Hitchhiker’s guide to cruising - Serenade Live

[Sea Dog]

Thanks for the great review Dave. Safe travels home. That prime rib looks amazing. I'm sure it was as good as it looked.

[suncityga]

8 hours ago, MindyJohn said:

On Serenade's Boston-Florida repo in fall 2019 there were 3 bookcases near the pool tables and each one had three or four shelves of books.  With cruising just re-opening, and with Covid concerns, it might be different now.  Have a great time!

 Thanks so much Mindy...It wasn't so much that I was interested in getting something to read because I will have a book with me.  Since I am such an avid reader, I was going to bring some books to leave in the library for other passengers to read. 

 

Hopefully we will be able to cruise with you again in the future.

 

Lori (and Raul) 

[Bailey & Sophie]

2 hours ago, suncityga said:

 Thanks so much Mindy...It wasn't so much that I was interested in getting something to read because I will have a book with me.  Since I am such an avid reader, I was going to bring some books to leave in the library for other passengers to read. 

 

 

Lori (and Raul) 

 

I bring plenty of books with us. We leave behind those that we have read.

The library on Serenade was quite bleak in Feb  2020.

From what I understand, all paper items have been removed: puzzles, books, etc.

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, Bailey & Sophie said:

 

I bring plenty of books with us. We leave behind those that we have read.

The library on Serenade was quite bleak in Feb  2020.

From what I understand, all paper items have been removed: puzzles, books, etc.

Interesting since was Full in Nov/Dec 2019, even had overflow on a cart. And usually is on Serenade, do 4-8 longer Cruises a yr on her but that was pre CV. Might have started removing items by Feb2020

[Bailey & Sophie]

51 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Interesting since was Full in Nov/Dec 2019, even had overflow on a cart. And usually is on Serenade, do 4-8 longer Cruises a yr on her but that was pre CV. Might have started removing items by Feb2020

 

That could be true. We don't go to the library to get books to read, only to drop off. I have to read my books in order and can't depend on the ship to provide my "next in line," 

When I do peruse the library books available (just in case), I have either already read, not interested in or a language I can't read.

I love my books.

[firefly333]

4 minutes ago, Bailey & Sophie said:

 

That could be true. We don't go to the library to get books to read, only to drop off. I have to read my books in order and can't depend on the ship to provide my "next in line," 

When I do peruse the library books available (just in case), I have either already read, not interested in or a language I can't read.

I love my books.

Me too. I always bring a stack of paperbacks.. dont want to run out.

[firefly333]

Wish cc would fix this duplicate posting issue

Edited August 31, 2021 by firefly333

[TickledBlue]

Thanks for the great review!

 

Hope you made it home safely.

[taznremmy]

Dave,

It was nice to meet you at the informal CC gathering.  I was late finding your live review, but loved reading it.  I am still on the Serenade for another week.  There were only seven of us doing the B2B.  
Loved reading about your whale experience!  
Pat

[Tree_skier]

57 minutes ago, taznremmy said:

Dave,

It was nice to meet you at the informal CC gathering.  I was late finding your live review, but loved reading it.  I am still on the Serenade for another week.  There were only seven of us doing the B2B.  
Loved reading about your whale experience!  
Pat

Pat it was great meeting you also.  It was great trip and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Real life has come calling but I'm already looking forward to my next adventure aboard Liberty in December.

 

 

[A&L_Ont]

Dave, thanks for bringing us along the journey. Safe travels home. 

[Sunshine3601]

So happy you and your wife had a great cruise.  Thank you taking us along on your review.  You did a great job🤩

[STEVE-O]

On 8/23/2021 at 6:06 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

If you could do me a huge favor and find out if a Waitess, Grace and her husband, also a Waiter Diego are onboard I would greatly appreciate. 

Last time we were on Serenade feb 2020.  She was a server in Giovannis and he was a server in Chops.  They are awesome.  If you do meet them, let them know Debbie and Eric said Hi and have been thinking about them. 

Previously she was a head server in MDR and we always asked for her table.  

TY 😊

Grace was definitely on board this sailing. She teamed with our evening waiter for breakfast and lunch in the MDR.

 

She's very quiet but did a great job for us. I don't believe we've ever given an extra tip to a server not assigned to our dinner table until now.

Edited September 1, 2021 by STEVE-O
typo

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, STEVE-O said:

Grace was definitely on board this sailing. She teamed with our evening waiter for breakfast and lunch in the MDR.

 

She's very quiet but did a great job for us. I don't believe we've ever given an extra tip to a server not assigned to our dinner table until now.

Thank you for letting me know.   She has been one of our favorites for our last couple of cruises on Serenade.   Shes great at her job and a real sweet.   I'm happy to hear she is back on Serenade.  😊

Now I have to go see what I can book on Serenade

 

[Tree_skier]

Summary

 

Sorry for the long delay in writing up the conclusion of my live review.  I got off the ship and life hit with full force and I just haven’t had much title at all over the last week.

 

Debarkation was a breeze.  We ate breakfast at Chops one last time and said goodbye to the excellent staff there who had taken such good care of us each morning.  Suite class is worth the extra money, if you can afford it, just for that one perk alone.  It starts every day so much more relaxed.  We debarked the ship and Centrum to curb wasn’t more than 10 minutes.

 

The immigration check as we got off the ship was weird.  First, there was no line at all. Typically, because we a Canadian citizens living in the US, we are asked more than perfunctory questions.  They want to know our “status” and want documentation to go with it. This time we weren’t asked any questions.  I handed over my passport to the CBP agent, he asked me to pull down my mask, handed back the passport and reached for DW’s.  No questions whatsoever.  Moments later we were standing on the curb waiting for our ride.

 

My overall assessment of the cruise was that it was excellent.  Of course, things were a little different but we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

 

The Food:

This was probably the best surprise of all.  The food, in every venue, was better than in the past and in some instances it was truly excellent.  We ate all but one breakfast in Chops but the one breakfast we did eat is the Windjammer was better than any Windjammer breakfast we have had.  Everything in the Windjammer was just a little fresher than I remember. I’m sure this is a byproduct of preparing for 1/3 to 1/2 of your normal passenger count but be that as it may it was a nice treat.

 

MDR was very good every night and a few nights was truly excellent.  Service seemed rushed night number 1 but by the second night our servers found our rhythm and we were very satisfied.

 

Entertainment:

This was one of the things I was sure would not measure up.  As a former musician (in life a longtime ago) I was sure the sparser crowds would affect the performers energy.  If this was true, it wasn’t noticeable.  I wasn’t keen on all the entertainment but that was a matter taste rather than talent.  However, the entertainment that I did fancy was good.  Exactly what I would expect from this class of ship.

 

Service:

Whether we’re talking about the our cabin steward, servers in the main dining room or the bar staff, they all get an A from me.  The bar staff gets a special nod, especially the waiter in the Centrum.  They became my temporary best friends as that was my most common hang out and they didn’t let a minutes go by with out a drink in my hand.

 

Suite lounge:

Junior, the concierge, was engaging and funny however we spent very little time there.  There wasn’t much of a view there and unless you just wanted to sit and read there was no reason to be there.  There was almost never anyone there and it was just kind of boring. I never went during HH so I don’t know how much it picked later in the afternoon.

 

One of my biggest concerns was the whole issue of masking.  How was this going to affect the experience.  I think the fact that I now have to mask in all venues I go to on land probably helped in that regard.  Slipping the mask on to go from our suite to the Centrum or wearing it while collecting our food in the windjammer didn’t seem that onerous and didn’t really have a big impact.

 

I really spent very little time in the Solarium or by the pool at all.  When I did the only downside was that the Solarium bar was closed and I needed to go to the pool bar to get a drink.  That being said, I spent very little time there.

 

In the fifth and final book of Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” series entitled “Mostly Harmless”, the Vogons finally destroy earth and every one of them main characters dies.  Thankfully, though they may have tried, the Vogons have failed to destroy cruising.  The answer is still 42 and the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation has not taken over the cruising industry.  All is well aboard the ship.

 

I am so glad we pulled the trigger to take this trip.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely. It felt like cruising should feel.  Sure there were a few differences but as long as you have some degree of flexibility the benefits of differences greatly out weighed what might be the negatives.

 

Again, sorry about the delay in writing up the summary and thanks for following along.  I have all the Cruise Compasses and will at some point this week, when time allows, scan them all and post them on this thread.

 

My towel is safely packed away until Dec 12th when we board Liberty of the Seas for our next adventure.

Edited September 6, 2021 by Tree_skier

[taznremmy]

@Tree_skier  Dave, thanks for the excellent review.

As you may recall, I was also on this cruise and for the one following.  Your statement regarding the service rang so true.  EVERYONE was so friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoying what they were doing.  

One thing I noticed about the second cruise, the passengers were not as compliant with the social distancing protocols that RCCL had in place.  But then, it was a younger crowd.  One evening, I was in the Schooner's Bar (Peter was great!), and a couple came in and sat at a table that was marked to remain vacant.  (They knew what they were doing as they removed the sign from the table) 😠.   It was less than a minute and one of the bar servers approached them and asked them to move.  I felt sorry for the server that these rude, inconsiderate people put him in that predicament.

Anyway, both cruises were fantastic and I am so glad I went.  Weather wasn't any better the second week, (we had a lot of rain) although we were able to see the glacier.

It was nice meeting you and I see that you and Mrs. are getting on the Liberty when I am getting off in Dec.. 🙂

Thanks again for your great review, and taking the time from your vacation to do it!  

Pat

[Tree_skier]

6 minutes ago, taznremmy said:

@Tree_skier  Dave, thanks for the excellent review.

As you may recall, I was also on this cruise and for the one following.  Your statement regarding the service rang so true.  EVERYONE was so friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoying what they were doing.  

One thing I noticed about the second cruise, the passengers were not as compliant with the social distancing protocols that RCCL had in place.  But then, it was a younger crowd.  One evening, I was in the Schooner's Bar (Peter was great!), and a couple came in and sat at a table that was marked to remain vacant.  (They knew what they were doing as they removed the sign from the table) 😠.   It was less than a minute and one of the bar servers approached them and asked them to move.  I felt sorry for the server that these rude, inconsiderate people put him in that predicament.

Anyway, both cruises were fantastic and I am so glad I went.  Weather wasn't any better the second week, (we had a lot of rain) although we were able to see the glacier.

It was nice meeting you and I see that you and Mrs. are getting on the Liberty when I am getting off in Dec.. 🙂

Thanks again for your great review, and taking the time from your vacation to do it!  

Pat

I envy you your b2b. I would have loved to do it but definitely would have needed some sort of colonic cleanse afterwards.  My system was pushed to limit almost every day.  LOL. 

 

It is sad that the next group aboard was less compliant.  I really don't understand that.  You know the rules going in... If you don't like them don't go.

[Blizzard54]

Thank you for your review.  We just got off the Ovation and our experience was similar.  In 10 days we will be boarding the Serenade.     

[Tom47]

Thanks for your review.  We will be on Serenade in Jan. We have a js on deck 10.  We were scheduled on Empress this past Jan--cancelled by Covid.  We rebooked on Rhapsody and 2 weeks ago we were switched to Serenade. Your drink updates reminded me of a thread a few years ago titled  :"Sell your RCI stock!!  I bought the drink package!!"

We have only done   1 Alaska cruise, on now defunct Alaska Cruise West.  Ship had 98 pax.  Spirit of 98 can be seen at the end of Wyatt Earp movie w. Kevin Costner.  Some of the crew were extras in the film.  Our 1995 cruise was a celebration of our 25th anniversary.  Next year we celebrate our 52nd on Allure.

[taznremmy]

On 9/10/2021 at 8:23 PM, Blizzard54 said:

Thank you for your review.  We just got off the Ovation and our experience was similar.  In 10 days we will be boarding the Serenade.     

Our trips seem to be reversed 😁.  You were on Ovation, I was on Serenade; now you are going to be on Serenade, and I board the Ovation on Friday.  Last minute, but the offer was too good to stay home. 😂🎉

[Arzeena]

I just caught on too and read it in one sitting.

Great review and pictures! Now I cannot say that I have never been to Alaska!😉

[Tree_skier]

Sorry for the long delay in getting the paperwork scanned and uploaded... 

 

We'll start with the Welcome aboard and Voom letter.

 

WELCOME.pdf

THE FASTEST INTERNET AT SEA.pdf

Edited September 15, 2021 by Tree_skier

[Tree_skier]

Day 1,2 and 3

 

CRUISE COMPASS.pdf

CRUISE COMPASS 2.pdf CRUISE COMPASS 3.pdf

Edited September 15, 2021 by Tree_skier

[Tree_skier]

Days 4,5,6 and 7

 

CRUISE COMPASS 4.pdf CRUISE COMPASS 5.pdf CRUISE COMPASS 6.pdf CRUISE COMPASS 7.pdf