World "shakedown" cruise on Serenade starting next week (Semi-Live Review)

[orville99]

7 hours ago, kernow said:

Just came back to the cabin to find this note, perhaps another update for the world cruise?

Have not received a letter yet, so maybe just an issue with your cabin?

[orville99]

11 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Ready to get home huh, ship getting old?

This ship was old long before we boarded it. Love the ship, the crew is outstanding, gaining weight from all the good food, but just not a world cruise worthy class ship  IMHO, rather than do a “Shakedown” cruise, they should have taken her out of service for the last month and refitted her stem to stern to a quality level deserving of a world cruise. Unfortunately, they decided to do it on the cheap.

Edited November 27, 2023 by orville99

[kernow]

5 hours ago, sgmn said:

16 nights, so £337 pppn, standard balcony. BCN to SOU segment, there's some nice ports not normally available in their standard med cruise. There's only a handful of balconies left now, hence the high cost.

We were on her for 12 nights last autumn so we know what we're in for. On Med cruises it's all about the ports. Think there's only three sea days. 

It was a LOT cheaper when we booked

We are enjoying the cruise, Radiance class is still my favourite class of ship but I just think RCL is changing crazy prices for what is nowadays a fairly mediocre cruise experience onboard. Everytime we sail with them there seems to be more little cuts, not much in themselves but when you add them all up it makes a difference experience than it was a few years ago. Lots of people onboard still booking at Nextcruise so maybe we're in the minority but we look around at the other cruiselines much more nowadays.

 

My bugbear this cruise is only 3 flavours of ice cream in the MDR,  vanilla,strawberry and chocolate. I usually get ice cream for dessert and they have always had pistachio, coffee,butter almond etc but no more😟. I know most people won't even notice but it makes me feel sad.

 

@orville99sorry for the moan on your thread, back to the positives now😄. Looking forward to our day in Puntarenas.

[lovesthebeach2]

10 minutes ago, orville99 said:

This ship was old long before we boarded it. Love the ship, the crew is outstanding, gaining weight from all the good food, but just not a world cruise worthy class ship  IMHO, rather than do a “Shakedown” cruise, they should have taken her out of service for the last month and refitted her stem to stern to a quality level deserving of a world cruise. Unfortunately, they decided to do it on the cheap.

Thats what I was afraid of too. I love Radiance class, Serenade is my least favorite.

 

But we ARE going on 2 segments to total 20 days with only 1 sea day, so we’ll be off the ship a lot.

[kernow]

15 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Have not received a letter yet, so maybe just an issue with your cabin?

We are on deck 9 between the 2 lifts and noticed a group of cabins further along from us having work done yesterday so think they are doing them in batches.

12 minutes ago, orville99 said:

This ship was old long before we boarded it. Love the ship, the crew is outstanding, gaining weight from all the good food, but just not a world cruise worthy class ship  IMHO, rather than do a “Shakedown” cruise, they should have taken her out of service for the last month and refitted her stem to stern to a quality level deserving of a world cruise. Unfortunately, they decided to do it on the cheap.

We said exactly the same thing the other day. For the world cruise it should have been in pristine condition.

 

 

[island lady]

8 hours ago, kernow said:

Just came back to the cabin to find this note, perhaps another update for the world cruise?

 

Crossing my fingers part of it could be nightlight in the bathroom?  Love those on Oasis class ships.  

[kernow]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Crossing my fingers part of it could be nightlight in the bathroom?  Love those on Oasis class ships.  

I'll let you know when they have done it.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Any other hints?

 

Actually now you can simply pull up RCI website.  The mini legs are now listed, with cabin choice and pricing.  🙂  I found my cabin choice listed as the other website did.  

 

And I did manage to get my cabin changed...yaah!  Center of the seesaw in rough weather is where I prefer to be.  And this is now starboard, with chance of seeing the shoreline as we go round the horn.  🙂 

 

 

[island lady]

22 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Thats what I was afraid of too. I love Radiance class, Serenade is my least favorite.

 

But we ARE going on 2 segments to total 20 days with only 1 sea day, so we’ll be off the ship a lot.

 

If you are in a balcony cabin, at least the "Scotty Beam me Up" showers are on board with Serenade.  Not the awful "TSA body inspection" wrap around shower curtains in that tiny space.  Ugg!!  😝

[island lady]

5 minutes ago, kernow said:

I'll let you know when they have done it.

 

I am bringing my battery "tap light" for the bathroom for just in case anyway.  Yes, please let us know if they install the nightlight!   Thanks!  🙂 

[orville99]

47 minutes ago, kernow said:

Looking forward to our day in Puntarenas.

When you get off the dock, turn left. That’s where all the shops are.

[sjb317]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

This ship was old long before we boarded it. Love the ship, the crew is outstanding, gaining weight from all the good food, but just not a world cruise worthy class ship  IMHO, rather than do a “Shakedown” cruise, they should have taken her out of service for the last month and refitted her stem to stern to a quality level deserving of a world cruise. Unfortunately, they decided to do it on the cheap.

We will be on 2 segments, one to Australia for 28 nights and the last one from Amsterdam for 22 nights.  In 2014, we cruised from Australia to Hawaii and then  Hawaii to Vancouver for a total of 30 nights on Serenade so I know what to expect, but the ship was in much better shape then.  We did a five night on Serenade in November, 2021 and were very surprised at how run down the ship was.  My husband said you would think with all that downtime during the pandemic they would have at least painted and patched.😂. 
 

I’m thinking if the cruise to Australia does not go well, we will cancel the one from Amsterdam.😂

 

Sherri🙂

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

When you get off the dock, turn left. That’s where all the shops are.

Last time we were there back in 2004 they sold these from a local artist.  Really nice.

 

 

[RFerrington]

2 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Thats what I was afraid of too. I love Radiance class, Serenade is my least favorite.

 

But we ARE going on 2 segments to total 20 days with only 1 sea day, so we’ll be off the ship a lot.

WOW !  20 days with only 1 sea day ?  I would be exhausted !

[RFerrington]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

And I did manage to get my cabin changed...yaah!  Center of the seesaw in rough weather is where I prefer to be.  And this is now starboard, with chance of seeing the shoreline as we go round the horn.  🙂 

Fab news ! Congrats on getting moved

[cruiselvr04]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

If you are in a balcony cabin, at least the "Scotty Beam me Up" showers are on board with Serenade.  Not the awful "TSA body inspection" wrap around shower curtains in that tiny space.  Ugg!!  😝

I hate those shower curtains.  Going for 6 weeks on Brilliance coming up.  I bring a dollar tree plastic shower curtain to put inside the cloth one that’s rarely changed. At least I have new plastic stuck to me.

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Crossing my fingers part of it could be nightlight in the bathroom?  Love those on Oasis class ships.  

Quantum class also has a nightlight in the bathroom.

[ONECRUISER]

10 hours ago, Coralc said:

That is kind of a broad range in time. I'm not quite sure how you could pick one that is more suitable. At least repairmen give you a 2- or 4-hour window. 😄

Yeah shoot for Decades at home Utility or repair Companies would give 6 hr window(am or pm), this when they wanted us to be ready for them. Now at least when they are down the list to you being next they Text and confirm you are there, ready and they will start your way. Lot less wasted time for both parties

[ONECRUISER]

59 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I hate those shower curtains.  Going for 6 weeks on Brilliance coming up.  I bring a dollar tree plastic shower curtain to put inside the cloth one that’s rarely changed. At least I have new plastic stuck to me.

About 9-10yrs ago they replaced bunch of Brilliance Shower Curtains and they were all about 6-8 inchs too long. Getting them closed to take shower, Wow! ...it was a mess or was standing on them

[Jimbo]

4 hours ago, orville99 said:

This ship was old long before we boarded it. Love the ship, the crew is outstanding, gaining weight from all the good food, but just not a world cruise worthy class ship  IMHO, rather than do a “Shakedown” cruise, they should have taken her out of service for the last month and refitted her stem to stern to a quality level deserving of a world cruise. Unfortunately, they decided to do it on the cheap.

Guess Royal didn't have much choice, no way were they going to use one of their Newer Larger ships when they pretty much knew they couldn't even sell out the smaller Radiance class ships for  a WC.

 

Seems like they have been doing ALOT of work the last 20 days you have been on, I mean they knew they were using this ship. You think they could have been doing some of this works months and months ago and not wait until the last month to try to cram so much work into such a short time.

 

Just seems like poor planning on Royal's part. Sure hope the actually cruise goes smoother for everyone's sake without lots of disruptions.

[sgmn]

5 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I assume the prices would be different for each segment, depending on the length of that segment and the itinerary? We’re on 2 segments in a spacious balcony on deck 9 and both together don’t add up to that amount

 

 

It's 16 nights, but almost full. The price was considerably less when the mini segments were first released 

[lovesthebeach2]

5 hours ago, island lady said:

 

If you are in a balcony cabin, at least the "Scotty Beam me Up" showers are on board with Serenade.  Not the awful "TSA body inspection" wrap around shower curtains in that tiny space.  Ugg!!  😝

For Those showers with the curtain, I always have lots of magnets with me, so I use a few to keep the curtain inside.

[lovesthebeach2]

3 hours ago, RFerrington said:

WOW !  20 days with only 1 sea day ?  I would be exhausted !

Some of those days we plan to just get off, stroll around, have a quick bite and maybe a glass of wine, and stroll back to the ship.

 

last month we did a B2B on Odyssey, and the first cruise was the revised “Holy Land” and we did some long, what they said were “strenuous” excursions. We were exhausted! And then the first week of the TA was also port heavy. We definitely enjoyed all the sea days after that.

[orville99]

Lots of chipping and painting still going on today. When we came back from town there was a crew member up on the catwalk above the bridge with a pneumatic chipper going at one of the porthole window frames with a vengeance.  Still a lot that needs to be removed and replaced (like the rotted door frame to the galley in Rita’s Cantina), but all they seem to be doing is cosmetically hiding the issues. 

 

There was a hatch door up on deck 12 that blew of of its hinges a few days ago, and yesterday they tried to fix it but gave up. Today, the hatch is covered with visqueen and duck tape.

 

Good news in the solarium: They found a piece of teak and replaced the board on the steps that has been broken since February, Bad news: the boards on either side of that one are still broken. I guess that was good enough to make the steps WC ready.

 

Still no heat in either the Solarium pool or lukewarm tub, and they have the AC cranked up so high in there it feels like you are walking through a meat locker - that should play well in Antarctica.

 

Had two new pillows delivered to the cabin this morning, but were informed that they were for the WC and not for us to use. They stuffed them under the bed. Oh well…

Edited November 27, 2023 by orville99

[RFerrington]

27 minutes ago, orville99 said:

 

Had two new pillows delivered to the cabin this morning, but were informed that they were for the WC and not for us to use. They stuffed them under the bed. Oh well…

Ha !  That’s a cheeky move !