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Just back from Liberty - Mini Review

pxy cda

By pxy cda,
in Royal Caribbean International

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pxy cda

pxy cda

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DH and I are 50ish, platinum members and sail X for the most part now.

 

We received a complimentary 5 day cruise through a program offered through our local casino/RCCL casino royal partnership. So this was a quick 5 day getaway leaving FLL on Nov 9 to simply take a quick break and relax.

 

Embarkation - we had a short delay but not terrible (given the ship took some extra time to clear customs having come off a transatlantic sailing) - we were boarded around 12pm as promised

cabin: we had an initial issue as past guests had smoked in the room:mad: so we had to have a "deep clean" requested. Our steward took care of it right away and got most of the stench out and he kept the room satisfactorily for the balance of the cruise - this set back was not the fault of the line but the bad behaviour of prior guests - I hope they are charged $$ for the cleaning. It delayed our ability to get unpacked until the cleaning was complete. Aft view JS was a great size and the view was nice off the back of the ship. Bathtub was nice and it was neat to soak on the rough sea day with the water sloshing with the motion of the ship :rolleyes: - the extra room and storage in the JS was great. They do need to upgrade the sad, dirty worn little chairs and tiny table to something a bit more usable for the balcony so we didn't really relax on the balcony as much as we have on other cruises.

Sail away - was about an hour delayed. We had a cocktail party in the casino with our host and received our VIP stickers (drinks for the duration in the casino :p) at this point we were hungry so we headed up to MTD to see if we could move to an earlier seating and were immediately accommodated

MTD - what a highlight of the cruise! Loved our waitstaff - Melvin and Misa - so much we reserved them for the entire cruise. Food was good - the rack of lamb and chocolate soufflé wowed, but lobster was tough/flavourless and duck was inedible (that said they worked hard to make it right). Overall food was better in MD than the meals on Independence a few years back. Not as good as X though but good enough to say we didn't go hungry. We had not done MTD before and it is nice to have the flexibility to reserve your table at the time you want to eat. It did make it hard to coordinate with show times and other activities and we missed having table mates/meeting new people - so I think we will stick to traditional late seating.

Room Service - we had a late lunch and several breakfasts delivered. It was better than the buffet but not as good as MD. Quite edible and nice not to have to battle the masses early in the day.

Ports - Belize tender looked to be a major hassle and long long line waiting to disembark onto tender, weather was threatening so we opted to skip the port and stay on the ship. Cozumel was fun - snorkel in the morning and shopping in the afternoon, gorgeous day and a nice snack and drink each in a little café along the main strip. I managed to barter for a couple of nice silver pieces of jewellery ;) and DH enjoyed a complimentary tequila shot here and there along the way..:rolleyes:

Spa - we each enjoyed the multi service package offered on Belize port day. DH had a great shave, facial head massage, foot massage etc and he really was happy with the close shave; I enjoyed a massage and mini facial. We both emerged relaxed with soft, smooth glowing faces.

Casino - we are both slot players and we got a surprising amount of play and hit a few jackpots. Jorge - my favorite waiter took excellent care of us and we whiled away a rough last day at sea trying unsuccessfully to hit a big one!:o

Disembarkation - took our bags off ourselves and after a short wait in our holding cell at the ice rink where coffee and pastries were provided, we were on our way off the ship Whooshed through customs and we were at our rental car place just before 8am! The fastest we've disembarked ever!

Overall - A nice little cruise that fit the bill as a quick getaway for some much needed R&R. No serious complaints and we could see the effort being made by every member of the ship we encountered. Wish we had a couple more WOW cards to distribute as there were more than one stand out for us. We would cruise RCCL again but it would depend on the itinerary and ship class. That said, it is hard to leave X as their solstice class ships have quickly become our favorite and hard to compare!

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pxy cda

pxy cda

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nice review. sailing the liberty soon and wonder if you remember which type of slots actually paid off. I never seem to have much luck.

 

No guarantees but if you are facing the bar go to the left with the staircase to your right and you will see a row of games with China Shores 3rd from the left - it and the two to the right of it were paying off nicely throughout the cruise as were the ones directly behind them. stay away from the dragon on the left - it did nothing but make a lot of noise no matter what denom was being played. WIshing you luck! Hit a big one.

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pxy cda

pxy cda

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nice review we will be on liberty for thanksgiving and we have a aft facing js can u tell me what js did u stay in what deck? do u hav any pics

 

we were on deck 7 in the middle directly above the royal suite. No pics but it was a good size room. If I was on a longer cruise I would have had the steward address the sad chairs but since weather wasn't great and we already had the smoke issue we just didn't really use it all that much other than to gaze out at the stars in the evening.

 

décor is a bit dated but cabin is a good size. Big walk in closet and oversized bathroom with tub.

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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we were on deck 7 in the middle directly above the royal suite. No pics but it was a good size room. If I was on a longer cruise I would have had the steward address the sad chairs but since weather wasn't great and we already had the smoke issue we just didn't really use it all that much other than to gaze out at the stars in the evening.

 

décor is a bit dated but cabin is a good size. Big walk in closet and oversized bathroom with tub.

 

Thanks for posting. We have a JS aft on deck 7 for our cruise in March. Hopefully no smokers the cruise before.

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emeraldcity

emeraldcity

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Thank you for the nice review ... I will be sailing on Liberty for Spring Break with my kids and their kids. I haven't sailed anything larger than voyager class, so I was wondering if service would be suffering on a larger ship. It's nice to hear that you feel the service was Wow-worthy.

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pxy cda

pxy cda

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Thank you for the nice review ... I will be sailing on Liberty for Spring Break with my kids and their kids. I haven't sailed anything larger than voyager class, so I was wondering if service would be suffering on a larger ship. It's nice to hear that you feel the service was Wow-worthy.

 

You're very welcome. She's a lovely ship and the officers were out and mingling a lot. She seems very well run. she isn't X but I have to say she gave us a lovely five days and I cant complain.

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pxy cda

pxy cda

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How were the shows?

 

even though we had every intention of going to the shows we got distracted by the great play in the casino, the great service in the spa and relaxing in the solarium and hottub and napping in our room. From what Ive read the ice show and sat night are great - others are hit and miss. Sorry cant give better help on this. The pianist in the schooner bar was good - we stopped and listened to him a few times when he was on.

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Skatetigger

Skatetigger

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We were on the same cruise, this was our first Royal experience (it was only our 2nd cruise, we did a 3 day on Disney). We had a great time although our disembarkation took much longer but we didn't carry our own luggage off. We didn't get off the ship till almost 11:30, we had a later number but were delayed due to a customs delay.

 

We saw the iceshow and it was great. We also saw In the Air and liked that as well. The showing of Saturday Night Fever was cancelled due to weather :( so we were a bit bummed,.

 

We did an excursion in Belize and tenders were a bit of a nightmare but mainly cause of the rain and lack of communication.

 

Overall we had great service we were just about mid ship on deck 7. Liked our cabin.

 

We actually can't wait to go back

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