Review In Progress - May 22, 2016 - Liberty of the Seas

[Coaster1117]

Only 20 days until these are my pictures! Have a blast, can not wait to hear all about your wonderful trip!

 

Blambky--looks like we'll be cruising the same week!

[nativetexan]

Looking forward to the review and also interested in the onboard drink package prices.

 

Enjoy your cruise!! Cheers!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[out2c]

Wife and I will be sailing tomorrow on Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas!

 

Will be happy to post impressions and pictures along the way. Our focus will be on service, food, rooms, and internet.

 

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

I'll be doing detailed "Voom" testing on the ship. Please no requests to ping World Of Tanks.

 

I am cruising on Liberty on June 12th. I have always had a balcony cabin, but this time there will be 4 of us, so I got a family oceanview cabin. We are going to be in 2246 (on deck 2 close to ice rink). What I would like to know is does the cabin have the large windows, or just the little porthole windows. I think I will suffocate if it is the porthole size. I have asked my agent and she claims it will be the larger windows and not the porthole, but I don't want to be surprised.

 

Thanks and have a great cruise!

Karen

[Vigilant007]

Quick update... Sabor is great. Internet is fine. Internet isn't fantastic but it will work. Just had a FaceTime call that lasted about 15 minutes and it was good. Calling back using VerizonWifi and this seems to be working.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TXMary]

Quick update... Sabor is great. Internet is fine. Internet isn't fantastic but it will work. Just had a FaceTime call that lasted about 15 minutes and it was good. Calling back using VerizonWifi and this seems to be working.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Are you using surf or surf and stream?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[csnarpy]

Looking forward to your review! We're on this ship in November.

 

And this may be a weird request, but any chance you can pop down to the casino and find out if the poker table has gone back to live dealers... I heard the RC was going back this way and was curious. Just hate the electronic tables, my only pet peeve.

[Vigilant007]

Are you using surf or surf and stream?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Surf+Stream

[BLAMBKY]

I am cruising on Liberty on June 12th. I have always had a balcony cabin, but this time there will be 4 of us, so I got a family oceanview cabin. We are going to be in 2246 (on deck 2 close to ice rink). What I would like to know is does the cabin have the large windows, or just the little porthole windows. I think I will suffocate if it is the porthole size. I have asked my agent and she claims it will be the larger windows and not the porthole, but I don't want to be surprised.

 

Thanks and have a great cruise!

Karen

 

This person reviewed your cabin

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=519204

Hopefully you will not have of the maintenance issues they had. :eek: Maybe check Youtube, I have seen video of cabins this way before, even same cabin number on Freedom of the Seas & I think Independence of the Seas SHOULD have same type of window. :) See you in a couple weeks!

 

Curiosity got the better of me, I looked on YouTube....https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PWK_aYXNoyc

Edited May 23, 2016 by BLAMBKY

[BLAMBKY]

Blambky--looks like we'll be cruising the same week!

 

Have you been on the meet & mingle board yet? Actually TWO threads for the same week! They are not overly busy but nice to "meet" a few people while waiting for our week.:p

[ramja96]

I got a family oceanview cabin. We are going to be in 2246 (on deck 2 close to ice rink).

 

Be warned - if that is the correct stateroom number, 2246 is NOT a FAMILY oceanview room. It is a regular oceanview stateroom. It DOES, at least, have the large round window.

Edited May 23, 2016 by ramja96

[Crash1965]

If you get a chance go to the hoof and claw and tell dennis and Balli hi from Jerry they are the best bar tenders on board

[DonnaK]

I am considering NOT bringing "formal clothing" for my family. How out of place would we look in MDR- ladies would still wear a nice dress, just not a cocktail dress and guys would wear button up with tie, no jackets. Yes, I am 100% aware that we could 1) go to the Windjammer 2) people dress in a wide variety but we enjoy the MDR experience with our kids.

 

Thanks and enjoy your cruise!

 

The attire you described, while not exactly formal, will certainly be appropriate and acceptable for formal night on your cruise. More people will be dressed that way than strictly formal.

[TXMary]

Surf+Stream

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BLAMBKY]

Thanks for all the MDR dress assurances, did not mean to hijack the thread though. :o

[JaniceB]

Thanks for doing a review, love the picture of the ship in port. Can't wait to read more. I bought the discounted Vroom package would love to hear your thoughts on this.

[cruise lovah]

The hubs and I have never brought "formal" attire with us on our cruises. Neither one of us particularly enjoys dressing up, esp. on vacay. That said, for formal nights I have worn maxi dresses and he just wore slacks and either a button-up or collared golf shirt, and we did not feel out of place at all. :)

[Vigilant007]

Thanks for doing a review, love the picture of the ship in port. Can't wait to read more. I bought the discounted Vroom package would love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

 

 

Oh I have opinions :-)

 

Voom on the ship works well, and so far as of day 3 is pretty reliable.

 

The connection once it's up and running is very usable. It runs like a very low end broadband connection at home. In my experience the experience is not that much different then using an Internet connection in Playa Del Carmen or Cancun. There are times it goes out for a little bit, but then it just starts working again.

 

I can show you ping times which come up at about 600ms. This is about 30x higher then when I'm at home. If you run a speed test you'll see bursts up to about 3 to 4MB then it will stabilize at about .5MB every single time. I can type for an hour on why that maybe happening.

 

My actual experience without the numbers though? We have the Surf and Stream on 6 devices.

- Generally the service is more reliable across the ship then it would be on a major resort in Mexico. I will almost always have an actual signal and after a moment or two it will work pretty reliably.

- Calling Over Verizon-Wifi (make calls over Wifi, and in this case it's happening over whatever satellite that Liberty of the Seas uses) is pretty reliable.

- Had a 15 minute long FaceTime Video call from the balcony and picture quality is what I'd expect when running the same call over Verizon LTE when in the states.

- Web pages can take about 15-20 seconds to come up. Not world ending but something to note.

- Podcasts, Apple Music, YouTube all have a delay before they start playing. Once it starts playing it works well.

 

I'm drawing the distinction between what the numbers say and what my experience is for a very specific reason. This ship is a floating small city and at least in my experience seems to be doing a good job of brokering everyone's internet connection of satellites.

 

Don't expect to be able to torrent video, or do a responsive screen sharing session to your home office. Multi-person video calls will probably suck. Any kind of mobile gaming is just not practical.

 

With all of that said, I'm on vacation and I'm using the Internet to read news and answer small questions from my backup at work. I have to make sure the house isn't burning down :-)/. My wife isn't having any issues at all checking in on our pet bunnies using the DropCam.

 

Yes, it will probably be slower then what you have at home. It isn't world ending slower as some who insist that trying to get a response from World Of Tanks on the forum will say. It's absolutely ideal so far for a vacation.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Vigilant007]

For formal questions I'd say do what's comfortable and can handle. People will be their "dressier" self but that doesn't mean go buy a 3 piece suit from what I've seen.

 

Enjoy your vacation

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MsLMG]

Thanks Vigilant007! The updates are great.

[2Ccruisers]

Thanks for doing this! I'll be following along.

[Vigilant007]

Evenings you'll be developing your sea legs. Tonight seems a bit worse. Getting sea sick I think.

 

Saw the tail end of Saturday Night Fever after dinner. Excellent use of the stage they have.

 

Had first dinner in MDR. The food is great. All of it seems really fresh with the exception of the sauces. Vegetables, and meats across all of the restaurants seems incredibly consistent. I'd say that the only thing that isn't globally made fresh on the boat are sauces and breads.

 

In general the staff on the ship has been really friendly. We have talked to a few people who seem lightly burned out but never rude. This is bound to happen with any job where you work about 80 hours a week for 6 months at a time.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[condorchristi]

We’re sailing in October as well. Any info will be appreciated.

[out2c]

This person reviewed your cabin

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=519204

Hopefully you will not have of the maintenance issues they had. :eek: Maybe check Youtube, I have seen video of cabins this way before, even same cabin number on Freedom of the Seas & I think Independence of the Seas SHOULD have same type of window. :) See you in a couple weeks!

 

Curiosity got the better of me, I looked on YouTube....https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PWK_aYXNoyc

 

Britney,

Thanks for the info. I am the most hot natured person there is. The thought of no A/C would be a nightmare for me. I always bring a fan with me, but had to fight them to keep it the last time. I might end up having to sleep on the promenade deck! Was happy to hear there is a window to love...just wish it would open. LOL!! should be larger than the one on Freedom because it is a family oceanview and sleeps 6. Guess we will see...in 18 days!!!!

Thanks,

Karen

[out2c]

This person reviewed your cabin

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=519204

Hopefully you will not have of the maintenance issues they had. :eek: Maybe check Youtube, I have seen video of cabins this way before, even same cabin number on Freedom of the Seas & I think Independence of the Seas SHOULD have same type of window. :) See you in a couple weeks!

 

Curiosity got the better of me, I looked on YouTube....https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PWK_aYXNoyc

 

I just found 2 more reviews for our exact cabin and they were both very positive. One said that a lot of the performers seem to stay on that deck. Also talked about how roomy it was with 6 people and we only will have 4. So this time in 18 days we will be tired from Cozumel and headed for Grand Cayman! Oh YES!!!!!!

Karen

[imzacksmom]

Quick update... Sabor is great. Internet is fine. Internet isn't fantastic but it will work. Just had a FaceTime call that lasted about 15 minutes and it was good. Calling back using VerizonWifi and this seems to be working.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Probably beating a dead horse. If you're on Verizon wifi then you're not using the ships wifi? I've got at&t. Will I have to get an international data plan? The last time I cruised in '11 I don't think texting was as big as it is now. I also don't think I was breathing internet. :-p. I am not sailing until october. As you can see I'm doing my research early.