SundayTook a direct flight on JetBlue from Boston to San Juan. There were 4 of us so we drove in and parked at Preflight parking in Chelsea for about $90 for the week. We were surprised by the large amount of people at the airport on a Sunday morning. Line to check luggage was at least 40 minutes and the line for security was at least another 40 minutes. Could not take full advantage of the JetBlue satellite TV since about 40 minutes into the flight the satellite coverage over the ocean was weak and only the in-flight movies were available. Great flight overall, arrived ahead of schedule by half an hour.Took a cab to the ship from the airport for $18 for 4 people plus $1 each for 6 bags ($24 without tip). Embarkation was easy as usual. At the Pan Am Pier you can no longer buy a bottle of rum and tuck it in your carry on. We have cruised out of San Juan three other times and found that as long as you hid a bottle in your carry on and did not carry it in a bag no one questioned you. That was not the case this time. I stopped in the duty free shop and asked if they would take it away and they said yes the baggage screeners are looking for alcohol. You are able to buy water and soda as you enter and can bring on as much as you like.We were on deck 9 in an E1 category room (Deluxe balcony stateroom). We previously sailed on Serenade and were on deck 10 which was a more spacious room ( I'm guessing 3 ft bigger??) The deck 10 room had a full size couch with a Pullman bed over the couch for our two kids. The deck 10 couch turned into a bed and did not encroach much on the walking space in the room. The deck 9 room had an over sized chair instead of a couch and it folded out towards the vanity so you had to step over it to get to the bathroom. The deck 9 "chair bed" was fairly uncomfortable for anyone over 12 years old. Also the Pullman on deck 9 was over the king size bed whereas on deck 10 it was over the couch and you could pull a curtain to separate the king sized bed from the Pullman and sofa bed. Not a big deal but I'd spend the extra money to be on deck 10 with 4 people next time.We read in earlier posts that Serenade changed the menu recently and the food was sub-par. The May 22 cruise we found the food to be excellent as expected. This was our 7th cruise (3 Royal Carribean, 3 Carnival, 1 Norwegian) and in general we have found the dining room food very good and about the same across the cruise lines. I think the Windjammer on Royal Carribean is slightly better than the others however. Most days we had breakfast in the windjammer, snacks at 4:30-5:00 in the Seaview Cafe on deck 12 and dinner in the dining room. The Seaview is like a secret place; seldom crowded and items made to order - check it out at the beginning of the week. We are not late night folks and are typically in bed by 11:30 on weekends at home but we still find that the 8:30 seating is the best for dinner. To make a 6pm seating you are very rushed when you come off an excursion at 4:30 and you are hot and tired. It's great to have a 4:30 snack, relax and have a cocktail and quick nap before dinner. The dinners are great but the portions are not the US restaurant portions that would choke a horse so eating late was not an issue for us. We always ordered 2 appetizers in fact to sample more of the good food. If you are a big eater don't hesitate to order two dinners - it's not an issue.Cruise director Ricky was excellent (I'm usually mocking the cruise director by the end of the week and want to shut them up but not Ricky, he was very good). Overall the entertainment was above average.Monday Day at sea. No trouble getting a chair on the top deck at 10am.TuesdayBarbados. Planned to go to Paynes Bay for the day. Went to get a cab and they said that it was $30 each way. We started walking to the bus station and were stopped by a cabbie who offered to take us for $20 each way and negotiated an additional stop at Mt Gay Rum factory on the way back for $12 more. Paynes Bay is where the catamaran tours go to take clients snorkeling with the turtles. Go to BJ's Wholesale before you leave home and buy two sets of snorkeling gear (typically $40-50) and they will pay for themselves avoiding just 4 rentals. At Paynes Bay you can snorkel out ~100 yards and see the turtles. Wait for the catamarans to come in and the turtles will congregate since they know they get fed everyday at that time. "Big Daddy" gave us two chairs ($7.50 ea) and an umbrella ($5). There is a bar and clean bathroom and outdoor shower at the beach. Beers were about $4 each. Two lower budget alternatives are to walk 1 ½ miles to "boatyard beach" which is south of the ship. Out dinner tablemates got a chair, umbrella and ride back to ship for $12. They had a rope swing which was fun. It was described as "a little cheesey" but a good low budget day on a good beach. We also read about Brighton beach and a bar there where you can rent chairs relatively cheap. It's only 2-3 miles from the ship and right across from Mt Gay Rum factory so you can do the tour without paying for another ride like we did (but no Turtles!!). The rum tour was a good take but as a secondary excursion not a primary - 1 ½ hours is all you need and you get 3-4 shots of rum for the $12 entrance fee. You can also buy a bottle of rum and pour it in your water bottles to take back on the ship like we did. They make a bid deal about sneaking alcohol on the ship in the first day or two but if you are discrete I don't see a problem.WednesdaySt Lucia. We arranged for a ½ day deep sea fishing trip with Hackshaw's (12:15 - 4:00). They pick you up at the water taxi dock right by the ship. We went south west out of Castries and immediately started trolling for billfish and wahoo. I would guess we ended up 8 miles offshore and almost as far south as the Pitons (it was hot and hazy so not a good view from that far out). We chased a school of tuna for about 40 minutes and sighted a blue marlin 10 yards off the boat and circled a few times but no hits. We went through the better part of a case of complementary beer but no fish for our $550. You can charter a smaller 31 ft boat for $450 but I was not sure how large of seas we would have this time of year and wanted a bigger boat with the family. (if it was all guys I'd save the $100 and go with the 31 ft boat). When you are going for specific fish and not bottom fishing for junk fish sometimes you hit them sometimes you don't - we didn't. The captain said the best time of year is around September. I not sure I'd go again in the future unless I was splitting the cost with the guys but it was a lot of fun. We've been to St Lucia three other times. If it is your first time going you must take a tour with Consol or Fabian Tours. Zip Lining in Dennery was great also but pricey.ThursdayAntigua. Arranged our own tour for Sting Ray City via e:mail - paid $50 each (credit card). This was the highlight of the trip. They took us out in four ~20 ft Carolina skiffs about 3-4 miles out to a large sandbar with a floating dock. They supply snorkel gear. You stand in waist deep water and 25-30 gentle sting ray swim around you. They set up a line and have everyone who wants to hold a sting ray - don't be afraid it's great!! They have a good camera and take pictures that you can purchase when you return to the dock. They had plenty of squid and took a lot of time to let anyone who wanted to feed the sting ray. One guy was helping people hold sting ray near the floating dock which was a good opportunity to get rid of the cheap water camera and take some good pictures from the dock with my digital camera. Cab fare to sting ray city was $32 each way and we negotiated with the cabbie to take us to our favorite beach in the Caribbean - Long Bay beach for $10 more. The cabbie just stayed at the beach for the 3 ½ hrs we were there since there were not many fares back at St John with just one ship in port. Look up the Grand Pineapple ( beach club in Antigua) to see what the beach looks like - you stop at the opposite end of the beach from the club with simple chairs and umbrellas but it's the beach that you need to look at. It has a nice reef for snorkeling, beautiful white sand, beautiful blue water and a few shops and a bar with a basic but clean bathroom.FridaySt Marten. Took a cab to Orient Beach ~ 30 minute ride $7 each (each way). Since we had 6 in the van it was only $6 per person. Cabbie dropped us at a beach club and for $8 got an umbrella, chair, and a drink ( get the 16oz rum punch for the free drink!). We got a bucket of 6 Corona's for $15, a big hot dog/fries $8, and chili nachos for $8 - all very good. Beach was not crowded at all. This is a semi nude beach but there were very few people sunbathing topless (3-4 women ranging from 30-70 year old on the whole section we were in) and in 4 hours only 2 people walked by in the buff from the all nude beach down the road. The beach itself is very nice, small waves, no reef, several small shops. Shopping downtown was good in the afternoon.SaturdaySt Croix. You really felt like you were back in the US in St Croix. More upscale houses, US cars, etc. We went to Canes Bay beach for the day - $18 per person round trip. You can rent a chair for $10 at the dive shop behind the bar. You don't need an umbrella since there is a lot of shade on the beach. This beach is long (1/2 mile??) but not very wide (10 yard until you are under the trees - plenty of shady spots). The dive shop had a sign that said "new scuba dive" $60 and I thought it said experienced divers could rent for $40 - check website yourself. We just snorkeled with our own gear. Food at the bar was good, my son said he had the best pulled pork he ever had. You can see the kitchen as you enter and they had a fresh whole Wahoo fish which was going to be on the menu for the afternoon. The snorkeling was great. About 10 yard off the beach is a very shallow reef. You need to walk to the boat ramp and go straight out to get by the reef. Beyond the reef the water was maybe 10 feet deep and didn't seem to get much deeper than 15 to 20 feet over the area we snorkeled so you really could see the bottom with lots of coral and more fish than I've seen since a trip to Cozumel years ago. The bay is noted for the "wall". At the edge of the bay it drops from shallow (20-50 ft??) to 3200 ft in a very short distance. The people were the friendliest of any island. My wife met a retired woman and she invited my wife back for a visit. I was talking with a cabbie and she said that you should be careful about where you go since there are robbers who are looking for money mostly for drugs. In fact while sitting in the bar a young couple walked in and said they were robbed of $150 just down the road a few moments ago. The wife negotiated to keep all their IDs. The bartender listened to the story but didn't seem surprised and never offered to call the police. Big lesson learned is only bring one credit card on any island, separate your ID's and credit cards from your wallet and only carry the cash you need in your wallet so you don't lose everything if you are asked to hand over your wallet. Leave the good jewelry in the ship safe. This was our first trip to St Croix and we definitely would go back.Disembarkation took only 30 minutes and went very smoothly.