This was our fourth Royal Caribbean cruise and one of our best. As with any vacation experience there were some positives and some negatives. So let's start with the positives.

We flew in to San Juan, Puerto Rico two days before embarkation. We stayed in the Old Town San Juan Sheraton. The hotel was very nice and had a wonderful view of the bay. It is also within walking distance of many of the Old San Juan sites. While in San Juan, we did two excursions booked through the hotel. The first was a Bacardi Rum/Old San Juan Tour. Save your money. The Bacardi Rum tour was a waste. A 30 minute drive to the factory, a 30 minute Bacardi rum commercial, a visit to the gift shop, and a ticket for two Bacardi rum drinks. We had higher expectations and thought we would see the distillery and really how rum was made but this was not the case. The tour of Old San Juan was nice including a guided walking tour of Fort San Cristobal. The guide then dropped us off in town for an hour of free exploration. While the tour was informative, I would recommend saving your money and going to the forts on your own. The National Park Service provides guided tours. The second tour was of the El Yunque Rain Forest and was extremely informative and showcased some of the beauty of Puerto Rico.

Embarkation Day was smooth and quick. Serenade of the Seas is a beautiful well laid out ship. We were most impressed with how Serenade seemed so clean and well maintained. In fact, she seemed newer and better looking than the younger Voyager of the Seas which we had sailed on the year before. Read more