Serenade 3/25/06 Review and Navigator Comparison

[scaevolatn]

I just returned from the 3/25 Southern Caribbean sailing on Serenade, my 2nd cruise. Here’s my review, and some comparisons between my Serenade and Navigator experiences.

 

I LOVED this itinerary and would do it again without hesitation. There were 22 of us from 3 generations sailing together, and everyone had wonderful things to say about the ship and itinerary. We were the “7-5-3-1” group from Tennessee with the colorful shirts (NOT the other large Tennessee group, which we observed to be drunk and disorderly way too much!).

 

Arrival/Embarkation in San Juan:

Very smooth. 6 of us arrived about 11:30 AM on the day of departure (Saturday). It didn’t take long to get our luggage – just be ready to show your claim tickets, which are checked as you exit Baggage Claim. There is a taxi stand just outside baggage claim, and we had a quick ride to the Pan American Pier at a total cost of $28.50 ($19 flat rate plus luggage).

 

We kept waiting to encounter check-in lines at the pier, but there just weren’t any. We checked our luggage curbside, went through Security, checked in at the pier, and were onboard at 12:30, a mere hour after our flight had landed. The cabins weren’t available until 1:00, so we headed to Windjammer for our first lunch.

 

After lunch and unpacking (our luggage was waiting for us right after lunch!), we took a taxi ride into Old San Juan ($5 per person, each way) and enjoyed an afternoon stroll. The weather was warm but breezy, and we enjoyed seeing all the kite-flying at El Morro.

 

We sailed shortly after 10PM, and enjoyed a beautiful sailaway from the harbor. If you want to watch this from your stateroom, you'll need one on the starboard side.

 

Weather / Sailing Conditions:

The weather could not have been more perfect – no rain, warm temps never below 75 or above 90, and gentle breezes. The only ‘rough’ seas were between St. Lucia and Barbados, where you’re not in the shelter of the Caribbean. Much of the time, you had to look outside, or down at the water, to discern whether the ship was underway.

 

Excursions:

There were problems with excursion bookings on this sailing. Using the RCI web site, I had booked morning and afternoon excursions for Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. I received all of my excursion tickets on arrival the first day. In Antigua and Barbados, my afternoon excursions had been moved to the morning, forcing me to cancel one of my excursions in each of those ports. In St. Lucia, the morning and afternoon excursions were swapped, but the swap allowed only 30 minutes between excursions, which in reality was only 5 minutes as I observed the return of the excursion I chose to cancel. It was unfortunate that I didn't get to do everything I had wanted, but RCI refunded my cancellations withouth question (or apology). Bottom line here – make your bookings, be prepared for the unexpected, and enjoy whatever you choose to do. The cancellations gave me a reason to return to those beautiful ports.

 

Ports of Call / Excursions:

St. Thomas : 7 of us did the St. John Beach Tour, which was wonderful. I can see why Trunk Bay is rated among the most beautiful beaches around. The water here was crystal clear. We really enjoyed the self-guided snorkel tour just off the beach, and enjoyed the colorful reefs and fish. Trunk Bay is in the National Park, and had restroom and shower facilities as well as a snack bar. We had 2 full hours at Trunk Bay to enjoy the beach and water.

 

After lunch on the ship, some of us did some light shopping at Havensight Mall next to the pier back on St. Thomas. We were there on Sunday, so most of the businesses in downtown Charlotte Amalie were closed. Don’t forget the free trolley between the pier and the mall, which will save you a few minutes of walking if you need it.

 

St. Croix: We were lucky enough to be on one of Serenade’s once-every-3-week sailings that stopped for refueling at Frederiksted, St. Croix, after departing St. Thomas. We were only there for a few hours in the evening (8:30-11:30). The friendly residents of Frederiksted made special effort to make us feel welcome, even for such a short stay. Several blocks downtown were alive with shops, restaurants, vendors and live music. The highlight of the evening was an exhibition of local dance & music by the residents, who also welcomed the visitors into the celebration. We really enjoyed watching the dancing and listening to the music, and several of our group said this was the highlight of their cruise, because you got to become so immersed in the local culture. The dancers on stilts were amazing.

 

St. Maarten: 7 of us did the Loterie Farm Treetop Adventure, which was outstanding and not to be missed. This is a physically demanding excursion, and you will be exhausted at the end, but it’s also wonderfully exhilarating. Only 39 people are allowed to sign up for the excursion (size of the bus, I believe). After a brief instruction on the safety gear, you climb up into the course and begin traversing the various cables, ladders and zip lines, clipping yourself in and out of each of the 43 traverses on the course. What a blast! The course is on the French side of the island, so you also get an island tour en route.

 

After lunch on the ship, I took the Water Taxi ($5 for unlimited travel) to downtown Philipsburg for some shopping. Front Street and Back Street are a shopper’s paradise, with plenty of stores and very walkable. The waterfront in Philipsburg is gorgeous, and you can rent beach chairs/umbrellas there.

 

Antigua: 6 of us did the Catamaran Sail, Snorkel and Beach. About 50 of us sailed in a large catamaran (the Wadadli Cat) out to Paradise Reef, which was colorful with plant life and fish, and with water that was quite clear. However, this reef was very shallow, and it was difficult not to run into the coral. I felt uneasy about this, but got some great photos. After the snorkel, we sailed to Deep Bay, where the catamaran beached and we had 45 minutes to enjoy the beach and water. If you wade into the water at Deep Bay, be warned that the beach is very soft just where the breakers are, and the bottom drops very quickly from 2 feet to 4 feet. This provided lots of fun as we watched others discover the drop-off.

 

After lunch on the ship, I walked into St. John’s and up the hill to the cathedral, which was lovely and afforded nice views of the harbor. St. John’s has a modest ‘tourist’ zone, surrounded by the modest city’s commercial district. Antigua was obviously the poorest island on the itinerary.

 

St. Lucia: What a beautiful island! I could have spent the whole week here. St. Lucia obviously gets more rain than the other islands, and has a healthy economy. I spent the morning walking from one side of the harbor to the other, and shopping at Pointe Seraphine next to the ship’s pier and at the straw market across the harbor in downtown Castries. A water taxi is available for $1 each way to take you between Pointe Seraphine and downtown Castries. Walking around the harbor instead of taking the water taxi takes a good 25 minutes.

 

After lunch on the ship, I took the Snorkeling Delight excursion. This was on a good-sized catamaran, and about 30 of us sailed down the west coast to Anse Chastenet marine park, very close to the Pitons. The water here was crystal-clear, the clearest of the itinerary, with plenty of colorful formations in 5-25 feet of water. There were more fish here than we saw in St. John or Antigua. The scuba divers in our group were told that the diving is best in St. Lucia versus the other islands on this itinerary. After 45 minutes of snorkeling, we sailed close to the coast, and took a side trip into beautiful Marigot Bay.

 

On this day, the ship departs 30 minutes early, and the captain sails down the west coast to the Pitons just before sunset. Serenade again strutted her stuff here, as the captain turned the ship 360 degrees for all to enjoy the spectacular views. We floated just away from the Pitons for a couple of hours after sunset, which made for a great view at dinner.

 

Barbados: Another beautiful island. The port here is not so beautiful, as it doubles as the industrial port. A free shuttle takes you to the cruise terminal a couple minutes’ ride, from which the excursions depart. I took the Barbados Snuba excursion. I have snorkeled several times, and was ready to give Snuba a try as a possible segue to scuba diving. We drove through Bridgetown, which has a shopping district and seemed quite British in its architecture and layout. We boarded a pontoon dive boat at a place called The Boatyard, which seemed to be a good place for those wanting to spend the afternoon on the beach and enjoy water activities. Our boat took a short ride along the pristine beach to a marine park, where we received instruction on the Snuba equipment, which is essentially scuba diving but the air tanks float on a raft at the surface. Four of us shared a raft with 2 air tanks on it, and air lines about 20 feet long. There were 3 rafts, so only 12 of us total on the excursion. Each raft had a guide in scuba gear, and we were led down about 20 feet to a couple of shipwrecks and a reef. Even though tethered to the raft that you shared with 3 other people, you had a nice amount of liberty in swimming around the wrecks.

The water here was the warmest of the itinerary, though not the clearest. The shipwrecks were teeming with fish, more than the other places I dove during the week. We were underwater for about 25 minutes, and I can see why I could become addicted to scuba diving.

After lunch on the ship, I went to the cruise terminal for some light shopping. The terminal has a large selection of vendors, selling, in my humble opinion, the usual tourist stuff. I recommend taking a 10-minute walk from the cruise terminal to the Pelican Arts and Crafts Center, where you’ll find artists in residence making local, authentic crafts. I really enjoyed Collector’s Treasures, and artist Anna Legall, who had a wonderful array of hand-built pottery, jewelry, glassware and hand-painted found objects. It’s worth the walk from the cruise terminal to see the real thing.

Day At Sea: This was a relaxing break for our port-intensive itinerary. Captain Eric did a great job of narrating as he sailed past each island. At 9:30 that morning, he took us very close to Montserrat, and spun the ship 360 degrees. We took this opportunity to climb the rock wall, for some even more special views of the island. At lunch time, we sailed past Nevis, St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and St. Eustatius (Statia). Late afternoon, we sailed very close to rugged Saba.

Disembarkation/Departure: This was one of the few disappointments of the week. We assembled in the Schooner Bar, a little before 8:00 AM as requested. We were in Air Departure Group #3 for our 1:50PM flight. Group #1 departure was announced at 8:15, the 2nd group at 8:20, and our group at 8:23. However, we only made it as far as the Centrum when we ran into a line that snaked its way along Deck 5 all the way forward to the Tropical Theater. We waited in this line 40 minutes to reach the exit point. They should have waited longer to call each departure group, rather than make everyone queue up like they did. Once off the ship, we zipped through Immigration, quickly found our luggage, zipped through Customs, and grabbed another quick taxi to the airport. We reached the airport at 9:35. Ticketing was a bit chaotic at Delta’s counters. We were through Security by 10:35, so we had almost 3 hours to wait at the airport, but there were plenty of seats available.

Food: We are not gourmet eaters, but found the food to be fine in both Windjammer and the dining room, where we ate every evening. The dining room staff was great and kept us happy. The seating of our group of 22 was not correct on the first night, but our Head Waiter quickly solved that problem so that we were at least together at 2 tables, though nowhere near each other.

 

Formal nights were Monday (St. Maarten) and Thursday (Barbados). Smart casual was Wednesday (St. Lucia).

 

The Seaview Café on Deck 12, aft, has great hamburgers and onion rings. It was open at various times through the day, and the schedule posted at the entrance wasn’t accurate. There was no extra charge for the food here, but there was a charge if you wanted a soft or alcoholic drink.

 

Ships We Saw:

St. Thomas – Golden Princess, Seabourn Legend

St. Maarten – Seven Seas Navigator

Antigua – Swan Hellenic Minerva II, P&O Arcadia

St. Lucia – Aida vita, Silversea Silver Cloud

Barbados – Oceania Insignia, Fred Olsen Braemar, Freewinds, Silversea Silver Cloud

San Juan – Golden Princess, Silversea Silver Cloud

 

Special Note: As we departed Antigua, the Arcadia’s aft deck was full of passengers waving British flags and singing to us. I love the idea of a sailaway sing-along and mentioned it on my evaluation form.

 

 

Serenade vs. Navigator:

 

Ship Size / Crowding:

Navigator: sometimes crowded, especially in the Windjammer at lunch; inherent delays in boarding/disembarking with a bigger ship

Serenade: You could really tell that Serenade had 1,000 fewer passengers. I kept expecting the smaller, Radiance-class ship to seem crowded, but it never happened. I don’t know where all those people were, but I just didn’t see them. It might have been partly due to the port-intensive itinerary, but only the pool was crowded on the sea day. The single exception was the Photo Gallery on the night after first formal pictures: everyone seemed to think they had to view and buy their photos that night.

 

Ship Décor:

The Serenade is just a more beautiful ship, thanks in big part to all the glass. The décor seemed warmer to me, and I loved the layout and ambience of the Schooner Bar and Safari Club. Stateroom décor was prettier on Serenade.

 

Luggage:

On Navigator, our luggage arrived after dinner. On Serenade, we had all of our luggage by 1:30PM, shortly after arriving in the cabin. This was an early delight of the trip.

 

Onboard activities:

Navigator: The ice rink is a bonus if you use it. Navigator had plenty of hot tubs day and night.

Serenade: We loved the self-leveling pool tables in the Safari Club, which were difficult to watch while underway, but worked perfectly. The pool areas seem undersized, even for 1,000 fewer passengers. Serenade had a movie theater, which I don’t recall on Navigator. The Solarium on Serenade is stunning.

 

Muster Drill: On Navigator, we mustered under our lifeboat on the promenade, on a warm Miami afternoon. On Serenade, most of the muster stations were inside the ship – we mustered at Chops Grille and were able to sit down during the drill.

 

Entertainment:

There was no particular difference in the quality of nightly shows in the theater on either ship. I was disappointed that Serenade’s superior Schooner Bar only had a piano player each night; the bar was empty several nights. On Navigator, we loved Matt Yee’s late-night adult sing-along, which packed ‘em in.

The casino was much bigger on Navigator, yet Serenade’s was seldom crowded, possibly because we were sailing during Spring Break and the kids were in their part of the ship (again, the ship wasn’t crowded, so wherever the kids were, I didn’t see them much, and there was a 1AM curfew for them).

 

Food: I noticed no particular difference between the ships, to my pleasure, and the dining room menu was very similar between the two. We had some very good food there, and some that was simply OK.

I liked the Café Promenade on Navigator for its round-the-clock coffee and snacks. On Serenade, there was Latte-tudes, but it wasn’t open round-the-clock, and it only offered specialty drinks that incurred an additional charge. The round-the-clock coffee on Serenade was available in the ante-room next to the Windjammer entrance. There were places on Serenade to find food at most hours of the day, but they were in different places depending on the time of day.

 

Stability: Serenade was much more stable than Navigator over the same waters (San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten).

 

Staterooms: Serenade décor was much more pleasing than Navigator. Our Navigator E2 balcony had an ornamental curtain between the beds and living area, but Serenade’s D1 balcony had a curtain that fully spanned the width of the cabin. Otherwise, the cabins were nearly identical.

 

Disembarkation: On Navigator, you had to indicate your flight time, and were issued luggage tags and disembarkation times accordingly. On Serenade, the luggage tags provided were only for identification in the terminal, and you did not have to register your flight time with the ship – you departed in the Air Departure Group that matched your flight time (on the honor system).

 

We enjoyed the Radiance class enough on this itinerary that we went ahead and booked our next cruise while onboard – the 6-night Western route on the Jewel next March.

 

Be sure to read another thread on this sailing from my fellow traveler, volleymasha:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=325203

 

Hope to have my above-water and underwater photos soon. Check back on this thread for my URL.

[megr1125]

Thanks for the great review! We were on NOS last October, and will be on SOS (no pun intended!) in Alaska this Sept so it was great to see your comparisons of these ships!

[Sheffie]

What a great review! Thanks for taking the time to post it here.

 

5 more sleeps and we are headed out for her!

[Deets]

Thanks for your review. It was every informative. Our cruise on the Serenade will be next January so I just love spending time reading everything I can about her.

 

Would you please tell me a little more about the Solarium area? With the solarium being enclosed with glass, I am imagining it to be like the pool at the Holiday Inn Holidome. Can they/do they ever remove the glass ceiling? Are the sides open so the warm Caribbean air circulates through the area or is it like being at an air conditioned indoor pool? Is there lots of direct sunlight in the area or is it all shaded? I appreciate you sharing your cruise with us.

 

Thanks,

Jeanne

[wolfcathorse]

Who was the captain that gave you the excellent view of the Pitons?

[mercedesmom2002]

Thanks for the great review. We sailed the Seranade last Oct/Nov. and will be on the Navigator July 1st. It was great that you compared the two. Although from reading, I may be a bit disappointed with the Navigator. That's what I was afraid of as I loved the Seranade and thought it was a beautiful ship. I'm afraid the Navigator will almost be too big and too many people (and kids) since there's so much to do on it.

 

Well, regardless any cruise is great and much better than being at home so we're looking forward to it!

 

Sue

[scaevolatn]

Serenade's great Captain was Eric Tengelsen. Each evening at departure, he'd make an announcement of the evening's course, noting sights to be seen along the way. He gave a great narrative as we sailed to the Pitons - what a beautiful way to end a day, with the Pitons on one side of the ship and the setting sun on the other.

 

During the sea day, Capt. Eric made several announcements throughout the day, describing the history of each island as we sailed past. With Serenade's ability to spin around, there was seldom a bad viewpoint on the ship.

 

As for the Solarium, I suppose you could envision a spiffed-up Holiday Inn Holidome. Glass down each side (the Solarium spans the entire beam of the ship), a retractable glass roof, and lush SE Asian decor. The roof was only open, to my observation, while in port at Castries, St. Lucia. The glass down each side was fixed (not openable), and lined with cafe tables/chairs and low, beach-style chairs. I found it a great place to watch the port of the day, read, or nap.

 

With all the glass, there was plenty of sunshine, especially in the late afternoon, but it was always comfortable inside. Besides the pool, the space included a hot tub, fresh-water shower, restrooms, and the Solarium Bar (handy for late-night snacking). It was only crowded on the sea day, as the lounge chairs in the space are limited.

 

Each entrance to the Solarium has sliding doors, which made it possible for them to keep the space nicely air conditioned while the roof was closed.

[BobKat406]

Thanks for the great review - I love to read peoples different view points to get the best of everything.

 

I'll be with Michelle this Saturday on SOS. Very excited as it is my first cruise so I have no expectations or anything to compare it to.

 

I am trying to find a place to parasail. Did you notice any parasailing on Barbados? I know that they have it on St. Thomas but we have a full day scheduled and I won't be able to fit it in there.

[scaevolatn]

I didn't observe any on the one beach I was on. However, I came home with a "Barbados in a Nutshell" visitor's guide, and on page 69 is the following advert for parasailing:

 

The Falcon

Come and Parasail...it's safe, loads of fun for the entire family, and what a way to see the island! You can fly alone, or fly with a friend - it's exhilarating and energizing...AND you can stay dry the whole time - taking off and landing right on the boat.

The crew of the Falcon have been trained to international standards and the boat and equipment are well maintained. Join the "High Flyers Club" and go all the way up to 800ft...take your camera and capture it on film! Group bookings and parties welcome.

For bookings and information:

Tel: 419 0579

Cell: 230 4507 or 230 9549

email: lourdes@caribnet.net

www.parasailingwiththefalcon.com.bb

[jfs9900]

Thanks loved your report!

 

Can you give more details on the Loterie Farm Treetop Adventure? Do you happen to have any pictures you could share or email to me? What excatly does the excursion intal is it zip line, rock climbing ???

[scaevolatn]

Here's a photo they took of me as I zipped along the course:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scaevolatn/images/DSC3807.jpg

 

The course is a combination of ladders, rope bridges and zip lines. No rock climbing. You wear a harness containing two carabiner clips (for safety) and a pulley rig. After they show you how to operate the safety gear, you clip yourself into the course and begin traversing between the trees. You always keep one clip connected at all times between traverses, since you're tens of feet off the ground on parts of the course.

 

Some traverses simply involved a tightrope to walk between trees. Some traverses were zip lines using the pulley rig, and some of the zip lines were maybe a couple hundred feet long. You were provided a thick glove to use for braking on the zip lines. There were also traverses where the footholds were swinging, so you had to keep your balance as you stretched your foot out to the next step between two trees. These proved to be the most challenging of the traverses for me.

 

Most of the trees in between the traverses had platforms around them, so that a couple of people could be on the platform at one time and keep the group moving along. It took on average an hour and a half to complete the 43 traverses.

[emen822]

We have only been on one other cruise and that was the Mariner. So I loved to read the comparison of the two ships. We will be there in 11 days! :D

 

Who was the Cruise Director? Do you have copies of the cruise compasses?

 

I look forward to seeing your pictures when you post the link.

 

Thanks again.

[scaevolatn]

I have posted the Cruise Compasses from Serenade's March 25th Southern Caribbean cruise, as well as some of my photos from that sailing:

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scaevolatn/cruise/

[jfs9900]

I have posted the Cruise Compasses from Serenade's March 25th Southern Caribbean cruise, as well as some of my photos from that sailing:

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scaevolatn/cruise/

 

Thank you so much! The pictures were great and the compasses will be very helpful for our sailing on the 29th.

 

Do you have any more pictures that you can post?

[Sheffie]

I have posted the Cruise Compasses from Serenade's March 25th Southern Caribbean cruise, as well as some of my photos from that sailing:

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scaevolatn/cruise/

 

Yes, thanks for taking the time to post all of the Compass pages. I just read through ALL of them!

 

Your pictures are great, too.

 

I can hardly wait for Saturday!!!

[scaevolatn]

Sorry, I posted the previous note before I had many of my pictures up there. I've now posted up through St. Lucia (Day 5), including some of my favorite underwater photos from the snorkeling trips.

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scaevolatn/cruise/

[caper32]

Great Pictures. Great review. Thanks

What camera did you use? We leave in 10 days.

Any pictures of Barbados?:D

[CruisinChrissy0303]

We are sailing on the Serenade on 4/29 for a ten night cruise very similar to the one you did! We have one extra sea day plus we go to Aruba and Curacao. After that review I just got more excited!!! Sounds like we are going to have a blast. Thank you.:D

[emen822]

The snorkeling pictures are great. The colors are amazing! What type of camera did you use?

 

I see Kirk is the cruise director. We had him last year on the Mariner. :o

[scaevolatn]

My camera is a Canon Powershot S50 (5MP), and I have the Canon underwater housing for it. I've learned how to adjust the white balance when I first go underwater, so that the photos turn out great. I don't do any other adjustments to the camera - just leave it in Program mode. I'm very happy with my results from Antigua and St. Lucia.

 

Unfortunately, I have no underwater pix from my Barbados Snuba excursion. I learned that for deeper waters (like Snuba 10-20ft. vs. snorkel 0-8ft.), I should have used the anti-fog liquid to keep the underwater housing from fogging up. By the time I got to depth and realized the problem, it was too late to resurface and fix things.

 

I'll have (a few) Barbados pix, and the day at sea pix, posted tonight.