Liberty of the Seas Review-May 22nd

[Moparman392]

Introduction

 

I am a 25 year old Software Sales Rep who lives in Oregon with a wife of 5 years, and two dogs(no kids). We have both been on 4 cruises including the review you're about to read. Our idea of a vacation includes warm sandy beaches with drinks that have umbreallas in them. You would too if you lived in the Pacific Northwest. :D

 

This is my first post here(I've been a lurker for sometime) and review of a cruise, so bear with me. My plan is to review the cruise as we carried out our days with commentary and pictures. If you have a question and do want to see something I don't post, feel free to ask, I'm sure I took a picture and will be happy to share. I'll also do my best to answer every question.

 

Booking

 

We had originally decided upon sailing on the Oasis, booked a balcony stateroom, and sat on it for a month or so. We were then browsing the RC site, found the May 22nd sailing out of Galveston and decided to go for it. I had been to Galveston before, but neither of us had sailed out of Galveston. Other determining factors for us, flying from our regional airports to anywhere on the East Coast is a 12-14 hour affair, to Texas it's only 6 hours. I like to spend as little time in airports as possible...point for Texas! :cool:

 

Itinerary

 

We chose the 7 night, Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel Itinerary. Belize is rotated with Costa Maya, Costa Maya just happened to land on the date we had allocated for vacation.

 

 

Travel to Galveston

 

We decided to drive a couple hours north to fly out of Portland, it honestly shaves several hours of sitting in several airports, plus Southwest has service to Portland. Win win. We stayed in a Staybridge that offers a Park and Fly service that includes shuttle to and from the airport. No pictures of the room, sorry, but I'd recommend Staybridge's service for the convenience if anyone is curious.

We had a 7 am flight, the earlybird checkin(do it, totally worth it) put us in the first 4 rows. Quick connection in Dallas, then off to Houston. Once in Houston we collected our bags and headed down to Shuttle/Bus pickup. We had arranged a pickup with Galveston Express, reviews were mixed, but the issues seemed to be things I either didn't care about, or wouldn't be experiencing with our travels. Also they were basically half the cost of most other shuttles. I don't regret the decision. Our shuttle driver was running late due to the major construction going on between Hobby and Galveston, but she called basically as soon as we landed to let us know. She arrived in a newer Mercedes Sprinter fan, and we would be the only passengers to Galveston. The Sprinter was in great condition and the ride was as smooth as any shuttle van I'd ever been in(that was one of the trip advisor complaints). :rolleyes: I do apologize as I forget her name, but our driver was hilarious, yet a professional. I would definitely use Galveston Express again.

She dropped us off at the Holiday Inn Express Beach Resort in Galveston, they also offered a shuttle included in the cost of the stay to the Cruise Terminal. Reviews here were solid, they have an onsite bar and restaurant, seemed like a logical choice to me.

After dropping off our luggage in the room, we decided to catch the free shuttle down to Paradise Pier and grab some Bubba Gump. Yes yes I know there are better places to get a meal on the island, but life is like a box of chocolates, so we rolled the dice on a shrimp trip! :D I will add that the hotel shuttle ride was made intruiging by a group of couples who were preparing for their trip with Carnival, they had definitely gotten a head start on their fellow Carnival cruise mates, however they still had 15 hours or so to catch up! ;)

Dinner was well, we've got fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, shrimp stir fry.... you get the picture! And a couple of beverages to wash all that shrimp down. I did forget to take a picture of dinner, wasn't quite in review mode yet...

 

After dinner we decided to walk the beach back to the hotel, seemed to be about a mile and a half to two miles back. Was a great walk, and we snapped a few pictures. Will post those later(upload tool appears to be down).

 

Will add a picture of the room and balcony as well.

 

Later we board the Liberty and blast off out of Galveston...Stay tuned!

[Merion_Mom]

Introduction

 

I am a 25 year old Software Sales Rep who lives in Oregon with a wife of 5 years, and two dogs(no kids). We have both been on 4 cruises including the review you're about to read. Our idea of a vacation includes warm sandy beaches with drinks that have umbreallas in them. You would too if you lived in the Pacific Northwest. :D

 

This is my first post here(I've been a lurker for sometime) and review of a cruise, so bear with me. My plan is to review the cruise as we carried out our days with commentary and pictures. If you have a question and do want to see something I don't post, feel free to ask, I'm sure I took a picture and will be happy to share. I'll also do my best to answer every question.

 

Booking

 

We had originally decided upon sailing on the Oasis, booked a balcony stateroom, and sat on it for a month or so. We were then browsing the RC site, found the May 22nd sailing out of Galveston and decided to go for it. I had been to Galveston before, but neither of us had sailed out of Galveston. Other determining factors for us, flying from our regional airports to anywhere on the East Coast is a 12-14 hour affair, to Texas it's only 6 hours. I like to spend as little time in airports as possible...point for Texas! :cool:

 

Itinerary

 

We chose the 7 night, Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel Itinerary. Belize is rotated with Costa Maya, Costa Maya just happened to land on the date we had allocated for vacation.

 

 

Travel to Galveston

 

We decided to drive a couple hours north to fly out of Portland, it honestly shaves several hours of sitting in several airports, plus Southwest has service to Portland. Win win. We stayed in a Staybridge that offers a Park and Fly service that includes shuttle to and from the airport. No pictures of the room, sorry, but I'd recommend Staybridge's service for the convenience if anyone is curious.

We had a 7 am flight, the earlybird checkin(do it, totally worth it) put us in the first 4 rows. Quick connection in Dallas, then off to Houston. Once in Houston we collected our bags and headed down to Shuttle/Bus pickup. We had arranged a pickup with Galveston Express, reviews were mixed, but the issues seemed to be things I either didn't care about, or wouldn't be experiencing with our travels. Also they were basically half the cost of most other shuttles. I don't regret the decision. Our shuttle driver was running late due to the major construction going on between Hobby and Galveston, but she called basically as soon as we landed to let us know. She arrived in a newer Mercedes Sprinter fan, and we would be the only passengers to Galveston. The Sprinter was in great condition and the ride was as smooth as any shuttle van I'd ever been in(that was one of the trip advisor complaints). :rolleyes: I do apologize as I forget her name, but our driver was hilarious, yet a professional. I would definitely use Galveston Express again.

She dropped us off at the Holiday Inn Express Beach Resort in Galveston, they also offered a shuttle included in the cost of the stay to the Cruise Terminal. Reviews here were solid, they have an onsite bar and restaurant, seemed like a logical choice to me.

After dropping off our luggage in the room, we decided to catch the free shuttle down to Paradise Pier and grab some Bubba Gump. Yes yes I know there are better places to get a meal on the island, but life is like a box of chocolates, so we rolled the dice on a shrimp trip! :D I will add that the hotel shuttle ride was made intruiging by a group of couples who were preparing for their trip with Carnival, they had definitely gotten a head start on their fellow Carnival cruise mates, however they still had 15 hours or so to catch up! ;)

Dinner was well, we've got fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, shrimp stir fry.... you get the picture! And a couple of beverages to wash all that shrimp down. I did forget to take a picture of dinner, wasn't quite in review mode yet...

 

After dinner we decided to walk the beach back to the hotel, seemed to be about a mile and a half to two miles back. Was a great walk, and we snapped a few pictures. Will post those later(upload tool appears to be down).

 

Will add a picture of the room and balcony as well.

 

Later we board the Liberty and blast off out of Galveston...Stay tuned!

 

You need a photo-sharing site or tapatalk to post pictures. I use photobucket. There are others.

 

:)

 

Nice review! Thanks for taking the time.

[Moparman392]

You need a photo-sharing site or tapatalk to post pictures. I use photobucket. There are others.

 

:)

 

Nice review! Thanks for taking the time.

 

Thank You! I suppose I was thinking the site would grab straight out of my images... :confused: I shall return with photobucket links!

[wolfganghowell]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip! Thank you for getting off so quickly since we boarded around 10:45. :)

[Moparman392]

Okay so now that I've sorted out my photo uploading issues... Here are the pictures in order that should have been in the first post.

 

Drinks at Bubba Gump

 

Room at the Holiday Inn Express

 

 

And a couple of pictures from our walk on the beach. I will add, weather in Galveston was pretty rainy, the flooding was still going on in Houston. We watched a pretty awesome thunderstorm out in the Gulf from our room balcony that night.

 

 

[Moparman392]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip! Thank you for getting off so quickly since we boarded around 10:45. :)

 

You're very welcome! I was attempting to take as much food and drinks with me as possible in preparation for that Customs line... :D

[3happykids!]

thank you for the review. Looking forward to reading more as we sail on august 7!!!!!

[Shekim]

Introduction

 

After dropping off our luggage in the room, we decided to catch the free shuttle down to Paradise Pier and grab some Bubba Gump.

 

Hate to be picky but it's the Pleasure Pier. Anxious to read more; we're sailing in October and I'm reading everything i can. Thanks for taking the time

Edited June 17, 2016 by Shekim

[Ladysilver]

Following your review. :)

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[nativetexan]

Glad you had a good time! Can't wait for more!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Bagwhan]

Thank you for your review and looking forward to next instalment

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Clarea]

Nice photos so far.:)

[ansoninc]

I am heading that way next month, so you info is very helpful. Thanks and have a great time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[blacklightningp]

Waiting to read more

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PCWalton1]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review of your cruise. We will be taking this cruise with the Belize route in September.

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[cruisnpat]

Thanks for taking time for this review. waiting for more. Thanks

[ansoninc]

If you happen to no circle while on your port trips that have beaches. Do people leave their towels, beach bags etc in the sand while they go into the water? Are there lockers? Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ukintheus]

Very happy to see another LOTS review! Thank you for taking the time to write one. Following along on your adventure.

[2Ccruisers]

Following along!

[Moparman392]

Hate to be picky but it's the Pleasure Pier. Anxious to read more; we're sailing in October and I'm reading everything i can. Thanks for taking the time

 

Ah yes, my mistake, the location on my phone's photo library reads Paradise Pier for some reason.

 

Awesome, hope you have a grand time, I know we did!

[Moparman392]

I am heading that way next month, so you info is very helpful. Thanks and have a great time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

Thank you for taking the time to post your review of your cruise. We will be taking this cruise with the Belize route in September.

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

Fantastic! We really enjoyed Costa Maya, but Belize is on the list still!

[Moparman392]

If you happen to no circle while on your port trips that have beaches. Do people leave their towels, beach bags etc in the sand while they go into the water? Are there lockers? Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

We visited private/restaurant beaches on our beach days, so I felt pretty comfortable leaving my belongings in chairs while I went in the water. I would definitely be a bit more careful if you venture into the water while at a public beach. I didn't see lockers at any of our locations.

[Moparman392]

Galveston, Texas- Day 1

 

 

Embarkation

 

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, The Jetty. Nothing fantastic, but nothing to complain about either. Then waited for our shuttle to take us to the Cruise Terminal. After the shuttle driver had everyone loaded, it was a quick 5 minute or so drive to the terminal. Friendly porters grabbed our luggage and off to the never ending line for security/check in. This is where my review may have a mild opinion. I understand that the terminal was not built to handle a Freedom sized ship, and the port personnel are doing an excellent job keeping the herded cattle moving. However, while RC and the Port sort out building a new terminal, an extra metal detector and xray machine would greatly assist in moving the lines ahead. All told from time we got in line, to the time we were on the gangway, we were in lines for 2 hrs and 45 mins. That would be my only complaint about Galveston. The port staff, and RC staff were incredibly friendly and are doing a great job with the situation at hand.

 

 

Quick drink at the pool bar, followed by muster, and then off to the room to watch sail away.

 

 

Our home for the next 7 days.

 

 

Sailing past the Breeze with our Coast Guard escort in tow.

 

 

Parting shot of Galveston.

 

We decided to walk around a bit, get a pre-dinner drink and then head off to the main dinning room for dinner.

 

Dinner

 

Michelangelo deck 4- table 406- which turns out to be a primo window table. Starters-Caesar salad(old reliable classic) and smoked fish rillettes(not so good, mixture of fish onions and salad just didn't mesh well together)

Main course- prime rib, baked potato, and mixed veggies (very good cut of meat cooked medium)

Seafood spaghetti which had crab meat, and scallops, peas, asparagus, topped with muscle shells(very good meal)

Desert-blueberry crumble topped with vanilla ice cream(rated in the pretty close to die for area)

Lime sherbet(another classic reliable)

 

The menu for tonight's meal in case anyone is interested.

 

I realized about halfway through dinner that I hadn't taken any photos of the food. I was in such a rush to eat I suppose I forgot. (Also hadn't fully decided to do a review yet!)

 

In all, the meal and service were excellent. I've honestly never had a bad meal on RC yet.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Moparman392

[Moparman392]

After dinner we hung out on the balcony and watched oil rigs and tankers pass by(our new favorite pastime).

 

 

Hey look the Breeze caught up, step on it Captain...I don't want to lose out on good beach spots to those Carnival passengers!! :D

 

After we got our fill of the Oil Industry, we headed for the Plaza bar to take in a strawberry daiquiri and a pineapple vodka, then headed to the pool deck to take in Star Wars playing on the big screen while we soaked in the hot tub.

 

 

Also grabbed a few pics of those slides that everyone is talking about.

 

 

The evenings sunset.

 

The pool deck got a bit busy post movie with a much younger crowd so we decided to head for after pool snack at Sorrentos, which was Sorrentos :)

Then swung by the R bar for a couple of pineapple vodkas and headed back to the balcony to turn in for the evening/relax and watch more oil rigs pass by!

 

Tomorrow...Sea Day. Stay tuned!