Just back from Serenade - Any Questions on Boat or Ports?

[BuyReallyLow]

Just returned yesterday from a week on Serenade of the Seas - Pictures and Review will be coming soon. Any questions on the ship or the ports we visited? Will try to answer!:)

[barbgazz]

I have to laugh when you call it a "boat". My husband does the same thing. It's a ship, but boat is cute, lol.

[shaling]

Hi,

We are cruising over the Christmas holidays. How was the food, which choice of menu style, room service, which seating is best? Bringing a 1 yr old grandchild, how are the childrens services, babysitters? Didyou try a message? Lounge music? We are both single, any special singles groups? Best beach, where not to stop and/or stay aboard? Anything open all night? That should do for now?

Thanks,

shaling

Linda & Deb:)

[BuyReallyLow]

Hi,

We are cruising over the Christmas holidays. How was the food, which choice of menu style, room service, which seating is best? Bringing a 1 yr old grandchild, how are the childrens services, babysitters? Didyou try a message? Lounge music? We are both single, any special singles groups? Best beach, where not to stop and/or stay aboard? Anything open all night? That should do for now?

Thanks,

shaling

Linda & Deb:)

 

Wow - that's quite a few questions!:) Not sure if I know the answers to them all, but here I go (remember these are my humble opinion!:) )

 

Food - Overall very good.

 

Had Breakfast both in room and in Windjammer. Room Service was good if you don't order Scrambled Eggs - My Omlets were OK - but obviously not as good as if you order them fresh in windjammer. Most mornings I had coffee/juice and cereal/bread in the room. Windjammer is what you would expect - a buffet - but the ability to get fresh omlets or eggs any way you wish is a nice touch.

 

Lunch - Had Lunch in Windjammer and SeaView Cafe. Same Buffet fare in Windjammer - SeaView Cafe has burgers and sandwiches - and very good onion rings! Seaview is right above Windjammer, but opens at 2 PM most days - so nice for late afternoon snacks.

 

Dinner - ate in main dining room all nights except one night in chops. We ate at chops the second night, missing the Caribbean Night (not our favorite). Our experience in the dining room has always been to keep expectations a bit lower than a good restaurant in your city - and we have never been disappointed! We always take advantage of the ability to order multiples of what you enjoy - so go get it! Chops was an unbelievable experience - it was among the best steaks I have ever had. We had a baked potato the size of a football (actually took pictures of it) - a wonderful experience well worth the $20 charge per person. I think in the future we may skip the formal nights and go to Chopps and/or Portofinos instead. Better food, and less packing.

 

Late Night Room Service - Used a few times for Ice Cream, cookies, cake, etc. Worked well.

 

Seating - we choose late - for two reasons (1) less children - seating was at 8:30 PM and (2) not to be rushed with our shore excursions. Have never been at early seating, but were happy with our choice. Numerous threads are available outlining pros and cons.

 

Children's Activities - We did not bring our kids, but once or twice the kids were brought into the main dining room for a little skit - nice touch. Kids pool area seemed nice - and Adventure area appeared well staffed. It was nice to have the children's pool to keep the youngest out of the adult pool - kids were never an issue except on Sea day.

 

No message (wish I did!) - Lounge music was simply that - lounge music. It is my opinion that RC has put an emphasis on Customer Service and has reduced the expectation in terms of music and shows. I for one did not mind the choice - but listening to others it appears to be a calculated risk. In other words - the room stewards and table waiters were all top notch - I did not hear a complaint. Drink Stewards around the pool were very attentive. Bar service was very good. But the bands were very average, and I did not hear many good comments about the various shows staring talent. We had no headliners during our cruise.

 

Single activities? I'm married - but would guess that the Vortex is your best bet (visited there a few nights and quite a few were dancing.)

 

Ports - here is a short summary of what we did at each port:

 

St. Thomas - took the ferry to St. John's to Trunk Bay - outstanding beach great snorkeling- great day!

St. Marten - rented a car from Arthur and toured the island. Dawn Beach is wonderful! Orient Beach is overrated (my opinion:o ) Easily made it around the island. Maho (?) beach was intersting for the planes coming over, but better for the body surfing crowd.

Antiqua - Just did some shopping around port - Would have done this differently - we had an excursion cancel - should have booked an Eli or something similar. The town is not very impressive

Barbados - Did the Jolly Roger - good time - went to Boatyard afterwards - OK - was not impressed with the island - but didn't give it much of a chance.

St. Lucia - Favorite Island for physical beauty. Took private tour with Cosol. Outstanding. Worth double what he charges - would do again (and possibly move there!)

 

Hopefully this helps. I'll check again for more questions tonight.

[Dadofsara]

We were on Serenade school vacation week and agree with Buy Low....

The ship is wonderful. The food was very good and Chops was outstanding!

[gpepe1228]

We too just returned from the seranade of the sea. It was very good. The food in the main dinning room was always good. Chops is well worth the money. Portifino was ok. I went to chops on caribbean night. the chanpagne bar was our favorite place. There is alot of activity at night in the various lounges and bars.

 

The only problem was sea day. I placed my towels, books and shoes on the chairs at 8am and went to breakfast. When i returned they were gone. I was not the only one that this happen to. If i get up early and intend to stay at the pool, those are my chairs. If you want to sleep late then you have to search. RCI should have enough chairs or drop the policy. They made alot of people very angry.

 

This only happened to the early crowd. The pool was so crowed after 11am that is was impossible for the pool patrol to monitor the chairs. It is very selective and should be discontinued.

[BuyReallyLow]

gpepe,

 

 

My wife was also out early on Sea day - around the same time I believe. She stayed out during the day, and observed many chair patrols. Her opinion is that the staff did a fair job and was courteous - at least what she observed. It must be a tough job - they obviously do it due to the complaints - (see the "Chair Hog" threads all over this site) - it is obviously a no win situation.

 

I will say that the pool congestion was no where near as tough as on the big Voyageur class ships. We could not even get near the pool on Explorer.

 

I did not get to Portofinos. Did you not enjoy it?

[jonahwicky]

I'm so glad to hear they're enforcing the no-chair saving rule. To mark out a chair and then go off to breakfast is just rude and inconsiderate.

 

Maybe RCI does read these boards and listen to the majority when they complain.

[Typi]

I'm so glad to hear they're enforcing the no-chair saving rule. To mark out a chair and then go off to breakfast is just rude and inconsiderate.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I made it a point to get up, get ready and get to breakfast early enough to get good lounge chairs. I think it's rude to put your stuff down and go away for a few hours.

[rmchunter]

We are happy to hear that RCCL is trying to help with the chair problem at the pool. I will not go on a cruise and watch a book and a shoe have a better time ( and get a better tan) than I do. Is this a problem in the show lounge? We have found it has been on most of the cruises we have been on. When I see someone saving a row of seats, I just sit down, when they say they were saving them, I thank them and say they shouldn"t have.

Have a great cruise

[BuyReallyLow]

We are happy to hear that RCCL is trying to help with the chair problem at the pool. I will not go on a cruise and watch a book and a shoe have a better time ( and get a better tan) than I do. Is this a problem in the show lounge? We have found it has been on most of the cruises we have been on. When I see someone saving a row of seats, I just sit down, when they say they were saving them, I thank them and say they shouldn"t have.

Have a great cruise

 

I did not hear of it at any shows. Some of our group was able to be in the 5-6 row at the not-so-newlywed night - which is usually popular. But they went to the late show.