Serenade of the Sea - Dining times

[westville]

:) :)

We are booked on a Alaska cruise in June 2007. ( 6 in our party). Need some help for choice of dining time. How early is early dining on Serenade? Some say 6.00pm /6.15 pm and 6.30 pm . What is the correct time?

The only port hat we are out late ie.later than 6.00 pm is Skagway. So would early dining be a better option.

I am hesitant to do late dining as it maybe too late.

Please advise.

:)

[texancruzer]

Not sure about the Alaska route but while on Serenade in the Caribbean we had early dining and it was at 6:00 p.m. (We also had early on Rhapsody and it was also at 6:00.)

 

We find late dining is too late for us even though we eat dinner pretty late at home..... but we like to have dinner, then the show and then some casino time..before we go back to our cabin and crash from exhaustion :D

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Early dining on the Radiance for Alaska in August was 6:00 pm. It is confusing as the brochure/web site say 6:30.

 

On the day you're in Skagway you can have dinner in the Windjammer if you don't make it back to the ship in time. And, there's always room service. :)

[CruisePrincess51]

Hi! We just did the Vancouver to Hawaii route on Sept. 24th on Serenade and had the early seating...the dining room opened their doors promptly at 6 pm each night. We too found the later dining time too late for our tastes. The meals were wonderful on the Serenade! Enjoy your cruise!

[westville]

:) Thanks

So early dining is our choice. We are now sure of the time- 6.00 pm.

Looking forward to the cruise.

:)

[Notned2]

Hi! We just did the Vancouver to Hawaii route on Sept. 24th on Serenade and had the early seating...the dining room opened their doors promptly at 6 pm each night. We too found the later dining time too late for our tastes. The meals were wonderful on the Serenade! Enjoy your cruise!

 

Hi CruisePrincess.....we were on that trip too. Wasn't it awesome? I see that our Staff Captain (Stig Neilsen) is now the Captain on the Serenade. We found the early seating to be great....although it didn't give us much time for pre-dinner drinks in the Consierge Club! Awwwww.... lol

 

Even with the early seating, you have to pretty well leave right at 8pm to be able to get a decent seat for the theatre lounge. It was always full by the time we'd gone back to the cabin after dinner to 'freshen up.'

 

Have fun....we can't wait for our next one, probably in 2008.

 

Cheers, MJ. PS...do you have any pictures of the Quest you could send me? You'd recognise me from my bare behind!!!! mdenton@shaw.ca

 

Cheers!

[CruisePrincess51]

Notned2...The Hawaii trip that we did was unbelievable!!! We had such a wonderful time and can't belive that after all the planning, the trip is already over...my gosh did that time fly by! Wasn't Hawaii beautiful! The smell of the flowers all over the islands...to us it was almost magical. Did you stay on in Hawaii after the cruise or did you fly back home again right away? We did an excursion after debarking the ship and got to see some of Honolulu and the surrounding area which I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to do. We saw some amazing sights but after that we were dropped at the airport for a 4:15 flight back to Philadelphia...one of the longest journeys of my life...but oh so worth it! I would do it again in a heartbeat! I think if I had it to do over again though, I would have stayed over in Hawaii for at least 1-2 extra days...just to get rid of the "sea legs", but it was a wonderful vacation. :)

We have our next cruise planned for next August on Explorer and this will be a family vacation...my son just announced that he will be getting married on the ship as we arrive in Bermuda for that cruise...how romantic! So now we're looking forward to that one...but I'm still in search of the cruise for after that one in 2008. We can't afford to do anymore than 1 cruise a year although after Hawaii...I think I could do 3-4 cruises a year and be very happy! :D What a nice dream!

[Notned2]

Hi again....we stayed in Hawaii for 2 nights. We'd been there before so knew Honolulu quite well. We rented a car and took the couple we met at our table all around the island. We went to the North end of the island to a wonderful place called Turtle Bay Resort. Being the nice folks we are :) we even treated them to lunch!! I have to say, they were the most expensive hamburgers we'd ever eaten! But oh so good after such glorious meals on the ship. It was great just to sink our teeth into a delicious burger, complete with onions, avocado, etc.

 

We love Hawaii and can't figure out why we've not been back in 14 years. We'd forgotten how beautiful it was. And you're so right, the fragrance of the flowers all the time is something one should experience before reaching the Great Beyond!!!!

 

We sooooo needed that trip. We'd both worked long hours during the summer months with not a day off that coincided with each other! We have a boat (only a small 18ft day boat) and haven't been on it once this year! So now my wife has finally retired, we hope to do so starting in the Spring when we'll be able to have a couple of days off together!

 

We're looking at a cruise from New Zealand to the Cook Islands to Hawaii for March 2008. Only 'thinking about it' at this stage, but if I think hard enough, I'll be able to persuade DW into it! I'd like to try at least a Junior Suite this next time. We started off with an inside cabin, went to a 'porthole' then a big picture window and this time the balcony. So we're moving up as we go along! lol

 

I feel for you having to leave so soon after arriving in Hawaii. We're so glad we stayed on for a couple of days. We wish we'd actually stayed on for a week, but then we'd have been involved with the earthquake! So maybe things worked out for the best!

 

Take care and happy cruising on your next one. What a wonderful event to have your son's wedding take place! That would be so exciting and certainly add to the fun of the trip.

 

Bon Voyage and hope to see you post on here again.

 

Cheers, Michael.

[cb at sea]

Don't forget--if it says the ship is in port until 6, that means you MUST be back on the ship by 5:30! I find that we're usually back well before final boarding--so it really shouldn't be a problem to make dinner in the dining room!