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Liberty OTS review with Photographs (4/10-17/16)

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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The arcade ...

 

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My videos did not upload correctly (even though the computer said they did), so here is are links to three more short Splashaway Bay videos ...

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/Splashaway%20II_zpsoaip5tha.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/Splashaway%20III_zpsas9o69aj.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/Splashaway%20rain%20I_zpss3mjkxbi.mp4

 

Art found while walking up and down the stairs ...

 

pDSC_7984_zpszhxfa0dr.jpg

 

pDSC_7985_zpsugm1vmdy.jpg

 

pDSC_8010_zpsonr347uh.jpg

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Thursday, April 14, 2016 - Belize

 

 

I have an 8:15am shore excursion today. Since the Chops’ breakfast does not begin until 8:00am, I don’t have time for a Chops breakfast today. So I settle for a banana, which is fine since I don’t normally eat breakfast. I’m in group eight, on the Wildlife Adventure tour. We are the seventh group call to the tender boats. One thing I noticed, there are only lifeboats on this ship, no tender boats. Thus all tendering is being done by local commercial tenders. One good thing about this is that the commercial tenders are open and airy, not closed and stuffy like the ship’s tenders (if it had any). Still it is 9:30am before we get to Belize, as it is a long tender ride.

 

There it is a fairly long wait until we board the bus. It is an old bus, but the air conditioner works. It is a long ride to the zoo. It is a nice zoo, but not world class. There are three problems however. The zoo uses fences and electric wires to keep the animals in. That means most of the viewing is done through wires. Inside the cages is all natural vegetation, so the animals are hard to find and see. Which brings up problem three. Though this is a fairly small group of nineteen people, once an animal is located, there at least nineteen people that all want to see it at the same time from the same place.

 

From the zoo we go to the river to have lunch (no, we don’t eat the river). Lunch was okay as far as tour lunches go. We had chicken, rice, beans, a small salad, and a drink. Then it is a boat ride down the river to a small town where we board the bus back to the tender dock. Along the river we see various wildlife, such as monkeys, birds, alligators, and landing 737s. Yes, the local airport landing path goes right over the river.

 

We are back at the tender dock just after 3:30pm and the last tender to the ship is 4:30pm. Fortunately all of us are aware that the ship is one hour ahead of local time, since the tour guide thinks we have a two hour window, not a one hour window. A major drawback to Belize is that one loses two hours round trip because of the tendering. Also note, when approaching (and leaving Belize, the captain is not lost. The channel the ships have to follow was laid out by a drunken snake. I was trying to figure out what the captain was trying to do, as the ship made one turn after another until I realized the ship behind us was doing the same thing. I figured both captains could not be that crazy (or drunk). I later spoke to the captain and confirmed that the channel through the reef was not straight.

 

Tonight is our second formal night. After a tender port? I think after Cozumel would have been a better choice, but nobody consulted me on this issue. I have a few pictures taken, two of which I like and buy. The captain cannot come to the formal night because he is busy trying to figure out how to leave Belize without making the evening news (got to stay in that channel when leaving Belize also).

 

I’m the only one at dinner tonight, which is good because I’m dead tired and the faster I finish dinner the faster I can go to sleep. I’m done in less than one hour. Belize has two seasons (the same two Panama has), hot and hotter, and they are both humid. All I want to do is sleep. I’ll be back at you in the morning.

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Friday, April 15, 2016 - Cozumel (also tax day)

 

Today is a day I am really looking forward to. The last time I was in Cozumel I swam with the manatee. It was great, my new favorite. My old favorite is feeding the stingrays at Stingray City. I book the 10:00 visit with the manatees online at a discount. The problem is, when you book you have to state which hotel or ship you are on. You can’t book without providing this information. You also can’t book if you are on a ship. The ship doesn’t offer the swim with the manatee as a shore excursion, so I decided to slightly misstate things. I said I was at a hotel and the name of the hotel was the “Liberty of the Seas” (since the ship really is a floating hotel). It worked. Booking online gave me a 10% discount. It got better once I got to the park.

 

But before I go to the park there were two things I wanted to do. One, have breakfast, which this time was steak & eggs at Chops. The other thing was to find out if we are one hour head of Cozumel or not. For Roatan and Belize the Compass (which is the ship’s newspaper) said we were one hour head. However, for Cozumel it did not say this. I saw Jorge (the Diamond Concierge) on my way to breakfast. He said Cozumel in the same time zone as Roatan and Belize so he thought the ship would be one hour ahead, but he would have to check. My reply is that Galveston is in the same time zone also. I saw Anis (the Concierge) in the Suite Lounge. I asked him and he used a very simple method to get the answer. He logged on to the computer and checked the local time. Cozumel and the ship’s time are both the same.

 

So after breakfast I head out to Chankanaab Park (also known as Dolphin Discovery). The taxi ride was $12 each way. Once there I didn’t have to pay anything extra for admission and I got a 25% discount on the 12:00 swim with the manatee session. Yes, I am doing the same thing twice. I have four wrist bands. Yellow and Pink are admission bands (apparently the park is both a commercial park (like Sea World) and a national park (like Yosemite). So there are two admission fees. Perhaps that is the reason for the 25% discount, since apparently the $59.00 swim with the manatee includes the price of admission. Who cares, I’m in.

 

I was here is 2004 and did the swim with the dolphin and swim with the seal programs. The last time I was here was March 2013 and that is when I swam with the manatee. The swim with the dolphin program has clearly become more popular. Unfortunately so has the swim with the manatee program. In 2013 there were three of people and two manatees. Today there were fourteen people in the first session and four manatees. I don’t know how many people were in the second session. I would guess at least eight. Fortunately, the manatees eat 10% of their body weight per day. So a 450 pound manatee eats forty-five pounds of lettuce and I don’t think both groups combined came to that amount, and there are four manatees. So I didn’t have to worry about the manatees being not hungry (or fed-up - ha ha).

 

In the first group there was a group of eight family/friends and six of us not with the group. So the family/friends where sent to feed three of the manatees while the other six of us interacted with the fourth manatee. When we finished interacting with the manatee, the two groups switched. As I finished feeding the manatees I wondered what to do next. Squirting the kids in the other group seemed to be a good idea. I can squirt water from between my two hands, a skill that takes some time to perfect. So the kids tried, but they could not squirt me back. Then I noticed two stalks from the lettuce. I know the manatees will eat that also. So ask for the two stalks and get to feed the manatees again.

 

A word of warning. You are not allowed to bring your own camera. They will take plenty of pictures of you. Their taking the pictures is free. Your taking the pictures is not. I believe you can buy individual pictures (print or digital) but I wanted them all in a digital format. No problem, that came to $70 for each session ($140 total for both sessions). It cost more for the photographs than it is for the swim with the manatees experience. Between the two sessions I ended up with 96 photographs of me with the manatees. That works out to about $1.46 per photograph, which isn’t a bad price on a per photograph basis.

 

After my second swim with the manatees, I decided to walk around the park and take pictures. I don’t think I covered all of the park, but I believe I was able to photograph more than ninety percent of the area that most people would be interested in. As I got ready to leave I noticed that the 2:00pm swim with the manatees was the smallest group. Small groups are nice, however, the manatees’ appetite insures that if you have a head of lettuce, you will find that one or more of the manatees will become your friend.

 

 

After boarding the ship I showered, dressed and then grabbed my good camera and went back out to photograph the outside of the ship, as this is the one port where I can stand on solid ground (not a bobbing tender) and take a clear photograph of the ship (no dock, people or small boats in front of it). On the way out I saw the hotel director who recognized me, and noticed that I was walking away from the ship. I assured him that I was not going far and would be back on time. After taking a few photographs of the ship I headed back and found the hotel director. I showed him one of the pictures I took.

 

Back on the ship, I was feeling good. I had fun with the manatees and I had my clear full broadside ship picture. Well, all of this came crashing down with one phone call. The shore excursion to Bush Airport, which includes a brief tour of NASA, has been cancelled. So now I have a flight home, but no way to get to the airport. After having solved all of the Sunday problems and after a very enjoyable time in Cozumel, this has me down in the dumps, even though I realize that the worst case is a three hundred dollar taxi ride by someone who learned how to drive in New York. This time I head to the Concierge (Suite Lounge). One, can he get me to the airport on Sunday? Two, can he book me into Giovanni’s Table tonight (I need a nice quite meal)?

 

He gets me a table at 6:30pm. I give him a tip and say THANK YOU! He seems fairly confident that he can get me to Bush Airport. I don’t share his confidence, but I am willing to wait until tomorrow morning to see what fate awaits me.

 

I work on this for a while and then head for dinner. I have a cheese plate appetizer and steak for the main course. My waiter lets me have the pasta main dish as an appetizer also. He says it is very good, and it was, as was the steak. I leave him an extra tip and head to the cabin. I want to work on this. However, even though it is now about the time I would normally have dinner and I want to work on this, that phone call (and the sun) has zapped the will and energy from me. I end up watching TV for a while in bed and eventually fall asleep.

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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IMG_2008_zpsfqfzwmzv.jpg

 

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Below are links to several short videos taken inside the MDR (click in the lower right corner for full screen) ...

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20I_zpsdhvjzx7k.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20II_zpsxr1zcwgz.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20III_zpsrdpox6fk.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20IV_zpslscxaniy.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20V_zpsdp0c8a1y.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20VI_zpslomug3c1.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20VII_zpsnm0nbe0f.mp4

 

http://vid18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/ZefH/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Videos/MDR%20entertain%20VIII_zpsuragbtn1.mp4

 

nIMG_1997_zpszr0r9xth.jpg

 

oDSC_8479_zps9aumgjen.jpg

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Saturday, April 16, 2016 - Day at sea

 

I wake up at the normal time, first at 4:00am and then again about 6:30am. Even though I want to go to Chops for breakfast, I don’t get out of bed at 8:00am. Finally I get up around 8:30am, shower and dress and head up to the Suite Lounge. The concierge is on the phone, and then it suddenly hits me, I never received my invitation to the bridge tour. So while one concierge is on the phone, I run over to the other concierge and find out I am on the 9:30am tour and it is now 9:22am. I run over to the Concierge who tells me he is still working on it. I ask how long he will be here (to 11:00am) and tell him I’ll be back. I have to be somewhere else now.

 

A quick note, even though Royal Caribbean has eliminated the multiple daily announcements about various ways you can spend your money, the advertisements have not ended, they just come in other forms, messages on the TV, voice mail messages, and flyers. Some of those flyers come in envelopes. Make sure you at least look at them. My bridge tour invitation was in an envelope that I didn’t open until I started packing. I was lucky to make it to the bridge tour which I was looking forward to and had I known, I would have got out of bed earlier so that I would have had time to have breakfast at Chops.

 

 

I make it in time for the tour which was very enjoyable. One of the cadets conducts the tour (I get a picture with him). But we only have a half hour as there is a 10:00am tour. At 10:15am is the Captain’s Corner, which I also enjoy attending. However, when I get there I run into the Captain (don’t worry, neither of us were hurt) and I end up talking to him. This has two unintended consequences. One, I don’t have any more questions to ask and two, all the good seats have been taken. By 10:30am the questions are ridiculous and I decide to go to the Suite Lounge to find out if I am going to be waving to my plane as it takes off.

 

The Concierge came through again. I’m on the bus to the airport. No tour, but at least I’ll make my flight. I have a 4:20pm flight (designed for the tour schedule) and I’m figuring the bus will get me to the airport around 10:30am. Still it is a lot less than a three hundred dollar taxi ride (the bus is $47) and I have my laptop, so I’ll have plenty to keep me entertained. I gave the Concierge another tip.

 

So with that I end up chatting with another Gold Card passenger until lunch time. I take lunch back to the cabin to enjoy on the balcony. After that I put on my bathing suit so I can ride the green water slide which has been fixed. The green slide is faster. However, both slides are fun. Tidal Wave is still not working, but I did talk to one of the people working on fixing the slide, so something is being done.

 

Back at the cabin I showered and started the packing process. I then attended the 2:00pm ice show. It was okay, but not as good as other ice shows I have seen on other Royal Caribbean ships.

 

Then back to the cabin to finished packing and then I worked on this until dinner. I had two sliders as an appetizer and the pasta as the main dish. Usually I have ice cream for dessert (anything cold) but tonight I had the key lime pie after verifying that the filling is yellow. Yellow filling is real key lime pie, green filling is not real key lime pie. The wait staff put on their second show and then it was time to head back to the cabin and put the luggage out for collection.

 

Tomorrow not only are they going to kick us off the ship, but they are going to make us get up early to do it. So, until tomorrow morning, good night.

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Car used to transport people with mobility problems up and down the Royal Promenade ...

 

aoDSC_8760_zpsvsw8ppj1.jpg

 

Forward atrium ...

 

aqDSC_7894_zps0txm0ngr.jpg

 

BSC%2010_zpsrbrpdvom.jpg

 

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DSC_5537_zpsnzm5dgyp.jpg

 

The four wrist bands I had to wear at Chankanaab Park ...

arDSC_8701_zpsvyqbh02x.jpg

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Sunday, April 17, 2016 - Debarkation day

 

I have to be in Studio B for an 8:30 debarkation. So at 7:30am I head to the Windjammer for breakfast which I take back to the cabin and enjoy on the balcony. By 8:15am I am in Studio B with many others. Our time keeps getting pushed back until finally at 9:30am they start to call the groups. However, there is no one verifying that the people getting in line are in the groups that have been called. This creates a backup getting into the terminal.

 

Going through customs is no better or worse than other ports. The bus to Bush is full and leaves at 10:30am. This hour delay might be a problem for some, but by the time I get to the airport I still have a four hour wait, so I work on this for a while.

 

Since I am just sitting here at the airport watching planes go up and down, it is time to reflect on the past week. Royal Caribbean, which is known for its service, fell well short in that regard in my opinion. However, that is just my opinion. You will have to decide how you want to view what happened. Did the two concierges come through for me? Yes. Should they have had to save the day for me? Not in my opinion. Bad service resulted in two people providing exceptional service. However, good service means that I don’t have to waste time getting someone to fix the bad service. I’ve been on thirteen cruises with Royal Caribbean and the only two times I have had problems is when I am in a suite. And no matter what you think of the service the concierges provided to me, I was still upset and or worried at a time I was supposed to be on a carefree vacation.

 

Still there was a lot more to the cruise than problems. The room steward, waitress and assistant waiter were great. I tipped them extra. It was a great perk to have breakfast in Chops and to hobnob with the Captain and Hotel Director. The Suite Lounge was a nice quite place to meet and chat with others. There are other suite perks, but these were the two I enjoyed.

 

The islands visited (technically Belize is not an island) where good. I would not mind returning to Roatan or Cozumel again. I know I am going to Roatan again in December. Belize would be a lot more interesting if two hours were not lost during the round trip from/to the ship. Look at it this way, one week has 168 hours. Flying cross country uses up less than sixteen hours or less than ten percent of the total trip. Spending even one hundred minutes out of an eight hour port visit tendering from/to the ship is still wasting more than twenty percent of the time (unless one really enjoys tender rides).

 

Cozumel is one of my favorite ports. I would have loved to spend more time in Cozumel. As I noted, Chankanaab Park offers a lot. There are also a couple of all-inclusive beaches on Cozumel that many people rave about.

 

And how about the ship. I think the Liberty of the Seas came out of dry dock looking better than when it went in. Have I been on the Liberty of the Seas before? No. However, I’ve been on the Freedom of the Seas twice and it is what the Liberty of the Seas was. I think the Splashaway Bay is better than the H2O Zone and that the water slides (when working) are the first water slides on a Royal Caribbean ship that an adult can enjoy. I also enjoyed the addition of Savor as a third optional extra cost restaurant.

 

So, did I enjoy the cruise? Yes, but not as much as I could have had Royal Caribbean lived up to its reputation for outstanding service. So as I said earlier, this will be my last cruise on Royal Caribbean for a while, not because of this cruise, but because of the games it is playing with pricing (fake sales) and the new website which is very user unfriendly, which makes looking for a cruise very difficult (again, in my opinion).

 

For those that are interested, my final onboard bill was $86.40. This includes $97.75 spend for food and drinks onboard, $111.65 for gratuities (really a service charge), and $109 for the shore excursion that was cancelled which I had to rebook once onboard. Of course there was also the $99 credit for the shore excursion to the airport that was cancelled and the $200 onboard credit which meant I really spent $385.40.

 

While I sit here typing this apparently United decided to change the gate assignment. It is getting close to boarding time and there is no plane here. I check at the gate and the next flight is to Denver in two hours. I find a United employee who tells me the plane is at gate 33 (I’m currently at gate forty). So off I go to gate 33. I check in at the gate. No need, just get in line, boarding starts soon.

 

This is an A319 and it is not nearly as nice as the 787. On top of that, apparently it was not the original plane when I picked my seat. So when I discovered the change, the only window seat left was in the 1F. The problem with that is, there is no seat in front to store things under. This means I would have to put my computer in the overhead bin. This means I would have to climb over someone to get my computer. Fortunately there is plenty of legroom making that a little easier. What made it even easier is the guy sitting next to me had the same problem. When he got up I got up I got up. Same when it was time to land. That worked out great for both of us.

 

Being in 1F allowed me a view of the entry door. There is a handle marked “RME” and on the door it is marked “A D”. So while everyone was boarding I sat there trying to figure out what “RME” and “A D” meant. When the stewardess closed the door and pushed down the handle, I finally realized it stood for “ARMED”. If the door is opened while armed, the escape chute will deploy.

 

Now as you know, the senior stewardess is in charge of first class. So this is kind of funny. Between the two seats is a small tray for holding glasses of whatever (water, orange juice, wine …). Something under it was loose. I was fiddling around with it when suddenly it opened. It is a second drink tray. Very handy. Naturally we took advantage of my new discovery. After serving everyone else, the stewardess, who must have seen me fiddling with it, ask me how I opened it. Apparently this hidden tray is a well-kept secret, apparently only known to one passenger and one stewardess (and anyone reading this). So how do you open it? You push it in and it pops out (sometimes you have to push it in a few time to get it to pop out). So, if you are ever flying first class in a United A319 and you want to impress your stewardess, just pop out the hidden tray and enjoy the extra room for the drinks.

 

The flight was unremarkable (which is good). I managed to sort the pictures from the first two days, so I still have seven more days of photographs to sort through. For those that are interested I took over two thousand photographs.

 

We landed and I went to baggage claim and waited. While waiting I looked up and notice a suite case that looked just like mine. Then suddenly I realized there were two bags that looked just like mine. At that point I realized what had happened. My bags went on an earlier flight. So I grabbed them. I didn’t realize there was a guard. She asked my last name. I gave it to her and she let me take the bags. She also mentioned that someone had tried to take one of them. This is a problem when you get to the airport too early. Bags tend to be put on planes based on destination, not based on flight number. I’ve had this happen before with Delta when going to Kona, Hawaii. I do appreciate United checking on who was taking what bags.

 

This review is a summary of one person’s experience. It is not the gospel for what anyone should expect when cruising with Royal Caribbean. Nonetheless, I hope people find this review helpful and/or entertaining.

 

 

As you have no doubt noticed, I have posted some photographs with this review. I have also posted links to additional photographs because posting the actual photograph is time consuming and boring. Finally I welcome any comments you may have.

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Well, I started posting this review yesterday, and it's not yesterday anymore. :( So I forgot to add some links to my prior posts and now it is too lake to edit add the links to my prior posts. :mad: Here is are some links to additional photographs ...

 

Belize ...

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Belize

 

Additional cabins: 1623 - OS, 1640 - RS

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Cabins%20%20OS-1623%20RS-1640

 

I took a lot of pictures of Chankanaab Park. Here are two links to those pictures ...

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Belize

 

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Chankanaab%20Park%20II

 

Cozumel ...

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Cozumel

 

The ice show ...

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Ice%20Show

 

Miscellaneous photographs (50 per link)...

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Misc%20I

 

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Misc%20II

 

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Misc%20III

 

Saturday Night Fever (which was performed on Tuesday) ...

http://s18.photobucket.com/user/ZefH/slideshow/RC%20Liberty%20OTS/Saturday%20Night%20Fever

 

And at last I am done. I hope you enjoy it. :)

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