Viking Serenade

Although I never cruised on her, during so many trips to Catalina we saw her a number of times and it really caught my interest in cruising...where is she now???

She is now ISLAND ESCAPE with Island Cruises.

Thank you...to bad she's in Europe...a bit far to go for a cruise right now

We were on the Viking Serenade when she was owned by Admiral and named the Stardancer. Don't be disappointed that she's too far away for you to sail her. The cabins were tiny! She used to be a ferry and was designed for just a one night stay. We were ready to jump ship and swim home. We had one child with us, and it was just way to small. The service and food weren't great either, but that was about 17 years ago.

service, etc...could be different based on the owner...dont think I'll make it out there so its no difference...just a bit of a nostalgia thing

This ship was the subject of a recent documentary series here in the UK and it seemed just appalling.:eek:

Staff disputes, failed plumbing systems, dreadful entertainment, nothing would induce me to cruise on this ship even if it was free. :mad:

I watched the whole series. The ship was portrayed as very bad. The catering manager got sacked for sexual harassment, the buffet was shut at 12:30pm. Maybe it was better under the crown and anchor

My very first cruise!! We booked it to see if we liked cruising. I remember we paid full brochure rate and spent WAY TOO MUCH on our cabin. But, we did decide that we liked crusing and we had a good time because we had nothing to compare it too.

The ship really wasn't designed like they are now, it was crowded - you had to wait in line for dinner and the cabins were quite small. But, we still had a good time and it started our crusing career!!! :):):)

We sailed her 1992 under RCCL and had a good time. It was the only one in our budget at the time. I LOVED the outdoor area to sit and eat though and so many new ships just don't have this... Has to be something good about each ship and cruise.... Food was fine - it must have been because of RCCL which had excellent service and food back then. :D Debbie

I agree with Keith. Much better under the crown and anchor

I did an Alaska cruise with RCC on this ship and had a good time. As a solo sailor I had no problem with cabin size.

There were problems, robbery of several cabins. it was sorted before we reached Vancouver.

Cruiserbryce, Another bit of nostalgia because it was here in San Diego that Stardancer of Admiral Cruises became Viking Serenade. At National City, the car decks were removed and replaced with more cabins(hence, the subsequent overcrowded feeling) and they built on the Viking Lounge to approximate existing RCCL ships, but they had to build it at the aft of the funnel. They also found that the additional cabins, etc made her stern heavy and she dug her stern down when going full speed, so they built a structure around the stern at water level to overcome that tendency. We sailed on Stardancer when she still carried cars; she sailed Alaska in the summer and repositioned to LA for Mexican Riviera cruises in the winter(now done by Monarch OTS} We took the repositioning from Vancouver to LA, stopping at San Francisco and Catalina - drove on in Vancouver and off in San Pedro.:)

My then BF and I sailed on this ship to Mexico back in the early 90s!!

It was my first cruise and a surprize for his birthday. I just remember catching a cold on ship and having to pay a fortune for cold medicine. Also I remember the wine steward coming to the table and having NO IDEA what he was talking about (hey I was only 22) :)

We sailed her twice. First time under Sundance Cruises flag, second time under Admiral flag.

Sundance Cruises was started by Stan McDonald (or MacDonald?), same fellow who started Princess Cruises years before.

We sailed her 1992 under RCCL and had a good time. It was the only one in our budget at the time. I LOVED the outdoor area to sit and eat though and so many new ships just don't have this... Has to be something good about each ship and cruise.... Food was fine - it must have been because of RCCL which had excellent service and food back then. :D Debbie

We also sailed her in 1992. It was our first cruise and it got us hooked on cruising. We were on a three or four day Baja Mexico cruise and we realizeed that was way too short.

I too sailed her the week before Christmas in 1990 and did the Mexican Riviera. It was my first RCCI cruise and I thought it was so opulent compared to the ship I took my very first cruise on.

I remember we had a female cruise director and I want to think her name was Tracy but my memory ain't what it used to be! LOL I remember she referred to the Viking Serenade as the "Ugly Duckling" of RCCI's fleet because of her flatly abutted aft. I will never forget that cruise because I had graduated to a much better cruise line than Chandris and I thought I died and went to heaven.

She is now based during summer (Nov/Mar) in Santos (Brazil) and doing 3/4 nights low fare cruises. Very popular among young people, singles and gays which don't care for "sophistication", but for fun! Also known as a "party boat" for its 24 hour music from bands and DJs.

Service and food are below average.

This ship was the subject of a recent documentary series here in the UK and it seemed just appalling.:eek:

Staff disputes, failed plumbing systems, dreadful entertainment, nothing would induce me to cruise on this ship even if it was free. :mad:

what was the name of the documentary?

I think I did this in 2000. Turned out to be my most wretched vacation ever. Not that I was expecting much. The woman I was dating at the time (hereafter refered to as my wife), had gone to a timeshare pitch, and this was what she walked away with. Mind you, this was our first extended trip together...

The drive to LA went fine, as was check in. We left our bags behind, walked up the ramp and -boom- stopped at the first of many photo ops. We smiled for the overly perky photo staff and then went off to find our cabin.

Time has softened some memories, so I do not remember the cabin number. I do know that it was on the lowest deck, and on the inside. We got to it, opened the door and just stood there for a minute, until people started yelling at us that we were blocking. The cabin, which was well laid out, was about 10x8, not counting the bathroom. It had a tiny desk/bookcase sort of thing, one couch/bed and a pullman bunk that you pulled off the wall. We turned to each other and said "at least we'll only be in here sleeping".

As we started to unpack our carry ons, we heard the call for boat drill. For some reason, I remember the vests being 3 feet wide, 4 feet long and something like 6 inches thick, with a tiny hole for my fat head... Or at least that's how big it seemed after doing 5 flights of stairs with it on. Once we got to our station, we had a great view of the Victory ship behind us, and the container terminal across the harbor (I'm a bit of a geek). While we were standing around, waiting to be checked off, I tried to get our muster group to start singing "Nearer My God To Thee", until my wife hit me.

From this point on , the most fun we had was when we were either off the boat, or not doing any on board activites. The food was fine, but our table mates were class A bummers. The seating seemed to be set to span the generations. The was a couple in their 60s, retired and traveling the country. They were cool, and full of neat travel tales. The next in line was a newlywed couple in their 40s. These two were just deathly dull. We'd ask them every night if they had done something cool while on shore. We'd get a shrug out of them. My wife and I were next, in our 30s and the only ones bunking in sin. Lastly there was a 20 year old Morman couple on their honeymoon. The woman in that pairing took a dislike to my wife and I, and we got a lot of stinkeye from her over our dinners. Like I said, the food was good, but is that poorly made up pirate for yet another photo really needed?

Our first stop was Catalina. Of course, it we went flat out, we'd be there in 30 minutes, so we ended up doing laps around the island. This was the only point where we felt any rolling of the boat. As we entered and exited the channel, the ship would do this weird down, right, up, left all the way, and then back to center motion. Once we got there, Catalina was neat. We rented a golf cart and kicked around, and also took the casino tour. Well worth the stop, Ensenada, not so much. It's more Tiajuana by the sea. We saw the big flag, , the sunken Catalina, the blowhole, and the 4 year old selling gum on the corner. One bit of advice, if you buy one of those $5 mexican blankets, don't wash it. It shrinks. Ours is now the right size for our cat.

The on board entertainment flat out sucked. The comic wasn't funny, neither in the all ages show, or the "racey" late night show. The difference was that she told more men leaving the toilet seat up jokes. We walked out. There was a band on board, "Luna, the hottest band on the high seas" said the overly perky cruise director. More of a garage/low budget prom band. We first met them for the "cast off" party the first night. They were ok, not really good, but ok. The next night was Motown night. It was Luna again. "70s Disco Inferno Dance Night", Luna. We stuck around long enough for my wife to get some Electric Slide in. The last night was Big Band night. Once again, it was Luna.

We took the elevator to the top deck lounge one evening, The doors opened and we were hit by that 240 beat per minute eurotecnocrap. We didn't move and the elevator dinged and the doors closed, and we went down again... Then there was the casino and the bingo game. My wife loves to gamble, and really loves bingo. The casino was nice, and we were having fun until we spotted this one woman. She was wearing a way too small t-shirt that basically said that if she prayed, and gave to her church, that God would come through and pay her back with (and then there were symbols for a house, car and dollar sign). We were just creeped out. The bingo caller had to crack a joke with every number he called. None of the jokes were remotely funny, and it ground the game to a halt.

I've been dissing the trip pretty harshly. Strangely, I had a great time. It turned out to be too horrible not to have fun, very Gonzo. The high points were Catalina, the food, and the moonlight walk on the top deck, hand in hand and my "Holy crap, I could easily spend the rest of my life with this person" moment. The time on the third day where the young newlyweds came to the table with his neck all covered in round bruises. I turned to my wife and mentioned that it looked like he had been attacked by the California Hot Tub Leech. The older couple over heard and busted out laughing. That broke the ice and we started swapping stories. Low points - pretty much everything else.

A couple years later, we were kicking around ideas for another vacation, and I said "how about a cruise"? She thought I was all hopped up on goofballs, but we did and had a great time. Next April or May, we have another timeshare freebie Catalina/Ensenada cruise. I can only hope that it is as bad as our trip on the VS.

I sailed on the Viking Serenade on the 5 night out of LA. I was not impressed. You didn't miss much. Maybe she was better in her younger years.