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Liberty of the Seas **LIVE** Transatlantic Review - 7th to 20th April 2013

ticktoneer
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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted
I tuned into the camera at 9pm UK time, 4pm FL time and there was a lot of small boat action going on around the ship, including one small boat with flashing blue lights...

 

I didn't think anything of it, and flipped to doing something else, and completely forgot... just went back to the camera now and was mighty surprised to see Liberty still sitting there... hope they get away soon...

 

Port Everglades always have small boats from the various police agencies to protect the ships when they are in port and are sailing. The United States Coast Guard, the Broward County, Florida, Sheriff's Office, and the Fort Lauderdale Police all provide security. The flashing blue lights that are on the boat you saw around Liberty of the Sea belong to either the Sheriff's Office or the Fort Lauderdale Police. This is very routine and nothing about which to be concerned.

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trisha1165

trisha1165

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Posted

I've never followed a "LIVE" review so I'm like a big kid to follow along here. I'm so excited for our cruise in December that I just keep taking in everything Liberty. DD thinks I'm crazy. :D I look forward to your posts. Enjoy!!

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Sinppu

Sinppu

Posted
Posted (edited)

Subscribed!

I'm also interested in how on Earth your one-way flights that cheap :eek:

My Mom hates flying and we'd love to take a TA one day so she'd only have to fly one way to the US ;)

Edited by Sinppu
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alaska_planner

alaska_planner

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Posted
Subscribed!

I'm also interested in how on Earth your one-way flights that cheap :eek:

My Mom hates flying and we'd love to take a TA one day so she'd only have to fly one way to the US ;)

 

or you could coordinate a TA with an ocean crossing on the Queen Mary (Cunard).

That's what i'm hoping to do.

cross one way on the QM and the other way on one of the royal carribean ships.

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Frankmac

Frankmac

Posted
Posted

Not sure if you are doing any of the drinks packages, but would be interested to hear any information you might have on them, especially the dreaded house wines.

 

Really looking forward to your review as we are joining Liberty in Naples on 14th June.

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Sinppu

Sinppu

Posted
Posted
or you could coordinate a TA with an ocean crossing on the Queen Mary (Cunard).

That's what i'm hoping to do.

cross one way on the QM and the other way on one of the royal carribean ships.

 

I thank you for the tip but that is a way too long time to spend with my mother :p

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ticktoneer

ticktoneer

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Day 1 - 8 April 2013 - Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, USA

 

We arrived at the terminal at 11.30am. Only a limited number of other guests were around so security and check in was a breeze. We were on the ship 30 minutes later at 12 noon.

 

Everyone we met was very friendly at check in and also when we boarded Liberty.

 

We remembered to make sure we were given our WOW cards when we checked in (we asked for extras !).

 

We had a quick walk around the ship. Everything looked great. Clean and in good condition. I think we're going to love Liberty.

 

By 12.30pm we were in Wind Jammer deciding what to eat. There was a great selection, and as it was early it was still quiet. We got a table no problem. I had potato and leek soup and turkey for my main. I love the still lemonade and could drink gallons of it :-) .

 

There was a welcomed tannoy announcement at 12.50pm saying all staterooms were ready. This was great to be in them earlier than expected. Our D3 stateroom with balcony on the 6th floor is lovely. It is nice and wide and quite long. The couch at the side of the beds must be 9ft long !!! Again it was really clean (only the TV a little grubby) and all our Diamond letter, voucher booklets and amenities were there. We just await our diamond pins now.

 

After dumping our hand luggage in our stateroom we went to visit the DL. It's very nice. However as there are a lot of Pinnacle, Diamond Plus and Diamond onboard they have changed evening arrangements. The 519 of us who are Diamond will be in the Sphinx from 5.00-8.30pm for DL service and the Pinnacle / Diamond Plus members will be accommodated in Olive & Twist.

 

At 1.45pm we saw a strange sight. Navigator of the Seas was pulling into Port Everglades. Lots of guests were taking photo's/video and many crew were observing. They didn't know what brought Navigator here at this strange time. It left again at 2.30pm. I'm assuming it must have been a medical emergency.

 

Nothing to report from 2.30pm until the Muster as I took a quick afternoon nap to make sure I'm refreshed tonight.

 

The muster came and went with no issues. We were A02 in The Sphinx Lounge.

 

We were really enjoying Liberty as it just had a great friendly feel and warm atmosphere. Some of the staff and officers are:

 

Master - Captain Per Kristoffersen

Cruise Director - Rich Edwards

Hotel Director - Darren Budden

Food & Beverage Manager - Gunter Steib

Chief Engineer - Eldor Vaernes

 

At 5pm our suitcases were delivered so we unpacked and sent 4 bags of clothes to the laundry for pressing. Our stateroom attendant Daniel Currie seems excellent - nothing is too much trouble.

 

The welcome aboard show tonight was with Lance Ringbald who used to be an Olympic Gymnast. He was doing an acrobatic variety show. This isn't really our thing so we gave it a miss.

 

We ventured down to the Diamond Lounge (in the Sphinx) at 6pm for the first time ever. Hooray !!!!!

 

What a nice atmosphere and great loyalty perk. We had a few Vodka & Cranberry and Gin & Tonic to sustain us for the evening ahead. Ha ha ha !

 

8.30pm was Dinner. We were on a table for 2 on deck four - table number 455. A bit of a strange position - just in front of the main entrance doors. The menus seem very varied and enjoyable. Tonight I had fruit medley, followed by pork steak and then BBB crime brûlée.

 

At 10pm we called into the Champagne bar, met some great people to chat with and have a laugh. We all decided to stay together for the evening. We ended up in The Catacombs until after 2am.

 

I know . . . . . . What a dirty stop out ! Lol.

 

More review tommorrow :-)

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alaska_planner

alaska_planner

Posted
Posted
Day 1 - 8 April 2013 - Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, USA

 

We arrived at the terminal at 11.30am. Only a limited number of other guests were around so security and check in was a breeze. We were on the ship 30 minutes later at 12 noon.

 

Everyone we met was very friendly at check in and also when we boarded Liberty.

 

We remembered to make sure we were given our WOW cards when we checked in (we asked for extras !).

 

We had a quick walk around the ship. Everything looked great. Clean and in good condition. I think we're going to love Liberty.

 

By 12.30pm we were in Wind Jammer deciding what to eat. There was a great selection, and as it was early it was still quiet. We got a table no problem. I had potato and leek soup and turkey for my main. I love the still lemonade and could drink gallons of it :-) .

 

There was a welcomed tannoy announcement at 12.50pm saying all staterooms were ready. This was great to be in them earlier than expected. Our D3 stateroom with balcony on the 6th floor is lovely. It is nice and wide and quite long. The couch at the side of the beds must be 9ft long !!! Again it was really clean (only the TV a little grubby) and all our Diamond letter, voucher booklets and amenities were there. We just await our diamond pins now.

 

After dumping our hand luggage in our stateroom we went to visit the DL. It's very nice. However as there are a lot of Pinnacle, Diamond Plus and Diamond onboard they have changed evening arrangements. The 519 of us who are Diamond will be in the Sphinx from 5.00-8.30pm for DL service and the Pinnacle / Diamond Plus members will be accommodated in Olive & Twist.

 

At 1.45pm we saw a strange sight. Navigator of the Seas was pulling into Port Everglades. Lots of guests were taking photo's/video and many crew were observing. They didn't know what brought Navigator here at this strange time. It left again at 2.30pm. I'm assuming it must have been a medical emergency.

 

Nothing to report from 2.30pm until the Muster as I took a quick afternoon nap to make sure I'm refreshed tonight.

 

The muster came and went with no issues. We were A02 in The Sphinx Lounge.

 

We were really enjoying Liberty as it just had a great friendly feel and warm atmosphere. Some of the staff and officers are:

 

Master - Captain Per Kristoffersen

Cruise Director - Rich Edwards

Hotel Director - Darren Budden

Food & Beverage Manager - Gunter Steib

Chief Engineer - Eldor Vaernes

 

At 5pm our suitcases were delivered so we unpacked and sent 4 bags of clothes to the laundry for pressing. Our stateroom attendant Daniel Currie seems excellent - nothing is too much trouble.

 

The welcome aboard show tonight was with Lance Ringbald who used to be an Olympic Gymnast. He was doing an acrobatic variety show. This isn't really our thing so we gave it a miss.

 

We ventured down to the Diamond Lounge (in the Sphinx) at 6pm for the first time ever. Hooray !!!!!

 

What a nice atmosphere and great loyalty perk. We had a few Vodka & Cranberry and Gin & Tonic to sustain us for the evening ahead. Ha ha ha !

 

8.30pm was Dinner. We were on a table for 2 on deck four - table number 455. A bit of a strange position - just in front of the main entrance doors. The menus seem very varied and enjoyable. Tonight I had fruit medley, followed by pork steak and then BBB crime brûlée.

 

At 10pm we called into the Champagne bar, met some great people to chat with and have a laugh. We all decided to stay together for the evening. We ended up in The Catacombs until after 2am.

 

I know . . . . . . What a dirty stop out ! Lol.

 

More review tommorrow :-)

 

sounds like the perfect first day!!!

519 diamond!!!!!! wow!!!

 

how many diamond plus and pinnacle?

 

interesting about the navigator..she's also on a TA....lots of us watched her coming in and leaving on the port everglades webcam, wondering what it was about..

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lakelorain

lakelorain

Posted
Posted
Subscribed!

I'm also interested in how on Earth your one-way flights that cheap :eek:

My Mom hates flying and we'd love to take a TA one day so she'd only have to fly one way to the US ;)

 

Not sure if you can use Choice Air, but through them we were able to purchase very inexpensive flights last October. One way, Newark, NJ to Barcelona was $203 US Dollars.

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ticktoneer

ticktoneer

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Posted

Questions ?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

springaussie (glen) - you asked me to try and put some ship speeds in my reviews. I've started to do this in Day 2. We are doing 18.2 knots today. I hope that's ok?

 

springaussie (glen) and scottifer - you both asked about the lines outside the new cruise booking office once the Oasis and Europe programmes opened up. They haven't been as bad as I thought. Everytime I've passed today there has probably been between 15-25 people waiting to see the Loyalty Ambassador and his staff.

 

moxy35 - you asked about kids on this transatlantic. There are 99 children but guest services couldn't break it down into age brackets for me.

 

crafty_sue - you asked about bitter in the bars. They have Bass in bottles, Newcastle brown in bottles and Boddingtons in cans. I hope this makes sense to you as I'm not a beer or lager drinker :-)

 

dragon of the seas - you asked about TA's and what there is to do on the many sea days. I'm going to bring the cruise compasses home to post on here and at the end of each days review I'll give a flavour of some of that days activities. I hope that'll work for you.

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maxy35

maxy35

Posted
Posted

Thats brilliant. :):) Thanks for finding out about the number of kids. Thats more than I thought would be on board.

 

Sounds like your having a great cruise. I'm enjoying getting my daily fix from your cruise review. Liberty is my favourite ship and can't wait until October for the return TA.

 

By the way have you taken any of the drinks packages?

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springaussie

springaussie

Posted
Posted
Questions ?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

springaussie (glen) - you asked me to try and put some ship speeds in my reviews. I've started to do this in Day 2. We are doing 18.2 knots today. I hope that's ok?

 

springaussie (glen) and scottifer - you both asked about the lines outside the new cruise booking office once the Oasis and Europe programmes opened up. They haven't been as bad as I thought. Everytime I've passed today there has probably been between 15-25 people waiting to see the Loyalty Ambassador and his staff.

 

That is great just the info I wanted. Thanks

If you can remember please put report the speed again later in the cruise.

Glen

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