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Just off the Liberty...my thoughts plus LFK

casadetexas

By casadetexas,
in Royal Caribbean International

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casadetexas

casadetexas

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Just got off the Liberty. Our first cruise with RCCL. I have read the boards for months and gathered all the info before boarding. We have previously cruised with Disney. I am a family of 5, with a 9,11, and 14 yr old. More on that in a bit.

 

Boarding through Galveston: I had heard interesting stories about boarding. We showed up around 9:15. Had a very smooth no wait check in. Waited about an hour on the top floor but that didn't bother us.

 

Got on board. I very much dislike Windjammer. I went with an open mind. Gross.

 

Explored the ship and went for a swim. Very nice. Texas Tea was the drink of the day. I don't drink much but I could have a thousand of those. We did not do a sail away on the top deck.

 

We chose my time dining. Had reservations for first night. That helped a lot as there was a long line. We skipped that and got to sit right down. Highly recommend doing that for the first night.

 

Sea days were great. Never felt crowded. Always something to do. I recommend the scavenger hunt. Hilarious!

 

LFK: we chose VIP. Well worth it. Amazing place. Drinks were good. Friendly people. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

 

SIMBIA has been returned. Yay! However went I asked, the man almost teared up. They were very glad to have him home. But while he was away they did something to him. He came back mean, angry, and didn't recognize his main trainer whom he loved so dearly. He was short of saying abuse. We were allowed to see him (near the Parking lot) but we were going to miss our bus so we didn't. You could tell the man was very sad about it. Snorkeled here. The best ever.

024c2cf34cdcf2480ddcc58e7a4b8cc3.jpg

 

Blue Key (Costa Maya): everything that I have read here is correct. Get off the first stop. Walk all the way back. WELL WORTH IT. just beautiful and no venders!!!!!

502dbd53064b84e0bcfd569395fc91f9.jpg

 

Cozumel Dolphin Discovery: I chose this over the other one because it was in the ocean. I am an anima lover and was a little worried. I am happy to report they were in great condition, and were excited and wanting to play. Great education on conservation as well. Snorkeling was great too.

 

Only saw the ice skating show and did some ice skating. Very well done. Don't miss that one.

 

Now with that said, I must explain a few things. People overall were very sweet. Lots of laughs. However don't expect to go on a cruise in September and think you got rid of kids. It's not going to happen. I had a lot of compliments about how quiet and well behaved my kids were they say yes ma am and no sir. They don't run wild. And we never took them to the kids places. We were together as a family. That being said, you wouldn't believe all the nasty comments about how many kids there were, how rotten all of them were, and this was why they chose to cruise while they were in school. And how shocked they when they saw all these kids. This broke my heart. First off, to us, there were not that many kids. Having come from Disney were kids out number adults, I thought the ship was full of adults. I only found one family who had out of control kids. That is a very good ratio compared to Disney.

 

I wish the smoking areas were marked better. I hated having to go through the casino with smoke to get from one place to another. I am an ex smoker 19 years. Every day can be a struggle. So this was very hard for me.

 

I don't think the ship was as clean. We found stuff in our room from the people before.

 

It is an older ship and the 90's feel was still apparent.

 

The food wasn't as good.

 

Our deck from our room was sticky and had big melted chocolate which tells me they didn't clean that either.

 

All that being said, my whole family said they enjoyed this cruise much better than Disney. Disney had cleaner rooms and better food, but RCCL out performed in every other area.

 

 

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casadetexas

casadetexas

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Thank you for your review. We are going on Liberty next month with 3 children, aged 10 8 and 6.

 

I don't understand how people can complain about kids on a RCCL cruise, specially one with water slides etc.

 

Any more info would be great.

 

 

Small minded thinking I guess. Since we have a large family, it was cheaper for us to Sail this month (no we didn't have the kids sail free deal) than it was during peak season. There were homeschool kids there as well.

 

Pools and water slides were better in the morning. By lunch they were packed. It was great to leave then and do other stuff. The cupcake class looked like fun, but heard they were dry and not yummy. But I guess it was a good way to learn how to do them.

 

The scavenger hunt we did was at schooner bar. We split up to do the items. The best. But be warned, you only win highlighters. Haha.

 

If you show up in the afternoon at the pool in Costa Maya they are filled with bubbles.

5d0feb1d1200785cd0c2c41a5232d7c6.jpg

 

Coffee from the pizza place is a must to avoid.

 

Any fans of the show from Lost???? You will find a young Ben Linus on the ship. He is a wait staff.

 

On Disney we got the Norovirus. We didn't not get sick this time. We washed hands like no tomorrow on top of the gel provided.

 

Bring cash for tips. Taxis, drivers, food elsewhere on the islands, etc.

 

 

 

 

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casadetexas

casadetexas

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I am unfamiliar with Simbia.

 

 

 

Care to enlighten me?

 

 

Simba. Sorry for the typo. Simba is a jaguar that LFK owned. Feel free to search the boards about him. You could swim with him. Won't get into detail here as everyone has their opinion. But in the end they owned him, there was an illegal raid, he was taken away. He is now back after been gone for a while but in a different state of mind.

 

 

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reallyitsmema

reallyitsmema

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Simba. Sorry for the typo. Simba is a jaguar that LFK owned. Feel free to search the boards about him. You could swim with him. Won't get into detail here as everyone has their opinion. But in the end they owned him, there was an illegal raid, he was taken away. He is now back after been gone for a while but in a different state of mind.

 

 

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Okay, now we know who Simba is, what is LFK? Googled it and but got urban dictionary definition.

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Doug S

Doug S

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Was on with you and just got home. Maybe we ran into each other. Look forward to hearing the rest of your take on the cruise.

 

We agree boarding (and disembarking) was very easy. This morning we were thru customs and in our car in less than 30 minutes after our number was called heading home.

 

Also agree there were a surprising number of kids for school time but the vast majority were very well behaved. We had a lot of positive interaction with kiddoes, and I think kids can add to the cruise experience even though our youngest is now 24. That neat Splash zone would look dumb with a bunch of old geezers drinking beer in there. We did have a few negative kiddo incidents but lived to tell about them. As a whole the adults were far worse. Now do I want to cruise spring break??? Not a chance, but that's something I can plan around. And I do appreciate a few adult venues on the ship. But if people were griping about kids on this sailing they just need a reality check... Some just enjoy complaining. You should sit a few minutes in the Diamond Lounge. We are professional complainers in there.

 

We were also on LFK with you guys (our second time) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Many more people than our first trip several years ago, but still a good excursion. We'll book it again in December... What does the VIP experience buy you? We considered it but opted not to this time.

 

We only did the windjammer 2 times when the schedule pushed us that way, but we've cruised Royal enough that we are pretty much over the buffet. We had no problems finding other venues we enjoyed more.

 

Sorry your room was not up to standard. Ours was great, and our steward was top notch. No complaints at all there, but everyone has a different experience. Around the ship there were definitely things that could be spruced up, but nothing too tragic.

 

Doug...

Edited by Doug S
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travelsizegirl

travelsizegirl

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My husband and I were also on the Liberty this week. I was actually very happy with how few children were on the ship, and how easy they were to avoid for the most part. I'm one of those horrible people who don't like children, so if I'm not complaining, I honestly don't see why anyone else would. I didn't go out by the pools much, though, so maybe that made a difference.

 

We have only been on one cruise before (Carnival), and here are our thoughts on this trip:

 

We got a fantastic deal booking third party. Not sure about the rules here on naming websites, but we used the same one both times and actually paid less for an oceanview on this ship than an interior on the Carnival ship (I forget which one). Yay!

 

We were sorely disappointed in our stateroom attendant (Camelot). He was very difficult to understand, and generally gave a lot of lip service about helping us have a wonderful trip, but when we actually asked for help, he gave the minimum effort possible and acted like there was nothing he could do. Something as simple as asking if he had a ribbon or string or something we could tie to our luggage just got a shake of the head and a laugh like we were ridiculous. Our attendant on the Carnival ship was amazing. Sweetest guy, so happy all the time, and went above and beyond at every opportunity. Camelot even lectured my husband when he needed help with his tie, telling him he should know these things for church. My husband is a plumber and doesn't ever wear ties, and we don't go to church. I was offended at his comment, but we still tipped him for the help, thinking that might brighten his day and make him friendlier. It didn't.

 

We thought the ship was much more well rounded in activities than the Carnival cruise we took. The other ship felt more like a party boat... this ship didn't, which we liked.

 

We were very happy with the dining room and the Chops steakhouse, but disappointed in the food everywhere else (not including other specialty restaurants, which we did not experience). The pizza place, cafe, and Windjammer were all disappointments for us. And we still can't agree with a cruise line making a burger diner a specialty restaurant. Turned me off just a bit. Seemed awfully cheap on their part.

 

We loved the casino, but were a little disappointed in the table limits. No idea why they keep letting the Baccarat tables sit empty at $100/hand. Also can't understand why they limit the odds bets on craps so much. Never been anywhere so restrictive on odds. However the casino staff were really great and we enjoyed ourselves. (Even won quite a bit on Saturday!)

 

We really loved the shows. Slightly disappointed in the comedy shows, but the choreographed shows were fantastic.

 

Also very happy with the tour guides the ship hooked us up with on the excursions. They were all friendly, patient, and very good with handling groups.

 

Overall it was a great trip, with a few minor disappointments. Enough that my husband has expressed that so far he definitely favors Carnival, but the jury is still out for me.

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BlueCollarCruiser

BlueCollarCruiser

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Went in July and was just on Liberty with you this past week.

 

This past week was MUCH better re: kids than July was. There were children running everywhere in July. Way too much. We agreed not to sail again in the summer due to how many children there were running around. There were kids but they were mostly right at parents' hips and not screaming or being annoying.

 

Been on Navigator and Independence. Liberty has been the best experience. Mainly with the great stateroom attendants and MDR wait staff. Giovanni's was nice as well. Romeo aka Moustache made it an excellent experience.

 

The disembarkation process was 1,000% better than it was just two months ago. The second terminal had just opened up back then. Self assist was nearly an hour of standing on the outside of deck 4 in the humid heat in July. Today it was <4 minutes from walking out of the ship onto the deck 4 deck, getting swiped off, and walking into the terminal. We were out of there in a FLASH which was amazing.

 

The CD looks like Garry Shandling with heterochromia iridium and he has a weird sense of humor but he was a riot as well. Quest was great as always.

 

The headliners were ALL complete hacks and we couldn't stomach more than 5 minutes of any of their sets. The puppet guy took the cake as least entertaining thing I've ever seen on a cruise ship.

 

The ice show was pretty good, as was In The Air. SNF was ok.

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tonyweir

tonyweir

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We were on Liberty the first week of August. There were 1200 kids on board.

 

We had no issues with kids. They did their thing, were polite and had a great time. The watersides were busy but over crowded.

 

I didn't think the ship was dated at all. She was spotless and the crew was great. Our cabins were clean and the cabin stewards were great.

 

We had a group of 12 with MTD. We had a standing reservation in the dining room and ended up in the same section with the same staff every night. They were outstanding!

 

We were on Carnival July 2015 and two Princess earlier this year. Liberty blew all of them out of the water, so to speak. We did get rerouted due to hurricane Earl and ended up in Cozumel and Nassau, skipping Belize and Roatan.

 

We're booked on the same ship this coming February to finish the trip we started!

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Grandma Gilly

Grandma Gilly

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Again, if one doesn't want to be with children why book a vacation on a ship that specifically caters for children. Book an adult only or small ship.

When travelling with our grandchildren this type of ship is the only one to choose. However, when on our own we wouldn't dream of going on Royal or Disney.

Edited by Grandma Gilly
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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

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SIMBIA has been returned. Yay! However went I asked, the man almost teared up. They were very glad to have him home. But while he was away they did something to him. He came back mean, angry, and didn't recognize his main trainer whom he loved so dearly. He was short of saying abuse. We were allowed to see him (near the Parking lot) but we were going to miss our bus so we didn't. You could tell the man was very sad about it. Snorkeled here. The best ever.

 

 

 

 

Simba is not back (confirmed by the owner, Kevah, himself. They keep everyone pretty informed that knows him and I thought this sounded a little off (since they haven't made an announcement that he's back).

 

He said they are really close to getting him back, but not yet. They won the court case 4 months ago for the abuse of power, and the appeal they won several days ago. They are now waiting on the final order to have Simba and the other animals returned....straight from the owners mouth.

 

They do have other jaguars there, including a jag/lion mix. Someone there was either pulling your leg or didn't know what they were talking about.

 

I just wanted to let everyone know...:)

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amandam32

amandam32

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We were on the Liberty with you. My kids are 3 and 7 and had a blast! Our room had leftover items from previous guests too. We loved the ship! Windjammer was meh but we found a couple of things we really liked. We ate there once for breakfast, twice for lunch (way too crowded) and twice for dinner. People were SO nice to us! (Fellow passengers and crew). They went above and beyond to make the kiddos feel special. MDR was great. Splashaway bay was great except for closing at 6:00 [emoji13] Can't wait til our next trip.

I should add that my mom got very sick on day 6. She was dry heaving, diarrhea, and coughing. She had chills and fever in the 102's. We had to wheel her down to be seen after hours. The infirmary diagnosed her with upper resp infection. It was clearly gastric and viral. She couldn't eat or keep anything down. I'm afraid they didn't want to go through the process of sanitizing the whole ship since we were near the end of our trip [emoji51]

 

 

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