Serenade of the Seas review - 4/22 - 4/27

[01Sweetpea]

A quick review of our 5 night Serenade OTS sailing 4/22 – 4/27 with stops in Cozumel & Costa Maya. This was our first cruise post COVID, and things were definitely different.  Hubby & I cruised with friends (we are all in our early 50s) and chose this itinerary because our friends live in Tampa.   We’ve been to both ports a few times, so we were looking for relaxing versus adventures. 

 

We flew in from NY the day before and stayed with our friends. Embarkation the next day was the easiest we have ever experienced.  The men dropped us off curbside at terminal 6, then went to park the car at terminal 2 since that is where the ship was returning to. It took us under 15 minutes from when they arrived back to the terminal from parking the car to when we were on the ship!  It helps tremendously to have completed everything online.  We walked on board, headed straight to the sky bar and got out first drink…a Lava Flow. 

 

Rather than break everything down by day, I’ll share my thoughts by category.

 

CABIN: We had a balcony cabin on deck 9 (9562) Standard cabin with a balcony big enough to fit 2 chairs and a table.  The room was fine, however with the beds apart, getting to the balcony was tight as the bed was as close the sliding glass door as possible. Also, because of the position of the bed, we could not open the black out curtains all the way.  I would have preferred having the couch by the balcony door to give us more room and easier access to the balcony. 

 

We met our room stewart the first day, he was very friendly and gave us a choice of when we wanted our room cleaned: 8am-1pm or 4pm-8pm. To be honest, neither is very convenient, the first means you can’t sleep in and the second interferes with getting ready for dinner.  BUT we completely understand he has multiple cabins to clean and should have some down time during the day.  In the end, we chose the evening time slot and it worked out fine. We usually saw him in the hall every morning, and he would always ask us if we needed anything and how everything was. On port days, we told him we would be out of the cabin for the day and IF IT WAS CONVENIENT FOR HIM, if he could take care of our room then. On sea days, he took care of our cabins when we were at dinner.  Having once a day service was fine for us. 

 

Which brings me to FOOD: I definitely noticed a difference. Of the 5 nights we ate 2 nights in the main dining room, 2 nights at Windjammer & 1 night at Chops. I don’t love the new menus, I looked at them online before we got to the ship, and we would look at them every day before we went to dinner. Portion sizes are smaller, quality wasn’t great some nights, things were bland and lacking seasoning, etc. Even in Chops, everyone agreed the lobster bisque was bland, but the filets were excellent.  Our head waiter & assistant waiter were AMAZING and we enjoyed our interactions with them everyday.  

 

The Park Café served the same steak sandwiches and wraps every day, although the salad station at the solarium pool was nice. I would have preferred if they switched up the wraps and also offered pizza in the afternoon. Same with ice cream, it is only available when the Windjammer is open.

 

We are platinum and we each get 50% off 2 coffees, 2 soda or beer, and something else I don’t remember.  The first night, hubby told the server at the coffee bar he would like to use his 50% off coupon and was told OK, and that it would be automatic.  It wasn’t, and hubby didn’t catch it, and then he presumed it would automatically happen the second time, but it didn’t. Same thing for the soda.  It wasn’t until the last day when I went to get a coffee and I mentioned it that we caught it.  In the end it wasn’t worth waiting in the long line guest service for the $10, but lesson learned for the next cruise, mention the discount when placing your order! 

 

ENTERTAINMENT: It was fine, nothing outstanding. It was the singers & dancers final cruise on their contract, so I’m not sure if it played into it. The comedian was good and the headliner (El Groucho) was OK.  The Love & marriage show was awful, there was something “off” about it.  After the show hubby & I agreed it was the worst one we have seen.  We did enjoy sitting the in Centrum in the evening and listening to the live band.

 

PORTS: We’ve been to both ports a few times. Cozumel we went to Nachi Cocum and had a relaxing day at the beach. In Costa Maya we rented golf carts and went to Mahahual.  Drove around for a bit, stopped at The Krazy Lobster, walked the main strip, had A LOT of vendors approach us, but a quick no thank you and they moved on.  

 

THE SHIP: She is showing her age and needs a refresh. Rusty in a lot of places, the carpet was hanging from under the stairs and showing a lot of wear & tear. The mini-golf course needs attention, you didn’t know where to place the ball to play. The list goes on and on, BUT I will say the cleaning crew was everywhere dusting, vacuuming, and trying really hard to make the ship presentable. 

 

Debarking was a bit hectic. The ship was cleared by customs by 7:00am and by 7:30am self-assist was walking off. We had tag 11, and were waiting in the Safari Lounge on deck 6 at 8:00am. At 8:00am Tags 1 & 2 were called together, and then tags 1-4. At 8:30 they called tags 1-14! Not sure how then got from tag 4 to tag 14 in one swoop. We walked down to deck 4, and joined the line that snaked thru the main dining room to get off the ship. Once we were off the ship, the line to go thru customs was LONG. We found a porter, and was able to bypass most of the line, it was worth the extra tip. 

 

All in all, it was an OK cruise. We now know that Serenade or any Radiance class ship is too small for us, we prefer Voyager Class or Freedom Class ships, and would like to try a Quantum Class ship next.  We missed the Promenade, The Ice Skating shows, Sorrento’s, Ben & Jerry’s, etc. 

 

Now onto looking for our next cruise. 

 

[mafig]

How timely is this???? We go on Serenade tomorrow!

 

What time was sailaway?  

 

Did you have MyTime or Traditional?  We have Early Traditional....5 PM.....we're not happy with that at all.  We'll miss sailaway from most ports and we really do not enjoy the buffet for dinner.

 

Pools?  Hot tubs?  How were they?

 

Thanks for your review!😀

[01Sweetpea]

Sail away was around 4:15pm, however we did not go to the sail away party.

We went under the SkyBridge around 7:00pm. 

 

We had traditional dining at 5pm. I agree the time is not the most convenient, which is how we wound up in the Windjammer 2 nights. If I had to do it again, I would have picked MyTime Dining and then made reservations for 6:30pm every night.

 

We spent most of our time in the Solarium, the pool is small, the water was chilly (ie NOT heated), and only 1 hot tub in the Solarium, which was busy.  Makes sense since the hot tub was was MUCH warmer than the pool.  Chair hogs out in full force and no one enforcing the 30 minute rule, (even at 3 hours!)  even though there are signs everywhere. 

 

Have a great time!

[kruzerci]

Mimics how we felt on Serenade. She was in pretty rough shape and the food was disappointing, but nonetheless glad to have a year round ship in Tampa. Brilliance, though an older sister, is much better. 

[mac66]

We did the a Serenade 7 nighter to Coz, Costa Maya, Belize and Roatan in early Feb. First time on a radiance class ship. Went with my 2 brothers & wives. We cruise often, them, not so much. 5 years for one of them, over 20 for the other. Everybody had a great time. 

 

Food was okay in MDR (6 out of 7 nights). Dinner time was 7 but the matre'de asked if we could come at 7:15. So we ended up eating around 7-7:30 each night. Had great service at that time.  Did chops one night.

 

I didn't really notice the wear and tear on the ship. I really enjoyed it being smaller and easier to get around on. Didn't do many of the shows, spent most of the time in the Crown & Castle bar.

 

We are a little bit older than the OP and I'm beginning to enjoy the smaller ships more. The Oasis+ class ships are just too big and busy for us. 

 

I was actually surprised what a nice ship and cruise it was. We were on Celebrity 3 times last year (Covid make up cruises) and on the Freedom in Dec. The Serenade was no better or worse than those cruises in terms of food, service, shows, etc, etc.

 

We did like sailing out of Tampa, pretty easy to get to from central Florida where we have access to my in-laws' house. We'll try and do more cruises out of Tampa whether it is RCL or Celebrity. I'd definitely sail on Serenade again if the itinerary was different (but not the world cruise, LOL)

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by mac66

[Jimbo]

On 4/29/2023 at 4:09 PM, kruzerci said:

Mimics how we felt on Serenade. She was in pretty rough shape and the food was disappointing, but nonetheless glad to have a year round ship in Tampa. Brilliance, though an older sister, is much better. 

Op and  you should just be glad you aren't doing a WC on her.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Jimbo

[John&LaLa]

51 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Op and  you should just be glad you aren't doing a WC on her.

 

Never gets old, thanks

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Never gets old, thanks

No worries,they are going to correct all that before you guys board.

[John&LaLa]

31 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

No worries,they are going to correct all that before you guys board.

 

I have pretty much zero expectations on improvements to the ship.

 

And that's not a problem, most of the OP's complaints don't relate to me

Edited May 1, 2023 by John&LaLa

[sailsalot]

Thanks so much for your review! We leave soon on a 5 night caribbean cruise out of Tampa. Can you tell me what the dress code is for dinner? I can't find that information anywhere. We're signed up for traditional seating (early) in the Main Dining room. Are there more formal nights than others? Thanks so much for any help you can give with this. 🙂

Edited May 23, 2023 by sailsalot