New Years Eve on the Serenade 2017/2018

[Bead Pirate]

Hello, we just finished a wonderful cruise on the Serenade over Christmas and New Years (11 nights in a Jr. Suite) a great cruise and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

 

This ship has a bit of a reputation (well deserved) for a super friendly crew and some of the consistently highest quality food across the board.

 

First day (as usual with Radiance class of ships) was a pain with the elevators as 4 of the 6 elevetors in the centrum were locked out for suitcase delivery until 6:30.

 

We all survived with a little patience and and grumping.;)

 

This turned out to be one of our top 5 favorite cruises largely due to the crew that we met and the passenger mix.

 

There was one thing that occurred that did not seem fair, about a day before the New Years Eve celebration we suddenly were "sales blitzed" with the notification that there would be VIP areas for sale for new Years Eve. Areas in the Centrum on deck 5, 6, and 12 were roped off and you could buy a ticket to the areas for $50, $100 or $150 per person + a mandatory purchase of a bottle of champaign (additional $79). The prices varied by location and the VIP area included snacks and a dedicated bar server.

 

At 8 PM on New Years eve an announcement was made that staff would be removing furniture from the Centrum areas and sure enough thay came around and made people get out of their chairs, couches, etc. on each deck and carted the items off to the VIP areas.

 

They did a similar VIP area at the sky bar overlooking the big outdoor screen.

 

We still had a great NYE but some of the folks who were displaced and had to either stand for the evening or move away from the event might have felt slighted.

 

Once again, a great cruise, a great ship, amazing crew, I just wanted to write this so that anyone planning for next holiday might want to put some money aside for a bit of extra comfort on NYE.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report, nice to hear Serenade is still doing the job.:)

[John&LaLa]

We are no longer are an early bird gets the worm Society.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[papaflamingo]

We've done 3 NYE cruises on Freedom. The first one all seating on the Promenade was first come first served. Then the next year they set up reserved VIP seating outdoors each venue that had seating. You could still sit inside the Pub etc. That was fine with us. We got good seats in the Pub, then just simply walked out onto the Promenade at a few minutes before midnight. The first year we had a small table with 4 seats outside the Pub. As the crowd grew, people got ruder and ruder. Random people would simply walk over, reach over one of us and drop a dirty glass and used napkin on our table. That didn't happen again. Then people pushed between us and the rail to the Pub where there wasn't enough room and literally pushed us into our table. Had to get them to move. So, point is, the VIP on Freedom at least, is roped off so it avoids those issues. Of course polite people would avoid those issues too.

By the way, my comment in no way diminished our NYE cruises. All 3 were FANTASTIC! Would do it every year if I could. Also, a bigger ship is better IMHO. On Freedom the main celebration was on the Promenade which was great! But, weather permitting, they also held on on the Pool Deck. Not sure if they still do that.

[cruisenfever]

There was one thing that occurred that did not seem fair, about a day before the New Years Eve celebration we suddenly were "sales blitzed" with the notification that there would be VIP areas for sale for new Years Eve. Areas in the Centrum on deck 5, 6, and 12 were roped off and you could buy a ticket to the areas for $50, $100 or $150 per person + a mandatory purchase of a bottle of champaign (additional $79). The prices varied by location and the VIP area included snacks and a dedicated bar server.

 

At 8 PM on New Years eve an announcement was made that staff would be removing furniture from the Centrum areas and sure enough thay came around and made people get out of their chairs, couches, etc. on each deck and carted the items off to the VIP areas.

 

This is not unusual for a NYE cruise. Did Serenade NYE 2017 and Jewel NYE 2016 and they did the same thing. Only they reserved areas on Deck 4 (Centrum), 5, 6 and 7 if I remember correctly.