We went on this cruse with our 3 adult children, son and daughter-in-law and our 18 month old grandson, so there were 8 of us altogether. My husband and I are regular cruisers, but we have cruised most often with Princess. We had cruised once before with Royal Carribbean in 2006, but that was a late availability holiday, so we just went with what was available at 3 weeks notice. We were not disappointed with that cruise apart from the fact that there was no anytime dining then and that is really an essential for us. We chose Royal Carribean this time because we felt the age profile would be better for our extended family and some ships including the Liberty now supposedly offer this option. We did have a great time, but I would be very hesitant to book another Royal Carribbean cruise.

We flew from Bristol with Easyjet. Despite information about flight number etc in our travel documents and several calls to RCI we were unable to check in on line. We were told this would not be a problem as we had been allocated seats all together. At the airport check in, after an hour standing in a queue from 05.00 hrs, the clerk was extremely rude to us because we had not checked in on line, and told us we would be fined if we did it again!

We arrived in Barcelona airport, terminal 2. We went through passport control and reclaimed our baggage (eventually locating the buggy on a completely different carousel from the other luggage) before meeting the RCI rep who said we would need to wait 15 mins for the bus to the port. Over 30 mins later with one very tired grandson, we eventually got on the bus. Grandson immediately fell asleep. We were then driven to terminal 1 at the airport where we all had to get off the bus, carrying a heavy sleeping child, and join another long queue to check in to the ship - yes, in the airport! All checked in successfully except my eldest son, for whom there were no details. Read more