This cruise was a deal, and travel, from our home to Fort-Lauderdale, and back from Copenhagen was not a problem. We had been thinking about a transatlantic for awhile and the itinerary was perfect. Our cruise experience so far stands at 14. We have cruised Alaska, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Hawaii, the Mediterranean and Norway.

This was our sixth cruise on RCL, our fourth on Serenade of the Seas since 2005 and, unlike some reviewers, we found her to be in excellent shape, although some furnishings, especially the blue couches in some staterooms need replacement. Since the removal of the Grand Staircase, the Centrum has become a beehive of daily activity and nightime entertainment, albeit with inadequate seating for some events. Example: In a move to maximize returns, RCL moved the Future Cruise Sales to deck 5 from deck 12, thereby sacrificing some space from Latte-Tudes, our favorite coffee spot. This tendency to maximize RCL's bottom line should not be so obvious, but it seems to work. "Push" marketing is very present throughout signs, events all over the ship and printed material delivered every night to your stateroom. Nonetheless, if you can put this aside and concentrate on the positive, you can have a very nice time, as we did.

It is understandable that, with so much expansion and megaships joining the fleet, that some cruises are part of personnel training and this was quite obvious on Serenade. We had a few encounters with trainees but nothing unpleasant, just that the lack of experience was noticeable at times. Stateroom and dining room staff were very good. Read more