Just returned from the St. Thomas to Barbados itinerary, and it was terrific. I had not cruised in 20 years and it was my husband's first cruise. We are both mid-50's, love the beach and were not sure if we would feel too confined on a cruise. The Serenade of the Seas was a PERFECT choice for our vacation. The ship is beautiful, the staff top-notch, and the itinerary was interesting. We flew into San Juan a day early and stayed at the San Juan Marriott Stellaris which I booked using hotels.com welcome-rewards points. We had to wait til almost 4 p.m. for our room, which was bad, but the hotel compensated by giving us a $50 credit on our account. We ate their Friday night Prime Rib & Seafood buffet which was delicious, and our ocean front room was small but a very nice room. Took a cab to the pier at 11:30 the next morning, waited in line for about 45 minutes before proceeding to a very smooth, quick check-in. Our cabin was not ready til 1:00, but we waited in the Windjammer Restaurant where there was a huge lunch buffet. My husband was happy to find that he could smoke on any of the starboard outdoor decks, so the wait went by quickly. Our bags were delivered to our room about 5 p.m., so I was able to unpack and get organized before dinner. CABIN: We were extremely pleased with our balcony stateroom, which was larger than I had anticipated. There was plenty of storage space and plenty of hangers for clothes. The bathroom was hilariously small, but adequate and the shower was tiny but compensated with good water pressure. The bed was comfortable, and we had coffee on our balcony every morning. BAD NEWS: When we arrived on the ship we were told that the pool would be closed for repairs for an indefinite period. This was very upsetting, and if we had known this we would have booked another date. However, the pool was repaired and open in 3 days, so it was not as bad as we originally thought. The Solarium pool/whirlpool was open, but we never had time for the pool anyway, so the joke was on us! FOOD: We chose late dinner seating (8:30) and enjoyed our tablemates. My only complaint is that we were a table of four, and it would have been nice to be at a larger table to meet more people. Menu options were varied, and we enjoyed the food. It is not gourmet, but very good. The service was great, our waiter Melroy and Dnanesh were efficient and entertaining. I had read some complaints about the food, but it is all about "expectations". But you must remember that the ship cannot provide 5-star food when serving 900 people at one time. We both ordered two appetizers every night, and my hubby had double desserts most night. (Their low-fat and sugar-free desserts were very good.) We did eat at both alternative restaurants, Chops and Portofino, which well worth the additional charge. The food and service are much closer to a 5 star restaurant, with (in my opinion) Chops being the better menu reminiscent of Morton's in Chicago. The Seaview Cafe has very good sandwiches, and the Windjammer Buffet offered a huge variety from burgers-italian-indian-deli-pizza-salads-fruit-desserts. Day at Sea- There was the expected rush for pool deck chairs, but we found two chairs in the shade/smoking section and stayed there all day, watching the events by the pool, which were sometimes loud and rowdy. We enjoyed most of the entertainment on the ship, especially in the Centrum in the evenings. The Latin Rythyms group played most evenings before dinner, and their female vocalist is awesome. The evening shows were okay, Spectrum (a motown group was terrific) and a hilarious comic who was very very funny without being lewd. My husband thought Dennis the Cruise Director was occasionally corny, but he did a good job. The Quest game show was amazing, people do the stupidest things for a keychain. All in all, a wonderful week. My husband's concern was being on a boat with 2000 passengers, but it never seemed crowded, (except for the last day by the pool). Embarkation and Disembarkation went very smoothly, I took WAY too many clothes (no one remembers if you wear the same thing twice), and We are ready to go again!