Serenade of the Seas with young children - First time cruiser review

Hello - I thought I would join in with the long thread style review for the 22nd October 12 night overnight in Venice Mediterranean. No pictures I am afraid but Hadley is doing a great job of that on her review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1939741

including of our cabin.

I thought I could add a different perspective as we were travelling with three children ages 1, 6 and 8 and also as a first time cruiser although that does mean I won't be able to make comparisons.

Hello to everyone from the roll call - lovely to meet you all and thanks to everyone who joined in the cabin crawl - that was really fun.

Hello to anyone from Royal Caribbean reading this too - thanks for the mix and mingle party that was really well organised and it made me realise that, having registered for it, you know who I am and will probably be reading so I hope you find my comments useful!

I will start with an overview of the cruising experience from a first timers perspective.

We were very impressed with how efficient RCI were especially with embarkation and disembarkation and managing over 2000 people on the ship. It never felt crowded apart from our first day in Windjammer for lunch. We were on and off the ship promptly at the beginning and end of the cruise and also at all the ports.

The vast majority of the staff were really friendly and helpful, even when just passing in the corridors. Most of them seemed happy to be there although with our little ones we did hear of all the sons and daughters left behind while mums and dad were working on their long contracts.

The weather was perfect for us the majority of the time. Sunny and warm but not too hot. We did have a day of rain and a few overcast days but never needed jumpers and spent most of the holiday in shorts. It was a bit bumpy on the first night of the cruise (especially in our cabin at the front) but mostly I was amazed how calm the water was and how stable the ship was.

We all enjoyed the activities put on by the ship but if I do go cruising again I will need to calm down a bit as I found myself rushing from one thing to the next and feeling stressed about it. I think it was partly that there were 5 of us to entertain so a long list of things that appealed to at least one of us.

A quick round up of the ports: We were not very organised and mainly just wandered around ourselves. We did two tours organised by the ship.

Barcelona - we were here for three nights before the cruise and really enjoyed it especially wandering through the Bari Gothic area, al fresco tapas, a big park for the children to run around in and the aquarium which again was very child friendly especially for the toddler.

Cannes - this was our rainy day a nd we met a friend who lives nearby. We did some shopping here and it was the only place we found to top up our baby milk supplies (small ready mixed bottles for travelling). We went up to the castle above the bay. I think it is a nice place in itself to wander around. There were no queues for the tenders and we were dropped off very centrally.

La Spezia - we esentially had a day off here. We wandered ashore in the afternoon when all the shops were shut for siesta time. There is a nice promenade along the sea front.

Rome - This was a tour day. We did a taste of Rome for families. Rome is amazing and the tour was good and interesting but we had to walk a long way with the kiddies and by the time they let us off for three more hours of free time we were on our knees. I think it would have been better to work out the train timetables ourselves and go there for a shorter spell. Or maybe start or finish a cruise in Rome and spend a few days seeing the sights. I am glad that I have been though but it was a long long day especially for the children.

Naples - another tour but much better here partly because there wasn't the long bus ride. We climbed mount Vesuvius which was 20 minutes up a steepish but well kept path and we all managed it with no problem (toddler in a backpack). We then had a tour of Pompeii. No lunch stops for this one but fortunately we had twigged that before we left so had a bread roll with us. Both parts of the tour were fascinating - highly recommended.

Venice - Really beautiful, we would love to go back for longer. We used the people mover to get us to the edge of Venice (1 euro each way) and then bought a 36 hour water bus ticket to get around for 25 Euros. We walked to St Marks square on the first afternoon which we really enjoyed doing. The water bus back was the stopping service and was packed full so was not pleasant. The next day we found some smaller and faster boats and got on much better with that. We went to Murano for the the day which was great too. Arrival in the cruise ship was spectacular - sadly we didn't see much on departure as the mystery dinner was moved to that night but we had seen venice by then I suppose.

Ravenna - another day off with a walk and a paddle on the beach just next to the ship - lovely.

We had beautiful weather in Dubrovnik and the arrival there was also beautiful. It did make me hanker for some more rural type stops. We were tired by then and spent the 14 dollars on the ships shuttle to the old town which worked very well. We liked that old town although I wanted to see the sea so we went on a glass bottom boat ride which was fun. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the harbour. We made the mistake of taking out some Kuna but there was not one purchase we made that could not have been done in Euros.

Pushchair friendly stops - Barcelona, Cannes, La Spezia, ?Rome

Cities full of steps not suitable for buggies - Pompeii!, Venice, Dubrovnik old town

Cabins

We were in room 8500 a family Ocean View with two big windows overlooking the helecopter pad, a large floor area with plendy of space for a cot and a small bunk room for the older children. There was plenty of storage space and we thought it was perfect for us. Lots of walking down the corridors to get there and a little bit bumpy on the first night as I mentioned. The children loved sitting on the window sills looking out. The next door FOV only had one window on the side of the ship but did seem to be a bit bigger than ours especially in the bunk room.

I enjoying seeing all the different rooms on the cabin crawl and would say that all the rooms I saw seemed to be spacious and comfortable. I had a good look at the balconies from outside the ship and would say that if you want to have a balcony and look directly down at the sea then you need to go in the forward section of the ship or on the hump. There is also a ceiling sticking out above the suites which restricts their sky view a bit - this is the wider pool deck.

On the other hand there are loads of public areas where you can look down to the sea. Deck 5 was underused I feel as it was a great place to spend some time on a sea day or play shuffle board. Deck12 was also a good place to see the views and of course the back of Windjammer and even the exterior facing elevators which we loved.

Pools

There are three pools as you probably are aware - a children's pool with a waterslide, the main pool and the adult only solarium.

We never tried the solarium although due to the "inclement weather" children were allowed in between 4 and 6 each evening.

The main pool and hot tubs were good. I thought the pool was too deep really though as I could not stand anywhere in it.

The childrens pool was fine if a bit cold.

The waterslide was one on the main attractions for us so we were a bit disappointed that it was shut on embarkation day and when it rained. It was open from 4 - 5.30 on port days and 12 - 4 on sea days. The official rules were that you had to be at least 6 years old and I think 42 inches tall (it could have been 46) to go on it unaccompanied. The children thought it was brilliant although I would say it was a bit tame.

As usual babies in nappies were not allowed in any of the pools.

Dining

We had a fixed seating time in the MDR with early dining. We had a great experience there enjoying the service and the food. One evening we tried the my family time dining when the children were whisked away to children's club at 6.40 but found that to be too rushed. The children's menu stayed the same every night and it was quite good for them but they did venture onto the main menu towards the end of the trip which was a bit more interesting. We had a table to ourselves I imagine because of the young children.

We usually had breakfast in the Windjammer in the outside seating area which was usually quite empty - I think some people thought it was cold. Lots of choice and everyone was happy. A lovely lady made me an omlette every morning with a smile. We tried the main dining room once for breakfast and it was quite good too but a bit more stressful with the children.

We usually had lunch on land but tried windjammer a few times and were quite pleased with the choice available there. The adults liked the steak sandwiches and salad in Park cafe but we found it had to find something there for the children.

We were invited to afternoon tea in the MDR one sea day which was also very nice.

Occaisionally the children ate whilst in child care. The nursary menus looked quite good but Adventure ocean had pizza or burgers only in windjammer which seemed a shame when there was so much choice there.

We very much enjoyed Izumi one evening and I think the bill came to about 20 dollars for two of us which I thought was ok.

The Mystery dinner was fun and it was good to be meet some fellow cruisers on our table.

The highlight for us was chef's table. There were only 8 of us that night and dining with us was the executive chef for the ship and his wife who had joined him for our cruise. The food was amazing and the wine was plentiful. Really good company and a great night.

We also made use of the room service for tea, coffee, cookies and warm milk. It was a little bit hit and miss probably due to our slightly unusual request for warm milk which sometimes came hot. It usually took 20-30 minutes to arrive. Kettles in the rooms would be so much better! Hot and cold jugs of milk were available from windjammer and park cafe as well as small cartons of whole or skimmed.

Childcare

There were only 2 under threes on the ship for our cruise although there would be 15 on the next one. our toddler pretty much had the nursery to herself when she went. It was open from 8.15 - 1 on a port day and 9 - 3 on a sea day as well as form 5.45 until late in the evenings. They also put on baby groups on sea days to which we made one and it was nice to meet up with the other family there. The nursery was open for playing in in the afternoons without the staff as well and they had a toy lending service. All the staff there were lovely and our toddler mainly went in to sleep after dinner or for a few hours some mornings while we rushed around doing activities listed on the cruise compass. With notice they would open in the afternoons I think if you wanted to spend a day in port without the baby.

The older children absolutely loved Kids club and pleaded to go in whenever possible. They did a trick or treat halloween parade around the ship, lots of face painting, dodgeball. They also organised a few whole family events during the cruise. This had longer opening hours and they started charging at 10pm. There were about 20 children on our cruise - it was said that in the summer they have around 600 - 800 children!!! There was no sleeping involved in adventure ocean so we usually picked up at 10 and we all went to bed then.

Just to mention that we pre ordered a "nappy bag" not really sure what we were going to get. It was quite a smart pink changing bag with the RCI logo, a few wipes, some huggies nappies (about 25 I think) and some nappy rash cream.

Entertainment and Activities

The rock climbing wall was a big hit with my children and my husband. You have to be 6 to do it. They had an adults race on the last day.

We all enjoying the mini golf, there were a few tournaments arranged.

The sports court was a good place with a toddler as she couldn't really escape and ran around with the ball. My husband enjoyed the dodgeball competition there.

Vortex was a nice venue on top of the ship which was a quiet zone in the day time and a night club after we had gone to bed.

They put on a fund raising walk a mile on the jogging track to raise money for terminally ill children to go on cruises. That was a good sociable event.

Both older children had their hair cut in the salon which was a very calm place with a beautiful view out of big windows on 11th floor.

The british pub had lots of beers on the menu but only three from Britain and one was a cider. Quite a narrow range of bitters. The trivia was good there though.

The safari club was a nice space with big windows and we enjoyed some kari-oke there. (apologies to Don Mclean and anyone who sat through 8 minutes of my version of American pie)

The centrum was a lovely space to sit. The children learned the thriller dance there with the wonderful Fabio over the three sea days and performed it in the theatre on the last day. That was a really good experience. I would have joined in but the rehearsals were not during nursery opening hours! (sounds like a good excuse anyway)

We saw two other shows in the theatre which were quite good - missed some because they were on a bit too late for us.

The card room on deck 4 is a lovely quiet place to enjoy some board and card games. It was never full and often we were the only ones there. There are great big windows looking straight out at the sea. They have a good range of games and a plentiful supply of cards.

They had a few events where the officers came and made speeches or answered questions, a belly flop competition, a late night and lunch time barbecue, a seventies night, lots of dance classes, wine tasting (a bit formal), art auctions (we felt a bit fixed), napkin folding classes, towel animal making demonstration, sushi making classes (fully booked), lots of live music, gym classes, daily informal walk a mile at 8.30.............

The list goes on. If we were a few minutes late for anything it had started and we had pretty much missed it. Mostly good fun and well organised but pretty exhausting!

Late disembarkation

We had a late flight home and after weighing up our options we paid 35 dollars for us and 17.50 for each of the children to stay on the boat till three. It was quite a weird experience as by 8.30 everyone else had gone and the staff were all rushing around getting ready for the next lot. We felt a bit spare. There was a left luggage in the card room which was really helpful but most of the ship was closed. They announced to the crew before boarding started the numbers of each nationality on the new cruise and the numbers at each level of the crown and anchor society. Boarding started at 10.31 and the staff all had to be at their stations for 10.20. The windjammer was not so busy this time round for lunch and we walked off and straight into a passing taxi at around 2pm with no hold ups.

Wow, thanks for this review.

We will be taking a family cruise in December on the Serenade with my son, daughter in law and 7 yr old grandson. Glad to read a review involving kids his age. We have cruised many times, but this will be his first. He is quite excited about Ocean Adventure.

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Overall we had a brilliant holiday. The children are desperate to go back, preferably to a bigger ship. We enjoyed it a lot but felt that it was very much a taster of the areas and maybe we would like to go land based again to get to know some of the places we saw better.

Fellow experienced cruisers commented that they noticed that the ship was smaller than some others they had been on and that it meant some of the facilities were limited. Personally I don't think I would want a bigger ship with more people.

I suspect we will cruise again one day but maybe in a few years time when the children can be a bit more independent with their sea day activities and also appreciate the ports more. They found all the walking round cities a bit tiring.

Hi Bradsnana - you will have a great time. My 8 and 6 year olds were crying when we left they had enjoyed it so much. Glad to see I have already reached my target audience!

Oh I forgot the three arial shows in the Centrum - fabulous - but get there early as the viewing spaces is a bit limited. We went high and that was great for spectating.

Thanks so much for the great review. :)

Thanks Patti - hope Jim is recovering well - we were all thinking of you in the Vortex at meet and mingle!

Thanks Patti - hope Jim is recovering well - we were all thinking of you in the Vortex at meet and mingle!

How kind of you to remember us. He is doing very well. Our current goal is trying to put some of those 31 pounds that he lost in 11 days back on.

We have booked the Serenade for next August/September. A few new ports and we will board in Barcelona but disembark in Civitavecchia. We are bound and determined to see Italy and beyond.

Great review. Going on the Serenade next May for our very first cruise. Do you know if they have Zumba classes on board?

Hi! I am so loving hearing what you thought of the cruise. I am glad you had so much fun. I have to say your kids are SUPER well behaved. They were so sweet in the Thriller classes :)

aw, thanks Hadley. They have their moments!

No Zumba I am afraid. Morning stretch and fab abs were included. extra charges for group cycling and boot camp which was on the sea days. I am afraid I did none of them so no idea if they were any good.

Entertainment and Activities

 

 

They had a few events where the officers came and made speeches or answered questions, a belly flop competition, a late night and lunch time barbecue, a seventies night, lots of dance classes, wine tasting (a bit formal), art auctions (we felt a bit fixed), napkin folding classes, towel animal making demonstration, sushi making classes (fully booked), lots of live music, gym classes, daily informal walk a mile at 8.30.............

 

Where you able to participate in the Sushi class ?

Was there a signup on day 1 for the class?

We'll be onboard in 3 weeks and I would love to try that class.

Thanks,

Doug

Did you watch any of the movies on the outdoor screen?

What movies were they showing and were you able to hear and see them clearly?

Thanks

Hi, there were two sushi classes on the first and last sea days at 11am. The first one clashed with mix and mingle. I don't know how you signed up for them or if you could in advance. I expect it would be worth asking at Izumi. I turned up on spec about 1 minute late for the second one which had already started and was full. I had a lovely walk around deck 5 instead!

Movies

I didn't stop and watch any I am afraid. I walked past Mamma Mia in Spanish and could hear fine. The picture was generally clear as far as I can remember. What else did they show...... - I did look every day but I just can't remember and I am afraid I haven't kept the cruise compasses.

Mostly the films were in the cinema I think. with an afternoon and a late evening by the pool.

Cabins

 

We were in room 8500 a family Ocean View with two big windows overlooking the helecopter pad, a large floor area with plendy of space for a cot and a small bunk room for the older children. There was plenty of storage space and we thought it was perfect for us. Lots of walking down the corridors to get there and a little bit bumpy on the first night as I mentioned. The children loved sitting on the window sills looking out. The next door FOV only had one window on the side of the ship but did seem to be a bit bigger than ours especially in the bunk room.

Thanks Nettee for the great view and also to Hadley for the photos. I have just booked the Family Oceanview Cabin for a February Bahamas cruise. We have 8502 which is the one next to you that you took a peek of. My only concern is the movement as my DH is a light sleeper. You mentioned it being bumpy the first night, but what was it like otherwise? Thanks

Oh I forgot the three arial shows in the Centrum - fabulous - but get there early as the viewing spaces is a bit limited. We went high and that was great for spectating.

I'm really looking forward to this. Brad will love it.

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