Liberty cruise report | 032016-032716 | Falmouth, George Town, Cozumel

[gambler]

R bar is specialty drinks only and wine etc. Not drinking the tinsdale, will ask for something better. Just purchased the premium package for 20% off for Liberty May 22nd. R bar specialty is martini's.

[M_BA]

This is the cruelest review ever. :D :D :D I'll be back from mine before he finishes this.

 

:D :p :D

[M_BA]

During dinner Monday, Lisa and I decided to try Sabor for lunch Tuesday. We asked Kevin if he wanted to join us, and he said yes. So, we made a reservation for three at 12:00 Tuesday.

 

Our server seated us and then explained the experience of Sabor. Our server was from Mexico and had been with RCCL for years. She went through each item on the menu and was very patient helping us learn the correct pronunciation of some of the menu items.

 

The first order of business was drink orders. I went with a spicy margarita. Our server then made table side guacamole to our palate preference.

 

We started by ordering appetizers. I chose the chicken stuffed jalapenos. They were a combination of chicken and peppers in a bacon wrap. The seasoning was was strong, with a good bite of heat to it. I loved them!

 

 

Kevin ordered the sopa de tortilla and shared. Lisa ordered the queso fundido. We ended up sharing just about everything we ordered. It was all too good to not share!

 

For our entrees, we ended up ordering several and sharing them all. The amount of food was overwhelming.

 

 

 

 

 

Overload:

 

Dessert consisted of us receiving a platter of six items. Our server suggested we try them all and then order more of whatever we really liked. Go ahead and just bring us three more platters!

 

 

We finished lunch around 1:45 PM and waddled out stuffed! If you eat here, come hungry! We'll definitely eat here again. It was well worth the $20/PP surcharge.

[M_BA]

After lunch, the three of us headed to the Schooner bar for True or False trivia. We did well, missing one out of twenty questions. We ended up in first place and won some collapsible nylon carry bags. They came in a very small ball, easy to attach to a belt loop. Thank you RCCL!

 

After trivia, Lisa and I took in the seascape on the outside decks. The weather was nice and mild.

 

 

Thanks to this board, I learned how to access the helipad on Liberty; one heads forward on deck five, and up the stairs to the helipad. We never found access closed, even with 60kmph winds and 3 meter waves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[M_BA]

I don't recall when we received it in our stateroom, but RCCL was kind enough to provide us with a twenty page Shore Excursions booklet. Rather than add twenty large pictures here, I have a separate thread with the details for our three ports:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2344491

 

Dinner came fast, with Tuesday's menu being Basil. My better half ordered a summer fruit medley to start out. Lisa said it was as tasty as it was beautiful.

 

 

I once again had the shrimp cocktail, with horseradish brought automatically, along with a crab cake. The crab cake was quite good, moist on the inside and crisp on the outside. I should have ordered a second...

 

 

As with other nights, we enjoyed our company and conversation with Kevin. For her entree, Lisa went with the Chicken Cordon Bleu; Ham- and cheese-filled breaded chicken, rice-peas pilaf, seasonal vegetables and lingonberry relish. It was spot-on according to Lisa.

 

 

I decided to try the Aged Hand-Cut Manhattan Strip Steak; Grilled to order and served with garlic-herb butter and seasonal vegetables.

 

 

I ordered it medium and that's how it arrived. However, it was very tough and didn't live up to its grandiose name. A more appropriate name would have been 'tougher than wet leather' steak.

 

At least the baked potato and the veggies were good!

 

I've experienced similar poor quality steaks on all my previous RCCL cruises. For some reason, either the chefs don't prepare the steaks well or the steak quality is sub-par. What the chefs do excel at are seafood, chicken and pasta.

 

Lisa giving me the "not another picture' look:

[Sarahspaghetti]

Loving this review! It's making me so excited for our June 5th voyage on the Liberty!

 

I had a similar experience with the one steak I ordered on my last cruise on the Jewel of the Seas. It must be the quality of the steaks.

[M_BA]

Loving this review! It's making me so excited for our June 5th voyage on the Liberty!

 

I had a similar experience with the one steak I ordered on my last cruise on the Jewel of the Seas. It must be the quality of the steaks.

 

The chefs at Chop's know how to make an impressive filet. I ordered a Chop's filet mignon two nights from our MDR seating and its quality rivaled a stateside a la carte $50 filet mignon. IMHO, this is a hidden jewel; access to a superior steak for a relatively minimal cost - $18.95 in this case.

Edited April 23, 2016 by M_BA
Typo...as usual!

[M_BA]

After dinner, we dropped by our room to use the latrine. I took a few pictures from the balcony.

 

 

I need to work on learning my Nexus 6P camera settings better for low light and night time pictures. I'll add to my long 'to do' list of things that'll probably never get done...

 

The misses wanted to go to Saturday Night Fever. I somehow managed to slither out attendance and we agreed to meet at 'husband day care', AKA the Hoof and Claw pub.

 

The misses headed to the Platinum Theatre and I headed to go 'hoof' it. As I arrived, one of the bartenders gave me a 'high five' and asked how our day was going.

 

There are countless threads on tipping etiquette. One of my pet peeves in the past is being given a $0.00 receipt to 'sign' when my drinks and gratuities are pre-paid. It makes looking through one's ship board charges tediously long to double-check. So, I decided to hand a folded $1 bill underneath my SeaPass card the first time I encountered a new server. If the service was good, and no $0.00 receipts I would continue with additional throughout the cruise. 95% of the servers acknowledged the tip, and appreciatively said so. Wages are generally low on cruise ships and tips can certainly help ship personnel to increase their wages.

 

The one place I received an interesting response was an older female server at Bolero's. She took my tip, stared at it, put it in the tip jar and then printed out and handed me another $0.00 receipt. She didn't get any more dollar bills from me! LOL

 

The Hoof and Claw pub usually had a Heineken pulled for me, sitting on the bar as the customer in front of me finished up.

 

I sat just outside the bar, and conversed with others in the 'husband day care' boat.

 

The Promenade stayed busy throughout the night.

 

 

The Promenade live music was lively, but not too loud to prohibit normal conversation.

 

 

This group of young ladies from Mexico was one of the bridal groups on ship. I ended taking a lot of pictures for them using each of their cameras and phones.

 

 

We headed back to our stateroom around midnight. Another fun filled and relaxing day at sea.

[M_BA]

Day four brings us to the Cruise Compass:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 Compass download:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDNV91bkotOXgwYkU

[M_BA]

I woke up Wednesday morning, day four, just after sunrise. In the distance, Jamaica could be seen. Yea mon! Just after 7:00 AM I turned on my phone and it connected to cellular service in Jamaica as we were a few kilometers off the coast.

 

 

I debated Internet on ship and ultimately decided against it, as Liberty currently still has the older very slow connectivity. As soon as I connected to a cell tower thru Google fi I called the kids to say hi and see how their week was going.

 

I was also able to start sending the two kids with mobile phones SMS messages with pictures. They loved receiving the pictures each day we were in port!

 

Off the coast of Jamaica, headed to the RCCL piers at Falmouth:

 

 

 

 

 

Still circling the island, almost twenty minutes later. I had cellular coverage the whole time:

 

 

 

[M_BA]

Thirty minutes later, were were in the vicinity of Famouth and the piers. There were rain cells all around us and I was able to catch a rainbow just as a cell dissipated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite beautiful to see as we arrived at Falmouth.

[M_BA]

Just before 8:00 AM, the RCCL Falmouth piers were within view.

 

 

Liberty approached them and then turned back out to sea to position into the dredge channel and begin to back into the pier dock.

 

 

 

As we slowly backed in, Allure of the Seas appeared around 8:15 AM, approaching the same dredge channel.

 

 

 

[Sea-dogg]

Thanks for the informative posts and picture updates !

[M_BA]

We docked about 8:25 AM. The ship announced that we would be able to disembark about 9:00 AM. We headed up to the Windjammer to have a leisurely breakfast. It was busy, but we were able to secure a window seat, overlooking Falmouth. The view was scenic, with the mountains in the background of the small town.

 

I had the usual for Breakfast:

 

 

As we ate breakfast, the skies let loose with rain showers. We took our time eating, waiting for the rain to subside.

 

After Breakfast, we headed up to decks 11 and 12 to take in the views:

 

 

As the rain slowed, we were able to view Allure at the other pier:

 

 

 

[M_BA]

The views of Falmouth were picturesque:

 

 

 

 

In the mountains, sheets of rain could be seen coming down.

 

 

 

Selfie time:

 

The stately Georgian-era building at the tip of the piers is the the Historic Falmouth Cruise Port (HFCP) terminal.

 

 

Everyone enters Falmouth by first going through the HFCP terminal. Just past the terminal is cruise ship only market. The architecture is beautiful, keeping the Georgian influence. The shops vary between enclosed stores and open air markets. The secured shopping area allows those were aren't comfortable entering Jamaica a controlled area to get off ship and shop.

 

[BLAMBKY]

Enjoying it, keep going!

[M_BA]

Enjoying it, keep going!

 

Yes ma'am!

[M_BA]

Liberty and Allure provide a nice backdrop for a picture:

 

The market was just coming to life, with the open air vendors still setting up after the recent rainfall.

 

 

The rum barrel seats were were a nice design at the Appleton Estate rum store and bar. This historic distillery is a popular destination for Jamaican tours.

 

[M_BA]

We didn't book any excursions for Falmouth and decided to walk into town and go with the flow. The first order of business was to go to the Falmouth post office to mail postcards for our six kids and for Ellie Walton. When I was young, my parents traveled a lot and always send me postcards anytime I wasn't with them.

 

As we headed to the Falmouth post office, scores of drivers attempted to pick us up and take us anywhere. Some were quite aggressive, but not in a way that made us fearful. That's simply the lifestyle they're used to, most Jamaican males are a bit loud and aggressive. Most bugged off as we continued to walk towards the Post Office, except for Devon. Devon was was determined to be our driver on this beautiful morning. Well, it paid off for Devon. He offered a free ride to the Post Office; hook, line, sinker.

 

We went to his van in a private lot for shuttle drivers near the ships.

 

 

Riding in Jamaica is more of a sport than a drive. It usually involves a lot of language, gestures, horns and dominance based on vehicle size. We survived the two minute ride to the Post Office. Devin parked illegally in front of the Post Office and told us to hurry.

 

 

We went inside and mailed the three postcards. When we came out Devin was in a heated yelling match with two police officers. Devon ended up with some sort of summons.

 

 

As we drove off, he continued to yell at the police officers. They probably won't send each other Christmas cards!

 

We decided to go to a private beach, Blue Waters Beach Club, about ten minutes away. We negotiated the price for the round-trip, USD $40, and headed to the beach.

 

Jamaicans drive on the left side of the road, though that appears to be purely optional based on circumstance! We once again survived the 50kmph, ten minute ride.

 

 

As we pulled up, so did a large coach charter from the pier. Devon pushed us though their formed line the front. He checked us in and provided the beach staff our info and his info for our return ride. What I liked about this setup was we could either have him back at a set time, or call him back at our leisure. We chose to have Devon pick us up at 2:00 PM. Our entry cost was $10 per person. This price included a lounge chair for each of us. It was very reasonable and we were content. Our entry fee also included free Wi-Fi, but I chose to remain on my data package instead as it is only $10/GB.

 

The location we were at was the Blue Waters Beach Club.

 

 

The beach was in good condition and the scenery was nice. We were some of the first to arrive so we had the choice of where we wanted our lounge chairs.

 

[Ladysilver]

I've really enjoyed your review! Beautiful photos! :D

[M_BA]

I've really enjoyed your review! Beautiful photos! :D

 

Thanks! I'm just giving back, like so many others have done writing the vast number of reviews here.

[H2Oregon]

Love your review, can't wait for the next installment. Looking forward to our trip on Liberty OTS next March.

Thanks

[M_BA]

Vacations are meant to be relaxing, and this certainly was!

 

 

A couple just in front of us had two small boys, 3-4 years of age, who were having the time of their lives playing in the sand!

 

To our left was a married couple from our ship. We found out they had bought this excursion on the ship for $85/PP. However, their purchase included a buffet lunch and free booze. I think our $110 savings for a four hour stay was worth it.

 

The bar became more and more congested as more people arrived. The bartenders were very friendly and efficient, they were simply a bit outnumbered by guests. I ended up buying buckets of Red Stripe, well iced down. That cut down on the trips to the bar a bit. It also increased the trips to the clean bathrooms.

 

Lisa decided to get a massage at one of the open cabanas, $50 for sixty minutes. It was about 1/4 the cost of one on the ship.

 

 

I continued to speak to our two new friends and enjoyed the scenery.

 

The Beach Club offered non-motorized rentals but we didn't try any out.

 

 

 

This is a place we would certainly consider coming back to again. It's very reasonably priced and clean.

[NOSaints1]

How easy is it from Houston airport to Galveston or is it better to take the RC transfer service

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[M_BA]

Love your review, can't wait for the next installment. Looking forward to our trip on Liberty OTS next March.

Thanks

 

Thank you, it looks like you will have the same port stops next March.