a little info on aft balcony 1602 on June 5-12 Serenade, and a couple of other things

[Kellie in Texas]

Just got home from this cruise yesterday which had been booked for June 2020 and was postponed twice due to Covid. I had booked it back in 2019 and scored an aft balcony, 1602.  This cabin says it sleeps four and we had four people - myself, DH and sons ages 29 and 20. Sons are young enough to "sleep anywhere"and  I knew this cabin had a "fold-out couch" but it was really more like a futon.  It was loveseat-sized and had a wooden frame with a small layer of foam padding. We asked the cabin attendant for an extra layer and he brought a thick mattress pad, which helped, but they did not sleep well at all.  And their feet hung off the end too. I'm sure it would be fine for little kids but next time, we'll spring for two balconies and have the balcony divider opened up.  We did enjoy the walk-in closet and the bigger shower/bathtub combo.  

 

We stayed at the Pan Pacific pre-cruise. I would never spend that kind of money for a hotel room for one night anywhere else but it was very quiet, the room was huge, and they took our luggage straight to the ship for us on Sunday morning. Be aware that there is still a lot of walking from the PP to where you actually get on the ship. The hotel is attached to the cruise terminal/convention center but you walk a long way down the halls and through security etc. If you have mobility issues, plan ahead for that.  Across the street from the PP is Waterfront Center, which is an underground food court/mall. There was a Rexall drug store there, plus lots of eating places and a few stores.

 

The boarding procedure on June 5 was awful.  We made it through check-in and security fairly quickly and got to the big room with all the chairs in it and found a seat to wait. We had the 11:00 am boarding time, which came and went and nobody was moving.  Some other people waiting reported that the employees there said there would be announcements as to when people could start boarding, but no announcements ever came. Finally about 11:30 or so, people just started getting into a line, so we did too.  It was an unorganized mess. 

 

Fortunately, the cruise was great, the scenery stunning, and the weather was lovely most of the week. Let me know if I can answer anything else.   

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for post.  Earlier we had a couple of threads requesting current info.  Many questions about the casual dining options and options to eat outdoors.

 

Also did you use the solarium or spa?

 

Good to hear you had great cruise!

[Kellie in Texas]

2 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

Thanks for post.  Earlier we had a couple of threads requesting current info.  Many questions about the casual dining options and options to eat outdoors.

 

Also did you use the solarium or spa?

 

Good to hear you had great cruise!

We did not use the spa or the solarium. The Windjammer has an outdoor seating area on the aft; it's a nice place to eat outdoors if it's not too cold or windy, which it was a couple of times for us. There's also quite a few tables and chairs just out the doors of the Windjammer, past the elevators and out by the pool. There's a drink station out there too (coffee, tea, etc.) You just have to avoid the ping pong players.  🙂

[Orange jeep]

We also just got off this cruise.  The whole process to get on to the ship was awful (customs, etc).  Our plan landed at 11:55 and by the time we made it thru entire process, we didn't board until 3:15 pm.

 

On the way home we got off the ship  at 8:55 am and arrived to the airport early. Our flight was at 2 and we stood in a line and made it up to another line to check in three hours before.  Our boarding time was 1:20 and by the time we made it thru all the lines (customs, etc) it was 12:55.  

 

Please allow plenty of time.

 

The cruise was great.

 

 

[WAR]

Could you tell me if the extended balcony was covered at all?

[ARandomTraveler]

I'm sorry but, a 29 year old is "young enough to sleep anywhere?" 😂 He's a grown a$$ man. If my parents invited me on a family vacation at 29 and told me I was sleeping on a couch I would have paid for myself to have my own room. That sentence made me laugh when I read it because I was expecting to see the "kids" ages be much, much younger than they were 😂.

[Kellie in Texas]

3 hours ago, WAR said:

Could you tell me if the extended balcony was covered at all?

Yes, about half of it was covered. You can see the sunny part in this picture was the uncovered part. There was plenty of room to move the four chairs back to be in the shade or out of the rain (unless it was raining really hard).  Also, I suspect they may hose off the outdoor area of the Windjammer in the late nights or very early mornings because that front part was frequently wet, even though it didn't appear that we've gone through any rain overnight.