Liberty - Just off - Quick to the point review

[douggw]

Just off Liberty Jan 29. There are so many very detailed reviews, and I've loved reading them and loved all the pics. This review is just a quick overview - no pics and a quick read.

 

2nd cruise with Royal, 12th cruise overall. Arrived day before from Salt Lake City, and as many have suggested, stayed at Drury Inn Hobby. Had Marriott reserved, but changed to Drury based on reviews here - and I made the right choice. Unlike Marriott Concierge floor, Drury has hot evening "reception" every night, and soda/popcorn all day. The evening reception was great. Hot breakfast in morning very good. Staff all super nice and rooms roomy and adequate. Would definitely stay there again.

 

Sunday morning, took Uber to port - quick and easy pickup within 5 minutes of ordering. Had four adults - cost was around $80 - and no shuttle hassle. Got to port around 10:30 and walked on to ship. No lines anywhere.

 

Ship is beautiful - well maintained, and doesn't show it's almost 10 year age. Had oceanview up front, overlooking helipad on Deck 7.

 

Two days at sea allowed ample time to explore ship. Activities around ship were not as plentiful as we found on Carnival ships, but perhaps they were planned around the average age of the cruisers on Liberty. Average age was probably around 68-70.

 

Staff all around the ship were excellent, especially room steward and waiter/asst waiter. Food in dining room was good, but as others have mentioned, not very creative, but still was good and no complaints. Didn't do any specialty dining, felt no need to.

 

First port - Roatan. Took a tour with Rony and went to Monkey Sanctuary and it was better than expected. He's making bank though with the $10 admission fee, but we were glad we went. Delivered toys/candy to a school, stopped at cameo factory and went snorkeling in West Bay. Great day - loved every minute of it.

 

Second port - Belize. Tendering not very organized. No updates. Of course, those booking excursions through the ship get priority, which isn't really that fair. Others have to get up early and wait in a very long line to get your "tender assignment" and then wait and wait and wait. The tender assignment meant nothing. It was never checked - just a way to help control the crowd. From the time we were tied up and stopped, it was two hours before the first "non-Royal excursion" tender was called. Waste a time. Booked a tour with Lamanai Belize Tours to go to Lamanai, but because of the time we finally reached port, we opted to go to Altun Ha ruins instead which we thoroughly enjoyed. Our driver was knowledgeable and friendly.

 

Third port - Cozumel. Not much to do here except go to the beach. We went to Paradise Beach and it was ..well..paradise! Great beach, great beach toys, and no vendors. Enjoyed it immensely.

 

Shows - Saturday Night Fever, Ice Show and In the Air shows were fantastic and not to be missed and made up for the other so-so shows.

 

Debarkation - very unorganized - staff didn't know what to do with us, had us lining up in multiple lines in halls, and didn't know where and when to send us. Times were earlier than posted however, which was good. We did carry off own luggage, since we had an 11:30 flight from Hobby.

 

Pre-arranged with GetMe (Uber alternative in Galveston since Uber can't pick up) and they told me they would have a car in the area the morning of our departure. Well, there was no car even close to the area. Waiting for 20 mins for the app to "locate a driver" and there were none. You would think they would have drivers in the area with two ships coming in at once. Took a taxi instead and arrived at airport at 9:30 with plenty of time to spare.

 

Royal doesn't have many no-charge food options, Carnival beats them hands down for this. Overall - great cruise. Had a great time, and a cruise is what you make of it.

[George C]

Glad you had a great cruise . Getme sounds interesting we normally get a town car service, we sail her again in exactly 3 months, Agree on tender for Belize , most likely will stay on the ship again for that port, was the Monkey Sanctuary a RCCL tour? We normally do Dolphin encounter but did that last year.

[ikirumata]

I was on the same cruise! :)

 

Did you by chance make it to the seafood buffet night in the Windjammer? :eek:

 

Lobster

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

Shrimp Cocktail

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Fresh made creps in orange sauce

Key Lime Pie

 

There was virtually no one there! I had to pinch myself when I didn't see a line for the lobster. I didn't feel so bad getting an extra couple servings...I was planning on stopping if it got busy, but by the time the Windjammer was closing, there were tons of tails left! Oh yes...carnage ensued at the casual dining restaurant! I personally thought the lobster served in the Windjammer was BETTER than the one served in the MDR. Maybe its because I wasn't wearing a suit and having to deal with the slow service (thats another story for my upcoming review).

 

It was a good night!

Edited January 30, 2017 by ikirumata
Lobster pic enlarged for your pleasure.

[davekathy]

douggw...thanks for posting your review of your Cruise. Good job. When we were on the Liberty (B2B 2011) In The Air was our favorite show. Our Cruise was the last Cruise before they brought on Saturday Night Fever. We would have liked to see that one.

[douggw]

Glad you had a great cruise . Getme sounds interesting we normally get a town car service, we sail her again in exactly 3 months, Agree on tender for Belize , most likely will stay on the ship again for that port, was the Monkey Sanctuary a RCCL tour? We normally do Dolphin encounter but did that last year.

 

No, none of our excursions are ship excursions. Did that only once in 12 cruises. Get more doing it on your own. We did Monkey with Rony's tours. Victor Bodden does it too.

[douggw]

I was on the same cruise! :)

 

Did you by chance make it to the seafood buffet night in the Windjammer? :eek:

 

Lobster

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Shrimp Cocktail

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Fresh made creps in orange sauce

Key Lime Pie

 

There was virtually no one there! I had to pinch myself when I didn't see a line for the lobster.

 

It was a good night!

 

 

Didn't make that, but as I don't like seafood, I wouldn't have liked it as much as you did ha ha! :-)

[ARCruisinNana]

What night was the seafood buffet?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ikirumata]

What night was the seafood buffet?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Day 7. Last Sea Day.

 

Also, that day, there was an Izumi sushi buffet in the MDR for lunch.

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Turns out that the sushi was the same sushi on the Windjammer buffet in the evenings. My vegetarian wife loved it! Lots of options for her. I thought it was excellent for buffet sushi. Probably not as good as your local sushi joint, but I had no problem stuffing myself with it. :)

[George C]

No, none of our excursions are ship excursions. Did that only once in 12 cruises. Get more doing it on your own. We did Monkey with Rony's tours. Victor Bodden does it too.

 

Thanks, totally agree, we try to avoid RCCL excursions

[ikirumata]

Didn't make that, but as I don't like seafood, I wouldn't have liked it as much as you did ha ha! :-)

 

Fair enough! It was glorious though ;)

[ARCruisinNana]

Day 7. Last Sea Day.

 

 

 

Also, that day, there was an Izumi sushi buffet in the MDR for lunch.

 

 

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

 

 

Turns out that the sushi was the same sushi on the Windjammer buffet in the evenings. My vegetarian wife loved it! Lots of options for her. I thought it was excellent for buffet sushi. Probably not as good as your local sushi joint, but I had no problem stuffing myself with it. :)

 

 

Thanks! Looks good.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[39august]

Been on LB several times and often eat in the WJ. Never have seen lobster! I will definitely be on the lookout for seafood night there when next on in May!! I have seen the sushi buffet in the MDR at lunch several times. LB also sometimes has a pasta made to order bar in the MDR for lunch. We've always been happy with the WJ food on LB.

[easyboy]

Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for the review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Dick and Jane]

Next time ur in Belize try the cave tubing ! You can pre book with several companies on the internet or grab a tour on the pier!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Junkhouse]

I agree they need to check tickets before getting on Belize tenders. Saw too many people cutting and staff looked puzzled when there were stilll a lot of people left from third tender group and the allotted tenders were full. We booked our excursion with RCCL and we were over an hour late in starting.

[Cel_cruise]

I am trying to decide what to book for our Belize day and thus tendering chatter has me nervous.

 

I had been planning to do cave tubing with an outside agency. Would you recommend that? Or is the tender process too disorganized and time consuming to miss all of that time?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Merion_Mom]

I was on the same cruise! :)

 

Did you by chance make it to the seafood buffet night in the Windjammer? :eek:

 

Lobster

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

Shrimp Cocktail

Untitled by ikirumata, on Flickr

 

Fresh made creps in orange sauce

Key Lime Pie

 

There was virtually no one there! I had to pinch myself when I didn't see a line for the lobster. I didn't feel so bad getting an extra couple servings...I was planning on stopping if it got busy, but by the time the Windjammer was closing, there were tons of tails left! Oh yes...carnage ensued at the casual dining restaurant! I personally thought the lobster served in the Windjammer was BETTER than the one served in the MDR. Maybe its because I wasn't wearing a suit and having to deal with the slow service (thats another story for my upcoming review).

 

It was a good night!

 

:eek: :eek:

[BillOh]

Ship is beautiful - well maintained, and doesn't show it's almost 10 year age.

 

Thanks for the reminder that she is 10 years old. The only time I saw her was when she first came to Miami for a 2 day press cruise, she was parked behind Majesty when we boarded her in 2007. That was when I first saw the Penguins.

[cpayne]

I was on the same cruise! :)

 

Did you by chance make it to the seafood buffet night in the Windjammer? :eek:

 

 

Is the seafood night in the Windjammer a Liberty "thing" or is this a RCL thing? I've not heard of that and would love it! We'll be on the Harmony in March and wondering if we'll have this "treat" too. What night was this?

 

Thanks.

[39august]

Sadly, the penguins have been removed. Don't have a clue why. LB may be 10 years old, but she had an extensive dry dock Jan. 2015.

[George C]

Sadly, the penguins have been removed. Don't have a clue why. LB may be 10 years old, but she had an extensive dry dock Jan. 2015.

 

Pretty sure dry dock was last year, we sailed a few months later , 2016

[ikirumata]

Is the seafood night in the Windjammer a Liberty "thing" or is this a RCL thing? I've not heard of that and would love it! We'll be on the Harmony in March and wondering if we'll have this "treat" too. What night was this?

 

Thanks.

 

I have NEVER heard of this on any ship. My theory is that there was some miscommunication on which night was supposed to be formal night. The dining room at one point thought it was going to be Thursday (Belize) and it ended up being on Friday (Cozumel). Im wondering if not enough people showed up and the ones on the buffet were there to get rid of stock. Who knows. I think we observed a unicorn for sure! Never hurts to check out the Windjammer every night to see what pops up. I for one loved the Indian selections every night. The biryani was awesome (different flavors every night)!

[39august]

George, you are correct. It was Jan. 2016. My bad.

[Kaydee1917]

We were on the 1/22 sailing too. Can someone please explain why people with numbers in the 20's and 30's were getting off the ship with people who had numbers between 1-10. It was chaos in the terminal with luggage. Never had that happen on other cruises including last year on Liberty. Maybe a couple of line cutters but nothing like it was this past sunday. The number system is designed to have the low numbers at the exit of terminal and the higher numbers closer to the entrance of terminal and allows for orderly picking up luggage.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Kaydee1917

[Bontemps Cruiser]

There may have not been penguins, but there was twenty pineapples in the suite lounge. It should have sweeten the place but some of them them are experts at souring the suite's experience. Myself included. Not sure why they combine the two populations.