Nice, but not exciting

Item: Serenade of the Seas
Rating: 4
Author: bande

Serenade of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

bande

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 10

Helpful Votes: 393

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

11 Night Southern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 20, 2020

Ship: Serenade of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

In all it was a nice cruise. We are past the island hopping stage in cruising and prefer sea days. So it is nice to have a ship with more 'adventures' on it.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Fabulous!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

MD food was Ok. Overbearing staff want to constantly talk to you even when you are conversing with your shipmate!

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Pool was fine, Rock climbing was only open for short period of time each day. Exercise classes only show up on the schedule late the night before. Walking deck is always being cleaned during the busiest part of the morning.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Nothing that was over the top. BUT...the 4 piece band that played in the Centrum most evenings was the best I have ever heard on any RC ship!

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Room Steward was great! Wait staff are over bearing for my liking. I don't want a 'new best friend' and I find sometimes they need to serve and let me enjoy my company i am with. Plus they are always letting us know that we must remember to fill out our surveys! As I tell them, "If you beg for recognition then you are not performing your job well enough!"

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Basically ship was nice and clean just not a lot to do on sea days. Mini golf needs to be updated.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We had a balcony and it was great and steward was great also!

Ship tip

If it is visiting a lot of Islands it's fine. If it has several sea days it doesn't have a lot to do.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Colon, Panama

4 out of 5

Took a tour to Portobelo and Locks in Colon. The ride was long and boring. The tour person was very difficult to understand and really did not know the history of Portobelo well. There wasn't much at the location to see either. The Colon locks were really nice and it could have been the only place we went and saved us a lot of time!

Thumbs Up 1

Cartagena, Colombia

4 out of 5

Nice old city but real far from ship.

Thumbs Up 1

Oranjestad, Aruba

4 out of 5

A resort area. Didn't need to take a tour.

Thumbs Up 1

Willemstad, Curacao

4 out of 5

Again another 'resort' area and not much to do in town.