Cape Liberty is a bit of a dump. Signage is lacking so if you are driving yourself be paying attention. There is almost no signage. Driving into the port felt like driving through one big pothole. It is a dump compared to say Port Canaveral or Tampa. I really felt sorry for less mobile people, or senior citizens.
I was expecting a Cape Liberty to be nice with a smooth, well maintained road and nice signage and clear directions. If you are expecting that, don't expect it.
Baggage handlers were professional and friendly. Parking attendants were not as friendly and their directions weren't exactly clear. In fact, they were pretty confusing. Parking was a bit of a free for all with no signage and little direction. Regardless, it worked out. I am glad because both my wife and I felt like if I made a mistake, the attendants might beat us up.
Boarding was pretty quick. Just be patient. It proceeds quicker than you think it's going to when you see the lines.
I really liked the ship. This is my first cruise in this class. I was on Brilliance the last 2 cruises pre-covid and liked it a lot too. In some ways, I liked it better than Oasis but I did appreciate that this is a different type of ship.
That said, I never really felt like it was that crowded. The weather was cool, and it rained most of the day on Thursday which was a sea day so the pool deck was empty. But even so, it never felt all that crowded.
We went to the kick off show the first night after dinner and Paul Ogata and Jim David were really funny. My daughter and wife signed up for the free skate on the ice one afternoon and had a great time. They are not pros by any stretch but had fun trying even if their feet were hurting a bit. We went back the next night as a family of 5 and did the laser tag as they set it up on the ice rink and had a great time. That was fun.
My daughter is 14 and absolutely loves musicals (it's all she listens to on her I-Phone) along with my wife so they went to Cats and really enjoyed it. (My wife had seen Cats on Broadway in the 1980s). In fact, my daughter really wanted to go back later that night and catch the 2nd show but ended up not being able to do so. They realize this isn't Broadway but they were both impressed with the talent of the performers and thought thought it was a good show and were thoroughly entertained. If you don't like musicals and/or don't really like such shows, this isn't likely for you and might not appreciate it at all. We heard very mixed reviews of the show but they enjoyed it.
The Frozen show was really good. We had reservations for it right before dinner one night and really enjoyed it. Very talented folks, good music, and well done.
The Aqua show was repeatedly canceled on this sailing. I think they got to do the show 1 time. It was canceled because of weather. So we didn't get to see it but heard great things and did see them warming up one afternoon with a few stunts. (This part of the ship is incredible for someone like me who had not been on this class of ship. I was amazed at the open area and really liked the design of this section of the ship).
My family of 5 all thought the food in the dining room was good. We had things we liked better than others and a few items were overcooked a bit but overall we enjoyed our meals and had more than enough to eat. Our servers, as usual, were doing everything they could to take care of us and did a great job. Each of us had at least a few things were really enjoyed and other things were so-so. But again, overall we had no complaints and enjoyed being together at dinner even if our kids don't really talk to us that much at this stage of their life.
I do think it's past time for some new menu items and some variety. Some Asian dishes would be nice as those are very popular right now.
Our rooms (we had 2) on the 11th floor were nice. My wife and I had a balcony and 2 of my children had an interior room. No issues, comfortable.
The Windjammer was fairly packed if you arrived at breakfast after about 8am. My wife and I make it a point to arrive at 7:45am each morning. We never had a problem finding a seat and then we'd take a plate down for my daughter who was still sleeping. My older two (19 and 21) usually slept in until 10am or so and did their own thing for breakfast.
It was crowded and the items available were pretty routine for the Windjammer. My wife said she enjoyed the Windjammer on this cruise more because they weren't as many younger kids and teens cutting in line as you were standing at a food station. That's because this being a Canadian cruise versus a Caribbean cruise.
We had to go to Deck 5, the dining room to wait for our number to be called to leave the ship. We have learned that putting our luggage out the night before and letting employees take our luggage off is the right move for us because we don't have to deal with it and we get off the ship just as quickly. In fact, most people getting off at the same time as us were struggling with their luggage while we just walked around them.
As much effort as they put into informing people of where to go to wait to be called to leave, this could be improved. The crew members in the dining room weren't exactly clear with their instructions on where we were to sit, and when they called our number and we got up to leave, the crew members didn't seem to be aware of the numbers being called and were telling us to sit back down and wait for our number - which had already been called (we ignored them and got in line to get off the ship). So this process is still confusing for many- and shouldn't be.
Make sure you pay at a kiosk when you get out of the terminal before going to your car. There are people there to help you at the kiosk and that was easy. What they don't tell you is when leaving in your car there is a line of cars where people are having to pay to get out, and a line of cars that have already paid at a kiosk. We sat for a few mins in the line to pay (even though we had already paid) before an attendant walked over and directed us and several other cars to the line of cars that had already paid. There was no sign so if that attendant hadn't walked over, we might have been sitting there in the wrong line for a long time.
Some well placed, easy to read signs would go a long way but apparently that is too much to ask.
