Host Jacquelyn

Washy Washy of the Seas

The solarium is enclosed, and there is only 1 hot tub, but it is bigger than the hot tubs by the pool

Prices definitely fluctuate! The price for a Cabana on our cruise next year is FOUR TIMES what we paid this year. Individual water park tickets for Aug 2024 are close to three times what they were on my Aug 2023 sailing.

I love seeing everyone's favorite ships!

For the old timers on the board: What is the oldest Royal Caribbean ship you sailed, what is the newest, and what is your favorite ship (or class)? To the newcomers, what ship most interests you? The oldest ship I was on was Monarch of the Seas, in the 90s. It felt so big at the time! The newest ship I sailed was Wonder. It's tough for me to say what my fave class is!

Just back from Serenade, and we were essentially the only ship in port (Vision was there only for a few hours). The waterpark was almost empty. Lines for slides were no more than 5 minutes, and most times, they were walk-on. It truly felt like a private water park. I know that Cococay is designed to handle 2 mega ships at a time, and wondering how crowded you have seen it?

Just back from Serenade. I had to sign maybe 20% of the time.

Schooner on Adventure!

Just back from Serenade. A bunch of us tested positive upon our return, as did many others we met onboard. We washed / sanitized our hand a lot, but other than that, no precautions.

This info is correct - the same Set Sail pass (barcode) you used to board the ship can be used until you get your Seapass around 1:30

Good to know!! They must have repeated this message a dozen times, so that most will bring towels, but glad to hear that will make allowances for those that didn't.

Red / Green lights on Cococay

I was at Cococay one week ago. We were told there was NO towel checkout on the island. We needed to take our own towels, but were able to exchange as many times as we needed for dry towels on Cococay. We needed to bring the towels back as well (ie - could not "check them back" on the island). There was a towel checkout station just before we left the ship on Deck 2. The only exception is if you rented a Cabana.

Interesting! I assume only 1 extra point, and I will see once it posts

Did you also lose one full day before you were able to board?

Agreed

That is a great deal! I may have missed it, but where is the Serenade going for this 3 day trip? For those curious, this is what we got onboard for the extra day: 1 free day of wifi per stateroom. You needed a voucher from Guest Services, though No additional charge for the extra day of Drink Package, UDP or Voom, if you already purchased. Diamond drinks as usual for the extra day 50% off all bar drinks $200 / $400 flight change fees for domestic / international if Air2Sea not purchased. I assume they arranged for free for those who purchased Free night of parking at Port of Tampa if parked there Additional Loyalty points for the extra night We were charged an additional day of gratuities per person Staff did a great job of planning activities for the extra day. It felt like a normal day at sea 😎

Yes completely, I have my share of misinformation given by the phone staff. But you would expect thise answering the phones to know about 24 hour delayed boarding. Wow

Oh that's just awful!!

That's too bad to hear that the shore side staff was unhelpful. A lot of our updates were speculation though, and ended up being incorrect. Perhaps they did not want people to change their travel plans unless they knew what was going on for sure. For example, up until 8:00 p.m. yesterday, we thought we would be leaving today at 4:00.

Update just now: we are 13 nautical miles off Tampa. Plan is still to begin disembarking 7 am Friday. Weather will be nice for the next 24 hours. I have been very happy with the level of updates we received on board. The first we heard of a possible delay was Tuesday morning when we docked at Cococay. We have been receiving steady updates since then

Most of us are thrilled to have an extended vacation! Although I did overhear some group complaining that the captain would have known about this back on Sunday and kept silent (!!) and should have given us the option to debark in Key West. Of course, that would not be possible as it is a US port, but there is no way this situation could have been predicted! Even on Tuesday, we thought we would depart on time. Some people... 😮

No updates yet today from the captain, which means still on track for tomorrow morning. They said we should start disembarking by 7 am.

Thanks, the captain and cruise director have been very straightforward and timely with updates.

Currently on Serenade and our scheduled arrival in Tampa has been delayed from Thursday to Friday due to Hurricane Idalia. The Port of Tampa is still closed and expected to reopen on Friday pending the all-clear from the Coast Guard. Hoping all is ok in Tampa. The weather onboard was a bit choppy last night and this morning but overall not too bad at all.