Alaska/Serenade of the Seas

[paradise08]

For those of you that have cruised Alaska on Serenade of the Seas tell me what to expect from the ports and ship. We are considering this cruise for next June 2009 and have never been to Alaska or on the Serenade. We have changed our mind so many times regarding which ship and I think we have finally decided on Serenade. Thanks for all your input.

 

Donna

[Cruise_Couple]

We sailed on her sister ship Radiance... all I can tell you about this class of ship and cruising Alaska is... WOW!!!! You will NEVER be able to top it!!! It still ranks as our favorite cruise.

[PDX3Wheeler]

Donna~

 

We sailed the Serenade the beginning of May and the ship is absolutely gorgeous. I think we'll be spoiled from now on. The dining room staff was named 'Best in the fleet' for 2007 and the service was fantastic. All the ports in Alaska had wonderful things to experience and it was the trip of a lifetime for us. Go...you will love it!

[paradise08]

Thanks for the great feedback. I'm getting excited about Alaska and the Serenade. I love cruise critic you people are the best!

 

Donna

:)

[lucywestie]

Hi there, we sailed the Serenade last year on her last cruise of the season to Alaska. If you go to the reviews section and search under member Alaska reviews for Serenade 2007 you will see my review "Lucywestie" along with a bunch of others. I dont think there is a single negative review amongst them.

It was also our first ever cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had an inside cabin on deck 7 if I remember rightly.

I did overpack and we could quite easily of managed with half of the clothes we took. The only thing I found expensive was the laundry but because we were on there for 14 days that was a necessary evil.

A great place for trying to spot whales from the ship is on the Helicopter pad at the front. You take the outside walkway on deck 5 all the way to the front. I spent lots of time up there and saw plenty of whales, especially on the return trip coming through the islands north of Vancouver etc.

The one thing we wish we had done was a whale watching trip though so if you get the chance book one now.

In Juneau we went up the tramway to Mount Roberts and hiked the trails on a beautiful sunny and clear day [though very windy]

The Serenade itself is quite stunnnig. Having never been close to a cruise ship before, when we pulled up at the dock in Vancouver and we are walking on board I was amazed by the size of her, it really knocks your breath out of you. We never, I repeat, never had any problems with any staff, crew etc. They were very pleasant whether it was 6am in the gym or midnight in the bar. We also spent a lot of time in the Safari lounge at the back of the ship sipping drinks while on sailaway from various ports. Because of the huge amount of glass there is no bad spot to sit and watch the world pass by.

Make sure you take plenty of memory cards for your digital cameras as well, there are lots of photo opportunities.

Dont worry about taking extra storage for you room [the over the door shoe things people recommend] there is lots of storage as my review discusses.

We ate most of our meals in the Windjammer and the specialty restaurants as we found the main dining to noisy but the food was always good no matter where we ate.

We were a bit ticked off by all the jewellery stores etc in the ports and having never experienced a cruise before it was a surprise but we just bypassed them and tried to search out locally owned stores.

Loved Skagway as well, great for walking though I hear that if there are a few ships in town then alot of the towns get quite cramped with people. We were lucky as we were the only ship in town at every stop.

If you are stopping at Icy Strait Point then I just added a piece to a posters request on the Alaska Port of Call board so maybe check there as well.

Never saw Sitka or the Hubbard as we got diverted due to some bad weather but we did Tracy Arm and Wrangell which were both great places.

Hope this helps to pump up your enthusiasm! I was barely liveable with by the time the cruise came around. Gleaned lots of fantastic info from these boards and all very practical and useful stuff. Everything from tipping to dress codes etc. And re the dress, we saw very few tuxedos etc. On the one formal night we attended I just wore some beige dress pants, white shirt, tie and a casual sports jacket and those went the way of the Dodo after supper. Spent most of our time in jeans etc [but like I said, we ate in the windjammer most of the time so no big deal]

Pete

Ooh, also meant to add that we spent 3 days at the end in Southern California and has a blast [the ship docked in San Diego] I saw that you were California and I wanted to mention that we had a great time down there, very friendly no matter where we went!

[Sue L]

Pictures are worth a 1000 words as they say. Click on the link in my signature for pictures.

[Daycare Provider]

I leave on the Serenade august 16th and can't wait.....other than the helicopter pad for whale watching...what are some other not to miss places????? Is there a cigar lounge on board like the Voyager class ships?

[rclcruzer]

I leave on the Serenade august 16th and can't wait.....other than the helicopter pad for whale watching...what are some other not to miss places????? Is there a cigar lounge on board like the Voyager class ships?

Yes there is a cigar lounge on Serenade, 18 yrs and up.

Have fun, AK is so beautiful, don't forget the binochs and camera!

[PDX3Wheeler]

Bring LOTS of camera batteries & a charger! You have a tendency to leave the camera on for long periods of time. One of our fellow cruisers took over 3000 pictures (2 week cruise). I was going through 2 battery changes a day at one point. Check out the Chilkoot White Pass Railway 7 hour tour from Skagway (not thru RCI)...it was awesome! If you stop in Ketchikan the Allen Marine Misty Fjords cruise was fabulous. Can you tell we had a great time? See attached thumbnails.