Anyone sailed RC Serenade of the Seas?

[gordylad]

Never sailed anything else other than Celebrity but looking at RC Serenade for a future cruise. Looks like an older ship, smaller but seems to be popular and had dry dock last year so any help with thoughts, experiences, best cabin locations.

 

And just checking because we are elite would we get similar perks on RC such as daily free drinks, laundry etc

 

Many thanks

[cruisestitch]

You probably should post this on the Royal Caribbean board. As to the perks, they are all spelled out on the Royal Caribbean website. There is a lounge with free drinks in the evening, there is no laundry perk. You should have a look at all the other perks on their site.

[gordylad]

i will do that but wanted celebrity cruisers thoughts on the ship for comparison

 

cheers

[Want2Cruise 701]

Have not sailed the Serenade but all of our Royal Caribbean cruises have been "meh".  Not great but not bad either.  All of our Celebrity cruises have been much more enjoyable except for our Summit cruise this month. 

 

Food and service will not be as good.  Also, the little elegant touches that Celebrity does I feel brings them up a notch. 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Want2Cruise 701

[TeeRick]

We have sailed Serenade but quite a few years ago (2009).  It was much newer then but RCCL usually keeps its ships in pretty good shape.  It is Radiance Class about the size of M-Class.  The Radiance ships are my favorite RCCL ships - good size with everything on them and a bit more elegant and less like the behemoth RCCL amusement parks.  As Elite you should call RCCL Crown & Anchor and join as a Diamond.  That gets you into the Diamond Club nightly which is a great perk to achieve.  I cannot really comment on food, service, entertainment etc. since it was too long ago.  We did recently cruise on RCCL Harmony and very much enjoyed it.  But it is three times the size of Serenade and much more crowded and full of kids too.

[George C]

Agree with previous post, lots of perks including discount on fare for balconies and above , happy hour 3.5 hours , free photo and other things ,call rccl to get your diamond perks. 

[dani negreanu]

Not on Serenade, but 4 times with her sister ships.

It is my favorite size, full of glass windows from where you can relate with the sea. Elegant ships, like the Equinox, but smaller, of course.

I always book a cabin on the hump (last time it was 8594), very quiet, central, and the view from the balcony is amazing.

5 years ago I've found the food on Equinox excellent, last December on Millie the food (and service) were disappointing. Hopefully, I'd have a better food experience on my next cruise (Reflection).

 

[Ontario Cruiser]

Did the Seranade crossing last April. Great ship and Elite hours 5pm to 8pm nightly.

OntarioCruiser

[George C]

We love aft cabins on all ships had a aft grand suite on sister ship brilliance two years ago for Europe. Those and humps seem to have larger balconies 

[39august]

Serenade and her sisters are the nearest RCI has to Celebrity S class ships. Not as quite elegant, but lots of nice art, views of the sea. good entertainment(but no ice rink), great happy hour for you as Diamond, fancy coffee machine in the Diamond lounge for espresso, cappacino, etc. at no cost, very nice contenintal breakfast each morning and decent snacks during happy hour. Also 3 drinks on your seapass card good for those drinks at bars during the same hours as the Diamond lounge. Food will be decent and service good, but neither as good as what we have experienced on Celebrity. A longer itinerary will insure fewer children. And families tend to take the larger ships with all the bells and whistles anyway. We sailed RCI for many years and are now Celebrity converts. But we are getting older and prefer a different dynamic now

[Donut23]

We have had the good fortune to have sailed the serenade and all her sisters .... married on the Radiance in Alaska.

 

Radiance Class is our favorite ship hands down.

 

lots of glass in public spaces.  Especially nice cruising in places like Alaska.  Dining rooms are all glass on each side.  We were dining one evening. On an Alaska Cruise and we passed a humpback and her calf.  Half the dining room ran out to see them.

 

comfortable size ship.  It’s NOT an amusement park at sea.

 

Small showers but storage in cabins is brilliant.  My scooter fits comfortably next to the sofa in a balcony cabin.

 

Aft facing cabins have KILLER balconies.  Check them out on Youtube!

[Redrobo]

Couple of photos from serenade. Shows the centrum(3), the self levelling Pool tables(1) and the open area at the rear of the Windjammer great for sail aways(1).  The Diamond lounge is on the upper decks, but gets busy depending on the sailings. Some people will stake a claim for their seats very early. There will be a top tier event where you will be able to meet the senior officers. A behind the scenes tour.  Great ship and generally great crew.

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Redrobo

[Dr. Cocktail]

We did Serenade out of New Orleans in 2015 - while the ship was in very good shape after a refurbishment, we counted it among our top 5 worst cruises.

 

The buffets were truly dismal with astounding low quality proteins and poor selection. The Park Cafe's sandwiches were suitable for Hospital Cafeteria vending machines to be served at approximately 2:28 am. We lasted one lunch in the main dining room and ended up eating in the specialties every night and then switched to having lunches in Izumi too!

 

We saw the Restaurant Manager doing rounds nightly and by night 4 he was coming up to chat with us. On night 6, he proudly told us that we had the most meals in a specialty restaurant of any passenger for as long as he had been aboard.  Being astoundingly polite (Canadian?!), it was only after he left that we laughingly asked each other: "Do you think that there's a reason for that?!"

[PhoenixCruiser]

We have sailed on The Serenade twice and have another booked for next May. As stated above she is beautiful and the perfect size. Royal does a great job maintaining their ships.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[lovescarborough]

It's 5 years since we sailed on Serenade. We usually sail Celebrity but we went for the itinerary on this one. It may be better now if it has had a refit but we found it quite poor. The cabin was tatty and the bed really uncomfortable. Also we couldn't even get our suitcase to fit under the bed and it has been fine on every Celebrity ship . We weren't impressed with the food either. We did enjoy the Diamond Lounge every evening, made new friends and really liked the cosy atmosphere in there. We didn't have a drinks package but never a problem to take drinks from there into the dining room. We definitely prefer Celebrity ships.

[Arzeena]

11 hours ago, gordylad said:

Never sailed anything else other than Celebrity but looking at RC Serenade for a future cruise. Looks like an older ship, smaller but seems to be popular and had dry dock last year so any help with thoughts, experiences, best cabin locations.

 

And just checking because we are elite would we get similar perks on RC such as daily free drinks, laundry etc

 

Many thanks

We love the Serenade!

Best cabins are the aft balconies and suites but they sell out fast. Cabins along the centrum are nice but you may hear some music reverberate, although I have not had that problem on deck 9 or 10.

You will get equivalent status on Royal.

 

[gordylad]

thanks folks I made a call to RC and within minutes we were Diamond members.

[maggieq]

We have done a Caribbean and a mini Baltic on the serenade. We love this class of ship - just the right amount of passengers.  I think you will find more similar to celebrity than not with the only exception of the buffet and main dining.  I am mostly loyal to royal but think celebrity has better main dining choices and buffet choices.  JMO....

Edited April 20, 2019 by maggieq

[CGTNORMANDIE]

The RCI Radiance Class ships are the most beautiful ships in the RCI fleet.  Everything faces outwards so you feel as one with the sea.  Even the elevators face outwards.  These ships were built at Meyer Werft in Germany to the highest standards in shipbuilding.  They also are considered good sailing ships...faster and more stable.  I know...I was on the bow when the captain took the JOS up to 25 knots and she cut through 6’ chop like a knife through butter.  I was also onboard the JOS when we hit a freak storm off Bermuda and had head winds recorded at 135 mph and she was still stable.  You will enjoy the Serenade.

[Langley Cruisers]

14 hours ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

Food and service will not be as good...

 

I know opinions vary, and I humbly and respectfully disagree with yours here about Serenade/RCI. 

 

We have sailed this class of ship many times and love it. There are windows and glass everywhere, the buffet layout is wonderful, the solarium is great, and the Centrum is very appealing visually. We found the service and food to be excellent on every one of our Royal cruises, Serenade included. I guess it's just a matter of subjective opinion. 😊

 

One thing that kills it for me, though, is the smoking policy. Sadly, Radiance-class ships (of which Serenade is one) has a terrible issue with smoke from the casino pouring out into the main Centrum. The smoke drifts up and down and by the end of a cruise, my eyes are stinging. This is one area where Celebrity has Royal beat, hands-down.

 

OP, enjoy your Royal experience. They do have a great product.

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, 39august said:

Serenade and her sisters are the nearest RCI has to Celebrity S class ships. Not as quite elegant, but lots of nice art, views of the sea. good entertainment(but no ice rink), great happy hour for you as Diamond, fancy coffee machine in the Diamond lounge for espresso, cappacino, etc. at no cost, very nice contenintal breakfast each morning and decent snacks during happy hour. Also 3 drinks on your seapass card good for those drinks at bars during the same hours as the Diamond lounge. Food will be decent and service good, but neither as good as what we have experienced on Celebrity. A longer itinerary will insure fewer children. And families tend to take the larger ships with all the bells and whistles anyway. We sailed RCI for many years and are now Celebrity converts. But we are getting older and prefer a different dynamic now

Actually the Radiance class are very close in age, size (90,000 GVT) and passenger capacity (2400) to the Celebrity M-Class ships.  Also a similar elegant feel.

[gordylad]

just wondering does RCL ever give free bev package offers like Celebrity?

 

tx

[Oceansaway17]

Only negative I have is the Serenade has done away with using the sliding dome over the pool.

They out up large screen and so not cover the pool anymore.

I like this feature on Radiance in Alaska back in 2012.  Too bad ships feel the need to have screens at pool. The covered pool area was good for themed buffets or parties.

That is why I prefer Anthem of the seas.

 

 

[dani negreanu]

13 hours ago, Langley Cruisers said:

 

We found the service and food to be excellent on every one of our Royal cruises, Serenade included. I guess it's just a matter of subjective opinion. 😊

 

 

Karen !!!

Great to see you're posting again😍

[soloadventurer]

Sailed on her sister ships beautiful and probably my Fav RCCL class of ship