This was our first cruise (my girl friend and I) booked by my parents for their 50th anniversary and included my three siblings with respective spouses. This was on Liberty of the Seas, September 12-19 and covered the Western Caribbean (Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel).

The ship was quite spectacular, especially never having been on a cruise ship before and the process for boarding was steamlined and efficient. Once on board, however, the entire week felt like a floating time-share presentation. We first decided to tour the fitness center and ended up getting an hour-long sell job on all the spa's service$ such as thermowraps, massages, acupuncture, facial dermabrasion, hot rock treatments, teeth whitening, gym boot camp, body detoxification, etc... ranging in cost of $100 - $300+ each. We never did get a tour or demonstration of the fitness equipment - which is all we desired. Throughout the week, there were daily sales of merchandise (watches, jewelry, wallets, etc..)on the main deck and in places most people passed by (Windjammers or the pool deck) and demonstrations on how to buy diamonds.

Many of the other travelers were rude. I am used to hearing the term "rude Americans", however us Americans accounted for about 25% of the cruisers on board so that was not the case. The first day we ate in Windjammer, it was packed due to a rain squall which drove everyone indoors. I overheard a gal at the next table to me during lunch complain to her counterpart about the rude people so I chimed in. She is a seasoned cruiser and mentioned this was the first time she encountered such a rude bunch. Read more