Sailing Liberty...which decks to you spend the most time?

I ask this mainly for my knees. Never sailed RCI, in my head, I think I’m still 25- but my 50 year old damaged knees (3 years of seizures and falling hard on them) need a break. We are staying on deck 12...don’t go to casino, might do 1-2 shows...are the elevators that hard to get? We’ve sailed another cruise line and by the 5th night, my knees are toast because I’d routinely take stairs everywhere. Plus, need to save them for the Dunn River hike...any tips on elevators that aren’t as busy? We are forward. And we would love to watch departure from helipad, can that be accessed from 5th floor with minimal steps, is it always open?

The helipad can be accessed from the starboard side door of the forward lounge on deck 5. There would still be a short flight of stairs up to the helipad itself, but you would avoid the longer flight from the deck 4 outside promenade.

Sooooo sorry for your ailment. Why not rent a scooter and enjoy your cruise to the max.

I always take elevator, elevators are ok on liberty, life boat drill can take 30 mins which bothered my knees, you can telll them you have a issue with knees and they will have you sit, schooner bar was filled with similar people.

I know this is unsolicited advice but it is well intended. I would think at least twice about climbing Dunn's River falls. I did climb them with 60 year old knees. My DH woke with a bad back that AM and he opted for the stairs instead of the Falls so he could at least keep an eye on me and take photos. I did fine but even the stairs are tough if you have limitations. The footing is slippery and the falls are steep and it is hard to see where you are stepping because of the water,. You could pay physically for that excursion for the a long time if you blow your knees. It would definitely ruin your cruise to get hurt there.

Thank you for listening to my opinion.

Thanks! My knees are fairly sound, but not after walking 300 flights of stairs daily..on the other ship, we were on deck 6, walked up and down stairs 4x a day to upper deck, various events throughout the ship, I just felt the elevators should be saved for families with strollers and older travelers...we live in flat Texas so I really have few opportunities to use stairs...Im working out at the gym to build up my quads and supportive muscle groups but going from no stairs to dozens a day is hard...just curious what decks everyone frequents bc I don’t know the lay of the ship.

I know this is unsolicited advice but it is well intended. I would think at least twice about climbing Dunn's River falls. I did climb them with 60 year old knees. My DH woke with a bad back that AM and he opted for the stairs instead of the Falls so he could at least keep an eye on me and take photos. I did fine but even the stairs are tough if you have limitations. The footing is slippery and the falls are steep and it is hard to see where you are stepping because of the water,. You could pay physically for that excursion for the a long time if you blow your knees. It would definitely ruin your cruise to get hurt there.

 

Thank you for listening to my opinion.

Thank you!! That is why I am trying everything in my power to protect them, I walk 5-6 miles a day and weight train, but I know excessive use of stairs will be tough...I’ve climbed Long’s Peak with these knees (14k summit), I know my limitations...but want to be pretty strong by the time we do the Falls...what is the distance of the hike? Was planning on bringing a good old pair of hiking shoes I can just toss after?? If the water is cool, I’ll give my knees a good soak!

We spend the bulk of the day at or around the pool area...so we like to be within 1 flight of that deck, as it's easier to use the stairs rather than wait on elevators! We also like to be near the stairs/elevator foyer. Makes it so convenient!

The biggest problem with being forward on the ship is that you always have to walk all the way aft for every meal. Have you considered moving towards aft?

We wanted the newer rooms, those on deck 12 are only about a year old, and we thought being at deck 12, it’s really close to the pool deck...I can handle one flight and distance walking...just not a load of stair climbing... availability at this point is fairly low?