Just back Serenade 1/5/08 ready for questions.

[erniesband]

Just back from our 4th sailing on Serenade. Ready to answer questions. I'll post a short review and comments later this week. It was ( as usual ) a great cruise.:D

Ernie

[cassieroll]

What is your favorite memory from this trip?

[Ms.Albuquerque]

Hi...We'll be sailing on the Serenade on Jan. 26th. I'm having a hard time picking excursions. Did you do any? Through the ship or independent? I think we have decided to go independent with COSOL in St. Lucia. Silver Moon and Cool Runnings are sold out in Barbados so we're thinking of doing the ship excursions. But, there are so many to choose from. I'll watch for your review but any info on excursions at any of the ports you could give now would be helpful. Thanks!

[vermonter16]

How were the meals in the DR? Anything exceptionally good that you remember - also in Windjammer? How was the weather?

[phrankbama]

Can you tell me how early you were you able to board the ship? We are sailing Serenade on 3/15, flying down the night before and would like to get to the ship as early as possible. Thanks.

[newcruisergal]

Hello Jodi!

I am sorry that I didn't get to meet you on this cruise (we got CRAZY before we left and I didn't have a chance to touch base with you) but wanted to THANK YOU so much for all of your help and suggestions on planning this cruise on the Serenade...it was absolutely the vacation of a lifetime, and your suggestions from cabin choice to excursions were just awesome. Eli's Xtreme Circumnav Tour was definitely one of the highlights!!! And I did get to meet your friend LeftyRN (she and her DH were our neighbors and were SO nice!), she said you all had a great time on the Eco Cruise as well. I'm glad!

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this newbie's questions, you helped make our trip great!!!

 

Christine

[sas80]

Did you sail by Montsuerrat and did you do the Piton Pivot?

[vermonter16]

Hello Jodi!

I am sorry that I didn't get to meet you on this cruise (we got CRAZY before we left and I didn't have a chance to touch base with you) but wanted to THANK YOU so much for all of your help and suggestions on planning this cruise on the Serenade...it was absolutely the vacation of a lifetime, and your suggestions from cabin choice to excursions were just awesome. Eli's Xtreme Circumnav Tour was definitely one of the highlights!!! And I did get to meet your friend LeftyRN (she and her DH were our neighbors and were SO nice!), she said you all had a great time on the Eco Cruise as well. I'm glad!

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this newbie's questions, you helped make our trip great!!!

 

Christine

 

DH and I are booked for the Xtreme Circumnav - is it that good? I'm excited! How was the snorkeling - how many people?

[Mach1]

Did you stop in St. Croix for fuel?

Did you visit the duty free store inside the terminal @ SJ?

[newcruisergal]

DH and I are booked for the Xtreme Circumnav - is it that good? I'm excited! How was the snorkeling - how many people?

Honestly the Xtreme Circumnav was the best excursion of the entire trip! Our group was led by JD, Trevor and Chris. They were just so nice, helpful and very knowledgeable about their island. Snorkeling at Stingray City was amazing, there was no one else there when we arrived. I have to get my photos developed but there is one of me holding a stingray, it was fantastic! We also snorkeled near the Pillars of Hercules. We were able to hop right off the side of the boat and begin snorkeling, no other groups were here at the time and the visibility was very good. Trevor led us up the shoreline and showed us a small shipwreck and chased some eel out of the rocks for us to see. Lunch was delicious, served on a secluded beach under a coconut tree. The beaches were beautiful and pristine, we ended the day with some swimming and rum punch at Rendevous Bay. We would do this again in a heartbeat!

[vermonter16]

newcruisergal - thanks for the review! It does sound like it will be a blast! We were a little hesitant to book since we have already overspent on excursions with a day sail in St. Thomas but we don't think we'll be on this itinerary again so we splurged! I'm glad we booked it! It sounds like the stingrays were awesome and I've always wanted to do a "swim" with them and have never done it before because I've heard mostly it's overcrowded....but knowing you got there first is GREAT!

[erniesband]

What is your favorite memory from this trip?

Can't pick just one thing , it's all good!

How were the meals in the DR? Anything exceptionally good that you remember - also in Windjammer? How was the weather?

They were just OK, I've noticed the decline in quality and choices, I felt that the beef was pretty good, they've figured out what medium rare is and the lobster on the fisherman's platter was one of the best I've had on a cruise, not overcooked and a good size. Weather was cloudy and some rain as is typical this time of year.

Did you stop in St. Croix for fuel?

Did you visit the duty free store inside the terminal @ SJ?

No stop in St. Croix.

Just got coke in the terminal. They allowed that but were scanning carry-ons for booze.

Did you sail by Montsuerrat and did you do the Piton Pivot?

No

Can you tell me how early you were you able to board the ship? We are sailing Serenade on 3/15, flying down the night before and would like to get to the ship as early as possible.

We flew down day of so we got there at 3pm, however in the past we were able to get on board around 11:30.

As for excursions since we've done this 9 times we were pretty laid back this time and didn't do any ship excursions and haven't in many years.

I'll be back later to answer more.;)

Ernie