Serenade of the Seas B2B June 20-July 4: My Diary

[maxs mom]

On June 23, 1985 my husband and I set foot on our first Royal Caribbean cruise. We were on our honeymoon and had never cruised before. We sailed on the Song of America and we were hooked. We've cruised with RCI for 25 years, and what should we do for our 25th anniversary? Cruise with Royal Caribbean, of course. We decided to do our first back to back on the Serenade of the Seas. And I'm sure glad we did!

We've cruised from San Juan many times, so this was nothing new. We flew to SJ a day ahead and stayed at the Caribe Hilton. We met up with some fellow CC'ers for dinner at Senor Frogs and had a nice evening getting to know some of our fellow cruisers.

After breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning, we taxi over to the port with a swing by Walgreen's.....we always forget something! Our taxi broke down there so we had to get a replacement, but we were soon on our way to the ship! This was around 11:00-11:30. There was only a short line waiting to get in. We breeze through security, find the D+ counter, get our sea pass cards and we're onthe ship by noon.

 

Yay!!! We weren't ready to eat yet and we couldn't get into the cabin until 1:00, so we settled in beside Lattetudes on Deck five to wait.

During this time....I hoofed it up to Chops to get dinner reservations for our anniversary. I couldn't find anybody, so I ventured over to Portofino and was lucky enough to find THE Maitre D! He was more than happy to make reservations for me and made sure that we would get a special cake for the occassion. We had a nice conversation. This little meeting turned out to be quite significant. I'll explain later.

After securing that important reservation, I went down to deck 4 to check out our dining room table. It was table 443 on the main floor right beside the Captain's table.....a table for 6. I was pleased. While there, I ran into the Maitre D again and he acted like we were old friends and introduced me to the Food and Beverage manager. We, again, had a wonderful converstaion. Our table is just to the left of the Captain's table (the big one in the middle).

 

By this time.....we were able to go to our cabin. We had an E1.....cabin 8076 on the port side, not far from the Centrum. We usually like to get cabins on the hump, but since we were doing a back to back and wanted the same cabin for both weeks, we had to take this one. We prefer to be near the centrum because my husband (John) can not walk long distances. The last three cruises we were in a suite, so the smallness of this cabin was a little bit of a shock.....but we managed quite well....and the price was right!

 

 

The balcony was also a bit small......but again.....it was fine.

 

After checking out the cabin.....we head for the Windjammer for lunch. Food was very good. I ususally have a good salad for lunch with whatever is on the carving station for a little protein. Can't go wrong with that!

While we were eating lunch.....our luggage arrived! How perfect! It took me an hour to unpack!! Well......when you bring half your house and 14 pairs of shoes......what do you expect!!??

We were to have a pre M&M at the Sky Bar at 4:00, so I rested up a little bit before that.

[yogimax]

Nice review!

 

14 pairs of shoes?

[maxs mom]

At 4 o'clock I put on my mardi gras beads and head to the Sky Bar for the pre M&M. It was pouring down rain by this time, but fortunately we had a back up plan. We met in the Schooner Bar instead. By the time I got there, there was already a good gathering. I ordered my first mojito of the vacation and proceeded to chat with my fellow Roll Call Buddies. It was a nice turn out!

 

[mikensuenfl]

wow, a lot in common with you. our 1st cruise was the song of america for our 25 anniversary..we will be on the majesty for our 44th in august.. back to the serenade.we sailed on her this past may..this was our second time on the serenade.. we are very good friends with the maitre"de pramod.. super nice man.. we had a great time,in fact we have rebooked for next may.. we had fantastic service and had dinner with capt karin..it sounds like you may have had dinner with her also.hope so,hope you post more.. mike

[maxs mom]

We are Diamond Plus C&A members, so we are still allowed to use the Concierge Lounge. This is a very important perk for us and we are glad that we still have it. Since muster was at 8 o'clock tonight, we wanted to go to the CL a little early. There we met Francois Roux, the Concierge. Francois is a great Concierge.....he always greeted us by name and with a smile. We had lots of good chats with him all through the two weeks we were on board.

 

Here we also met Fe.....the bartender in the CL. She certainly did take care of us. She always knew what we wanted and never let our glasses be empty!

 

The CL closed early tonight, so we went from there directly to the Muster Drill. No life jackets.....yay! We had to stand a good while......maybe about 20 minutes. We decided that we wouldn't go down quite as early the next week.

Soon it was time for dinner......8:45 on this first night (8:30 the rest of the week). Time to meet the tablemates! In all our years of cruising, we have been extremely lucky with our tablemates and this cruise was no exception. At table 443 we met two other couples......Ashley and Ken from Virginia, both nurses.

 

And Sharon and Fred from Philadelphia. Sharon is also a nurse and Fred a paramedic.

 

We had a great week at our table. Good converstaion and a fun time!

 

Our waiter was Vipin and our Asst. waiter was Hungria and they were great. We had different servers the next week, but the two of them went out of their way to speak to us the next week like we were family!

In one of my earlier converstaions with the Maitre D, I asked about getting low sodium meals. He said that would not be a problem. So that first night, our Head Waiter came over and let us choose our meal for the next night. We did this every night and I am so glad we did. The food that we were served was wonderful. It tasted so much better withoout all that salt.

[maxs mom]

Nice review!

 

14 pairs of shoes?

 

 

A girl's gotta have shoes to match ALL her outfits!!!!!

[maxs mom]

wow, a lot in common with you. our 1st cruise was the song of america for our 25 anniversary..we will be on the majesty for our 44th in august.. back to the serenade.we sailed on her this past may..this was our second time on the serenade.. we are very good friends with the maitre"de pramod.. super nice man.. we had a great time,in fact we have rebooked for next may.. we had fantastic service and had dinner with capt karin..it sounds like you may have had dinner with her also.hope so,hope you post more.. mike

 

Mike.....we certainly do have a lot in common! Isn't Pramod just the best!!?? I have more to tell. Stay tuned!

[drarill]

We are Diamond Plus C&A members' date=' so we are still allowed to use the Concierge Lounge. This is a very important perk for us and we are glad that we still have it. Since muster was at 8 o'clock tonight, we wanted to go to the CL a little early. There we met Francois Roux, the Concierge. Francois is a great Concierge.....he always greeted us by name and with a smile. We had lots of good chats with him all through the two weeks we were on board.[/size']

 

 

Here we also met Fe.....the bartender in the CL. She certainly did take care of us. She always knew what we wanted and never let our glasses be empty!

 

 

The CL closed early tonight, so we went from there directly to the Muster Drill. No life jackets.....yay! We had to stand a good while......maybe about 20 minutes. We decided that we wouldn't go down quite as early the next week.

 

Soon it was time for dinner......8:45 on this first night (8:30 the rest of the week). Time to meet the tablemates! In all our years of cruising, we have been extremely lucky with our tablemates and this cruise was no exception. At table 443 we met two other couples......Ashley and Ken from Virginia, both nurses.

 

 

And Sharon and Fred from Philadelphia. Sharon is also a nurse and Fred a paramedic.

 

 

We had a great week at our table. Good converstaion and a fun time!

 

 

Our waiter was Vipin and our Asst. waiter was Hungria and they were great. We had different servers the next week, but the two of them went out of their way to speak to us the next week like we were family!

 

In one of my earlier converstaions with the Maitre D, I asked about getting low sodium meals. He said that would not be a problem. So that first night, our Head Waiter came over and let us choose our meal for the next night. We did this every night and I am so glad we did. The food that we were served was wonderful. It tasted so much better withoout all that salt.

Didn't know that Francois was on the Serenade. He is the best!!!

[drarill]

Nice review!

 

14 pairs of shoes?

Nothing wrong with 14 pairs of shoes, it is good to know that I'm not the only one that travels with more than two pairs of shoes:D

[maxs mom]

We hardly ever go to the Welcome Aboard shows any more (or any of the shows for that matter) but tonight we decided to go. There we met Simeon Baker, our cruise director. He was very good. There was the same old info at this show, but the entertainment was a comedian....and I'm sorry.....I don't remember his name. Anyway....he was histerical. We were hoping that he would do a late night adult show, but they don't do that on this sailing. He did perform again at the Farewell show.

After the show, we peeked into the casino. This casino did not impress me very much, but we were still able to make donations there!!

We finally made it to bed after this first busy day! Looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow!

[nyer]

How did you like the Caribe Hilton? We will be staying there next Saturday pre-cruise. Sailing on the Serenade for the first time.

[maxs mom]

Monday~June 21st~At Sea

I love sea days! We were up early. I go to the CL every morning for coffee while John gets ready. Francois was always there and we usually had a little chat.

We went down to Deck 4 to the special dining room that they have set aside for Diamond and Diamond Plus C&A members. Now not many people know about this or they are not taking advantage of this on this ship. Only us and a couple of families used this all week. It is wonderful. We get special attention, fabulous service, and great food here. We had the same waiters all week.....Jeong from Korea, and Johnson from India. I can't say enough about these two guys. We looked forward to breakfast with them every day!

 

Ever since RCI introduced this concept.....we haven't been back to the Windjammer for breakfast and we don't miss it at all!!

After breakfast I went back to the cabin to get dressed for some time in the Solarium. There was a knock on the door and someone was there with some mail. It was an invitation to eat dinner that night with the Captain! How exciting! I figured that the Maitre D, Promod, had something to do with that. In 25 years, we've been invited to eat with the captain two other times......and all of these times have been very special! Good thing I brought enough shoes to pick from!

So I go off to the Solarium to read for a while and just relax. I finally found a lounger and settled in. It is air conditioned in there and so quiet with birds singing....just very relaxing. I loaded my Kindle with several books and looked forward to doing a lot of reading on the trip.

 

 

 

 

I stayed here for a couple of hours. Then I met John for lunch. Today we went to the Seaview Cafe up on Deck 12 behind the Children's pool area. I got a Caesar salad with grilled grouper and John got some Wings and Onion Rings. It was very good and there was no one in there but us!!! This was the only time we were able to eat here. Some of our buddies ate here in the next week and their meal was not very good. I'm glad we hit it on a good day!!

[maxs mom]

How did you like the Caribe Hilton? We will be staying there next Saturday pre-cruise. Sailing on the Serenade for the first time.

 

The Caribe Hilton is a nice property. We have stayed here before. It's fairly pricey if you don't get it on Hotwire of Priceline or something. Food is also very expensive here. The best place that we found to eat there was the Pina Colada Club right at the base of the Tower group of rooms. There is also a Subway across the street. We stayed there pre and post cruise.

[maxs mom]

Sea Day, con't......

After lunch I had some more pool time, then every afternoon.....NAP TIME!!! Very important!

So tonight is Formal night. We get all dressed up and spend the cocktail hour in the CL with Francois and Fe! We prefer, these days, to hang out here rather than go to the Captain's Cocktail Party, or Repeat Cruiser Parties. We meet such fun and well traveled people in the CL. We have such a good time there in a more intimate atmosphere.

We were to meet Captian Karin (the first female captain) and the Maitre D in the Champagne Bar at 8:25. We saw some other couples there and figured that they were our dinner companions. Nice group of folks. Here I am ready to go:

We make a grand entrance into the dining room down the stairs. I was hoping not to trip and fall! First a picture was made and then we were seated for dinner. John got to sit right by Captain Karin and I sat next to him.

Captain Karin was very personable and we had great conversation all through dinner. The dinner was out of this world. The menu was slightly different from the MDR menu. I had stuffed sole with spinach and a lobster mousse that was to die for! I have never had a better meal on a RCI ship. Lots a wine!!! Afterwards we made more donations in the casino. No smoking in there on formal nights!

[maxs mom]

Oh.....how could I forget......that afternoon at 5:30 we had our Meet and Mingle! It was very well attended. Simeon, the Cruise Director came and raffled off some nice prizes. I won a bottle of Champagne. There were some very nice snacks. We had a great time. It was so nice to see all these folks throughout the week. Be sure and register for your Meet and Mingles......it is well worth your time. And if you register......Please go if at all possible. Here are some pictures from this M&M:

[maxs mom]

Tuesday, June 22nd.....Our 25th Anniversary! Barbados

Here is the beautiful Serenade of the Seas docked in Barbados. We were the only ship in port. When we were here in December, there were 5 other ships in port.

After having great service for breakfast, we get ready to head out to one of our favorite beaches in Barbados. There are several good ones. We no longer go on tours on the islands......we just head to our favorite beaches, relax, read, and enjoy a few adult beverages. Today we head to Accra Beach.....to be more specific.....Bar Ke'nai at the far end of Accra. We get in the taxi and wait for others to come to fill it up. John always wears his North Carolina Tar Heel hat and t-shirt to the beach. On the ride to the beach, a young couple who just happened to be in this taxi looked at us and asked, "Are you Max's Mom?" They were on our roll call, but didn't make it to the M&M, so we hadn't met them yet. Of all the taxis to get on, they get on ours! So we went out to the beach together. They like to do the same thing that we do.....just go to nice, quiet beaches. We hooked up a couple more times on other islands as well. Turns out, we had a lot of things in common. They only live about 45 minutes from us. Too bad they are NC State fans!

So we get out to Accra and go through the bar. We rented two chairs and an umbrella for $15. This cost was absorbed at the bar because the first $15 that you spend there is free. This is the bar:

The beach is lovely here. Very quiet.....hardly anyone there. We drank a few Banks beers and had a good lunch. The food was good and reasonable.

Here are more pictures of the beach:

Our new friends, Ashley and Jason:

[maxs mom]

If you walk down to the other end of Accra Beach you will find a very nice Boardwalk. This goes for a couple of miles and takes you to the Hilton. You can see the Hilton from the ship. Some people like to get a day pass at the Hilton. I understand it is quite nice there. Here is the beginning of the Boardwalk on Accra Beach.

Banks Beer......my favorite beer in Barbados!

Rocks at the end of the beach:

We stayed there about 4 hours. We arranged for the taxi driver to come back for us at a specified time and he was right there! $30.00 round trip for both of us.

There was a steel drum band on the pier welcoming us back to the ship:

We arranged to meet Ashley and Jason again on Thursday when we are in Antigua to go to another great beach. We were back on the ship around 3:00 where we got our daily cone of soft serve ice cream and then headed off for NAP TIME!!!!

[maxs mom]

That evening we had a quick drink in the CL and we actually went to the Repeat Cruisers party. We thought we might have a good chance of having the most cruises on this sailing. It was a nice party. We sat down at a table and were soon joined by another couple. We asked where they were from and they said Durham, NC.....a mere 30 minutes or so from where we live! We enjoyed talking to them. The Captain spoke for a few minutes and then Simeon asked for cruise numbers. Well there was some guy there with 46 cruises. This one was 35 for us......so we lose again! We didn't go to the party the next week, and wouldn't you know.....the high number was 28! Oh well........

Tonight we had reservations at Chops for our Anniversary. We went straight there from the RCP and our table was waiting for us. We had a great meal with great service. John gave me a beautiful Diamond Anniversary Ring. It was a little too big and fell off in the salad! At the end of the meal they brought us a cute little cake and sang. Then I ordered my favorite......Mud Pie. I was in heaven!

Here is the Anniversary couple:

This is me getting the ring:

Here is our cute little cake:

And that fabulous Mud Pie:

Here is a view of the centrum area that we passed on the way to the casino:

This was a great day!!

[maxs mom]

Wednesday ~ June 23rd ~ St. Lucia

Got up early in hopes of getting to see The Pitons on the way in to St. Lucia. Unfortunately it was too foggy to see anything....and it was pouring down rain. I went back to bed. We had planned to go to a little AI resort that we like here, but decided not to get off the ship since it was raining. Disappointing, but we needed to rest. I headed off for some more Solarium time. It was funny.....I was reading in there and when I looked up almost every person in there was asleep! I soon joined them!

Had lunch in the Windjammer, then I went out to the little shops at the pier and walked around for a while. After that I went back to the cabin to read some more and nap some more!

We enjoyed some time in the CL where we met a really neat family from Wisconsin. Seven brothers and sisters from 45 and up. Their parents passed away at an early age and they all try to vacation together when they can. They were a lot of fun.

Well.....we finally make it back to our regular table in the MDR and enjoyed being with our tablemates tonight. After dinner we went to the Love and Marriage Game Show. That's always a good time. They gave really nice prizes on this sailing.

On to bed after the show. It was around midnight.

 

Ooops! Something happened with that picture. Let me try again:

 

Edited July 10, 2010 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ June 24th ~ Antigua

Up early. Breakfast in the D/D+ dining room.....all by ourselves! The weather was very overcast, but that didn't stop us from heading out to the beach today. We had arranged to meet Ashley and Jason to go to a beach that I have been trying to get to for a while......Valley Church Beach. Antigua has many wonderful beaches, but I heard some really nice things about this one and wanted to check it out. We shared a taxi with Ashley and Jason. There were only a handful of people there when we arrived. We got a couple of chairs....we didn't need an umbrella because there was plenty of natural shade. This place was great! Very relaxing. We tried the local beer, but didn't care for it too much and ended up getting a bucket of Red Stripe for $15. Good deal. The beach bar there is called The Nest and is owned by Elvis. We had lunch there......good and reasonable. Here are some pictures of Valley Church Beach:

[The Big Booper]

So far, loving the pictorial review.

 

The Caribe Hilton is our favorite in Puerto Rico. We first stayed there in pre-historic times in 1971, back when it looked like a colonial hotel - lobby open to the outside with no air, big lazy fans everywhere in the lobby cooling it down, wicker furniture and those nice waterfall gardens outside the main entrance, back when the towers were new. Somewhere we have slides.......

 

I'm guessing you write the review as the trip goes on, in a WP program, and cut and paste into CC? Or do it live on CC?

 

In any case, a large amount of work to synch the text with the pictures.

[The Big Booper]

Thursday ~ June 24th ~ Antigua

 

Up early. Breakfast in the D/D+ dining room.....all by ourselves! The weather was very overcast' date=' but that didn't stop us from heading out to the beach today. We had arranged to meet Ashley and Jason to go to a beach that I have been trying to get to for a while......Valley Church Beach[b']...>>SNIP<<...[/b]

 

Paying attention to your beach recommendations.

 

But where is the picture of the lovely Ashley ????

[maxs mom]

A few more pictures from Valley Church:

We had a great day here. The taxi driver came back for us at a specified time. We'll be back in Antigua in December and will definitely come back here with more of our cruise buddies! I may even have to try out the jet skis then!

[JenAndDan]

Loving your review so far!

[maxs mom]

So far, loving the pictorial review.

 

The Caribe Hilton is our favorite in Puerto Rico. We first stayed there in pre-historic times in 1971, back when it looked like a colonial hotel - lobby open to the outside with no air, big lazy fans everywhere in the lobby cooling it down, wicker furniture and those nice waterfall gardens outside the main entrance, back when the towers were new. Somewhere we have slides.......

 

I'm guessing you write the review as the trip goes on, in a WP program, and cut and paste into CC? Or do it live on CC?

 

In any case, a large amount of work to synch the text with the pictures.

 

Hey, Dave! No.....I'm just writing it live on CC and then synching the pictures as I go. I'm getting pretty weary tonight, though and will have to stop for this evening. I'll do some more tomorrow.

Check back in, everybody!