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Royal Caribbean's
Serenade of the Seas
Cruise Review
by
Glenn Pelletiere
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 20:30:47 -0400
From: "Glenn Pelletiere" <Glenn@swarmmarketing.com>
Subject: Review
Just returned from my fifth RCCL Cruise in the last 4 years and this
turned out to be one of the best.
I booked this cruise in early summer and was very happy to get on
the only 7 day Canada/New England sailing of the new Seranade of the Seas.
Officialy known as the 4th voyage although there were few if any
kinks that already had not been ironed out.
Living in New Jersey made traveling to the ship easy, just a 1/2
hour car ride. Originally we were told boarding would start at noon, however,
I received a fax from RCCL the Friday before stating that boarding would
take place at 1pm. With this in mind, we arrived shortly before 1pm and
had a very short wait to board. C&A Platinum Members had a separate
line that went straight to the front of the line.
I have previously sailed on two other Radiance class ships , Radiance
of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas. There is very little difference
between them and Seranade other than artwork and some changes in the Windjammer.
Sailing out of New York was beautiful.By the time I returned to the
cabin my luggage was already there. I had an inside cabin on deck four
slightly forward. This is a great location on the ship. This is the bottom
of the Centrum and the Guest Relations Desk and Explorations desk is on
this floor. Also the Dining Room is located on the 4th and 5th Floor so
it is very convenient to those places,and far enough below the pool to
justify an elavator ride. Although, I commit to walking in lieu of the
lifts on cruises.
My family and I had a table of six on the fifth floor (Mom and my
brother had an inside cabin on the 8th floor)towards the rear of the dining
room. Dinner service in the dining room was excellent the whole week, food
and coffee was hot all week and every special order was taken care of including
nightly chocolate chip cookies for me , pound cake one night for my wife,
and blueberries and sour cream for mom one night. My 8 year old had great
service as well, she ordered off the kids menu and when she tired of that
she ordered off the adult menu. We had second seating and some nights Olivia
was up in Adventure Ocean and would come down at 10 pm to eat her meal
while we were just starting dessert. Generally there were 2 appetizers
we would each want to try and 2 entree's that looked good . Some of the
favorites were Beef Wellington , the Cod fish , Lobster Tails and the Linguine
with Clam Sauce. Thats right, even the pastas were pretty good.
Entertainment was excellent especially compared to last summer's
Europe cruise on Brilliance. ( I complained 3 times twice in writing about
the entertainment on that cruise and never received any satisfaction.)
The 2 production shows were excellent , good comedian on the last night
and The Drifters on the second formal night. Cruise Director Allen Brooks
and his team did an awesome job of generating a fun atmosphere without
being too imposing. Interactive activities were fun however some nights
we were too tired to fully take advantage.
Ports of call were great on this trip. My favorite being bar Harbor
Maine. Although we had to tender to the shore, once ashore it is a beautiful
place. We took the free bus into Acadia National Park and hiked between
2 stops along the ocean. We had a great time and hopefully will have some
good pictures developed. In Boston we took an excursion of the Presidents
, John Adams, John Quincy Adams homes and library and the Kennedy library.
Very informative for all inluding my 8 year old daughter and my Mom. In
New Brunswick my older daughter and I did the Kayak and Lobster Bake which
was lots of fun especially since we had such a nice day.
Breakfast was always in the Windjammer which was fine. I tried to
keep Breakfast simple to save myself for a big dinner. Lunch was either
in the Windjammer or the Seaview Cafe. Only complaint was that the Seaview
did not have drinks unless you wanted to purchase from their bar. Perhaps
this is a good time to mention that to help keep the bill down during the
trip, we purchased wine and soda prior to leaving New York and brought
it on board without any problem in our one carry on luggage. Later in the
trip at different stops I noticed signs stating that no Liquor was to be
brought on board. We would have drinks in our room prior to dinner and
occasionally take one to go on the way to dinner.
We returned to New York and had to wait until 11 am to disembark
as the port authority let the QE2 ahead of us and it takes quite a while
for a ship to dock the old way with 4 tug boats. We had a car meeting us
in the terminal which we were able to track down and we were home by noon.
All in all , this was an excellent cruise with some of the best entertainment
and service we have had in the 4 prior cruises with RCCL.
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