Dining Quandary on Serenade. What should we do?

[mafig]

We are going to book a suite on Serenade.  I know it doesn't have a suite restaurant.  We usually book My  Time .  However I''ve read here that MT is a mess on Serenade.

 

Should we:

Sign up for Traditional Early and miss pre-dinner cocktails in the suite lounge.  

 

or

 

Sign up for My Time and stand in endless lines.  

 

We are Diamond so get the 4 drink coupons, but still would like to take advantage (at least for a few nights) of the Suite Lounge.

 

 

[Oceansaway17]

20 minutes ago, mafig said:

We are going to book a suite on Serenade.  I know it doesn't have a suite restaurant.  We usually book My  Time .  However I''ve read here that MT is a mess on Serenade.

 

Should we:

Sign up for Traditional Early and miss pre-dinner cocktails in the suite lounge.  

 

or

 

Sign up for My Time and stand in endless lines.  

 

We are Diamond so get the 4 drink coupons, but still would like to take advantage (at least for a few nights) of the Suite Lounge.

 

 

depends on how important predinner drinks are to you.

You can also do specialty restaurants or the Buffet which more and more folks are doing as it is good and fast and view of the ocean.

Also, eating later say 8pm is not always so good if you want to be in bed at say 11pm.   fuller stomach

[Ashland]

We just sailed recently in OS's on Serenade (D+) and found the WJ to be just fine.

[CruiszBug]

I did the same... never went to the MDR (a first for me)! Enjoyed the Windjammer every lunch and dinner. Very little stress and/or time wasted to get a bite to eat.

[smokeybandit]

Go to the suite lounge, get a drink for dinner, go to dinner, go back to the lounge for the 2nd half of the happy hour.

[steveru621]

On many ships MTD does not start until 6:45.  You shouldn't have a problem on Serenade, a smaller ship.

 

You should be aware, shows are scheduled around traditional dining at 5:30 and 8:00.

 

The concierge clubs on Radiance class ships are great.

[smokeybandit]

30 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

The concierge clubs on Radiance class ships are great.

Having a bar right there in the lounge is great.  So the good thing is you get faster service. The bad thing, post covid, is you're more limited on what you can order.

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, CruiszBug said:

I did the same... never went to the MDR (a first for me)! Enjoyed the Windjammer every lunch and dinner. Very little stress and/or time wasted to get a bite to eat.

During 2022 (47 nights at sea) we spent 12 of those nights on Jewel and 21 nights on Serenade and never ate in the MDR once. It was the WJ for us regardless of which RCI ship we were on.

[mafig]

15 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Go to the suite lounge, get a drink for dinner, go to dinner, go back to the lounge for the 2nd half of the happy hour.

That's probably what we'll do....thanks.🙂

[smokeybandit]

3 minutes ago, mafig said:

That's probably what we'll do....thanks.🙂

Since Serenade's lounge has a dedicated bar, you can probably squeeze in a full drink before you take one to dinner.

[njkruzer]

On Voyager now and MTD starts at 7:15.

[mafig]

2 hours ago, njkruzer said:

On Voyager now and MTD starts at 7:15.

😵  Are there lines?

[njkruzer]

29 minutes ago, mafig said:

😵  Are there lines?

From what I hear yes but not usually there.  We traditional dining, 2nd seating,  deck 4

[TexCruise371]

22 hours ago, Ashland said:

We just sailed recently in OS's on Serenade (D+) and found the WJ to be just fine.

Same for us. We ate in the WJ nearly every night except for when we did specialty dining.

 

[Cigar King]

23 hours ago, mafig said:

Sign up for My Time and stand in endless lines.  

FWIW, we were on Sereade for a B3B over Thanksgiving.  That week was crazy.  That being said, we just met with the manager, selected a table we wanted and walked right past the crowd every night.

[steveru621]

23 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Having a bar right there in the lounge is great.  So the good thing is you get faster service. The bad thing, post covid, is you're more limited on what you can order.

 

Pre-vouchers the liquor was only certain brands/types from 'the list'.  Since the Pinnies can use their vouchers, the liquor and beer standard choices have at least doubled in the Radiance class club.

 

AND on Jewel, July/August , if you wanted a specific liquor that could be used with the vouchers, bar service got it for you.  Essentially bar service would match anything you could get at any bar using your vouchers.

Edited January 8, 2023 by steveru621
spelling

[njkruzer]

4 hours ago, Cigar King said:

FWIW, we were on Sereade for a B3B over Thanksgiving.  That week was crazy.  That being said, we just met with the manager, selected a table we wanted and walked right past the crowd every night.

I'm told on Voyager line for mtd with reservations is craxy.

[Big_G]

We thoroughly enjoyed the suite lounge on Serenade but have to agree with others that MTD was a mess on our November cruise. We did a few nights in the Windjammer, a few nights at specialties, and the last night in MTD.

[smokeybandit]

27 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

Since the Pinnies can use their vouchers, the liquor and beer standard choices have at least doubled in the Radiance class club.

In June on Serenade we still had the limited suite lounge menu. I hope they've expanded that since then.

[mafig]

18 hours ago, Cigar King said:

FWIW, we were on Sereade for a B3B over Thanksgiving.  That week was crazy.  That being said, we just met with the manager, selected a table we wanted and walked right past the crowd every night.

You were lucky.  There's no reason to plan on us being as fortunate as you.

 

You have been on Serenade a few times, I gather.  What time did you go under the Skyway Bridge.

We've sailed from Tampa twice, and both times got to experience this.  We'd really like to see it again.

If we had anytime dining (an anytime dining that functions as it should) we could plan on going there after the bridge.  However, can we still see the bridge if we select Early Traditional.?

[Cigar King]

2 hours ago, mafig said:

You have been on Serenade a few times, I gather.  What time did you go under the Skyway Bridge.

Departure has been ~7 and arrival has been ~2.

 

2 hours ago, mafig said:

However, can we still see the bridge if we select Early Traditional.?

It might be tight.  I'd let the waiters know that you want to see the bridge and then hurry, perhaps by skipping desert.  You can also ask, to get a better idea for your particular cruise.  For us the concierge knew the times and a couple times we went out together to watch.

[JMMM2323]

We just sailed on Serenade over New Years.  We made MTD reservations for every night.  There was a line...but it rarely took more than 5-10 minutes... except lobster night...that was nuts and we waited about 30 minutes with a reservation.  The reservation line always went faster than the walk up line.  I didn't want dinner at 5:30 or 8, so decided waiting a few minutes to be seated each evening was worth eating when we wanted to.