Live (Fake News!) Review of Liberty of the Seas from Galveston March 4-11

[vpat48]

Thank you for the great review. I was especially interested in the Falmouth section since we will be doing the same thing. First to Dunns, then BlueHole & lunch at Scotchies. Your experience gives me confidence we can knock it all off with time to spare.

[Familygoboston]

Thank you for the great review. I was especially interested in the Falmouth section since we will be doing the same thing. First to Dunns, then BlueHole & lunch at Scotchies. Your experience gives me confidence we can knock it all off with time to spare.

Oh for sure you can! If you are hiring a local guide, they have it figured out and will keep you on track!

[Familygoboston]

Day 7 Sea Day and rain day

 

 

Nothing better than a ship full of people in a thunder and lightening storm! We took advantage of the drippy morning to work out in the gym, where the forward facing gym offered a spectacular view of the storm on the sea! The outdoor decks were understandably closed and the Cruise Director and Activities staff added movies and few other indoor activities to the day to pick up the slack for all the closed water activities on deck.

 

Fitness Area

We actually made it to the fitness room twice on this cruise...in addition to doing stairs, and our active excursions, we limited the damage! The fitness area on this class of ship is superb! It was huge and had so much space, and so many machines, we never had to wait for anything. I'd say about 20% of the machines were in use at any given time. We were very happy with the options and spaciousness!

 

Slides Area and Flowrider

 

The water slides

 

I forgot to mention that on Day 6 when we got warm sitting out on our deck we went on all the water slides! They are so much fun! But read the restrictions carefully, we saw one heartbreaking scene where a family of 4 kids wanted to slide with dad on the Tidal Wave. But he didn't make the minimum weight to go, even with Dad on the raft. We felt so bad seeing him in tears as dad tried to explain why the big kids could go but he couldn't. He was a normal sized 5 or 6 YO, so prep your kids properly! There are height and weight restrictions on the Tidal Wave and on the Cyclone and Typhoon slides. Again, even with lots of kids aboard, we had no big lines or waits to ride! Maybe the height of spring break will be worse, but in an average week, on a sunny sea day, we had no trouble getting in a 1/2 dozen rides!

 

The Tidal Wave

 

 

After working out and a late breakfast, we spent the morning working. (These reviews don't happen by magic, people...pictures were process, notes were written!) We did some "business" getting our photos from the photo shop, and packing out bags. We made one last stop at Johnny Rockets for shakes, and by then the sun had come out and everyone was back on the pool decks!

 

We spent the evening, enjoying the sunset from the Windjammer at dinner, because we had turned the clocks ahead a day early for Daylight Savings Time!

 

[Familygoboston]

Day 7 Final Farewell

 

We enjoyed the Farewell Show at 8:45PM and made sure our bags were in the hall by 11PM. The farewell show, only included the cruise staff and entertainers, there were no cameos by the chefs, bar staff and cabin stewards on this sailing. It was the traditional variety show, a fun warm up with the Activities Director, Mrs Blair, that I won't spoil!

 

 

A rousing opener by the LOS band

 

 

The comedian (all cleaned up for the family show) and the vaudevillians, Albert and Seymour

 

 

A farewell from all of the cruise staff and entertainers.

 

 

It was time to stuff my clothes into my pillow case and go to bed, expecting to wake up and see all the excited people streaming into port, waiting for that exciting moment, when you get to board the ship at the start of your cruise!

[Familygoboston]

Cruise Compasses Liberty of the Seas 7 Day Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Jamaica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

Cruise Compasses Liberty of the Seas 7 Day Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Jamaica

 

 

 

 

[rsharp83]

Amy is so happy that she introduced you to Zumba and that it led you to lead a double life with an alter ego and fake name.

 

 

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[Familygoboston]

Amy is so happy that she introduced you to Zumba and that it led you to lead a double life with an alter ego and fake name.

 

 

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Lol, who knew? :'):') it cracks us up that people honestly thought that was who we were! I think Pitbull is secretly jealous! :')

[perfect match]

We just did the ABC's for our first time this past fall. There was great diving for me and snorkeling for my non driving DH on Bonaire and Curacao! Loved the turtles I saw at Playa Piskado on Curacao! We had a blast with segway Aruba, both riding segways and riding Seabobs! It will be fun to see what you find to do on those islands. I have bookmarks for excursions from all of your reviews that I've read so far, and plans to use them when I get the chance. :cool:

Edited March 22, 2018 by perfect match

[Familygoboston]

We just did the ABC's for our first time this past fall. There was great diving for me and snorkeling for my non driving DH on Bonaire and Curacao! Loved the turtles I saw at Playa Piskado on Curacao! We had a blast with segway Aruba, both riding segways and riding Seabobs! It will be fun to see what you find to do on those islands. I have bookmarks for excursions from all of your reviews that I've read so far, and plans to use them when I get the chance. :cool:

 

 

Hi Nancy

Much thanks! I love all you ideas! I need to expand your signature and see if you have reviews? I haven't really started the planning yet, but I'm excited about heading back to that area! So I can book mark your snorkel tour, who did you use in Curacao?

Thanks for following along and I'm so happy you find the reviews helpful!

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for the review!! There will be a goup of us on the LOS for the first time in July, and we are SO EXCITED!!!

Have a wonderful time...its the perfect ship for groups and families...enjoy!

[Familygoboston]

Disembarkation Galveston

 

We got up to a cloudy, rainy day in Galveston, and changed our plans to check luggage at the Cruise Stop and wander around the Strand. Instead after checkign out of room at 9, we sat in the dining room until our group was called at 9:45, there are many self assist passengers on this cruise. We headed to the airport early via Uber, for those using Uber, stay on the sidewalk right outside the terminal building, and use the app, the driver will call and ask which number you are standing in front of, let them know and they will pick you up right there. At the airport, we plugged in and got more work done (writing and processing photos) and had an early dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. We flew out in the early evening and arrived back to Boston just in time for the power to come back on after a big storm, and I had the joy of cleaning out the fridge and grocery shopping, just to emphasize the true end of vacation!

 

 

Well, it's the sunset of this review...I've posted as many details as I can, and I hope you have all enjoyed the photos and find the Cruise Compasses useful. If you have any other questions do let me know! Follow us, (everything you need is in our signature) and I'll be back very soon with more on the Zumba Cruise on Navigator next month. Thanks for following along...I look forward to reading your reviews next!

[Arzeena]

I enjoyed reading the review! The pictures were great!

Thank you for posting.

[accio_7]

Thank you so much, OP, I really enjoyed your review!

 

 

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[happyiam]

Happy! Yeah, I am so happy to "see" you again! :DThank you! I miss the wonderful Royal boards, everyone is so enthused about their cruises, which is why we keep sailing RC! But we have taken a few trips on AZ which is why we are here less.

 

We sailed ROS last spring, and I tried to review Rhapsody last year and ended up with a very half hearted attempt because CC wasn't playing nicely with my browsers and pictures etc. I have a new set up now and it seems to be working better! For the Zumba cruise, Im going to go "live" (not fake news, really!) and should have an easier time uploading photos from my phone to Tapatalk. Normally, I travel with Hubby who uses a SLR for pics, so it's not like I can upload those massive images onto and off of my phone! But when I travel alone, I use the phone and while the photos won't be nearly as nice, I can get them up quickly and LIVE. We've got 3 more Royal cruises planned, the Zumba cruise next month, A cruise on Harmony next summer, and the Freedom cruise we booked for 2020, so I will be a round a bit more!

 

Where have you been lately?? What have I missed in your travel history?!

 

We did the Western Caribbean in 2016 for our 30th Anniversary, and are planning an Alaska cruise for next year. Do you have an Alaska review? I can't recall but I will look just in case. In between we have land trips to visit family in the USA and will add some travel to see other places during those trips. I'm a grandma now and can't be away from my sweet grandson for too long. Only 18 months and he has me wrapped around his finger.

 

I love the sunset picture at the end of this review. Please thank your husband for all the beautiful photos. Thanks again for your review. I like the "don't wanna' idea. I will look for your Zumba review. Have a great time!

[kwazi07]

Thanks for this review! Sounds like you had a super relaxing time on Liberty. I absolutely love your writing style, it’s so fun to read! I remember reading your review of Enchantment before I cruised on EN in 2014 and it was wonderful! It was one of the many reviews that made me want to write my own!

 

(shameless plug warning) I started a review of my cruise on Freedom I am sailing on Sunday here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2615177 You said you were sailing on her eventually so I thought you might be interested...so if you are so inclined it would be great if you could check it out! I’m in high school so it’s from a different perspective from most :)

 

 

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[AndKat]

Thanks Boston for the great review, I am a native New Englander transplanted to Houston, and we will be in the opposite corner aft on Liberty in November, so I read your review with great interest!

 

I wanted to ask if you thought that the balcony would be big enough to fit an air mattress. When we showed our 7 year old daughter the pictures she said she would want to put her bed out there to sleep. It seems like it would fit, but just wanted to check. If anyone has any opinions yay or nay on what we should tell our daughter, that would be appreciated as well. We don't like the location of the pullman and she might be too tall for the couch so this didn't actually seem to crazy as long as she can sleep well. At least out there she wouldn't be bothered by our snoring!

 

Thanks again!

[lauraodonnell86]

Day 6 Sea Day

Ahhh, a relaxing sea day! One that doesn't end with the terror of trying to get the dirty clothes to fit back into the same bag you brought them in (why is that??) A whole day stretching out with dozens of activities and shows listed on the Cruise Compass. I'll give you 3 guesses what WE did! ;)

 

 

Oh, wait! We also booked our NEXT CRUISE! :')

 

 

We loved this cabin and class of ship so much that we booked a cruise on Freedom, once she gets to Puerto Rico. We hadn't been to Aruba and Curacao and haven't been to Bonaire in 30 years! It also includes a stop in St Martin, one of our favorite islands that we have missed recently because of the storm damage. The Next Cruise office is heavily staffed, seemingly nearly 24/7. So even though we made an appointment, it feels like you could go anytime and walk right in.

 

I'm starting to wonder if it's really even worth the OBC to book on board any more. There in a NON refundable (reduced) deposit and a CHANGE fee would be assessed should you need to change dates/ship after a certain window of time when you get home. I won't detail all that here in the interest of being correct, and that I suppose it changes on a whim...so check carefully with the sales agent you work with to make sure all the stipulations of the reservation works for you BEFORE booking! (so maybe you can find us on Freedom, waiting all alone by the Flowrider like that poor guy on the brochure in the photo!:'))

 

After booking our cruise we went to the Windjammer to make nachos for lunch and stopped at the most popular place on board...

 

SPRINKLES!

Located on the pool deck, this little soft serve ice cream machine is the hardest working thing on the ship! There is a line of at least 4-6 people waiting to fill the little cone with a swirl of ice cream (by the way there are no sprinkles at SPRINKLES- probably because they would just cause a huge mess all over the deck!) As it is there is almost always a full time attendant to refill the mix and cones and to pick up the inevitable "plops" caused by someones 4 yo!

 

Back to the balcony for naps and yoga (yes, it's big enough to do yoga!)

 

Hello there! Loving your review. We are doing this same cruise May 27th so it's been great to see all of this considering we haven't cruised on this class of ship or from Galveston.

 

I see your note about Freedom Jan 2020 refurb. We are booked on Freedom January 12 and 19, 2020. We were starting to wonder if something was going on with it because the 12th cruise is completely missing from the website and the 19th is showing almost full. But our TA says nothing is showing on her end yet. Can you tell me what they told you about it? I appreciate it!

[Familygoboston]

Hello there! Loving your review. We are doing this same cruise May 27th so it's been great to see all of this considering we haven't cruised on this class of ship or from Galveston.

 

I see your note about Freedom Jan 2020 refurb. We are booked on Freedom January 12 and 19, 2020. We were starting to wonder if something was going on with it because the 12th cruise is completely missing from the website and the 19th is showing almost full. But our TA says nothing is showing on her end yet. Can you tell me what they told you about it? I appreciate it!

Yes! It is going in for refurb! I don’t know when it starts, but I’m imagining they wouldn’t take it off line for the holidays, so prob Jan is when it starts! The Next Crusie staff confirmed that. I was concerned that we would be the first post refurb cruise (which often get canceled or shortened at the last minute) but the NC staff member we talked to said the sailing before ours was being held as “might get sold” or “might be saved to extend refurb” so there was a buffer built in there already in mid Feb. But I’d be nervous about those Jan cruises...sit tight for now, you’ll get a better deal if you wait till they bail out, but I wouldn’t go spending any time or money in them yet! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news :(

[Familygoboston]

I’ll have a few minutes to respond to the rest of everyone’s questions a little later today!

[dp203]

Thanks for this wonderful review. If you don’t mind sharing, what time was your flight out of Houston? Trying to plan my return trip and want to make sure on the timing of the flight. Thanks!

 

 

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[Familygoboston]

I enjoyed reading the review! The pictures were great!

Thank you for posting.

 

Thank you so much, OP, I really enjoyed your review!

 

 

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Thank you BOTH for following! Hubby gets all the credit for the good photos, the bad ones are mine!

[Familygoboston]

We did the Western Caribbean in 2016 for our 30th Anniversary, and are planning an Alaska cruise for next year. Do you have an Alaska review? I have my 2006 Alaska trip report on Princess on our blog, look for it under trip reports at the top or search or click here

http://www.goseeittravel.com/alaska-2006/?rq=Alaska

We will be doing an UNcruise this August, and I’ll def do a review, although I don’t know if they have a board for uncruise? I can't recall but I will look just in case. In between we have land trips to visit family in the USA and will add some travel to see other places during those trips. I'm a grandma now and can't be away from my sweet grandson for too long. Only 18 months and he has me wrapped around his finger.

Aww! That’s soooo wonderful, congrats! I’m ready, but the girls are not, so I’m trying to be patient, but I’d love to do the grandma thing!

 

I love the sunset picture at the end of this review. Please thank your husband for all the beautiful photos. Thanks again for your review. I like the "don't wanna' idea. I will look for your Zumba review. Have a great time!

Thanks Happy! Hubby appreciates the kind words! I will miss my personal photographer on the zumba cruise! But hopefully I’ve learned a thing or two and can get some good photos!

 

Thanks for this review! Sounds like you had a super relaxing time on Liberty. I absolutely love your writing style, it’s so fun to read! I remember reading your review of Enchantment before I cruised on EN in 2014 and it was wonderful! It was one of the many reviews that made me want to write my own!

THIS! Makes me happier than anything else I have done on CC! Encouraging a teen to read and write! Oh, My heart! :hearteyes:You have made my day...(literally no snark, I LOVE that you want to write, and I will tell you that practicing your writing here will help you EVERYWHERE! It wil help you with college or career. Keep track of your follows and numbers of views, these are currency in the social media works. I can tell you there are tons of opportunities there for a young person who can write and communicate! I did some content work for a 19 yo “boss” who had a site with millions of views! If you have passion and practice, practice, practice...you can (WILL!) do great things! )

(shameless plug warning) I started a review of my cruise on Freedom I am sailing on Sunday here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2615177 You said you were sailing on her eventually so I thought you might be interested...so if you are so inclined it would be great if you could check it out! I’m in high school so it’s from a different perspective from most :)

I will definately subscribe to your review! We have the same cabin we had here, booked on Freedom in 2020, and I’ll look forward to your review! I happen to love the perspective of young people! I also love to CRUISE with young people, which is why we’ve been doing spring break cruises. I love the energy!

Have a great cruise! Be sure to follow back, (Our info in our blog) reach out anytime on Email! And I will look forward to seeing your Freedom Review.

 

 

 

 

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[Familygoboston]

Thanks Boston for the great review, I am a native New Englander transplanted to Houston, and we will be in the opposite corner aft on Liberty in November, so I read your review with great interest!

 

I wanted to ask if you thought that the balcony would be big enough to fit an air mattress. When we showed our 7 year old daughter the pictures she said she would want to put her bed out there to sleep. It seems like it would fit, but just wanted to check. If anyone has any opinions yay or nay on what we should tell our daughter, that would be appreciated as well. We don't like the location of the pullman and she might be too tall for the couch so this didn't actually seem to crazy as long as she can sleep well. At least out there she wouldn't be bothered by our snoring!

 

Thanks again!

Hey AndKat...you will LOVE this balcony!

 

 

I will answer this way...a blow up mattress would definately fit on the balcony. If I were to use one, I would never leave anything on the balcony without a grown up out there with it, or awake parent in the room with door open (not towels, no bathing suits, no hammocks, bedding etc) I’m well known on CC for defending the idea that everyone should do what they like on their vacation, (like wearing what you feel comfortable in to dinner!) But leaving bedding or clothes of any kind on the balcony unattended is a safety issue I feel I have to speak up about. If a stray spark or cigarette butt should land on anything on those balconies while you weren’t out there, it could cause a fire that affects the safety of everyone on board.

 

 

I’d use this analogy, I can drive a Cadillac or a Focus, or a Prius, or F150 pick up, totally my choice! But I can’t drive drunk because that endangers everyone else on the road! I feel this way about leaving stuff unattended on the balcony.

 

 

My daughter spent one night on the balcony on Adventure, she found it very uncomfortable, it was colder and damper than she thought it would be ( and we departed from Puerto Rico!) and she was nearly 18. As a former preschool teacher, I wouldn’t put a 7 yo out there alone. And I think she’d find it noisy and cold for sleeping. The “port hole” is huge and I’d be very anxious about having a 7 yo out there all alone. They don’t have the same kind of judgment adults do! (And we’ve seen how bad adults’ judgement can be some times! ;))

 

 

If my 7 yo daughter was angling for this...here’s what i would do... we had a thing in our family called a 1/2 sleep over (or sleep out) We would let our kids “sleep out” for a couple of hours (or sleepover with a friends) just for a couple of hours while we were still awake and paying attention.(maybe leave the balcony door open or leave a parent relaxing on the lounger while she’s “sleeping out”) After an hour or so, we would bring them back inside for the rest of the night. Maybe they’d already be asleep, or they would be ready for their warm bed! I know the arrangement of the Pullman is awkward, but you might be better off planning some “us” time while she’s involved in the children's program, since she must be checked in and out, you’ll know when and how much time you have. She might also enjoy the little bed above you...it’s sort of fun and cave like!

 

 

That’s my thoughts, safety first, but find a way to give her “yes”, without leaving her or the bedding out there unsupervised! Good luck, hope you have a wonderful time!

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for this wonderful review. If you don’t mind sharing, what time was your flight out of Houston? Trying to plan my return trip and want to make sure on the timing of the flight. Thanks!

 

 

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There were only 2 Boston flights from Hobby, so we didn’t have many choices! We left after 6 pm. There’s been a lot of discussion about booking later flights because of the possibility of fog delaying the ship. My own feeling is as long as I get ON the cruise, I don’t really care if I miss the flight home!,:')

 

 

But I think their recommendation of after 2 PM works fine. Noon would be tough, because of the need to get to the airport which is an hour or more away (depending on which airport) . Anything after 4 will leave you with time to spare.