Liberty of the Seas

Okay, I have been wanting to do a writeup on the Liberty of the Seas for a while, so here goes.

On May 14th we had the privilage of being invited onboard the inaugural sailing of the Liberty of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Only a select few travel agents, press, and industry giants were invited onboard. Cruise Planners is an industry recognized leader in cruises, so it is no wonder they had some rooms set aside for us The voyage was just 2 days, but it was all inclusive so that we could have the chance to try out all the ammenities of the ship (except the salon and the spa). See!



Just a little rundown on the ship:

Maiden Voyage: May 19, 2007
Passenger Capacity: 3,634 double occupancy
Godmother: Donnalea Madeley
Gross Tonnage: 160,000
Length: 1,112'
Max Beam: 184'
Draft: 28'
Cruising Speed: 21.6 knots

We had been on the Voyager class ships and this was just a step beyond.

Some of the new additions was the OnAir bar with the kareoke booths. You choose the song, and a background, then step into the recording booth and record your own music video as you sing on a blue screen. It gives you the chance to buy a DVD of your performance. We had so much fun doing this! It was funny, they had not enabled the DVD option yet and as a joke they put "would you like to purchase a DVD of your performance for $10,000?". Heh, uhhhh, no?

We also like the gothic inspired dance club, the Catacombs. It was all dark and had alot of atmosphere. The dance floor had cameras on it with plasma screens on the wall showing the action. The DJ was off the shizzle my hizzle, that's the dizzle. It is 2 levels high and has multiple bars. This was a popular spot and was open real late.

The flowrider, of course, is the new surfing simulator on the sports deck. You can surf and body board. This was so cool! We were too busy to try it out but we watched whilst other people got wet. This is a nice part of the ship, you can relax and enjoy the view out the back of the ship, sip a drink, and watch a big harry guy loose his swim trunks Just kidding. They also had a full sized boxing ring in the fitness center, and a special coach to help you do cardio in there. Speed bag for the win!

Center Ice, the ice skating rink on board, is something you can't do on any other cruise ship. We did this on the Voyager of the Seas and it was so cool. Just just strap on some skates and cool off. If you aren't into skating, you can wait until the ice show and enjoy watching someone do it better than you ever could, and save yourself a bruised behind. This show never disapoints, even though it is a small rink they pull off all the big tricks.

So lets talk about the royal promenade. It runs down the center of the ship and acts as a boardwalk with shops and food. On the food end there is Sorentos, which is the 24hr pizza and snack bar, Cafe Promenade which serves Seatles Best coffee and things like cookies, cheesecake, and sandwhiches, and a Ben and Jerry's ice cream boutique that serves ice cream and shakes. You have alot of options all in one place. As for bars, you have the Hoof and Claw which is a Brit/Irish themed pub, and Vintages which is a wine bar. You can expect all the shops here too, typical jewelry and logo gear. One thing that was new was a barber shop for men, appointed in the clasic style with the barber pole and everyting. There was someone getting a shave in there with hot lather, it was different.

The rest of this ship is what you would expect. I was very impressed by the collection of art on board. Everywhere you went there was someting pretty to look at. They put alot of time and effort into making everything look just right, I was very impressed.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy! If you want to, check out our entire collection to browse at our Picasa Albums.