Serenade 5/27-6/2 review. Russia and much much more!

Well here is our review of our trip on the Serenade of the seas. I don’t include pictures because you can find pictures on the internet and on cruise critic pretty easy. I strive to give you an honest look at the boat and at our ports of call. This was our first Europe cruise for my wife (26) and I (31). We are seasoned cruisers, and with this cruise pushing us to 60 nights. (51 on royal and a couple quick carnival). We booked a balcony cabin #7528 since we knew how beautiful it would look outside. We are lovers of drinks and good food. We have dinner in chops and Giovanni’s, plus we each purchased the ultimate drink package. We like to enjoy ourselves! The port of calls for this cruise started with Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki. We spent 4 days pre cruise in Amsterdam and one day in Copenhagen before we started our trip. I won’t touch on those parts unless people ask. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment or ask. Thanks for reading along!!

Day 1 Copenhagen (embarkation)

We stayed overnight at the quality inn airport dan the night before in Copenhagen. Great hotel and good location next to the metro. However, if you like tiny uncomfortable beds, stay somewhere else. For 250$ I’d like a little better mattress than one that was 2 inches thick. Caught a taxi to the pier for about 40$ us. Very long line to get started but we were there at 11 along with a lot of other people who basically had nothing else to do but get on the boat. We made it through security and were on the boat at 12:30. Will say, we have cruised harmony, and allure twice. I felt they did embarking smoother than this smaller ship. But who cares, we are on holiday. (My wife and I decided we will no longer call it vacation. Holiday sounds better.) went to park cafe and had the krummelwreck sandwich and a salad. Plus a couple pool side cocktails. We set about exploring the ship checking out our room. Apparently the balcony’s on deck 7 are twice as big as the other ones. It was 1/3rd the size of our room! So an unexpected surprise. Room was clean and comfortable. Very friendly stateroom attendant. Dinner at MDR that night and we were set with a couple who didn’t speak English. So it was rather boring conversation, but after speaking with our waiter, they switched us to a 2 top for the rest of the cruise. On harmony last year, we were shocked that the MDR food was mediocre at best. So this was a treat. Crashed early for our first night.

Day 2 sea day

Such an odd feeling to have a sea day and NOT spend it by the pool. Just to damn cold. And apparently the chair hogs do Europe cruises as well. They were packed in the solarium. With this being the first day we haven’t had anything to do in 5 days, we enjoyed just hanging out in the schooner bar and playing cards, talking to the bar tenders, and relaxing. Did a couple of the trivia games and actually won a general knowledge round. Tonight was formal night and we had scheduled a night at chops. On my first cruise, chops was out of this world. Since then, it seems it just keeps going down hill. I actually feel like I have to talk my wife into chops now. Most likely, this was the final time we will do chops. Steaks are just ehhh. Never seasoned enough. I’ve always stuck with a filet and she bounces between the filet and ribeye. Both of ours this time had zero flavor and left a lot to be desired with the tenderness. Keep in mind, we are ranchers and we raise and sell beef. So we understand that every steak is a little different, but it seems chops just never hits the bar it tries and sets anymore. The sauces tasted old and bland. The Mac and cheese was noodles in a watery yellow sauce. Scalloped potatoes were good as was the asparagus. Knock back 2 bottles of wine and we made it through.

I will add more to this later on tonight. Thanks for reading along!

Thanks for sharing and look forward to reading more as we are booked on the Serenade to Bermuda this September. We actually originally booked cabin #7528 but have since moved as an aft cabin miraculously open up. Any information or opinions you may provide is appreciated.

Did you by any chance see what the On board booking offers were? Thanks.

Day 3 Stockholm

Must say, it is wonderful having the balcony to watch us sail in. Picturesque and gorgeous. We purchsed the hop on hop off boat tickets when we exited the boat. Pricey but they give you many options to get off all around the city. Plus the audio guide was a good chance to learn about the culture and city. If we went back, I would just do the normal taxi boats that the locals use. We were planning on doing the vasa museum and just walk around. We planned 2 hours in the Vasa and we stayed nearly 4. It’s a very interesting museum however they do repeat a lot of the facts. Definitely watch the video when you first get in the museum so you have a crash course on the ship and the discovery. It’s very low light around the ship, so practice with your camera. Stopped by a little cafe on the water and enjoyed a couple sandwiches and some local beer. Walked along towards to the abba museum and wandered some side streets. There are some cool shops and tiny museums that on a return trip would be fun to spend time in. Made it back to the ship and did sail away from our balcony with some wonderful windjammer cheeses and meats for a snack. Did some more trivia that evening. MDR food again was fantastic. This is the first cruise we have actually ordered 3 entrees just so we can try some of the different ones. We slipped into the frank Sinatra show after dinner. The guy performs very well, however, we are just to young to really appreciate it. That said, the older people were jamming out to him. Love to see people of all ages having fun. Afterwards we stayed in the schooner bar. We made friends with Vladimir and Pavlo who were some fantastic bartenders. We have to admit though, apparently European cruises don’t have a lot of partiers. Nearly every night by 1130 or 12 you could feel the crowds disappearing and the bars closing up. Again, we are used to carribean cruises.

Thank you for the review. I will be on the last Baltics cruise in Aug, and the TA to Boston.

Please say if ship docked in town for Stockholm.

Great write up and will certainly be following this thread. Doing the itinerary in August too.

Cheers

So sorry for the delay. Caught a nasty bug plus trying to get things situated around here and at the Ranch. So anyways, here we go!

Day 4 Tallinn

Get off the ship and start walking! Between our days in Amsterdam and the final day of our cruise, we logged nearly 80 miles of walking. So no need to exercise on the ship! Tallinn is such a beautiful rustic city. Walking from the boat to the top of the old town center is about a mile. Just follow the crowds. I can’t stress this enough, EXPLORE SIDE STREETS. Really. Their are some cool shops, cafes, and wonderful architecture if you get off the main road in the town center. After working up an appetite and do not the touristy deal, we found a little cafe for some fabulous beers and snacks. With a walk back to the ship, out trip in Estonia was finished.

Day 5 St. Petersburg

Ya know this is really the only reason people do this cruise. We booked a private car and tour guide through SPB tours, so we could get a real look at the city. It was 580$ but well worth the money. Immigration took about 45 minutes. Miserable I know, but part of it. We were able to customize our itenerary based on what we wanted. Our day started with a stop at a souvenir shop to get all the necessary Russian things for back home. Made the drive to peterhoff, toured the church on the spilled blood, and finally the hermitage. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of Russia and was able to answer all of our questions. She was worth her money as she would put us to the front of the line or through a back door. She was also able to navigate us through the hermitage and show us the things we were most interested in. The best part, was we requested to eat in an authentic Russian restaurant for lunch. Boy, did it not disappoint. Most tours just have you buy street food or pack a snack from the boat. Once in a life time trip to see a small part of Russia and learn so much about the culture. We were wiped when we made it back to the ship our evening consisted of MDR dinner and a few drinks and bed time.

Day 6 Helsinki

After yesterday, we were wiped today. We got off the boat and walked around the main city vent. My wife collects the hard rock pins. So basically that’s what we went ashore for. There is an awesome looking bay side cafe thought that’s just down from the docks. Looked like a lot of locals sunbathing and drinking in a cool cafe. Def a place to check out if you have more time. We were only in port from 8-1. We grabbed a nap and regrouped to play a few trivia games between schooner and the pub.

Day 7 at sea

Well our trip is coming to an end and what more can I say. This has been fantastic. We made a couple deposits at the slot machines during the day. Plus more trivia and some card games to pass the time. If you do a Europe cruise, you really need to be ok with having “down”time. Which means playing cards, trivia, cocktails. We decided on a whim to go give Giovanni’s a try tonight. I must admit, I’ve never been dissatisfied going there. Food is always out of this world. Their filet is hands down better then anywhere else on the ship. As I said in my earlier post, chops was always a must for me. But after the past few cruises, Giovanni’s has my heart now.

A few thoughts on this cruise

We both had the drink and WiFi package. Royal loses money on us with the drink package. Plus we enjoy being able to get the 40% off bottles of wine. The WiFi was slow at times, but again, your on holiday. Who cares. The WiFi was down for about a hour on our first sea day and you should have seen the line of people.

I’ve commented before on other reviews about the rudeness of people. Maybe it’s because we are from the south or because we have a more laid back attitude, but this was a very friendly ship. Oh their are the few that want to flaunt their crown status or just feel they are entitled. But most everyone was very pleasant. Crew was especially nice and their cruise director staff was out of this world.

I’ve sailed on most of the classes that royal offers and yet I’m still inclined to say freedom class is my go to. Good mix of the small with the big. But it is very nice to have the bartenders know your drink preference after one night.

I hope this was a decent enough review for everyone. Again, I apologize for it taking a little while to get it out. This was a wonderful trip for my wife and I. We are now trying to decide on doing a oasis cruise just for fun, or do the freedom out of San Juan. We are only needing 29 days to hit diamond, so we are getting a little excited. Thanks for following along!

Thank you for your review.

Gator86, thank you for yor review of the Baltic cruise. We are going in May 19. I have a (probably silly) question. Once the ship leaves Copenhagen, can you still see land on either side of the boat once you are on open water?