LOS Review

[discru]

We recently returned from our first RCL cruise on the Liberty. We have previously only cruised on Disney, but by request, I am posting our thoughts and experiences. I’ll probably break it up into a couple of sections since I want to be thorough and give the most accurate description of our experiences. My goal is not to “bash” anyone, but give the good, the bad and the ugly. I know some will disagree with what I write, but this is 1 cruise in time, not necessarily indicative of the way it “always is”. My experiences with Disney is from the 8 cruises we have taken with them... Anyway… here goes:

The Ships: They are both beautiful and very well maintained. We really enjoyed the Promenade, it was amazing! The Screening room on LOS was terribly small and the sound system was less than good. Disney ships have true movie theaters with lots of space and great acoustics. RCL has strict alcohol policy and does not allow you to bring drinks on the ship. The “D” ship doesn’t care and we bring our alcohol on board – as well as buy drinks on board.

The Cabins: We upgraded to a balcony on LOS and LOVED IT!! We had 4 cabins next to each other and were able to open the partition on the balconies to make one HUGE balcony, that we used everyday. It was incredible, and made our trip quite memorable. I only had 1 balcony on a Disney cruise and that was about 8 years ago, and cannot remember if the cabins were similar. I DO know that the inside cabins on the “D” ship are larger, sleep more people, most have a bath and a half, and now on the newer ships have the virtual portholes. I was very impressed in the amount of storage on the LOS balcony cabins, and I preferred the showers on the LOS.

The crew/staff: This is where we were somewhat disillusioned. Many times we were ignored by the wait staff (Windjammers), crew in the public areas and halls, etc. The staff seemed very disorganized from guest services to the public areas. We had 2 family members in wheelchairs, and could not find anyone who could tell us what deck we needed to be on for handicap seating for the shows. The attention to the passengers was not like is it on the “D” ships, where everyone is acknowledged and made to feel pampered. But…. I must say… many people commented on this. I spoke to a Diamond Plus member who said he noticed how disorganized everything seemed to be, and this was unusual for RCL. Our cabin steward DID say he just came back from training that everyone has to attend when they come back from a break/vacation. Maybe some of the staff just hadn’t made it to the training yet.?

The dining experience: LOS was good, but we preferred the “D” ship. DH ordered sherbet the first 3 nights for dessert because he didn’t see anything he wanted to try. In the past, he has ordered usually 2 desserts because he couldn’t choose from so many good choices. We were served water every day, and not until the 3rd day were we even offered iced tea, and that was because we asked about it specifically. The asst. server, although very nice, seemed put off by having to get us tea. Kudos to RCL for serving actual butter at dinner (on the other ship it was whipped margarine, unless we asked specifically for butter). It was not uncommon for us to eat in the dining room then go to Windjammers to “see what else there is”. All was buffet style so we could get what we wanted. That was a nice option! Kids missed the Krispy Kreme donuts and noticed the first day they were missing.

[discru]

Pizza: I have to put this in a separate section because my kids ate there so much. They thought RCL’s pizza was by far the winner of the two lines. We liked it better as well. Excellent food, with great desserts and out of this world crunchy flat chips. Sorrentos all the way!

The only downside, if there is one is that all the food is indoors. The kids missed having all you can eat hamburgers, chicken fingers, fries and pizza all at their disposal on deck by the pools as on Disney. The soft serve ice cream had very short hours, which everyone wished had stayed open longer. They also missed the “free” sodas.

 

Kids Areas/Programs: Well…. Flowrider and rock wall! How cool is that!!?? And loads of fun to watch! My younger DS was unhappy with the meet and greet and how the teen/preteenprogram was run. He preferred the assorted activities with the counselors on Disney better. I really appreciated the 1am curfew RCL imposed. That was a big plus! It’s funny, but it seemed like I saw more kids while on LOS than Disney. I think that may be because the kids on the “D” ship are almost always in their “clubs”.

Quiet, Private Adult area: The most comfortable seating on LOS, in my opinion, was in the Champagne Bar. We really wanted to go to the Pub, but the cigarette smoke was so strong, you could smell it just walking past the pub on the Promenade. Travelling with a parent with lung cancer, and the rest of us not liking the smell of cigarette smoke, was the reason we didn’t sit down and grab a beer. Would have loved to, since it looks like a neat place to sit back and relax… but we couldn’t get past all the smoke. We searched high and low for a quiet place with a great view of the water and Olive r Twist was what we came up with. It doesn’t compare to the Quiet Cove on Disney with the huge windows overlooking the ocean. Chairs were much more comfortable there than in O r Twist. On prior cruises, we have enjoyed the Sports Bar, but couldn’t find one on LOS.

Private Island/Port: Labadee was nice. Liked the market, although they got pretty aggressive trying to show me their wares. When we went to get our lunch, they had “run out” of ribs. This was 40 minutes before lunch was supposed to end. Their answer to our question of “will you be making any more?”, was to put a large platter of cookies in front of us. Now, their cookies are good… but not exactly the protein we were looking for. We noticed trash all around the trashcans, on top of the trash cans, under the picnic tables. I was put-off by the fact they charge you to go on a blow up inflatable. Seems silly to me. Disney has the best private island out there, in my opinion. They own the entire island and take great pains to make it exquisite. There is an adult only beach that serves steak and mahi, in addition to the other great bbq food. They have built all kinds of water activities and slides, and are free of charge.

Price: Well…. That’s the reason we ended up on RCL in the first place. But, that being said… I would gladly pay extra (to a degree) for the other line. We have done some research since we got home and prices can range from a couple hundred to 1,000 or more, depending on season, cabin, etc. I don’t remember the specifics, but one cruise I compared for a balcony stateroom was only a few hundred dollars different. (Strangely, the difference in indoor cabin prices were more) We did feel a little nickel- and dimed on RCL.

 

They are BOTH great lines and have lots to offer. They do offer different experiences. RCL definitely had a more “party” environment, while on Disney, it was easier for us to find some quiet, private places to just hang out.

[discru]

Oh wow!! The SHOWS!! I almost forgot about the Shows!! DH and I LOVED the LOS shows. They were spectacular!!! DH liked them because they only lasted approx 45 minutes (he missed Sat. Night Fever..that was a lot longer). Disney also puts on great shows, but we have seen them numerous times, so we really enjoyed seeing new shows on LOS. You can't go wrong on either line. They are awesome!

[Zach1213]

Nice review! I definitely share a lot of your opinions, having been on Liberty a couple of months ago. Specifically, I do want to address the crew. I have seen a lot of reviews just raving about how great every single person on the ship was, but that wasn't our experience. Most people were absolutely fantastic, but some were lacking, and one specifically was down right rude. Even at the MDR, one night our servers were just fantastic, while a couple nights later our (different) servers were quite poor. Windjammer staff was 20% friendly, 80% lackadaisical.

 

Labadee is a nice place, but I think it's better to get off property if possible. We did an excursion during the afternoon and it was the best part of our entire trip, without a doubt. We did spend the morning on Labadee beach itself and found it...OK.

[IdRatherBCruisin]

Totally agree. We were on the Liberty last week. Service was horrible...had to search out the waitresses for a drink in the bar...every night! Also, had horrible service in the dining room..couldn't get my husband's sherbet order right on any of the nights. The room staff wouldn't even look up to say hello when you passed them in the hall in the morning. The entire ship staff just seemed very off. No direction when it was time to disembark...just chaos.

[discru]

Disembarking was a nightmare for us as well. We had both my parents in wheelchairs. We were allowed to follow the wheelchairs from the ship thru customs, so my parents would not be left on the curb without any family to help them. I couldn't leave my children to fend for themselves, so they were with us. The nice RCL people who helped push the chairs took us through the horrendously long lines of people who were waiting to disembark. They made everyone move to the side so we could all go thru. I was mortified, to say the least. My children and I heard grumbelings and received nasty looks from some of the other passengers of why we "got to go first" and "cut in front of everyone". I can't blame them. Surely there is a better way to handle the wheelchairs than to make the seas part so they can go thru. It was embarrassing. My main concern was not getting separated from my parents and having them just dumped somewhere in the port where I could not get to them. It was stressful for all, and I felt just horrible. Add a lost bag to the mix (of which RCL still hasn't found) and I chalk it all up to a miserable end to our vacation.

 

Boarding the ship with the wheelchairs was interesting too. No one knew how to handle the chairs. We were told there was a certain line for handicap...but everyone was clueless. We were left in a spot and then forgotten, with all the hubbub of boarding the other passengers. When we finally tracked someone down to see where we were supposed to go... no one knew. It was as if they had never see a wheelchair before and had no clue how to attend to it. Once onboard we had some difficulties getting the chairs over some of the seams in the floors. At one point my parents had to get out of the chairs just so we could get the chairs over the hump in the floor.

[discru]

Just received phone call from RCL. They found my bag! Sending it Fedex. $26.62

[RumRunner01]

Ok, I am glad I'm not going crazy. There are others out there saying the same thing we experienced on Liberty on our March 12th sailing. We were a group of 21 and one in a wheelchair (who had so-so assistance on Liberty but excellent assistance on Allure the next week). I found the service to be just awful in every single venue we went to on the entire ship. Even the pool drink guys were lackluster. Food was not very good, and we had the same menu on Allure the following week and it was night and day, the food was much better than on Liberty even though it was the same menu!

 

We are Emerald C&A so we have been on our fair share of RC cruises and know what to expect but Liberty is at the bottom of my list Even the Diamond members in our group felt the same. We found it very difficult to find someone to give our WOW cards to. I won't sail Liberty again, lots of other nice ships out there to sail with better itineraries. I won't be back to Labadee or Falmouth either.

[discru]

Lol. We tried very hard to keep an opened mind, and although there were some things we liked better on the Liberty (touch screen directions, Sorrentos) the overall experience, layout of the ship, public areas, etc. was much more to our liking on Disney. Both my kids said they don't want to cruise on anything other than Disney again. And the odd thing is.... We are so NOT big Walt Disney people. We enjoy their movies, but as for Disney World and all things Disney..? Nope. We just like the personal attention and attention to detail we have received on their ships.

I would like to try the Oasis or Allure, just to try. Kids and DH are not so inclined. We will see.

[RumRunner01]

Discru, if you did want to try RC again, would recommend Oasis or Allure. Allure is so amazing and much nicer all around compared to Liberty. Too bad Liberty was your first RC cruise, RC has so many nice ships and crews across the fleet.

[discru]

Thanks for the advice. I would like to try one of those. Disney can be pricey and I would love to find another option for the high season months that my family will enjoy as well. The pics of those ships look great. Is there quiet, smokeless areas for adults to hang out, or is it more of a party environment ship? And, I assume it's more expensive.... Is the crew more attentive as a whole? How is the quality of the food? And one more question.... Do you think the teen program is run better than on LOS?

[RumRunner01]

I think Allure or Oasis would be a great alternative to Disney for you. Allure was an amazing ship and I thought I would dislike it due to its size but I loved it. Yes, we were able to find smoke free areas that were quiet, we always found a spot in the Solarium (it's huge). And I guess we got lucky and not around too many smokers. There are lots of little hidden areas outside where you can get away from people and smoke. Try the very front of the ship on deck 14 too. Inside the ship, I know some food/drinks areas are smoke free but not sure which is which. And half the huge casino was dedicated non smoking.

 

Yes, the crew was VERY attentive, everything I have grown to expect from RC. I found the food better even though it was the same menu we had on Liberty. It tasted better, looked better, better portions too.

 

Unfortunately I do not have any knowledge about the teen program since we do not have kids. I do know that the Adventure Ocean areas looked huge, though.

 

I also have posted reviews of both the LOS and Allure sailings here on Cruise Critic under Member Reviews. Just look for the ones by RumRunner01.

[discru]

Thank you SO much!! I will certainly check them out!!

[Chloesimon]

Certain people buy the cheapest cabin on a ship and expect Ritz Carlton service. They get upset when their every wish is not granted.

[discru]

Not sure what you are referring to Chloesimon. We paid an additional fee to upgrade 4 cabins to balcony cabins. I would hope the service from the crew is consistant and would not be downgraded if I were in, say, the least expensive cabin.