fish6

Quick question....how come I don't see Navigator in port already? Am I missing something?

Great journal so far.....keep it up :D

Terminal 25 is the worst terminal in Port Everglades. Fine for ships from the 1990s but extremely inadequate from Freedom and Liberty class.

Is it worse tham Terminal 29? That is where the Navigator is. We are cruising in March on the Navigator and plan on carrying our luggage off. Do you have to walk as far at Terminal 29?

Thanks,

Donna

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your reviews!! I really enjoyed last years review on the Serenade and I'm sure this one will be even better :) We just came back from the Barbados route on the Serenade...she sure is a beauty. I'm sad to see her leave the Southern route after next year though :(

Thanks again for the review,

Donna

I have seen quite a few reviews of 11729, which is only marginally different and which I have booked for a cruise in June of next year. You may want to do a quick search for that room. There were even some great pictures out on the balcony available.

Thanks !!

Hi there,

 

We just booked B1 balcony 12729 on the Allure. I don't see too much info about this cabin on the boards. I know it is going to be a tight squeeze with the 4 of us but I like the fact that there is a pullman available...that way my son and daughter don't have to complain about sleeping together. :p How are the views for the shows from this aft balcony. I was a little concerned that it may be too high and I think we are located beside the sound area for the shows??

 

Any reviews of this cabin would be greatly appreciated....

 

Donna

Anyone??

Hi there,

We just booked B1 balcony 12729 on the Allure. I don't see too much info about this cabin on the boards. I know it is going to be a tight squeeze with the 4 of us but I like the fact that there is a pullman available...that way my son and daughter don't have to complain about sleeping together. :p How are the views for the shows from this aft balcony. I was a little concerned that it may be too high and I think we are located beside the sound area for the shows??

Any reviews of this cabin would be greatly appreciated....

Donna

It’s been a few weeks since our cruise on my new favorite ship! I know most of you can relate to coming home from vacation and painfully trying to ease back into your daily routine. We cured our post-cruise sadness by planning two more cruises next year, LOL! I know this is late, however I hope this review is helpful to everyone considering or planning to sail on the Serenade.

 

About us: We were a group of 6- Me (Chrystal), my husband Wesley, our married friends Crystal and Osh, my Mother Lillie, and my best friend Janelle. We are all in our 20’s and 30’s, and my Mom is 67 (doesn’t she look fabulous? J). My husband and I sailed with NCL (to Bermuda) for our honeymoon 4 years ago, and also on the Adventure of the Seas last October on the same route. This was everyone else’s first cruise.

 

Friday, August 27: The Serenade sailed on Sunday, August 29th, so we decided to spend two nights in San Juan pre-cruise. We live in NJ, so we took a 9:50 AM flight, from PHL to San Juan. We had a limo service pick us up from our home and take us to the airport. Our limo service (John’s First Class Limos) was great. The driver arrived about 20 minutes early. Hiring a driver saved us lots of $$ and time. Here’s a photo of us in front of the limo. Not bad for 7 in the morning! DH and I are to the far right:

 

 

I love Philadelphia airport first thing in the morning. There are no crowds, it’s always a smooth boarding in the morning. Went through security with no problems. For some reason there were about 4 rows of children with no adults supervising them on the flight…and the children were pretty rowdy….some were climbing over the seats, running up and down the aisles, crying, and screaming. It didn’t seem like they were unaccompanied minors (they didn’t have the US Airways armbands on to identify them as such), but their chaperones were either in first class or near the front of the plane (we were over the wings of the plane)- or completely ignoring them lol. Note to people who travel with several children in tow...PLEASE sit with your children, and please correct them when they are not behaving in public. We could not relax on our 3 hour flight. My Mom and Crystal got to the point where they actually corrected the children when they ran up and down the aisles and climbed over the seats. flight attendants would give them warning glances which were ignored. Crystal and Osh were planning to sleep a bit on the plane, but that wasn’t going to happen!

 

We landed in SJU around 1:30 PM, about 20 minutes early. I like this airport since it’s smaller and very simply laid out. We went right to the baggage claim and had our bags within 15 minutes. Right outside the baggage claim there’s a taxi stand. We walked right up to the stand and let them know how many passengers we had, where we wanted to go, and how many pieces of luggage we had with us. They showed us our price on a sheet of paper we got to keep with us. Here’s a pic of the taxi pricing schedule (hope you can read it):

 

 

We were headed to the Caribe Hilton (Zone 4), so our price was $19+ $1 for each piece of luggage. Not bad at all split among 6 people. I love the taxi service in San Juan since all 6 of us could fit in the van with ALL our luggage. Four of us had 25’ suitcases, and two of us had 29’ cases. Of course, each lady had a carryon, and my husband had a laptop. Miraculously, everyone and everything fit comfortably.

I would say we arrived at the Caribe Hilton within 40 minutes of touching down in San Juan. We got this hotel via Priceline at a rate of $90 per night, per room (3 hotel rooms). I was so excited at this price since hotels in San Juan can run an average of $250 per night! Upon my successful bid, I emailed the hotel manager and requested 3 ocean view rooms in the Hhonors tower, with balconies. I’m a Hilton Hhonors member, and had no problem with them confirming that they would honor my request.

 

I love the open-air lobby of the hotel. It made me feel like we were finally able to start enjoying our tropical vacation. There was a water station that had large pitchers of water with melon. Photos of the open-air lobby and heading to the Hhonors Tower:

 

Can I ask how you managed to successfully get the Caribe Hilton through Priceline...any tricks...I have never used their site before :o

Happy Anniversary Donna! I found this website: http://www.sunrisesunset.com/. Looks like sunset will be around 6:15 or so in September. I would book a 6:30 and get there a couple minutes early. Be sure to head to Chops when you board to confirm your reservation, and ask if it was possible to put a note next to your reservation that you would like a table by the window.

 

~Chrystal

great thanks Chrystal :D

Hi fish6! I don't remember exactly, but I normally book specialty reservations around 7:30.

Thank you for the very quick response. We are going on the Serenade in September (first time on a Radiance class ship) and I would like to book a table by the window in Chops for our anniversary. I was thinking ~7:00 pm would be OK......I was trying to set a time in order to see the sunset??

Thanks again,

Donna

This was also our night for Chops by ourselves. We had a romantic dinner.

Our view from our table:

 

Later in the evening:

 

We had the beefsteak tomato and blue cheese appetizer. So good! I could have had that by itself and been satisfied!

 

 

We both had a filet, with asparagus and sauteed mushrooms on the side. All the sides are served family style, so you can try one another's selections. Delicious! We tried to eat our Mud Pie at the end but had to give up. That dessert is to die for!

 

Can you tell me what time you had reservations at Chops?

we booked 1268 GS for December this year on explorer [sister ship?] and I searched the boards to find one person who stayed in that room before. she said it was very quiet, that's why I took it. she also posted amazing pictures of the room.. overall, big thanks to her. The cabin is under the solarium bar.

 

Out of all our cruises, only one cabin was a huge problem with noise. It was on an NCL ship and we were next to a handicapped room. The layout is different in those rooms on NCL vs regular rooms. We could hear their TV all day and night, it was awful and extremely loud. We complained non-stop without any help whatsoever. I would never EVER book a cabin next to handicapped room again in my life. I generally look for same-type cabins around the room I'm booking, and no connecting doors.

Does 1268 have an updated flat screen TV? Also...does it have the overhang from deck 11 on the balcony or is there more sun? Can you please direct me to those pics of 1268? Thanks;)