Galveston is most convenient and we can easier drive there. Two cruise lines no longer sail from nearby Bayport, the other Houston areas port, and we would like to see more competition. Liberty of the Seas is a beautiful ship. It has quite a few activities if we bring our teen/young adult grandchildren next time, but we enjoyed watching this time (FlowRider, rockclimbing wall, basketball/volleyball court). We found the food, both in the Windjammer buffet, and the main dining room to be mediocre. Royal Caribbean may be depending on its specialty dining rooms that charge a not insignificant price to dine there. The quality of the food and its better preparation in those specialty dining rooms is that which was available without surcharge in years past. We remember excellent meals in all the dining rooms back then. Today, not so much. There were very few casual and free snack type food places on the Liberty of the Seas. Only fair pizza, and only water to drink and only until 1AM not 24 hours. (The price for drink packages, even the non-alcoholic ones, may require you to get a bank loan for your vacation---absurdly costly.) The 24 hour Promenade Cafe was same old stuff to eat and boring after two days. For the whole ship there was a single soft ice cream machine on the pool deck usually with long lines and only until 9PM; one time it was out of order for many hours.. (Carnival ships have at least eight ice cream stations and they were available 24 hours a day.) Liberty of the Seas charged $7 for their Johnny Rockets hamburger shop, and a shake was another $5. (There's no charge for Carnival's Guys hamburger place.)

We loved most of the entertainment. Royal Caribbean produced entertainment was excellent. The ice show productions (we saw one on this cruise and a different one in October) are not to be missed. We spent most evenings after the main shows in one of the lounges listening to music in song, very contented at days end

We were somewhat surprised but the demeanor of our cabin steward. Sorry to say, but some cultural backgrounds may have a bearing on service. However, better interviewing and screening of each individual is really the answer. The first day greeting was lukewarm, along with a dirty towel left behind, and no shampoo in the dispenser in the shower, in the supposedly made up cabin. On day three there were no tissues in the bathroom dispenser. This man may have been away from home too long, and not very happy. In all of our previous nine cruises we never had we had a similar poor experience. In fact service on this cruise in the dining rooms (casual and main dining) and throughout the ship was excellent. The staff can create the position atmosphere, and it affects the passengers positively. We enjoyed all our fellow passenger who we met on board. Read more