April Anniversary Cruise

We have been on-board for about 24 hours now, and while we are far from being experts on the subject, the joint opinion is that we are not impressed. It is a cruise, so it's not that we are miserable by any stretch, but not blown away by anything. Our first cruise was last October and was on the mid-size Carnival Glory. We are sailing Carnival's Fantasy (a smaller ship) in October of 2014, so when the opportunity came to get another trip in this year, we wanted to try something different. A bigger ship, at a time when there would be more children onboard, was not really the goal, but going on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas won the chance due to all that the ship had to offer. I don't feel that we were expecting too much, but we were expecting what differences we did find would be positive ones. So far, that just has not been the case.

First, and probably something that I will be more cautious about in the future, is the amount of limitations that are created by passenger size. I am a little under 6 foot tall and I weigh about 300 pounds. While I know I'm a big guy, I am far from the biggest person on this ship. I have been squeezed by the armrests on the seating in the main theatre, the Windjammer restaurant, and even to some degree in the main dining room. There seems to be very little option for bigger people. I specifically searched for chairs without arms with no luck. The shower is quite tight as well. i appreciate that the shower curtain has been replaced by a door that doesn't cling to you, but banging it every time you try to raise your arms isn't much of a trade-up. I know I need to loose weight, I don't need reminded several times a day. This was not an issue on the Glory. I am going to check into it on the upcoming cruise. I want to see if it is related to ship age, or cruise line. Our last cruise, we thought of several friends and relatives who would have enjoyed cruising very much, but with some of them being mobility challenged, it has me questioning accessibility as well. Research results - The refit and more recent Carnival boats have couch type seating in the theatre and chairs without arms in the dining areas. For those needing, handicap seating is located mid-theatre as there are no steps to navigate. So, our trip for October is in the clear. Read more