Just got of Liberty, June 11th sailing, our review (very long+pics)

[Verfai]

Hello all,

 

as this site has helped me plenty planning our cruise, I find it only fitting to write a long report…So here it is (will also be posted as a CC review soon, you guys get priority):D

 

 

Foreword:

 

We are a 29 and 31 year old couple from Flanders Belgium, we have been together for 12 years and counting close to 13. Our native language is Dutch, we speak fluent English and French. So this will be a review seen trough European eyes.

It was my lifelong dream to be on one of those large cruise ships, so Liberty sounded very fitting…AND IS WAS!

 

I’ll make this reviews in pieces of what we did and when, this so you can also chose what subject you want to read…So please enjoy!

 

Please excuse any typo's that got in...

 

 

 

Getting to Barcelona Intel:

 

As we are from Belgium, the flight from Brussels Intel airport to Barcelona Intel was only 2h, we had a 6:20am flight, due to wind in the back we even arrived 25min earlier.

To our big surprise, we were able to see the Liberty OTS from the sky before we went into final approach, what a sight that was! I got it all on tape, it will be posted on YouTube soon.

 

Conclusion: Overall great experience

 

 

Getting from the airport to the ship:

 

Got to the gate around 8:20am, suitcases where available 25 min after landing, so great job for the flight handlers of Barcelona Intel! Barcelona airport is a HUGE spotless airport, with lots of shops located everywhere. We just followed the exit sings and at the final gate before exiting the customs area, there was a sign saying regular passengers right, and a SEPARATE sign for cruises go left.

 

Followed the flow of passengers (and it was a lot, as at that time there were 3 cruise ships docked) to the left and almost immediately saw a group of people holding up big Royal Caribbean sings. I think there were about 10 of them there (including porters)…Once one of them was free, they immediately said hello and asked if we where there for a cruise with RCI, we answered “yes” and next question was which language we prefer, we replied English, but we heard them talk Spanish, Portuguese and French.

 

We booked a transfer from Airport to pier and visa versa via RCI, after they took down our names they immediately found us on their confirmed passengers list and where instructed to make luggage tags (the Belgium RCI representative could not provide us with pre printed ones). We got two tags per suitcase, stuck them on our luggage and gave them to the porters.

 

I have to say these were ALL very friendly people and talked fluent English.

Once there where about 30 of us there, we were instructed to follow somebody to a spate terminal in the airport dedicated to cruise passengers. To our BIG SURPRISE, we checked in to the ship in the airport, we received our sea pass and all paper work was done in the airport, so we could really just walk onto the ship (for EU passengers: we just had our Belgium ID cards with us, NO international passport required).

 

We heard a lot of American passengers applaud this way of working, as it skips the hassle at the port.

 

We had to wait for about 30 min for a bus in the terminal. Around 9:30am the bus arrived and where instructed to go outside, there was a big orange bus waiting on the parking place, the bus had a Liberty of the seas sign on it. Some other attendant asked to see our see pass cards, and provide him with the voucher that is on set sail documents, the voucher that states that you have a transfer booked. Got on and was welcomed, we waited another 20 min for the bus to get full…Then we were on our way.

 

Transfer to the ship was about 30min drive…there was a lot of noise on the bus UNTIL we were able to see Liberty on the docks…All went quite and gashed at the amazing ship, the closer we got the more excited it got, what a sight this was, it was just breathtaking and everybody’s mouth just fell open

 

Silver Star and Sovereign where also docked so we had a good reference on the size that Liberty is.

 

WHAT A SIGHT!!!

 

Conclusion: The best organization I ever saw in an airport, gave a very relaxed we are on holiday feeling

 

 

Barcelona dock:

 

I think there where about 100 dock workers waiting to unload the busses, immediately some cruise attendant jumped on the bus and told us to go straight to security check and skip all other lines, as we were already checked in at the airport.

 

We only just had a purse and a camera bag with us, these went through a x-ray scanner…After clearance and one last check of the sea passes we were welcomed and shown the way to the gangway.

 

Immediately there where photographers present to take pictures of us. It was 11:00am and we were able to board the ship immediately!

 

Conclusion: great job, went spotless, fully stress less.

 

 

Boarding Liberty OTS:

 

Once over the gangway you picture got taken by the security staff for the sea pass card…I have to say in the beginning this went great, friendly and fast service (however this changed later, you will read it).

After this we were able to board the ship at deck 4.

I have to say, except for 5 people telling us “welcome onboard Liberty” nobody said where we should go from there on, it was our first experience with a Freedom class and RCI so we had to find everything our own way.

 

Luckily the interactive screens did their work great (on almost every deck)…So we found our way to the pool decks and other things to see very easy.

 

All doors to the rooms where closed at this time (11:15am).

 

 

In the ship:

 

As I was reading previous posts of reviews here on CC, some people said that the ship didn’t look as she should….I have to say I totally disagree! The ship looked spotless, cleaning going on all the time. No real rust problems, dirt, unclean windows or something else like that.

 

I was amassed by everything I saw on the ship, we walked around for about one and a half hours, just gazing at everything and taking pictures and film. The deck plans and the interactive screens do their job amazing…We did feel lost sometimes, the ship is just sooooooooo huge :D

 

We went for a drink in the Olive or Twist bar in the Viking crown as we had an unofficial CC members meeting there later on the day. Great friendly staff ready to take our order, and give a little explanation as how the billing works (for us as Europeans, the entire gratuees concept is new, this why we asked for some help when we got our first bill).

 

Rooms opened up around 1:00pm, we went to our room on deck 9 (9648, superior balcony room) and yet again we were just amazed by what we saw :D, the room, bathroom and balcony was spotless all needed documentation (cruise compass, booked excursions; etc) was present. There was a movie running on the screen explaining all safety procedures on the ship. Interactive TV was disabled at that time.

 

Everything in the room was the correct size, on hell of a great bed! We had no connection stateroom, and we never heard any noise coming from the rooms next to us (not in the day nor in the night).

 

We booked the “grand romance package” and all except for the cupcakes and the bottle of champagne was already in the room…Our room attendant came to fill up the ice bucket and bring the cupcakes and bottle of champagne, he very friendly introduced himself, we gave him two dollars and he went crazy, later more on that.

 

He also told us that the ship was FULL, not on double occupancy but every room was booked.

 

We waited for muster drill at 4:30pm and went down to deck 4 for our muster. The muster didn’t start until 4:40pm and then still passengers came late…Even one lady came out of the galley from the aft section escorted by a cook.

 

By the time muster was over, it was time to go to deck 12 for set sail…FINALLY!!!

 

 

First set sail:

 

I have to say this was a major disappointment, the ship started moving without any announcement or horn blow, the ship moved that silent that a lot of passengers had no idea that she was actually moving away from the dock.

 

Most passengers where top side for the set sail party at 17:00 and this to was not what I expected, some girls in yellow and blue uniform waving flags (and how!? They were really just waving them, not doing tricks like a cheerleader would, it was pretty windy, this might have been the problem) is not my idea of a set sail party.

Later on the show the dream work characters joined in but here again, it’s just them jumping around to music…No interactivety with passenges what so ever, nothing on the ship leaving port for the first time, I guess the kids do love this…

 

A lot of passengers where on the move, proving to me I was not the only one with this opinion (it was also not that warm outside and windy).

 

 

“Unofficial” Cruise Critic meat and mingle:

There were 8 registered members listed on the site, we where a party if two…We decided not to register as we would never have gotten the needed 25 persons for RCI to organize the meet and mingle (also the M&M is done on the last day, not very logical imo).

 

I decided to get the CC members together just after set sail…Sadly ONLY two people reacted, whilst in the beginning there was more interest.

 

HOWEVER, HOWEVER, HOWEVER…The two people we met, Festi and Lara Lox where one of the most wonderful people we ever met!!!

 

We had a blast and we met up almost every night for a great and wonderful time, first vacation ever where we have sooooo many great pictures.

 

So I (we) really have to thank CC for bringing us together…

 

We were speculating if other CC members where watching us, as they clearly new where we met up (and what we looked like) We did make some “noise” throughout this cruise :p

 

 

The sailing:

 

I have to admit that we did rock al little this cruise, I was surprised how much the ship tilted form right to left…I had no idea that a 160.000tons ship could move like that.

The first two days our glasses moved in the Viking crown, it looked like we were doing a séance at some point.

 

Sleeping on deck 9 aft, took a little getting used to, I even got a little sea sick the second day (no not from too much drinking).

 

The interactive state room TV told us we had a 3 Beufort wind the first two days.

First two days where also rather cold days, going out on deck at night required you had to dress warmer…As we went more south bound every time the day and night heated up. Also the seas turned a lot more stable, or we got used to it.

 

I as a light sleeper woke up every morning when the ship docked or when to cruise director or captain made there announcement…This was not such a good point for me personally. But then most passengers had excursions, we only where planning to do three.

 

 

Food:

 

We tried to do as much as possible to try everything out.

 

-Windjamer for breakfast was good (didn’t go there for dinner), we arrived always at different times in the Windjammer, we never had troubles finding a table, even on the last day there was no problem finding a place. Food overall was good, staff very friendly, maybe a little slow on clearing tables.

 

Except for the first day, we even didn’t reserve a table, we filled our plates first and then went to check for a free table, this was never any trouble for breakfast.

 

-For lunch the Windjammer was OK, I wouldn’t say as good as breakfast as I found the buffets to lack a little taste. I totally missed where Jade is supposed to be an Asian inspired buffet…there were some sushi’s on some days, but I wouldn’t call it an Asian inspired buffet like they commerce it on the site (maybe for dinner?).

 

You could daily make burgers and hotdogs in the windjammer the meat was great but the buns for both could have been of a better quality. Also the famous honey stung chicken was daily available…not my taste, but since many ask this question, this was the answer.

 

-Sorrento’s was great, simple very good food, pizza was great

 

-Café promenade, provided real good snacks, the hole ship was talking about how good there sandwiches and croissants were.

 

-Johnny Rockets, was a disappointment, staff an atmosphere was great, but the burgers and fries are total crap! We can get better American style burgers and fries in Belgium.

BY THE WAY, all the fries on the ship where of the thin deepfreeze kind.

 

-Chops Grill, great food in large portions however here we had a feeling that the waiters where trying to clear our table to fast so they can fit somebody else at a later hour, this did not make for a great meal however I cannot complain what so ever about the quality of the food it was excellent.

 

-Portofino, this was just excellent, great food great staff! We even talked with the head waiter about the difference with chops, he told us that we were not the only passengers that had some issues with chops way of working.

 

-The main dining room, excellent! Great staff, great food, good selection, had great times and great food every day we were there.

 

We were on My Time Dining deck 5 (top floor of the room), and chose for a table by our self, we got a table to our self every time, always in the same neighborhood. We prebooked dining times, but we changed them almost every day, this was never a problem for the MTD responsible.

 

Overall the MDR was a great experience, if you don’t want to spend money on food onboard, stick to the MTD you wont regret it!

 

-Room service, we did one breakfast in bed, it was great, everything we ordered and more was delivered to the room, they called first and 5min later a waiter came along.

 

 

The staff/crew/officers:

 

-All staff were great, always friendly and willing to help out or do some smalltalk.

 

-The waiter staff was also great, very friendly and funny people…however still after this cruise, I still don’t really get what the point or big deal is with having the same waiters every night!? We found it fun to do the same smalltalk thing with somebody else every night.

 

-Crew, same as the staff, always there for you.

 

-Room attendant, the one we had was absolutely great! He got the largest tip we gave and he treated us like kings!!!

He even looked up our names, we told him please use are first names, gave him another tip and since that second tip we almost never had to open the door to our room ourselves, the guy was just fab GREAT!

 

-Officers….WHAT A BUNCH OF STUCK UP A*H***S, Not one of them even bothered to look up and even say hello when you passed by, why if every other employee on the ship could do that, they just walked passed you like you were thin air to them!?

Luckily you don’t really need them as all the other people do the real work on the ship, if it was up to them alone this would have been our last cruise!

Nobody dare say something about there responsibility’s, I DON’T CARE, saying hello is the least they can do for the amount of money you give to the cruise liner.

Walking around in a fancy uniform is not all that…

 

 

Venues onboard:

 

I can only say that everything was great!!! The sear logistical nightmare of a ship this size amazes me even more that they could give us such a good time over all the ship. I think there was not one place that we didn’t stop, from shops to cafes to the casino and nightclub…All were fantastic.

 

Shows were great, we only did Saturday night fever (in my opinion a little long, but then I am not really a play kind of guy), our friends did all the other shows, I didn’t hear one bad word…So overall a very nice job!

 

Captains welcome reception was a blast, I would say 85% dressed up in formal attire (second night)

 

Dancing in the streets also a lot of fun, amazing to see a full promenade deck do the YMCA :D

 

Pools where busy, there were a lot of kids onboard but we never had a feeling that is was too much…In the Solarium this was never a problem.

 

We never had a problem finding a sun bed, except for the last day, which was a sailing day, we had to go lay on the ford top deck.

 

Towel hogs where nonexistent at the solarium, I was amassed by this!

 

Excursions:

 

We booked everything via RCI.

 

We had:

 

-Leaning tower of Pisa, this one great tour! Got off the ship into a bus and after a 45min drive arrived at the grounds of the tower. This was an amazing site, our guide was just excellent and got a long explanation of every building on the site.

 

Climbing the tower was amazing, the guide had us on fixed entering times so we didn’t have to queue, you are only allowed 30 persons at a time in the tower and there was a huge queue for the regular line.

DO NOT do this tour if you are afraid of heights or claustrophobic…We saw a lot of people returning back out of sheer fear, it was a strange experience climbing something that is crooked, you really feel the gravity difference at all times.

 

-Panoramic Rome, was good a little long as this is just a long bus ride combined with a drop of at the Vatican. The drive from the port to Rome is about 60min, then you drive trough Rome passing by all the sights, takes about 2 hours. You see all of them but have just a few seconds to see it and take pictures, it worked fine in the beginning but at the end you where sick of it and didn’t bother to anymore to jump all over the bus to get that one great shot.

 

At the end you are dropped off at the Vatican an free to stroll around for 45 min, Not enough time to enter the cathedral but enough to get some great shots. Then you return for yet another bus trip to the boat.

 

Maybe if we would ever go back, we would chose for Rome on your own tour, but keep in mind, Rome was a very dirty city in my opinion, lots of dirt and graffiti everywhere, if you are not used to this I wouldn’t advise on doing Rome on your own. Also the city was VERY busy so keep this in mind.

 

-4x4 hike Vesuvius and wine tasting was cancelled due to lack of interest, we got our money straight back on our onboard account…To bad for us.

 

 

Check out, late departure option:

 

As we did our cruise fully on a credit card for billing, we did not need to check out, if we had no complaints with the end bill, we would just get off the ship and our credit card would be charged.

We happened to have one bill to many on our account…After a quick stop by the guest relations it was corrected (no hassle or anything).

 

The late departure looked good on paper, but not so good on the ship…

I even filed a formal complaint to RCI!

We chose the option to get off the ship at 12 noon. We disembarked well on time, and where at check out on the gangway around 11:50am, Liberty security was clearly enervated that somebody came of the ship when they were doing the check in of the new guest.

Overall I have to say the security personal can be a lot friendlier (the entire cruise), we are not 16 years old drunk kids entering a dancing…We are cruise passengers that embark en disembark a mighty ship.

 

Once of the boat and to the pier, we could not say that we got a lot of help finding our way…

We only had the exit signs to follow, whilst there were 100 ground crew helping embarking passengers, you can’t tell me that not one of them can be assigned to late departure guests, who have paid more for this option (53€ for two).

 

But the story doesn’t end here…Once outside, with suitcases, no bus to the airport in sight!

Nobody came to us, so we went on a search quest to find somebody that could tell us what to do, the second guy we talked to said we should wait.

We waited for 35 minutes before a bus came along during this time I reminded to personal that our flight leaves in 2 hours and that is well past 12 noon…

We can’t say we got a lot of response until I got mad and they told me to relax….Not the reaction I was looking for!

Anyhow we finally got an a bus at 12:45pm so 45min later than should have! This brought a lot of stress at the end of great vacation…

 

Not the way it should be, that’s why the complaint was send.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Overall experience:

 

The best vacation we ever had in our life and will definitely go back to RCI! Except for the late departure problems and the officers not living up to what I expected, we cannot have one other single complaint what so ever! So great job to all on the ship

 

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have, I will be happy to answer.

 

Here are the pictures, they are only in low res, if you want to see more detail of ask if I have a shot of something please ask (I have over 7hours of film)

 

Us:

 

The room:

 

Grand romance pack:

 

The ship:

 

Chops & Portofino:http://www.flickr.com/photos/64308055@N02/sets/72157627012154250/

 

Greets an thx to you all!!!!!!!!!

[Lottycruiser]

Great review , we were on Liberty in april for a 5 night med cruise and loved her so much that we are going back on her the end of july for a 7 night med cruise , last time we stayed in barcelona for a couple of nights prior to our cruise so we didnt do the RCI transfers , this time we will be going straight from Barcelona airport with RCI transfers , so i was impressed to hear that you got checked in at Barcelona airport and once at the port you could board straight away , i do hope they do the same for us .We cruised with my two grandsons ages 8 and 5 and they loved Liberty , we havent told them they are going back on her yet , we are going to wait till we see her docked as we fly into Barcelona airport ,they think we are staying in Barcelona , what a surprise it will be for them :)

[peteukmcr]

Thanks for your review, and sorry to hear of the disappointments with officers and the late departure option.

 

Perhaps because we have cruised with RCI previously, some of the things we are used to, but there is no excuse really. I did find the disembarkation process a little tedious because when they scanned our cards a verbal warning sounded which the personnel did not know how to react.

 

Well, we're back on her in 130 days time on our transatlantic and we've booked again for May 2012 out of Barcelona for another Med sailing.

[Verfai]

Great review , we were on Liberty in april for a 5 night med cruise and loved her so much that we are going back on her the end of july for a 7 night med cruise , last time we stayed in barcelona for a couple of nights prior to our cruise so we didnt do the RCI transfers , this time we will be going straight from Barcelona airport with RCI transfers , so i was impressed to hear that you got checked in at Barcelona airport and once at the port you could board straight away , i do hope they do the same for us .We cruised with my two grandsons ages 8 and 5 and they loved Liberty , we havent told them they are going back on her yet , we are going to wait till we see her docked as we fly into Barcelona airport ,they think we are staying in Barcelona , what a surprise it will be for them :)

 

I am impressed that you can go back on such short notice, good for you!!! I wish we could do the same :D…I really miss it. I am sure it will be a great surprise!

 

They assured us that it always is this way for airline passengers that have booked airport to pier transfer.

 

A pointer to take with you: You will get a large red sticker on you sea pass in the airport, they don’t really give any explanation what is means, the rumor was that it was a sign of prepaid tips…No so, we asked this at guest relations, this just ment that you checked in at the airport, so once onboard you can get rid of the sticker.

 

Greets

[Verfai]

Thanks for your review, and sorry to hear of the disappointments with officers and the late departure option.

 

Perhaps because we have cruised with RCI previously, some of the things we are used to, but there is no excuse really. I did find the disembarkation process a little tedious because when they scanned our cards a verbal warning sounded which the personnel did not know how to react.

 

Well, we're back on her in 130 days time on our transatlantic and we've booked again for May 2012 out of Barcelona for another Med sailing.

 

They still don’t know what the verbal message means :D “you have a message” …They look at the screen, hold their shoulders up and basically ignore it….

Than you get a “its ok” from them. No thank you, no good bye, no directions…

 

I have gotten reply from the complaints dep, they say they are sorry and that they will look into it…I am guessing no further actions will be taken.

 

So to all, beware of the unfriendly security staff when they are stressed :D

[Dinks88]

Thank you so much for your review. Lottycruiser (she posted above) is my mum, and as she says, we are heading back onto Liberty in July after a fabulous cruise in April. Your opinions pretty much mirror my own, we found it very hard to fault anything either.

 

Thanks once again for posting :)

[Cruise from Calgary]

Thank you for sharing your review!;)

[Verfai]

Two more things to maybe ad to the review,

 

-we did the unlimited fountain soda package, worked great! When waiters where to busy we even got cans instead of fountain soda

 

-We have problems getting enrolled in the crown and anchor society, yet another mail send to RCI :D

[lcyccruiser]

Thanks for a great review and pictures! We sail when she returns to the States. Can't wait.

 

Chris

[Palmetto Pilot]

Great review I really enjoyed reading it!

[Puffinater]

Good review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[deltatango]

Great review, we are on the IOTS in November, we will do Chops & Portofino, is it wise to book before we cruise ?

 

BTW is there any lobster option in Portofinos

[Verfai]

Thanks all! If I could put a “like it” like on Facebook I would do so…We where first timers on a cruise ship, we would have been lost without the help from Cruise Critic, se we can’t thank you enough!

 

Great review, we are on the IOTS in November, we will do Chops & Portofino, is it wise to book before we cruise ?

 

BTW is there any lobster option in Portofinos

 

I would strongly advise on pre reserving the specialty restaurants, when we were at Chops (7pm) the restaurant was filling up quickly. In Portofino, I have to say this was a lot emptier, but we talked to the head waiter, he told us there was only one space left this entire cruise for Portofino…

 

I cannot stress this enough, Portofino is definitely the better choice. The staff on Liberty was just great, and such a good choice of food (there is a marinated filet minion steak option to in Portofino to, only little difference with the one we had in Chops).

 

There was NO lobster on our sailing, nowhere sadly…I am not into shellfish but my girl is (she literally goes crazy on shellfish). On the second formal night there was giant gamba or shrimp option in the MDR. Portofino also had some giant shrimp options and one starter with tail of lobster…No full lobster to find anywhere on the ship ;)

[Verfai]

By the way,

We took pictures of everything we had at Chops and Portofino…On picture 4 and 8 in the set, you see the shrimp I am talking about.

 

Picture 4 is the main course, skewer of seafood including the small lobster tail, picture 8 is the starter, its giant shrimp on a bed of risotto.

 

greets

[Lottycruiser]

I am impressed that you can go back on such short notice, good for you!!! I wish we could do the same :D…I really miss it. I am sure it will be a great surprise!

 

They assured us that it always is this way for airline passengers that have booked airport to pier transfer.

 

A pointer to take with you: You will get a large red sticker on you sea pass in the airport, they don’t really give any explanation what is means, the rumor was that it was a sign of prepaid tips…No so, we asked this at guest relations, this just ment that you checked in at the airport, so once onboard you can get rid of the sticker.

 

Greets

 

Yes i consider myself to be very lucky to be able to cruise on her again in such a short time :),last time we went from airport to pier was last year when we cruised on Navigator , we flew into Rome for that cruise but there was no checking in done at the airport , it was straight onto the bus transfer and we checked in once we got to the port , i like the sound of getting it all done at the airport , that way once you hit the port your on the ship :) .thank you for the info on the sticker ,its always good to know these things in advance , hope its not too long before you can cruise again .

[Verfai]

Yes i consider myself to be very lucky to be able to cruise on her again in such a short time :),last time we went from airport to pier was last year when we cruised on Navigator , we flew into Rome for that cruise but there was no checking in done at the airport , it was straight onto the bus transfer and we checked in once we got to the port , i like the sound of getting it all done at the airport , that way once you hit the port your on the ship :) .thank you for the info on the sticker ,its always good to know these things in advance , hope its not too long before you can cruise again .

 

I am looking, ow dear, Jesus, Allah and Buddha I am looking for the next cruise online :D The sooner the better! ;)

 

On the stickers on the sea pass, I haven’t red much on this subject on these boards. As we demagnetized our sea passes three times :D, got trough a lot of versions of the sea pass :D

 

If you have booked no packages what so ever, you will have a normal sea pass.

-Red round sticker= checked in at the airport

-Coca Cola logo printed on bottom right corner of the sea pass= unlimited fountain soda pack

-Coca Cola light sticker somewhere on the sea pass = unlimited fountain soda pack

(So there are two ways to show that you have the unlimited fountain soda pack)

-The wine package is also a different sticker, indicating on the sticker of you have gold, platinum or diamond.

-Purple round sticker = indicated late departure

-there is no sticker that indicates that you have prepaid your tips, only way that crew can see that you have or not is the “my time dining” option that is on your card.

[jandsmom]

Verfai,

 

Thanks for the great review! We're on in 4 days!! Did they have any theme nights that people got dressed up for? We're starting to pack and just wanted to make sure that we're not forgetting anything! :D

[peteukmcr]

By the way,

We took pictures of everything we had at Chops and Portofino…On picture 4 and 8 in the set, you see the shrimp I am talking about.

 

Picture 4 is the main course, skewer of seafood including the small lobster tail, picture 8 is the starter, its giant shrimp on a bed of risotto.

 

greets

Oh boy, those photos from Portofino and Chops bring back memories. Especially your server dealing with the skewer, she was our server in Portofino too. And the dessert sampler from Portofino and the cake was from Chops wasn't it?

 

Thanks for sharing all your photos, much appreciated.

 

BTW did they keep your SeaPass card when you disembarked? They kept ours and that's the first time it has ever been retained and they said they had to keep as we had used the Late departure program.

[sirisol]

Thanks for the review! Going with Liberty July 2nd with my 3 generations of my family ages 13 to 83! We have 5 balcony staterooms on 8th and are really looking forward to the cruise.:D

[Verfai]

Verfai,

 

Thanks for the great review! We're on in 4 days!! Did they have any theme nights that people got dressed up for? We're starting to pack and just wanted to make sure that we're not forgetting anything! :D

 

No problem dude ;)

 

First there are a few theme nights but most ignored it…

 

Important once are the formal attire, there are two formal nights. The first formal night falls together with the captains reception, I would say 85% dressed up, I thought I was going to be overdressed, but what an understatement that was, everybody was sooooooooo nicely dressed.

 

The second formal night falls together with the pool party at night, here they say dress black and white…But mostly (like me), most gents only brought one suite…So most ignored this (same amount of 85% passengers dressed up).

 

There is a disco/70s theme night/dress code, this falls together with dancing in the streets, I saw nobody in a large curls wig or wide pants that night.

 

There in one smart casual night where 80s style was asked, here again as with the disco theme…I didn’t really see a difference over the ship :D

 

On casual night we saw just about anything at night :D really there were a few hillbilly’s onboard ;)

 

I have to add a funny story, on the second formal night, in the MDR, around 9:30pm a family walked in the MDR dressed in sweat pants :D the ENTIRE MDR was just gazing at them…A lithe overkill as I am strongly for, if you don’t want to you don’t have to, but still…It was a funny sight.

[Verfai]

Oh boy, those photos from Portofino and Chops bring back memories. Especially your server dealing with the skewer, she was our server in Portofino too. And the dessert sampler from Portofino and the cake was from Chops wasn't it?

 

Thanks for sharing all your photos, much appreciated.

 

BTW did they keep your SeaPass card when you disembarked? They kept ours and that's the first time it has ever been retained and they said they had to keep as we had used the Late departure program.

 

You are very correct!

 

The sampler was from Portofino and the reaaaaaaaaaly heavy cake was from chops :D Dam I had to push to get that down, it was very good :D

The waitress was so fine, from the Philippines, if you watch the US show called “Bones” she really made me think of the computer expert in there called Angela :D.

 

We also had to give our sea passes away to the WOII security personal, luckily since we demagnetized three pairs of cards :D we one hidden away as a souvenir :D And got away with it, LOL!

[peteukmcr]

Thanks for the information about the airport transfer and checking in at the airport. Could I ask which terminal you arrived in at Barcelona airport?

 

Just thinking from Manchester, UK we only have 'low cost' airlines to choose from and they arrive in the now considered 'old' terminal 2, not the new terminal 1.

[peteukmcr]

You are very correct!

 

The sampler was from Portofino and the reaaaaaaaaaly heavy cake was from chops :D Dam I had to push to get that down, it was very good :D

The waitress was so fine, from the Philippines, if you watch the US show called “Bones” she really made me think of the computer expert in there called Angela :D.

 

We also had to give our sea passes away to the WOII security personal, luckily since we demagnetized three pairs of cards :D we one hidden away as a souvenir :D And got away with it, LOL!

LOL I know that cake, such a struggle to finish, and like the idea of the hidden sea pass cards!

[Verfai]

Thanks for the information about the airport transfer and checking in at the airport. Could I ask which terminal you arrived in at Barcelona airport?

 

Just thinking from Manchester, UK we only have 'low cost' airlines to choose from and they arrive in the now considered 'old' terminal 2, not the new terminal 1.

 

We gated in terminal 1, SN Brussels airlines is a line flight from Brussels to Barcelona (4x a day) We met a lot of English passengers also in Terminal 1, so I can’t really answer that one.

[Verfai]

LOL I know that cake, such a struggle to finish, and like the idea of the hidden sea pass cards!

 

Just say that they don’t work anymore and go to guest relations…You get new ones without a hassle, if you have one with a sticker on it like for a wine package you can keep that one as guest relations doesn’t have new stickers :D, on the last day before closing you suitcase put that card in there.

And trust me, keep the card on a magnet (even a small one like on a camera bag) is enough to disable your cards :D