flpenguin

1 hour ago, Purplsmurf said:

Yes, you were given wrong information. You don’t get any extra perks, but you do get the amenities. Aqua used to automatically come with the drink package. If you didn’t have one, you wouldn’t get it with move up, but it’s not included anymore. You keep any perks you have. Go for it!

awesome thanks.  The only perk we really care about is dining at Blu

3 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

You do get Blu and Persian Gardens. I would say that’s a win if you want to dine with your friends. Why wouldn’t you attempt the move up?

I would absolutly move up but when I called celebrity to ask they told me I could not dine in Blu if I got the move up since our original cabin didn't include Blu.  Was I given wrong information??

I got the email to move up and luckily before hitting complete I read the fine print.  We are in concierge class and trying to move up to Aqua class to be able to dine with friends who are in the aqua class(sold out when we booked directly with celebrity) the website says that you don't get the additional amenities  that come with the new class stateroom.  I even called celebrity to confirm and she said it was true.  So for us no incentive to move up.  I was disappointed.

5 hours ago, Camillus112 said:

Our first ever RCL cruise will be next May on the Serenade.  We have booked a Grand Suite, and our family members will be on Junior Suites.  Does the Serenade have a Suite Lounge, like other bigger ships?  Does it have a Coastal Kitchen as a perk for suites, or any other venue?  What other perks can we expect?  Thanks so much for you help!

This was our first time in a grand suite.  There is a concierge/suite lounge that has a happy hour with free alcohol from 5-8. The family members in the junior suite would not qualify.  There is no coastal kitchen but you can have breakfast in Chops every morning which was very nice. The suite lounge also has a continental breakfast and small sandwiches for lunch as well as hor dourves during happy hour.

We were on the Serenade 2 weeks ago in Alaska. I love the smaller ships and the Serenade has so much glass-Schooner Bar, Outside elevators that you can see scenery even when inside.

Thank you for your detailed report.  We'll be sailing on the Serenade in 30 days!! Our 3rd Alaskan cruise.  Our first Alaska cruise was on the Serenade in 2006.  Just as excited.  We've never been to Haines and Sitka so again thanks for all your information and taking the time to answer questions.

On 6/15/2022 at 10:28 AM, nw gardener said:

I embarked June 5 as well,  3 ship day. Was assigned 1100 check in and driving up to Vancouver from WA and prepaid parking at Canada place.  EASIEST embarkation and disembarking ever! I was pleasantly surprised to say the least because I've experienced the opposite too. Decided to get to the Peace Arch border crossing early , 0845, no line, quick and painless. Traffic was light,   pulled off to do our second ArriveCan trip, got to Canada place before 10. Passed off luggage in the parking garage,  super easy.  Went up to check in area and waited 10 minutes until they opened it up.  Quick check in and on to security,  again no line and quick. US customs next,  again no line, then a 15 minute wait before we could actually board. Lots of people helping to point you in the right direction,  for anyone with mobility issues there is a lot of walking for the whole process.  The worst choke point is the escalator going down to security,  there was a helper at the bottom to direct and a large family ahead of us decided they needed to stop and ask questions.  Blocking getting off the escalator..visions of dying on an escalator lol! I  yelled to move,  nada..got to bottom and had to push 2 adults out of the way. Still didn't seem to comprehend the issue,  thankfully the employee moved them.

      Disembarking,  walked off with luggage and no line through customs at Canada place or the border crossing.  Very stress free both directions for me,  go early and get off early. I am, sadly,  always amazed at the number of people who aren't prepared with their paperwork,  luggage tags,  ID, etc that slow down the process for everyone...sigh.

Thanks for all your information.  Can you tell me how you prepaid the Canada Place parking?? Online or did you have to call?? I've been getting conflicting information and we need to keep our rent a car at Canada Place during our cruise since we can't do a one way rental from Vancouver to Seattle.

Has anyone parked at Canada Place and prepaid and reserved a spot.  When I google Canada Place it comes up Indigo.com but then when you click on reserve a spot it takes me to WestPark Canada Place.  Just making sure they are the same and it's the website for the parking garage at Canada Place.

Thank you in advance

6 hours ago, Ashland said:

Ours weren't from Amazon and certainly weren't rubber ducks...My DIL is very artsy and she crafted small disc's and made personalized logo's on them with Harmony and our sail date. They were just adorable. She'll be making them again for our Alaska cruise on Serenade in September.  

We're on the Sept 4th sailing on the Serenade-any chance you'll be cruising with us?

We are on the same sailing as you and the 2nd time on the Serenade. Our first Alaska cruise in 2006 was on the Serenade.  The Schooner bar is all glass so you can see the scenery if you don't want to be on deck.  We have done whale watching in Juneau twice and will do it again on this cruise.  In Ketchikan we have done the Duck Tour and The Lumberjack Show.  This time we are doing the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman Tour. We have never been to Sitka or Haines so excited to see some new ports.

On a side note we grew up in South Jersey and are cruising with another couple that live in South Jersey that we've known since high school.

Thanks for the info.  I love Alaska-hope you get hooked!!

This will be our 3rd Alaskan cruise and have never cruise Glacier Bay but loved both of our previous cruises.

Can I ask where you are staying in Vancouver?  Just started looking at lodging and airfare.

We have done matching shirts in the past-not all cruises.  We all had Reeses peanut butter shirts-orange and wore them on more than one cruise.  People would make comments thru out the who cruise about them.  We have done hawaiian shirts too.  Our favorite was on a Bermuda cruise.  My daughter designed the shirt and we did DIY iron on transfers.  We got so many compliments on them we could have sold them and paid for our cruise. It said we survived the bermuda triangle on Friday the 13th during a full moon.

11 hours ago, Sunseeker20 said:

Hello! 

My apologies, I have a question for you about your Alaska cruise... how did you find the waters? Did you feel ship movement at all? Trying to prep for my Alaska sailing! Thank you!

We've cruise Alaska twice in end of May-beginning of June and the water was fine.

Wow!! So much research.  We were on the Serenade of the Seas on our first Alaska cruise back in 2007.  It is an older and smaller ship but it is all glass so you can sit in the schooner bar and see the scenery  We've never cruised NCL but since Alaska is so port intensive we wouldn't have time to do much on board.  We are on the Serenade again this Sept back to our 3rd trip to Alaska.  Super excited to cruise with friends on their first Alaska trip and our first cruise in a grand suite.  Have a great time and I'm biased but I think you made the right choice.

3 hours ago, jlocole said:

I just booked Serenade today for Sept 4 - 11!

YAY!!

How was the weather in Alaska during the cruise.  We cruise next Sept.4 on the Serenade.  Our 2 previous Alaska cruises were the end of May so expecting weather to be different.  Thanks for your review.

Hoping to do this on the Serenade for our Alaska cruise Sept. 2022.  First time booked a grand suite next to friends grand suite.

Following as we booked our first ever suite on the Serenade for Sept. 2022 for Alaska.  

So how was Alaska?? If you did excursions-which ones?? We just booked for next Sept. on the Serenade.  This will be our 3rd Alaska cruise-2nd on the Serenade.  We've never been to Sitka or Haines. Thanks in advance for the review

We just booked a Bermuda cruise 5 nite out of Baltimore on Oct 16.  Fingers crossed

We just booked a 5 day Bermuda cruise out of Baltimore for mid Oct.-fingers crossed. Friends were suppose to go on same cruise in July but it was cancelled so they moved it to Oct.

I just booked a 5 day cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda mid Oct-Friends invited us as their Bermuda cruise was cancelled in July.  It is on Royal Caribbean.  Fingers crossed it doesn't get cancelled.

I booked the 4 hr tour based on the amount of time spent at each stop.  The 2.5 hr long didn't seem like enough. I'll find out in a few weeks.

thanks for all your info.  Unfortunately both rent a cars are sold out for our date so we'll have to do an excursion if we want to see them.