Review Liberty of the Seas 11/29 - 12/6 (with pics)

[OurFamily]

So hard to believe it but our vacation is over already! We came back to Connecticut on Saturday and it snowed last night UGH!! Anyway, we cruised the week of 11/29 – 12/6 with our two girls aged 3 & 5. This was our second time cruising with Royal and we booked a Grand Suite on the 10th deck.

 

Pre Stay: Pre Cruise we stayed 1 night at the Hyatt Place in Miami. This was a very nice hotel with a contemporary room and plenty of space for the 4 of us. The pull out sofa for the kids was a queen size and it was great. I had the front desk add us to the shuttle list for 11AM. They take the reservation by your room number and you board the shuttle that way. The cost was going to be $35 for 2 of us and the kids free if they sat in our laps. We went down at 10:45AM and it was packed!! The amount of luggage filled the entire front of the lobby. So you can imagine our surprise when a standard airport shuttle arrived. We could have used a coach bus with the amount of luggage and people! So the hotel told us the next shuttle we arrive by 12PM. Instead we just decided to take a cab. 4 people total cost was $30 plus a $10 tip.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at 12:00PM and handed our bags to a porter. We never received luggage tags but the porters have them for the ships. You just tell them what ship and room number and they attach it while you are there. It is the actual RCCL tag but blank so they can write in the number. We went into the first security section where they check your passport and SeaPass document. This took only 5 minutes. Next you go up the escalator to the actual security scanners. This only took about 15 minutes. Finally you go into the huge room where you get your SeaPass cards. This is done by your deck number. This again only took us 5-10 minutes. I didn’t see a section for Suite passengers but I don’t think it mattered because we were whisked through incredibly fast. Finally just before you board they take your pictures to assign them to your cards. For us we had one more stop after boarding. As we were walking down deck 4 to the gangway doors there were two employees giving wrist bands to kids under 12. It basically said the name of their ship and muster zone. No other information was on the bracelet. They said this was mandatory and needed to be worn all week. Once on board we couldn’t go to the room until 1PM so it was off to the Windjammer for lunch. It was quite busy so we had to share a table with someone else.

 

Room 1298: Our room number was 1298 on the 10th deck. It was right in the middle of the ship under the H2O zone. Upon entering the room it was beautiful. Nice bar area, attractive colors and the flat panel TV was tuned to the RCCL channel welcoming us aboard. We had a free bottle of Evian water waiting in the room and a welcome package from the concierge. This explained the benefits we had available to us as suite passengers and 2 concierge keys which gave access to the concierge lounge and also were the VIP passes to the ice show, pool chairs and main show. The room was fantastic all week and was incredibly quiet. We did have a problem with our TV/DVD player and with kids it is critical this works. After 4 visits from maintenance they finally got it resolved. There was no noise from above all week. The balcony appeared to be just 2 balconies put together. The pullout sofa was surprisingly comfortable and better than what I expected. I assumed my kids would be on the 3 inch mattress you normally get in a hotel sofa bed but the RCCL pullout actually uses the couch cushions as the mattress. Once the bed is made up it was very attractive and comfortable. The bathroom was fantastic and was very different from bathrooms I have seen on other cruise ships. It had a full bath/shower with fantastic pressure and very hot water. Double sinks and the colors of the bathroom were very attractive. Our stateroom attendant did a wonderful job all week and my kids loved the towel animals. We did not have chocolates on the pillows at night.

 

Concierge Services: For us we really didn’t utilize the services offered to us. They can assist you with Excursions, spa reservations, specialty restaurants and basically anything else you could want. She was the one stop for everything. Any questions or requests you have went to her. No need to call the front desk for anything. The only thing we needed was some type of sand toys for Labadee as we forgot them at home. I asked on day 1 in the Royal Promenade stores and they didn’t sell them. On day 2 (sea day) we asked the concierge. By the end of day 2 she came knocking on our door with a brand new bucket, shovel and beach ball all brand new! I asked where did she get this and she just smiled and said “I have my secrets.” The only other thing we did was borrow a DVD from her to have in the room. The VIP tickets worked out great because it gave you the 1st row at the ice show and the stadium tiered like beach chairs were reserved just for suite guests. Other than that we didn’t utilize the lounge because it was mostly adult and a bit stuffy in the room.

 

Labadee: For us this was certainly the best stop. Just a nice beach, beautiful weather, warm water, and a very relaxing day. The kids made sand castles and played in the shallow waters on the side of Labadee where the tenders dock. The far side of the island was much rougher water where the actual ocean was crashing in. This also looked great but wasn’t for us. We were back on the ship by 1PM for lunch and relaxed the rest of the day on the ship.

 

Jamaica: We didn’t get off the ship in Jamaica. Spent a nice private day on the ship. H2O zone and pools were dead. Having the ship to yourself is incredible.

 

Grand Cayman: Had a pretty bumpy night into Grand Cayman as the ship was rocking a bit and definitely had some creaking/cracking going on. Nothing bad but certainly felt it. In the AM the tenders were running slowly and they requested guests not come down until later in the morning. They announced with such large swells we are lucky the island is letting us on. They said normally we get cancelled and cannot tender in when the waves are this large. That being said I watched several tenders from the balcony and again we decided to stay onboard. They were getting banged around pretty good and when they had to tie to the ship it was quite entertaining. One group of people it almost took them 10 minutes to tie up to the ship. It was bouncing around so much!. Once they finally attached you heard a thundering cheer from the people on the tender. Seems like they were having fun.

 

Cozumel: What a beautiful view you have from Cozumel. The water was the bluest here and the weather was excellent. We got off and shopped for a little bit and got back on the ship shortly after. For us spending time on the ship was more fun than dragging 2 little kids around in the heat.

 

Conclusion: What an excellent time we had. The staff was amazing and very attentive. They really love the kids and talk to them all the time. My daughter loved our waiter and couldn’t wait to see him every night. Food in the main dining room for dinner was very good and the breakfast/lunches in the Windjammer were ok. The Windjammer is incredibly crowded on the Labadee day. It was also very crowded for the embarkation lunch. One other perk of the concierge key was you can sit in the Chops restaurant for breakfast and lunch which was very close to the Windjammer buffet. We only had to do this twice and the rest of the time we preferred to find a table in the Windjammer. For us the best part of the ship was the H2O Zone. My kids loved this and used it all week. We never even went into a big pool!! Our cruise director was good but in my opinion he came across a little too much like a game show host. Almost a little bit fake but he was very nice and the people seemed to really like him. Ice show was excellent and the seats are readily available. Don’t let them scare you into going 30 minutes early. You can get their 10 minutes before and you will be fine. For us next time I would probably do a JR Suite or just a balcony room. I didn’t utilize the Grand Suite amenities enough to truly get the best value out of the cost. So this certainly wasn’t the party vacation that you can make it but with the 2 young ones it was just perfect. Any questions please ask.

[ncb106]

so hard to believe it but our vacation is over already! We came back to connecticut on saturday and it snowed last night ugh!! Anyway, we cruised the week of 11/29 – 12/6 with our two girls aged 3 & 5. This was our second time cruising with royal and we booked a grand suite on the 10th deck.

 

pre stay: pre cruise we stayed 1 night at the hyatt place in miami. This was a very nice hotel with a contemporary room and plenty of space for the 4 of us. The pull out sofa for the kids was a queen size and it was great. I had the front desk add us to the shuttle list for 11am. They take the reservation by your room number and you board the shuttle that way. The cost was going to be $35 for 2 of us and the kids free if they sat in our laps. We went down at 10:45am and it was packed!! The amount of luggage filled the entire front of the lobby. So you can imagine our surprise when a standard airport shuttle arrived. We could have used a coach bus with the amount of luggage and people! So the hotel told us the next shuttle we arrive by 12pm. Instead we just decided to take a cab. 4 people total cost was $30 plus a $10 tip.

 

embarkation: we arrived at the port at 12:00pm and handed our bags to a porter. We never received luggage tags but the porters have them for the ships. You just tell them what ship and room number and they attach it while you are there. It is the actual rccl tag but blank so they can write in the number. We went into the first security section where they check your passport and seapass document. This took only 5 minutes. Next you go up the escalator to the actual security scanners. This only took about 15 minutes. Finally you go into the huge room where you get your seapass cards. This is done by your deck number. This again only took us 5-10 minutes. I didn’t see a section for suite passengers but i don’t think it mattered because we were whisked through incredibly fast. Finally just before you board they take your pictures to assign them to your cards. For us we had one more stop after boarding. As we were walking down deck 4 to the gangway doors there were two employees giving wrist bands to kids under 12. It basically said the name of their ship and muster zone. No other information was on the bracelet. They said this was mandatory and needed to be worn all week. Once on board we couldn’t go to the room until 1pm so it was off to the windjammer for lunch. It was quite busy so we had to share a table with someone else.

 

room 1298: our room number was 1298 on the 10th deck. It was right in the middle of the ship under the h2o zone. Upon entering the room it was beautiful. Nice bar area, attractive colors and the flat panel tv was tuned to the rccl channel welcoming us aboard. We had a free bottle of evian water waiting in the room and a welcome package from the concierge. This explained the benefits we had available to us as suite passengers and 2 concierge keys which gave access to the concierge lounge and also were the vip passes to the ice show, pool chairs and main show. The room was fantastic all week and was incredibly quiet. We did have a problem with our tv/dvd player and with kids it is critical this works. After 4 visits from maintenance they finally got it resolved. There was no noise from above all week. The balcony appeared to be just 2 balconies put together. The pullout sofa was surprisingly comfortable and better than what i expected. I assumed my kids would be on the 3 inch mattress you normally get in a hotel sofa bed but the rccl pullout actually uses the couch cushions as the mattress. Once the bed is made up it was very attractive and comfortable. The bathroom was fantastic and was very different from bathrooms i have seen on other cruise ships. It had a full bath/shower with fantastic pressure and very hot water. Double sinks and the colors of the bathroom were very attractive. Our stateroom attendant did a wonderful job all week and my kids loved the towel animals. We did not have chocolates on the pillows at night.

 

concierge services: for us we really didn’t utilize the services offered to us. They can assist you with excursions, spa reservations, specialty restaurants and basically anything else you could want. She was the one stop for everything. Any questions or requests you have went to her. No need to call the front desk for anything. The only thing we needed was some type of sand toys for labadee as we forgot them at home. I asked on day 1 in the royal promenade stores and they didn’t sell them. On day 2 (sea day) we asked the concierge. By the end of day 2 she came knocking on our door with a brand new bucket, shovel and beach ball all brand new! I asked where did she get this and she just smiled and said “i have my secrets.” the only other thing we did was borrow a dvd from her to have in the room. The vip tickets worked out great because it gave you the 1st row at the ice show and the stadium tiered like beach chairs were reserved just for suite guests. Other than that we didn’t utilize the lounge because it was mostly adult and a bit stuffy in the room.

 

labadee: for us this was certainly the best stop. Just a nice beach, beautiful weather, warm water, and a very relaxing day. The kids made sand castles and played in the shallow waters on the side of labadee where the tenders dock. The far side of the island was much rougher water where the actual ocean was crashing in. This also looked great but wasn’t for us. We were back on the ship by 1pm for lunch and relaxed the rest of the day on the ship.

 

jamaica: We didn’t get off the ship in jamaica. Spent a nice private day on the ship. H2o zone and pools were dead. Having the ship to yourself is incredible.

 

grand cayman: had a pretty bumpy night into grand cayman as the ship was rocking a bit and definitely had some creaking/cracking going on. Nothing bad but certainly felt it. In the am the tenders were running slowly and they requested guests not come down until later in the morning. They announced with such large swells we are lucky the island is letting us on. They said normally we get cancelled and cannot tender in when the waves are this large. That being said i watched several tenders from the balcony and again we decided to stay onboard. They were getting banged around pretty good and when they had to tie to the ship it was quite entertaining. One group of people it almost took them 10 minutes to tie up to the ship. It was bouncing around so much!. Once they finally attached you heard a thundering cheer from the people on the tender. Seems like they were having fun.

 

cozumel: what a beautiful view you have from cozumel. The water was the bluest here and the weather was excellent. We got off and shopped for a little bit and got back on the ship shortly after. For us spending time on the ship was more fun than dragging 2 little kids around in the heat.

 

conclusion: what an excellent time we had. The staff was amazing and very attentive. They really love the kids and talk to them all the time. My daughter loved our waiter and couldn’t wait to see him every night. Food in the main dining room for dinner was very good and the breakfast/lunches in the windjammer were ok. The windjammer is incredibly crowded on the labadee day. It was also very crowded for the embarkation lunch. One other perk of the concierge key was you can sit in the chops restaurant for breakfast and lunch which was very close to the windjammer buffet. We only had to do this twice and the rest of the time we preferred to find a table in the windjammer. For us the best part of the ship was the h2o zone. My kids loved this and used it all week. We never even went into a big pool!! Our cruise director was good but in my opinion he came across a little too much like a game show host. Almost a little bit fake but he was very nice and the people seemed to really like him. Ice show was excellent and the seats are readily available. Don’t let them scare you into going 30 minutes early. You can get their 10 minutes before and you will be fine. For us next time i would probably do a jr suite or just a balcony room. I didn’t utilize the grand suite amenities enough to truly get the best value out of the cost. So this certainly wasn’t the party vacation that you can make it but with the 2 young ones it was just perfect. Any questions please ask.

who was your cruise director