Just booked our 1st RCCL cruise - what do I need to know?

[bmc alabama]

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!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Clarea]

Can help with a couple of questions.

 

No Royal ship has a poolside grill. Some ships will do a poolside buffet once or twice during a cruise.

 

Staterooms are usually ready around 1pm. Rarely it's as late as 2pm.

[ksawyercruiser]

First off, know that you're going to have a great cruise. We love Disney ... but we also love RCI. They are very different but both are awesome vacations.

 

I haven't sailed on the Serenade but I can vouch for the MDRs of the Royal ships I've sailed on. The food in the MDR is very good ... comparable to Disney. Service is excellent, in my experiences.

 

No one can touch Disney's kids' clubs, IMO. But our daughter has enjoyed her time in the Royal clubs. But again, it's not Disney.

 

The ships have a real theater just like Disney. The movie schedule is in your daily activity list.

 

We haven't noticed any difference in disembarkation with the various cruise lines. Allure took a little longer but there were 6,000 passengers.

 

Cabins are usually ready around 1-1:30. Same as Disney.

 

My best recommendation is to read some of the trip reviews on these boards. A wealth of information. Also to make reservations for shows, etc. in advance on the RCI website.

 

Have a great cruise!!

[Gayle V]

Good advice above. Except I don't believe you do reserving of shows on the Serenade. It's a Radiance class ship. Last I heard, reserving of shows was only on the Allure and Oasis. And for the ice shows on the Voyager and Freedom class ships.

 

I'm sure some recent Serenade passenger will step in and clarify how it is today. It's been years since we were on her.

[goodycruising]

- 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?

 

We like the MDR. If you order a dish you really don't like, then you can order something else. We have found most of the items were well cooked and well presented. Not everyone likes everything, but I usually leave the MDR saying I ate too much again! We like the Windjammer buffet too. There are some dishes you like more than others, but where is that not true? The upselling is pretty passive in my opinion, just tables with the staff there near the entry first day, and near the windjammer sometimes, but they don't hassle you.

 

- How much will we miss the laundry room?

 

Not sure how much as we have only done RCI. I have had no issues sending all sorts of clothes to the laundry service and they come back later next day nice and pressed.

 

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

 

We find that they are looking to get you out of your room about 8am, and then generally it seems about 9am to 9.30am is about the last luggage call. That is for Australian cruises that finish in Sydney.

 

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

 

Nice big theatre and we enjoy the shows, both guest entertainers and production shows.

 

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

 

We have found they open the fire doors to your room corridor around 1pm, and I have seen other posts saying that already.

 

- How is the kids club?

 

I haven't got kids myself, but the parents we talk to seem to be very happy in general. Some kids don't even want to go off ship on port days as they are having so much fun. It can depend if it is school holidays and the kids clubs are pretty full then I believe.

 

 

Hope you have a great trip!

Edited March 7, 2014 by goodycruising

[spm422]

Regarding the kids clubs: We LOVE Disney CL. the Royal kid club is good, our daughters have had fun. They are just very different. It also depends on the ages of your kids. (younger programs on Disney can not be compared to!! But Royal does a great job with the older groups)

 

We have really enjoyed both lines for different reasons.

[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!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

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.

[amallison]

Forgot to address the specialty restaurants. We did eat at 2 specialty restaurants but I can honestly say we weren't pressured to eat there. We ate at Chop's the first night with some of our group because there was a special where it was $21 the first night (might be off on the price but it was around $21) and then we ate at Giovanni's on the last night of the cruise so that we could have dinner just the two of us, away from our group.

 

There were tables set up on embarkation day where you could make reservations at the specialty restaurants if you wanted to and didn't do it online beforehand but other than that, we never saw anybody trying to upsell the restaurants.

[garnetpalmetto]

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!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Good advice above. Except I don't believe you do reserving of shows on the Serenade. It's a Radiance class ship. Last I heard, reserving of shows was only on the Allure and Oasis. And for the ice shows on the Voyager and Freedom class ships.

 

I'm sure some recent Serenade passenger will step in and clarify how it is today. It's been years since we were on her.

 

You do not reserve shows on Serenade. We showed up right before the shows we went to and didn't have too hard a time finding seating. Pro tip - The Tropical Theatre spans two decks and there are entrances on both Deck 5 and Deck 6. You can use either, but it seems most people use the "main" entrance on Deck 5 so it may be easier to get in on Deck 6.

 

There's also a Cinema on Deck 6, which is more like a small movie theater and typically shows 2nd (or 3rd) run films - usually films that have been released within the last year.

[bmc alabama]

Thanks for all of the responses. We will be interested to see how RCCL "stacks up". We don't plan on hitting any of the upcharge restaurants, just the MDR and the quick service places. I think that this will be a good size ship for us as we like more of a mid-size ship (on DCL we prefer the Magic to the Dream and on Princess, we preferred the Dawn/Sun to the Grand/Star).

 

One quick question about the laundry. Is it real expensive to send it off? We usually do laundry on 7 night or longer cruises. On the other boats, it was usually $2 per load for washer and dryer, plus they have the irons in the laundry where you could iron your shirts.

[Clarea]

Thanks for all of the responses. We will be interested to see how RCCL "stacks up". We don't plan on hitting any of the upcharge restaurants, just the MDR and the quick service places. I think that this will be a good size ship for us as we like more of a mid-size ship (on DCL we prefer the Magic to the Dream and on Princess, we preferred the Dawn/Sun to the Grand/Star).

 

One quick question about the laundry. Is it real expensive to send it off? We usually do laundry on 7 night or longer cruises. On the other boats, it was usually $2 per load for washer and dryer, plus they have the irons in the laundry where you could iron your shirts.

Here is a relatively recent laundry price list:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=39709978&postcount=3813

 

There is also a $30 "wash and fold" bag they usually offer once per 7 day cruise. This is for items like shorts, t-shirts, underwear, socks, pajamas.

Edited March 8, 2014 by clarea