amallison

We have cruised with Princess (x4) and Disney (x5), but the KSF was too good of a deal to pass up, so we are on a Thanksgiving cruise on Serenade of the Seas Cat E1! Any things that I need to know that are unique to RCCL?

 

Some things I wonder are:

 

- It seems like RCCL is pushing more on it's up charge restaurants. One thing we liked about both Princess and DCL is that we never felt like we had to eat in the up charge dining. Is the MDR on RCCL OK?

 

- Looking at the Serenade, is there not a poolside grill (serving burgers/pizza, etc)

 

- How much will we miss the laundry room?

 

- How does debarkation work? What time can you usually get off of the ship?

 

- Is the theater a "theater" or is it more of a big screen that plays DVD's?

 

- Can you get into your stateroom upon boarding, or do you have to wait a time?

 

- How is the kids club?

 

Thanks for all and any suggestions!

 

 

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We were on the Serenade in January and it was our first RCCL cruise, to sum it up, we loved every minute of it!

The MDR was wonderful, we sailed with a group and nobody had a bad meal and the service was excellent.

There is not a poolside grill but I do remember them having a buffet set up one day with burgers and hot dogs and some other stuff. You're not far from the cafe in the solarium when you're at the pool, so if you need a quick snack you can always go there.

I am accustomed to having laundry facilities when I travel as I travel a lot for work, I can honestly say I didn't miss it one bit. I was able to pack everything I needed for a 7 night cruise in one suitcase and had room to spare. Laundry facilities were not an issue.

Debarkation went pretty smoothly, we arrived 3 hours later than expected due to some issues beyond everyone's control and we were docked at 10:30, debarkation started around 11, and I believe we were on our way home by 12:45 or 1. We were in the last group to get off and there were a lot of self-debarkation people so I don't think it was too terribly bad.

The theater is actually a theater, I'm not sure how many seats were in there, but I thought it was pretty decent for a cruise ship. Definitely not a big screen tv playing dvd's.

The staterooms did not open until 1pm but they were extremely prompt and opened at exactly 1pm. It was perfect timing for when we finished our lunch at the Windjammer.

We cruised without our kids so I cannot comment about the kid's clubs but I haven't heard anything negative about them.

Enjoy your cruise, the Serenade is a beautiful ship.

We were on the Serenade at the end of January and you could still sit back there. To get to the outdoor seating on the port side you can simply walk through Rita's but the starboard side you just walk straight out of the door at the back of the WJ and you're in the outdoor seating area. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Izumi's is one deck up on the starboard side. Don't quote me on that as we didn't eat there, but I'm pretty sure that's where it was so it wouldn't interfere with the outdoor seating.

 

 

You're soooo right! We were on the sailing before yours (the one with the electrical problems in one of the propulsion units) and several of our friends mentioned that he was the spitting image of Isaac.

 

We loved the Serenade, I'm glad to hear that y'all were only delayed by an hour.

 

 

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Could this mean NOLA is getting a change from Serenade??

I was wondering the same thing. I wish RCI sailed from NOLA year round.

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Tell you what we went on the 2/1 departure and while waiting in the airport we got messages and told that out boarding was pushed back 3 hours due to mechanical problems on the ship. Long story short the Serenade did not dock till 10 am. so stuff happens. Coming back we made our 12:15 flight with time to spare since we docked and disembarkation started on time. Anyway enjoy the cruise and do not sweat the small stuff. Once we pushed off the anxiety of not making it back in time vanished.

We were on the cruise before you. There was an issue with one of the propulsion units right before we got to the mouth of the river. I told my husband something was up around 11pm the night before be cause we slowed down to 2.3 knots and made a turn directly to the East. Sure enough the next morning we had a note on the door and they made an announcement. Glad y'all had a good cruise!

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Don't do it, traffic is unpredictable and you never know if something is going to happen to delay the ships arrival to New Orleans. We had a perfect cruise on the Serenade a few weeks ago, until right before we went back into the mouth of the river, there was an unexpected issue that ended up delaying our arrival by 3-1/2 hours.

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So, in simple terms, the Premium drinks package is just filter/machine coffee, and the Ultimate package covers latte, cappuccino and espresso's? (Excl. Starbucks)

On the Serenade a few weeks back, I had the non-alcoholic package that included the premium coffee and I was able to get any of the coffee from Lattetudes for free with my package. So, with that said the "premium drink" package includes way more than just filter/machine coffee.

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If I'm not mistaken, it takes a couple weeks for your completed cruise to get loaded online (typical RCI web efficiency!) . We had the same issue after our first cruise, but were finally able to register via the website after waiting it out. I believe on the registration page online, it states to wait 14 days after your sailing.

 

Shame the crew member didn't let you know you could do it while you were onboard. As stated above, you should be able to call them too. They will respond to your email, but my experience is it takes quite a few days for the response.

 

Dan.

 

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Dan, the strange thing is we tried to enroll while on the cruise and were told to wait and do it online when we got home. However, there were signs everywhere stating to go to Next Cruise to enroll as a C&A member but when we went to Next Cruise we were told to do it online. I don't understand it.

With that stated, we were traveling with some very seasoned cruisers in our group, some with 28 or 29 cruises, and they stated this was the most unattentive crew they've ever seen. The cruise was wonderful though, actually my husband said it was probably the best vacation he's ever taken!

Thank y'all! Glad to know we're not the only ones having problems. I'll definitely call tomorrow & get us both enrolled.

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We're just back from the Serenade and the hubby and I decided we would like to become C&A members and cruise more often. I was instructed by a crew member while onboard that we needed to fill out the form online. I did that today & keep getting an error saying we were not able to complete your C&A enrollment, maybe a few different words but that was the error.

Has anyone had experience with this? I contacted C&A through email so hopefully I'll hear from them soon but I was just curious if anyone else had problems when trying to enroll.

The Park Cafe has amazing tapas at night. I also have an in depth review in my signature. Towards the end, I have a post which covers the ship's offerings.

 

 

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On my way to read your review now. Thank you so much for sharing. I've heard some amazing things about the Park Cafe and can't wait to try it out. I'm definitely thinking my pants aren't going to fit after this trip.

Thanks Bob, the hubby is definitely looking forward to those!

We sail out Saturday on the Serenade. Neither myself nor dh have ever cruised with RCCL, so we don't know what to expect other than what I've read on CC.

If you have been on the Serenade recently (since her upgrades) what were your favorite things? What should we do first (besides going to the WJ for lunch)? What should we not miss out on? This is our first "real" vacation since having kids (they're 4 & 5) so we're just a tad bit excited and more than ready to get this show on the road.

So, tell me what are some of your favorite things to do on the Serenade!

Books are not worth it!! Don't waste your money!!

Thank you! I've never cruised with RCI before so I'm clueless.

http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-kit/9/culinary-press-kit/

Thank you!

Did you go to the "Shop Talk" thing? I keep hearing about a coupon book you can get, did you hear anything about this? If you got one, was it worth it?

It's 2am in the morning here & I need to be up for work at 6am. Having just read through the sample MDR menus I am lay here salivating with my tummy rumbling :)

Excuse my ignorance, but where did you see the sample MDR menus?

Hello, amallison, aka 'my fellow Misissippian!'

We sail on Serenade in April. This is our first time out of NOLA, and I'm a little apprehensive about it. What are your driving/parking plans? Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,

Betty Ann

Hi Betty Ann, please call me Ashley! This is also our first time out of NOLA! Our group is actually taking a charter bus rather than us all driving our cars and parking for a week (there are about 50 of us I believe) so I'm not really good on giving any advice about parking. As far as driving, getting to the port is very easy.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! We sail on the 25th!

We are also on the 25th Serenade sailing and are looking to see if anyone has recent cruise compasses to post. This will be our 3rd sailing on this ship. The other two cruises were wonderful and I am positive you will enjoy the ship.

I have no doubt we're going to have a blast! See you on board on the 25th.

Has anyone seen any Cruise Compasses from the Serenade recently? I haven't been able to find any from any of the recent sailings from New Orleans. I know it's not a necessity to see them before the cruise but I've never sailed with RCI before and am just curious.

Thanks for the updated, I hope whatever the emergency was, the person is going to be okay.

Thank you, I posted on here after being on hold for what seemed like forever with RCI and they finally gave me an answer of 3-5 business days. I just wanted to let anyone else know that might have this same question.

Originally, DH & I got the $45 beverage package but I need to change mine due to some health stuff. I know you have to cancel your order and then purchase the packages over again. My question is, will the charge for the original packages be credited back immediately? Or is there a waiting period?

I want to make sure I have the money back in my account before I go ahead & purchase the new package that I need.

Has anyone had any experience with this?