We took a wonderful Christmas Holiday cruise with Royal Caribbean upon the Serenade of the Seas.
A beautiful ship with plenty of Christmas magic to go along with it.
The Ship Details
Launched in 2003, the Serenade of the seas is a stunning Royal Caribbean Radiance Class ship that holds a total of 3,381 passengers and crew members combined.
The ship has 13 decks total, 7 of which have cabins. The Serenade of the seas is an impressive 962 feet long and weighs 90,090 gross tonnage.
Dining upon the Serenade of the Seas
Reflections Restaurant
The main dining room set at the back of the ship on decks 4 and 5 is a wonderful place to enjoy a delicious dinner served by the talented on board chefs.
We only enjoyed the main dining room once, primarily because we preferred to go to the buffet in our own time vs having to eat at a set time.
Windjammer Buffet
The buffet offers breakfast from 6:30 am to 11:30 am, lunch from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and Dinner from 6:430 pm to 9:00 pm. The selection is wide if you don’t have any or many dietary requirements or preferences. As a vegetarian, the options did become a little lack luster after a few days, but the food was still satisfactory. On one or two occasions I found the food I ate to have cooled a little, and I do like my food to feel hot and fresh so this was the only down side I noticed once in a while but it didn’t impede my vacation.
And of course you have the delicious deserts and an Ice Cream machine which is hard to stay away from since the desserts look so appetizing.
I stopped eating the ice cream after I spotted a small child stick his finger up one ice cream dispenser hole, suck that off his finger then proceed to the next dispenser hole and stick the same finger up that one and repeat the process… I’ll admit it gave me a weak stomach and I now wish they had ice cream machine police on duty 🙂 !!!
Now, since the buffet stops serving at 9 pm, what happens if I’m still hungry?
Park Cafe
Situated in the solarium, the Park Cafe serves healthier options in the day and late night snacks.
From salads, fruit cups and quesadillas, to beef rueben, tomato soup, nachos and more. The park cafe was and has been on many Royal Caribbean ships my favorite location to eat at or get food from.
There is seldom a long line here and the solarium for the most part is much quieter than the main dining room and the Windjammer buffet. It can get a little warm or stuffy in there sometimes though.
Speciality Restaurants
In addition to the free dining options mentioned above, the Serenade of the Seas also has a selection of speciality restaurants to satisfy many taste palettes. Sadly none offered any vegetarian options that stood out to us so we did not dine in these restaurants.
Chops Grille
A 95 seat restaurant, serving a variety of primarily meat based foods from lobster bisque, crab cake, beef carpaccio, filet mignon, prime steak, prime ribeye, rack of lamb, organic half chicken, Grilled Branzino, Grilled Salmon, Lobster and more.
Giovanni’s Table
A beautiful setting in close proximity of the Chops Grille restaurant situated off of the Schooner Bar.
Giovanni’s Table offers a nice variety of Italian dishes including almond crusted scallops, copping con Pesce Misto, gnocchi in a blue cheese sauce with baby lamb, pappardelle in a radicchio cream and pancetta, penne with baby shrimp and smoked salmon, crab ravioli, and many more options.
Chefs Table
This is a private dining table that can sit up to 12 and provides a five course dinner with wine pairing. The dinner is hosted by an executive chef and sommelier.
Izumi
This is speciality restaurant offering an asian menu and a view of the ocean as Izumi is now situated on deck 12 on the opposite side of the sports court. The menu is varied and includes the following and much more: shrimp and vegetable tempura, shrimp firecracker spring roll, pork gyoza dumpling, poke taco, seafood citrus salad, poke bowl, rainbow roll, spicy tuna roll.
Drinking onboard the Serenade of the Seas
Caffe Latte-tudes
Need a good coffee? Whilst you can get free caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee around the ship at thirst quencher locations… sometimes you just need a good latte, or maybe a delicious caramel macchiato. Whatever your choice, we definitely recommend stopping by Caffe Latte-tudes.
Crown & Castle Pub
Set just behind the casino on deck 6, the Crown & Castle Pub is the perfect British pub replica at sea. Enjoy a game of darts, and various beers and ales.
The Crown & Castle Pub often has great lively live music being played too so head on down for a sing along too!
R-Bar
Situated on Deck 4 in the centrum, you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. You may even catch a flare show and see just how talented your bar tenders are.
Schooner Bar
A popular drinking location on the ship. The Schooner bar has plenty of seating, great entertainment such as trivia quizzes, and friendly bar staff.
Safari Club
Walk through the Schooner Bar and you’ll find your self in the Safari Club, a large area with two self balancing snooker tables, plenty of seating, a dance floor and a small stage. You may find additional shows are added which can take place in the Safari Club. We saw a fantastic rock band in the main Tropical Theatre who ended up adding an additional show in the Safari Club… it was great fun being able to dance and sing along in a smaller club vibe.
Vortex
Looking for a place to let go of some steam and dance the night away? Head on up to deck 13 to the Vortex night club. There is an age limit to access this area, and I believe it depends on the ships route as to the minimum age limit.
Show off your dance skills on the sparkly dance floor, sit in one of the comfy chairs and enjoy views of the pool area below or why not grab a seat at the bar, order your favorite drink and enjoy your evening on the rotating bar platform.
In addition there are wonderful pool bars and plenty of entertainment taking place around the ship so grab a drink, sit back and enjoy!
Are drinks packages worth it?
Quick and simple answer is. It depends on how much you drink… pure and simple! We don’t drink a lot, a glass of champagne at midnight, a beer on Christmas Day… we spent most of our money on bottles of water and coffees from caffe latte-tides. In total we spent somewhere near $65 for this 12 day cruise.
A full drinks package can set you back somewhere around $55 a day, with beers costing $6-$7 and cocktails from $10 – $13, Coffee $3.50-$6:50, Soda $3.25 and a glass of wine $10 – $16.
I’ll let you do the maths, but having had a drinks package in the past. I found myself drinking anything whether it was an extra beer, trying a cocktail, drinking more coffee than I normally would just to get value out of the package.
Entertainment on the Serenade of the Seas
There is a plethora of entertainment on board the Serenade of the Seas. From a trivia game in the schooner bar, egg drop in the centrum, murder mystery in the safari club, Belly flop competition by the pool or a headliner show in the Tropical Theater where we were entertained by many fantastic artists including a comedian, a ventriloquist, a singer, a rock band and a Beatles Tribute band called Pure Beatle Mania… you’ll most likely find a show to suit you!
Excursions on the Serenade of the Seas
We enjoyed fantastic excursions on our trip. Some we booked via the new Royal Caribbean App on board and a few we organized ourselves once we got into port.
Stay tuned for posts on these excursions from Antigua, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Aruba and Bonaire coming soon!
Daily Itinerary Guides – Cruise Compass’
Interested in seeing the daily event guide (Cruise Compass) from our cruise? Click the cruise compass image below for a full pdf of the Cruise Compass Days 3 to 12 ! Sadly we lost the guides for days 1 and 2 but you’ll be able to view the others.
