My husband and I spent our honeymoon aboard the Serenade of the Seas. We were on the eight-night Southern Caribbean itinerary out of San Juan, PR. Overall, we loved the cruise and had a blast! As a first time cruiser, I found the reviews on Cruise Critic to be very informative and helpful while planning our trip, o I've typed up the review below in hopes that it may be informative to others. Pre-Cruise in San Juan: We arrived in San Juan two days prior to the cruise and stayed at the Numero Uno Guesthouse in Ocean Park. If you prefer a more quaint lodging experience over a large resort, I would highly recommend Numero Uno. Its located right on the beach, the staff is excellent, and the connected restaurant (Pamela's) is amazing (although quite pricey). Cab fair from the airport was $15 plus $1 for each of our bags.We spent our first day in PR doing a rain forest tour/hike of El Yunque with Roberto of Sunset Tours. The tour was a lot of fun and Roberto was a good tour guide. We got to see a couple waterfalls, went to an observation deck with spectacular views, hiked about 1.5 miles in the forest, and checked out the visitors' center at the forest. Then Roberto took us to a little local eatery in the rain forest after our hike - it was very cheap and very yummy! Following our day in the forest, we took a cab to Old San Juan ($15 each way from our hotel) and ate dinner at a restaurant called Barrachina, which Roberto had recommended. While the atmosphere at Barrachina was very pleasant and they served some good pina coladas, the food was HORRIBLE. By far the worst food of our entire trip. I would suggest avoiding this place. We were very disappointed to have wasted $60 on a bad dining experience. We actually ended up walking around to some of the bars in Old San Juan and getting a slice of pizza later in the evening because we were so unsatisfied with dinner. The following morning, we went for a morning swim in the ocean and then had lunch at a lovely deli/bakery a few blocks from Numero Uno called Kasalta. LOVED this place! We were both very impressed with the food and it was a great people watching spot. We then took a cab from Numero Uno to the pier ($15 plus $1 per suitcase).Embarkation: There were only a few people in line when we arrived at the pier around 2:30pm, and we were initially happy thinking that we'd be on the ship very quickly. However, we had elected to do a cash account onboard the ship, and apparently this information did not make it from the online registration form I'd completed to the people in the check-in area at the pier. It ended up causing some confusion and delay in us getting onboard. We were also surprised by how rigorous the security process was. I believe we each showed our IDs/passports at four different points and had our carry-on bags scanned twice before we were able to board the ship. It was a little hectic and I have to say I felt a bit overwhelmed by the whole process. The good news was that we were onboard within about 45 minutes and our luggage was waiting for us outside our room within about three hours (around 5:30pm).The Ship: The Serenade is a pretty ship and is very well maintained. In one of the ports of call, there was a Norwegian Cruiselines ship docked next to ours, and everyone was chatting about how much nicer our shipped looked than the Norwegian ship. The Centrum and main elevators are beautiful with all of the glass details. The main pool is a bit small, but there is a decent amount of wading area around the pool so it wasn't hard to find a spot to get in the water. The fitness center is very nice! My husband and I didn't use it as much as we'd planned to, but we did think that the equipment was top-notch and the trainers staffing the center were very helpful and friendly. The Reflections dining room was a lot nicer and more elegant than I'd expected. All of the bar areas were comfortable with plenty of seating. The Windjammer was usually very crowded at mealtimes, but it was never too hard to find a table. The bathrooms around the ship were almost always super clean (with a few exceptions when I came across clogged toilets, etc). Overall, we were more than pleased with the amenities, cleanliness and condition of the ship.Our Stateroom: We had a balcony room on deck seven, on the starboard aft side of the ship. The room was a decent size. The bathroom was very small, but we'd expected that and we were both happy with the amount of counter space. The shower was awesome - plenty of warm water and great water pressure! It always felt great after a day in the sun. Our bed was fairly large and the bedding was cozy. The TV sometimes didn't work correctly (i.e. static, stations freezing up, etc.). It wasn't a big deal since we barely watched TV anyway. There was more than enough closet and drawer space for us to unpack all of our clothes. We took advantage of the ironing service - I had seven dresses ironed and my husband had two shirts ironed. The total cost was $24.50. I was a little disappointed that we had to pay for the ironing service, but it was either pay for the service or have very wrinkled clothes, so we bit the bullet. Our balcony was a good size. We had two chairs and a small table. It was just enough room to sit on and have breakfast in the morning. In my opinion, it was well worth the additional cost to upgrade to a balcony room and be able to get some fresh air without leaving the room.Rosa, our stateroom attendant, was sweet and friendly. She did a wonderful job keeping our room clean, and would even pick up after us and fold out clothes and such. We always had plenty of clean towels and drinking glasses each day. Rosa made us a few towel animals throughout the week, which were always fun to see after returning from dinner. We couldn't hear any noise from our neighbors with one exception. There was a man a few rooms down who would go out to his balcony at 5:30AM EVERY MORNING to smoke and would start hacking and coughing so loudly that it would literally wake us up even with the balcony door closed. The first two nights, we tried to sleep with the door open so that we could hear the waves, but we quickly learned that the hacker waking us up at 5:30AM everyday made it impossible for us to sleep with the door open. It was beyond annoying, however, there wasn't really much we could do about it, and it actually became almost funny because it was so ridiculous. We just grinned and bared it. The Food: The food on the ship was very good. We had an 8:30PM dinner seating and were assigned to a table for six along with two other couples, one of which was also on their honeymoon. While I initially wasn't too thrilled about the idea of sitting with strangers every night at dinner, my opinion quickly changed. We lucked out and ended up bonding with our tablemates and enjoyed their company so much that the six of us hung out at several ports of call as well as in the evenings after dinner. My husband and I agreed that one of the highlights of our trip was meeting these people (as well as some other passengers and crew that we hit it off with). There were usually plenty of good dinner options in the main dining room. I tried the Indian food one night and it was delicious. My husband is a seafood lover and he was always happy with the seafood dishes he ordered. The desserts were decent to good, the only exception being the crème brulee, which everyone at our table agreed was not good at all and very watery. We all ordered caprese salads one night and they were delicious. The creamy garlic soup was great. Our dinner waiters were Vener and Juan. They were both excellent! Both had constant smiles on their faces and were polite, friendly and helpful in making menu selection suggestions. Vener told us a couple jokes each night and his personality made him such a joy. We truly felt the service they provided was top-notch.Food in the Windjammer was good. I found the lunch options to be more varied and usually tastier than the breakfast options. The breakfast options did not vary at all from day to day and they got a little boring by the end of the cruise. I think I ate more bacon on the cruise than I'd eaten in the past five years combined. The pasta selections at lunchtime were good. I loved the low fat frozen yogurt for dessert.For late night snacks, the pizza in the Solarium and the onion rings and chili in the Seaview Cafe were all yummy. My husband had the chicken wings in the Seaview Cafe one night and ended up not finishing them because he said they were not good. We ordered room service for dinner one evening and were a little disappointed with the lack of options. We both got a burger, and we were not able to select how we wanted them cooked - they came pre-made and were well-done only. They were very dry and bland. Luckily, the sweet potato fries that we got alongside the burgers were very good. We also got room service for breakfast several times. It wasn't bad - better options than the room service dinner options. We paid the additional $25/person to dine at Chops (the steakhouse on the ship) one evening. We agreed that our Chops meal was one of the best of our trip and was worth the $50 we spent. We each got a filet, and we shared sides of potatoes, asparagus and broccoli. All were delicious. The best part of the meal was the amazing chocolate cake we got for dessert. Absolutely the best chocolate cake ever!The Drinks: My husband and I enjoy having some drinks...sometimes quite a few drinks! We visited most of the bars on board and our favorite place for happy hour/evening drinks quickly became the Schooner Bar. The bartenders, Kelville and Laurence, were fabulous. They were so friendly and pleasant to chat with and made great drinks. The entertainment in the Schooner Bar was always good, too. Piano and violin players, singers, occasional karaoke. There is plenty of comfy seating at and around the bar, and it was it was rarely crowded. We really loved this bar. The fruity drinks at the Pool Bar and Sky Bar were tasty and not horribly expensive. We quickly made it a habit to have a pina colada or mojito by the pool after returning to the boat from the various ports. We found that the Sky Bar usually had better and faster service than the Pool Bar and was often less crowded. The servers walking the pool deck were extremely helpful without being pushy.The Champagne Bar didn't have as many champagne options as one would expect and those they did offer seemed a bit over-priced. One visit to the Champagne Bar was enough for us.The Vortex Night Club was pretty dead all week with only a couple dozen people at most there at night. Next door, the Hollywood Odyssey Cigar Bar was pretty dead as well. We did go there several times though, so my husband could have a cigar, and the bartender Angelica was wonderful and fun to chat with.We bought a wine package (seven bottle Gold package) to have with dinner, and it ended up being a good option for us. We were happy with the quality and selection of the wines available with our package.The Entertainment:My husband and I aren't really big on seeing shows, movies, etc. We did catch the end of the Battle of the Sexes in the Safari Club, which was fun. And I checked out The Quest game show with our friends (my husband was a bit seasick that night). The Quest was AWESOME! It is a hilarious adult scavenger hunt in the Safari Club. Ricky, the Cruise Director, leads the game show. He did a great job and is a very charismatic and funny entertainer. We also checked out the final night's goodbye show in the Tropical Theater. Al, the comedian, is quite funny and the RCI singers and dancers were all very good. Ricky, again, was excellent.Ports of Call:BarbadosWe booked a catamaran tour through Silvermoon to snorkel with sea turtles and see a shipwreck. I read wonderful reviews of Silvermoon on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor, and they did not disappoint. We both absolutely loved the catamaran tour - it was a highlight of our cruise! Our guides treated us like gold, serving us wonderful homemade banana bread, carrot cake and a gourmet lunch. The local beer and rum punch was flowing all day. The boat itself was very well kept and beautiful. The snorkeling and swimming experience was unforgettable. The water was a beautiful clear blue and warm. It was a wonderful day with beautiful weather! The only negative to doing the tour was that we spent all of our time on the water and didn't have any time remaining to check out Bridgetown or and of the beaches. But I would do the Silvermoon tour again in a heartbeat!St. LuciaWe had scheduled an island tour of St. Lucia through Cosol Tours, another recommendation through Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. This was a wonderful tour as well. Our guide was Baptiste and he was friendly and very knowledgeable about the island. We first went to a banana plantation, where we viewed the bananas growing and sampled fresh bananas, mangos and coconuts. We stopped at several beautiful viewpoints to take photos and stopped at a small bar/restaurant area to have a morning snack. The morning snack was more of an all out buffet of local foods. We tried local fruits, homemade candy, fish, chicken, breads, johnnycakes and banana ketchup. Everything was delicious. There was a van that followed the tour vans around all day and provided us with whatever beverages we wanted (rum punch, beer, soda, water, etc.). After our morning snack, we drove by an area where a recent hurricane had caused a landslide. We visited an active volcano near the town of Soufriere and took a motorboat from Soufriere to a swimming beach between the Pitons. After swimming, Cosol himself met us back at the boat dock and was cracking us all up as he swung around a huge bottle of locally made alcohol (160 proof...whew!) and was pouring shots for us all while cracking jokes. Everyone in our group was having a great time laughing and drinking. On the way back to the dock, we stopped at a little house and Baptiste went in and returned with some wonderful, hot bread and fresh white cheddar cheese for all of us. The whole day was fun. I felt like we got to see a lot of the island. The weather was fairly sunny in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. Very hot all day. The landscape of the island is very pretty, but there is a lot of poverty and run-down areas and swarms of hacklers trying to sell goods to the tourists along all of the overlook spots. The only real complaint I had about the tour was that when the motor boat dropped us off at the swimming beach, there was some confusion about where we could sit (as some chairs were for resort guests only) and what areas we could swim in. Also, some of the other tour groups that were at the beach had access to coolers of drinks, but our group had no beverage access for the hour or so we were there. Otherwise, the tour was great. I would recommend Cosol Tours if you want to check out the island as a whole.AntiguaAfter having tours the previous two days, we decided to sleep in a bit and just go explore on our own in Antigua. It was a very hot but pretty day. Hacklers initially swarmed us when we got off the ship. We wandered around St. John's a little aimlessly for a while and honestly were not very impressed. BUT, then we stumbled upon a wonderful mix of little shops, art galleries and restaurants that sat back a ways from the street in an area filled with greenery and a lot of iguanas and birds. We found an art gallery with a great selection of work, and purchased two canvas paintings for a total of $50 and got to meet the artist. We then sat outside at the bar of the Big Banana restaurant. We had a few Red Stripes and enjoyed sitting and chatting with the bartender and some of our shipmates. For lunch, we tried the Big Banana's pizza, baked chicken and chicken wings. All were wonderful. My husband said the wings were the best he had had in is whole life! The total cost for all of our food and six beers was only $40 - you can't beat that. We headed back to the ship early this day and enjoyed lying by the pool in the afternoon. We heard from our friends that the beaches were beautiful in Antigua, and several of our friends said this was their favorite island.St. KittsBased on recommendations through Cruise Critic, we booked an Island Tour through Rose and Jim's taxi. Rose and Jim are a married couple and are both very sweet. It is quite evident that they are both in love with their island and they like to show visitors the sites. My husband and I were in Jim's van. We visited a Batik Factory and botanical garden first. I found the batik factory to be a bit commercial and more like a gift shop than a factory. The botanical garden was very beautiful, though, and we really enjoyed exploring it and taking photos. We then went up the most narrow, winding road I have ever seen to visit the Brimstone Hill Fortress, which is also a national park. We loved visiting the fortress - there was so much to explore and the views of the island were spectacular. We went to an overlook to see the place where the Atlantic and the Caribbean meet and then another overlook to see the large black lava rocks along the coast. At this overlook, we were more entertained by the animals we saw than by the view. There were several vendors set up selling their goods, and we got to hold a monkey, play with some wild dogs and pet some donkeys. One of the donkeys was a baby and was very friendly. It actually tried to get in the van with us, and chased our van when we left because it didn't want us to leave. I really enjoyed this part of the tour - it is one of my favorite memories from the cruise. We went to the opposite site of the island (which Jim explained was the "wealthy side") in the afternoon to visit Cockleshell Beach. It was very cloudy and windy, so we decided we didn't feel like swimming and instead got lunch in the beach restaurant there. We got the chicken curry burritos with grilled veggies and rice - yum! Jim took us back to the cruise pier mid-afternoon. While we did enjoy this tour and several of the stops, it was not our favorite island. Most of the island seemed run-down. There was a lot of trash along the roads and things just didn't seem very clean. No beverages or food were included in the coat of the tour (we were a bit spoiled by this point after the Silvermoon and Cosol Tours). It seemed like a lot of time spent just riding around in the van, and considering that there was a couple with a screaming baby in the front row of the van, it was not very pleasant being cooped up with them for the bulk of the day.St. MaartenThis was by far our favorite island! We had a nice, sunny day for this one and started the day off with a walk to downtown Philipsburg (about 15 minutes from the pier). We did some shopping. There are a lot of great shops and restaurants located downtown. We then went with our friends from the dining room to Maho Beach (aka the "Airplane Beach"). This beach was about a 25-minute cab ride away ($15 per couple each way) and is right by the airport. When the planes land and take off, they fly right over your head. It was exhilarating and a very memorable experience! Not to mention, the beach was beautiful with warm, clear water and great waves. We spent most of the day swimming and then got some food at the beach bar before heading back to the ship. I would recommend visiting this beach - great fun! The entire island seemed much cleaner, more modern and better kept than the previous islands. We loved St. Maarten and would like to go back for a vacation!St. ThomasSt. Thomas was our last port of call. We had a cloudy day and started of by going via cab ($4/person) into Charlotte Amalie to do some shopping. The cabs in St. Thomas are open air safari-type vehicles and are actually a lot of fun to ride in. The shopping was good here. I got a great deal on a pendant necklace. There are literally more jewelry stores along the main street than I could count! We then took a cab ($8/person each way) and met our friends at Magen's Bay, which is known to be one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It was very crowded, but I have to say it was quite pretty. There are lots of beach items available for rent, including towels, chairs, snorkels, swimming mats, etc. We got drinks called Painkillers from the beach bar. They were the strongest drinks we had on the trip and one was all I could handle. After returning to the pier, we all went to Senor Frogs. We didn't find it to be as fun or entertaining as we expected, and got back on the boat just as a huge thunderstorm rolled in. We went to deck five to watch the boat push off from the pier just as the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was an absolutely amazing sunset. We enjoyed St. Thomas but it didn't top St. Maarten.DisembarkationThis process went pretty smoothly, and we were able to get off the ship a bit earlier than our scheduled time of 10:20AM. However, when we got down to the customs area, we waited in a very long line for about 30-40 minutes before being able to be cleared and allowed to exit. As we are not experienced cruisers, I am not sure whether this was an unusually long wait to get off the ship or not. Either way, it was a little tiresome standing there with all our luggage for that long.Post-Cruise in San Juan:We went back to Numero Uno for a final night after getting off the ship. I had hoped to spend out last day of our honeymoon laying on the beach and swimming, but unfortunately it stormed all day. So instead, we went back to Kasalta for another yummy lunch and then relaxed in our room. We checked out Metropol in Isla Verde for dinner. The food was great. Portions were huge and it was very affordable. Try the Cuban Sampler plate. For $15.95 you get an array of about six of their most popular dishes.Highlights of the Trip:Highlights included the great service aboard the Serenade (stateroom attendant, dining room staff, bartenders); Silvermoon Cruise in Barbados; local foods on the Cosol Tour in St. Lucia; Big Banana in Antigua; Maho Beach in St. Maarten; Chops restaurant; Schooner Bar; breakfast on our balcony; The Quest game show; relaxing on the pool deck; and exploring San Juan pre and post cruise. Something tells me we will soon be experienced cruisers. We will certainly cruise with Royal Caribbean again.