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

[kernow]

Waiting  in Gatun lake to go through the final lock, Seaborne Quest is going through ahead of us.

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

Sailing down Gatun lake on our way to the last set of locks, then on to Caragena😇

 

 

Don't forget to be on deck  5 on the aft when going through the last lock and look up and see how high the water level is behind you.

[kernow]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Don't forget to be on deck  5 on the aft when going through the last lock and look up and see how high the water level is behind you.

Here right now.

[Essiesmom]

Unfortunately Gatun cam is all blurry, so here is your exit from the Agua Clara cam.

 

[orville99]

A few parting shots as we exit the Gatun locks and make a right turn for Cartagena:

 

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

3 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Don't forget to be on deck  5 on the aft when going through the last lock and look up and see how high the water level is behind you.

One of the mules snapped a cable, and about 20 Panamanian canal workers came on board to fix it so security blocked off access to the back of deck 5. Couldn’t get there to take the shot

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, orville99 said:

One of the mules snapped a cable, and about 20 Panamanian canal workers came on board to fix it so security blocked off access to the back of deck 5. Couldn’t get there to take the shot

darn!

[orville99]

Heading into Cartagena this morning. Cloudy hazy day. Too bad you can smell Cartagena long before you actually see it. The sulphur aroma is unmistakable and quite strong this morning.

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by orville99

[little britain]

My favourite city! Go to Getsemani @kernow

Edited November 30, 2023 by little britain

[orville99]

We will be here with Grandeur of the Seas and Aida Luna.

 

 

[kernow]

15 hours ago, orville99 said:

One of the mules snapped a cable, and about 20 Panamanian canal workers came on board to fix it so security blocked off access to the back of deck 5. Couldn’t get there to take the shot

We were standing right by the security guard on the port side and as soon as they cleared we headed round there. Just about got the pic.

[kernow]

32 minutes ago, little britain said:

My favourite city! Go to Getsemani @kernow

First time here, we're doing an RCL excursion, Amazing Cartagena Bay and Walled City. 

Meeting in 30 minutes so off to get ready now😃

[cruisin from florida]

I would love to hear about the shore excursions. We're going next fall.

[orville99]

Two maintenance updates:

Yesterday while everyone was out on deck 5 watching the transit, they actually had crew out as well chipping and scraping the outside of the elevator windows from the Centrum. The poor worker had to try to figure out how to sweep up all the chipped rust and paint while everyone walked through the piles he had made.

 

Today at lunch they had the Rita’s Cantina side of the WJ closed for “deep cleaning”. Why the officers were standing there with seating charts and crew were re-positioning all of the tables made little sense (unless they are prepping the area to return it to a Mexican restaurant for the WC)

Edited November 30, 2023 by orville99

[island lady]

15 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Two maintenance updates:

Yesterday while everyone was out on deck 5 watching the transit, they actually had crew out as well chipping and scraping the outside of the elevator windows from the Centrum. The poor worker had to try to figure out how to sweep up all the chipped rust and paint while everyone walked through the piles he had made.

 

Today at lunch they had the Rita’s Cantina side of the WJ closed for “deep cleaning”. Why the officers were standing there with seating charts and crew were re-positioning all of the tables made little sense (unless they are prepping the area to return it to a Mexican restaurant for the WC)

 

Wow...Once again I think it is really awful that they are doing this during the time that you are all on board.  This should not have been the experience you paid for. 

 

Shame on RCI for not taking Serenade to dry dock weeks/months ago to get that work done...or at the very least taking it out of service for the 5 night mini cruise before the WC officially starts on the 10th.  

 

Sorry you have to go through that my friend.  😞 

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, island lady said:

Sorry you have to go through that my friend

The people I feel for are the ones who booked the full WC expecting it to be a world class experience on a pristine ship. Hope they don’t want to look out any of the windows on deck 11 to see what they paid for, because half of them are permanently cloudy, and all of them have permanent streaks on them.

 

These don’t come off even after they washed all the windows😱

 

[kernow]

7 hours ago, cruisin from florida said:

I would love to hear about the shore excursions. We're going next fall.

Just back onboard, really liked Cartagena but it is very, very hot.

I have mixed feelings about the excursion, booked it earlier in the year after reading a @twangsterreview. From that review and the description it was supposed to end with a boat trip that brings you back to the ship. The length was supposed to be 4 hours 45. 

We met up in Safari lounge at 8.45 am, went on a bus to the old town and had a guided walk around, the guide was excellent. They then took us to an emerald shop where we stayed for far to long IMO then we had 30 minutes free time (advertised as 1 hour). One of the guides did walk us personally back to Hard Rock Cafe as DH wanted to get a T shirt however there was not really time for people to get food or drink or do very much.

They then walked us to meet the boat which cruised around the harbour for a while (very nice) and we were all expecting it to take us back to the ship. It sailed out to the ship for photos but then turned back into town! We then had to get off and catch a bus back in all the traffic with no explanation. The bus dropped us at the port gates around 3pm, by the time we'd walked back to the ship through the port area shops we got back on the ship around 3.30 only to find out Windjammer had just closed. Not great planning by RCL.

 

We did like the old town though and if we come again would just get a cab there on our own now we know where to go.

[cruiselvr04]

Our tour of Cartagena was similar in October and what I remember most was it was HOT! Even on the boat in the water it was hot.  And yes we spent time in the Emerald shop/museum but we stayed longer just to cool down.  I wanted to buy special chocolates, we found the shop but then realized they’d never make it back to the ship without melting so we gave up.  We ended up in gelato store getting very cheap gelato which finally cooled us down a bit. The old town is very pretty. 

 

[ONECRUISER]

23 hours ago, orville99 said:

One of the mules snapped a cable, and about 20 Panamanian canal workers came on board to fix it so security blocked off access to the back of deck 5. Couldn’t get there to take the shot

Watched them 3 times in last yr going threw Canal, they got to keep up constantly on applying/releasing tension on those lines, Then they wear out

[cruiselvr04]

28 minutes ago, orville99 said:

The people I feel for are the ones who booked the full WC expecting it to be a world class experience on a pristine ship. Hope they don’t want to look out any of the windows on deck 11 to see what they paid for, because half of them are permanently cloudy, and all of them have permanent streaks on them.

 

These don’t come off even after they washed all the windows😱

 

 

Frequent Royal cruisers know what they’re getting into but those who aren’t may be disappointed with the ship. Serenade has great storage in the cabins compared to the new ships and of course her size is what makes it a good world cruise ship. I love the enclosed solariums on this class. It is sad that they didn’t take her out of service a few days before to spruce her. 

[orville99]

9 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

 

Frequent Royal cruisers know what they’re getting into but those who aren’t may be disappointed with the ship. Serenade has great storage in the cabins compared to the new ships and of course her size is what makes it a good world cruise ship. I love the enclosed solariums on this class. It is sad that they didn’t take her out of service a few days before to spruce her. 

This is our 100th RCL cruise, and while the Radiance class is still our favorite class of ship, for $200K+ a world cruiser would expect them to at least take the ship out of service long enough to give them time to bring Serenade back (as far as possible) to the pristine condition she was in when she did her maiden voyage. They chose not to do that, and IMHO they are trying to do whatever they can cosmetically on the fly to make the ship look presentable while spending as little as possible in the process.

 

For us, this has been a great cruise, even with all the disruptions, but that is because of the itinerary, the crew, the food, and a fun bunch of passengers, not because the ship was remotely ready for any of us.

Edited November 30, 2023 by orville99

[ONECRUISER]

10 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Our tour of Cartagena was similar in October and what I remember most was it was HOT! Even on the boat in the water it was hot.  And yes we spent time in the Emerald shop/museum but we stayed longer just to cool down.  I wanted to buy special chocolates, we found the shop but then realized they’d never make it back to the ship without melting so we gave up.  We ended up in gelato store getting very cheap gelato which finally cooled us down a bit. The old town is very pretty. 

 

Agree. Where I'm at we had 56days above 110 degress this Summer but in Cartagena Hot AND Humid , Wow! On the Radiance PC Cruise last month we did the the Air Conditioned Bus Tour last month and when we had 2hrs walk around we ate Lunch inside.

[cruisin from florida]

Yikes! We're going to be there in September! I may revisit our excursions with a thought to the heat.

[ONECRUISER]

18 minutes ago, orville99 said:

This is our 100th RCL cruise, and while the Radiance class is still our favorite class of ship, for $200K+ a world cruiser would expect them to at least take the ship out of service long enough to give them time to bring Serenade back (as far as possible) to the pristine condition she was in when she did her maiden voyage. They chose not to do that, and IMHO they are trying to do whatever they can cosmetically on the fly to make the ship look presentable while spending as little as possible in the process.

 

For us, this has been a great cruise, even with all the disruptions, but that is because of the itinerary, the crew, the food, and a fun bunch of passengers, not because the ship was remotely ready for any of us.

Did lot so far what I've seen. For cost taking it out service for Month, lot of $$$$$$$ lost. They have had couple dozen Contractors on there for at least 2 Months. Replaced all Mattresses, linen, pillows, Cooler/Fridges, rewired Internet and extra plugs in cabins. Installed self serve Laundry. Have to remember even when Ship does usual Marne Side Dry Dock most upkeep is done while Ship is back in Service. 2 Ships I was on AFTER their Dry Dock for 6 weeks they were repainting everything white, removing-sanding-staining all the Railings on open decks and Balcony Cabins. That was weird though, on my B2B's one week my balcony railing is gone, next its back on. After one Dry Dock they'd replace all the balcony Chairs on one Deck, do next Deck following turn around day. After one of Serenades DD they did same with Mattresses, each week replaced bunch old with new. These new mattresses they replaced are lot thicker then ones they use to have

[cruisin from florida]

We leave on Tuesday for a 4 night. Hoping for comfy beds. It will be interesting to see what final touches they work on next week. 

Speaking of dry docks, we're doing the two TAs on Adventure next fall, with a dry dock in-between. I hope the drydock disruptions (before and after) will be interesting, but not in the curse sense if the word.