Great Choice for Cruising the Caribbean

Serenade of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 18

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Verified Review
Serenade of the Seas

5 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 20, 2022

Ship: Serenade of the Seas

Cabin number: 1506

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Overall, this was a pleasant experience with Royal Caribbean. We have cruised with Carnival and Norwegian and would definitely say each has its perks. If you are looking for a good, shorter cruise, this is a great one!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
The embarkation process was easy and seamless–definitely recommend doing check-in in advance online. The Royal Caribbean app has everything you need. The cruise terminal was easy to navigate and having separate window slots made it so it was not congested at the terminal.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
We didn't eat at any specialty restaurants but dined in the Reflections Dining Room for dinners and had breakfasts and lunch on days at sea in the Windjammer Cafe (buffet). The buffet had a good mix of rotating food choices and consistent choices throughout the cruise. I really liked the customizable bar at the back–they had choose your own toppings for omelettes during breakfast and one day during lunch had a build your own ramen bar. For dinner, there were about 5 rotating entrees daily and 5 classics. Portion sizes for dinner were smaller, but you were welcome to order more than one appetizer, entree, dessert, etc.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
There were two pools aboard the Serenade (a standard pool on a lido deck and a quieter solarium pool with a glass ceiling). Great variety of activities with a rock climbing wall, sports deck, and even mini golf. The gym had tons of equipment and machines. Will say though, since this is an older crowd the pool chairs were often already taken as they will get out there super early to claim their spots.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
We didn't go to any shows in the theater but the live music was decent.

Children's Programs

We aren't kids/don't have kids.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The staff onboard was so lovely. We were always greeted with a smile, they went above and beyond to make sure we were taken care of. They remembered names, details, and really went the extra mile.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
The layout was easy to navigate and understand, and common areas were always kept clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
The cabin size was good, standard compared to most other cruise ships. I did wish instead of the table and chairs that there were two beach chairs on the balcony, would have gotten more use of the balcony for sunbathing. Also wish they had more outlets! Only two for the whole cabin.

Ports of call

Tampa, Florida

5 out of 5

George Town, Grand Cayman

4 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
It was easy to disembark, they let you choose a window of time. However they kind of sped through the process (assuming a lot of people did the self-assist which was at 7am) so we ended up leaving way earlier than expected and felt rushed to be asked to go to the gangway.
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