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


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We had Voom, I coulda done it live, but this cruise was all about "we don't wanna"

"Should we eat in the dining room?" "we don't wanna"

"Should we do an excursion in Grand Cayman?" "we don't wanna"

"Should we jump off the highest cliff at Blue Hole in Jamaica?" "we don't wanna"

"Should we take lots of ships photos?" "we don't wanna!"

and we spent most of our days right here:

 

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Now that I'm home and should be doing ACTUAL work, I wanna relive our cruise and share all the details with those of you sailing Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston in the future! So despite the fact we spent most of our cruise napping on loungers on our aft balcony, I am happy to share a review that may take a few days to post!

Follow along, or skip ahead...I posted photos and video of aft balcony cabin 7408 on CC here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1243860&page=25

 

And a ships tour with the photos we felt like taking here on our blog: http://www.goseeittravel.com/travel-blog/2018/3/13/a-different-look-at-liberty-of-the-seas-ship-tour

 

For the rest of you...It's all of the fun of cruising without the muster drill! Subscribe to this thread and let's set sail together! Unless you don't wanna!:'):')

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My thoughts on Port of Galveston, Liberty and sailing from Texas as a non Texan

 

Weather or not: We were not delayed by fog, which according to reports can delay the ship in either direction, especially in the winter.Galveston is further north than the Florida or San Juan ports where we typically sail. I was chilly on the first day in Galveston, and it poured rain on our return. We wouldn’t use precious vacation time again when we are trying to escape our wintry New England weather (yup mid march and we are being pounded by Northeaster dumping 10 inches right now!) to sail from a port where the good weather is less certain in winter. Texas folks used to milder weather year round (lucky devils!) probably won’t care, but if you are leaving Fargo,ND in March, seems like you may as well enjoy your pre cruise weather too!

 

Demographics: ya’ll sure do have big families is Texas! We were delighted by the large family groups ( I adored seeing "little bow girl" with her family everywhere, each day the tot had a different colored giant bow in her hair and she was just the cutest thing!) We met many delightful and friendly people but it felt like 80 % of them were from Texas, and we sometimes felt like we had crashed the family reunion, and if you like to bring your clubbing clothes on board, sometimes it can feel like you’ve crashed the church picnic. In addition to a smattering of plains states folks escaping the snow, there were also the first wave of college spring breakers from University of Michigan and Baylor.(I’m told 2nd week of March is the big spring break week and the crew was expecting capacity crowds in the cabins and at the buffet line)

 

Culture and Politeness: If you are one of those folks who feel that the fall of civilization is imminent and the evidence is visible on cruise ships, you will love cruising out of Galveston. Southern manners are on display here...doors are held, lines and rules are respected, diners look elegant, yes Ma’am’s and no Sirs...this is the politest cruise we’ve been on! Even the Baylor frat boys were well behaved and polite, a little rowdy at the pools, but otherwise, all the young people were polite, fun and energetic. Everyone we met was friendly and welcoming!

 

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Itinerary: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth Jamaica

 

We enjoyed themultiple sea days it takes to get to and from Galveston, which made the cruisevery relaxing, because ya know, we didn't wanna do anything!

 

 

Cozumel is perfect to absorb a big ship (or 4! In our case, Liberty, Empress, and Brilliance were all in port along with one Carnival ship)

 

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Liberty docked in Cozumel

 

 

Liberty feels a touch too big to be going to tender ports like Grand Cayman.The time in port was too short for the amount of time you spend transferring. Stand in line to get tender tickets, wait in a public area to be called, wait to load the tender, tender, wait to unload the tender, then reverse the process, with what I imagine are some pretty long lines 90 minutes before all aboard! While they are very organized with tender tickets, it took 2 full hours to unload the ship from when they started. If you want to get off early, get a ship’s excursion, which gives you an automatic priority ticket based on your excursion time. To be next in line, have your receipt for your private excursion to show for an earlier departure. After those tickets are given out, times for others are assigned. We arrived in Grand Cayman at 10, cleared at 10:30 and we were in Georgetown after 12 noon. Our understanding is that all numbered tickets were transported by 1pm and after that time, no tickets were needed. Essentially, that means it took from 10:30- 1 Pm before everyone who wants or needs a guaranteed time slot is accommodated.

 

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A tender waits for loading in Grand Cayman

 

 

There is a newish terminal in Falmouth, Jamaica. It’s pretty and clean and centrally isolated. Everything seems to be an hour away. A ship’s tour here or a private tour would probably be the way to go. I can’t envision a way you could tour independently here. There’s no infrastructure for public transit, no “city” to explore nearby, no cars for rent. You could enlist a taxi driver for the day,or hire one to take you to a resort, but none of them are very close by. Dunn’s River Falls and Ocho Rios, with all its attractions, is a good hour away.

 

Liberty also does itineraries with Roatan and Belize, Costa Maya, Labadee from Galveston...I can see why those cruises are more popular and expensive than this itinerary.

 

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Falmouth Jamaica Pier

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More thoughts on Port of Galveston, Liberty and sailing from Texas

Boozing

Now, I’m not a big enough drinker to make it through half the drinks they pre load on my sea pass as part of my Diamond crown and Anchor benefits before I pass out dead asleep, so I may not be the best person to report on this, but here is my understanding of the booze situation as it differs from other home ports.

 

 

1- Some Texas rule makes it so that there are only certain kinds of alcohol you can order until the ship sails out to sea. This means offerings are limited when you board, even if you have the unlimited package. It appeared we were being offered beers and possibly wine. If that matters to you, check it out first before choosing this port of departure!

 

 

2- If you buy booze on board or in port to bring home, you are now subject to Texas taxes when you return. Again, I don’t know the specifics, but my cabin neighbors were packing multiple bottle of Ciroc on their way home, thinking they were half price. I’m afraid some recent regulations are going to catch them by surprise when they reach customs. If you are a person who buys booze or cigarettes on board, be sure to research this before choosing this port of departure.

 

 

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Freedom class ship

This was our first time on a Freedom class ship. Over the years here on CC, I’ve read where people comment that Freedom class is their favorite class! We’ve always enjoyed Oasis class and Mariner Class, with the Royal Promenades because there is always something happening somewhere.

We have enjoyed smaller ships for their port intensive itineraries, but found ourselves often at loose ends at night with only a couple of venues to choose from. We’ve sailed on every other class in the fleet, (except Quantum class) and had wonderful cruises, but those ships without the RP, ice rinks and water features, like flow riders and water slides, we often found ourselves with not quite enough to do. Those ships without a RP tend to get too congested in the centrum, something that rarely happens in the bigger ships with the RP, unless a party or sale breaks out.

We love Oasis class, but it’s like visiting Disney world, it requires a fair bit of advance planning, and after a week you’ll still leave feeling like you missed a bunch of spots.

I can see clearly why people love Freedom class now...it’s in that sweet spot between so much to do that you need a vacation after your vacation, and so little to do that you find yourself without something new to try on the last sea day. Liberty hit on all counts, always something fun to try out, and even enough to reject a few as not your cup of tea. But not so much advance planning or so many venues that you leave feeling like you missed half the ship. And if you "don't wanna" there is a giant deck and always plenty of loungers, even on a sea day!

The CD, John Blair, emphasized people connecting at the beginning of the cruise, and Liberty is “small” enough to do that...bump into the same people once or twice. It’s a smaller town, than say Oasis or Quantum Class [which I can’t fairly compare, since I haven’t been on Quantum Class) Even on the mot crowded days, you could find a seat in the enormous windjammer, and the only real lines we encountered were the unnecessary line ups before the shows (10 minutes after the doors open, there are always decent seats still available for groups of 2 or 4, larger groups may want to wait a bit ahead.) No saving seats though, we saw staff removing articles left to “save seats” without a person attending them. Larger groups should give themselves 20-30 minutes to secure a bunch of good seats in a good section.

We loved this ship and and the cabin so much, we've booked the same cabin on Freedom of the Seas from Puerto Rico to the ABC Dutch Antilles in 2020!

 

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Even More Thoughts on Liberty of the Seas

 

Dining

 

 

 

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Main Dining Room -I have to report that the dining room has lost is MOJO (lol, just the Mojo menu, that is)! We checked the menus daily and saw some old favorites, but gone are the complicated spice descriptions that used to define the menus (mojo, saffron, pimento etc) and that don’t seem to match the actual meals. I can't really report on the quality, service or environment, because we only ate here one night, on My Time Dining, to enjoy lobster tails! As our entrees arrived hot and ready to eat, so did the entire dining staff parading into formation on the stairs, literally behind our table, making it awkward to eat while our food was hot and forcing us to clap and wave to be polite. Missing this kind of hoopla and the lengthy dining times is why we took most of meals in the...

 

 

 

WINDJAMMER- The buffet on Liberty is large and varied. In addition to Jade with daily Asian specialties (even at breakfast) there was always an extensive salad bar, a carvery, sides of every kind, and a cooking station offering freshly prepared pasta sauce, or meat and vegetable stir fry every night. Breakfast and lunch was crowded, but not unbearable, we almost always found a table and lines were never more than 4-6 people ahead of you, and because as previously mentioned, crowds were very polite! With so many foods available, I enjoyed “customizing” my own meals, like making fish tacos with taco shells from the taco bar and delicious Jamaican fish from the buffet!

We enjoyed the quiet of the WJ at night for dinner, with its inky black windows and plenty of space to spread out. Freshly prepared stir fry’s are how we prefer to eat over meat and potatoes most nights anyway.

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JOHNNY ROCKETS- We were on a first name basis with folks here, because most days we arrived to buy a malted shake! Hubby had a hamburger one day, and I tried the chicken salad, which was just awful, chopped fried chicken on iceberg lettuce, with a few tomatoes and cucumbers and a very weak ranch dressing. I would have done better making up my own salad at the WJ.

SORRENTOS- Never seemed to be open when we needed it; on embarkation day,it was advertised as open at 11, but was not open at 11:30. On a port day we returned at noon, hoping for a quick pizza fix, but no pizza.

We didn’t eat at the specialty restaurants, so we can’t review those. Chefs Table was fully booked for our cruise, with just two last minute spots on Sat before departure and the Mystery Theater Dinner looked popular with 3 groups of theater dinner goers traipsing through the promenade from Vintages to Chefs Table dining room for the continuation of the performance. We heard from fellow passengers that it’s excellent and entertaining!

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Can You Stand Even More Thoughts on Liberty?

 

Shows and Entertainment

Some of the best shows we’ve seen in Royal Caribbean ships were on Liberty of the Seas this week. John Blair was CD and he was assisted by his wife, the activities manager.

The week started and ended with a single Welcome Aboard and two Farewell Variety shows which are a tradition at Royal! Regularly scheduled shows were offered twice a night, usually in the 630-645 range and the 845- 9 range depending on when all aboard was scheduled for the port.

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CD John Blair

Up in the Air- my favorite show on board any ship in the fleet. Just wow! My favorite part was “underwater”, but you have to see it to understand it. Aerialists, pirates, mermen, acrobats, this is not only high energy fun, it’s visually gorgeous! (no photos allowed for the safety of the aerialists)

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Encore skaters

 

Encore- this ice show had one of the largest casts I can recall, and features all the magical, colorful costume changes Royal is famous for. It’s a historical journey through your favorite music and International stages with jumps and spins. I’d read people saying it’s their favorite ice show on the fleet, and I’d agree, it’s my favorite so far! The show is popular, but with 4 showings, no need to get frantic waiting for a seat...unless you have a huge group, 15- 20 minutes is plenty to get a few seats together in a good spot.

 

Saturday Night Fever- high energy, an incredible set and a huge, excellent cast, plus (and I love this) the live band make these shows fun, but compressing them into 90 minutes makes them too long for all those folks I saw napping in their seats and too frenetic and rushed for those of us who love Broadway, or touring Broadway shows. Too many story lines, coming at you too fast. But the overall impression was excellent music, with the usual well trained and talented Royal Singers and Dancers making a spectacular presentation! 15-20

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Alfred and Seymour

Of course, there were also two “headliner acts” Alfred and Seymour, Nickelodeon vaudeville act and Britain’s Finest, a Beatles tribute band, performing while we were on board, both up to the usual high Royal quality and offering something for everyone! Late nights they offered comedy and the night they re ran the Encore ice show, they offered a Jazz Cabaret with the live band and singers in the lounge for those who already enjoyed the show.

Royal excels with live music all over the ship, on Liberty the live band accompanies and sometimes is the highlight of the productions shows.

 

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The Liberty of the Seas band

 

Schooner bar hosts a piano man, in the case, Phil Anderson. But we found its location right outside the smokey casino too uncomfortable to enjoy.

Boleros hosted Azucar, for Latin Dance music, a lot of it Mexican folk music.

The Star Lounge featured the Wendy Thornton band primarily country music and dancing.

Hoof and Claw pub hosts either a classical guitarist, Voytek or general sing along type entertainment with Charlie Jourdan

Pool Side was Carribean music with Carribean Explosion or DJ

Olive and Twist was late night dancing with DJ Bosko

Of course the names will change with different cruises. but the music won’t!

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Off to a good start :)

 

The ship can only sell alcohol (beer, wine or liquor) purchased in Texas while in Texas waters, so Royal tries to keep that to a minimum as I bet they pay less elsewhere.

 

Texas import duty for booze is minimal, not so for cigarettes.

https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/poe/tax_rates.asp

 

Quantities: https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/poe/how_much_can_i_bring_back.asp

Edited by pspercy
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Why is it "Fake News"????:confused::confused:

 

I love reading your reviews! This one has come after a while!

 

My guess is because he put "Live" and it's not.

 

I can't wait, we have 96 days until our Liberty sailing :)

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Off to a good start :)

 

The ship can only sell alcohol (beer, wine or liquor) purchased in Texas while in Texas waters, so Royal tries to keep that to a minimum as I bet they pay less elsewhere.

 

Texas import duty for booze is minimal, not so for cigarettes.

https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/poe/tax_rates.asp

 

Quantities: https://www.tabc.state.tx.us/poe/how_much_can_i_bring_back.asp

Thanks PSPercy, super helpful Info! As I mentioned wasn’t sure what the scoop was, but glad you explained it to us!

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Why is it "Fake News"????:confused::confused:

 

I love reading your reviews! This one has come after a while!

Lol, just because I’ve not only left the ship already (this not actually live) I’ve just come in from whacking 10 inches of snow off my shrubs,so they don’t bend and break! Id love to be back on liberty! :(

And thank you for the compliment! I’ll have a little more each day! I’ve had a tech glitch (as always;p!) and some of my pics didn’t upload to the host. Need to get those sorted so I have pics to post with the day to day travelogue!

 

This one took a while because I haven’t been on a royal ship in a while. Had 2 Azamara cruises s d some land trips! We did Rhapsody last March but I didn’t have much luck getting a review posted. This year things are going smoother.

I have a couple of exciting ones coming up tho!

 

FIRST- I’m doing a full boat charter Zumba Cruise with 6 girl friends. I’m excited to actually post live from that one, just bought my Voom, so stay tuned, early April!!

 

SECOND - For those who know and love Rsharp87 reviews, like we do, we are sailing Harmony with them again!! I befriended the RSharp family in 2013 when we sailed Allure with them and we’ve been friends since! But we’ve not been able to line up our cruises. It’s a long way off, over a year, but that review, which we will likely share about his group of more than 40 friends and family, plus Our big IRL reunion will be EPIC!

Edited by Familygoboston
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I'm absolutely loving this thread!

It will be sad to see it end!

 

No, it’s not over!! Not by a mile! It’s goung to be BIG, like Texas! I have more pics, and will do a day by day travelogue! Stick with us, we’ve got more to share! :cool:

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Thanks for the review. You have convinced me to book a cruise on Liberty (I was leaning this way but had reservations) .

 

Checking out 2020 sailings right now. Will skip the Grand Cayman / Falmouth itineraries. Looking forward to experiencing the politeness you talked about. And the shows.

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I had to smile at your "I don't wannas" because when I last had "your" balcony on the Indy I didn't wanna leave it and its gorgeous view of the coast near Labadee and trek over to the beach. I couldn't imagine a better place to be. I still have a picture of the sunset that day as my screen saver.

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From a fellow Boston family, just curious why you went to Galveston. Was the itinerary and price better than the FL options at the same time or was it the best place to try a Freedom class at this time of year? I've been curious about that departure port from reading past reviews but wasn't sure about the time getting there.

 

Thanks!

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Thanks for the review. You have convinced me to book a cruise on Liberty (I was leaning this way but had reservations) .

 

Checking out 2020 sailings right now. Will skip the Grand Cayman / Falmouth itineraries. Looking forward to experiencing the politeness you talked about. And the shows.

Yeah, another cruise! I love GC, but just not enough time to truly enjoy the island. I’ll be back next month with my GFs for the Zumba cruise and we will have a smaller ship and priority tickets since we are doing a ship’s excursion. We had a blast on a private tour in Jamaica, can’t wait to share those pics and the tour guide!

 

I had to smile at your "I don't wannas" because when I last had "your" balcony on the Indy I didn't wanna leave it and its gorgeous view of the coast near Labadee and trek over to the beach. I couldn't imagine a better place to be. I still have a picture of the sunset that day as my screen saver.

Lol, oh so true, it’s simply a beautiful balcony! And we really didn’t want to go anywhere else 😂

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OP - Were you able to book this cabin for two people? We used to be able to do that, but lately have found you must have 3 to book it. Curious what your experience has been.

 

Ruth

So Ruth, we had it booked with our young adult daughter as a third person, she couldn’t go because of a new job (she’s a recent grad, plus wanted to use her vacation time to see her BF) I called about dropping her, but they would not credit her fare unless we moved out of the cabin.

Without these cabins, I’d just as soon cancel the whole cruise and cruise on a smaller ship which would cost much more than Liberty. She wasn’t able to come, and we weren’t able to get a refund for her cruise fare, but it was still cheaper than booking Azamara, Windstar or PG, which is what we do when we can’t get an aft balcony on Royal (Actually weve even booked aft balcony on Azamara!)

 

From a fellow Boston family, just curious why you went to Galveston. Was the itinerary and price better than the FL options at the same time or was it the best place to try a Freedom class at this time of year? I've been curious about that departure port from reading past reviews but wasn't sure about the time getting there.

 

Thanks!

Yes, we felt this itinerary, just ahead of the traditional Texas break week, was a tad cheaper than FL departures on the large ships. We can fly JB more cheaply to Hobby in Feb or March than to southern FL, so that was another thing. The other was we really wanted to try the Freedom Class and when we booked last year, there weren’t many options from FL. We’d also liked the 3 sea days.

After my Zumba cruise, that will be 3 western itineraries for me and we will be ready for Eastern itinerary on Harmony from Port Canaveral in 2019 and the Southern ABC islands on Freedom from San Juan in 2020.

 

I think it was 4 hours to Galveston and 3.5 hours back from Boston. Miami is about 3.5, so it’s close. Orlando is shorter, but you have the same hour long transfer to the port city as Houston to Galveston. MIA and FLL are great ports, you can be at port from the airport in 10 minutes (under good conditions) but the Feb and March prices for flights are high, as is demand for the cabins. We’ve cruises out of Tampa many times, but the ship sizes are limited by the bridge there, so sometimes, there’s not a ship we like or the cruise is only 5 days. It’s worth taking a look at Galveston if it works for your dates!

 

I’ll have more on the port and tips for going tomorrow!

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SECOND - For those who know and love Rsharp87 reviews, like we do, we are sailing Harmony with them again!! I befriended the RSharp family in 2013 when we sailed Allure with them and we’ve been friends since! But we’ve not been able to line up our cruises. It’s a long way off, over a year, but that review, which we will likely share about his group of more than 40 friends and family, plus Our big IRL reunion will be EPIC!

When are you on Harmony. We just booked it for March 10 2019

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