I just returned from Liberty of the seas--same ship as Freedom. We are biased towards DCL, so here is my take:
Liberty pluses--a lot cheaper than DCL, great ice skating show, ice skating rink (didn't use) huge rock climbing walls, super fun flow rider, waterpark area good for the 3-10 range, [seemed like] larger sports areas, great promenade area with coffee/pastry bar, Sorrento's pizza parlor, cupcake cupboard (small fee for cupcakes, fee to decorating classes--I thought they would be stupid, so DD did not sign up--but they were really cool--I would do this in the future).
Equal--adult only pool area--virtually identical to Fantasy, service, putt-putt
(goofy stuff is cuter), pools, you can bring on 2 bottles of wine, no issues with water or sodas (we only brought a few bottles--don't know if you had a case what would happen).
not as good--tween/teen clubs--when I peeked in at 2 or 3 pm--no one was there--my kids liked a staffed area where they could go and chill--DCL wins. Movies--on a 4 day cruise-- there was 1 movie on the pool big screen at 10 pm, a not super exciting movie the next day at 8 pm, and finally a 3D movie in the big performance theater at 1pm on the last sea day. I found this very disappointing. That would make me rethink a 7 day with more sea days--as I have a 12 yr old movie lover.
Food-buffet has more limited offerings than we have had on RCCL 3 and 5 years ago. MDR--lamb was very good, tenderloin excellent, seafood OK--but DCL wins here for food--I give RCCL (except the lamb) a C+, with DCL getting a solid B.
Bottom line--we had 6 persons--us and 4 kids (12-28). 28 yr old spent a lot of time on flow rider--said he would have been bored without it. 16 yr old also liked the flow rider. 12 yr old played putt-putt, ate a lot of ice cream, enjoyed sorrentos pizza parlor, and watched a few movies on TV, as he didn't want to do climbing wall or flow rider, and there were no movies anywhere else. If we were on DCL, he probably would have gone into the tween club for a bit. For 4 days, it was fine (we went snorkeling in Cozumel) and we got a great price over Christmas--less than 1/2 of what DCL would have costs--but next cruise will be DCL.
Liberty pluses--a lot cheaper than DCL, great ice skating show, ice skating rink (didn't use) huge rock climbing walls, super fun flow rider, waterpark area good for the 3-10 range, [seemed like] larger sports areas, great promenade area with coffee/pastry bar, Sorrento's pizza parlor, cupcake cupboard (small fee for cupcakes, fee to decorating classes--I thought they would be stupid, so DD did not sign up--but they were really cool--I would do this in the future).
Equal--adult only pool area--virtually identical to Fantasy, service, putt-putt
(goofy stuff is cuter), pools, you can bring on 2 bottles of wine, no issues with water or sodas (we only brought a few bottles--don't know if you had a case what would happen).
not as good--tween/teen clubs--when I peeked in at 2 or 3 pm--no one was there--my kids liked a staffed area where they could go and chill--DCL wins. Movies--on a 4 day cruise-- there was 1 movie on the pool big screen at 10 pm, a not super exciting movie the next day at 8 pm, and finally a 3D movie in the big performance theater at 1pm on the last sea day. I found this very disappointing. That would make me rethink a 7 day with more sea days--as I have a 12 yr old movie lover.
Food-buffet has more limited offerings than we have had on RCCL 3 and 5 years ago. MDR--lamb was very good, tenderloin excellent, seafood OK--but DCL wins here for food--I give RCCL (except the lamb) a C+, with DCL getting a solid B.
Bottom line--we had 6 persons--us and 4 kids (12-28). 28 yr old spent a lot of time on flow rider--said he would have been bored without it. 16 yr old also liked the flow rider. 12 yr old played putt-putt, ate a lot of ice cream, enjoyed sorrentos pizza parlor, and watched a few movies on TV, as he didn't want to do climbing wall or flow rider, and there were no movies anywhere else. If we were on DCL, he probably would have gone into the tween club for a bit. For 4 days, it was fine (we went snorkeling in Cozumel) and we got a great price over Christmas--less than 1/2 of what DCL would have costs--but next cruise will be DCL.