Serenade of the Seas - Southern Carribbean

[OfTheGirl]

Hey!

 

Ist time poster, long time lurker here! We did the Mariner of the Seas Western Carribbean for our honeymoon March 2005 and had a wonderful time. Amazing ship, wonderful staff, just had a ball. Planning on doing the Serenade of the Seas Southern Carribbean with another couple (we're all 28) March 3 - 10 2007. But, I haven't seen any reviews on this itinerary. Anyone done it? How's the ship? Ports? Any reviews? I'm going to book within the next few weeks, by mid October but do really love the advice on this board.

 

When we did the Mariner, we did a few excursions on our own based on reviews from this board. So I do appreciate the advice!

[Newfy Friend]

We've done two trips on the Serenade. The most recent was to Alaska this spring. The ship is beautiful; many of us prefer the Radiance class ships. You might miss the ice rink and the promenade, but many of the features are similar to the Voyager class.

 

On each of the trips, I was very impressed with the friendliness and helpfulness of the crew and staff. I thought that the food on the second trip showed an improvement over the first cruise. We had a wonderful waiter who made very good recommendations.

 

The Southern Caribbean route is very port intensive. You will have a lot of choices for excursions. Sint Maartin has some of the best shopping that you will find in the Caribbean. Saint Lucia is interesting with the possibility of visiting a volcano. Barbados is a beautiful island--my favorite so far.

 

The biggest disadvantage of this cruise is that it is a long way to San Juan which makes for a long travel day, and it is also fairly expensive to get there.

 

Would I do the trip again? You bet! Have a great cruise.

[sas80]

Hey!

 

Ist time poster, long time lurker here! We did the Mariner of the Seas Western Carribbean for our honeymoon March 2005 and had a wonderful time. Amazing ship, wonderful staff, just had a ball. Planning on doing the Serenade of the Seas Southern Carribbean with another couple (we're all 28) March 3 - 10 2007. But, I haven't seen any reviews on this itinerary. Anyone done it? How's the ship? Ports? Any reviews? I'm going to book within the next few weeks, by mid October but do really love the advice on this board.

 

When we did the Mariner, we did a few excursions on our own based on reviews from this board. So I do appreciate the advice!

 

Done it and LOVED it!

 

One of the unexpected higlights of the cruise was the captain stopping the ship in the middle of the Piton mountains and doing a pirouette (360 rotation of the ship) multiple times.

 

Another unexpected higlight was crusing by the area devestated by the erruption of the Monserraut (sp!) volcano. you can see where lava has covered a village.

 

Do a shore excursion in St. Lucia, definitely. The port is on a small shopping area but, unless you do a shore excursion, you really are not on a nice side of the island. I could be wrong about this and it could be that Antigua is the port to do the shore excursion in....

 

Barbados was beautiful, in my opinion.

 

I am definitely doing this itinerary again with my husband... I just have to decide if we are going to go on the Serenade or the Adventure. We have both been on the Serenade before (me twice and he once).

 

The quandry is - does the Adventure pirouette in the middle of the Pitons and pass by Monsuerrat like the Serenade does...? If the Adventure does not do these things then I think we will find ourselves back on the Serenade once again because these things are a cant miss for the southern itinerary......

 

Loved the cruise though! Loved it! You will to!

[OfTheGirl]

Thanks for the reply! We like the fact that it's port intensive. We didn't like the days at sea as much on the Western Itinerary, it was kind of boring IMO. Good to know that the ship is nice and the staff kind. I have the days planned for every day except St. Lucia and Antigua, so I may look into the Volcano for St. Lucia, thanks for that tip! As always, I appreaciate your advice! Cheers!

[sas80]

Thanks for the reply! We like the fact that it's port intensive. We didn't like the days at sea as much on the Western Itinerary, it was kind of boring IMO. Good to know that the ship is nice and the staff kind. I have the days planned for every day except St. Lucia and Antigua, so I may look into the Volcano for St. Lucia, thanks for that tip! As always, I appreaciate your advice! Cheers!

 

If the volcano is in St. Lucia then definitely plan an excursion for Antigua. it must be Antigua that I am recalling as not much to do at the port.

 

You will love it!

[OfTheGirl]

If the volcano is in St. Lucia then definitely plan an excursion for Antigua. it must be Antigua that I am recalling as not much to do at the port.

 

You will love it!

 

Yeah, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything in Antigua. I think we're going to call that a beach day! Here's how it's looking:

 

St. Thomas - Going to St. Johns for the day to either Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay to the Beach unless someone has any other ideas!

 

St. Maarten - Lotarie Treetop Adventure/Zipline Tour

 

Antigua - nothing so far

 

St. Lucia - was thinking about a day pass at Rendevous resort, but may rethink that so we can see the Volcano.

 

Barbados - Silvermoon I Catamaran

[strype2]

This was my favorite cruise so far!

 

In Antigua you can take Eli's Echo tour. It is spectacular!!! You get to see things only a true island native knows about. I think it is a 6 hour tour on Eli's boat. Eli and his crew are the best! You get to go to "Hells Gate" you see green turtles, the mangorves and then you even get to snorkle. It's not a ship excursion but you can find info on the things to do thread or just google it. Most highly recommend it.

[Rala]

Lawrence of Antigua is also very good. No prepayment required. His website is lawrenceofantigua.com. His tours are also less expensive than Eli's eco tour and less strenuous if that is a concern. Enjoy your cruise!

[strype2]

http://www.adventureantigua.com/

 

Just in case... this is the web site for Eli.

[lovemylab]

We have this cruise booked for next November. Like yourself, we went on a Voyager class ship for our honeymoon in November 2005 (we were on the Explorer on an Eastern Cruise).

 

We chose this cruise/ship for a variety of reasons:

 

1) Every cruise review I have read was full of great reviews. If you go into the Roll Call threads you can read some great reviews there from people who've already cruised.

 

2) The ship. Having already been on a Voyager class we really wanted to try the Radiance class. Again, this is based on reviews I've read online. Like others have said, in the past this ship has done a 360 at the Pitons and on the last sea day you pass many islands.

 

4) The ports. I like the idea of having a port intensive cruise. On our last cruise we were back on the ship early at every port. We feel we will still have time to enjoy the ship despite the number of ports.

 

Because our cruise is more than a year away we don't have any excursions booked yet but we are planning to do the following:

 

St. Thomas - taking the ferry to Trunk Bay. This will be our second time at St. Thomas. Last time we went to Magen's Bay in the morning and shopped in the afternoon.

 

St. Martin - Orient Bay beach and shopping. We also went to St. Martin on our last cruise and it was our favorite port. We did an excursion through the ship called the Grand Explorer and Boat Tour (?) - basically we started with an island tour and then did a tour on a party boat around Simpsons Bay. There was a calypso singer and rum punch. After the boat tour you were either dropped off in downtown Phillipsburg for shopping or taken back to the ship. My husband wants to do this tour again as he liked it so much. We also had plenty of time for shopping and swimming at the beach in Phillipsburg. There is a water taxi that takes you to the ship - it is $5 for the day. Once we finished shopping we used the water taxi to take our bags to the ship (and also had a quick lunch on the ship since we were there) and then took the water taxi back to the beach to go swimming.

 

Antigua - I would like to do Eli's Eco Tour. My husband wants to rent a vehicle and explore the island on our own.

 

St. Lucia - We are looking at taking a tour through Cosol. There is lots of info on this tour on the St. Lucia board.

 

Barbados - I would like to go to Crane Beach. My husband wants to take the Silvermoon Catamaran.

[wrp96]

I did this cruise this past March and loved it. I really enjoyed sailing out of San Juan because if you are able to go in early, it gives you extra time to explore San Juan and really seems to add to the vacation. Also, you get to miss stopping in Nassau (like on an Eastern Caribbean cruise) or the really crowded Western Caribbean islands.

 

I posted my review here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=319409

[Sheffie]

I took this cruise a couple of weeks after Wrona and had a fabulous time. The ship is gorgeous and the itinerary is now our favorite.

 

Everyone above has given good advice on what to do at the ports. We did Cinnamon Beach in St. Thomas, Pinel Island at St. Maarten, Eli's Eco tour in Antigua, Frank's land tour in St. Lucia, and Silver Moon I in Barbados.

 

Here is a link to our pictures. We loved the ship and itinerary so much that we are repeating it again next Spring Break.

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks for the reply! We like the fact that it's port intensive. We didn't like the days at sea as much on the Western Itinerary, it was kind of boring IMO.

Wow, if you find sea days on a Voyager class ship boring you really should book all port intensive cruises. I don't think you will find ships with more to do on board than the Voyager sisters or Freedom.

[mjyanne]

We have this cruise booked for next November. Like yourself, we went on a Voyager class ship for our honeymoon in November 2005 (we were on the Explorer on an Eastern Cruise).

 

We chose this cruise/ship for a variety of reasons:

 

1) Every cruise review I have read was full of great reviews. If you go into the Roll Call threads you can read some great reviews there from people who've already cruised.

 

2) The ship. Having already been on a Voyager class we really wanted to try the Radiance class. Again, this is based on reviews I've read online. Like others have said, in the past this ship has done a 360 at the Pitons and on the last sea day you pass many islands.

 

4) The ports. I like the idea of having a port intensive cruise. On our last cruise we were back on the ship early at every port. We feel we will still have time to enjoy the ship despite the number of ports.

 

Because our cruise is more than a year away we don't have any excursions booked yet but we are planning to do the following:

 

St. Thomas - taking the ferry to Trunk Bay. This will be our second time at St. Thomas. Last time we went to Magen's Bay in the morning and shopped in the afternoon.

 

St. Martin - Orient Bay beach and shopping. We also went to St. Martin on our last cruise and it was our favorite port. We did an excursion through the ship called the Grand Explorer and Boat Tour (?) - basically we started with an island tour and then did a tour on a party boat around Simpsons Bay. There was a calypso singer and rum punch. After the boat tour you were either dropped off in downtown Phillipsburg for shopping or taken back to the ship. My husband wants to do this tour again as he liked it so much. We also had plenty of time for shopping and swimming at the beach in Phillipsburg. There is a water taxi that takes you to the ship - it is $5 for the day. Once we finished shopping we used the water taxi to take our bags to the ship (and also had a quick lunch on the ship since we were there) and then took the water taxi back to the beach to go swimming.

 

Antigua - I would like to do Eli's Eco Tour. My husband wants to rent a vehicle and explore the island on our own.

 

St. Lucia - We are looking at taking a tour through Cosol. There is lots of info on this tour on the St. Lucia board.

 

Barbados - I would like to go to Crane Beach. My husband wants to take the Silvermoon Catamaran.

 

Antigua - Wished I'd done Eli's Eco Tour (our tablemates said it was great (we did the Stingray swim (don't recommend it (not because of Steve Irwin) but because too many people and a lousy driver who told us nothing about ANtigua on the 30 minute ride there and 30 minute ride back.

 

St Lucia - Highly recommend Cosol. It was one of the best excursions I've ever done and most reasonable cost ($45 fee).

 

Barbados - Highly recommend the Silvermoon. Again well worth the money and one of the most relaxing days I have had on a cruise (and that's saying something:) )

[texancruzer]

We did this itinerary on Serenade last Nov. to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We flew down to San Juan on Thurs (Thanksgiving Day) and our best friends flew in the next day (Fri). We had a blast exploring Old San Juan and went salsa dancing at a local club there on Fri. night.

 

The cruise was wonderful as we also prefer a port intensive cruise. We travel quite a bit (our friends do not) and usually prefer to rent a car and "do our own thing" whenever possible.

 

We did Trunk Bay on our own at St. Thomas....would do that again !!

We rented a jeep on St. Maarten and explored all over the island (Marigot, Orient Beach and places in between)

We also did this on Antigua and had a super day.... it is may be my favorite island....people very friendly.

On St. Lucia we opted to do an RCI tour "Land and Sea to Soufriere" it was a long day but absolutely perfect. Bus down the coast to banana plantation, to a quaint fishing village, then to volcano and lunch... then onto a catamaran for a sail and snorkle stop back to Castries.

On Barbados we did a private tour with Cameron Reid... awesome. He will customize your tour to match your interests.....and very reasonable price too.

 

To clarify one thing.... there is no volcano ON Antigua.... Montserrat is 21 miles off the coast and you can take helicopter rides over there. But most of the island is "NO ZONE" meaning no one is allowed. When we were there it was glowing red at night and spewing lots of steam and smoke. I believe since (maybe April ?) it "burped" as a ship was passing and the whole ship was covered in ash. I think it best to view from a ways off.

 

There is also a volcano on St. Lucia at Soufriere. It is also still active but not like Montserrat. There is an area where there is steam and boiling water (black water) that comes to the surface and is very interesting to visit. Just FYI.

 

Have a great time...... you will love this cruise !

[erniesband]

Serenade is our favorite ship, and this itinerary is our favorite itinerary. We'll be going on Serenade for the 3rd time in January (6th time on this itinerary). The activities you have planned so far sound terrific. We really enjoy going to St. John on our own, and really like Cinnamon Bay. My son and I did the Zip line tour last January and had a great time, plus, it leaves time for something else in the afternoon, if you want, even if it's just wandering around Phillipsburgh. We're doing Silvermoon in Barbados this year, haven't done that yet. And we've used Frank in St. Lucia - he's terrific! Just going to the beach on your first time to St. Lucia would probably be a mistake - it's the most beautiful island on the itinerary, and really should be seen! It's very green and lush - like something out of South Pacific. Our all-time favorite excursion, is Eli's Eco-Tour in Antigua. Several people have posted the link for you. We'll be doing it for a 4th time this January. Last January we did his Xtreme Circumnav (it's described on his website, too), and had a great time. It's one of the reasons we love Antigua, and this itinerary.

 

Jodi

[Ocean Boy]

I believe since (maybe April ?) it "burped" as a ship was passing and the whole ship was covered in ash. I think it best to view from a ways off.

And it was actually Serenade that got "burped" on!

[KillaFee]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this thread. I just booked the Serenade for January 20th aft balcony on the 7th floor!!! This will be our first balcony and I'm really really excited, especially because everyone says that aft is the way to go....anyone ever had any of the aft balconies on the Serenade?

Also, do you think the fact that it's so port intensive prevents people from mingling and going out at night? We love going up to the Viking Crown and hope that other people will be there too....

I can't wait for this cruise!! :eek:

Thanks...

[wrp96]

And it was actually Serenade that got "burped" on!

 

I thought it was the Adventure that got burped on.

[lv2bcruzin]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this thread. I just booked the Serenade for January 20th aft balcony on the 7th floor!!! This will be our first balcony and I'm really really excited, especially because everyone says that aft is the way to go....anyone ever had any of the aft balconies on the Serenade?

Also, do you think the fact that it's so port intensive prevents people from mingling and going out at night? We love going up to the Viking Crown and hope that other people will be there too....

I can't wait for this cruise!! :eek:

Thanks...

 

We are also booked aft on this ship for November. We are on deck 10. I love cruising and have always counted down the days, but this one even more so. It's our first balcony and I love the Southern Caribbean itinerary. This is a port intensive itinerary, but we like to go back and forth with that. So, our next cruise will be on the Liberty doing a 3 days at sea itineray.

 

On this cruise we have an excursion booked for each port. I'm really looking forward to the Jolly Roger Pirate Cruise. :D

[KillaFee]

I hear ya! The Southern Caribbean rocks! You'll have to let me know how it was when you're done since we're both doing our first balconies....I agree w/you on switching the itineraries because I do love sea days and chillin' at the pool bar meeting people, getting tan, etc... oh well I guess ya have to give up something when there's so many cool ports to see down that way. Take lots of pics! :D

Laura

[sas80]

I thought it was the Adventure that got burped on.

 

It was

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/aots.html

[Ocean Boy]

Awesome pictures of Adventure. I had not heard about that. I do remember a thread a while back about Serenade having to make a fast dash away from the island also due to an eruption. If I have time later I'll try to find the thread.

[OfTheGirl]

Wow! This is great! Thank you everyone for the replies. We're so excited, it looks like from all of the reviews we picked a great ship with a great itinery. I'm going to take the suggestions to heart. We are definately going to book a balcony, we did it on our first cruise and it's the way to go! From what I can tell, Serenade doesn't have the connecting balconies which is kind of a bummer, but it's a small price to pay. I just hope we can catch 2 cabins together! Very cool!

[sas80]

Wow! This is great! Thank you everyone for the replies. We're so excited, it looks like from all of the reviews we picked a great ship with a great itinery. I'm going to take the suggestions to heart. We are definately going to book a balcony, we did it on our first cruise and it's the way to go! From what I can tell, Serenade doesn't have the connecting balconies which is kind of a bummer, but it's a small price to pay. I just hope we can catch 2 cabins together! Very cool!

 

If you are going to get a balcony, try getting one of the many aft balconies on Deck 7, 8, 9 or 10. Deck 9 - 9256 is a HUGE wrap around balcony

 

While deck 10 is going to be the most private, any of these balconies are going to be more than double the size of any side balcony and will afford you a GREAT view of the wake of the ship! (very romantic!)

 

Check out the Serenade deck layout on rccl dot com for more info on cabin 9256 and the balconies that are all the way aft.

 

It's a bit of a longer walk to the elevator and stairs, but you are both young and we all eat enough on a cruise to need the extra excercise!

 

The rccl CS rep will not confirm they are bigger balconies but, trust me, they are exactly as they appear.

 

Happy Sailing!