Quick LOS Thanksgiving Review Nov 19-26th

[widallas]

Just a brief review of our recent Liberty of the Seas holiday sailing. This was our third RCCL cruise, and third on Thanksgiving.

 

The good:

• Embarkation in Galveston was pretty quick and easy –we got there early, dropped passengers and parked, and were back and boarded by 1130am. We don't hate Galveston...but it's only an 1 1/2 hour drive for us.
  
• Last year was the first for LOS in Galveston, and it was a chaotic mess with the huge holiday crowds and a crew that seemed flustered and disorganized. HUGE change this year – crew was great, crowd and mealtime management was excellent, and we had no service issues. In fact, service in the main dining room, and at both Chops and Giovanni’s were excellent. Overall, we were happy with the food quality in the Windjammer and MDR.
  
• In the Air was great – only show we saw on the cruise. The evening parties (including the 70’s dance party) were fun and well-attended.
  
• We have never gotten an invite to the Meet & Mingle – this year we got a card AND a call. Event had 70 people signed up – maybe 25-30 attended. Nice giveaways, a few refreshments but not much mingling. We also signed up for the Facebook group for our sailing – it was more informal and fun.
  

The FYI:

• My husband got the drink package, and I just bought drinks and the 10-punch card on day 4. We’d both skip the package next time – unless you like to drink a lot every day, it’s not worth it… and he mentioned several times he felt compelled to drink to make it worthwhile.
  
• I still brought wine – no corkage fee one night, but a fee the next. Hit or miss.
  
• First night done right – checked reservations when we boarded, and had a meal at Chops (early seating). BEST meal of the cruise.
  
• No evening room service, but the continental room service breakfast was still free and came on-time each time we ordered – fruit and coffee on the balcony for breakfast.
  

The excursions:

Finally convinced the hubby to do all off-ship excursions. SO much better this year!

• Costa Maya: Maya Chan – The reviews are excellent and spot-on for service and food at Maya Chan. The ride there IS long and bumpy, but we had a nice private are with hammock and chairs to welcome us along with a round of rum punch. They checked constantly to see if we needed more drinks, brought yummy chips with salsa and guac, and were all around a lovely staff. I had really wanted a Maya Chan shirt, and they even called over the see if the vendor had their order in and had them brought over for the day. Water is not the crystal clear blue that some want,and several people we talked to just took a taxi to the Mahahual strip for a prettier view and relaxing day. Maya Chan brought a lot of TLC, and I did like that the water toys, paddle boards and kayaks were free for use. They win on service.
  
• Roatan: Radical Adventures Catamaran – Again glad I trusted the great reviews. One of the other families on the trip was going on their third trip with Radical, and not hard to see why. Spent the day on a beautiful catamaran with maybe 15 people. Even though the port stop was shortened, it was still worth taking the trip – snorkeling conditions were not ideal, but the Captain, his wife and the crew made it more than worth it. Awesome food, super friendly and engaging people all around…you really feel like the put in the extra effort and it shows. And my teens always bring up Paige the Pina-Colada-thieving dog…. Would recommend and book again in a heartbeat.
  
• Cozumel: Just a quick port stop for shopping. We did try the Chocolateria Isla Bella – not cheap, but delicious and across the street from Crazy King Burrito. Next time though, I want to go back to Nachi Cocum.
  

The not so good:

• More upselling this time than I have noticed before. It’s true – you just had to say no. BUT the people pushing the packages were more aggressive IMHO, and twice when we said we already had reservations for specialty dining, they kept pushing the multi-meal deals and would just stare at you when you said no. Very awkward.
  

The bad to awful:

• Weird smell in the cabin that just would not go away all week, and some areas are showing their age.
  
• Some kids (and adults) were pigs – half eaten food left on the rails, glasses left wherever, room service dishes all over the halls. There were lots of kids, and some inebriated parents hell-bent on using their drink packages that did not monitor their kids. Overall, the kids and families were good – there are just SO MANY people this week that issues are always going to be more apparent... and a few parents should have just left their kids at home.
  
• Finally, this time we felt the nickel-and-diming that people have complained about recently – extra charges for room service, up-selling for everything, and if there was a way to make an extra penny, Royal seemed to find it. Jade – I looked forward to the sushi at Jade in the Windjammer, but no sushi. Why? Because they put a tiny cart and charged $8-12 for sushi plates in the promenade. AND took out the 1-day sushi buffet that we loved last year in the MDR at lunch. Again – charges for Ben & Jerry’s, charges for room service, charges for cupcakes, increasing charges for specialty dining, RIDICULOUS charge for mediocre internet service quality, corkage fees for the wine you bring on-board…. I know Royal needs to pay for those big boats they are building, but with record profits I think they are starting to miss the mark on customer TLC.
  

Overall, an OK cruise -- who can complain about sailing for a week with great weather, everything taken care of and a balcony to boot? LOS was markedly better in service and organization this year. I think we enjoyed the excursions, liked many things about the ship, but are ready for a break from holiday cruising and so much up-charging. Liberty overall is a wonderful ship...but we'll likely try another line or at least another ship next time, just for comparison and to move away from family cruising to couple cruising.

Edited November 30, 2017 by widallas
typos

[Biker19]

RIDICULOUS charge for mediocre internet service quality

In terms of performance on any cruise line, it doesn't get any better than O3B, which Liberty has.

[Clarea]

Good to hear that Galveston is working more smoothly now.

[BethV114]

Liberty was the first cruise ship my husband and I ever sailed. We were hooked after that, and stuck with Royal for several cruises until Allure. That ship was just too big for us, and we didn't love how our daughter (15 months at the time) was treated, so we went over to Celebrity, and had many happy cruises with them. We just did an MSC cruise this spring that we also quite enjoyed. We are now returning to Royal and Liberty next year, combining a cruise with a trip to Texas to visit family. I really appreciated your balanced review, and while I know things have changed since our last Royal cruise, I think that we will still have a good time.

[easyboy]

Thank you for the very objective review!

 

 

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[wolfganghowell]

Thanks for your review. We cruised over Halloween and it's interesting to note the differences and similarities. Never bothered by the upselling - we noticed them outside the WJ and Promenade but never approached. Didn't even see any drunks. Our embarkation was fantastic - we were on by 10:45 and our luggage was outside the room when they opened at 1 pm. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Keith1010]

Very well organized review.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write it.

 

Keith

[internetwhiz]

In terms of performance on any cruise line, it doesn't get any better than O3B, which Liberty has.

 

 

Liberty’s internet was terrible before summer 2017. They added new equipment on the ship, and there was a marked improvement between our March 2017 and August 2017 cruises on LB. i could actually Periscope at sea. They say the bands of O3B coverage don’t line up well with some of LBs itineraries. So I’ve heard. Anyway, it is better overall, but before that, it truly sucked!

[internetwhiz]

Good to hear that Galveston is working more smoothly now.

 

 

Galveston embark and disembark are vastly better these days. The new terminal helps so much.

[Biker19]

They say the bands of O3B coverage don’t line up well with some of LBs itineraries.

The only "bands" that would not line up is if Liberty went to a place like Iceland. There should be no issues with O3B itself between 45 deg N and S latitudes.

[Kmkub]

Nice review. Two things are the opposite of my review of our Thanksgiving cruise on the Indy.

 

First, we experienced no up-selling at all. It was noticeable and appreciated. Second, the food on the Indy was bad. Worst food ever on a cruise for us.

 

Thanks for posting.