Review: Liberty of the Seas, Jul 16-23, 2017 (Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica)

We just returned from the Liberty of the Seas and I thought I'd share an overview of our experience. I apologize in advance if this is super long winded!

To save you from scrolling all the way through, the tl;dr version is that it was AWESOME! We had a great time! Would do it again!

DAY 1 - GALVESTON

We arrived at Galveston Park N Cruise at about 10:15 am. Parking is indoors and for our cruise the cost was $92.01. It is not the easiest place to find and, if my wife didn't already know where it was, I don't know if I would have found it without a couple of trips around the block.

We rolled our suitcases over to the terminal area. The building nearest the crosswalk is the Carnival Cruise Line terminal. For Royal, you have to take a left and walk down a ways to the second terminal building. Upon arriving, we found a porter who checked our luggage in (we already had our luggage tags on the bags). Unecumbered by our luggage, we headed into the terminal building. Upon checking our luggage in, I checked my watch and saw that it was 10:35 am.

Following a litany of signs we made our way to the first check in desk. That line was about 40 people long, but only took a few minutes to get through. That line was the security checkpoint. After passing through the metal detectors and having our carry on bags scanned, we proceeded to the next line. At every turn between areas there was someone checking paperwork and making sure we were heading to the correct line. It was very efficient and kept things moving.

The next line was the wait to get checked in for the cruise. We waited maybe 5 minutes for a representative to open up. He was super friendly and really kicked the cruise off for us with his positive attitude and friendly demeanor. He checked our passports, reviewed our Seapass paperwork, took our pictures, and eventually gave us our Seapass cards.

After that, we were directed to the waiting lounge. Upon arrival we were directed to one of two ladies who were passing out boarding group number cards. We got a card for group #6. We found some seats and started to wait.

In less than 10 minutes they started calling the first people to board. They started with the frequent cruisers and eventually called group #1. It went really fast, they were not waiting around for people to lollygag!

Before we knew it, they had called our group and we were heading onto the gangway. A few twists and turns down a hallway, up a ramp, and boom - we were on the deck of the ship getting our brand new Seapass cards scanned! Once we made it on board, we headed straight to the Windjammer Cafe for lunch. By the time we sat down with our food it was just 11:30 am.

The buffet was terrific! We'd heard others say that the food wasn't very good at Windjammer. Maybe it was because we were so hungry, or maybe we are poor evaluators of food, but we thought the buffet was great! Was it like eating at a find steakhouse? No, but for a buffet it was pretty darn good!

After lunch we explored the ship and finally made it to our room when they opened up at 1 pm. We had stateroom 8228, D3 Superior Stateroom with Balcony. Some room photos:

Looking at the room from the door

Looking back toward the door. On the right is the desk with tons of storage.

Left side of closet:

Right side of closet - drawers & safe

Bathroom - toilet & shower area

Bathroom - sink and mirror

After exploring our room a bit, we headed back out around the ship. We explored the promenade area quite a bit, expecting it to be an area we spent a large amount of time in.

As we got closer to the muster drill, we decided to find out where we would meet up. Lucky us, it turned out that our meeting spot was in one of the clubs! Woo hoo! Galveston was hot and humid, we weren't looking forward to standing around outside for 30 minutes to an hour with our new best friends. We found a table in the club and sat and waited as the muster drill started. Eventually the room filled up and the muster drill took place. It was actually very efficient and well run.

We hung out and let the crowd dissipate before heading back to our room and finding most of our luggage had arrived. We unpacked, met our wonderful stateroom host - Kenyan Curtis - and prepped for dinner.

A few months ago I had read on these boards that people recommended you make advanced reservations for My Time Dining, so we had a table waiting for us when we arrived. I had requested a table by the window and wasn't disappointed. Our servers, Amine and Oral, were AMAZING! By the end of our first meal we knew we wanted to sit at their table every night, which is what we requested. It was a spectacular dinner, tons of choices and everyone walked away having eaten too much!

It was time to head to bed! We got the kids (13 and 17 years old) situated in their own room and made our way to bed. One of the best decisions we made for this trip was getting the kids their own room! Well worth the expense! Nobody tripping over anyone, they could stay up as long as they wanted, and my wife and I could enjoy some alone time! Everyone wins!

Subscribed! My wife and I booked this cruise and r leaving Dec. 3rd. We have the excact same ports so I'm looking forward to reading ur posts. Thanks!

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Subscribing, leaving 9/10.

Thank you for the review, looking forward to more!

DAY 2 - AT SEA

We spent the first sea day just enjoying the ship, getting to know our way around, and relaxing!

For breakfast we headed to the Windjammer Cafe. The selections were plentiful and there were tons of seats available. I don't know if we got there too early or what, it was about 9 am, but the huge crowds we'd heard about were nowhere to be found.

After breakfast we headed down to the promenade area to see what was happening there. Selling was what was happening! Lots and lots of selling! They were selling watches, perfume, jewelry, and more! The only people who were slightly aggressive about trying to get your attention were the people pushing the enhanced dining packages. They were fairly relentless if you even looked in their direction. I don't know what the sales incentives are for them, but whatever it is motivates them to keep at it!

This was the only time I really felt like the sales pitches were wandering into possibly being overwhelming, but it really wasn't too bad based on what I had previously read. In fact, I think we were pitched the drink package twice in the first few days, and that's it. Nothing aggressive there!

We tried out the pizza at Sorrento's, it got two big thumbs up from my son. He ate at least a couple of slices from Sorrento's each day.

We checked out Ben & Jerry's - never ended up buying any ice cream. Of course we had to explore the cupcake shop. The smell was amazing and the pricing wasn't bad at all. Only a few dollars for a HUGE cupcake. We noted that for later, saving the sugary treat for later in the cruise to use as a bargaining chip with the kids.

We explored the shops, weren't too impressed with the logo'd merchandise. It was all very female oriented. In fact, I never once saw a nice men's Royal Caribbean polo shirt to buy or even a good ball cap to wear. Everything was "Cruising Queen" or glittered to the hilt. Not really my cup of tea.

After getting our fill of the promenade we went and watched people on the flow rider. Some of the kids were terrific on the flow rider. They definitely knew what they were doing.

We decided to make Johnny Rockets a stop early in our cruise after hearing from others on this board how crowded it gets later in the voyage. The cost of admission is $6.95 per person, which includes the food and sodas. Milkshakes are $4.95 each.

When you sit down they bring you plates full of onion rings and french fries with ranch. The waiter puts on a show of making a smiley face out of catsup on a separate plate. We devoured all of our appetizers and resisted the temptation to get more. The onion rings were awesome while the french fries needed salt. Everyone ordered a burger and the kids got chocolate shakes. The burgers were just fair, nothing too special. Mine was supposed to have some sort of bbq sauce on it, but I think they forgot it because I never saw or tasted it. The chocolate shakes on the other hand were simply amazing. The kids wanted to come back every day to get chocolate shakes. Both would probably say that the chocolate shakes were their favorite parts of the cruise.

We spent the day goofing around. We avoided the pools because they were pretty crowded. Not as bad as we've experienced on other cruises, but having two pools definitely helps alleviate the crowds.

Dinner was the first formal night. Everyone got dressed up & we took all sorts of photos around the ship. In the restaurant Amine and Oral greeted us as long lost friends and already had our preferred drinks waiting for us! I enjoyed the prime rib and almost got a second because it was so good. I held off and enjoyed some cheesecake for dessert instead. Everyone was stuffed!

We headed off to participate in music trivia at the Schooner Bar. We didn't do too bad on the "Legends of Song" music trivia, but not well enough to win any prizes.

After trivia was the "In the Air" show. I had heard that this was a "not to be missed" show. It was okay, kinda boring, and really needed a story to tie it all together. Basically it was a series of dances and aerial acts without any real connection between them other than the overarching "Water, Air, Fire, and Ice" theme. Every once in a while someone would sing, but nothing propelled the audience through the performances. Honestly, it reminded me of a dance recital where each group does their own thing and nothing links together. The show started out with a definite Cirque du Soleil vibe, which quickly disappeared. However, the final aerialist were amazing. The show ended on a high note, so it wasn't a total loss. I would have loved to seen more of them and less of the jumble of dances. Cut ten minutes out of the middle and I'd probably give it two thumbs up. It dragged on and on!

To wrap up the night I decided to head down to the promenade to read and get some pizza (Yep, definitely should have gotten a second prime rib!). The promenade was the happening place to be - tons of people milling around, a definite electricity in the air. At one point two guys bumped in to each other and yoked up in the classic "Come at me bro" pose. They postured for a while, a little pushing and shoving ensued, and I thought I was going to see a fight. Cooler heads prevailed and after some back and forth about "you first" they went their separate ways. I've never seen that on a Disney Cruise before!

The evening's excitement wasn't over! After the near-fight I moved down to the Cafe Promenade to try out the sandwich offerings (again, should have gotten a 2nd prime rib!). I was firmly ensconced in a plush leather chair, doing everything I could to ignore the family talking very loudly next to me, and especially their 2 to 3 year old child who was jumping from chair to chair to chair. Apparently the floor was lava & nobody told me! As I'm watching the parents ignore their child, out of the corner of my eye I spot the child climbing on top of one of the tables. Not just any table, the table sitting right next to the opening for the stairwell down to deck 4. The kid stands on the table, looks down into the stairwell and proceeds to jump into the abyss! HOLY GUACAMOLE! Next, I hear a loud crash and the ensuing cry-screaming. Only then did mom, dad, or the grandparents realize that their precious little one had jumped for it! Dad runs off & down the stairwell, recovering the little one. Mom starts swearing at grandma & grandpa for not watching the kid. Dad comes back carrying the crying kid and proceeds to yell at mom, the grandparents, and anyone in the vicinity for not keeping an eye on his precious child. Someone from Royal comes over to check on the kid and gets totally chewed out by the parents for not having a safe environment for their little one. Somehow it was Royal Caribbean's fault that the kid stood on top of a table and decided to do a swan dive down to the stairs below. About that time I decide it's time for me to turn in. I could still hear mom and dad screaming at each other when I reached the elevator at the other end of the promenade.

Sorry, I did not take a picture of the stairwell or table. The best you're going to get is a shot of the promenade.

Nike4000

Do they make you take your life boat jackets to the life boat drill?

Thanks

... Do they make you take your life boat jackets to the life boat drill?

Nope.

DAY 3 - COZUMEL

We did not pre-book an excursion in Cozumel, but we had three options we were choosing from. They were:

1. Chankanaab National Park with tons of activities available
   
2. Fly High Zip Line Adventures - zip lining! My wife and her sisters did this on a sister's trip a year ago & loved it.
   
3. KaoKao Chocolate Factory Tour - we knew the least about this one, but the ladies were very interested because it involved chocolate
   

My DS loathes going on excursions. He wants nothing to do with getting off and on the boat. We told him that he was required to go on 1 excursion, and since we had activities already booked in Grand Cayman and Jamaica, Cozumel was the place for him to explore. We left the choice of where to go entirely up to him. Over breakfast at Windjammer we discussed the pros and cons of each activity. Everyone had their favorite, but it was up to him.

He chose Chankanaab National Park and it was terrific!

We had read that the park can get crowded when the excursion crowds arrive, so we made plans to be off the boat at 9am (gangway opened at 7:30am). We wandered through the port area, trying to find our way to the taxi stand. The shopping area is a maze worthy of a Las Vegas casino! They do everything they can to confuse you and keep you in the shopping area. Thanks to the watchful eyes of my son and daughter, we found signs pointing us to the taxi line.

In line, the lady asked us where we were headed. We told her Chankanaab and she told us the fare for four of us would be $12. Plus, she handed us a coupon for Chankanaab that listed a $21 per person admission fee and told us to give that to our driver. We did. He laughed when we handed it to him and told us that he had a better deal for us. With his ticket, in addition to the $21 admission fee, everyone got a free t-shirt and one trip through the buffet! Free t-shirt? I'm in! So, we took his coupon and enjoyed the 7 minute ride to the park.

Once we arrived, paid our entry fee, got our t-shirts, and wrist bands, we scoped out the map for our preferred activities. The thing with Chankanaab is that they have TONS of activities. You can experience just about any type of excursion there that you want. We were looking at laser tag, dolphin swims, zip lining, shows, food, hanging out, swimming, and much, much more. The thing that attracted the boy to choosing Chankanaab was the sea lion show. He didn't want to zip line or do any of that crazy stuff, he just wanted to see some sea lions goof around. My daughter, on the other hand, wanted to snorkel. So, she and I went off to find snorkeling gear, while the wife and son went to find the sea lion show.

Let me tell you, the put the snorkeling gear at the FAAAAAR end of the beach. It was a long walk across hot sand to get the gear. The gear was nice, two sets of fins, mask, and snorkel set us back a total of $20. There were flotation vests available for free from stands along the beach. We dropped our stuff at some chairs in the shade (tons of spots available at 9:30 am) and headed to the water. I was a little dubious about the quality and quantity of sea life we would see in their snorkeling area. I was totally blown away. We saw all sorts of fish and sea life. The best part was that the fish came right up to you, close enough to touch. On previous snorkeling adventures the fish always maintained a healthy distance from the swimmers. Not at Chankanaab - they swam so close you could touch them! We spent two hours swimming around the area, exploring as many nooks and crannies as we could find.

Worn out, we headed back to our chairs, dried out, grabbed our stuff and headed off to meet up with the other members of our party. They had thoroughly enjoyed the sea lion show and enjoyed a dolphin demonstration. However, the heat and humidity was doing them in, so we decided to head back to the ship. We never tried the food at Chankanaab, so I can't speak to that, although we did hear many people talk about how good the food was.

Cabs were waiting right outside the park entrance to return us to the pier. For $14 we caught a cab made the short drive. Here's where it got a little interesting. Instead of dropping us off at the same spot we got picked up at, they dropped us in a shopping center across the street from the pier. We knew enough to cross the street, we could see the ship. But once we got across the street, we were completely lost. We wandered up and down the boulevard for a good 10 minutes trying to find the entrance to the exclusive Royal Caribbean passenger-only area. At one point my daughter said that she knew where to go, but when we got to where she wanted to take us, there were big heavy chains blocking the way. So, we wandered some more. We finally bumped in to a Royal employee who pointed us in the right direction. Yes, the chain area was right, we just needed to go around a few pillars to find the right spot. A sign or two would have been a nice amenity and would have saved us from wandering aimlessly for 10 minutes.

Again, navigating through the shopping area was challenging. The builder really didn't want anyone to take a straight path through to the ship. Of course the whole time vendors are imploring you to visit their shop and take advantage of their unique wares. The hard selling going on is what I expected for the drink packages on the ship, but never encountered.

Once back on board the ship, we headed to our rooms to freshen up. Seconds later someone is pounding on our door, they urgently wanted access. It was our daughter. When the kids got to their room they were greeted with a note that their flow rider lessons, scheduled for day 5 or 6 was not valid and that we needed to reschedule. Apparently, the times available on the website hadn't been updated, so we had to find the "Sports Desk" on the aft deck and reschedule. Do you know where the Sports Desk is? No? Neither do I! We ended up finding someone to help us and got the lessons scheduled for later that evening. The person who did the rescheduling didn't know what the "Sports Desk" was either!

Small challenge though, the only time we could get was at 6 pm that night. Our dinner reservations were for 5:30 pm. Crap! Oh wait - we have My Time Dining! We may have to sacrifice Amine and Oral and our table by the window for one night, but it's a small price to pay for the kids to get their Flow Rider lessons in. We jump at the 6pm time and I decide to head down to the dining room to see about rescheduling our reservation.

The lady at the computer couldn't have been more helpful or courteous about it. She found an 8pm slot that worked perfectly. We had plenty of time to finish the lesson and get cleaned up for dinner! I didn't know what table it would be, but who cares, we had reservations.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool. The pool was EMPTY while everyone else enjoyed Cozumel. We had a blast swimming and goofing around. Someone would run down to Sorrento's and bring back a bunch of pizza slices or maybe a sandwich from Cafe Promenade, so we never went hungry.

At 5:45 pm we wander over to the flow rider area and we're the only ones there. Eventually another family shows up, which we expected. When we altered our reservation, the lady told us that there had to be a minimum of 4 participants and a maximum of 8 for the lesson to happen. The other family had 3 kids, so we assumed that at least 2 of them would be taking the lessons. We were wrong! There were only 3 kids total in the lesson! It was so awesome! All three kids got tons of time to participate. After about 15 minutes of instruction, the girl from the other family complained about being too cold and left. So, it was just my two kids with the two Flow Rider instructors! Amazing! After a particularly horrendous spill, my son decided that he had had enough and didn't want to go anymore. So, for the last 10 minutes or so, my daughter had the Flow Rider to herself. She did spins, twists, surfed back and forth, it was awesome to watch! Then the instructors kept the lesson going for a long, long time, until one of the uniformed crew came by and asked why the flow rider was still on. Booo! What was supposed to be a 45 minute lesson for 4 to 8 kids ended up an hour and a half lesson for basically 2 kids. It was fabulous!

We rushed back to our rooms because the extra time flow riding was going to make us late for dinner. We washed up FAST and made our 8 pm reservation with seconds to spare. I know it wouldn't have been a big deal if we were late, I just like being on time (which means 15 minutes early). We were curious as to where we would end up in the dining room - until the hostess led us back to our usual table - table #257 - at the window with our friends Amine and Oral waiting for us. That capped off a terrific evening! They wanted to know all about the Flow Rider lesson and took in every detail about Chankanaab Park.

After dinner everyone was feeling super tired, so they went to bed. I headed off to do some more reading. This time I picked out some plush chairs on deck 6 that overlook the Promenade. I read there for about an hour before deciding to try my luck again at Cafe Promenade. Nothing crazy on this night, apparently everyone was worn out from Cozumel.

We had a wonderful time in Cozumel. This was probably our most favorite day in Cozumel. Our previous experiences haven't been stellar and we had basically taken to not even getting off the ship. This day will be remembered!

Following and enjoying so far! Thanks! We set sail in less than 2 weeks on Liberty!

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DAY 4 - GRAND CAYMAN

While Cozumel has been one of our least favorite stops historically, Grand Caymen has been one of our most favorite. We've gone to the turtle farm and swam with dolphins on previous visits. However, our most favorite Grand Cayman excursion was going to stingray city with MarineLand Tours. When we saw that as an excursion option on the Royal Caribbean site, the wife and I immediately knew what we were going to do!

The day started like the rest, breakfast in Windjammer Cafe. We let the kids sleep in since they had decided to stay on the ship.

Our excursion was meeting in the Platinum Theater at 11:45 am, so we grabbed some food at Sorrento's and Promenade Cafe before heading to the theater. After a brief, maybe 15 minute wait with our group in the theater, we were led to a tender boat for the trip to the Grand Cayman dock. Up to this point, everything was super organized and proceed with precision.

Once we got to the pier, all of that precision and organization was GONE! Our tender boat group was comprised of numerous excursions. So, everyone got to the gathering area and headed off in different directions. We had no clue where to go for our excursion, so we found the information desk and asked. They had no clue either, but helpfully suggested that we check at the white tent. Awesome, look for the white tent. Did you know there are 20 white tents in the Grand Cayman pier area? So, we start to visit them one by one and ask if they know where the "Deluxe Stingray City Sandbar" excursion meets. Of course nobody had any clue. As we're wandering around, my wife suggests we ask some of the Carnival employees who are very present in the area (we didn't see a single Royal Caribbean employee during our wandering). The lady from Carnival knew EXACTLY where we had to go and walked us over to the sign in sheet. By this point it was around 12:15/12:20. We get checked in and are told to wait. The buses will leave "soon" she says.

At 1:20 we are finally gathered for the walk to the buses. Did you know it gets hot and humid in Grand Cayman? It does. My wife doesn't like the heat and humidity. She was wilting. Fortunately we found a bench in the shade under one of the many white tents and waited the hour for the bus ride.

After that it was AWESOME! The buses are in fact trolley cars, which I find cute and fun. The ride to the boat is about 10 minutes long, no air conditioning, and through the town. I enjoyed the ride, my wife just wanted to get in the water already.

We arrive at the docks and get shuffled to the familiar yellow MarineLand boat. We take up a spot at a table, spend $3 for a cold bottle of water, and enjoy a nice ride out to stingray city. The boat ride is about 20 minutes long. Once we get to to stingray city, they drop anchor, lower the stairs and get us off the boat. As we make our way to the stairway (best way to enter & exit the sandbar by the way!), the lady in front of me starts complaining about the lack of reefs to snorkel on. She wants to know why we're seeing stingrays and not snorkeling. I don't know if she got on the wrong boat or what, but nothing about the excursion description included mentions of snorkeling.

The guides have us gather in a circle and spend a good hour and a half teaching us about stingrays. We touch stingrays. We hold stingrays. We feed stingrays. We swim with stingrays. It is AWESOME! Meanwhile the entire time my wife and I are getting our stingray fix, the lady from the line, who is now standing next to us, is bitching about the poor quality of the snorkeling. As the guides are bringing around the stingrays so we can feed them, she complains about having to wait for everyone else to go first. Why can't SHE be the first one to touch or feed the stingrays. Since that wasn't happening, she decides to pout and snorkel at the sand bar. I guess she saw lots of sand and maybe a few stingrays that swam by her. Did I mention that she was probably 65 to 70 years old? This was not a pre-teen who has ADD or something. This was a grown lady who should have known better.

After a long time spent enjoying the water and the stingrays, the captain blew the conch shell, letting us know it was time to get back on board and return to the ship. Everyone files up the stairs and retakes their place around the boat before hitting the bar for drinks and snacks. We buy a bag of potato chips and two cups of Coke for $6 total. As the guide is filling our cups, I hear snorkel lady bitching at the captain about the poor snorkeling conditions and that she wants her money back because they lied about it. I don't know how it turned out, I hope he showed her the description that includes no mention of snorkeling!

Reverse the trip from earlier - 20 minutes in the boat, 10 minutes in the trolley cars, and BOOM, we're back at the ship. It's easily 4:30 pm, so the wife and I head back to our room to rest and freshen up for dinner. I spent a good half hour just relaxing on our balcony enjoying a cool beverage (a Coke if you must know) and looking out over Grand Cayman.

Back to the dining room at 5:30 pm, our usual table #257 with Amine and Oral. We finally meet up with the kids at dinner. They had a great day taking advantage of the empty pool and short lines for water slides.

After dinner we wander down to Studio B to get seats for "Encore! An Ice Spectacular." While waiting for the show to start, we share about our experiences and enjoy catching up on everyone's favorite activities to that point. Wife & I picked stingray city as our favorite, the kids picked Chankanaab Park, and three out of four agreed that the chocolate milkshake from Johnny Rockets was their favorite food. I was the lone dissenting vote, I picked the prime rib from formal night - I should have had 2!

I thoroughly enjoyed the ice show. During the show you experience musical theater from across the globe. It stars with Phantom of the Opera in London, dabbles in Cats and another musical I couldn't place. Then it's off to Paris and Carmen. From there we head to Russia for some dancing, then to Tokyo for kabuki theater, then we land in Hollywood for rock and roll, and finally Las Vegas for showgirls and making fun of Elvis Presley. All the while the performance is taking place on ice. There was some amazing skating in both pairs and singles. My son and I counted only 2 true falls, with 2 more instances of skaters almost going down, but catching themselves before that happened. Color me VERY impressed. I really enjoyed the show. The rest of the family thought they should lose the middle part. My wife thought it was 10 to 15 minutes too long.

One small quibble I did have was that they totally blew the Hollywood music. Out of the 5 song parts they played to represent Hollywood/Los Angeles, only 2 were sung by American singers. The rest were all from England. What's up with that? If you're going to do Los Angeles, at least play some LA Rock and Roll! I'm probably one of the few people who even noticed that and it certainly didn't take away from the terrific skating and performances. I would definitely attend this show again, and seriously considered it when it ran again later in the cruise.

After the show we were all wiped, so we headed back to our rooms to get some sleep. The meeting time for our excursion on Day 5 was 8:15 am! EEK! That's super early for a teenager on vacation!

Excellent review.

DAY 5 - JAMAICA

When planning our cruise, we asked the kids what they really wanted to do for excursions. As I've mentioned, the boy didn't want to do anything. At all. Like, not even leave the room unless it was for pizza. Seriously.

The daughter is the complete opposite. She wants to see and try everything! So, when asked what she wanted to do, she said, "Get muddy!" When looking at excursions we found the perfect one - Amazing Dune Buggy! The pictures from the excursion description even show people getting muddy! She loved and was very eager to go.

One small down side was that we had to meet at the end of the pier at 8:15 am for the excursion. Now, I don't know how many readers have dealt with teenage girls (she's 17), but even on the best days getting them up and out of bed before noon is a challenge. This was going to be interesting!

I made my way to breakfast at 7:15 am, thinking of ways to get the girl up. At about 7:30 guess who wanders over to my table? My daughter! She was so excited she had set her alarm and was raring to go!

We decide to see about getting off the ship at 7:50 or so to make it to the end of the pier by 8:15. Just as we're heading to the rooms to get our gear, we hear that the gangways are open! So, we pop into the rooms, get our bags, some water, books, and other items, and head off in search of our meeting spot. After the previous day's experience with waiting about an hour, I kept trying to temper her excitement and warned her that we might not leave right away.

The port in Falmouth is very, very nice. In fact, it looks brand new. The stores were just opening up when we headed through the shopping village, so I don't know how aggressive they are, but at that time everyone was still waking up. The meetup spots are clearly marked and easy to find. We were supposed to go to Station 3, which had a huge, can't miss sign and found the people running the Amazing Dune Buggy excursion. We check in and stand in the designated line. At this point, I tell my daughter that she needs to be prepared to wait for a LONG time. Not more than 10 minutes later a lady comes over and tells us to follow her to our bus! Holy cow! That was FAST! The 20 of us participating in the excursion hop on board and the bus takes off.

We come to discover that the problem with the ship docking in Falmouth is that it's a good hour away from any of the cool destinations. We're lined up for an hour and twenty minute bus ride. The good news is that the bus is comfortable and has air conditioning. The better news is that our guide Sophie is prepared for the long drive and keeps us entertained with facts about Jamaica, pointing out different highlights along the route, singing songs, and making the whole thing fun. It also helps immensely that the group we're with is very lighthearted and cracks jokes along the way. Eventually we make our way to Yaaman Adventure Park and disembark the bus.

They direct us in to the lodge/shop area and point out some lockers. Locks are $5 to rent. They also offer dust masks that are $5 to purchase. They recommend we stow all of our gear in the lockers because we're going to get dusty, wet, and muddy. Anything on us will also get dusty, wet, and muddy. Before putting everything we brought in the lockers, we give up our drivers licenses so they can make copies. After a couple of minutes the licenses are returned and we head to the locker area. We pack everything into our $5 locker and head down to the safety briefing area where we are given helmets and safety glasses. You can use your own sunglasses if you prefer, I went with safety glasses that can go over my normal glasses.

They tell us the three rules we have to follow:

1. Slow down for the turns because the buggies are prone to rolling over.
   
2. Don't fish tail the buggies, it's dangerous.
   
3. Don't bump in to other buggies, you're responsible for any damage.
   

That's it, it's off to find our dune buggies! I let my daughter pick which one we take and she picks the third from the front. Good choice - we don't want to be stuck behind too many slow pokes! The buggies turn out to be 2010 era Polaris Razor UTVs that have spent a LOT of time on the trail.

We head out a couple of buggies behind the guide and immediately start hearing a weird noise. Sounds like the front shocks are done for. This is going to be a bumpy ride! Then, we hit the first major turn, I pull the wheel to the right hard and we're still going straight! Oh crap! I keep turning and eventually the front end comes around. Meanwhile the back end fish tails wildly. So much for rule #2! Apparently, in addition to the shocks being out, the whole front end is shot. Every turn is like this, hard crank to either side, rear end fish tails, somehow we make the turn and don't flip over. It was close a few times, but, we never went over.

Then comes the mud puddle! Before driving through the puddle, the guide has everyone stop and goes from buggy to buggy informing us that if you want to stay clean and dry, you need to go slow. If you want to get muddy, you need to go fast. I ask my daughter what she wants to do and she says, "Floor it!" So, when it's our turn, that's exactly what I did - I floored it and went as fast as we could!

We got mud EVERYWHERE! The photos above are the ones you can see us through the mud in. I have a collection of photos that are just a wall of mud, no sign of us at all!

As you can see from the photo, she LOVED it! Soaking wet, covered in mud, it was exactly what she wanted.

The drive continued. We saw beautiful trees, birds, horses, camels, and more. But, then we returned to the mud pit. Again, I turned to my daughter and asked her what she wanted to do. Again, she said, "Floor it!" So we did!

Yep, by the end of the excursion we were the muddiest and wettest of all of the participants. The guides kept coming by our buggy and laughing. We were having a great time, my daughter thought it was the best excursion ever.

After about an hour and a half or so of driving the buggies, we ended up back at the base camp. We reluctantly hopped out of our buggy, returned the helmets and glasses, and took one last look back at our dirty ride. We told the guides about our shocks and steering issues, they apologized and said they'd take it in the shop for repairs. We didn't care, we had a blast feeling every bump and fish tailing on every turn.

We were directed to some showers to clean off, which we did as best we could. We were still coated in mud, this was going to take some serious effort. Of course now we were soaking wet, which wasn't fun. So, we hit the gift shop and bought a couple of t-shirts for $30 each, along with a $50 CD of photos. Slipping in to dry shirts felt amazing!

Then it was lunch time. The Yaaman Park guides set out trays of salad, pasta, beans & rice, corn, and chicken. We also got cold drinks as part of our excursion. The food was excellent!

After everyone ate their fill, we piled back in the bus for the long return trip. This is the point where I wished I had brought a change of clothes. Note to anyone else who decides to take this excursion - bring some clothes to change into! The drive back was highlighted by our driver keeping us entertained with stories about crazy driving incidents and everyone jamming to Bob Marley tunes on the CD player. An hour and 20 minutes later, we were back at the pier. It was around 1:30/2 pm by the time we got back on the ship.

My daughter and I wandered through a couple of shops, but our wet shorts, socks, and shoes, kept us motivated to get back on the ship for a nice hot shower. So, we did.

After showering, or at least attempting to, we found the other half of our party hanging out by the pool. So, we went back, got our swimsuits on, and jumped in. Actually, there's no jumping in the pool on Royal, so we slid in gracefully and spent an hour or so swimming and hoping any final remnants of mud washed off in the pool.

While we were getting muddy, the wife and son basically hung out in the room playing chess and watching Dreamworks films playing in rotation on the TV.

Dinner was back at table #257 with Amine and Oral. Oral was from Jamaica so he was eager to hear all about our experiences. He told us a few stories about the area we drove through and shared about the part of the island he lives in when not on the ship.

After dinner, my wife and I decided to try some music trivia again. This time it was 80's music. We did better than the previous attempt, but still not strong enough to win. The most entertaining part was how totally packed the Schooner Bar was for 80's trivia. The previous time we attended there were maybe 10 teams playing. For some reason everyone wanted to participate in 80's trivia.

We wandered the decks some. The boy showed us how to get to the absolute fore of the ship and the absolute aft. It was very windy up front and the sky off the back was stupendous.

Another great day overall. We had a blast getting muddy!

DAY 6 - AT SEA

After our Jamaican adventure I decided to sleep in. I made it all the way to 9 am before my wife woke me up and demanded breakfast. Okay, it might have been more the growling in my stomach than my wife, but either way, off we went to Windjammer Cafe.

Without any excursions we were kind of at a loss for what to do. Nobody could decide on anything. The boy wanted to stay in his room. The girl wanted to be away from the boy. The wife wanted to be warm and just relax. I honestly didn't care what we did, I was game for anything.

So, the kids went their separate ways while the wife and I grabbed our books and made our way to the Solarium for some Adult Pool time. We found a couple of comfy, well padded chairs by the window and dove into our books. I was already on my second book, she was still finishing her first. That's where we stayed for most of the morning. Occasionally we would get up to get a coke or water, but mostly we just enjoyed looking out over the water and reading.

The only down side was when a family of about 6 sat at the chairs with us. We were in two single person chairs flanked by two love seats. The family of 6 took the two love seats. Keep in mind we're in the "Adult Pool" area. Nobody under 16 is supposed to be there. Well, the 4 kids were ages 16 months, 3, 5, and 8. And they were FULL of energy. The jumped from loveseat to loveseat. Walked across the table multiple times. Danced, sang, fought, cried, ate, and slept in that little area for a good two hours. I have a very high tolerance for kids goofing around, but was about at my limit when they finally got up to leave. I never once saw any Royal employees mention to the parents about the 16+ rule. I probably should have said something, but I shouldn't have to take care of that situation.

For lunch we met back up with the kids and headed to the Windjammer Cafe. We ate way too much and decided to spend the afternoon swimming and hitting the water slides.

That was a ton of fun. The kids and I rode all of the slides multiple times and raced in every configuration three people can when there are two water slides. The bummer part is that the slides are slow. Super, duper slow. There isn't a lot of momentum to carry you through them so we spent most of our runs perfecting our waving or pushing technique to help us get down the slides. Sliding on its own would have been a bore, but making a competition out of it turned it into something more. Nobody won, we all had a great time, and everyone cut their slide times in half (1+ minute down to 30 seconds each).

From there the wife and I headed back to the Solarium to try out the Jacuzzi while the kids went for ice cream and more pool time. The Jacuzzi was wonderful. Not too hot or crowded. We were able to totally relax - until a Royal employee started hassling a young lady who was talking with some friends. Apparently they felt that she didn't look 16 and asked her to verify her age. Now where were those concerned employees a few hours prior?

More pool time and then we headed back to our rooms to freshen up for dinner. It was our second formal night, and more importantly, LOBSTER NIGHT!

At table #257 Amine and Oral had our beverages waiting for us as usual and made some excellent recommendations. However, I was all about the lobster and prime rib, making it a bit of a surf & turf dinner! For the first time all cruise I had a bummer of an entree. The prime rib, which I had been looking forward to since I had it the 2nd night, was awful! It was chewy and bland. Horseradish didn't help. Salt didn't help. Shoot, catsup didn't even help!

But the lobster was WONDERFUL! I ended up eating three lobster tails. I probably could have gone for more if Amine hadn't brought me some orange sherbert (favorite dessert for both my son and me). We had asked the night before about the sherbert option and were disappointed when we found out we had missed Orange sherbert a few nights earlier. So, he surprised us with it the following night. What a guy! He was awesome!

After dinner my wife and daughter thought they'd try the Country Music trivia, so I tagged along. Nowhere near as packed as the 80's trivia night. We did not do well with this trivia. It was mostly older songs, from before my daughter was born or my wife got interested in country music. Oh well, we still had fun singing along to the few songs we knew!

We decided to try the cupcakes afterward. So we got two - a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing and a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing. The wife and kids devoured the cupcakes, while I was still remembering my orange sherbert. The cupcakes got huge thumbs up. The boy even complained about "too much icing." What's that all about? There's no such thing as "too much icing!"

Everyone headed to bed except for me. I was totally engrossed in my book, so I headed back down to the Promenade to find a nice spot to read and watch for excitement. Nothing happened other than me eating a few slices of pizza and drinking too many Cokes. I stayed up way too late enjoying my book and found my way back to the room around 1am.

DAY 7 - AT SEA

Our final full day! Boo!

The day was basically a carbon copy of day 6:

• Windjammer Cafe for breakfast
  
• Hang out by the pool reading
  
• Spend time in the pool
  
• Table #257 for dinner with Amine and Oral
  
• Music trivia at 7:30 in the Schooner Bar.
  

We spent some time packing and prepping for our return home. That was pretty sad. However, by this point the boy and girl were in full out war with each other. I was surprised it had been avoided up to that point. At some point the previous evening, while I was on Deck 5 reading, there had been a big blow up about something minor and they weren't talking to each other.

Breakfast was fun - one found a table on one side of the room, the other went to the opposite side of the room. It took a bribe of Johnny Rockets milkshakes for lunch to get them to agree on a table.

Lunch at Johnny Rockets was an experience. About 10 minutes after we got seated outside, the ship headed into a storm. Rain starts pouring, the onion rings and french fries are getting soaked, we're all wet, wondering if we're going to have to eat standing up out of the rain. Fortunately they found a spot for us inside, no small feat considering the huge line that was waiting to get in and we enjoyed our burgers inside the restaurant. Milkshakes solve all ills, by the time the cups were empty, the kids were done fighting.

The afternoon was a combination of pool time, packing, and just enjoying the last of the ship.

At dinner we enjoyed one final meal with Amine and Oral. Said goodbyes and promised to seek them out on future Royal cruises we might take.

The highlight for the final day is the evening's show, "Saturday Night Fever." I had heard that it was the "can't miss" event on board. Honestly, I thought it was terrible. We walked out in the middle of it. The singing was okay, the dancing was nothing special. The thing that really got us was the story line. There is a ton of sexual innuendo and big discussions about teen pregnancy and abortion. I'm not worried about how my kids might take those topics, we've had numerous discussions about those topics. I was more concerned for the little kids - 8, 9, 10 years old - who were in the audience. When the movie Saturday Night Fever came out, it was rated R for good reason. The topics cannot be simplified or dumbed down for a kid-friendly show. We left because we weren't being entertained and we were getting uncomfortable as the main character tried to "make it" with every girl on stage. It wasn't entertaining at all, it was just boring.

That was a major bummer. Afterward we were all kind of down. We ended up wandering through the Promenade looking for any last minute souvenirs and listened to some music in the bar areas. Eventually everyone wandered off to bed while I picked up my book and headed to my favorite spot in Cafe Promenade. Around 11pm I finished my book and headed off to my final night sleeping aboard the Liberty of the Seas.

BACK TO REALITY!

I thought I'd share our debarkation process since it might help others.

We woke up and headed to Windjammer for a final breakfast before getting off the ship. The restaurant was not overly crowded at 7 am.

Since we were carrying our luggage off, the instructions stated that we were to meet in the Platinum Theater at 8:15 am. So, we arrive at the designated time and find a handful of fellow passengers and nobody from Royal Caribbean.

All of the passengers form a neat line out the door of the theater. Nobody knows what's going on, where we're supposed to go or what we're supposed to do.

Our debarkation time was 8:15 to 8:30. At around 8:35 a guy comes through a door on the other side of the theater and demands to know what we're doing there. Someone shows him the instructions that everyone in line apparently got and he starts yelling at us, telling us we should already be off the ship. He wants to know what we're lollygagging around in the theater and tells us to get moving. He finally shows us where to go - a door somewhat hidden on the complete other side of the theater from where we came in and we start shuffling out.

From there the process was simple. Scan our Seapass cards before going down the gangway. Wander through the well defined path until we reach customs. Show the officer our passports and turn in our customs form, then we're out in the heat of Galveston at 9 am!

Roll our suitcases over to our car at Park N Cruise and we're on the road by 9:10.

I'm still stewing about the way that guy treated us in the theater. It was completely unacceptable to yell at us. We had no clue where to go. There were no signs and nobody around to provide guidance. Rather than cause a bigger problem, we waited for instructions. Oh well, I'll get over it eventually and it is only a minor blip on an otherwise stupendous vacation.

THE FOOD

Throughout the review, I've tried to avoid being too specific about the food because I wanted to do a summary like this and catch it all at once. So, here goes:

WINDJAMMER CAFE

We ate breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe just about every single day. The selections were plentiful and the food was pretty darn good. Sometimes things were not outstanding, quality definitely varied from day to day, but overall things were tasty, warm, and fresh. My wife had salmon almost every morning while I usually went with eggs and sausage. The kids enjoyed pancakes (plain, strawberry, blueberry, and more) most mornings. Occasionally they had chocolate frosted donuts, which went fast. I love biscuits and gravy and was very disappointed in the biscuits. They were almost as hard as a rock each time I tried them. The gravy wasn't too bad.

Lunch at Windjammer Cafe was pretty good the few times we ate there. The boy had a hamburger every day for lunch and said that Windjammer's were almost as good at Johnny Rockets. Each time we ate lunch in Windjammer I tried the chicken and it was wonderful! One day it was herb roasted chicken. The next was Jamaican spiced chicken. Another day was some sort of exotic seasoning. I ate a bunch of that chicken. It was terrific.

Overall, the food at Windjammer Cafe was pretty good. Not great, but not terrible either. Everyone in our party enjoyed it and complaints were few and far between.

JOHNNY ROCKETS

We ate lunch at Johnny Rockets twice. The first time everyone got hamburgers. The boy LOVED his, the rest of us were kind of blah about them. Mine was supposed to have barbecue sauce on it, but I never found or tasted any. That could have made my burger very good.

The second time around the kids got the same things they had the first time, while the wife and I tried the chicken club sandwich. Neither one of us were too impressed. At least this time I could taste that there was mayonnaise on the sandwich, which was a big plus.

Onion rings and french fries were terrific! The fries needed salt, but once you added that, yum! I would have gone back just for the onion rings and french fries if they wouldn't have charged me $6.95 for them. Both times we emptied the plates they brought us!

As previously mentioned, the chocolate shakes at Johnny Rockets were a huge hit with the family. Everyone LOVED the shakes. I never had one, so I can't vouch for them. But, according to my wife and kids - go get a shake at Johnny Rockets right now!

Also, if you plan on going to Johnny Rockets, go early in your trip. The last few days the place was packed with people. The line was super long and service isn't exactly speedy. Be sure to check the sign at Johnny Rockets for when they open - the Compass said 11:45 on the final day, but they actually opened at 11:30. We got there at 11:30 and were seated right away. By 11:45 there was a huge line!

Overall, the kids loved it, the wife and I were less than impressed. The wife would have you go back for a shake, onion rings, and french fries while skipping the burgers. I'd say skip it altogether, but tastes vary and you might get the burger with BBQ sauce!

SORRENTO'S

The only thing I ate at Sorrento's was pizza. I'm sure they had other things, but I never tried anything but the pizza. I ate a bunch of it and enjoyed it immensely. Is it great pizza? No, but it does fill you up. Good amount of cheese, needs more pepperoni, but overall, not a bad slice. The slices are very small and the crust is on the thin side. If you're looking for some sort of deep dish Chicago style pizza, you're looking in the wrong place.

The boy ate a ton of Sorrento's pizza. Between that and cheeseburgers at Windjammer, he was set. I think he loved the pizza because it never lasted long when he had it.

The wife and daughter could take it or leave it. They wanted more than just cheese and pepperoni options. Usually the third option had jalapenos or something odd. They wanted Hawaiian or something else.

Overall, it's simple pizza. The boy and I liked it a lot. Think a step down or two from Pizza Hut or Little Caesars, but not quite down to frozen microwave pizza.

CAFE PROMENADE

For all the time i spent in Cafe Promenade reading, I rarely ate the food. The first night I visited I tried the roast beef sandwich and a ham & salami sandwich. I don't know what they put on the ham and salami, but it was the grossest thing I've ever eaten that I didn't throw up afterward. It was horrendous. The roast beef wasn't too bad. I had a couple of those throughout the cruise. The sandwiches are about 4 bites big, so they're easy to snack on.

The best part of Cafe Promenade was that they had pastries in the morning. If Windjammer didn't have chocolate donuts, we'd swing by Cafe Promenade for a look. Most mornings they had a big plate of chocolate frosted donuts, which the kids loved.

During the day they'd switch from breakfast pastries to dessert items. The kids loved the chocolate mud cake, chocolate pound cake, and chocolate chip cookies. It was a nice spot to swing by on the way to the room for an afternoon snack.

Overall, the desserts were outstanding, the sandwiches were fair. A good spot to stop by for a quick bite. I enjoyed the heck out of the chairs though!

MY TIME DINING - REMBRANDT DINING ROOM

We had never tried anything like My Time Dining before boarding the Liberty of the Seas. It was a terrific experience, made more special by our servers, Amine and Oral. They were rock stars and I highly recommend you request to sit in their section if you can. They kept things moving quickly (or slowly if we preferred), knew our preferences, and participated in our cruise.

The food in the main dining room was pretty hit or miss. I had pretty low expectations going into it and was overall impressed with the quality and taste of the food. The prime rib on the first formal night was a huge hit, while the same dinner on the second formal night was a total miss. My wife had escargot three times, two were wonderful, one not so much.

When it was on, the food was outstanding. I would have put that first prime rib up against any I've had across the country. The lobster was amazing, all three tails melted in my mouth. The cheesecake dessert was perfect every time I tried it. The boy ate sliders every night and thought they were the best sliders he had ever eaten.

Amine would make recommendations that were totally spot on. If he said something was good, it was. If he said that it wasn't his favorite, we learned to avoid it. He pushed against the clam chowder, but I still tried it. I should have listed to Amine. The night he suggested we try the gyoza, he was right. It was the best thing on the menu that night. I think we shared 4 of those entrees as a table.

Overall, the service was exceptional, the food very good. I would put the food at the same level as a nice chain restaurant. Nothing is going to really blow you away or be farm to table, but nothing is horrible (except the clam chowder - avoid it!). I ate lots of stake entrees at dinner and I would have no problem putting them against the meal you get at a Texas Land and Cattle or Saltgrass Steakhouse.

SPECIALTY DINING

We did not pay to eat at any of the specialty restaurants. However, we did speak to several people who were overall disappointed in the food and service. This is all anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt, but it sounds like we didn't miss out on much.

OTHER NOTES

Just a few things I either forgot or didn't fit elsewhere:

The photo package offer on the first three days of the cruise was $196 for every photo attached to your stateroom - except Portrait Studio photos or "Special Occasion" photography. We did not purchase this, so I don't know what falls in those exceptions. The regular price is $294

Internet packages were offered as:

SURF Voyage package at $12.99 per day

SURF + STREAM package at $17.99 per day

We wanted to disconnect this trip, so we didn't pay for any of this. However, seeing most of the kids at the restaurants with their faces buried in their phones, it looks like we were the exception, not the rule.

Leading up to the cruise, I had read a thread on this board about the evils of wearing shorts to the main dining room and how wearing shorts to dinner would turn me in to a blight on society. So, I threw in a pair of pants and dutifully wore them to dinner every night (on formal nights I wore a suit). I saw plenty of people wearing shorts in the main dining room, but I was glad I brought the slacks as the majority of people were adhering to the dress code of at least jeans. The only weird clothing-related experience I saw in the dining room was a family who had just returned from an excursion and were still in their swimsuits being asked to change. They had rushed in to let the rest of their party know that they were back and to go ahead without them. Even though they were there for only a few brief moments, the floor manager was on it and asking them to return when dressed more appropriately. I was definitely glad I wore pants that night!

We don't drink so I did not pay attention to drinks of the day or when specials were offered. Sorry!

The casino smelled of smoke and I loathed walking through it. They did offer us a free pull since we hadn't gambled by the 6th day. We got our coins, played those coins, didn't win, turned to the kids and said, "Isn't gambling fun!"

I'd read previous accounts of passengers being accosted to take advantage of the drink package. I never experienced anything like that. The first day we were asked about it twice, but very respectfully and they immediately walked away when we said, "No thank you."

The items in the gift shop were terrible. We never bought anything in the Logo shop at all. The target shopper was apparently a 60+ year old female who cruises frequently. Lots of things my mom might wear - sweat suits with sequins. Caps that say "Cruising Queen" etc. Lots of wasted space in the store that could have been used for different types of merchandise. Maybe a nice polo shirt for men with the anchor logo or something. The kids were looking for fun Royal-logo'd t-shirts and never found anything. We didn't spend a single dollar in the retail stores on the ship. We've always come back with an extra bag full of stuff from our Disney cruises in the past!

Every Royal staffer we met (with the exception of the guy in the theater when we were debarking) was friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and willing to bend over backwards to help answer any questions we had. They really made us feel welcome.

The wife got a massage on one of our At Sea days. She said it was nice, but that the room was nothing special. She said there isn't a prep room where you wait before or after your massage, you just stand in the hallway outside of the massage room.

We did hit the fitness center a few times. The equipment was in great shape. One day a dad had his 9 year old son with him which was awkward. The boy would turn the treadmill up as high as it went, and then fling his toys off of it. Come to think of it, I never actually saw an employee in the fitness center, just cruise passengers. Maybe they were busy doing other things.

I don't know what else to add. If you have questions, please reply and I'll try to answer as quickly as I possibly can. I do have the Cruise Compasses from our trip, so I can look things up if you have a specific question.

We had a wonderful time and would go back in a heartbeat!

Thank you so much for this thorough review. I'll be going on Liberty with my husband (cruising vet), baby (new at cruising), and mother-in-law in a couple of weeks. This is an excellent review. Thank you for the information!

Nike4000 thanks so much for your thorough review of your cruise. I was very interested in everything you mentioned as I'll be going on my very first cruise on Liberty in the end of August with the same itinerary. Was kind of unsure about the shows but after reading your thoughts the only one I think I'll be sure to see is the ice show and skip the other two.

Thanks again. (y)(y)

Thank you so very much for the review!! We are leaving in just a few days-same ship-same itinerary. The tips are appreciated. Especially thanks for the Cozumel info. Our last cruise was ten years ago. We stopped at Cozumel, but we went to the mainland for Tulum. Prior to that cruise, we would go there to scuba dive before cruise ships arrived. It was a sleepy little island. I appreciate being prepared for the changes.

And so glad to know that I am not the "only one". Your stories of your two teens are pretty much what my life is like with my daughter and son. We will be snorkeling in Cozumel at 7:30!!! Heaven help me.

We have MTD too. When did you request a table by the window?

Thanks again!!

We have MTD too. When did you request a table by the window?

You guys will have a ton of fun!

On day 1, while wandering the ship, we stopped by the restaurant on Deck 3 and asked one of the ladies at the computer terminals if we could reserve a seat by the window for that night. She said yes, made some notes on the computer, and it was done. We showed up at the time we had reserved and were seated at table #257. We loved Amine and Oral, so after dinner we stopped by the computers again and requested the same table for all of our reservations moving forward.

I was very interested in everything you mentioned as I'll be going on my very first cruise on Liberty in the end of August with the same itinerary. Was kind of unsure about the shows but after reading your thoughts the only one I think I'll be sure to see is the ice show and skip the other two.

I hope you enjoy your first cruise. Just relax and go with the flow!

I'm sure some people really enjoyed the shows, we didn't. The theater was packed for each one and people tried to give a standing ovation at the end of "In the Air." So, it's very possible that I'm not the best person to judge the shows.

You guys will have a ton of fun!

 

On day 1, while wandering the ship, we stopped by the restaurant on Deck 3 and asked one of the ladies at the computer terminals if we could reserve a seat by the window for that night. She said yes, made some notes on the computer, and it was done. We showed up at the time we had reserved and were seated at table #257. We loved Amine and Oral, so after dinner we stopped by the computers again and requested the same table for all of our reservations moving forward.

Thank you! I made reservations as well, and was hoping I did not miss a place to make requests online. I may have to request two tables for each of my teens!;p

I apologize for the photos not working, Photobucket is being a pain! So, I'll post the ones that "should" be appearing below since CruiseCritic won't let me edit the previous posts.

Looking at the room from the door:

The buggies turn out to be 2010 era Polaris Razor UTVs that have spent a LOT of time on the trail.

First time through the mud pit:

Second time through the mud pit:

Really enjoying your review! :D

I am glad we are not the only ones who didn't like Saturday Night Fever. The entire plot is just depressing why would you want to see that on vacation let alone the last night when you are already sad to be going home the next day. Great review! Thanks!