Background: We were on the Nov 14-21 Liberty of the Seas cruise from Miami on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary (Philipsburg, St. Maarten; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Labadee, Haiti). This was our 13th cruise overall and our 3rd cruise with Royal Caribbean. We stayed in a balcony cabin midship port side 9th floor (9578). Both my wife and I are 50 years old, active and independent. We rarely do ship excursions and take the stairs each cruise to work off last night's dinner. On this particular cruise, we were traveling with 12 other family members (two sisters, four cousins, two cousin's spouses, aunt, uncle and step parents).

Embarkation: We arrived early to Miami Cruise Port and they had not yet opened up the checkin lines as of 10:30 a.m., so we decided to spend a couple of hours at Bayside Marketplace, thinking we would be able to breeze through checkin by waiting until 1p or so. That was definitely not the case. When we arrived back at the cruise terminal, the line extended out the front door and quite a distance down the arrival roadway sidewalk. While waiting in line, I was able to connect with one of my sisters and my step parents. Embarkation was notable for two items: 1) the lines and waits were extremely long (the longest of all our cruises), not sure why and no one from Royal Caribbean offered water or snacks during the wait; 2) my stepfather forgot his passport in Palm Springs. So if you are wondering if Royal Caribbean will allow anyone to board without a passport, the answer is maybe. My stepfather did have a neighbor fax him a copy of his passport, which he presented along with his driver's license and various other forms of identification. Royal Caribbean staff did say they would allow him to board if he was able to get a copy of his birth certificate faxed as well (which surprised me--I had thought that no passport always meant no entrance, but apparently not). Unfortunately, my stepfather's neighbor was not able to locate his birth certification and he ultimately was unable to board. It was definitely a downer to start the cruise, but I was impressed that Royal Caribbean was willing to bend the rules, at least slightly. My stepfather ended up traveling back to Palm Springs and did not join the cruise at a later port (at age 83, he didn't feel up for the additional travel), but my stepmom did board and we all did our best to take care of her.

Ship: Liberty of the Seas was launched in 2007 and at one time was the biggest cruise ship in the world before being eclipsed (and now far surpassed) in size by other megaships. The ship is massive, yet it seldom felt overly crowded except during certain events (such as the parties and parades in the Promenade). This was our first cruise on a Freedom-class ship and the largest cruise ship we have been on overall. I was surprised that there are only two stairways and elevator banks, while much smaller ships often have three. While we did not take the elevators during the cruise, members of our group who did noted that they were often quite busy and crowded during peak times around dinners and shows. We were on the Mariner last year, which also has the Promenade, which we enjoyed. On the downside, Royal Caribbean does tend to block the walkways with the various sale-of-the-day events, which tends to spoil both the atmosphere and the speed of transit. Otherwise, it is a very pleasant venue to get from one end of the ship to the others. The Flowrider was a first for us onboard a cruise ship (although I had used on on land previously) and was an enjoyable diversion on the back of the ship, deck 13, both for participating (I did both boogie boarding and stand up surfing) and watching (they have stadium-style seating to watch the tricks and the wipeouts, lots of fun). The ship is scheduled to go to drydock in Jan 2011, although there was no real wear-and-tear that was noticeable other than perhaps the need for a coat of varnish on the balcony railing. Read more