The not so good points:

This was my third cruise with Royal Caribbean (I had previously sailed on Enchantment of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas), and I have to say I was disappointed with this trip. I booked the trip aboard Serenade of the Seas because the departure port was close to my home and because it was one of the newer RCCL ships. We had a great time, but we didn't think this trip was up to par with the other RCCL trips we'd taken.

Embarkation was a mess (we'd never had this problem before). The posted departure times (listed in my cruise documents as well as the web site) indicated all 2500 passengers would board between 2:00 and 4:00 for a 5:00 departure. It seemed everyone arrived at 2:00. We waited in a long line (the Online Check-in line) when we arrived. Our friends who did not do the online check-in actually got through their line 15 minutes quicker than we did (so there was actually a disadvantage for us in doing the online check-in). Once we finally got our sea pass cards, we had to wait another 45 minutes or so for our group to be called to board. Unfortunately, during that time, the public address system broke, and people had no idea what group was being called. So, eventually, everyone just ended up in a giant line to board the ship (regardless of their group number). I've never seen such a disorganized mess before! Also, the ship actually didn't sail until 8pm (there was apparently a misprint in the departure time). Read more