Sailing on Liberty 9 day cruise lots of questions

Hello, new here. Going on a cruise in late June to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Any advice/input would be appreciated:

Not sure best way to get to port from Western PA, Mapquest shows coming in from the PA Turnpike or I-80. Anyone have suggestions? Probably coming in the night before and driving part way, then the rest in the morning before departure. Planning on getting to the port at 930 am to park and get organized.

Can you upgrade/change your cabin after final payment?

Can you request a table in the MDR just for your family?

Can you drink any alcohol while taking seasickness meds? Not sure if we will get seasick, but from research here, seems like we should take something to be sure.

Is there poolside bar service?

How do we get to Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda? Should we take a cab?

In St Maarten, is there a non-nude beach to go to with the family?

Please offer any insight or thoughts you feel would be useful. We haven't booked any excursions yet, and we have not purchased any drink packages. We are still trying to figure out if those would benefit us.

Hello, new here. Going on a cruise in late June to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Any advice/input would be appreciated:

 

Not sure best way to get to port from Western PA, Mapquest shows coming in from the PA Turnpike or I-80. Anyone have suggestions? Probably coming in the night before and driving part way, then the rest in the morning before departure. Planning on getting to the port at 930 am to park and get organized.

 

One of the Exits 14 on the NJ Turnpike

 

Can you upgrade/change your cabin after final payment? Yes

 

Can you request a table in the MDR just for your family? Yes

 

Can you drink any alcohol while taking seasickness meds? Not sure if we will get seasick, but from research here, seems like we should take something to be sure.

 

Is there poolside bar service? Yes

 

How do we get to Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda? Should we take a cab?

 

In St Maarten, is there a non-nude beach to go to with the family? Yes

 

Please offer any insight or thoughts you feel would be useful. We haven't booked any excursions yet, and we have not purchased any drink packages. We are still trying to figure out if those would benefit us.

See

Hello, new here. Going on a cruise in late June to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Any advice/input would be appreciated:

 

Not sure best way to get to port from Western PA, Mapquest shows coming in from the PA Turnpike or I-80. Anyone have suggestions? Probably coming in the night before and driving part way, then the rest in the morning before departure. Planning on getting to the port at 930 am to park and get organized.

 

Can you upgrade/change your cabin after final payment?

 

Can you request a table in the MDR just for your family?

 

Can you drink any alcohol while taking seasickness meds? Not sure if we will get seasick, but from research here, seems like we should take something to be sure.

 

Is there poolside bar service?

 

How do we get to Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda? Should we take a cab?

 

In St Maarten, is there a non-nude beach to go to with the family?

 

Please offer any insight or thoughts you feel would be useful. We haven't booked any excursions yet, and we have not purchased any drink packages. We are still trying to figure out if those would benefit us.

Yes, just send an email to rcldining@rccl.com about 2-3 weeks prior to you cruise. I just did it for my Oasis cruise and they accommodated me nicely. A table just for our family, and by the window, just as requested.

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Can you upgrade/change your cabin after final payment? Yes.

 

Can you request a table in the MDR just for your family? Yes, send request to rcldining@rccl.com.

 

Is there poolside bar service? Yes

 

In St Maarten, is there a non-nude beach to go to with the family? Yes, there is a beach right in front of town. You can also go to Maho beach and watch the airplanes land.

 

...

See answers in RED above.

Yes, just send an email to rcldining@rccl.com about 2-3 weeks prior to you cruise. I just did it for my Oasis cruise and they accommodated me nicely. A table just for our family, and by the window, just as requested.

Thank you! I will do that.

Hello, new here. Going on a cruise in late June to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Any advice/input would be appreciated:

 

Not sure best way to get to port from Western PA, Mapquest shows coming in from the PA Turnpike or I-80. Anyone have suggestions? Probably coming in the night before and driving part way, then the rest in the morning before departure. Planning on getting to the port at 930 am to park and get organized. it depends on where you are coming from, but you can also come across 78. When you arrive in the morning, there is a shopping center on 440 right near the port which has a Starbucks and dunkin donuts as well as a few other stores. I suspect arriving at 9:30, there will be about 1-2 hours to wait before boarding. When we have sailed from Bayonne, boarding was usually between 11 and 11:30.

 

Can you upgrade/change your cabin after final payment? yes you can, if one is available.

 

Can you request a table in the MDR just for your family? see responses fro others. I have also done this with success.

 

Can you drink any alcohol while taking seasickness meds? Not sure if we will get seasick, but from research here, seems like we should take something to be sure.this one I can't help with as we rarely take seasickness mess. We tend to eat green apples, take ginger and eat crackers.

 

Is there poolside bar service? yes there are servers who come around as well as bars near the pool where you can easily get to.

 

How do we get to Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda? Should we take a cab? I would check on the Bermuda boards to get ideas. There is a ship tour, taxi and bus as options, but I am not sure which is best.

 

In St Maarten, is there a non-nude beach to go to with the family? as another poster mentioned, you can take the water taxi to the beach across from the cruise ship. This is a nice beach and you will have the boardwalk and shops right near you. We like to hang out near this area.

 

Please offer any insight or thoughts you feel would be useful. We haven't booked any excursions yet, and we have not purchased any drink packages. We are still trying to figure out if those would benefit us.

for the drink packages, you have to look at what is included in each package to see if it is worth the cost. If you do purchase one, remember it works on Labadee which is the cruise lines private island.

We are sailing a few weeks after you and are looking forward to sailing on the Liberty.

Hope this helps.

Mary

Thank you! I will do that.

Oh, and make sure to include your reservation #, cabin #, names of everyone in your party.

See answers in RED above.

Thanks so much!

Yes, just send an email to rcldining@rccl.com about 2-3 weeks prior to you cruise. I just did it for my Oasis cruise and they accommodated me nicely. A table just for our family, and by the window, just as requested.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work with MTD.

for the drink packages, you have to look at what is included in each package to see if it is worth the cost. If you do purchase one, remember it works on Labadee which is the cruise lines private island.

 

We are sailing a few weeks after you and are looking forward to sailing on the Liberty.

 

Hope this helps.

Mary

Thank you. It is so hard to figure out since there is so much conflicting info out there about actual prices.

We took this itinerary on the Explorer last year and really enjoyed it.

I don't know how old your children are, but on St. Maarten we took a cab to Le Galion, which was perfect for our DGS, who was four. Gentle waves, very quiet, no boobage. If your children are older, they might prefer more robust surf, but it's perfect for smaller kids. It's also close to the butterfly farm, which was very interesting. We took a cab (minibus) with another family, he dropped us off at the butterfly farm, took the other family to, I believe, Orient Beach, came back and took us to the beach, and then picked us up, got the other family and took us all back to the ship. IIRC, he charged about $20 PP.

We took the bus to Horseshoe Bay in Bermuda, but it was a long, hot, crowded ride. We took a cab back. There's a long downhill walk to the beach from the bus stop, but there's a bevy of cabs that will take you back up for about $2 PP.

I can't tell you which route would be better from PA, but here's a link to directions to the port that are very explicit: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2204763

It's easy to miss the turn because the signage isn't great.

We didn't order the drink package for the first two days, drank a normal amount, and then, based on what we had spent those two days, decided against the drink package. Our bar bill at the end of the cruise was less than half what the price of the drink package was. YMMV. The soda package might not be a bad deal if your kids drink soda, but none of us do so we passed on that.

I hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did.

Traveling to the port you should check out the East Coast Departures Board at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=365&f=415

Carol/138East has great information there about Cape Liberty, including directions to the port. As for I-80 or PA Turnpike, to which are you closer? Eventually, all roads lead to Cape Liberty and your next cruise!

Yes, just send an email to rcldining@rccl.com about 2-3 weeks prior to you cruise. I just did it for my Oasis cruise and they accommodated me nicely. A table just for our family, and by the window, just as requested.

We are new to RCCL..Can we make a standing reservation for the same table/same time every night?

Would like to know how the dining options work...we are used to NCL where you just show up anytime you want.

Thanks for any information! :)

Thanks, this is all great info.

Has anyone cruised this itinerary lately? If you have any tips or must-sees, please do chime in!

Avoid the beach in front of Philipsburg in St Maarten. We wouldn't even let our granddaughter walk there due to all the glass, nails and dog droppings!

Stick with the other beaches!

rmhlovesthesun and Chesneygirl -

Two dining options, normal early/late where you are assigned a table and time for the whole cruise (and others have mentioned how to get a specific type of table) and My Time Dining. In My Time you can either show up when you want or you can make a reservation. This can be done in advance in your cruise personalizer (books time but not specific table), or just talk to the folks at the dining room entrance and they will help you. Either sit with others or just your group - your choice.