I decided to take my niece, her husband, and four children ages 4, 11, 13, 14 on a cruise. They live in Texas, so I picked the Galveston port for departure because of the proximity for their convenience. They had traveled to Galveston in the past, so we didn't really explore the port. The embarkation was really facilitated by the fact that I am a Diamond Cruiser with Royal Caribbean, so going to the front of the line and being the first on the ship was really nice. The Liberty of the Seas certainly was outfitted to provide loads of fun for the children. The kids clubs were excellent, the kids really enjoyed the activities they participated in and were happy to go there. The other activities on the boat including the Flow Rider, Water Slides, Mini golf, and basketball were a definite favorite for the kids. The two major shows on board, "In the Air" and "Saturday Night Fever" were both very good. The ice skating show was excellent as well. There was a comedian on board, I have forgotten his name, but I didn't particularly find him to be entertaining. The also had an "Eagles Tribute" which I guess was the headliner group, they were very enjoyable as well.

We were assigned to "My Time Family Dining", which I just assumed meant, you go to the dining room when you want to eat. Well I was quite surprised to find that that's not want it meant at all... you needed a reservation which was for the entire cruise. I found this particularly annoying because of course all the times from 6:00-7:30 were "full" when we got on the ship. Traveling with a 4 year old in a dining room is a challenge at best, much less making him wait until 7:45 at night to eat. So I found this as a real sore point. I must admit that the waiter at our table made up for the late reservation. He was excellent in many ways. He provided attentive service, excellent recommendations, and developed a good rapport with the 4 year old that helped a lot. The food in the main dining room was actually very good, I was really impressed. I can't say as much for the Chops Grille. We paid the $39 cover for a 9:00 reservation one night because they were "sold out". We arrived at 8:15 to find the restaurant with only about 8 tables filled (there had to be 20 tables total). Of course they seated us early, how could they say there wasn't a table? The service was just abominable! I have eaten in Chops on multiple cruises in the past and typically had excellent service with two people hovering around to make sure you have everything you need and that the food is good. Literally I felt deserted by this guy, and he never even ask us if the food was okay. I am not a person to complain so I just let it go. I certainly would NOT waste my money on this speciality restaurant on this ship. It was obvious to me that the restaurant was grossly understaffed to provide any type of an elegant dining experience. The food was only mediocre as well. Frankly I was embarrassed as I had raved about how the food would be some much better to my niece and her husband. I don't think they knew the difference because they had no basis to compare it to.

I particularly enjoyed the itinerary of three ports and three sea days. I like sea days as I find it's an excellent opportunity to just relax. The kids enjoyed it as they got more time on the slides and in all the water activities. We hired a private charter in Grand Cayman for the String Ray City with Captain Marvin's and I have to say it was really worth it. Another group of friends were already in Grand Cayman, so we met them there just off the pier to go on the trip. It was a lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed it. One disadvantage of taking a 4 year old on a cruise is that a lot of the excursions really don't accommodate that age. The other problem is most of them are more than 3 hours with is definitely the maximum limit of the attention span of that age group. I must say that's one thing I didn't like about Royal Caribbean, you weren't able to search the excursions by which ones were 4 year old friendly so you could review that short list. You had to look at every excursion individually. We just shopped at the other ports which allowed the kids to at least get off the boat and see something different.. Read more