We flew from Maryland to San Juan the day before the cruise, arriving at 4:30 p.m. and had done Priceline to get the Radisson Ambassador for $90/night. We took suggestions that Orozco's (about 5 block from the Hotel) was a good place to eat inexpensive local cuisine. We had a wonderful dinner (definitely local cuisine). We took a cab the next morning around 11:30 a.m. to the port and boarded the Serenade. This itinerary visited Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Croix. The ship is beautiful (as are all the Radiance class ships). We had lunch and toured the ship waiting for our cabin to be available at 1 p.m. The Cruise Critic Roll Call did not achieve 25 members, so we arranged our own "meet and greet" at the Sky Bar at 3:30 p.m. the first day. It was great meeting everyone we had "talked to" on the Cruise Critic message boards prior to the cruise. Meals on the Serenade were typical of Royal Caribbean - nothing out of this world, but very good. We ate at Chops on the third night and it was awesome.

Ports - The excursions that we planned were all off ship. We tried to get my husband on a fishing trip in Barbados (thinking there would be vendors to greet us at the port to pick from), but there are no vendors - only a tourism office that wasn't successful. We ended up taking a "taxi tour" and it was very nice- $20 pp. They wait until they fill a van, though, to leave. In St. Lucia we did the Cosol Tour. It was awesome. Everything you see/read about them is absolutely true. It was a great day. In Antigua we went to Valley Church Beach. There were 4 of us that shared a taxi (this is where, if you are just a couple or small group, meeting people with similar interests help with cost by sharing taxis). The beach was beautiful and virtually deserted, but the water is not clear. It has sort of a milky look when you look down in the water. St. Maarten is our favorite port, but it was disappointing that the day we were there was a national holiday and the stores were forbidden from opening (would be fined if they did open). We shopped at the pier (not sure why they could open and downtown couldn't) and then went to Orient Beach -which was beautiful as always. We did Gecko's Tour in St. Croix - Land and Sea. We took a couple of hours ATV tour (we only had one other couple with us, so it was really great). The island is really beautiful and the owners and staff of Geckos were extremely nice and knowledgeable. We also did the jet skis/kayak/snorkeling. We were allowed to exchange out the kayak/snorkeling and get an umbrella and 2 chairs instead. This and Cosol tie as our favorite excursions that we have ever done on a cruise.

Upon returning from the cruise I had done Priceline and got the Sheraton Old San Juan for $85/night. Great location if you want to sightsee the Old Town area. We toured Old San Juan, visiting El Morro and Christobal forts. Use the free trolley that circles the Old Town area. It is easy to hop on and off and is free. The forts were free as it was Veterans Day Weekend, but usually there is cost of $3-$5 (I'm not sure exactly) per person. The forts are much bigger than I would have thought. The next day we went to La Mallorca for breakfast (just a couple of blocks behind the hotel), which was a suggestion from Cruise Critic members. Breakfast was excellent and very inexpensive. The pastries (they are in the window) are to die for. We then took the ferry (.50 pp and across the street from the hotel) to the other side of San Juan and took a taxi to the Bacardi Factory. The tour was free and very informative and you get 2 drinks free per person. We probably took more taxis on this cruise than any other. Even with that I think we still did better with doing our own excursions as opposed to the ship's. Our flight left at 4:30 p.m. back to reality. Read more