My instructions to the travel agent were, "find a ship that will spend a lot of time at sea."
She came up with the Serenade..... This was only my fourth cruise, (Two Carnivals, Disney and the US Navy) so I have little basis for comparison.
I was very lucky in that I had a really GREAT waiter. He was fast and friendly. The rest of the staff were nice except the customer service desk. First they were cold, rude and unfriendly, but even worse for me, they spoke such broken American that understanding them was a real chore. The entertainment was poor to fair. Ninety percent of the passengers were well grayed yet they played much to current music.
Small but I traveled alone so it was more than comfortable. The mattress was a bummer. Had a hard spot right at hip line
Get a beaver tail