I booked this cruise with my 23 year old daughter for a mother/daughter trip. We booked Serenade due to the itinerary meeting our needs. We previously sailed RC as a family on the Oasis and Freedom. We loved both of the previous cruises. I was a bit hesitant booking such a small ship but figured it was only 5 days and would be great regardless of size.
Embarkation was wonderful. We were on the ...
Let me start by saying that we loved to cruise with Royal Carribean (7 years already) and did exactly the same trip with the same ship 2 years ago before the refresh of the ship.
Over the years we have noticed that the benefits and extra's you get on Royal Carribean are going downwards every year.
A few years ago there was a chocolate fontain with strawberries for example which is gone.
The ...
My girlfriend and I sailed on Serenade of the Seas on a 12 night Mediterranean cruise. We are in our late 40s. This was our first cruise on RCI and 7th overall for each of us. It was our longest cruise and the first time in Europe for me. In a nutshell we loved the ports, the service, but were disappointed in the ship overall.
Travel to Barcelona: We flew from non-stop from Miami to Barcelona; an ...
A general review of Serenade of the Seas
Before embarkation, I had read so much about the Serenade. I heard she was beautiful, I heard she had a facelift and I'd heard various other rumors about what this lady would be like before I had an opportunity to actually meet her in person.
The Serenade does not disappoint in person and her recent time in dry dock has been worthwhile. I've had the ...
I am going to focus on the negatives first, just to get it off my chest, and then we'll get into all the good stuff!
Royal Caribbean is cutting corners. Since I last cruised with them a year ago, they have gotten rid of the Assistant Cabin Stewards. Now the Cabin Stewards have to do double duty on their own. Also gone are the chocolates on the pillow, the stationery in the drawer and the pen ...
First of all let me say that booking a suite out the aft of the ship sounded good at the time but turned out to be a disaster. I did however do my due dilegence and ask about what was above,the noise level and the movement of the boat before booking this and was reassured that it was "THE BEST ROOM ON THE SHIP" Deck 10 (the highest, room 1602). The windjammer is right above and from 6am the chairs ...
On June 23, we arrived to Barcelona - a day prior to embarkation. We attempt to use public transportation when possible and due to the location of our Marriott Renaissance hotel, we opted to take the RENFE train from the airport. It all worked fine, however, note that we had to find the free green shuttle bus to the other terminal that connects to the train. As we were staying in Barcelona a day ...
Flew from Atlanta nonstop to Barcelona and stayed 2 days in king suite at Casa Camper which is a unique hotel close to Las Ramblas . Embarkation was very slow because we had one cruiser who needed wheelchair-we waited at least 45 minutes for an attendant. Both of our junior suites were available when we checked in at 1pm but bags didn't arrive until 530 pm. Cabin was great- I quickly
Gave my ...
This was our 19th cruise, 18 on Royal Caribbean and one on Celebrity, and we chose it to introduce family members to cruising. We had done this cruise in 2009 and knew it was awe inspiring. Our air travel was a nightmare - late out of DFW due to a missing log book (took an hour to locate), we missed our connection in Madrid to Barcelona. Got another flight which was also delayed due to mechanical ...
As a first-time cruiser, I thought I would provide some tips following our cruise on the serenade of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. We flew from the UK to Barcelona and were transferred from the airport to the ship via a coach. There was a very long queue for embarkation and this took quite some time. The process is quite easy and involves setting up an on-board account whereupon you are handed a ...