RoscoeP Cruise Review on Serenade of the Seas on Jan 02, 2019

Serenade of the Seas Cruise Review

RoscoeP

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 3

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Sail date: January 02, 2019

Ship: Serenade of the Seas

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Serenade of the Seas Royal Caribbean 1. The overall cruise felt cheap, minimal bar staff, missing all the little things that makes the difference, no chocolate on the pillows, etc 1a. Seemed to try to pry every last dollar out of your pocket, seem to rely on Year old movies as the major entertainment, piano player and bands really not very good. 1.b. No food except for room service after 8:30PM which incurred a $7.95 USD delivery fee + 18% tip extra 1.c. Specialty coffee served in paper cups - really? 2. Entertainment mediocre, cruise director not funny, game show ideas, old and tired 3. Shop staff as bad or worse that the island cab drivers, you have to run the gauntlet, don’t dare stop and look at something 4. First time cruisers won’t know the difference but a seasoned cruiser will recognize quickly this is low end cruising 5. No explanation as to why we had to wait 5 hours to get into our cabin. Turns out it was a great reason, but it should have been communicated to us rather than just letting us sit on deck after a very old school muster. 6. No attempt to provide accessible shore excursions. Just told we needed a minimum of 8 people. I guess we were supposed to go find the other 6. 7. Grenada and Barbados sucked, very sketchy 8. Website, pier staff and call centre DO NOT communicate with each other. Given the confusion at the check-in, that was obvious. We tried to book wheelchair help on line, then had to phone the call center where stuff really got messed up. 9. Call centre was difficult to deal with. Distinctive language issues. 5 times we tried to use the call centre to arrange things, twice we had to call back to fix the mistakes. 10. Purchased the 4 night specialty dinner package at $99 USD per person, no reservations had been made for us. 11. checking in was ok, not great. Even though we booked wheelchair help through the website, that didn’t materialize at the pier Good stuff Food was great, cabin was great, food service wait staff excellent, very clean.

12 Comments

vcm553 5 years ago

Just got off her... they offer food options after 830. Windjammer stops at 830. Specialty restaurants run till 9. Park cafe is open till midnight (limited to pizza and nacho but available) and the coffee bar is open till about 1030 for sandwiches n sweeta

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chev29 5 years ago

Sorry you had a bad cruise. I myself never had a bad cruise, and I was on NCL during two hurricanes and still had a good time. If you don't like RC or any other. Then don't sail on them. A lot of people like them. Me personally ,I wouldn't sail on Princess for my own reasons, but I wouldn't run them down just because they didn't meet my expectations. Enuff said.

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RoscoeP 5 years ago

Chris there isn’t anything constructive to add. We get out lots thanks. If you like RC, knock yourself out, for what we paid after conversion, RC is a crappy cruise line. Go try a Princess, Holland America or NCL cruise. Then we’ll chat. Do you go on cruises to please other people? Of course it’s about me.(us) What a stupid comment.

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ChisNel 5 years ago

Seems like you need to get out more. Me, me, me is all I read, nothing constructive at all.

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RoscoeP 5 years ago

Hi sandy73, other cruise lines still have chocolate, Disney, Princess, etc., we haven’t lined up like cattle at an auction for muster for 10 or 15 years. The room service thing makes sense. Many other cruise lines use lounges, bars etc, for muster, so 1 can sit down. It’s obvious that RC has its fans and glad to hear and read it. Please, if RC is your favourite cruise line, by all means enjoy. Oh, 1 other thing, someone said we’re too picky. We’re Canadian so it takes a lot for us to complain about anything. I paid a 25% premium (currency exchange), to be on that ship, my choice I know, but I have expectations and they were not met. Oh yeah, I forgot about the 2 Disney cruises we went on last year. In short, we cruise a lot.

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sandy73 5 years ago

They havnt given chocolates for years. Room service due to people ordering huge amounts of food and silly hours then not answering the door or not eating it. Mandatory drill by every cruise ship.

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RoscoeP 5 years ago

Hi emoney68, 3 on RC, 6 on Princess, 2 on Carnival, 1 on Holland America and 9 on NCL. Dcstat, you can get room service but there’s a delivery charge and an 18% gratuity automatically added on.

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dcstat 5 years ago

@RoscoeP there seriously was no food after 8:30?? We sail on her in 10 days. That will be a little frustrating if true.

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CaptainCruise1 5 years ago

It says you’ve only been on 3

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RoscoeP 5 years ago

Hi funboomer47, this was our 21st cruise. We know what we’re doing and talking about. We usually cruise on Princess or Suites on NCL and have been all over the Caribbean, Pacific and Europe on cruise ships. We are Platinum level etc on other cruise lines. We booked this cruise for itinerary and for what we paid, yes, we’re picky. I do sincerely appreciate your contribution.

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Oceangirl5 5 years ago

I went on the Serenade in 2017 and absolutely loved it. I never had any issues at all. Sorry you had so many issues.

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funboomer47 5 years ago

You were suppose to make your dinner reservations. You are too picky and let maybe 1 little thing ruin the cruise instead of going with the flow. You let 1 little thing fester and ruin the whole cruise. You dont be long on a cruise and hope you realize that. Granada and Barbados are great islands full of beauty and history.

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