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My Very Long Review of the B2B on the Serenade August 15-29th.

BroncosFan2010

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Great review, can't wait to hear about week two. Do you know if they had the coolers of beer special that was talked about on other threads?

 

I believe they only offered the bucket of beer on one day (Don't remember which). They were offering a special 40oz domestic beer throughout the entire cruise at every bar.

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Day at Sea:

Our next day was our first of two sea days for the second week. We ate breakfast in the Windjammer, and DH was thrilled to continue his “cruise doughnut every day” breakfast! We spent were pretty exhausted at this point, so we spent most of the day napping in our room, enjoying our balcony, reading, and just enjoying the fact that we could take this long of a vacation! We had not reached the numbers to hold a meet and mingle that second week. We had arranged an informal meet and mingle in the Schooner bar that afternoon, and several people showed up. We had a great time getting to know each other.

That night was formal night, and most people in the main dining room were dressed appropriately again this week

 

Curacao:

We ended up changing our plans at the last minute on Curacao. We had originally planned on going snorkeling with the Dive Bus, but since we were both pretty tired at this point (and had not paid anything), we decided to do some shopping that morning instead. We ended up each buying a pair of Keen water-sandals for our upcoming repelling adventure on Dominica. We then decided to head over to the aquarium. It was a last minute decision, but one I am very glad we made. We paid $20 for a taxi to take us to the aquarium from the cruise pier. It was $18.50 per person for admittance to the aquarium. Once inside, we saw a dolphin show, the sea turtles being fed, and the nurse shark “action show”. The highlight of the cruise for me was getting to pet the nurse sharks, feed them, and stick my hand in their gills. It was very exciting for me, because I LOVE Sharks and hope to one day cage dive with Great Whites! The aquarium also offered swimming with the dolphins, and if you are thinking about doing this, I highly recommend doing this with the aquarium and not through the cruise ship. They go to the same location, but it will save you TONS of money if you book independently

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Aruba:

Let me first say, I love the island of Aruba, but this was our worst excursion experience of the whole cruise. We booked through Jolly Pirates which offers two tours. One, through the cruise line is three hours long with about 50-60 people, and the other is 5 hours long with 50-60 people booked independently and with a lunch served. If I had known that booking on our own for the 5 hour trip would still have as many people on board as the cruise ship line, I would never have booked this trip. There was very loud music playing the whole time, and there was no where to avoid the noise or crowds. Our first stop was to snorkel at the WWII shipwreck the Antilla. The wreck was very cool, but the water was rough, and they did not recommend children or those who are not strong swimmers to get off of the boat. DH and I are very strong swimmers, and we enjoyed diving down to see the wreck up close. Our next spot was a “reef” and I use the term loosely, because it was nothing more than a few rocks. There were some fish there, although not many, and we did see a small turtle. Mostly, we were just glad to get off of the boat and away from some of the people. Our last stop was at a rocky beach area. From here, people could “walk the plank” or swing from the rope swing. Lunch was served on the boat at this stop, and consisted of potato salad, BBQ Chicken leg, BBQ ribs, and a slice of cantaloupe. The food was pretty good, and a nice break from the WindJammer (which was getting kind of redundant by this point in the cruise). The rum punch flowed the entire day (even before snorkeling). If you enjoy this kind of tour, I am sure you would have had a blast. However, based on the type of excursion DH and I enjoy, I should have known better than to book this kind of tour, but live and learn!

 

Now off to work, you will have to wait until later this evening for more!!

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i'llbesea-ingyou

i'llbesea-ingyou

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I'd love to know how you like your Keen water sandals as I have just purchased a pair online for our upcoming Dominica excursion. Please share if you have a chance. How do they fare on land? Thanks so much!:)

 

Sorry for the double post but I added the question about how the sandals fare on land and don't think I did it correctly.

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mommabean

mommabean

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I'd love to know how you like your Keen water sandals as I have just purchased a pair online for our upcoming Dominica excursion. Please share if you have a chance. How do they fare on land? Thanks so much!:)

 

Sorry for the double post but I added the question about how the sandals fare on land and don't think I did it correctly.

 

I bought some for this cruise and for our Dominica excursion. I LOVE them and they are really comfortable just to walk around. Do NOT take them off for any of the walks or you'll be sorry. At one point, Kelvin, our guide (Levi was off the island) told us there were just a few rocks and we didn't have to keep our shoes on. MISTAKE! He has the feet for it. We don't. LOL

 

I got the "whisper" style and they are best for a narrow foot. I found the other ones I tried on to be too wide and clunky on my foot. Be sure to buy them long enough. Most shoes for hiking are better if they are sized a little longer than your regular shoes or your toes will hit the front and make your toenail fall off.

 

This was the best excursion we've ever done.

 

Gina

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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I'd love to know how you like your Keen water sandals as I have just purchased a pair online for our upcoming Dominica excursion. Please share if you have a chance. Thanks so much!:)

 

I love my Keen sandals! DH and I purchased them for less than $60 each on Curacao. They worked nicely for our excursion in Dominica. I even enjoy wearing them to work!

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Great review! We're on Serenade Sept. 12th, and doing a B2B next April. Do they have a live band by the pool anymore or have they done away with that?

 

Suzanne

To be honest, we did not go up by the outdoor pool that much. Every time we walked by there was a DJ or a small band with all electric instruments. We usually avoided this area because we like the quiet areas.

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i'llbesea-ingyou

i'llbesea-ingyou

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I bought some for this cruise and for our Dominica excursion. I LOVE them and they are really comfortable just to walk around. Do NOT take them off for any of the walks or you'll be sorry. At one point, Kelvin, our guide (Levi was off the island) told us there were just a few rocks and we didn't have to keep our shoes on. MISTAKE! He has the feet for it. We don't. LOL

 

I got the "whisper" style and they are best for a narrow foot. I found the other ones I tried on to be too wide and clunky on my foot. Be sure to buy them long enough. Most shoes for hiking are better if they are sized a little longer than your regular shoes or your toes will hit the front and make your toenail fall off.

 

This was the best excursion we've ever done.

 

Gina

 

Thanks so much for your response! I read so many great reviews on Keen and was just wondering how people were doing with them on their excursions. I did order a half size bigger and I'm glad I did! Looking forward to getting them wet and dirty on all the excursions! :D

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i'llbesea-ingyou

i'llbesea-ingyou

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I love my Keen sandals! DH and I purchased them for less than $60 each on Curacao. They worked nicely for our excursion in Dominica. I even enjoy wearing them to work!

 

Thanks so much! I can't wait to break them out and try them for myself. I actually snagged a pair online for about $55.00 (shhhhhhhhh.......) By the way, really enjoying your review and cannot wait to read more. :)

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Day at Sea: Our second day at sea was spent relaxing. We soaked in the best aspects of the ship amd dined in Portofino that night. Since I don’t have much to write about for this day, I will share with you some highlights of the ship, food, crew, and other things.

1. The ship is beautiful and very clean and well cared for. You can tell that the staff and crew love that ship, as the captain was always raving about the ship. The carpeting, furnishings, and railings were all in top shape. There was no visible rust. The only complaint I have (so minor) is that the color in the television in our stateroom was going out. I imagine that soon they will be placing flat screens in all of the rooms, so this may not be an issue down the road.

2. The SeaView Café was a favorite place for afternoon snacks. This area is hidden behind the WindJammer and up a deck. It was rarely busy and has great sandwiches, chicken fingers, wings, and other great “bar type” food.

3. There was always a quiet area of the ship every day. Most of the time it was in the Vortex Lounge from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.

4. Captain: The captain was very personable. He would give an update twice a day as well as give a fun fact and a fortune cookie reading. The only thing I did not like was that at sail away he did not keep close to the coast for us to enjoy the scenic views of the islands we were leaving. I don’t know if this is a personal decision made by the captain or a new rule about being so many miles from shore. On previous cruises, there has always been 45 minutes or so that we cruised along the coast, and I missed that on this cruise.

5. Music and Entertainment: While there were plenty of music and activities on board, it never seemed like people were dancing or participating in many of them (either week, and past cruises). The shows were mediocre, so it is a good thing I don’t cruise for the onboard entertainment. They have not changed the production shows at all since our March 2009 cruise on the Serenade, and that was a bit disappointing. Some of the comedians were pretty lame, but we did see the Osmond Brothers, and they were very good.

6. FOOD: This is really the most important thing you have been waiting to hear about right??? Well, the food was good to great. The WindJammer offered many selections for breakfast (pastries, cereal, oatmeal, omelets, fruit, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, etc), and lunch along with a daily pasta bar, pizza options, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and salad bar. There was always a variety of meat, potato, and vegetarian dishes. The Main Dining Room offered the exact same menu both weeks. The food was mostly great and the service was excellent. The desserts seemed to improve from our last cruise on the Serenade. Some highlights from the main dining room include: Chilled Fruit Soup, The Asian Style Chicken Soup (AMAZING), The filet of beef, The roasted duck, Parmesan turkey, and warm chocolate cake!

7. Specialty Dining: We dined twice at Chops and once at Portofino. I have to admit, Chops was the best, and well worth the extra money. There was SO much food, it would be impossible to leave hungry. We enjoyed the Cheese and Onion Soup (like French Onion Soup), the Crab Cake, the Filet, and the roasted potatoes with cheese and panchetta. The dessert here was the best. In Portofino we were slightly disappointed. We had eaten there before, and they have since changed the menu. It was not nearly as good as I remembered it. However, the filet was cooked perfectly and very good. I don’t like any of the desserts in Portofino, but they were happy to bring me a slice of the Chocolate Mud Cake from Chops.

8. Overall Staff: We had amazing service the entire week. From breakfast to dinner we never had to ask twice for anything. Our room was always very clean with fresh ice twice a day. I cannot say enough how much we enjoyed Aysun as our waiter. It was only her 3rd and 4th week in the Main Dining Room, but she made the cruise really special for us. She was so personable, optimistic, and honest. We looked forward to dinner every night because of her. We even stopped by to chat with her after we ate in the specialty restaurants. She is truly a gem!

 

Coming Soon: Dominica!

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Dominica:

We were all rested up and ready for our adventurous tour on Dominica. Now, what we did is not for the faint of heart! We booked the Extreme Canyoning tour through Coco-Cottages. This tour involved repelling down cliffs and waterfalls through a gorge in the heart of the island. It was intense, but very fun. We did 7-8 repels with the average being about 40 feet and the longest being about 70-80 feet. There were also several places to jump off of the cliffs and waterfalls. This tour included some hiking through the rainforest, which was often treacherous. There was plenty of opportunity to break or sprain your ankle, so this tour is for people in decent to excellent health and physical fitness. Once you take the first step off down the first repel, there is no going back and no way out of the canyon. We had a blast and took lots of pictures, but the pictures in no way do the beauty of the island justice. After our extreme tour, we had our second formal night of the week. This was once again lobster night.

 

St. Thomas:

With Hurricane Earl fast approaching, we found out that our Yacht Adventures Tour (through RCCL) was cancelled so the sailboat captain could move his boat into the safety of the mangroves. We had beautiful weather, and you would never have known that there was a storm approaching if not for the concerned look on the faces of the locals. We took a 2 hour island tour with a local cab driver instead. He took us to several scenic overlooks, including some spectacular views of Magens’s Bay and the small island owned by Mel Gibson. We were slightly disappointed that our previous snorkel tour was cancelled, as we had done it the previous year and were looking forward to it again.

We were invited by our wait staff to tour the galley on this afternoon. We met at the designated time and place with about 20 other cruisers and were given a 1st class tour of the cruise kitchens. They were very clean and incredibly organized. It was amazing to see and hear how much preparation goes into every single element of dining. Did you know that there is one baker and one assistant baker and they make every single roll, bagel, pastry, pie crust, cookie, etc. by scratch every single day??? Over 7000 dinner rolls each day are produced. That is quite amazing. I am so glad this was something I got to experience.

 

Disembarking:

The day that we never thought would come had arrived. We were truly glad that we booked our flight out for the 29th, because we were a mere 12 hours ahead of Hurricane Earl. We exited the ship around 9:30, quickly found our luggage, went smoothly through customs, and found a taxi immediately and were whisked to the airport. Our flight did not leave until the early afternoon, so we took our bags through the agriculture check and waited in a very long line to get to the check in area. After about a 45 minute wait, we decided that we had been too blessed on the flight down, and that we were paying for it on the return! Finally, the airline brought people down to operate the check in, and in a short period we were checked in and through security. We found a place to get lunch, purchased lots of duty free alcohol, and waited for our flight to be called.

 

 

A slight mention of our Cabin:

Cabin (8592): This cabin had a lot of noise from the Centrium at night. Also, we heard lots of doors slamming, which was annoying. Not sure if that has to do with the location, or just rude people. The balcony has a great forward view, but is a bit smaller than regular balconies because it is on the "Hump". If we had to do it again and stay in the same category, we would choose our E1 on deck 7 forward with the extended balcony over this one. However, next time we will be doing an aft cabin.

 

Overall:

We really enjoyed this cruise vacation. We love the ship and the itinerary. We have no complaints about anything that possibly could have been controlled. I felt that both of these weeks were “louder” than past cruises. It seemed that the ship was more crowded than in the past, and there were always large groups of people being very loud and rude on board. This is not Royal Caribbean’s fault, but it did have us often choosing our cabin over public areas of the ship. The dining room was very loud every night, leaving us feeling like we only had the “romantic dinner” when we booked the specialty restaurants. The announcements were often and annoying as we feel people can read the compass and decide what they want to do. Despite these things, we did not let it ruin our vacation. However, we feel that Royal Caribbean is positioning itself as a family line, and that is not our desire when taking a vacation. We are going to give Celebrity a try for our next cruise. This is a personal choice for our vacation needs. Royal Caribbean has served us well over the years, but we feel that we are no longer in their desired demographic, so we are moving on to something that better fit our vacation needs.

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maxs mom

maxs mom

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Glad to read your rreview. I know you were looking forward to this B2B for a while. We did this B2B earlier this summer and it was a true highlight of 25 years of cruising with RCI. I am hoping to do this again next summer, but we will see! Glad you had fun. We might venture over to Celebrity to try one of their new ships before too long. Enjoyed your review!

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kay995

kay995

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Did you say the Osmond brothers performed????

I thought the Beatlemania show was wonderful....

But if I ever saw the Osmonds....I would be so happy!!!!

 

We are booked for Nov 14th...12 of us who are cruising

on the Serenade together for the third time! We are doing

your week#2 route and still deciding on excursions...thanks

for your input.

 

I like to party sometimes and like crowds BUT sometimes I

like quiet time too. The good thing is that RC has both!!!

 

Kay

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Tanderra

Tanderra

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There were at least 3 live bands that played out by the pool during our sailing last month. "Hot Spice" was EXCELLENT! I can't remember the names of the other two.

 

 

Karen

 

So glad you liked them Karen ;)

 

Christopher was delighted to meet you...I spoke to him on the 'phone this past Wednesday :-)

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BroncosFan2010

BroncosFan2010

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Great Review!!

 

Gf and I are booked for October 3rd in the same cabin!

How did you like the room and hump balcony?

Can you see both the front and aft from the balcony?

Any issues with privacy?

 

We had a wonderful view forward, but could not really see the aft unless we leaned WAY over... don't recommend this. The balcony area was slightly smaller, but not really a big deal. The only issue we had was with noise from the Centrium at night. If you are night owls, you will probably be up later than the noise, but we were early birds, and it sometimes prevented us from falling asleep as early as we would have liked.

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