Review - Serenade of the Seas January 23 Sailing

[paylady]

This was our 17th cruise on RCL and our 3rd on Serenade, our previous two cruises were to Alaska on this ship. Although this was our 3rd time on Serenade and our 11th Caribbean cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed the ship and the itinerary.

 

I have been seriously considering taking a cruise with another line due to the decline in C&A benefits and other services, but have to give kudos to this ship and her crew. The public rooms still look great, the staff is wonderful, we were pleased with the onboard activities and we thoroughly enjoyed the food. Our cruise experience was further enhanced by sharing some time with fellow CCers.

 

Pre-Cruise San Juan

We opted to stay two nights pre-cruise at the Sheraton OSJ due to location, location and location. We used Starwood points for a complimentary stay in a Jr. suite. The hotel was fine but if you are looking for luxury accommodations, this is not the place. I did my homework and got what I expected. I was neither disappointed nor delighted. It was just fine for the two days and the location was great. We didn't eat any meals at the hotel. We at two meals at La Bombanera, had lunch at St. Germain and dinner at Marmalade Cafe. I would recommend all three restaurants. Cruise Critic really came through for us on the recommendations for meals in OSJ as well as activities.

 

We took two tours pre-cruise:

 

Segway Tours P.R. - Nataliya was our guide and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. It was so much easier seeing El Morro via segway than on foot. I highly recommend this tour.

 

Legends of PR Walking Tour - we were originally booked for the Night Tales tour Friday night but they didn't have anyone else booked so they cancelled and offered a morning tour which we took on Saturday. There was much walking in the heat which makes my rating just okay.

 

Itinerary

Port intensive - St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica & Barbados.

 

Cabin

We had a corner, aft cabin - JS 1100. This was a great cabin for roominess and the large balcony --- two lounge chairs, three upright chairs and a square table large enough for room service trays etc.

Our cabin steward was generally efficient with all necessary items in the stateroom at embarkation. However, dust was quite noticeable on the electric teapot and coffee maker. Also some of the drawers were broken on the right side of the desk. This in no way disturbed us and we had a wonderful experience with this cabin and the cruise.

 

Meals

We definite enjoyed our meals and feel that RCL has made a concerted effort to improve in this arena.

 

Breakfast - We alternated breakfast between the Windjammer, the Diamond section in the DR (2X) and room service (1X). All were excellent. We liked the Diamond section in the DR for morning latte, breakfast specials and the company of other cruisers and the WJ for the vast assortment of breakfast choices.

 

Lunch - When not out on excursion, we alternated between the Windjammer and the Seaview Cafe. Both were excellent.

Afternoon Snack - Again, we mainly alternated between the Windjammer and the Seaview Cafe. We enjoy the Seaview for the made to order meals and the WJ for the afternoon tacos, waffles, fresh fruit and scones. We also made use of the Solarium once and enjoyed that as well.

 

Dinner - Second Seating, Deck 4 center. Again, a wonderful experience due to the excellent service, good food and wonderful company of our dining companions. We purposely dined with other CCers this time, an experience which further enhanced our dining experience. We opted not to eat in the specialty restaurants as we have done this many times in the past and didn't want to miss dining with our table mates; instead we ordered one entree and a Chops filet mignon in the DR twice to split between us. I know there is some controversy on these boards regarding the $14.95 Chops filet mignon but we were glad it was available as an option. There were one or two nights where we weren't thrilled with the selections so this was a good alternative for us.

 

Excursions

St. Thomas - ship tour; 2 hour St. Thomas Panoramic Drive. This was a short tour, open-air bus tour with the primary attractions being St. Peter Great House and an overlook of Magen's Bay. Our driver was quite knowledgeable about the island and its history. We lucked out being the last to board this bus as we sat in front with the driver who had the windows open with the air conditioning blowing. Since we were the only ship in port on a Sunday, the shops closed early so we opted for the early tour and a drop off downtown to shop. For a ship's tour, we were very pleased.

 

St. Croix - none. We knew we needed some down time with this port intensive schedule. Just walked around for less than an hour around the pier and returned to the ship.

 

St. Kitts - we opted for a tour with Thenford Grey based on recommendations on the CC St. Kitts board and were not disappointed. Mr. Grey was a wonderful tour guide. He a true gentleman, quite knowledgeable about the island and its history. He has room for 21 on his bus but had about 8 - 10 people on this particular tour, all from our CC thread. The main attractions were Brimstone Fortress and Romney Manor, home of Caribelle Batik. We also stopped to see a green monkey (we didn't have to bother waiting for Barbados for this) and other sites. He never rushed us; some of us were actually going through withdrawal by not having a specified return time. :) You could tell how well-respected Mr. Grey was among the other tour guides as we stopped at different destinations. I highly recommend him and would tour with him again.

 

Dominica - ship tour; 4 1/2 hour Dominica Favorites. We opted for a ship tour as we wanted to see both Trafalgar Falls and Emerald Pool. We also stopped in Morne Bruce and other spots for pictures. Be forewarned, there is a considerable amount of driving time on this island getting from place to place. Many thought the driver was driving too fast for the road conditions. I was frankly too tired to care and just closed my eyes while we driving from one place to the next. All in all, I recommend taking a CC-recommended tour guide on this island. Our table mates used Levi Baron and were quite pleased.

 

Barbados - we opted for a tour with Cameron Reid. No one else booked him that day so we had him all to ourselves in a new air conditioned bus. We loved Barbados. We asked to see Welchman Hall Gully, Bathsheba and the Scotland District. We did all this and more. We were very pleased with this tour and would recommend Mr. Reid.

 

All in all, this cruise ranked among our best in the Caribbean.

[bplazo]

Nice review. We are going on our second cruise on the Serenade in May and we are also considering trying other cruiselines because of the elimination of some of the C&A benefits, however, I am glad to hear that the service is still great.

[goldiemom]

Marla: Great review! We toured with Levi Baron (Bumpiing Tours) and it was one of the highlights of the b2b cruise. I can't believe it was a week ago today we disembarked and flew home...sniff, sniff. The Serenade is a fabulous ship!

 

Barb

[StaceyCT]

Thanks for the review, Marla! I was on the same sailing and am working (slowly) on my review and hope to have it up soon. I agree, it was an absolutely wonderful week. I have nothing but good things to say about the show, crew, and itinerary.

[guate]

Hi everyone, we are a party of 4 on the Serenade in May also. Thanks for great review and info. Has anyone ever done the Mystery Dinner Theater? Is it worth it?

[paylady]

Nice review. We are going on our second cruise on the Serenade in May and we are also considering trying other cruiselines because of the elimination of some of the C&A benefits, however, I am glad to hear that the service is still great.

 

You will be very pleased with the Serenade. One thing I forgot to mention was that they held the 70s party in the Centrum. This was a great venue for the party as it attracted a lot more participants (of all ages) vs. the disco.

[printingchick]

Thanks for the review. I'll be on this same itinerary in four weeks and the excitement is getting out of control!! I'm looking for information everywhere I can find it!!

 

So glad to hear about your positive experience. Did you feel you had too much VAN TIME on St. Kitts? We're doing a similar tour there, and one reviewer commented that there was too much time sitting in the van to get from place to place. I have a little concern about that.

 

Thanks!!

[paylady]

Thanks for the review. I'll be on this same itinerary in four weeks and the excitement is getting out of control!! I'm looking for information everywhere I can find it!!

 

So glad to hear about your positive experience. Did you feel you had too much VAN TIME on St. Kitts? We're doing a similar tour there, and one reviewer commented that there was too much time sitting in the van to get from place to place. I have a little concern about that.

 

Thanks!!

 

Not too much van time on St. Kitts, especially compared to Dominica. He did a good job of breaking up the time between destinations.

[cruisenfever]

Thank you Marla for a great review. Since this is such a port intensive itinerary, was the SeaView opened for lunch on port days, or did it open at 3?

[paylady]

Thank you Marla for a great review. Since this is such a port intensive itinerary, was the SeaView opened for lunch on port days, or did it open at 3?

 

The Seaview opened at 2pm the days we were in port and at noon on our sea day.

[melbur]

As one of Marla's tablemates, I too can attest to the great service and food in the MDR. We had an excellent waitstaff team. We dined in Chops one evening and I discovered it was the evening that featured my one and only favourite dessert. Lo and behold the Chops waiter presented me with the MDR dessert at the end of our meal, compliments of our MDR team.

We were so impressed in fact we booked the same 2 weeks for next year.

 

Marla, it was great fun having the group of us together, and your review very informative.

 

Melanie & Don

[zoe]

Were you all sitting with Tom and Chris? (Vintage Hammer)

[FFwife625]

Still working on my review too! Your review was GREAT! Im SOOOO jealous for those of you who are sailing soon. I miss the Serenade so much, we had an AMAZING trip and there is not ONE thing I can complain about. Ok maybe one... we went deep sea fishing in St Kitts and didnt catch a thing.... turned out to be a $350 boat ride :(.... Oh well, we made up for it having fun in the evenings!!!

[paylady]

As one of Marla's tablemates, I too can attest to the great service and food in the MDR. We had an excellent waitstaff team. We dined in Chops one evening and I discovered it was the evening that featured my one and only favourite dessert. Lo and behold the Chops waiter presented me with the MDR dessert at the end of our meal, compliments of our MDR team.

We were so impressed in fact we booked the same 2 weeks for next year.

 

Marla, it was great fun having the group of us together, and your review very informative.

 

Melanie & Don

 

Melanie:

 

I am definitely considering booking the same cruise next year. Say "Hi" to Don for us. We enjoyed your company.

[paylady]

Still working on my review too! Your review was GREAT! Im SOOOO jealous for those of you who are sailing soon. I miss the Serenade so much, we had an AMAZING trip and there is not ONE thing I can complain about. Ok maybe one... we went deep sea fishing in St Kitts and didnt catch a thing.... turned out to be a $350 boat ride :(.... Oh well, we made up for it having fun in the evenings!!!

 

We all enjoyed living vicariously through you and Brett. It's like we all adopted you as our very own honeymoon couple! I especially loved it when I saw you flying through the air to smash that balloon. That was a unique and truly classic maneuver I'm not likely to forget!

[melbur]

Melanie:

 

I am definitely considering booking the same cruise next year. Say "Hi" to Don for us. We enjoyed your company.

 

Marla, if you look at the itinerary for next year, they've mixed up the group of islands on the 2 diff routes, you would be going to a few different islands that way. Just a thought . .

 

Melanie

[NordicPrince]

We all enjoyed living vicariously through you and Brett. It's like we all adopted you as our very own honeymoon couple! I especially loved it when I saw you flying through the air to smash that balloon. That was a unique and truly classic maneuver I'm not likely to forget!

 

DW still ROTFL picturing the routine CD Dennis did to describe "the Dutch Oven" and the "Long Toot Lady in the Hall" on "Love and Marriage Show".

In fact threatening the Dutch Oven is our latest joke between DW and I.

 

And we owe it all to FFWife625 and DH! Thanks guys, you're good sports!