My wife and I had heard from friends to take a shorter cruise as first timers to see how we liked it as cruises "aren't for everyone". This cruise was very low priced compared to one a day longer with Royal Caribbean so we gave it a try. Check in was fast and easy. Our outside room was surprising pleasant, large enough and well laid out, with a brand new feel to it. Although a supposedly small sized ship, we found it had plenty of different areas to slip in and out of. The main pool area was nice enough but the music was too loud for us. The younger crowd certainly seemed to enjoy it. The pool itself was quite small and usually crowded. There was a water park area but it being October there were very few kids using it. The long slide was OK for a couple of runs and a lot of chairs were available but during our cruise it was too windy to enjoy. For us the rear Serenity deck was perfect. Not too crowded, quite, with nice views, and two hot tubs. The Pride dining room which we were assigned to had OK food. Nice selection and they'd change your choice if you weren't satisfied but the food usually came warm, never hot. The main buffet had abundant food plus a deli station and pizza station. The dishes were hit and miss. There was a poor selection of desserts and fruits. A smaller buffet is located in the pool area with burgers, hot dogs, fries, chili, etc. They also had a stir fry area which was probably the best food on board. Your choice of meats, veggies, and sauces. Entertain was good, Ronnie Bullard a comedian has 2 shows which were great. There were 2 dance shows, Living in America, definitely not worth seeing, and Shout which was fairly good. We loved Key West, rented bikes, saw the main sights - especially liked the tour of Hemingway House, and lunch at an outside restaurant. Unfortunately our day in Cozumel had water too churned up so our kayak and snorkel tour was cancelled. We ended up staying at Paradise Beach was quite nice and well equipped with Bar/Restaurant/Chairs/Shade etc. There was also a Carlos & Charlies beach bar 100 yards away on the same beach. Overall I'd consider this a great starter cruise, especially for what you pay.