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We arrived in Miami the night before. Took Royal Caribbean transfer to the hotel and again from hotel to pier the next day. Miami Hilton Biscayne was nice. View of cruise pier from our hotel window. Buffet breakfast is a little pricey. Transfer to the pier went fine. A little confusion at the pier as to where the luggage went, but it was all sorted out fairly quickly. We arrived at the pier about 11:30. Hardly any lines. Those who were in lines were people who did not have documents out or did not do on-line check in. Things went smoothly for us and we were onboard in no time. We went straight to the hot tub and were soaking in lovely warm bliss all by ourselves.
Liberty of the Seas is a lovely ship. There were 4000 passengers, but you could find places that were private. Olive and Twist was one of our favorites. It gets crowded around the elevators and the doors that lead out onto the pool deck. Lots of children on board which would have been fine with us, but where are the parents? One day we watched a group of children having "races" on the elevators. This went on for over 1/2 hour-no parents in sight. Of course the children were slowing the elevators down for people who really wanted to use the elevators for getting to another deck. But.....this is a big ship with many people on board. Are your elementary age children really safe unsupervised? I wouldn't have felt comfortable when mine were that age.
Labadee was relaxing. The market place was a little intense. They are definitely hard sell. You really have to just ignore them and if you are interested in something and they don't want to take your price-walk away. I offered to pay $5 for a wooden bowl. The vendor wanted $20. I walked away and had 3 other vendors following me with the same bowl and quite willing to sell it for $5. Take lots of $1's with you. You will need them for tips.
Lots of $1's for tips is an understatement on Jamaica. I've never seen so many people with their hands out and/or passing tip jars. The trip to the banana plantation is very interesting. Included in this tour is a trip to a water wheel which is a big tourist trap. As soon as you get off the bus a local links up with you to show you the water wheel, but then they expect you to purchase some of their wares.
We only spent a couple of hours on Grand Cayman since it was New Year's Eve. We took the submarine ride which was definitely interesting for us since we don't snorkel or dive.
New Year's Eve on ship was fun. There were parties in several locations and you could choose which suited your tastes best. We went to the Olive or Twist. There was a dance band there. Didn't get crowded until about 11:30. Free champagne etc. Actually we had free drinks up there several times. They didn't seem worried about asking for your sea pass.
In Cozumel we went to Tulum Mayan Ruins. It is a long trip to get there, but fascinating if you've never seen Mayan Ruins. The ferry over is definitely the "vomit comet." There is no outside seating, the windows were fogged over so you couldn't see the horizon. These are usually my way of preventing sea sickness. I decided to try to keep my eyes closed and hoped that would prevent me from getting sick. I was OK, but could hear the sounds of many unfortunate people around me. My husband who never gets sea sick said that it was obvious that the crew was used to people getting sick and were prepared with paper towels and buckets.
Food on board Liberty of the Seas was certainly adequate and presented very nicely. Our waiters Tyrone and Ramone were wonderful.
Overall-it was a great cruise. It think my husband and I prefer the smaller ships, but Liberty is very nice. One strange downside-several of the decks don't go all the way through so you have to go up a deck, across ship, and back down to get to some areas.
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