Serenade of the Seas - Very long review for 2/12/05 sailing

There has already been one review for this sailing, but here is another. This was the best cruise we have ever been on with a beautiful ship, great food and service, and a great selection of ports.

Pre/Post cruise

We stayed one night before and one night after the cruise at the Hotel Plaza de Armas in Old San Juan. This is in a great location right on the main plaza in the heart of the old city. The rooms were clean and a small continental breakfast was included. The only problem was the elevator was out of service and out room was on the 4th floor on one night and 3rd floor the second. They do have a storage room so we didn't have to take all of our stuff up. This is a good value in expensive San Juan at $105 per night.

The ship

The ship was beautiful, but I think I prefer the Navigator of the Seas a little better as I missed the prominade and the 3 story dining room from the NOS. We had an interior stateroom, which was fine. I have heard comments on this board that this ship has more sea views and more glass than the Voyager Class ships, but I did not get that feel at all. It certainly was a beautiful ship. Service was great throughout the ship.

Embarkation and Debarkation

We arrived at the port at 2:30 and there was no line at all. We were on the ship in less than 5 minutes. This was a dream as it took over an hour to get on the ship during our last 2 cruises from Miami.

Debarkation was also very easy. They called the first people at about 8:00 am. We were the last group off the ship and we were off at 10:10 am.

Taxi rates were approximately $20 from airport to/from Old San Juan and $10 from Old San Juan to/from the ship.

Food

All of the food in the main dining room was excellent, and much better than the food on the Navagator of the Seas last year. The service in the dining room was the best we have ever had on a ship. Not only was our waiter and assistant excellent, but this is the first time I have actually thought the head waiter really deserved a tip. Our head waiter came by everyday and asked everyone individually how everything was, he came by to shell shrimp and lobster on days where they were served, he brought the head chef to our table and asked for suggestions. My wife told the chef that she would like to see more Indian dishes on the menu and another lady at out table agreed - so the next day a special curry dish was brought to our table. On another day, someone at our table had a special order for escargot, so the whole table had escargot the next day. Now that's service! On one evening when my wife had a spa appointment the waiter served her quicker than usual so she could make it. One one evening when my wife did not come to dinner the waiter insisted that I take a meal back even though I knew she would have already eaten.

Windjammer food was also very good. The meal I had at the Seaview Cafe was ok (nothing special).

We had a full room service breakfast on one morning and it was very good. In fact, we ordered coffee and juice to be delivered to our room at a specific time the next morning everyday and it was always there exactly on time (with a phone call 5 minutes before letting us know that it was on its way). My wife ordered a turkey sandwhich from room service one day and she said that the bread was so hard you could break a tooth on it so on following orders she asked for it on soft rolls and it was fine after that.

Entertainment

The headline entertainers were Bobby Arvon (The guy who sang the Happy Days theme) and Nelson. I saw both of them previously so I didn't see either during this cruise. I also did not go to either production show since I usually do not care for them, but I heard great things about the first one in particular. I saw the magic show by Drew Thomas, which was ok. I also saw the comedian Tim Jones during the welcome aboard show and he was ok.

The Caribbean Band was very good and there was actually a real rock band on the ship (playing Styx, The Rolling Stones, etc) which is something I have been waiting for. Bravo to RCCL for getting with the times!

The Ports

St. Thomas/St. John

Im St. Thomas I arranged a morning scuba dive with the Coki Beach Dive Club. They picked me up at 8:30 at the dock and I was diving by 9:00. They said that this was only the 3rd day in the past 3 weeks that they have been able to dive. The dive was ok, considering the conditions with about 35-feet of viz. Following the dive I took a quick look at Coral World and then took a taxi to Red Hook for the noon ferry to St. John. I had lunch at JJ's Texas Cafe in Cruz Bay. I had the grouper sandwhich, which was good but the service took too long to recommend the place. I then took a taxi to Trunk Bay. The conditions at Trunk Bay were not good for snorrrrrkeling so I just hung out and enjoyed the beach.

St. Maartin

Woke up to heavy rain. I signed up for the America's Cup excursion and my wife was signed up for snorkeling. My wife's excursion was cancelled due to the weather and mine was delayed or cancelled. I went ahead and cancelled my excursion so I could spend the morning with my wife and we went into town. We walked around Philipsburg and collected shells at the beach. WE then went back to the ship for lunch. My wife wasn't feeling well (she caught a cold but thought it was allergies at the time) so she stayed on the ship in the afternoon. I took a taxi to Orient Bay for the afternoon for a look around. Orient Beach was nice and is full of activities (jet skies, kite surfing, etc). There is some nudity on the beach (about 5% of the people and about 90% of those are men) so be aware of that if that bothers you.

Antigua

I arranged a tour with Lawrence of Antigua. My wife was not feeling well so she stayed on the ship all day. I met Lawrence where he told us to meet. We waited 20 minutes for a group to show up (they never actually did show up). I was in Lawrence's second group with a guide named Christopher. Christopher was an excellend guide. We went to the Dow Hill Interpretive Center, Shirley Heights and Nelson's Dockyard. The prive of the tour was $25 plus $5 for admission to the National Park. He also charges an additional $10 if you would like to be dropped off at a beach and picked up again at a later time after the tour. I tripped in Shirley Heights and scrapped up my leg and hand. I also put a couple scratches in my camera, which jammed into my rib. The locals came over quickly with ice to help me out which was nice. No major damage done.

My biggest problem with the Lawrence of Antigua tour was that when I made reservations I specificly asked him of we could visit Devil's Bridge and Long Bay Beach (instead of Turner Beach where he usually goes). He said yes that we would go to Devil's Bridge and Long Bay Beach after the National Park. Well, we didn't - we ended up going to Turner Beach. To make matters worse, only 1 person ended up staying at the beach.

After getting back to St. John's I walked around tooking for cold medicine for my wife. I also made a visit to the Cathedral before heading back to the ship.

Barbados

In Barbados, my wife and I took the Best of Barbados Tour with Glory Tours. We were picked up and taken to Harrison's Cave (very nice), to a spot with a nice view of the island, to Bathsheba and the scenic east coast (several stops for photos) and the Barbados Wildlife Preserve. All of this was very nice. There was a lunch included (I had the fish, which was very good). We then went to Holetown to go snorkeling at a shipwreck and with turtles. The boat we were taking left from a beach - not a dock. There was quite a bit of surf and it was a bit difficult to board the boats. When I boarded a large wave hit the boat and the 5-gallon spare gas tank for the boat flew across the boat and but a gash in my foot. At this point, a cold hard rain started as we left for our snorkeling. We stopped at the shipwreck, which you could see though the glass bottom, but we did not have time to snorkel. We then traveled a long way to the location with the turtles. When we got there, masks were provided (but no fins). The water was very warm here (great after the cold rain). We did see several turtles and this was a very nice (although very short) snorkel. We then headed back to the beach. The guide did point out celebrity houses as we passed. We got back to the ship about 30 minutes before the all aboard time. Overall, this was a nice tour - but I think that the snorkeling portion could have been run better (no fins provided and more importanty securing the gas can. This tour was $85 per person.

St. Lucia

We booked a tour with Cosol. We ere in his second van driven by his brother Yellow Bird. This was an excellent tour and Yellow Bird was an excellent guide. We started by going to an overlook where you got a great view of Castries and the ship, then we went to a banana plantation, then to some locations where you could get nice views of some fishing villages. A couple stops were made to same local breads and fruit. We then stopped for views of the Pitons and continued to the Drive In Volcano, where there was a tour. We then went to a botanical garden with a small waterfall and made a couple stops to view Marigot Bay and a natural bridge. We then had a choice to go to either a nice sand beach or to a good snorkeling location. We went to Rodney Bay and stayed for as long as we wanted before being returned to the ship. This was a very nice tour and a great value at $35 per person with all admission prices included.

When the ship left port the captain then sailed out very close to the Pitons and he turned the ship around a full 360 degrees to everyone would get a great view of the Pitons. This was really great and a real highlight of the cruise. This was also the one time when I appreciated having late dinner seating so I could fully njoy this, especially since this was formal night.

At Sea Day

During the at sea day the captain sailed very close to several islands and explained unique features and history of the islands. The islands past where Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts and Saba. There was a medical emergency off St. Kitts, so the ship stopped for about an hour while the St. Kitts coast guard evacuated a passanger from the ship. By the way, the captain also sailed the ship along the opposite side of Montserrat around sunset the day we left Antigua. I really appreciate the way the captain went out of his way so we could enjoy sailing so close to these islands.

So, you made it through this whole review. I have posted photos from this trip on my travel photo website located at http://www.pbase.com/2112

The photos are in the Caribbean section and there are galleries for each port was well as for Montserrat and one for misc ship photos.

thanks so much for your review. love reading reviews if ships we are booked on picutres fabulous

Thanks so much for the review - I'm counting down the days to April 16th when I cruise on The Serenade!

Thanks, I will be on that ship soon ( see countdown below) and now I am getting excited. I have done the Radiance and loved her, so I knew the Serenade would be also good. I Also was on the AOS and loved that class... hey I love them all!:D

Thanks for the review. I enjoy it when those who have gleaned so much from this site give back with comprehensive reviews. I will certainly try to do the same after our trip on Serenade in 2 weeks.