mellowmarshmom

Just came back off Liberty of the Seas. My favorite NABs this trip were virgin peach daiquiri, virgin frozen lime margarita, virgin pina colada. Yum!

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We are going on a trip with 9. I found using a travel agent to be a great experience. If my dad or adult daughter had questions, they could call the travel agent instead of me trying to be the go between. The agent even made us up little packets of our boarding passes and luggage tags and shipped them to us 2 weeks before the cruise with a thank you box of gourmet cookies. I am sure we will have onboard credit awaiting us.

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7 days to go and this is what my dining room table looks like. Our Tavel agent even sent us a packet with all of our documents for boarding in it and even luggage tags. Nice surprise and saved us a lot of printing!

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I really like the NAB lime margaritas. Very tart and good next to the pool on a hot day. We got lots of iced vanilla lattes. The NAB strawberry daiquiris were very sweet on Liberty, I think made with sweetened frozen strawberries, but good if you like sweet. There is usually a friends of Bill W. Meet up early in the cruise so you can meet other recovering people early on.

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You should check out the swimways lounger. It folds to about a bit larger than a frisbee, is about $15, and pops up and retracts easily. It also dries quickly. It is a MUST bring for me for any vacation. I always pack a 22in luggage and it fits just fine.

I bought 2 of these based on your suggestion and my hubby and I are looking forward to trying them out on beach days! Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the great suggestion.

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Sunsets on the balcony. Dinner at Chops. Late night drinks in the hot tub. Romance.

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We save money by booking excursions through private companies, not the ship's, except for major excursions where you can get early tenders, extra time or if you will be cutting time closely at port. We booked Chichen Itza through cruise and Atlantis resort through cruise. Otherwise we have followed recommendations on trip advisor, have gone with well known companies and have been pampered with much more personal attention and unique experiences than the cruise provides at sometimes half the cost.

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When we came back from our first cruise, it was the first time in years that I came back from a vacation relaxed and recharged. As the mom of 3, vacations for me have been a lot of work. Figuring out where to eat, where to show up for entertainment, unpacking and repacking. Keeping the rooms organized and clean. My kids and my husband are great at helping with all of that, but it's still a chore and I am still the ring leader of this circus! We are also able to drive to a port so we can avoid airfare. I just love to unpack once, having a cabin steward straighten things daily, show up for meals and just chill on the balcony with some room service if I feel like it. I feel safe with the teens running around the ship on their own. More than worth the money to me for the stress free relaxation.

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Both my dad and my son have a birthday that falls the week we are on the cruise. How did you let the cruise line know it was your daughters birthday? Did you have to buy a birthday cake or is the cheesecake provided? My dads birthday is the night before we cruise but I want to celebrate at dinner on embarkation day. Did you get room decorations?

Hi Jim! I have watched your cruise videos on YouTube intently and found them to be of such help prior to our first cruise on the Liberty Dec 2015. We had so much fun we are repeating the trip with extended family Jan 2017. I am so pleased to have your review of the Liberty for my Dad and kids to see before they go on their first cruise. Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences and infectious enthusiasm with strangers like me!

Oh and packing cubes! You can get them cheap at t.j.maxx or ebags. If you roll your clothes instead of folding and use packing cubes it's amazing how much you can get in one bag.

I'm embarrassed to admit we had 7 bags when we went on our first cruise! I made a list of everything I packed and then when we came home I circled the items we really used. The top items were: power strip, assortment of ziplock bags, my Vera Bradley lanyard and cross body bag, bug spray and sunscreen. I did not use 75% of the clothes I brought. One funny thing - my husband forgot to pack his dress socks and we couldn't find a pair anywhere! On formal night he had to wear his go walk shoes without socks. If anyone noticed they were kind enough not to laugh and point. I used the ziploc bags a lot for snacks to take back to the room or for by the pool - usually some small pastries or fruit from the buffet. I did get prescription scopolamine patches to keep from getting seasick and asked for one extra in case it fell off, which it did after we went snorkeling. We have 2 cruises booked in the next year and I'm aiming to cut our bags to 4 on the next trip!

Not sure about the other questions but I can talk about the coffee. I did not like the coffee they were serving in December, but I thought I heard they were switching to illy brand after dry dock? I don't think the coffee was terrible, just not to my liking. I like blonde or breakfast coffee and the free coffee served tasted like a dark roast and was much too bitter. I tried adding a little salt, which can cut the taste of bitter coffee, but still not right for me. I gave up day 2 and bought the nonalcoholic drink package and after that, specialty coffee and NAB heaven! With the royal refresh package we got specialty coffee at Sorrentos and cappuccinos in the MDR with our meals. Iced vanilla lattes were great for sitting by the pool. NABs were included as well as sodas. The NAB lime margaritas were so tart, also great next to the pool. I thought the specialty coffees were as good as most of the specialty coffee shops in my medium sized Midwest city. (Maybe not quite Starbucks or the coffee nirvana shops you Seattle and San Francisco folks are blessed with, but pretty good!). Drinking coffee as we speak! Looking forward to our next Liberty cruise January 2017 with 9 of us. And yes, will be buying the Royal Refresh package for all. Have a wonderful time!

We did us the pressing service on my husbands shirts and on of my dresses. Altogether it was under $25. Worth it to feel crisp and sharp on formal nights. I think next cruise I will take only one really formal dress and wear it twice and one pair of black flats for dinner each night. No one will know you wore the same dress twice. I ended up wearing flats because there was a lot of movement on our cruise and I felt very unsteady in heels. Also next time is will bring one black skirt and several different tops for casual dinners. Most boys were wearing black slacks and a button down shirt at dinner, I didn't see many sports coats or ties on boys. Some polo tops on boys with khakis, even on formal nights. I would say a rule of thumb would be something you would have them wear to a wedding or to a church holiday service.

We left our clothes out on the bed with the order form before we went to dinner and the clothes were back in the closet after the steward did the morning cleaning the next day.

While looking at room photos online, we realized the cabin we booked would've had my teenage daughter in a Pullman bunk directly over our heads! (In an aft balcony cabin? Weird!). Tried to call RC to switch to a different cabin with a fold out sofa bed. The cruise line reps we called seemed like they were dragging their feet to find a solution. I was so frustrated we ended up calling an online TA. (I picked them because I liked the funny YouTube videos one of the agents puts out.). We ended up with a really nice guy out of Arizona (who bought a franchise from the big online company) and he and his wife do this as a retirement job out of their home. Within a few hours we were booked in a HUGE oddly shaped corner aft cabin with a giant balcony and were able to get my dads cabin upgraded from reg balcony to aft. He has switched our dining times without a problem and watches the prices to get us guaranteed lowest prices. I'm so pleased. He has even said we will have a surprise in our room from them when we arrive, which I think is more onboard credit. Much improved from our last direct booking experience.

We had a typed note in our cabin day 2 on RC stationary that said our TA had given us an extra $100 OB credit that was a surprise to us. It was deposited in full in our onboard account.

Not a true balcony, but we liked to sit in the chairs overlooking the promenade on deck 9 above the theaters and people watch, especially in the evenings when there is not much to see outside. We were able to pick out security staff who were undercover, dressed like everyone else, but you could see them walking a definite pattern through the stores and around the bar. They would stop and chat with cashiers and other staff briefly and then resume the same path. Kind of a Where's Waldo. Made me feel safer and clear things are being monitored closely, which is good.

We got the Royal replenish for the specialty coffees, but were very pleased to also get fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast and virgin drinks. The virgin lime margaritas were very tart and great sitting next to the pool. Also liked iced vanilla lattes next to the pool. We don't drink alcohol, but with our virgin drinks in hand we blended in with everyone else at the evening events. Also were able to get bottled water on our way off the ship to take on excursions. At the last minute I was told I couldn't take my coffee with me off board, so I chugged it frat style next to the trash can at the exit, which amused the security staff. We bought the package 1st sea day / 2nd day onboard. The price was reduced by a day and we didn't have to pay taxes. I am a specialty coffee junkie and the replenish package was perfect for me. I also liked getting a cappuccino in the main dining room after breakfast and dinner. (So obvious I have a serious coffee addiction!) I'm drinking coffee while writing this. [emoji12]

Thank you for taking time to write a review. I always find first hand customer reviews to end up being the most helpful. We did this same itinerary on Liberty December 2015. Had such a great time we decided to do the same trip January 2017 and take our extended family. There will be 9 of us. (Making another payment today. Had to read some reviews and watch some videos today to feel better about letting go of that money!). I'm looking forward to seeing the changes. Thanks again!

Great review. We just went on our first cruise on Liberty December 2015 and will be going again January 2017 with total of 9 of us! Really looking forward to the water slides! I was wondering if you went to or heard anything about the new restaurant, Sabor. Also wondering what other Cozumel excursions are good. Would like a beach day. Last time we went we did Chichen Itza, which I'm glad we did once, but I don't feel the need to do that pilgrimage again - lot of bus and not much park time. Thanks again for the review.

And we did get our towels the night before excursions.

We went on Liberty of the Seas December 2015. We were told there is only a charge if you do not bring them back. We tried to make sure our card got scanned each time we returned towels, but there was at least once when a room steward further down the hall insisted on turning in our towels for us because she could see we were dressed for dinner (very sweet) and she did not ask our cabin number, which I didn't think about until later and we were never charged.

I was very pleased with the pressing service. Worth the money for how polished we felt going to dinner.

My husband and I had my time dining on our last cruise on Liberty of the Seas December 2015. We did I not ask for the same waiter each night and I wish I had. We did get seated immediately whether we had a reservation or not every night, I'm sure because there were only 2 of us and because we did not ask for a specific waiter or section.. We never sat with others, just us at a 2 top. I did see larger groups waiting for a table, but they seemed to be seated within 5 or 10 minutes. Our next cruise we are going to try traditional at 8 pm with our young adult children, who are 17, 19, 19, 27 and 30. I think the 19 year old boys will be too old for the teen activities and too young for the club environment. We did pick 8 pm dining so we don't have to rush to dinner. I'm sure the kids will be in and out of the buffet all day. Anyone have any thoughts on if the 19 year olds will be bored?