Serenade of the Seas Review - 12/02/06

[Victory748]

We just got back from the Serenade of the Seas and had a wonderful time. I always enjoy reading the reviews when I am waiting to go on my cruise, so I'm hoping that others do too! This was my first cruise on Royal Caribbean.

 

We arrived in Puerto Rico Friday. We had bad ice storms come through Dallas the day before and flights were being canceled left and right. We were flying standby but somehow got on the first flight that morning. We got to the hotel that afternoon and they were having a festival in old town so we headed out there. That evening we met up with a couple that we had been talking to on our roll call at Maria's bar.

 

Saturday went shopping for water and diet coke before getting on the ship. We arrived around 12:30 or so, and had to wait to get on the ship until 1:30. They were on "code red" so were doing extra cleaning to prevent the outbreak of the dreaded norovirus. It was pretty organized once they let people on. They only let one row go at a time so there wasn't a mad rush through the terminal. The ship is beautiful. Tons of glass and was decorated for Christmas. We were in outside cabin 7006, the most forward cabin. I definitely felt the movement there more than midship. We ate lunch then went to the 13th deck and started exploring the ship from the top down. After muster we went to the welcome aboard show. Wasn't too impressed with the comedian but he was alright. We then went to dinner. We set sail at 10 that night during dinner. Speaking of dinner, our waiter Biju provided wonderful service and was very personable. I thought all of the food in the dining room was excellent.

 

Sunday was St. Thomas. We have been here before so this time we just planned to go to a beach. We walked into town from the pier (only about 1 mile) and looked around at the shops. Then we hired a taxi to take us to a beach called Secret Harbor. We were the only people from the cruise ship there, which was nice. Beautiful beach. The water was a little cool but refreshing. Snorkeling was only so so. I think this was the first formal night.

 

Monday was St. Martin. We went with the people we had met in San Juan from our roll call. They had rented a car and invited us to go along. Our first stop was Marigot for some shopping. I'm not a big shopper so it didn't interest me much, but the people we were with bought some things. We then drove to Baie Rouge, a very secluded beach. They told us that usually the water is very calm, but this day the waves were really rough. We watched a group of larger people get knocked around by the wave and almost thrown into rocks. They had to crawl out of the water and you could tell they had the wind knocked out of them. I wanted to go into the water but decided to only go in thigh high. About five minutes after that, a huge freak wave came in that knocked me to the ground, and made it all the way up to where everyone else was sitting on dry sand. Our bag (with passports, money, cameras etc) was washed down the beach a bit. For a minute we thought it had been swept to sea. Talk about a heart attack! The final stop was Maho beach which is right next to the airport. You can watch the airplanes come in right over your head! It was my favorite stop of the day. I believe the show this night was a comedian composer. I have never walked out of a show before because I would hate for the performer to see, but we just couldn't sit through this.

 

Tuesday was Antigua. We had no plans so we got off to look at the shops. I bought my fiance some coffee which he had asked for. We found an internet cafe here where we checked our email and the flights home. We had an email from our tour operator in Barbados stating we were the only two that had booked his tour, and to call when we got to Barbados. More on that later. Then we found a taxi driver (we had about 20 approach us as we were trying to shop) who took us to Dickenson Bay This is where the Sandals resort is. I have to say that it was my favorite beach and if we went back to Antigua we would probably not go there. We would probably do Nelson's Dockyards or a tour of the island. Locals were pretty pushy but were ok if you politely said no thank you. Two did get into a screaming cursing argument right behind us when one tried to take another's customers. Here we ended up going horseback riding on the beach for $30 each for an hour. I paid for it the next day with soreness. This was probably my least favorite island of them all. We did not attend the show this night.

 

Wednesday was St. Lucia which was probably my favorite island. Very lush and beautiful. They call it the Hawaii of the Caribbean. We did Cosol's tour. We were in his brand new week old van which was very nice. He took us to the banana plantations, through a fishing village, the volcano, the pitons, a to a beach right between the pitons. I went snorkeling there and saw a family of squid. We were treated to banana ketchup, our choice of the local beer (Piton beer), rum punch, cokes, or water, and also a large loaf of bread on the way back. Every stop we made there were many vendors trying to sell their jewelry and what have you. If you are not interested, just say no politely and most will leave you alone right away. I think this night was the LaRaf magic show which should not be missed. (There's even some eye candy for the ladies! ;) )

 

Thursday was our last port, Barbados. This is where we had a tour lined up but since we were the only two who signed up for it, it was cancelled. The tour was with Thriller Shipwreck and Turtle tours. We were supposed to go on a power boat to swim with sea turtles and snorkel a ship wreck. We were told to call him when we got into port that morning so he could see if he could get us on a catamaran tour. Our tour was supposed to be at 12:30 that afternoon. We got off the ship around 9:30 thinking that was plenty early and gave him a call. By that time, all the catamarans were gone and no more were leaving that day. I'm a little upset that he didn't tell us in his email that we needed to be off the ship at 8 when our tour wasn't scheduled until 12:30. If we had known we would have gotten off in time. Since we weren't getting our excursion we got a map of the island from the tourism desk. The best beach for snorkeling they said was Payne Beach. It was a popular beach with the cruise. We got into a taxi and arranged for him to pick the group of us up at 3. As luck would have it, when we got there we saw some boats anchored off the shore and people snorkeling all around. We are strong swimmers so we swam out to where they were to see what they were looking at, and sure enough, there were the sea turtles I had been so looking forward to swimming with! It was absolutely amazing. They were huge and gentle and beautiful. That was the highlight of the day and maybe even the trip. So if you want to swim with the turtles, are a strong swimmer, and don't want to go on an excursion, take your own snorkeling gear to Payne beach and swim out to where all the ships are. This was the last formal night.

 

The last day was the only day we had at sea. Most of it was spent laying out by the pool soaking up the sun. Chair hogs as usual but not surprising. Apparently they didn't enforce the dress code in the dining room at all this night. It usually doesn't bother me if people wear jeans or what have you, but I think grown men and women shorts and casual tank tops are a little extreme. The show this night was Screen to Stage. It was their first performance ever and it was wonderful. They did songs from Hairspray, West Side Story, Little Shop of Horrors, and Chicago.

 

All in all, this was my favorite cruise (out of the 3 I've taken). The ship was beautiful, staff excellent, and ports of call were beautiful. I know there is a huge scare about the norovirus right now and I saw them take many precautions. Sanitation stations everywhere. I overheard two crew members talking on one of the last days and they said that 24 people were sick on our cruise. I'm not sure if that's about the average or more or less than usual.

 

Sorry I got a little long winded. It was more fun reliving my cruise than working today.

[harry0]

THANKS FOR YOUR REVIEW-We will be on the Serenade in a couple of months and it always adds to the excitement when someone takes the time to write a review. We will probably be doing the Cosul tour.

 

Harry

[nanfromatlanta]

Great review, thank you.

[JTHOMAS]

Thank you very much for your review. Not long winded enough for me. I like all the details since we are going to be on the same cruise leaving 12/30 for NYE!

[augpod]

Thanks from me, too! I'm especially happy to learn about the Payne Beach opportunities. We started to schedule the swim with turtles excursion but changed our minds because we didn't want to overbook ourselves (we already had excursions planned for the two days before that). We'll probably be travelling around Barbados a little by car or taxi--we'll make sure to check out Payne Beach. I'd love to see the turtles. How's the visibility?

 

Sara

[Victory748]

Thanks from me, too! I'm especially happy to learn about the Payne Beach opportunities. We started to schedule the swim with turtles excursion but changed our minds because we didn't want to overbook ourselves (we already had excursions planned for the two days before that). We'll probably be travelling around Barbados a little by car or taxi--we'll make sure to check out Payne Beach. I'd love to see the turtles. How's the visibility?

 

Sara

 

I looked at a map and it's actually called Paynes Bay. I was close the first time. ;) The visibility was great. I wish that I had taken a water camera. One of my favorite parts was when they would come up for air and poke their heads out of the water.

 

From the cruise terminal it was $10 each round trip to Paynes Bay. I noticed most catamarans out around 11 - 12. That is when I would try to be there to see the turtles as they are feeding them at this time to bring them to the snorkelers. When some of the boats left, I noticed there were fewer turtles around.

[KillaFee]

Thanks for your review - I'm ravenous for Serenade reviews right now because I'm less than 2 months away from our turn on it!! I'm glad you had a good time...your excursions are similar to what I'd like to do. Do you have a link to Cosuls info? Do you pay him before the cruise or that day? Thanks again for the detailed review - it's gotten me pretty giddy!

Laura

[jonahwicky]

Thanks for your review - I'm ravenous for Serenade reviews right now because I'm less than 2 months away from our turn on it!! I'm glad you had a good time...your excursions are similar to what I'd like to do. Do you have a link to Cosuls info? Do you pay him before the cruise or that day? Thanks again for the detailed review - it's gotten me pretty giddy!

Laura

 

Laura,

I posted Cosol's website over on the Roll Call board, but here it is again. It is a great excursion that includes a little bit of everything on St. Lucia.

52 DAYS TO GO!

Joe

[Victory748]

Thanks for your review - I'm ravenous for Serenade reviews right now because I'm less than 2 months away from our turn on it!! I'm glad you had a good time...your excursions are similar to what I'd like to do. Do you have a link to Cosuls info? Do you pay him before the cruise or that day? Thanks again for the detailed review - it's gotten me pretty giddy!

Laura

 

Here is Cosol's website: http://www.cosol-tours.com/index.html

 

You pay him at the end of the tour that day.

 

I wish I was going back on the Serenade in 2 months. You will love it.

[KillaFee]

Thanks guys!

[birdergal]

Thanks for the great review! My son and his GF are on the same cruise this week (their first) and I'm dying to know how they're enjoying it. They had plans to do the Cosol tour yesterday and were supposed to be on the Heatwave catamaran trip in Barbados today. I sure hope theirs didn't get cancelled! MY DH and I did this cruise two years ago and loved it.

[lovemylab]

Thank you so much for the great review. We have this same cruise booked for next November so I love reading reviews of this itinerary :)

[mu1809]

Great cruise-best ship we have been on. Had dinner at both Chops and Portofino and loved both. Felt the food in the Windjammer was quite good on this ship, but I have never liked it on other RCCI ships. Still is not the quality of dining room. Food in dining room was most excellent. San Juan was great-we stayed at Caribe Hilton $65 priceline and had a lagoon villa room-very nice. We went to St John on our own with no problems-it was a breeze. (figure 40-50 dollars apiece for cabs, ferrys, beach entrance) Food at beach was decent and reasonably priced. Trunk Beach is wonderful. Best shopping is definitely St. Martin. Antigua-we had tour with Lawrence of Antigua and he is great. Can't say we enjoyed most of the people on the island though-not very friendly. Beaches are beautiful though. St Lucia is lovely-it was a gray day-threatened rain all day and we cancelled our plans (big mistake, as it never rained). Barbados-did the Malibu rum tour and their beach-was good, but not much snorkeling. Should have gone to Crane Beach from what we heard. We were in port early and off ship and to airport through security by 9:45. We did the baggabe check that RCCI offers for $10 - well worth it.

[Tequilacat]

For those of you who did the Cosul tours, can you tell me if the tour is appropriate to take a 6-month old on? Is there a lot of hiking, or things that would be difficult to do with an infant? What kinds of things did you do on this tour?

 

Thx!

[Tequilacat]

For those of you who did the Cosul tours, can you tell me if the tour is appropriate to take a 6-month old on? Is there a lot of hiking, or things that would be difficult to do with an infant? What kinds of things did you do on this tour?

 

Thx!

[NancyB84]

Thanks for the great review.

[skiiergirl]

Thanks for the great review! My son and his GF are on the same cruise this week (their first) and I'm dying to know how they're enjoying it. They had plans to do the Cosol tour yesterday and were supposed to be on the Heatwave catamaran trip in Barbados today. I sure hope theirs didn't get cancelled! MY DH and I did this cruise two years ago and loved it.

 

 

Birder....Guess your son & gf are back by now. Did they by chance have dinner at Chops on Weds evening? If so, I think we were right next to them and they said they were having a great time. Sorry I didn't have more time to check -in last week.

[birdergal]

What a small world! I don't know what night they ate at Chops but they said they spoke to someone who had been on this cruise the week before and stayed on for a second week. Yes, they had a fabulous time. They loved Chops. They are definitely hooked on cruising. Unfortunately my son is in school so he may not have a lot of opportunities to take more cruises in the future. This was actually a special trip he had planned after he spent a year in Iraq (returned a year ago). He will be amazed that you found me on the message boards (but maybe not - he knows I frequent them a lot). Thanks for mentioning this!

[skiiergirl]

What a small world! I don't know what night they ate at Chops but they said they spoke to someone who had been on this cruise the week before and stayed on for a second week. Yes, they had a fabulous time. They loved Chops. They are definitely hooked on cruising. Unfortunately my son is in school so he may not have a lot of opportunities to take more cruises in the future. This was actually a special trip he had planned after he spent a year in Iraq (returned a year ago). He will be amazed that you found me on the message boards (but maybe not - he knows I frequent them a lot). Thanks for mentioning this!

 

We ate there on Weds evening. They were at a table for 2 with both sitting right against the window. They were both dark headed. Seemed like a very nice couple and both seemed to be having a great time. He mentioned that his parents are the ones that talked them in to going on the cruise. We didn't think they seemed like a "married couple" (young or not...LOL). Might not have been them but sounds like it. We enjoyed chatting with them but I tried to keep Mr. Ski from chatting too much with them....didn't want to spoil their romantic dinner!!!!! How wonderful that they were able to do this trip. I'm sure he deserved it after being in Iraq!!!!

[birdergal]

We ate there on Weds evening. They were at a table for 2 with both sitting right against the window. They were both dark headed. Seemed like a very nice couple and both seemed to be having a great time. He mentioned that his parents are the ones that talked them in to going on the cruise. We didn't think they seemed like a "married couple" (young or not...LOL). Might not have been them but sounds like it. We enjoyed chatting with them but I tried to keep Mr. Ski from chatting too much with them....didn't want to spoil their romantic dinner!!!!! How wonderful that they were able to do this trip. I'm sure he deserved it after being in Iraq!!!!

 

You were definitely talking to my son and his GF. I had emailed them this morning and they said they ate at Chops around 6:00 on Wed and sat at a table in the back corner next to the window. Yes, we had talked them into the cruise after they listened to us rave about our Panama Canal trip last Jan. They booked theirs about 2 weeks later. I'm hoping some time in the future we can plan a cruise together!

[skiiergirl]

You were definitely talking to my son and his GF. I had emailed them this morning and they said they ate at Chops around 6:00 on Wed and sat at a table in the back corner next to the window. Yes, we had talked them into the cruise after they listened to us rave about our Panama Canal trip last Jan. They booked theirs about 2 weeks later. I'm hoping some time in the future we can plan a cruise together!

 

Cool. Yep...we were right next to them. Weds night's dinner in the dining room was not what we wanted so we thought it would be cool to dine early in Chops while we were hanging out at the Pitons. I think they had a good time. They were both very pleasant to chat with. It would be great for you to all get to cruise together. They are a cute couple...how long have they been dating? They were raving over the chocolate dessert...but we skipped dessert totally so I missed out on that.

[birdergal]

Cool. Yep...we were right next to them. Weds night's dinner in the dining room was not what we wanted so we thought it would be cool to dine early in Chops while we were hanging out at the Pitons. I think they had a good time. They were both very pleasant to chat with. It would be great for you to all get to cruise together. They are a cute couple...how long have they been dating? They were raving over the chocolate dessert...but we skipped dessert totally so I missed out on that.

 

My son commented that he couldn't believe you turned down dessert. He said the Mud Pie was to die for! They've been together for about 2 1/2 yrs now.

 

Enjoy your next cruise! I see that we'll both be leaving for our next one in April.

[skiiergirl]

My son commented that he couldn't believe you turned down dessert. He said the Mud Pie was to die for! They've been together for about 2 1/2 yrs now.

 

Enjoy your next cruise! I see that we'll both be leaving for our next one in April.

 

We used to have dessert every night but now we just do it some nights. We were too full for dessert. We like the Tiramisu at Portofinos but we like Chops other food better. So if we want Tiramisu we book Portofinos and eat something in there and then pig out on the Tiramisu. At Chops we typically are so full from the "regular" food that dessert doesn't necessarily tempt us. I think Mr. Ski was in a hurry to get to the craps table too.

 

They are a really sweet couple and we enjoyed chatting with them.

 

Yes...now the count down for April!

[skiiergirl]

Merry Christmas!!!!

 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

We hope you have a very safe, happy holiday season with your family and that 2007 is a healthy, prosperous year for us all.

[birdergal]

Merry Christmas!!!!

 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

We hope you have a very safe, happy holiday season with your family and that 2007 is a healthy, prosperous year for us all.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you also! It will be a very special year for us as our first grandchild will be born next month.

 

Here's Happy Cruising to all in 2007!!