Serenade of seas vs Norwegian dawn

[Rolltider11]

Trying decide on a cruise over spring break with wife, 13 yo son, and 17 yo daughter. We loved Oasis and Summit was ok. We are pretty easy to please and just want to have fun and enjoy decent food, service, entertainment and activities. Not food snobs or anything. Prices similar with much better room on dawn for a little more with drink packages. Never cruised Norwegian but enjoyed rccl so if you've been on either or both please tell me your thoughts good or bad. Thanks!

[searoses]

Have been on both ships and neither is what you would call a party ship...that being said... ncl dawn would be my choice with kids....don't forget your white clothes for the white party...serenade is a beautiful ship more suited to adult activities...it does have a beautiful covered solarium for adults only...i

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I didn't like my NCL cruise, so I would definitely go with Serenade. Love that class of ship too! But thats just my opinion..:)

[searoses]

Serenade is more similar to the summit....if that helps...

[Rolltider11]

Hmmm, didn't love Summit, a little too old a crowd for me. What about Carnival Dream?

[Southernbelle73]

Just got off the Serenade and found the crowd much older. Took my daughter on NCL over Thanksgiving a couple years ago and we all had a blast. My daughter would have been miserable this past week of that helps.

[Rolltider11]

Just got off the Serenade and found the crowd much older. Took my daughter on NCL over Thanksgiving a couple years ago and we all had a blast. My daughter would have been miserable this past week of that helps.

 

This absolutely helps. Thanks!

[searoses]

Have been on all 3....ncl for sure...not a carnival person but my family often cruise on the newer ships....

[RCCL Fan]

I'm going to give you another perspective.

 

I was in the exact same boat last year.

 

We're doing a spring break cruise out of New Orleans.

 

Carnival Dream was out for us. I did Carnival once and HATED IT.

 

Way too glitzy and cheesy for me.

 

Did Celebrity and yes it's an old crowd and stuffy.

 

RCI is a great balance and Oasis is our fav. ship.

 

 

So gives you some perspective of us.

 

We were considering Dawn because price was good, and it brought us to islands we hadn't been to before.

 

Well I quizzed folks here, talks to the TA and friends who cruise and I chose Serenade.

 

Here's why

 

I'm told Dawn is one of NCL's worst ships, friends who got back said it needed a refresh and rehab and didn't wow them like RCI ships.

 

I'm told service on board was not like RCI. I'm told NCL in general isn't as service focused as RCI.

 

and Serenade's crew reportedly is one of RCI's better ones.

 

So, for those reasons I chose to stay with what we know.

 

but it was a very tough decision.

 

Search my posts and you'll find what others old me a few months back.

 

 

We're doing Serenade in March, and I'm pretty excited about it!

[American Bear]

Trying decide on a cruise over spring break with wife, 13 yo son, and 17 yo daughter. We loved Oasis and Summit was ok. We are pretty easy to please and just want to have fun and enjoy decent food, service, entertainment and activities. Not food snobs or anything. Prices similar with much better room on dawn for a little more with drink packages. Never cruised Norwegian but enjoyed rccl so if you've been on either or both please tell me your thoughts good or bad. Thanks!

 

 

 

Both are very nice ships, built around the same time, and about the same size!

 

NCL will offer you a few more dining options, and we like the tiered seating around the Dawn pool. (pluses for Dawn)

 

The Serenade is a Radiance Class which we think is RCL's best, (we hate the Oasis class) a very beautiful ship, and we'd grade RCL's theater entertainment slightly better then NCL! (pluses for Serenade)

 

The cruises you're looking at seem to have 3 ports on RCL, and 4 ports on NCL if that matters to you! (pluses for Dawn)

 

This is a RCL forum populated with many RCL loyalists, so most will say RCL is better, and on NCL's forums you'll get NCL is better!

Its really your gut feeling!

Have a great cruise!

[packercruising]

I agree with the previous poster. We are fans of both NCL and RCCL and you probably cannot go wrong either way. We have sailed the Radiance (sister ship to Serenade) and Dawn. If it was a beauty contest Serenade would win. We have had excellent service and food on both lines. NCL is more Freestyle, which we really like. The size of the cabin is important but not critical as you don't spend a lot of time there. In this case, I would go with the one that has the itinerary you are most interested in. Like RCCL Fan, we will positively not consider a Carnival ship.

[TryingCruising]

So I have not been on Serenade to compare, but we did sail the Dawn out of Tampa almost 2 years ago. We love the NCL freestyle concept, and we enjoyed our cruise. The ship, however, was a bit rundown in my opinion. Our balcony stateroom was so creaky and noisy in the night! I'd never experienced that before. Our toilet also didn't work at least once a day for a couple hours.

The most disappointing part for us was the food. Even some of the paid venues we tried just weren't good. Food is very subjective, but it is what made us decide to pay a bit more and splurge on Allure last year to try Royal again. DH and I thought the food on Royal was much better. (Again, I know this is a subjective opinion!) The Dawn comes local to Boston to do the Bermuda run each year, and I have had many friends sail and love it. It was our least favorite ship out of the four we've done (2 Royal, 2 NCL).

[Cindy]

Trying decide on a cruise over spring break with wife, 13 yo son, and 17 yo daughter. We loved Oasis and Summit was ok. We are pretty easy to please and just want to have fun and enjoy decent food, service, entertainment and activities. Not food snobs or anything. Prices similar with much better room on dawn for a little more with drink packages. Never cruised Norwegian but enjoyed rccl so if you've been on either or both please tell me your thoughts good or bad. Thanks!

 

Hmmm, didn't love Summit, a little too old a crowd for me. What about Carnival Dream?

 

I think the passenger make up on any ship will vary greatly depending on the time of year. I would expect almost any ship to have a much older demographic during off-peak times than during major school vacations. I'm a retired principal, and I used to have to cruise at Spring Break when the ships were geared towards lots of families and children. I sailed the same ship during an "off" week the year after I retired, and there was really no comparison as far as crowds, noise level, etc.

 

I do think the Serenade is probably more like the Summit than the Oasis...the size is about the same, and although I haven't been on the Serenade (yet!:)), the ship doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a ship like the Oasis. I haven't been on NCL (yet!:)), but many people really like the freestyle, relaxed atmosphere. I was on the Carnival Dream in 2011, and that cruise was actually what made us stop cruising with Carnival. Although she really is a pretty ship, (much less gaudy than some of the older ships), it was so crowded I couldn't stand it. I literally felt like I spent every minute I was in a public space being pushed and shoved. Maybe it was luck of the draw, but I thought most of the passengers were really rude and did some disgusting things. It left a bad taste in my mouth, because my perception was that some of the behavior was unsanitary/uncouth/shouldn't happen in public:rolleyes:, but no one from the ship ever stepped in to put a stop to it.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Cindy

[SaintL]

Ive traveled on the Dawn many times great ship, been cruising RCI recently now and honestly service was i cant tell any difference at all.

 

Serenade looks like a beautiful ship but with way less restaurants then dawn.

[NicNac4498]

I would suggest the Carnival Dream out of those three. It is one of Carnivals nicest ships. It has a great water park and I have always found Carnivals food very comparable with Royal. I also love Carnivals comedy club.

[RCCL Fan]

it was so crowded I couldn't stand it. I literally felt like I spent every minute I was in a public space being pushed and shoved. Maybe it was luck of the draw, but I thought most of the passengers were really rude and did some disgusting things. It left a bad taste in my mouth, because my perception was that some of the behavior was unsanitary/uncouth/shouldn't happen in public:rolleyes:, but no one from the ship ever stepped in to put a stop to it.

 

That was my exact experience on Carnival... way too many passengers for the amount of public space available. I was crowded. It was also very smokey, and I had an issue with a broken exhaust system in the burger joint making my cabin smell like burgers all 7 days. Carnival admitted it and just said, "sorry"

 

I haven't gone back since. I keep thinking I will one day, but hasn't happened yet.