My trip report: Serenade 12-night Western Med (Venice) with many pictures

[ElizabethA]

Thank you, a wonderful review, has made me even more excited for our cruise next year

 

Liz

[njmudd]

Loving the review. I've read in here a lot about the "Spanish Tax" where an additional charge was levied on drinks, etc. for cruises out of Spain.

 

Was there such a tax on this sailing? I've also heard that as the ship stops in Croatia the tax is not applicable.

 

Thanks and can't wait for the rest of the review.

[Steppy08]

Loving the review. I've read in here a lot about the "Spanish Tax" where an additional charge was levied on drinks, etc. for cruises out of Spain.

 

Was there such a tax on this sailing? I've also heard that as the ship stops in Croatia the tax is not applicable.

 

Thanks and can't wait for the rest of the review.

 

As long as the ship stops outside the European Union at least once the tax isn't applicable. This is why most of the cruises make at least one non-euro zone stop. (ours goes to Turkey)

[Gator0178]

great review! Thanks for sharing. Loved the pics!:D

[Iamthesea]

As long as the ship stops outside the European Union at least once the tax isn't applicable. This is why most of the cruises make at least one non-euro zone stop. (ours goes to Turkey)

 

So for my cruise that starts and ends in Barcelona, Spain, and goes to only France and Italy, everything that we purchase onboard will have that 8% VAT added on? :eek: Is this correct?

[silentbob007]

The Ship

 

I know a lot of worry has been expressed about the condition of the Serenade as she is scheduled for dry dock soon. I'll just say this ... as you would expect, the crew was constantly working on painting, cleaning, and otherwise fixing up the ship. There were a couple of small things I noticed ... such as door sensors not working very well or worn-looking carpets ... but that kind of stuff, in my opinion, you can always find if you are looking for it. My last couple of cruises on the Radiance have encountered plumbing problems, so that was really what I was worried about. Thankfully, I did not encounter any of those on this cruise. I was actually kind of thankful that I cruised on Serenade before her refurb as my parents reported being less-than-thrilled with changes they encountered on the Radiance on their Sydney-Hawaii reposition ... mainly the dissection and shrinking of the Windjammer and the loss of the SeaView Cafe.

 

Serenade Viking Crown by cmong, on Flickr

 

The Crew

 

I guess I've come to expect it with Royal Caribbean, but the crew on Serenade were simply great. Everyone I interacted with was pleasant and helpful. I did hear complaints about some of the staff at Guest Relations, but I did not personally encounter any issues. Lots of the staff interacting with guests seemed to go out of their way to not only remember names and faces, but also make sure to use them on your next meeting.

 

From C&A Lounge by cmong, on Flickr

 

The Cabin

 

I was in cabin 4531, an inside quad-cabin. I chose this cabin as, when I was purchasing the cruise on the Tuesday special, it was in the category that was discounted and was cheaper than even in inside guarantee. Typically I prefer guarantees as I don't really care about locations and like spending a little time at least hoping for an upgrade. Obviously ... no upgrade came (huge surprise there).

 

Solarium by cmong, on Flickr

 

I found the location of this cabin to be quite convenient as I could turn right and come out of a hallway right by Guest Relations and the dining room, or turn left and and come out at the forward elevators. I always love banks of elevators opposite from the Windjammer and dining venues as they seem to be less busy. I could often immediately get an elevator and ride without stops as far as I wanted. I would often take the forward elevator to 12, then walk across the open deck and take the stairs to the Viking Crown because of the speed of these elevators.

 

Solarium by cmong, on Flickr

 

The cabin itself was comfortable and met my basic needs, though of course I would have taken preferred a balcony (which was about 6 times the price of my inside). I had no issues with water pressure or hot water ... in fact, the water almost seemed too hot and I had to keep it dialed back. My only complaints about the room are fairly minor. One ... the single bed was made up of the two mattresses pushed together ... something I don't remember from previous cruises. This left an obvious gap in the middle of the bed, and I had to adjust my sleeping position a bit to not be irritated by this. Next, I had a possessed phone which would not stop blinking, even after I had cleared my voicemail messages. I tried clearing messages and talking to Guest Relations, but this was never resolved. Not a huge deal, though a blinking red light definitely led to some irritations in a very dark inside room at.

 

Schooner Bar by cmong, on Flickr

[ashleyunc]

You may be getting to this and if you are keep going on your own pace but what was your take on the dining and did you do any of the extra cost restaurants?

[MERCE4]

Thank you so much. I often travel with just my 9 year old son and on 28th July we will be on board the serenade. You have put my mind very much at ease regarding solo cruising.

 

Hi seren123,

 

Have you joined our roll call board for the July 28 sailing?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1543803

[Topo Gigio]

I just came back from the 8 night Brilliance repositioning cruise from Rome to Amsterdam and also booked on Tuesday and since I was alone this time, I booked an inside gty. A couple of days before the cruise I was assigned an oceanview (4056) on deck 4. When I went to check in the lady couldn't find my key and when she came back, I had been upgraded once again to a balcony on deck 8.

[Iamthesea]

One ... the single bed was made up of the two mattresses pushed together ... something I don't remember from previous cruises. This left an obvious gap in the middle of the bed, and I had to adjust my sleeping position a bit to not be irritated by this. Next, I had a possessed phone which would not stop blinking, even after I had cleared my voicemail messages. I tried clearing messages and talking to Guest Relations, but this was never resolved. Not a huge deal, though a blinking red light definitely led to some irritations in a very dark inside room at.

 

The beds are always singles pushed together. ;)

 

Did you have your duct tape with you? That would have been great to cover that red blinking light. Always carry your duck tape! :D

[rmurray847]

The beds are always singles pushed together. ;)

 

Did you have your duct tape with you? That would have been great to cover that red blinking light. Always carry your duck tape! :D

 

Yes, duct tape should go EVERYWHERE with you! The most important non-edible substance known to man!

[tradewind2424]

Bob,

Thank you so much for your great review, pictures and taking the time to answer so many questions!

We will be taking our first Mediterranean cruise in July on Serenade of the Seas and we have not been on a cruise in over 20 years.

Could you please let me know what the dress attire was for formal night(s)?

Should my husband bring the traditional tux or is a a suit now more appropriate? Are ladies wearing full length dresses or cocktail dresses? It has been about 20 years since I have been on a cruise and at that time, formal night was tux and long dress......

 

(I hope this is the correct forum to ask this question!)

Thank you!

[Freedale]

As a follow on from the previous post. Where else can you eat on formal nights, if you don't go to the formal dinner? We're travelling around before the cruise, so formal wear may not make it to the suitcase.

Also, many thanks for the review, as a cruise novice I'm finding the information invaluable.

[CVU]

We were on the Serenade May 5/12.

Formal night was anything...... Tux or suit or nice shirt and tie? Many are limited now to weight when traveling and so I think what ever you can manage to take with you will be fine!!

 

We found the crew great but we both thought the ship needs some TLC. We were not looking for wear but after a B2B previously on the spotless Liberty, we sure noticed areas that needed some work or carpet replacement. The windows in the WJ&CL were terribly dirty after their TA, we had trouble seeing out of them.

 

We really enjoyed the Sea View Cafe again, after 63 days on the new Radiance last Fall!!!

[CVU]

As a follow on from the previous post. Where else can you eat on formal nights, if you don't go to the formal dinner? We're travelling around before the cruise, so formal wear may not make it to the suitcase.

Also, many thanks for the review, as a cruise novice I'm finding the information invaluable.

I would not worry about missing the main dining room on Formal night if you don't have formal wear. Many do not wear formal attire in the dining room.

[ScubaNPcruiser]

What a great review!! Wish I had met you on board. I would have loved to get some pointers on posting pictures. We loved our cruise and the ports were very breathtaking. Maybe we'll meet on another cruise. I enjoyed your review and pictures. Keep it up!

 

Thanks, Shan

[silentbob007]

Hi all ... sorry for the delay, but I'll try to get this wrapped up.

 

As for the questions about formal night ... there seemed to be a mix of formal and more casual wear. On my cruise, all of the formal nights were on port days, so I don't think they were as dressy as some other cruises I've been on. As long as you meet the minimum requirements for eating in the dining room, they are probably not going to turn you away since attendance is pretty light.

 

I have placed all of my pictures on my album in my sig if anyone wants to see more than the "selection" I have provided within this review.

 

Food and Dining

 

Dinner

 

Let me start off by saying that I have become fairly jaded when it comes to cruise food. The menus have changed slightly over the years, but I can still tell you want I am going to order for dinner the first night (onion tart, caesar salad, prime rib, no dessert). With that being said, as a solo cruiser, I was curious to try out dinner in the MDR simply to meet new people and hopefully have a good shot at conversation. Well ... that did not work out for me. I was encouraged by receiving a very nice table for 8 near next to the window in the back of the upper level of the dining room. On the first two nights, however, only one other person came to dinner ... an elderly gentleman who's English was not the greatest and who started to retell his stories by the second night. This put me in a somewhat awkward situation ... I felt bad for ditching this man and the waitstaff (who were very nice), but for my vacation, I was not going to "endure" a two hour dinner each night under these circumstances. I know I could requested a different table, but ... as I said, I've grown a bit tired of MDR food. In the end, I spent the rest of the cruise eating dinner in the Windjammer ... which worked out very very well (and I hope they moved the single gentleman to another table with people). Since people are always asking this question ... even though I ate in the Windjammer for 10 nights out of 12, I still put the full tips on my account, hoping to pay-forward for the times my waiters worked dinner in the WJ. I might have tipped the WJ waiters a bit too, but the service I received was competent but not personal (ie, stuff was cleared when I left, but no effort was made to talk to me, refill drinks, etc).

 

I was quite impressed, generally, with dinner in the Windjammer. They usually had a nice meat carving station where, on a couple of nights, they were cutting thick pieces of prime rib and then offering personalized grilling to get them to desired temperature. There was also generally a made-to-order station that changed each night ... crepes, soup, mongolian grill, etc. Most nights they also had make-your-own pizza with a large piece of crust and numerous toppings which would then be baked for you (this pizza was much much better than the pre-made pizza offerings). I was surprised by some of the offerings in the WJ for dinner ... there were theme nights (Indian, American, Phillipino, etc) as well as rotating selections like risotto, fried calamari, baked brie, cheese fondue, and coque au vin. I also liked the fact that they had a huge wheel of aged parmesan that you could chisel pieces of cheese out of (one of my favorite things on expensive salad bars). I would grab food and take it outside in the back and, most nights, be outside alone overlooking the sunset and the ship's wake. It was quite wonderful.

 

In terms of food quality, I thought that it was as high as I have seen on a cruise in a long time. I'm not sure if it is because of European versus American/Caribbean suppliers, but the food seemed better made. For example, I seldom had a bad dessert in the WJ, which is odd as I generally find too many desserts filled with tasteless gel (to be discovered with my patented jiggle test) rather than cream or other better binding. One night, baklava was a dessert selection and, honestly, if you pushed it down with your fork, honey gushed out (as opposed to just crumpling the phyllo dough).

 

Breakfast

 

I split my breakfasts between the Windjammer and the Diamond breakfast in a side room of the MDR. The WJ was a necessity for early mornings and the breakfast foods there were mostly standard with an additional European flair (English bacon, black sausage, etc). The make-your-own omelette stations were constantly mobbed.

 

The Diamond breakfast in the MDR was usually quite nice ... for those who don't know, it is the same as regular breakfast in the MDR except that you have the same waiters every day and you get free specialty coffees. This is one perk I like when the ship does not have a Diamond Lounge, as I like it when you can get to know waiters and have breakfast with your coffee as opposed to transporting it. I thought that the food was pretty good ... I started out getting eggs benedict, though I switched off of that to specialty pancakes (mango one day, papaya another) and then to French toast. On some days I would be seated alone (the waiters always seemed so surprised that I was cruising alone) and on others, I would sit at a large table.

 

Lunch

 

I ate most of my lunches in the WJ, though I also visited the SeaView Cafe a couple of times. Early in the cruise, the SeaView was a ghost town, though eventually people started finding it. It is a shame that it will be converted to a pay venue during the refit and I like having a free venue where you can get decent, cooked-to-order food, especially American comfort food like cheeseburgers (better than the warming tray WJ ones), hot dogs (Nathan's as opposed to generic sausages in other venues), and chicken fingers.

 

I thought that the lunch selections in the WJ were a step below the dinner offerings, which I suppose is not a huge surprise. I sometimes had trouble finding much that I wanted to eat ... there were always pizza/hamburger/hotdog options. On sea days, lunch could get very crowded, though you could generally find outdoor seating if you wanted. My parents complained about how crowded the WJ was on the Radiance after the refurb, and I can understand it with significant space lost to pay restaurants.

 

Room service

 

One day I did order room service and was quite happy with it. I ordered a steak sandwich on my TV, and was called a few minutes later to ask how I wanted it prepared. The food was delivered within 20 minutes. It was quite nice.

[silentbob007]

The beds are always singles pushed together. ;)

 

Did you have your duct tape with you? That would have been great to cover that red blinking light. Always carry your duck tape! :D

 

I kind of thought that they were, but for some reason, it never bothered me before like this one did.

 

You know ... I used to carry yellow duct tape in my bag, but I've since switched suitcases and no longer had it. My solution was just to disconnect the phone from the wall. ;)

[silentbob007]

Oh ... I thought I'd also add ... the "honey stung" chicken still appeared on Day 1 in the WJ and on room service. I know some people have always hated it, but my true hatred did not start until they started using breaded "particle" chicken (ie, a formed piece). Unfortunately, this new version seems to be here to stay.

[Steppy08]

Out of curiosity, what exactly is your "patented jiggle test" for desserts? My interest is piqued! :)

[Topo Gigio]

I totally agree with you about dinner in WJ. I asked the same question when I did a TA on Navigator if they cater better quality for european cruises?

To make a long story short, I never ate one night in the MDR.

 

Last month on the Brilliance same story, had all my dinners in the WJ. Good quality and outstanding service in the WJ. Even wrote in the comment card that this has been the best service of all my RCI cruises.

[silentbob007]

Out of curiosity, what exactly is your "patented jiggle test" for desserts? My interest is piqued! :)

 

If it is supposed to be cake or cream, I tap it with my fork. If it jiggles in the center, they used a cheap, flavorless gel as binder.

Edited June 9, 2012 by silentbob007

[ucfknight07]

Silentbob, you may be getting to this, but do you have the Cruise Compasses for sea days. I was curious to see what activities were offered on sea days compared to port days.

 

Thanks!

[silentbob007]

Silentbob, you may be getting to this, but do you have the Cruise Compasses for sea days. I was curious to see what activities were offered on sea days compared to port days.

 

Thanks!

 

I hadn't planned on adding them, but I guess I can. It'll be a bit to get them scanned in.

[ucfknight07]

I hadn't planned on adding them, but I guess I can. It'll be a bit to get them scanned in.

 

That would be much appreciated. We will be on the July 16 sailing and I'm curious to see what we might have to look forward to on our sea days.