Just Back From Liberty 12/19-24

[sherin65]

We got back last night and I have a short review and some observations to share. There were five of us. DH and I are late 40's/early 50's, DD and her BF 23, and DS 19. DH and I had a promenade room on deck 6 and the kids were in an outside cabin on deck 2. The ship was not quite at capacity with 4244 passengers on board.

 

Embarking: The port in Ft. Lauderdale was very nice and we got onto the ship around 11:30 without much waiting. Everything seemed organized and efficient.

 

The Ship: Very clean and seemed well maintained. No problems or disrepair in our cabins as some other posters have mentioned.

 

The Service: Awesome! Room stewards, waiters, and the like were very attentive. No complaints!

 

The Food: Good to great (except on Labadee mentioned later)! We ate at chops the last night and it was AMAZING! Would definitely go back. Had breakfast in the Windjammer each morning, it was good. Dinner in the dining room was very good. Lobster wasn't on the menu on formal night which I thought was strange as that has been the case in the past. It was offered on night four and was very good.

 

The Entertainment: Saturday Night Fever was excellent. A lot of work went into the production of the show and they did a great job. The ice show was great also and Up in the Air was also very good. One of the nights there was a late night comedian and that show was a lot of fun. A Beatles tribute band played on one night. They were good, not great. However I am personally not a big fan of tribute bands. We missed the farewell show because we were at Chops.

 

Disembarking: Was horrible! The slowest I've ever experienced. I don't know what the hold up was but we were not all off of the ship until almost 11:30. A lot of waiting on the ship, in line, in the luggage areas, at customs, etc.

 

The Ports of Call: Labadee is nice for a beach day.....if you don't step on a sea urchin (which my son did within 15 min. of arrival). I wish there had been a mention of them as a warning. We had never had any encounters with them before. The BBQ lunch was not very good. The ribs were tough and the burgers were not very warm. On future cruises that go to Labadee I will most likely stay on the ship and relax by the pool(or get a spa treatment :p). In my opinion it was just a tourist trap. Prices on all of the activities were over the top compared to similar activities at other ports of call.

Falmouth, Jamaica: The port shopping area isn't done yet but I think it will be very nice when it is finally finished. We booked an excursion to Dunn's River Falls/Green Grotto Cave through RCCL. It was fun and interesting; however, it was posted as 5 hours and was at least 7. We had to cancel for our son because he couldn't walk on the foot that he injured on Labadee but the Explorations desk was very helpful and prompt with a refund for him which was very nice.

 

My opinions and observations: The Liberty OTS was nice, clean, and well kept but in my opinion seemed very crowded and the flow of people from one area to the next wasn't smooth. This was my first time on a Freedom class ship and I probably won't book another. I did not feel that sense of crowdedness on Voyager class ships and my husband and son were on Allure back in March and they did not feel as if it was crowded either. Additionally, none of us liked the artwork on the ship. Much of it was bizarre and random without a theme. It lacked class and appeal and was not particularly nice to look at.

 

I really wish the chef would get a better recipe for biscuits and gravy. I've never eaten breakfast gravy with green peppers in it and the biscuits have an odd texture like they have cornmeal in them. I'm a B&G lover, maybe I should send them my recipe.

 

We enjoyed Vintages and the pool bar and frequented them.

We bought a few pictures but found that the photography staff was not experienced and many of them didn't turn out very good at all.

 

We didn't go to the cupcake shop but it was a busy place. I noticed several people walking around with the signature pink box, especially those with kids.

 

Speaking of kids....I have never seen so many children on board! There were lots and lots of kids, most of them seemed very well behaved. Some 13+ types did hang out in the Solarium and it kind of annoyed me at first but they were with their families and reading so it wasn't disruptive at all.

 

 

Sorry this was so long. It didn't start out that way. :rolleyes:

 

Sheryl

[abhb]

Thanks for the review. My daughter and I will be on her Jan. 3:D

[Topo Gigio]

I/ve been twice on a Freedom class ship and it never felt crowded. Most probably it has to do with so many children onboard! when i did a thanks giving cruise a few years ago on the Carnival Dream it felt indeed CROWDED with 1300 of them onboard.

[39august]

Amen to the horrible "art" selections on Liberty. Many are just bizzare. Much more plesant art on Freedom.

[sherin65]

Amen to the horrible "art" selections on Liberty. Many are just bizzare. Much more plesant art on Freedom.

 

 

Good to know!

[sherin65]

I/ve been twice on a Freedom class ship and it never felt crowded. Most probably it has to do with so many children onboard! when i did a thanks giving cruise a few years ago on the Carnival Dream it felt indeed CROWDED with 1300 of them onboard.

 

It could be that. There were a lot of very small children so that meant lots of totes, strollers, etc.

[SilentDad]

I'll agree that RCI chefs have no idea how to cook biscuits ... for years, what has been served are essentially hard, sweet rolls. There's definitely no air pockets or biscuit texture.

[Hunwolf]

To be fair...we just got off the VOS but felt like we were on the Liberty since the captain kept calling it the Liberty of the Seas during every onboard announcement.

 

Made for a cool drinking game.

[Hunwolf]

I'll agree that RCI chefs have no idea how to cook biscuits ... for years, what has been served are essentially hard, sweet rolls. There's definitely no air pockets or biscuit texture.

 

And who in the world puts pickles in Beef Stroganoff?!?!

[Gigi11111]

Thanks for the review...We will be sailing her on the 12th(can't wait)

[LBumb]

good review

[vickiw0318]

Liberty's artwork is definitely odd. I am trying to remember where I saw the "explanation" of the selection when I was onboard a few weeks ago. I know it was on the starboard side - maybe near the casino. Anyway, it is supposedly all about looking at things from different perspectives or something like that. I just remember thinking that they certainly succeeded in achieving their goal. :)

[taxatty]

We just got off the same cruise--our group was very similar to the OP's--a few related comments:

 

1. Agreed that the artwork is not wonderful--a mixture of weird photographs, pictures and drawings. An exception is the pretty Chihuly-style glass in the lounges on Deck 4. A lot of the art is simply bizarre and there doesn't seem to be any common theme other than strangeness.

 

2. The only time we found it very crowded was around the pools (nice weather mostly) and the Royal Promenade at night. It's always a pleasure watching the mass battles to get to the $10 t-shirts on the last day in both of those places.

 

3. Entertainment is the best thing about this ship---all of the shows we saw were good to excellent.

 

4. Service was universally excellent--always an RCI strong point.

 

5. MDR food was good to very good, and Portofino was excellent--we like it better than Chops. Don't miss the burgers, fries and milkshakes at Johhny Rockets--the best of each to be found on the ship.

 

6. Lots of kids on this cruise, but agreed that they were universally very well behaved. We have a very low tolerance for parents letting their kids scream and run wild, but we didn't see any of either one.

 

7. Disembarkation wasn't bad at all if you did express through carrying off your own luggage. We frankly would never do it any other way and keep our luggage to what we can manage ourselves. We were off the ship and through Customs before 8:00 AM, walked to the nearby parking garage, and were headed home by 8:15 AM.

 

Les

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We just got off the Allure and my mom kept complaining about the biscuits and gravy! I have never liked RCI's version... I agree terrible gravy and awful biscuits. My mom wrote a complaints about it on her end of cruise evaluation.

 

We did do the Dunns River/ Green Grotto Cave excursion. I will include it in my review of the Allure later this week if anyone is interested.

[sassy12]

We'll be on the Liberty in February on the same itinerary so appreciated the information.

 

I will agree that the biscuits on the RCL ships are not what we are used to in the US but are, according to a couple we met from England, more like their scones. I love them with butter and jam - reminds me of the scones we had in Australia and New Zealand.

[sherin65]

Disembarkation wasn't bad at all if you did express through carrying off your own luggage. We frankly would never do it any other way and keep our luggage to what we can manage ourselves. We were off the ship and through Customs before 8:00 AM, walked to the nearby parking garage, and were headed home by 8:15 AM.

 

Ahh, a lesson learned. We've never had any problems before but this one was really slow. We'll be doing the express from now on. Thanks.

[TSC]

We (party of 9, my DH, DD and her DH, and 5 grands ranging from 18-7) were on the same cruise (Hi Sheryl and 3-letter-named kids!)

 

Agree with all the earlier comments. Here are a few of my own.

 

LOL - about the art. The only stuff we liked was the 3D stuff on our 9th floor (starboard side).

 

We've cruised several times and this felt like one of the most crowded ships (the Carribean Princess was the other). But, like taxatty said, it was mostly the pool areas and the promenade.

 

RCCL kept filling the promenade with tables to sell things, so that the crowds could not get around very easily. My DH normally uses a scooter or wheelchair at night but the promenade was so crowded he left it in the room and struggled with his cane. We basically avoided the promenade at night.

 

The pool on the last sea day was packed - it was sunny and warm and we were ALL out there! You actually had to walk around to find a chair.

 

I expected lots of kids because of the holiday time and was pleasantly surprised at how well behaved they all were. I liked the Christmas decor in the promenade and the dining room. Plus many of the movies were Christmas themed.

 

Our steward was great. Clean rooms, smiling unobtrusive service. We had 3 balcony rooms (and one inside for 3 boys). The steward opened the balcony doors between the rooms so that we had one large balcony. It was lovely.

 

We enjoyed the shows - thought the ice show was the best of the bunch, but I liked them all. Saturday Night Fever, In the Air, Encore (ice show) and Revolution (the Beatles show).

 

We also saw Puss N-Boots in 3D in the theater. It was fun with pretty good 3D glasses and effects.

 

We had a brand-new assistant waiter, so our service in the dining room was a bit sketchy (wine poured in a water glass that still had some water in it, missing giving my DS a roll 3 days in a row, cocktail sauce poured on a hamburger when we asked for ketchup) but it was done with a smile and most errors fixed pretty quickly (although for 5 days they never figured out that chocolate milk was different than hot chocolate.) It ended being a memory-maker for our group!

 

Food was good - some even very good. We have some fussy kids, and two vegetarians, and everyone managed to eat more than they needed to. The kids loved Sorrento's pizza late at night and Sprinkle's frozen yogurt every time they managed to walk by the place!

 

Ports - Labadee is a beautiful beach stop. We stayed on the adrenaline beach side because there was a nice breeze coming off the water. The other side has the more secluded beach coves with better sand. The zip line looked fun but over quick and a bit pricey. We were going to ride the Dragon coaster, but it was closed the whole time we were there. We had friends who did the water park and their kids enjoyed it. I have to agree that the beach food wasn't fabulous, but I've never been all that impressed with the cruise ship beach day BBQ luncheons. This one also had problems keeping the food stocked. You could go to the line and it wouldn't have a couple of items, but then go back 15 minutes later and they'd restocked. Also - be careful of the vendors! There is a large Haitian market at one end of the area and the vendors are pretty agressive. We did a very quick walk-through and then stayed away from there.

 

Falmouth - we also did the Green Grotto -Dunn's River Falls excursion and thought it was great. Unlike Sheryl we managed to get it done in about 5 hours. (I think traffic was a real problem later in the day). The caves were first (about 30 minutes from the ship.) They were interesting and a nice addition to the tour. We saw bats, stalactics etc. You also get a rum punch at the end. Then we went on about another 30 minutes to Dunn's River Falls - we all loved it! Wet and fun. I checked out the prices and surprisingly, the RCCL price was very competetive to the local tours. At the end of Dunn's River Falls, there is another local market - more agressive vendors, but you can bypass them by walking back toward the way you entered.

 

Ice skating - was closed our first sea day because they had two shows, so when it first opened at 3:30 (I think) on Day 3 after being at Labadee, the line was quite long. They had 50 minute sessions - just wait and go to the 2nd or 3rd one - there was no line at all for the 3rd session.

 

We did rock climbing - fun - and scary for me, but the grandkids almost all managed to ring the bell. That line moved pretty fast.

 

The flow rider was harder than it looks, even the boogie board style - but fun to try. That line moves pretty slowly. Kids had to be 48" or 52" (sorry can't remember - except the 7 year old wasn't quite tall enough.)

 

We did express disembarkation and were off the ship by 8:10 - even though they tell you to wait on deck 3 (we actually left from deck 1) - which meant crowded elevators and/or lugging your suitcase down a couple of flights of stairs. Still it went quickly enough.

 

We used Park-n-Go ($6.99 a night internet special) and they were there waiting for pick-up.

 

We all had a great time!

[sherin65]

Hi TSC! Another testament for self debarkation....no I know.:D