Has anyone taken this cruise.....

[Jaymee287]

Southern Caribbean, onboard Serenade of the Seas, leaving from the port in San Juan, Puerto Rico, visiting the ports of:

Departing San Juan: 8:30 pm

Cruising

Bridgetown, Barbados: 8-5 - docked

Castries, St. Lucia: 8-5 - docked

St. Johns, Antigua: 8-5 - docked

Philipsburg, St. Maarten: 8- 5:30- docked

St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands: 7-5:30 - docked

Returning to San Juan: 6:00 am

 

Does anyone know the time conversions for this like 2 hours ahead or behind and such?

 

Please let me know if you have taken this cruise. Even if you have been on this particular ship, any information will be GREAT! If you've been to any of these ports please let me know what you did there, who you booked through, and if you enjoyed your excursion.

 

I recently went on my first cruise in June through Carnival. I'm considering this particular cruise through RC for our honeymoon next year! I LOVED OUR CRUISE, now to get the fiance onboard ;)!

 

Thanks for any information you can pass down to me!

[sandinmypants]

There are a lot of reviews of that cruise under the "member reviews" section. I read that extensively before I booked that itinerary. Enjoy!

[bplazo]

Our favorite cruise so far.

 

In Barbados we did Silvermoon and in St. Lucia we did Jungle Tours with Shal, St. Marteen we did the Regata (which I did not care for) we also went to Orient Beach which was an eye opener. Antigua we did Eli's Echo Tours.

[DonnaK]

Those islands are all on Atlantic Standard time, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard time. However, they stay on this time year-round, so when we are on Eastern Daylight Savings Time, it is the same as Atlantic Standard time. So, in the summer, there is no time difference. In the winter, they are ahead by one hour.

 

Now, it's totally up to the Captain whether or not you adjust your clocks to synchronize with local time, or whether you stay on ship's time throughout the cruise. This varies on different sailings, so no one can really say for sure.

[carbon]

Hopefully the sea day is a the end. We had it that way and it helped. Very intensive, but do as little or as much as you like and enjoy!

[celebrity]

Sailed this itinerary 7/18/10. Loved it!! Just be aware that it's port intensive..only 1 sea day at the start of the cruise. After that, it's a port every day. So much fun but exhausting. Any ?"s let me know & congrats on your marriage.

[joyride21]

Did this cruise for our honeymoon (except St Thomas instead of St Croix). Loved it! Serenade is a gorgeous ship. Highly recommend the Rasul Room as an onship activity. :P At the ports here is what we did:

Barbados - Malibu Beach on our own and then Glory Tours Touch of Splendour Tour

St. Lucia - Cosol's Tour

Antigua - Black Swan Pirate (Booze) Cruise

St Maarten-Loterie Farm Treetop Adventure Tour and Orient Beach

[will work to cruise]

We did this cruise as part of a B2B this past June. Very port intensive, but great. Looking forward to doing it again sometime.

[jorapp]

We just did this cruise in May 2010. DH's first ever cruise and he is hooked. We did the submarine ride in Barbados, the rain forest canopy tram on St. Lucia. For Antigua, I went for the pineapple farm and beach tour with lunch, and DH did the all day volcano tour. I had a wonderful time but hubs had a horrible day and they actually had to delay the ship leaving because the tour was late returning...so I don't really recommend that tour. We didn't take organized tours for the last two ports, just enjoyed the ship and worked on our tans.

 

As for the Serenade...absolutely wonderful. You will have a great time! If the staff finds out you are on your honeymoon they will spoil you rotten and you won't want to get off the ship at the end. Enjoy!

[wrp96]

All the ports on this cruise are on the same time as San Juan so no changing of clocks or difference in time between ports.

[RlrCstr]

This is a great cruise on a wonderful ship.

In Barbados, we did the day pass at the Hilton Hotel. You can use the beach for free, but the pass gets you the lockers, pools, and a really good lunch at the restaurant/bar right next to the pools. You can order Anything off the menu,

and also get a bar drink included with the pass. You can take a taxi easily to the Hilton and it was not at all expensive for the ride there or back.

 

In St. Croix, if you like to snorkle or dive, you can do Buck Island from a ship excursion but a much better one is through a company called Big Beard's Adventure Tours. the whole day is a really good tour. They provide snorkling equipment, and you go to really nice sites for beach and diving.

 

St. Maarten. A really fun beach is "Airplane" beach, which is called either Maho or Sunset Beach. All the taxis know where you want to be. the planes land directly over your head. Nice beach and the Sunset Bar next to it has good food and drink. I agree that Orient Beach is nice, but the beach at

Sunset is just as nice and not as crowded.

[Jaymee287]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I LOVED my cruise I went with 2 other girls, we left them boys behind :) SOOOO FUN!

[Ocean Boy]

Those islands are all on Atlantic Standard time, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard time. However, they stay on this time year-round, so when we are on Eastern Daylight Savings Time, it is the same as Atlantic Standard time. So, in the summer, there is no time difference. In the winter, they are ahead by one hour.

 

Now, it's totally up to the Captain whether or not you adjust your clocks to synchronize with local time, or whether you stay on ship's time throughout the cruise. This varies on different sailings, so no one can really say for sure.

 

Serenade sails from San Juan which is also on Atlantic Standard time just like all of her ports of call. There will be no time changes on the sailing.

[JandBR_PHX]

We've done a similar cruise on Serenade, twice (1 and 2 below). We did St. Thomas instead of St. Croix. Serenade is our favorite ship. We love the enclosed Solarium (no wind), the Solarium Cafe, the Seaview Cafe and all of the glass windows!

 

St. Maarten - (1) Sunset Bar at Maho Beach. Neat novelty, but probably wouldn't recommend it; the beach is steep and there's a lot of surge. Airplanes landing at Princess Juliana airport aren't always on time (really!) (2) Orient Beach lunch and beach day through RCI. GREAT beach, GREAT food. It was really cool to see elaborate French desserts at a beach bar - VERY tasty. Topless sunbathing is accepted all over the island. The south end of Orient Bay is totally nude.

 

Antigua - Runaway Bay by cab both trips. Nice beach... but not sure there's a bad one on the island. Picked up some locally made jewelry from a beach vendor for decent price. There is some great shopping in port.

 

St. Lucia - (1) Cocoa plantation and waterfall tour (through RCI). Nice tour of the island. A LOT of high-pressure hawking of crafts at various scenic stops. (2) I was sick, so DW gave a cabbie US$20 and he gave her a 2 hour tour of Castries and the surrounding area. She loved it.

 

Barbados - (1) Flavor of Barbados tour (the booze tour). We toured Banks Brewery, which was just a distribution center which ended in all-you-can-drink Banks beer, Guinness, Tiger Malt (VERY tasty), etc. (2) Malibu Beach Break - Nice beach, not great. We had the local delicacy, flying fish, on both occasions.

[Philly Steve]

I love the southern Caribbean. ...Island mountains, flying fish and ultra blue water. :cool:

[bigali2]

Southern Caribbean, onboard Serenade of the Seas, leaving from the port in San Juan, Puerto Rico, visiting the ports of:

Departing San Juan: 8:30 pm

Cruising

Bridgetown, Barbados: 8-5 - docked

Castries, St. Lucia: 8-5 - docked

St. Johns, Antigua: 8-5 - docked

Philipsburg, St. Maarten: 8- 5:30- docked

St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands: 7-5:30 - docked

Returning to San Juan: 6:00 am

 

Does anyone know the time conversions for this like 2 hours ahead or behind and such?

 

Please let me know if you have taken this cruise. Even if you have been on this particular ship, any information will be GREAT! If you've been to any of these ports please let me know what you did there, who you booked through, and if you enjoyed your excursion.

 

I recently went on my first cruise in June through Carnival. I'm considering this particular cruise through RC for our honeymoon next year! I LOVED OUR CRUISE, now to get the fiance onboard ;)!

 

Thanks for any information you can pass down to me!

 

 

I *just* got back from this cruise on Sunday! It was very fun and port intensive. We were definitly exhausted on our way back home. However, being on the Freedom last year, we did miss the size.

 

Bridgetown, Barbados: 8-5 - docked

We did the 4x4 Safari and Shipwreck snorkel. The tour takes you through the center of the island and then to the beach where you go out with a boat and snorkel. There are 2 shipwrecks and plenty of fish swimming within arms length. Very fun!

 

Castries, St. Lucia: 8-5 - docked

In St Lucia, we did the Zipline Adventure. It was extremely hot and muggy since we were in the jungle, however, it was definitly worth it.

 

St. Johns, Antigua: 8-5 - docked

One of our favorite excursions was today. We did the ATV Adventure, which took us offroading and around the island. Got some great island views and pictures. Definitly wear something you dont mind getting muddy.

 

Philipsburg, St. Maarten: 8- 5:30- docked

We did the Rhino Rider excursion here. It was very fun racing around the island, and having some peaceful relaxation over in secluded Happy Bay. We had the chance to snorkel again, but the water was murkey because of Hurricane Earl that had blwon through.

 

St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands: 7-5:30 - docked

St. Croix was a "chill" day for us. We spent the entire day hanging out at the beach, which right next to the ship (to the left). There is a big floating platform in the water, which is definitly a challenge to get on. Took me 2 hours to finally pull myself on it, haha. You can also rent chair or floating mats and just float carelessly in the ocean.

 

The only thing we would change about this cruise is the ship. It was much smaller than we would have liked. We definitly missed the Royal Promenade from the Freedom, and all the extra stuff it had.

[originalbb]

Yes Yes do this sailing you can be as busy or as lazy as you wish We have been of Serenade many times and just did this sailing in Jan 2010 as a b2b we liked it so much we have it for 2011 and 2012 as far as time you will be on ships time which depending on time of year DST or reg. You will love the ship make sure to book Chops for a special evening if Soni the manager is there he will take great care of you as will the waitress sp Sing. Enjoy:):)