LIVE - Liberty OTS - Canada & New England - Aug 29 (9 nt)

[aring75]

Sailing today on Liberty of the Seas out of Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey.

My husband (Mark) and I (Angela) are relatively seasoned cruisers and are Diamond Plus on Royal. We have also sailed with HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Disney, and NCL. Somewhere around 50-ish cruises overall. 

 

We have a 9-night itinerary with an overnight in Saint John, NB.

 

 

We have a port side standard balcony cabin on deck 7.

 

 

 

Due to work-related commitments, we had to fly in the same day as our cruise. Needless to say I’ve been stressed about this all week! But as I am typing this, we have just reached cruising altitude on our way to EWR. We have an estimated arrival time of 9:51 AM so I am finally beginning to relax. 
 

[aring75]

We have sailed this itinerary once before on Anthem and really enjoyed it. We missed Saint John on that trip though, so I am looking forward to our overnight!

 

Used my time in flight to complete the safety briefing. 
 

 

 

And answered our final health questionnaire. 
 

 

 

 

When did this start? Express boarding? Does that actually mean anything?

 

[aring75]

We are doing the HOHO trolley in Boston. 
 

 

 

In Portland, we will probably look for a good place to have lunch (any suggestions or recommendations are welcome and appreciated!).

 

 

Our first day in Saint John will be the Best of Saint John tour through the ship. 
 

 

 

And then on day two in Saint John we will do the HOHO “Big Pink Bus.”

 

 

 

Our tour that we had scheduled for Halifax was canceled a couple of weeks ago so we are not sure as of yet what we will do in port there. 

[LuCruise]

Looking forward to your live review.  We were on Liberty in June with a short stop to Halifax.  (We just walked around the waterfront and went to the Maritime museum as that's an option if you have no tour due to yours getting cancelled).  Quite enjoyed the ship and stop.  Would love to do your itinerary someday.

Glad all is good for travel day.  Enjoy your cruise!

[aring75]

3 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Looking forward to your live review.  We were on Liberty in June with a short stop to Halifax.  (We just walked around the waterfront and went to the Maritime museum as that's an option if you have no tour due to yours getting cancelled).  Quite enjoyed the ship and stop.  Would love to do your itinerary someday.

Glad all is good for travel day.  Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the suggestion! My husband would enjoy the Maritime Museum I think. We will look for it.

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, aring75 said:

Sailing today on Liberty of the Seas out of Cape Liberty Cruise Port, New Jersey.

My husband (Mark) and I (Angela) are relatively seasoned cruisers and are Diamond Plus on Royal. We have also sailed with HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Disney, and NCL. Somewhere around 50-ish cruises overall. 

 

We have a 9-night itinerary with an overnight in Saint John, NB.

 

 

We have a port side standard balcony cabin on deck 7.

 

 

 

Due to work-related commitments, we had to fly in the same day as our cruise. Needless to say I’ve been stressed about this all week! But as I am typing this, we have just reached cruising altitude on our way to EWR. We have an estimated arrival time of 9:51 AM so I am finally beginning to relax. 
 

I'll definitely be following... We were supposed to be on Sept 26th version of this itinerary but had to cancel.  I'll be living vicariously through you. 🙂 

[aring75]

6 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'll definitely be following... We were supposed to be on Sept 26th version of this itinerary but had to cancel.  I'll be living vicariously through you. 🙂 

Ugh! Sorry to hear you had to cancel your cruise.
 

We wanted to add the 5 day Bermuda itinerary as a B2B with this one. But can you believe they wanted more for that 5-day balcony than we paid for this 9-day? 

[aring75]

There was a scheduled Coast Guard inspection which delayed boarding for a bit. But we didn’t have to wait long, and we are now on board. Yay!

 

There is an “Express Pass” lane for people who completed all of the check in requirements ahead of time. I’m not sure it was that much faster than the regular line. 

We have a lunch reservation at Chops in an hour, so I think we’ll go ahead and check in at our muster station and find a nice place to sit until then. 
 

The Schooner Bar is looking pretty inviting. 😁

[Another_Critic]

3 hours ago, aring75 said:

Our tour that we had scheduled for Halifax was canceled a couple of weeks ago so we are not sure as of yet what we will do in port there. 

The Public Gardens are nice this time of the year.

[24acorns]

I look forward to following along here. I am doing similar itinerary from Boston in a few weeks and struggling a bit with tours, particularly Saint John. 

 

Happy sailing.

[Priszm]

If you haven't had them before, get a Beaver Tail in Halifax. 

[aring75]

Kind of a gray day today. 
 

 

 

But the temperature is very mild at 75/76 degrees. The feels-like temperature back home is currently 103. 
 

We have a (very distant) view of the Statue of Liberty from our balcony. 
 

 

 

[aring75]

And speaking of balconies, here are a few room pics. 
 

 

 

[aring75]

Room continued. 
 

 

 

 

[aring75]

Lunch today was at Chops Grille. There was a line of about 50-60 people waiting to get into the Windjammer. We are sailing full, so I’m wondering how the crowds will be once everyone gets settled. 
 

Chops Lunch Menu

 

 

 

Started with the wedge salad. This was huge. 
 

 

 

Opted for the salmon. That mustard sauce is so good!

 

 

 

Sides were asparagus and the mac and cheese (this was way better than the last time we had it on Mariner).

 

 

Finished with the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Rich and delicious!

 

[aring75]

Diamond Plus info if anyone is interested. 
 

 

 

 

Also included with loyalty information:

 

[aring75]

In-room breakfast menu. Left side is complimentary, right side has a $7.95 fee per delivery.
 

 

 

Room service menu for the rest of the day. Also has a $7.95 delivery fee. 
 

[mets123]

Suggestions for Portland. Becky's for lunch and then a beer sampler at Shipyard Brewery. Becky's is just an old fashioned diner with a great seafood chowder and lobster rolls. Once you get to the street, it's about a half mile walk to your left along the waterfront.

[aring75]

Waved goodbye to the New York City skyline as we made our way to the Verrazano-Narrows bridge. 
 

 

 

[aring75]

Pictures are required anytime your cruise ship sails out under a bridge. No exceptions. 
 

Hey, I don’t make the rules. 
 

 

 

[Ashland]

I'll have to suggest a trip to Holy Donuts in Portland. We had to miss this port last time due to a storm. We'll be on Liberty Oct 2025 and will always miss not porting in Bar Harbor.

[SteelCityCruiser10]

5 hours ago, aring75 said:

There is an “Express Pass” lane for people who completed all of the check in requirements ahead of time. I’m not sure it was that much faster than the regular line. 
 

The Schooner Bar is looking pretty inviting. 😁

Hi There!  Following along.  I hadn’t seen express lane before either.  Sounds like a way to move along general boarding a bit faster for those who did check in ahead of time.  Do you recall suites lines still being separate?

 

We did the CA/NE itinerary at this same time last year (by accident due to hurricane).  We loved Portland and Halifax. I don’t recall the name of the place right now but the lobster roll was awesome in Portland.

[aring75]

1 hour ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Hi There!  Following along.  I hadn’t seen express lane before either.  Sounds like a way to move along general boarding a bit faster for those who did check in ahead of time.  Do you recall suites lines still being separate?

Yes. There was a separate entrance and line for suites. Also, anyone with the Key was allowed to board before the regular passengers. 

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, aring75 said:

Pictures are required anytime your cruise ship sails out under a bridge. No exceptions. 
 

Hey, I don’t make the rules. 
 

 

 

 

That will be my view on Sunday.  🙂

[Another_Critic]

Is there a fair number of kids on your sailing?

 

I'll be on Symphony next week.  Larger ship and shorter cruise, and I expect a large number of kids, even though school is in session.