Tried =X= Coming back to RCI Summit vs Serenade

[erniesband]

Let me start by saying this is one man’s opinion with a little input from my wife. All cruisers are different and I’ll be commenting on the activities and services that we use.

A little about us: We’re mid-fifties, and like to be active on our cruises. We are Diamond members of C&A, which made us Captain’s Club Elite. We tend to cruise in January to escape the weather in Ohio and have been on Southern Caribbean itineraries 10 times.

This will be a comparison of RCI’s Serenade and X’s Summit as they are very similar ships. Cruise dates of 1/5/08 on Serenade and 1/10/09 on Summit.

Staterooms and related services:

We booked an aft D1 on Serenade and had an aft CC on Summit. If you wanted an aft cabin on Summit you had to pay the up-charge and book a Concierge Class cabin. The CC amenities were upgraded toiletries, a Hasgroh showerhead, fresh fruit, flowers, upgraded linens, expanded room service breakfast menu, and a welcome bottle of (cheap) champagne. While the balcony on Summit was about 4 feet longer than on Serenade that space had to come from somewhere so the cabin was smaller than on Serenade (191 vs 204 ft). There is also more storage space in the Serenade cabin. The up-charge wasn’t worth it. As for our cabin stewards they both did their jobs as expected although I felt that our stewards on Serenade have been more personable and friendlier than on Summit. On Summit it seemed that our steward always had to “check with someone “ about our request while on Serenade things just happened. I got the feeling that our steward on Summit was afraid of losing his job if he didn’t follow the rules to the letter. All other things were about equal.

 

Dining:

We like the food served on Serenade in the main dining room and can always find one or two items on the menu to try. We’ve sent a few back but have been very satisfied with the presentation and taste. As for Summit, I can say gourmet descriptions did not equal gourmet taste. I found most of the dishes served to be rather bland and tasteless.

I did like the desserts on Summit better than Serenade. Coffee on both lines still needs improvement. Dinner service on Summit was more formal than Serenade; each course was served separately, if you didn’t order a course that others at your table did you weren’t served the next course till everyone else was. A nice touch and didn’t make you feel as rushed as I did sometimes on Serenade. Summit’s dining room was quieter than Serenade but that just may be because of table locations. I did like the large window at the stern where our table was located. Our waiters and assistants have been excellent on both ships, but once again I felt that the ones on Serenade were friendlier and had more personality than Summit.

The food quality in both the Windjammer on Serenade and Waterfall Café on Summit was about equal. Usually the same thing available everyday, not much variety on either ship. While the Windjammer uses stations and the Waterfall is a cafeteria line, both are mirror images port and starboard. We found the Waterfall much more difficult to navigate. Beginnings of lines, plates, trays, and silverware were hard to find. On Summit the ice cream station and the sushi were a very nice addition. The outdoor part of the Windjammer is much larger and nicer than the deck 10 Aft Bar, which is where you had to go to eat outside on Summit and you don’t have to put up with the cigar smokers (more on that later).

The Seaview Café wins by a mile over the Pool Grill. The Pool Grill, although the burgers and such were off the grill it was pick your burger out of a warming tray. The variety and quality of the Seaview is far superior.

We do not use the up-charge restaurants. We feel that if we’re going to spend the money for that type of food we’ll go to Michael Symon’s Lola here at home or a place like Agua Viva in San Juan.

We did not try the Aqua Spa Café, or the equivalent on Serenade.

 

Entertainment:

We prefer port intensive cruises and are off the ship all day so I cannot comment on the daily activities. By reading the dailies there seemed to be more activities on Serenade than Summit.

I’m a professional musician of 40 + years so I tend to be more critical of the live entertainment. I’m not crazy about the production shows on Serenade, however I must say that the performances and quality of show is much better than what I saw on Summit. As a comparison the Vibeology show on Serenade is a pretty high energy show featuring contemporary songs while the Night Of Stars show on Summit started with a female vocalist singing Wind Beneath My Wings followed by a duet of You Don’t Send Me Flowers followed by a guy butchering Piano Man, low energy and boring. On Serenade one of the headliners was the Temptations, on Summit we got Antonio Salci, “ an internationally acclaimed recording and performance artist.” Who? What we got was a guy playing the melody to songs in octaves with his right hard and chords with his left. I know high school musicians who play better than he did. If the Celebrity Orchestra that accompanied him played with any less energy someone would have had to check their pulses to see if they were still alive. As for the recording part, every garage band in America can self produce a CD.

The dance bands on the Summit were geared to the 65+ age group while on Serenade you get more contemporary and island music.

The string quartet on Summit was very nice, better than the Rosario Strings on Serenade. They played actual classical quartet music as opposed to elevator music.

I could rant for days as to the quality of musicians on cruise ships but …………

 

Casino:

I made my usual donation to the casino on both ships. Serenade has a larger casino than Summit. I feel that the dealers on the Summit were a little friendlier and more fun than Serenade. I don’t know why but I seemed to playing the roulette table with the same people every night on Summit, which made it more fun. There were a lot fewer people in the casino on Summit than Serenade.

 

Overall ship layout:

The sizes of the 2 ships are similar; they’re basically the same hull. There is an additional deck of cabins on Serenade, deck 10. However, Serenade isn’t as cut up and we find it easier to navigate. There are actually two decks (12 and 4) where you can walk around the entire ship. On deck 4 there is passenger access to the helideck during the day, excepting when helicopter operations are underway, and there are even benches up there. It provides an interesting vantage point. And on 12, the sport deck, one can walk all the way forward, as well. There is a multi-deck Centrum, which provides a more open feel, and a lot more glass. The central stairs on Summit are nicer – don’t really care for Serenade’s green staircase. There were some areas on the Summit, which seemed difficult to get to. There are more computer terminals on Serenade. (They have upped the bandwidth, and Internet speed was much improved. Because Celebrity and RCI use the same Internet facilities, this should impact both lines equally.)

The Safari Club on Serenade is my favorite. The décor and chairs are very comfortable. All I can say about Revelations on Summit (formally know as Bar At The End Of The World from their brief relationship with Cirque) is what the hell were they thinking? It needs a total refurb.

 

C&A and Captains Club

As many have discussed on these boards the Captains Club Elite benefits are nowhere close to C&A’s. ‘nough said.

 

Smoking Policy:

Non-smokers can stop reading here. While I realize we smokers are fast becoming outcasts in society in general, I feel reasonable accommodations should be made for us. Summit’s (and Celebrity’s in general) smoking policy was down right draconian. We were allowed to smoke in 4 areas outside and in one small area in Revelations. Portside on deck 4 was one, but they only had 3 ashtrays out there, so butts were in glasses, tossed overboard, on the deck, or in a mop bucket near the aft door. It didn’t make us look good, but I blame this on ship not providing proper receptacles. The other places were on deck 10 portside on both ends of the pool area and at the Aft Bar. Now, this is what really pissed me off. My cabin was on deck 8 aft with a balcony that I could not smoke on but had to endure the stench of cigars drifting down from the deck 10 smoking area. It was like everyone who smoked cigars, and there were many, used that area. So once again Serenade wins. At least you can still use your balcony and there are more comfortable and accessible indoor spaces.

 

In conclusion: I felt that while Celebrity advertises personalized service, gourmet dining and exciting entertainment they do not live up to their advertising. I’ve concluded that service on both ships to be equal. There are outstanding, average, and the occasional poor service personnel on both ships. The dining and entertainment on Serenade was better than on Summit. I’ll be staying with RCI.

 

That’s my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

Ernie

[BILL-WI]

You could be wrong, but you could be right! Some, will try to argue with you for days...

 

I'll just a wait a year and see you on Serenade in January 2010! Until then, bang on the drum all day!:D

 

BILL

[mgg42]

That's unfortunate about the cigar smoke. And it's also a shame that they didn't put out enough ash trays. I noticed that last year on Century, and I'm not a smoker (anymore).

 

Sounds kind of like a fluke about the cabin location and the cigar smoke. Kind of like some aft cabins getting soot from the stack, or being just above a loud area or something.

 

But I wouldn't hold my breath on being able to smoke on your balconies much longer. The smoke and smell most certainly travels to neighboring balconies. and as the smoking population continues to shrink, non-smokers are likely to tolerate it less and less. Enjoy it while you can!

 

Great overall review. Thanks for sharing!

[greydog]

OP QUOTE: "I’ve concluded that service on both ships to be equal. There are outstanding, average, and the occasional poor service personnel on both ships. The dining and entertainment on Serenade was better than on Summit. I’ll be staying with RCI. "

 

We frequented X in the past and agree that its 'superior' dining quality (MDR) has dropped compared to a couple years ago (under M. Roux). With X more 'comparable' to RCCL lately, the better C/A perks has pushed us towards RCCL, especially Radiance-class ships. BTW - if you want a real treat, pay a little more for Queen Mary 2. Happy Sailing in '09 to all.

[silentbob007]

Thanks for the comparison. Very interesting.

[BillOh]

Thanks for taking the time to write and explain your experiences. We are considering the southern route in '10 or '11 and was considering trying the Solstice class ship vs Serenade or Explorer. Even though I am a non-smoking activist, I kept reading anyway;)

[tocanada]

Smoking Policy:

Non-smokers can stop reading here. Now, this is what really pissed me off. My cabin was on deck 8 aft with a balcony that I could not smoke on but had to endure the stench of cigars drifting down from the deck 10 smoking area. It was like everyone who smoked cigars, and there were many, used that area. So once again Serenade wins. At least you can still use your balcony and there are more comfortable and accessible indoor spaces.

Ernie

 

Despite being a non-smoker, I read and enjoyed your entire review. On my last cruise (Voyager), the smoking from other balconies affected my enjoyment of my balcony

[erniesband]

I forgot to mention something about what I call the "hard sell".

On Summit there were very few announcements on the PA. It was nice not having bingo, sales, and art auctions being hawked all the time. As for the bar staff pushing drinks, sometimes I had to almost tackle a waiter to get service on Summit while on Serenade they can sometimes be a little over enthusiastic.

 

BTW I really don't want this to turn into a dreaded "smoking thread" so thank you for that.

 

Overall I feel that RCI has the better product. The extra $ spent to sail on Summit was not worth it.

 

Ernie