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Serenade of the Seas review with an attempt to post pictures :)

TxStacey

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debshomespun

debshomespun

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Great review. I love the Southern itinerary. We are booked on the Serenade in Jan

and I can't wait to go! We got our first Aft balcony! We plan to go a couple days early

into San Juan to get out of the nasty Ohio winter and enjoy the gorgeous warm sunshine

and warm temps! Old San Juan is a great day to just wander around and enjoy the

atmosphere.

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shopper77

shopper77

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Once we arrived in San Juan, we had no problems at the airport getting a taxi to our hotel..the Caribe Hilton..which we LOVED! I got it on Priceline for $90.00 per night and I was thrilled. Here are some pictures of the Caribe..002-Copy.jpg[/img]

 

 

We are taking the Serenade in December. Can you tell me how you booked your room thru priceline. What was your criteria that you used. We would like to stay there, but have never used priceline. How do you know which hotel you are staying at? Thanks for all of you help. Keep the pictures comming, great review!

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Stacey, great review! One question. Did you see folks wearing shorts in the MDR the first night, (just in case our luggage doesn't arrive in time). Sailing this Saturday! Thanks! :D

 

Yes we did see folks in the dining room in shorts on the first night and unfortunatly most nights..we had one table right next to us that had 3 couples. All of the women wore sundresses or nice capris, but all of the men wore t-shirts and shorts..EVERY NIGHT..The only reason I noticed it was because my H pointed them out and said "no fair"..he was kidding, but after we noticed them, I started noticing many more. The dress code was not enforced even though it was posted no shorts, bathing suits, etc.

 

On another note..we had our luggage very early, like by 3:00 or 4:00. It was also the first time ever that someone actually knocked on our door and brought it in..The crew on the Serenade are fabulous!!

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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We are taking the Serenade in December. Can you tell me how you booked your room thru priceline. What was your criteria that you used. We would like to stay there, but have never used priceline. How do you know which hotel you are staying at? Thanks for all of you help. Keep the pictures comming, great review!

 

I learned alot about Priceline from the San Juan board..if you go to the San Juan board, there is a sticky at the top that addesses sucessful bidding strategies. I just picked a resort in San Juan and knew that many had gotten the Caribe for $90.00 so that's what I bid. My friend tried about a month after me and couldn't get the Caribe, but got the Conrad for $110.00 which she said was very nice also..I think as long as you bid on a resort, you cant go wrong as most of them are very nice there.

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Thursday..Antigua..We decided to do a beach day in Antigua and I had read that Jolly Beach had alot of water activites such as jet skis, water trampoline etc. That is totally where I intended to go, but our taxi driver had another agenda..BEWARE...we were asked by a lady who was coordinating taxi's how many people we had and where we wanted to go. I said 9 people and Jolly Beach..it was really weird, but no one seemed to want to take us at first. Finally a driver named Joseph "of many colors" stepped up and told us that Jolly wasn't that great and that he would take us to Valley Church Beach..of course it was more in cab far by 1.00 per person. We were quoted $7.00 pp each way for Jolly and it was $8.00 for Valley Church. I have cruised alot and I knew that he was most likely getting some sort of a kick back from the people at Valley Church, but I had also read how beautiful it was, so I decided we would just go there. He agreed to come pick us up around 2:30 which was good. We really enjoyed Valley Church Beach. The water in Antigua is very blue and very pretty, but not really clear. The snorkeling there is not very good. We ate at the little beach bar there called The Nest which was good, but VERY slow..they are on island time for sure!!

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14Terry

14Terry

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Stacey, thank you very much! Hopefully we'll get our luggage in time to change. I prefer casual, as opposed to shorts (for me).

 

Fantastic photos! I hope you post more of them, thanks again!

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Stacey, thank you very much! Hopefully we'll get our luggage in time to change. I prefer casual, as opposed to shorts (for me).

 

Fantastic photos! I hope you post more of them, thanks again!

 

Thanks!! I would think if you have to wear shorts, you wont feel out of place at all..many were doing it. I guess I am just a little old school and like to look a little more dressed for dinner..however, if those around me dont, oh well..it doesn't affect my experience.

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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I will say one annoyance we had at Valley Church was the constant venders hasseling us for jet skis and jewelry etc., even though we kept telling them no..they probably came around 6-7 times at least. It got to the point that we couldn't relax until later in the day. Our driver Joseph was there for us right at 2:30 and took us back to the ship with no problems.

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2beachlovers

2beachlovers

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Hi Stacey,

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. We are on this same itenerary Sept. 25th.

Couple of questions - The beach pics you posted from Barbados. Where were these? (what resort) Would love to see about a day pass here. Beautiful.

Also, how did you do dinner on embarkation day? We are late seating as well and want to be on deck for sail away. Is it okay to go a little late to the MDR, or should we eat elsewhere this night?

Thanks and look forward to the rest of your review.

Happy 4th of July!

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Bet you could fry an egg on that beach? Southern Caribbean is so much hotter then the western and eastern routes.

 

Jimbo:)

Actually the temps were in the mid '80's the whole time we were there. We are from Texas where is has been 100+ so it was actually very comfortable to us..we loved it!!

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Hi Stacey,

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. We are on this same itenerary Sept. 25th.

Couple of questions - The beach pics you posted from Barbados. Where were these? (what resort) Would love to see about a day pass here. Beautiful.

Also, how did you do dinner on embarkation day? We are late seating as well and want to be on deck for sail away. Is it okay to go a little late to the MDR, or should we eat elsewhere this night?

Thanks and look forward to the rest of your review.

Happy 4th of July!

I wish I knew what resort that was..It was stunning..but I never got the name of it. There were alot of them along the shoreline. As far as sailaway, I think it was right around 7:30 and late dinner didn't start until 8:30. You should be ok..

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Friday...St. Marteen..Oreint Beach. This was my third time to St. Marteen and it is one of my favorite ports. We had been to Orient Beach on our first vist there a few years ago and the cab driver dropped us off right by Club Orient..not knowing any better..we settled there and saw a variety of nudity throughout the day..just let me say that there are ALOT of people that really I really dont need to see totally nude.

 

The second time we went to St.Marteen, we went to Little Divi Bay. We enjoyed our day there but really liked the beach at Oreint better.

 

This time, being more saavy about Orient, we knw to go further down the beach to a "less" nude area. We asked the taxi driver to take us to Bikini Beach. We saw a few topless women, but nothing we couldn't handle..all in all it was a great day! We shopped afterwards. The shopping at St. Marteen is by far the best on this itenerary.

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