If you’re sailing on Liberty of the Seas for the first time, these Liberty of the Seas FAQs cover some of the practical things that are much easier to understand before you get onboard. I sailed on Liberty of the Seas twice on back-to-back cruises from Southampton, staying in two different balcony cabins and experiencing both the included dining and speciality restaurants. Although I’d already cruised with Royal Caribbean before, every ship works slightly differently, and there were still things I understood much better after spending time onboard.
From what you should do as soon as you board and how dining works to Wi-Fi, entertainment, gratuities, quieter places around the ship and what you actually need to pack, these are some of the questions I’d want answered before a first Liberty of the Seas cruise.
Watch My Liberty of the Seas First-Timers Guide
Liberty of the Seas – What I Wish I Knew Before My Cruise
What Should You Do First When You Board Liberty of the Seas?
One of the first things I’d recommend doing after boarding Liberty of the Seas is completing your muster check-in. Royal Caribbean uses an electronic muster system. You watch the safety information through the Royal Caribbean app or in your cabin and then visit your assigned muster station so that a member of the crew can check you in. It only takes a few minutes, and I’d get it out of the way early rather than leaving it until later in the afternoon.
Once that’s done, check your dining arrangements and have a look at what’s happening that evening. If you have fixed dining, your SeaPass card should show your dining time and dining room. If you’ve chosen My Time Dining, check whether you already have a reservation or whether you need to choose a time through the app.
Embarkation day can initially feel busy because everyone is trying to find lunch, locate their cabins and work out where everything is. I find that once the muster check is complete and you’ve checked your dining arrangements, it becomes much easier to relax and start exploring the ship.
The Royal Promenade is a good place to begin because several of Liberty’s main bars, shops and casual dining venues are located around it, and it gives you a useful reference point for finding your way around later.
Do You Need the Royal Caribbean App on Liberty of the Seas?
I’d download the Royal Caribbean app and log in before leaving home. It becomes one of the main ways you manage your cruise, and once onboard you can use it to check the daily programme, restaurant opening times, menus, entertainment, dining reservations and your onboard account.
Some information gradually appears before your cruise, but the app becomes much more useful once you’re actually connected to the ship. You don’t need to buy an internet package just to use it.
Put your phone into airplane mode, switch Wi-Fi back on and connect to Liberty of the Seas’ internal Wi-Fi network. You’ll then be able to use the Royal Caribbean app without purchasing VOOM. If you don’t want to keep checking your phone throughout the day, paper copies of the daily programme are also available onboard.
I tend to use the app because it’s convenient for checking opening times or seeing what entertainment is coming up, but having the paper programme can still be useful if you prefer to look at the whole day at once.
What’s Included on Liberty of the Seas?
When you first start looking through Royal Caribbean’s Cruise Planner, it can sometimes seem as though there are a lot of extras to buy. You’ll see drinks packages, speciality dining, Wi-Fi, spa treatments, shore excursions and packages such as The Key advertised before your cruise. But there is already a considerable amount included in the basic Liberty of the Seas cruise fare.
Your cabin is included, along with meals in the Main Dining Room and Windjammer buffet. You can also eat at several casual venues without paying extra, including Sorrento’s Pizza, Café Promenade and El Loco Fresh. Sprinkles soft-serve ice cream is included too.
Most of Liberty’s entertainment is included. That covers the main production shows in the Platinum Theatre, the ice shows in Studio B and much of the live music taking place around the ship.
Activities such as the pools, hot tubs, waterslides, FlowRider, climbing wall, mini golf and sports court are also included in your fare.
You’ll generally pay extra for speciality restaurants, alcoholic drinks, premium coffees, Wi-Fi, spa treatments, shore excursions, casino spending and arcade games.
Extras such as The Key are optional as well. You certainly don’t need to buy lots of upgrades to have a full Liberty of the Seas cruise. There’s enough included to keep you busy throughout the day and evening, so I’d choose extras based on what genuinely improves your cruise rather than feeling that you need them simply because they’re available.
How Does Dining Work on Liberty of the Seas?
Dining can initially seem slightly confusing because Liberty of the Seas has a large Main Dining Room spread across several decks and Royal Caribbean offers more than one dining arrangement. When booking, you’ll usually choose between fixed dining and My Time Dining.
With fixed dining, you eat at the same allocated time each evening and normally keep the same table and waiting team.
My Time Dining offers more flexibility, although I’d still recommend reserving a dining time if you prefer to eat during the busiest part of the evening. On my Liberty of the Seas cruises, My Time Dining was in the Rembrandt Dining Room on Deck 3. Fixed dining is also available on different decks, so don’t worry if other passengers mention eating somewhere different from you. Once your cabin is available, check your SeaPass card because your dining arrangements should be shown there.
You don’t have to eat in the Main Dining Room every evening. The Windjammer buffet is available for dinner, and there are several casual included venues around the ship if you’d rather have something quicker or more relaxed. That flexibility is one of the things I particularly like about Royal Caribbean. You can have a traditional sit-down dinner one evening and pizza, Mexican food or the buffet the next without needing to pay extra.
Do You Need to Pay Extra for Good Food on Liberty of the Seas?
No. Liberty of the Seas has speciality restaurants, and I enjoyed trying them on one of my cruises, but I certainly wouldn’t say you need to pay extra to eat well onboard. I spent my second Liberty cruise eating entirely from the included venues and found there was enough variety for a seven-night cruise.
The Main Dining Room serves changing menus each evening, while the Windjammer is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.For something more casual, there’s Sorrento’s Pizza, Café Promenade and El Loco Fresh. Continental breakfast can also be ordered to your cabin without paying the standard room-service fee.
Speciality dining can still be worthwhile if there’s a restaurant you particularly want to try or if you find a good price on a dining package. On my short Liberty cruise I used an Unlimited Dining Package and ate at Chops Grille, Giovanni’s Table, Johnny Rockets and Izumi. It worked very well for that particular cruise because I wanted to experience the speciality restaurants.
On the seven-night cruise that followed, however, I didn’t buy a dining package and was perfectly happy using the included restaurants instead. That’s why I wouldn’t automatically add speciality dining before you’ve considered what’s already included.
My full Liberty of the Seas dining guide takes you through the included and extra-charge places to eat onboard, and I also have downloadable speciality dining menus on my website. There’s a link to that in the useful guides section below
Do You Need Wi-Fi on Liberty of the Seas?
You don’t need to buy Wi-Fi to use the Royal Caribbean app onboard. As long as you connect your phone to Liberty of the Seas’ internal Wi-Fi network, the app will continue working without a VOOM internet package. You’ll only need to buy VOOM if you want normal internet access for things such as browsing websites, using social media or keeping in touch with people at home.
I used the Wi-Fi on Liberty and found it adequate for normal everyday use. It wasn’t particularly fast, but it worked for browsing, messages and social media.
Royal Caribbean uses dynamic pricing for many of its pre-cruise extras, so the amount you pay for VOOM can change. If you’re considering buying it, keep checking the Cruise Planner or Royal Caribbean app before sailing. If the price falls after you’ve already booked, you can usually cancel your existing purchase and rebook it at the lower price.
It’s also worth comparing the price of Wi-Fi with The Key if you were already considering buying that package, because internet access is one of the benefits included with The Key.
Do You Need to Book Entertainment on Liberty of the Seas?
Most entertainment on Liberty of the Seas doesn’t need to be booked in advance. For the shows in the Platinum Theatre, I generally found there was enough seating available, although arriving early obviously gives you a better choice of where to sit.
Studio B is different. The ice shows were some of the most popular entertainment on both of my Liberty cruises, and the venue filled considerably faster. If there’s an ice show you particularly want to see, I’d arrive early rather than walking in just before it starts and expecting a good seat.
The same principle applies to some of the smaller live music venues. Boleros and the Hoof and Claw could both become busy when a popular performer was playing, particularly later in the evening. You don’t normally need a reservation, but when you arrive can make a big difference.
What Should You Pack for Liberty of the Seas?
Apart from your usual cruise clothes, there are a few practical things I’d include. Put swimwear in your hand luggage on embarkation day if you think you might want to use the pools, hot tubs or waterslides before your main suitcase reaches your cabin.
A light layer is useful in the evenings because venues such as Studio B and the Platinum Theatre can feel cooler than the outside decks.
You’ll also need to think about electrical sockets. Liberty of the Seas has US-style sockets, so passengers travelling from the UK should make sure they have a suitable adaptor.
A refillable water bottle can be useful, particularly if you haven’t bought a drinks package. Magnetic hooks can also help with keeping bags, hats or lightweight clothing off the limited surfaces around the cabin.
You don’t need to pack pool towels because Royal Caribbean provides them onboard. Just remember that towels are scanned against your SeaPass card when you collect them, so make sure you return them afterwards.
What Are the Themed Nights on Liberty of the Seas?
Liberty of the Seas can have themed evenings, including Formal Night and White Night. Check the Royal Caribbean app before and during your cruise because the exact schedule will depend on your sailing.
Royal Caribbean’s approach to dress codes is fairly relaxed. You’ll see people dressing up for Formal Night, but you don’t need formal evening wear simply to eat in the Main Dining Room. The same applies to White Night. Plenty of people take part and wear white, particularly if they’re attending one of the themed parties, but you’re not going to be excluded from venues because you aren’t dressed completely in white.
If you enjoy dressing up, bring something smarter. If you prefer a more relaxed cruise wardrobe, smart-casual clothes work perfectly well too.
Does Liberty of the Seas Have a Self-Service Launderette?
No.nLiberty of the Seas doesn’t have a passenger self-service laundry. Royal Caribbean offers laundry and dry-cleaning services onboard, but these cost extra. That’s worth remembering when packing, particularly if you’re taking a longer cruise. You might want to bring enough clothing for the entire sailing or pack a small amount of travel wash for anything you want to wash in your cabin.
Royal Caribbean sometimes offers a laundry bag promotion on longer cruises, although this can vary between sailings. If you’re used to cruise lines where you can simply go to a passenger laundry room and use a washing machine, this is one difference worth knowing about before you board.
How Do Gratuities Work on Liberty of the Seas?
Gratuities are one area where it’s important to pay attention to where your Royal Caribbean cruise is departing from. On my sailings from Southampton, pricing for drinks, drinks packages and speciality dining worked differently from cruises departing from places such as the USA, where an additional service charge is normally added.
Daily gratuities are separate and are charged to your onboard account unless you’ve prepaid them before your cruise. They can be removed through Guest Services, although I choose to prepay mine and treat them as part of the overall cruise cost. For me, that makes budgeting much simpler because I know that part of the cruise has already been paid before I board.
Does Liberty of the Seas Feel Crowded?
Liberty of the Seas is a large ship and there are times when it feels busy. The Royal Promenade becomes particularly crowded during parades and some evening events.
The main pool area can get busy on warm sea days, and the Windjammer naturally attracts more passengers at traditional breakfast and lunch times.
But I found that timing made an enormous difference. Eating slightly earlier or later often made the Windjammer much easier to navigate. The pool deck also tended to become quieter later in the afternoon when passengers started heading back to their cabins to get ready for the evening.
Port days can be particularly good if you decide to stay onboard or return to the ship early. With many passengers ashore, the pools, hot tubs and other public areas can feel noticeably quieter. Once you understand the rhythm of the ship, it becomes much easier to avoid the busiest periods.
Where Are the Quietest Places on Liberty of the Seas?
The obvious place to sit isn’t always the best place. Most passengers naturally head towards the main pools and the Lime and Coconut area when the weather is good. If that section looks busy, continue along the deck or head up one level because there are often quieter areas away from the main pool activity.
The adults-only Solarium is another option. It’s calmer than the family pool area, although it can still become busy on a sunny sea day.
There are quieter places inside the ship too. Olive or Twist has large windows and excellent sea views, and I often found it much calmer during the daytime than the Royal Promenade. The Star Lounge on Deck 5 is another venue where I usually found it relatively easy to get a seat. It can be a useful alternative when smaller bars such as Boleros or the Hoof and Claw are busy.
One of my favourite places is the helicopter pad at the front of the ship. You can access it from the outside promenade area close to the Star Lounge. It’s an excellent place for sailaway, but I also enjoyed simply going out there during a sea day because you get an almost completely unobstructed view ahead of the ship. It’s one of those areas many passengers don’t discover immediately, which helps it feel much quieter than the main upper decks.
What Is the Best Cabin Location on Liberty of the Seas?
I stayed in two different balcony cabins on my back-to-back Liberty of the Seas cruises. My first cabin was on Deck 8 and my second was on Deck 12. They suited different parts of the cruise. Deck 8 was particularly convenient for the Royal Promenade, dining rooms, bars and entertainment venues. I didn’t have to travel very far vertically to reach most of the places I used during the evening.
Deck 12 was far more convenient for the pool deck and Windjammer. That cabin also felt fresher in style. The disadvantage of being higher up was that I noticed more ship movement. My second cruise involved rough conditions across the Bay of Biscay, and I was much more aware of the movement in my higher Deck 12 cabin. If you’re concerned about seasickness, I’d consider booking a cabin lower down and closer to the middle of the ship.
If convenience matters more, think about the areas you expect to use most. A higher cabin is useful if you spend a lot of time around the buffet and pool deck. A mid-level cabin can be more convenient if you expect most of your time to be spent around the Royal Promenade, bars, dining rooms and entertainment. There isn’t one perfect deck for everyone. It depends on what matters most to you.
Who Should You Ask If Something Goes Wrong?
One of the easiest mistakes to make on a cruise is putting up with a small problem because you assume there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Ask. Your cabin steward can normally help with things such as extra hangers, ice and small cabin requests.
The dining team can explain menus, dietary requirements and how your particular dining arrangement works. If something in the cabin isn’t working properly, report it rather than waiting several days to see whether it resolves itself.
And if you can’t find a venue or you’re unsure whether an activity needs booking, ask a member of the crew. Liberty of the Seas is a big ship, particularly when you first board. Asking a simple question can save a surprising amount of time spent walking around trying to work something out yourself.
Is Liberty of the Seas Good for a First Royal Caribbean Cruise?
Liberty of the Seas can be a very good introduction to Royal Caribbean because it has many of the features people associate with the cruise line without being as overwhelming as some of the newest and largest ships.
You have the Royal Promenade, FlowRider, waterslides, climbing wall, ice rink, theatre entertainment, multiple pools and a good mixture of included and speciality dining.There’s plenty going on, but you don’t need to spend your whole cruise racing from one attraction to another.
Having sailed Liberty twice, I found it quite easy to settle into the ship once I understood where the main areas were and when they tended to become busy. The biggest thing I’d tell a first-time passenger is that you don’t need to buy every upgrade Royal Caribbean offers. You can have an excellent cruise using the included dining, entertainment and activities and then add the extras that genuinely matter to you.
Useful Guides for Your Liberty of the Seas Cruise
If you’re sailing on Liberty of the Seas, I have several other guides that can help you plan what to eat, what to expect onboard and whether some of Royal Caribbean’s paid extras are worth buying.
My Liberty of the Seas What’s On Board A full walkthrough of what’s onboard Liberty of the Seas, including the Royal Promenade, pool deck, cabins, restaurants, bars, entertainment venues and areas changed during the refit.
My Liberty of the Seas dining options guide gives a full overview of what’s included, what costs extra, and where to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and late-night food.
My Liberty of the Seas main dining room guide explains fixed dining, My Time Dining, the Deck 3, 4 and 5 dining rooms, table assignments, dining times and how the dining room works.
My Liberty of the Seas Refit Guide is a detailed look at what changed during the Liberty of the Seas refit, including new venues, updated spaces and what hasn’t changed onboard.
If you’re thinking about buying The Key, I also have a full The Key guide on Liberty of the Seas explaining the benefits, how priority boarding and reserved seating work and when I think the package offers reasonable value and whether it’s worth buying for your cruise on Liberty of the Seas.
And for my overall opinion after sailing on Liberty of the Seas twice, my Liberty of the Seas honest review covers what I liked, the areas I think could be improved and whether I’d book the ship again.
Liberty of the Seas FAQs
Do you need the Royal Caribbean app on Liberty of the Seas?
The Royal Caribbean app is extremely useful onboard because you can use it to check the daily schedule, restaurant opening times, menus, entertainment and your onboard account. You don’t need to purchase a VOOM internet package simply to use the app.
What food is included on Liberty of the Seas?
Included dining options include the Main Dining Room, Windjammer buffet, Sorrento’s Pizza, Café Promenade and El Loco Fresh. Sprinkles soft-serve ice cream is also included, and you can order a continental room-service breakfast without paying the standard room-service fee.
Do you need to book shows on Liberty of the Seas?
Most entertainment doesn’t need to be booked. I found it easy to get seats in the Platinum Theatre, although Studio B became much busier for the popular ice shows, so I’d arrive early if you want a good view.
Does Liberty of the Seas have a self-service laundry?
No. Liberty of the Seas doesn’t have passenger self-service launderettes. Paid laundry and dry-cleaning services are available onboard.
Does Liberty of the Seas have a formal night?
Liberty of the Seas can have Formal Night and other themed evenings such as White Night. Royal Caribbean’s dress code is relatively relaxed, so you can dress up if you want to, but formal clothing isn’t compulsory.
Is Liberty of the Seas crowded?
Some areas can become busy, particularly the Royal Promenade during events, the pool deck on warm sea days and the Windjammer at peak meal times. I found that eating slightly earlier or later and using the outdoor areas on port days made it much easier to avoid the busiest periods.
Useful Cruise Items to Consider
These are a few simple items that can make your cruise more comfortable and help you stay organised onboard. I personally use variations of these when cruising, and they’re all practical rather than essential.
Magnetic hooks Perfect for extra storage in your cabin
Packing cubes Keep your suitcase organised
Cruise luggage tags Protect your tags at the port
Travel Extension Lead UK For charging multiple phones, cameras, and laptops
Toiletry organiser Great for small bathrooms
You can also browse my full Cruise Essentials list for more useful items I use or recommend for cruise holidays.
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