Just off Serenade

[MattSaw]

Just got off the 7-day sailing of the Baltic capitals. This was our first trip ever on a Radiance-class ship. Key impressions:

 

Unusually friendly and attentive crew on this ship. We had great experiences with our steward and assistant waiter. Also, the entertainment staff, from CD Topi Ylonen on down, set a nice tone.

 

The Internet login, at least from out devices, was horribly unstable and unreliable (as others have described).

 

Did not find smoke in the Centrum to be a problem. There was a little bit on 6, where the casino is, but that was all.

 

It would be good if all the ships installed Coke Freestyle machines, at least for soda fiends like me. Having to go to a crew member (esp. in the early morning) is inefficient at best.

 

On a related note, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense to have as many food items doled out manually by the crew as are -- e.g., *almost all drinks, including water* in the Windjammer. Why? This causes terrible backups at times. Ditto for the Park Cafe. Maybe the concern is portion control, but this isn't such a concern in the WJ. I genuinely don't get it.

 

On the whole, though, we had a great time, and didn't think that the smaller ship and the lack of a Promenade was a significant loss. Maybe a smidge, but not enough to deter us from returning to this ship class, I don't think.

 

Questions and rejoinders welcome.

 

Matt

[onthewater51]

Thank you. We'll be on Serenade next year, a first time on this class. I've seen the smoke issue come up before and it was beginning to give me concerns, my wife cant stand cigarette odors. We have an aft cabin on Deck 8 so I'm assuming we are pretty safe based on what you said.

[mek]

Do you recall what movies were shown in the theater? We were on Serenade last month and will be sailing again next week and are hoping the movies are different.

[MattSaw]

Do you recall what movies were shown in the theater? We were on Serenade last month and will be sailing again next week and are hoping the movies are different.

 

We were pretty impressed with the selection of movies, and watched several. By the way, they simulcast them on channel 39 on the TV. We enjoyed watching them like that. Here are the ones I remember:

 

Spectre

Creed

The 33

Bridge of Spies

Room

[Langley Cruisers]

...it doesn't make a huge amount of sense to have as many food items doled out manually by the crew as are -- e.g., *almost all drinks, including water* in the Windjammer. Why? This causes terrible backups at times. Ditto for the Park Cafe....

 

Think "Noro". It helps to have the crew serve you some items, including drinks. They do not want passengers to stick their own water bottles or used glasses under the nozzle for the drinks, so in the front of the WJ they portion them out on trays where you can simply take them. You may have noticed, however, that there are self-serve drinks in the outdoor seating so I guess every little bit helps.

[msmayor]

The only beverages we 'waited' for in the Windjammer of Serenade was coffee...everything else was indeed 'poured' by crew but all the water/iced tea/lemonade/flavored waters were on trays and you just grabbed like anything else on the buffet. We never had to wait for that...the trays were always at least half full.

 

Even coffee we didn't wait on; we never noticed a line at all. Guess it just depends on when one goes there to eat.

[Clarea]

Any drink cards become available later in the cruise?

[mek]

We were pretty impressed with the selection of movies, and watched several. By the way, they simulcast them on channel 39 on the TV. We enjoyed watching them like that. Here are the ones I remember:

 

Spectre

Creed

The 33

Bridge of Spies

Room

 

Thanks - we had Spectre, Creed, and The 33, but not the other two.

[xxHadleyxx]

we also had Bridge of Spies and the new Star Wars film the week before last

 

and I have to agree that the current crew on Serenade is wonderful--probably the best we've had on any RCI sailing

Edited May 29, 2016 by NHDisneylover

[deliver42]

We were on the Serenade last December, and that crew was also fantastic.

[mek]

One more question - I've heard that Giovanni's menu is changing or has already changed on some some ships - do you eat there? Just wondering if it has changed or not on Serenade.

[MattSaw]

We did not eat at Giovanni's. It was our muster station, though.

[Gabrielle R.]

Dining venues? Did you try any? If so, what did you think? Cost/free?

Cabin? How was it/ Where was it?

Been three years since we did Royal and will do so in December on Serenade-

 

Any thing you really liked/didn't like? THANKS!

Gabrielle

[aviator1945]

One more question - I've heard that Giovanni's menu is changing or has already changed on some some ships - do you eat there? Just wondering if it has changed or not on Serenade.

 

You can find Serenade's current Giovanni's menu at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByO8508n_ivGQlBWNXZfem0tTVU. The wine list is at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByO8508n_ivGWnhYQ0hHOFBESDQ.

[mek]

You can find Serenade's current Giovanni's menu at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByO8508n_ivGQlBWNXZfem0tTVU. The wine list is at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByO8508n_ivGWnhYQ0hHOFBESDQ.

 

 

Thanks

[mek]

Dining venues? Did you try any? If so, what did you think? Cost/free?

Cabin? How was it/ Where was it?

Been three years since we did Royal and will do so in December on Serenade-

 

Any thing you really liked/didn't like? THANKS!

Gabrielle

 

We had a deck 8 balcony on the hump - it was large enough for two chairs, a small table and a lounger, which I asked our cabin attendant to bring for us. We like hump cabins because they are close to the elevators and provide easy access for my DH.

 

We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants - they serve way too much food for us and unlike home, you can't share or take leftovers home.

 

Overall, the food was OK - some hits and some misses. Breakfast in the Windjammer was very good and Eggs Benedict in the MDR was also good. I liked the salad bar in the MDR for lunch on sea days. I would have enjoyed lunch at Rita's Cantina, but it didn't open until 2pm - too late for me.

 

We thought the entertainment was above average, but that was in the Caribbean - it will be interesting to see what we get in Europe.

 

The thing I dislike the most about RCI cruises in general is the early time the Windjammer closes and on the smaller ships the lack of places to get a snack later in the evening. The Park Cafe is open late, but it was just so-so on Serenade.

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Desert Cruizers]

One tip on the Radiance Class in the back room they have coffee you can get yourself. It generally is there most of the day so for coffee drinkers you can pop in and refill. Our daughter enjoyed that since she has a full mug going all the time.

 

Gay

[DaisyL]

Thanks for your notes. We're considering Serenade but in the US for 2017.

 

We cruised on the Anthem last month and the beverages in Windjammer were self serve but last year on Liberty servers were placing them on trays too. I too, think this is for noro virus or to prevent a jam up at the beverage stations. In March on Anthem, the servers were even doling out the food but for noro virus prevention on the previous cruise (as per friends on this cruise).

[Gabrielle R.]

we had a deck 8 balcony on the hump - it was large enough for two chairs, a small table and a lounger, which i asked our cabin attendant to bring for us. We like hump cabins because they are close to the elevators and provide easy access for my dh.

 

We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants - they serve way too much food for us and unlike home, you can't share or take leftovers home.

 

Overall, the food was ok - some hits and some misses. Breakfast in the windjammer was very good and eggs benedict in the mdr was also good. I liked the salad bar in the mdr for lunch on sea days. I would have enjoyed lunch at rita's cantina, but it didn't open until 2pm - too late for me.

 

We thought the entertainment was above average, but that was in the caribbean - it will be interesting to see what we get in europe.

 

The thing i dislike the most about rci cruises in general is the early time the windjammer closes and on the smaller ships the lack of places to get a snack later in the evening. The park cafe is open late, but it was just so-so on serenade.

 

thank you!!! Very helpful!

[Desert Cruizers]

DaisyL, we sailed on the Serenade last Oct out of Quebec on their 15 day Canada/NE cruise and had an enjoyable cruise, then friends of ours alerted me to the Copenhagen TA on August 26, 2017 so booked that. I wasn't planning on going on the Serenade so soon after that cruise but couldn't resist the itinerary.:)

[reedl]

I have booked the 12 nighter Serenade cruise out of boston on Oct 30 2016 down to the Caribbean and ending up in Lauderdale.

 

Our first cruise ever was on the Serenade out of Boston on a three night to Halifax NS as her first revenue cruise. This got us hooked, and we have taken a lot more cruises since then. Back then we were in a deck 3 oceanview with a large window. This time we are in a GS :) So the view and amenities will be much better. After this cruise we will be Diamond.

 

I will miss the Seaview Cafe as I enjoyed the food there, and it will be interesting to see what else has changed since 2003.

[Desert Cruizers]

They have taken out the Centrum Stairs when they were doing the Aerial shows, even though it opens up the area for more seating I do miss the stairs.

[Langley Cruisers]

They have taken out the Centrum Stairs when they were doing the Aerial shows, even though it opens up the area for more seating I do miss the stairs.

 

A few years ago we were talking to the Hotel Director Adriana Tibaudo at the time, and she said she really missed the stairs too. The glass staircase was such a nice photo opportunity.

[balanceok]

We are on this cruise in August. I am curious about your port activities.

 

Any recommendations??