Liberty of the Seas

[waterbugohio]

We did the Same sailing last December and disembarkation was delayed due to our stop in Belize.

 

Getting off in Belize was also delayed a bit, those were some long lines and then our tender blew an engine.

 

Overall we had a great cruise. The ship is beautiful!

 

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Why would a stop in Belize make disembarkation to be delayed??

 

Did you keep compasses?

[PhoenixCruiser]

Why would a stop in Belize make disembarkation to be delayed??

 

Did you keep compasses?

 

I did not keep the compasses, sorry! Not sure why the stop in Belize causes delays however we we prepared due to Cruise Critic posts from previous sailings.

 

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[karena1]

Love Liberty, cannot wait to go on her again.

 

But yes, disembarkation on Liberty out of FLL is a nightmare! Unless I hear from someone on the boards that it is better this year when it returns to FLL in Nov, I will not do self disembarkation - I will check my bag and pick it up once off the ship. It is a nightmare fighting the crowds, trying to haul your suitcase down the steps. There is no Priority to speak off - we got mixed in with all the other self disembarkers and total mess. So won't take my own luggage off again if nothing changes this year.

 

My only complaint about the ship - rest is fantastic.

[seafish]

"On these shorter cruises if you can wait a bit then do that".

Question please - What exactly does Wait A Bit mean? With Liberty of the Seas scheduled for a 700AM Port Everglades arrival - how long a wait? What is a reasonable disembarkation time with checked luggage?

[waterbugohio]

Love Liberty, cannot wait to go on her again.

 

But yes, disembarkation on Liberty out of FLL is a nightmare! Unless I hear from someone on the boards that it is better this year when it returns to FLL in Nov, I will not do self disembarkation - I will check my bag and pick it up once off the ship. It is a nightmare fighting the crowds, trying to haul your suitcase down the steps. There is no Priority to speak off - we got mixed in with all the other self disembarkers and total mess. So won't take my own luggage off again if nothing changes this year.

 

My only complaint about the ship - rest is fantastic.

 

Don't like to hear this. So we will need to decide if we want self disembark or not. Do you have any idea what deck you left from. Just thought if we could be on the right deck ahead of time, it wouldn't be so bad. Can you be more specific as to what made it a nightmare? Just to many people doing it? Crazy line for the elevators? Or just got way to backed up??

[waterbugohio]

any other opinions???

[Boston and beyond cruiser]

any other opinions???

 

Hi there: I'm jealous you're going on the Liberty soon. I sailed on her last month out of Barcelona and it was fabulous. Too, too hectic, but fabulous.

 

Anyway, not sure if they do this on the US cruises, but we had the option of paying $35 per person for late debarkation, and it was perfect. We could stay in our cabin until 9:00 a.m., then had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room, and hung out in the oh so comfortable chairs by the adult pool. After a quiet morning, we got to watch all the new people coming on. I wonder if we looked as stressed and jet lagged when we boarded the previous week??? I'm sure we probably did.

 

We ate lunch on the ship and then headed to the airport at about 2:00 p.m., which made for a much more relaxed and enjoyable last day than I have ever encountered before and was well worth the $35.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[waterbugohio]

I have heard of some of the ships doing this. Didn't see anything on our reservations or the add ons page.

 

We are not really in a hurry, just have a car rented and want to make the most of our last day. Nuts trying to figure out the best options.

 

Any "secrets" on the liberty??

 

What cabin/deck were you on? Rumor has it that they only allow loungers on suite balconies. We have a regular aft balcony and are hoping we have loungers. Any chance you had an aft cabin??

[powellzk]

What cabin/deck were you on? Rumor has it that they only allow loungers on suite balconies. We have a regular aft balcony and are hoping we have loungers. Any chance you had an aft cabin??

 

 

We had corner aft on deck 7 this summer on Liberty Med cruise. Our attendant said it was up to the Captain and loungers were not allowed at the time. I explained my sister and her son were 2 doors down and we were planning on dining on our balcony and if he could get us extra chairs or loungers it would be greatly appreciated. $20 dollar tip and we had both.;)

[skandls]

We had a debarcation that took 90 minutes from the Liberty OTS. Its a long walk to the customs agents outside under an awning. I suspect that it took so long because the Oasis was also unloading guests. So Saturday (Oasis) and Sunday (Allure) may have longer waits for fewer agents. Our debarcation from the Allure was super fast and easy. We just walked off the ship no waiting in lines.

[waterbugohio]

We had corner aft on deck 7 this summer on Liberty Med cruise. Our attendant said it was up to the Captain and loungers were not allowed at the time. I explained my sister and her son were 2 doors down and we were planning on dining on our balcony and if he could get us extra chairs or loungers it would be greatly appreciated. $20 dollar tip and we had both.;)

 

So glad to hear this!!

 

 

We had a debarcation that took 90 minutes from the Liberty OTS. Its a long walk to the customs agents outside under an awning. I suspect that it took so long because the Oasis was also unloading guests. So Saturday (Oasis) and Sunday (Allure) may have longer waits for fewer agents. Our debarcation from the Allure was super fast and easy. We just walked off the ship no waiting in lines.

 

NOT what I wanted to hear

[karena1]

Don't like to hear this. So we will need to decide if we want self disembark or not. Do you have any idea what deck you left from. Just thought if we could be on the right deck ahead of time, it wouldn't be so bad. Can you be more specific as to what made it a nightmare? Just to many people doing it? Crazy line for the elevators? Or just got way to backed up??

 

Sure, Priority Lounge was on Deck 5 I think. So we were up there waiting and the all clear finally came. (this has been 2 years in a row like this). They tell us we can leave and we find out we have to go down to deck2!. So it is either wait an hour for an elevator or lug your luggage down all those flights of stairs. Then when you get to the bottom, all the other self disembarkators are also coming through so you are trying to merge with them. So 1 - instead of them having a Priority Lounge on Deck 2 somewhere and letting us get off first the way it is supposed to be, they have you up on another floor and you have all that hassle to get to Deck 2 and then have to fight your way into the rest of the people trying to self disembark. Like I said, a nightmare. So I will check my bag and wait and get off at 8:00 and get my bags once I am off the ship.

 

Allure was a piece of cake for self disembarking as it is a different terminal. But Liberty, unless things change, will still be horrid this year.

[waterbugohio]

So get back to FLL on thursday morning Nov. 15th. How do we tell if there are other ships in dock? I know the Oasis and Allure do 7 day sails, but what about other lines? Is there a site that shows this?

[Yuridog]

On Nov 15, only Liberty of Seas should be in FLL.

 

http://cruisett.com/forum.php

[lossforgain]

On Nov 15, only Liberty of Seas should be in FLL.

 

http://cruisett.com/forum.php

 

I looked at the calendar there and it doesn't appear updated for November. Not sure where you found your info? Also according to that, the NCL Dawn is going to be in port in Baltimore on 11/5, but when I go to NCL's website it says the Dawn is in the Caribbean that day.

 

BTW, you're on the Liberty one sailing before my wife and I! Enjoy!

[Yuridog]

http://cruisett.com/forum.php

Click on Ports, choose United States Ft Lauderdale,

Select a month to view, November 2012

 

14-Nov-12 15-Nov-12 4375Liberty Of The Seas16-Nov-12 1918Noordam17-Nov-12 22796Carnival Freedom, Eurodam, Caribbean Princess, Emerald Princess, Grand Princess, Celebrity Eclipse, Oasis Of The Seas

http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/Royal_Caribbean_International/Liberty_Of_The_Seas/November_2012/

 

14-Nov-12 15-Nov-12 4375Liberty Of The Seas16-Nov-12 1918Noordam17-Nov-12 22796Carnival Freedom, Eurodam, Caribbean Princess, Emerald Princess, Grand Princess, Celebrity Eclipse, Oasis Of The Seas14-Nov-12 15-Nov-12 4375Liberty Of The Seas16-Nov-12 1918Noordam17-Nov-12 22796Carnival Freedom, Eurodam, Caribbean Princess, Emerald Princess, Grand Princess, Celebrity Eclipse, Oasis Of The SeasWe will be sure to take good care of the ship!

[cpa2be]

CPA, that's what I like to hear. Positive stories. Do you remember what deck you disembarked from? I just remember one year doing it leaving the navigator (I think). The worst part of the whole process was trying to get an elevator to the right deck. Would rather leave the room early, get breakfast and go to the right deck and just hang out. That time we ended up carrying luggage down two flits of stairs because the line to the elevators were so backed up. And it was a girls only cruise so we didn't have the hubby's with us to help.

 

So how far north are you? We are mid state, all the way to the Indiana border

 

Waterbug - I want to say we disembarked from deck 4, but can't be certain. If so, you could relax in Boleros.

 

Since we got off early, we did not have an issue getting an empty elevator. This actually surprised us as we expected to wait for several before an empty one appeared.

 

We're in Toledo, so you aren't too far from us.

[big al]

So get back to FLL on thursday morning Nov. 15th. How do we tell if there are other ships in dock? I know the Oasis and Allure do 7 day sails, but what about other lines? Is there a site that shows this?

 

Donna- here you go..click on Ft. Lauderdale under the USA section on right, then when FTL pops up click on Nov 15th on calender..as you will see, there are NO other ships in port that day...great website..you can find what ships leave from where & when, and you can go further down, and click on individual ports all over the world and see the same thing...

 

 

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/

 

Good luck and see you on the 10th!!

 

Alan

[waterbugohio]

Hopefully being the only ship in the docks that day will make it easier. Not that I really will want to leave the ship :mad: But if I have to, I would rather it not take forever!!

[big al]

Hopefully being the only ship in the docks that day will make it easier. Not that I really will want to leave the ship :mad: But if I have to, I would rather it not take forever!!

 

Agreed..my wife is going TO WORK that day in Boca ( about 30 min north), so she wants to get off the ship ASAP...I hate waiting for anything, but as Diamond members, we get off pretty quickly..it's a nice perq...

[manateefan]

We are on Liberty Jan. 5th can't wait. We have late flight and will do our part to be one of the last ones off ship. We will be happy to let those in hurry to go ahead of us.

[Pushka]

Can you do late disembark? We did that in Barcelona and spent until 2pm onboard. Sunny hot day spent by the deserted pool with access to everything except our cabin. Used WJ and Soda card. Then simply walked off when we were ready. The option to do late disembark was in the daily compass but not available to book on the website personaliser.

Liberty is a great ship. Loved it. Perfect in the Med.

[karena1]

Agreed..my wife is going TO WORK that day in Boca ( about 30 min north), so she wants to get off the ship ASAP...I hate waiting for anything, but as Diamond members, we get off pretty quickly..it's a nice perq...

 

Like I said, priority on Liberty is pretty much non-existant. We are D+ and you get hearded in with all the other self-embarkation travelers, one of the reasons it is such a mess on Liberty. All other ships-freedom, Allure, Oasis, Majesty, San Juan ships, getting off is a piece of cake. Liberty is the only ship that is a pain to self-embark from.

[waterbugohio]

Like I said, priority on Liberty is pretty much non-existant. We are D+ and you get hearded in with all the other self-embarkation travelers, one of the reasons it is such a mess on Liberty. All other ships-freedom, Allure, Oasis, Majesty, San Juan ships, getting off is a piece of cake. Liberty is the only ship that is a pain to self-embark from.

 

So I guess maybe we will just skip the self embark and go with the regular. Hopefully we can get an early number

[LBumb]

Liberty is great.

Not to miss

Sat night fever

Up in the air

Ice show in the afternoon, we sat in first row

Diamond lounge evening cocktail party

Top deck port side for sail away

Cozumel port shopping area on carnival side