Just off Liberty of the Seas

This isn’t the most exciting or detailed review that you have ever read, but this is a first for me. I read a lot of reviews before I left and started to slightly worry about food, service, cleanliness….and I regret ever putting any faith in the negative comments. This cruise was my absolute favorite! We had a fantastic time filled with outstanding service, food to die for, and Broadway worthy entertainment! I apologize for the lack of pictures. That is always my favorite part of reviews, but I was too busy having fun to take pictures. To give you an idea of who I am… I was born and raised in Oklahoma and cruising has always been a family affair. I now live in North Dakota and flew to Oklahoma to spend Thanksgiving with family then drove to Galveston. I am 26 years old, married, and I was finally able to convince my husband to go on a cruise with me. I’m happy to answer any questions that I can, but I will start with trying to address the things that I was concerned about before our departure.

Embarkation: I was definitely worried about the unfinished terminal in Galveston and arriving early to find long lines and cramped space inside a temporary tent. We parked at 81st Dolphin Parking (highly recommend them) and took the shuttle to the terminal. We arrived at 11:00am (something I had read to absolutely NOT do if we wanted to avoid lines). The luggage drop-off was easy to find and was long, but moved quickly (approx. 10 min.) We went inside the old terminal to pass through security (no line) and immediately walked up to the check-in desk (we are Platinum members, but there was no line for any level of cruisers). We completed the whole process and were on the ship by 11:30.

Windjammer: We went straight to the Windjammer for lunch and again expected to find massive crowds, but there weren’t any (seeing the trend?). The Windjammer was not the best food I had ever tasted, but was far from the bland food I read about. We had breakfast there every day but one. They did offer the same breakfast options every day, but there was enough variety that you could have something new each day. Lunches had more variety than breakfast and were satisfying.

Sorrentos: I read so many reviews about how the pizza was “ketchup on saltine crackers” and that is HIGHLY inaccurate in my opinion. We had a group of 8 and every one of us LOVED the pizza. There was always cheese, pepperoni, and at least one other creative type of pizza (Rustic, Eggplant, Mexican, Breakfast). I’m vegetarian, but I still had 2 options on most days and on the days I only had cheese, I was still perfectly happy J

Café Promenade: To all of you who I saw talking about cheesecake on a stick…THEY DID HAVE IT AND IT WAS AWESOME! It was offered on our last sea day and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Being vegetarian we didn’t eat any meals in Café Promenade, but we did have dessert! My favorite was the caramel crunch, after the cheesecake of course J I wasn’t crazy about the Willy Wonka pie, but it wasn’t bad.

MDR: Anyone who has a problem with the food or service in the MDR must have a screw loose. I cook 3 meals a day from scratch and I am constantly told that I am a good cook (not just by my husband). I’m not saying this to brag, but to let you know that I know what good food taste like and I absolutely loved my dinner every night. The rest of the omnivores in our group raved about their food too! Granted, I can’t speak for the meat myself, but if they can make a vegetarian dish as great as the ones that I had, then I’m sure they can handle the meat as well. I would go so far as to say that the Artichoke crepes I had, were the best thing I’ve eaten in the last year! You won’t read a single negative comment about the wait staff in the MDR or anywhere else on the ship for that matter.

We had planned on going to Johnny Rockets, but we didn’t make it and we didn’t feel the need to pay extra for specialty dining when the complimentary options were so awesome.

Bars: We didn’t ever stray too far from the Hoof and Claw. Ivan was especially helpful and always gave us a good laugh. I was eager to order a hard cider, but ended up never ordering one because there was a Mango Passion Tea that another bartender, Shaka (spelling?) kept making us that was difficult to put down J

Ports of call:

FALMOUTH, JAMAICA was SO much better than Montego Bay! I really enjoyed the hassle free atmosphere of the shopping there. We had a little bit of a hiccup with our excursion. Half of our group had the Thrill Seekers Pass and the other half had the Ultimate Thrill Seekers Pass. We were told prior to leaving the ship that we would be able to ride the same bus to the Good Hope Estate, but after boarding the shuttle, half of our group were told they were on the wrong bus and had to get off. We immediately met up again at the estate though and were able to enjoy the rest of our day together. I wasn’t able to find many reviews for this excursion, but it ended up being a great choice. The zipline has four platforms and I felt much safer with our equipment than I did when we did it in Honduras in 2012. We then had lunch. It was SO good! We paid $12 each, but it was well worth the price. We were given fry bread, rice with beans, plantains, roasted vegetables, and sautéed greens. Needless to say we were extremely full after that! For those with the Ultimate pass had an all you can eat buffet with the same items we had, plus jerk chicken and unlimited drinks (alcoholic as well). After lunch, the group with the ultimate pass were able to ride ATVs. While they did that, we went to the bird aviary, did a complimentary rum tasting, and cooled off by the pool. When they got back we went river tubing. That was very relaxing, but fun at the same time because our guides were hilarious! There was also an obstacle course, but we decided to head back to the pier to do some shopping instead.

GEORGETOWN, GRAND CAYMAN We have been there many times, but this time was my favorite because we booked a private charter and were able to choose our own activities and take our time (we paid less per person too!). We first went to Stingray City. This experience was so different than when we went with a tour group, because we were able to get out there before the crowds and the captain of our ship took the time to give us a ton of information about the stingrays and how Stingray City began. It was much more interactive because the stingrays weren’t being divided between hundreds of people. Then we snorkeled for a little while. We saw some fish I had never seen before and an eel, but the water currents were a little strong by that point, so after about 45 minutes we were ready to head to Starfish Beach. We had never been there, so it was really exciting! It was so neat to hold the Starfish and we got some really good photos (I still need to get them from my brother). I didn’t want to leave my new starfish friend behind! Some girls in our group didn’t know to bring clothes for a second formal night and needed dresses, so he took us to some stores his wife approved of and waited for us long enough to shop. He was awesome! Then, he dropped us off for lunch at a place near the pier. I wasn’t hungry and wanted to do some shopping, so I left the group and met back up with them for dinner in the MDR.

COZUMEL, MEXICO I read so many amazing reviews about Mr. Sanchos, but then, after I booked our reservations, I started reading about how crowded it was and that the people who went to Mr. Sanchos over somewhere like Nachi Cocom were loud and rowdy. Again, the reviews I read were wrong. It was so relaxing and quiet. We still got to be loud and have fun while we were on the water inflatables, but while on the beach we just laid back, ate, and drank all day in the sun. I highly recommend Mr. Sanchos! I doubt you can find any better value! We paid $222 total for my husband and I and we had a cabana, a 30 minute massage, about 16 drinks between the two of us, and shared chips, salsa, guacamole, quesadillas (times 3), French fries, AND nachos. Like I said…NO better value!

The ship itself: This was the largest ship I had been on. I thought it was gorgeous and loved the décor and artwork. I had read that there was a lack of food presentation on the Halloween cruise, but there was plenty to enjoy on ours J I believe the cruise was sold out, but I never had a problem finding a lounge chair or a place in the hot tub! The movies played were Shaun the Sheep, Where We Belong, Jurassic World, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and some others that I can’t recall offhand (if you want more detail I can look back at the compasses I held on to).

Entertainment: I have always been pleased with the entertainment on past cruises, but this one went far beyond! The comedian, Darrell Joyce, had us in tears from laughing. There was an outstanding Beatles cover band, that I don’t recall hearing anything about. “In the Air” and “Encore” (the ice show) and “Saturday Night Fever” were as great as everyone said! Dru Pavlov, the cruise director, was my favorite as of now. His jokes were corny, but I found myself laughing every time! I had read that he was absent from a lot of activities, but that wasn’t the case on this cruise. He was always everywhere and we joked about how he changed outfits so many times in a day.

Beverage Packages: Drinks added up quickly. I never had more than 3 in one day, so I don’t think a package would have worked for me anyway, but I my drink choice usually ended up in the $11-13 range after 18% gratuity and an additional $1 tip for each drink. I heavily debated buying one and I think I will in the future. On day 6, I saw that they did offer the 10 drink coupons for $67 and the rest of my group said they saw the offer the day prior too. I would have bought that one had I seen it the day before, but I knew I wouldn’t be drinking heavily that last night, so I passed. I really wish that was something they offered at the beginning of the cruise.

Debarkation: Our group was set to depart at 9:30, so we had breakfast in the Windjammer, went to grab our things from our cabin, and went to wait at Café Promenade for the rest of our group. They drank like fish the night before, so they were running behind. By 9:00am, our group was already being told we could leave, so we left the ship early. We had our luggage, went through customs and were on our shuttle to our vehicle by 9:30am. I had told my husband that debarkation could sometimes be a pain, so that he would be mentally prepared. He was amazed that we made it through so quickly and with much less headache than TSA!

Overall I couldn’t have enjoyed this cruise more! I have always loved Royal Caribbean and doubt that will ever change. They deserve all the praise they get J My husband rated the cruise a 9 and is already planning our next one! Hopefully, I didn’t do too bad of a job my first attempt. I’m happy to answer any questions!

P.S. Anyone who may attend Art Auctions or go to the Art Gallery, please tell Codrina from Romania that Lexi said hello!

Glad to hear the embarkation/ dis-embarkation went well. I have no doubt is has been a problem for many. In the 10 short years I've been cruising it always seems like a problem when a port gets a new larger ship. You hope those get ironed out and they usually seem to, but you will hear of bad weeks I'm sure.

I made note of that in case we ever want to visit family in Houston and then cruise.

Great job on your first cruise review. It's nice to hear some positive feedback instead of what's wrong. Some people just don't seen to be happy unless they are complaining about something.

Absolutely! I know that it doesn't always go so smoothly. That's why I wanted to prepare my husband for the worst. I was expecting it to go rough, so we were pleasantly surprised!

Thanks for the review. You did great for your first time.

We didn't go out of Galveston, but your time on Liberty sounds a lot like our cruise on her.

I appreciate the details on the ports because we are going to a couple of those (Grand Cayman, Falmouth) for the first time soon.

from me on an excellent review, with a very small for the art auction!!! HAHAHA Those are a fate worse than death for me. Cheap, yardsale art for big $$$ and you only get champagne for your pain.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.:)

Thanks for the review. You did great for your first time.

 

We didn't go out of Galveston, but your time on Liberty sounds a lot like our cruise on her.

 

I appreciate the details on the ports because we are going to a couple of those (Grand Cayman, Falmouth) for the first time soon.

 

from me on an excellent review, with a very small for the art auction!!! HAHAHA Those are a fate worse than death for me. Cheap, yardsale art for big $$$ and you only get champagne for your pain.

HAHA Don't worry! I learned a long time ago the art isn't worth buying, but I did enjoy my free champagne and actually won the first raffle, so my art was FREE! WOOHOO!

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.:)

Thank you! Maybe next time I'll do pictures :)

Thanks for very nice review, we had canceled our trip on this ship and did Hard Rock resort instead, this was a big mistake, resort was not as good as RCCL, But looking forward to sailing her in April after the refurbish. Glad you had a great cruise

Thanks for very nice review, we had canceled our trip on this ship and did Hard Rock resort instead, this was a big mistake, resort was not as good as RCCL, But looking forward to sailing her in April after the refurbish. Glad you had a great cruise

Thank you! I'm sorry to hear your vacation wasn't as pleasant as you hoped :( I'm sure your April cruise will be just as fantastic as ours, if not better, due to all the new additions! :D

Thanks for your review. We just sailed on the Liberty out of Bayonne. It was her last sailing before she left for Galveston. I totally agree about the food. There were 9 of us in our group and not once did anyone ever say their food wasn't any good. We had no issues with food in the MDR. I did venture to the buffet one day with my hubby, total nightmare. I am not a fan of buffets at all so I only went that one time in 10 days. :D

Glad you enjoyed your trip,

:)

enjoyed reading your review.

Thanks for your review. We just sailed on the Liberty out of Bayonne. It was her last sailing before she left for Galveston. I totally agree about the food. There were 9 of us in our group and not once did anyone ever say their food wasn't any good. We had no issues with food in the MDR. I did venture to the buffet one day with my hubby, total nightmare. I am not a fan of buffets at all so I only went that one time in 10 days. :D

 

Glad you enjoyed your trip,

:)

Thank you! Yeah, the Windjammer was busy every time that we went after day 1. We aren't a big fan of buffets either, but something about the push to have everyone use hand sanitizer puts my mind at ease enough to enjoy my meals there.

On repo out of Jersey to Galveston

Everything was great!

Thank you for posting this review. We are going next week with a toddler and my Mom, so I have plenty of things on my mind. Knowing that the ship and service is exactly as they should be is a weight off my mind.

Thank you for posting this review. We are going next week with a toddler and my Mom, so I have plenty of things on my mind. Knowing that the ship and service is exactly as they should be is a weight off my mind.

I'm glad it helped :) That is why I finally decided to do this review, because I was reading way too much negative and I don't want anyone else to worry like I started to.

Thanks for the great and informative review of your cruise on Liberty. We will be on her from Galveston in March, our first time on this class, though we love the Voyager class and expect to love Liberty too. I'm glad to hear your experience in Galveston was good, both embarking and disembarking. Fingers crossed it will be for us too.

Could you share which private charter company you used in Grand Cayman? We have been there several times before and were not much looking forward to it this time. Possibly we should try the private charter route instead of writing off the whole port :rolleyes: Again, thanks for the positive feedback.

Pat

 

Sorrentos: I read so many reviews about how the pizza was “ketchup on saltine crackers” and that is HIGHLY inaccurate in my opinion. We had a group of 8 and every one of us LOVED the pizza. There was always cheese, pepperoni, and at least one other creative type of pizza (Rustic, Eggplant, Mexican, Breakfast). I’m vegetarian, but I still had 2 options on most days and on the days I only had cheese, I was still perfectly happy J

 

Great review, thanks for sharing. Have to disagree on this point though, it is very subjective. I am from NYC and the pizza on the ship is terrible. Carnival and Princess have really good pizza for ships

Thanks for the great and informative review of your cruise on Liberty. We will be on her from Galveston in March, our first time on this class, though we love the Voyager class and expect to love Liberty too. I'm glad to hear your experience in Galveston was good, both embarking and disembarking. Fingers crossed it will be for us too.

 

Could you share which private charter company you used in Grand Cayman? We have been there several times before and were not much looking forward to it this time. Possibly we should try the private charter route instead of writing off the whole port :rolleyes: Again, thanks for the positive feedback.

 

Pat

We used 7 Seas Private Charter. We paid $675 for 8 of us and it included transportation to and from the pier and beverages (non-alcoholic and rum punch). I can't say enough about how easy it was to work Shaun! My little brother lost his wallet with his Seapass inside and he even though we told him he didn't have to stay around, he continued to help us search until it was found :D

What a great review! And thanks so much for writing it well. Although I'm not sailing on the Liberty until 2017 over Spring Break, I'm glad to know that your embarkation and debarkation in Galveston went smoothly. I keep reading horror stories about this port!

It's good to read a positive review. We need more of them when they are warranted.

We sailed on Liberty the week before you and had a similar experience. It was a great Thanksgiving cruise. The food was great, service in the MDR exceptional, the ship was sparkling and the entertainment was pretty good. I disagree about the pizza in Sorrento's and the art work on the ship, but that's subjective. One of my favorite cruises of my 8 RC sailings and I even had little children with me! ;)

Nicole

PS- My DDs, ages 3,5 and 7, loved Adventure Ocean and the H20 Zone as well.

What a great review! And thanks so much for writing it well. Although I'm not sailing on the Liberty until 2017 over Spring Break, I'm glad to know that your embarkation and debarkation in Galveston went smoothly. I keep reading horror stories about this port!

 

It's good to read a positive review. We need more of them when they are warranted.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading it! Enjoy your cruise :) We won't have enough time off of work to go on Liberty for a while, but we are looking at a 3 night from Port Canaveral for September 2016. I'm just hoping I'm not spoiled after Liberty :p

Nice review. I spent 14 days on Liberty at the end of the summer & I only disagree about one thing: PIZZA. Perhaps the ship departing from Texas has less NYers that expect good pizza, which this was NOT. Otherwise, I totally agree with you about LOTS. Great ship!

I was on the same sailing, and I couldn't agree more! :) This was my second cruise, but my first with kids (8 and 6), and we all had a great time. Worth mentioning is how attentive and amazing our room steward and our waiters were. They MADE this cruise for us by their incredible service. My kids loved seeing all of them everyday, and by about day 2 they would greet them with hugs every single time they saw them. Both our room steward and our assistant waiter commented to me that they had children at home, and the one hard part of working at sea was being away from them so much. They said children on the ships usually don't notice them, and to have my kids greet them like old friends made their day.

We had a couple of issues during the week (a blocked up drain in the shower that was causing it to leak all over the bathroom floor, and some moldy fruit sent via room service), but both were handled quickly and to our satisfaction. All in all, we thought it was a great vacation, and felt like the service we received was even better than our cruise on the Voyager back in 2010.

Thanks for the well done review. We aren't sailing until Jan 2017 but already excited. Was the Jamaica excursion through RCCL or private? My daughter desperately wants to zip line and I want to make sure it's Safe!