Seranade of the Seas - Baltic 6/28/15

We just finished this cruise and while I won't be doing a full blown trip report I wanted to post some info on the ship and ports so here goes. There were two of us, me and my longterm boyfriend R.

First off the Ship.

Overall Impression. It was a lovely ship that seemed to be in good condition. The crew was nice, the service (for the most part, see dining below) was good and we enjoyed our time on the ship. We were in an interior cabin on deck 3 and it was quite and dark. In spite of all the advice on here I did not take ANY of the tools for organization and didn't need them. We didn't even fill up all the available storage space.

Dining. We had My Time Dining. What a disaster! I had made reservations for every night in advance. First night it took forever to seat us as we watched the desk scramble, but we wrote it off to just getting everyone organized the first night. Service that night was fine, but not outstanding. Night two was the first of two formal nights. Here's where it went off the deep end. We get there, the table we had the night before was in use. This creates crisis one at the check in desk where the girl running it has a fight with one of the head waiters. After witnessing another case of "who is on first" confusion at this desk we are taken to a table... and abandoned. Finally a waiter (not wearing a name tag) races by and says he will be right back. Tables on either side of us are seated, get service and we sit. We flag down a head waiter. Our wait staff FINALLY appears. Service is glacially slow, food is cold. We are in a location with a lot of two top tables and EVERY one of them has a different wait team and ALL of the rest have better service LOL! As far as we can tell we are NOWHERE near where the rest of our wait teams tables are as we never see them. We finish the main dish and the assistant waiter comes to remove the dishes and drops them on my boyfriend! The waiter runs by and says he will get the head waiter..and disappears. (The words I am sorry did not come out of anyone's mouth LOL! ) Finally the head waiter stops to ask us how it's going, we tell him.. he 'volunteers' to take our desert order, brings us a menu and takes the order.... and then delivers me the WRONG desert. I ordered cheese plate, I get cheese cake. He says it's my fault for ordering "cheese" . He does give us a voucher to get the coat cleaned. Desert was a HUGE disappointment. (That has to be the saddest cheese plate ever!) So we went to Windjammer and got better deserts. Atmosphere there was SO much nicer, food looked better etc... so from that point on we ate at Windjammer!

Based on the quality of the food in the MDR which was average at best I cancelled our specialty restaurant dining as I was not risking $50 on so so food. We did eat once at Ritas and enjoyed that.

We had one breakfast in the MDR. Umm... once again poor service and this time just bad food. (Hint, hash browns are suppose to be "brown" not cold raw potatoes!)

Windjammer we did like and they had a nice deal on a small carafe of house wine for $10 that we took advantage of several times. IT was about 4 glasses.

We ate lunch at Park Café on our sea day and the sandwiches were very good. Not sure why sandwiches are at one place and chips at another? Just to make you stand in line twice? :confused:

By the way Formal nights were day 2 (Helsinki) and day 6 (Riga)

Beverage Service. This gets it's own category just because of the various threads I read on here. Yes, drinks are high. We did the two for one Margaritas at Ritas because there's no way I was paying $14 for that LOL! $7a piece was more in line. Beer seemed more reasonable too. But... they didn't seem to be selling much. As a matter of fact my Day 5 (yes five) Compass said I could still have the drink package them. Since this was a 7 day cruise that seemed unusual. Of course, unlike other cruises I have been on there's basically no "wait service" at the pool We spent the sea day there and I saw one waiter with the drink of the day and that was it. It was never hard to get service at the bars as they were basically empty LOL! The only two exceptions were the main Centrum bar in the evening and one bar where there was a piano player. My boyfriend read in the Safari bar until the wee hours every night and got no real "beverage service" (he bought one drink a beer on day 6 LOL!) I bought a couple of glasses of wine in the MDR, several of the carafes (we split) in the MDR and a few other things including a drink of the day without the glass, which was around $8

That said, we did bring on the two bottles of wine. When we got we noticed a sign saying something about not being allowed to bring on any alcohol. I ignored it and no one said anything to us (The wine was in my rollerboard which I carried on)

Day 4 we carried two bottles of vodka in our backpacks. There was a table to turn it in, but we didn't get told to go to the table and we didn't volunteer (we did not drink this on the ship) So based on this on Day 5 (Tallin) I bought two bottles of wine at this huge liquor store (more details when I get to ports), stuck them in my purse and then just walked on. No one said anything

I had planned to get the soda package as I really like Diet Coke in the morning, but decided that this was such a port intensive cruise not to do it. I wound up just bringing on a bottle of diet coke at each port for the next morning! No problem with that either.

Thanks for the information. I am going on 7/26 on a 13 day tour and can not wait to ready your posts on the ports. Sorry to hear on mdr since that is what I have. Hopefully it will get better. I have done reservations for some days and did book the Italian restaurant.

How was your weather?

Thanks

Weather was great! We never had rain. It was a little cool the first few days, but warmed up throughout the cruise and was HOT on our last port day.

I will post port info later. Have to get back to the real job for a while.

Ports

We did all the ports on our own (yes, you read that right ALL) I used the Rick Steves Northern Europe Cruise Guide as one of my references and it gives good info on "how to" but beware it's several years out of date so use other sources to check hours, prices etc....

I know currency is a big deal. We got a little local currency in Stockholm and St. Petersbury. I had some Euros from a recent trip to Paris and we did "Refill" my stash in Riga so I would have some for my next port.

Most purchases were made with credit cards, but it was good to have some currency (for example the boat to Peterhof in St. Petersburg was only taking cash) I have a true chip and pin card which made it easy to buy things like tickets at machines. If you don't have that it may mean you are in longer lines to get a human to help you so just a warning!

Stockholm. This was our departure port. IT's a very nice city, but not one I am in love with. We flew in the day prior and took the Arlanda Express from the airport to downtown and then the subway to our hotel. I had booked this with Hilton Honors points and I will give them credit, the directions they gave were PERFECT. No problem getting to the hotel. Room was nice, pillows were a bit sad, but no other complaints and the location was an easy walk (across the bridge) to the Old Town

We explored the Old Town that day, toured the churches and just took it easy. I really liked Old Town! It is a little overrun with cruise tour groups but if you get off the main shopping drag it's very nice! We didn't sleep much on the flight and crashed about 8 PM.

Sunday, we got up and just walked around the area near our hotel. We had breakfast at the hotel (included since I am a Hilton Gold member, it's a pricey buffet) and figured out how to catch the bus to the port It turned out to be easy and we had no problem getting to the port on the bus, plus it was cheap. About $4 a person. One caveat, you can't buy the ticket more then an hour in advance.

One word of warning. While Royal lets you bring on wine, buying in Stockholm on the weekend is a problem. The store that sells it closes at around 2 or 3 on Saturday and isn't open on Sunday, we wound up importing it from Atlanta! :)

On our return to Stockholm we bought the 24 hour transit pass at the gift shop at the Port, followed the blue line to the bus and took it back to our new hotel, Hotel Nordic C right next to the train to the airport. I picked this because (a) it was VERY close to the train to the airport, (b) it got decent reviews on TripAdvisor and © it was cheap. IT was also the smallest hotel room ever and I have done some small European rooms. So beware the interior, no window rooms are small. But we had a 6:30 AM flight on Monday to Amsterdam and had to be on the 4:35 train to make it work so being right next door to the train station was a HUGE plus (and it is RIGHT next door) It's also near some local shopping streets so you have meal options and things to see!

After dropping our luggage at the hotel we took the street car/tram to the Vasa. This was one of the most frustrating parts of the trip. Finding this tram was a royal PAIN! But finally thanks to some locals (and in spite of the useless directions from the person at the metro station) we found it and then it was easy to find the museum. Museum was great and I strongly recommend it. We skipped the other museums in the area and took the ferry back to the Old Town, walked down a busy street near the harbor and ate at.... TGI Fridays. :eek: Yes, I am ashamed but we did it LOL! Spent the afternoon just wandering and exploring!

We did catch the 4:35 am train to the airport and had no problem making our flight. Used the last of our local currency for pastry at the airport (Nordic C does include breakfast with your room, but not at 4 AM ;))

Helsinki - This was my least favorite port. We got off the boat and were in a HUGE line for the shuttle to downtown. I had read in Rick Steves Curise Guide (which I used for all the ports as part of my research) that you could take public transport, but there are no real signs. Walked in to the shopping area and there was a very nice girl handing out maps who told me "walk out the other end of this building and follow the green line to the street car" so we did that. 3 Euros each way vs. 12 for the shuttle! Dropped us off at the train station. We toured the market, went to the Lutheran Cathedral (outside only, it's closed on Monday), the Helsinki Cathedral, had a fish lunch at the market and walked to the Rock Church. Came back to the train station, had a beer and people watched before taking the street car back to the port. Lots of walking but a nice day. Warning! This is a very expensive city. Our "Fast food" fish lunch was about 24 Euros, but it was good!

Helsinki is a very clean city, tourist information was incredibly helpful and they even have wandering "assistants" to help you if you get lost. I just tend to like my cities a little "older" LOL!

Stockholm

Thought of one thing I forgot. Our ship was late getting into port (no idea why). We were suppose to be cleared and the "express" people off the boat by 7:10 or so with the last groups off around 8:20. At 7 we were not even at the dock. We ran into one couple on our way to breakfast who were getting worried as they had a fairly early flight to catch. So if you are booking those 9 AM flights you might want to think twice.

We did carry our own luggage off and we just wandered off when we were ready. No problem.

Did you have an overnight (on the ship) in Stockholm?

The 7 night I have a song did not have an overnight in Stockholm

Thanks so much for posting. I'm leaving on this cruise July 26th. Your information is very helpful.

Nice review, Carolla... We just returned from the same cruise. Also had a few hiccups with MTD, but seemed that our Head Waiter came back from his 'vacation" on Day 2 so he was a bit jet-lagged and seemed a bit stressed throughout the cruise. This was the first time we've had issues with MTD on any of our cruises.

Taxi to Hilton Stockholm upon arrival was very easy... just be very careful (like others have said) to verify cost of taxi before you get into the car. Taxi Stockholm was very reliable and that's who we took to the hotel. At the end of the cruise there was LOTS of haggling going on in the line with the more expensive taxis sitting and waiting for tourists who did not know better.

I agree about Helsinki. We walked through the market place by the harbor, went to the restroom at the city offices and headed back to the ship. Not too exciting.

In St. Petersburg, we used Best-Guides and had a private guide. It was very reasonable and she met us at the ship both days and paid for Peterhoff tickets, hydrofoil tickets, lunch, etc. and we just reimbursed her at the end. Very easy and great email communication prior to our trip! The Customs line took us over an hour and there were at least 10 lines open... lots of folks getting off the ship at the same time and we even waited an hour after we docked.

We loved Tallin... very quaint and like out of a storybook. Not at all impressed with Riga. Seems this is a new port for RCI... docked in the middle of a lumberyard and the shuttles to the city were not very efficient. I'm betting that Riga will not be in the lineup for next year.

For those who are not "formal" people... we ate in MTD on first formal night in decent jeans and not fancy tops. I'd say less than half of the people were "dressed formal"... even saw one guy with shorts and a t-shirt. Nobody blinked an eye or said a word. We were welcomed like every other night.

As for credit cards... we were able to use our regular Visa card practically everywhere. We had called the credit card company before leaving to make sure we had a pin and that was sufficient even without the chip. Taxis all took credit card, although the one from Stockholm port to airport wasn't very happy... would have preferred cash. Make sure you factor in time waiting for taxi after getting off the ship in Stockholm. We waited for about 20 minutes in line.

Happy to answer any questions...

Thanks for the reviews Carolla5501 and twincheryl. We are on the same cruise leaving July 19th.

Riga is the only port I have absolutely no idea what we want to do. We are travelling with our kids (11 and 9) and I just can't find anything that I think they will be into. Any suggestions? It sounds like it was not a favourite port anyways. The free walking tours appear to leave at 11 and we don't dock until 11. How long did it take to get to the shuttle drop off and where was it? Was it a free shuttle?

Thanks!

St. Petersburg. Yes we did this on our own. But rather then post the epic story... see this link. I posted a pretty complete post in the ports thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=47059481#post47059481

Tallin This is an easy port and one I really enjoyed. It's an easy walk to the city. We were off fairly quickly, followed the blue line and headed right into the gates of the old city. We were early enough that the tour groups were still forming and we did most of the Rick Steves walking tour before it got packed. Then we had a nice lunch and split up for a while (it had been kind of a 3 legged race up until them) I wandered around and just enjoyed the old city. took photos and generally had a good time. On the way back to the port I stopped into what I "thought" was a grocery just outside the port gate. It turned out to be kind of a giant bizarre shopping mall with all kinds of things. (I did find a spot for my diet coke fix!) I then wandered across the port to the booze superstore for lack of a better term. We later found out that a lot of people from Scandinavian countries take the ferry to these ports just to buy the cheap booze. And buy they were, people were taking two and three shopping carts FULL of stuff to check out and then loading it on luggage carts to haul back to their ship! It was wild!

Riga Actually this may have been my favorite city on the cruise. This is a BEAUTIFUL town not overrun by tourists where real people live. We may have been the only ship in port. However, this was also the WORST PORT EVER! LOL! Instead of getting to dock at the nice user friendly walkable port right by the city we got sent to the container port. Yes, us and the grain silos, the lumber and the tank farm. The only way into the city was a $14 round trip shuttle and the lines were LONG (they did have about 15 buses running!) We decided to eat lunch and then head in (we didn't dock until 11 here) Got on a bus pretty quickly, but once I got in the city I was so sad we waited. It's the kind of city I would have loved to have had a nice lunch in one of the adorable squares. We also walked over to the market, it's kind of trek but R had really not ever seen a great European market so we enjoyed it. (it's HUGE!)

There are no major sights here, but it's a beautiful city. We had a great time wandering around and enjoying it and we both wished we could have had an evening there. There's also a park just outside the old city that had the cutest boat rides, but I don't know how you do them. If I ever get back that's on the list!

Of all the ports this is the one I would most like to return to and spend some time in. Just really liked the feel of the place!

Sea Day It was July 4th so they had a BBQ and there were lots of activities but we generally just relaxed. It had been a LONG week and this was our only do nothing day. If I could design the cruise I would actually have loved for this day to be after St. Petersburg since I think for everyone that's a very tiring port.

Hope this helps someone and I will be glad to respond to questions.

Thanks for the reviews Carolla5501 and twincheryl. We are on the same cruise leaving July 19th.

 

Riga is the only port I have absolutely no idea what we want to do. We are travelling with our kids (11 and 9) and I just can't find anything that I think they will be into. Any suggestions? It sounds like it was not a favourite port anyways. The free walking tours appear to leave at 11 and we don't dock until 11. How long did it take to get to the shuttle drop off and where was it? Was it a free shuttle?

 

Thanks!

I think I hit most of this above. The shuttle was not free (which I think was rip off considering there are no taxis or any other alternatives!) Shuttle picked up right at the ship and dropped you at town hall square. Took about 20 minutes each way. One other note, we asked a crew member why were in this horrid port and she said that it was not the norm so maybe you will get lucky and get the GOOD port!

The tourist information location was also offering a free English tour at 1 when we got in. We didn't take it, but you could probably make that.

We both loved this port. Your kids might like the boat ride I talk about, but I am not sure how it works, we just saw the cute boats!

Thanks! I just checked port schedules and it looks like we are also in the "bad" port - :( Those shuttle prices are brutal when you have to do times 4.

Where did you get your rubles for St. Petersburg? We don't need much since our tour will be paid for in US$.

Rubles in St. Petersburg - There is an ATM at the port, but.... one of them was out of order and the other one was out of order or only speaking Russian who knows?

The Taxi desk took our dollars so we got rubles from the ATM at hour hotel in St. Petersburg.

SORRY I can't be more help there.

Doing this same cruise in 11 days. Thank you for your in depth review.

Thanks for the reviews. I thought in Rick Steve's book you could walk into town in Riga but maybe I am confusing Tallinn.

I can't believe on the formal you could wear jeans - I just talked my husband into bringing dress pants - no jacket - shirt and tie. We normally always do the specialty dining on the formal night and would like to see if I am missing anything :) Not telling him.

Briody

Thanks for the reviews. I thought in Rick Steve's book you could walk into town in Riga but maybe I am confusing Tallinn.

 

I can't believe on the formal you could wear jeans - I just talked my husband into bringing dress pants - no jacket - shirt and tie. We normally always do the specialty dining on the formal night and would like to see if I am missing anything :) Not telling him.

 

Briody

In Rick's book you can.... and if you the good port you can... But RCCL apparently is going cheap! That may be the reason I got $40 back in "port fees etc" on my bill. LOL!

R wore his Columbia pants, black shirt and a sport coat for formal night and looked fine.

Thanks! I just checked port schedules and it looks like we are also in the "bad" port - :( Those shuttle prices are brutal when you have to do times 4.

 

Where did you get your rubles for St. Petersburg? We don't need much since our tour will be paid for in US$.

How do you check port schedules?

How do you check port schedules?

There are folks on this board that are much more savvy at this than I am, but I either just google the port or use a cruise timetable website. Searching Port of Riga schedule gives you two options - Riga Passenger Terminal and Freeport of Riga. Serenade of the Seas showed up on the Freeport terminal (more of a cargo dock) and not the Passenger Terminal (nicer one).

I have seen folks here use ports.cruisett.com, cruiseportwiki.com and many other sites.

Carolla5501 or twincheryl, do you know if there were any specials offered onboard for specialty dining?

I saw one special for onboard dining, Kind of the standard 20% discount if you booked three of the locations. But.. they only have two so I guess you repeat one?

Oh and I forgot one of my favorites things on the boat. When you leave St. Petersburg they have a "Russian Bazaar" and they claim this is your ONLY shot to buy their stuff (which was a little overpriced IMHO) And then on your sea day... it magically re-appears! LOL! We wound up buying two small nesting dolls as gifts on the sea day!

That's funny about the bazaar! Good to know!