Serenade of the Seas Review
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This was our second sailing on an RCCL ship - the first was the Explorer from New Jersey in July 2007 (we had also done the overnight inaugural of the Liberty of the Seas in 5/07). We enjoyed the Serenade so much more. Even though the ship is smaller there was plenty to do and see and the service was top rate. Everyone was friendly and helpful -from the Windjammer each morning to the dining staff each evening. We did have one problem the first night in the dining room concerning the loss of our seapass card by an assistant waiter - but it was corrected and the head waiter did a staff change (new asst. waiter!) and all was well the rest of the trip.
The food was good - beautiful presentation each night. Steaks were a little dry though- wish they gave you "au jus" on the plate - but amount of food was enough for each meal (although husband ordered double on lobster night!) Our waiters Ilston and Jose were attentive, taking very good care of all of us at the table and very funny at times...especially when Ilston was teaching us the macarena one night! Of course it helped that we had the best table companions too - for lively conversation and making jokes at each other's expense!
Shows were just so so....the ships singers' 2 performances we almost fell asleep. The best night was the show they did on the last evening. We also saw the original Drifters - or 2 of the 4 of them!....but they still sound fantastic and the banter back and forth between them made for an enjoyable evening. The comedian one night was also very good; we missed the one night where there was a singer from I think Star Search...our dinner companions said he did a very good show though.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
We had the "bump out" cabin which was great - could see the front and back of the ship! (our last cruise the cabin was forward and because of the "bump" couldn't see the whole length of the ship). It was fine as cabins go - only thing I didn't like: the dividers between the cabins on the balcony did not totally enclose the space...you could see into the balconies on either side. Sometimes you just want to go out on the balcony in pj's and not have the person next door seeing you! We were on the starboard side which was great (except for Barbados as mentioned above!) because that was the side in portyou faced the island and could see everyone coming and going from the shipalong with what goes into docking such a big ship! Also it was very humorous at times - especially watching the people who partied a little too much on their tours return to the ship and try to make it up the gangplank!!