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San Francisco to Vancouver repositioning Cruise |
| Reviewed By: morris, Sileby Loughborough on 28th Jun 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: Serenade of the Seas |
Sailed:
May,
2008 |
| Destination: Alaska |
Age: 46-55 |
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We cruised from San Francisco on the 3rd May - embarcation was a complete nightmare as it appears that some of the passengers suffered from a bout of noro virus on the previous cruise and the ship had to be sanitised. This delayed boarding by several hours and by the time the process had started, there was an imense queue of people waiting outside ther terminal. San Francisco cruise pier is a complete dump - the worst I have seen - however once we were on board, everything was fine. Serenade is a beautiful ship and is especially suited to cruising in Alaska as there are so many great viewing areas. Sailing was also delayed by a few hours but it was wonderful to sail past Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was setting.
Service in the main Reflections Restaurant was absolutely A1 throughout the whole trip - our waiting staff were a wonderful team and the food was always hot and well presented. The menus were not exceptional, although there were plenty of choices and I found that the beef and the fish dishes were usually pretty good. The Windjammer Buffet was always busy, and we only normally went there for breakfast, where there was always a wonderful selection. Enjoyed the Windjammer on the odd days we had lunch there, however I felt that the dessert selection was particularly uninspiring.
We tried the main Restaurant for lunch on a couple of the sea days and found the menu to be quite good.
We did not try the two speciality restaurants Portofinos or Choppes Grill but we found the best place to have a late lunch after our excursions was the Seaview Cafe. It has a limited menu but the food is cooked to order and provided just what we needed after a busy morning ashore and the staff were wonderful.
Did not use that many of the bars on board apart from the Champagne Bar, where we always had a pre dinner drink or two and the Pitstop Bar or the Schooner Bar for an after dinner drink, although the music was always too loud in the latter to attempt to have any kind of conversation in there.
I did not find the entertainment on this cruise to be all that good - however it was quite a port intensive cruise so it was not really too much of an issue for us. My main complaint was that the main theatre entertainment for late dining was held most evenings pre dinner and I really do not like that arrangement - I prefer to have dinner and then attend the show. We did go to the The Diamonds and they were a very slick and professional outfit - it was a great show. We also went to the first Production Show, but I didn't think that the RCL singers and dancers were of the same quality that we have experienced on previous cruises. The music was also very loud for the production show in the Theatre - don't think that I don't like loud music, it was just uncomfortably loud in the area where we were sitting.
This was our first cruise with a balcony cabin and I don't think that we will revert to an interior cabin again. However the cabin itself did not seem to be any more spacious than the interior cabins on the Voyager class ships. Our cabin stewardess was very pleasant and nothing was too much trouble for her - she looked after us very well.
The Serenade does seem to suffer from major plumbing problems - many people compalin about a smell of sewage, although we didn't experience it - however our toilet was blocked up a total of six times and it certainly wasn't for what we were putting down it. The maintainance department always dealt with it promptly and efficiently, however it did become something of a hassle for us.
Our ports of call were Astoria (Oregon) - Seattle - Victoria BC - Prince Rupert BC - Juneau - Skagway - Icy Strait Point - Hubbard Glacier - Sitka - Ketchikan - Vancouver.
We only booked one excursion through the ship which was to the Khutzeymateen Grizzley Bear Reserve from Prince Rupert and it was a brilliant trip - also we were late back so it was just as well we had booked via RCL. Independently we did Museum of Flight and Space Needle in Seattle, Butchart Gardens and Royal Museum of BC in Victoria, Whale Watching in Juneau, White Pass Railway in Skagway, Bear Watching in ISP and my DH did a Harley Davidson trip in Ketchikan - everything we did was well worthwhile and we would probably do many of the same things again if we were given the opportunity. I recomend anyone going to Alaska to really do their research on the excursions they plan to do, as they are
expensive and you need to make sure you get the best quality excursions available - it really pays off to plan your time well and book ahead.
Overall this cruise was a wonderful experience and I would truly recommend anyone to take this trip if they get the opportunity
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Main Restaurant - Food very good and service excellent. Seaview Cafe - Food and service both excellent - Windjammer Buffet - Food Good/Service so so | | Entertainment |  |
| Best Show - The Diamonds
Worst Show - RCL Production Show | | Shore Excursions | |
| All very good - Khutzeymateen Trip through RCL/Whale Watching in Juneau with Harv and Marv/Skagway White Pass Rail/Bus Trip with Chilkoot Charters were all special | | Staff | |
| Ergon and Alan our waiting staff and Monty the head waiter - Laura our cabin stewardess and all staff in Seaview Cafe were excellent | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities |  |
| Nothing that really tempted us | | Cabins |  |
| Cabin size and facilities were fine - plumbing problems were not.
Also laudry and dry cleaning services were very good | | Overall Rating | |
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