Currently on Liberty of seas

[Rmyoung]

My first thoughts are the ship is about 60% full even though you couldn’t  book any rooms by December.

Mask policy is very tight. You couldn’t walk around without a mask indoors without someone saying something. I lost my mask and within 2 minutes was given a new one.

MDR was less than half full for anytime dinning.

 

[shelpt]

Sounds good so far! Hope it stays that way and all ports allow you in. We leave Jan 9th on the Jewel and hoping for the best. Thanks for checking in!

[Kcason20]

We will be boarding Liberty right after you. Glad it doesn’t feel too full. Please update us as you can. On pins and needles hoping everything goes ok. 
 

Thanks for the update!!

 

Kayla

[Crazy planning mom]

Glad to hear about the mask policy.

Hope to hear more about your cruise.

I have family sailing on the Liberty in February and hope they have a great time.

[satxdiver]

We will be boarding the Liberty on January 14 and will be interested in what the OP is experiencing.  We were on the Liberty twice before in October and November so it will be a nice contrast to what is happening now in light of the new variant.  Sounds like they are taking the mask wearing more serious which is good.  By our November cruise mask wearing was getting a bit lax more than I would like to have seen.  Looking forward to your input. 

[ssb]

14 minutes ago, satxdiver said:

We will be boarding the Liberty on January 14 and will be interested in what the OP is experiencing.  We were on the Liberty twice before in October and November so it will be a nice contrast to what is happening now in light of the new variant.  Sounds like they are taking the mask wearing more serious which is good.  By our November cruise mask wearing was getting a bit lax more than I would like to have seen.  Looking forward to your input. 

Our November mask wearing was strictly tight enforcement 

[clearlake_cruiser]

Our December 12-19 sailing on Liberty did not have strict mask enforcement. It was uneven. We saw unmasked guests walk past a uniformed officer next to Guest Svcs who didn't engage or correct. OTOH there was someone outside WindJammer "washy washy" who enforced masks at the entrance & people who got up from their table to leave MDR. But many people walking around inside ship holding a drink in their hand thought that was okay.

[WeMissSeaView]

Was on Liberty the first two weeks of December and mask enforcement was a joke.  Only time I saw a crew member tell someone to put on a mask was going into the Windjammer.  Everywhere else crew just looked the other way.

[ShellinTX]

Hello! Thanks @Rmyoungfor providing information about your experience on Liberty this week. I welcome more information about passenger numbers and protocols as we hope to sail next week. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Not here for debate about protocols and hope this thread doesn’t get axed because you are the first I’ve seen reporting live from Liberty 🙂

[satxdiver]

My personal observations:

 

We like to sit in front of the pub on deck 5 and people watch in the evening waiting for the various  entertainment to start.  We went to the lounge on deck 5 and piano bar on deck 4 most of the time. While the majority did wear masks some did not and no crew members were saying anything to them.  I did see the crew members at the entrance to the theater stop anyone not wearing a mask and on some nights saw a crew member standing at the entrance to the casino on deck 4 near Schooners checking for masks.  Midway through the cruise they did open the center stairway from deck 5 to the casino.   I did not go to the WJ.  I did not see anyone near any elevator/stair bank monitoring for masks or near any other entertainment area than the two mentioned.  On a few occasions I did witness some shops limiting the number allowed inside.  

 

I did ask guest services and there were 2151 aboard.  Our 10/24 cruise they had over 1800 pax and I was told there were over 3100 including 100's (?) of children aboard for the Thanksgiving cruise.  The waiter at Sorento's did tell us that they ran out of pizza midway in the Thanksgiving cruise and that there was a continual long line waiting for pizza mostly by the younger group.  

Edited December 27, 2021 by satxdiver

[Rmyoung]

Yeah I was told only 10 unvaccinated which seems low. On a different note almost no one brings on wine anymore. We brought 4 bottles for 2 rooms but I haven’t seen any other. I will say they have good wine selection by the bottle and the prices are good just FYI.

[footzz]

There's been a lot of talk on other threads about the closing of several entertainment venues and the cancellaton of nightly shows. Would you please report back here if you encounter either of those issues, or any other 'out of the ordinary' service disruption issues due to the onboard Covid protocols? Thank you in advance.

[Rmyoung]

So far nothing but I do think they are letting less in than normal. In the world of Covid Cruising it seems smaller boats may be better.

[footzz]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear. We were on the Indy right before the Liberty returned to Galveston in October and even in spite of the protocols, we had a good time. FWIW: The Indy was at about 30% capacity.

[taglovestocruise]

7 hours ago, WeMissSeaView said:

Was on Liberty the first two weeks of December and mask enforcement was a joke.  Only time I saw a crew member tell someone to put on a mask was going into the Windjammer.  Everywhere else crew just looked the other way.

Good to hear, gives me uplifting hope for our Jan 10th Navigator.

[spunks]

We got off Liberty on Sunday the 26th(Dec)....No covid issues that we heard about. They were a bit inconsistent with mask enforcement, but not lax either. All shows went off as scheduled and Roatan, Cozumel, and Coasta Maya all open.

[mrg0433]

5 hours ago, satxdiver said:

My personal observations:

 

We like to sit in front of the pub on deck 5 and people watch in the evening waiting for the various  entertainment to start.  We went to the lounge on deck 5 and piano bar on deck 4 most of the time. While the majority did wear masks some did not and no crew members were saying anything to them.  I did see the crew members at the entrance to the theater stop anyone not wearing a mask and on some nights saw a crew member standing at the entrance to the casino on deck 4 near Schooners checking for masks.  Midway through the cruise they did open the center stairway from deck 5 to the casino.   I did not go to the WJ.  I did not see anyone near any elevator/stair bank monitoring for masks or near any other entertainment area than the two mentioned.  On a few occasions I did witness some shops limiting the number allowed inside.  

 

I did ask guest services and there were 2151 aboard.  Our 10/24 cruise they had over 1800 pax and I was told there were over 3100 including 100's (?) of children aboard for the Thanksgiving cruise.  The waiter at Sorento's did tell us that they ran out of pizza midway in the Thanksgiving cruise and that there was a continual long line waiting for pizza mostly by the younger group.  

I saw a doctor interviewed a few days ago who said omicron particles are so tiny that they will escape masks so most people will b infected and many will never know they had it. Soon they will simply test to see if u have immunity instead of virus. 

[satxdiver]

4 hours ago, mrg0433 said:

I saw a doctor interviewed a few days ago who said omicron particles are so tiny that they will escape masks so most people will b infected and many will never know they had it. Soon they will simply test to see if u have immunity instead of virus. 

 

For this reason they are now recommending the KN95 masks instead of the cloth ones or better yet the N95 to better protect oneself from the omicron variant.  They are saying that thise vaccinated will have no to mild symptoms.  

 

We took two bottles of wine aboard on the last two Liberty cruises and enjoyed them on our balcony while taking in the open ocean sights.  

[DevonfromAcme]

8 hours ago, Rmyoung said:

So far nothing but I do think they are letting less in than normal. In the world of Covid Cruising it seems smaller boats may be better.

 

Appears so.  The smaller boats seem to be having a fine time cruising under the radar, mostly adults and pretty quiet, completing their port stops with no issue.

[footzz]

Hey satxdiver, they say no news is good news, and we haven't heard anything else from you since last Monday. So, are all systems onboard a 'go' so far? 

[footzz]

46 minutes ago, footzz said:

Hey satxdiver, they say no news is good news, and we haven't heard anything else from you since last Monday. So, are all systems onboard a 'go' so far? 

Oops. Sorry wrong member. I'll try again.

Edited December 30, 2021 by footzz

[footzz]

On 12/27/2021 at 3:54 PM, Rmyoung said:

So far nothing but I do think they are letting less in than normal. In the world of Covid Cruising it seems smaller boats may be better.

They say no news is good news, and we haven't heard anything else from you since last Monday. I hope you're having such a good cruise that there really isn't anything out of the ordinary to post.

[RedIguana]

On 12/27/2021 at 10:44 PM, satxdiver said:

For this reason they are now recommending the KN95 masks instead of the cloth ones or better yet the N95 to better protect oneself from the omicron variant

N95 and KN95 are supposed to be equivalent. N95 are certified in the US, KN95 are certified in China. I'll let the reader determine the percentage of counterfeits for each type and decide which one they prefer.

[boxedlunch]

On 12/27/2021 at 5:22 PM, mrg0433 said:

I saw a doctor interviewed a few days ago who said omicron particles are so tiny that they will escape masks so most people will b infected and many will never know they had it. Soon they will simply test to see if u have immunity instead of virus. 

Can someone who understands virology explain how the omicron variant is somehow “smaller” that the other named variants and, therefore, renders cloth masks ineffective? Seems to be more reflective of a change in infectious viral load, no?
 

Either way, it’s been N95 and KN95 masks for us since the beginning. Stay safe out there. 

[topnole]

2 hours ago, boxedlunch said:

Can someone who understands virology explain how the omicron variant is somehow “smaller” that the other named variants and, therefore, renders cloth masks ineffective? Seems to be more reflective of a change in infectious viral load, no?
 

Either way, it’s been N95 and KN95 masks for us since the beginning. Stay safe out there. 

Not sure that is an accurate way to say it, maybe I’m wrong though.  More like a larger amount of virulent in the same amount of aerosol?  So it takes far less of it to escape the the filter of a mask and infect you.  So now a mask must filter that much more for the mask to reduce or eliminate as much exposure.