Liberty is our favorite ship and we were not disappointed. We live in Texas so we drove down the day before. We stayed Sat night in League City (about 35 min from Galveston). Rooms there are much less expensive. However, if you have not been to Galveston go for it! It is a charming city with lots of interesting shopping on the Strand, fun things to see and do and great food.
Boarding in Galveston gets a bad rap, we did not have a problem. We boarded around 10:15-a little early and yes, it is a bit congested because people are trying to get OFF from the previous cruise. So to avoid the crowd crossover, I would suggest waiting until at least 11 am. Surprisingly the Windjammer was never crowded, not once during the cruise!!
We ate in the MDR every night, we both thought the food, while never bad before, was much improved from previous cruises. We enjoyed it. We also had the MDR lunch on sea days, they had shrimp on the salad bar every time, yum. (Yes, there were people in MDR dressed in tank tops and wearing cover ups over bathing suits, but not many. Most stayed within the dress code and were very nicely dressed each night.)