This was our first cruise experience. My wife and I are in our late 40's and early 50's. We booked a southern Caribbean cruise June 19, through June 26, 2011, on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's (RCCL) "Serenade of the Seas" for our first. We were not disappointed! We flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Dallas, Texas, the day before our cruise. Our flights (1 connection) were right on time. Upon arrival in San Juan we took a taxi from the airport to the Embassy Suites Hotel airport location on Tartak Street. The taxi was $18 plus a dollar a bag. It is a five minute ride. We got settled in the room and made our way to the beach a couple of blocks away. We had a nice walk on the beach. We had dinner and drinks at the El Alambique restaurant on the boardwalk for a couple of hours. It's about a 10 minute walk from the Embassy Suites. Embarkation and Stateroom (Sunday)We took a taxi from the Embassy Suites to the Pan American Pier. Plenty of taxis were available. The taxis are regulated so each destination is the same price all the time no matter what taxi you take. The taxi to the Pier was $20 plus $1 a bag. It's only about 15 minutes to the Pier. We were allowed on board the ship at 12 PM. It only took us 10 minutes from the time we were in line to get on board. We did our paperwork online on RCCL's website which made the process very quick for us. We gave a credit card number for our onboard Sea Pass account. We didn't have any issues during the cruise with overcharges on our account the whole time. You can check your account against your charges whenever you want either by the TV in your room or at the Deck 4 Guest relations by a print out. We saved our receipts for this purpose. They were spot on. You are not allowed to take on alcohol for use during the cruise. Some people were trying and we saw several get busted. They just took it from them. To each their own I guess. You are allowed to buy cokes and bottled water and take it on board with you. They have a store in the building as you pass through screening. I recommend buying it from there or taking it with you. The store sold cokes in 8 packs for $2.99 each and a case of water (12 - 16oz bottles for $4.99 each.) Pretty reasonable we thought. We had to wait until 1 PM for our room to be ready. So we went to eat at the Windjammer first. It is excellent and had a variety of choices everyday. No complaints here. We took the advice of forum members and packed a small bag with a change of clothes to take on board until our bags arrived at our stateroom. We didn't want to mess with rolling our small carry on bags everywhere with us. We put our small bag in our room after eating and went and purchased some water at the store where you initially entered the building by the security screening station. We found the room (Deck 8, E-1 Balcony Stateroom, # 8634, right side of the ship mid way between center and aft) to be nice and clean with plenty of room for us. It had a couch and large bed. The balcony was just right for the two of us to sit and enjoy the water and scenery at our leisure. Our room attendant was awesome throughout the cruise. He was on top of things twice a day. Always had ice and fresh towels waiting for us morning and evening. We did take a 12 foot extension cord which we used on several occasions. Good idea from previous cruisers. Thanks. All our bags arrived about 2 PM. ExcursionsWe didn't book any excursions as we had planned out what we wanted to do while on our cruise beforehand and that was go to the beaches on the islands, relax with drinks and food from the bars and restaurants, and do a little window browsing/shopping in the port towns. We couldn't tell you how any excursions went. We didn't care about them as we kept ourselves busy. Sea Day (Monday)Day 1 was at sea. We went to the pool on Deck 11 and just hung out for most of the day ordering drinks at the Pool bar and Sky bar. There were quite a few people there but it wasn't too bad. We enjoyed the day there. We found the alcohol prices to be reasonable. Beer was about $5 and even mixed drinks were reasonable. Jack Daniels and diet coke for example was $5.50 plus the 15% they add automatically for each drink. They have a drink of the day each day which is $5.95 plus the 15%. Piña Coladas and such were about $7 each or so. And they were excellent. I didn't get any martinis so they might have been just a little more. Use some good sunscreen and plenty of it because the Caribbean sun will make you suffer if you don't. We saw numerous people with burns that developed in a matter of a couple of hours. They had to be uncomfortable. Barbados (Tuesday)We arrived in Barbados and were allowed to disembark about 8:30 AM. We walked about 10 minutes to downtown and looked around for a while. We then walked over to the Boatyard Bar and Lobster Alive beach areas. They are right next to each other. We decided on hanging out at Lobster Alive and paid $15 for 2 chairs and an umbrella and got 3 free Rum punches for each item we rented. We had about 6 Rum punches (3 each) that day. They were definitely strong! My wife was loopy after the third one and happened to miss dinner in the Main Dining Room (MDR) that night. But we laughed about it the next day. It was free to get on the beach at Lobster Alive. We heard that the Boatyard was charging each person $12 just to get into the establishment and go to the free beach. Lobster Alive was perfect for us and an awesome beach. The water was very clear and had beautiful color to it. The beach was a fine white powder. It was so awesome. We took a taxi back to the Pier area for $6 a piece. On the way back the taxi driver stopped at a little road side bar and we got a couple of cold "Banks" brand "beer roadies" to go for our short jaunt to the pier. We went back to do some shopping near the port. We had to be back on the ship at 4:30 PM.St. Lucia Day (Wednesday)We arrived in St. Lucia and were allowed to disembark about 8:30 AM. We got a taxi that cost us $16 one way and went to Reduit (pronounced Red-we) beach in St. Lucia. It's a very nice beach about 20 minutes from the ship port. The sand was dark brown and somewhat grainier. The sand is best described as finer sandblasting sand. It's not powder. The beach was nice and the water was clear. I have to admit, I thought it would be a little better than what I imagined, but it is a volcanic island after all. We still enjoyed our time there and the scenery. We hung out at a bar too for a while named "Spinnakers" and ate lunch there as well. It was very good. I drank the local beer called "Piton" named after the two Pitons on the island. Pretty good beer! I found a little hut on the beach with some ladies selling it for $2 a beer. Ice cold baby! Overall we enjoyed out time at this beach. The same taxi driver came back for us when we asked him to at 2:30 PM to pick us up and take us back to the ship. He was very nice and he gave us no hassles about coming back. He was glad to do it. We then went back to the Port and shopped around for little stuff. We had to be back on the ship at 4:30 PM. Antigua (Thursday)We arrived in Antigua (pronounced An-tiga [the "u" is silent]) and were allowed to disembark about 8:30 AM. We wanted to go to Valley Church Beach. Taxi drivers wanted $32 dollars each way to this beach. I read on the forum website from other cruisers that you could take a public bus for a lot less to this beach. So, we asked around and found that the "West" public bus station was only a 10 minute walk form the Port. Sure enough it was. We got to walk through the town of St. John's a bit and see it on the way to the bus station. We found it really easy to get around on foot and saw that most of the buses go east and pass right by the Valley Church beach entrance. It cost us $3 U.S. for both of us to take the 25 minute bus ride there. We got on the bus with everyone else and off we went. Reminded me of when I was a kid and had to take the bus to and from school. It was fun and we got to see the local surroundings. The driver dropped us off across from the Valley Church 25 minutes later at this dirt road lined with trees and brush on each side. For a few seconds we thought that we had made a big mistake because you couldn't see anything but a dirt road and it seemed as if you were walking into a bad area. We walked about 75 to 100 yards in and all of the sudden you could see the water. It was like a scene out of a magazine. The water was an unbelievable teal color and we could see a park area by the beach. I literally wanted to cry because it was just so beautiful. Something you see in a magazine. That's what we came to see! So we continued to walk the road and saw more people who were there and taxi's were coming in too. There was a bar and small restaurant there. We got an umbrella and 2 chairs for $20 and were about 20 feet from the water on a beautiful white sandy beach. The water was a spectacular teal color as far as you could see. It was not clear like in Barbados, but had a cloudy appearance. Not sure it was good for any snorkeling but it was sweet to look at just the same. We ate at the little restaurant and it was great food. I got a bucket of 6 Caribe beers (local beer) for $15 that they put in ice. The beer was as cold as could be and just right for drinking in the Caribbean sun. Single beers were $3 each. My wife got Piña Coladas for $6 a piece. We were in awe the whole day. There was a lady named "Pam" who was doing massages on the beach under one of the shade trees. She had her massage table all set up. My wife decided to get one and Pam charged her $20 for 30 minutes of a full body massage. My wife came back floating on air afterwards and said that was one of the best massages she had in recent months. Keep Pam in mind, because apparently she was worth the money. My wife gave her a $5 tip and Pam was shocked that she got a tip on top of the $20 she got for the message. When we were done, we went back out to the road and caught a bus back into the "West" bus station. Give yourself an hour to get back because traffic picked up in the afternoon and it is a two lane road in and out of town. We left at 2:30 PM and got back to the bus station at just after 3 PM. We walked back to the little shops near the port, did a little shopping and had an ice cream that was great. We had to be back on the ship at 4:30 PM. Another great day! St. Maarten (Friday)We arrived in Philipsburg, St. Maarten at 7 AM this day and we disembarked about 8:30 AM. Originally we planned on going to Maho and Mullet beach on the west end of the island. But everyone we spoke to including friends, ship personnel and locals told us to definitely go to Orient Beach on the east side. We took a taxi from the pier to Orient Beach on the French side for $18 one way. The taxi driver said he would come back for us when we wanted him to. Since it is a 30 minute ride, we told him to pick us up at 2:30 PM. Folks, I want to tell you that listening to that advice about Orient Beach from everyone was the best thing we did. Wow! What another spectacular sight to see. The beach was huge. It had to be at least a mile long and was white and sandy just like in Barbados. We rented an umbrella and two chairs right on the beach just feet from the water. The water was so awesome again! The taxi driver dropped us off at bar and grill called Le String. It had access to the beach and we paid $14 for 2 chairs and an umbrella. We got personal beach front service for drinks from waiter John and bartender Jos at the bar. The guava berry drinks were fantastic as well as the Pina Coladas and rum punch. I ordered a bucket of 6 mixed beers (Presidente, Caribe and Amstel Light) for $15. We ate at the bar seating area and it was great food. We took a stroll down to the nudist beach to check it out since everyone talked about it. Holy you know what! There were at least 125 people there in their birthday suits. Some had no issues being nude and served it proudly. Others had no business taking their clothes off (HAHA!) On our way out Jos offered us a parting couple of rum shots. We choose banana and vanilla shots. My wife about got floored on the first one and she had a quarter of the second shot. I could only drink half of the second shot and I was done with it. Jos, my wife, and I, all did a rum shot together for a picture. The shots were good but super strong. The taxi driver came back as he said he would and took us to downtown so we could do some shopping for souvenirs. We shopped for about 2 hours and got some really good deals on knick knacks. I know how to barter with the vendors. My wife, not so much but she had fun. But if you are looking for any jewelry, this is the place to get it at. There were extremely reasonable prices on various stones and the like. St. Maarten is definitely the place to get nice jewelry at. This was probably our most favorite port and day! We had to be back on the ship at 5 PM. We will definitely return to St. Maarten. St. Croix (Saturday)We arrived in Frederiksted, St. Croix at 7 AM this day again and we disembarked about 8:30 AM. We had heard about Sandcastle Beach near the ship port and planned to go there but decided at the last minute to go across the island. We got a taxi for $16 each roundtrip to take us to Christiansted on the other side of the island. We could tell for some reason that we were back in U.S. territory. We couldn't put out finger on why really, but the atmosphere just presented itself that way to us. It was about a 30 minute ride and we were dropped off downtown. We walked around and ended up going to the old Fort museum run by the National Park Service. It was $3 each to enter. It was interesting but not thrilling. We went to Protestant Cay for $4 per person on the water taxi and got 2 chairs and an umbrella for $20. Protestant Cay is the little island with the hotel and beach area on it across from the harbor and fort. They had a restaurant and bar and it was somewhat crowded as evidently lots of other people had the same idea we did. It was nice though and the water was very clear and somewhat cooler than the previous locations we had been to. Still, it was nice to see and cool off. We ate that the restaurant and I had a few Presidente beers while my wife was drinking Piña Coladas. She gave me a taste and they were good. We left about 2:30 PM again and shopped around downtown before returning to the Frederiksted Pier for more shopping. We had to be back on the ship at 5 PM.Disembarkation (Sunday; Last day)We had to have our bags out in the hallway on Saturday night between 7 PM and 11 PM for porters to pick up. We just kept a small bag out with a change of clothes for Sunday. Instructions are clear and they have you meet in certain areas of the ship according to when you fly out at the airport. They give you instructions on your TV should you need them. We got up early Sunday morning and went to the Windjammer to eat breakfast before we got off the ship. We were sent to the Tropical Theater in group 7 and left promptly at 8:45 AM to leave the ship on Sunday morning. We went into the huge warehouse were the bags were and found our bags easily. We cleared U.S. Customs quickly and took a taxi to the San Juan airport. The taxi ride to the airport was $20 plus $1 a bag. No issues whatsoever. It was smooth all the way around.Ship EntertainmentWe went to several of the shows they had in the Tropical Theater during the week. The shows were decent and kept us interested. Even though it wasn't Vegas, they were fun. Ricky Matthews is the cruise director and we found him to be a pretty fun guy with lots of energy. FoodWe thought the food in all areas was great. No complaints whatsoever. The service in all areas was tremendous. In the Main Dining Room (MDR), our headwaiter Raj, waiter Luke and assistant waiter Milton were fantastic. They bent over backwards for us at our table for two. The Windjammer was great and so was the Sea View Cafe. The food was excellent all around. Tips for ServiceEven though we pre-paid our tips, we provided $25 extra in cash tips to waiter Luke and assistant waiter Milton for their 5-star service. They made us feel like gold! We gave headwaiter Raj $15 extra for coming and talking to us every night. I think he liked our fun side at dinner. We gave our stateroom attendant Cesar $20 extra for his excellent service in taking care of our room. We gave $20 cash tip at the end of the cruise to Mr. Wilbert Shaw in the Windjammer. Mr. Shaw makes the fresh morning egg omelets for cruise patrons. He is a humble man with a heart of gold and he makes the best omelets for you that are perfectly made to your order. So friendly! We thought he deserved the recognition. It brought a smile to his face when we gave him that tip. If you eat in the Windjammer for breakfast, go see Mr. Shaw for an omelet. Tell him he is recognized on the Cruise Critic website for his work. He deserves the recognition. We loved him. We did not have to tip extra, but these ship personnel really worked hard for us and we think they deserved it. Miscellaneous NotesI think we took an over abundance of clothing for our first cruise experience. We will not take as many dress clothes the next time. We saw a lot of people wearing casual attire in the form of shorts and flip flops/tennis shoes in the MDR. It didn't bother us as we wore casual shorts attire on the last night of the cruise as did ¼ of the other people that last day. Even though RCCL suggests the type of clothing for certain dinner nights, it is absolutely not mandatory. RCCL will not throw people out of the MDR for not wearing the suggested clothing of the night. However, I do not suggest looking like a bum either. Consideration of other's dining experience is a must.As stated earlier, we took a 12 foot extension cord with us that we ended up using a couple of times. There were only two electrical outlets.There is a safe in each room to place valuables in. We had a problem with our safe not locking and called maintenance. The maintenance man came immediately and fixed it within 10 minutes. So, if you find your safe is not working, don't panic. They will take care of it quickly. We used room service on two occasions; once for coffee in the morning and another time for dinner for my wife who was suffering from a severe hangover and missed dinner (LOL). Room service starts at 6:30 AM. It took about 20 minutes each time for our orders to get to the room. We tipped the service attendant each time he brought us something. Yes there are some people who place towels on the pool chairs to "reserve" them for themselves while they try to go somewhere else for a while prior to getting to the pool. But we noticed that RCCL personnel were removing those towels if they saw no one in the chairs for a period of 30 or 40 minutes. So that was good. They take the towels and items to a "lost and found" holding place awaiting the owners to come and get them and in the meantime open up a chair for someone who is there to enjoy the pool facilities.The bathroom is not huge but is sufficient; great water pressure in the shower and out of the faucet. The shower might be a little restrictive for bigger people but was great for our needs. It is true that you will be bombarded by people on the islands trying to sell you something on the beach or by taxi drivers trying to hard sell you on a taxi ride. We just said no thanks and moved on. They got our drift rather quickly when we ignored them. We walked in the towns freely and no one tried to "prey" on us as I have seen in some of the forum posts. We felt quite safe walking around all the islands during the day.As far as cash for spending, we took $2000 with us to spend on whatever we needed in the various ports of call. We took denominations of bills in 20's, 10's, 5's and 1 dollar bills as some of the places did not take anything bigger than $20 bills and did not have a lot of change for bigger bills. We only used $800 of it for taxis, meals, bars, umbrellas, alcohol, trinkets, and souvenirs. We only took a few hundred at a time and locked up the rest in the safe.We took a backpack and carried our snorkel masks, snorkels, towels (RCCL gives you towels for the day and exchanges them for fresh towels whenever you need them and they are available on the pool deck or before you leave the ship for the day at the exit) hand wipes, water shoes, sunscreen, and a change of clothes just in case. We brought bug spray but found we did not need it once. We typically just wore our bathing suits off the ship and back. My wife just used a cover-up and walked around all over the place in it. There were quite a few family groups on the ship with kids but they all seemed well behaved from what we saw.The weather was simply outstanding the whole cruise!ConclusionOverall, our first cruise experience was no less than awesome on this ship and so were the destinations the Serenade went to. We really have nothing negative to say. The experience left us both wanting to book another cruise right away. The ship is beautiful and is kept very clean. Personnel were friendly and assisted our needs in every way possible. We had no problems on any of the islands anywhere we went. We found that by researching the Cruise Critic forums we were able to obtain lots of information on where to go, what to do and what to expect and it really made our experience much better. Hopefully this review will help others on their future cruise vacation. We rate our first cruise experience and the southern Caribbean cruise on RCCL's Serenade of the Seas as outstanding. We'll be back!