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Liberty Review 11/14-11/21

gabbygrrl

By gabbygrrl,
in Royal Caribbean International

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gabbygrrl

gabbygrrl

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We sailed on the Liberty from November 14-21, celebrating my partner's 30th birthday. We had flown down to FLL a few days prior to our sailing, to make sure there were no flight issues but also to get into "vacation" mode before we boarded the ship.

 

We stayed at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood. It is a spectacular hotel, right on the beach. We rented a Hertz car at the FLL airport and after driving over to check out the Hard Rock Seminole, we dropped the car right off at the Westin. Perfect. No paid parking, no rental fees if we're not using it. We had a car service, booked through LimoRes, pick us up on sailing day and bring us to the Port. It was quick, easy, and inexpensive. Much less of a hassle than dropping a car off or taking a shared van.

 

There were a few issues on our sailing and the biggest one was Embarkation. We arrived at 11:15a and since I'm Platinum, we breezed right through all of lines. When we got to the boarding area, they were issuing tags for Priority Guests, which I think were Orange. We took our tags and sat in the Priority area. This was basically just several rows of chairs situated near the escalators. A worker came over to tell us that the ship was an hour late getting into Miami PLUS they were having issues with some of the passengers and Customs. She said their was going to be a delay and to please be patient. She advised the Priority area that there were vending machines, water, etc, around the corner if we needed anything. Several announcements later, and close to 1pm, they said they were going to begin boarding starting with the Priority passengers. That is when it all went crazy. First problem, the only thing separating the Plat/Diam/DiamP passengers from general boarding was a nylon retractable rope. How long do you think it took for people from the general boarding group to start ducking under the rope, pushing and shoving, and trying to get on. And trust me, the Priority passengers were going crazy too, cutting and swearing at others, all trying to get on the ship. It was a red hot mess!!

 

If RCI is going to advertise Priority Boarding as a "perk", it better come up with a Lounge or a separate level for those guests to wait comfortably until boarding. And because of the long delay to begin boarding, the entire area was over-crowded and backed up out into the street. The worker told me that whenever they have a delay, they are not able to handle a large group of Priority passengers. She was thankful that they very rarely have this type of delay, but when they do, it's a challenge. It was a cattle call, and I certainly did not feel that my Platinum status was of any use, as others who got there an hour after we did and had general boarding cards had pushed their way in front, pushing us further to the back. Not the way to start off a cruise but once we snaked our way up to the ship and we set foot on board, it was easy to get back into vacation gear!

 

Our first order of business was lunch, and thanks to CC, we headed straight for Sorrento's. Let me tell you, this is the best kept secret going!! Everyone was trying to get in the elevators to go up to the Windjammer and flocking to the stairs to rush up there...while we casually walked to the Promenade, the ship empty in our section. Amazing! There was 1 other couple there, eating pizza at a table by the door. We got our food and sat in the Promenade to look at everything. We all started laughing because we were literally the only 4 people in the entire area and we knew that at least 2,000 people were rushing to the Windjammer. Funny.

 

We dropped our things off at our cabin and as we were scoping out our room, our luggage was delivered. Very cool. The cabin was huge for us, plenty of storage, good size bathroom, great flat screen tv, large sitting area and a wonderful balcony. Listen, we are two women who don't need much and don't complain much. If we have a/c, hot water and somewhere to sit outside and have our morning coffee, we're good to go. I've read others think the shower is too small but it was perfect for us. I would have loved some type of corner step to make shaving my legs a bit easier, buy my solution was to just open the shower door and stick my leg out. No big deal.

 

Our room steward, Errol, was so kind and friendly. He kept things clean and always greeted us with pleasant chatter about our day or our plans. Actually we never encountered a staff member who wasn't smiling or helpful in some way. Also a note-our cabin was on the Port side which meant that we were facing the celebrity mansions as we sailed out of Miami. And as we entered San Juan we were facing El Morro, and in Saint Martin we had the best view of the mountains and the port. I would suggest this side of the ship if you enjoy watching the early morning arrival of the ship into port.

 

Our first day at sea was a challenge. I have never gotten sick but I must say, I wasn't feeling 100pct until after my second Bonine kicked in. We woke up to rocking and rolling and I was shocked that we could even feel it with the LOS being such a large ship. We figured we just needed our "sea legs" so we ate and roamed about. But after being rocked into the walls a few times, we retreated to the room to grab more Bonine and made our way to the top deck to sleep it off in the sun. The captain came on and said there was as storm to our North which is why we are getting so much "motion in the ocean" and that we should be out of it by tomorrow. Thankfully when we got up the next day, all was well. And that was it for the seas, it was calm the remainder of our cruise. We had sun every day with just the very last day of some clouds until the sun broke through after lunch. I have a few good pictures of a rainbow that was just off our balcony. It disappeared just after I took the pictures.

 

We had early dining and a table for 2. Our servers, Edrie and Shellying were fantastic!! They knew our names from day 1 and always, always served with a smile, some conversation, a suggestion for dinner or what to do that night. They were simply fantastic. Edrie always told us what to get and what to at least try. He was always bringing a small plate of something for us. A quick hint: if you want to save some room for all of the wonderful food and desserts that you'll be eating on a cruise, skip the bread! We told Shellying the first night that we don't want any bread and she never brought any over after that. It is less tempting if you keep it away from you and it saves a bunch of room so you can enjoy the really good stuff. As for the food, it was good to above average. My thought is that this is RCI, not Crystal or Seabourn. The food is great, the menu has a good variety every night plus the regular selections that remain the same throughout the cruise, and you can try as much as you want. I didn't go hungry and I have some new things that I tried and now enjoy. There were also some desserts that I tried that I did not like, but that's fine. On a funny note, everyone always goes on and on about lobster night. How many tails they ate, how delicious it was, people even plan their other activities around it to make sure they don't miss that night in the dining room. So the night prior to lobster night, Edrie tells us about it and I asked him if it's Maine lobster. He said no, no, not Maine. I said it's Caribbean lobster isn't it? We reminded him that we are from Maine and eat Maine lobster all the time. He then said "my apologies, don't get the lobster here then, you won't like it". I never, ever get cruise lobster. To me, it's nasty.

 

We dined in Portofino and Chops. Ironically, Portofino had the best cut of beef that was delicious, not Chops. Both had wonderful service and the food was well above the main dining room (which I think is the point these days). Look at NCL with their new ship, the Epic. Something like 14 places to eat, but only 3 or 4 are free (side note-I hated that ship) That is the wave of things to come I'm afraid. Anyway, my only issue with both of these venues is how the seating is arranged. Our night in Portofino, we were trying to have a quiet, intimate dinner. There was another couple seated near us trying to do the same. However there was a party of 4 behind us that were beyond inappropriate. They were loud, laughing and talking loud like they were outside at the Windjammer. One couple was crawling all over each other, kissing and saying things that were not meant for dinner conversation. These were not young adults, it was a middle aged man from Texas-as he yelled more than once-with his younger companion and another couple. It was horrible, distracting and just plain rude. A few times the server would go over and ask them to lower their conversation, but it didn't work. We loved the meal and the service, just not the atmosphere. If it had been quiet it would have been perfect. We went to Chops for my partners birthday dinner and it was lovely. Sadly, it was the same situation. They have romantic tables for 2 surrounding larger tables. So there were 2 other couples near us enjoying a quiet dinner and conversation, and a table of 6 nearby laughing, talking loudly over eachother, changing seats, just having a great time. And good for them...but I would have liked a nice quiet dinner. Part of the reason we chose to dine at these places was to remove ourselves from the noise and hectic nature of the main dining room and retreat to a more sophisticated restaurant. Because of the seating arrangements, that just didn't happen. Again, the food at Chops was very good but it's the dessert that really shines. The Mississippi Mud Pie is unreal! Seriously, you have to try it.

 

As for the shows, we didn't go to any. Boring, I know, but that's just not our thing. We're morning people and we just can't make it until the late hours of the evening-and by late, I mean anything past 9:00pm :o)

 

Every day, we would order room service with coffee, fruit and pastries and sit on our balcony. Since they call when the order is on the way, it also served as our wake-up call. We'd shower and head up to exercise by walking the deck, then lay by the pool or hit the casino or go ashore, depending on the day. We loved the adults only area but there's not nearly as much sun as the other parts of the ship. After dinner, we would go to the casino to play Let It Ride, then wander for a drink or two, then back to the room to read and relax. That's our type of vacation. For others, they do it all and there certainly was plenty to pick from.

 

I did have on other issue and I know this is where people can get really divided and heated in their debates: we're both non-smokers and I, more than my partner, am particularly sensitive to cigarette smoke. For some reason not cigars, just cigarettes. Our balcony neighbor, whom we nicknamed Smokey, was out there all the time, one after the other. We did our best to come inside when he went out, and if we heard his slider close, we'd go back outside. I'm sorry, but I can smell smoke from 2 cars in front of me at a red light, so I assure you having a smoker next to me on the balcony was stinky. Manageable, but a pain. However I respect that no one is in the wrong and RCI has rules in place and they were not broken. Having said that, I did hear many people on the ship commenting on the balcony smoking and the amount of smoke at the English Pubstyle location on the Promenade (I can't remember the name, but it's been dubbed the Cough and Choke on CC before, so that's what we called it). I was excited to try it, since last year we did a tour of England just to try the various beers. I had read on CC it was smokey but figured I could sit outside in the Promenade and enjoy it anyway. Wrong! The cloud of smoke was well outside the door and anytime we walked by we could smell it. I think they need to come up with another bar or two just for smokers, that are enclosed and have bands and drinks and fun times but keep the smoke inside only for those who want to breath it. I had my fingers crossed that we'd be lucky in this department since neither one of us is ever, ever around smoke, but we had to deal with it and move on. I'd love to just jump over to Celebrity, but they don't cater to active, athletic types, so I'm stuck.

 

Speaking of smoke, the only other main area that we stayed away from was the casino slots. They do have non-smoking slots, but it's all of 12 machines that are almost identical. Not a good variety for a slots player. We tried to play slots during the sea days when it was not crowded with smokers. Our one stroke of luck is that our favorite card game was in the non-smoking table section, and that was fantastic. We played every night and had a blast! We brought a ton of money to gamble but we didn't even come close to spending it all because the smoke kept us away from the slots.

 

For us, we did it all: rock wall, Flow rider, mini-golf, golf simulator (silver and bronze in the longest drive contest :cool:), 1 mile deck walks, basketball, ping pong, shuffleboard, etc. It's a great ship for getting out there and doing, allowing you to stay active while still feeling like you're on vacation.

 

To sum it up, this was a great cruise and an excellent ship. The staff was wonderful and it's a quality of RCI that keeps us coming back. I look at cruising like this: Carnival is like a Days Inn, NCL is like a Best Western, Royal is like a Marriott, Celebrity is like a Hilton and Crystal is the Ritz. Know what you expect and book accordingly. My only expectation on this cruise was to have a good value vacation with as few bumps as possible. That was met and exceeded. Again, the staff, the ship and the level of service that we had was better than what we had hoped for.

 

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer. I'll try to post some pics by tomorrow, if I can figure out how :p

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cricketgal

cricketgal

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Thanks for the review, we can't wait to sail on Liberty too. Sorry to hear about your experience boarding. We too are Platinum and hopefully that doesn't happen to us.

 

Such a shame about the smoking situation too. DH and I feel exactly the same way and it is so unfortunate when you can't enjoy your balcony because of your neighbour. I guess there isn't really much they can do about it. I had to laugh at the "Cough and Choke" pub...I hadn't heard it called that before but from my past experience in the pub, it is very appropriate. I love the fun atmosphere and the music in the pub but usually have to limit myself to a very short time there due to my asthma. Same with the casino.:eek:

 

In the past we often travelled with friends and regret that one friend was probably similar to the type at the table next to you at Portofino. We were always so embarrassed when he was being so loud and obnoxious when he drank too much. Here we are trying to have a nice dinner like you were and people kept staring at us because of our friend. Now we travel alone...lol.

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gabbygrrl

gabbygrrl

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Thanks for sharing. Just wondering when was the second formal night? I have seen a few reviews with the 5th night and a few with the 6th night? Would like to book Chops or Portofino for the second formal night.

Thanks

 

I believe it was Thursday night, the 5th night. We ate in Chops on the 6th night. You will love either of the two specialty restaurants!! They are well worth the extra cost.

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Kikkycat

Kikkycat

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Hey Gabby, I was on the same sailing as you and enjoyed reading your report to bring back the recent (mostly) happy experiences. It was my 3rd cruise, but the first that wasn't out of Puerto Rico, so I wasn't sure how much of the rockiness was being in the Atlantic vs Caribbean or the storm. Guess more of it was the storm, since it was so much better the rest of the cruise. I kept my sea bands on all the while we were at sea though! Better safe than sorry!

 

I totally agree with the Cough and Choke. I am a beer aficianado and, although they don't really have much that's up my alley, I was craving a drink that wasn't fruity and rum-based towards the end of the week. So my friend and I went into the pub during the Saturday at-sea food demonstration in the Promenade to eat and drink. We're both asthmatic and were in the early stages of a cold (she ended up with bronchitis), and found the pub to be intolerable, even though no one was smoking near us at the time. The walls and furniture themselves reek! Yuck!

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cricketgal

cricketgal

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Hey Gabby, I was on the same sailing as you and enjoyed reading your report to bring back the recent (mostly) happy experiences. It was my 3rd cruise, but the first that wasn't out of Puerto Rico, so I wasn't sure how much of the rockiness was being in the Atlantic vs Caribbean or the storm. Guess more of it was the storm, since it was so much better the rest of the cruise. I kept my sea bands on all the while we were at sea though! Better safe than sorry!

 

I totally agree with the Cough and Choke. I am a beer aficianado and, although they don't really have much that's up my alley, I was craving a drink that wasn't fruity and rum-based towards the end of the week. So my friend and I went into the pub during the Saturday at-sea food demonstration in the Promenade to eat and drink. We're both asthmatic and were in the early stages of a cold (she ended up with bronchitis), and found the pub to be intolerable, even though no one was smoking near us at the time. The walls and furniture themselves reek! Yuck!

Kikkycat, I have been on 5 cruises out of San Juan and 3 out of Florida and always find the water rough the first day out and last day when going through the strait of Florida, so I would say it's safe to assume that would be the reason you found a difference sailing from Florida. Other folks have said the same thing too.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if they made the pub smoke free?!? RCCL....are you listening? :)

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IrishCC

IrishCC

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Kikkycat, I have been on 5 cruises out of San Juan and 3 out of Florida and always find the water rough the first day out and last day when going through the strait of Florida, so I would say it's safe to assume that would be the reason you found a difference sailing from Florida. Other folks have said the same thing too.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if they made the pub smoke free?!? RCCL....are you listening? :)

RCCL - please listen! Please change your smoking policy! We're on the March 19th sailing and so would like to enjoy the Pub . . . . but at least I'll save money as I won't step foot in the Casino LOL . . . . and Smokers out there . . . don't tell me to go to Celebrity! Tried that . . . just because I can't stand smoke doesn't mean I don't like to Party! What a snore that cruise was!

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E-T-C-M

E-T-C-M

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I've been on Norvegian recently and had the same problem with my neighbors and constant smoking. Regardless of the wind direction , this is pure physics...the smoke will travel to the non-smoker ! the cruise personnel can not do much about this but I just hope that people would be more careful of others around them. Same goes with noises...can people just close gently their doors ?? why do they have to let it go or slam it ? why do they have to scream in the hallway ? people take cruises for different reasons...to party, to relax, to have a good time but we are all sharing the space and just trying to be respectful to others would make cruising a lot more fun ! just a thought.....

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gabbygrrl

gabbygrrl

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I am hopeful that RCI will listen and at least offer ENCLOSED bars/spaces for smokers as well as remove it from the balconies. I did like being able to lay out by the pool on the non-smoking side of the ship. I had a woman take the chair next to me and light up, and when I kindly told her that the smoking side was the Port side she said she was sorry and walked over to the other side to smoke. No big deal.

 

Also, I meant to say that I got the bucket of Bud deal with the cooler! I went to the bar next to the FlowRider. When I asked him about it, he pulled out an RCI cooler bag and asked which Bud Beers I wanted. When I went to the pool bar 2 days later to refill it, he was shocked I had one. He asked if I brought if from a previous sailing! He refilled it a few more times. It was great having it in the room, as our steward kept ice on the remaining beers :p

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insulationbabe

insulationbabe

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Thanks for posting the review on the Liberty - we go on the 12th - Sunday and looking forward to it - We've done the Liberty twice before and enjoy the class of ship - We love the pub too, except for the smoke, but our favorite pub entertainer is on board (jimmy) and we look forward to seeing him again, so we will have to put up with the cigarette smoke I guess. If it gets too bad we will sit outside in the promenade to get away from some of it.

Glad you had a great time and we plan on doing so as well

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uksimonusa

uksimonusa

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It's a bit funny that the 'English Pub' on the ship is smoke-filled but real English pubs no longer are since the ban in all enclosed public spaces.

 

As another asthma sufferer, I can tell you it has made a massive difference.

 

That's because it is a "traditional" English pub, and traditionally English pubs are smoking

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stephanie1

stephanie1

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We sailed on the Liberty from November 14-21, celebrating my partner's 30th birthday. We had flown down to FLL a few days prior to our sailing, to make sure there were no flight issues but also to get into "vacation" mode before we boarded the ship.

 

We stayed at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood. It is a spectacular hotel, right on the beach. We rented a Hertz car at the FLL airport and after driving over to check out the Hard Rock Seminole, we dropped the car right off at the Westin. Perfect. No paid parking, no rental fees if we're not using it. We had a car service, booked through LimoRes, pick us up on sailing day and bring us to the Port. It was quick, easy, and inexpensive. Much less of a hassle than dropping a car off or taking a shared van.

 

There were a few issues on our sailing and the biggest one was Embarkation. We arrived at 11:15a and since I'm Platinum, we breezed right through all of lines. When we got to the boarding area, they were issuing tags for Priority Guests, which I think were Orange. We took our tags and sat in the Priority area. This was basically just several rows of chairs situated near the escalators. A worker came over to tell us that the ship was an hour late getting into Miami PLUS they were having issues with some of the passengers and Customs. She said their was going to be a delay and to please be patient. She advised the Priority area that there were vending machines, water, etc, around the corner if we needed anything. Several announcements later, and close to 1pm, they said they were going to begin boarding starting with the Priority passengers. That is when it all went crazy. First problem, the only thing separating the Plat/Diam/DiamP passengers from general boarding was a nylon retractable rope. How long do you think it took for people from the general boarding group to start ducking under the rope, pushing and shoving, and trying to get on. And trust me, the Priority passengers were going crazy too, cutting and swearing at others, all trying to get on the ship. It was a red hot mess!!

 

If RCI is going to advertise Priority Boarding as a "perk", it better come up with a Lounge or a separate level for those guests to wait comfortably until boarding. And because of the long delay to begin boarding, the entire area was over-crowded and backed up out into the street. The worker told me that whenever they have a delay, they are not able to handle a large group of Priority passengers. She was thankful that they very rarely have this type of delay, but when they do, it's a challenge. It was a cattle call, and I certainly did not feel that my Platinum status was of any use, as others who got there an hour after we did and had general boarding cards had pushed their way in front, pushing us further to the back. Not the way to start off a cruise but once we snaked our way up to the ship and we set foot on board, it was easy to get back into vacation gear!

 

Our first order of business was lunch, and thanks to CC, we headed straight for Sorrento's. Let me tell you, this is the best kept secret going!! Everyone was trying to get in the elevators to go up to the Windjammer and flocking to the stairs to rush up there...while we casually walked to the Promenade, the ship empty in our section. Amazing! There was 1 other couple there, eating pizza at a table by the door. We got our food and sat in the Promenade to look at everything. We all started laughing because we were literally the only 4 people in the entire area and we knew that at least 2,000 people were rushing to the Windjammer. Funny.

 

We dropped our things off at our cabin and as we were scoping out our room, our luggage was delivered. Very cool. The cabin was huge for us, plenty of storage, good size bathroom, great flat screen tv, large sitting area and a wonderful balcony. Listen, we are two women who don't need much and don't complain much. If we have a/c, hot water and somewhere to sit outside and have our morning coffee, we're good to go. I've read others think the shower is too small but it was perfect for us. I would have loved some type of corner step to make shaving my legs a bit easier, buy my solution was to just open the shower door and stick my leg out. No big deal.

 

Our room steward, Errol, was so kind and friendly. He kept things clean and always greeted us with pleasant chatter about our day or our plans. Actually we never encountered a staff member who wasn't smiling or helpful in some way. Also a note-our cabin was on the Port side which meant that we were facing the celebrity mansions as we sailed out of Miami. And as we entered San Juan we were facing El Morro, and in Saint Martin we had the best view of the mountains and the port. I would suggest this side of the ship if you enjoy watching the early morning arrival of the ship into port.

 

Our first day at sea was a challenge. I have never gotten sick but I must say, I wasn't feeling 100pct until after my second Bonine kicked in. We woke up to rocking and rolling and I was shocked that we could even feel it with the LOS being such a large ship. We figured we just needed our "sea legs" so we ate and roamed about. But after being rocked into the walls a few times, we retreated to the room to grab more Bonine and made our way to the top deck to sleep it off in the sun. The captain came on and said there was as storm to our North which is why we are getting so much "motion in the ocean" and that we should be out of it by tomorrow. Thankfully when we got up the next day, all was well. And that was it for the seas, it was calm the remainder of our cruise. We had sun every day with just the very last day of some clouds until the sun broke through after lunch. I have a few good pictures of a rainbow that was just off our balcony. It disappeared just after I took the pictures.

 

We had early dining and a table for 2. Our servers, Edrie and Shellying were fantastic!! They knew our names from day 1 and always, always served with a smile, some conversation, a suggestion for dinner or what to do that night. They were simply fantastic. Edrie always told us what to get and what to at least try. He was always bringing a small plate of something for us. A quick hint: if you want to save some room for all of the wonderful food and desserts that you'll be eating on a cruise, skip the bread! We told Shellying the first night that we don't want any bread and she never brought any over after that. It is less tempting if you keep it away from you and it saves a bunch of room so you can enjoy the really good stuff. As for the food, it was good to above average. My thought is that this is RCI, not Crystal or Seabourn. The food is great, the menu has a good variety every night plus the regular selections that remain the same throughout the cruise, and you can try as much as you want. I didn't go hungry and I have some new things that I tried and now enjoy. There were also some desserts that I tried that I did not like, but that's fine. On a funny note, everyone always goes on and on about lobster night. How many tails they ate, how delicious it was, people even plan their other activities around it to make sure they don't miss that night in the dining room. So the night prior to lobster night, Edrie tells us about it and I asked him if it's Maine lobster. He said no, no, not Maine. I said it's Caribbean lobster isn't it? We reminded him that we are from Maine and eat Maine lobster all the time. He then said "my apologies, don't get the lobster here then, you won't like it". I never, ever get cruise lobster. To me, it's nasty.

 

We dined in Portofino and Chops. Ironically, Portofino had the best cut of beef that was delicious, not Chops. Both had wonderful service and the food was well above the main dining room (which I think is the point these days). Look at NCL with their new ship, the Epic. Something like 14 places to eat, but only 3 or 4 are free (side note-I hated that ship) That is the wave of things to come I'm afraid. Anyway, my only issue with both of these venues is how the seating is arranged. Our night in Portofino, we were trying to have a quiet, intimate dinner. There was another couple seated near us trying to do the same. However there was a party of 4 behind us that were beyond inappropriate. They were loud, laughing and talking loud like they were outside at the Windjammer. One couple was crawling all over each other, kissing and saying things that were not meant for dinner conversation. These were not young adults, it was a middle aged man from Texas-as he yelled more than once-with his younger companion and another couple. It was horrible, distracting and just plain rude. A few times the server would go over and ask them to lower their conversation, but it didn't work. We loved the meal and the service, just not the atmosphere. If it had been quiet it would have been perfect. We went to Chops for my partners birthday dinner and it was lovely. Sadly, it was the same situation. They have romantic tables for 2 surrounding larger tables. So there were 2 other couples near us enjoying a quiet dinner and conversation, and a table of 6 nearby laughing, talking loudly over eachother, changing seats, just having a great time. And good for them...but I would have liked a nice quiet dinner. Part of the reason we chose to dine at these places was to remove ourselves from the noise and hectic nature of the main dining room and retreat to a more sophisticated restaurant. Because of the seating arrangements, that just didn't happen. Again, the food at Chops was very good but it's the dessert that really shines. The Mississippi Mud Pie is unreal! Seriously, you have to try it.

 

As for the shows, we didn't go to any. Boring, I know, but that's just not our thing. We're morning people and we just can't make it until the late hours of the evening-and by late, I mean anything past 9:00pm :o)

 

Every day, we would order room service with coffee, fruit and pastries and sit on our balcony. Since they call when the order is on the way, it also served as our wake-up call. We'd shower and head up to exercise by walking the deck, then lay by the pool or hit the casino or go ashore, depending on the day. We loved the adults only area but there's not nearly as much sun as the other parts of the ship. After dinner, we would go to the casino to play Let It Ride, then wander for a drink or two, then back to the room to read and relax. That's our type of vacation. For others, they do it all and there certainly was plenty to pick from.

 

I did have on other issue and I know this is where people can get really divided and heated in their debates: we're both non-smokers and I, more than my partner, am particularly sensitive to cigarette smoke. For some reason not cigars, just cigarettes. Our balcony neighbor, whom we nicknamed Smokey, was out there all the time, one after the other. We did our best to come inside when he went out, and if we heard his slider close, we'd go back outside. I'm sorry, but I can smell smoke from 2 cars in front of me at a red light, so I assure you having a smoker next to me on the balcony was stinky. Manageable, but a pain. However I respect that no one is in the wrong and RCI has rules in place and they were not broken. Having said that, I did hear many people on the ship commenting on the balcony smoking and the amount of smoke at the English Pubstyle location on the Promenade (I can't remember the name, but it's been dubbed the Cough and Choke on CC before, so that's what we called it). I was excited to try it, since last year we did a tour of England just to try the various beers. I had read on CC it was smokey but figured I could sit outside in the Promenade and enjoy it anyway. Wrong! The cloud of smoke was well outside the door and anytime we walked by we could smell it. I think they need to come up with another bar or two just for smokers, that are enclosed and have bands and drinks and fun times but keep the smoke inside only for those who want to breath it. I had my fingers crossed that we'd be lucky in this department since neither one of us is ever, ever around smoke, but we had to deal with it and move on. I'd love to just jump over to Celebrity, but they don't cater to active, athletic types, so I'm stuck.

 

Speaking of smoke, the only other main area that we stayed away from was the casino slots. They do have non-smoking slots, but it's all of 12 machines that are almost identical. Not a good variety for a slots player. We tried to play slots during the sea days when it was not crowded with smokers. Our one stroke of luck is that our favorite card game was in the non-smoking table section, and that was fantastic. We played every night and had a blast! We brought a ton of money to gamble but we didn't even come close to spending it all because the smoke kept us away from the slots.

 

For us, we did it all: rock wall, Flow rider, mini-golf, golf simulator (silver and bronze in the longest drive contest :cool:), 1 mile deck walks, basketball, ping pong, shuffleboard, etc. It's a great ship for getting out there and doing, allowing you to stay active while still feeling like you're on vacation.

 

To sum it up, this was a great cruise and an excellent ship. The staff was wonderful and it's a quality of RCI that keeps us coming back. I look at cruising like this: Carnival is like a Days Inn, NCL is like a Best Western, Royal is like a Marriott, Celebrity is like a Hilton and Crystal is the Ritz. Know what you expect and book accordingly. My only expectation on this cruise was to have a good value vacation with as few bumps as possible. That was met and exceeded. Again, the staff, the ship and the level of service that we had was better than what we had hoped for.

 

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer. I'll try to post some pics by tomorrow, if I can figure out how :p

 

I was on the 11/28 sailing and I can tell you that I will never ever EVER go out of the Miami port again.... It was terrible. I am Diamond and I could not breeze through or inch my way rhrough. The port staff acted as though a cruise had never boarded there. No organization. Diamond, Platinum, Gold and everyone else lumped into the same crowd.

 

I can relate as well about Chops and Portofino. Also some people are really loud and the staff do not say anything. Some people are really obnoxious and should not be allowed to remain.

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bound4dbeach

bound4dbeach

Posted
Posted

What was your Itinerary - was this an 8 Night Cruise? I'm booked on the 8 night Cruise March 5th (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, San Juan & Ladadee), and am trying to find out the best night to book dinner in Chops.

 

Thanks for your review. I always like reading peoples reviews from their trips. It makes me feel like I am there and gets me psyched for my trip. I hate when there are smokers next the next cabin when you have a balcony. A few years ago, I had an Aft Balcony Cabin on a Carnival ship - it was great, except for the occasional cigarette butt that you would find that someone above had obviously thrown down.

 

Thank you

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