Spent the precruise weekend in Lauderdale at the Riverside Hotel on beautiful Las Olas Blvd. No free shuttle but who cares! 15 bucks to the Port for my mom and 3 teens and me! Excellent shopping and free trolley to the beach in this top notch charming hotel. Stay in the new tower!

We boarded the Liberty ship around noon with no problems. Stayed in a family oceanview stateroom on the 2nd floor and I absolutely loved our location. My mom only got lost once! We were located at the front of the ship where all the entertainment was. (as opposed to the dining rooms located at the other end of the ship) This worked out quite well for we saw many shows in the Platinum Theatre. We could be there in 2 minutes and managed to always get seats in the front rows. My whole family loved the entertainment.I highly recommend that you pre arrange the shows. All this can be done on-line weeks before boarding. The shows were OUTSTANDING. Each one better than the next. The ice show was fantastic!!It was also fun running into the cast members on the ship!All were quite approachable. Maybe they realize that there is nowhere for them to go! LOL! The kids loved Saturday Night Fever and the UP in the Air show. We even enjoyed the various jugglers and comedians in the Variety shows. Lots of talent!

I encouraged my 3 teens to attend the first night of events in their respective teen clubs but alas no connections were made. My 14 yr old did enjoy the club but my 16 and 17 year old hung out with me (which is just as well since I never see them while at home) There were many many teens and children on this cruise. It was Spring Break after all. Before we went on our trip I set some rules for my kids and it worked out well. For instance all of us needed to be at our 8:30 dinner seating. For this reason, I did not do the MY Time dining. Everyone knew that dinner was at 8:30 in the Rembrandt Dining room and all were expected there. I loved the Rembrandt room btw. High ceilings and lots of space! Try to get that room! Dinner was great and I must admit that by the end if the trip we were all ordering 2 entrees. Yikes! Our wonderful waiter suggested ordering like this one night when one of the kids did not like any of the appetizers on the menu. Lobster Night we all went completely overboard (no pun intended)as our head waiter brought us 2 lobster plates each. They say you gain 2 pounds a day on cruises! Now I am back to reality and eating salads to get rid of these extra pounds. Read more