My review of the Serenade!

[alb38]

:)II have been off the Serenade for a few weeks and just wanted to post a review. This is only my second cruise both with RCCL ~ it was just my mom and I for this cruise! We flew in day of departure. Plane landed around noon and we were onboard ship by around 1:15. Make sure that you fill your forms out online this seemed to speed up the process. Once onboard we were able to go to our rooms. Ate some lunch in the Windjammer and then took a taxi into Old San Juan. We spent a few hours shopping and just walking through the streets of OSJ ~ back to ship to explore and take a quick nap before late dinner. The Serenade is a beautiful ship, glass atrium and elevators which gives you a nice view of the ocean waters. There is modern artwork in all the areas of the ship. We didn’t take the time to eat in Chops or Portofino’s even though I had heard from friends that the food was outstanding in both restaurants. We did find Seaview Café which is a great place to go for an afternoon snack.

St. Thomas – because this is such a port intensive cruise we didn’t have anything planned for this day. We took an open air taxi into town and did some shopping and just enjoyed the sights. Stopped along the waterfront and had a bushwhacker ~ I cannot remember the name of the little bar but the drinks were great. Mom had a margarita. They certainly don’t skimp on the alcohol!

St Martin – we had booked a tour with Joyce Prince. Joyce was a great host for her island ~ she spoke about everything and answered any questions we had to the best of her knowledge. We saw both sides of the islands, making numerous stops along the way. I would definitely book with Joyce again.

Antigua – Eli’s Eco tour. This was our favorite excursion that we did all week. We had Ed, Shamil and Tony as our host’s for the day. Ed has only been with Eli’s since September but was very knowledgeable about Antigua. If you are looking to see the island itself than this isn’t for you since you are on the water all day. First stop took us to Bird Island were you were able to get off and walk up the island or remain on the boat and just enjoy the view. Once you were on top of the island it was breathtaking view. Second stop was at Hell’s Gate – this rock formation in the ocean. This was just incredible – we swam over to the formation with Tony and once he had everyone together we started climbing through the rock and caves so that we eventually made our way to the top. Once again the views were just incredible. We had about an hour to snorkel before we were taken back to the ship. The only negative thing about Antigua was I found the vendors to be very pushy in the shopping area around the pier!

St Lucia – we booked a taxi tour with Frank. Frank was a good host, however Frank sang for us more than he talked about the island itself. Rum Punch was good but too much rum punch and the winding roads on the way down didn’t make me feel very good. We saw the botanical gardens, drive in volcano, a banana plantation, and had a great view of the pitons. The captain will take time to stop and turn the ship so everyone has a chance to view the Pitons….we had some extra time as we were picking up two passengers that were left behind.

Barbados – Silvermoon I. Along with Eli’s this was also up there on my favorite excursions. First stop was to snorkel with the turtles. This was incredible. I had snorkeled with the stingrays in the Caymans but this was even better. Second stop was to snorkel over a shipwreck. Lots of fish. Ben and Tony took care of everybody while on board – we were served a wonderful lunch along with champagne and then had about an hour to just leisurely swim around the boat or just relax on the boat. This will be another excursion that I will do again.

Sea Day – if you want to be in the sun your last day at sea make sure that you are up and in a chair early. We waited until 10:30 and by that time every available chair that was in the sun was taken. You will also pass Montserrat (sp?) on your way back to San Juan. The captain will make an announcement – we passed around 11:00.

As far as the shows went we were only able to see a few of them, John Joseph with Johnny B (comedians) and The Original Drifters. They were both great shows.

We had a 3:30 flight home so we waited to be one of the last passengers to depart the ship around 10:30. We flew with AA – RCCL offered people who were flying AA to be able to get your boarding passes, flight check in and send your luggage to your final destination (once you take it through customs) for a $10.00 charge –boarding passes were in our room Thursday night. This was well worth the money spent because once we got to the airport we were able to walk right in without the hassle of waiting in lines. We did a little shopping at the airport stores and had some lunch since we had time to kill.

In between visiting the islands we had a few get together’s with people that we met on CC – we had a sail away party Saturday night, the M & M Tuesday night, and then a party in the Royal Suite on Friday night for a farewell (thanks again Trevor and Tamara). I met a lot of wonderful people through CC and just on the ship in general who I hope to keep in contact with!

I loved the Western Caribbean but after being on these islands I will definitely repeat the Southern Caribbean. I am looking to take my DH and both kids back in 2007 if I can wait that long. I meant for this to be a mini review but once my fingers got typing I couldn’t stop.

Happy Cruising and Happy Holidays!;)

[Charlie2na]

Thanks Andrea , wetting my appetite for our cruise aboard Seranade 01/28/2006. Sounds like you enjoyed your sail. Will certainly visit that little cafe you mentioned......IF we have time. Very busy itinerary.... I'll enjoy that sea day.. Thanks again for visiting our m&m thread..... we only have 17 signed up as yet.....so maybe no party for us........NAH ! we'll have one anyway.

[MBeamTX]

Thanks for the review, Andrea. We loved Serenade when we sailed her through the Panama Canal back in April, so much so that we booked another cruise for next April, a 10-day Southern Caribbean itinerary. We even have the much-coveted grand suite, 1554, for that sailing! :D

 

Reading about everyone else's cruise on Serenade is going to help get me through the next 5 months!

 

Happy cruising,

Susan

[cruzobsessed]

will be on the serenade december 24th. that's next week baby!!!:D

[bluefish]

leaving for Serenade this Saturday. Thanks for the review!:D

[Sheffie]

Great review. We are doing just about all of the excursions that you did!

 

Interesting about the 2 passengers left behind in St. Lucia. What was that all about?

 

I can hardly wait! We are getting near the double digits!

[alb38]

Great review. We are doing just about all of the excursions that you did!

 

Interesting about the 2 passengers left behind in St. Lucia. What was that all about?

 

I can hardly wait! We are getting near the double digits!

 

Michelle - Not sure what happened but we stopped in Souphries (sp) to pick them up. Apparently this is a common occurence because we cruised with a couple that were doing B2B and she told me that they also had to pick up passengers that following week at the same spot!

[cruise182]

Andrea,

 

great review. My sentiments exactly!! It was our pleasure to entertain our CC friends in our cabin. It was a lot of fun but to short. I love the southern itinerary so much and the ship that I had to book it again for 2006!!

 

Talk to you later.

Bye