Serenade of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We loved very much our Serenade of the Seas.  We will travel again with Royal Caribbean next year.  We enjoyed the hot tubs, the music  by the pool and the different activities, such as Zumba class and other  activities.  We loved your cruise.Thank you.

 Having to wait in line for 12 people to get an omelette in the morning is ridiculous. It could easily be solved by having one or two more people making omelettes for a timeframe from 830 to 10 o'clock. 

Rule number one for a successful business is; never make people stand in line. 

We were disappointed in the condition of the ship.  DEFINITELY needs refurbishing.  Many pieces of furniture look pretty sad with frayed and very warn cushions. Rust noticeable in may areas of the ship.   Food was ok but found it ridiculous to have to pay extra for many things on the menu above what was already charged..

First time on this length of a cruise. We did only two shore excursions (Harrison Cave in Barbados and St. Lucia Rodney Beach) and both were excellent. More relaxing that looking for adventure but it was well worth it. Antigua was the only port where the cabbies were too thick and followed you and made themselves nuisances. Entertainment was really very good. I heard there was one "bad" show but we missed it so I have nothing but good to say about the ship and guest performers. Centrum performers were good, too. Guitarist, pianist, a duet and a band that could do soft and harder rock - again, very good all of them.

The six islands were nice although there is not much on Bonaire. Had to cancel snorkeling due to silty water after rain. The tropical islands are much nicer than Aruba or Bonaire. The ship itself was small and old or dated. Room was clean and comfortable and service was very good. Entertainment was spotty. Two nights were very good but all others were not good at all. I assume because the ship is small RCI doesn't spend much on talent. The ships dancers/singers were high school quality. One singer was dressed inappropriately for a plus -sized figure. One of the excursions took snorkel era out to deep, white-capped waters. It was awful. Fish were deep in the water and the sea was rough. It had rained earlier so maybe water was murky but they should have canceled rather than put us through that. I would try RCI again but not this ship. 

Some nice venues during the cruise, and some good entertainment (and some not so good).  The ship is obviously aging, but it is still reasonably well maintained.  We never did get an inside table in the Windjammer, and always had to find a spot outside.  This could certainly be improved.  Automatic gratuities are not appreciated - Royal Caribbean needs to pay its employees better, so that their passengers are not saddled with these add-on taxes.

In general this was a very good cruise. We liked the itinerary and the staff was wonderful. The ship was clean and the food was good. The wait staff in the dining room was exceptional.

The only negatives on the cruise were the beverage and cold water situations that I explained earlier.

We expected to enjoy this Fall Foliage Cruise with views of colorful scenery and picturesque villages. Our mistake not realizing we were cruising at night, and in ports 10 days.. The only way to see anything was to go on excursions,several disappointing, otherwise spent the time in Port Villages....mostly the same shops. The Excursion to Peggy's Cove was very good...great Guide. Kennybunk Port....not so good..disappointed. Ft.Lauderdale tour was great, and Guide, Lauri was fantastic. Flight from Atlanta was canceled (mechanical trouble), and United Air Lines did a very poor job rescheduling us. With this in mind, I would always plan to get to departing port city a day early.

Although I truly enjoyed all the ports of call, I did not enjoy the ship. The cabin was way to small, the elevators was a major problem, the Centrum shows was a joke. You vied for a space over looking the Centrum for a show that lasted maybe 10 minutes, Th food in the Windjammer was just OK not the quality of the big ships. I did not like this ship and would not recommend it to anyone.

My husband and I enjoyed getting away together for some down time after tending to my mother after three falls in a week! The food was good, especially the pumpkin rolls, baked Alaska, prime beef(rib?) and lobster! The 11th floor dining choices were OK with more bulk high carb pasta food that isn't as healthy. It also would be nice to vary your desserts more upstairs. Maybe add toppings for the ice cream for variety.

We met some Very nice people! We said that we would Share Seating whenever we dined which gave us a nice mixture of new friends. Would highly recommend having tables for six instead of twelve as you can't hear everyone or enjoy their company when they are on the other end.

The shows were Very fun and a nice variety. The comedians having fun with aging were my favorites as I LOVE to laugh. It is SO therapeutic!

A couple of the excursions were Very interesting like the Titanic graveyard and the plane and car museum. The weather was better at home And the trees were in full color there BUT we enjoyed the new scenery. 

A really nice cruise with a very friendly crew and lots of very good service and food.  I think Royal Carribian did all they could to give us a great vacation for the money. Thank you!

The crew of the ship were professional and friendly as we expected.  One of the reasons we took this trip was to view and photograph the fall foliage.  I was disappointed in that regard.

The lack of brilliant color in the foliage in the US portion of the is certainly beyond the control of all humans but my disappoint lay with the lack of opportunities to take photos while on the RC excursions.  The buses used were clean and most of the tour guides were competent, a few were even outstanding, but overall there were too few stops and shooting quality photos thru bus windows is not the preferred method for acquiring quality photographs.

Two excursions in particular were very disappointing. 

The tour thru Boston was a complete waste and the guide was poor at best.  Too few stops, virtually no stops at historic sites, probably because the roads were too narrow, and gridlock traffic. 

Secondly the tour of Acadia with a trip to the peak of Cadillac Mt. was disappointing because the park was so full of people the bus driver was unable to use his regular stops. Additionally I would not have taken this tour if I had known, prior to booking, that tour buses, and hence its passengers, were only allowed to spend 20 minutes at the peak of the mountain.  The driver was very good and the guide was outstanding. 

I think we were spoiled by the wonderful excursions we experienced on the RC Alaska Land and Sea cruise we took a couple of years ago.

The trip was nice.  The dining room staff were great, so very attentive.  Was a little disappointed in the activities around the ship.  We usually cruise with NCL.  The ship is setup with this circular area in the center of the ship ad they kept having venues for the whole ship to see, and it is only possible for like 150 of the whole ship to see the entertainers.  We just didn't get that.  The rooms were nice.  And they should dock in towns along the coast where you don't have to take a tender.  We happen to talk to the Mayor of Rockland while waiting to get back on the ship, and asked why more stores weren't open since it was a Monday.  And he said, they wanted us to be able to see regular life in a new England town.  The town is very small, not much to do, you would think shops would want to be open with huge cruise ships coming in.  We didn't understand that.  The ship would generate a lot of revenue for the town.  Oh well!  Rockland was boring!

our cabin attendant was great, our head water was above normal, so was the assistant to head water.  They made our dining very enjoyable!  The off shore trips were good. Entertainment was good.  Over all it was a good cruise!

The food was surprisingly as good as what Allure of the Seas serves.  We loved the thermal beds which we used every day during our shortened cruise.  We had to depart from the ship in Bar Harbour  due to a family matter. The piano player named Antonio was wonderful though we had seen him on a cruise a few years ago and he not only performed for a longer period of time and did more of our favorites.  Those songs were on the CD were purchased so that resolved the issue.  The bed was very comfortable and we loved the accessable room.  It made especially my wife's ability to enjoy the safety bars, height of the toilet, walk-in shower just during our stay.  The solarium and spa's were 2 of our favorite areas. Quebec City became one of our new popular cities.  Charlletown, Halifx, and St. John were all pleasant stops.  We liked St. John best of those 3. The changing tides are extremely interesting.  We are sorry we couldn't finish the cruise (missing the East Coast). The biggest disappointment was that we never really saw what could have been fall foliage due to the weather  which had nothing to do with the Serenade of the Seas which we re-booked for a future date.  I must note the crew was very pleasant but nobody could top our cabin attendant of 4017 which was one of the best we have ever had on the many cruises we have made in the past.

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My daughter and I had a great experience. Looking forward to another cruise in the future. The weather has been very warm so the colors were just beginning to turn. None the less it was a great trip.

One of the crew used their master key to let a strange man wrapped in a towel into our stateroom at 2 am while we were asleep.  Cruise ships response was that there needed to be further staff training. 

The embarking process was quite nice. But went down from there.  Problems with stateroom attendant for the first couple of days. They were in training when we arrived for some reason. Staff in the main dining room seemed confused about who was to do what. That got a little better thru the week. Smoking in the Casino and by the running track was unpleasant and unhealthy. There was nothing special about getting a jr. suite except the extra square footage.  Just the opposite of our cruise on Celebrity.  After that cruise we wanted to cruise again.  After this one with RC, we may never cruise again.

Small room, no amenities, no bkfst . menu (had to ask for both) not much info on ports, Windjammer Cafe staffed with new people who did not know what to doso you got your own coffee, water, etc. and pushed dirty plates aside hoping someone would pick up, never wiped tables, long lines to board ship @ each stop, had to open door to hear any messages, would not do again.

We went on this cruise in September and our only disappointment was the foliage had just started to turn.  The cruise itself was great.  This was our third cruise with Royal Carribean and we have always been happy with their ships and their service.  Would definitely do another Royal Carribean cruise.  The ports of call were great and the tours we went on were wonderful.  Would highly recommend this cruise.