Questions about Serenade of the Seas

We're going on the Dubai Cruise on the Serenade 11th March, very excited. However, as we've never cruised with RCI are there any tips, secrets, must do's?

Best place for Breakfast and Lunch?

Best place to sunbathe (are there plenty of loungers?)

Little secret places we need to know about?

Things to avoid!

Dress code in MDR?

Absolutely anything about the Serenade (or ships in the Radience Class, I'm assuming they're more or less the same) would be wonderful.

Many thanks:):)

Windjamer................sunbathe anywhere by pool areas..............dress code will get info from the ship..................

Serenade is a wonderful ship with a great crew..................

We're going on the Dubai Cruise on the Serenade 11th March, very excited. However, as we've never cruised with RCI are there any tips, secrets, must do's?

Best place for Breakfast and Lunch?

Best place to sunbathe (are there plenty of loungers?)

Little secret places we need to know about?

Things to avoid!

Dress code in MDR?

Absolutely anything about the Serenade (or ships in the Radience Class, I'm assuming they're more or less the same) would be wonderful.

Many thanks:):)

Our last cruise was on Serenade, on a very port intensive cruise in the Southern Caribbean.

We ate all of our dinner meals except for two in the Windjammer. The other two we opted for Chops and Portofino (That's what it was in February of last year -- it may have changed now). We ate our lunches in port. We did opt for one lunch on board at the SeaView Cafe -- not sure if that's still around. Definitely no complaints and no regrets.

There was the usual chair hogging going on around the pool -- if you didn't have a spot by 10am, you had to really hunt.

It is a smaller ship but with lots of windows, so you don't get the smaller ship feeling. Make sure you take a ride in the all glass elevator -- nice view!

Enjoy your cruise!

Ann

First of all congrats on your cruise. My Father and I sailed the Serenade last April and had a fun time from San Juan-Barcelona.

We had such great service. If you can ask to be seated in Celia's T's section in the MDR she is such a great assistant waitress and was so friendly. Celia comes from the Dominican Republic. If you run into Celia tell her Daniel sent you. Sajo is a great headwaiter. I am not sure if they will be on this cruise but I'm pretty sure they will be. On the first evening go to the Maitre'D and ask if you can be put in Celia's and Sajo's section they really did a phenominal job and were so attentive. We had Celia and Sajo on our last cruise.

When you board enjoy the Windjammer Buffet for lunch. Most of the time you can board around 11:30 or 12:00 even if your documents say 2:00 PM. Go and have lunch on your cruise since the first day is part of the cruise. The Honey Stung Chicken is sooo good.

Attend all the shows they were so entertaining and I loved the dancing in the Centrium during the themed parties and in the Night Club.

The Schooner Bar is a fun place to hang out. You can sit on a couch and watch the Ship's GPS channel. Make sure you go to Chops and Portifino's. If Chop's is having their Lunch Champagne Banquet with the tour of the kitchen go its worth the $15 per person. The food was great and they served Kir Royal's too.

Always have your Cruise Compass with you and use a highlighter to mark which activities you want to attend.

When debarking and embarking take the stairs at least up two-three levels so you don't have to wait for the elevators. Be prepared with your Sea Pass card and have any metal items ready for the X-Ray Machine.

There are Frozen Yogurt machines in the Windjammer on both sides and you can have an afternoon snack and Frozen Yogurt between 3-5 PM.

Other than that have fun.

No more Sea view cafe...now Izumi

no more Portofino......now Giovanni's table.

no more centrum as it was , now a beautiful bar and Ariel shows.

lots of other changes and the ship is fabulous.

We cruised on the Serenade in Jan. to West. Carb for 10 days. It was refurbished in Nov. It is a very nice ship. You can have breakfast in the Main Dining Room, Windjammer or Park Cafe in the Solarium. Lunch is served in the Windjammer and Park Cafe and Main Dining Room on Sea Days. Our cruise was not very warm so there were plenty of deck chairs. There is now a movie screen by the pool deck so if you want somewhere more quiet you can find chairs along the deck sides. If you like to walk and tire of walking in circles on the jogging path - Deck 5 goes completely around the ship with access to the Heli pad (Deck 6). On our 10 day cruise, there were 3 formal nights the rest were listed in the Cruise Compass as casual. The Congo Bar area of the Safari Club has great views out the rear facing windows. There are computer screens by the centrum elevators that list the daily activities on the ship, a map of the ship, etc. There is also a menu screen by the stairs by the centrum area where you can read the dining room menu selections - they are also posted outside the main dining room.

For more info you can go to Cruise Reviews - click on Member Reviews - Serenade of the Seas.