April 26, 2019 Serenade TA - Is it LIVE, or is it Memorex🤔

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

Is Park Cafe on Serenade equivalent to Oasis as far as food offerings? Suddenly I have a lot of questions.🤔

 

Not at night. During day they have a salad bar.

You might find nachos at night in addition to pizza.

[ONECRUISER]

Love Serenade, done 200+ nites on her last 5yrs, have 4 Crystal Bricks to prove it. Ships got one the best Concierge around and last couple years ships had some the best food offerings in the Wind Jammer.

Edited April 30, 2020 by ONECRUISER

[John&LaLa]

30 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Love Serenade, done 200+ nites on her last 5yrs, have 4 Crystal Bricks to prove it. Ships got one the best Concierge around and last couple years ships had some the best food offerings in the Wind Jammer.

 

I guess

 

Mario is a great Concierge. I asked him to arrange for a tour of the engine control room for Patrick.  No problem. I think it's tomorrow. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by John&LaLa

[ONECRUISER]

Might make a difference if a 10/11 nite Caribbean, or a TransAt/EU.

Edited April 30, 2020 by ONECRUISER

[John&LaLa]

Just now, ONECRUISER said:

Might make a difference if a 10/11 nite Caribbean, or a TransAt/EU

 

No doubt. The above was from Baltics in August 2018. 

 

If we're still in lockdown I could do a two year anniversary of that one. 😉

[L454S]

The map on cabin TV for the day.

[bigeck]

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Nope, pretty much just Park Cafe. 

 

We went there late night a lot

Outside seating in the Windjammer is pretty good

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, bigeck said:

Outside seating in the Windjammer is pretty good

 

They tend to close fairly early

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, bigeck said:

Outside seating in the Windjammer is pretty good

 

Love the concept, and enjoyed a couple of lunches outside, but it got windy a lot and we couldn't enjoy it as much as we thought we would.  I've only sailed Serenade once so I don't know if the wind is normal or unusual.

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Love the concept, and enjoyed a couple of lunches outside, but it got windy a lot and we couldn't enjoy it as much as we thought we would.  I've only sailed Serenade once so I don't know if the wind is normal or unusual.

 

The outside area of the Concierge Lounge can be very windy as well. 2018 Baltics cruise.

 

And really bad if the outside door opens at the same time the inside door opens. 

[Sea Dog]

Curious how you liked Serenade to other ships you have sailed on?  Positives and negatives?

[Ocean Boy]

25 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Curious how you liked Serenade to other ships you have sailed on?  Positives and negatives?

I'll give you my thoughts. I enjoyed Serenade but we had a very port intensive cruise with only one sea day. It is a beautiful ship and I would sail again for the right itinerary. But we really prefer ships that have a Royal Promenade. Also, in my opinion, the pool deck and pool on Radiance class ships is just too small for the number of passengers the ships carry. However, the enclosed solarium can be a very nice and tranquil retreat from the Caribbean heat. Later evening food is very limited. When shows in the main theater get out there is a huge bottle neck of people as you are funneled through the on board shops area. And if you are really into entertainment then Oasis class blows most everything else away.

[bobmacliberty]

40 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Curious how you liked Serenade to other ships you have sailed on?  Positives and negatives?

 

We are similar to Ocean Boy and prefer the Promenade/bigger ships...especially Oasis Class.  Still had an enjoyable cruise though.  See the "Suites and Smaller Ships" link in my signature if you want to read more details.

[Sea Dog]

Thanks for your thoughts. I do like some of her itinerary’s. Not having a Promenade does make it harder to disperse people in this new normal. I want to cruise on as many different ships in Royal’s fleet as I can. Serenade is definitely on my list.

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Thanks for your thoughts. I do like some of her itinerary’s. Not having a Promenade does make it harder to disperse people in this new normal. I want to cruise on as many different ships in Royal’s fleet as I can. Serenade is definitely on my list.

 

Have you sailed any of the Radiance ships?

 

Brilliance is a nice little teaser out of Tampa

[Sea Dog]

2 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Have you sailed any of the Radiance ships?

 

No and that is why I want to try them. I've only been on Voyager class and Oasis class and hopefully this October (fingers crossed but I'm really worried) Freedom class with Freedom of the Seas. I've looked at Brilliance out of Tampa because I have not been to Tampa in a long time and it would be nice to go back.

[dani negreanu]

6 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

 

Red becomes Laura [photo quoted for illustration purpose only😁]

[kastke]

5 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'll give you my thoughts. I enjoyed Serenade but we had a very port intensive cruise with only one sea day. It is a beautiful ship and I would sail again for the right itinerary. But we really prefer ships that have a Royal Promenade. Also, in my opinion, the pool deck and pool on Radiance class ships is just too small for the number of passengers the ships carry.....

I agree with all the above. I do enjoy the Serenade and other Radiance class ships, but we also like the Royal Promenade. We sailed Vision for a B2B Southern Caribbean this winter, and that ship has a much larger, and nicer, pool area than Radiance class. However, other than for the pool area, I would not want to sail a Vision class again. Just too small for me. 

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, kastke said:

I agree with all the above. I do enjoy the Serenade and other Radiance class ships, but we also like the Royal Promenade. We sailed Vision for a B2B Southern Caribbean this winter, and that ship has a much larger, and nicer, pool area than Radiance class. However, other than for the pool area, I would not want to sail a Vision class again. Just too small for me. 

 

Enchantment has a really nice pool deck 

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 5  - At Sea

FWIW, Allure made being at sea sound a lot more fun

 

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Another quiet day at sea, Trivia got moved to 10:15 yesterday because it was a challenge getting the Safari Club ready since morning DL hours lasted until 10am.  Speaking of trivia, our team is flirting with the lead, I think we scored a perfect score today, so we are in third place now. First place is still a challenge. Luckily we have a lot of time left.

 

I recruited Shelton and Leslie @Beachammo and Caroline @Venice Cruising to join Laura, Pat, and I.

Shelton is really good, Pat is supposed to be our Gen X, and you always need a Brit, so I asked Caroline to join.

Leslie, Laura, and I are mainly for moral support.  Laura is pretty good with Pop Culture, though. Laura also brought us drinks from the casino.👍  Nothing goes with Fruit Loops like Dos Equis.

 

Speaking of Laura, she had knit group every morning in Vintages. It met around 9am and I generally helped place all the seats into a group after breakfast. The ladies seemed appreciative.  Leslie and I would place all the seats into a pit in the Safari Club after that. We were a well oiled, and well lubricated machine.

 

And since we had fun at Progressive Trivia, Shelton and Leslie met us every afternoon for Afternoon Trivia and Name that Tune in Schooner. We had fun

[John&LaLa]

As I said earlier, I had asked Mario to arrange an Engine Room tour for Pat. It was this afternoon. 

Mario escorted Pat down to Deck 2 where they met Dennis the Chief Engineer. Pat was a reactor operator on a Nimitz carrier in the Navy, and spent his time in the reactor control room while onboard. I thought he would enjoy seeing how a cruise ship ran.

 

Now here's the funny thing. According to Pat, Dennis and the rest of the watch team asked him more questions, than he had for them. Overall they hit it off very well. I thanked Mario for making this happen. 

 

Interesting enough, Pat wasn't interested in doing this on the Allure. I was suprised.

[John&LaLa]

Here is an internet speed test from today.

 

This one is actually not to bad, all things considered. 

 

It just doesn't work well uploading lots of pictures

[John&LaLa]

Here is the culinary team setting up for Master Chef at Sea

 

We never got to see this, because it conflicted with Progressive Trivia most days

Basically it's a cooking competition amongst several of the Department Heads. Most people seemed to enjoy it

 

FWIW, I may not do any more Progressive, it's to big a commitment

[John&LaLa]

Obligatory Ship's wheel picture taken after dinner

 

Noticed this in the CL this evening. 

Apparently the Royal Suite guests were peeved that they couldn't get a seat for Happy Hour, so Mario reserved them a table

 

Pat and I played Rock the Room in the Centrum. That was fun. 

 

Our towel animal for the evening.