Live (Fake News!) Review of Liberty of the Seas from Galveston March 4-11

Loved the review!

Booze: Royal has a nationwide contract for all beverages But, While in Texas, they are required to purchase beverages sold in Texas to originate for a Texas Distributor. Only past the 13 mile limit, the FULL menu is available.

Booze & Tax: For Texas residents. If you carry off in the booze box, they got ya. If you pack it away in your carry on, just walk on by.

Day 3 Cozumel: Not Saturday Night, but Saturday Night Fever

Our plan was to return to the ship at about 12:30 or 1 PM and have pizza at Sorrento's , unfortunately, Sorrento's was not open, again! We made our way back to the Windjammer for lunch instead, but it's frustrating that pizza place was not open more often for lunch, even when it was advertised in the Cruise Compass as being open. It's ironic that everyone who sailed the Carnival ship complained you could ONLY find pizza, and we were on Royal Caribbean and could never find pizza! There was pizza available on the buffet in the Windjammer, and maybe it's made differently, but it was terrible!

After lunch, we planned to go check out the water slides, but they were also closed from 1-2 PM, so I'll give you three guesses what we did... here is a hint:

This evening, was a casual night, we checked out the menus at the MDR and decided to go back to the Windjammer for dinner, where we were now becoming regulars with the crew! After dinner we took a walk around the Royal Promenade, since we hadn't properly checked out all the shops. The usual assortment of Royal Logo shop, boutique, fine jewelry, perfume & beauty, and alcohol & tobacco shops.

After a little window shopping, Hubby *might* have splurged on a little something for me to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, since on our anniversary cruise we were too darn busy to shop! See my review of Azamara Quest Adriatic and Italy here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2556793

After that we headed to the theater for the Saturday Night Fever full length musical. As I mentioned earlier, this show was a little too long for the folks who aren't into musicals, and a little too rushed for people like me who enjoy them! But it was well acted, danced and sung, and the stage production and costumes are amazing for such a small theater!

I also like that Royal "casts" this show, and doesn't just hire 5 actors and keep having them change costumes. ( I find that so confusing!! "wait, isn't that the father?" " No, he's playing the waiter now!") It's nice to have actors be able to develop a single character, I just wish the show allowed them a teensy bit more time to do it! But that's a nit pick, it was a great show, with lots of great music! I heard on board from regular Liberty sailors that SNF used to be shown on Saturday night, but being the night before disembarkation, it had poor attendance. Honestly, haven't you noticed the last night, everyone has seen their bill, their bags are in the hall and everyone is walking around looking like they have been sucking on the limes in their Coronas? It's just hard to get anyone in the theater excited on the last night of the cruise!

Luckily, this wasn't even close to the last night of our cruise, but we were still to tired to stay up after the show!

Stay tuned for Grand Cayman

Following your entertaining review!

 

A year until we are back on Liberty (next Spring Break!) , but I can imagine it through your words in the meantime. And we have the opposite aft corner balcony. So fun looking at your (our) view.

 

Thanks for promoting the passengers on the Galveston cruises! I know many people avoid Galveston due to winter fog possibility, or distance from airport, but as you mentioned, we are for the most part friendly and welcoming.

 

When I read about CC posts talking about ships overrun with groups of bad kids, I just can’t imagine. On our Liberty cruise during the summer, there were over 1400 kids on board. And our experience was the same as yours - friendly families, no issues. Guess we are very lucky indeed.

 

Can’t wait for your next posts!

Whoa!! That's a lot of kids!! After I put my pictures on FB for my family, my SIL, said my nephews want to go! So we may end up back in Galveston to sail with them one day! It's an ideal kids ship!

Heh, my collection of unfinished reviews. I’ll finish them one day. :)

 

We love the Anthem! It’s the class that feels most unlike the others. 270 (huge wraparound aft lounge/ performance area) and Music Hall provide new opportunities for entertainment. North Star and iFly are also fun experiences not available elsewhere on the fleet, and we really love that they have a Family Junior Suite (2 bathrooms!)

 

And not flying to port is awesome.

 

Now, back to your review!

 

 

 

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Or maybe I'll take the nephews on one of those, then we wouldn't have to fly!! Do they have water slides too? Plus that Jr suite would be perfect!

Loved the review!

Thanks!! Glad you are enjoying!

Booze: Royal has a nationwide contract for all beverages But, While in Texas, they are required to purchase beverages sold in Texas to originate for a Texas Distributor. Only past the 13 mile limit, the FULL menu is available.

Booze & Tax: For Texas residents. If you carry off in the booze box, they got ya. If you pack it away in your carry on, just walk on by.

Thanks! I guess that's possible, but I hate to recommend that though, and do be very careful... I have personally witnessed where RCL will narc you out to the customs people if they know you have purchased over the limits. Your card will not allow you to disembark and a crew person will meet you and they personally escort you to customs, so your form better have it right, or make a quick change to it! Now in Texas, when we sailed, they didn't require forms, but again, I'd be very shy of getting on the wrong side of customs and immigration these days.

Some Fun In Cozumel...

Please don't tell hubby, (or Gisele) but my love and I had a little secret Central America meeting...it had been too long since the Superbowl loss and I needed to see my NE darling...shhh don't tell anyone!

The Pier in Cozumel, time lapse video...people moving pretty good considering how much time was spent at Senor Frogs and Jimmy Buffets!

Brilliance and Liberty having a "chat" as LOS is leaving Cozumel

(click the link to see the videos)

Day 4 Grand Cayman"If It's Tender Time How Come I feel Bruised?"

We didn't arrive in Grand Caymen until 10:30 AM, and as I posted under "Itinerary" Grand Cayman is a tender port, which means they anchor the ship out in the harbor and use smaller boats to transport the folks to the pier. This understandably takes along time to do on a ship with thousands of people.

Priority is given to people with ships excursions, these folks don't need to wait in line for a ticket, it's included with their excursion. Then you can get tender tickets if you have a private excursion (show your receipt) and then they start with numbered tickets for anyone who wants to go ashore. All of this begins with waiting in line to get the tender tickets starting at 8:30 AM, and then waiting in a public area for the announcement of your number. They didn't have"open" non ticket tendering until after 1 PM and we were scheduled to be all aboard by 5:30 PM. This made for a very short day in Grand Cayman. The process is very well organized, and passengers were for the most part compliant, but clearly it's quite lengthy, and then there will obviously be some waiting in lines to return.

My recommendation is don't take a ship this big to Grand Cayman or any tender port unless you have 10 or more hours in port. Or take a ships excursion to get the priority tender tickets. If it's worth it to you, you can take the cheapest early excursion available to get on the tender, then be sure to tell the guide at the pier with the clip board you WONT be participating (so they don't wait for you!) and just go off on your own.I know people who have done this on Oasis class in St Thomas to get to St John more quickly than the public ferry. Another option is to do what we did, which was just take a later tender, enjoy the morning on the ship and then wander around town on your own or engage a cab to take you someplace.

We had arranged for a bike rental company to meet and transport us to their shop. We planned to ride around the West Bay area and then return the bikes and return to the ship. The day before our tour I received an email from the shop telling us they did not have the personnel to pick us up and could we take a taxi to their shop where the bikes would be waiting. We emailed back that the ship was later than expected (in my head I figured we would be there at 10:30, and off the ship by 11 ish) and there would not be enough time to rent bikes on the island. By the time we tendered, it was 12:30 PM, add 30 minute cab ride (1PM), 30 minute outfitting/paying for bikes (1:30 PM), 30 minute cab ride back 2PM), 30 minute wait in tender line (2:30 PM), 15 minute tender ride, 2:45 PM) and you can see we really only had about 2 hours to ride, which hardly seemed worth effort.

We went to the fitness center to work out and had breakfast in the Windjammer. After breakfast we waited till we heard the tender ticket numbers getting close to ours and then left to wait in the lounge near the tender exit on deck 4 around noon. We were on the pier in Grand Cayman at about 12:45 PM.

One of the fun things (unless you are mobility impaired in which case this whole process is fraught with peril) about taking the tender from deck 1, was getting to walk down the "so called" I 95 (named after the main highway in Miami where RCL is headquartered) This long busy corridor is the main artery of the working part of the ship; where the crew transport all the goods and food for the guest areas and how the crew gains access to their areas and cabins! It's an"insiders" look not everyone gets on most ships! We took advantage to take this fun time lapse video of the I 95 on Liberty!

(click the link to see the video, if they don't work this is a CC problem, cut and paste the link in your browser)

Day 4 Grand Cayman

So our bike ride in West bay turned into the " Grand Cayman Harbor cruise (on the tender), walk around town and Haagen Daz snack tour" on our own. If you are in need of trinkets, or rum cakes, this is the place! There are actually some really wonderful excursions in this port we have done in the past. Here are some ideas:

-Go to the beach (there are several and they are all beautiful)

-Go to Hell (there is just one little village named for it's volcanic rock, and not particularly exciting, except for being able to say you went to hell, or got a tee shirt from hell or send a post card from hell, etc)

-Go to stingray bay and see the stingrays with everyone else. (All of the boat tours make a stop here, in the shallows where you can see, pet and feed the stingrays)

-Go diving or snorkeling (which usually includes a stop at the stingrays)

-Go play with the dolphins (there are many dolphin encounters ranging from "oh, hey there" to "I think I need a cigarette")

-Go to the sea turtle farm (see them at all stages of "farming" from baby to big ones, and even have a taste, if you are so inclined)

-Go on a cultural tour (usually by bus or mini van and includes a peak at the White House mansion)

-Go underwater with a glass submarine, helmet dive or glass bottom boat

The ships shore excursions brochure offers mixes and matches of these options in an infinite number of combinations so you can swim with turtles and then go to Hell, or encounter a dolphin and then swim with stingrays, or get a rum cake and then go to Hell, really the choices are endless! (see how fun that is?! Is it any wonder it turned a small lava field into a major tourist attraction!)

"you look like you've been to hell and back, welcome back aboard!"

Day 4 Grand Cayman

One of the fun things about tendering, is the photo ops...so long as you stay seated!

The cantilevered hot tub

"if it moves salute it, if not paint it"

Anyone ever had the last cabins in the row of balcony cabins? Can you get to that part of the "extra deck"? It looks like you'd have to duck under a hand rail!

Day 4 Grand Cayman

We returned early, before 2 PM, and there were no lines and a tender waiting at the dock for us. We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the options in the Cruise Compass and rejecting them all with a hearty "I don't wanna!"

I'd love to have something exciting to report, but nope, we just sat on the balcony and watched the ship sail away from Grand Cayman, the sun set, and then went to dinner at the Windjammer again when it got dark.

After dark we went to see the Liberty of the Seas band and Royal Caribbean Singers Jazz Cabaret in Star Lounge...our first visit there because that was the home of the country western band. I'll let you in on a little secret, my biggest worry about this cruise was whether I could survive the country and western music. I'm not a fan, not criticizing, just not my thing...but really, we rarely heard country music unless you wanted to go dancing in the star lounge. Since we danced with the kids in the Olive and Twist or families at Boleros, I rarely heard country music and it would not prevent me from taking another Texas based cruise!

After the Cabaret, we went to see the Love and Marriage show in the theater. This is always entertaining, but one couple married 70 years (so that makes you, what? 88 or 90, at least??) totally stole the show. Sharp as tack, the husband, Roy, became a cult hero with the audience yelling "Roy, Roy, Roy!" Which he heard wherever he went the rest of the cruise. But his burn of CD John Blair was comedy gold...

CD: What was you first date?

Roy: A sock hop

CD: So you were hopping socks?

Roy: Don't be an idiot!

CD: My wife tells me that all the time...

Roy: Well, she's right then isn't she?

OHHHH, scorched!!

Late Night comedian, Mark Cordes followed in the theater, and we capped off the night with a little more dancing with the kids from Michigan and Baylor at Olive and Twist. This time we made it till 12:30 AM before we ceded the dance floor to the youngsters!

Until tomorrow Liberty Lovers...An exciting excursion to Blue Hole and Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica... Ya Mon!

What?! I spent all day ...there’s new stuff up there people! :') What, is it like you have other stuff to do?!? :'):')

What?! I spent all day ...there’s new stuff up there people! :') What, is it like you have other stuff to do?!? :'):')

I’m glad to hear I can avoid country music. I was concerned about that, since I am fairly opinionated on music.

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I read it as soon as you posted it! Just waiting for more

We have one of the interior/balcony connecting combos for our trip in June, but I'm seriously coveting your do nothing balcony!

I’m glad to hear I can avoid country music. I was concerned about that, since I am fairly opinionated on music.

 

 

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Hubby has several of your mix cds in his car and I know none of it is country!

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I read it as soon as you posted it! Just waiting for more

 

We have one of the interior/balcony connecting combos for our trip in June, but I'm seriously coveting your do nothing balcony!

Aww, I was just kidding everyone, really I just wondered if I had messed up my posting!

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I'm wondering if you have a picture of the ladders on those fun little speedboats in Cozumel. I've considered doing that excursion, or a similar one in a different port a few times now, but wondered how I would do getting back aboard the speedboat with my replacement knees and hips. I do fine with ladders on dive boats and in pools, but I can't picture in my mind what kind of ladder they use on those speedboats. I even thought there might not actually be a ladder, that one might have to scramble back on board somehow.

I'm enjoying your review, wishing Liberty would move to a Florida port so we could sail her without having to fly. I'd gladly trade one of our Florida based ships to get her here!

Thank you for an excellent review of the Liberty. We spent 5 weeks on her this winter and will return for 6 more in the fall.

You mentioned the limited hours of Sorrento's. That is correct. When the Liberty is in port the only option for lunch is the Windjammer. (or room service with a fee)

Also, I believe the photo you labeled John Blair (CD) is really

Thank you for an excellent review of the Liberty. We spent 5 weeks on her this winter and will return for 6 more in the fall.

 

You mentioned the limited hours of Sorrento's. That is correct. When the Liberty is in port the only option for lunch is the Windjammer. (or room service with a fee)

 

Also, I believe the photo you labeled John Blair (CD) is really

Mark Cordes (comedian) It definitely is not John.

Oops, you are right! I sit in the balcony, it's always tough to see up close...here is John!

I'm wondering if you have a picture of the ladders on those fun little speedboats in Cozumel. I've considered doing that excursion, or a similar one in a different port a few times now, but wondered how I would do getting back aboard the speedboat with my replacement knees and hips. I do fine with ladders on dive boats and in pools, but I can't picture in my mind what kind of ladder they use on those speedboats. I even thought there might not actually be a ladder, that one might have to scramble back on board somehow.

 

I'm enjoying your review, wishing Liberty would move to a Florida port so we could sail her without having to fly. I'd gladly trade one of our Florida based ships to get her here!

I don't have a photo of it...but it was about the size of the ladder they use to get up to the pullman beds. It hooks over the side of the boat and the guide holds it in place. I would say you have to be pretty mobile and fit to hoist yourself up into the boat, even with the ladder.

Day 5 Falmouth, Jamaica

We have a fun term we use when we end up in a place that isn't very near other places, or places where you want to go...we call it "centrally isolated" Its the perfect term for the cruise port in Falmouth, Jamiaca. It's not near all the popular activities in Ocho Rios (about one hour), and it's not near the beach resorts of Montego Bay (about 1 hour) or Negril (over 2 hours). It's centrally isolated!

It occurs to me that people don't sail LOS for the ports, and again, we found the ship was too large to go into a port where it would be more convenient to explore Jamaica. Fortunately, this was a longer time in port, from 8 AM -5 PM and Liberty was docked, so traveling an hour each way still leaves plenty of time for full day excursion. (note: that the ship keeps its OWN Texas time even when in port, with a different time zone- so if you get mixed up, the worst that can happen is you might come back earlier than you need to)

We had planned a private group excursion with Courtney Taylor Tours another couple we connected with on our roll call. We had always wanted to try Blue Hole, but its over an hour away from Falmouth, near Ocho Rios, and was too expensive to book privately for just the two of us. Luckily, J & J had booked the trip for their family of 4 and invited people from our roll call. We ended up with eight, including a young couple from Nebraska, which was the perfect number of people!

We had a lively, young guide, Kim and driver Joseph taking good care of us for the day!

During our long drive to Blue Hole, Kim, regaled us with tales of life on the island, and got us speaking the "language" of Jamaica, a patois of English, Spanish, and African languages. I'll post the list of words, so you can bone up before you go!

As we made our way to the Blue Hole near Ochos Rios, there were a number of, umm, shopping opportunities. We took a hard pass, (as you can see in the photo, we didn't even slow the van!) We clearly saw a sign on the ship that said : NO FOOD OR DRINK is allowed back on board. However, it is also quite clear to me that after many cruises, that I've never seen anyone have to pass a sobriety test to get back on board:')

I'm not here to Carnival bash, but literally every person we met off the Carnival Breeze in Galveston panned it, before I even asked! They said food was meh, not much in the buffet except burgers and pizza, and entertainment was not interesting.

 

On your Royal cruise, you have lots of "free" options. The Main Dining room, either pick a "seating" with a set time (early or late) or My Time Dining and go when you like or make a reservation for a time before you sail. Windjammer Cafe, which I described under dining and offered lots of options every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jade is a section of the WJ cafe, also free. Sorrentos, which is pizza and some salads, Promenade Cafe which is sandwiches and pastry. The specialty restaurants for extra fee are Chops (steak) Giovanni's (Italian) and Sabor (Mexican) Johnny Rockets (burgers and soda fountain) and cupcake cupboard (cupcakes)

 

I mentioned shows in the earlier section, all are included in your fare, and I think are well worth seeing! No reservations needed! Turn up 10-15 minutes prior to get 2 seats together in a good area, 15-20 minutes prior to get a big group of seats in a good area. If you aren't fussy where you sit, show up ten minutes in advance and you'll find a seat somewhere!

Enjoy your cruise!!

 

 

Not a whole lot that I noticed, it was all out on a buffet in the JADE section, no one was actively rolling sushi, but there were a few trays every day. One night they have a raw bar in the WJ, that was very popular! Crab legs, shrimp cocktails, clams and oysters etc!

Thank you for the info....I appreciate it!

Keep it coming! :) The Blair's were the CD team on our fall cruise and we found him to be pretty invisible. No complaints - the activity team was a real blast.

I don't have a photo of it...but it was about the size of the ladder they use to get up to the pullman beds. It hooks over the side of the boat and the guide holds it in place. I would say you have to be pretty mobile and fit to hoist yourself up into the boat, even with the ladder.

Thanks for the info. I could probably make it work since I wouldn't have dive gear, weights, etc. on. Dh doesn't dive, and doesn't go with me when I do, so we might try it in a port where I'm not planning on diving one of these days. I do like to plan on doing some of our ports together, but it can be a challenge sometimes finding things he wants to do. I think he would prefer the speedboats to jet skis, and the ladders used are probably similar everywhere. I also think that the speedboats with a ladder would be easier for me to get back aboard than a jet ski/

Keep it coming! :) The Blair's were the CD team on our fall cruise and we found him to be pretty invisible. No complaints - the activity team was a real blast.

Thanks for the info. I could probably make it work since I wouldn't have dive gear, weights, etc. on. Dh doesn't dive, and doesn't go with me when I do, so we might try it in a port where I'm not planning on diving one of these days. I do like to plan on doing some of our ports together, but it can be a challenge sometimes finding things he wants to do. I think he would prefer the speedboats to jet skis, and the ladders used are probably similar everywhere. I also think that the speedboats with a ladder would be easier for me to get back aboard than a jet ski/

I do think the little boats are easier than Jetskis, which are kind of high and humpy in the middle, I think you could do it as long as you have the upper body strength to compensate for the knee strength. Plus is you dive, you already know the body mechanics of getting in and out of the boat, which is really the biggest thing for for folks who have trouble with it.

Monday was a busy day...had some actual work to do, Ha ha! But today, I'm hoping to get the rest of Jamaica up! Ya' Mon!

Day 5 Jamaica Blue Hole ( Island Gully Falls)

Our first stop with Courtney Taylor was Blue Hole...J and J who planned our excursion got to pick what they wanted to include on the itinerary, which is great, because they had been before and knew what was worth seeing and doing! Everyone was charged a transportation price for the van, driver and guide. This was not expensive per person, given the distance. Then we each paid for our entrances to Blue Hole and Dunn's River Falls, and we paid for our own lunch at Scotches. we were very happy with our tour and left a good tip for the guide and driver.

We left everything safely in the van, except for our water camera and we paid our admission and were met by an Island Gully Falls (Blue Hole) guide. The first thing we saw were the guides leaping off seemingly impossible cliffs...and my first thought was "No way I am doing that!" Luckily, it's a show, the guides do it, but it's not the spot where guests are allowed to leap!

(video of guide leaping here)

The guides take you through each area, holding your hand up the falls if you need assistance and they will take photos and video of you as you jump, so you end up with an excellent collection of photos and videos of your experience that you don't have to pay extra for!

The guides get you posing...

...then they get you wet!