Serenade of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise for the Baltic capitals itinerary, which exactly matched our requirements.
Most things that you would expect on a ship with 2,400 passengers was as we expected. The dining options were good and varied, entertainments were available most of the time and of a reasonable quality, our stateroom was well equipped and matched the description in the literature, and transfers to/from the ship were well organised.
The only general problem we had was the noise levels. In the main dining room (supposedly a 'sophisticated' experience), the background music was so loud that my wife and I had to yell at each other to make ourselves heard. How large groups fared I shudder to think. Also, the bass player in the band that entertained in the Centrum until midnight could be heard in our cabin on Deck 7, at the far end of the ship. This was totally unnecessary, as their audience sat only 25/50 yards from where they were playing.
Cabin Review
Large Ocean View Stateroom
This was a disaster. On the second night, we noticed a loud and persistent (though irregular) banging noise. It seemed to be coming from the area of the A/C and kept me (a light sleeper) awake all night. On complaining about this, we were told that the noise in fact came from Deck 2 (the crew area and directly below us), was integral to the ship and couldn't be fixed. Also, as the ship was full, no alternative accommodation was available. The attitude was "Sorry but tough luck". This was obviously unsatisfactory and, on making pretty precise threats, alternative (and superior) accommodation became available. Basically, cabin 3102 should not have been offered for sale or at a significant discount, with the fault made known upfront. Altogether a very shabby episode.