Here is what I think of the Liberty of the Seas

[Yo Eleven]

Thanks for the honest review. Recently, quite afew people have commented about the decline in the quality of the food in the MDR. :( That used to be one of the highlights of my cruise.

Yeah it was a major dissapointment to be impressed for only ONE night of the cruise. Some dishes were bad enough that I went through two and maybe one night three entrees to find something I can actually eat.

[Yo Eleven]

As much as I LOVE the Freedom class ships and are by far my favorite - I TOTALLY AGREE with you about the dining! What is going on with the MDR food???? It's sad, really. :(

 

One day they will take these posts seriously and revamp the menus/food/preparation - whatever it takes.

 

Thanks for your review!

You are welcome. The best thing any cruiser can do is report their dissatisfaction on the Guest Satisfaction Survey that they give on the last night of the cruise in addition to posting their experiences here. They say they read every one of those guest satisfaction surveys.

 

The most likely reason for the MDR food to go sour is their attempt at cost cutting. This isn't the right place to do it.

[Yo Eleven]

huh...we had a blast on Liberty...too bad your experience wasnt the same

I'm happy someone had a "blast" on the Liberty. This means there is hope.

[Yo Eleven]

I was just on the liberty last month and there was one dealer in the casino that was always very rude and by the third day I would not play at his tables he was such a jerk.

Well, I imagine I ran into the same guy as I had the same feeling with one particular dealer.

[Yo Eleven]

Speaking as one of the cheerleaders everyone is always complaining about....your review was more than fair and you are entitled to your opinion. Our experience on Liberty was excellent. We loved her. The food was great back in '07 when we went....but I agree with others MDR is withdrawing the quality...but still enjoy it. My favorites are still being offered as they were. If you get the prime rib instead of a steak you will be much happier. I don't gamble much and my DH is just learning so can't comment on it. But hope you will try one of the newer ships when they come out soon and compare. Oasis promises some surprises. Again, Thanks for your honesty.:o

You are welcome. It would be interesting if you sailed this ship now and see if your feelings about it will change. Two years is a long time.

I am open to trying a new ship but will choose wisely. :D

[HB Cruiser]

I'm happy someone had a "blast" on the Liberty. This means there is hope.

 

We also had a "blast" on the Liberty BUT can sympathize with Yo Eleven on the food in the dining room. While I have NEVER walked out of a dining room hungry (I have the furniture disease where my chest has fallen in my drawers ;) ), and while we have only cruised since 2001, the food quality has definitely gone the wrong direction.

 

Unfortunately for some cruisers, dining is one of the important parts of the cruise. If they go on Carnival, Royal, or other mass marketing cruise lines, they will be disappointed in the food. Sometimes we might make wrong choices in cruise lines since some have better dining than others.

 

Yo, I'm thinking Royal might not be a good choice for you since food seems important to you. Please don't take this as a flame as it is not, just saying I think other lines will be better for you.

 

Tim

[Yo Eleven]

We also had a "blast" on the Liberty BUT can sympathize with Yo Eleven on the food in the dining room. While I have NEVER walked out of a dining room hungry (I have the furniture disease where my chest has fallen in my drawers ;) ), and while we have only cruised since 2001, the food quality has definitely gone the wrong direction.

 

Unfortunately for some cruisers, dining is one of the important parts of the cruise. If they go on Carnival, Royal, or other mass marketing cruise lines, they will be disappointed in the food. Sometimes we might make wrong choices in cruise lines since some have better dining than others.

 

Yo, I'm thinking Royal might not be a good choice for you since food seems important to you. Please don't take this as a flame as it is not, just saying I think other lines will be better for you.

 

Tim

Nah no flaming here. We are being objective here. I see so many fights on these forums and the reason they happen is because the person doing the review includes too many personal negative comments and doesn't really offer any positives.

 

If Royal's food is like this across the board here then you would be correct in your assessment. I have sailed several lines and won't mention any one specifically as this is a review for the Liberty of the Seas, but I have had much better meals on other cruiselines. Thanks for your suggestion. You are a class act.

[bajathree]

It is very refreshing to see an open, honest and objective discussion and all posting in a very mature and respectful way....there may be hope here on CC after all:):cool:

[HB Cruiser]

If Royal's food is like this across the board here then you would be correct in your assessment. I have sailed several lines and won't mention any one specifically as this is a review for the Liberty of the Seas, but I have had much better meals on other cruiselines. Thanks for your suggestion. You are a class act.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

As far as across the board, I would have to say what we had on Liberty this past may was about average for Royal. Some of our better dining experiences have been on the smaller ships while the weakest by far has been Mariner. The best larger ship was Explorer.

 

Having said all this, food is sooooooooooooooo subjective it is silly. We were on the Explorer the very same cruise as some of our cruising friends (although we did not know them at the time). The next year after the Explorer cruise we got to know them. They are like us, not foodies ;) , and their dining experience on Explorer was not as enjoyable as ours. Same cruise, different opinion.

 

Tim

[amybeth4]

OMG thank you for your review. First of all, I'm not a gambler. I WOULD be a gambler if the chances weren't so great that I'd lose everything, especially on a cruise ship.

 

Therefore I'm rating your 6 out of 10 an 8 out of ten, with a whole point being lost to the MDR. So forgetting about the mediocre food, the cruise was actually a 9 out of 10 for you, which is fabulous. I've been on four RCI cruises but this Nov 1 is my first on a Freedom class ship. No matter what i'll love it but I'm bringing a friend who's not only never cruised, she's been anti-cruising since my first cruise in 1992. So I'm REALLY afraid that over all these years, I've built it up waaaaaay too high for her.

 

Luckily she's not a gambler either so I'm sure she'll be happy with 8 out of 10. And she's a vegetarian so she won't have that many meal choices either...me, I'll eat anything even if it's crap on a plate. If it's edible, I'll love it.

 

So your review was quite positive for me. Thanks! :)

[FreewayFortune]

I enjoyed reading your review too. And I am another person who does not gamble so I don't have to worry about that aspect. I cruised on the Liberty almost 2 years and enjoyed Sorrento's then too. It's good to know it's still tasty:) And did you by any chance happen to have any of the little ham and croissants at the Cafe Promenade? Those were some of my favourite treats too. Less than 2 months to go before my cruise:D

[HB Cruiser]

And did you by any chance happen to have any of the little ham and croissants at the Cafe Promenade? Those were some of my favourite treats too. Less than 2 months to go before my cruise:D

 

Those little sandwiches are the BEST!!!

 

Tim

[FreewayFortune]

Those little sandwiches are the BEST!!!

 

Tim

Yeah really as long as they are still super yummy I don't care so much about the MDR:) I can live on sandwiches and cookies for a week.

[heffa72]

Yo Eleven,

First off, thanks for the review. I will never come close to getting to that cap in the casino but I do like walking through and putting some cash on the pass line here and there at the Craps table.

 

My question for you is in regards to the dining. I am one of those people who look forward to my dinner. I'm trying RCCL for the first time coming off of 8 carnival ships and I'm already "prepared for the worse". I just hope my fellow crusing buddies aren't upset with me since I was the one recommending we try a new cruise line. Anyway, back to my point. Are there any particular entrees you'd recommend in the MDR? I think you said Prime Rib over steak is recommended. Are there any good appetizes, salads, desserts, entrees that stand out to you?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

-Heffa72

[Ladylouwho]

Yeah really as long as they are still super yummy I don't care so much about the MDR:) I can live on sandwiches and cookies for a week.

 

I was just on the Liberty @7 weeks ago and the little sandwiches are still very, very yummy.

 

 

 

Colleen

[Yo Eleven]

I enjoyed reading your review too. And I am another person who does not gamble so I don't have to worry about that aspect. I cruised on the Liberty almost 2 years and enjoyed Sorrento's then too. It's good to know it's still tasty:) And did you by any chance happen to have any of the little ham and croissants at the Cafe Promenade? Those were some of my favourite treats too. Less than 2 months to go before my cruise:D

Hello. I did not have any of the little han and croissants at the Cafe Promenade. I did have croissants on the other parts of the ship and they were indeed good. I don't like ham though so I would have passed on them anyway. But, yes, the croissants were good. The desserts at Sorrento's were awesome and available up to 2am almost every night. I would get my midnight snack there. They usually offer three different desserts. The guys that remembered me there after the first few nights knew me and had the three desserts ready for me when I got there. Yes, I sampled all of them. LOL!

OMG thank you for your review. First of all, I'm not a gambler. I WOULD be a gambler if the chances weren't so great that I'd lose everything, especially on a cruise ship.

 

Therefore I'm rating your 6 out of 10 an 8 out of ten, with a whole point being lost to the MDR. So forgetting about the mediocre food, the cruise was actually a 9 out of 10 for you, which is fabulous. I've been on four RCI cruises but this Nov 1 is my first on a Freedom class ship. No matter what i'll love it but I'm bringing a friend who's not only never cruised, she's been anti-cruising since my first cruise in 1992. So I'm REALLY afraid that over all these years, I've built it up waaaaaay too high for her.

 

Luckily she's not a gambler either so I'm sure she'll be happy with 8 out of 10. And she's a vegetarian so she won't have that many meal choices either...me, I'll eat anything even if it's crap on a plate. If it's edible, I'll love it.

 

So your review was quite positive for me. Thanks! :)

You are using my review correctly. Tossing out the casino would have made for a much better rating. However, the food thing would have kept the rating no higher than an 8 though. The lunch menu is a disaster. Keep that in mind. You will find it exactly the same food for lunch though every day. There is no way I can give this ship a 9 based on this alone. I still wouldn't give it a 9 because of a couple of other things as well. Such as the flip remarks up on the Sports Deck from the staff. Also the fact you can only cash 1000 dollars in traverlers checks a day. This applies not only in the casino but at guest relations. Try cashing traverlers checks there. You can tell they hate doing it. And if you have 10 of them be prepared to hold up the line for your fellow cruisemates because they computer check each one of them by number to verify authenticity. That process takes no less than 10 minutes and that is a long time. I remember on another cruiseline that I cashed in much more than this and I was in and out in just a few minutes. They took my room card and DL number and exchanged it with no problem. There appeared to be no limit. RCCL makes it real tough. I imagine they are on their way to start charging a fee to cash travelers checks.

Yo Eleven,

First off, thanks for the review. I will never come close to getting to that cap in the casino but I do like walking through and putting some cash on the pass line here and there at the Craps table.

 

My question for you is in regards to the dining. I am one of those people who look forward to my dinner. I'm trying RCCL for the first time coming off of 8 carnival ships and I'm already "prepared for the worse". I just hope my fellow crusing buddies aren't upset with me since I was the one recommending we try a new cruise line. Anyway, back to my point. Are there any particular entrees you'd recommend in the MDR? I think you said Prime Rib over steak is recommended. Are there any good appetizes, salads, desserts, entrees that stand out to you?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

-Heffa72

I am glad you liked the review. Perhaps being prepared for what is upcoming will make for a better cruise. Since you are a craps player be aware that they offer SINGLE odds in craps on this ship. It is totally bogus. They do have ONE night of double odds though the evening they are in San Juan. Don't miss out on that night. It is stupid for them to do this. Are they actually afraid they are going to lose money having double odds the entire cruise. If they believe this, they are fools.

 

Regarding your inquiry about the food. Keep in mind there are some nice dishes, but they are hit and miss. This is why you must not refrain from ordering more than one entree. They do NOT care if you do this. I will sometimes just order two from the start but generally order one and once I get it and see it isn't all that great I will order another. You must do this to find something you will like. I don't think you buddies will be angry with you as long as they aren't planning on spending a LOT of time in the casino. The ship itself is fantastic and a lot of fun. And if you keep an open mind at dinnertime and order accordingly you should be okay. The Prime Rib although not great, was better than the NY strip. The NY strip appeared "fake" to me and had lines all over it as if someone took a magic marker and drew them in to make it look like it was really cooked on a grill. FORGET about the top sirloin they offer every night. My dog wouldn't even eat that. CHOPS steak doesn't even exceed Outback Steakhouse's filet mignon. Waste of money in my opinion for an average filet.

 

The ceasar salad is always good and had that all the time. You will like it.

The soups are very good as well. The ones that stand out are Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Pumpkin, and the Onion soup. The other ones were just okay but the three above are above average.

 

As for appetizers. The one's that stand out are the following.

First and foremost the spinach dumplings win the award on this cruise. Each of us had no less than two orders. They also offer a spinach dip with tortilla chips as an appetizer one night and that is very good. May be the same night as the dumplings. If so get both. The shrimp cocktail as actually very good. They had it for two nights. Get two of those. One is simply not enough. The cocktail sauce is very tasty. Steer clear of the turkey though. I don't even want to go there. The lobster tail (it comes as a surf and turf from what I remember) is very good but the portion of lobster is very small. They will bring you out extra tails if you simply ask for it. They have plenty of desserts at dinner and get more than one. The banana cream pie and the key lime pie as well as anything that is described as being a mousse win hands down. Also remember to go to SORRENTOS and sample their desserts. This is their pizza parlor located on deck five. ALL their desserts are fantastic and you can get them in the middle of the night.

 

A word about breakfast. It is good but nothing to brag about. They offer two types of sausage links though. Thin links and the thick links. The thin ones are nasty but the thick links are actually enjoyable. The bacon is full of grease and 70 percent fat. However, if you happen to get to the Windjammer one morning right when they open at 7am you will find that the bacon at the top of the container is crispy and much much better. But as the morning goes on it is disgusting. The omelets are just okay. Pancakes are so so and the french toast is gross. Scrambled eggs are good and they have a large selection of cereal and fruit which is a plus.

 

The hot chocolate does get an EXCELLENT rating from me. One of the best I ever had on a cruise ship. If you like hot chocolate order it during breakfast in the dining room. It does not cost extra in the morning.

 

Well that is all I can think of now. I hope this helps.

 

Anyone who has more questions shoot them out there while the cruise is still fresh in my mind.

[ronandannette]

Yeah really as long as they are still super yummy I don't care so much about the MDR:) I can live on sandwiches and cookies for a week.

 

So can I, but I don't want to have to on a cruise :rolleyes:. The food on RCCL was grim last year, much worse than in '06, which was already much worse than in '04. And the fixed luncheon menu? Ya - we hated that. Not all, but many people associate cruising with sumptuous food. Many of us aren't getting what we hope for, and somehow trying to adjust the expectation down to anticipating "mediocre banquet quality meals" kind of takes the shine off. But I guess there's no incentive for RCCL to ramp the quality back up as long as we all keep sailing...

 

Oh well, I'm off to try X tomorrow - trying to keep my optimism guarded :D!

 

Happy Sails,

 

Annette

[bajathree]

I also think food is somewhat ship dependent....last I was on Sovereign the food was absolutely terrible....then the year after we went on Monarch and I think the food was much improved.....like I posted prior, I have come to pretty much use the specialties on the larger ships as main dining and just factor that into the cost of cruising.

[FastFreddie]

I am in the Bajathree camp of dining. Although I would have rated the dining a 6, we had on the Jewel of the seas, it had to have been one of the best cruises DW and I have ever been on!. Quite frankly, Yo Eleven I found YOUR review VERY HELPFUL! It was put in a very honest way, and I think all of us appreciate that. Also it helps ME set my own expectations. Neither of us are Casino folks. I am the foodie and we're prepaired to go to the specialty restaurants a few times during this cruise.

 

What were your observations about the Promenade? I would like to get your perspective on it.

 

Best Regards!

[newlu]

Hi,

 

Great review! We love to play roulette, going just women and that's part of our evening entertainment! We have always had a blast playing roulette on a cruise, and we are sooo looking forward to it. The dealers were so nice and patient with us, that's where we learned to play! I hope we wont be disapointed... As for the food, I have already booked 1 restaurant, and just might book the second one now. I have booked the Thursday night, Cozumel. What other night is week, I guess I would like to take Monday or tuesday (Formal is Sunday and Wednesday right?)

thanks

newlu

[HB Cruiser]

I am in the Bajathree camp of dining. Although I would have rated the dining a 6, we had on the Jewel of the seas, it had to have been one of the best cruises DW and I have ever been on!. Quite frankly, Yo Eleven I found YOUR review VERY HELPFUL! It was put in a very honest way, and I think all of us appreciate that. Also it helps ME set my own expectations. Neither of us are Casino folks. I am the foodie and we're prepaired to go to the specialty restaurants a few times during this cruise.

 

What were your observations about the Promenade? I would like to get your perspective on it.

 

Best Regards!

 

I'm not Yo Eleven but will tell you about Liberty's promenade. IT IS WONDERFUL!!! Much better flow of passengers than on the Voyager class of ships. Even though there are many more passengers on Freedom class than Voyager class, the size of the ship handles it well.

 

The other thing about the newer Promenade is the fact they now have two places to pick up a snack. On Voyager class, there is only the Cafe Promenade for small sandwiches, pizza, and deserts. On Liberty they split it up and now have Sorrentos for pizza and deserts too. This definitely dispersed the passengers from all crowding around the end of the Promenade around the cafe. I really liked the different design.

 

Maybe Yo will have another perspective too.

 

Tim

[Yo Eleven]

I'm not Yo Eleven but will tell you about Liberty's promenade. IT IS WONDERFUL!!! Much better flow of passengers than on the Voyager class of ships. Even though there are many more passengers on Freedom class than Voyager class, the size of the ship handles it well.

 

The other thing about the newer Promenade is the fact they now have two places to pick up a snack. On Voyager class, there is only the Cafe Promenade for small sandwiches, pizza, and deserts. On Liberty they split it up and now have Sorrentos for pizza and deserts too. This definitely dispersed the passengers from all crowding around the end of the Promenade around the cafe. I really liked the different design.

 

Maybe Yo will have another perspective too.

 

Tim

HB hit the nail on the head. I can say the design of the Promendade is fantastic but I hope you did not select a promendade cabin though or you might wanna bring some "white noise" with you if you wanna get some sleep. I do already miss Sorento's and their desserts. Make certain you eat them. Put all your diet plans on hold. :D

[Yo Eleven]

Well I wanted to add some other things that affected my rating somewhat. I mentioned in my original review that there were other items that did affect my experience but did not include them because I felt they were more "subjective" and could perhaps stir up controversy. HOWEVER, in light of another review on my EXACT cruise who experienced the same EXACT thing I did then it will now come across as FACT rather than simply a personal thing. The other review is located here. My comments to follow after this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1062790

 

I must say this cruise was rather strange. What I mean by this is that I have NEVER experienced the amount of rudeness on any cruise ship before. I did mention the rudeness from the staff both in the casino and on the Sports Deck but we experienced an EXCESS amount of rude passengers. I never seen anything like it before. A poster or two in the above link reported this as well. I do think this was out of the ordinary and hopefully a fluke and different cruise will have a better attitude. Allow me to give you some examples.

 

When we got on the tender to go to Labadee, When we boarded it was getting packed on the small craft. There were still seats available but people were not sliding down to make room. They wanted to stay on the ends and when asked if they could move over they ignored you and you had to crawl over twenty seven pairs of legs to get to your seat. It was most obnoxious. And trying to get off the tender? Good lord. You are better off jumping off the side and swimming to shore when you are close up to avoid the bruises you will get being pushed around like a pinball. Perhaps it was just the group of people that were on the tender that were losers, but unfortunately I found this to not be the situation.

 

In the casino, I have never ever had someone tell me that I could not look at their hands if I was merely standing behind them watching the game. I was watching one of the card games seeing what the flow of cards was like and this jerk says in a raspy voice that I am not allowed to stand behind him while the game is being played? I was like "What? You must be kidding. It isn't like I am gonna change your luck from just watching." He made some other stupid comments and I took ONE step to my right and asked the guy sitting next to him if he minded if I stood behind him. He said no problem and was with me that this guy was being stupid. Unreal.

 

I won't even tell you the language I heard at the pool area especially with those waiting to get yogurt and "Spinkles" on the pool deck. The profanity was unbelievable. There was other stuff as well but I don't want to sound like a broken record. I hope it was simply a situation of a bad crowd here and won't be a repeat on another cruise.

 

Someone in the other thread made a comment about a lot of kids running around and why they weren't in school. They are correct in their assessment. There were a LOT of kids on his cruise and I mean a lot. If you are expecting an "adult" cruise since the school year started you better start hoping a lot more. It may not happen for ya. Good luck.

 

Oh and lastly a word about the disembarking in the other thread. We did the EXPRESS method to get off the ship. We were off the ship at 7:15 am. I just read it was a NIGHTMARE to get off the ship the traditional method. You will want to consider doing the express method and carry your own luggage off the ship first thing in the morning. I HIGHLY advise this based on what I read in the other thread. Hopefully, our negative experiences will turn into positive ones since you will prepare yourselves for all of this. If you have other questions feel free to ask such as the ports of call for example.

[Bigtex1622]

For starters there $1000 dollar a day maximum for cashing travelers checks is totally absurd.

 

Is there a way to lower that limit to say $100 a day. My sis is a gambler, and I know her hubby ( who is not going ) would love to know while she is out, there will be a limit to her madness.

 

P.S. Must be nice to be able to blow $7000 in a casino, you need a 47 year ols son???

[Yo Eleven]

Is there a way to lower that limit to say $100 a day. My sis is a gambler, and I know her hubby ( who is not going ) would love to know while she is out, there will be a limit to her madness.

I do think if you have control of the Sea Pass account you could actually do this. But if she has her own credit card on file then I doubt it. In your situation there may be hope though. Since I felt it was the WORST casino ever she may not even want to gamble and hang around you guys instead. LOL!

In all seriousness head up to Deck 5 when you get on the ship and see if they can restrict the account. They will do it if they are allowed. Good luck and enjoy.