Serenade of the Seas questions

[Mango Tango]

The only thing I don't like about Radiance class ships is the enclosed Solarium...they seldom open the "retractable" roof, which means, no tanning!

I've been on the Radiance, Brilliance and Jewel and only once have I seen the retractable roof open in the Solarium. We were tendered at Playa Del Carmen in Jan. '08 and it was very hot that day, so they opened the roof.

[bermuda09]

I just got off the Serenade this past Sunday and I could not disagree more with a few other posters who liked the Voyager class better than the Freedom class ships. I was actually thisclose to never sailing with RCI again because of how much I disliked Explorer of the Seas. Prior to EOS, we only sailed Princess. However, it was our wedding cruise and we wanted to sail exclusively to Bermuda. We sailed with over 30 people and I can honestly say that no one was happy with the crew, especially the terrible service we received in the dining room. Nearly no one from our group used any other activity that the ship had to offer- such as the ice skating rink, golf, or the rock climbing wall. Although the royal promenade is nice, it looks like a mall. I live in New Jersey, I don't need to see another mall on vacation.

 

We chose the SOS this year not because of RCI, but because of the itinarary. I am so glad that we chose to sail the Serenade, because this may have been our most favorite cruise. The itinerary was amazing (we did the barbados-st. croix route) and the crew was fantastic! It is such a port-intensive cruise that you really won't miss any of the amenities that the EOS has to offer. SOS was the first 'smaller' ship we have ever sailed on and I can honestly say we are very happy with the choice that we made.

[kgm0612]

I'm also just off the Serenade and LOVED it! I am not partial to one cruise line and have sailed NCL (2x) RC (2x) and Carnival (3x). I thought the Serenade was a beautiful ship, the food was great and so was the service. I would not hesitate to sail on her again.

 

Karen

[takevtr1]

I'm also just off the Serenade and LOVED it! I am not partial to one cruise line and have sailed NCL (2x) RC (2x) and Carnival (3x). I thought the Serenade was a beautiful ship, the food was great and so was the service. I would not hesitate to sail on her again.

 

Karen

 

Not to mention the people - like us !

Hi Karen

Mitch................

[Karma5]

Serenade is a great ship. But lucky for us it is not for everyone .

 

Would rather keep the secret to ourselves and not share.

[niecyd]

Serenade is a great ship. But lucky for us it is not for everyone .

 

Would rather keep the secret to ourselves and not share.

 

:confused:Karma - please do share.

[Conanc]

We absolutely LOVE the Radiance Class ships!!!

 

Come go with us on the Serenade - June 5th or June 12th!!! I'll give you our Rollcall Links if you want. :p

 

For balcony Cabins, avoid the 7th deck. I love to sit out on the balcony at night and watch the water against the ship. I love to see down to the ocean at the boats, action, etc. while in ports.

You will NOT be able to see down if you are on the 7th deck. There is a cover over the Life Boats that are on the 6th deck, and it sticks out about 6 feet blocking you view down.

 

As for other balcony cabins, on the Hump Cabins and the AFt Cabins, the balconies are HUGE. We already have 9078 booked (our favorite cabin and we always get that one!!), but look at the deck plans and you can see the difference. On the Starboard side there are some as well.

 

If you cruise because you love the ocean, then you will also LOVE the Serenade. These ships are built with hundreds of acres (yes, I said ACRES ;)) of GLASS. No matter where you go, you can see the ocean.

You don't get the 24 hour Cafe Promenade, but you get the SeaView Cafe, which is open til 1:00 or 1:30 am.

We love the Centrum for gathering to enjoy music and dancing before and after dinner.

 

Hope This Helps.

 

Hi -- We have 7594 on hold on the Jewel. The cabin is two cabins forward from the hump cabins. I posted questions about it earlier thread today but then saw this thread about avoiding Deck 7 cabins altogether. Does anyone know what the view forward/aft and straight down is from this not quite mid-hump cabin? We normally book forward cabins with a view straight down to the water but those on Deck 7 on this ship are not very private. I saw 7594 and grabbed it thinking we would avoid that issue, but now I am not so sure. :confused:

 

I agree with all of the postings here about getting used to this class of ship after the Explorer and larger size ships. We loved our 10 night sailing on the Brilliance and had a wonderful mid ship hump cabin on Deck 8. We are anxious to sail on this class again but are concerned about the view down from the balconies that are available.

 

We are not trying to be overly fussy, but the sailing is for our 30th anniversary for 13 nights with LOTS of sea days, and we want to be happy with our selection. Any photos or comments would be greatly appreciated. We have to put a deposit down quickly. Thank you! :D

 

Nancy

[Terre]

We had cabin 9078 recently which had a larger balcony. We really enjoyed it. Once inside the cabin, we couldn't hear ANY noise from outside, not even in the hallway. This cabin is right at the hallway entrance. We loved the Serenade and will probably book it again.

[Conanc]

We had cabin 9078 recently which had a larger balcony. We really enjoyed it. Once inside the cabin, we couldn't hear ANY noise from outside, not even in the hallway. This cabin is right at the hallway entrance. We loved the Serenade and will probably book it again.

 

 

GREAT photos!!!! I wish 9078 was available on my sailing.....

[The Big Booper]

The RC haters who always deride the line and call it "Mall of the Seas" don't understand that the Voyager/Freedom classes have the same number of stores as the smaller ships such as the Radiance class.

 

The main purpose of the Promenade is to facilitate the movement of passengers around the ship on the common decks and to provide an area where large amounts of people can gather for events such as 70's night.

 

The smaller ships such as the Radiance class and the Super-Grand Princess ships always have tieups as people enter or leave the theaters, rest. etc. Plus when the stores roll out their display tables for the daily "sales"....

 

The new Celebrity S class ships basic design follows the layout of the Voyager class, only the Promenade is on decks 4 and 5 and is narrower on both decks then the single deck 5 Promenade on the RC ships. And on the S class, the basic stores are on deck 4 and the very fancy stores are on deck 5.

 

The pools on the Radiance class ships are the wildest at sea and are heavily jungle influenced. Check out the stone elephants and the bronzed animals by the pools.

[JCafaro]

Actually we had a balcony cabin on the 7th deck and it was great...there were no lifeboats in view...however....we were in 7026 which is forward

 

Weird, we were in the exact same room. There are no lifeboats forward on deck 7... and you also get extended balconies :D. The balcony was twice the size as the ones on 8 and 9.

 

[robtulipe]

Hi -- We have 7594 on hold on the Jewel. The cabin is two cabins forward from the hump cabins. I posted questions about it earlier thread today but then saw this thread about avoiding Deck 7 cabins altogether. Does anyone know what the view forward/aft and straight down is from this not quite mid-hump cabin? We normally book forward cabins with a view straight down to the water but those on Deck 7 on this ship are not very private. I saw 7594 and grabbed it thinking we would avoid that issue, but now I am not so sure. :confused:

 

I agree with all of the postings here about getting used to this class of ship after the Explorer and larger size ships. We loved our 10 night sailing on the Brilliance and had a wonderful mid ship hump cabin on Deck 8. We are anxious to sail on this class again but are concerned about the view down from the balconies that are available.

 

We are not trying to be overly fussy, but the sailing is for our 30th anniversary for 13 nights with LOTS of sea days, and we want to be happy with our selection. Any photos or comments would be greatly appreciated. We have to put a deposit down quickly. Thank you! :D

 

Nancy

Here is a shot taken from deck 10 of the balcony for cabin 7608 (middle balcony) on the stern facing portion of the hump of Radiance. Cabin 7594 will have a similar view on the bow facing portion of the hump. As you can see the downward view is impacted by the lifeboat/tender cover.

 

[JCafaro]

Here is another picture that shows the dip in the middle of the ship in which the 7th deck balconies have lifeboats in front of them. You can notice that first two lifeboats are under the 7th deck balconies, then the rest of the balconies (until the elevator hump) are set in and therefore have the lifeboat covers extended beyond their balcony.

 

[JCafaro]

View of extended balcony from 7026. Sorry for the multiple posts...

 

[FreshOffTheBoat]

Serenade is an awesome ship. If you don't like it then, I just don't know what to say.

[Conanc]

Weird, we were in the exact same room. There are no lifeboats forward on deck 7... and you also get extended balconies :D. The balcony was twice the size as the ones on 8 and 9.

 

 

These do look like they offer a great view -- you didn't mind the lack of privacy? If you were sitting back under the covered part of the balcony with the divider, could your neighbors see you when standing at the rail. I think I would be uncomfortable with that but am particularly concerned about smokers. :(

[Conanc]

Here is a shot taken from deck 10 of the balcony for cabin 7608 (middle balcony) on the stern facing portion of the hump of Radiance. Cabin 7594 will have a similar view on the bow facing portion of the hump. As you can see the downward view is impacted by the lifeboat/tender cover.

 

 

Bob - Thanks so much for the photo. Wow -- it does look like the downward view is impacted by the lifeboat cover. Do you think the forward view is impacted as well? The Radiance Class ships are beautiful but this is a little disappointing. I am really not sure what to do now. We are normally not fussy when choosing our balconies. Most of the time we take a standard size forward (private) balcony and are able to look straight down to the water. :(

[Conanc]

View of extended balcony from 7026. Sorry for the multiple posts...

 

 

Very nice. This is a great photo and gives a good feel for what the view is like. If this was a 7 night cruise I'd go for it in a minute. Still not sure about the privacy issue -- it's a 13 night cruise with lots of sea days.

 

Thank you.

[Conanc]

Just curious as which cabin some of you would choose? 7094 or one of the forward E2s? There are also a few forward Deck 8 and 9 cabins which overlook the Deck 7 extended balconies.

 

Thanks,

Nancy

[robtulipe]

Bob - Thanks so much for the photo. Wow -- it does look like the downward view is impacted by the lifeboat cover. Do you think the forward view is impacted as well? The Radiance Class ships are beautiful but this is a little disappointing. I am really not sure what to do now. We are normally not fussy when choosing our balconies. Most of the time we take a standard size forward (private) balcony and are able to look straight down to the water. :(

Yes, the downward view (towards bow) from the balcony for cabin 7594 is blocked in a similar fashion by the lifeboat cover as Cabin 7608 balcony's view is blocked towards the stern.

[robtulipe]

I found a shot of Radiance cabin 7594 balcony that shows how lifeboat cover blocks downward view.

 

[JCafaro]

These do look like they offer a great view -- you didn't mind the lack of privacy? If you were sitting back under the covered part of the balcony with the divider, could your neighbors see you when standing at the rail. I think I would be uncomfortable with that but am particularly concerned about smokers. :(

 

There was enough privacy that it wasn't uncomfortable, but not enough to renew our balcony membership ;)

[Terre]

GREAT photos!!!! I wish 9078 was available on my sailing.....

Thank you! We loved the balcony and the ship.

[Conanc]

Thank you everyone for the photos, information and the help you've provided. I am usually not this indecisive. :rolleyes: I am thinking of taking 7594 since it's probably the best bet right now, and keep checking to see what if anything else opens up before sailing. Final payment is next week and there may be some cancellations. Even though there are lots of sea days and the balcony is so important to us, I am trying to re-focus and think about the ship and all the other wonderful things about this cruise.

 

Nancy

[DHADEN]

GREAT photos!!!! I wish 9078 was available on my sailing.....

 

Nancy;

You can also try for 9092, 9076, 9094, or on port side, 9576, 9578, 9592, 9594 - - these all have very large balconies and great views.

 

We have 9078 for our Back-2-Back next June - I always book only when I can get that cabin. ;)

Also look on Deck 8 for the same placement cabins.

 

Just curious as which cabin some of you would choose? 7094 or one of the forward E2s? There are also a few forward Deck 8 and 9 cabins which overlook the Deck 7 extended balconies.

Thanks,

Nancy

 

If you are insisting on being on deck 7, then go to the rooms that are forward of the forward elevators.

The cabins start at # 7046 and 7546 and go forward.

Hope This Helps.