Just my thoughts

Serenade of the Seas Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 36

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Serenade of the Seas

12 Night Fall Foliage Northbound (Cape Liberty To Quebec)

Sail date: October 07, 2015

Ship: Serenade of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8030

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

The crew of the ship were professional and friendly as we expected.  One of the reasons we took this trip was to view and photograph the fall foliage.  I was disappointed in that regard.

The lack of brilliant color in the foliage in the US portion of the is certainly beyond the control of all humans but my disappoint lay with the lack of opportunities to take photos while on the RC excursions.  The buses used were clean and most of the tour guides were competent, a few were even outstanding, but overall there were too few stops and shooting quality photos thru bus windows is not the preferred method for acquiring quality photographs.

Two excursions in particular were very disappointing. 

The tour thru Boston was a complete waste and the guide was poor at best.  Too few stops, virtually no stops at historic sites, probably because the roads were too narrow, and gridlock traffic. 

Secondly the tour of Acadia with a trip to the peak of Cadillac Mt. was disappointing because the park was so full of people the bus driver was unable to use his regular stops. Additionally I would not have taken this tour if I had known, prior to booking, that tour buses, and hence its passengers, were only allowed to spend 20 minutes at the peak of the mountain.  The driver was very good and the guide was outstanding. 

I think we were spoiled by the wonderful excursions we experienced on the RC Alaska Land and Sea cruise we took a couple of years ago.

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey

5 out of 5

Boston, Massachusetts

1 out of 5
check to ensure you are not there on the eve of a holiday weekend. take your own tour, probably the Freedom Tour from the NPS.

Portland, Maine

3 out of 5
We took the lighthouse tour. The guide was outstanding. The final lighthouse was extremely crowded. Plenty of photo ops.

Rockland, Maine

3 out of 5

Bar Harbor, Maine

1 out of 5
I believe the NPS has hop on and hop off buses in Acadia. I would explore using that option instead of an organized tour.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

5 out of 5
Get yourself to Peggy's Cove. Just Beautiful. The guide we had was outstanding.

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

3 out of 5
The bus tour was ably guided and driven but was just a ride thru farm fields. I could do that at home.

Quebec City, Quebec

5 out of 5
Avoid the bus tours and take the guided walking tour of old town. We did this after disembarking the ship. Just outstanding!
Was this review helpful? 36

Other reviews of this sailing