Hawai’i Cruise: Cabin 1536
Grand Suite 1536 on deck ten.
Two twin beds (can convert into queen-size), private balcony, sitting area (some with sofa bed), and concierge service. (358–384 sq. ft., balcony 106 sq. ft.)
RCCI graphic
Our grand suite: Unlike the Radiance herself, the Serenade has a 3-foot wall between the two sets of glass,
and only one side opens. On the Radiance, it’s an entire glass wall, and the two center “patio doors” open.
Opposite the bed: Behind the sitting area and counter are mirrored closets, near the cabin door.
Here’s the bed with the vanity. Michael uses the vanity as his dresser.
The mirrored closets and the counter. I used the drawers on the back side for my dresser.
Above the counter is mirrored shelving with wine glasses.
Our sitting area. This right-hand inner glass door slides open.
Turning left, there's the bed area. The curtain at left draws all the way to
the window in a curve, to close off the bed area. We never used the curtain, because …
We moved the bed.
The saga of Elenor’s fan
I arranged to bring a 20" box fan because I’m always hot. Because we were flying first class (using frequent flyer miles), Delta allowed us to bring up to three checked bags, including the fan. It was waiting for us with our big suitcase when we arrived, so off we went. We get through RCCI check-in at the pier, all the way up to the TSA X-ray machine, where I said ‘I didn’t think it would fit through their machine, but I could take it out of the box.’
“No, sorry, you can’t bring it on board.”
“What? What?!? Oh NO!”
They offered that they would have me fill out a receipt and when we disembarked in 15 days, the fan would be waiting for me.
I wasn’t willing to wait (it’s a $12 fan!), and since they weren’t going to let me have it, so I shrugged and left it behind (but was very upset).
When we got onboard, Michael went down and spoke with Customer Service, and they were baffled why it had been refused. They said they’d TRY to get it before the ship sailed, but … you know … they’re checking in 2,300 people, so don’t get my hopes up.
I started the second day trying to get the security people on the ship to give me whatever approval was necessary for me to buy another fan at our first stop (Kailua-Kona, three days hence) to bring onboard. I asked at Customer Service, and they said they’d have security call me. Security left a message: no I couldn’t bring a fan on board.
Michael bless his generous heart, while I was out trying to find out who to talk to, moved the bed so I could lie in front of the open balcony door, in the hopes of some moving air to keep me more comfortable.
I tried again to actually speak with someone in Security, rather than triangulating through others, and they said Security would call. But, no call.
I finally went down and nearly cried on the Customer Service desk
“Well, it’s fleetwide policy, no fans.”
“PLEASE! Look, I am being treated for thyroid, and if I had only KNOWN I needed a prescription to bring a fan, I would have GOTTEN one. And they let people bring oxygen onboard, which is explosive; and curling irons, which can start fires – and a FAN isn’t dangrous, and oh PLEASE couldn’t you give me the name of the Security person I needed to talk to to get permission to buy and bring onboard a fan?!? I just need ten minutes of his or her time. PLEASE!!”
Well, they’d try to get him to call me, so please go back to my cabin and wait for his call.
On my way back up, I thought: ‘You know? I have concierge service cause I’m in a Grand Suite (and am a Diamond-level Crown and Anchor member). Maybe the concierge can tell me who to talk to.’ So I went in and just about cried on Rahul Barua’s desk in the concierge lounge. He said he’d see what he could do.
Ten minutes later, Rahul walks into our stateroom carrying MY fan!! With my stickers and my cabin tag on it and everything! It had made it onboard after all! So I did the happy dance for the next couple days, and we tipped the heck out of Rahul!
Read The saga of Elenor’s fan, Part Deux (Alaska 2009).
(Look! You can see my fan!) But we liked the room layout with the bed moved so much, we kept it that way.
(We waylaid our cabin steward in the hall: “Simpliceo? When you go into our cabin, the bed is moved.
Please just make it up where it is, and leave it where it is, okay?” “Yes, yes, okay!”
What a fantastic view to wake up to! (And you’ll notice the Pacific is pacific.)
Even with the bed in the middle of the room, there was ample space to walk past to the balcony door.
For Michael’s awarding of the Diamond Head trivia X-pert rewards, we moved the deck chairs
inside to fit everyone in the room. You’ll see in our Cabin Crawl report, that a huge number of
people fit it; it’s why we love the Grand Suite; there’s so much room for entertaining!
Here are the closets. The double-wide, right-hand one we used for clothes and shoes;
the single, left, we used for the suitcases. The cabin safe is also in that side.
Grand Suite Bathroom
Grand Suites have fantastic bathrooms.
The toilet is to the left below the picture; you can see the shower curtain in the mirror’s reflection.
The shower. The bathtub sill was extremely high (like, mid-thigh?!);
I would put both hands on the sink counter and step out one foot at a time.
Our balcony
The balcony from the forward edge (facing aft): you can see the single open door.
The balcony looking forward; the recliner wasn’t quite comfortable enough to
sleep on (the webbing was too hard) but it was a nice place to sit and read.