Ooooh, swanky!
I'll likely never make it out of steerage so will never have to make that decision, but I'd probably miss the public dining facilities - except for breakfast. Do whatever you need to do to avoid having breakfast with the plebs.
haha, you are funny! I've only cruised with the "steerage" before and I'd happily do that again as well. This is going to be totally new for us as well. The suite looks beautiful, so I can definitely imagine a few meals in there. Especially with 4 kiddos!
As for excursions, we've been to all the ports you'll visit. What kind of stuff do you like to do? We're into "soft-adventures"; the kind of stuff that looks amazing in pictures and implies a far greater level of bravado and physical prowess than is really involved, KWIM?
We have actually never done actual excursions on any of the cruises we have been on. We had this same itiencary (I think) on the Carnival Conquest back in 2004. In Jamaica we just walked around and did some shopping, came back to the ship kind of early due to all of the beggars.
In Cozumel we went to one of the all inclusive resorts and paid a flat fee to enjoy their beach with snorkeling, their pool, bar and restaurant. Definitely worth the money.
In the Cayman Islands we went to the beach. It was very nice.
My dad wants to take the kids swimming with the dolphins, any ideas where we can do that?
Other than that, we are kind of open!
I recommend helmet diving in Cozumel; it can be done at Chankanab Park. You should be able to simply take a cab there from the pier.
http://www.seatrekcozumel.com/
In Jamaica, I imagine you'll port in Falmouth, which apparently is a "fake place" developed by RCCL for it's large Freedom and Oasis class ships. Buy an excursion through the ship to Ocho Rios - I can't recommend climbing Dunn's River Falls highly enough! It's one of those iconic places and climbing is a "bucket-list" box-checker for sure. (It's not near as difficult or risky as it looks - after all, I did it - LOL!)
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shore...horexByPort&ProductCode=FY44&DestinationCode=
This is the one we did, combined with tubing on the White River, which was also awesome in it's own way. We actually booked ours privately but we were docked in Ocho Rios (on the Mariner of the Seas). I'm not sure I'd trust trying to travel from Falmouth to Ocho Rios on my own and make it back to the ship on time. For the sake of ease, I'd just book through RCCL.
Grand Cayman is different than practically any other Caribbean island. It's a very orderly, British society and the people are relatively prosperous. You will see more banks than anything else there and everything is twice the price of your other ports. It's not a super-pretty island; quite flat and arid, also hotter than h-e-double-hockey-sticks. Truly the hottest place I've ever been. 7 Mile Beach is remarkable though; breathtakingly beautiful, clear water and the softest sand anywhere. It's worth a trip and you should be able to do that on your own by taking a cab, if you wish. When we were there we took it kind of easy; DS was little then and all he wanted from the entire vacation was to visit the Turtle Farm, so that's what we did.
https://www.turtle.ky/about-Cayman-Turtle-Farm If you have younger kids, they'd probably love it too. Personally, I think I'd like to have tried something like this:
http://www.stingraycitytrips.com/ It's a very famous place and I'm sure tours are easily available independently or through the ship.
The only caution I'll give on planning your excursions is that if any of these are tender ports (don't think so, but not sure), be aware that it takes a loooong time to get all 4,000 people off a ship as big as the Liberty. Allow time if you book anything through independent operators - make sure they'll wait on the pier for you. (Just realized this may be a non-issue for you if your suite perks include priority tendering.
).
Actually, we were told that we get priority during that time and will have our own tender boat. lol. How cool is that?!?!
Enjoy!
