Liberty of the Seas, Jan. 2-8, 2017 - Review

[riofriotex]

It's pretty long! I will try to add some pix to the thread later.

 

Liberty of the Seas Jan 2-8, 2017

 

This was our seventh cruise, the fifth in January out of Galveston, and the second with RCCL

 

We selected this cruise for three reasons: departure point, the week it happened, and Costa Maya. We have missed Costa Maya on two previous cruises (hurricane in 2007 deleted from the itinerary after booking but before departure, and rough seas prevented docking in 2013). The nature of my work means I can only cruise in the first couple weeks of January. And, my husband and I hate flying but live within a six-hour drive of Galveston. Despite waiting fairly long to book, I managed to get “hump” (Centrum) balcony staterooms on Deck 8 (my preferred deck) for us and for my 86-year-old aunt and her 82-year-old traveling companion, who accompanied us from my aunt’s home in Houston to/from the ship. Otherwise, they did their thing and we did ours.

 

Pre Cruise:

We like to be flexible so always do My Time dining. Yes, sometimes it means a wait, but the pagers allowed us to go back to our stateroom if we wanted. I already knew what I wanted to do in Costa Maya (the same excursion I’d had to cancel in 2013) and in Cozumel. Both of those excursions were not through the ship. With tender ports, I generally prefer to do the ship’s excursions, but as you’ll read below, that did not work out for us.

 

We’re a bit older and my husband has some health issues, so that influenced our excursion choices. We aren’t much into entertainment, gambling, or shopping. We’ve eaten in specialty restaurants in the past, but felt those on Liberty were excessively priced, so did not book any in advance. We also don’t do Internet or drink packages. Most of my pre-cruise planning was deciding what to do in Belize and what specifically to see in Cozumel (again, more on that in a bit).

 

Embarkation:

We spent the night before the cruise in southwest Houston (where I grew up) near my aunt’s home, as we needed to pick her up the next day. Normally we stay in Galveston (different hotel each time) and do some things there. We left Houston about noon (after the morning rainstorm had ended), I dropped the other three off at the terminal about 1 p.m., parked the car and walked back to join them. We had requested a wheelchair for my aunt in advance so she and her companion were whisked off right away. As Gold members we boarded quickly. We actually had time to get a quick bite to eat in Windjammer before the muster drill.

 

Cabin:

I didn’t get the *exact* “hump” cabin I wanted, but instead the one next to it, so had to lean out a bit to get that 180-degree view. However, the balconies on the Liberty are MUCH bigger than those on the Mariner (last RCCL ship we were on). Also, the chairs had adjustable backs, so I was able to construct a “lounger” using them both. I spend a lot of time on the balcony in good weather – I was out there almost all day the first sea day. Unfortunately, along with the bigger balcony on Liberty came worse partitions. They are somewhat translucent, meaning you can see your neighbors to some extent – and they you. Fortunately, our neighbors were not out on their balconies as much as I was on ours, so this worked out. Also, the sliding panel on one of the partitions rattled quite a bit in the wind – which became an issue later. All in all though, I was happy with our cabin. We also had a fantastic steward who always remembered to bring ice and wastebasket liners without our having to remind him, and was not the type to chit-chat. He got a big tip for both of those qualities.

 

The Ship:

The ship was still decorated for Christmas until we got back on board from Cozumel – so that was nice. Compared to Carnival (we were on the Magic our last two cruises), the elevators were much better and faster. Otherwise the layout seemed very similar to Mariner, just bigger! One thing I missed though that Mariner had was an art tour. RCCL puts some pretty neat art on its ships, and on our cruise in 2012, a highlight was a tour pointing out some of the background of the art (and artists) in the stairwells, lobbies, etc. I had hoped for a similar tour on this cruise, but if it happened, I somehow missed it.

 

I will note that there did not seem to be that many things to do on the ship on port days, particularly for those not into the pools, sports deck, fitness center or spa. I’m speaking here for my aunt and her companion who stayed on the ship in Costa Maya and Belize. As the International Pier in Cozumel has a relatively short walk to a nice shopping area (and their waiter – they had My Time Dining reservations at a set time - arranged for my aunt to get a wheelchair), they did get off the ship to do a bit of shopping there, then enjoyed a room service lunch on their balcony overlooking said shopping area.. But not a lot of activities otherwise – I have seen more for stay-aboards on other cruise lines.

 

Dining:

The food is not a big deal to us. I don’t eat breakfast and my husband only eats a light one, so I’d run up to Windjammer each morning for coffee for us both and a little food for him. I *do* love muesli, and had a little the mornings I did the extra-cost indoor cycling (aka spinning) sessions, as I needed a little carb boost after those intense workouts. Also ate some the last day – more on that in a bit.

 

Lunches were either in Windjammer or in port in Belize and Cozumel. As mentioned previously we did My Time Dining for dinner. We thought the food was good and appreciated the smaller portions. You can always ask for seconds if you want more, but some days, we did not have room for dessert, or opted to share one. We did make a reservation for My Time Dining the last night (I’ll explain why later), and did not eat in any specialty restaurants. I did get a coffee drink at Café Promenade, only because my Gold status got me 20% off one.

 

Entertainment:

We thought about going to the tribute Eagles band show (we are of the right age to appreciate their music), but did not get out of dinner early enough. My aunt and her companion saw the ice show on the first sea day and we saw it after coming back from Belize. I am always amazed at how good a show they can do on such a small ice arena. I’m like a little girl again watching ice shows though! My aunt and her companion went to other shows as well as some of the movies shown on the ship (like “Sully” the last sea day) but we did not do those.

 

Excursions:

As this was our fifth cruise, we opted to book through RCCL only for Belize. As you’ll see, there were problems there – but we also had some problems in Cozumel with our private tour.

 

Costa Maya:

We have never been to this port before and going here was the main reason for this cruise. We did the Chacchoben Ruins tour with Native Choice. I’d read nothing but good reviews and had originally booked with them in 2013, only to not dock due to rough seas. They promptly refunded my money. I had wanted to see some good Mayan ruins but did not want to spend hours on a bus (or any time on a rough ferry) getting to them. Our ride was a little under an hour each way in an air-conditioned, comfortable bus, with some narration initially on the way out. The tour itself was just under two hours and was extremely informative. The bus was large but our large group was split into three groups of 15 when we got to the site. While Diego, our guide, was not so great talking on the bus (did not use the microphone well), he was wonderful on-site. He also improvised and did the tour in a slightly different order so we could avoid some of the crowds (and thus I got better pictures). The day was hot but plenty of ice-cold water was provided by Native Choice, even brought to us in a cooler in the middle of the ruins tour. Highly recommended.

 

Belize:

We had been to Belize on our very first cruise (ship excursion to Bacab Nature Park, which was great), but we wanted to tour the Traveler’s Rum factory this time and taste rum. As this is a tender port, I booked through RCCL. My husband is NOT an early riser and they had two times to choose from, so I chose the later one. This was pre-cruise. When we got to our cabin, I was dismayed to see on our tickets that the time had been moved up, and we’d have to meet WAY earlier than he could be ready. So I switched to the Baymen City tour which also was supposed to include a stop at Traveler’s. The Shore Excursions desk kindly gave it to me at the pre-cruise price. Unfortunately, it was cancelled late the day before by the tour operator – I suspect because they did not get enough people to sign up. I did not want to mess around booking yet another, so we took a tender over around 10:15 (the meeting time, I thought, for our originally-booked tour), went to the Wet Lizard (upper level) for an early lunch at 11:30, and enjoyed a few drinks there as well while my husband people-watched and I checked Facebook and my e-mail! Bought a few postcards and headed back to the ship about 1:30. It was another hot day but there was a nice breeze at the Lizard.

 

Cozumel:

This was our fifth visit to this port. First two, we did some shopping and eating downtown (including at Casa Denis, highly recommended for authentic Yucatan food). Last two, we did the America’s Cup sailboat race excursion, which we really enjoyed, but we wanted something different this time. I’d read a lot of reviews that recommended going over to the windward (east) side of the island, and also many reviews recommending Tours Plaza to take you there. I e-mailed back and forth with the owner (who was very good about answering my questions) and set up a tour to start at noon for up to four people (in case my aunt and her companion wanted to go). The minimum time was three hours but we were open to spending as much as five hours total. I specifically wanted to go to Bob Marley’s Rasta / Freedom in Paradise, and to Punta Morena, and to see El Mirador, and had a few other places on the list if there was time.

 

We were supposed to meet our driver, Aldo, at the head of the taxi line at International Pier at noon. He would be wearing a yellow cap and holding a sign with my name. We got out to the taxi line about fifteen minutes early, waited an hour in the sun (got sunburned) – nobody in a yellow cap with our sign. No phone call from him, no answer at the number I’d been given. A female taxi supervisor took pity on me and made some calls. She told me Aldo said he thought the tour was starting at 1, but he was “on the way.”

 

Finally, at about 12:45, a taxi driver named Raul Torres arrived, spoke to that supervisor who pointed us out, and came over and told us he’d been sent by the owner of Tours Plaza, Eduardo Esquer, to “take care of us.” He was a nice guy, but his taxi was rather dirty inside and there was no cooler as promised for our water bottles. He also made it pretty clear he was only available for three hours, not any extra time. (We found out on the way back that he needed to pick up his wife from work in town at 4 PM – and in fact he did that, although he did ask us first if we minded. Given that the man was stepping in to try to save a day that would have otherwise been much worse, we said it was OK. But still – not very professional).

 

We did go to Freedom in Paradise where we ate coconut shrimp (very good, as many reviews had said) as well as shrimp quesadillas recommended by Raul (not so good). Also had a shot of the peanut butter rum there as I wanted to try it. I’d hoped to have time to stop at Ohana’s in town to buy some if I liked it (I did), but there was not time for that.

 

With the three-hour constraint, I did not feel as relaxed at each of our stops. Once we finished our food at Rasta’s (eaten with a lovely view of the ocean), we continued on. We did stop at El Mirador, which sadly is marred by too much trash and WAY too many vendors. We made a couple other brief stops suggested by Raul who told us a bit of the Mayan history of the island. We were going to stop at Chen Rio to swim, but it was WAY too crowded. Seven ships in port, plus a holiday (Dia de Los Tres Reyes). We wanted to stop at Coconuts for the view and some conch ceviche, but felt there was not time, especially since we wanted to hit Punta Morena.

 

To make a bad day worse – I went wading at Punta Morena, and long story short, a rogue wave knocked me down. Getting wet was not the problem – I was dressed for that possibility – but the wave knocked off my best sunglasses and prescription eyeglasses (thankfully a backup pair) despite straps, and I could not find them. I also apparently swallowed some sea water which had negative repercussions later.

 

By this point there was not time to do anything else, so we went back to the ship. We had a little time for me to buy some Kaokao chocolate (I HAVE to bring goodies back to share with co-workers, an unwritten rule at my workplace) at the pier. However, I had hoped to stop at the factory and get it cheaper there.

 

I did contact Eduardo to express my feelings and asked for a refund of the deposit. He apologized, saying Aldo had a “tire problem,” and agreed to refund the deposit – which, to his credit, did in fact happen.

 

Later that evening, Montezuma had his revenge. I don’t get seasick, but the rolling of the ship that night and all the next (last sea) day from heading directly into 40-50mph winds did not help my recovery. I think it was the seawater because my husband and I shared our food and drink and he did not get sick. I spent most of the last sea day in bed, mostly sleeping and reading some, and ate very little. That was the one day we did make a reservation for My Time Dining, right at 5:15 when they opened, but I was unable to eat more than a few bites. They did give me the cold fruit soup in a paper cup and I was able to eat that later in the evening. I was mostly recovered by the time the ship docked on Sunday, and was able to eat some muesli from Windjammers that morning.

 

Bottom Line:

We enjoyed the cruise, despite the less-than-stellar second half – and none of that was RCCL’s fault.

[riofriotex]

For another experience of the same cruise, read MLevin's review:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51967179

[MLevin]

Great review. So sorry you got sick and the last day(s) were less than fantastic.

[JimAOk1945]

Thanks for your review. So sorry to hear about the problems you had. I hope you are fully recovered by now.

 

We did the Chacchoben Ruins tour but booked it through the cruise line. It was an excellent experience.

 

We enjoyed cruising on the Liberty of the Seas. One thing we wanted to see was the Christmas ice skating show that has been featured on other RC ships at Christmas time. There wasn't one at all on this cruise. The ice skating show we attended was nice but still not the same as a Christmas themed show.

 

Happy sailing wherever you choose to go next.

Edited January 11, 2017 by JimAOk1945

[MLevin]

Hopefully the link works. Here is the collection of photos separated into Albums or segments of the cruise. https://www.flickr.com/photos/margilevin/collections/72157678911138596/

[riofriotex]

Hopefully the link works. Here is the collection of photos separated into Albums or segments of the cruise. https://www.flickr.com/photos/margilevin/collections/72157678911138596/

 

Link works fine - great photos! Good idea to put them in Flickr, I might do the same thing.

[riofriotex]

We enjoyed cruising on the Liberty of the Seas. One thing we wanted to see was the Christmas ice skating show that has been featured on other RC ships at Christmas time. There wasn't one at all on this cruise. The ice skating show we attended was nice but still not the same as a Christmas themed show.

 

I agree, it would have been neat to see a Christmas themed show. I wonder if we were just too late for it, perhaps? Or maybe they only do it on the larger ships? In any case, I had not seen this show before, so I was satisfied, although the one I saw five years ago on Mariner (with a circus theme) was better - went to that one four times!

[ckmommy]

Great report! Sound like a great cruise except for the rough seas and rouge wave incident.:eek:

[easyboy]

The important thing is you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks for the detailed review.

[easyboy]

Hopefully the link works. Here is the collection of photos separated into Albums or segments of the cruise. https://www.flickr.com/photos/margilevin/collections/72157678911138596/

Very nice photos!

[Clarea]

Hopefully the link works. Here is the collection of photos separated into Albums or segments of the cruise. https://www.flickr.com/photos/margilevin/collections/72157678911138596/

Nice photos, especially the slide photos.:)

[CruzieSue]

Embarkation:

We spent the night before the cruise in southwest Houston (where I grew up) near my aunt’s home, as we needed to pick her up the next day. Normally we stay in Galveston (different hotel each time) and do some things there. We left Houston about noon (after the morning rainstorm had ended), I dropped the other three off at the terminal about 1 p.m., parked the car and walked back to join them. We had requested a wheelchair for my aunt in advance so she and her companion were whisked off right away. As Gold members we boarded quickly. We actually had time to get a quick bite to eat in Windjammer before the muster drill.

 

By arriving around 1:00 p.m., did you have any problems driving up to unload passengers and luggage, or were the crowds and traffic thinned out good by that time? We having parking reserved at Park N Cruise across the street from the terminals and were hoping to arrive later and avoid heavy traffic and long lines.

[JimAOk1945]

I agree, it would have been neat to see a Christmas themed show. I wonder if we were just too late for it, perhaps? Or maybe they only do it on the larger ships? In any case, I had not seen this show before, so I was satisfied, although the one I saw five years ago on Mariner (with a circus theme) was better - went to that one four times!

 

We saw that one on the Mariner as well! It was fantastic!!! In case anyone is interested, I'll post a link below to the pictures my wife took for her website

 

Christmas Ice Skating Show

[riofriotex]

By arriving around 1:00 p.m., did you have any problems driving up to unload passengers and luggage, or were the crowds and traffic thinned out good by that time? We having parking reserved at Park N Cruise across the street from the terminals and were hoping to arrive later and avoid heavy traffic and long lines.

 

No, we did not have any problems - crowds and traffic had thinned by that point. This is about the time we usually arrive - unless told to come later because of a fog delay on the arrival of the previous sailing, of course! Love Park N Cruise!

[riofriotex]

We saw that one on the Mariner as well! It was fantastic!!! In case anyone is interested, I'll post a link below to the pictures my wife took for her website

 

Christmas Ice Skating Show

 

Great pictures! Looks like maybe some of the regular singers/dancers combined with the ice skaters to produce this show - I saw some folks in it without ice skates! Just to clarify, our (early) January 2012 Mariner cruise did NOT have the holiday-themed show - maybe they just don't do it after Christmas week.

[CruzieSue]

@Riofriotex ... thanks for the reply. We were thinking arriving sometime after noon would make things easier and less chaotic. We like Park N Cruise too !! :)