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How's Serenade?

mafig

By mafig,
in Royal Caribbean International

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mafig

mafig

Posted
Posted

In doing research for Serenade, I notice that she was last in drydock late 2017.

 

However.....I've been reading reviews, and judging from them, it appears that this ship isn't in the greatest condition.

 

Any thoughts from recent cruisers?

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PAcruiser19372

PAcruiser19372

Posted
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She did go in late last year but my belief is it was for routine mechanical maintenance. We were on her this past April and will be back on her in December and April of next year. I've heard people complain over the last two years how bad it is cosmetically and how it needs this or that. It is not a new ship but I've found nothing to complain about. I've walked around and said I just don't get it, carpets are cleaned daily, the stairs and railings are constantly being cleaned. Once again I guess it's subjective, maybe I'm just easy (although my wife would tell you different clear.png?emoji-smile-1742. As we drive down from PA we try to do the longer cruises to make the drive worthwhile. Hope that helps! Steve

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bobmacliberty "Live from...." Rare

bobmacliberty

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Sailed on her in February. We noticed a few things that were a little worn when we looked closely enough, but nothing that really detracts from the cruise. Staff in general was very good. We missed having more things from which to choose that you find on the larger ships. Overall though, a good cruise and I would sail her again. More detail in the link in my signature.

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Sugar67

Sugar67

Posted
Posted

 

ETA: And the beds are fine - not concrete hard as on some of the others.

 

THANK-YOU!!! When we were on the Allure, I couldn't believe how terrible the beds were. It took us a long time to book with RCL again, partly because of it.

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ONECRUISER

ONECRUISER

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Love Serenade, Great Crew, I sail on her usually doing 45-60+ nites each yr. Never a big Buffet person but food in WindJammer some of best with many choices. As other's said Beds are firm but not cement hard as other ships. They were all replaced on turn around day on my B2B. Each year when ship return's to Florida they do all the busy ship Maintenance like taking care of rust and paint. One biggest they do each yr in Nov/Dec is remove all railings, sand, refinish and replace. Lot of wear and tear a yr at Sea, they usually need it done...

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Batbabe

Batbabe

Posted
Posted
We disembarked Serenade yesterday after a 16 day cruise from Copenhagen to Boston. The ship is in excellent condition and we had a wonderful time.

 

 

 

Hello,

I’ll be on the cruise from Copenhagen to Boston next year. Any suggestions, recommendations, likes or dislikes. BTW, we’ve been on the Serenade before any really enjoyed the ship.

Thank you,

Cheryl

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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birdylady

birdylady

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We sailed her this spring. We LOVED her and her crew so much that we booked another sailing on her for 2020. I didn't see anything that caught my eye of old, worn, broken. And if there were things like that, they certainly didn't impact my trip.

Enjoy her. We did.

Erika

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Pencruise

Pencruise

Posted
Posted
Hello,

I’ll be on the cruise from Copenhagen to Boston next year. Any suggestions, recommendations, likes or dislikes. BTW, we’ve been on the Serenade before any really enjoyed the ship.

Thank you,

Cheryl

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

We had a fabulous time. Unfortunately I missed the Golden Circle Tour from Reykjavic (in bed with acute bronchitis !!!) also missed Akureyri !!! Greenland scenery was beautiful and we loved Norway and Nova Scotia. Shetland Islands were interesting especially trying to find a pub ! If you haven’t been to Copenhagen before, try and spend a couple of nights there, lovely city. Temps in Copenhagen were arepund 19 c then gradually got cooler and around 9c in Iceland, colder in Greenland about 5c and then gradually got warmer in Nova Scotia to about 17c. The outside pool on the ship was only open once whilst we were in Halifax Nova Scotia and the sun was out but that was only for about a couple of hours. The solarium pool was however open as was the outside hot tub. Food and service on the ship was excellent. Let me know if I can help with any other info.

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Clarea

Clarea

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Posted
Frequent RCI cruisers I know just got back and said the ship is definitely looking worn. They also said the food was bland and boring. I was hoping it was going in for a refurbishment soon but it appears they just worked on it in 2017. Anyone know of future plans to refresh the ship?

Nope.

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ONECRUISER

ONECRUISER

Posted
Posted
Frequent RCI cruisers I know just got back and said the ship is definitely looking worn. They also said the food was bland and boring. I was hoping it was going in for a refurbishment soon but it appears they just worked on it in 2017. Anyone know of future plans to refresh the ship?

No, as said previous they do all the "Upkeep" paint, sand/stain all railings, minor maint. This is done after ship gets back to Florida in a couple months. I'm on there every yr doing B2B2B when they are doing this. One yr they also replaced all the Balcony Deck chairs, another they replaced all the mattresses. This is done on turn around day, and requires boarding delay a couple hrs. Even though a Dry Dock is done every 5yrs it's usually a Marine Side Maintenance of only 2 weeks.

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roxy2003

roxy2003

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I just did the Copenhagen to Boston - 16 night TA. I found the beds to be very hard and not comfortable at all, even with a topper, which was added the second night. The food in the MDR was OK, but just that. We got the four specialty dinner package, to which they added a free lunch, so that helped break up the "sameness" of the new MDR dinner menus.

 

She is an older ship, so there is visible "wear & tear", like worn carpets, rust spots, and outdated bathrooms and of course does not offer all the activities and entertainment options of the larger ships.

 

Our MDR waiters (early dinner seating) seemed to be overwhelmed and definitely had too many people assigned so they always seems stressed. This could be specific to this sailing.

 

I very much enjoyed the cruise because it was my first TA and the ports of call were outstanding, so that somewhat made up for the lack of glitz and size of other ships.

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Saab4444

Saab4444

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Just to put all this „old and rusty ship“ comments into perspective: Serenade is just three years older than Freedom and even four years younger than Voyager. And the big Oasis ships will never be able to go into any of the ports Serenade just visited on her way to Boston.

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