SERENADE Sept 17-28,2014 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[ladysail2]

Lovely pictures, Hoopster, and wonderful commentary. My friends from Vancouver are still on the ship. They are enjoying themselves immensely!!

 

Thanks for taking the time to take us on a wonderful journey!!

 

Sleep well.....:D

[Hoopster95]

My favorite feature of Radiance Class is the open aft seating area beyond the Windjammer... it was packed! Seemed that everyone on this ship knew this area was available and was the place to eat their first meal on board. So instead of taking an intrusive picture of everyone enjoying their lunch, I took this shot from deck 12 to take note of the canvass cover as well as the great views afforded. That's the extremely ugly NCL Epic parked in the background

 

 

Walking back from the above location on the starboard side aft is Izumi's. It was locked up so I did not get an inside picture albeit later in the cruise I did get a look during a sea day when I didn't have my camera in hand. I didn't eat here as I am blessed with A1 Asian cuisine here in the Vancouver area but I did note that the menu looked to be the same as on the other ships.

 

If you look just to the right of the "Izumi's" sign you can see a set of stairs heading down. This is direct access from Windjammer below. Also note the table and chairs at the railing.... great quiet place that not many people knew about when the aft area was packed to bring your Windjammer food and still have a great view.

 

 

Also here on deck 12 port side is the "Sports Court" consisting of a half size baskbetball court. If you look directly into the middle of the picture through the mesh, you see a blue door which leads into the Adventure Ocean area... super easy access for kids and adults alike too and from the kids pool/sports area.

 

 

The stairs opposite lead up to the miniature golf course and rock climbing wall on deck 13

 

 

And here are a couple of shots of the kids pool with slide

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Lovely pictures, Hoopster, and wonderful commentary. My friends from Vancouver are still on the ship. They are enjoying themselves immensely!!

 

Thanks for taking the time to take us on a wonderful journey!!

 

Sleep well.....:D

 

What are their names? I probably met them!! There were 450 Canadians on board and I met several including from Chilliwack (Bellyflop Champ), Langley, North Van (she was on plane with me home) & Vancouver just to name a few :)

[Hoopster95]

From the lower sports court area I went up the stairs I pointed out earlier by the basketball court and up to the miniature golf area.

 

 

 

Here's a great shot with an overall view of the entire Sports court area looking towards the rock wall

 

 

 

And lastly a couple of more shots of the slide & kids area

 

 

[Hoopster95]

From the rock wall area, you can enter the Viking Crown on the starboard side. Here's the first pic of the Viking Crown upon entering

 

 

The Viking Crown seating around the bars on Radiance Class rotate 360 degrees around the bar!! Except the Serenade is broken, and has been for a while I was told by the bar tenders. In order to fix it they say they have to dismantle the entire bar area so they figure it's being left as is until the next dry-dock.

 

 

 

I spent several extremely fun evenings here at the Vortex dance floor with many friends I met on board. DJ Phil was awesome!

 

[Hoopster95]

It was getting close to 1pm, so it was time hopefully to lose my carry-on. Heading down to deck 3 a staff member was there at there stairs letting people know that the rooms will be announced to be ready soon (and obviously to babysit people from not entering into the hallways). At about 12:55pm the service staff began to prop the fire doors open and through the hallway we went to our rooms.

 

 

 

I had H OV stateroom 3602 starboard, extremely convenient 3 doors aft from the stairs, a short walk across to the panoramic elevators, and a short flight up to deck 4 (dinner and Centrum).

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did have a big issue with this room... a constant drone, a hum, that I can hear through the pillows in the evening. It was ever present. My only analogy to this would be what a submarine would sound like when being followed by sonar.... I imagined the sound to be the same frequency as the propellers, which it probably was! I am not a light sleeper and I do sleep with ear plugs, but this did bother me, especially the first couple of nights. I'll also show you some other pictures later in this review outside my window which provided almost zero privacy as it was located right above the embarkation gangways and level with the piers. If I had a choice between an upper deck interior and this cabin (any OV on decks 2 or 3) I would take the upper deck interior every time.... especially if the cost was much less expensive as it is with some sailings. For this sailing, this OV GTY was less expensive than the INT GTY for a solo for some reason when I booked.

[Hoopster95]

So having free'd myself of my carry-on in the room, I continued my ship tour up the flight of stairs to the MDR - Reflections. I must admit I do love the grandeur of the the 3-tiered MDRs of Voyager Class and above, but this is a beautiful room in it's own right

 

 

And here's my table 449 deck 4... we were fortunate to have one of the better waiter/asst waiter combos I've had on any cruise, Dennis from Philippines and Mary from Peru. Mary worked her a$$ off!

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Having found my table for the evening, I made may way out of Reflections MDR back to the Centrum.

 

 

To the side between the R-Bar and Guest Services were the set of engravings commemorating the ship's history... note Serenade was built 2003 in the same shipyard as Quantum in Papenburg, Germany

 

 

 

Take a look at the bottom right picture... I thought this was super interesting. The clearance had to be extremely minimal!

 

 

Turning 180 degrees from the above plaques is the R-Bar & Centrum dance floor. Many events are held here as a focal point of the ship, and thus I have a ton of great memories here

 

[Hoopster95]

Heading up a flight of stairs to deck 5 you arrive at Cafe Latitudes. I never spent any time here as I have access to the specialty coffee in the CL & DL, but this area provides great views out, excellent view down to the Centrum for events, internet access and the community board. You have to pay for the coffee, but the pastries are free.

 

 

 

 

Heading past latitudes through the center of the ship heading forward are the Shops of the Centrum area. For those of you interested and if you have a deck plan handy, you can follow exactly where I am as I post these photos

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Passing through the Shops of the Centrum still moving forward toward the front of the ship you pass through the Photo Shop and Art Studio.

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I'm not a fan of this theatre as it cannot compare to the the Voyager and above classes. The one positive is that there are hardly any obstructed views from pillars, unlike the Voyager and above. The RCL singers & dancers were really good, but especially singer Whitney whom I've had the pleasure of listening to on two other ships... I can't remember which sailing or which production show, but I do remember her specifically singing Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" mid performance and getting a partial standing ovation whereby they slightly delayed the beginning of the next set. She's one of the best singers in the fleet imo.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I made my way out of the Tropical Theatre and back through the Art Studio and shops. This art piece is located immediately between the shops and Photo Center. The door to the left leads out to deck 5 outdoor deck. The sign on the wall to the left lists the names of the shop on board

 

 

 

Making my way to the Centrum past cafe Latitudes and up the stairs, Centrum deck 6 provides Vintages Bar. I never spent any time here and rarely passed by during the entire 12 days aboard.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I really liked the look and feel of the Casino Royale on the Serenade... and it wasn't overly smoky! I've participated in the poker tournaments and cash tables in the past, but my interests on this cruise, time in ports, and various shows/events/dancing around the ship didn't afford me any time or interest this time around to spend much time here. As normal, the Casino was a busy beehive of activity every time I passed through!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thetrail]

Hey CC family :D

 

I just got home late last night from an incredible bucket list 12-day Adriatic cruise aboard the Serenade:

 

Sept 17 - Civitavecchia (Rome)

Sept 18 - Salerno (Amalfi Coast & Pompeii)

Sept 19 - Messina (Sicily)

Sept 20 - Valetta (Malta)

Sept 21 - at sea

Sept 22 - Corfu (Greece)

Sept 23 - Kotor (Montenegro)

Sept 24 - Venice

Sept 25 - Venice

Sept 26 - Split (Croatia)

Sept 27 - Dubrovnik (Croatia)

Sept 28 - at sea

Sept 29 - Civitavecchia (Rome)

 

Between jetlag, a heavy 1st day back at work, and uploading a bazillion photos to photobucket for this review (nowhere close to being finished doing this!) I'll be starting this review hopefully tomorrow. I'll also be including a full day review in Rome pre-cruise. I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride!

 

For now, here's a teaser :)

 

Great review, great pics! Doing a B2B in Feb, can't wait...:)

[cruzinlady1947]

Love a picture heavy review and you are doing a great job at both the review and pictures (amazing pics, btw). Thanks for taking the time to do this for us all. :D

 

 

Gwen :)

[mtsublueraider]

This review is too good not to follow! GREAT ship tour! We are doing the Caribbean with her before she leaves new Orleans for good. VERY excited to sail on this ship. Would really like some specialty restaurant pictures if you have them. Thanks so much!

[crvng4mr]

We loved Mary when we were on Serenade in June as well! I also thought the artwork throughout was stunning. Great review!

[lemonade-sails]

:D Hoopster, all I can say is thanks so much for the photo tour of Serenade! We are on her in January and I can't wait! Your pictures are great and the ship is really beautiful. Can't wait for the rest.

[ladysail2]

What are their names? I probably met them!! There were 450 Canadians on board and I met several including from Chilliwack (Bellyflop Champ), Langley, North Van (she was on plane with me home) & Vancouver just to name a few :)

 

 

They are Dayle and Brian. In the 60-70 yrs age group, but you'd never know it. Very nice folks!

I'll be seeing them on Oasis in a few weeks in Rotterdam!!

 

Wonderful review. Thanks so much!

 

Joyce. :D

[WhoDatNan]

I hoped to sail this itinerary but you stated that it's going away. Any details on that? I've sailed Disney and Carnival but really would love to do a European cruise for my son's graduation in 2016. How did you find out about the itinerary? I'm completely new to this cruise line and don't really know anything about it.

[Hoopster95]

They are Dayle and Brian. In the 60-70 yrs age group, but you'd never know it. Very nice folks!

I'll be seeing them on Oasis in a few weeks in Rotterdam!!

 

Wonderful review. Thanks so much!

 

Joyce. :D

 

Ah yes, after chatting with them on CC in our roll call I never did meet them on board! I don't think they attended the sailaway nor the m&m. I think I ran into them in the Casino one night as I overheard them mention Vancouver but that was about it. Yes, they mentioned on the roll call they did the Oasis TA over, stayed on land a few days, did the Serenade b2b 12 days x 2, then land a few days, and then they're getting on the Oasis back to Florida.... W O W!!! What an awesome adventure :D

[Hoopster95]

This review is too good not to follow! GREAT ship tour! We are doing the Caribbean with her before she leaves new Orleans for good. VERY excited to sail on this ship. Would really like some specialty restaurant pictures if you have them. Thanks so much!

 

Just want to thank all of you for the kind words. I got such good feedback on my Navigator review which was also photo heavy that I'm going to pattern all my reviews I end up doing the same... a little narration when needed. Pictures do say a thousand words :D

 

By all means, if I miss mentioning something about the ship or port, or you need some details about something, please fire away and I'll try to answer.

[Bobal]

Really enjoying this having spent two of my happiest cruises on Serenade in the last year or so (September last year and May this year) doing similar itineraries. Your pictures are stunning and looking forward to the rest of your review :)

[RCCL Fan]

I hoped to sail this itinerary but you stated that it's going away. Any details on that? I've sailed Disney and Carnival but really would love to do a European cruise for my son's graduation in 2016. How did you find out about the itinerary? I'm completely new to this cruise line and don't really know anything about it.

 

Serenade of the Seas is leaving New Orleans.

 

She wasn't talking about the Med.

 

RCI chose not to sail out of Who Dat country in 2015/2016. They may come back in 2016/2017

 

but Serenade will do cruises out of Florida instead of New Orleans.

[Hoopster95]

I hoped to sail this itinerary but you stated that it's going away. Any details on that? I've sailed Disney and Carnival but really would love to do a European cruise for my son's graduation in 2016. How did you find out about the itinerary? I'm completely new to this cruise line and don't really know anything about it.

 

Hello WhoDat! I look at itineraries of various cruise lines all the time... a little obsessive actually. :D Serenade is not going back to the Med next year, but into the Baltics. RCL has deployed the Rhapsody and Vision to the Med next year.... neither will be doing the itinerary I've just been on, and while Vision overnights in Venice I can't believe it heads through the Adriatic without a stop in Dubrovnik nor Malta.... two top-notch absolute must see ports.

 

To do my itinerary, look at the Celebrity Constellation... excellent itinerary one-way Venice to Rome (or vice versa).