Serenade of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Husband and I (mid 30s) just returned from a 7 night Baltic cruise on Serenade of the Seas. It was our 4th cruise, but 1st on Royal Caribbean, with all others having been on Princess. We selected this cruise based on timing - it was the only week we could both get off work, and we got a great deal on the cruise.
Embarkation: Embarkation was smooth. We arrived at the Copenhagen pier around 1:30pm and waiting for maybe 45 mins or so in line to get on board. Line was long, but they kept it moving. The only hold ups that we saw really were disorganized fellow travelers, who did not have proper paperwork ready, couldn't easily pull out passports, etc. Nevertheless, we were on board fairly quickly. We did note, however, that there did not seem to be as much of a "welcome aboard" excitement as we got on the ship. My husband noted that very few staff members took time to simply say "welcome aboard". it was odd.
Cabin: We selected 8104, on the port side, just past the hump of the elevators. Balcony for this cabin was much larger than the standard balconies, and had a lounge chair and 3 regular chairs as well as a small table. Read some reviews that the noise from the Centrum could be a problem for rooms in this location, but we did not hear a thing (even when trying to during one of the late night Centrum parties). Location of this room was perfect, enabling us to almost never use the elevator as everything we needed was only a few floors down or up. Easy walk on the stairs. Only complaint that we have is that we only saw our cabin attendant twice during the cruise. coming from princess, where we've had our attendants seemingly ALWAYS there and visible, it was a little strange for us, but perhaps a RC standard (keep out of sight so as not to bother the passengers?? who knows.). That being said though, our room was always made up in a timely manner. The room itself was small, and perhaps not as clean as I would have liked (dusty along the drawer handles, things like that). Bed was very hard and pillows were BAD. However, there was plenty of storage space between the closet, drawers, cabinets, etc. and it was fine for our purposes.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
We selected 8104, on the port side, just past the hump of the elevators. Balcony for this cabin was much larger than the standard balconies, and had a lounge chair and 3 regular chairs as well as a small table. Read some reviews that the noise from the Centrum could be a problem for rooms in this location, but we did not hear a thing (even when trying to during one of the late night Centrum parties). Location of this room was perfect, enabling us to almost never use the elevator as everything we needed was only a few floors down or up. Easy walk on the stairs. Only complaint that we have is that we only saw our cabin attendant twice during the cruise. coming from princess, where we've had our attendants seemingly ALWAYS there and visible, it was a little strange for us, but perhaps a RC standard (keep out of sight so as not to bother the passengers?? who knows.). That being said though, our room was always made up in a timely manner. The room itself was small, and perhaps not as clean as I would have liked (dusty along the drawer handles, things like that). Bed was very hard and pillows were BAD. However, there was plenty of storage space between the closet, drawers, cabinets, etc. and it was fine for our purposes.