Liberty OTS Grand suite review

[Crash1965]

Just back from liberty of the seas 7 - 14 May had a great time this was our third time on liberty.

 

Embarkation was a breeze the new terminal is fantastic very streamlined, we arrived at the terminal at 10:30 walked in breezed through security and into the check-in we were early so we had to sit in the waiting area for about ten minutes before they called for suite boarding and we were on the ship.

 

Stateroom: This was our first time in a grand suite and my penny pincher wife who wanted to down grade to a balcony said she will never sail in anything less now which made me happy we went to the room at 1:30 and our luggage was already there we went in it was huge and amazing so much storage and very nice décor, The amenities in the bathroom from Gilbert and Somes were a far cry from the mystery goop in the normal showers. The balcony was huge we actually had breakfast on it on two sea days since we had access to the full dining room menu and did not have to pay the $7.95 service charge, Valente our room Attendant was great very friendly and his attention to detail was great.

 

Food: Food was great the windjammer had all the usual buffet favorites staff were very good, we had breakfast one morning in Giovanni's Table a great perk for suites it was really good. The main dinning room for dinner was fantastic our waiter Rogelio was our waiter 2 years ago and remembered us even knew how I wanted my steak Everything we ate was great the service was perfect I even was able to get my favorite appetizer escargot each night. The deserts were nothing short of amazing. On prime rib night he brought a slab of meat that looked like it was from the flintstones. Sorrento's pizza was always a good snack after a night at the Hoof and Claw pub. We ate at Sabor for lunch one day and it was very good I highly recommend the grand margarita.

 

Entertainment: Jeff Arpin the CD was great he was funny and very friendly we talked for quite awhile in the suite lounge. My wife and I were actually contestants on the love and marriage show and won Jeff was great for that everybody was laughing there buts off like wise with the Quest show His whole staff was very good if you are a veteran Nick holds a veterans get together on two different days and does a real good job of it. The battle of the sexs game was a lot of fun highly recommend all shows we did not do the major show since this was our third year in a row on Liberty and we have seen them a couple of times.

 

Ship: The ship is great something for everybody I have always said it is the perfect size not to big not to small it was a sold out cruise and never once seemed crowded except for parades and T-shirt sale. All the talk of the hard sale I was not sure what to expect the first day but I did not feel it was so bad of course when you first board the ship they asked about dining and drink package but after the first day not so much they were there but did not bother us.

 

Suite lounge: Amazing Jorge the concierge was fantastic he would greet us each time we came in and would take care of anything needed on the day we were in Cayman he took us all done in the elevator to deck 1 and we were on the first tender, In the lounge each night from 4:30 to 8:30 they had open bar and hors d'oeuvres and in the AM breakfast the outdoor area was nice with oversized cushioned chairs and love seats. The bar tenders in the lounge were great and when you entered they already were mixing your drink. We made many good friends there and would meet there and talk for hours.

 

Hoof and claw: This has always been my goto spot wish Derek Lewis was still there the guys especially Jimmy were fantastic I did the beer tasting and it was a lot of fun Jimmy was extremely knowledgeable Ben one of the waiters was a lot of fun.

 

Meet and Mingle: It was one of the smallest ones but Trish made it a lot of fun we hade a short cabin crawl after it and got to see one of the new deck 12 panoramic view cabins it was really nice.

 

Debarkation: This was a snap we met at the Schooner bar and Jorge took us all off the ship we walked off the porters were waiting we picked our luggage and straight through customs from time of scanning off the ship to the curb took about 10 minutes

 

Islands: In Cozumel we used a driver Santiago who we have used in the past he took us shopping and then drove around the island see the sights and stopped for the best fish tacos and Nachos around. In grand cayman we just walked around and talked to people sight seeing. Falmouth we stayed in port which is very nice.

 

I will post pictures later

[gotta cruise again]

Thank you Crash1965 for the review; doing GS and same itinerary in September.

 

What cabin number were you in and what did you think of that location? Any noise problems from deck above?

[easyboy]

Glad you had a great time. Thanks for the review.

 

 

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[George C]

There is only one problem with GS is they are addictive did 1st in 2014 , 5th was 2 weeks ago on Liberty, surprised you only did breakfast at Giovanni's once we did it every day. Totally agree with you about Derek Lewis RCCL needs to get him back asap. ( Have 2 more GS's booked) , also agree on Jeff he is a great CD. We didn't like concierge but that's a long story

[JoeRum]

Did you get any photos of the room? We will be in the GS on Liberty in Feb 2018 for our 25th anniversary.

 

JoerRum

[Crash1965]

Thank you Crash1965 for the review; doing GS and same itinerary in September.

 

What cabin number were you in and what did you think of that location? Any noise problems from deck above?

We were in cabin 1578 port side under the solarium never heard any noise very smooth cruise felt little to no motion

[DebJ14]

We were in cabin 1578 port side under the solarium never heard any noise very smooth cruise felt little to no motion

 

Glad to hear this about 1578. We have it for our cruise next May for our anniversary!

[Crash1965]

Glad to hear this about 1578. We have it for our cruise next May for our anniversary!

You will love it make sure you have breakfast on balcony so nice peaceful and relaxing

[gotta cruise again]

Crash...DH and I have cruised many, many time on other cruise lines and have enjoyed full suites there. But this is first time on Royal Caribbean and have a GS booked on Liberty.

 

Of course I've read the website's list of suite perks and have also noted "unlisted" ones here on the boards (i.e. tours of bridge, etc.).

 

 

What I'd like to know: what were the "perks not to miss" that you experienced and also, what (if any) perks did you either miss OR did but wish you had taken advantage of more times?

 

 

As we're traveling with others in our group who don't have full suites, we need to be able to plan ahead to do the "don't miss" perks while the rest of the folks are doing other things.

 

 

Many thanks again!!

[wolfganghowell]

gotta - I'm not the OP but we've sailed on Liberty a few times in GS. Definitely do breakfast in Giovannis. You should check out the suite lounge but I know you are with friends who are not in suites. In the AM, you can grab a nice latte or cappuccino there. There is a nice outdoor seating area if you want to take a break and read or veg. One of our faves is being able to go through the buffet in the Windjammer on embarkation and then take our food into Giovanni's to eat. But again, you may be with your other friends. You will be spoiled - there is fantastic storage in the GS and the bathroom is enormous. We're ruined forever.

[sellwingri]

We too are spoiled by GS and now only book them but keep in mind that Liberty is by far the largest. All the GS's are absolutely wonderful but the ones on Liberty are bigger than others. The small cabinet next to the bathroom is an added bonus. We used it every morning for our room service coffee and Danish tray.

 

I'll be in a GS in 2 days on Grandeur. So looking forward to sharing this wonderful room with my daughter.

[RFerrington]

One of my favorite treats when traveling in a full suite is being able to order food from the MDR and have it delivered to the suite. You can only do this during regular operating hours of the MDR but for b'fast and especially for dinner, it is such a nice perk. If you are traveling with others and plan to eat primarily with them then this option may not be as useful to you.

 

You CAN invite them to eat in your suite and have their food delivered as well BUT the GS doesn't have an inside dining table so a big crowd eating in your suite would probably not work out so well. It's still a lovely option.

[gotta cruise again]

OP: thank you for allowing me to tag along on your thread concerning GS.

 

AND...many thanks for all the thoughts about how to use the suite perks to best advantage. Thank you to those who have chimed in: I'm taking copious notes!! If others have things to add, please do so and I imagine I'm not the only one who is wondering about such things.

 

We do plan on surprising the others with our suite; we'll order dinner in the suite some evening even if we have to hold plates in our laps--but we can use the table on the balcony and even the end tables at the sofa along with the coffee table. Hey, we're having dinner in a suite so all is good!

 

Though I know the 6 of us will hang out together at some times during the day, the plan is to dine together each evening and that's all been arranged. So DH and I should be able to do the 'suite-life' specials most days. I know we'll get ready for dinner early and head to the suite lounge before dinner even though the others won't be joining us there.

 

SO glad to know the fancy coffee is available in the suite lounge in the AM; I'll definitely do that every day.

 

And as we plan on taking advantage of the priority embarkation (we're already used to that with a different cruise line so too hard to give that up) so I imagine we'll have finished eating before they board. Though having FNDR for the 6 of us, we'll likely eat light in anticipation of Chops (hopefully we'll get that restaurant...I plan on asking for that from concierge as we made the booking in the planner for all).

[setsail]

Top drawer

[poohtaz]

One of our faves is being able to go through the buffet in the Windjammer on embarkation and then take our food into Giovanni's to eat.

So for people staying in a GS, is this the only eating option on embarkation day? For some reason I thought there was another restaurant open

[Clarea]

One of our faves is being able to go through the buffet in the Windjammer on embarkation and then take our food into Giovanni's to eat.

So for people staying in a GS, is this the only eating option on embarkation day? For some reason I thought there was another restaurant open

Cafe Promenade and Sorrento's will also be open.

[Lionesss]

Very nice review, well done.

 

Now you too will be addicted to the suite life!!!!!

 

Glad you had a great time.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Sea ya