Cruising with Liberty of the Seas

We are not a cruising family. However there's a first time for everything. That time was supposed to be in April where Eric's plan that "if we're going to cruise lets do it on the worlds biggest cruise ship" was to come to fruition. Alas someone dropped a crane on Oasis of the Seas while in dock a few weeks before our trans Atlantic trip and that was that.

Fast forward to November and our replacement cruise on Liberty of the Seas. This was not trans Atlantic but a very different week long jaunt around the Caribbean. Liberty may not be quite as big as Oasis but she is still HUGE - like over 3 times heavier than the Titanic was. It is a city on the sea.

So negotiating our first problem - how do we get to our cruise? Galveston may be Houston's Port, but befitting the city with the world's worst public transport (See Elise's post), the only way to reach Galveston is via cruise shuttle, taxi or ride share. We got an Uber which didn't actually cost too much but I just wanted to vent my spleen at Houston for being such a hapless city.

Anyway onboard and underway all worries vanished very quickly. You could jog around the running track or on the treadmill, the food was great and there was heaps to do (the water slides were a bit ordinary though). I immediately resolved to train everyday and walk for 30 minutes before breakfast lest I add undesirable weight gain to my holiday memories. Mind you it's possible to rack up quite a few incidental kilometres a day just walking around the ship from venue to venue (and from dinner table to buffet). Samuel quickly discovered that the kids club was really good. Given that this is essentially free child care and good for making friends Elise and I also decided the kids club was really good.

We had been a bit leery about formal night onboard. Thankfully Royal Caribbean is less strict than some of the more traditional cruise lines so Samuel and I could get by without tuxedos or even suits. That didn't stop some families (or Elise) from dressing up though.

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New York: National Museum of Mathematics

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