We booked this Baltic Sea cruise because of the itinerary, especially because it spent 3 days in St. Petersburg and included a stop in Riga, Latvia (other cruise lines did not stop here). Having been on many cruises, on other cruise lines, here's my impression about RCCL Serenade of the Seas:
Check-in and embarkation is a breeze providing you have done all of the registration online and ...
First let me say that my wife and I are not active cruisers, having taken fewer than 8 in our 50 years together. We prefer to plan our own trips and see things on our own. We chose the Baltic cruise on RCI because of the 3 days in St. Petersburg and we didn't want to try Russia on our own. It was a mistake we will not make again. If we ever cruise again, it will not be with RCI.
Embarkation ...
We chose this cruise because of the 3 days in St Petersburg, adding a few days before in Copenhagen, and after with Stockholm, Norway in a nutshell, and Bergen. A long trip.
Ports
Stockholm Was so Hot! We enjoyed our Steves walking tours and meeting with a friend from home for lunch before he went home the next day. Lots to see and do, ran out of time.
Helsinki- cold. Steves walking tour. ...
Chose this cruise mainly to see St Petersburg, Estonia, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Excellent to have the overnights in Stockholm and Copenhagen and especially two nights in St Petersburg. We found both the embarkation and disembarkation went well for us and I didn't hear anyone we spoke to complaining about it. Found the ship easy to navigate and liked that there are not too many people on ...
We’d booked the Mediterranean cruise onboard Freedom of the Seas & wanted to try out the Baltic & Russia cruise with Royal Caribbean. We found the ship smaller but enjoyable but having been on the larger ship Freedom of the Seas it felt like a downgrade. No soda dispenser machine & awkward to be asking at a bar for soda top ups. Highlight was the cinema & the excellent movies. Hardly anyone ever ...
We’re a family of six that had a most lovely time aboard the Serenade of the Seas for a 7 night voyage across the Baltic Sea.
Our trip began with a little bit of conflict as one of our suitcases did not make it to Stockholm. Onboard the Serenade, Jasmine was most helpful by calling us every day, several times a day, to tell us of the latest whereabouts of the bag. She really went above and ...
We've been cruising with Disney before RC, and even considering the fact that Disney is much more expensive, it left us with a feeling that it was much better, especially in the food, entertainment, and general feel ( there were 2 big spots of rust in the indoor pool on Serenade).
Even the free food court (near the pools) in the Disney Dream was much better.
What I found most irritating the ...
Chose this ship because it was going where we wanted to at the time we wanted to at a price that we wanted. Embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly, except that we were given the impression that you had to check your luggage on boarding but we saw people who carried their own luggage on, which I would have preferred to do since we only had carry-on bags. The first day onboard you must ...
This is an old design ship with no big comfortable areas for strolling and activities. Everything is in a specific area and feels old and claustrophobic. Its also an aged ship. Why would you choose such a ship when there are so many new and amazing ships available?
The entertainment was quite disappointing and especially compared to my other cruises where the entertainment was ...
We primarily sail with Royal Caribbean and decided on a Baltic itinerary, on Serenade of the Seas. We prefer to avoid the larger ships. We find them too impersonal and crowded.
We were very happy with the numbers of ports and time allowed in each. Fredericia Denmark is really fun. The locals come out to welcome the ship, and to wave goodbye (including a three cannon salute!
The entire ...