Overall Score

BERLITZ'S RATING
	Possible	Achieved
Ship	500	431
Accommodation	200	158
Food	400	253
Service	400	298
Entertainment	100	81
Cruise	400	309

How this score is created

This is the third Royal Car­ib­bean International ship to use gas and steam turbine power (the others are sister ships Brilliance of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas) instead of the formerly conventional diesel or diesel-electric combination.

Podded propulsion power is also provided. Briefly, two pods, which resemble huge outboard motors, replace internal electric propulsion motors, shaft lines, rudders and their machinery, and are compact, self-contained units that typically weigh about 170 tons each. Although they are at the stern, pod units pull, rather than push, a ship through the water. As is common aboard all RCI vessels, the navigation bridge is of the fully enclosed type (good for cruising in cold-weather areas such as Alaska). In the very front of the ship is a helipad, which also acts as a viewing platform for passengers (good for up-close-and personal cruising in Alaska). One of two swimming pools can be covered by a large glass dome (a magrodome) for use as an indoor/outdoor pool.

Serenade of the Seas is a streamlined contemporary ship, and has a two-deck-high wrap-around structure in the forward section of the funnel. Along the starboard side, a central glass wall protrudes, giving great views (cabins with balconies occupy the space directly opposite on the port side). The gently rounded stern has nicely tiered decks, which gives the ship an extremely well-balanced look.

Inside the ship, the decor is contemporary, yet elegant, bright and cheerful, designed for young, active, hip and trendy types. The artwork is quite eclectic (so there should be something for all tastes), and provides a spectrum and a half of color works.

The interior focal point is a nine-deck high atrium lobby with glass-walled elevators (on the port side of the ship only) that travel through 12 decks, face the sea and provide a link with nature and the ocean. The Centrum (as the atrium is called), has several public rooms connected to it: the guest relations (the contemporary term for purser’s office) and shore excursions desks, a Lobby Bar, Champagne Bar, the Library, Royal Caribbean Online (an internet-connect center), the Concierge Club, and a Crown & Anchor Lounge. A great view of the atrium can be had by looking down through the flat glass dome high above it.

Other facilities include a delightful, but very small library and, in the atrium lobby, a Coffee Shop that also sells pastries and cakes – it’s rather like a small Seattle coffee house. There’s a Champagne Bar, and a large Schooner Bar (a popular favorite aboard RCI ships, with nautical riggings, ship replicas, maritime art and other nautically-themed ephemera). Gambling devotees should enjoy the rather large, noisy and very colorful Casino Royale. There’s also a small dedicated screening room for movies (with space for two wheelchairs), as well as a 194-seat conference center, and a business center.

This ship has a Viking Crown Lounge (a Royal Carib­bean International trademark) is a large structure set around the base of the ship’s funnel. It is an observation lounge during the daytime (with views forward over the swimming pool). In the evening, the space transforms itself into a futuristic, high-energy dance club, as well as a more intimate and relaxed entertainment venue for softer mood music and “black box” theater.

For those who wish to go online, Royal Caribbean Online, located in a semi-private setting, is a dedicated computer center with 12 stations providing high-speed internet access for sending and receiving email. Four more internet-access computer terminals are located in Books ’n’ Coffee, a bookshop with coffee and pastries, located in an extensive area of shops.

Youth facilities include Adventure Ocean, an “edutainment” area with four separate age-appropriate sections for junior passengers: Aquanaut Center (for ages 3–5); Ex­plorer Center (6–8); Voyager Center (9–12); and the Optix Teen Center (13–17). There is also Adventure Beach, which includes a splash pool complete with waterslide; Surfside, with computer lab stations with entertaining software; and Ocean Arcade, a video games hangout.

The onboard product delivery is more casual and unstructured than RCI has previously been delivering. Serenade of the Seas offers more space and more comfortable public areas (and several more intimate spaces), slightly larger cabins and more dining options than most of the larger ships in the RCI fleet.

There is also a grand amount of glass that provides more contact with the ocean around you; of course, more glass means more cleaning of glass. However, at the end of the day, the overall product is similar to that delivered aboard other ships in the fleet. In the final analysis, while the ship is quite delightful in many ways, the onboard operation is less spectacular, and suffers from a lack of service staff. The onboard currency is the US dollar, and 15% is added to all bar and spa bills.

Many of the “private” balcony cabins are not very private, as they can be overlooked by anyone standing in the port and starboard wings of the Solarium, and from other locations. There are no cushioned pads for the sunloungers, and the deck towels provided are quite thin and small. Spa treatments are extravagantly expensive (as they are aboard most ships today, in line with land-based spa prices in the USA). It is virtually impossible to escape background music anywhere aboard this ship. Standing in lines for embarkation, the reception desk, disembarkation, for port visits, shore tenders and for the self-serve buffet stations in the Windjammer Cafe is an inevitable aspect of cruising aboard this large ship.

Berlitz Guide © Apa Publications 2008