The best things in life are free!

The only thing better than a free cruise, according to our travel agent, is a free cruise that includes an open bar. On Monday, Ed and I will test that theory when we board Liberty of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's newest ship and the sister of the world's largest cruiseship, Freedom of the Seas. We were invited to join a group of people on one of the pre-inaugural cruises out of Bayonne, NJ, which makes traveling to this cruise our easiest yet! (Of course, this is the least amount of stuff I have to bring on a cruise, so it's a bit ironic.) We are looking forward to our two-night cruise to nowhere beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Monday and returning to Bayonne on Wednesday morning. We will have a chance to tour the ship, including seeing the different cabins (I hope) and watching some braves souls try out the Flowrider -- the onboard surfing area. With any luck, they will offer one of their ice shows, which is amazing to see, and I'm sure the passengers will provide plenty of entertainment.

This is a huge ship, and it will be interesting to see the layout and how it differs from Adventure of the Seas, part of what was the largest class of ship Royal Caribbean sailed. All of Royal Caribbean's ships will be dwarfed when the Genesis class is launched in the fall of 2009. As a comparison, Adventure of the Seas (the only Voyager class ship we sailed) holds 3,114 passengers, Freedom and Liberty hold 3,634, and the Genesis ships will hold 5,400. WOW! That may be a bit too big for us, but if they offer us another free cruise, I'd be willing to try it (hint, hint).

After we disembark, the ship will head down the coast to Miami, where another series of pre-inaugural cruises will take place before she begins her inaugural sailing to the Caribbean on May 19.

So bon voyage to us and I'll post a report when we return. With any luck, I'll be able to tear Ed away from the Ben & Jerry's stand to check out the rest of the ship. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the wine bar. :)