Liberty review - May 22

[jbobst]

Just returned from a week on the Liberty of Seas and wanted to do a quick review (note – the captain said in his chat session yesterday that the tidal wave water slide should be operational by May 30th – they were using a large crane to work on it when we departed this morning)

 

This was our 4th Royal Caribbean cruise, but our 18th cruise overall. Our last RC cruise was on the Mariner of the Seas, so going on Liberty (Freedom class) was going to be the “biggest” ship we’ve ever been on.

 

We arrived at the terminal in Galveston around 9:45am and the street to enter the terminal was backed up with traffic (and a rain storm). Once we finally got to the curb, everything moved quickly and smoothly with security check and check-in. We were then put into a large “tent” to wait for the next hour and a half or so to board. The problem was, once boarding time was approaching, they had an elderly lady trying to make announcements on this small little amplifier system and nobody could hear what she was saying. It was chaos and very frustrating. We were told various things about when we could board and then yelled at by one of the other staff members when we got up to board with the gold group of people. But since nobody could hear what the announcements were, nobody knew where to go or what to do. This is just a large irritation to me, but it certainly didn’t affect the cruise at all. But while I am on my soap box, why is it that people/companies who do the same thing every week or every day (think doctor’s offices) can’t figure out a better way to run their organizations? Cruise ships have been departing Galveston for years…and nobody has figured out how to stage embarkation better or provide a smoother way to communicate boarding and group status?!?! Ok, rant over… On to the cruise!

 

The ship was simply beautiful. The amenities Royal Caribbean (and in this case Liberty of the Seas) has available is quite impressive. There are so many places to eat, to hang out, or activities to participate in. All cruise lines have this to a degree, but Liberty was amazing. However, the ships impressiveness soon wore off when we realized how many people were on board this ship! In my previous 17 cruises, I’ve never experienced the crowding that we had on Liberty this past week. Of course sea days were the worst. People packed shoulder to shoulder in the pools and hot tubs. Buffet crowding and Promenade crowding were quite extreme. This was our first cruise this close to summer time (other than an Alaska cruise a couple years ago). After speaking to one of the crew members on the sports deck, the summer time cruises are the most crowded (obviously). He said the cruise after ours was going to be even worse with hundreds of more children on board.

 

While we had a great time with our family and a great cruise, the crowding of the Liberty really turned me off to the point where I don’t think I’ll cruise on a freedom class ship again. The crowding didn’t just affect the pool deck and buffet, but the elevators were practically unusable. I personally take stairs 90% of the time, but other family members were extremely frustrated and the lack of elevator availability. When one finally did reach your floor, it was packed FULL of people.

 

I also want to point out one more aggravating thing that happened on the ship. I don’t recall this happening during our previous Mariner of the seas cruise, but every day they would fill up the promenade walkway with large sales kiosks selling jewelry and such things. This really hampered the flow of people trying to walk through the promenade. I know the cruise lines love to sell things and rake in the money, but they had so many on-board shops already with merchandise. Why do they need to crowd the promenade walkway with even more of the same stuff? The shops never seemed too crowded, so I just don’t understand why they couldn’t keep things in the shops and why they had to spill out into the congested walkway. Ok, rant over…

 

Despite the crowds, the rest of the cruise was very good to great! We had dinner in the main dining room each night (early seating). Our wait staff was top notch!!! I thought the food was good to very good (depending on what was ordered). Even the efficiency of the staff was superior to recent cruises on other cruise lines. I can’t say enough good things about the staff…not just the dining rooms, but all over the ship. Even the buffet was excellent.

 

I loved Sorrento’s and the options that provided, but I do agree their pizza could use a little re-doing. My dad did not enjoy their pizza at all (but there were so many other great options). Note – the bruschetta at Sorrento’s was my favorite snack!

 

I also thought the entertainment was very good on the ship, with a few hits and few misses (nothing bad by any means). There were a couple things I didn’t care for quite as much (like Saturday Night Fever show) but others in my family loved the show. Very subjective stuff, but overall I would give the entertainment on the ship a solid grade A.

 

Spa and gym facilities seemed really good, and we loved trying the flow rider and doing some rock climbing. We tried the two new tube water slides and they were just OK. It was a nice option to have, but nothing very spectacular. The new kids water park looked amazing and I wanted to be a kid again and try it out. However, I thought that the Liberty needed an additional pool, due to the sheer number of passengers on board. The pools were simply packed all the time unless you got there between 7-8am (which I did a few days). I loved the new mini golf, but I thought that whole area was a little underutilized. If they would have put a small splash pool and small hot tub up near the mini golf, I think that would have eased the pressure a little on the other pools. But I am not an engineer and have no idea if that would even be possible. One other negative thing about the mini golf was that they had about 5 adult sized putters and about 20 plus tiny kids putters. If they are going to have the mini golf venue, then they should stock it with an appropriate amount of adult sized putters.

 

We had three cabins all over the ship for my family of 6. Two of the cabins had softer newer feeling beds. But my cabin had beds that were flat and hard. I still slept fine, but everyone in my family who sat on our bed commented about how hard it was compared to their beds. I guess our cabin (deck 9 balcony) hasn’t received an updated mattress?

 

We stopped in Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel. In Roatan, we went to little French Key. I was really excited about this place after reading all the reviews, but I didn’t really care for it. It was poorly run (we stood outside on the mainland for 30+ minutes in the heat, just waiting to pay and check in for example). The paddle boards and kayaks were in disarray and always occupied by some lady just sitting on it in the sand or kids hording them. There were a ton of people on the little island, and it seemed like a big drunken party. Service (for food and drinks) was slow and unorganized. We saw tons of underage looking kids drinking like crazy and passing out. It just didn’t seem like what I expected. If you want to get drunk and hang out with other drunks, Little French Key might be for you (there were a ton of people from the Carnival ship there). I’ll do a more in-depth review of Little French Key on the Ports forum later this week.

 

In Costa Maya we booked a day pass at a tiny little beach resort 30 miles south of town. It was very secluded and nothing like the party atmosphere of Little French Key. We had a great day there, although I had higher hopes for the snorkeling conditions and visibility underwater. Still, we had a great day away from the drunken crowds on the main beaches and the regular crowds on the cruise ship.

 

In Cozumel, half the family stayed on the ship to try and get a little bit of quiet time without all the people. The rest of us rented a jeep and drove around the island. We then went back to Corona beach for a little snorkeling and lunch (expensive lunch and just mediocre snorkeling).

We did the early walk off this morning with our own luggage and were off the ship and driving away in our car by 8:30am. It was hot and humid getting off the ship, but pretty easy over all.

 

Despite the crowds, we did have a great cruise. The Liberty is beautiful and amazing, as well as the crew that runs the ship. We had great weather and saw some beautiful ports. All in all, a great time, but think I want a smaller ship next time. I guess you have to decide do you want smaller crowds and less amenities or larger crowds and more options?

 

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try and answer them (I didn’t get any copies of the daily cruise compass or the menu’s – sorry!)

[atnolan94]

Thanks, I loved Liberty in Mid-March she's got a great gig going out of Galveston. Should be happy home for a long time. It appears Royal has no plans to change it any time soon.

[Clarea]

Nice report, thanks!

[widallas]

We will be on the Liberty for Thanksgiving -- also our first cruise on this class since we did Mariner out of Galveston as well. Thanks for addressing so many of our questions...our biggest concern is crowding, but we did Mariner the same week and the biggest glitch was them running short on food. (Appetites are apparently bigger in Texas, too...especially with so many kids on board!) Looking forward to a new ship!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[libertybelle41]

Thanks for the review.

 

Your review of Little French key was vastly different from ours. We went late Aug of 2014... Sad to think it's gone to down since then. When we went there were only a few groups of people, very calm and great food.

[Ladysilver]

Thanks for the review! :)

[nativetexan]

Great feedback. Welcome home! Glad you had a good time!

[lpjpane]

We'll be sailing on July 3rd. Very excited! Do you have any pictures you can share?

[travelphyl]

In Costa Maya we booked a day pass at a tiny little beach resort 30 miles south of town. It was very secluded and nothing like the party atmosphere of Little French Key. We had a great day there, although I had higher hopes for the snorkeling conditions and visibility underwater. Still, we had a great day away from the drunken crowds on the main beaches and the regular crowds on the cruise ship.

 

You say Costa Maya....did the itinerary change from Belize?

[JimAOk1945]

It's disappointing to hear they are still using a tent for pre-embarkation. We have experienced the same frustrations you mention in your "rants." Unfortunately, they seem to be a permanent part of the cruising experience.

 

Thanks for posting your review.

[aprilcruisers]

We sailed out of Galveston on May 1, 2016, and did not use the tents. Did something change?

[ARCruisinNana]

We sailed out of Galveston on May 1, 2016, and did not use the tents. Did something change?

 

 

If boarding had already started when you checked in there was no need to go to the tent. Those in Suites/PC also have a section reserved in the terminal before boarding begins.

[JimAOk1945]

If boarding had already started when you checked in there was no need to go to the tent. Those in Suites/PC also have a section reserved in the terminal before boarding begins.

 

This is helpful information. Thanks!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Vigilant007]

Haha this is awesome, the wife and I just got back from this cruise too.

 

Agree with the crowding being made worse with the constant Invicta watch sales.

 

Elevator traffic was also pretty bad.

[pspercy]

Thanks for the review, sounds like RCL's new terminal is not yet finished. We're on Liberty in early December so I'm hoping things on board will be a little quieter:)

Edited May 31, 2016 by pspercy

[BLAMBKY]

Thanks for posting! I think I might have squealed a little when I read about Tidal Wave. We board on June 12th, I did not expect that it would be functioning still. Now I am trying to figure out if I have enough courage to try it! :D And it looks like we will not lack exercise from taking the stairs this trip! Do you remember what/where they showed movies?

[jbobst]

In Costa Maya we booked a day pass at a tiny little beach resort 30 miles south of town. It was very secluded and nothing like the party atmosphere of Little French Key. We had a great day there, although I had higher hopes for the snorkeling conditions and visibility underwater. Still, we had a great day away from the drunken crowds on the main beaches and the regular crowds on the cruise ship.

 

You say Costa Maya....did the itinerary change from Belize?

 

I think they vary it up a little. Costa Maya was nice because we were the only ship in port (and no tendering of course).

[jbobst]

Thanks for posting! I think I might have squealed a little when I read about Tidal Wave. We board on June 12th, I did not expect that it would be functioning still. Now I am trying to figure out if I have enough courage to try it! :D And it looks like we will not lack exercise from taking the stairs this trip! Do you remember what/where they showed movies?

 

I think movies were all done out on the big screen by the pool. I didn't catch any of them though, so maybe they showed some inside at some point.

 

I remember they showed the new Star Wars (the first night and the last night I think). They also had Creed, Finest Hours, Kunfu Panda, Grease (during the day). I don't remember the rest of them.

[BLAMBKY]

I think movies were all done out on the big screen by the pool. I didn't catch any of them though, so maybe they showed some inside at some point.

 

 

 

I remember they showed the new Star Wars (the first night and the last night I think). They also had Creed, Finest Hours, Kunfu Panda, Grease (during the day). I don't remember the rest of them.

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up, I think my guys would enjoy Star Wars on deck!

[JaniceB]

Thank you for the report.