on RC ships. On either side and on the ends, the main pool is surrounded by a sizeable flat area you can wade in. The pool walls that encircle the whole area offer wide seating so you can comfortably sit on the edge of the pool and let the water wash over your feet and ankles. People either in the pool or sitting on the pool wall don’t feel isolated from those on deck. I had to cruise NCLA’s Pride of America to truly appreciate the RC design. While I had a wonderful cruise on the POA, I used the pool only once. I felt like I was climbing down into a pit when I walked down the steps into that pool.

The Schooner Bar was a wonderful place to just relax. The entry to the Schooner Bar offered some great photo ops. If your kids have ever wanted to act out a Jack Sparrow fantasy, head over there with your camera so they can post the pictures on Facebook when they get home.

You’ll miss some of the action in the Safari Club due to the rather large support columns on either side of the dance floor. This room was probably my least favorite. I prefer the main lounge with the round dance floor on the voyager class.

I sat in plenty of different spots in the theater. The seats look wonderfully comfortable. To be certain, they are terribly plush, but the backs are a bit too straight for me. Every time I sat down, I longed for a little pillow for some lower back support.

DD thought some of the venues were a bit chilly. I didn’t agree. I guess that’s going to be a different experience depending on the person.

Everywhere we went, everything seemed sparkling and new. I get a kick out of the tiny things people obsess about when they critique the ship. I often wonder if the worn-carpet police live in homes that are as well maintained as these ships are. I feel privileged to be able to manage to cruise in such surroundings once every couple of years.

The mini golf is a big improvement over the course on the voyager class. The edges of each green are high enough to prevent most of the shots from leaping onto the next green. I particularly love the sculptures of the gulls who gaze eternally at the course, as if waiting for some passenger to show up with some of those famous Sea View Café french fries to feed them.

Keep them coming! I cannot wait to read the rest!

Great job on the review! Keep it coming! We sail (our first cruise) on the Serenade on 5/16/10. This cruise is in celebration of our 30th anniversary. I know that from all of the glowing reports that we've picked the right ship!

GREAT REVIEW! We're a family of Buckeyes who followed you out of San Juan on the Adventure the day after you set sail. We were down in PR when you sailed and we waved you good-bye! :) I'm enjoying reading about your experience because our last RCI cruise will probably be the one you just took! Keep it coming!

More, More, More!

Great review. Keep it going. We are sailing on her this June and your review is getting us that more excited about the cruise.

GREAT REVIEW! We're a family of Buckeyes who followed you out of San Juan on the Adventure the day after you set sail. We were down in PR when you sailed and we waved you good-bye! :) I'm enjoying reading about your experience because our last RCI cruise will probably be the one you just took! Keep it coming!

I knew somebody had to be waving to us as we sailed out of the harbor!

First order of business was swimming so we changed and headed up to the pool deck. We passed through and went to the Solarium. DD had just turned 16 earlier in the week so she was itching to experience the privilege of swimming in the Solarium. This is probably the prettiest Solarium I’ve seen yet. While there is music playing at nearly all other public areas in the ship, here in the Solarium they are playing recorded birdsong. It’s so realistic, you have to remind yourself not to look for the birds. DD threw herself into the pool and paddled around a bit. I wasn’t interested in getting wet, I was just in exploration mode. Next DD moved to the hot tub and savored the experience of being the first and only one to be using either pool on that cruise for the moment. I acted as the official photographer and just enjoyed being on the ship. It wasn’t long before she wanted to go check out the main pool. Here there were a number of people who were already installed poolside. We went over to innertube man (does he have a name? How about Clarence?) and took pictures with him. A man walked up and offered to take our picture together with him. It turned out to be the headliner who would be performing on Monday evening. He’d come on board mid-week and had done the late week show for the previous week’s passengers. He would be leaving the ship on Tuesday.

I remember someone commenting in a post before our cruise that Clarence was in need of a coat of paint. Apparently, maintenance had handled that task before we arrived. He was in great shape. Matilda (the statue walking the dog by the putting greens) was showing a bit of wear however. And maintenance took care of that mid-week. She was roped off one afternoon by signs announcing she’d just had her spa treatment.

DD decided she wanted to get cleaned up before the unofficial Roll Call Meet at 3:30, so we went down to the cabin. She took her shower and I enjoyed the balcony and my views of San Juan. Once she was suitably presentable, we headed up to the Solarium bar to meet some of the roll call posters we’d been chatting with for a couple of months. I recognized Alan and Diana from a picture he’d posted earlier and we joined the group that had formed around them. We chatted happily for about 45 minutes before DD and I broke away to go explore the ship. We’d been so focused on getting to the pool deck we hadn’t been on the usual ship tour yet.

DD decreed that the first order of business would be locating the soft-serve ice cream so we headed for the Windjammer. Despite the fact that we were closing in on the dinner hour, it was necessary to sample the wares. After all, some kitchen staff member has been charged with filling that ice cream machine in the expectation that the passengers will need something cool and refreshing. The best way to show appreciation for that effort is to partake … so we did.

We headed for the dining room to locate our table. We chatted with the staff a bit and they helped us find our table. We were pretty pleased to find that we had a table by the window for the first time. When we later returned to our cabin, we discovered we had a phone message that we were being moved to a different table since there were a number of small children at the table we were originally assigned to. I'm not sure what prompted that, unless it was our dining room visit. In any case, I have to say that I'm really impressed at the level of service where they strive to put people into a dining situation for which they are most appropriately suited. Is this one of the service levels that makes Serenade such a stand-out among her sister ships? Not sure, but it really enhanced our cruise experience, as we ended up at a table with 8 other incredible compatible companions.

At 5 p.m. we joined the group in the Centrum for the famed Expo/Scavenger Hunt. This one is a cleverly disguised method of advertising all the services the ship has to offer. You may have passed the floral cart before, but now you’re motivated to stop and find out where you can buy flowers and when the service is available. You need that information for your entry form. The cruise staff has sweetened the deal by a series of give-aways for which you have to be present to win. We quickly filled in our contest blanks by circling the Centrum and finding the answers at each station. When the time came for the drawing, we didn’t win anything, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get entertained. Two boys (maybe 8-12 years old) won the flowers. A middle age gentleman won the champagne. They announced the winner of the spa treatment and there was enough commotion at an upper level to make it clear that the family had a winner amongst their group. We kept expecting the winner to make his way downstairs to collect the prize as the drawings continued and more prizes were awarded. Finally at the very end of the drawings, the reluctant spa winner showed up with mommy urging him on … the kid was about 7 years old and acutely aware he’d just made family history in a way he was unlikely to live down for the next 50 years.

That brought us neatly to dinner time, so we headed for the dining room to meet our waiter and tablemates. I plan to cover service in a separate subheading, so I’ll just note at this point that our waiter was Noel. There were four others already seated at the table of 10 and we discovered shortly after sitting down that they were also part of the Roll Call. Sherri and Mike had taken advantage of my information at one point some months earlier and checked on the resident’s discount, since they were also from Ohio. They ended up upgrading to a balcony and were very pleased with the choice. The other couple was Brian and Susan. Of the four, three of them were band directors and quickly recalled the roll call information that my DD was in the local marching band. They declared they would see what they could do about finding a clarinet on board so that DD could practice. They playfully threatened her with it all week.

For those dying to hear about the food, that is another topic I’ll handle under a separate heading. Somehow I think that’s more effective than listing what we had each day and what our rating was. Of course, if I’d have done a better job of taking notes, I might not be hedging here, but I honestly think this is a bad time in my life to be discussing Serenade menus. I’m on a salad and oatmeal diet until I shed those three pounds that I picked up in the Caribbean. Frankly, I’m sure it’s just water gain …

Halfway through the meal, an Australian family of four was seated in the remaining seats. They explained that they really wanted a table of four to have family time together each evening. Since their table wasn’t available the first night, they were being seated with us. They were absolutely delightful. We listened with a certain amount of envy as they described their travels. They had come through LA, where they went to Disneyland. After this cruise on the Serenade they would be taking a transatlantic cruise. At the end of the meal, they told us they were sorry they wouldn’t be staying at our table. They had so enjoyed our dinner time together that they were now regretting they were committed to a table of four for the rest of the cruise. We would, however, see them several times throughout the cruise and would end up on the same excursion later in the week.

It was closing in on muster drill time, so we headed to the entry of the Schooner Bar where we experienced the shortest and most efficient muster drill ever. Happily, not only had RCI done away with the life jacket fashion show, they had also banned the photographers from slowing things down. I never could figure out why photographers showed up at muster to get pictures of cruise ship passengers wearing life jackets. Is this really the kind of visual you want to share with the folks back home?

Muster ended and it was time to be “one” with the upper deck. Although DD had already announced her intention to go hang out with her contemporaries for the evening, she didn’t want to miss the excitement of sail-away. There is a special magic to a night-time sail-away. Heatwave was providing live music on the pool deck … those wonderful Caribbean sounds that lift the spirits and get into your blood. We were blessed with a clear night and a warm breeze. In short order the ship began to edge away from the dock. The upper decks were solidly lined with happy passengers. We watched as the sparkling lights of San Juan drifted slowly by. We came by La Fortaleza and I promised myself I’d come back to San Juan some day, and I would time it when it would be possible to do the guided tour. And finally, we sailed past El Morro. Somehow it had shrunk in size. From the sun deck of a modern cruiseship, it doesn’t look nearly as imposing as it had when we were wandering its interior. And I have no doubt, this particular vantage point bears absolutely no similarity to the view the average sailor had from an attacking vessel in centuries past.

DD and I went below to negotiate expectations for the evening and eventually settled on an agreement that she would check in at midnight. We would then discuss whether she could stay out another hour.

So it was that I was abandoned and on my own. I don’t have this sort of experience very often. For the next couple of hours, I would have no responsibilities. None whatsoever! How cool is that! I can go where I want to … do what I want to … wear what I want to. The mother of a teenage girl doesn’t get this sort of freedom very often. I am always being critiqued concerning clothes, mannerisms, choice of nouns, verbs, or adjectives. I have come to recognize that it is my duty to be wrong on a regular basis, so my offspring can set me straight. Most importantly, I have to make sure I don’t embarrass said offspring by doing anything that might draw attention. So I’m free to be wild and crazy for the next two or three hours now --- I just have to see if I can remember how to do that.

RCI used to have a rather tiresome Welcome Aboard Show where they introduced all the folks who make up their profit centers. I remember my first experience with this on the Sovereign. The singers and dancers did a number and then the cruise director came on to introduce one staff member after another. The most memorable was the buxom Swedish blonde who invited us to come down and sign up for a massage … “Ya?!” The word around the ship was that by the middle of the next morning she had no appointments left.

Things have changed. Now they generally get the sales pitches done earlier (hence the expo/scavenger hunt). Instead they loosen up the passengers and kick off the party with a comedian for the first night’s show. Darrell Joyce was terribly good at it. He had us laughing non-stop. There were lots of cruise related jokes to whet our appetite for the types of experiences we intended to take full advantage of during the week … especially food and buffet jokes. He had a good routine to poke fun at those of us who don’t listen during muster drill and he rounded out the set with some exercise jokes. People were either laughing because they are comfortable enough with themselves that they can enjoy a laugh at their own expense … either that, or they didn’t realize he was poking fun at them.

I started to leave the theater after the show, but stopped myself with the realization that I still had some time before I had to play truant officer. Since they were getting set up for a Bingo game, there was no reason not to blow some of my OBC on a Bingo card. Apparently the ship wasn’t completely full. They were playing a game for a Jr. Suite. It was worth $11 for a shot at that, I reasoned. I didn’t win, of course, but I was truly happy for the young couple who did. They were in an oceanview and were so terribly excited to have won a nice, unexpected upgrade.

I got back to the cabin before midnight and I’m happy to report that DD checked in at midnight … on the dot. She announced that she was fine, she was having fun, and she was outtahere. She promised to be back at one. I reminded her that it was a ship board curfew at 1 and she chaffed at the information. She was however prompt. Precisely at one a.m. her card slid into the slot and she opened the door to announce she was back. She’d had a wonderful time with her new friends and it was quite some time before she was unwound enough to be ready to go to sleep. To be truthful, I think I fell asleep while she was still talking.