Liberty of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We were first time cruisers from Middle America...SO...clearly, we have nothing to compare to, and our criteria for "good beach" is simply that it's got sand and salt water. That being said, I couldn't have imagined a better introduction to cruising than what we had on Liberty of the Seas, and now we are completely HOOKED!
We arrived around 10:30ish, and literally "sailed" through the boarding process. Prepaid Galveston Cruise Port parking was so smooth! The shuttle parked literally right in front of my car, helped load our bags and within 5 minutes we'd ridden across the street. Now, I will say, if I have anything negative to say about embarkation it was that we had NO idea where to go first (luggage drop off) and in the midst of 2 ships worth of people debarking (LoS and Carnival Vista) it was kind of hard to figure out. Once we did, though, the line for the metal detectors/baggage checks moved smoothly, and we walked right up to a boarding agent. Embarkation couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes from the time we stepped off the shuttle to the time we stepped on deck. Amazing!
Liberty of the Seas is a beautiful ship...maybe not 5-star perfection, as her in-room finishings are pretty worn (curtains, carpet, upholstry), but it's comfortable, and her public areas are bright and fun, while not being overwhelming. We are pretty introverted and were a little nervous about crowds, but I never felt like I had a hard time finding "personal space" whether it was on deck, or a quiet table/chair to sit in a bar or Cafe Promenade. We did shy away from some of the promenade parties...or watched from one of the decks above. Honestly, we came to really just love sea days and lounging by the pool, playing Mini-Golf, ice skating, rock climbing, shows, watching our kids on the Flow Rider, or walking on the track enjoying the sea breeze.
Cabin Review
Interior Accessible
I was pleasantly surprised at how cramped I "didn't" feel in this room with myself, my 6'3" husband, and two 5 ft.+ pre-teens. As stated above, the finishings need refurbishment, and one of our pullman beds had a rail that would not lock in the upright position. However, there is plenty of storage space, and with some creativing moving of the life vest and stashing the glass-top table in the closet, we were able to have a satisfactory amount of space for quick resting/regrouping in our cabin. I do think given that my boys will be quite tall by the next cruise (and one will be full fare), we will probably need a larger cabin or to do 2 by our next family cruise.
Port Reviews
Galveston
We were amazed at how smoothly exit and entry through the terminal went overall. If I had one criticism, it's that if you're new to cruising (or maybe cruising through Galveston), you don't really know where to start when you arrive. They don't appear to have baggage carousels for getting your luggage after debarkation, so we were pretty glad we didn't have to sort through and find our luggage because we chose to self-debark.
Grand Cayman (Georgetown)
This might have been my favorite day. Lovely port, lovely community, lovely people. We easily found a private taxi/bus that took us to the Calico Jacks area on Seven Mile Beach for $6/person. We walked about 150 ft. away from Calico Jacks to chair/umbrella vendors ($20 for umbrella & 2 chairs for the day, I think??? I remember it was only about half of what I was looking at on Royal Palms.) on the beach for a little less crowd and found it to be a beautiful beach and a great time. When we needed a snack/refreshments, I walked (among the chickens) back to Calico Jacks to get a couple of beverage and some apps, that they put in to-go containers for me so I could carry them back to our seats. Even with a break-out rain shower in the afternoon, we had a perfect beach day!