Serenade 9/26 Review Long and Photo heavy

[Robin7]

Disclaimer:

This is so long because I have to write it all down or forget it! I have a terrible memory!!!! Proceed at your own risk. I will post more each day until I'm done.

 

Our 2010 Cruise Adventure on Serenade of the Seas or “Where are the blue cows???”

 

Background:

 

This was our first RCI cruise. We (ages 50 and 49) have been on eleven other cruises—one Carnival, two Princess, and eight Holland America. We cruised with my husband’s brother and his wife who are frequent RCI cruisers. My husband turned 50 the day we boarded this ship so this cruise was his birthday celebration.

 

Our Itinerary:

 

San Juan, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Croix, San Juan

 

Pre-cruise:

 

Someone (namely me) thought it was a good idea to take the Friday night red-eye to San Juan. We wanted to arrive the day before boarding and still have time to see Castillo San Felipe del Morro that day. See, in 1991, we took our first cruise, and the ship (HAL’s OLD Westerdam) was dead in the water for an hour or so on the way to San Juan. We’d had an excursion booked to see the fort, but we got into port too late. (I was just glad we weren’t still stuck out in the ocean somewhere!) Then in 2005, we were there again for a business trip, and the fort was closed AGAIN the day we tried to see it, so I figured suffering through the red-eye to San Juan was worth it so I could FINALLY see the forts. I was CORRECT! Your mileage may vary.

 

My DH is magic. When we checked in in SLC, we were assigned different boarding zones because we purchased his ticket but used SkyMiles for mine. When he went to the gate agent to see if I could board with him in Zone 1 instead of Zone 4, he got us upgraded to First Class, even though my class of ticket was not supposed to be allowed an upgrade. Ahhhhhhhhh. I got some sleep on the way to JFK (4.5-hour flight). Then at JFK, he got us upgraded AGAIN to San Juan (4-hours ish). I was so spoiled! (He flies First Class a lot on business; I hardly ever do as I am not a Medallion member for Delta.) First Class is a nice way to go if you have to do the red-eye!

 

San Juan:

 

We arrived about 1:30pm on Saturday. The inlaws were already in San Juan, having taken a direct flight from Dallas on Friday afternoon. (Lucky!) So we took a taxi to the Embassy Suites and cleaned up and changed in their room (our room was not yet available at 2pm). Then we went to Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

 

Since it was a Saturday, there were many, many families there flying kites and picnicking and just generally enjoying the gorgeous weather.

 

The taxi dropped us off right at the base of the walk up to the fort. The path up to the fort is very long but not very steep, and with the wind blowing, it wasn’t a disagreeable hike up the hill. We enjoyed watching the kites while we walked up the incline. (I felt like Sister Bertrille in “The Flying Nun” in my white hat. Heh.)

 

We climbed in and around and up and down and all over that fort! It was begun by the Spanish in 1539 and took over 250 years for them to build. It was totally fascinating! We spent about two hours seeing it.

 

Then we walked down to the cemetery nearby and shot some photos, and then we walked down and down and down and down to Old San Juan (which sure beats UP and UP and UP, so see the fort first and THEN go to Old San Juan).

 

We had dinner at Restaurant Barrachina which claims to be the birthplace of the Pina Colada. We had Paella Criollo and Mofongo. I really liked the Mofongo! Kind of a beefy gravy over freaky mashed potatoes (really plantains).

 

We did a little tourist shopping in OSJ, then headed back to the Embassy Suites, checked in, and fell, exhausted, into bed.

 

The Embassy Suites hotel is really nice. Our room consisted of a living area with couch, chair, TV, desk and a bedroom area with king size bed and TV on a dresser with a closet plus a bathroom with a tub. It was pristinely clean and very quiet even though there appeared to be scads of locals vacationing there.

 

We had the free breakfast on Sunday morning. It was a typical hotel buffet of fruit, bacon, scrambled eggs, pastries, etc. It also had a line for hot items like omelets and pancakes.

 

 

 

I felt like Sister Bertrille in "The Flying Nun"!

 

 

 

Looking back toward Castillo de San Cristobal.

[Robin7]

 

 

 

 

 

[Robin7]

 

 

 

 

 

[Robin7]

 

 

 

 

 

More tomorrow!

 

Robin

[Waiting for September]

Awww...thanks for these great pics. We were in San Juan 9-4 for a 9-5 Serenade cruise (the Aruba route) and spent the day in OSJ and saw both forst. We have some pics that are VERY much alike. I totally loved our day in San Juan and thought those forts were so fantastic! It is nice to relive through your eyes.

 

Now I want to hear and see the rest as we are taking your route 9-25-11!!

 

So jealous about the first class thing too!!!

[KY Deb]

Great pictures! Can you tell me if the street in front of the Embassy that leads to the beach is still under construction? When we were there in June, it was really torn up. Wonder if they've repaved it yet.

[QTMichele]

Fantastic photos! I can't wait to read more, especially your review of the cruise itself. I'd love to try this class one of these days... :) Thanks for posting!

[Robin7]

Day 1: Castillo de San Cristóbal and Embarkation

 

On Saturday, we saw a sign for a tunnel tour at Castillo de San Cristóbal on Sunday morning. We asked the rangers what time we’d have to be there in order to be on the tour (limited to 24 people), and they said before 10am. We got up, had breakfast, and were at San Cristóbal about 9:45am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Robin7]

The tour was at 10:30am. It was very interesting and VERY DARK. If you’re at all claustrophobic, do not go on this tour! The tunnel was about 400 feet long, with two little slits for windows at the end of it. No air movement. The people then were only about 4 feet eleven inches tall, so it was also VERY squishy. Our flashlight didn’t work very well, and some people on the tour didn’t have one at all. I used my cell phone held behind my back to give the guy behind me a bit of light to follow. Yes, it was that dark!

 

 

Our first glimpse of our ship!

 

 

 

We were heading down into this teeny, tiny tunnel!

 

 

[BILL-WI]

You had me with the first photo...

 

I'll be checking on this thread until you finish....Love it!:):)

 

BILL

[Robin7]

After the tour, we climbed around, read the placards, saw the dungeon, and took photos and then noticed a storm moving in quickly so hightailed it back to the Embassy Suites. They had given us a late 2pm checkout when we asked. We had some phone calls and emails to do before we went over to the ship and had to go ‘dark’. (Our cell phones get turned off and put in the safe for the duration of the trip. And the internet was only used for my husband’s work stuff twice.)

 

 

 

Looking back towards El Morro. Tourists are warned not to enter that neighborhood below the sea wall. They are also apparently working on a sidewalk that connects the two forts.

 

 

The Devil's Garita

 

 

 

There were several iguanas on the grounds.

[joand452]

Great pics! Looking forward to more!

[Robin7]

We arrived at the pier about 2:30pm. The taxi driver dropped us off right by some guys who appeared to be ‘sky caps’. My brother-in-law said they were for suite guests or something? So we started to walk over to the long line of passengers checking their luggage in, when they sky cap guys hollered at us to come over to them. They said they weren’t busy, so they took our luggage.

 

We then entered the building, went through security, filled out the health card, checked in, and made our way onto the ship. It took us 15 minutes!

 

 

Because it was so late, our rooms (9246 and 9586) were ready. We went and dropped off our carry on stuff, and then headed up to the Windjammer for a bit of lunch. I love the layout of the Windjammer! It’s about time some cruiseline figured out the whole ‘stations’ thing! I never had to wait for more than one or two people ever the entire week. I usually hate eating in the buffet, but the layout in this one made it a much more pleasant experience.

 

 

The view from our balcony.

 

 

 

 

[donnaman43]

Great Review and photo's.

[Robin7]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we napped a bit and waited for our luggage. It’s a good thing I pack dinner clothes in our carry ons, because they either never knocked or we didn’t hear them knock, and we never thought to look out in the hall for our luggage. We discovered it sitting in front of our door as we left for dinner! (6pm early seating)

 

Our dining stewards were Nacio from India and Ruth from Jamaica. They were excellent! We were at a table for ten with two other couples. They were from Missouri and were very nice dinner companions. We sat four on each end so had empty chairs between the pairs of couples. That way we could talk to them when we wanted to or just talk among ourselves.

 

After dinner we had muster drill at 8pm. Our station was outside on deck. The inlaws were in the Schooner Bar. It went slowly with the announcement in both English and in Spanish. Thankfully, it was dark and not too hot.

 

Afterwards, we met on the helicopter deck and watched us sail out of the harbor. It was beautiful at night with the fort all lit up.

 

We then went to the Welcome Aboard show. Dennis seemed like a high energy Cruise Director, and the comedian Bruce Gold was pretty funny.

 

After the show, we headed to our cabins to unpack and head to bed, Day 1 already over!

 

Tommorrow is our only Sea Day.

[DebbyD]

We took this same cruise 8/29, can't wait to see the rest of your review. We are taking the Aruba route 9/4/2011. Can't wait

[Sequim88]

I really appreciate these sort of reviews - especially the pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post. While our itinerary will be the other one (San Juan, Tortola-BVI, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Dominica, Barbados) there is enough overlap to be very helpful.

[Robin7]

Great pictures! Can you tell me if the street in front of the Embassy that leads to the beach is still under construction? When we were there in June, it was really torn up. Wonder if they've repaved it yet.

 

We were so focused on seeing the forts that I never even looked for a way to the beach. Sorry. It seemed like there was construction EVERYWHERE we went though. (So much like here at home!)

 

Robin

[Robin7]

I really appreciate these sort of reviews - especially the pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

I like them too, so I try to pay back by doing one when I get home. Plus it helps me to actually record our trip, otherwise I might never make myself do it. I've got to get to work, but I'll post more tomorrow!

 

Robin

[joand452]

Was Dennis Sciortino your CD? He was ours on the Brilliance cruise. Loved him!

 

I know what you mean about the buffets. Hated the long line on HAL and, while Princess does have stations, they're all crammed into one little area. After this last Princess cruise I said never again, so it's back to RCI for us.

[waterbugohio]

Great review and photos. Love the one at the fort with the ship in the background. You have some really nice shots. We leave for the Serenade in 5 weeks and I just got a new camera. Need to spend some time practicing.

[LBumb]

awesome start and amazing photos, thank you.

[Waiting for September]

Oh my DH would have loved the tunnel tour. He is 6'2 so it would have been interesting. I did take a pic of him huddled into one of them and it showed up pretty well!

 

Great pics! I wanted better ones of the cemetary as we did not walk down that far. I like yours!

 

I really can't wait to see what you do on the islands.

[Jaxsonbrownie]

Great Review so far! Love your photos! We were on this sailing as well....

[sandinmypants]

Great review so far, looking forward to more! Love the pics too - we do this itinerary in 4 weeks, this is really getting me excited for our trip! :):):)