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

[DramaBB82]

Wow. This is the best review I've ever read on here- and even better because it's my dear Serenade. I just love Simeon *sigh* But he's leaving the Serenade this month and after that there's no way to tell where he'll be, so I don't know if I'll ever get to sail with him again :( My second favorite CD Teamer was Omar. I think he'll be on there a while. Hopefully I'll get to cruise with him again at least!

 

I am DYING for the rest of your review because the Curacao itinerary is the one I cruised over Memorial Day! :)

[Coralc]

Wow. This is the best review I've ever read on here- and even better because it's my dear Serenade. I just love Simeon *sigh* But he's leaving the Serenade this month and after that there's no way to tell where he'll be, so I don't know if I'll ever get to sail with him again :( My second favorite CD Teamer was Omar. I think he'll be on there a while. Hopefully I'll get to cruise with him again at least!

 

I am DYING for the rest of your review because the Curacao itinerary is the one I cruised over Memorial Day! :)

 

Oh bummer. We really like Simeon... we were hoping that he would be the CD on on our cruise in May. :(

[mikensuenfl]

Jane,keep it going,don't stop.enjoying your review..karen,we love to snorkel we have our own equipment so we always do our own thing.. Did some research on st croix.. We signed up with cane bay dive.. No problem with the company. They taxi you to the beach...you snorkel from the beach.. However,when we got in the water we saw almost no coral and very ,very, few fish.. The beach was also nothing special..bottom line, for us ,it was a wasted day .we would not go back to cane bay.. Of course ,thats just our opinion..however ,after 60 cruises with rc,and a lot of snorkeling days ,this was a big disappointment.. Mike

[maxs mom]

Wednesday ~ Aruba

OK........If you love beautiful beaches then stay tuned. You are about to see pictures of the best!!!

It's a beautiful day. We have breakfast, then met Kathy, Mark, Frank, and Anna and taxi over to Eagle Beach. There is a law in Aruba that says there can only be 5 in a taxi so we had to split up. Boys went in one and girls went in another. It was $13 per cab. I wanted to show our new friends one of my favorite beaches ever! The taxi driver dropped us off at the Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort. We walk across the street to their beach bar called Passions. It's 10'oclock and they are just opening up for the day.

We each stake out our territory and settle in. John and I.....of course.....under a palapa, but the other hearty soles sit out in the burning sun!

I found Andre, the beach boy, and he said that we could, indeed, use the beach chairs for $6 each. He then gave each of us a red flag to attach to our chairs, and any time we needed anything.....just raise the flag. Well....all right!!!! We proceeded to order three buckets of beer! This is the bad part.....beer here is pretty expensive. $5.50 each. But after a drinking a bucket....who cares!!?

Cruise Critic Buddies enjoying a brew:

There was hardly anybody here. We were definitely the only cruise people here!

For the life of me......I don't understand why everybody flocks over to Palm Beach with all the crowds, gas fumes, and noise! I'd better be careful......I don't want too many people to find out about this piece of paradise. Then it might get too crowded!

Edited July 11, 2010 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

We spent about 5 hours here and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Andre brought us a menu and we ordered lunch and he brought it right to our chairs. The food was very good and very reasonable. That made up for the $$$ beer! Frank and Anna went on a long walk down the beach, Mark finally moved to the shade, and we all enjoyed the beautiful bright blue water. Just a perfect beach day......the best of the cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Just a couple more pictures:

At the end of our beach day, we packed up, rinsed off, and flagged down a taxi. That 5 person rule was a drag. The taxi driver that stopped for us said for us all to get in anyway! He dropped some of us out before the ship to shop and the rest of us went on back to the ship. He was a funny taxi driver and got a good tip!

Here are the boys ready to leave the beach:

[maxs mom]

So we're back on the ship and go through our regular afternoon routine.

We meet up with our friends at the CL in the evening.

Dinner was in the MDR.....I think it was Caribbean night......probably a good night to hit Chops or Portofino.....not the best in the MDR.

The Love and Marriage Game Show was tonight and it was a bit better than last week. The couples were not as rehearsed as last week. Still the nice prizes were given out again.

Oh.....there was a really nice sunset tonight.

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ Ahhhhhhh ~ A Sea Day!

With such a port intesive itinerary for two weeks.....this sea day is most welcomed!

We sent out our free laundry bag again today....this time....no charge! We had a wonderful breakfast with Kathy and Mark and then we had a great idea. We had Johnson bring up 4 big glasses of orange juice to go....no problem. We get our Champagne that I won last week at the M&M and go to Mark and Kathy's Junior Suite for a Mimosa Party! Woo Hoo!

Great fun!!! But after all those mimosas, I needed a pre lunch nap!!! After lunch in the WJ I went to the CL to have some coffee and read for a while.

Edited July 11, 2010 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Here are some beautiful views from the CL......so peaceful in there in the afternoon.

Back to the cabin for a shower and to read on the balcony for a while. Very nice on the balcony today. Not quite so humid.

(Do you like that foot shot, Franca!?)

[nik1009]

On your first week do you remember what port and day Caribbean night was? Thank You

[mrsfecura]

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!

 

I love your review and I love this pic-it reminds me of something silly I'd take! We are doing 1 week on the serenade on 9/12/10, how I'd love to do 2!! :)

Edited July 11, 2010 by nu_orleansgirl

[mrsfecura]

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/jhwhite1030/Serenade%20Back%20to%20Back/306.jpg

 

This photo makes me feel like I'm on the ship, looking out over the balcony!!! 63 days!

[booze brothers]

Fantastic review !!!!!!

[DramaBB82]

Ohhhhh yesssss! Aruba was my favorite favorite FAVORITE place- but we didn't even hit the beach! We went on the Pirate Snorkeling Tour and it was AMAHZING! :D

[aggie1]

Max'sMom - Loving your review of our favorite ship. We will be on the Serenade 10/3 &10/10 doing a B2B. I was interested in your comments about turn a round day. We may be the only ones on board also. I do want to go into OSJ and do some shopping at my favorite coach outlet. Do you know if they have a D lounge? We are lowly D, not D+ yet. What did you do in Dominica? Looking forward to the rest of it. Our first week is the one you are doing now.

[maxs mom]

On your first week do you remember what port and day Caribbean night was? Thank You

 

Wow!! Thank you all for the nice comments!

Caribbean Night on our first week was on Wednesday ~ St. Lucia day.

They now give you these really nice Planners when you first get on board. It's a page of the whole week at a glance and the highlights of each day, what to wear, etc. I am trying to scan it now to see if it will post. If it does OK, I will post both weeks.

[cctimmom]

They now give you these really nice Planners when you first get on board. It's a page of the whole week at a glance and the highlights of each day' date=' what to wear, etc. I am trying to scan it now to see if it will post. If it does OK, I will post both weeks.[/size']

 

 

That's COOL! (selfishly hope you get upload it... :p)

[maxs mom]

Max'sMom - Loving your review of our favorite ship. We will be on the Serenade 10/3 &10/10 doing a B2B. I was interested in your comments about turn a round day. We may be the only ones on board also. I do want to go into OSJ and do some shopping at my favorite coach outlet. Do you know if they have a D lounge? We are lowly D, not D+ yet. What did you do in Dominica? Looking forward to the rest of it. Our first week is the one you are doing now.

 

Even if you are the only ones doing a B2B on your week, they will still treat you quite well! You do realize that the ship does not dock in OSJ. You will have to take a taxi there, but it's not too far. We just enjoyed staying on board that day so much. Be sure and stay on board long enough to have your special lunch....then go out. You will get a little green "in transit" card so that you don't have to go through customs or anything when you get off.

They do have a Diamond Lounge on board. It is in the Vortex Lounge (or Viking Crown). We never did check that out.

Dominica is up next.....FABULOUS!!!

We have some cruise buddies that will be on board with you on the 10/10 leg. I have been trying to encourage them to come on to Cruise Critic. I don't know if they have or not. I'll keep trying. I will be sending them this link. maybe that will inspire them to find your roll call!

[maxs mom]

Thursday night after the sea day, we had our usual gathering in the CL. Sometimes there was another bartender there while Fe went to eat dinner. His name was Samuel. Very quiet guy, but so nice. Every now and then Kathy and Mark would order Dirty Martinis. Well, Samuel didn't know how to make those, so they taught him how. He was so proud that he could get it right after that and they enjoyed them!

Here's sweet Samuel:

And here are those first Dirty Martinis that he made:

And here are Kathy and Mark enjoying those Dirty Martinis:

No Dirty Martinis for us!!!!

[maxs mom]

Here is The Planner from Week One. Not sure if you'll be able to see it, though. I'll give it a try.

 

 

Oh Fudge! That didn't work too well. Oh well.....You can get the idea of what they give you. It's neat. Don't throw it away because it really comes in handy!

Edited July 11, 2010 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

The dining room was kinda fun this night. The waiters did their parade thing. I don't usually care for all that stuff in the dining room, but I had a special visit from Jeong and Johnson!!

It was 70's Night and it was just as much fun this week as it was last week. Love the parties in the Centrum!

This is Kathy and Mark enjoying the 70's Party:

[maxs mom]

Friday ~ Dominica ~ Formal Night

Well......here we are in beautiful and lush Dominica! This was the view that awaited us when we opened the curtains this morning:

We didn't have any plans for Dominica. We thought we would just grab a taxi and have a go at this on our own. We were here in December and booked Captain Jerry from Island Style Fishing to do some whale watching and it was absolutely fabulous. But the whales weren't around this time of year, so we needed to do something else.

I've heard some fellow cruisers make comments like, "Why did we stop here", or "This place is terrible....we got off and then got right back on!". O M G!!!!! Dominica is a rainforest. It is pretty much unspoiled and just a wonderful island to explore!

Mark and Kathy were with us today and when we got to the end of the pier, we questioned some taxi drivers and asked about taking us to some of the highlights in Dominica. We were able to arrange a tour with Miss Julia for $25 pp and this turned out to be just what we wanted.

We drove up into the rainforest and our first stop was Trafalgar Falls. We had to pay the $5 entrance fee and there was a little 10 minute hike through the rainforest to get to the falls. It was a little strenuous but doable for us. If you wanted you could go down to the base of the falls and crawl on the rocks and swin, etc. We did not do that but a lot of people looked like they were having fun. Here are a few pictures of the falls.

The hike!!

We saw these little land crabs all over the place:

Of course we had to have a little beer break here and try out the local beer ....Wadadli.

[maxs mom]

We got drenched here. Well......it IS a rainforest!

Here are two Cruise Critic buddies enjoying yet another brew!!

Our next stop were the Sulphur Springs.....kinda smelly!!!

Miss Julia drove on through the Rainforest and we saw all kinds of bananas growing everywhere.

There were just beautiful views everywhere we looked!

[maxs mom]

Next up was a drive through the Botanical Gardens.

Here is a school bus that was flattened during a hurricane about 20 years ago.

The beautiful Flamboyant Tree.

Next we stopped at an overlook and had a view of our home.

There was a neat little market here. I bought a magnet of a little land crab with moving legs!

[maxs mom]

Next Miss Julia took us to see one of Dominica's Black Sand Beaches.

Here is Miss Julia in her nice air-conditioned van:

Next, she took us back to the ship. After all.....it was lunch time!