Text Review: Serenade of the Seas Scandinavia July 12, 2015 sailing

[SGCruiser2013]

Hi everyone, thought I'd post a quick text review of our cruise on the SOTS for the July 12, 2015 sailing. We were roundtrip from Stockholm and went Stockholm-Helsinki-St. Pete 2 days-Tallinn-Riga-Day at Sea-Stockholm.

 

Day 1, Stockholm & Boarding. Our party of 5 was Grandma (74), me (44), DW (43), DS (18) and DS2 (15). We had two Grand Suites on Deck 10. We had arrived in Stockholm the night before and stayed at the Sheraton. Very easy arrival into the airport, used the Arlanda express (tickets bought online ahead of time) to the Central Station, and then a short 3-blocks to the Sheraton which is right on the river across from Old Town/Gamla Stan. We arrived around 9pm so we just had dinner in the hotel, a restaurant they called Threesixty. It was just fine. The rooms were nice, two double beds in each room, and we had two rooms. The next day, we thought the coffee was great in their little coffee shop, and we took a taxi around 10am to the ship that the hotel arranged. The fare for the 5 of us was around 275 SEK. The ride over to the Frihamnen was pretty short, maybe 20-25 total minutes. Once we arrived, the terminal was not that crowded (the cruise officials said our cruise was at maybe 85% capacity in terms of people) and although we used the suite line there was not long lines yet anywhere. We filled out a couple forms, got our ID cards, and we were on the ship and at the Windjammer waiting area by about 11. At 11:30 the Windjammer opened and we had a nice long lunch. Rooms opened about 1pm if I remember correctly, and we couldn't have been happier with our grand suites. Had never stayed in a suite before and was surprised how spacious it was. It felt like about the width of two rooms, whether it was or not. We all took naps that afternoon, and we had main dining room early seating at 6pm. We did not attend the show that night. We did hang out a bit in the Schooner Bar with the piano guy, however, it was rather dead I thought particularly compared to some Schooner Bar crowd's I've had on other RCCL ships.

 

Side note: Kids both checked in to the teen area. They were strict as it related to my 18 year old (who had turned 18 about two weeks before the cruise -- bad planning on my part) and he couldn't go into the teen room. He ended up making a couple friends with some of the older teens and another 18 year old or two, but be advised that it's a definite possibility an 18 year old might get excluded. There were 3 days where there were events listed for 18-20+, but my son went to two of them and there was nothing really organized that he could tell and he quickly reverted back to the small group he'd found.

 

Side note: We bought the unlimited wifi package right away. One thing I like about it is you can 'logoff' and pass it around a little to use. Two devices can be connected at once, but more than 2 devices can use the user/password to log in, just as long as no more than 2 are logged in at any one time. Yes, the wifi was slow at times, painfully so, but I found at night it was decent and in port you typically didn't need it. Some people think "why get wifi I'd rather disconnect" but some of us are the types where web surfing calms us and is fun to do/keep up with. To each their own.

[SGCruiser2013]

Day 2, Helsinki. We did Helsinki on our own. Having suites, we spent some time each day in the Concierge Club on Deck 13 which we loved. Our suite captain was Jasmin who was wonderful. Jasmin got us some shuttle tickets and we took a shuttle to downtown Helsinki. It dropped us off about 3 blocks from the market/Senate Square/cathedral area. Very easy walk, lots of window shops and a nice interior street park on the way. We easily killed a couple of hours doing the loop and taking pictures, and had some bratwurst and fudge in the market area. Brats > Fudge. Our weather was great, about 68 degrees and party cloudy. We had big plans for St. Petersburg the next two days so we kind of took it easy. We went back to the ship and relaxed in the afternoon and then had dinner at Chops. The dinner at Chops was very good, but not excellent or outstanding. Can't quite put my finger on it, but it was just a relaxed dinner and the food was all good but nothing overwhelming. Maybe I'm cruising RCCL too much and need to take a break from Chops. Anyways, very nice dinner. For a show, I think this is the night that had the Beatles tribute band, Beatle Maniacs. We all thought they were awesome. One nice thing about the suites, you had a reserved section of the first two rows in the balcony and could generally walk up 10 minutes before and get a good seat. But honestly, the whole cruise never felt that crowded and the shows themselves filled up, but not with a mass line/crush that I've seen on other ships (like Freedom or NCL Epic, where you better get in line plenty ahead of time).

 

Side note: Windjammer I thought was consistent with other ships. We had breakfast there every day except 2 days I had breakfast at Chops where suite guests could eat. Chops was awesome. Made to order, very hot, yummy. But Windjammer was also good especially if you took advantage of the fresh/egg/omelette station.

[SGCruiser2013]

Days 3, St. Petersburg. This was effectively "why we came" and St. Petersburg was definitely a highlight. We had planned ahead to do a private tour with SPB tours as Grandma is a little slow getting around. As it turns out, seeing larger tour groups in St. Petersburg, I don't think she would have had any trouble keeping up and, in fact, it may have been nice to have been in a group of 10-20 people vs. just having our 5. We kind of felt "obligated" if you know what I mean to listen and stay with our guide the whole time. In the groups of 10-20, where they are generally wearing mobile earpieces that can hear the guide, I think there is a little more flexibility to not have to be "on your listening game" so to speak. Anyways though, our guide was excellent and very, very knowledgeable about Russia, St. Petersburg, and the history of Czars and Emperors. On the first day, we did the following: City driving tour, subway ride, Hermitage (9:30 early opening), Church on Spilled Blood, Faberge Museum, Lunch at Pie House, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and Peter & Paul's Fortress and Cathedral. We were definitely tired but what an awesome day. The weather held out except for just a few drops of rain over maybe a half hour period.

 

Side note: Russian pie place was great. Kids turned their nose at first but tried it and really liked it.

 

Side note: Bring umbrella in St. Petersburg because the weather patterns move really quick. It can go from sunny to cloudy/rain in a matter of minutes.

 

Side note: It was nice, but I could take or leave the Subway ride.

 

Side note: I was slightly disappointed with our Hermitage visit. First, it was packed beyond belief, even though we had early admission. And the building is not well temperature controlled. Further, I wasn't aware but our main ticket apparently did not include the impressionist exhibits which were moved last year to a new and separate building. At least that is what we are told (I still am curious and want to verify). It's probably somewhere on Cruise Critic that I missed, but once we were there it was a massive, massive line if we wanted to wait for the impressionist tickets. So we skipped that part and maybe will come back to St. Petersburg sometime to see it for I hear it's pretty good. We did however see lots of Rembrandt and the Da Vinci Madonnas and really the rooms at the Hermitage are spectacular, even if most of them are "rebuilt" vs. original decor.

[tray]

We are going on this same itinerary next July (first time in Europe!!), so I am extremely appreciative of your very helpful, thorough review so far!!! I am taking notes.....and waiting for Day 4 with great anticipation!! Thanks for taking the time to write a review!!