Liberty review - August 28 2016 sailing

[wolfganghowell]

Fantastic - more more more! Enjoying the text and the pics. We were on her beginning of June and will be back end of November. This is really scratching my itch! Thanks - keep it coming.

[skittlesdfw]

Hello there! First of all, thank you SO much for your review. We leave on Liberty in two and a half weeks and your photos and write-up have only helped increase my excitement. :)

 

I do have a question though...

 

Muster was at 3:30 pm and we were inside in Star Lounge. It was the quietest muster we have ever been to. LOL. People actually were quiet when they were asked to be. ;) The overall vibe of the ship was different though, of course, with the majority of passengers appearing to be couples, and probably older couples at that. There were so few children that it seemed a little strange.

Do you happen to know if all Muster stations on Liberty were inside the lounges/theaters on Liberty?

 

Or is that a perk for top-tier C&A / suite guests?

[wolfganghowell]

Do you happen to know if all Muster stations on Liberty were inside the lounges/theaters on Liberty?

Nope they are not. It depends on where your room is onboard.

 

Or is that a perk for top-tier C&A / suite guests?

NOPE. I wish! ;)

[skittlesdfw]

Nope they are not. It depends on where your room is onboard.

Not to totally sidetrack, but is there any place where we can find out if we're inside/outside for muster? We're on deck 9 aft in a balcony cabin...

[Yorkiegirl3]

Loving your review. My favorites are the ones with lots of pics and details. Especially food pics, lol. We'll be on the Liberty next year so I love seeing reviews about her.

[jeanneful]

I am so loving your detailed review! We do a B2B in Nov. This terrific review makes it all the more exciting! Thanks!

[ukintheus]

Thanks to everyone for following along! I'll do my best to keep up at a decent pace and I promise I won't leave you all hanging and not finish. :) If only work would realize I need time to get this done! Ha ha.

[ukintheus]

Monday - August 29th – At sea day

 

We both woke up early as we had had an early night and we both slept really well. The cabin was quiet and the bed was comfy. The AC also appeared to be working really well, and the temperature of the room had been really nice. The only strange thing (to us) was that they made announcements over the PA system in the hallways up until about 10:30 pm, giving info in various things going on around the ship. I guess on DCL they know better than do anything to wake sleeping kids! LOL At 7 am we decided to go and get some coffee from Promenade Café on deck 4.

 

 

This Morgan is outside Vintages which was one of the places I was looking forward to going to when I was doing my research. Spoiler alert - we never even walked through the door! Argg!! We didn't really drink wine except with dinner this cruise, so we just never made it in there. Oh well, next time!

 

 

After grabbing a couple of lattes from deck 4 we went to Windjammer to get some breakfast. It was fairly quiet with a few people around but not at all busy.

 

I've got both plates included in this photo. We both got basically the same thing. A fried egg from the omelette station, biscuit and gravy and a sausage. Scott got mushrooms and I got grilled tomatoes. The biscuits were better than DCL who basically take hockey pucks and throw them on the buffet I think. Now that I am looking at the photo, I also got tater tots and they were really good!

 

 

We wandered over to the Solarium and found a couple of comfy loungers to plonk down onto for a while.

 

 

We sat there until about 9:45 am and then decided to go back to our cabin. We went and checked out a couple of pool towels along the way. This was our first time to check towels in and out using your sea pass card and it wasn't difficult at all, despite all the gloom and doom I had read. So with $50 worth of towels in hand (ha ha) we decided a mimosa would be a good idea. We visited Hugh in Sky Bar for these two cuties.

 

 

Walid, our stateroom host, met us outside and we chatted to him for a little while. It seemed that all the crew we spoke to were on 7 month contracts and got 2-3 months off depending on their preference as to how long to go without being paid. Most do 2 months. We sat on the balcony and enjoyed the loungers and the extra space. *sigh*

 

[ukintheus]

The water had turned to the beautiful blue color that showed that we were heading south and the earlier clouds from the morning had pretty much gone.

 

 

We sat reading and listened to the sound of the waves and watching little pieces of orange seaweed float by. For this part of the trip our verandah had shade in the morning and it was a great place to chill and read and just relax in general. Before long we had to get ready and leave for the Meet & Mingle. It was in the Olive or Twist bar and started at 11 am. There were good views from up there.

 

 

The meet and mingle was very crowded, which I admit surprised me. LOL They had a raffle and we learned that the Tidal Wave was going to be closed after day 3, which wasn't going to be a big deal for me as I hate drops of any kind and had already ruled it out long before getting on board. Someone from our cruise meet thread had kindly offered to organize a cabin crawl and right after the M&M we got the information for the cabins that were going to be available. The crawl was going to start at 2 pm so we wandered to the back of the ship with the intention of going to see the water slides and Flowrider. As we got there the skies opened so we gave up on that and wandered down to deck 4 again to escape the weather.

 

For some reason everyone has a photo of the dog, so here's ours!

 

 

 

 

Looking up from deck 4 elevators.

 

[ukintheus]

While we were down there we decided to get a couple of sandwiches at Promenade Cafe. These hit the spot but they didn't seem as interesting to us as the ones offered at Goofys on DCL. They were pretty plain Jane, and also the selection didn't change at all during the week.

 

 

After sitting there for about 30 minutes and doing some people watching we gave it another go up on deck and the sun was out. FlowRider was busy and it looked like it would be really hard. I thought Scott might be interested in trying it, but he either wasn't bothered or was just chicken - ha ha.

 

 

This kid did well considering he had about a bucket of water shot up his nose a couple of times.

 

 

 

We wandered around the back of Flowrider and found a good place to watch people on the Tidal Wave.

 

 

[ukintheus]

Nobody we know in this photo, and we never went on it but I knew I wouldn't. LOL

 

 

 

 

Walking further around you came to where the water slides dump out.

 

 

 

Also back in this area is the rock climbing wall and the basketball court.

 

[ukintheus]

After taking a good look around at the back of the ship and exploring some more we ended up back up at Oliver or Twist. Again, this was the last time we were there - now looking back we must have pretty much turned into hermits!!

 

 

After all that activity it seemed only fair that we try Windjammer for some dessert. It was absolutely packed and we had a really hard time finding a seat but eventually found one close to the entrance. We decided on bread pudding, which was good, and some type of mousse dessert that had no flavor at all. It reminded me of the desserts on the buffet on DCL - very pretty but not worth the calories in the end....but you eat it anyway. LOL

 

 

The buffet was fast becoming our least favorite place so far between the crowds and the food just not being all that great. We went back to the cabin as we had an hour to kill before the cabin crawl began and I took this photo of the Promenade area from the elevators at the front of the ship.

 

 

Here's another random photo for you. The other thing that we found really different (<- read "a bit strange") is some of the artwork around the ship. We are not into art at all and so there was probably some real significance that we were missing, but here's an example of a picture on the wall on the staircase.

 

 

We had just arrived back in our cabin when maintenance arrived to fix something we didn't even know was broken, which was very efficient! We left just before 2 pm to begin the cabin crawl and met up with a couple who were looking for the same cabin as we were to begin. They were very sweet and we ended up doing the whole tour along with them. We saw a couple of different size balcony rooms, a promenade interior, a Jr suite and a grand suite.

 

It was really interesting to see the different types of rooms and the balcony rooms were not that much smaller than a Disney balcony but the bathrooms were significantly smaller with no split bath, and no bath tub but a very small shower.

 

This photo was taken from a mirror, so it's a weird image, but you can get the gist. Its of the shower in the regular bathroom. I'm not sure how we would get on with it, that's something I'm still pondering.

 

 

The size of the bathroom would be the only reason we would think hard about a regular balcony room, as overall the room and verandah size were very comparable to DCL. We were done at about 3:15 and we went to the Solarium bar and grabbed a couple of drinks before heading back to do a bit of sunbathing on our balcony.

 

 

[ukintheus]

It was definitely a warm afternoon and although there was a tiny breeze it was hot hot hot! We used the shower to cool off, which worked out pretty well, and it was a good way to make the most of our private loungers. Scott did the run to get another cocktail. Sadly this one didn't hit the spot, it was a mango mojito and I didn't care for the mix of flavors so what you see here is what was thrown away. I did like the fact that if I didn't like something I didn't feel like I'd just paid an arm and a leg for it. Still loving the drink package!!

 

 

We finally gave in and went inside to cool off and shower and get ready for our dinner reservation in Chops at 6 pm. We arrived just before 6 pm and were promptly seated. First up was some really good bread and our server was nice and friendly and chatty.

 

 

We both started with a cocktail. Scott's was a Maker's Mark Manhattan and mine was the Chops signature lemonade cocktail but I can't remember the fancy name for it. It tasted like grapefruit though, which was a bit weird, but then again, I like grapefruit. LOL

 

 

Next up we both got the mushroom soup which was absolutely delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it as I write this!

 

 

When we ordered, we asked if it's typical to do all 3 courses, soup, appetizer and entree, and our server told us to just order whatever we wanted....so we did!

 

I got the Beef Carpaccio and it was really good.

 

 

Scott got the crab cake - again really good.

 

[ukintheus]

We both ordered the 9 oz filet and had asparagus, mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes although we forgot to take photos of the steaks! Ugg!! Trip report fail on my part!!

 

For dessert we split the cheesecake and mud pie.

 

 

 

All of the food was really good and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We thought the service was about on par with Palo on DCL. Our server asked us if we wanted to come back, and that he could make a reservation for us, so we booked again for Friday. So, sidebar story. While we were on our second appetizers, a really sweet gentleman was seated at the table next to us who was cruising on his own and was a Pinnacle member. He was an older man whose wife had passed away several years ago and he had worked in the oil industry many years ago, so he and Scott talked oil business for a while. We enjoyed chatting with him for the evening, you just meet some really interesting people sometimes and he had a lot of good stories.

 

We decided to go to Hoof and Claw for a night cap. Note the time stamp, 9:11 pm. Not too early, not too late. Yet. Ha ha.

 

 

As you can see the place was fairly empty and we chatted a lot with the bartenders.

 

 

At 10:00 pm this singer from Argentina came along to entertain us all and I'm forgetting who he was.

 

 

So our nightcap was turning into a major event. There were several people in there that were having a lot of fun, and it would have been rude to not join in. Fatal last words...LOL

 

[ukintheus]

So I may have a slightly sketchy memory for the rest of the evening but I know there was a conga line at one point - LOL - and the Argentinian singer came over and had a drink with us seeing as that whole side of the bar was so rowdy. :D

 

This was last call....12:56 am!! As you can see, I at least had some forethought to drink water as well.

 

 

So our evening started on Monday and ended....

 

 

It was almost 2 am when we got back to our cabin, but it had been a fun night. This little guy was waiting for us.

 

 

Needless to say, we went straight to bed. This was wayyyyy past our bed time. Ha ha.

[ukintheus]

Tuesday, August 30th – At sea day

 

After a super late night we didn't get up very early and this day was very easy to keep up with on the trip report (i.e. we did nothing! LOL) I was awake at 9 am but Scott enjoyed a nice lie in until 11 am. At some point we were going past the coast of mainland Mexico. This is fuzzy - camera troubles with humidity.

 

 

We got ready and, having skipped breakfast, we decided to try lunch in the Rembrandt main dining room. The menu looked pretty interesting and I liked the fact that they also had a big salad station set up in the middle where they put your salad together the way that you wanted it.

 

 

I decided to go with the tandoori lamb.

 

 

Scott got a hamburger.

 

 

The food was just OK, I probably didn't make the best of choices, but Scott said his hamburger was decent. The service was really slow though, so we didn't wait on dessert. I also got a nice ice water shower over my right arm and leg, which was handy as it woke me up. LOL We went up to deck 4 and took a walk outside. It was very overcast today and the temperature was really nice. This reminds me of Deck 4 on DCL and lots of people were taking advantage of the nice quiet space.

 

 

On our way back I took a quick photo of these interactive guides that are by the elevators. I used one once to find a restroom, they were handy!

 

[Ladysilver]

Great review and photos! :D

[Texasopa]

Nice review,we will be on her in about 3 days...

[ukintheus]

We decided to go and sit on our verandah and enjoy the breeze. We spent a couple of hours out there and then took a quick nap in keeping with our extremely busy day! At about 5 we went down and grabbed a bite to eat and a drink at Promenade Cafe. I got an iced latte and it was VERY strong, I was scared to drink more than half of it. I could just see me staying awake all night having had such a lazy day. Ha ha.

 

 

We got back to the room and I tried to find the information for Maya Chan, which is where we had booked to go in Costa Maya tomorrow, but couldn't find it, so I had to buy a 1 day internet package to send an email. That was $19.99 that could have been avoided but I decided to make the most of it and text Mum and my sister. We showered and got ready for dinner. Tonight we were back in the main dining room and seeing as I had the My Time Dining reservation at 6:45 pm we decided to stick with that. When we got down there the servers were all in the middle of some kind of dance. I tried to get this photo but it didn’t come out very well.

 

 

Once we had been seated, they were trying to get everyone to get up and do the Macarena. We declined but these two ladies were good sports and got up to join in.

 

 

Here is the menu for tonight (if you can read it).

 

 

We both had crab cakes, which were really filling. I noticed afterwards that the people next to us only got served one each – Scott and I were both given two! We must have looked hungry. LOL

 

 

I decided to try the pasta.

 

[ukintheus]

And Scott had the braised beef duo.

 

 

Tonight everything was better than the meal we had had in there the first night, but neither of us were super hungry having just eaten a sandwich earlier.

 

Scott had the rum baba for dessert, which he said was almost inedible, and I had orange sherbet which was good.

 

 

 

No big surprise that we decided to skip the night life tonight, and in keeping with our quiet and low key day we decided to go and find a movie on TV to watch. We had another towel animal waiting for us.

 

 

We were in bed by 8:45 pm. It was an extremely lazy day, and a perfect way to relax. I was surprised that RCI has all the Dreamworks movies that are no charge. I had heard that there was basically no TV available, but we didn’t really find it to be a problem if you aren’t picky about what you watch – which evidently we aren’t! ;)

 

Coming up....Costa Maya and Maya Chan.

Edited September 22, 2016 by ukintheus

[LHARTWICK]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review - we board LOS on October 9. A couple of questions:

 

1) What did you do in Roatan? We are still deciding.

2) Is there a charge to enter the Solarium area?

 

I also love the way some ships place the day of the week on the elevator rugs. Helps to keep track of the days while you're away. And don't feel silly for taking food pics - I've taken lots of food photos over the years while on cruises.

 

Thanks again!

[british lady]

Great Review thank you, on her in Dec.

Good to know about the kettle in the cabin, I will bring my PG.

[widallas]

Loving your review...thanks so much for sharing loads of info with GREAT pictures and a very balanced perspective. Can't wait to see what happens next! :D

[ohyes]

So happy to run across your super review with all the photos. DH and I are boarding Liberty next month (first time on RCCL for us). Your review is such fun. Thank you.

[Cel_cruise]

Loving your trip report! While not DCL, we are frequent WDW travelers and totally understand the door decorating and food porn photos! We will be on her in April!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums