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Serenade of the Seas Review 1/21-1/28 Long, but hopefully helpful!

laurel1143

By laurel1143,
in Royal Caribbean International

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laurel1143

laurel1143

Posted
Posted

We just returned from a 1/21/06 Southern Caribbean on the Serenade of the Seas. To sum it up- WOW! We had a wonderful time, with very little that was not close to perfect. Here's the Breakdown:

Embarkation: the breeziest I’ve ever seen. In my 3 previous cruises a 30 minute wait would have been a walk in the park, but at the San Juan Port Terminal the was NO wait at all- walked right up to an agent and we were walking up to the ship within 3 minutes-AMAZING! My only complaint about the whole process was the transfer from the airport to the terminal. We had to wait almost an hour for a bus to pick us up-next time we'll just take a cab.

Cabin: We had one of the wonderful Royal Family Suites on deck 8 aft. The room was great- two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a pull out bed. There was good storage in the cabin and the bathroom in the master was amazing-all marble with a huge tub. I only wish that they also had a TV in the smaller of the two bedrooms- I like to watch the different activities going on in the ship and check out the excursions. But not at all a big deal. Also, you can not physically be farther from the elevators- not good unless you want to work off all your meals with a brisk walk!

Food: Overall, the food was the best I've ever had a an RCCL ship. It's the same menu as usual, which get a little old, but the food just tasted better. The lobster on the second formal night is usually WAY overcooked and rubbery but this time it melted in your mouth! Also the Serenade had the Seaview Cafe which was WONDERFUL! You could get a burger, fish and chips, or they can even make you a grilled cheese, which is the perfect food at 11:00 at night! Windjammer had the normal array of foods, with nothing special. Not a disappointment, but no big surprise either. My only complaint is that there are times (not many, but a few) where you can't find any places open for food!

Service: This was the absolute HIGHLIGHT of the trip! Our Dinner Staff (Natasha from Trinidad and Carolina from Chile) were AMAZING! They gave us wonderfully personalized service and truly seemed happy to see us each night. We are a family of 7 , some of which had never been on a cruise, but they were always patient and really worked to make sure we had the best time. Also, our room attendant (Fredrick) was equally wonderful. Even though I know he couldn't have gotten more than 6 hours of sleep a night, every time I was him (and I swear it was every time I walked down that long hallway) he greeted me by name and had a huge smile on his face. It is wonderful to know that these service professionals are so dedicated to their roles, that even though they have a family and life back in their home countries, you would never think that they would want to be anywhere but on the ship working hard to make sure everyone in having a great vacation. In our week on the Serenade we did not meet one rude or unpleasant crew member, which I find amazing.

Itinerary/Excursions: We had a very port intensive cruise, stopping at 5 ports in 7 days (not including San Juan). St Thomas was the first port, which I can't really comment on b/c we didn't get off the ship. We were there last year though and had a great time (catamaran and snorkeling. St. Martin was next, and we just took the water taxi over to Phillipsburg and shopped around a little bit. The merchants are quite pushy (like most everywhere in the Caribbean) but we did find some good deals. The walk back to the water taxi was nice- we stayed on the boardwalk side so we were between the beach and all the beach resort and little cafes and bars- very cute! Next was Antigua where we did the kayak and ecotour with the Paddles company. It was wonderful! It was great to spend the afternoon with the guides who are so passionate about the environment that they live in, and it was great to have them share that with us! We also hiked up to the top of Great Bird Island which had some great views and neat rock formations. The next day was St. Lucia, which is by far my new favorite Caribbean Island. We did the Land and Sea to Soufriere tour, which was a whole day, half on a bus and half on a catamaran. We visited a bunch of spots on the islands, had a great lunch (all local foods-yummy!) and then took a very relaxing catamaran back to Castries. The guide (another Natasha) was great, and we got a really good overview of the island that she obviously loves. Then there was Barbados. The whole family (ranging from 20-somethings to by boyfreinds 80 year old grandmother) booked the Beautiful Barbados and Historical Plantation house Tour. DO NOT BOOK THIS TOUR!! We drove all around the island with a crazy guide (Julian) who talked the whole time about there needing to be a violent coup against the corrupt government, how women are the devil (his exact words-this was right before he mentioned that he might kill his ex-wife), and how ALL plantation owners are criminals (which was ironic b/c we thought we had booked a plantation tour). We were happy to get dropped off at the pier without being enlisted in the revolution! The only brightside to the whole experience was afterward when I went to Guest Relations to voice my concerns. They were very understanding, and had me fill out a form which I was worried would just sit in a file. Then I walk into the cabin the next day and find a refund slip- they refunded 50% of everyone in our group for the excursion! I felt this was over and above seeing as how it was not their fault this man was a lunatic, I just wanted them to know so hopefully they would stop offering this excursion. The Barbados tour was the only bad point out of the whole trip, so all in all not bad.

I know this has gotten lengthy, so let me end this by saying we had a WONDERFUL cruise, and I would book this ship and this itinerary again in a heartbeat! There was always plenty to do, both on and off the ship (Which was stunning, the prettiest I’ve seen out of all the RCCL ships), and it never felt crowded. I hope someone gets some use out of this and signs themselves up on this ship!

I'd love to hear from everyone else who was on the ship this week- what did you guys think??

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KamloopsCruisers

KamloopsCruisers

Posted
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Laurell,

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. We don't sail on the Serenade until next December, and your review makes me wish we were sailing a lot sooner - say, next week? :D

 

Glad you and your family had such an enjoyable time. Are any of the first-time cruisers now addicted like the rest of us???:)

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justwaiting

justwaiting

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Thanks for the great review. We leave March 4th and can't wait to go. The question I have is what nights were the formal nights and did they really have turkey on the last night in the dining room? I am trying to plan my husbands birthday at Chops for a night and need to figure out when.

The islands sound great.

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Justwaiting

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judy&steve

judy&steve

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We were on the same cruise. I think we met you in the concierge lounge a couple of times, Laurel. We were the couple you thought you met on an excursion:)

As for the question about Maritza -- she is not on the Serenade. I remember reading a few weeks back that she had a family emergency and had to leave the ship. The concierge, Michel, couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. We were very pleased with his service. He mixed our drinks every evening. On the Adventure last year we had to make our own.

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JacobOliver

JacobOliver

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Thanks so much for the review on the Serenade.

 

Wondering about the formal nights, which nights were the formal ones. I hear conflicting opinions. One person told me it was the second and sixth, which would be Sunday and Thursday. The other told me it was Monday and Thursday. Also, did you make it to Chops and Portofinos. Just wondering which night I would skip the menu in the dining room to do this, some meals are not to be missed in the Main Dining room. I would want to be there the first and last night. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

:o

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buxtoncp

buxtoncp

Posted
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Hi Laurel

So glad to hear your experience on S of S was the same as ours. We enjoyed it so much we rebooked it for 1/27/07 to take our grown children. We have been on over 15 cruises, many of these RCCL, and Serenade is definitely the best. On of the things we enjoyed on this itinerary was on the last day we sailed slowly past several islands we have never visited, MOnteserrat and Saba. It was wonderful scenary. Conde NAst Traveler just rated Serenade the best of the RCCL ships so I guess several people agree with us. Glad you enjoyed it!

carole

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TRC

TRC

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Thanks for the review. We have this cruise booked for 1/13/07. We're a little concerned there might be too many ports. Glad to know you had a good time. We love the Serenade and crew.

 

Thanks again!

TRC

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Irish90Cruiser

Irish90Cruiser

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Airb330 -

 

I just read the most recent Serenade review by Tom. If that is yours, can you tell me a little more about Mullins Beach on Barbados? We were thinking about going there ourselves so I'd like to hear more about it. We are looking for more of a quiet secluded beach and it doesn't sound like that is what we'll get there.

 

Thanks!

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scaevolatn

scaevolatn

Posted
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Thanks for the review - our group of 22 is booked on the same tour for 3/25.

 

Crazy driver notwithstanding, can you comment on the Barbados Colonial Plantation tour itself? My parents have booked this excursion for our upcoming cruise, and are wondering if the tour itself might be worth it, in the hopes of not getting that driver again...

Thanks.

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judy&steve

judy&steve

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Thanks so much for the review on the Serenade.

 

Wondering about the formal nights, which nights were the formal ones. I hear conflicting opinions. One person told me it was the second and sixth, which would be Sunday and Thursday. The other told me it was Monday and Thursday. Also, did you make it to Chops and Portofinos. Just wondering which night I would skip the menu in the dining room to do this, some meals are not to be missed in the Main Dining room. I would want to be there the first and last night. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

:o

 

Monday and Thursday were the formal nights last week, We went to Chops Sunday (Italian night) and Friday nights and loved it both times. Great food and service. We were able to get our tip vouchers a day early so we could tip the dining room staff on Thursday night.

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Airb330

Airb330

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Airb330 -

 

I just read the most recent Serenade review by Tom. If that is yours, can you tell me a little more about Mullins Beach on Barbados? We were thinking about going there ourselves so I'd like to hear more about it. We are looking for more of a quiet secluded beach and it doesn't sound like that is what we'll get there.

 

Thanks!

 

No, sorry, that wasn't me. We did the Atlantis sub on Barbados and then just relaxed by the pool on the ship afterwards. The weather was a little iffy that day.

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mercedesmom2002

mercedesmom2002

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Great review! We sailed the Seranade Oct. 28-Nov. 5 and absolutely loved that ship and crew! We had Frederick too. He always was so happy and had that smile on his face and went above and beyond whenever we needed something. We cruised over Halloween and we gave him a goodie bag of candy and you would have thought it was a million dollars. He never forgot that, thanked us over and over and said he so loves chocolate...

 

Our wait staff was great also, Chicek and Herbert (looked like Eddie Murray). We also got to see our waiter we had on the Enchantment in 2003 as a staff heard we had him and located him and sent him to our table. That was Zoltan and there is none better...

 

This was our favorite ship by far. Navigator will have to be spectacular to beat the Seranade.

 

 

Sue

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