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

[maxs mom]

Franca......Francois must have been having a bad day. He is really a sweetheart. I would love to sail with him again. I love his accent. He called me a "savvy cruiser"!!

[maxs mom]

OK.......so we get back to the ship and were serenaded by another steel drum band. They were good!

We showered quickly and got ready to go meet the Captain for the Bridge Tour. We met a security officer on Deck 10 by the Forward elevators. There was a family of three there as well. We were wanded and then taken on into the bridge. We've been on many bridge tours, but not very many are actually done by the Captain. And this one seemed pretty private since there were only three of us. It was a great tour and we enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately every time I went to take a picture of the Captain, she closed her eyes!! Here are some pictures from the Bridge:

View of the helipad from the Bridge.

Edited July 10, 2010 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

This is the Bridge mascot:

Another view from the Bridge:

Captain Karin is such a wonderful captain. She was highly visible all week. I even saw her dealing at the Blackjack table one night! On the night that we had dinner with her we talked about how much we liked to take naps on the ship and every time she saw us, she mentioned something about naps! It was quite obvious that the crew liked working for her. It showed throughout the ship.

[maxs mom]

Well......It was hard to believe that this was the last day of our first week. It was wonderful not to have to pack up and worry about getting off the ship the next day to go home! I nearly forgot about getting the tips ready and things like that tonight.

We went to the CL before dinner tonight and said good-bye to the folks we met in there during the week. We didn't have to say good-bye to Francois and Fe yet.....thank goodness!

The MDR dinner was quite good tonight. We said good bye to our tablemates. It was great being with them during the week. They were such good company.

Our waiter, Vipin, taught us some table tricks with a glass and a straw.

As I said before, Vipin was not our waiter the second week, but he continued to come and say hello to us whenever he could.

We were asked by our Head Waiter earlier in the week where we would like to sit the next week. We were very happy with our table, so we asked to sit there again. No problem.

After dinner we went down to the photo shop to pick out our two free pictures. Yes!! We get free photos again! We then decided to call it a night early and avoid all the chaos of everyone getting their luggage out in the hallways,etc.

So glad we didn't have to do this!!

We received our new seapass cards in the cabin tonight. All we had to do on Sunday was go down to the gangway on Deck 5 at 10:00 and punch out with our old sea pass cards. Everything was already transferred over to the new cards. We slept well this night knowing that we would have a very good day on Sunday!

Edited July 10, 2010 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Sunday ~ June 27th ~ Back to San Juan

Got up early today because we needed to get to breakfast.....everything closed up at 8:30. The D/D+ dining room was not open today so we decided to go to the Windjammer. Big mistake. I had forgotten what a zoo it is in there! If you are doing a B2B....don't go to the WJ for brekafast on Sunday. Be sure and go to the MDR. We had to go to Guest Services this morning because during the week, we took advantage of the $25 laundry special that they had. D+ gets a coupon to get that for free, but we were charged. Should have been a simple thing to correct, but it took over thirty minutes! The charge was finally taken off.

After that we went to hide in the CL and get away from all the masses trying to get off the ship. It was so quiet in there. I think we may have been the only ones doing a B2B this week.....maybe one other couple, but we never saw them. Usually they have a party for all the B2B'ers on Saturday, but there wasn't one because we were it! Anyway, we sat in the CL for a while until we had to go down and punch out. Time to get some more coffee from that wonderful coffee machine in there!

Love the coffee machine in there!

Here are some pictures of the CL:

[maxs mom]

We went down to Deck 5 at 10:00 to punch out with the old cards. That was all there was to it. We had our new cards so we were good to go. Most everyone was off the ship by now, so we had the place to oursleves. We decided to walk around and take pictures of some areas while no one was there. We walked around on Deck 10 and saw a few of the suites. Very nice.

Here is the Royal Suite:

This is in one of the Grand Suites. One of our CC buddies was in the coveted GS 1600 corner aft on this next week. I will have some pictures of that fabulous suite a little later.

[maxs mom]

Here are some more shots that we made on the "empty ship":

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Soon the new cruisers started getting on the ship!

We were invited to eat lunch in the MDR.....very special indeed, with a special menu and personalized service......just for us! We were the only ones in that huge MDR eating lunch. How cool is that!

We relaxed in our cabin for a while after lunch while the new crowd got on board. At 3:30 we had a pre M&M set up at the Sky Bar. I was looking forward to meeting these folks. I had a good feeling about a couple of the posters. Sometimes you just know that you are going to hit it off......and I was right. I put on my mardi gras beads again and headed up to the Sky Bar. We had a very small roll call group for this week, but I believe just about everyone showed up for the M&M. A few folks came to the Sky Bar. And that's where I met Kathy and Mark from Kentucky and Frank and Anna from Atlanta....and I was right....we indeed hit it off and spent a lot of fun times together during the week. Here is a picture of the Sky Bar meet up:

That's Frank and Anna on the left and Kathy and Mark on the right. Tim and Stephanie, celebrating their first anniversary, are in the middle. We all had a drink and a nice visit.

Went back to the cabin to rest up. We met up with Kathy and Mark in the CL that night. They are also D+ and we were glad to have their company this week. Frank and Anna were in a GS (1600) so they hung out in the CL with us this week, too.

Went to the MDR to meet our new tablemates. A honeymoon couple from NJ and a couple about our age from California, but with roots in NC, so we had something in common with them. We never saw the honeymoon couple again after that night. Guess they didn't feel like hanging out with us old folks! Their loss. Anyway.... Miles and his wife from California stayed with us and we had a nice week with them.

We skipped the Welcome aboard show this week, hit the casino, and went to bed early again.

Edited July 10, 2010 by max'smom

[Coralc]

Jane' date='

 

Thank you for this EXCELLENT review and pictorial! It couldn't be more timely- Diane and I just signed up for a B2B on Serenade for next May! So I am definitely taking notes!!!

 

Keep the info and pictures coming, please!

 

Cheers,

Paul[/quote']

 

Great Review! Thanks for all the beach info and photos! :)

 

Paul, we will be onboard Serenade with you the 2nd week. May 22nd....it will be the first week of OUR B2B! We have a roll call started if you'd like to chime in. :D

[sadie8]

Jane, Absolutely wonderful review. We also fell in love with Jeong and Johnson in the MDR for breakfast. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ Sea Day

Breakfast in the D/D+ dining room with Jeong and Johnson and their great service. We told Kathy and Mark about this and they ended up joining us for breakfast every day this week.

I spent the morning in the Solarium reading and using the pool. I had an easy time getting a lounger and thoroughly enjoyed my time in there. I was really impressed with the deck patrol guys. They were constantly carding kids that looked like they might not be 16, and they watched chairs that stayed empty for too long. I enjoyed a mojito while in the Solarium this morning.

We went to the WJ for lunch.

Got a shower early this afternoon because our M&M was at 4:30 and I didn't want to have to do that afterwards. We went up to the Hollywood Odyssey for the M&M. For such a small roll call, we really had a good turn out. It was so nice meeting everyone. We had a great array of snacks.

Here is our youngest Meet and Mingler:

[maxs mom]

Once again Simeon came and raffled off some prizes. I won a bottle of wine this time! We haven't even drank the champagne from last week yet!

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

More CCer's:

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Jane, Absolutely wonderful review. We also fell in love with Jeong and Johnson in the MDR for breakfast. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

 

Thanks, Janet! The J brothers are quite famous!!

[maxs mom]

Well.....it's formal night tonight. We get all dressed up....again. We meet Kathy and Mark in the CL and have a great time in there.

Went to the MDR for dinner and had a nice time with Miles and Lou.

After dinner we went to the show. It was a ventriloquist.....Jay Johnson from "Soap" fame. Everybody raved about this from last week so we thought we would check it out. Well.....we both nearly fell asleep! Sorry ....we just didn't care for this very much. Since we nearly fell asleep.....we went straight to bed afterwards.

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ Curacao

One of my favorite places in the Caribbean. Looks like great weather today.

We had breakfast with Kathy and Mark, then got ready to take a taxi over to the beach at the Sea Aquarium. We always ask the taxi driver to take us down to the Sea Aquarium end of the beach and walk in that way. In the past we have hung out at the Lion's Dive Hotel and Resort. It's a little quieter here than where the taxi drivers usually take you. We found some loungers under a palm tree and settled in. In the past someone would come around and collect $3 pp to sit there. The attendant came around and we found out that the hotel was now charging $12 per chair now. We were already settled and didn't want to move so we paid the high rent cost. It was worth it to me because it was not crowded here and there was plenty of shade. But our friends, Frank and Anna, were at the beach bar right next to us and only paid $3 per chair. (Yellow Chairs)

Here we are in the high rent district:

We like to drink Amstel Bright here.

[maxs mom]

Here are Frank and Anna in their $3 chairs!

We swam across the lagoon and checked things out over there. Saw some beautiful fish swimming around there. This would be a good place to snorkel a little, I would think.

I really like this little beach.

We got a bucket of beer here for $20 and some hot dogs for lunch at a place nearby. There was one problem here in that there was some construction in the area and there was some noise to deal with. But it really didn't bother us that much. We had a nice day here!

[MikeBayAreaCa]

Love your review. We were on the Serenade last June in Alaska and are planning a B2B next June. After reading your review next year can't get here soon enough. You have also answered many of the questions I have had about a B2B.

 

We have cruised twice, both with RC. Both cruises have been great. We wanted to try one longer than seven days and can't think of a better way than to spend 14 days on the Serenade. Would love to go when the weather is better, but my job makes that difficult. Retirement in several years will make cruising much easier and less expensive. Then we will have the time to cruise when and where we want.

 

We took a GS last year and sort of got spoiled so have already started saving to afford one for two weeks. Loved the room and the huge balcony.

 

Being in Northern California we will have a long flight to San Juan, but at least the return trip home won't be after just seven days.

 

I noticed the CC couple on your second week had room 1600. I am curious about that room. Anyone have an opinion about it. We were in 1550 last year. Quiet and very nice and only steps from the CL lounge, but an aft cabin is something I might like to try.

 

I have a question about the CL lounge. Was is open for drinks every night? Last year in Alaska they did not serve alcoholic drinks in Skagway.

 

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

 

Mike in Northern California.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Rookiedude

[maxs mom]

Curacao is a neat place. We always love a cruise that stops here!

 

 

 

 

[portlandpete]

I love the photo of your toes touchings! You are such a cute couple! Your reveiw is fantastic!

[maxs mom]

I love the photo of your toes touchings! You are such a cute couple! Your reveiw is fantastic!

 

 

Awww.....thanks so much. You're so sweet.

[Ruby71]

I've enjoyed your wonderful review! Thanks for all the work you've put into it. Looking forward to the Serenade next April, thanks for the preview.

Sharon

[khank]

Jane,keep it going.fyi,on st croix we went to cane bay to snorkel..not good at all.would not go back..when we were in st marten we rented a car.. We have done this a couple of times from the same agency.. Works out great.this last trip we went to maho beach,got some great pics and videos of the planes landing and taking off .then we went to gran case for bq lunch.. Paul, when are you going on the serenade next may.. We are booked again may 7th.. Would love to go b2b.. Mike

 

Jane - Love the review! We are on the 9/26 sailing and I'm getting even more excited reading your review and seeing the wonderful pictures! Thank you for taking the time to do this.

 

Mike - We were planning to snorkel at Cane Bay in St. Croix. Do you mind sharing what you did not like about it? I'm really struggling with what to do here.

 

Karen

[maxs mom]

Rookiedude.......I think you would love 1600. It's a long hike back there, but it is a fabulous suite. Much different than the other GS's. The balcony was not huge but it was really nice. Stick around and I'll post pictures a little bit later.

Yes.....the CL served alcohol every night. There is some kind of funky law in Skagway. The last time we were there, we had the most cruises of anyone on the ship. They usually give you a bottle of champagne for that....and all we got was a polite round of applause!

[maxs mom]

I meant to tell you about the new Diamond Plus coupon booklets that we got on our second week. They are nice. You can get two for one in a specialty restaurant on the first night, the $25 bag of laundry (which we took advantage of both weeks), a free photo, free coffee at Lattetudes, buy a glass of wine or beer and get another free, then one with a 25% discount, the same crappy "Spin to Win" coupons, and lots more. Much nicer booklet.