Wonderful experience overall, great ship great staff and fun passengers that we met. Good itinerary overall. Sad part was that weather was terrible in most days and we had our itinerary reversed and then also ports of calls cancelled and excursions we were only able to do 2 out of 5(6) so that was a bit what perhaps dragged the overall down. But considering weather is an unpredictable thing don't let that fool you that the cruise isn't good. It's great. The overall rating is based on all my ratings here and my ports of call drag it down because of the weather.
Serenade is a great cruise ship! She does move quite a lot in rough seas - something I didn't expect from a cruise ship her size but be aware if you easily get seasick (luckily I don't) but we staggered around quite a lot due to her motion.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
In general really smooth, a little confusion at the boarding gate but seriously was on within 15 minutes of arriving to the terminal.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Some bars better than the others but in general excellent service everywhere. Food in MDR was impressive and the chops grille was our favorite, beyond amazing!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Due to bad weather most outdoor activities were cancelled and I never really figured the times out but I did enjoy the pool and hot tubs a lot. If I wasn't such a confused person I'd found a lot more activities by keeping track of the cruise compass. The ones I attended was great fun.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Some really bad ones and some average, but the cruise team with cruise director and hosts were good. Overall, not impressed with entertainment on board to be honest. Also the band that played by poolside and R-bar was really good but the music in the R-bar (atrium / centrum) was beyond loud, impossible to have a conversation there prior to dinner etc which was a bummer.
Children's Programs
Have no children and no interest in children's programs.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Amazing, they do such a wonderful job and constantly serving the guests month after month offering wonderful personal service that makes you feel seen. Beyond impressed, main reason I go back to a ship or a cruise line is staff and that sure was perfect here.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
She has some years on her but nothing that bothers, the newer ships may have more amenities on board etc but we enjoyed the smaller and more close up feeling of a smaller ship as serenade is. Very clean very good work by the staff. I saw them cleaning here and there all the odd times I was around to explore things when I couldn't sleep. (Cabin and bed was great I was just too excited to be on a cruise haha.)
The layout is actually quite smooth and it was easy to navigate the ship compared to some other similar sized ships from other lines. Great viewing points and good sun deck, impressed with her considering age and size.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Cabin very clean and room attendant Imade was great. Only downside was that my door didn't close fully (they fixed it right when I told about it) and there was quite a lot of noise when the ship sailed in rough seas, creaking etc, But that isn't something the typical cruiser would experience I guess. Favorite advice for those who travel inside cabin; turn on the tv and use it as a port hole, it's dark at night but you wake from the light of sunrise and you can see where you are or what your port looks like by using the bow camera :)!
Ship tip
Enjoy yourself and don't compare her to larger ships if you been on one. She is magnificent and I really like the R-bar.
I think it would have been wonderful if the weather was on our side but it was pouring down and heavy winds. First our jetskii tour was cancelled and we were moved into the Zipline excursion and after going through the hassle of registry and safety and harnessing up and all, that also was cancelled and we headed back to the ship. If you are in Labadee, try the labadoozie drink it's good!
Favorite stop and a wonderful excursion by rccl. Fast cat 2 island adventure. Was part of the castaway tour co and went on the snorkeling tour with a fast catamaran boat called cruzan breeze. Wonderful attentive staff, great snorkeling in two islands and a beach visit and drinks on board just fun for everyone where you get taken care of and feel safe and can choose your level of activity quite much on your own (how much you want to snorkel etc) and it was the best port of our cruise. Recommend this !!
It was cool, went to cockleshell bay and it was alright. Bit cloudy water but overall a nice little getaway, very scenic route to there. We used leisure sugar tours and The guide was very good and picked us up on time.
Once again weather was rather off so didn't find it being much to do there. They have good jewelry tho, but we decided against going further towards mahao beach and all that so we just stayed in the closet area of the port.
A bit chaotic but still probably one of the better I've experienced. It's really smooth that you don't have to bother waiting at your designated area if you keep an ear out for the announcement of your disembarkation group. We stayed on deck and it was far less stressful :)
K87seas lol yes it came across a bit rude didn't realize it would appear here thought it was more of a thing I had to answer haha. And it's also true. So yeah! Glad you liked it!
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