Recent Serenade Cruiser Reviews?

[LarryF]

We're sailing her in three weeks and love to read the reviews! Anyone sail her recently? Would like to know how you liked the show entertainment. Also is there a real good Piano Bar you'd recommend. Anyone take Eli's tour in Antiqua, Herod's tour in St. Lucia or Silver Moon in Barbados?

[BobKat406]

I'm also interested as we are sailing next week (4/8). What did they have for entertainment?

 

Did anyone notice parasailing on Barbados? I received an email that they don't do it on Antigua right now and would really like to do it before I come back. Unfortunately we have excursions planned on the other islands and I don't think I can get it in on St. Thomas.

 

What nights do you recommend skipping the dining room and eating at Chops or Portofino?

 

and.... how was the weather?

[cruiseaholics]

LarryF,

 

Best I can do is answer the piano bar question. The Schooner Bar is the piano bar (and the only piano bar as far as I recall, lol) on the Serenade. As to whether it's "really good" depends upon who's tickling the ivories during your sailing.

 

Have a great time! The Serenade is a beautiful ship!

 

Cheers!

Patty

[erniesband]

We're sailing her in three weeks and love to read the reviews! Anyone sail her recently? Would like to know how you liked the show entertainment. Also is there a real good Piano Bar you'd recommend. Anyone take Eli's tour in Antiqua, Herod's tour in St. Lucia or Silver Moon in Barbados?

 

We took our second cruise on Serenade in January, and are booked back for next January. The Schooner Lounge is the only piano bar. If Mosaic is on board, make sure you see their show - it's the best one we've seen afloat! Honestly, though, the production shows with the Royal Carib singers and dancers weren't as good as some we've seen in the past, and we weren't wild about the magicians, LaRaf. Los Diablos Gauchos is fun, and if you visit the Loyalty Ambassador to talk about booking your next cruise, you might very well meet the wife from Los Diablos - she helps out the loyalty ambassador, and booked our next cruise for us.

 

We've done Eli's Eco-tour 3 times, and his new X-treme Circumnav this year. We really enjoy his tours, and plan on doing the Eco-Tour again next January.

 

Jodi

[MargaritaPlease]

We sailed in February with the school vacation crowd and had a blast. See our report here.

[Alwaysonvacation]

We were on the Serenade March 11th - 18th. Had a really great time. This was our 6th cruise on RCCL, first time on this size ship. We had only sailed on The Voyager Class ships. We loved The Serenade especially the ports of call. I can't speak of any of the entertainment. We didn't go to one show. We just enjoyed our balcony so much that we spent most of our free time there. This is the first cruise though that we haven't seen any of the shows. I can speak of the excursions that you asked about. We didn't do Eli's Echo in Anigua, but we did do one with Antigua Paddles that was absolutely great!! We kayaked, snorkeled and hiked a bit. The waters were so amazingly beautiful and James our guide was so charming. I would do that again in a heartbeat. In St. Lucia, 12 people in our group spent the day with Herod and had a great time. The highlight of their trip was a snorkeling stop at the base of The Pitons. They said it was some of the best snorkeling they have ever had, and they have snorkeled all over for years. They said that Herod was wonderful and would travel with him again. In Barbados, our entire group of 34 had The Silvermoon II for the day. An absolutely perfect day! Great snorkeling, great food, great crew and more drinks than you can imagine!

 

Have a great time on The Serenade. Enjoy the ports.

 

Alwaysonvacation

[nerak]

You're reading it all correctly here...the Serenade is fantastic!!! We were last on at Christmas and the entertainment was Charo and the Drifters. Charo wasn't so great except her guitar playing is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard/seen. The Drifters were great...love the oldies. I can't say anything bad about the Serenade except they expect you to leave a week after you get on.

[Tropical Traveler]

We are on the 4/29 sailing. After arrival in St. Thomas, how soon were you able to disembark the ship? We are heading to St. John on our own and would like to get there as early in the day as possible. Are you able to get off early enough to have a chance at catching the 8:00AM Red Hook Ferry?

 

Did anyone do the America's Cup Sailing Regatta in St. Maarten? I have that booked, and am greatly looking foreward to it!

Thanks everyone,

Jack

[LarryF]

Thanks everyone for you posts! They have really helped! Glad to hear the great comments about Herod and Silvermoon!

[SLCBoys]

I was just on the Serendade 3/18 to 3/25. Can't comment on any of the entertainment, didn't see any of it. The ship is beautiful, food choices in the dining room are a bit smaller than what I had on the Jewel and Adventure. Sea View Cafe is good and the Windjammer always has a large selection. Loved the made to order omelets in the mornings. Room service usually isn't anything to brag about and coffee sucks unless your in the dining room or pay for it at Lattitudes.

 

St Thomas...spent a little time shopping then took ferry over to St. John. I would take the ferry leaving from port, it's about a 30-35 min ride over but come back to the Red Hook then grab a taxi so you can see some of the island. Beaches in St. John are beautiful!!

 

St. Maarten...did the Loiterie Tree Top Adventure. Had a blast, very physical so if your kinda wondering about it don't book unless your in fairly good shape. Orient Beach is very nice and water is amazingly clear! Did more shopping here too!

 

Antigua...did the best excursion here on any cruise! Did the helicopter tour to Monserrat. Totally worth the $250! Went all around the island, up close to the volcano, just amazing. Went to Darkwood beach, nobody there and it's very nice, soft white sand beaches, no rocks around in our out of the water unless your at one of the ends.

 

St. Lucia...did Herod's Taxi.....the BEST land tour I've ever done. Herod is such a nice guy and very friendly. We met up with 2 other couples from cruise critic and had a fun day. Stopped a few places along the way for pictures, 2 different waterfalls where you could swim in the pools, one place had johnny cakes, fish cakes etc we sampled. Buy some hot & spicy ketchup it's yummy! Then to the drive-in volcano which is really neat. On the way to the beach he pulled over and picked a cocoa pod, opened it up and let us suck on the cocoa beans, really good. Oh stopped and got fresh banana's picked right off the tree as well. I don't remember the name of the resort we were at but it's right in between the 2 pitons. Very nice beach with all amenities, you can shower, change, eat, snorkel which was very good by the way, you can rent gear for $11. The ride is long and steep windy mountain roads, take some dramamine if you get car sick.

 

Barbados...more shopping then went to the beach, didn't do the catamaran tour just taxi over to the same beach where Tiami and Silver Fish stop to snorkel with turtles. Went right out in the water and found 2 large turtles hanging around. Locals are VERY pushy and a few were rude. I've been to the island before and had the same experience, makes me not want to go back!

 

If your going to try Chops or Portofino do it the night of ST. Maarten or St. Lucia, dinner in the dining room wasn't that impressive on those nights. We went to Portofino and I must say it was well worth it. Service was excellent, food was excellent, I wish we would have eaten there more often. Try the dessert sampler!!!

 

If anyone has more questions let me know I'll do my best to answer for you.

[anteldel]

What was the name of the beach you went to in Barbados?

How long was the taxi ride (& how much)?

What were the facilities like (chairs/umbrellas/floats available to rent, bathrooms, snack bar, etc)?

Thanks for the info!

[wrp96]

I sailed on the Serenade on March 11th and my review is posted here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=319409. We had an amazing time.

 

 

We did the Silvermoon I in Barbados and had an absolutely great time. We liked the production shows we saw on the ship, although I didn't see any of the other shows.

[SLCBoys]

anteldel....can't remember the name of the beach, just tell the taxi driver you would like to go to the beach with the turtles, they will know. It took about 20 min to get there and was $20 for 2 people. There were restrooms, restaurant and bar. You could rent chairs/umbrella's and snorkeling equipment. I didn't really care for the beach because of the locals, after saying no to purchasing necklaces we were then asked if we wanted pot, drugs, prostitutes etc and they just wouldn't let up!

 

I've been to Barbados before and quite frankly I don't care if I ever go back, seems like the locals get worse everytime I'm there. On the other hand, it's very easy to find the turtles, all the catamaran tours stop at this beach and feed them so they hang around. We saw 2 and they came right up to us, they are used to people and very friendly.

[anteldel]

Wow! Thanks for the info. Maybe that's why the catamaran excursions have become so popular. What a shame. The beach sounded great otherwise.