SHIP - My partner and I are in our 60s, 6th cruise, 4th on RCI. We love the size of the Serenade, the enclosed pool, the ease of navigating around the ship, and the elevators with glass overlooking the ocean. It’s not too big, not too small. We sailed on the Serenade back in 2008, so we were curious what the newly updated ship looked like. The main updates were in the Centrum: where it used to be a pleasantly pastel-colored, rather quiet gathering place for a drink, it is now energized with dramatic lighting, and has become the venue for a lot of ship activities. The decor is now mostly white with baroque curly-cues backlit with multi-colored LED lighting, changed for different events. Alas, a dramatic glass staircase was removed, presumably to make more room. Unfortunately, there still isn't enough spectator or participant space for big events, and people crowd the main floor and fill every balcony, bobbing around trying to see over all the heads. A small-scale Cirque du Soliel style acrobatic act was added to the Centrum, but it only played once (briefly) on our cruise. A scheduled performance was cancelled due to mild ship movement.

CRUISE - Our cabin (9210) was not much updated, but was fine. The bulky CRT TV set was replaced with a flat screen TV, but little else was changed. The old, beat-up couches were still there! Generally, though, we were pleased with the cabin, which had plenty of storage, and was clean and well managed by the capable, if not overly friendly, staff. A slightly worn sofa does not ruin a good cruise.

Our cruise was the "7-night Western Caribbean Cruise" on March 1, 2014. We arrived in New Orleans three days early and enjoyed a stay in the Residence Inn New Orleans Downtown on St. Joseph St., a pleasant loft-like hotel only a 3 blocks from the cruise terminal and about a mile from the French Quarter. Recommended. Embarkation in New Orleans was slower and more congested than any we've had in 6 cruises, but the New Orleans terminal is small compared to the much larger Florida terminals. Baggage handling both coming and going was fast and efficient. Read more