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Serenade Review 11/10/2007 (long)

lovemylab

By lovemylab,
in Royal Caribbean International

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lovemylab

lovemylab

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We just got off the Serenade this past Saturday. We loved the itinerary and the ship. The crew was also fantastic.

 

Pre-cruise: we stayed at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan for one night. I booked this on Priceline for $75. We would stay here again. We didn't have a chance to enjoy the beach or pool area though (other than the hammocks). To make a long story short, my luggage didn't arrive in San Juan until Saturday at noon so I didn't have a bathing suit. We also didn't eat at any of the restaurants in the hotel however I did look at the menu's and the prices were high, but also what I expected. The staff at the hotel was excellent and our room was gorgeous.

 

Embarking: we arrived at the port around 1pm (had to go to the airport first to get my luggage :p ) and were able to board immediately. Our rooms were also available at this time as well.

 

Food: We requested a table for two and were placed at a table for four. We immediately went to the maitre 'd to change it to either a table for two or a large table. We received a table for 10. It was the same menu's that we had on the Explorer two years ago (and that others have posted many times online). We enjoyed the food and the service was excellent.

 

We also ate at both Portofino and Chops - we preferred the food at Portofino over Chops but both were excellent and we will definitely make reservations at both on future cruises.

 

We ate lunch and breakfast most days in the Windjammer. I love the set up in the Windjammer (having food stations instead of a long line) but I found they offered the same stuff everyday. In comparison, when we were on the Explorer two years ago we noticed there was more variety offered. The food was good though.

 

We went to the Seaview cafe a few times - I tried the chili and didn't like it. I also ordered the fish and chips to discover that it was actually fish sticks (I was expecting battered fish). The feathers and fingers was good and I heard others recommending the onion rings.

 

The only thing we ate at the Solarium Cafe was the pizza. I know a lot of people were raving about the crepes but we never had the chance to try them.

 

My only complaint about food is with room service. The first time we ordered room service it never arrived. The second time we requested it between 7:30-8am. We received a call at 8:20 telling us it was on the way however it was too late as we were getting ready to leave. We decided to give up on room service and just go to the Windjammer instead.

 

Entertainment: Excellent. We enjoyed the theatre and the live musicians around the ship. The Quest was hilarious as was the Love & Marriage Show. I would like to thank Kim (kla203) for making the Quest as memorable as it was :D

 

Spa: The only spa area that we used was the Thermal Suite. A weekly pass for the two of us was $115 and definitely worth it. We went there everyday and it was never crowded.

 

Cabin: We had room 7602, centre hump on deck seven. Location was excellent as it was very close to the elevators and stairs. We could hear some noise from the Centrum. We would love to book this cabin again.

 

St. Thomas: We went to Trunk Bay on our own. We caught the 9am ferry out of Red Hook and were on the beach within an hour. Going back to the ship we caught the 1pm ferry and still had plenty of time for shopping.

 

St. Maarten: We walked around downtown Phillipsburg and then went back to the ship. Since the itinerary is port intensive we treated this day as an extra seaday (we were in St. Maarten two years ago).

 

Antigua: We rented a car from Hertz and drove around the island. We had reserved an SUV however when we arrived they had no record of our reservation (despite the fact that we had called a week prior to confirm details). We ended up with a Corolla and drove to English Harbour, Half Moon Bay, Long Bay beach, Devil's Bridge, through Fig Tree Drive and along the coast to go back to the ship. We made a few wrong turns and driving on the left was interesting but there is hardly any traffic once you are out of the city.

 

St. Lucia: We took Cosol's tour. I can't say enough good things about this tour - this was the highlight of our cruise! Our driver was Baptist and he provided many laughs. We received an excellent island tour, got to go swimming between the Pitons and had lots of food and drinks along the way. The ten people in our van were all from the Cruise Critic Roll Call which added to the fun.

 

Barbados: We booked with Silvermoon. As others on CC have mentioned in the past, this is also an excellent tour. We received a fabulous lunch and the staff was very friendly.

 

Disembarking: Our flight was for 1pm. We were sitting at our gate in the airport for 9:30am. When going to the airport leave your cruise luggage tags on as it allows you to skip the agriculture inspection. Disembarking the ship could not have gone any smoother.

 

Next Cruise Booking Program: While on this cruise we took advantage of the Next Cruise program. The future vacation consultants don't appear to understand this program yet. We are in Canada and the form stated that you need to pay $100US per person. We asked if this would cause any problems as our travel agent normally books in Cdn dollars. We were told it wouldn't be a problem at all and that our TA would still receive the booking and would be able to book in USD.

 

A few hours later we are speaking to friends we had met through our roll call (who are also from Canada) and they were told they have to make their deposit in Cdn funds. We went back to the Future Cruise consultants who confirmed that we could book in USD and there would be no problems transferring it to our TA.

 

Later in the evening we received a message from the future cruise consultants stating that our deposit has been made however they couldn't transfer the booking to our TA as we requested a booking in USD (this was done because they told us we HAD to book in USD). Instead we would have to call RCCL ourselves and request to have it transferred to our TA. This isn't a big deal, but it completely contradicts everything we were told.

 

The negatives: unlike other Serenade southern cruises, this one was missing two things. There was no "Piton Pivot" and on the last sea day we did not sail by the islands. I did mention this on my comment card so hopefully if enough people do the same they will change this.

 

We loved the Serenade and this itinerary and hope to sail it again in the future.

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waterbugohio

waterbugohio

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Atumn,

 

Thanks so much for your review. We will be on the Serenade in exactly one year from this week. As this is our first cruise ever, I have been on these boards everyday learning and asking. I have been waiting on that first review for this year to come in.

Have a few questions??

 

Have you used price line before?? If someone could help me a little witht he process I would appreciate it. I am a little unsure of using it, but it seems the way to go in San Juan.

 

Which nights did you do Chops or Portifino? Do you book them before you cruise? How do you know which nights are formal? We don't want to miss them. Unlike others, I can't wait for formal nights??? I already have one dress bought and can't wait to buy another!!! Will the nightly schedule stay the same from one year to the next. We will cruise on the second week the serenade is back to the south, so we won't be able to wait for any reviews next year.

 

What is the thermal suite?? I have seen this talked about before but not sure what it is.

 

What is the Quest??? I assume just a room/lounge?? Do you know ahead of time what will be going on all week? I like to review things ahead and kinda know what we are doing everyday. Hate to miss anything!!

 

Thanks again for your review. Keep giving us details!!

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lovemylab

lovemylab

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waterbugohio,

 

This was the first time we had ever used Priceline. I went to betterbidding.com to get familiar with priceline before making my bid. Priceline will allow you to choose your area, the level hotel you want and than you can name your price. I chose a resort level hotel for San Juan and bid $75 and received the Caribe Hilton on my first try. I placed my bid in February or March of this past year.

 

We booked Chops on the Tuesday night and Portofino on Wednesday night. You book them once you are onboard. When you make the reservation the hostess will know what nights are formal nights along with the various themes in the dining room throughout the week. I had seen copies of the menu online previously so I knew what dining room menu's I wanted to skip. For us, it was Caribbean night and Crown & Anchor night.

I knew what nights were formal nights due to other reviews. Formal night was Sunday (St. Thomas) and Thursday (Barbados).

 

The thermal suite has a dry sauna, an aromatherapy room, a regular sauna, two showers that provide both a tropical rain and a cold shower and tiled loungers that are heated. There are pictures on webshots - just type in "thermal suite serenade" or something to that effect and you will get lots of pictures.

 

The Quest is a game. It's an adult scavenger hunt and provides for many laughs. On the ship you will receive a cruise compass everyday that has the schedule for all the activities. When you first get onboard they will give you a general schedule of the activities going on throughout the week. You can also find copies of old compass's online. The cruiseline does an excellent job at scheduling events - things like the Quest are never scheduled during dining times or when there is a show in the theatre for example. Here is a copy to the compass's for a Serenade cruise in Dec 2006: http://www.cruisedailies.com/portal/tabid/370/Default.aspx

 

Hope that helps!

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alicam

alicam

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Thankyou for the review of the Serenade and answers to the other's questions...my wife and I are on the Serenade next March right after drydock and are looking forward to it....your review made it just that much more exciting to think about it....once again...thanks

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petesweet

petesweet

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My question is about the Piton pivet. I presume this would be where the ship turns so everyone can get a view of something called the Piton? If so, and if the ship doesn't pivet, where is the best place to see this Piton? Thanks. We really want to do this trip sometime.

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Rea

Rea

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Thank you so much for the review of Serenade of the Seas...we will be going on that ship on Dec. 1. We've been on other RCI ships but not this one. I have a question, where do you book Cosol's tour of St Lucia? We've been to this island a number of times, but have not had this tour.

 

Thanks,

Rea

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TOgal1009

TOgal1009

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I had seen copies of the menu online previously so I knew what dining room menu's I wanted to skip. For us, it was Caribbean night and Crown & Anchor night.

 

Autumn3,

 

Thanks for the great review. The Serenade will be my first cruise. Where did you see the menu online? Can you send me the link, if possible?

 

Thanks.

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digital_curator

digital_curator

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Autumn3, thanks for a great review!

 

We will be on the Serenade in May for an Alaskan cruise. We have the stateroom next to yours, so I'm glad that you liked the location despite the noise. Was it music you could hear or just general noise? Late at night or during the day?

 

I'm also glad to hear that there are crepes in the Solarium, since I had read that this ship did not have them. Since the DR menus haven't changed, I'm looking forward to getting to try some new things at the Seaview and Solarium cafe.;)

 

Cheers,

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lovemylab

lovemylab

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We have the stateroom next to yours, so I'm glad that you liked the location despite the noise. Was it music you could hear or just general noise? Late at night or during the day?

 

It was music that we could hear from the Centrum - on several nights there was a latin/salsa band playing and we could hear it in our cabin. However, it wasn't loud enough to keep us awake and the latest they ever played was 12:30. During the day there wasn't any noise at all.

 

You will love this location - it was so convenient being close to the stairs and elevators. I would love to have this location again.

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Worn out mailman

Worn out mailman

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My question is about the Piton pivet. I presume this would be where the ship turns so everyone can get a view of something called the Piton? If so, and if the ship doesn't pivet, where is the best place to see this Piton? Thanks. We really want to do this trip sometime.

Geez, you know, a major reason I picked this cruise with the higher airfare (to SJU) is everything I heard about cruising around the Pitons. Perhaps as another poster said it is because of the high cost of fuel. I hope since I'm now going to pay an extra 70 dollars (as are probably most of the passengers on this cruise) for a fuel surcharge that they do the Pivot when I go in March.

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squinn77

squinn77

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I just returned from the Serenade and I was looking forward to the Piton Pivot. As has been mentioned, the Pivot did not occur on this trip. I'm guessing that the cost of fuel is not the reason. My guess is that it wasn't worth it because it was simply too dark outside to be able to see. The sunset each night was around 5:30, so by the time the Serenade would have reached the Pitons, you wouldn't have been able to see much. Without looking to see what the typical sunset time would be in March, if it stays light outside later, perhaps they will do the pivot again.

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