World "shakedown" cruise on Serenade starting next week (Semi-Live Review)

[CSHS1979]

On 11/30/2023 at 6:36 PM, Jimbo said:

Seems they are just setting themselves up for failure, I feel sorry for all those that spent thousands and thousands of dollars for a ship in the current condition.

 

Pretty good bet Royal's World Cruises in the Future is most likely all ready a one and done. 

 

Just hope they at least  are able to complete the whole voyage. Also  heard some of the ports that were listed have all ready been canceled.

 

SMH

[CSHS1979]

On 11/30/2023 at 6:23 PM, orville99 said:

I call em as I see em. The new plugs are useless unless you are using a 220V device, Mattress replacement is an ongoing process across the fleet, the new towels are dated as being manufactured in March 2023, and DWs robe has holes in it. The only things of note are the new fridges (too small to store anything but a few beers), and the internet. The first time they tested the new laundry, they flooded the casino, so I guess that was a success.

 

As for the ship itself, it is in the same physical condition today as it was when we were on it in February.

 

Actually a simple fix.

[CSHS1979]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:32 PM, orville99 said:

Two maintenance updates:

Yesterday while everyone was out on deck 5 watching the transit, they actually had crew out as well chipping and scraping the outside of the elevator windows from the Centrum. The poor worker had to try to figure out how to sweep up all the chipped rust and paint while everyone walked through the piles he had made.

 

Today at lunch they had the Rita’s Cantina side of the WJ closed for “deep cleaning”. Why the officers were standing there with seating charts and crew were re-positioning all of the tables made little sense (unless they are prepping the area to return it to a Mexican restaurant for the WC)

 

Rita's is going to be a smoothie bar and coffee

[lovesthebeach2]

3 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

Just because you mentioned the Arctic and not Antarctic. However, a special training is required for sailing the Polar regions but this also includes e.g. parts of Alaska, Iceland and Norway and many officers have done this. I believe only for Spitsbergen (and the North Pole) region an additional license is needed.

Are Iceland and Greenland not considered Arctic regions? Because when we did the Arctic Circle Crossing on Voyager we had Captain Thor Thorsson. 

When we cruised Prins Christin Sund we had to sail around huge chunks of ice and at times the ship was very close to the shore. 

 

 

 

[lovesthebeach2]

27 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Actually a simple fix.

My DH bought a European cord for his CPAP, so he can just plug it in, but we also have one of the plugs you have there.

 

I also bought a square charger that has USB-C inputs so I can just plug our IPads in.

[Saab4444]

10 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Are Iceland and Greenland not considered Arctic regions? Because when we did the Arctic Circle Crossing on Voyager we had Captain Thor Thorsson. 

When we cruised Prins Christin Sund we had to sail around huge chunks of ice and at times the ship was very close to the shore. 

 

 

 

They are, that‘s what I said.

[lovesthebeach2]

12 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

They are, that‘s what I said.

Sorry, I read it wrong 🤪

[orville99]

39 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Actually a simple fix.

Correct, as long as the 110V device you plug in automatically switches to 220V when it senses the higher voltage - not every 110V device out there has that capability - but you will know as soon as you plug one of those devices in and it dies (and hopefully doesn’t catch fire in the process).

 

Since you can’t use a step down transformer on board (they are all surge protected), make sure whatever you choose to plug in is clearly marked as 110V/220V or 125V/250V switchable.

[orville99]

54 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Rita's is going to be a smoothie bar and coffee

Tht’s really too bad - they really need more restaurant options.

[orville99]

As the song says, the days dwindle down to a precious few - November (7th.), December (5th) and we only have one more day at sea and then on to Miami and Brightline back to home. From what we have seen, all of the hard upgrades that were promised for the WC have been completed, and the “soft” upgrades like the card room are more like flipping a sign than doing anything substantive. They were still pulling a lot of wiring in the corridors yesterday, but I have no idea what for. We lost two of the four Centrum elevators today that go up to the club - no idea why, and they are still feverishly painting and varnishing everywhere, but I guess the ship is about as ready as it will ever be for next week.

 

I sincerely hope that everyone who is on the WC has as wonderful a cruise as we have had over the past month, and that they all have smooth sailing and calm seas.

 

Bon Voyage, and may the wind be at always your back and the sun be always on your horizon.😇

Edited December 3, 2023 by orville99

[island lady]

35 minutes ago, orville99 said:

As the song says, the days dwindle down to a precious few - November (7th.), December (5th) and we only have one more day at sea and then on to Miami and Brightline back to home. From what we have seen, all of the hard upgrades that were promised for the WC have been completed, and the “soft” upgrades like the card room are more like flipping a sign than doing anything substantive. They were still pulling a lot of wiring in the corridors yesterday, but I have no idea what for. We lost two of the four Centrum elevators today that go up to the club - no idea why, and they are still feverishly painting and varnishing everywhere, but I guess the ship is about as ready as it will ever be for next week.

 

I sincerely hope that everyone who is on the WC has as wonderful a cruise as we have had over the past month, and that they all have smooth sailing and calm seas.

 

Bon Voyage, and may the wind be at always your back and the sun be always on your horizon.😇

 

Awww...thank you my friend for taking us along on your adventure.  Loved your review, and all the great pictures!

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Awww...thank you my friend for taking us along on your adventure.  Loved your review, and all the great pictures!

Looking forward to following your exploits on the first and last legs as well😇

[RFerrington]

@orville99, yours was one of the most interesting and informative blogs I have ever read.  Thank you so much for taking your cruising time to provide so much useful information to those who are going on these incredible voyages.  I know they are grateful. Thank you

[LadyZolt]

Thank you so much for sharing all of those posts and photos!  Enjoy the rest of your trip and safe journeys home!

 

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

[CSHS1979]

12 hours ago, orville99 said:

Tht’s really too bad - they really need more restaurant options.

 

It has been very well received amongst the passengers on our FB roll call. Speaking of which, we have almost 600 full trip folks participating. That's 88% of the full trip folks

[CSHS1979]

13 hours ago, orville99 said:

Correct, as long as the 110V device you plug in automatically switches to 220V when it senses the higher voltage - not every 110V device out there has that capability - but you will know as soon as you plug one of those devices in and it dies (and hopefully doesn’t catch fire in the process).

 

Since you can’t use a step down transformer on board (they are all surge protected), make sure whatever you choose to plug in is clearly marked as 110V/220V or 125V/250V switchable.

 

Will do. Most of the things requiring step downs are motors. Most of my electronics end up going through USB hubs so it's not an issue 

[CSHS1979]

Thanks for sharing your insights. Took a while to catch up

Edited December 4, 2023 by CSHS1979

[CSHS1979]

On 11/27/2023 at 2:56 PM, RFerrington said:

Ha !  That’s a cheeky move !  

 

World cruisers were given a pillow menu.

Guess each cabin is different 

[Sunshine3601]

@orville99. Thank you for sharing your cruise with all of us.   Very informative for those wondering what work is being done.

 

I was last on Serenade for the repo cruise in September and found the ship to be in decent shape.   

 

At that time internet was Great, we never had an issue anywhere on the ship.

New fridges and New towels were in our cabin on deck 7 at the time. 

They sure have done a lot of scraping, painting, varnish, etc since then plus the additional spaces being redesigned.

 

Thank you for all fabulous pictures of ports and the canal.   Glad that you had great weather almost every day.

 

[orville99]

2 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

It has been very well received amongst the passengers on our FB roll call. Speaking of which, we have almost 600 full trip folks participating. That's 88% of the full trip folks

They installed the smoothie machine yesterday. Of course it has a sign on it that says under maintenance on it😇

[orville99]

Dawn over Cuba:

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by orville99

[Sunshine3601]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

Dawn over Cuba:

 

 

Stunning sunrise photos😊

[orville99]

1 hour ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

World cruisers were given a pillow menu.

Guess each cabin is different 

Whomever has our cabin for the WC must have chosen  2-inch thick memory foam pillows then, because those are what are order our bed.😇

[CSHS1979]

45 minutes ago, orville99 said:

They installed the smoothie machine yesterday. Of course it has a sign on it that says under maintenance on it😇

 

They dont want you using it, I guess

[kernow]

44 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Dawn over Cuba:

 

 

Beautiful pics, you must wake up much earlier than me😀.

 

We've loved the new mattress, the comfiest bed we've had on an RCL ship.