No Love For Liberty/Europe?

[nlcentralchmps03]

I have been a member here for a long time and never really noticed the lack of European cruise reviews/thoughts (until I decided to book one myself!).

 

So with that said, has anyone been on the Liberty this season? Does anyone notice a difference in service? Also, what is the make up of passengers like?

 

Any input would be appreciated ;)

[hazeleyez3]

I was on there earlier this month. We thought that, for the most part, service was good. I would say it was probably about 50% Europeans and 50% Americans.

[Verfai]

If they would make this site somewhat more inviting to Europeans there might be way more reviews...If it works for tripadvisor.com, why not here???

 

Anyhow, also not everybody is just as active on these boards...Last cruise on the Allure, there were only 4 maybe 5 active people on the roll call, on the meet and mingle there were over 50 people present, never heard of any of there nick names before, not in the roll calls nor on these main boards.

[Newtoncruise]

I was on liberty a couple of years ago? Sailing out of Barcelona or Rome.....need to check my footer.......

 

It's a wonderful ship. The passengers are generally 50% country of origin and the rest made up of Americans 20%, Brits 20% and others from 50 odd countries around the world.

 

The euro languages make the cruise feel very cosmopolitan which I like a lot.......there can be a clash of cultures though. Not a bad thing........interesting if anything.

 

Service is like any other world wide brand. Just what you expect.......and because it's Royal Carribbean. Generally very good indeed.

 

Where you sailing from?

[Desert Cruizers]

We sailed on the Liberty TA out of Barcelona Oct 2011 and food, service etc were excellant.

[Frankmac]

I was on there earlier this month. We thought that, for the most part, service was good. I would say it was probably about 50% Europeans and 50% Americans.

 

Was just wondering did you notice what were the house wines that were on the drinks package?

[CVU]

We sailed on the Liberty TA out of Barcelona Oct 2011 and food, service etc were excellant.

We sailed both repositions cruises ---Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona and back last year.

No complaints, the crew were great as usual!! A Spotless ship!!!

[mskaufman]

We were on LOS last summer. Like other posters have said the pasenger mix was about 50% american. Service, food and entertainment was great. RCI also did a great job on excursions that we booked through them.

[DreaAST]

We sailed on LOS sept 2012 out of Barcelona. We really liked this ship a lot and had excellent service. On our sailing I'd say it was 20% from the USA and 80% not. A lot of English speaking though with the Brits and Canadians added in.

[Sisley]

Hi nlcentralchmps03!

 

We do have a roll call for that date (it's not very active but you're more than welcome to join) :D.

 

It'll be my first RC cruise. I've only read good things about the ship though! Can't wait. I'm embarking on July 1st in Toulon. So 7 weeks from today we will be crusin' :)

[Ashland]

We sailed on LOS out of Barcelona in Aug 2011 and found that there were a lot less than 20% Americans on our cruise..if we heard another cruiser say something in english it was rare. Service was wonderful saw no difference at all as compared to sailing the exact same ship to the eastern caribbean 6 months prior.

[Desert Cruizers]

Dayle the one thing we felt was lacking, were some of the planned activities didn't happen, but need to say that our CD was under the weather for a few days and his assistant took over for most of the cruise so that could have accounted for some of this. The band didn't play outside and we had windy and rain sometimes so that prevented them setting up, yet nothing was planned as a substitute, otherwise, a flawless cruise.

[GEORGET]

May be worth checking various uk sites cruise.co for there reviews.One thing though is the Liberty leaving EU waters? as if it is not the Duty free will not be open in the ports or on ship. There could also be an extra charge of VAT on purchase on board so ask for a Refund form to get it back at the airport. Same applies for expensive items ashore.

Hope i am wrong, but last cruise there was a 20% added to the drinks while it was docked in Barcelona, but this was not charged after we left as the ship was visiting one non eu port.

g

[hazeleyez3]

Was just wondering did you notice what were the house wines that were on the drinks package?

 

Sorry, never even looked at the wine or the drink package.

[GSuitesailing]

We left Liberty on May 10th and thought the crew were as good as any other ship we had been on. There were many more Americans on board than I expected, I would guess at least half.

 

This was our first Mediterranean cruise and I think we all agreed it didn't feel like a normal cruise to us. It was port intensive, with long hours in each port. We didn't do the usual things we normally do on a cruise because we were tired from our day, and had to get up early the next day as well.

 

We really enjoyed it though and would be happy to go again.

[retird]

Did the TA in april of this year and continued on for 5 days in the mediteranean. Great ship, lots of activities and an extremely friendly crew. I found the food excellent. Both cruises had a mixture of Canadian, American and European guests.

[dodge9]

We had a group on the April 25th Liberty five night MED cruise. It was an AWESOME cruise and I would go again in a heartbeat. As a previous poster stated, it is a port intensive cruise and with all day touring, we did not have time to utilize much of the ship. We did attend most of the trivia in the evening and had a blast with that. Only made it to the casino once though and no pool or spa time... no time available for it. We dined in the main dining room twice, Johnny Rockets once and buffet dinner once... all were excellent. I wanted to do one specialty restaurant, but found no time and also ate a lot in port and was not as hungry for dinner onboard. I mean when you are in Italy you must EAT in Italy lol! We booked custom group tours through Royal Caribbean. I am not always a tour type person, but by doing so we were able to get the most from each port without wasting any time. In Rome we were the LAST back onboard too! I mean gangway coming up behind us lol. I thought most of the staff were very friendly. The shore tour desk staff, not so much. They were just quick and came off rude. However the actual tour guides were excellent. The ship was beautiful and in great condition, no complaints there either. We had 54 in our group and we were all very pleased with the cruise.

[Danish]

I sailed with Liberty 3 weeks ago, and I was very happy about the ship. We ate once in Portofino, else in the MDR - we have no complaint about the food.

It was my daugthers first cruise - and she was very impressed!

 

The piano guy David Curtis was fanstatic, he alone would be worth another cruise.:)

 

On this cruise there were more 700 people from Brazil!

 

I have nothing bad to say about Liberty.

[Sumisid]

There are quite a few reviews from this year's sailings on LOS in the Med. You can find them on the German holidaycheck-website. But only a few of you probably speak German :D. I can assure you that those reviews are all VERY good, the Liberty gets recommended by 97% and reaches 5.4 points (maximum is 6). In case you are interested:

 

http://www.holidaycheck.de/schiff-Reiseinformationen_Liberty+of+the+Seas-sid_196.html

 

I'm looking forward to our Western Med cruise on Liberty on June 9 :). And I really hope that there are at least 50% Americans, that's one of the reasons we chose RCCL.

[finz2u]

We too were on the April 25 cruise from Barcelona. The Liberty was a WONDERFUL ship and were it possible, I would have signed up to stay for the next cruise. I was truly sorry that our cruise was so port-intensive that I did not get to experience enough of the on-board activities. I liked the new menu in the MDR and thought the WJ did a great job with their selections. I think the mark of good service is that you never feel like you, as guest, want for anything, and from the bartenders, waiters, hotel staff, stewards, and porters, that was the case. Have a great time on the Liberty of the Seas.

[peteukmcr]

We've sailed Liberty in the Med on 2 occasions (May 2011 & May 2012) and also on a TA from Barcelona in late 2011.

 

The ship is great, but I will say that from May 2011 (and this is only my opinion) in some areas the service degenerated. In May 2011, service fantastic, on the TA a few service issues which RCI in Miami assured me would be rectified (they gave us OBC for the May 2012 sailing which we already had booked before the TA following my constructive feedback to Mr Goldstein). Even on board the TA we received 'treats' from the hotel management due to the issues we experienced.

 

In May 2012, still some issues, but nothing to stop us sailing on her again (we've been persuaded to book a 7 night sailing out of Barcelona in 2014!)

[onlyonetrevorfrancis]

Hi all, long term lurker on this forum and my first post :) as I just got off the Liberty last Sunday 26th May.

 

The Captain read out the passenger numbers on the second night and out of 3900 passengers (I think..) the highest country represented on board at 1000 were Americans with us Brits the second highest at 500. From what I could tell the rest of the passengers came from all corners of the globe. The mixture made for a really good atmosphere on board.

 

We absolutely loved the Liberty and staff, it was a fabulous week. I cannot speak highly enough about the staff they were exceptional. Strangely enough the only place I didn't get on with was the Hoof and Claw 'English' pub which was the one place I thought I would be drawn to coming from this side of the pond.

 

Having a young son we ate mostly in the Windjammer and it wasn't the bun fight we were lead to believe it could be. If you chose your time right we found it very pleasant at times. Again we found the staff attentive and the service good.

 

If anyone has children the Dreamwork breakfast and Cup Cake making were a real hit. The chef who ran the cup cake making was brilliant with the little one and a pleasure to watch.

 

We all also really liked the Cruise Director Rich Edwards and he was always about the ship along with the other Officers checking on things. Its only a small thing but it was good to see him on the gangway on the morning of the first port at Toulon.

 

Overall a fabulous holiday, I think I have this cruise addiction that I've read so much about :)

 

An earlier poster mentions the Spanish VAT that is added on board, from looking at my old slips this seemed to be 10% on drinks and 20% on shop purchases for the duration of the cruise.

 

If anybody wants any further information just ask.

[Broch]

Hi all, long term lurker on this forum and my first post :) as I just got off the Liberty last Sunday 26th May.

 

The Captain read out the passenger numbers on the second night and out of 3900 passengers (I think..) the highest country represented on board at 1000 were Americans with us Brits the second highest at 500. From what I could tell the rest of the passengers came from all corners of the globe. The mixture made for a really good atmosphere on board.

 

We absolutely loved the Liberty and staff, it was a fabulous week. I cannot speak highly enough about the staff they were exceptional. Strangely enough the only place I didn't get on with was the Hoof and Claw 'English' pub which was the one place I thought I would be drawn to coming from this side of the pond.

 

Having a young son we ate mostly in the Windjammer and it wasn't the bun fight we were lead to believe it could be. If you chose your time right we found it very pleasant at times. Again we found the staff attentive and the service good.

 

If anyone has children the Dreamwork breakfast and Cup Cake making were a real hit. The chef who ran the cup cake making was brilliant with the little one and a pleasure to watch.

 

We all also really liked the Cruise Director Rich Edwards and he was always about the ship along with the other Officers checking on things. Its only a small thing but it was good to see him on the gangway on the morning of the first port at Toulon.

 

Overall a fabulous holiday, I think I have this cruise addiction that I've read so much about :)

 

An earlier poster mentions the Spanish VAT that is added on board, from looking at my old slips this seemed to be 10% on drinks and 20% on shop purchases for the duration of the cruise.

 

If anybody wants any further information just ask.

..

 

Good report and it fills us with eager and confidence for our cruise in July. We have grandchildren AGED 6 & 8 with us and we are booked for the Dreanworks breakfast and the cup cakes dec. Can you tell us, did you take your son to the In the air show and if so did he like it. We also have Saturday night fever booked but thinking on cancelling because the kids may be a bit too young for that show? Thanks

[onlyonetrevorfrancis]

..

 

Good report and it fills us with eager and confidence for our cruise in July. We have grandchildren AGED 6 & 8 with us and we are booked for the Dreanworks breakfast and the cup cakes dec. Can you tell us, did you take your son to the In the air show and if so did he like it. We also have Saturday night fever booked but thinking on cancelling because the kids may be a bit too young for that show? Thanks

 

 

Our son is only three and a half so too young for the shows, he enjoyed the early parade though and there was a very good puppet show in the Sphinx Lounge on the sea day.We also had a good night watching a film on the big screen on the pool deck although it got a bit chilly.

 

We found all the staff love to see children about the boat so it helped us all enjoy the experience. The Dreamworks characters popped up at various times around the boat and this was always fun.

 

You've made a great decision doing the cup cake making, it was a highlight of ours with the Chef who ran it.

 

Have fun.

[Broch]

Our son is only three and a half so too young for the shows, he enjoyed the early parade though and there was a very good puppet show in the Sphinx Lounge on the sea day.We also had a good night watching a film on the big screen on the pool deck although it got a bit chilly.

 

We found all the staff love to see children about the boat so it helped us all enjoy the experience. The Dreamworks characters popped up at various times around the boat and this was always fun.

 

You've made a great decision doing the cup cake making, it was a highlight of ours with the Chef who ran it.

 

Have fun.

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I hope our experience is as good as yours