Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas - Cruise Review

Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 14:42:42 -0500
From: evslayton@msn.com (Susan Layton)
Subject: Review

The cruise was enjoyable, primarily the families we went with were a big part of it. We arrived at the Phila. Pa. port and had an easy time getting on the ship. We arrived with a total of 8 families and our first problem was the first day in the dining room. We were not seated as promised by Royal in the dining room. Our intended diners were placed very sporatically and when we approached the Head Waiter, he basically could not be bothered with accomodating us. He only became attentive towards the end when the tip was getting closer. I gave his a tip-it was not on green paper. The food the entire cruise was OK. I would not consider the entree's as spectacular or above average. I would actually state average. The sequence and stated dress codes were poor, since we were told at least 2 semi-formal nights, when in fact, only 2 formals and the remainder were casual. I have no problem with that, but I was forced to pack inconsistent of the projected dress code.

This included apporx. 8 outfits for a family of four that I either did not need to buy or even bring.

The Guest Relations desk was very unhelpful the majority of the time and we felt as though when we needed them, they could not be bothered.

The private island of LaBadee was filthy. The water had floating syringes, broken glass, plastic bags, straws and not maintained to 100% cleanliness.

The ADVENTURE OCEAN for kids was outstanding. They were so sweet, helpful and attentive to the kids while in the program or just in passing on the ship. They were a great and dedicated group of individuals and I could not say enough about that program. Our children begged to go back as soon as dinner ended. Our server Vit and Maurice were the best. Could not have had better servers and we were sad to leave them. They made dinner a pleasant experience, even though the food was OK. Our stateroom attendent Simon was great, although the rooms are extremely small for 2 children, 2 adults and luggage for 10 days. We made use of every nook and cranny that we could. The cruise director Allen was a swell guy when on stage and he really made you laugh when he would add his 2 cents. The shows were also outstanding and we enjoyed that every night. The casino was wonderful and the staff working there were also a real delight. I enjoyed winding down there after a long day.

Our disembarking was a joke. We had to get up by 6:30am to get ready to have breakfast, finish packing and be out of room by 8am. We did all of that and then with no room, no activites, no where to buy drinks or snacks, we sat in the Pit Stop Ba(closed) waiting to be called off the ship until 11:30am. Finally, I stood up and asked the BINGO MAN how much longer before they will call us to get off. He looked down at my 9 yr old and my 7 yr old and said-Just tell them I told you to get off. I could no longer amuse my children. A better way of disembarking is needed and just because I had no flight or quick need to get off the ship, I should have never had to sit around for almost 4 hrs. doing nothing but saying sit down, don't touch that, keep your voice down and stop running. I had to accept what they were doing since they had already been up for 5 hrs. with nothing to do. We had big plan of going to our hotel, giving them our luggage and going to the beach. By the time we got off the ship and got our luggage and to the hotel, it was only 1 hr. I could have been settled by then.

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