Better Really Late Than Never - Liberty of the Seas Mediterranean - mais318 Review!

[mais318]

Review Introduction

 

I’ve seen a few times on the Cruise Critic boards that it is never too late to write a review of a cruise. Well I wonder if they were ever thinking about someone writing a review two years after the cruise? Well that’s the position I’m in as I begin to write this now. Hope you all enjoy this very belated review!

 

I will do my best to remember my days and recall the cruise through photos and memories. I will post many photos of the ports and will hopefully have enough of the inside of the ship as well. It was a very port intensive cruises so I have less photos of the ship, but I will do my best with what I have and prepare for my review of Oasis in a month.

 

I’m doing this review for a couple reasons. The first is that I wanted some practice writing a full and detailed review and give myself a little practice using fonts, hyperlinks, and large pictures for my upcoming Oasis of the Seas review in a month or so. The second is that I recently saw someone ask about information on Liberty of the Seas Mediterranean cruises, and realized there is not much information or solid reviews on Liberty in the Mediterranean. So here I am writing a review 2 years overdue!

 

To introduce myself, I am a 19-year-old guy born in California and raised Connecticut with a brief stop in Orlando, Florida. I just finished my first year at Northeastern University in Boston, and spent my first semester studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland. I have had the travel bug from a young age, with my first true abroad experience in Athens Greece, at the age of 8. I have since been fortunate enough to travel Europe extensively and go on 3 cruises with a fourth on Oasis in the near future.

 

On the cruise were my parents both 46 at the time, my sister 14, and I, and everyone if you have any tips or suggestions please do not hesitate to speak up.

[mais318]

Pre Cruise Planning

 

The planning for this cruise begun when we decided we wanted to do a big Europe summer trip, but were unsure how to really go about planning it. We wanted to see Spain, Italy and maybe Paris. After looking through our options, we quickly decided that a cruise would allow us to hit many of the ports we wanted to see and never have to pack and re pack our bags. We had close friends just to a tour of Italy and told us about the horrors of sightseeing with luggage in the streets of Rome. Needless to say we wanted nothing to do with that and decided a cruise is the way to go. I did not have an issue with this because like nearly all of you on Cruise Critic, I love cruises and being on the water.

 

There were a lot of options for summer cruises in the Mediterranean so we had some tough decisions to make. We were stuck between two 7-day cruises on either the Liberty of the Seas or on Norwegian Epic or a 12-day cruise on the Celebrity Equinox. My sister and I wanted to do the Equinox because it was a beautiful ship and also called at the Greek isles, which we really wanted to see. My parents however really preferred a shorter cruise with a day or two extra in Barcelona. After some more research, we decided that my parents were probably right that a shorter cruise was a good idea, and Liberty of the Seas was a great fit for our interests. This cruise called at 6 different ports on a 7 day cruise so it would defiantly not be a relaxing vacation but we were looking forward to it.

 

After choosing Liberty we then decided between either two connecting Balcony staterooms or a Grand Suite. It was tough choosing between these two, because choosing the balcony staterooms would mean giving up the suite benefits and choosing the suite would mean giving up the added privacy and second bathroom. In the end we chose the Grand Suite for its perks and added space. We chose a room mid-ship on the port side after looking at the cruise map and recommendations on Cruise Critic.

 

These next photos show the location of our room on Liberty both on the deck plans and from outside.

 

 

In the weeks leading up to the cruise we booked our many excursions, and made a few mistakes but more on that later. I also made use of Cruise Critic during this time reading review after review looking forward to the cruise. We were really growing more and more excited until the day finally came that we would be departing on Liberty of the Seas!

[Deebs2]

Yay...so excited. We leave 7/14 and I've been dying to read reviews!!!

[joey1]

Looking forward to reading more!! We leave on July 7th! Would love to hear what the kids your age did in the evenings on board!!

[mais318]

Day -3

 

As the day finally came that we would leave for Barcelona, we packed and got our two dogs ready for the kennel that they were staying in. Our dogs know what suitcases in the kitchen mean, so they were very sad to see us go.

 

 

 

We had a driver pick us up so we would not have to pay to park at JFK for the 10 or so days that we would be gone. Check in at JFK was a breeze, and soon enough we were on the plane headed for Barcelona. The plane ride was uneventful, but as we were leaving we were treated to beautiful views of Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard, and Cape Cod.

[mais318]

Day -2

 

We landed in Barcelona exhausted, but excited to see the city. We got our bags and noticed in the baggage claim a family we recognized from my sisters high school. It turns out that they were also doing a cruise but instead of leaving from Barcelona they were leaving from Palma de Majorca, but wanted to spend a few days in Barcelona as well. We grabbed our bags and headed for a taxi. The drive was around 15-20 min, and gave us a view of the harbor, the ocean and a distant view of Montserrat, which we didn’t get a chance to see up close.

 

We were staying in Las Citadines Ramblas, which is an apartment hotel. Hotels in Barcelona and Europe in general usually only have space for 2 people so we decided to stay in apartment hotel, which is akin to a Marriott Residence Inn. The hotel was clean and fine for three nights but was pretty barebones. It was not that expensive and was in a perfect location.

 

 

They didn’t have the room ready so we decided to walk up La Rambla and get something to eat. We ate in a café up from the hotel. I believe I had a cappuccino and some sort of a flower shaped pastry.

 

 

After the café we walked up towards the main tourist center to inquire about the double decker bus tours. I think the price was around 30-35 euro per person for two days. We decided it was a good idea, and got on the bus. We only did a few of the stops on one route before we got off and headed back to the hotel to see if the room was ready.

 

 

 

It was, and we got our bags and headed up. We were a little worried after seeing the hallway outside the room. It was dark and did not leave us feeling good about the hotel. Then once we got in the room, we were shocked. Beds were not made and there was food left out in the kitchen and dirty plates in the sink. My dad went back down to the front desk to tell them what happened. They apparently gave us the keys to a room that someone else was still staying in. They gave us the right keys and room number and headed back up to the right room.

 

A photo of our room.

 

 

Once in the room we crashed and napped before dinner.

[mais318]

Looking forward to reading more!! We leave on July 7th! Would love to hear what the kids your age did in the evenings on board!!

 

Thanks! I will get into that later. You will have a great time!

 

Yay...so excited. We leave 7/14 and I've been dying to read reviews!!!

 

Awesome, Glad I can help!

[crafty sue]

We got the Liberty last sunday and I will do a review but don't know how to add photo's not that mine are that good ! - any instructions would be great and be much apprecitated - loving your review so far

[mais318]

We got the Liberty last sunday and I will do a review but don't know how to add photo's not that mine are that good ! - any instructions would be great and be much apprecitated - loving your review so far

Thats great! I am new to this so I am learning as I am going. To post photos though its pretty easy. You need to make a photobucket account, and upload the photos.

 

 

Once you upload the photos, they will show up in your library. Then hover over the photo and click the wheel icon in the upper right corner of the photo.

 

 

It will show you a drop down menu with "share" on the top. Click on "share" and then click "links" on the pop up.

 

 

Click on "IMG Code and paste it into a reply on a thread. Easy as that!

[mais318]

Day -2 Continued

 

After we woke up from our well deserved nap. We were hungry and ready for dinner, even though it was only 4:30. We only had a light lunch after the tour bus, and were really looking forward to some good tapas or paella. We decided to go down to the beach/harbor area, where we had seen a row of really good-looking seafood places. We boarded a tour bus because it stopped right down by where we wanted to go, and snapped a few pictures on the way to the harbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked around the harbor looking for a restaurant. But soon found out this would not be as easy as we had hoped. It was around 5:15, and every restaurant we went to was not yet ready for dinner, because locals usually have dinner at 9-10. We were completely exhausted and growing more frustrated that we couldn’t find an open restaurant. Finally, we found one that was open and looked good.

 

The food was great from what I can remember. My family had different types of paella, and I had monkfish. We were literally falling asleep at the table, and needed a good nights rest. After dinner we got in a taxi, and called it a night.

[crafty sue]

Click on "IMG Code and paste it into a reply on a thread. Easy as that!

 

thanks for this I will have a go tomorrow - I have all my photo's on facebook and on my computer picture file, I will have to sort out photo bucket too

 

enjoying your review

 

regards

[mais318]

Day -1

 

After a good nights sleep, we showered got ready, and headed out for breakfast. We went to a place called Moka and had a great breakfast. It was a really cool place with a great atmosphere, and we ended up eating here the next morning before boarding the ship. I had a breakfast Panini, and a cappuccino. The breakfast wasn’t all that filling, so I had something later when we were walking around.

 

The inside of Moka.

 

After breakfast we walked around La Rambla and the streets surrounding it. The streets were all very narrow, and it really cool to just enjoy the scenery and people watch.

 

 

 

After walking around the streets we boarded the tour buses once again. We started on the red line. This line was the one we took to go to dinner the previous night. We drove by the harbor, the beach and some of the new skyscrapers on the outskirts of the city. When looking at hotels, we narrowed it down to the Sol Melia in this modern area of the city and the apartment hotel in the old area, which we chose. After looking at the location of the Sol Melia, we were very happy that we picked the hotel off La Rambla. We would have kicked ourselves had we not picked a hotel in the center on Barcelona. At first we were a little scared of our hotel and wished we had picked a more modern hotel, but in the end it was a good idea to pick a hotel with a better location.

 

 

[mais318]

Day -1 Continued

 

 

 

We also saw the Torre Agbar, which I did not think was that impressive. It was not that tall, and the steel structure surrounding the glass made the building look dull.

 

 

We next drove by a bullfighting ring turned into a shopping mall.

 

 

The next stop was La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada familia was very impressive from the outside. We Sagrada Familia talked about going inside, but the lines were something like 2-3 hours long, so we decided against it. I guess it gives us reason to go back! ☺

 

 

 

[mais318]

Day -1 Continued

The line then took us back to the center of the city passing by another Gaudi work. His architecture really is amazing.

 

 

 

 

The line ended and we walked back down La Rambla. We ended up at La Boqueria. This is the main large market just off La Rambla. It was amazing. It was packed with people, but the food in there was just beautiful. We bought a few 1 euro juices before heading out for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

After the beautiful food in the market we were hungry and ready for lunch. We had not done Spanish Tapas and really wanted to. After walking around looking for a good place. We came across a really cool tapas restaurant. The food was amazing. I remember ordering a bunch of traditional tapas, ham, sardines, olives, and a bunch of other stuff. It was the best meal of the trip so far.

[mais318]

After lunch we got back on the tour bus and did the other line. We first headed up to the Olympic hill with amazing views of the city and harbor. We got off the bus and took a few photos.

 

 

The MSC Poesia and Celebrity Solstice were in port that day. The Solstice looked like an amazing ship, and I think we were a little worried that picking the Liberty might have been a mistake.

 

 

 

We then walked to the Olympic Stadium and walked around some of the amazing gardens on the hill. This was one of the highlights of the trip. The gardens around the stadium and National Museum were really beautiful. The flowers were in full bloom and the weather was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

[mais318]

Day -1 (End)

 

We walked through the gardens and ended up at the National Museum of Catalonia. We had time to kill so we decided to go in. My mom was exhausted and was content sitting on a couch in the lobby. So my sister, my dad, and I walked through the museum. It really is an impressive building, and I highly recommend doing this if you are in Barcelona and enjoy art, and plus it was pumping the air conditioning so it was a nice break.

 

 

 

 

 

From here we got in a taxi, and went straight to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had seen a few nice restaurants in La Plaza Real, which is a beautiful square about a 5 min walk from our hotel.

 

The front desk recommended a restaurant in the square and headed there. The place she recommended had a line about 30 people long out the door. The Mais family is highly impatient and we were not about to wait in a line that long. Well this turned out to be a mistake. We went to a place called Mariscos , I think. The food was sub par at best. In all the amazing places to eat in Barcelona, we were disappointed that we chose this place. We probably should have waited in the line, but hindsight is 20/20. Oh well.

 

After dinner we walked up to La Plaza de Catalonia, (where you get the busses) and did a little shopping before calling it a night. Needless to say we were all really excited for Liberty the next day.

[dalitos]

Love your writing style and pictures, looking forward to more istallments! :)

[Sumisid]

Thank you so much for doing this! I've been looking for a Western Med Liberty Review for weeks. Hurry up, I leave an Saturday for LOS :D.

[mais318]

Love your writing style and pictures, looking forward to more istallments! :)

 

Thanks for following along. That is really nice to hear, and there is much more to come. :)

 

Thank you so much for doing this! I've been looking for a Western Med Liberty Review for weeks. Hurry up, I leave an Saturday for LOS :D.

 

I will do my best, I will try to get most of it finished by then. You will have a great time! :D

[mais318]

Day 1 - First day on the Ship :)

 

After waking up we got ready and finished packing. We also enjoyed the balcony. I don’t know if I mentioned this before but our room had a great view of a square behind the hotel.

 

 

We headed down for breakfast at the same Café just up the road from the hotel. The breakfast was really delicious. We all really loved Barcelona and were sad it was our last morning, but at the same time we were completely ready to start the cruise and see the ship. After we finished our breakfast and coffee, we walked around to the square behind our hotel. There we found a back entrance to the hotel with a few promotional pictures of the hotel, one being of a rooftop lounge area. We were all a little confused because we didn’t know there was a rooftop lounge, but after a little investigative work we found a separate elevator that we could take up to the rooftop. When we got up there, we were all greeted with an unbelievable view of the city. The view was absolutely stunning, and I am still kicking my self that I didn’t bring my camera with me. We could see the entire city, and we were really disappointed that we didn’t know about this area earlier as we would have liked to see the city at night. I though there may be a chance that we could see our ship and sure enough there it was. To say I was excited would be a massive understatement. Most of the ship was obstructed but we could still see the Viking crown lounge and most of the top decks. From that point on, I couldn’t wait to get on the ship.

 

Soon enough we got our bags, checked out and got in a taxi headed for the port. The port was a quick drive and the taxi driver was great. We were all practicing our Spanish with him, and he made a great last impression of the city of Barcelona. We were all convinced we would come to Barcelona again.

 

 

The taxi pulled up to the port where we could get our first full view of Liberty of the Seas, and we were all amazed. The ship was huge and looked so much better than the Carnival Victory that we had sailed in the past. The ship was docked next to the ex RCI ship Sovereign which is now sailing for Pullmantur Cruises. Liberty looked extra nice next to this older ship and we had forgotten

all fears that we chose the wrong ship.

 

 

The taxi dropped us off at the taxi drop off area, and we got our bags and headed for the check-in area. We were there pretty early, but I am unsure of the time exactly. The lines were not long, and were made even shorter by the fact that we could go to the express suite check-in areas. I can’t imagine it was more than 20 min before we got on the ship. I am sure this wait would be much longer if we were in a regular room or got to the port much later.

 

After clearing security, we walked by a few duty free stores before getting on the insanely high escalator leading up to the ship. From there we walked through the gangway, again no lines of people.

 

 

There I took my first step on to the ship that I had read and seen so much over the past few months. And boy did it live up to expectations. The ship was incredible, the Royal Promenade was simply beautiful and the rest of the ship exceeded what we thought was possible coming from Carnival.

 

 

Soon enough we ended up at the Windjammer for our first lunch. It was super crowded, and we were all a little disappointed by the selection. I could tell my parents were a little worried, because the crowds really were bad, but I assured them that the buffet is always super crowded on every cruise on the first day. After finishing our lunch we split up and my sister and I went on a tour of the entire ship.

[mais318]

This is where I have to come clean; I don’t have many photos of the inside of the ship, because most of the photos I took of the ship were with my small Nikon camera, and not my Sony a320 DSLR. I can not for the life of me find the photos from my Nikon so I had to use some of the photos my sister took, and she did not have nearly the amount I took. I promise for my Oasis review, I will take more than enough photos.

 

We walked the entire ship. First we went to the front of the top deck to look over the bow, then down to the Royal Promenade. We saw the Crypt, the casino, Boleros, and ended the tour searching for our table in the MDR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the cruise we warned our parents half jokingly that there was a chance we may have to sit with other people at dinner. We were worried of sitting with people who had nothing in common with, and would make dinners less enjoyable. When my sister and I looked of our table, we were hoping to find a four-person table by a window, what we found was the opposite. We were assigned to an 8-person table overlooking the dining rooms below. We were a little disappointed and were worried about who we would be sitting with. However we would later find out that this was the best thing to happen to us! :D

[mais318]

After the tour we met back up with our parents who were enjoying the solarium and headed to the room to check out where we would be living for the next week. We walked in and were seriously impressed by the suite. We booked a Grand Suite, and loved the space. The suite comes with a massive tiled and marble bathroom and an expanded balcony with upgraded furniture and a full table. There was a fruit basket and two glass bottles of Evian water waiting for us in the room. We also made use of the really high quality binoculars available in the suites.

 

My sister looks super happy I was taking a photo of her :D

 

At this point we had to go down for the Muster Drill. I may be the only freak on Cruise Critic who actually enjoys the muster drill, and I am a little disappointed they have them in lounges and theaters in the ship now. On this cruise they still had it down by the lifeboats. I have good memories of the muster drill on the Carnival Cruise and even faint memories of the one on the Disney Cruise back when I was 6. The muster drill, for me, means the kick off of the cruise and I am sure it wont feel right doing it in some lounge.

 

When the muster drill ended, we went to the helipad for the sail away. I couldn’t wait to see this part of the ship, and it would turn out to be my favorite space on the ship. We probably waited for 30 min before we started to move away from the dock. The sail away was great from the helipad, and we passed a HAL ship before rounding the breakwater and turning for Toulon, France

[mais318]

Crisis averted! I found the photos from my Nikon camera. I guess my file management wasn't quite what it is now. Here are a few more photos from earlier in the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mais318]

 

[mais318]

We left the helipad to go to the room and get ready for dinner. We were the early seating, and did not want to be late for the first night. We sat out on the balcony for a while and watched Barcelona get smaller and smaller. We could see the huge copper fish near the beach and the statue to Columbus from pretty far out to sea using the complementary binoculars. The Pullmantur Monarch was following closely behind us, and a massive Maersk ship also passed by close. Soon after that we could see a pod dolphins leap out of the water in the waves near to the ship. It was really cool, and I snapped as many photos as I could to get a photo of one. I did, but at the time, I didn’t have an extended zoom lens the photos didn’t come out great. Still though it was great to see the dolphins and a nice memory