Liberty of the Seas

If a picture paints a thousand words, then this post is a short "book" about our cruise ship, the Liberty of the Seas. Here are Kathy, Jeff and Gwen on the dock in Cozumel, in front of the ship. It is the largest cruise liner on the seas (2 inches longer than its sister ship). For the most part, we felt fine, though we could feel the waves and choppiness during the storms we encountered, and especially in our cabins (the tiny toothpaste tube bathrooms were the WORST).

I snapped this shot of the marquee above the entrance to the Platinum Theater, where we saw a show each night. Some were terrific: a juggler, comic, etc. Some were only so-so, but we enjoyed ourselves nevertheless. None were so objectionable as far as humor, that we got up and left the theater.

This elipse was at the "foreward" end of the ship, as seen from a stairway nearby. Behind it were other Egyptian-looking statues and artifacts, but we never were curious enough to figure out what the doorway led to. The monument was pretty, though!

We spent a fair bit of time in the Schooner Bar, not drinking, of course, but participating in Trivia contests. We won some fabulous prizes: key chains, highlighters, photo albums and caps that have Liberty of the Seas across the front. The really good prizes were late in the week, with the specific trivia items like current TV show themes, or "Friends" or country music. Oh well.

I shot Jeff and Randy in a fiercely competitive game of shuffleboard. Kathy and I laughed as they gathered up their disks for the next round, using their cue sticks--they looked like they were walking invisible dogs!

Here's the climbing wall on board the ship. We did not participate in this activity, but you can see how tall it is, with at least three surfaces that could be climbed simultaneously.

Always, serious, Randy shows his stuff at the miniature golf course. We played a quick game on the last day, as the ship headed back to Miami after stopping at the ports (that's another post!). Not quite like the exercise of 18 holes of golf, but fun at any rate!

We enjoyed watching some cute young people try their hand at surfing at the Flow Rider at the aft end of the ship. The waves, we were told, are up to 30 mph. Jeff commented that you needed to choose which side to stand in line, since you might be taught to surf "left-footed" simply because it was on the correct side of the guy helping you stay on the board!

All in all, we found the activities onboard the cruise liner to be fun and relaxing! We would definitely take another cruise again, and recommend it to our friends.

Dining on Board our Cruise Ship

Here we are at dinner in the Michelangelo dining hall on the Liberty of the Seas. We dressed up twice for dinner--otherwise, it was casual dining in capris or whatever. The food was delicious: I especially enjoyed the chilled fruit soups. We tried Pear, Apple, Peach, Mango/Banana, and Berry with Buttermilk. The entrees were wonderful and the desserts divine! This is Jeff, Gwen, Kathy and Randy from left to right.

Our main waiter was named Jitendra and was from India. He was quite stiff and formal until Randy had rearranged his silverware, pretended he had no chair, and a host of other "tricks." By the end, "J" was joking with us. He also presented us with a nightly puzzle using toothpicks or other tableware as the playing pieces.

Our assistant waiter was Ashvin, from the Philippines. He kept us in bread (usually sourdough) and repeatedly filled our glasses like it was, well, WATER. He quickly learned to remove the wine glasses and not to bother offering coffee after dinner.

During dinner we were treated to wonderful music played by this trio of women. They did not speak English (we were on Royal Caribbean INTERNATIONAL, after all), but they warmly recognized applause at the end of each piece.

Some nights we listened to guitar music rather than the strings/piano. This young man could really play. Malaguena, show tunes, classics. You name it, we heard it.

One night our waiters gathered on the stairs and sang to us--a rousing song of how they would miss us when the cruise ended.

Another night we were serenaded by the entire staff of chefs. We toured the Galley on Friday and enjoyed meeting the chief baker--we applauded loudly, since we enjoyed his fare tremendously.

Here's the chandelier that hangs over the main dining rooms, which spread over three stories of the ship. We have very fond memories of our dining experiences on board the Liberty of the Seas.