I'm sure that you will have a lovely time. As I said before we have cruised before but with our 3 offspring, all grown up now & doing thier own thing hols wise, so for all sorts of reasons we wondered how this cruise would be. We had visited a couple of the stop-off places before but you do spot things anew i think on return visits plus it's good to revisit memorable places anyway. We did find the excursions pricey but i think if you plan/budget well before you travel etc it's managable. Our booking was through Virgin & they were very helpful re itinerary queries. If you check out the Serena on this site you will be able to view the ships interior and take a peek at other cruisers holiday pics. I know that the reviews are somewhat mixed but i think they mostly are anyway for holidays-it's a case of What You Make Of It personally I think. We are fairly easy-going but we do like nice food and bedrooms/cabins and this was so. We found plenty of choice re meals in the cafe type eaterie places, there is a lido buffet and we kept on finding more buffet type food bars as well as seated restaurants! It is largely Italian style food on offer from the buffets re b'fast,lunches or casual dinner meals but there always other options available and as we love Italian food it was fine for us anyway-like being on holiday in Italy & taking it with you as you cruise around. If we had any queries re anything not just what is that please re the food, we were answered promptly and with a smile. Yes there were youngsters onboard but only as you would expect to find on holiday anyway, certainly no rowdiness etc. Our cabin was immaculate and quiet to sleep in. I would happily rebook with them and i know that our 18,22 & 24 year olds would love it too. It is a different experience on the Serena as it's a huge Floating Resort Ship but the cruise basics are the same. Some of the comments/reviews were so negative re this Ship but really the only gripe we had was we did have to wait a while to board in the first instance, but it's a large Ship with a lot of people all boarding, so what would you expect? We were seated while waiting with a snack bar similar to a samll airport lounge idea i quess. But everything else was fine. Most enjoyable. Do try out the last day Venice/gondola trip, can't recall the price but it was good value as the gondola ride is included, it's "walk through" trip but you do get to see The Dodges Palace have lunch in the square, not included in the trip price don't sit at the suares tables it's silly price wise-get a hot/cold snack from one of the many snack/shop places around the sqares edge with a drink to go and wander for a while then walk past all the Chanel,Prada etc shops and enjoy the atmosphere. We chose to wander about on our own for a while and got a river taxi back to the Serena ready to disembark sailing along the bit where Daniel Craig was in Casino Royale. Wonderful simply wonderful. Do you know this has rewhetted my appetite for Serena-might find you nexy year onboard!! All the best .