Our Serenade Experience 12/18/10

[ramby]

We were on the Dec. 18th, 5 night sailing of Serenade of the Seas. Just thought I would post some cursory feedback, as I found this board to be tremendously helpful in planning our cruise.

 

We were a party of 6 (3 children ages 6-11, 2 adults and a very youthful grandma), and we had 2 adjoining oceanview rooms and one room next door. This was our first experience on a mass-market cruise line, and we were very wary about doing so (I sailed on Carnival 20 years ago and swore off cruising after my experience, but I am sure that Carnival has changed a lot since then). Previously, we have sailed on luxury cruise lines and tend to stay at Four Seasons & Aman caliber resorts for land travel.

 

I am happy to report that we were all BLOWN AWAY by the Serenade of the Seas and the Royal Caribbean product. The public areas of the ship were immaculate. Overall, the food was very good. We ate in the Windjammer, Main Dining Room & SV Cafe (thanks cruise critic!!). I stuck to the entrees and desserts that were recommended by this board and most of my choices were excellent. The service overall was outstanding. Our experience in the Main Dining Room with our waiter and assistant waiter was SUPERIOR to our experience on a Seabourn Cruise! Service in Windjammer and in the bars we tried was also excellent.

 

Our children had a wonderful time and enjoyed all of the amenities of the ship (they refused to participate in Adventure Ocean). It was very easy to navigate your way around the ship, but we were with them the whole time.

 

I would say that about 80% of the passengers were from Puerto Rico. I had a bit of a difficult time understanding the cruise director's, Mercedes, English announcements due to her accent, but she seemed to do a good job. I didn't mind the bilingual announcements or latin music. The shows were okay. We saw the broadway one and vibeology. Vibeology was much better than the broadway one. Neither were great, but they served their purpose. Somehow we missed the love and marriage show and that Quest thing I had read about!

 

The negatives:

Our room attendant was very sweet, but I felt that one of our bathrooms could have used a thorough deep cleaning -- gunk around exterior base of shower, toilet flusher looked kind of nasty, etc. and that the room could have used a good vacuuming (moving furniture, etc).

 

We found the man who ran the sports deck to be quite rude and that it was not well run (chaos at the rock climbing wall one afternoon and no sign up for the sports court so younger children don't get a chance to play basketball and the same older teens/adults are on the court all day long). When we voiced these concerns to the sports deck member, he was very nasty and defensive (I can go into more detail but won't bother unless requested--I did report him by name in our guest survey). This was our only encounter with an unpleasant crew member. All of the others could not have been more gracious and helpful.

 

We did two excursions through the ship and two privately. All excursions were very good. Other passengers and I found the woman at the excursion desk to be somewhat apathetic and clueless about the excursions, which seemed odd since the ship repeats the same ports over and over.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly. We were literally off the ship with luggage in hand and through immigration within 5 minutes.

 

We had such a wonderful trip and definitely look forward to sailing with Royal Caribbean again in the future. If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

[alny5810]

Glad to hear you and your family had a good time. My wife and I will be cruising on the Serenade next fall , and cant wait. We have always cruised on freedom class ships and was wary about booking this cruise but im glad that someone that is used to luxury gave it a great review. Thanks for the review.

[LBumb]

thanks

[subtchr]

You got on as we were getting off - we also had a wonderful time on Serenade! I wrote a long review with a LOT of photos, if anyone is interested - it's linked in my signature.

 

We didn't try to use the sports court, but I am glad you mentioned it in your survey. That's how things are improved. It did seem to have the same guys playing on it every time I walked by!

 

Funny about the production shows, we enjoyed the broadway show much more than Vibeology. I guess that is why they have choices!

 

Isn't Serenade beautiful? So classy!

 

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

[ramby]

You got on as we were getting off - we also had a wonderful time on Serenade! I wrote a long review with a LOT of photos, if anyone is interested - it's linked in my signature.

 

We didn't try to use the sports court, but I am glad you mentioned it in your survey. That's how things are improved. It did seem to have the same guys playing on it every time I walked by!

 

Funny about the production shows, we enjoyed the broadway show much more than Vibeology. I guess that is why they have choices!

 

Isn't Serenade beautiful? So classy!

 

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

 

Thanks. It looks like you were on Explore to Bermuda in June. How did you enjoy that? We are now considering that itinerary and are wondering if we will enjoy Explorer as much as Serenade.

[subtchr]

Thanks. It looks like you were on Explore to Bermuda in June. How did you enjoy that? We are now considering that itinerary and are wondering if we will enjoy Explorer as much as Serenade.

 

We truly enjoyed both ships and would sail either again.

 

One thing the Explorer has that Serenade does not is the Promenade, which we enjoy tremendously. It also provides a better (roomier) space for parades, dance parties, etc. than the Centrum on Serenade.

 

Although we LOVED the Seaview Cafe on Serenade, the hours are somewhat limited. Explorer has the Promenade Cafe, open close to 24 hours. Great cookies, pretty good pizza, plus little sandwiches and other snacks.

 

We thought both crews provided great service.

 

And lastly, we fell in love with Bermuda. So beautiful, and the people are so friendly and helpful. I did a live report from that cruise, if you would like to check it out.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sue

[ramby]

Thanks!

[Guest maddycat]

The negatives:

Our room attendant was very sweet, but I felt that one of our bathrooms could have used a thorough deep cleaning -- gunk around exterior base of shower, toilet flusher looked kind of nasty, etc. and that the room could have used a good vacuuming (moving furniture, etc).

 

In the future, if you find that the level of cleanliness is not up to your standards mention it to your cabin attendant. I have done this in the past on two occasions. Once I mentioned that the shower had mold/mildew and I would like it to be cleaned. We went to lunch. When we returned to the cabin later in the day, the floor of the shower had been retiled and regrouted. We were asked not to use the shower until the following morning. On the other occasion, the balcony had paint scrapings all over the floor. I asked that it be vacuumed. That was taken care of later in the day.

[chanat]

We were also on the Dec 18th cruise on Serenade and over all had a great experience. We have cruised 8 times with RC and once with Carnival before. This was our first time leaving out of PR and our first time going to the Southern Caribbean. The four of us (myself, husband and our 2 sons 21yo and 17yo) shared a balcony cabin which was small for us but we managed. Next time I will prob. not worry about saving the money and get two cabins. Our cabin was kept very clean and I even brought b-day decorations for my son's b-day and asked the steward to put them up since I wanted it to be a surprise and he did a great job. I thought the food and dining room service were wonderful. We ate in the dining room every evening and one breakfast. The other meals were in the Windjammer which had a great selection of food. I only booked one excursion through the ship which was the "resort course scuba" which we did in St. Croix. In Antigua we found a taxi driver who took us on a tour of the island with several stops and dropped us off a beach while he took the others back to the ship since they didn't want to go to the beach and then he returned for us at the time we asked. In St. Lucia we took a boat tour which took us to a beautiful beach and included snorkeling equip. We all enjoyed each of our excursions and saved money by not booking them all through the ship. There were alot of kids and the hot tubs were full of them but I was able to get in a few times. I have read that the people fr. PR don't have to pay as much for the same cruise which makes me upset esp. since it cost a lot to fly there. I am not sure if this is true but have read it on another thread. The ship was nice but I did miss the Promenade of the Voyager class ships. I did go to each show except the adult only comedian. Most of them were good. I forgot to say at the beginning that we arrived the day before and stayed at the Hampton Inn close to the airport. The price was great compared to some of the other hotels and the breakfast buffet was good esp. with my two boys who eat a lot. Feel free to ask me any questions. Wish i was back there now since it is snowing here with temps in the 20-30's!

[chanat]

I also wanted to add that we went to Bermuda in May 2005. It was beautiful but the temps. were a little to cool. I would love to go in the future but will choose July or Aug. We did have a problem with of one of our relatives being stung by a Port. Man of War jellyfish there and found out later that we should have been told they were at that beach so we could have choose another beach for that day. Apparently, they are more likely to appear in certain areas when there is a certain wind which they had that day. After she got stung no one in our party was willing to risk it since it is very painful. So if you go just research this first esp. since we found out later others had been stung that day too. That was at Horseshoe Bay (I believe)

[cruisinonnie]

What did the taxi driver charge for the tour of Antigua and taking you to and from the beach. What beach did you go to. Did they have chairs available for a charge or free.

We are sailing on Jan 29th and we like to do the beaches . did you book the tour in St Lucia on or off the ship? Do you remember the name of the tour and cost?

[chanat]

In Antigua we paid $30 per person. It included a snack of fresh pinapple but no beverages. We bought bottled water in San Juan and carried it on the ship and brought it with us on our excursions. You could purchase beverages and food at some of the stops and at the beach. The beach was free but there was a fee of $5.00 for each chair but we only had 1 1/2 hrs. there so we didn't bother. We just choose one of the guys who is at the pier when you get off the ship. His name was Derrick Abbott and he did a great job.

 

In St. Lucia we also went with a guy named Raymond. The name of his company was Papa boat tour(I believe) It was located on the right after passing the information desk and going thr. a doorway. The cost for that was $40 per person and included snorkeling equip. and beverages, non alcoholic and beer and rum punch as much as you wanted to drink. It was really a great deal and they did a wonderful job too. Good luck with your planning as I didn't have any of it planned except the RC scuba tour.

 

I forgot to mention that in San Juan we walked thr. a resort and to a beach on the day of the cruise and did our own walking tour on the day we got back since we had a late flight. The taxi ride fr. the ship to Old San Juan was $19 pp and $1 each bag (we left our bags at a restaurant in SJ called Barrachina for free ( we did tip them and we ate at the resturant. I got info. for where to leave the luggage at the info. desk on the ship.

[chanat]

The name of the beach in Antigua was Darkwood and it was beautiful and not crowded at all. I don't remember the name of the beach in St. Lucia but it was close to the famous resort called Jade Mountain. We ate there too but it was expensive. It was more crowded but very nice too.

[Miss Vickie]

The name of the beach in Antigua was Darkwood and it was beautiful and not crowded at all. I don't remember the name of the beach in St. Lucia but it was close to the famous resort called Jade Mountain. We ate there too but it was expensive. It was more crowded but very nice too.

 

Was the beach Anse Chastenet, by the Pitons?