Serenade of the Seas Review
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We are RCL Crown and Anchor members but have never sailed on Serenade or to any of these ports. We knew going in the ship was older and is scheduled for a refurb this year. You could definitely tell that. A lot of the particle board items in our cabin were "bubbling." We also had to request a pillow top for our bed as it was hard as a rock and the pillows were flat as pancakes. Never had that on any other RCL ship.
However, the crew and staff made up for that. They were very attentive, always smiling, and went out of their way for us.
As to food...we scheduled Giovanni's Table for "First Night, Done Right" special. What a mistake! There were only 3 other tables with people at them and the staff was unfriendly and acted like they were trying to hurry us out. I had to ask for a wine menu to start. Our waiter was busy trying to cozy up to the table of 4 nearby but barely gave us a thought. He never asked if I wanted a second glass of wine. The food was good, but I wouldn't say great. I've eaten at Chops on another cruise and the food was in every way superior to Giovanni's. When dinner ended they brought me my dessert without ever asking if I'd like coffee with it. I had to ask for coffee with my dessert. I also did not think they had a great selection of menu items. I'll never eat in Giovanni's again.
Cabin Review
Interior Stateroom
Port Reviews
Antigua
We went to Nelson's Dockyard on our own. We didn't want our time there to be constrained by a tour. I'm a former history teacher and my husband is a fishing boat captain so we truly appreciated all the dockyard had to offer.
Grenada
Most everything was closed due to it being Sunday. We like to walk around and meet the locals, but the area was very run down and you got hassled a lot by people wanting you to get a taxi, or buy stuff.
Bonaire
We took a water taxi over to Klein and snorkeled for the afternoon. AMAZING. We are now planning a trip to just stay there for a week. The shopping area was clean and modern and there was a lot of variety. The people were so friendly.
Aruba
For our last day, we just wanted to walk around, look, do a little shopping and hang wit the locals. Like Bonaire, this port was clean, modern and had a lot of variety.