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Royal Caribbean International

MV Liberty of the Seas

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Reviewed by: Barry Vaudrin
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: May 10, 2008
Itinerary: Caribbean - Eastern

MASSIVE and Mass Market with class, the Liberty of the Seas is an engineering marvel and a floating community that comfortably transports it's passengers to the Eastern & Western Caribbean. So many activities, so much to see and do, this ship has truly taken the cruise vacation to a new level. You must study the Daily Compass to be sure you don't miss a favorite activity. Liberty of the Seas is more of a place rather than a ship, I had to walk out to the deck to remember I was on a ship that was moving across the ocean at 20 knots. Royal Caribbean is certainly living up to their desire to make passengers say WOW.

There are so many public areas on this ship and all of them seem to be very comfortable. Viking Crown Lounge of course is a nice quiet place during the day to have a drink, read a book and take in the view. The public area that truly has that wow factor is the Royal Promenade. You can sit at a sidewalk cafe and people watch...that's a lot of fun, grab a Ben & Jerry's ice cream, have a pizza, do some shopping. There was one feature that I was particularly amazed by which was the suspended fly-bridge thing that descended down just above the Royal Promenade with special music and entertainment being performed from there. I know much has been written about the amazing Royal Promenade on the Voyager-class and now the lengthened Freedom-class, and I too enjoyed the space, the ambiance and general mood of that area. Another deck area I absolutely loved was the overhanging deck on Deck Four that is aft just outside of the two-story main dining room windows. That deck area really allows the passenger to get some perspective of how massive the ship is and it's fun to watch the ship plow thru the seas from that deck. The upper deck areas Deck 11 broken into three main sections, the solarium forward was for adults and more quiet, it also has the cantilievered whirlpools on the port and starboard side. Then more midship is the main pool and sunning area which is perfect for parties, deck shows, music, and fun in the sun. Aft is the H2oZone for kids and families with sprays of water, a swirling-round pool for kids, just a colorful and fun place to play in the water. All fresh water pools by the way.

Dining on the Liberty of the Seas was decent...I enjoyed a window seat in the Windjammer aft looking over the wake. Windjammer did tend to get crowds and it wasn't always easy getting a window seat. The food prep was ok and their was plenty of variety. Main Dining room is a magnificent three story room with an incredible chandelier. Each level in the main dining room had a different color scheme, however, I prefer the Rembrandt dining room on Deck Three with it's darker wood paneling. Service was good, but not as quick and polished as I remember from the Song of America days. I think there is something lost when dining in a giant dining room like the one aboard the Liberty of the Seas...the feeling was less personable, less community feel, and more like eating in a big stadium.

Food was good but not amazing. Dining in the specialty restaurant Chops, on the other hand was truly an upscale dining experience. There was an attendant handing out sanitary wipes to each person entering the dining areas througout the whole cruise.

Our stateroom was very nice, plenty of space, our luggage stowed easily under the bed and there was enough closet and drawer space. Bathroom was efficient and I enjoyed the shower....I'm a big guy and there was plenty of room even for me. The balcony was truly a pleasure to have access to.

The flat screen TV's had CNN and Fox news playing as well as numerous other stations. You could look up your SeaPass account balance from your TV....that was nice. Our stateroom attendant didn't quite attend to our room as effectively as I would have expected. The beds were very comfortable, but not as comfortable as Holland America's beds. The room was very quiet, we couldn't hear hardly anything happening outside our stateroom.

Entertainment was nothing short of WOW and spectacular....and I'm saying that as a former entertainer on Royal Caribbean. The shows in the main showlounge were incredible. There was a lot of use of the flying, hanging, wire acts where the dancers connect to a harness and are suspended all over the stage. Singers and dancers were the best I've seen on a cruise ship. The cruise staff did a fine job and I was impressed with the Cruise Director who had not worked aboard a Freedom or Voyage-class ship before...this was his first week....as he was just filling in for the normal CD. The ICE SHOW was spectacular with some Russian skaters that could do some pretty amazing things on ice.

There are so many things to do on the Liberty of the Seas it'll make your head spin. With the ice skating rink, the rock climbing wall, the flow rider, the H2O Zone, the mini-golf area and basket ball court, Studio B and the Quest game, and there was a special room and stage just for karaoke....there's just so much to do and so little time. Itinerary was the basic Eastern Caribbean visits to San Juan and St Maarten and Labadee. I had not been to St Maarten since they added the docks, so I enjoyed being able to walk ashore onto a pier. I hadn't been to Labadee since I last worked on the Song of America back in 1989 and was amazed to see how they have built it up. The trams are a nice touch, the floaty trampoline and iceberg climbing things were a disappointment to me particularly because I could seem to get up onto the big trampoline or any of the floating iceberg things....I really wanted to climb up onto them, and I tried, but just couldn't do it. My son on the other hand had a blast. They now have this rip cord thing that was very cool, and a little water park area for kids. I also didn't realize Royal Caribbean has resident staff who live in Labadee.

One big tip when cruising on Liberty of the Seas is to book any shore excursions online weeks before the cruise or immediately when you get onboard, and even then, you may not get to go on the shore excursion of your choice because they get booked up almost the moment you board the ship in Miami. We utilized the childcare for our son...and we checked him into Ocean Adventure, which he seemed to enjoy. They attach a special electronic tracking device to each kid when you check them in....so if by chance they snuck out of the area, the staff could find the child

The mix of passengers was impressive. There were passengers from Brazil and Spain, and Portugal, and all over Europe, it truly was an international affair. I did notice many Florida residents onboard too. Unfortunately the last day...as we were disembarking the ship we met a real nice couple that we bonded with.