Review: Serenade to Alaska August 16th 2008

[mom0f3]

Review: Serenade of the Seas to Alaska August 16th 2008

 

Went to Alaska for 7-night cruise on RCI’s Serenade with our family – adult couple, and kids 19, 17, and 15 We had a fabulous time and are happy to share our experiences and tips with others on CC.

 

Getting there/US Direct: Had a non-stop flight from Washington Dulles to Vancouver on the morning of the cruise. We got our transfer from the airport to the ship, which automatically enrolled us in US Direct. Well worth it! We didn’t have to go through the regular customs line or pick up our checked luggage in Vancouver—we were directed to a bus and taken to the airport. The next time we saw our luggage was in our stateroom.

 

The ship/FOV stateroom: Serenade is beautiful—lots of wood, marble, and glass and impeccably maintained. We had originally booked a Royal Family Suite for the 5 of us, but later I was able to find a family oceanview stateroom (FOV) available on the RCI website, which it allowed me to book for 3 people. I booked the FOV and an adjacent interior stateroom for the 5 of us, and it was $4000 less than the Royal Family Suite, with almost as much room. The FOV was spacious, with a large room with lots of closet space and a sleeping alcove that holds two bunk beds, and has a closet and dresser – perfect for one or two kids. Only 1 bathroom –but we had an adjacent interior for our 2 teens who had their own bath. It’s far forward, with nice views, and we weren’t bothered by excessive motion. Overall, I highly recommend the FOV if it becomes available for 3 or 4 people –five would be really tight.

 

The staff: They were uniformly friendly and helpful.

 

The food/dining: We wanted a table for the 5 of us, and were offered My Time dining. It seems there are two seating windows – we chose the late (from 8 to 9:30 PM). They did ask for an approximate dining time for the next evening. You had different tables each night, and might have different waitstaff (we ended up with two waiters), so they ask you to prepay gratuities if you sign up for My Time dining. This was fine with us. Food was variable, but plentiful. We always found something we could enjoy. Interestingly, the vegetarian options (especially the Indian food) seemed to be the most consistently good and well-spiced. Skip the steak and the fish (disappointing not to have good fish on an Alaskan cruise). We had lunch one day in the Seaview Café—salads and sandwiches – which was a nice change from the buffet. Dinner at Portofino one night was good—better steak and excellent attentive service.

 

Shipboard activities: There were a couple of destination talks by a retired historian on the history and geography of Alaska. These were a bit dry, but still worthwhile to us. We had our own Mountie on board who gave talks about the history of the Mounties – the one we heard was incredibly boring, so we skipped the rest! My daughter loved the singer at the piano bar, and hung out there nightly with her teen friends. We also enjoyed some of the lounge entertainment, such as the classical guitarist and jazz group. My son really enjoyed the sports complex.

Spa/Fitness facilities. Fitness center was very nice-lots of aerobic equipment with little waiting. Only downside was the TV’s were tuned constantly to Fox news. Corporate decision? Another suggestion would be headphones for the TV’s—got pretty boring just looking at the silent screen everyday. We signed up for couples passes for the Thermal Suite—a great area with heated tile lounge chairs, aroma therapy room, sauna and steam room. Very nice to warm up there, and we used it every day. My D and I also indulged in a spa special – 20 minutes each of hot stone massage, mini facial, and scalp or foot massage. Very nice, although you have to be prepared for them to push their products after the facial.

 

Teen Program: We rarely saw our 2 younger teens, who made best friends forever with fellow cruisers. Lots of activities for the younger teens – older teens seemed to do whatever they wanted. They also had an 18-20 club, where they had meet and mingle type events for this age group – nice, as those who are too old for teen activities often seem to find it harder to meet others on a cruise.

 

Destinations:

 

Icy Straight Point—We held off on signing up for excursions in advance until we knew what the weather would be like – it was about 75 and sunny—they told us it was one of 3 sunny days since mid-May. We went to the cultural legends/tribal dance performance. It was pretty low-level and expensive for a one-hour show, but I suppose it’s okay if you want to support the Tlingit tribe who live there. One of the bored-looking teen performers was wearing a DKNY sweatshirt under her tribal blanket! H and S ended up taking the zipline –they were able to sign up for an afternoon slot right on the dock. At $90 for a 90 second ride, this was pretty pricey, but they both enjoyed it very much. You also got a tour of the town on the way to the ride. It was not strenuous – you were seated in a chair for the ride, unlike many ziplines. My H had back surgery 6 weeks ago, but did fine.

 

Hubbard Glacier: Absolutely amazing. It was a clear, although partly cloudy, day and we had great visibility. Captain got within about 500 meters, and we got lots of great pictures standing forward on Deck 5 (Heliport).

 

Skagway: Another glorious 75-degree Alaskan day, in which we walked around in tee-shirts. After hearing about Alaska’s coldest wettest summer in years, we were absolutely surprised and delighted – everything looks better in the sun. We had rented a car on-line from Avis. We arrived at about 8:30, the car was waiting and there was no line to check in, despite the 3 cruise ships in port. We used Murray’s guide to navigate into the Yukon to Emerald Lake. The guide was extremely helpful, and we stopped at numerous scenic views, each seemingly more pristine and lovely than the last. Thanks, Murray! In Carcross, we stopped in the small town center and visited the Mathew Watson General Store, which seemed to have more interesting gift items than most places we’d been (including crafts made by First Peoples tribes in an Albertan Co-op). Caribou Crossing was touristy but fun. They have an inexpensive family admission to their museum of stuffed wildlife (including the world’s largest stuffed Polar Bear), and which also allowed you to pet the sled dog puppies. Fortunately, watching the dogs pull others around the track was enough for my kids, and we saved the $30 dollars a ride. We then stopped for sandwiches and very good cinnamon buns (including strawberry rhubarb and apple) at the Cinnamon Cache, and had a nice chat with the proprietress, Gail (who knows Murray, BTW). She was pleased to hear we’d learned about her shop on Cruise Critic. Finally, after photos at Emerald Lake, which really lives up to its name, we headed back to Skagway, and a bit of shopping before reboarding the ship.

 

Juneau: Our first (and fortunately only) day of real Alaskan summer. Cloudy with intermittent drizzle and temp hovering at about 60 degrees-we finally needed our jackets! We had arranged a one-hour glacier helicopter tour with Costal, which we’d booked on-line. They met us right outside our ship at the time scheduled. We had a nice tour of Juneau on the way to the airport. Our one-hour tour was just perfect. The five of us had our own helicopter. We flew for about 40 minutes and walked on the glacier for 20 – which was plenty! On our way, we saw a large avalanche – our pilot was so excited – it was the largest he’d seen in a long time. He asked if we wanted to land in that area (on the Herbert glacier), and we did. Apparently the Costal pilots have lots of flexibility as to where they land, based on conditions, what looks interesting, etc. The cloudy drizzly weather was considered “good conditions” according to him – they are used to going up in much worse! It was fun, if a bit slippery, on the glacier. Bring your binoculars and a water bottle to fill with clear, icy water from the glacier. On our return, we had a yummy lunch with excellent fish at the The Twisted Fish restaurant, right by the dock.

 

Vancouver and Departure: We’d planned an overnight in Vancouver and a Sunday morning flight home. After debarkation, we took 2 taxis to our hotel (you’ll need two taxis with 5 people and luggage, but it’s only about a 10 minute trip to downtown hotels). We stayed at the Hyatt Regency on Burrard. It was a great hotel with spacious rooms and very nice amenities, and was extremely well located – Robson street shopping was nearby, and we also were able to walk to the waterfront and to Stanley Park. We got a ticket on “The Big Bus” which allowed on and off privileges at numerous sites for up to two days. They do have a discounted family pass, as well as senior and student discounts. We all enjoyed a trip to Granville Island, and then walked to the beach. Husband and sons enjoyed Stanley Park, while D and I indulged in some shopping on Robson. We met up for dinner at the Boathouse at English Bay, which had excellent fish and great views of the water. H and D enjoyed a comedy club called “Yuk Yuks” Getting to the airport the next day, we had arranged a limo through Limo-Jet Gold –I’d booked on line, and they were there at the appointed time for pick-up. A stretch limo didn’t seem to be any more expensive than a taxi to the airport ($50 including tax) and it certainly was more luxurious. While we arrived two hours early because I was concerned about the wait to go through Customs and Immigration, there was virtually no wait, and we were checked through with our luggage and at our gate within 30 minutes.

 

All in all, a wonderful trip –I hope all of you considering an Alaskan cruise have as great a time as we did.

[Bonnie Voyager]

Which airline travels non-stop from Dulles to Vancouver? I am searching for flights for our Alaskan/Serenade cruise next summer. I haven't had much luck finding direct flights. I live between Philly and Baltimore so Dulles would work for me too!

[atv girl]

Spa/Fitness facilities. Fitness center was very nice-lots of aerobic equipment with little waiting. Only downside was the TV’s were tuned constantly to Fox news. Corporate decision? Another suggestion would be headphones for the TV’s—got pretty boring just looking at the silent screen everyday. We signed up for couples passes for the Thermal Suite—a great area with heated tile lounge chairs, aroma therapy room, sauna and steam room. Very nice to warm up there, and we used it every day. My D and I also indulged in a spa special – 20 minutes each of hot stone massage, mini facial, and scalp or foot massage. Very nice, although you have to be prepared for them to push their products after the

CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT, THE THERMAL SUITE, PRICE, HOW FAR TO BOOK IT. online or when you got there sorry for the caps did`nt mean it. thanks for the review we`re on the radiance next june.

[wrp96]

CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT, THE THERMAL SUITE, PRICE, HOW FAR TO BOOK IT. online or when you got there sorry for the caps did`nt mean it. thanks for the review we`re on the radiance next june.

 

 

You buy the pass for the thermal suite once you get onboard the ship. You can buy day passes, or passes for the whole week, you can even buy couples passes.

[mom0f3]

Which airline travels non-stop from Dulles to Vancouver? I am searching for flights for our Alaskan/Serenade cruise next summer. I haven't had much luck finding direct flights. I live between Philly and Baltimore so Dulles would work for me too!

 

United has a morning nonstop from Dulles to Vancouver with an afternoon nonstop return. We were very pleased--both flights actually left on time and all of our luggage arrived intact.

[Bonnie Voyager]

United has a morning nonstop from Dulles to Vancouver with an afternoon nonstop return. We were very pleased--both flights actually left on time and all of our luggage arrived intact.

 

 

Hmmm, when I checked on United I didn't see any non-stop flights! It is too soon to check for my dates (7/2509 sail date), but when I try dates for early July, they show NO non-stop flights! I wonder if that flight was discontinued? Or perhaps it is only offered in August-September? I'd love a non-stop flight!!! :(

[atv girl]

Wrp96, thank you that sounds so relaxing