Worst Cruise Ship Experience & Big Waste of Money!!

Starting with my first Royal Caribbean Cruise 15yrs ago, then multiple Carnival Cruises after that, we decided to choose Royal Caribbean again because of how much we enjoyed the first one. After 5 Cruises prior to this one in 2018, I’d consider myself experienced and because of that, I have realistic expectations of what a Cruise should entail.

Well, unfortunately this one was the WORST ship (Serenade of the Seas) I’ve been on.

We travelled with a group of family consisting of ten people in total - 6 adults and 4 children. Three children under the age 10, one being 12 and the adults ranging from 40yrs of age to 60 yrs of age.

We were amongst 1800 senior citizens, if not more! (Nothing against seniors, for the record) They should just market this Cruise for seniors, and not families traveling with little ones. 2/3 pools were closed on the ship. Jumbo TV over the main area was broken so there were no movie nights for the entire 7 day duration of the Cruise.

Kid friendly night club was closed, as well as most of the child friendly activities weren’t running. There’s one indoor pool on the boat, which was considered “adult only” however nobody mentions that children are allowed to swim 2hrs per day during a scheduled period until the very last day of the Cruise - THANKS!

The formal dining service was not very good and the food was mediocre at best. The Matradee (short, balding, mid 50’s, Greek type fellow) responsible for looking after the guests dining experience, purposely ignored our table every night, only catering to the senior citizens. It was almost comical watching him squirm and go out of his way to Ignore our table. We travelled in a pack of 10, it would be pretty hard not to see us!!

The daycare centre was phenomenal and for the kids, one of the highlights of the trip. They were excellent with our kids and they enjoyed their time & activities at “Adventure Ocean”.

The boat was very dated and it showed in all areas of the ship,

There was next to no child friendly live entertainment and unless you wanted to listen to vulgarity, you were out of luck.

This Cruise fell WAY below my expectations, especially for the high standard I remembered Royal Caribbean to have. It was such a bad experience, I have no reason to ever book again with them.

Carnival Cruise line was way better. SO much more of a friendlier family, single and couples ship and to top it off....so much more affordable!!

Royal Caribbean, you dropped the ball big time!!