Serenade of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

An easy trans Atlantic cruise, with much to do--even on sea days. I especially enjoyed the organized duplicate bridge, progressive trivia, the bands and music, the staff and the ports of call. Our captain was on top of things, and as we had great weather/seas up to the Azores, he scooted us out of the Azores a couple of hours early and bypassed/rerouted from what could have been heavy seas.

Only thing was the over the top menu......really missed

 ordinary food in dining room.  And would prefer same table seating not free style.  

Other er than that great cruise

The problems that I had , were related to the size of the doors in our cabin but as far as the cruise itself, I really enjoyed it. Once our problems were corrected except for the shower to give my son a bath, which I had to wash him with a wash cloth we were treated very well.  Everyone on the ship were helpful and the service in the dining room was excellent. We got to see the Captain every day as he mingled with the passengers. This is the first ship were the Captain was so visible and very nice. Always asking the passengers if everything was ok. The front desk not as nice  nor  as helpful as they should but I guess they have a lot to content with. Over all the cruise was great and have another one reserved on the same ship.    Ty

I. Norman Sarette, am writing this review. It is mostly my Opinion.  Maria's Wold have given you 5 stars.  I did not because of a few small things that I noticed since I sailed about 15 years ago. The food was better and you did not have to go to a specialty restaurant to get it.  The bar staff had more waiters and would come to you more often and had a better attitude.  I believe it is because they are understaffed and whereas most people have opted for drink packages there is an underlying attitude not to always give there best.  They are definitely overworked. And the times we did not go on excursions there would be only one bar tender.I think again it is a Policy Problem and not so much a people problem. We had a royal replenish package for the both of us as we don't drink much alcohol and I believe it was not a good value for us.  We understand how these packages can be abused and seen people abuse them.  So I can see why some restrictions apply.  I was going to a zip line tour on one of my excursions and used my card to get 2 bottles of water to take with me so as to have enough water for the next 4 to 6 hours that I would be off the ship on a hot day in a humid climate on an Island that I would be concerned with parasites in the water. I was told I could only Have one and he would not give me two because of policy. I took another on my own and I could see the panic in his eyes that there was going to be a problem and he reached for it and I gave it back to him and avoided a bigger situation. I survived but it is a major reason why I gave you 4 stars.  Over $200 a piece My wife and I payed for a royal replenish package, which we did not abuse, and We could not get 2 bottles of water at a time, like we were going to abuse the system. Like I said I seen people do it with drinks and I therefor see the need for being cautious about the abuse of these cards, but not for water, a staple for life in those climates.  You would do better to give any person who books a tour with Royal Caribbean all the water they would need while on that tour. When we came back from that tour the person who was selling the waters was still there and I said to him you finally got your water, as they had run out as we were leaving the ship, he said yes and that his relief person had not shown up yet and that he was hungry and might miss his break.  Again we were treated with respect from your staff. I believe some improvement in some policies would help. As for our cabin steward and our dining waiter and sub waiter  Paul & Adi We gave them all another tip as they were so exceptional.  All the waiters in the windjammer and any of the food places were exceptional! We can not praise them enough.  All the room stewards too. Not just our room.  We thank them.  This is where your your policies and your People shine. Keep up the good work. I see that most of these people come from poverty and poor situations in there home countries.  My wife Maria is from those situation and knows what hunger and fear is. It is good that the cruise ships give them an opportunity.  You can be proud of yourselves. Please beware not to abuse them.       PS.    We believe that the value paid and what we received was a very good value.  The money spent in today's dollars for this cruise of 10 days would have been much more for the 7 day cruise 15 years ago. So a good value for our cruise.   Thank You The  Sarettes

I loved the 11 day itinerary but many things with RCCL have gone down hill I believe. We are 5 pts from Diamond and I have watched the overall quality of the vacation experience go down hill over the last few years. Quality of food is not near what it used to be. The special "perks" you used to get for being a Crown and Anchor member are almost non-existent. Internet package didn't work, couldn't get checked in for my flight yet Guest Services did nothing about it. Sorry.... no refund, no investigation as to why I couldn't log in. Just an "oh well....." Not up to par anymore. Not sure if I will remain "Loyal to Royal."

The cruise was great, especially the shore excursions.   A big advantage of sailing on one of the smaller ships is that they can get into the tiny and interesting ports. One was Barbados where we visited the Harrison Caves and saw some glorious stalagmites and stalactites. Granada was also interesting. That little island was almost destroyed by Hurricane Ivan and is just starting to come back to life.  We toured a nutmeg factory and a dark chocolate factory and got free samples at each.  Yum.  The best excursion was on Aruba where we took a six hour Catamaran cruise which stopped at two beaches and then provided a lobster lunch onboard. Yes, I did get sunburned, but not super-bad.  Only had a 50 percent block with me.  But yes, it was worth it.                

The Serenade of the Seas provided an extremely smooth trip even in 9 ft seas. However the cruise line is, to say it nicely, too frugal. At a bingo a crew member said they sold 200- $60.00 bundles of cards in addition to the $44 and $33 bundles. So they took in about $15,000. The games were extremely short. There was only 3 games  and the payouts were $500 and $300. The big game was a cabin upgrade but they only played an "X" game so it was over very quickly also. 

The shows were short and average. To see a movie in the Cinema you had to go an hour before the show because there were so few seats. One elevator was out of service and we spent a "lot" of time trying to get on the remaining elevators. They would pass by empty and most passengers,us included, would just get on when they had a spot and go down to go up and vice versa.

On the plus side, the captain was very social, taking part in on board activities. Embarkation and departure was smooth at all ports of call. Cabin service and restaurant service excelled. Food was very good.

This was our second southern Caribbean cruise and enjoy the 11 night itinerary.    We enjoyed the Serenade of the Seas.   Last year, we sailed same area and length on Legend of the Seas.    Both nice ships.    We always get an ocean view as we don't really use the balconies that much.    Entertainment can be switched up a bit and I stated that in my Royal Caribbean review.    Seeing the same shows from one sailing to another...    Even the game shows need to be changed -- the Quest is fun, but even the Love & Marriage show needs a few new questions -- same from ship to ship...     Now, if you are new to Royal Caribbean, this won't be a problem.    And maybe, all the lines get stale in the entertainment and games department...   Food in Windjammer much better than in dining room.    Good staff on board.    Would definitely go on Seranade again to do a long itinerary.

Ship is older, but kept up nicely. All of the crew, than I came in contact with, were

friendly, courtious, and could not do enough to make the cruise great. The food in main dining room was very good with nice choices.

Windjammer was average. Specialty restaurant "Chops" was excellent.

Ships itinerary Interesting....We enjoyed each stop.(except one).

Our trip was seamless which made it very relaxing.  We had the first 2 days at sea which was nice to give us time to get acquainted with the ship and rest up to tackle the 5 Islands that we were going to visit.  Our weather was great!  The ship was very nice and we really liked our stateroom with a window.  Our stateroom attendant, Fnu Asmadi, was friendly, professional and an incredibly hard worker!  Pablo Gutierrez, our waiter, was perfect.  His assistant, Servio Fernandes, was ever attendant.  The food was good as was the entertainment.  We really enjoyed the movies that were shown during the trip.    A very fun time!

The ship was in very good condition

The itinerary is excellent. Great cross section of the Carribean.

Tortola is a very interesting stop. Very peaceful- very safe

St Kitt's a jewel of the Caribbean - quite pretty

Domenic - very basic, ready for catching up with other Caribbean islands

Antigua - one of my favorite islands.  The people, the locale - very welcoming

St. Maarten - a very safe destination, quite a shoppers place

The voyage was great because of the ship, her captain and several of the crew were fantastic - the shopping guide - Li was the best in the fleet - knows his 'stuff'

The next cruise representative (Lorne) was very customer focused - a super representative for Royal Caribbean

👌👌👌👌😎😎😎😎

We had a great time.  The ship was older but clean and the help on the ship was friendly and very helpful.  I would like the bands to be in an area where you could sit and be out of sight of everyone though.  Do not like them being in the center of the ship where everyone can see and it is too light.  I like the darkened areas better to dance and enjoy drinking.  Also was disappointed with deck 13 club.  He played music for young kids and there is certainly not a lot of young kids on the cruises.  We had to ask him to play some other music which did not make him so happy.  That would be a better area to have a band.  It is beautiful in there.

Wait times for dining and service during dinner in the dinning room were subpar. With reservations we waited sometimes an hour to be seated and even longer to actually eat. We never made the show times because dinner took so long. The very first night we were there, we were asked by the wait staff to give them nothing less than a 10 service rating. Other crew members were not very friendly. Other cruises we have taken the staff sing, dance, are very energetic throughout the cruise. That was not the case on the Serenade. This was our first Royal Caribbbean cruise and we were looking forward to it. The poor customer service left us with no desire to return to Royal anytime soon. If you are looking for low key, uneventful entertainment, grouchy staff members and overall general disregard and rudeness, this is the cruise for you. Otherwise, spend your hard earned money somewhere else.

Cruise part was fine. The main dining experience was not satisfactory at all! First seating was terrible. We had nine people at a table for eight, located in middle area. You couldn't get between tables. The big dissatisfaction was I booked this cruise nearly 18 months ago, with seating to be at large table! Food was not up to expectations (from previous cruises on RCL) First time we did not have a wine steward. That left our assistant waiter with the job. Not his strong suit. 

Specialty dining was fine, as was the Wind jammer buffet. Lastly the dress up factor was not enforced in main dining room. Formal night actually had people show up in shorts!

Stateroom was smaller than expected. Handicapped male with a scooter was cramped into the room and unable to maneuver in the bathroom and shower. Guest Services didn't seem to care. Excursion was cancelled due to "we no longer do business with the excursion provider" when the shore excursion desk on the ship said it was "due to the fact that the whales have migrated and we wouldn't see any". Learned from speaking with a crew member that the cruise was a "training cruise" which was pretty evident with all the drills that were taking place during our sailing. We paid full price for a cruise where the crew was inexperienced. At times it was evident. Not sure we will sail with RCCL again.

Crew is very hard working and friendly.  Shows were awesome - there are so many multi-talented people aboard the Serenade.  We can't say enough about the excellent food & service we rec'd.  Overall I would rate this experience as a "10".  Thanks to all who made it so wonderful!!!!!

The ship is older and does not appear to have been recently updated as stated.  Crew and staff was great.  Ship was clean.  Food was good.  Musicians and shows were good for the most part and cruise director and staff was fun!

The Serenade of the Seas was an older ship but was very clean and in good repair.  But there seemed to be a shortage of staff in the buffet dining on the 11th deck of the ship.  We would be sitting with empty plates not taken away as soon as they usually do that.  And you didn't see many wait staff helping out.  The food in the buffet was okay but I wasn't happy with many of the selections.  I would have a salad each day for lunch as not much else appealed to me.  The food in the dining room was so-so.  It used to be excellent on our other sailings years ago and it made my cruise on Norwegian that I took in November 2015 seem so much better.  I am used to RCCL being much better than Norwegian.  The wait staff in the dining room were excellent, and we had my time dining with a group of 22 and they always had our wine and drinks there when we arrived for dinner.  But we did have some problems getting out tables near each other and some nights we didn't have enough seats for all 22.  We had our time set up for 6:15 every night so they should have had us set up for that time.  They kept shifting us from one area to another.  After the third or fourth night we were set up in the same area.  The entertainment was not very good.  The RCCL singers and dancers show was very good and the comedian was great also.  But the other shows were not up to the level of entertainment as we were used to on this cruise line.  The Centrum was a small area and they held some shows there but it was almost impossible to see anything because of the crowds in such a small area.  The entertainment in the small lounges was very good.

Overall, this cruise was fun as we were with such a large group, but it made me want to try other lines for our next cruise.  The cabins were very clean and the stewards were very good also.

Overall we had a good time and would book a cruise again with Royal Caribbean.  We will use vacation again.  We used RC excursions and with the exception of the Tortola excursion everything was perfect.

The ship interior was always being cleaned and polished.  Dining room service was excellent although we differed with the Maitre D as to our table preference.  The pool bar tender, Nuno made the best drinks.  Our stateroom was kept immaculate by Gerrylyn. 

I cannot recommend the gift order system.  They messed up my order for a birthday gift to be delivered to the cabin.  Then claimed it was my fault for not ordering in time.  Phooey!!!