Home from Liberty 4/6 Sailing. (Kind of long.)

[stargate fan]

This was my 10th cruise and membership definitely has its privileges! I was unsure of how this cruise would work. So here are my experiences:

 

We arrived at the port at our usual 9:00 am. We had to wait outside for about 40 minutes, but we were on vacation so all was good. Our luggage had FTTF tags put on them, even though we did not purchase it.

 

For Past Guest rates, I booked with my girlfriend and my DH booked with her DH. Since she was my roomie, her boarding pass said Priority. DH and I were on the same credit card, so he was also able to board with us. We put friend's DH on our credit card so he could also board in our line.

 

When we entered the port, we went to the Priority Line. Our papers and passports were checked. We were shown to the President's Lounge. When we got to the door, we were escorted to the counter. A nice port employee took our pictures and handed us our S&S cards. Ooh, my Platinum card was so pretty! The VIP Lounge was wonderful. We had comfy chairs, and water and lemonade were available.

 

At 11:30, the 100 or so of us were escorted through the port to the ship. We only had to "boing" in, since our pictures were already in the system.

Note-at 11:30, there were approximately 100 people in line at general boarding area to check in. I can't imagine how long that took.

 

We went right to our cabin and dropped off our stuff-another great Platinum benefit.

 

Later, we went to Guest Services to change our door keys and credit cards. There were some 25 people in the regular line, but we walked right up to the Platinum counter. That was very cool! Though it took several tries to sort everything, eventually all was right. Upon return to our cabin, around noon, all of our luggage was IN the cabin. Awesome!

 

Twice during the cruise we sent bags of laundry to be cleaned. The laundry slips had a shaded area for Platinum and Diamond cruisers to write in folio number. I was worried about the size of the bag-surely it would not fit much. Pfft! We had 27 articles of clothing. I rolled each one very tightly. I shoved the undies and socks deep down into the corners. Ta da!! The second bag had 25 articles of clothing. It was so nice coming home with no dirty laundry. We were charged $15 per bag then credited $15 per bag.

 

We had late dinner seating. After five cruises in 18 months, I'm tired of the dining room choices. Just an opinion.

 

We were in cabin 9276. STAY AWAY FROM CABIN 9276!! I always check deck plans but I totally screwed up this one. Above us was an air conditioner intake vent. All we heard the entire cruise was VVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRR!!! We could not enjoy our balcony because we could not even hear each other without yelling. The noise was terribly distracting. Forget about sleeping with the balcony door open-could barely hear the waves.

 

I used my Tervis Tumbler today. It kept my ice coffee cold all day.

 

We received a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate candies, and strawberry cookies. Mmm. We ate half and planned on the rest after dinner that night. Sadly, our room steward took them away, thinking we didn't want them. They were on our desk with the cover still on. His answer-sorry.

 

Cozumel-We took a cab to Sea Grape. It was nice and quiet.

 

Belize-We booked a Carnival excursion to Xantunich. AMAZING!!! Though the bus ride was two hours either way, we learned and saw so much. Good thing we booked through the ship-our excursion was 45 minutes late getting back so the ship had to wait for us. She set sail almost before the gang plank was up.

 

Roatan-We stayed at Mahogany Bay. Next time, we'll definitely try and make it to West End.

 

Grand Cayman-Priority tendering-nice! We took a cab to Public Beach.

 

Despite the few issues mentioned, we had a terrific cruise. I didn't let the small things ruin our vacation.

 

We sailed Liberty back in 2008, before the 2.0 upgrade. Here are some thoughts of 2.0:

 

Guys Burgers-Yummy! We didn't find them very greasy and they were delicious, but VERY messy when toppings were piled on. The fries were generally mushy and underdone so we got fries at Fish and Chips instead.

 

RedFrog Rum Bar and BlueIguana Tequila Bar-Meh. No big deal. They just took up space on Lido Deck.

 

BlueIguana Cantina-LOVED the breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, salsa, and guacamole. I had them for breakfast three of our seven mornings.

 

We never made it to Punchliner Brunch. Bummer. Heard it was great.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer.

 

 

[Jeafl]

Nice review, thanks for posting. We are doing the same ship and itinerary next March.

 

I did have a couple of questions. Did you not like Mahogany Bay? What is in the West End that you thought might be better? We have never been to Roatan, so we are still trying to decide what to do. :)

[stargate fan]

Nice review, thanks for posting. We are doing the same ship and itinerary next March.

 

I did have a couple of questions. Did you not like Mahogany Bay? What is in the West End that you thought might be better? We have never been to Roatan, so we are still trying to decide what to do. :)

 

Oh, we LOVE Mahogany Bay. We were there last April and again last week. Just hope to see a different part of Roatan.

[michelle1836]

Belize-We booked a Carnival excursion to Xantunich. AMAZING!!! Though the bus ride was two hours either way, we learned and saw so much. Good thing we booked through the ship-our excursion was 45 minutes late getting back so the ship had to wait for us. She set sail almost before the gang plank was up.

Glad to hear this. we are doing the same excursion in July and cant wait!

[Momma1980]

I did have a couple of questions. Did you not like Mahogany Bay? What is in the West End that you thought might be better? We have never been to Roatan, so we are still trying to decide what to do. :)

 

...

 

I just wanted to add my two cents here because I love Roatan. I find it such a gorgeous mix of jungle and beach! Really want to do a land vacation here someday.

 

Have been there twice so far. First time with a group of 28. Did a Victor Bodden tour. Highlights were Tabyana beach area and time spent with monkey interaction on Bodden's property.. Second time went with only my teenage daughter. My daughter and I did the Maya Key excursion through Carnival in March. Loved it! Beautiful place that I would like to go back to.

 

My point is... PLEASE don't limit your visit to Roatan to just the man made Carnival beach at the port. This place is bursting with beauty:)

[stargate fan]

Glad to hear this. we are doing the same excursion in July and cant wait!

 

Bring A LOT of water. It was very sunny and hot as we climbed the ruins.

[stargate fan]

I just wanted to add my two cents here because I love Roatan. I find it such a gorgeous mix of jungle and beach! Really want to do a land vacation here someday.

 

Have been there twice so far. First time with a group of 28. Did a Victor Bodden tour. Highlights were Tabyana beach area and time spent with monkey interaction on Bodden's property.. Second time went with only my teenage daughter. My daughter and I did the Maya Key excursion through Carnival in March. Loved it! Beautiful place that I would like to go back to.

 

My point is... PLEASE don't limit your visit to Roatan to just the man made Carnival beach at the port. This place is bursting with beauty:)

 

We really wanted to leave Mahogany Bay' date=' but it just did not work out this time. If we ever cruise to Roatan again, we will definitely go to West End.[/color']

[TakeMeAway1001]

Nice review, sadly the first thing that caught my eye was the cabin #, we have that one in a few weeks. We cruised on her last May too and had 9272 and don't recall any issues with noise and it's two cabins away, hopefully it won't be too bad.

[Momma1980]

We really wanted to leave Mahogany Bay, but it just did not work out this time. If we ever cruise to Roatan again, we will definitely go to West End.

 

 

 

I don't think you would regret it!

 

Thank you for the review:)

[CocoaMom]

Oh, we LOVE Mahogany Bay. We were there last April and again last week. Just hope to see a different part of Roatan.

 

Roatan is probably my favorite port, absolutely love it there. I'm doing this sailing in 4 days. Although I'm excited for it, I'm a bit disappointed about the time we're in Roatan, sigh ... the Liberty isn't there the entire day. Thanks for the review.

[sunshineonmymind]

If you possibly could post them or email them?

[Bhlondie]

Thanks for the review!! For all that love Roatan, what do you do there? I was thinking about doing the pirates of the Caribbean zipline..and then going to the beach, since we will be there a short day...