Liberty July 1-8, just back great trip!

We are assigned 1587 in Sept on deck 10. Good to hear the pool noise does not come thru!

Good location. We enjoyed being one deck below the pool and windjammer. On sea days we typically did not go to lower decks until evening dinner or just before for a drink. It was nice to be able to walk up a flight or two and get to the pool or breakfast quickly.

Crown and Anchor - Thought I would add a few comments. Invitations for tour choice (bridge/galley/back stage) delivered day 1. Meal with an officer and invite to Top Tier cocktail party delivered day 2. Top tier party was evening of day 3. We did not attend or accept any of these invites.

C&A amenities; cookies and bottled water in cabin embarkation, sparkling wine and chocolate dipped strawberries deliver in cabin day 2. Three or four bottles of wine delivered to MDR dinner. Other small canapés deliver to cabins a couple of nights.

We appreciate the benefits of C&A and the amenities. We sometimes accept the invites mentioned above and other times we may not depending on timing and/or other plans.

Concierge lounge is a nice offering. We went in there a few nights and it was never more than half full. I realize this varies depending on the time of year. Not a great rule of thumb, but generally when the fares are at more peak rates there are less top tier C&A members and thus less crowded CL. Many of the nice folks we have meet in the CL over the years are either closer to retirement or retired. I would imagine that this offers them more flexibility and if they sail on a regular basis (5+ times per year), they would be more apt to choose a sailing that the rates are more competitive. We actually enjoy the lounge better when it is full....just seems to be a much more energetic atmosphere.

Thanks for sharing your review. 😊

Sargassum Seaweed - This has been mentioned on this board briefly, however this was the first cruise that I saw this issue in reality. On each of the three sea days there was a presence of Sargassum in the water in nearly every direction. I have never noticed this in the past. Last night I did a quick internet search on this and was surprised at how widespread this issue is throughout the Caribbean. I realize it is just a seaweed, however the quantities of it was astounding.

Reminds me oddly of my first cruise in the '80's. We were out on the aft deck around 2 or 3 in the morning and kept hearing this odd scrapping noise towards the rear of the ship. When looked over we saw garbage from the ship being shoveled into the water. Shamefully we were not alarmed or appalled, but as I type this I can't imagine if this were to happen today what the uproar would be. Perhaps my recollection is not accurate perhaps it is. When I saw the sargassum seaweed it somehow brought back this early memory. Just one of those things that we weren't concerned about years ago and if happened today we would be shocked.

Thanks for the great review.

We'll be on the Liberty in Oct.

Great to hear that u enjoyed it...

I know this is a stupid question, but do JS have access to the CL? I have only ever cruised in GS or balconies. It seems that JS are somewhere in between. I leave on Sunday on the LOS in a JS.

I know this is a stupid question, but do JS have access to the CL? I have only ever cruised in GS or balconies. It seems that JS are somewhere in between. I leave on Sunday on the LOS in a JS.

Only GS and above have access to the Suite Lounge and Diamond and above in the CL, or is it Diamond Lounge on this ship??? Can't remember.

Although you will not have access to either of the two lounges you will have a very nice room. Enjoy your cruise!

Only GS and above have access to the Suite Lounge and Diamond and above in the CL, or is it Diamond Lounge on this ship??? Can't remember.

 

Although you will not have access to either of the two lounges you will have a very nice room. Enjoy your cruise!

No CL on Liberty anymore, just a Suite Lounge and a Diamond Lounge.

No CL on Liberty anymore, just a Suite Lounge and a Diamond Lounge.

Thanks Bob! Sorry to all about my previous mentions of CL, should have been Diamond Lounge.

Great review and gets us ready. We sail on August 19th with our daughter and grandson. We also like Galveston. We live in CA so its not easy to get to any of the RCCL ports but that is our line of choice and we have sailed them 17 times. We decided to try Galveston 4 years ago and now we check it out first. Agree with your comments on the ports and how they have changed over the years, now that we have been to all of them more than once we still do an excursion now and then but also like just getting off walking around town, maybe catching lunch and going back on board to enjoy the peace and quite around the pools before everyone gets back. Our favorite class is Oasis, but Liberty is a very close second. Its a great ship and a great crew and we love it. We have already booked a b2b, a bucket list item of ours, next year for our wedding anniversary. While the cruise experience has changed over the years, and some people complain, I would ask what hasn't? We also started sailing in the late 80's and heard the same comments from some of the passengers back then. Bottom line is if you don't like it anymore there are lots of other options for vacation. We still love and hope to see many more RCCL ships in our future. Again thanks for the review gets us ready for next month.

Thank you for the tips! Our first time on RCCI will be this December on the Liberty. We have only sailed Disney, so expecting a different experience..we are highly allergic to smoke-so the tip on Schooners is helpful!

Any hidden books or areas we can walk the decks? Disney has a deck with a track that went around the ship. It was my morning sunrise happy place, afraid I will miss that.

Definitely deck 4 is the place to walk. You can walk the entire length and width of the boat and it is very open. Didn't see any or maybe one or two smokers in the smoking area. But you are walking and the breeze dissipates any smoke. You will have to walk up and down stairs to walk through the helipad. However, it takes less then 2.5 laps to make a mile so you won't feel like you are in a hamster wheel.

In addition to earlier response, there is a somewhat hidden area on deck 11 forward of the Solarium. Hard to describe, there is a glass door that leads to a balcony area that has the 3/4 type chairs (not loungers). There are several chairs in this area and I would imagine it would be a nice place to sit and read, rest, relax,... especially if you do not have a balcony cabin.

 

The "jogging track" on deck 12 is nice early in the morning before the deck chairs are occupied. After say 10am it becomes a little too congested for jogging/running, but you can still walk it comfortably.

Perfect! My daughter is a writer and I put the kids in an inside cabin-she will love this location to complete a few chapters!!

We don’t have a balcony, opted for the big wall window because we were afraid we’d be next to smokers sneaking a smoke on balcony. Thanks so much!!!

Perfect! My daughter is a writer and I put the kids in an inside cabin-she will love this location to complete a few chapters!!

We don’t have a balcony, opted for the big wall window because we were afraid we’d be next to smokers sneaking a smoke on balcony. Thanks so much!!!

We spent lots of time on our balcony on our cruise in May. Thankfully, we never had an issue with people sneaking a smoke on their balcony. However, on the first morning as as were heading to breakfast I smelled cigarette smoke as soon as I stepped into the hallway. Our steward was right there and I asked her if she smelled it. She agreed, someone on the hall was smoking and she assured us she would get to the bottom of it. We went to breakfast and when we returned she said she had found the offenders in an inside cabin down the hall and reported them. Never smelled it again the rest of the cruise.

Thanks Got Out there for you report of your recent cruise on the Liberty. We'll be on board in August, same cruise as poster JCC1025.

Living in Texas, we began our cruise addiction in Galveston on the Rhapsody. Last time we were on the Liberty was her repositioning cruise to Texas from Bayonne. Since then, she's undergone a refurbishing.

Glad to hear a positive report. We're ready to go. 5 weeks in counting! :D

Crown and Anchor - Thought I would add a few comments. Invitations for tour choice (bridge/galley/back stage) delivered day 1. Meal with an officer and invite to Top Tier cocktail party delivered day 2. Top tier party was evening of day 3. We did not attend or accept any of these invites.

 

C&A amenities; cookies and bottled water in cabin embarkation, sparkling wine and chocolate dipped strawberries deliver in cabin day 2. Three or four bottles of wine delivered to MDR dinner. Other small canapés deliver to cabins a couple of nights.

 

We appreciate the benefits of C&A and the amenities. We sometimes accept the invites mentioned above and other times we may not depending on timing and/or other plans.

 

Concierge lounge is a nice offering. We went in there a few nights and it was never more than half full. I realize this varies depending on the time of year. Not a great rule of thumb, but generally when the fares are at more peak rates there are less top tier C&A members and thus less crowded CL. Many of the nice folks we have meet in the CL over the years are either closer to retirement or retired. I would imagine that this offers them more flexibility and if they sail on a regular basis (5+ times per year), they would be more apt to choose a sailing that the rates are more competitive. We actually enjoy the lounge better when it is full....just seems to be a much more energetic atmosphere.

Can I ask what level C&A you are to get those perks? I'm a C&A member and am wondering if I will receive those same offers one my upcoming Aug. cruise. Thanks.

Can I ask what level C&A you are to get those perks? I'm a C&A member and am wondering if I will receive those same offers one my upcoming Aug. cruise. Thanks.

We were traveling with our two minor children in side by side cabins, one adult assigned to each cabin. Our C&A status is D+, around 600 points. I believe we each (adult) received 3 amenity gifts for a total of 6 since we were split technically between two rooms. At some point within D+ RCCL goes from giving you two of these gifts to three, not sure what the threshold is but at some point we passed it. Had we only had one cabin we would have only received three gifts.

We booked one adult in each room along with a minor because we booked cabin guarantees. We were very happy with our cabin assignment on deck ten mid-ship. After we sailed from Galveston a quick stop at guest services and were we asked for an extra key for each of the rooms. We (the parents) stayed in one room and our teen children stayed in the other.

We booked the rooms this way because we had to (one adult in each room w/gty). The unintended positive consequence was the doubling of the C&A gifts. As a note, the gifted wine that we received in the MDR was actually very good, listed on their wine list for around $50 +/-.

Great review and gets us ready. We sail on August 19th with our daughter and grandson. We also like Galveston. We live in CA so its not easy to get to any of the RCCL ports but that is our line of choice and we have sailed them 17 times. We decided to try Galveston 4 years ago and now we check it out first. Agree with your comments on the ports and how they have changed over the years, now that we have been to all of them more than once we still do an excursion now and then but also like just getting off walking around town, maybe catching lunch and going back on board to enjoy the peace and quite around the pools before everyone gets back. Our favorite class is Oasis, but Liberty is a very close second. Its a great ship and a great crew and we love it. We have already booked a b2b, a bucket list item of ours, next year for our wedding anniversary. While the cruise experience has changed over the years, and some people complain, I would ask what hasn't? We also started sailing in the late 80's and heard the same comments from some of the passengers back then. Bottom line is if you don't like it anymore there are lots of other options for vacation. We still love and hope to see many more RCCL ships in our future. Again thanks for the review gets us ready for next month.

Agree with you comment highlighted in red above. We tend to alternate between land and sea vacations. My earlier post on the impact to the increase in number of ships and size of ships in each port was really not a complaint, just more of an observation. We may mix our land versus sea ratio in the future, all depends on what is happening at the time and how we feel about each. In Roatan we thought since it was summer their would be fewer ships, we just did not plan correctly.

To avoid some of the larger crowded spots in port we tend to utilize these boards to do some research. This trip in Roatan we had planned on a certain beach resort for the day and on the taxi ride over our driver suggested another resort/beach. We looked it up on the internet and decided to go with his recommendation, our mistake....beautiful beach just too many people for us.

Some ports we will rent a Jeep for the day...Grand Cayman (not on this trip) we do this and drive around the island to Rum Point, great drive and very quiet beach. We do the same in Cozumel or head to a quieter beach club. Belize we have been pretty adventurous and gone to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. If your are up for a good adventure this is a fun one. Tender into port, taxi to small airstrip ten minutes away from port, fly the short flight to San Pedro, taxi to a resort for the day! If you catch it at the right time we have done the flights for $100 total for two round trip (cash). Great views from the flight and we pick a resort that is small and welcoming (spend money on drinks and food).

PLEASE! Immediately delete the portion of your review on driving instructions! We have done that for years, DO NOT want others to know! Nice review, thanks, our turn in 42 days.

Great review, thank you!! I am booked for the same itinerary in October, it will be my second Cruise. I am still learning all the Cruise jargon, almost as bad as the military lol.

Question about Galveston Port? I sailed this past May on Carnival out of Galveston with my son and his senior class. I thought the Porters were terrible. We walked our own luggage into the warehouse. Porters were just standing around and did nothing to offer.(of course we tip and tip to bless) I was very surprised by this. In Port Canaveral (RCC) it was totally different. Porters were willing to take our luggage with no problem. Is the RCC Port separate from Carnival and a totally different area? I have not done RCC out of Galveston, but really want to. I am in San Antonio, so getting there is easy. My son has graduated and our school year calendar is now free for the most part. I will never ever do Carnival Valor again. It was fine for the students because they don't know better. My son knew though, because he has been of Freedom of the Seas.

Galveston traffic or Houston traffic? We have never experienced an issue with traffic in Galveston when cruising or visiting.. Houston, however, is a whole ‘nother beast.

Traffic: The City of Houston has offered guaranteed life long employment to road crews. Once they start a project, they can be assured that it will never end. That is currently the case on I-45 south of Houston heading to or from Galveston. Saturday and Sunday traffic is tolerable but Mon thru Fri it can be brutal.

Thank you so much! Also, Thank you for taking the time to write your review! We're sailing on Liberty at the end of September.

We are too. Sept 30-Oct 7. Are you on that cruise?

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Question about Galveston Port? I sailed this past May on Carnival out of Galveston with my son and his senior class. I thought the Porters were terrible. We walked our own luggage into the warehouse. Porters were just standing around and did nothing to offer.(of course we tip and tip to bless) I was very surprised by this. In Port Canaveral (RCC) it was totally different. Porters were willing to take our luggage with no problem. Is the RCC Port separate from Carnival and a totally different area? I have not done RCC out of Galveston, but really want to. I am in San Antonio, so getting there is easy. My son has graduated and our school year calendar is now free for the most part. I will never ever do Carnival Valor again. It was fine for the students because they don't know better. My son knew though, because he has been of Freedom of the Seas.

In my opinion, the porters in Galveston provide good service. We drive to the entrance FIRST, to unload bags, and then drive over to Park & Cruise and walk back. They meet you at the car, take your bags and load them on to their carts. Some have even said, “Have a nice vacation.” Tip nicely, and you will almost always get a, “Thank you!”

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We LOVE Santosh! We first met him about 3 cruises ago when he was working the pool deck - and the service he provided was exactly as you stated. He made us feel like the biggest VIPs on board. The next cruise we took he was working the casino bar and he remembered us -- not just like familiar face - he remembered our drink preferences and our names! The last cruise we didn't see him at first but one day he walked up to my husband in the casino, hugged him and said hello, even asked where I was! Turns out that trip he was working the pub so we made a special trip just to see him. Absolutely THE BEST OF THE BEST! We are cruising again in November and you bet we will be looking for him. Not only do we provide an extra large tip for him at the end of a cruise, but we always leave an excellent review for him on the comment cards and I have emailed corporate RCI gushing about him as well. I'll say it again... we LOVE Santosh!