We chose this particular cruise mainly because everyone in our group of 8 was able to get the time off to go. Our reason for going was for an early celebration of our dad's upcoming 90th birthday. Our group consisted of my wife and I, my brother, my dad, my youngest son and his wife and my daughter and her husband. Oldest in the group was 89; youngest was 33. Three of us have cruised on Liberty of the Seas previously and two were experiencing their very first cruise.

Embarkation was very easy and we were on the ship in 30 minutes or less. We had heard that one level of the main dining room might be open for lunch, and knowing how chaotic the Windjammer can be especially on boarding day, we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, you had to have the "key" option to be able to eat in the dining room, so we ended up in the Windjammer anyway. Filled with wall-to-wall people, it was a chore to get our food and find a place to sit and eat. It seems that every time we were in the Windjammer it was full to overflowing, so we avoided it when possible.

We were told our interior cabin would be ready at 1 pm. We showed up there shortly after 1 and housekeeping was just finishing up and our steward told us they still needed to vacuum and that it would be just a few minutes. We waited in the hall until they finished and proceeded to move in to our room. Read more