My Very Long Review of the B2B on the Serenade August 15-29th.

[BroncosFan2010]

Background: DH and I are in our mid 20’s with no children. We prefer smaller ships with fewer people. We don’t need all the bells and whistles of the ship, as we prefer to cruise for the destinations. This was our 4th and 5th cruise on Royal Caribbean, and the hubby has also cruised with Princess. This was our second time on the Serenade. We had booked Cabin 8592 on deck 8, an E1 balcony on the “hump” for both weeks of the Back to Back.

Travel day down:

We flew out of Grand Rapids, MI very early on Saturday. Our flights went smoothly, and as soon as the wheels touched down in San Juan, we were to our gate, received our luggage, and took a cab to our hotel in less than 45 minutes! It was the smoothest travel we have ever encountered. It was $19 for the cab to our hotel, plus $1 for each bag.

Hotel: We spent Saturday night in Old San Juan at the SOFO Casablanca Hotel. For only $103, the location cannot be beat. We were within walking distance to everything in Old San Juan. The room was clean, but very small. There were few amenities, and the hotel was very noisy. My suggestions would be for the hotel to put some kind of shower rack in the shower, and provide better television service (only 5 or 10 channels). I would not want to spend more than one night in this hotel, but for a pre-cruise stay, it was okay. In the future, we will bid for one of the chain hotels on a travel site.

Old San Juan:

We spent Saturday night walking around Old San Juan. We walked the long path around El Morro, and had dinner at Senior Frogs. There were no cruise ships in port on Saturday. On Sunday morning, we made our way to La Bombonera for a wonderful pastry breakfast and fresh squeezed orange juice. We walked down to take pictures of the Serenade in port (other side of the pier). After that, we walked to El Morro for a tour. We were surprised to find that there was no admission fee the day we were there, so we enjoyed a free tour. The fort provides great views and amazing places for pictures. After touring the fort, we took a trolley to San Cristobal and also toured there for free. A short walk back to our hotel, and we had a cab waiting for us to take us to the cruise ship pier. It was $20 with bags for the cab to the PanAm Pier.

[BroncosFan2010]

Embarkation and First Day:

We arrived at the cruise pier around 11:30 am. We handed over our luggage and were through check-in and eating lunch in the Windjammer by 12:00 pm. We checked on our table for two in the main dining room, and found it to be perfect. We made reservations in Chops for later that week, and headed to our room at 1:00 pm. Since we had been on the Serenade last year, we knew our way around and did not have to do much touring of the ship. After depositing our bags in the room, we headed to the Solarium to relax. There were some crew members who had family members on board, and some of their children were being loud swimming in the adult only pool. The pool attendant quickly resolved the problem once guest started to arrive on board.

Our luggage arrived to our room around 4:00 pm, the earliest we have ever received it! We took some time to unpack and settle in to what would become home for the next two weeks. Our cabin attendant was Lizza, and she was great. Except for the 1st nights of each week, we had towel animals and great service.

The muster drill began at 8:00 pm, but most people headed to their muster stations around 7:45 because there was an announcement made prior. No lifejackets were required, and the drill was over at 8:15 pm. Even though we were on a back to back, we were required to do the muster drill both weeks. Not a problem, as it was only 30 minutes of our vacation time!

After muster, we headed to dinner. Our wait staff the first week was superb. Moses was our head waiter, Aysun from Turkey was our waiter, and Antonio was our assistant waiter. Antonio wowed us with his magic tricks each night, and Aysun was the sweetest person on board. We are still keeping in touch through e-mail! Dinner service was as fast or slow as we wanted, since we had a table for two. We tend to linger and enjoy our meals while getting to know the staff.

After dinner, we decided to relax on our balcony until heading to bed.

 

Coming Soon: Day at Sea and Barbados!

[Lynne95]

Great Start! Sounds like you enjoyed your brief stay is SJ.

[OC PAT]

I appreciate you taking the time. We will be on the 12/11/10 cruise. I'd be interested in hearing about any ship secrets such as where the the crowd is not, romantic places and good places to star gaze.

OC PAT

[cheaptravel]

I'm enjoying your review. So they let you on that early when the ship doesn't depart until after 8pm ? Niiiiice !

[BroncosFan2010]

I appreciate you taking the time. We will be on the 12/11/10 cruise. I'd be interested in hearing about any ship secrets such as where the the crowd is not, romantic places and good places to star gaze.

OC PAT

 

There is always a "Quiet zone" every day from 11:00-4:00 and you can find the location in the daily compass.

Eating at Chops is definitely romantic, as is the champagne bar (although you will hear the noise from the centrium).

The helicoptor pad was almost always deserted, so that is a great place to star gaze!

[BroncosFan2010]

I'm enjoying your review. So they let you on that early when the ship doesn't depart until after 8pm ? Niiiiice !

 

Yes! The day of embarkation is your 1st day, so get on early and make the most of it!

[BroncosFan2010]

Day At Sea:

Our next day was our only sea day for the first week. We ate breakfast in the Windjammer, and DH was thrilled to be eating his “cruise doughnuts”. He made sure to have one every single day! We spent the morning relaxing in the Solarium, napping in our room, and just enjoying our vacation. We had the meet and mingle that morning, but most people missed it because they did not expect it to be that early in the trip, and it was difficult to see the cards in your room. It was typical with raffle prizes, Q&A with the cruise director (Dennis, who is not too cheesy but very funny), and some cheese and fruit platters. We had arranged an informal meet and mingle in the Schooner bar that afternoon, and several people who missed the morning meeting showed up. We had a great time getting to know each other.

That night was formal night, and most people in the main dining room were dressed appropriately. We had already seen the Royal Caribbean Production shows last year (They did not change from March 2009), so we felt no pressure to attend.

[cds2423]

Thanks for posting what you have so far, we are doing at B2B at the end of Oct, we're in the same location as you were as well. Looking forward to read more of your review, thanks again.

[i'llbesea-ingyou]

Enjoying your review so far! Thanks for taking the time to post. :)

[BillOh]

Glad to see you back, I remember chatting before your trip. Good job of qualifying your review at the beginning, I can draw value from almost every review I read, but letting us know where you opinions come from is helpful. I'm reading everything Serenade until next May :cool:

[BroncosFan2010]

Barbados:

Our ship docked in Barbados bright and early, and we were the only ship in port. We had booked a private tour with Shasa to go out on a 12 person catamaran for 5 hours. There were several other Cruise Critic members also booked on this tour. We were met by our driver right along side the other cruise tours, and drive to a resort beach about 20 minutes away. It rained a little bit on the drive over, but not enough to be of concern. The rain had stopped by the time we reached the beach, and Jason was waiting for us with his boat. There were 11 of us on the tour, and the catamaran was large enough that we did not feel crowded. Our first stop was to swim with the sea turtles. We were here about 45 minutes. The turtles were very friendly and you could touch them. We took lots of pictures, which I hope to be able to post at another point. Our next stop was at a small reef, the water was clear, and we saw lots of colorful fish. We were only on the reef for about 20-30 minutes, and I would have preferred a longer stop there. Our last stop was at a beach for lunch. We had a wonderful spread of flying fish, BBQ chicken, salad, macaroni and cheese, and garlic bread. The rum punch was flowing and we enjoyed a leisurely sail back to the ship. We made it back to the ship around 3:00, and had plenty of time to shop if we desired.

We stopped at the stores in the large mall area in front of the ship to purchase several of my favorite items from Barbados. I prefer the essence bottles (Vanilla, Lemon, Almond, Banana, etc..) to be purchased here, as I believe the quality is very good. We then headed back to the ship to shower, relax, and enjoy a snack.

Our wait staff once again was amazing at dinner. The food was very good as well, although by the end of the 2nd week we were ready for something different. The menu did not change between the two weeks.

 

 

Coming Soon: St. Lucia

[LABCHICK]

Loving your review. We are doing our first B2B next Oct./Nov.2011. We have sailed on her sister ship (Jewel ) twice, so we know our way around. The second week our DD, SIL and GS will be boarding for their first cruise on RCCL. I think I am more excited about them joining us. Our GS has never cruised before. He will be 8 when they board the ship. He is soo excited.

 

Waiting for your next post.

 

Judi :)

[BroncosFan2010]

St. Lucia:

Our arrival into St. Lucia was met with a beautiful sunrise. We were so glad to be the only ship in port, as our last cruise stop in St. Lucia was with 5 other ships, and it was extremely difficult to enjoy the beautiful island with that many tourists filling the sights. Since we had a bad experience last time with Cosol, we decided to book something that involved snorkeling and not being on the island. We booked the early excursion, marine park snorkel tour through Royal Caribbean. We were taken with about 25 other people on a very large catamaran around the Southwest side of the island. The snorkeling was just okay, but would have been better if it had not rained the day before. We met some very fun people, and enjoyed the boat ride back chatting with them. The best part of the tour was that we pulled into the famous Margoit Bay, where Dr. Doolittle was filmed. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of this area and envied all the people who get to wake up to that sight every morning. Our tour ended around 12:30, and we headed back to the room to shower and then eat lunch in the WindJammer.

We had booked Chops for the night, and had an earlier dinner at 7:00. The service was superb, and my filet cooked to perfection. The dessert of Mississippi Mud Cake was amazing, and I still dream of it! We did however miss our main dining room wait staff that night!

Coming Soon: Antigua

[Donna - dsw]

Thanks for sharing - getting some wonderful information for our up coming ports of call.

[BroncosFan2010]

Antigua:

On Antigua, we decided to visit StingRay city though the cruise line. The tour was very good, for a ship based excursion. The Rays were very friendly, and you could feed or hold them. There was also an area to snorkel, and we saw a Barracuda that did not appear to be bothered by snorkelers. Toward the end of the tour, it was starting to storm pretty heavily, with lots of lightening. We made it back to the beach area for rum punch and a shower. You could purchase pictures that the guides took if you desired. There were caged birds, monkeys, and lizards to look at (for free). On the way back to the ship, we heard that the pier area had received over 5 inches of rain in an hour and some very gusty winds. We missed that entirely! That afternoon, we relaxed in the Solarium, read our books, and played Trivia in the Schooner Bar. Trivia turned out to be one of our favorite activities to do on the ship. We were not very good, and never won anything, but it was amusing.

[squirrel_patrol]

Hello.. Sorry we never met onboard. I couldn't remember when and where the meetings were. Next time I'll write it down somewhere! Great review I love hearing what everone else was doing at each port (gives me ideas for next time).

[BroncosFan2010]

St. Maarten:

Having been to St. Maarten numerous times, we have a favorite beach we like to visit. We took a $14 cab ride to Dawn Beach, paid $10 for 2 chairs and an umbrella, and had a wonderful beach day. The beach is usually fairly quiet, although the surf can be quite rough at times. There is a small reef a few hundred feet off of the beach that you can snorkel at. There were a few venders around, but they were not pushy, and if you did not make eye-contact, they left you alone entirely.

One of our favorite things about St. Maarten is the GuavaBerry Rum. On our last visit, we did not purchase enough, so we made sure to stock up this time! We had no problem bringing it on the ship, right through security, and up to our room. We did not consume any on the cruise, but packed it well for the return home.

This was our second formal night and also the lobster night. Since DH is allergic to seafood, and I prefer fresh lobster to the frozen tails offered on the ship, we were fine ordering something else. We did notice that the wait staff was happy to bring several lobster tails to people who desired more than one.

 

 

Coming Soon: St. Croix (The best island of the entire trip!!)

[BroncosFan2010]

St. Croix:

This was my absolute favorite island of the entire two weeks. DH and I immediately fell in love with St. Croix and have vowed to move there someday. We had booked a very early tour with Big Beard’s Tours for a snorkel trip out to Buck Island. We took the $12 pp round trip ride from the cruise pier to Christiansted where we met the tour operators. We had to be one of the first one’s off of the ship, because our tour left early and the ride over was a little more than 30 minutes. Our driver took us by the oil refinery, and it was amazing to see the industry on the island. Our tour operators were great, and the boat was more than adequate size for the 20 some passengers. I believe it could have held up to 60 people, and there was also plenty of shade. We stopped at Turtle Beach on Buck Island. This was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my entire life. I could have spent all day there. After some beach time and time to swim, we headed to the reef on the other side of the island. The reef and snorkeling quality was the best I have ever seen in the Caribbean. The coral formations were amazing, and the fish were colorful, and everywhere. We had over an hour to snorkel here. We saw Barracuda, turtles, and a lemon shark! I would do this tour again in a heartbeat.

 

After our tour, it was more of the same: relaxing in the Solarium, loosing a few dollars in the Casino, and enjoying our wonderful wait staff at dinner. Most people were busy packing up that night, but we were thrilled to know that we were staying on for another night! We had a meeting for Consecutive Cruisers that night. We were informed of the process that would take place in the morning (I will explain that in my next post), given options to pre-book excursions and specialty dining, as well as make special requests for dining room seating. We of course, requested to be seated in the same section as our wonderful waiter, Aysun, and were thrilled that it was granted to us! We also received free champagne, screwdrivers, and other (limited) beverages during this meeting.

[aggie1]

Love your review. We are also doing B2B on Serenade Oct. 3 & 10. Looking forward to your review on turn a round day. Keep it up. Thanks

[BILL-WI]

... We had booked a very early tour with Big Beard’s Tours for a snorkel trip out to Buck Island. We took the $12 pp round trip ride from the cruise pier to Christiansted where we met the tour operators.

 

Did you do the full day or the half day tour. Was the boat used for the tour a catamaran or a power boat? I am thinking of doing this tour in January....

 

:)Great review!:)

 

BILL

[apkpcruisers]

I'm loving the review, thank you for taking the time to share. :)

[BroncosFan2010]

Did you do the full day or the half day tour. Was the boat used for the tour a catamaran or a power boat? I am thinking of doing this tour in January....

 

:)Great review!:)

 

BILL

 

We did the 1/2 day tour and it was a power boat but with two hulls. I believe the full day tour takes the catamaran out. I would have loved to have done the full day tour, but it would be cutting it close to get back to the ship in time.

[BroncosFan2010]

San Juan: Turn Around Day

Turn around day was super easy for us. Since we had the same cabin both weeks, we did not have to move anything. We received our new SeaPasses the night before, and had to use the old ones until we checked out of the ship. We were given the option of leaving the ship anytime between 8:00 am and 10:00 am, or we could remain on board. Between 10:00 am and 11:30 am, we could not leave or return to the ship (according to customs). We remained on board, and had to present ourselves at the gangway at 10:00am to punch out our old SeaPasses. They asked that we remain in our cabins or a public area between 10:00 am and 11:30 am, as they were testing fire doors, elevators, ect., and did not want us in the way. We were happy to enjoy and have the entire Solarium to ourselves! We were given a continental breakfast in Portofino that morning, so we did not have to fight with all the passengers exiting the ship that morning. Very nice touch! We were also given a 3 course lunch in the Main Dining Room that day. Also nice to be able to avoid the new people getting on the ship and rushing to the WindJammer. That night, they offered a special 2 for 1 deal in Chops, which we took advantage of. Chops is my new favorite specialty restaurant. Most of the turn around day, we enjoyed having the ship to ourselves. We could go in and out of our room as we pleased, as we had an “in transit” pass. We attended the muster drill for the 2nd time, and it was as smooth as the first.

[waterbugohio]

Great review, can't wait to hear about week two. Do you know if they had the coolers of beer special that was talked about on other threads?