Liberty quick review

[cpa2be]

We just returned from a 5 day Liberty cruise. Overall, we enjoyed a relaxing and pleasant cruise. It's always better to be on a cruise ship than to be at work.:)

 

The food was ok. We've been on 2 cruises with the new menus and while we enjoyed some of the dishes, I do miss the Vidalia Onion Tart that was served on embarkation day. I always enjoy the honey stung chicken in the Windjammer on the first day.

 

We had room 1564 which is directly beneath the cantilevered whirlpool. This room had a a very large balcony with 2 padded loungers, and a glass topped table and 2 chairs. However, the balcony is in full shade at all times. We enjoyed this and spent quite a bit of time lounging (napping) out there. But if you are looking for a little sun on your balcony, this room may disappoint you. We did notice noise from the whirr of the whirlpool - kind of like white noise. Also, the balcony glass is tinted. None of these things bothered us, just letting others know.

 

The dining room staff and room steward were very thorough and friendly. In fact, we enjoyed friendly service at all venues.

 

The late night comedian I am sorry to say was not funny. We are usually tired on that first night so we had to take a nap in order to stay up to attend the show. We were disappointed.

 

The Concierge Lounge was too small with very limited seating. We chose to enjoy the Diamond Lounge instead. We enjoyed the views from the 14th deck and any overflow of passengers spills outside, with much more seating.

 

The production shows are always well done but I find some of the entertainment repeats very often and we see the same acts multiple times. The headliner was Spectrum, a Motown group, who put on a very entertaining show. This was the first time we have seen them.

 

We booked our next cruise with the Loyalty Ambassador but his computer went down in the first few minutes and he was unable to do anything but write down our request. We were to receive documentation lat once he finalized our booking. We did not get any paperwork but I see that my credit card was charged for the deposit. I guess a call to RCCL is in order to get my booking number, etc. Not a big deal, but a bit lacking in service on the LA's end.

 

Getting off the ship was a nightmare as others have already mentioned. We did the self walk off and it took over an hour. Lines snaked around mutliple venues and it was confusing to find the end of the line. Staff did little to assist passengers who needed direction. Passengers getting off elevators blended in front of people who had been waiting in line and the staff did nothing to correct this.

 

There was a long line up of passengers waiting for taxis, but no taxis. This was very odd. We gave up waiting in line and took a shuttle instead, as did many other passengers. We had a 9:55 flight, which we made, but I would not recommend this. Next cruise, we will book a later flight and use the luggage valet service.

[Cigar King]

I'm glad we don't need to rush when we get off, since everyone seems to comment on how messy that can be. Are the later departures less disorganized? My impression is the walk off seems to be.

[cpa2be]

I wonder if that's the case. My guess is that once the bottleneck eases that the numbered tag system would move along more smoothly.

[vacation fool]

We were on the same cruise. Loved the ship, the shows, agree on the comedian :( he was pretty bad. Spectrum was awesome!

We were in group 1 to debark right after the self carry people. Trust me, the stairwells were already snaked around with people. Like op said, staff members did nothing to direct people and one line ran into the other as they came down the stairs from their waiting areas and smack into the middle of an already existing line which was coming from another waiting area. One man got aggravated and started yelling at one of the staff members who again did nothing but stand there. We were called off at 8 am and it took at least 30 min to reach customs which took 4 minutes. I might add that no one told us we had to collect our luggage first before continuing in the line to reach customs. A woman was directing the line and i happenned to see luggage to the right of where we were. I had to ask her if we needed to get our luggage first. She asked what number we were and i said "1" and then she pointed over to the luggage that i had seen. At no time did she tell people that they needed to do this. Then i had to ask where the porters were. She told me to wait. Then a few porters came out of a door and were arguing amongst themselves. Finally one went to get a luggage cart and assisted us. This whole experience is so unlike any other debarkation process that i have ever had. I have been on over 15+ cruises and cannot figure out why this situation with the Liberty goes on and on. Other threads try to blame customs but from what i could see there was no backup there at all. Despite this i would not hesitate to go back on this ship again and again :D

[Merion_Mom]

We just returned from a 5 day Liberty cruise. Overall, we enjoyed a relaxing and pleasant cruise. It's always better to be on a cruise ship than to be at work.:)

 

Not if it's the Carnival Triumph.

[JediMom]

I think we were also on the same sailing (at Ft Lauderdale on Feb 15th??) We found the disembarkment not too bad actually. (Although we had an excursion booked at the Everglades), so we were luggage tag #5 and met at the Shooner Bar. I think it took about an hour from getting off our seats at the bar to hitting the bus for the excursion.

 

The only annoyance was hanging out on the staircse and having people "budding" in front of my son, who I kept in front of me so I could see him. the ironic thing was we "beat" the budders through customs.

[Frankmac]

Is this a normal problem with LOS, or just in certain ports. We are sailing from Naples and disembarking there in June.

 

Incidentally what is the latest you can disembark and how early do you have to be out of your stateroom?

[missemo12345]

What did you think of the cruise director Leo Papa??? Sailing shortly heard mixed reviews? Please share your thoughts good or bad...Thank you

[cpa2be]

I was not impressed with Leo Papa. There is nothing specific that I can point to, he just seemed lackluster. Any banter before or after a show in the theater was kept to a minimum. He seemed tired and merely going through the motions.

 

We have had CD's that really enhanced our cruise experience and look forward to sailing with them in the future.