Liberty review with comparison to Magic

[moongal]

Just off a 4 day cruise to Cozumel on the Liberty. This was my second cruise, with my previous cruise being on the Magic. So I will compare the 2 for anyone wondering about the difference between dream class and conquest class.

 

I was traveling with my 17 yr old son, my 15 yr old daughter, my 49 yr old sister, 56 yr old sister in law my 73 yr old mom and my 52 yr old self. Only one guy in the bunch, but he didn't seem to mind.....too much anyway.....except when the dinner conversation one night included the topic of using our bosoms as a secret hiding spot to carry things!

 

We all live near SW Houston, (Sugar Land, Friendswood) so we just had my dad, who won't cruise unless they would let him go down in the bowels of the ship and tinker with the engines or other tinkery type activity, drop us all off at the port.

 

We all had miraculously managed to score FTTF for all 3 cabins, despite booking this cruise pretty much last minute. (About a month before sailing)

Which made getting thru the check in pretty easy. We got to the port about 1120 and had gone through all the check in and were sent to sit in the priority waiting area to board around noon. We sat there maybe 10 mins when they started boarding and were on the ship in no time. We had carried our luggage on and so went straight to our rooms to unpack.

 

After briefly unpacking we went to EAT!! Yay food!! After enjoying some delicious Guys Burgers, we set off to roam about till the Muster Drill FROM HELL!!!! Seriously. I have seldom experienced such a TORTUOUS HELL. They sounded the alarm or signal to head to our muster stations and I was all relaxed and happy because I had been thru muster drill on the Magic, which was an easy peasy short event held in an air conditioned lounge room. If I had known the sheer hell I was fixing to have to endure I think I might have just jumped ship. We were all herded onto some outer deck on deck 4.....I was never able to find this same area ever again during our trip so I can only assume that if the ship were sinking I'd have to sink along with it. Any way we were herded onto some outer deck right in front of a lifeboat. They started packing us in tighter and tighter. Kept saying move back, move back, make more room. I could feel the sweaty bodies of the people behind me getting pressed into me. The sweaty people in front were starting to touch me as we were pressed even tighter into this area. I could feel the panic rising up in me because I am claustrophobic, but tried to keep my calm because I figured it would be short like on the Magic. Keep in mind this is July in Texas. It was outside. There was no air moving as the lifeboats blocked any air coming in. The temperature began to get unbearable. People were beginning to look drenched. The thing hadn't even started yet and we were all starting to wilt. A lady behind me flat out sat down on the floor because she was going to pass out. The young boy behind me did start to pass out and his mother was holding him begging the drill Sargent to please get him some water and all he replied was that there was water on the lifeboat! We were all like omg are we going to have to get in those things???? We all crowded ourselves a bit more together to give the lady with the fainting son a little air and space but then an elderly man began to sway and the people all started getting fed up and started begging to be released from this hell. The drill Sargent said no we could not be released and we had to wait because the captain was in the bathroom. Whatever that had to do with it is beyond me, but I seriously began to fear for myself as well since I am old fat and quite out of shape and the heat was really starting to get to me.

 

After what seemed an eternity and with the fear rising in me that the people were all fixing to mutiny they finally started counting us and then after what seemed forever they started the safety lecture. At this point I was all like "I'll take the drowning". It seemed quite a waste of time as I seriously doubt any of us was paying one hoot of attention, I know I wasn't. All I could think of was getting out of there. I will probably NEVER sail the Liberty again unless it is the dead of winter so I won't ever have to experience that again. We all went back to our rooms after that to shower so we could remove all the other strangers sweat from our bodies. Eww!!!!!

 

Ok that was the only awful thing that I have to relate. Everything else was pretty much good times.

 

Steward was nice the one time I met him. Had him empty the mini bar and we filled it with our own water and oj. We had the twice a day service and everything seemed quite tidy and nice

 

Lol since I am getting tired of pecking this out on my phone will just kind of give over view from here out!

 

Comparison of Liberty versus Magic

 

When we were on the Magic last year we felt it was the most awesome time ever. So I feel like it was kind of unfair to the Liberty since the Magic is a dream class and the Liberty is smaller ship, but I will compare anyway.

 

The decor seemed to me to be equal. Both ships seemed quite glitzy and beautiful. I loved both the same. The crowds on Magic were way worse though than on the Liberty. I didn't realize it at the time when we were on Magic because I had nothing to compare it to, but it definitely was way more crowded on the Magic. It was nice on the Liberty to be able to go to a comedy show and just show up pretty much at the last minute and still get a seat. We had to get in line an hour before hand to try to get a seat to the comedy shows and production shows on Magic.

 

The shows on Magic were WAY better. The shows on Liberty were BORING!!! and I usually love singing and dancing. I think maybe we were spoiled by the great shows on the Magic. This might explain why there was no problem getting seats on the Liberty.

 

The teen club on Magic was a happening place. The teen club on Liberty was a dead dud.

 

Food.

 

When we were on the Magic the American Table hadn't been rolled out yet. I will have to say the food on the Magic seemed to be better. There seemed to be many more choices on the menu anyway. The portions were teeny tiny on the Liberty, and there just didn't seem to be as many choices. I never left hungry but it was all just kind of meh. This was in the MDR.

 

The chocolate melting cake on the Liberty was to die for and made me understand what everyone was all gaga about! When I tried it on the Magic they might as well of been serving me chocolate soup it was so runny and watery. The one I got on the Liberty was cooked much better and I had it served with ice cream and it was so good ordered it a couple of times. Apparently the key to this dessert it getting it cooked well. One time they brought it and it was all runny like on the Magic, not NEAR as good.

 

There seemed to be a lot more selling lectures etc on the Liberty than the Magic. Seemed like just generally overall there was more to do on the Magic. But it was nice not to be so crowded.

 

The smoke was TERRIBLE on the Liberty. It seemed to permeate the entire 5 deck. I had to practically hold my breath to be able to traverse deck 5 promenade deck so I don't understand why they can't close in the casino or use some kind of air scrubber. It was awful.

 

Lido food seemed equal to Magic

 

Alchemy bar was a total dud on the Liberty. I may have just picked the wrong time to go, but the ladies bar tending were super rude and would not make anything we asked for. Only thing they would do is whatever was on the alchemy menu. So I guess I misunderstood what the alchemy bar was supposed to do. Nothing special I guess.

 

Over all despite whatever negative thing I might have written about we all had the time of our lives and would definitely do it again!!

 

I'm already planning my next cruise.

 

Any questions, I'll be happy to answer!