Live From The Serenade 8/22/2004

[wblynch]

Hi All.

 

We're on the Serenade of the seas. Just left Hubbard Glacier and it was a beautiful sight.

 

I'm using the internet Cafe aboard ship and it is terrible. Very slow and the keyboards are difficult to use.

 

Anyway, I can't post as detailed a report as Folgy a couple of weeks back but there are dozens of Cruise Critics aboars and I've seen a lot of them around.

 

The Monday night formal dinner was wonderful. Had beef tenderloin which was like a filet mignon. On Folgy's advance warning, we're skipping the dining room tonight and will be enjoying the Chops Steakhouse.

 

My overall impression of this ship is cheap. The ship is new and very clean but you can tell they used very cheap materials. Fake woods abound (wood-grained plastic laminates) where before they would have used elegant verneers.

 

The artwork on the ship is cheap as well. The Centrum is very closed-in and not open and airy like the other ships. (And the Centrum is a RCL signature).

 

The public spaces are very cramped and my biggest complaint is most places have only one-sided access. Like the Windjammer, for example. You can only enter and exit from the port side of the ship.

 

It all makes traffic very congested as passengers try to get around.

 

I have to say that I prefer the Vision quite a bit to this ship. I think next I want to try the Legend with it's 2-story glass walls in the dining room.

 

Oh, and the dining room on this ship is also very constricted and tight. Many bad tables. There werehundreds of people complaining about their tables and trying to get reassigned.

 

We'll be in Skagway tomorrow. Should be fun.

 

Thanks, Bill & Jane

[Sea Island Lady]

Oh my! I must say that I am REALLY looking forward to my cruise on the Serenade after this review! LOL :D

 

I agree with you on the keyboards. They are awful on all the ships. The lighting is to blame. I have to see the keys to type. :rolleyes:

Have you met Sally R from the State of Washington? If you have, tell her hello from her "Roll Call" friends. She will be on board again next month with us.

 

What type of stateroom do you have? service?

 

Hope your cruise improves!

[wblynch]

We just got back this morning. We met dozens of Cruise Critic members and everyone was great.

 

The Serenade is a very nice ship that just hasn't developed her personality yet. I am most impressed with how smooth and silent she runs through the water. Even at 24 knots she leaves almost no wake. The hull desigers are geniuses (genii ?). With the gas turbine engines and electric azipod propulsion there is no noise or vibration at all.

 

Warning for 10th deck guests. Many cabins below the Windjammer are plagued by irritating noises from the service carts rolling over the ceramic tile floors. Friends of ours in a Junior Suite had to get their cabin reassinged because the noise was such a problem.

 

The Misty Fjords was absolutely marvelous. We missed the warm, clear 80 degree weather that everyone else had bragged about all summer but we were well rewarded in the fjords by the mists and thousands of waterfalls. It was purely magical. The ship glided through as if on glass.

 

I would go on the Serenade again but it would have to be a warm weather destination. I think Alaska is a more "contemplative" destination and the entire trip was very subdued.

 

The ship's cruise director and entertainment staff were pretty weak. The showroom entertainment was the worst we've had on any RCCL cruise.

 

The headliner act was "the guy who sang the Happy Days song". We only attended one show, a man named Tim who performed as Sammy Davis Jr. in Las Vegas in a revival of the "Rat Pack".

 

They rebroadcast the evening shows on the ship's television and it was clear we did not miss out by not attending.

 

Some events were announced as "cancelled due to lack of interest".

 

The dining room food was usually superb yet two or three nights was only very good. Other than uninspired breakfasts we were pleased with all the meals. We tried the dining room twice for breakfast but found the Windammer to be better.

 

We didn't try the dining room for lunch.

 

It rained several days which drove the youngsters inside. Even though most of the children were well behaved and delightful, there were always a few packs of monsters that behaved terribly without correction from their parents. It seems like so many 30-ish parents are just stupid about training their kids.

 

Thanks, Bill

[baseballmom]

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks for posting your comments re Serenade. I saw on bdoster's thread that you were in 9594. My 15-year-old son and I will be in that cabin next June -- I chose that cabin largely based on positive comments from other cruise critics.

 

I'd love to hear about any excursions you did. Also, it doesn't sound like you ate at Chops or Portofinos. Even though most comments have been extremely positive, I'm kinda luke-warm about trying them. My son isn't a big red meat eater, so Chops is probably out anyway. This is only our second cruise and part of the fun for us is enjoying the main dining room each night. We got lucky with our first tablemates and hopefully will be lucky again. I like the "formality" of the dining room -- it's what I always imagined a cruise would be like!

 

Did you see a lot of wildlife (other than those lovely little ones on the ship? :rolleyes:)? Any other comments/advice you want to toss to this newbie would be greatly appreciated. Again, welcome home!

 

Laurie

[wblynch]

Hi Laurie,

 

We did eat in Chops one evening. The food was fantastic. The service in Chops disappointed us because it was forcefully slow. They insisted on taking the entire 2 1/2 hours. We were hoping to be finished in time for our CC Meet and Mingle.

 

In my experience, a great service team knows how to pace a meal based on the customers. These people seemed like they were working according to a time clock. Many times we were sitting for long periods, having finished a course, with no one coming by to check. But the food was great.

 

You might try Portofino's as they have a more varied menu.

 

The only excursion we took was an 8 hour White Pass and Yukon tour from Skagway which took us up to the Yukon by tour bus, fed us a barbeque chicken lunch and we returned on the White Pass and Yukon Railway. It was very educational and the train is not to be missed.

 

I think it might be better to just catch the train in town with a round trip ticket. That would probably take about 3 to 4 hours and leave time for wandering around the town.

 

While on the train, I was standing outside on the platform when we passed within 5 feet of a Black Bear who was watching the train go by. I just saw him in the trees and when we passed he and I were eye to eye. I think he was as surprised as I was. It went by so quickly I couldn't get a picture.

 

Of course we saw whales and my wife, Jane, saw a Bald Eagle from our balcony as we went through the Misty Fjords.

 

There are many wildlife excursions to see bears, eagles and whales. A lot of people we talked with took these tours and all reported seeing many, many animals.

 

We were travelling with another couple, the wife of which had blown out her knee and will be undergoing surgery this week. As she was unable to walk very much, we passed on the more interesting excursions.

[Sea Island Lady]

Warning for 10th deck guests. Many cabins below the Windjammer are plagued by irritating noises from the service carts rolling over the ceramic tile floors. Friends of ours in a Junior Suite had to get their cabin reassinged because the noise was such a problem.

Were your friends the couple in 1578 and were moved to 1572 (I think) that Sally was talking about?

[wblynch]

 

Were your friends the couple in 1578 and were moved to 1572 (I think) that Sally was talking about?

 

 

Yes, that was them.

[Sea Island Lady]

We are going to be in staterooms 1570 & 1572. I can't imagine those staterooms being much different in location from where your friends were located. Did the noise improve in 1572?

 

We will be taking a noise machine, but my parents don't have one. They do wear hearing aids, so maybe they will not hear the noise during the night or early morning. We are both early risers, though.

 

When were your friends mostly disturbed?