My Aunt and I just returned one week ago from a cruise on the beautiful Serenade of the Seas. We had a memorable and wonderful time! Went on the 7-night cruise to Tortola, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Grenada (pronounced Grenada, we learned). Going at this time of year, the ports were not crowded, even though weather was consistently in the 80's. The ship's crew was magnificent! They were ALL so genuinely happy, friendly, and helpful. They made us feel at home while away from home - although certainly more pampered than at home! Maria always had our stateroom in immaculate condition. Even the woman who took our room service request for our usual before-dinner Rieslings was sweet. Received chocolate-covered strawberries on occasion with our wine or morning in-room coffee service. Loved the big-band/standards concert in the awesome Centrum as well as the 70's music celebration. Entertainment in the theater was enjoyable too. Bedding and towels felt luxurious and were much appreciated. Great meals! Banana crème brûlEe was the best I've ever had. Dining room, Windjammer, and bar staff was exceptional. I will definitely continue with Royal Caribbean for any future cruises. We arrived in San Juan the day before, took a taxi and stayed at the guesthouse Numero Uno in the Ocean Park residential neighborhood. It lived up to its great reviews! Small, intimate, with friendly, helpful staff, and the beach started at the door. Settled in on the beach with local beer (Medalla) and Chuck, the restaurant manager, checked on us regularly to make sure we had everything we needed. Glad we have photo of him - he was fantastic! Ate dinner on site at Pamela's and it was probably the best meal we had on the entire vacation, also totally living up to its reviews. The next day, our concierge was able to find out that we could leave our luggage at Pier Number 2 at a luggage storage shop in the Old San Juan area while we walked around San Juan. Our taxi driver arranged to meet us there later to take us to the other port to board the ship. I bought a Panama hat at Ole' and also browsed in Puerto Rican Arts and Crafts, both on Calle Forteleza. My Aunt bought some perfume at Coach on Calle San Francisco. Had some delicious sangria at the old convent, now lovely Hotel El Convento. Lunch was at the colorful Parrot Club where we enjoyed some Caribbean-style chicken and bean soup. Took the free trolley which circled around Old San Juan and we toured the ancient massive fort, El Morro. Boarded our ship around 5:30. In Tortola, we took a taxi over to the West End ferry dock and went over to beautiful White Beach on Jost Van Dyke, a small island close to Tortola. A local "taxi coordinator" at the ship pier had directed us to "Flapjack", a driver who could take us to that ferry dock on the other side of the island. Mr. Flapjack is a handsome, snow-white-haired gentleman who enjoys singing along to the blues and old rock he plays in his taxi. And bless his heart, he met us at the dock when we returned to Tortola because my Aunt had dropped her cell phone in his taxi and hadn't realized it. He returned it to her and gave us a ride back to the ship. While on Jost (pronounced Yost), we had lunch at the Soggy Dollar - a delicious flying fish sandwich and pasta salad, etc., - and of course the famous "Painkiller" rum drink. Spent most of that day though a little further on down the beach where there were free full-length lounge chairs. We found out from some fellow cruisers there from our ship that our arrangements had cost about $20 less for each of us than the ship's excursion to White Beach. Taxied back over the hill to the Jost dock, then 2:00 ferry ($20 Rd-trip) and taxi back to ship. Heard from cruisers back on board that snorkeling at Brewer's Bay was awesome. St. Maarten is clean and charming, at least on Front Street where we spent time at the stores. Bought a gorgeous ring, and then headed to the pretty beach right in town opposite the Blue (Female Dog) Bar. Enjoyed our lunch there during a brief rain shower. Local band was playing some great reggae so we spent the rest of our day sunning to music. We took a ship-sponsored 3-hour catamaran excursion in Antigua (I think locals pronounce it "Antiga") where I snorkeled on a reef. I enjoyed it and we were given good instructions, but according to others more experienced than I, it was not a good reef for snorkeling - not many fish and dull/dead coral formations. We had a light lunch of sandwiches and delicious (and potent) rum punch. We were entertained with the cat's music and a guy from the friendly crew doing the limbo. Briefly visited a beach before the cat brought us back to the ship. In St. Lucia, I had arranged a tour for us with Cosol Tours. At first I was disappointed not to be on the tour bus with Cosol himself (he drove the larger tour bus) but quickly learned that our tour guide, Samuel, was both an excellent driver on the mountainous roads and a wonderful guide. He gave us loads of information about his island and I think he saved the most perfect banana just for me on our stop at a banana plantation?. He was able to answer any question we threw at him. Cosol Tours is a very professional and well-organized group and I would recommend them to anyone. The fresh turkey drumstick-shaped bread, cheese, and Piton beer for lunch was fantastic, as well as their morning snack stop that served typical island food. Restroom stops were very clean. Their beach stop at Jalousie Beach was straight out of the movie South Pacific. It's tucked between the 2 Pitons (Petones), the 2 mountains which are symbolic for St. Lucia. Gorgeous water with an area for snorkeling (bring your own) as well as swimming. Quite a long ride to get there due to the curvy mountainous roads. Mandoo Tours gave us the island tour in Grenada. Again, a very well-run company. Mandoo gave an interesting talk at the spice depot and the sights along the way were very picturesque. The homes all have some sort of cute gingerbread on them. Purchased some spiced soaps, cinnamon and nutmeg on the tour. Unfortunately, Grenada is still feeling the effects of hurricane Ivan several years ago and many of the homes are still in disrepair and abandoned. Our ½ day tour turned out to be an all-day tour (I think because our ship was the only one in port and there weren't enough people to have both tours available) so we weren't able to visit Grand Anse Beach after the tour as we'd planned. A note to all who have later flights back to the US. Many airport ticket counters at the San Juan airport don't even open until noon. Beware of the shops on the periphery of the check-in counters which have a huge tax. A $1.50 cup of espresso at Cinnabon cost me $4.50. And there is now a line near the Cinnabon where you must have all luggage run through a scanner at the USDA out-post before it is checked. They will put a sticker on it that it was scanned before you can check it.