Staff on Serenade of the Seas

Howdy y'all,

I am just curious as to what you all felt about the staff on Serenade. We were on Mariner a few months ago, and was a little disappointed with the staff this time around! (But a lot of them didn't speak English well, since they were on their way to Asia after our cruise...)

How did you feel about this ship? The food? I saw the reviews, but I wanted to get some people that I could talk back and forth with. Our cruise will be to the Bahamas, not the Mediterranean. :)

OH, and do they have the Quest on this ship? Is it on all Royal Caribbean ships??

THANK YOU!

Did the Serenade last year in the Med. and we had a great crew and yes they had Quest.

Food is not that important to us, so can't help you there.:D

We are booked on her again B2B next Fall 2014, in the Med.

All Royal Caribbean ships have Quest, unless the CD decides to omit it. I have never experienced a cruise without one.

:)

Howdy y'all,

 

I am just curious as to what you all felt about the staff on Serenade. We were on Mariner a few months ago, and was a little disappointed with the staff this time around! (But a lot of them didn't speak English well, since they were on their way to Asia after our cruise...)

 

How did you feel about this ship? The food? I saw the reviews, but I wanted to get some people that I could talk back and forth with. Our cruise will be to the Bahamas, not the Mediterranean. :)

 

OH, and do they have the Quest on this ship? Is it on all Royal Caribbean ships??

 

THANK YOU!

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :) You can chat back and forth with people that are on your sailing. The link to the roll call for Jan. 25, 2014 is here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1754500

I will mention that Serenade is our favorite ship so far. :D

All Royal Caribbean ships have Quest, unless the CD decides to omit it. I have never experienced a cruise without one.

 

:)

We did a Trans Atlantic on the Navigator some years ago and Kieron Buffery did not do the Quest, however on the next one our b to b he did and I went and his comment was ...not only did we go to bed too early but he was worried about our zimmer frames causing chaos in Studio B

Hi rmorgan2282, we just got off the Serenade. To be honest, we felt the crew - overall - was just a notch below some of the other ships we were on. Nothing specific, and I can't really put my finger on it expect, perhaps they just didn't seem that happy?

We did get to speaking with some of the crew, and in particular a waitress we'd gotten to know from the Jewel. She just transferred to the Serenade and wasn't pleased at all. She confided that there was little teamwork, and indeed, it seemed she was the only person in the Windjammer picking up plates.

That said, our waiter also confided that European cruises tend to be more challenging and that the expectations were higher from the passengers. He said that folks on Caribbean cruises were in general easier to please, and that in Europe he often got stiffed on his tips AND then dinged on his rating. He mentioned that one time, a family gave him a "Fair" because they didn't like the location of their table! Also, more than once we heard from crew members that they really didn't want to be on the ship but had to because they spoke Spanish.

So perhaps, since you'll be going to the Caribbean, it'll be a different experience, but I wanted to pass along my impressions and what I'd heard from crewmembers.

Did the Serenade in January and it's our favourite ship so far, the crew are fantastic all spoke English well, the cruise director was excellent he was from Canada i can not remember his name, and yes the quest was on not much of a turn out but it was fun as usual..

I am going on this Bahamas cruise out of NO next February too. I would love to hear more about this ship from the Caribbean point of view not Med since it seems like a night and day experience. It's odd how you don't hear much about this ship. I guess the Radiance class ships take a back seat to the mega ships. Haven't sailed this class yet so I am excited to see how it goes. I kinda prefer a smaller ship to the megas due to the amount of pax on board.

We've been on Serenade twice--about 8 years ago (for our first ever cruise) and 3 years ago. First off, the ship is really beautiful. As others mention often, there is glass everywhere, giving you great views of the water from many different locations on the ship. While it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles as some of the larger classes, IMHO, the Radiance class is the most beautiful class.

When we were on board--and granted, it was quite a while ago--the staff were very good. On our first cruise (8 years ago), they were phenomenal. Maybe a little less great the second time around, but still really good. Bear in mind, these were both Caribbean cruises, and as another poster said, that might affect things.

Anyhow, it's a great ship, and I can't imagine you not having a good time on it.

Hi there, we've been on Serenade twice so far this year and we are also doing the T/A crossing in Nov - This was our first time on this ship and we loved it.

We really couldn't fault any of the crew (with the exception of one head waiter - back to the days when he only approached our table on the last night) and are looking forward to seeing them again. All were really friendly and we didn't encounter anyone who couldn't speak English. Didn't use any of the speciality restaurants so can't comment on those.