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derby bears

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    Liberty of the seas

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    This is the only difference between your review and my experience last February. We hardly ever saw anyone to get drinks from without going up to the bar. It's nice to see they've changed that because other than that the crew was absolutely excellent top to bottom.

    On sea days they had 3 guys pushing iced beer carts around, and usually 2 taking drink orders. We were very satisfied.

    Liberty of the seas

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted · Edited by derby bears
    Mistake

    I just love the Liberty! The crew is awesome, the ship is awesome and the embarking/departure process for us was very smooth (even though this was our first cruise and we had no idea what we were doing or what to expect).

    I agree, we are thinking about doing another.

    Liberty of the seas

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Thanks for the write up, this is good to hear. We've done three cruises over the past 9 years, all with Carnival and all leaving from Galveston. We decided to change it up and try RCCL and will be on Liberty in January 2019 for a 7 night itinerary. A little bit tentative about trying them out but glad to have some reassurance here that the crew and ship are in great shape.

    You should have a great time. Enjoy

    Liberty of the seas

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I wanted to share our experience on our recent cruise. Having not sailed out of Galveston before I was a little apprehensive. I don’t know if this is the norm, but this is how it went for us.

    We drove in and stayed the night before at the Fairfield Inn in Texas city. The hotel was nice and there were several places to eat nearby.

    There was a breakfast included that was very good.

    We checked out at 9am and headed for Galveston. We had prepaid parking at Lighthouse. We arrived and checked in at the gate and was told where to park. By the time we had our bags out of the cars the shuttle was there to load us up.

    The shuttle dropped us off at the port and we had to walk maybe 100 yards to drop off bags. The man told us what line to put our bags in and we headed to the terminal.

    We walked right in and through security to the check in counter. Then it was up to the waiting room. We are diamond so we were directed to that area. My granddaughter needed to use the rest room so I walked her over and back,and by then they were calling us to board. I think we were on by 10:30 or 10:45.

    The cruise was awesome. I would say they have one of the best Crews we have ever sailed with. Our room steward was very good even though we didn’t see him much. He kept a cooler I had in the room filled with ice for me also. Our waitstaff in the mdr was awesome, again one of the best we have had.

    We didn’t do any of the specialty dining so can’t comment on that. Our food in the MDR was better than past cruises. We usually do late seating but since we had the grands with us we went with early. Don’t know if that has anything to do with the food.

    We had the drink package and I will say the service was great. On deck the waiters came by quite often. The bars never seemed overcrowded. They seemed to have enough bartenders to keep the wait to a minimum.

    Departing the ship went well also. We opted to self assist so we were told to be at the deck 4 dinning room at 8am. When we got there we sat for about 10 min. Then we started filing out with the first in first out. From that point we never stopped walking until we were standing at the lighthouse shuttle in the lot. They drove us to our cars and we were on the road before 9.

    I will also say the passengers on this cruise were the most polite and easygoing as I have seen. All and all I would say if our experience is the norm Liberty is a great choice.

    Chartered?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    thanks for the heads up. I called RCCL this morning, 02/03/19 can't be booked. They still, however refused to commit to it being a charter... They did, however allow me to hold a cabin on the allure for another date, without cancelling my current one on 02/03/19. You see, we had this trip planned to be fllowed with an Edge cruise on the 10th & so if the 3rd is a no go- well I'll at least be able to get the same ship, cabin and itinerary on the 17th.

     

    As it's been explained to me, once things become official and we get bumped,they'll change the new booking#, over to the existing 02/03 booking#, and apply whatever perks they'll be dishing out onto it. I gotta say, this whole thing is irritating! RCCL can do as they damn well please, but we're locked into non-refundable bookings in order to get a reasonable rate deal. Would seem the cards are stacked in their favor so I don't think I'll continue to book with this cruise line.

    Thanks for the update. How long will they hold the cabin for you,and did you have to put a deposit down?Did you speak with anyone special or just an agent? Thanks

    Chartered?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    We have heard back from Royal. They told us the cruise is not charted at this time. The lady also said that it doesn’t mean it won’t be. She advised us not to jump ship now because she could not offer any price protection at this time. She acknowledged that there are ads claiming the sailing is being chartered by Atlantis but there is not a charter. So we wait.

    Chartered?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    They are still claiming there's no listed charter...

     

     

    Right-any large group can completely change the vib on a ship!

     

     

    I called RCCL again-still no info as to the Allure being chartered out. Requested to spk to Guest relations was told there could be a group-but don't show a full charter at this time... We would not get back any deposit to change ship and sail date if our deposit is a non-refundable-which our's is. We are all better off if the whole ship is chartered because RCCL will give us options. Also the agent mentioned that they are not permitted to release any info on groups booking on a particular sail date because their rights have to be protected...F-what about my rights?

    Ok, so I then called Atlantis Charters. I asked if they had chartered the Allure for 02/03/19 Oh yes, I was told that it is -they will have the entire ship on that sail date. It is chartered.

    However, cabins are not yet avail to book-call back in about a month. So I guess we'll hear from RCCL sometime after that...

    Thanks for the info on your call. If I hear or find out anything more I will post. We have an appeal pending but haven’t heard back yet.

    Chartered?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    The only thing to do is wait until RCL officially announces it as a charter. If and when that happens they will offer a few sailings around that same sail date price protected and some OBC.

     

    Edit It could take a while for that to happen since the sailing is still for sale

    Thanks , I guess that’s all we can do.

    Questions about Excursion & Beach on Labadee

    in Private Islands

    Posted

    On Labadee 5 of us have excursion for zip line at 10:00 am. Me and hubby are not doing the zip line.

     

    Freedom is the only ship in port and I think we will go to Columbus Cove beach. Should me and hubby go straight away to Columbus Cove to get us set up with chairs or is there anything for us to see when my adult kids do the zipline?

     

    Also, has anyone done the wave runner excursion and been able to ride around on your own in a designated area? For the posts I have found it sounds like you have to follow the guide around in straight line.

     

    Thanks

    Wave runner is follow the leader.

    What's the best thing you've done in Aruba

    in Aruba

    Posted

    Taking the bus in Aruba is Easy/Peasy. When getting off the ship, just walk straight into town. Go across the street and there will be a place to buy tickets. The bus lanes are right there. If you are looking to go to the Beach area, just get on the bus to the high rise district. You will not have a problem.

    Thanks,we may give that a try.:)

    What's the best thing you've done in Aruba

    in Aruba

    Posted

    I am kinda surprised no one has mentioned jolly pirates....they have an awesome pirate ship that has 4 hour water trip that includes lunch, snorkeling, rope swing and rum punch all day. We were in Aruba in 2010 and it was the highlight of the cruise. We are going in March and I quickly booked the trip!! Afterwards we had time to shop. And we also just took the local bus to get to there location...it was nice meeting the locals.

    Could you give a little detail on using the bus? Thanks :D

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