sailed Liberty sept 29, 2019

[ddled]

Sailed Liberty for the 4th time. Had a balcony on deck 12 forward. Very nice cabin, balcony a little small, but excellent nonetheless. Following are a few ideas in the form of a review. We are a retired couple,late 60s, sailed Royal ships for 20 years, about 23 times. Diamond level

 

Embarkation, Disembarkation-as smooth as we have ever seen. Hardly stopped or waited in line in either. 

 

Food- We ate in Chops twice and loved it. Giovannis once and it was just ok. The MDR was excellent, and the Windjammer for breakfast was very good. Gained the normal pounds, so I guess it was ok. They had a sale on  the first day that gave 15% off the 3 day package for Chops-Giovanni. Made it a no brainer as one day is almost that much. Did not try Sabor-we live in south Texas and have excellent Mexican here. Pizza at Sorrentos was good-all the food is holding its taste and presentation.

 

Stuff that has disappeared-Diamond perks are the same-3 drinks or mostly unlimited in the lounge. Lounge was full each day, at 5:30 much of it emptied out. Went to send a postcard to my 96 year old mother. They do not sell postage or send postcards like they used to!  REALLY? No mints on the pillow of course, did get some towel animals. The perks on the Crown and Anchor list is shorter than it was 10 months ago. No stationary or robes in the rooms-I suppose you can get them if you ask, but I feel sorry for the steward with as many rooms as they have now. He did get us extra towels(which are one step above Motel 6) and wine glasses. There were no biographies of any of the officers put out-used to be in the compass. Too many diamond sales in there I guess. The captain-James-was around a lot. From Tampa and very personable. They do not wrap the silverware in the Windjammer with the napkins anymore. I really think they are running out of things to cut out- I really expect some day to be given a paddle upon check in and a time to paddle! 

 

Music- for the first time on LIberty there was no country band! I mean-it is sailing from Texas. The band was good, not country, mostly slow rock and pop. If you remember Bubba Feathers or his successors this was a shock. They were good, just not Texas. I know-other people cruise this too, but a little country would not have sunk the ship. The different thing about this cruise was the presence of 800 members of the Texas Country Music Association. They had concerts each day mostly in Studio B or On Air and were kind enough to have one on the pool deck. Turns out if you call Royal 2 months in advance of your cruise, find out there is a big group on that you do not want to sail with, they will reschedule your cruise. At least that was the talk on ship. This group was fine people and no problem at all.

 

Misc,- The cruise director-Jeffrey-was great. Funny, informative,out in public a lot, and experienced enough to have lots of tips. I recommend his Rant on the tv each morning-it will save you some problems for sure. The ship is is in good shape-due for a dry dock in a year or so. Seems to vibrate more than it used to. They had one engine down for maintainance, maybe that was it. Really vibrated in stern half. Service was as good as always-maybe better. Only went in gym once-bigger than I remembered, and very usable. Solarium was great, pools were well used but plenty of space. Keeping in mind it is a business the attempts to sell you something was not bad. Everything was clean and on time. This ship is our favorite in the fleet., Captain James said that there will be an Oasis class(not 5-it is going to China) during 2021. New pier is not started, so we will see. That ship will sell out for years in Texas. Hate to lose Liberty though. Parking was about 50 for the week, with shuttle. Discount Cruise Parking. Check to be sure that your parking place did not flood during Harvey-some did. Never know what will come up behind you. 

 

Ports-Cozumel had 5 ships in-one was Symphony. Costa Maya-did the salsa trip-great. Taste tested Tequila for 45 minutes-no one went to the beach after! Roatan-did underwater glass bottom boat. Almost like snorkeling and stayed dry. Fun. NCL is building a pier right next to Royal, more shops coming. Not the prettiest port in the Caribbean for sure, but works.

 

All in all it was an excellent cruise. Weather was flawless-almost no rain or waves. I would go again, the cruise is a good break. Since we drive in, I cannot comment on airports but if you can choose Hobby. Go a day early-lots to do in Galveston or Houston. 

[George C]

Thanks , agree thought Chops was really good, I was really disappointed on Giovanni’s which I used to love. 

[Jimnbigd]

Thanks.  Leaving on LOS on Oct. 27. Phil Anderson should be in the Schooner bar then. As for Bubba Feathers, I don't think he's been back since his wife died a couple of years ago. And -- I wish Derek Lewis would return. We had him back once a few years ago after an absence from Galveston cruises. I miss his "Adult Day Care".

Edited October 15, 2019 by Jimnbigd

[OSUZorba]

6 hours ago, ddled said:

Sailed Liberty...Embarkation, Disembarkation-as smooth as we have ever seen. Hardly stopped or waited in line in either.

 

Are you sure you were on Liberty?  😉

[ddled]

Pretty sure it was Liberty-big white thing? Seems to be where the parking shuttle took uslol. It was really fast-last few times we used Galveston it has improved. Spent 4 hours in the terminal building once off Voyager-had to get better.That is when we learned why you get porters-faster by far!

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, ddled said:

Pretty sure it was Liberty-big white thing? Seems to be where the parking shuttle took uslol. It was really fast-last few times we used Galveston it has improved. Spent 4 hours in the terminal building once off Voyager-had to get better.That is when we learned why you get porters-faster by far!

 

Galveston is where we also learned to get off the ship as ealy as possible and get away from the terminal, no mater how late a flight time we have.

[Junkhouse]

We were on Liberty over a year ago.  There was a bigger group on our sailing and the embarkation/disembarkation was so quick the only thing that slowed us up was our walking speed. I had a friend who went a week before ( 1st or 2nd weekend in April) and it was horrendous because it was Mexico’s spring break and backlog getting through customs.

[The Fun Researcher]

They don't wrap the silverware in the Windjammer anymore?  I'm surprised because that's one way to really cut down on the transmission of pesky viruses.  We always have a little travel bottle of hand sanitizer that we apply after getting our food and sitting down, but before touching the silverware.  Now, if someone had sneezed all over the silverware there is no way to keep it protected.  Yuck.

Dan

[jeanneful]

Are you saying they did away with the Diamond 3 drinks on your card??

 

 

[Biker19]

24 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

They don't wrap the silverware in the Windjammer anymore?

Likely a temporary or one ship thing.

[Clarea]

6 minutes ago, jeanneful said:

Are you saying they did away with the Diamond 3 drinks on your card??

 

 

 

Unlikely, there would have been at least 10 threads started on Cruise Critic if that happened.

[fdthird]

We were on a B2B and week 2 was the same 9/29.  Getting off the ship was like we died and went to heaven.  It was so fast...week before there were long lines in terminal waiting for Immigration, but not for the cruise of the 29th.  We had several great meals in Chops, always with our favorite waiter Nelson.  Our first week we had a crummy dinner in Giovani’s.  Slow service, cold food, not a great experience.  Alex the manager was  supposed to be back, but wasn’t.  Went back next week for lunch and had a much better experience.  Had several good MTD dinners and enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer.   Great service in the R Bar and enjoyed the Texas Music folks on the ship with us! 

[EmmasNana]

3 hours ago, jeanneful said:

Are you saying they did away with the Diamond 3 drinks on your card??

 

 

We were on this same sailing and were able to use the 3 drink vouchers with no problem.

[ddled]

yes the 3 drink on card was there.

[ssb]

Today With new terminal and better procedures and programs , 
RCL Port  embarkation and disembarkation is night and day , since the old Voyager days . 

Enchantment presently has , 

and Liberty wIll Shortly have , 

check in program with Seapass cards on doors . 
After screening walk on through to cabin door

 

. 
 

Edited October 17, 2019 by ssb