Serenade - Easter Week ... A Cruise Journal

[BillOh]

Great job on the review! Keep it coming! We sail (our first cruise) on the Serenade on 5/16/10. This cruise is in celebration of our 30th anniversary. I know that from all of the glowing reports that we've picked the right ship!

 

Have a great cruise, I'm anxiously awaiting the 5/11 itineraries so we can book our 30th anniv cruise.

[BroncosFan2010]

I think I might be almost as sad as you were getting off the ship that your review is over! You did a fabulous job, and I LOVED reading every word! Maybe I will take the time to write out a lengthy review of my Serenade B2B come August!

[JohnGaltny]

Emerald,

 

You're a terrific writer with a strong narrative flow and I love the dry humor. I'm actually sorry to see your journal end.:cool:

 

Don't mean to hijack you but you might enjoy the Alaska and Canada journals in my sig. I know it's presumptuous but I get the feeling we agree on an awful lot.

 

Thanks you for a serious lot of enjoyment.

[emeraldcity]

I think I might be almost as sad as you were getting off the ship that your review is over! You did a fabulous job, and I LOVED reading every word! Maybe I will take the time to write out a lengthy review of my Serenade B2B come August!

 

I think you're my most faithful commenter. Thank you for all the encouragement. The key to a detailed review is lots of notes. They don't have to be sequential as you write them, just jot down bits and pieces every day and note when they happened so you can put it all back together later.

 

Emerald,

 

You're a terrific writer with a strong narrative flow and I love the dry humor. I'm actually sorry to see your journal end.:cool:

 

Don't mean to hijack you but you might enjoy the Alaska and Canada journals in my sig. I know it's presumptuous but I get the feeling we agree on an awful lot.

 

Thank you for a serious lot of enjoyment.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful assessment. Frankly, I've already started to review the final product that gets saved for family history. I know it needs a bit of polish ... I still can't rid myself of the specter of Mrs. Kingsley (12th grade creative writing teacher) handing it back and telling me I need to make better use of punctuation.

 

Be happy to read your reviews ... I'll probably check them out tomorrow during lunch break.

[emeraldcity]

Until 2008, I had only cruised RCI. Having cruised at least one other line now, I can be one of those people in a position to compare. Don't expect me to be a NCLA-basher, however. There's enough of those already. I loved my cruise on the Pride of America ... but when it was time to book a cruise this year, I only looked at RCI. It just suits me better.

 

Food was not too much different, but I give a slight edge to RCI. Deck chairs are far more plentiful on any RCI ship. Maybe the POA strives for open decks for stolling, rather than deck chairs for sitting ... in any event, I ended up spending more balcony time on the POA, since I could at least count on those chairs being unoccupied. Entertainment was much better on the Serenade. Let me broaden that ... it was much better on any RCI ship I've been on. And there were more music venues throughout any given day. NCL brought on local entertainment in the ports, but they packed up and left before sailing. The only outstanding pool band was in Maui. Conversely, Heatwave on Serenade was fantastic ... and they played several times every day. I made it a priority several times on the cruise to spend some time on the pool deck enjoying their music. The service level on NCL was very good, despite what I've heard other say they experienced. I only ran into two evening dining room servers that I thought weren't up to par. The Serenade service, however was outstanding in every way (except for the sourpuss on check-in and the grump at the Centrum Bar). As for on-board activities, I laid the compass next to the freestyle daily and RCI stages one more activity per day than the POA. On any ship, we find plenty to do ... and we try to include some time where we do nothing at all. So a break in the schedule when nothing interests us is a golden opportunity to chill out.

 

Up until the Serenade, my favorite ship was the Splendour of the Seas. That all changed this year. I loved the layout of the Radiance class ... just like everyone said I would. What will I do for my next cruise? I'm still hoping I can pull off a cruise to Alaska. It's the only state I've never been to and I made myself a promise 40 years ago to visit every state.

 

Wish me luck ...

[cruiserone]

Did Alaska last May with friends!! LOVED IT!! DH and I plan to return soon for a longer trip. We did the inside passage and it was just wonderful. We sailed on the Star Princess and loved every minute. Just make sure you have an outside balcony as you will use it more than ever before. Did not sleep well due to running out to the balcony in the middle of the night (it was very light out) and looking for whales or bears. Bored my family to death with the photo's of everything that moved. Great ports and more importantly, great people in Alaska.

 

Happy Sailing. Thank you again.

[Riff Sniff]

St. Croix is the only island on my next cruise that I have not previously visited. Thanks so much for posting such a wonderful outline of your cruise. Reading your great review is so enjoyable!

 

We were on this cruise & spent our St. Croix day at Carambola Beach Resort. It was phenomenal!!! We took a taxi for $18 pp round trip. There were 4 of us, plus a small family going elsewhere. This was the best beach ever, but being from Ohio, I don't see many beaches. It was gorgeous. Some day I will post pic's. The water is not calm, but it was a blast to play in. We did this on our own. We didn't do the ship's excursion. Saved a lot of money this way. The only negative was that we had to wait about 20-30 minutes at the port to find a taxi driver willing to take us to Carambola. But it was worth the wait!!!! We were also nervous that he wouldn't show up at the resort to take us back and we would be stranded (not the worst thing in the world;)). The beach was not crowded. I wasn't sure if we would be able to use the resort loungers on the beach, but it was no problem. We sat near others from our cruise and even watched each others' belongings from time to time. This was a great day and provided some of our best pictures from the entire cruise. It was exactly what I pictured a Caribbean vacation to be:D:D:D Wow. Did I just hijack this. Sorry.

 

Hi Emerald City!!! This is the first I've been online since our cruise!!! Since leaving the ship, I haven't had the heart to get back on here:( I found your review as soon as I logged on. What a great way to get back into cruise critic and relive our cruise! We had such a great time!!!!:D I'm jealous of EVERYONE who writes that they are going on the Serenade soon. I miss Noel, and our room, and the sound of the waves, and the balcony, and Dominica, and the shows, and the helipad every morning, and the food, and the accents, and the service, and you guys. AAAAAHHHHH!

 

Riff Sniff

[Riff Sniff]

Dorothy, sounds like a fun day. I missed the Scintas, but heard that it was phenomenal. I was one of those that stayed up for the 70's disco party only because I ran into Alan & Diana. I'm sure Dennis was looking at me strangely when I noted that the song "Staying Alive" is a bit ruined for me. Instead of thinking John Travolta moves, I think CPR. The beat is the perfect rate for doing chest compressions. I was explaining that to Alan when Gary & Rose looked over (chuckling) and Dennis was on the stairs turning towards us. What can I say?

 

Noel did the suit of clothes with the elf shoes at the evening dinner as well. He and Dhanesh were so efficient that he often had time to come over and demonstrate his napkin folding skills. I think that is the first time ever that I've had plenty of time to get to a late night show/event. There is a reason the Serenade crew is voted best in fleet!

 

Jen

 

That's fantastic!!! I actually learned that from "the Office". See, t.v. saves lives! How's the mouse working for you? It was great to meet you in person on the cruise!

 

Riff Sniff

[Riff Sniff]

Wow! Thank you for all the complimentary responses. I'm glad that this is striking a chord with people. I know how I was when I was researching my cruise. You are trying to figure out what works for you and sort through what other people have done to see if it's the sort of thing that would appeal to you. So much of what I read was rather skimpy on the details. Of course, the case can be made that I have over-compensated. Mea culpa.

 

A special note to my tablemates: No I didn't forget your names. I've avoided identifying who said what to whom about what and when or where it was said. It's my clumsy attempt to honor your right to some semblance of privacy. But it's on record who was going on our excursion with us in Dominica. However, I promise it'll all be good.

 

 

 

"What happens on the cruise, stays on the cruise!" :D That was our motto. No names, no problem! We know you haven't forgotten us. Ditto.

 

Riff Siff