Liberty engine issue

[xpcdoojk]

Pretty beat up thing, although has 3 big triple outboards, probably goes pretty quick. I just figured out that we apparently fell back another hour last night, as the screen in the diamond lounge is saying it is 10 to 7...

 

Can see some barrier islands on the reef now. Probably a good place to have a boat you could probably find some lovely spots to dive and hang out.

 

The Pilot boat is blasting off again, assume the pilot is on board now.

 

The internet still sucks, listening to Noel Gallagher's new unreleased album on itunes, and buffering is pretty constant...

 

jc

[payitforward]

From deck 14 I can see low land irregularly, but we seem well out to sea.

 

Been a wild cruise, apparently they use Alpha, Alpha, Alpha when there is a fight at the pool... there were two small brawls in the pool area yesterday. I happened to be on deck when the belly flop contest was ending. OMG, I have never seen such a mob of people on a cruise ship. The Viking Crown lounge was filled with young college age kids, Saturday night, they were not around last night... the alcohol is taking its toll.:eek::D

 

jc

 

I'm cruising on the 9th, and REALLY hope the worst of spring break is over. We have a bunch of first-time cruisers and I can only imagine their first impression of cruising.

[xpcdoojk]

I'm cruising on the 9th, and REALLY hope the worst of spring break is over. We have a bunch of first-time cruisers and I can only imagine their first impression of cruising.

 

Missouri schools are on spring break next week. Don't know about every where. The problem here is that the Florida colleges are on Spring Break.

 

jc

[LetsGetWet!]

I'm cruising on the 9th, and REALLY hope the worst of spring break is over. We have a bunch of first-time cruisers and I can only imagine their first impression of cruising.

Missouri schools are on spring break next week. Don't know about every where. The problem here is that the Florida colleges are on Spring Break.

Sorry, but I don't even think you've hit the peak of spring break by the 9th, let alone it being over. Here's one site with a list of spring break dates for colleges around the country. I note that not all the large Florida colleges are on spring break this week. UCF & Florida State are both next week, while Miami isn't until the last week of March.

 

Spring Break 2015

Edited March 2, 2015 by LetsGetWet!

[jules815]

Missouri schools are on spring break next week. Don't know about every where. The problem here is that the Florida colleges are on Spring Break.

 

jc

 

I know a lot of colleges in the midwest are on break next week.

 

I can see how the week the Florida colleges are on break would be very crowded. No need for air fare.

[Justmekaren918]

Keep us updated please on this on going college student stuff! It will be interesting if they earn the final boot before the end of the cruise!

 

Makes me a tad.... for 3 weeks from now! Are they at least keeping out of the Solarium?

 

I am glad Liberty seems back to normal. Happy cruising!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Sorry, but I don't even think you've hit the peak of spring break by the 9th, let alone it being over. Here's one site with a list of spring break dates for colleges around the country. I note that not all the large Florida colleges are on spring break this week. UCF & Florida State are both next week, while Miami isn't until the last week of March.

 

Spring Break 2015

 

I read your link to spring break. Wow. I have a B2B from NOLA later this month. I knew we had lots of K-12 kids aboard from the roll call. [sorry, I love kids, but would rather have a small number on board] But, I notice there are some colleges nearby that have spring break then, too. :eek:

[sargeswife]

This particular sailing has over 1500 college students from FAU and UF. The next few weeks Im told will be similar. My daughter elected to be on the Oasis this week. She did not want to deal with all the drunks.

[twovacation]

We have spring break in the Midwest starting the next couple weeks. My thought is you pretty much have to expect any week in March will be FULL of spring breakers, and especially on shorter cruises like 3-5 day options.

 

I think you just have to set your expectations that they (spring breakers) are paying customers just like the newly weds, nearly deads, and overly feds that are always onboard cruise ships and also have their annoying and redeeming qualities and are also paying customers enjoying themselves in whatever regard they see fit. Spring Breakers are just one "category" of customer, we all fit in one category or another and we all have our pros and cons...complaining doesn't really solve anything and in fact pretty much just brings everybody else down, so we may as well just set our expectations to enjoy vacation given the fact that we all paid to be there, right?

 

We are on Liberty in two weeks, I'm really enjoying the updates from xpcdoojk and I'm planning to tell my kids if what's going on wherever they are is not cool with them, make an adult decision to either stay or leave as it's an enormous ship with plenty of other things to do.

[payitforward]

We have spring break in the Midwest starting the next couple weeks. My thought is you pretty much have to expect any week in March will be FULL of spring breakers, and especially on shorter cruises like 3-5 day options.

 

I think you just have to set your expectations that they (spring breakers) are paying customers just like the newly weds, nearly deads, and overly feds that are always onboard cruise ships and also have their annoying and redeeming qualities and are also paying customers enjoying themselves in whatever regard they see fit. Spring Breakers are just one "category" of customer, we all fit in one category or another and we all have our pros and cons...complaining doesn't really solve anything and in fact pretty much just brings everybody else down, so we may as well just set our expectations to enjoy vacation given the fact that we all paid to be there, right?

 

We are on Liberty in two weeks, I'm really enjoying the updates from xpcdoojk and I'm planning to tell my kids if what's going on wherever they are is not cool with them, make an adult decision to either stay or leave as it's an enormous ship with plenty of other things to do.

 

I have no issue with them being paying customers and having a great time... as long as it doesn't infringe on the enjoyment of the other paying customers. There is plenty of room on the ship for the different "categories" of customers. I just get nervous when I hear about fights on the pool deck and people passed out drunk in the hallways. I have faith that it will all be fine, but get a little apprehensive when I read posts about the mayhem on other cruises.

[Justmekaren918]

I have to agree with payitforward in the fact that I am fine with them there. What I am not cool with is that they may be wrapping other passengers into there issues; which is beyond not cool with the fights.

 

I hope that these cruise lines have beefed up security personal to keep watch. I for one almost got wrapped into some else beef last April up at crown vik on BOS. No security to be found anywhere, but I must have to say when walking into crown vik after white party on Vision walked by a few security as we came off the elevator.

 

With them being 1/4 of the passenger list this cruise; I hope they have devised activities directed to them to keep them entertained especially during sea days. Must guess is not which is sad, because they know this month is coming. What about some laser tag, fun Olympic games in the ice rink. College dodge ball. Whatever they do for fun.

 

It will be interesting to see how my cruise goes at the end of March. If it does not go well then next years March cruise will be toast, because I don't think my elderly Mom could handle such stuff. JMO.

[twovacation]

I have no issue with them being paying customers and having a great time... as long as it doesn't infringe on the enjoyment of the other paying customers. There is plenty of room on the ship for the different "categories" of customers. I just get nervous when I hear about fights on the pool deck and people passed out drunk in the hallways. I have faith that it will all be fine, but get a little apprehensive when I read posts about the mayhem on other cruises.

 

Do chair hogs infringe upon the enjoyment of other paying customers...never seen a spring breaker up at 6am doing that, mostly older folks. I had my foot run over by a scooter on the elevator by a senior citizen, that infringement hurt! I've seen fights more than once on my few cruises by the 30-40 age crowd mostly drunk around the pool. If infringing on the enjoyment of other paying customers was the criteria to be apprehensive then it certainly extends far beyond spring breakers. There have been murders on ships, people jumping overboard causing the entire cruise to miss a port or turn around and get off schedule, not really perpetuated by the spring break crowd. Make no mistake, they have their cons, so all I'm saying is if you want to act like they are the only ones infringing on other people's enjoyment then that's fine, abort cruising in March for sure, otherwise own it and acknowledge the pros and cons of that group and try not to smoke, chair hog, cram elevators, barge in line, be late back to the dock, etc. etc. etc. or be any other type of potential infringement upon others right?

 

March=Spring Break...well known fact. The other infringement categories are all year around.

[payitforward]

Do chair hogs infringe upon the enjoyment of other paying customers...never seen a spring breaker up at 6am doing that, mostly older folks. I had my foot run over by a scooter on the elevator by a senior citizen, that infringement hurt! I've seen fights more than once on my few cruises by the 30-40 age crowd mostly drunk around the pool. If infringing on the enjoyment of other paying customers was the criteria to be apprehensive then it certainly extends far beyond spring breakers. There have been murders on ships, people jumping overboard causing the entire cruise to miss a port or turn around and get off schedule, not really perpetuated by the spring break crowd. Make no mistake, they have their cons, so all I'm saying is if you want to act like they are the only ones infringing on other people's enjoyment then that's fine, abort cruising in March for sure, otherwise own it and acknowledge the pros and cons of that group and try not to smoke, chair hog, cram elevators, barge in line, be late back to the dock, etc. etc. etc. or be any other type of potential infringement upon others right?

 

March=Spring Break...well known fact. The other infringement categories are all year around.

 

I haven't "acted like" they're doing anything just yet. I simply expressed a concern that was raised by another post. I've not had a bad cruise yet, and don't expect to this time. I have a group of 27 people on this cruise, about half of which are first-time cruisers. My concern is more for them, and the perception they will get of cruising, than it is for myself. I am not "anti-spring breakers." I was just voicing a fear after reading another post. That's all there is to it.

[theinkykitty]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed the spring breakers will be done by the beginning of April. I have a group of 12, half of them being first timers and it's my wedding cruise. I'd hope things wouldn't be so crazy that they end up with any negative impression of cruising.

[reallyitsmema]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed the spring breakers will be done by the beginning of April. I have a group of 12, half of them being first timers and it's my wedding cruise. I'd hope things wouldn't be so crazy that they end up with any negative impression of cruising.

 

There are considerably less colleges out at that point, most have already had spring break by then. You will have more younger kids off though since some schools districts have the week before Easter off or the week after Easter off.

[xpcdoojk]

Belize City... spring break Jerry Springer show.

 

Many years ago, I used to go to lunch with colleagues, one pizza place we went to regularly had the Jerry Springer show on tv. You were sitting there eating pizza and watching the stupid people on tv. Today, I surfed, the lousy hour they had stand up with no advanced stand up. I give blood regularly and Belize, outside of the reef and Belize city are malaria zones and you can't donate blood for a year. So, my DW went on a tour to Altun Ha, Mayan site, and the river Wallace, they said it was a 6 hour tour, so after my hour of surfing 5 runs, 2nd and last... I ate lunch, hung out, then caught a tender, hoping to meet my wife for souvineer shopping. So, after about 45 minutes and two trips end to end of the inside the security shopping area, I had a beer at the quiet bar towards terminal 4. Belinken is the local beer. Then I went and hung out at the tender dock....

 

At the opposite end of the Fort Street shopping district from where I had a beer, was a bar, The Tender Bar, where there was loud music and people dancing on chairs. I had walked by and thought, those poor kids are seriously out of control. So, I am trying to stay in the shade from the sun as it was very hot. When I notice a security guy from Belize carrying a young woman over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, she has vomit and drool hanging from her mouth and is completely unresponsive. The security guy drops her on the bench across from the RCI security line to go back on the ship. He calls for help on his radio and pretty soon there are a few medical people and they start pouring water on her to wake her up. Not working. They then proceed to inject her with an IV of fluids. One of her friends in a buttless bikini shows up crying that her friend is in distress.

 

About this time there is an upstairs restaurant and bar, where a dude in Columbia PFG shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt comes down and to stop himself from falling on his face he grabs the sign about 4 foot high with 2 foot cross sections holding it erect and crashes it to the ground. One of the security guys immediately goes after him. I am watching and the gaurd asks are you from the ship. the young man says yes. He says may I see your sea pass, and where are you going? The young man says, back to the bar (previously described), the security man says no your not, you need to get back on the ship. He then leads the drunk out of his mind kid to another bench in one of the hallways beside the shops. The kid is throwing up within 10 minutes and then is laying miserably on the bench.

 

At this point, I find a RCI excursion person and ask when she expected the tour that my wife went on, and she said close to 5PM... I was like O that is later than I expected, 6 hour tour meant 3pm...

 

I stayed until 4pm... I saw 3 completely unconscious women, two men so drunk they couldn't function, and 3 other women, in a slightly less serious condition but throwing up and miserable.

 

On board the tender a 40 something, guy watching the sexual and drunken behavior on the tender, said to me so this is what I was like 20 years ago. I said, yeah, we all eventually get smart enough to realize how to drink without instant stupefication.

 

In the diamond lounge the talk was about the out of control college kids. At dinner we were with a 60 something couple who own a bar in south bend Indiana, they were going to jump RCI because RCI should have warned them when they booked this cruise wasn't for them. My wife who taught college classes recently, is not upset, but she said, that she fears for the future as the kids she taught are all going into the medical profession, and this just reinforced her feelings.

 

like I said, I didn't realize until now know that I am a complete super curmudgeon.

 

This is less than 1/10 of what I experienced today.

 

You parents paying for your children to go on springbreak are suckers and fools.

 

The kids are sexually out of control and they drink super aggressively. Are they all like this no... But, it is scary to watch.

 

jc

[twovacation]

That stuff is terrible...I don't drink and didn't in college either and saw plenty of this going on back then 25 years ago. I thought it was stupid then, and still do today. However, you'd think the description above was straight out of Animal House filmed in 1978, or "Spring Break" from 1983 or as the article in the San Antonio Express put it about Spring Break "Florida is credited for initiating this indulgent blowout in the 1920s" so much so that Ft Lauderdale 30 years ago essentially said this is so out of control we need to stop being a Spring Break Destination!

 

It's been going on for decades. It's not an excuse or support of it, just a fact that anybody who goes to where spring breakers are going in March has no excuse to be so completely unaware that this is exactly the behavior you're going to be around and it's FAR FAR from new or different than it has been for at least the past 30-40 years. It's about as irresponsible for a 21 year old to get fall down drunk and offensive as it is irresponsible for a 40+ year old adult to have not researched the fact that spring breakers will be out in full force on March cruises and book one and then complain about it...pot...kettle...black. I'm in neither camp, just being objective and responding to the posters who seem to make it out to be something they are a "victim" of, or that RCI is somehow selling them a cruise they shouldn't take etc. For all readers of forums on cruises, be warned, spring breakers are the same as they were 30 years ago when cruises were not as available and affordable as they are now, but now they are on board in mass and have been for many years.

[xpcdoojk]

Yes, I know there is no human activity that has not occurred before. I remember being young. I did drink and I did chase girls, when I was in college, with little disregard for the consequences. That said. If I was a parent, I would make sure my young college kids didn't go on this kind of trip with me helping to pay for it. These girls have designer purses, designer gowns, high end bikinis, Tori Birch flip flops, and they are being used like street walkers happily and willingly from what I have witnessed.

 

Yes nothing new, but wow...:eek:

 

jc

 

PS ship is running great...

[xpcdoojk]

One more thought. I am a fairly experienced avoider of spring break cruises. It is pretty hard. Last year, I booked the Oasis mid January, thinking, all the kids and not so kids will be in school. The USA were, but there were 2000 people from Brazil on board and 500 high school age kids from Costa Rica on board. So, standing in the flow line, I educated myself on the school season for those kids... So, I came up with 3rd week of February. It was great work, on my part, the Oasis had few kids and college age kids. I base when schools are out on the price of the fares from times when I know kids are not in school and when they are. The Liberty seemed reasonably priced, so much so that I upgraded my aft corner balcony for an aft JS for about 100 bucks. This probably should have been a clue... the cruiseline was selling inside cabins and balcony and all the cheap cabins and not so much the suites like hotcakes in New Hampshire during an election year.... I can guarantee I will never book a cruise without making sure University of Florida is not on holiday... I don't mean to slam the gators, but good lord...

 

jc

[fdthird]

Amazing how this topic about the Liberty's engines was high jacked to talk about spring breakers!!

[twovacation]

Amazing how this topic about the Liberty's engines was high jacked to talk about spring breakers!!

 

My point exactly! Thank you fdthird...my original post on spring breakers was trying to get the growing string of posters about spring breakers BACK onto xpcdoojk's trip report (very enjoyable) where he is also giving regular updates on the engine.

[WestCoastCruiser123]

 

PS ship is running great...

 

Thanks so much for the updates. I'm sailing Monday.

 

Minor question for you, is there body wash in the showers? It would be one less thing to pack if they have it.

[A&L_Ont]

Amazing how this topic about the Liberty's engines was high jacked to talk about spring breakers!!

 

Um, the CCer posting about the spring break drunks is the same CCer posting about the propulsion issues. Since he is kind enough to post about the one while he is on board, he should be allowed to vent about the other. He is doing this at his expense and time.

 

As for the people on the next sailing, he is keeping them posted about both concerns.:eek: Hopefully the speeds will be running at maximum and the breakers will be at a miniumum.

Edited March 3, 2015 by A&L_Ont

[LetsGetWet!]

One more thought. I am a fairly experienced avoider of spring break cruises. It is pretty hard. Last year, I booked the Oasis mid January, thinking, all the kids and not so kids will be in school. The USA were, but there were 2000 people from Brazil on board and 500 high school age kids from Costa Rica on board. So, standing in the flow line, I educated myself on the school season for those kids... So, I came up with 3rd week of February. It was great work, on my part, the Oasis had few kids and college age kids. I base when schools are out on the price of the fares from times when I know kids are not in school and when they are. The Liberty seemed reasonably priced, so much so that I upgraded my aft corner balcony for an aft JS for about 100 bucks. This probably should have been a clue... the cruiseline was selling inside cabins and balcony and all the cheap cabins and not so much the suites like hotcakes in New Hampshire during an election year.... I can guarantee I will never book a cruise without making sure University of Florida is not on holiday... I don't mean to slam the gators, but good lord...

As much as I'm not a gator fan, its certainly not unique to the gators. Remember, next week is Florida State, which is just as large and even a closer drive to port - as well as U. of Central Florida. And two weeks after that is U. of Miami, which is big and in the cruise port's back yard!

[payitforward]

My point exactly! Thank you fdthird...my original post on spring breakers was trying to get the growing string of posters about spring breakers BACK onto xpcdoojk's trip report (very enjoyable) where he is also giving regular updates on the engine.

 

Ummmm what? Your posts are what KEPT the spring break conversation going, as you belittled anyone who expressed hesitation. The conversation would have ended, but people felt compelled to defend themselves after your posts.

 

You took no issue with the entire side conversation about who was the best Flowrider throughout the thread, so why take issue with any other side conversations?

 

Finally, we now know the engines are fixed and running fine, so what are those posts detracting from?