Liberty cruise report | 032016-032716 | Falmouth, George Town, Cozumel

[Paul65]

Those pool deck pictures look so strange without people in them...

[wolfganghowell]

Britney - you're no chicken. We're on the 5/29 sailing and even if it's up, I'm not sure I would go on it without a few 100 guinea pigs ahead of me.

 

Where's M BA? I'm drooling in anticipation.... I hate when real life gets in the way of a great review!

[nativetexan]

Appreciate the review and pics!

[M_BA]

 

:eek: June is when WE will be on there. I was sure hoping that it was up & running with plenty of time to get the kinks worked out before it was our turn. :D Does that mean I am a little bit of a chicken?

 

I think they should let us see some test runs with oversize watermelons. It could be quite entertaining!

[M_BA]

Those pool deck pictures look so strange without people in them...

 

You should have seen the six hundred pissed off people cordoned off so I could get clear pictures with no people in them! LOL - Just kidding!

 

I took those pictures just after Noon, before the others began to trickle into the water activities.

[M_BA]

Britney - you're no chicken. We're on the 5/29 sailing and even if it's up, I'm not sure I would go on it without a few 100 guinea pigs ahead of me.

 

Agreed, I want to see real world participants in three meter swells with 60kmph winds before I go up the ladder.

 

Where's M BA? I'm drooling in anticipation.... I hate when real life gets in the way of a great review!

 

I'm here off and on, I'd be a bit farther along if I hadn't FUBAR'd my first thread!

[M_BA]

Boarding the ship, I was excited to see how 10-15 years of technological advancement had changed the experience on board the ship. One such feature that stood out for me were all the touch-screen monitors that held various ship information. As there are monitors all over the ship, one can look up deck plans, activities, menus for all the restaurants, etc. The only concern I had was using the same screen as several thousand other people. So, I only used them was when I was then directly heading to a restroom.

 

 

The Photo Gallery and Shop also embraced technology. Gone were the 10,000+ pictures hanging from every wall surface. In their place are computer kiosks, where one can peruse and order pictures.

 

Our mandatory Muster drill was quite a bit different than in the past. Our 'Muster station' was the MDR. I was not too happy to not be taken to our actual station and vessel. In the past, everyone has had to show up at the actual Muster station, with life vest on. I think this is especially important for children to know the actual details of the drill. We sat for about 30 minutes, listening to instructions in English, then Spanish, then Portuguese and finally in German. A few RCCL staff walked around showing the life vest but it was a poor presentation at best.

 

Just after the 4:30 PM sail away, we headed back to the room to see if our luggage had arrived. It hadn't, so there was no necessary prep work, at least for me!, before dinner. We headed to the MDR around 5:20 PM. We chose the early dining, at 5:30 PM.

 

I learned through Cruise Critic that dining requests could be sent about three weeks out to rcldining@rccl.com

 

I sent a request on March 8th, 2016 and received confirmation back from RCCL the same day. Our request was fairly simple; the request was for a larger table, 8 top or 10 top, next to a window. Meeting others while on vacation is enjoyable to us, and dining rooms on a cruise ship are a perfect opportunity. We were assigned to an 8 top on deck 5, right next to a panoramic window. It was just what we wanted.

 

When we arrived at our table. There was one gentleman already seated. We introduced ourselves as did the solo traveler Kevin. Kevin was retired and cruised on a regular basis. He was a D+ and gave us great insight about the D lounge. No one else showed up for our table, so it was just the three of us to enjoy dinner together. We got along well and enjoyed our conversation with Kevin.

 

As have many things, the MDR has changed since early 2000. Gone are the five course meals, though one can still order all the selections to create a five course meal from the menu. The three course setup is proactive to move people through the MDR more quickly, if they wish to. What really stood out was that, even on a full capacity ship, how quickly our selections came out to us. The galley has adapted to quicker turnaround from order to table delivery. This impressed me.

[gambler]

Loving your review, the compasses and the pictures! Thank-you

[kbubbles]

This is excellent! Thank you!

[caseythegr]

I see beautiful, glorious pictures!!!! Thanks for the time that you out into your review!

 

Ditto! Can't wait for Sunday.

Laurie

[BLAMBKY]

I think they should let us see some test runs with oversize watermelons. It could be quite entertaining!

 

 

 

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] Entertaining yes but unless it is working safely they would never get live people to try it out!

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[Konasteve]

Great review so far, love all the pictures!

[M_BA]

The Sunday MDR menu was Mojo. I ordered a Caesar salad, eggplant & artichoke tart and one of my favorites, shrimp cocktail. I also requested some fresh horseradish. This particular tart was new to me, and it was rich in flavor and well complimented on the crisp French bread. RCCL has done chilled shrimp forever and it was plump, tasty and well garnished with a tasty cocktail sauce. I added a little bit of horseradish to the cocktail sauce to give a bit more bite. The greens in the Caesar salad were decent quality, not superb nor sub-par.

 

 

My better half ordered the Escargots Bourguignonne but didn't like it. I was too busy eating my first two courses to bother raiding her cast off. For dinner, Lisa ordered Seafood Spaghetti; which consisted of Bay scallops, crab meat, mussels and peas with a lemon-Chardonnay reduction.

 

 

I ordered the slow-roasted Prime Rib medium rare, with seasonal vegetables, baked potato and natural rosemary with jus. The quality of the prime rib was on par with some of the best I have ever ordered. The fresh horseradish added the kick I like in food. The veggies were crisp, cooked just long enough to warm. The potato was good, not superb.

 

 

My wife and Kevin both ordered dessert, while I opted for my liquid dessert, another Heineken. We continued to talk to Kevin, until our waiter politely asked we leave so they could prepare for the late seating. We would be asked nightly to depart as we always lingered in conversation, always in a very cordial and professional way.

 

I've seen varied reports on the decline of the MDR food choices and quality. The menu looked similar to past ones in terms of choices. For those who have cruised a bit, there are also a lot of items 'off menu' that the galley can whip up easily with available ingredients. As for the quality, it was top notch our first night. the salad greens weren't top notch, but were nothing to complain about, either. I was impressed by the MDR galley our first evening.

 

RCCL Main Dining Room seven day menu:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDV282aVBtVzB0dms

Edited April 19, 2016 by M_BA
MDR menu

[caseythegr]

I ordered a Caesar salad, eggplant & artichoke tart and one of my favorites, shrimp cocktail. I also requested some fresh horseradish. This particular tart was new to me, and it was rich in flavor and well complimented on the crisp French bread.

RCCL has done chilled shrimp forever and it was plump, tasty and well garnished with a tasty cocktail sauce. I added a little bit of horseradish to the cocktail sauce to give a bit more bite. The greens in the Caesar salad were decent quality, not superb nor sub-par.

My better half ordered the Escargots Bourguignonne but didn't like it. I was too busy eating my first two courses to bother raiding her cast off. For dinner, Lisa ordered Seafood Spaghetti; which consisted of Bay scallops, crab meat, mussels and peas with a lemon-Chardonnay reduction.

I ordered the slow-roasted Prime Rib medium rare, with seasonal vegetables, baked potato and natural rosemary with jus. The quality of the prime rib was on par with some of the best I have ever ordered. The fresh horseradish added the kick I like in food. The veggies were crisp, cooked just long enough to warm. The potato was good, not superb.

 

I had a bowl of spinach for dinner :( , now I am really hungry!

Thanks

Laurie

[M_BA]

I had a bowl of spinach for dinner :( , now I am really hungry!

Thanks

Laurie

 

Were your greens crisp and tasty? Did you do your best Popeye imitation while enjoying your spinach? :p

[caseythegr]

Were your greens crisp and tasty? Did you do your best Popeye imitation while enjoying your spinach? :p

 

aye matey (said in my best Popeye voice!).

[M_BA]

After dinner, we returned to our cabin and found our bags inside our room. We unpacked them and I then took in the beautiful sunset. I really appreciate the view of the ocean, especially sunrises and sunsets.

 

 

It helps to remind me that life is often too short and to be fully enjoyed. It also helps to remind me that on my worse day, I'm still better off then 99.99% of the world. It helps put into perspective the trivial nature of many irritants in life that aren't worth wasting any time over.

 

 

After the sunset, we headed down to the Promenade to take in the atmosphere and entertainment. We chose to skip the evening show 'Welcome Aboard with Andy Hendrickson' and the Ice Skating show.

 

As the winds were quite gusty and it was cool outside, the interior Promenade was hopping. The ship was at full capacity, but never felt like were were smothered. We bounced around several venues before retiring to our room around O' dark thirty.

[Texas Cruise Girl]

Great photos and review. We are sailing on Liberty in May.

[M_BA]

I am a morning person, waking up well before sunrise daily, with no alarm clock. My wife is not a morning person, who considers her alarm clock evil. So, for our vacation I promised to let her sleep in on sea days and enjoy being on vacation. On port days, all's fair in love and war to 'rick roll' her out of bed and off the cruise ship!

 

Each day brings new adventures on a cruise, to plan these the Cruise Compass is of a certain importance. Below is the day two compass:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 Compass download:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9DWThq8FEXDdWlwTXB6MUwtVGM

[M_BA]

There's nothing quite like an early Monday morning on a cruise ship. No cell phone ringing, no text message, no 'urgent' emails, no necessity to try to be in four places at the same time.

 

I awakened early and spent the sunrise reading a book on my Kindle, Medusa's Child by John Nance. I even missed taking a sunrise photo...oops!

 

 

I headed to the Windjammer at 7:00 AM for some black coffee and returned to read some more. It was quite empty, and I didn't have to get Purel squired into my hands, either!

 

Around 8:00 I headed back to the Windjammer and had breakfast solo. The cooked whole ham carving station immediately appeared on my radar. I then honed in on some bacon from the poor piglet and some hash browns. I also added some institutional scrambled eggs to see if they were still quite 'institutional'. In one word, "yes".

 

 

My expectations for food are lowest for breakfast choices in the Windjammer, based on previous experience. The whole ham was quite moist and flavorful. I would enjoy this protein almost every morning all week! The bacon is fine, not thick high end but also not 50% fat. It was about the same I'm used to on a cruise ship. The starches, potato tater tots, varied day to day in quality. Some came out too greasy, some were spot on, and some were very well done and dry.

 

As I left the beverage station, with an orange juice and water, a Windjammer staff member approached me and asked to carry my drinks for me. After being seated, she than asked if I needed and garnishments, ketchup - thank you, and also brought me back a black coffee. I was not expecting this sort of service in a buffet setting. I would receive this exact same service every morning in the early hours. When they aren't yet busy, the staff goes out of their way to cater to the passengers.

 

The water, on the rocks, was just fine. It was lacking alcohol by about 100% but was smooth. The orange juice came in two versions; warm and full strength, or cold and watered down by all the ice. Neither were worth writing home about.

[Mickeygrl71]

Wonderful review! Keep it coming. DH and I have 160 days to go and I am already getting jumpy. 😊

 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[tonyweir]

Thanks for the great review! We're on Liberty July 31. Last RCI cruise was in 2007. We've been on Princess and Carnival since but are looking forward to coming back to Royal.

Edited April 19, 2016 by tonyweir

[fonekween]

We are in Tulsa & enjoying your review!

[Nemomof3]

Great review! Thanks