re: serenade 12/13

[boquer]

First of all....we were on the same cruise as the member who wrote a strange (to me) review of this trip.

For us the cruise was almost perfect. We had the coveted aft junior suite 1100 and the most considerate and kind steward, Laurette, who kept the cabin spotless and anticipated our every need.

The food, surprisingly, was wonderful. We ate in the main dining room except for one night at Portofino's and one at Chops. Actually we kind of liked the main dining room (and our waiters and Mytime dining ) a bit more as it was less food and not so much fawning service. The food there was better in quality and presentation, though. Our waiters were Sajo and Lloyd.

The Serenade was clean and as beautiful as always.

I am writing this to respond to the above mentioned review of this same cruise. There is no concierge class on RCCL. This person is thinking of Celebrity which we have also travelled on. That might have caused some confusion for the writer. The amenities were the same as ever...at least when we've travelled in the Serenade. We bring our own. What disturbed me the most was the not so disguised "prejudice" or snobbery towards Puerto Ricans of whom there indeed were many, including ourselves. Who knows who pays what and who cares?

[boquer]

I forgot to mention something very important. Towards the end of the cruise, we recieved an email from my daughter informing us of a tragic car accident in which a family member and close friend were killed. The staff were more than kind to us and offered as many free phone calls as we had to make and kept checking on us to see how things were going. I was really impressed by this consideration.

And one more last item: As usual, Cruise Critic is extremely helpful in planning and anticipating one's cruise and usually the advice is very helpful.

However, I (and am so far the only one) did not enjoy the Cosol tour at all. Maybe it has changed. Maybe it was our driver, who I will not name since I wish him no personal insult. He might have been having a bad day. The beach to which the tour took us (and where I spent about an hour and a half) was a dirty beach with no place to sit and none of the refreshments mentioned on the website were offered. I am saying this mainly so that other members might have another point of view.

[boquer]

This thread should actually be a response to the elitism thread. We were on the same cruise as the reviewer.

[boquer]

I don't know if this will work, but I'm trying to move my thread up to page one so that readers of the elitism thread can see it since it pertains to that.

[Pomperaugrr]

We had Lloyd as our assistant waiter last January and we hope to be able to be assigned to one of his sections again in three weeks. He is great. I'm glad you had a good cruise on the Sernade and I am sorry for your loss.

 

Eric

[Debde]

I too am sorry for your loss.