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Serenade of the Seas, January 21 - 28, 2012 "Live" from....or "Almost Live"....or ??

Havana Daydreamin

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gato4

gato4

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I'm enjoying your review. Our son and DIL are on the cruise now, and we will be boarding the Serenade on Feb. 4 along with 165 others from our parish.

Thanks for the food and restaurant reviews. We've made no plans for tours, either, but would like to sample local cuisine.

Enjoy!

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Sharon Sails

Sharon Sails

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Hope you have an enjoyable cruise. We just got off the Serenade. We were quite disappointed in the way she is showing her "age" - the Jewel seems to be in much better shape IMHO. While we were disappointed with the ship, we truly enjoyed the ports. You might want to give Barbados a try!:D

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khm1

khm1

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I'm enjoying your review. Our son and DIL are on the cruise now, and we will be boarding the Serenade on Feb. 4 along with 165 others from our parish.

Thanks for the food and restaurant reviews. We've made no plans for tours, either, but would like to sample local cuisine.

Enjoy!

 

Gato4, I will see you on board! I am on the same cruise. I am glad to hear that a church group will be on board. If you like, come visit our roll call.

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Havana Daydreamin

Havana Daydreamin

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We finished the afternoon aboard the Serenade with a hectic schedule of not really doing anything at all! How delightful that was!

 

As it came time for sailaway, we grabbed a couple refreshments to sustain ourselves as we would watch us leave the pier.

 

Of course, a ship's tour was late so we naturally waited for their return which was not long at all. However, anxious and concerned glances down the pier and several conversations on the radios, we knew that there were still others missing! An announcment came over the public address system.

 

Then tiny little specs speeding down the pier came into sight. YES...it was our missing people who boarded to a variety of claps and jeers. I am never sure why people will push it to the very last moment. Fortunately for them, they were not left behind and all was well for the Serenade to be underway.

 

We bid fond farewell to St. George, Grenada with this parting shot until we see you again.

 

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We are very happy to be experiencing My Time Dining. We had our apprehensions, but all seems to be going just fine at this time. It was nice to participate in the departure views without a hurry to be dressed for dinner. A nice leisurely pace of getting ready was followed by a visit to the Vortex (I still call it Viking Crown Lounge) for the Diamond event. We had a couple Cabernet's and then off for dinner at 8 PM.

 

We both ordered the Crusted Tilapia. It was our first time in savoring the Beef and Veal Tortellacci as an appetizer. It was quite pleasant. For me, it was followed by the Jalapeno Potato Soup which was REALLY GOOD! DW says after a week of being home, we are making IT!

 

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We had a triple play on dessert with DW having the BBB and myself with the Mango Parfait and both of us sharing the Choco Chino Trilogy. YUM YUM

 

Followed by an after dinner apertif

 

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Then we enjoyed time on the balcony and got some refreshing sleep.

 

I believe it's time for Piton. NO, not an adult beverage at 5:30 AM, but this.....

 

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I wandered the ship taking a few more shots of St. Lucia that I include here. The sunrise over St. Lucia was tremendous viewed from our balcony. The warmth of the sun is starting to make itself known as it rises higher in the sky.

 

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Soon our First Breakfast of Coffee, Milk, and yogurt will be here to be followed by a visit to the Diamond breakfast for another serving of Salmon Benedict for me, unless the daily special peeks my interest.

 

Thanks for following along and blessings on your day!

 

Til later.......

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Havana Daydreamin

Havana Daydreamin

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We were greeted to Castries, St. Lucia with this sign. We walked to tour a church that we observed but unfortunately, it was closed. However there was an elementary school that had many friendly children who wish us to wave at them continually. Likely, this was not to the pleasure of the instructor.

 

We went back to Point Seraphine shops and were pleased to find free wifi so I can make these posts. I see a request for dessert porn so I will try to get that done before heading back to the Serenade.

 

We enjoyed a sumptuous repast at the Coal Pot restaurant across Ganters Bay. We were welcomed by our server Michael. He expertly answered each question as we perused the chalkboard menu he carried to our table. We had the Callaloo Soup and the St. Lucia Crab Back for appetizer and shared the morning fresh catch of Dorado with three sauces on the side since we could not make up our mind....creole, coconut curry and ginger. We extremely enjoyed the ginger and then the curry. As the photo shows it was served with rice and beans, vegetable, and salad. While waiting for the entrée the Manager JR came over...took our picture and was a delightful host.

 

We heartily recommend taking the water taxi over the bay ( a short ride) and dine. You will NOT REGRET IT! Our meal was $45 USD. I had inquired about the Pink Plantation as we found it on some of the Coal Pot brochures. The Pink Plantation is the separate locale of the wife of the chef at the Coal Pot who is an artist and did the artistry around the restaurant. The Pink Plantation is on our hit list for our next visit to Castries!

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This was also the view that we enjoyed from our table. You can also see the water taxi sight a short hop across the bay.

 

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saxylc

saxylc

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Hi, Hope you have a great cruise but have a question, who is your cd? We were on the Serenade in October and it was Ricky Williams and will be on in 2 weeks for a b2b and wondering if he was still the cd.

Thanks, Mary:)

 

 

We were on the Serenade Dec 31st-Jan 7/12 and Ricky was coming off that day for vacation. I think he said he'd be off for a couple of months. He was a ton of fun.

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volunteer cruiser

volunteer cruiser

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After reading your posts last night about your kick back, lay back, sample local food and drink kind of cruise, I talked my husband into booking the Brillance out of Puerto Rico next Febuary for Valentines. This May, 8 of us in the family are on the Allure and I am thinking we will need a vacation after this. The Febuary 2013 cruise will be just us two. I am looking forward to reading more of the highlights on the islands. Thanks for taking time from your cruise to post.

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Havana Daydreamin

Havana Daydreamin

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Thanks for the kind comments.

 

We are glad you are enjoying this also. I really like LIVE threads and thought it was time again to return the favor. After some initial difficulty I am finding the iPad, keyboard, and stylus to be doing me just fine.

 

Stay on deck for more!

 

Best Regards

Randy

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Havana Daydreamin

Havana Daydreamin

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We bid a fond farewell to Castries, St. Lucia and head to where a ship is meant to be...on the sea!

 

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A giant sea turtle gave a nod of its head as the Serenade came by. Or maybe it was just getting a breath of air. I prefer the former! It was still a nice sight to see and our first sighting of a turtle from aboard ship. One more notch on the "What kind of sea life have you seen from the ship?" list.

 

Again after a leisurely pace of getting ready for dinner, we made our way to the Viking Crown for a drink before dinner and make some of last evenings photo posts.

 

Off to dinner we went with a skip in our step. My order for the evening was Harrira (sp?) soup along with Focaccia & Tomato Salad. DW had crab cake and salad. I ordered the filet of sole which was had a very nice lemony creme sauce over potatoes, broccoli, and asparagus spears. For dessert I had the Sky High Lemon Tart and my wife had the Orange Chocolate Parfait.

 

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Off to a hand in hand walk on deck 5. As someone said this deck is also good for a stroll with your spouse. We enjoyed this quiet stroll before us.

 

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Havana Daydreamin

Havana Daydreamin

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Morning called and land was in sight! GOOD MORNING ANTIGUA!

 

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There were two instances of 5 blasts of the ships horn warning a sailboat to "get the heck out of the way or be prepared to be rammed" which woke up Barbara (getting tired of the DW by now, I think....anyway I have an idea she is! LOL)

 

It looks as if we will have company in port today as a ship is entering ahead of us. In the distance I am going to call it a Princess ship. Will know more as we draw closer. I guess this due to the structure of the aft.

 

It was a Princess ship!

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We are awaiting our morning coffee and snack on the balcony as a new day is unfolding before us.

 

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ladybug1s

ladybug1s

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HAs anyone used this service for calling on cell phones internationally?

Input please, I think this is the way to go. Tried it in the states for free as well as texting is free in the states, hawaii and alaska. LOW rates internationally lie 25 cents and lower. You will have to look at the list for each country. But I think this is amazing but need reviews please.:o

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