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

TxStacey

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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We ate lunch at the restaurant at Bikini beach and it was good..service was slow..island time..but a little faster than in Antigua. You also have to be careful because they dont convert the prices on the menu or credit cards.

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Saturday..St. Croix...One of the best excursions we took all week..Gekko ATV land and sea tour!!

 

We weren't really sure what to do in St. Croix, but about 4 weeks before the cruise we decided to try to book the Gekko tour. Luckily for us, they were able to accomidate us by flipping the order of our tour. Once we got off the ship, we walked to the Gekko office, which is a short walk. We checked in, signed some papers and were driven to Rainbow Beach where we were able to enjoy the beach and do the sea kayaks. Our time for the ATV's was 12:30 and we got to the beach at 9:30 so we had plenty of time to relax and eat lunch before we had to check in. The food there was very good and the drinks were great.

 

At 12:30 we walked across the street to meet our tour guide for the ATV's. This was the highlight of our trip. We LOVED it! The tour takes you through the rainforrest and up a "mountain" where the views were amazing. It lasts about and hour and a half. After the ATV tour, we went back to Rainbow beach where we got waverunner's for an hour. We enjoyed the waverunner's but I think an hour is a little too long. It was a great day all in all and I would absolutely do it again!

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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We loved our day in St. Croix and were very sad that our week was coming to an end. When we got back on the ship we had to PACK:(..the week went sooo fast though.

 

Sunday...Debarkation day..they really do make you get off the ship!!

We had a late flight (4:00 p.m.) so we were in the last group to get off the ship. We were told to go to the Tropical showroom by 9:30 where we waited until they called us. Once we were called, we found our bags and got a cab to the airport..that's where the real fun began. We got to the airport around 10:00 or 10:15 and got in the agriculture line to get our red sticker..note..this is very important if you are flying out of San Juan..your airline will not check you in until your bags have the red sticker on them...this line was about 30-45 minutes long at 10:00.

 

Once we got our stickers we went to get in line at the Spirit Airlines counter..we were about #5 in line when we quickly learned that there was NOONE working at the Spirit counter..apparently they dont come in until 11:30..so we had to wait..standing..for an hour for them to come into work. Then we were at the counter trying to check in for at least another 15 minutes. It was very frustrating and Im sure they encounter this every Sunday because of all of the cruise passengers.

 

We knew we were going to be at the airport for a very long time and it would have been nice had we been able to check in and sit down at the gate or at a restaurant and relax. This is another reason I will not fly Spirit again..but the story gets better..Our flight to Dallas both coming and going had a stop in Ft. Lauderdale where we were told we would not change planes. On our way back to Dallas the flight attendants said 3 times.."if you are going on to Dallas, this is your plane, we need you to get off, but you will be able to re-board shortly"...soooo D and I decide to go to the ladies room..while we were in the line I hear over the loud speaker "Final boarding call for flight **** to Dallas"..They had not only chaged our plane, but the gate too...which was way down the concourse..luckily, we found H and ran to the gate..they almost weren't going to let us on the plane until I threw a fit and told them that no-one told us the plane/gate changed and that our plane had just landed 5 minutes earlier..they finally let us on along with about 15 other passengers that were in our same situation. I know this is rambling alot about Spirit..but I want other cruisers to be aware..

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deltatango

deltatango

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That Valley Church Beach looks super great, the last time I was in Antigua was 1967 and beaches were great than, looks like they still are, need a good price all round to do a RC cruise next year in the Caribbean, its the airfares that kill it.

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Final thoughts.....

 

This cruise was about the ports for us..not the ship.

As you can see from my pictures, I only have the ports and none of the ship..We loved the Serenade and especially the crew, but I just never took any pictures of the ship..I dont really know why because we did love it! Our balcony was on deck 9, 9568, and we loved the location. We were right by the library, which was a great place for our group to meet. It was also close to the Centrum where there was always something going on. The condition of the ship was very good and I really didnt see anything that I thought needed repair etc. They were re-painting the children's pool while we were on board so the hours were limited. We really didn't use it anyway as we were only by the pool on the day at sea.

 

We really missed the Royal Promenade on this ship, but we knew ahead of time that we would, so no big deal..had the Adventure of the Seas been available, we would have booked it..however, I will say that we liked the size of the Serenade and it never seemed crowded.

 

The crew was outstanding!!!

This crew has won many awards and they most defintiley deserve them! They were among the most freindly and accomidating that I have ever experienced. Ricky, the cruise director, was outstanding also..one of the best we have had..he is very funny and energetic and really tries to get the passengers involved.

Our waitstaff in the dining room..Ergun and Brendo..were the best we have ever had in 8 cruises..they were unbelievably accomidating..had our drinks down after the first night and always brought us extra things on the menu to try without us asking. We loved them and tipped them extra accordingly. We also made sure to mention them by name on our survey.

 

The shows/entertainment were OK

We went to most of the shows and they were OK, not outstanding. We are used to late night comedians and there weren't any..however, i must say that we were in bed by midnight most everynight because of the port intensive itenerary. We did go the The Quest which was fun, but would have been better in a larger venue like the showroom. It was in the Safari lounge which was crowded. We did enjoy the singers in the Centrum each night, especially the 70's night..

 

The food was good!

We enjoyed our food very much and thought it was better than what we had on the Freedom in February. The windjammer and the Seaview Cafe were good too. We also had room service deliver to us every morning as our wakeup call..They were always on time and very effcient. We loved drinking coffee on the balcony each morning!

 

The fellow passengers were great!

We never ran into any unruly kids or rude passengers. I had read about some unpleasant experiences from someone that was on the Serenade a couple of weeks before us. Apparently there were alot of quincenera's going on during that cruise and alot of rude teens. We did not experience that at all..I think the ratio was probably 1/3 Puerto Ricans to 2/3 Americans or other...In fact, the Puerto Ricans probably felt over taken by us..lol...we met some really nice people and had a great time!

 

Overall this was a wonderful cruise and we had a great time! The only issues we had were from Spirit Airlines ,but that would not affect the majority of people reading this. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I will try to answer!! We LOVED Puerto Rico and San Juan! I can see why people love to cruise out of there!! The airport is another story..but if you are aware of it like I was beforehand, it is not so bad..

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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That Valley Church Beach looks super great, the last time I was in Antigua was 1967 and beaches were great than, looks like they still are, need a good price all round to do a RC cruise next year in the Caribbean, its the airfares that kill it.

 

 

Vally Church beach was great and not crowded at all..we loved it!

 

you are right about the airfare to San Juan..it was VERY expensive for us. We actually tried to move our cruise to Florida..the Freedom or the Oasis or Allure and it was going to be more expensive than the cruise on the Serenade (with air included). Royal Carribean really needs to be aware that they may be pricing many cruisers out because the cruises out of Florida have gotten so expensive and the airfare to San Juan is ridiculous..

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deltatango

deltatango

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Vally Church beach was great and not crowded at all..we loved it!

 

you are right about the airfare to San Juan..it was VERY expensive for us. We actually tried to move our cruise to Florida..the Freedom or the Oasis or Allure and it was going to be more expensive than the cruise on the Serenade (with air included). Royal Carribean really needs to be aware that they may be pricing many cruisers out because the cruises out of Florida have gotten so expensive and the airfare to San Juan is ridiculous..

 

What is more ridiculous I am talking about airfares from the UK :eek:

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Great review! We are doing Southern Caribbean in February and enjoyed seeing your port pictures. That water looks gorgeous!!!

 

You will love this itenerary! It is by far the best I have experienced and the water was beautiful everywhere, although it is not really all that blue in St. Lucia. It was clear there though...

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TxStacey

TxStacey

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Stacey-

 

We really appreciate you sharing. Leaving on Serenade at the end of this month. Starting to book excursions. Your pics and reviews help so much. Thanks again,

Thanks so much! I really enjoyed writing it and I wanted to hopefully help someone who might not know what they wanted to do in each port. It is such an awesome ship and itenerary!

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