Liveish from the Liberty of the Seas 25 June

[Cruise-y]

Don't know what to tell you folks. That is what the speed test said. There are lags, but it is working at an acceptable speed for web posting.

 

Good morning, folks. I note with interest that if one is going to do any work on his computer, the balcony of a suite at sea is the place from which to do it. We have calm enough seas and pleasant weather, and I am ahead in the casino, so life is good. Most of my posts yesterday were short since I was typing on my phone, and I will try to write at a bit more length here.

 

Let me start with internet speed. I have whatever the faster package is (Surf + Stream?), and I have been pleasantly surprised with the speeds. Two years ago I did this cruise on the Navigator, and we were lagging even to download basic web pages. I don't know that I would stream video, but I am satisfied with what I have. There is huge latency (1577 ms), 2.1 down, and 0.2 up.

 

The dining room was great last night. I can't get to my photo right now, but it was the same mojo menu it has always been. The pork chop was really good. The desert was uninspired (the creme brulee), but the service was excellent. I will continue to take dinner there, for sure.

 

I commented yesterday that the new water slides are an excellent addition. It is a touch awkward to be a 43 year old fat guy in a line with a bunch of teenagers, but whatever. The addition of new water features seems to make the line at each one somewhat shorter. That green water slide is FAST. I shall go there again when I finish posting this.

 

The only real disappointment so far has been the spa. I had booked the Ionithermie inch reduction thing out of curiosity. I am dubious that it can work, but they seem to keep selling it, so I wanted to check it out. The only technician who can do that had to leave the ship for an emergency, and I didn't find that out until I went to the spa to verify appointment times. They wouldn't let me book another treatment at the same pre-cruise discount. When I did book another massage, the technician was superb. However, there was constant talking out in the halls. More significantly, there was a lot of noise from the deck above. Apparently, moving the golf course there has resulted in constant trampling right above the head of people receiving massages. I cancelled my Saturday treatment, and that wasn't even handled well-- I had to tell the lady at the front desk 4 times to do it before she finally would. Ugh.

 

The new suite lounge, however, is fantastic relative to the old concierge lounge. I love the open space, and the service was very good. I would write more, but I require coffee. More later. Lemme know if there is something in particular you would like to know about the ship.

 

Thank you for your posts. I agree, if there is noise in the SPA hallway or above, it ruins the calming experience. I had the same problem on Navigator. I'm very curious about the MDR menu, so please elaborate. I already know the Internet will be slow.

[Cruise-y]

Good morning, folks. I note with interest that if one is going to do any work on his computer, the balcony of a suite at sea is the place from which to do it. We have calm enough seas and pleasant weather, and I am ahead in the casino, so life is good. Most of my posts yesterday were short since I was typing on my phone, and I will try to write at a bit more length here.

 

Let me start with internet speed. I have whatever the faster package is (Surf + Stream?), and I have been pleasantly surprised with the speeds. Two years ago I did this cruise on the Navigator, and we were lagging even to download basic web pages. I don't know that I would stream video, but I am satisfied with what I have. There is huge latency (1577 ms), 2.1 down, and 0.2 up.

 

The dining room was great last night. I can't get to my photo right now, but it was the same mojo menu it has always been. The pork chop was really good. The desert was uninspired (the creme brulee), but the service was excellent. I will continue to take dinner there, for sure.

 

I commented yesterday that the new water slides are an excellent addition. It is a touch awkward to be a 43 year old fat guy in a line with a bunch of teenagers, but whatever. The addition of new water features seems to make the line at each one somewhat shorter. That green water slide is FAST. I shall go there again when I finish posting this.

 

The only real disappointment so far has been the spa. I had booked the Ionithermie inch reduction thing out of curiosity. I am dubious that it can work, but they seem to keep selling it, so I wanted to check it out. The only technician who can do that had to leave the ship for an emergency, and I didn't find that out until I went to the spa to verify appointment times. They wouldn't let me book another treatment at the same pre-cruise discount. When I did book another massage, the technician was superb. However, there was constant talking out in the halls. More significantly, there was a lot of noise from the deck above. Apparently, moving the golf course there has resulted in constant trampling right above the head of people receiving massages. I cancelled my Saturday treatment, and that wasn't even handled well-- I had to tell the lady at the front desk 4 times to do it before she finally would. Ugh.

 

The new suite lounge, however, is fantastic relative to the old concierge lounge. I love the open space, and the service was very good. I would write more, but I require coffee. More later. Lemme know if there is something in particular you would like to know about the ship.

 

Also, I will be a 65-yr-old grandma in line on the water slide, so don't feel embarrassed.

[CCC3]

My daughter and I use i-phones, hers is a 6s and she was able to download pics to Instagram, text pics to others through i-phone messenger, but not do snap-chat. We had the less expensive non streaming, turned on airplane mode and turned on wi-fi so no phone service roaming surprises. I had no trouble posting to FB as long as I did not do it in early evening, which seemed to be peak usage. The wi-fi on phones was the main way our large (70 people) group kept in touch. It was annoying, though, to have to sign in after returning from the port stops.

 

 

We were so busy during the day, that it was early-mid evening when I tried to access the internet. Thanks for that excellent suggestion.

 

 

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[SummerPerk]

We just finished a cruise on this ship with a girl who is celiac and a guy with multiple food allergies. They contacted RCCL before the cruise to inform them of the issues and had the opportunity to look at the menu ahead of time and had their choices vetted. When our friend questioned if something was gluten free, the waiter went into the kitchen and verified with the chefs, checking the ingredients and prep to make sure she could eat it without issue.

 

Great! I'm celiac as well and have heard good things about how Royal Caribbean manages food allergies. I did contact the special needs department (twice actually), but never got a response other than confirmation of email received. There's two sets of menus going around. One set has several gluten free options every night. The other is much more limited. It's looking hopeful that the gf friendly menu is the one in place, which lowers my stress level a great deal. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Wanna Be Retired]

I am allergic to shellfish and I have to say they made sure that I did not make a mistake. They had me select my dinner the night before to make sure my food did not touch anything. They took better care of me than I take care of myself! I was not used to being pampered like that! I think they take allergies very seriously.

[Petroplex]

If Morris one of the servers in the SL, ask him if he is making a Special drink of the day (his concoctions). Week before last he made some great ones!

 

 

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Morris is still here. I'll ask!

 

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[George C]

We also had 1298 2 months ago, great room steward, suite is great if its in your budget

[cruiser fanatic]

Following! We get on when you get back!

[thirdcruise2014]

Is Saturday Night Live still the show on board? We saw it last year. We really enjoyed it,but we were hoping to see something different this year.

[thirdcruise2014]

Great! I'm celiac as well and have heard good things about how Royal Caribbean manages food allergies. I did contact the special needs department (twice actually), but never got a response other than confirmation of email received. There's two sets of menus going around. One set has several gluten free options every night. The other is much more limited. It's looking hopeful that the gf friendly menu is the one in place, which lowers my stress level a great deal. Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

We sailed on Liberty last summer with 2 friends that can't have Gluten. The dining staff was very accomodating! Even gave them special rolls every night so they wouldn't feel left out. They said the gluten free options were pretty tasty too.

[CCC3]

Is Saturday Night Live still the show on board? We saw it last year. We really enjoyed it,but we were hoping to see something different this year.

 

 

I just got off Sunday, and yes, it is still playing.

 

 

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[cruisinlife]

Please tell Morris that Teri and Paul say "HI" and will see him in 18 days and we can't wait. He is AWESOME !!

[Petroplex]

It is Wednesday morning, and we are preparing to pull into Roatan. Other thoughts which have come up:

 

1. Internet service feels like it has slowed considerably, save for in the early morning.

 

2. The food has been very good, and I shudder to step on a scale. We have eaten in the buffet, MDR dinner, MDR lunch, Giovanni's suite breakfast, and Chops lunch. The best way I know to put it is that the food has flavor. That wasn't always true last time.

 

3. I prefer the Liberty to the Navigator. Adding the splash pad and water slides added helpful extra options.

 

We are going on a private tour today. I shall post more later when I hopefully have a better signal.

 

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[Petroplex]

Folks, I'm sorry I quit updating. It turns out that the internet speeds seemed to slow throughout the week, and I couldn't really post. I'll write more tonight. It was, however, a great cruise. And now to enjoy a key perk of the suites: priority debarkation!

 

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[Biker19]

So, no I assume no O3B internet functionality yet.

[Petroplex]

Afternoon, folks. I apologize that I did not post as I originally intended. The internet became more and more difficult to work with during the week, and it became too frustratingly slow to deal with. I was able to send and receive emails and instant messages, but that was pretty much it. I am going to write tonight and over the next few days while my memories are still fresh. This, however, covers one of my three central complaints about the cruise: Even with the faster internet package, I could not get any significant work accomplished. I understand that it was vacation, but doing work on my balcony with a mojito beats doing it when I return to the office.

 

The other two complaints concern the casino and the spa. I believe I have already addressed the spa-- it was physically very loud, and that made it hard to relax. As for the casino, I actually did fairly well. The blackjack rules were significantly friendlier than on my previous cruise, and that helped. The problem was with a linguistic barrier between the players and most of the dealers. The clearest example I can think of is this: The player next to me very clearly asked the dealer to give him a minute to adjust his bet. She either did not hear him or ignored him. The more charitable of these explanations is that she did not hear him, and that is a problem of its own: When a player in a clear voice speaks directly to the dealer and makes a standard request, the dealer should be paying enough attention to respond to that. Neither she nor the pit boss would admit that any mistake had been made, even after my (impartial) testimony in defense of the player. This was extremely poor service.

 

The positives, however, greatly outweighed the negatives. I loved the new water slides. The ship generally seemed quite spacious, and the food-- particularly on the buffet-- was much better than when I sailed the Navigator two years ago. Let me know what questions you have about the ship, and I will do my best to answer them.

[toxicfairy]

Thank you! This is getting me so excited ( as if I wasn't already😊) we still have some time ( August 27 sailing) but anything I can read on LOS gets my heart beating faster! We've been on her before and the Freedom twice also but no matter the ship a cruise always makes me happy!

 

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[Petroplex]

So comments on specialty dining on the Liberty of the Seas. We ate two lunches in specialty restaurants. The first was just my wife and I in Chops Grille, and the second time was all of us (including children aged 9 and 11) in Giovanni's. The verdict- Chops was very good, and Giovanni's was fine. Ultimately, however, Chops is the one I would be willing to pay for again.

 

We ate both specialty meals at lunch because it was cheaper. There was a reduced menu, although both menus featured things we wanted to try. At Chops, I had a New York strip on a salad. It was every bit as good as the steaks I cook at home, and I was impressed. It was probably a higher quality piece of meat than I will typically buy. The real star at Chops, however, was the appetizers. Between the two of us, we had the shrimp cocktail, the mushroom soup, and the beef carpaccio. The shrimp was good, and the other two items were excellent.

 

Please don't misunderstand about Giovanni's-- it was fine. It might have even been worth it for lunch, although I certainly wouldn't pay the higher dinner price and lose the meal in the MDR. We tried mushroom ravioli, pasta in a beef ragu, pasta in a cream sauce, and eggplant parmesan for entrees. For appetizers we had antepasti, calamari, and grilled pork belly. Perhaps it was a function of simply being the last day of the cruise and being tired, but there was nothing here which really stood out.