The Bars on Serenade of the Seas

On our Serenade of the Seas cruise, we decided it would be a fun challenge to have a drink at every bar on the ship. Kind of a five-day bar hop. :-)  Since Royal Caribbean recently revamped their fleet-wide drink menu, it seemed like a good way to try out some of the new creations.

The drink menu is divided into three sections – “Taste of the Caribbean”, “Crisp and Refreshing”, and “Strong and Spirited”. The Taste of the Caribbean section showcased rum drinks from the islands, such as the Goombay Smash from the Bahamas and Bermuda’s Dark ‘n Stormy. Most of these drinks were made with pineapple juice, and while I love rum, I don’t like pineapple juice, so the Crisp and Refreshing section appealed to me more. It included several gin drinks and a couple of sangrias. The Strong and Spirited section featured bourbons and whiskeys and a Mexican version of a Moscow mule called the Mezcal Mule.

R Bar

We started our bar challenge at the R Bar on Deck 4 in the Centrum. The Centrum is an eight-deck atrium with glass elevators and pink and purple lighting. Considering that it is the hub of activity for the ship, the R Bar area felt surprisingly small. But it was one of the “vaccinated only” areas so we didn’t have to wear masks, a big plus. I ordered my traditional Welcome Aboard drink, a mojito. I know vacation has begun when I have my first mojito. Ron had a Miller Lite. 

Vintages

Vintages, the wine bar, is located on Deck 5 in the Centrum and has its own specialty wine menu, but you can order cocktails here too. This was probably my favorite bar and we would have spent more time there if we hadn’t been bar hopping. It was less busy than the R Bar, and the bartenders, Oliver and Kevin, were a lot of fun. Oliver made me an excellent lemon drop martini. Ron had a Miller Lite.

Schooner Bar

The Schooner Bar is Royal Caribbean’s signature piano bar. It has a maritime theme with canvas sails, ropes and lots of wood. I decided to order off the bar’s specialty menu, a Habanero and Grapefruit Daiquiri. The drink had potential, but the bartender was a bit heavy-handed with the habanero, so it was very spicy. I would probably order it again but would ask for half the habanero next time. Ron had a Miller Lite. Are you noticing a pattern? :-)

Pool Bar/Sky Bar

The Pool Bar and Sky Bar are outdoors by the main pool on Decks 11 and 12. At the Sky Bar, I ordered the Cozumel Sunrise from the Crisp and Refreshing section of the menu and then promptly took a nap on my pool chair. Maybe that drink should have been in the Strong and Spirited section. :-)  My drink from the Pool Bar was a frozen mojito. You can’t go on a cruise without having at least one frozen drink!

Solarium Bar

The Solarium Bar is in the Asian-themed Solarium with an adults only pool and a retractable glass roof. We stopped by for a beer for Ron and to check it off our list, but I didn’t order anything. We had our Chef’s Table dinner in a couple of hours so I knew I’d be drinking a lot of wine later.

Crown and Castle Pub

The Crown and Castle Pub has its own menu of beers, ciders and beer-based cocktails. Since I don’t drink beer, I ordered one of the beerless cocktails from the menu, a Gin Fizz. It had gin, lemon juice, sugar and club soda and was very refreshing. Ron strayed from his usual Miller Lite and tried the Grolsch, a lager from the Netherlands.

Vortex

Vortex is in the Viking Crown Lounge on the highest deck of the ship. During the day it is a peaceful place to read a book and watch the ocean, but at night it becomes the nightclub with a rotating floor around the bar. I was planning to try the Cool as a Cucumber cocktail from the Crisp and Refreshing section of the menu, but the bar was missing some of the ingredients. Instead the bartender, Marko, mixed up a raspberry collins for me with gin, Chambord, sour mix and soda. It was delicious, and Ron ended up having one too. I love it when you find a bartender who knows exactly what you want, even when you don’t.

Although we only made it to eight of Serenade’s eleven bars (we missed the Casino Bar, Rita’s and the Safari Club), I enjoyed our bar hop challenge. It took us to parts of the ship we might not have visited otherwise, and I tried a few of new drinks. Overall, I thought the updated drink menu had something for almost everyone, but I wished that more of the bars had their own specialty menus. Maybe a martini menu at the R Bar or a frozen drink menu for the Pool Bar? And less pineapple juice, please. :-)