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Princess cruiser booked in RCCL Serenade of the Seas


tjcletzgo
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I was on the Serenade of the Seas October 2017 on a Canada/N.E. cruise with a friend and had a wonderful time.

 

One difference is that open dining -called My Time Dining on Royal Caribbean - can be reserved online for every evening in advance of the cruise. Unlike Anytime Dining on Princess, they did not seat us or offer to seat us with others when we turned up without a reservation.

 

It’s a lovely, older medium-sized ship and I booked the same cabin again for a cruise to Bermuda this October.

 

I’ve enjoyed my cruises on both Royal Caribbean and Princess. If you like your itinerary, you will have a good time.

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I was on the Serenade of the Seas October 2017 on a Canada/N.E. cruise with a friend and had a wonderful time.

 

One difference is that open dining -called My Time Dining on Royal Caribbean - can be reserved online for every evening in advance of the cruise. Unlike Anytime Dining on Princess, they did not seat us or offer to seat us with others when we turned up without a reservation.

 

It’s a lovely, older medium-sized ship and I booked the same cabin again for a cruise to Bermuda this October.

 

I’ve enjoyed my cruises on both Royal Caribbean and Princess. If you like your itinerary, you will have a good time.

 

The itinerary is the reason we booked the ship, best New England itinerary I've found! That's great news we can book our dinner times ahead of time! That's GREAT news :)

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I think that class of ships is the prettiest one still afloat. And I agree that RC does My Time Dining MUCH better than Princess does Anytime Dining.

That My time dining might be enough for me to try RCCL again. It's been decades since we've cruised with them.

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I have sailed the Radiance, Brilliance and Serenade as of this past August and a favorite spot for lunch on the Serenade is outside the WJ, Aft. Upon getting your food just walk to the rear by the Dessert area. It can get a bit crowded after the shows, if you proceed forward through the Photo & shops. Not knowing your room location, but we have had Mid ship Deck 9 and proceed down to the rear elevators which will bring you right outside the Theater and same going back.

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We alternate between the two lines. In April we did a 10 day on Serenade.

I love that class, too.

We were very comfortable, the food in the MDR was good enough that DH didn’t push to eat in Windjammer. (Buffet).

No International Cafe, which I love on Princess.

 

 

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We, too, bounce between the two lines as we enjoy the attributes of both. We have sailed her sister ship Jewel OTS and it is a very nice ship. It doesn't have the Royal Promenade decks like the larger ships, however. We will be on the 20 Oct 19 sailing out of Boston on the Serenade and are looking forward to the ship and itinerary. Enjoy your cruise.

 

I think we find that Princess is a little more laid back while RCL is a little more active. Entertainment and food are probably pretty much on par with a slight edge to Princess on food. The activities, I think, my be more to RCLs favor.

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We, too, bounce between the two lines as we enjoy the attributes of both. We have sailed her sister ship Jewel OTS and it is a very nice ship. It doesn't have the Royal Promenade decks like the larger ships, however. We will be on the 20 Oct 19 sailing out of Boston on the Serenade and are looking forward to the ship and itinerary. Enjoy your cruise.

 

I think we find that Princess is a little more laid back while RCL is a little more active. Entertainment and food are probably pretty much on par with a slight edge to Princess on food. The activities, I think, my be more to RCLs favor.

 

 

 

But I have to say we enjoy trivia more on Princess. RCI has some cutthroat trivia players on every ship we’ve sailed on. They are dead serious about it. Scuttlebutt has it that some teams save the questions and answers from previous trivia’s and some of them actually refer to them. Princess hasn’t been infected with that disease. Yet!

 

 

 

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We love the Serenade and all Radiance class ships. I am sure you will like it. There are so many great places to sit and enjoy the views, both inside and out. I enjoyed the food better on RC and also liked the way they do my time dining. Unfortunately RC doesn't do the itineraries that I want so have to change lines now and again.

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We've done two Princess cruises (Caribbean P. and Golden P.), one Carnival, and two RCCL (Serenade and Liberty). I loved the Serenade, especially the outdoor seating area behind Windjammer. We couldn't afford a balcony (it was a Baltics cruise, so we had $$ airfare from Texas to Copenhagen) so we considered the outdoor WJ area as our balcony. We'd go out there in the evenings and no one else was there.

 

One difference is RCCL does not have self-serve laundry rooms. Having two sons on most of my cruises, I've usually needed to do laundry once mid-cruise, so plan ahead for that. They do have dry cleaning and once-a-week stuff-everything-in-a-bag for $30 or so.

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Just to give a different thought... We did the Serenade back in November 2015 out of New Orleans and it was hands down the worst of the 20+ cruises that I've been on. First, there is no pool deck grill, pizza or ice cream. You have to go into the Windjammer to get these items. Also, the WJ closes down (or at least it did on our cruise) a good bit of time during the day, so if you want to grab something when you get back from an excursion, your one option is the "Park Cafe", which is located in an adult area (the Solarium). We found the Park Cafe to be severely lacking in options...

 

Also, I HATED RCCL's "My Time" dining. As soon as we got on board, we were hounded asking us what time we would like to dine. Because we were going to be in different ports and weren't sure when we'd get back, we wanted to just show up and eat when we were ready like on Princess. Well, that doesn't work as well on RCCL. While we did get seated, it got really old really quick to have a message every morning "reminding" us to please make dining reservations. To me, that negates the whole idea of Anytime dining...

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We're trying out Serenade in October of next year, too! It will be quite a change for us. My husband and I got engaged on the Viking Serenade out of Long Beach many years ago when they still cruised to Mexico. I think Serenade will be more fun for our kids (climbing wall, kid's club, etc.) but we've all gotten used to the more mellow cruises on Princess and Holland America (that was our kid's favorite cruise line, if you can believe it!) I've never met a cruise I didn't like, so I'm sure it will be awesome. It's nice to hear from people who have cruised both lines to learn about their experiences. Thanks for starting this thread!

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Hello, we are two single seniors who haven't sailed RCCL in about 10 years. What can we expect to find that's different from Princess, good and bad?

 

Thanks so much!

Cruising has changed in the past 10 years. All cruise lines have cut back and the food is banquet grade now unless you go to a Specialty Restaurant.

Read each posting with care. Some people find things not to their liking and thus, 'never cruise that cruise line.' Others can be on the same ship and voyage and think it was the best cruise.

We are Diamond+ on RCI and Elite on Princess. We do both and find each one has it pluses and minuses. It all depends on what you LIKE! Unless you have a very bad experience, each cruise is what you make it and it is great!

In reality, all these cruise lines are more alike than different with the exception of the ship size, ports and price. Pick a ship, then go and read the reviews to get a feel for what some people think. Remember, if it is a very bad review, skip it as someone may have had a real bad experience which you might not ever experience. If it is too good, 'treated us like a KING and QUEEN' skip that one, too. Maybe a first time cruiser that is overwhelmed. Food is subjective.

This is MHO!

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