Our family (myself and husband - late 30's and two of our three children - son 9 and daughter 11)traveled from California to Miami the day before the cruise. Our plane was delayed in Dallas thus we didn't arrive until almost 1am the day the cruise departed. It took over 1 1/2 hours for the first piece of luggage to start on the carousel (worst I have seen). My father in law picked us up at the airport and after waiting a while, he ended up taking the kids back to the hotel and came back to airport to pick us up.

We stayed at the La Quinta - East as it offered free shuttle to the port and parking for my in-laws for the week. The cost was $116 for one night, including the parking, shuttle and breakfast.

We arrived at the port around 10:45am. Check in was smooth and easy, no lines at all at this time. Since we were early they weren't boarding yet. RC handed out numbers as you entered a waiting area. Once they started calling the numbers it took about 15 minutes to board. We were on the beautiful ship by 11:30am. Immediately upon entering the ship they put wrist bands on the kids identifying our muster station. We walked through the Royal Promenade. The coffee shop and Pizza shop were open. What an impressive ship. From the first day to the last I was impressed with the beauty of the Liberty. As the rooms were not ready until after 1pm we set about exploring. By 11:45 our party of 6 all had ice cream cones. After the ice cream we headed to the buffet. Read more