Everything You Could Want From Liberty - Eastern

[bionicman97]

In the next few posts, I will attach the Why Not Today (Cruise Compass) and Other Docs I got from the Liberty, along with my review. It may take several post, as I am working to get the file size down.

[bionicman97]

Attached should be the flyers we received the first day along with other useful information.

Other Info.pdf

As You Arrive & Highlights.pdf

[bionicman97]

Here are Days 1-4. Sorry about the quality, it was hard to get them small enough to post.

Day 1.pdf

Day 2.pdf

Day 3.pdf

Day 4.pdf

[bionicman97]

Here are Days 5-7

Day 5.pdf

Day 6.pdf

Day 7.pdf

[bionicman97]

Flyers for San Juan and St Martin

San Juan Flyer.pdf

St Martin Flyer.pdf

[bionicman97]

Coupons for Platinum:

 

*15% off any one spa or salon service

 

 

*Purchase any bingo package and receive one free strip of Three Jackpot Bingo Cards.

 

 

*Buy any wine by the glass and get a second one free.

 

 

*Purchase any bottle of wine and receive a 15% discount on any second bottle of wine over $50.

 

 

*15% off the purchase of any 8 x 109 White Lifestyle Portrait Photographs

 

 

*Free $3 handle pull on one of our dedicated slot machines.

 

 

*Another Free $3 handle pull on one of our dedicated slot machines

 

 

*$5 match play casino certificate (Balckjack or roulette table only). If you win, you will get an extra $5.

 

 

*Another $5 match play casino certificate (same rules).

 

 

*$7.50 Internet Credit.

 

 

*10% off any Royal Caribbean International logo merchandise purchase.

 

 

*$75 bidding credit to be used toward the purchase of any work greater than $1000 / $50 if value is $500-999/$25 if value from $250-499

 

 

*50% discount on any coffee beverage.

 

 

*Johnny Rockets 2 for 1 Milkshakes.

 

 

*Purchase any size temporary airbrushed tattoo and receive a free sparkling glitter upgrade, a $3.00 savings!

 

 

*Purchase any wine flight and receive a 15% discount on a second wine flight of equal or lesser value.

 

 

*$100 off any crown of light diamond jewelry collection purchase (minimum carat weight of 1 carat).

 

 

*$5 off any laundry charge of $25 or more.

 

 

*Purchase a specialty drink from the bar and receive a free commemorative wilderness express glass.

[bionicman97]

This was my eighth cruise, all with Royal Caribbean, so my review/opinions will basically consist of comparing this to previous cruises with Royal Caribbean. I wrote this each day, so some of it may be repetitive (sorry about that).

 

Saturday, Day 1 Miami

 

We live in Central Florida, so we decided to drive down the day before the cruise and stay in a hotel. We stayed in the Courtyard by Marriott at the Dolphin Mall. This hotel was very nice and shares a parking lot with the Dolphin Mall, so that gave us something to do the night before. It was also less than $100/night. On Saturday morning, we left the hotel about 10:45 am. The route from the hotel to the port was fairly easy and we had no problems on the way to the port. When we crossed over the bridge onto the Port Island, the digital sign for Royal Caribbean was not working, so we basically had to guess on where to turn (You can see the ship, but you have to go down past it and come back). We arrived at port at approximately 11:15.

 

This was our second cruise out of Miami, and the first time was a breeze. As we pulled up to the unloading area, it seemed to be a little chaotic. We were given little direction and finally found a place to get our luggage off and go to the garage across the street. We had no problem getting through x-ray and there was no wait to check in. Once we checked in, we got in about a 20-minute line to have our picture taken for our seapass card. Once we went through that, we were given a card with a number on it. They said they were letting us go on in groups, because a seapass machine was broken. We waited about 20 more minutes and we were let onboard.

We got on the ship about 12:40.

 

We went to the windjammer and it took us less than 5 minutes to find a table. Our party had a variety of foods, and we all felt that it was of the same quality of the previous cruises. We went to our cabins at 1:15 pm. We were on an inside cabin. It seemed to be about the same size as the Mariner. It has a flat screen TV, which is nice, but you loose all of the storage space above the TV (as compared to the Mariner). Also, the safe is in the closet, so you loose a little room there. Overall, the room was very nice and in excellent condition. One cabin in our party had no working TV or A/C, and they reported it immediately. It was resolved within a few hours.

 

After this, we visited the gym. This is the nicest gym that we have seen on a cruise ship. All of the cardio equipment has individual TV Monitors, so you can watch what you want (use headphones to listen). They have standard dumbbells, but they also have quite a bit of hammer strength equipment and one plate loading smith machine. The gym was not crowded while we were there.

 

The muster drill was next, and we did not have to bring any life jackets (even though the video in the room shows you carrying your life jacket). It was painless and lasted less than 10 minutes. After this we had the sail away party. After this, we explored the promenade. To me, it appeared to be about the same size as the Mariner’s. I think it may be larger, but it was hard to tell. The biggest difference is that the café is on one end, and the pizza place is on the other. We liked this, because it provided more seating.

 

At 7:45pm, we went to the welcome aboard show. It featured a juggler and a comedian. There were no RCI Singers & Dancers, which we had always seen on past welcome aboard shows. The comedian and the juggler were both very good. The show lasted 45 minutes, and then it was off to dinner.

 

We had the 8:30pm dinner. Our service was excellent. The food was also very good. I would say the quality was just as good as the first RCI Cruise we took in 2006. I also noticed a few dishes that I had not seen on previous cruises. After dinner, we went to the parade. I would say that this was the best parade I have seen on a cruise. It featured RCI singers and the Calypso Band. It lasted about 20 minutes. After this we went to the Catacombs club and danced. It was pretty much like every other RCI club. 1 am and off to bed.

[bionicman97]

Sunday, Day 2 At Sea

 

This was our first at sea day. Did not attend breakfast. Others in our party went to breakfast in the Windjammer and said that the food was warm and the quality was good. They said that it was the typical breakfast food. Went to the gym around 10 am. Was at the gym from 10 to 11:30 and it was not crowded. There was no wait for any of the equipment. A little after 10 in the morning, the Captain came over the PA System and announced that due to a medical emergency, we were turning the ship around. At first, my wife and I thought it was a typical Captain’s joke, but the ship did indeed start turning around! The Captain came back on 15 minutes later and announced that we were headed back so that the US Coast Guard Helicopter could meet us to take someone to Medical Services in Nassau. We went back the direction we had just come for an hour and a half and the Coast Guard Chopper showed up. They lifted family members in the bucket and then lifted the injured/ill person on the stretcher. About 30 minutes later, the ship turned back around and we headed back toward St Martin. The Captain announced that we had plenty of time and that we would arrive on time to St. Martin tomorrow.

 

At noon, we went up to the Windjammer to have lunch. The food was good and warm and we had no problem finding a table for our party (4 and 6 people). After this, we went and saw the Men’s Sexy Leg’s Competition and laid out by the Pool. A couple of observations for the Pool Deck. In the past, we have always had pool towels in the room. Now you must get your pool towel on deck, and they scan your card when you receive and return the towel, so you will definitely be charged if you do not return the towel and get the card scanned. The second thing I noticed is that towards the front of the Pool Deck, where you go to the upper level, they roped off several sections of chairs and reserved them for rooms entitled to concierge service. Overall, the pool deck was busy, but we did not have a hard time finding chairs for two people. While I am not fond of the new towel policy, I think it may make people less inclined to just leave a towel on the chair all day to hold it for them. After this, we went back and watched flowrider for about 30 minutes. We did not ride, but you would only have to wait about five minutes before you could ride.

 

At three thirty, we went up to afternoon tea at the windjammer. This is my favorite meal at the windjammer. I love to make a taco salad and have waffles with strawberries and syrup at the same time. They also had a banana cobbler dish that was excellent. At 4:30pm, we headed to studio B to watch the ice skating show that started at 5pm. They do not give out tickets to the ice skating show on the Liberty, so it is first come first serve and doors open thirty minutes early. I would say as long as you were ten minutes early, you could still find a seat for two people to sit together. This was another area where they have reserved seating for suites that get concierge service. The entire first row on the left side of the room was reserved until five minutes before the show, then they allowed anyone to take a seat in the front. The Ice Show (Encore) was excellent. I would rate it as a can’t miss show (if shows are your thing). The show lasted approximately 50 minutes. After this, we went back to our room to get ready, as this was the first formal night.

 

The Captain’s Welcome aboard started at 7:30pm. He gave the typical information. On our cruise, there were a little over 3,800 passengers. Approximately 1,800 were from the United States. At 8:30, we went to dinner in the Main Dining Room. Again, our service was excellent and the food was very good. After dinner, we went to the production show. The production show was something like “Fairy Tales”. I had read many comments on the shows on the Liberty before we left. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and I can understand why some people who enjoyed what I would term the “traditional” Royal Caribbean production show might not enjoy this show. Having said that, everyone in my party enjoyed the show. The cast was very talented, and I felt that the show had sufficient theme to make sense. It was very colorful and entertaining. To me, it was nice to have a change from the traditional Broadway style show. However, I do enjoy the traditional Broadway shows, and hope they don’t abandon them for this newer style. After dinner, we went back to the dance club. A word about the dance club. We have been sailing with Royal Caribbean for over 3 years, and my wife and I both enjoy dancing. It seems to me that they are playing less and less top 40s/dance mix and more and more of whatever they feel like. This is not in direct relation to the Liberty. We have noticed this on different trips on the Mariner, Voyager and Navigator. (We even heard someone ask the DJ about it on the Mariner, and his reply was that he didn’t want to hear the same songs over and over. I was a little surprised, since I thought the cruise was about the passenger’s enjoyment!) 1 am and we are off to bed.

[bionicman97]

Day 3, Monday At Sea

 

This was our second day at sea. We did not attend breakfast. Some of our party attended breakfast in the dining room and some in the Windjammer. One in our party attended both breakfast settings the same day! He said that the food in the Windjammer was better. We went to the gym from 10 to 11:30am again. It was a little busier than the first day, but we still had no wait to get on the equipment. At noon, we went up for lunch in the Windjammer. We had no problem finding a table for eight people. The food was of the same quality as the first day. They also had a good variety, and some of the food was different than the first day’s lunch. After lunch, we went up to the pool deck, got our towels and spent about 10 minutes finding a chair on the upper deck. We stayed for about an hour, then went over to flow rider. At around 2pm in the afternoon, I would say you would wait approximately 15 minutes to get on flow rider. There was a pretty steady line of about 15 people. After this, we went back to the Windjammer for afternoon tea. Again, the food was very good, and they had some dishes that they did not serve on the first day. After this, my wife and I went to an Adult Wii tournament. It was very exciting. We did the Wii Bowling and Wii Tennis. My wife and I came in second and third. Of course, only three people participated! We won RCI MP3 cases and keychains. A worthy prize for our thirty minutes of hard work. After this, we went back to the room and got ready for the evening.

 

We had second seating dinner on this cruise. We received our invitation to the Welcome Back Reception. Our time was scheduled for 7:30pm, which is the exact same time as our Production Show. We chose to go to the production show. For my family, the two biggest events that we do on the cruise are the Evening Shows and the Main Dining Room. I cannot figure out why they can’t come up with a better time for second dining’s reception. I know they have logistical issues, but it just seems odd to me to skip the Main show to go to a Welcome Reception.

 

At 7:30, we headed for the show. It was definitely more difficult to identify a theme for this show. I think they said it was “Love Through Time”. The different parts of the show did not seem to exactly relate to each other (Are we in a different time or a different place). However, everyone in my party enjoyed the show. The cast did an excellent job and the special effects were nice. (Honestly, how much of a theme is there to a Broadway show like the 80’s show they do on the Mariner, other than the fact that all the songs took place during a 10-year period of time.) After the show, we stopped by the tail end of the Welcome Back Reception. People were dancing and they had some champagne. After this, we went to dinner. The service and food were excellent again.

 

After dinner, we went to Disco in the streets on the Promenade. They had the typical Disco music and the Village people. The best part was when the cruise director, Leigh, came out as Austin Powers. He was hilarious, and he looked and sounded just like him. After this, we went to the dance club and were off to bed around midnight.

[bionicman97]

Day 4, Tuesday St Martin.

 

This was our St. Martin stop. Since our ship was running a little behind schedule due to the currents and the medical emergency, we arrived an hour late to St. Martin. The Captain announced that we would stay for an extra hour to make up for it. At 8:30am, we went to the gym. It was busy, but you could get on any machine with little wait. At 10:15, we went to the Windjammer for breakfast. This was our first time going to breakfast. We had no problem finding two tables to seat 10 of us. The food was good and hot. At 11am, we went into St. Martin. The only other ship at Port was a Disney Ship. We purchased our All Day Water Taxi pass for $6 each, got on the taxi and headed for town. We only had to wait about 5 minutes to get through the line and get on a taxi. It looked like they were running 4 to 6 boats. Once in the city, we wondered through the three main streets and did some shopping.

 

A tip for shopping in town. If you need to find a restroom, there is one at the water taxi drop off, McDonalds (First Street back) and Burger King (Right in middle of town between front and middle street) both had restrooms, as long as you purchase something. A caution about Burger King, though. It was either the most incompetent people working there ever, or they are professionals at ripping people off. I watched them either ring up extra stuff, short change, or give out half orders to all 5 people in front of me. I had no problems at McDonalds.

 

At 3:30pm, we went back to the ship. We went up to the Windjammer for afternoon tea. They did not put out the normal afternoon tea food. It was the same food that they put out for lunch. It was fresh though. After this, we decided to see if there was any room to watch the ice skating show again. It started at 5pm. We went down at 4:50 and it was half full, so we watched it again. I would say there ended up being about 100 empty seats for this show. As soon as the show ended, we headed up to the Theater for a Music Show featuring all of the Musicians on Board the ship. It ran from 7:45pm to 8:30pm. It was an excellent show. Each musician went up one at a time and performed a piece. There were not very many people in attendance. I guess you could consider this the show for the night, because there has no Production or Headliner Show Scheduled.

 

At 8:30, we went to dinner in the Main Dining Room. The food and service were again excellent. When we got out of dinner, we went and changed and headed to the Theater for the Love and Marriage Game Show. They were finishing up a bingo session, and I don’t play bingo, so this may be common now, but almost everyone was using an electronic device to play bingo instead of a paper card, which I had not seen before. At 10:45, the Show started. It was the typical show with the typical questions, but it was funny. After this, we went to the nightclub to dance. It was supposed to be dancing through the decades, but everything seemed to be modern rap. By midnight, the bottom of the club was completely empty. We went ahead and went to bed, because we had a tour scheduled for 9 am in San Juan the next day.

[bionicman97]

Day 5, Wednesday San Juan

 

At 8am, we went to the Windjammer for Breakfast. It was easy to find a table and the food was good and hot. At 8:30am, we went down to the pier to meet our tour guide. We took the Fortresses of San Juan tour. We started on a bus and went to the Main Fort. After this, we walked to the Second Fort/Castle. After this, the tour guide walked us to the shopping area and we could shop and/or walk to the ship from there. Our tour lasted about 3 hours. It was an enjoyable tour, but if you cannot walk long distances, do not take this tour. I would estimate that we walked 3 to 4 miles total. We did a little shopping in the Old Town and then it started pouring rain, so we hustled back to the ship. We got back to the ship at 12:30pm. Last call to get on the ship was either 1 or 1:30pm. We went to the café and got a snack. The café was a little busy, but we did not have a hard time finding a table for 2 of us. The rest of our party went to the Windjammer, and they said it was very busy and they had a difficult time finding a table. After our snack, I went to the gym. It was pretty much empty from 1pm to 2:15. After this, we hung out on the pool deck and at 3:30 we went up for Afternoon tea. They had the tea time foods back out and it was very good. After afternoon tea, we got ready (it was the second formal night) and browsed around on the promenade.

 

At 7:45, we went to the Platinum/Diamond/Diamond+ event in the Sphinx. There was a good size line outside, but once inside, it looked like there was enough seating for everyone. For drinks, I counted two different wines, champagne and four different kinds of mixed drinks. We sat for about 10 minutes before drinks got our way (we sat on the opposite side of the bar, but within 15 minutes everybody had drinks and they were bringing seconds around. They also brought food around on trays and served it to you. I have only been to a couple of these, and I have seen this served buffet style, so I don’t know if they have stopped doing this, or if it was not normal practice. For food, they had chicken wings, spring rolls, and some type of shrimp on crackers. They were generous with the drinks and the food. The Calypso band played and the captain made a short speech. It was a nice event.

 

At 8:30, we went to the main dining room for dinner. The food and service were excellent again. This was the Seafood night, and several people in our party got Prime Rib and Lobster Tail. No one had a second lobster tail (None asked for and none offered). After this, we went to the only Headliner show of the Cruise. It was John Joseph and Johnny B.. We enjoyed the show, but we had already seen them twice on the Mariner and I was hoping for something new. If you have not seen them before, they have a very good comedy/music routine. After this, we headed to the dance club. The Dance Club was very crowded and this was the first night that they seemed to stick to more of a top 40’s dance mix. At 12:45, we headed to bed.

[bionicman97]

Day 6, Thursday Labadee

 

At 10:00 am, we headed down to deck 1 to get on the Tender to Labadee. We waited a little over 30 minutes from the point we got in line to the point of stepping on the tender. It was then a 5-minute ride to the island. Once on the island, we looked around, shopped in the Market for a while and grabbed a lounge chair. If you have never been to Labadee, they have seem to have a never ending supply of people on the island to get you chairs and sell you hand made bracelets. If you make eye contact, they will be ready to get you a chair, dust it off, set it up and wait for a tip. It is very difficult to get a chair for yourself. My recommendation is to just stuff some ones in your pocket, let them get you a chair, give them a tip and get on with life. Then after you get lunch, be prepared to repeat the process over again. (Unless you leave your stuff on the chair, which I don’t, because I like my stuff).

 

Overall, Labadee was very nice. The BBQ lunch was good and they had a nice selection. (Note: They do not serve lunch in the Windjammer on the Labadee Day) There is a lot of construction going on on the island. I’m sure that is mainly do to the Oasis. The new pier looks to be about half built. They are also building several new pavilions and restroom areas. There was ample room for everyone, but I can imagine that it might get crowded if you added another 1200+ people like the Oasis will. However, I definitely look forward to being able to dock here instead of being tendered. We did not try any of the shore excursions, so I cannot give my opinion on them. At 2pm, we got back on the tender and went back to the ship. There was no line to get on the tender. Once on the ship, I went and worked out in the gym. It was pretty much empty. At 4pm, we went to Afternoon tea in the Windjammer. The food was good. After that, we went to Guest Relations to prepay our tips (since we did not receive a form in our room (note: You must prepay tips by 11pm Thursday). They had a violinist and pianist on the bridge of the promenade playing, so we sat and listened to that for a while. Around 5:15, the captain announced that we were leaving Labadee. At 6pm, they started to play the departure video in the rooms (depressing). At 7pm, we went to the third production show, called “In the Air”. It started a little slow, and it had no identifiable theme that I could find, but it was a very enjoyable show. They had several special effects that we had not seen before. After this, we went to dinner in the Main Dining Room. This was a different menu than I had scene on any cruise before (not much that I liked). I got the Alternative Steak and it was good. The service was excellent. After this, we went to studio B for dancing to the 80s. It was not what I imagined it to be. I thought we would be able to dance to the 80s, but it was just the activities manager leading a crowd through different moves.

 

At 11:15, we went to quest, which was also in Studio B. Before it began, the cruise director announced that anyone with “bags of goodies”, if seen, would have their team penalized, which I was happy to see. The last several cruises, it has amazed me how people just bring everything that is needed and ruin the game. The quest lasted about 1 hour and it was enjoyable for the first time in about 5 cruises. After this, we went up to the solarium to dance, because they had given the teenagers the dance club for the whole night (I thought they had there own dance club?). We went up and danced for a little while, but gave up after about 20 minutes, because, in the Caribbean, it is still like 90 degrees at Midnight. We went to the café for a while and went to bed about 12:30am.

[bionicman97]

Day 7, Friday at Sea

 

Went to the gym around 9:30am. It was not crowded. At 11:30am, we went to the chef’s food festival on the promenade. We were told at dinner the night before that this is the replacement for the midnight buffet. We were told that they stopped the midnight buffet because people complained about it being too late and too much food waste (And I just thought it was to save money J). They had a nice mixture of food, but it was extremely crowded, and of course, there was almost nowhere to sit. We headed up to the Windjammer at noon, and it was pretty much empty. The food was fresh and hot. After this, we went to lay out by the pool. It took us about 20 minutes to find a chair. We stayed there for about an hour and a half, and then headed to the room to start packing. At 3:30, we went to the Windjammer for Afternoon tea. It was good and they had a nice variety. At 5pm, since we couldn’t find anything we wanted to do, we went back to the ice show again. It was busier than earlier in the week, but there was still about 40 to 50 empty seats. After that, we went up to the room to finish packing. At 7pm, we went to the final show. It featured a different comedian than the first night and the same juggler as the first night. It was also during this show that our cruise director Leigh announced that he was not a cruise director! It turned out that he was the activities manager and that the cruise director had to leave for two weeks for personal reasons. He did an excellent job and he should be promoted to cruise director. Overall, they did the typical farewell show stuff, but they put a little different spin on it, which made it more interesting. After the show, we went to our last dinner in the main dining room. The food and service were excellent, as they had been the entire cruise. After that we went and put out our luggage in the hallways and headed down for one last trip to the promenade and the dance club. By midnight, we were off to bed, since our luggage color was scheduled for 7am calling.

[bionicman97]

Day 8, Departure

 

At 7am, we had everything ready to go in our room. We figured that since we were scheduled to be called between 7 and 7:30, we would just leave from the room and avoid a departure lounge (we had done this on previous cruises). By 7:15, we still had not heard a single announcement for any colors being called, so we decided we better head down. When we got to the theater, we were surprised to find that they were not announcing colors at all. Instead, they had RCCI employees using walkie-talkies to radio each other. Then they would make an announcement in the theater only. I am not fond of this and hope that it is not a new system they are going to. They were also running a little behind, and we were called about 7:40am. We got to the point to have a sea pass swiped and got stuck in line for about 5 minutes while someone in front of us argued about something with the RCCI employee. After this, we made it down to the luggage. It took about 10 minutes to find our bags and we did not use a porter. Then we headed to customs. Every customs agent we have ever had has been very friendly, but today must have not been our day. He took our passports and declaration page. He looked on our page and we had declared $24 worth of items. He then proceeded to question us for about 3 to 5 minutes on how we could only have spent $24 on items. The only thing we collect are magnets, and I have all of the RCCI merchandise that I need already, so we don’t buy much on these trips. Finally, he let us go. We headed to the car and off for home.

[bionicman97]

General Comments about the Cruise

 

I do not like the New Cruise Compass. I find that the information that I typically look for is buried in it (like what show is being performed), as compared to the old compass, where the information if right on the first page in the center. It still has all the information, but it just seems to be more confusing.

 

From what I can tell, they have eliminated Smart Casual from the Dining Room attire. We had two formal nights, one was Colorful Caribbean and I believe the rest just said Casual (no shorts/tank tops/bare feet).

 

I do not like that more and more areas of the ship are being reserved. From the pool deck, to the ice-skating, I am noticing more and more “reserved for concierge service suites”. I understand they pay more and they should probably get more, but it seems like they are starting to create a class system on board the ship.

 

I felt that the Service everywhere on the ship was exceptional. Everyone that I ran into that worked on the ship was very friendly and helpful. They went out of the way to make sure you got what you wanted.

 

I felt that the food was excellent. As I said earlier, I have only sailed with Royal Caribbean, and comparing to previous cruises, the food was as good, if not better, than I have had on any other cruise.

 

I did not try any of the specialty restaurants. We used to go to Johnny Rockets with the free coupon, but since there is no free coupon, we didn’t attend. I just have a hard time paying for something that I am getting for free (personal opinion).

 

The ship is beautiful and massive. Even with the extra people on board, the ship felt less crowded than the Voyager class ships. We did not have to wait a long time for most of the stuff on the ship. We also took the stairs a lot in the evening, because they tended to be busy. The only time you notice that there are more people is in the promenade during an event. It can become wall-to-wall people very quickly.

 

The entertainment was great. I enjoyed all of the production shows and the guest performers. They were very talented and I was entertained the entire time. It does seem to me though, that less people are attending the shows, and that makes me wonder what the future holds for them. Also I would like to say, if you watched any of these production shows all the way through and did not like them, I have no problem with that. But if you watch five minutes of the show, walk out, and say that the shows were no good, I don’t believe you have a real basis for an opinion. To me, all of the production shows started slow and got much better as they progressed.

 

I noticed that there are very few ice/fruit sculptures. I assume this is permanent, because it was like that everyday. The only place I really saw any was the last day, during the food festival that they did in the promenade.

 

A word of caution in the theater. On the bottom of the chairs, they have a metal plate. One person in our party was wearing sandals, and had here legs crossed with one foot just below the chair in front of her. When someone sat down in front of her, it jerked here foot in it and completely removed the toe nail. It bled for a long time. She went to the medical services, and the first thing they told her was that it would be $140 to look at it and a minimum of another $45 for any treatment at all, so she decided to suffer through it, since we only had a few days left on the cruise. We also reported it as a safety issue, but I doubt anything will be done. Just be careful when your are on the ship. I am sure they put a lot of effort into safety on the ship, but things can and do happen.

 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and would highly recommend the Liberty to anyone. There are a few things I didn’t care for, and a few things I miss from previous cruises, but it was still a top-notch trip and we will definitely sail on the Liberty again.

 

I know some of this information may be boring, but I was too lazy to go back and edit :-)

[cot427]

General Comments about the Cruise

 

I do not like the New Cruise Compass. I find that the information that I typically look for is buried in it (like what show is being performed), as compared to the old compass, where the information if right on the first page in the center. It still has all the information, but it just seems to be more confusing.

 

From what I can tell, they have eliminated Smart Casual from the Dining Room attire. We had two formal nights, one was Colorful Caribbean and I believe the rest just said Casual (no shorts/tank tops/bare feet).

 

I do not like that more and more areas of the ship are being reserved. From the pool deck, to the ice-skating, I am noticing more and more “reserved for concierge service suites”. I understand they pay more and they should probably get more, but it seems like they are starting to create a class system on board the ship.

 

I felt that the Service everywhere on the ship was exceptional. Everyone that I ran into that worked on the ship was very friendly and helpful. They went out of the way to make sure you got what you wanted.

 

I felt that the food was excellent. As I said earlier, I have only sailed with Royal Caribbean, and comparing to previous cruises, the food was as good, if not better, than I have had on any other cruise.

 

I did not try any of the specialty restaurants. We used to go to Johnny Rockets with the free coupon, but since there is no free coupon, we didn’t attend. I just have a hard time paying for something that I am getting for free (personal opinion).

 

The ship is beautiful and massive. Even with the extra people on board, the ship felt less crowded than the Voyager class ships. We did not have to wait a long time for most of the stuff on the ship. We also took the stairs a lot in the evening, because they tended to be busy. The only time you notice that there are more people is in the promenade during an event. It can become wall-to-wall people very quickly.

 

The entertainment was great. I enjoyed all of the production shows and the guest performers. They were very talented and I was entertained the entire time. It does seem to me though, that less people are attending the shows, and that makes me wonder what the future holds for them. Also I would like to say, if you watched any of these production shows all the way through and did not like them, I have no problem with that. But if you watch five minutes of the show, walk out, and say that the shows were no good, I don’t believe you have a real basis for an opinion. To me, all of the production shows started slow and got much better as they progressed.

 

I noticed that there are very few ice/fruit sculptures. I assume this is permanent, because it was like that everyday. The only place I really saw any was the last day, during the food festival that they did in the promenade.

 

A word of caution in the theater. On the bottom of the chairs, they have a metal plate. One person in our party was wearing sandals, and had here legs crossed with one foot just below the chair in front of her. When someone sat down in front of her, it jerked here foot in it and completely removed the toe nail. It bled for a long time. She went to the medical services, and the first thing they told her was that it would be $140 to look at it and a minimum of another $45 for any treatment at all, so she decided to suffer through it, since we only had a few days left on the cruise. We also reported it as a safety issue, but I doubt anything will be done. Just be careful when your are on the ship. I am sure they put a lot of effort into safety on the ship, but things can and do happen.

 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and would highly recommend the Liberty to anyone. There are a few things I didn’t care for, and a few things I miss from previous cruises, but it was still a top-notch trip and we will definitely sail on the Liberty again.

 

I know some of this information may be boring, but I was too lazy to go back and edit :-)

 

I was on the same cruise and I was going to start a new thread but I figured ill just pretty much agree with most of the comments made by bionicman97. The cruise was fantastic and the weather was gorgeous each day. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather. It did rain for a short period of time in san juan around the time when everybody needed to get back on the ship, but other than that, perfect.

 

To respond to some of your general comments.....

1. I do agree that although the Why Not Today looks appealing, it does seem a little bit more confusing. And as you said, it seems you have to dig for some of the information.

2. I didn't see any smart casual night either, and also to make a comment on the casual attire of the dining room. I did see many many people in shorts and a few in tank tops etc. So apparently they weren't enforcing it too much. I used to wear a collared shirt and a pair of khaki pants to dinner, being a teen. But during this cruise I wore jeans and a nice aero tshirt to dinner and seemed to fit right in...it didn't seem as dressy as previous cruises. The formal nights were Day 2 (At Sea) and Day 5 (Puerto Rico)

3. As far as reserving of areas, the tiers over the pool deck have always been reserved as far as i can remember. But the area were we thought was stupid was the front 2 rows of the theater balcony. they would have a rope infront of the front to rows and it would say suite guests. But most of the nights they would be empty while there would be more people coming in late not having a place to sit making lots of noise....so I think this is unnecessary.

4. I 110% agree the service on the ship is fantastic. Everyone you ran across said hello or hi and how are you. The windjammer staff was fantastic, I got better service here for breakfast and lunch than the main dining room. The guest services people were extremely nice and helpful with anything you ever needed or wanted.

5. I've only sailed with Royal Caribbean as well so I can't compare to other lines either, but the food on the ship was very good. I think it has improved slightly since the last few cruises Ive taken. It was always hot and they have a few new menu items for dinner I noticed and tried, and each one was delicious. The cream of pumpkin soup was amazing! The windjammer was very good this cruise and the cafe and sorrentos were awesome as well.

 

6. We wanted to try Chops but we never got around to it. As stated above with the stopping of the free entrance coupon to Johnny Rockets, it seems a lot less people went there. We ate their friday, used the 2 for 1 milkhshake coupon. I just went for the shake and the atmosphhere, the food was ok, Im not a fan of burgers. The service was outstanding there too.

7. Again the ship did not feel crowded at all. The only times when it got a little heavy was during prime elevator times after dinner or during events in the promenade. Other than that it was good but I would like to know on the Oasis how they can have the same elevators with adding 2 or something to each side, I do not know if this will suffice.

8. The entertainment was great. We saw the Ever After show before but it seemed better this time for some reason. We saw the Somewhere in Time also last year but even it seemed better. The In the Air show was not on last october so we missed it but this time we got to see it and it was fantastic. This show is a not miss! The ice show, Encore, is as usual, AWESOME! The headliner show this cruise was Johnny B and John Joseph and they did music and comedy...very good as well.

9. Another thing about the ice carvings and fruit carvings, they did not have the poolside night buffet like they did last year, and I have no heard when they did away with this. When was it? We usually saw several carvings and scultpures there. We did see them during the culinary showcase on deck 5 during lunchtime on the last day. We skipped this last year but this year we went down and it was crowded to say the least. I walked around, took pictures, and grabbed a few little things but there were tons of people.

10. Another note regarding Medical treatment, as I read above he added that we had a medical emergency on day 2, the first sea day. We turned around for about 1.5 to 2 hrs and they hoisted the passenger off into the helicopter. This did make us 1 hr late in St. Maarten, but we made up that hr by staying 1 later. The crew and captain did a tremendous job handling this. Bravo to them!

 

My final thoughts....

Not sure if this was mentioned, but our cruise director James Andrew had a family emergency and apparently left during the end of the last cruise....so Activities Manager Leigh (last name I have no idea) stepped up and took on the job just like that. For what he was working with, he did a good job. He did fantastic at the beginning of the shows and the love and marriage show. The belly flop I thought was a little shorter than others, but I did see him around the ship some, not as much as others. And because of this, I think they were short on CD staff because bingo seemed to need an extra person or two. But Leigh did great! Maybe this is his chance to prove he can handle being CD!

 

Ports: I was dissappointed with Orient Bay in St. Maarten though, it didn't seem to live up the the hype. I think Labadee is a lot nicer than Orient. Puerto Rico was nice as always and Labadee as I have said was very nice. This was my 3rd time there and I finally walked to the other side of the island to dragons breath to hear it....how cool! They are doing some serious work for the Oasis with the new pier, the new welcome area, and they are redoing the flea market, because it was closed when we were there. Just the artistans market was open where the prices were fixed.

 

All in all, the liberty was amazing again and I miss it already. Its so cold in PA i wish I was back on the ship! Food, entertainment, and service were all fantastic as well the as ships appearance and shape. I would definitely sail on Liberty many more times. Just to mention I've sailed on Freedom, Liberty, and Independence now, and I still believe that Liberty is the best of the 3. If you have to choose between one and its a hard decision, chose Liberty, she won't disappoint!

[bionicman97]

. . . The belly flop I thought was a little shorter than others, but I did see him around the ship some, not as much as others.. ..

 

I would definitely agree with that. My wife and I saw that it started at 1pm and it was 12:55. We went to the room to grab our pool stuff. We got down to the pool at 1:15 and nothing was going on. I told my wife they must have canceled it or something. Then we see it on the cruise in review dvd. It must have been the shortest belly flop competition ever.:rolleyes:

[HB Cruiser]

Just to mention I've sailed on Freedom, Liberty, and Independence now, and I still believe that Liberty is the best of the 3. If you have to choose between one and its a hard decision, chose Liberty, she won't disappoint!

 

My wife and I have sailed Liberty and have a Freedom cruise booked for May 2010.

If you wouldn't mind we were wondering if you could be alittle more specific with why you would choose Liberty over Freedom and Independence. Thanks.

 

Tim and Crystal

[cot427]

I would definitely agree with that. My wife and I saw that it started at 1pm and it was 12:55. We went to the room to grab our pool stuff. We got down to the pool at 1:15 and nothing was going on. I told my wife they must have canceled it or something. Then we see it on the cruise in review dvd. It must have been the shortest belly flop competition ever.:rolleyes:

 

LOL yes it was. They were up there and set up very quickly. Then they started with maybe 6 or 7 floppers, one flop each and then the big group flop and that was it. Usually if I remember correctly they do a couple of rounds or a couple of flops but this was belly flop at lightening speed.

 

I was very suprised that there were less US citizens than US citizens, and this was definitely evident everywhere I turned. Was this the case with your too?

[bionicman97]

I was very suprised that there were less US citizens than US citizens, and this was definitely evident everywhere I turned. Was this the case with your too?

 

Yes. I think by 2011, if you don't habla espanol, you will have to go the international ambassador for translation services. I even received a spanish menu the first night. ;)

 

Gotta get that Rosetta Stone out tonight so I can get ready for the next cruise :-)

[HB Cruiser]

Yes. I think by 2011, if you don't habla espanol, you will have to go the international ambassador for translation services. I even received a spanish menu the first night. ;)

 

Gotta get that Rosetta Stone out tonight so I can get ready for the next cruise :-)

 

Our cruise on Liberty in May was the same way. We were told it was due to the ease of travel for those that fly to a cruise from another country to come to Miami.

 

Tim

[Sarahgraci]

This was my first cruise on RCCL, with one other cruise on Princess. DH and I were VERY impressed with Liberty of the Seas and Royal Caribbean. The food was really good, the service was outstanding, the ice show was great, and the ship overall was fabulous. The weaknesses: some other passengers were extremely rude and the ports didn't live up to our expectations. The final conclusion? I cried this morning at breakfast when it hit me that I was returning to the real world and leaving behind a fantastic vacation! Right now, 4 hours after we arrived back home, I'm checking out CruiseCritic in one window, and am perusing RCCL cruises for 2010 in another.

[bionicman97]

This was my first cruise on RCCL, with one other cruise on Princess. DH and I were VERY impressed with Liberty of the Seas and Royal Caribbean. The food was really good, the service was outstanding, the ice show was great, and the ship overall was fabulous. The weaknesses: some other passengers were extremely rude and the ports didn't live up to our expectations. The final conclusion? I cried this morning at breakfast when it hit me that I was returning to the real world and leaving behind a fantastic vacation! Right now, 4 hours after we arrived back home, I'm checking out CruiseCritic in one window, and am perusing RCCL cruises for 2010 in another.

 

You wanna be sad, go into the kitchen. . . No cookies. Go to the living room. . . No live show. . . Heck, no one even cleaned my house while I was gone:eek:

[HB Cruiser]

You wanna be sad, go into the kitchen. . . No cookies. Go to the living room. . . No live show. . . Heck, no one even cleaned my house while I was gone:eek:

 

Or go out to eat and they have the guts to hand you a menu with prices on it! How dare them. ;)

 

Tim

[bionicman97]

Or go out to eat and they have the guts to hand you a menu with prices on it! How dare them. ;)

 

Tim

 

I got a rude awakening when Chick-fil-a wouldn't take my Sea Pass Card at lunch on the way home :cool: