This was our 3rd spring break cruise. Our previous cruises had been with Carnival. We have done one 5 day cruise and the other 2 were 7 day cruises. I disliked the 5 day cruise. I found it to be over to soon considering your 5th day is disembarking. But my main reason for never doing a 5 day cruise again was because it appeared to be more "partiers" on board. For a family cruise, I found this unacceptable. We found it worth the price to pay a little more for a 7 day cruise which changed the clientele of cruisers considerably.We flew into San Juan on the first day of boarding. We grabbed a cab at the airport which only charged $3 per person plus $1 per bag. With 7 of us, we thought it was very reasonable. Much cheaper than using the ship's service.The Serenade of the Seas was a spectacular ship! It was kept exceptionally clean. We enjoyed most areas of the ship. It was equipped to entertain all ages of people. There was a kiddie pool, a main pool and an adult-only pool in the solarium. It also had a water slide. For some reason, the slide did not open most days until 3:30. The ship also had a mini golf, a climbing wall, and basketball. For those who like to exercise during their cruise, there was an outdoor track which was 1/6 of a mile. The fitness room was well equipped. We just wish it had fans going as it got very hot with no air circulation. The kids' club had good activities for the most part, however, my almost 11 year old rarely wanted to venture there. We wished they had put times on their itineraries to know precisely when certain activities would take place. Our friends' daughter and her friend loved the teen area. They met lots of new people! As for the food, we enjoyed doing our breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer and had a 6:00 seating reserved at Reflections. There was a large variety of good food. Everyone would be able to find plenty to their liking. I was a little disappointed in the desserts. I'm a chocolate fan and none of the chocolate desserts seemed to have much taste to them. There were some complaints that the Windjammer closed to early in the evening for all those peoople who like to snack at night, especially the ice cream lovers!I was extremely impressed with the entire staff on Serenade of the Seas! Everyone was extremely kind, patient, personable, and happy! Getting on and off the ship was painless. It went very quickly! Be sure to have paperwork done ahead to get on ship! It saved a lot of time. Because we were not flying out of San Juan until 2:30, we also decided to do one last exploration instead of sitting in an airport for 4 or more hours. That was a great decision! We disembarked the ship, got on a bus and toured, then we were dropped off at the airport! Our luggage waiting for us! I highly recommend this. As far as excursions go. We did many. In St. Thomas we did a snorkeling/turtle adventure in Buck Bay? The crew was amazing! It ended with everyone getting pirate tatoos! (stick ons) In St. Croix, we did the bike hike. It was fun but extremely exhausting. It was 12-13 miles. My son and I were elated we actually finished! We had hoped to go on a waterfall hike adventure but it was full. We did visit 2 beautiful beaches in St. Lucia and Grenada. Our friends did an aerial tram and zip lining activity, which they loved. We were unable to do this due to minimum age requirements of 12. We also did a river cruise on tubes which was lots of fun! Over all, this cruise was sensational and I would definitely recommend a southern caribbean cruise. Serenade of the Seas was a spectacular ship to do our adventure on.