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

[perfect match]

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!

 

Sorry, I haven't done any reviews yet. I'm not very organized, I always think about writing one, but never seem to get it done.

 

We used Atlantis Diving https://www.atlantisdiving.com. in Curacao. I booked their Epic Turtle Dive And Island Tour For Cruise Ship Divers. Our day turned out to be just me, diving, and DH, snorkeling. Our guide/divemaster, Renske, picked us up at the pier. We went to 2 different beaches for diving and snorkeling, then ended our day at Shete Boka. Lunch was included and eaten at our first beach stop. It was an awesome day!

 

I couldn't manage to post my pictures again. I'm really very tech challenged. I did manage to post them on my Symphony cruise roll call, so hopefully this link to that post will work.

 

 

I don't know if either of you are certified to dive or not, or what Atlantis is doing these days as far as snorkel tours. You might want to do their Try Diving and see if they can take you to Playa Piskado for your dive, or maybe add a snorkel stop there. Hopefully, Atlantis will be willing to work with you.

 

Here's a link to a few pictures from Curacao that I posted on my Symphony roll call. I tried to post one here, but for some reason I couldn't manage to get that to work. Yes, I am seroiusly tech challenged!

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=55089252&postcount=607

 

Check out Segway Aruba for their combo tour, segway, then seabob too! Based on the excursions I've seen in your reviews, I think you might like it!

https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/segwayaruba/items/?full-items=yes

Edited March 24, 2018 by perfect match

[Familygoboston]

Sorry, I haven't done any reviews yet. I'm not very organized, I always think about writing one, but never seem to get it done.

 

We used Atlantis Diving https://www.atlantisdiving.com. in Curacao. I booked their Epic Turtle Dive And Island Tour For Cruise Ship Divers. Our day turned out to be just me, diving, and DH, snorkeling. Our guide/divemaster, Renske, picked us up at the pier. We went to 2 different beaches for diving and snorkeling, then ended our day at Shete Boka. Lunch was included and eaten at our first beach stop. It was an awesome day

 

Here's a link to a few pictures from Curacao that I posted on my Symphony roll call.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=55089252&postcount=607

 

Check out Segway Aruba for their combo tour, segway, then seabob too! Based on the excursions I've seen in your reviews, I think you might like it!

https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/segwayaruba/items/?full-items=yes

Thanks! These sound great! I’m starting to get my folder ready with tour ideas! I love the idea of an Atlantis day on the water! Your pictures are awesome! I love the turtles!

[wolfganghowell]

Thank you so much for posting the compasses. Glad to see a few little tweaks from last time. One sea day the band didn't play until 3:30 :( - most people were gone by then. Looks like they have them all afternoons now.

[A&L_Ont]

As always FamilygoBoston, a great review.

[Familygoboston]

Thank you so much for posting the compasses. Glad to see a few little tweaks from last time. One sea day the band didn't play until 3:30 :( - most people were gone by then. Looks like they have them all afternoons now.

 

 

Im glad you found them useful...it's the first thing I look for when I book a cruise, so I'm happy to help!

 

 

As always FamilygoBoston, a great review.

 

Thank you SOOO much!

[Lynzeej]

Your comments about the southern hospitality on the cruise warmed my heart. Texas born and raised (Houston) here! What you say is so true and glad you noticed.

[Familygoboston]

Your comments about the southern hospitality on the cruise warmed my heart. Texas born and raised (Houston) here! What you say is so true and glad you noticed.

Oh yes! Even the college kids were very respectful. It was a credit to you all! ❤️

[KmomChicago]

Thank you for all this great info!

[Familygoboston]

Thank you for all this great info!

 

I’m very glad you found it helpful!!

The next several cruises are not on Royal or are land based trips, so I’ll be gone from these boards till I sail with Randy and friends in June 2019. Till then...

[nascargirly]

Thank you for this info!!!!!!

 

embarkation

on embarkation day, the marriott offers a shuttle for $40 per room for the shuttle to port. You need to book in advance and they schedule them on the half hour, so be sure to inquire right away, if you want that option. Our private uber xl to the pier was $23.35 for both of us, a regular uber may have been even less. We went to the pier early, around 9:30 am because we had some research to do at the pier. I’d imagine as it gets later, with more traffic and more people arriving, uber prices would increase.

we arrived at port (rc is at pier 2) just before 10 am, and found a spot in the terminal building to drop our bags with the porters. The porters were not yet at the curb for arriving guests since they were assisting departing guests, but there is a place to drop luggage clearly labeled at pier 2 “luggage drop”. after dropping luggage we made our way to the “check in” entrance, through security (the line was very short at that hour) and up the escalator to the check in personnel, where we signed our health declaration, had our photos taken and got our sea pass cards.

we were given a mission, several actually, by friends before we left. It was "this is your mission, you have no choice but to accept it!"

we had 3 missions on this pre cruise (once you become a travel blogger people line up to ask you to do research for them...our missions were eclectic, but focused!

 

1. find if cruise stop offers coke zero (our recon says no, but the friendly cashiers said call 2 weeks ahead of your cruise and they will stock it for you!)
   
2. find out if one could order a cake from a bakery in grand cayman and bring it back on board (or recon says, big no, no! A clearly marked sign says no food or drink allowed back on board...unless it’s one of the ever popular rum cakes so,d everywhere that are sealed in the box. )
   
3. find out what there is to do on galveston island for a young family.
   

we also wanted to buy some bottled water and research cruise stop as a luggage storage options when we disembarked, this is a small convenience store just one block from the pier. Walk under the elevated pedestrian pier and you will follow that road one block till you see the windows with “cruise stop” written on them, it’s up the stairs on that corner. Here are the things cruise stop offers:

• a variety of water, soda and wine to buy to take on board
  
• a small grocery with snacks and last minute toiletries
  
• an authentic buffet that changes daily with with hometown favorite specialties of crews on board from asia. The crew seemed to be welcome to use wi-fi and hang on the stairs.
  
• friendly cashiers who will check your luggage after your cruise if you have time to kill and want to wander on the strand after disembarkation.
  

umm, these won't fit in the bag!

while researching, we bought ourselves a case of sealed up water bottles, which only after purchase did we realize would not fit in the bag we brought with us to check it on board. So we opened the shrink wrapping (knowing we were decreasing our chances of getting it on board) filled the bag with what we could and there i was like a homeless person hawking the left over bottles that didn’t fit to strangers on the pier. Fortunately, i didn’t need a vendors license, since i was giving them away, not selling them!

several folks said, “oh they aren’t going to let you have those on board” and i know every time i try, there is a distinct possibility, i’ll be out the 6 to 9 bucks i paid for my case of water, but it’s worth a try because it’s so convenient not having to fill my refillable bottle from glasses at the windjammer every morning, and having it cold and tight in the cabin when we need it. Once we had the bag full and tagged with one of our luggage tags, we returned to the luggage drop off, put it in the corner with the other luggage waiting to board and hoped for the best. (it arrived without incident with the rest of our bags)

after our recon missions, we stayed to the left side of the check in line where we passed through “re security” (this is a streamline entry for people who already have their sea pass card. Our sea pass card, id and bags were all checked) we by passed by the check in line (and being old salts, we also bypassed the boarding photo lines) and made our way to the seating area. It was only about 1/3 full at 10:30 am and just as our fannies hit the seats, they started announcing they would begin boarding, pinnacle c&a members and suite guests first, diamond and diamond + next, other c&a folks next then by group numbers.

we were on board and relaxing in the solarium by 11 am.