B2B Liberty of the Seas for Christmas and New Year! Review

[Upinthehills]

We are a family of 20 ranging in age from 82 to seven.  For a few of us, this was their first time cruising.  Most of us have cruised 15 - 20 times.  We think this is a great family vacation for a large group because there is always something going on to suit each individual.  We booked this 21 months in advance and had a string of Jr Suites on deck 10.

We flew from Denver to Houston the day before sailing.  We used Galveston Shuttle and Limo to pick us up from the airport and take us to our hotel in Galveston and again to pick us up from the cruise terminal and take us back to Hobby Airport.  Both times they were exactly where they said they'd be and when they said they'd be there.  Could not have been easier.

 

We spent one night out at Moody Gardens in Galveston.  We had hopes that some would want to wander out and see what Moody Gardens has to offer, but no one did that. Many of us did eat at the buffet that night and it was pretty good.   A few used Uber to go into town to shop or go out to eat.  Nice hotel, decent and convenient food, decent but overpriced bar.  If we do this again, I might try to find another hotel.

 

The next morning at 9:00 AM saw us taking a shuttle to the cruise pier.  Check in for the cruise was very easy, we never waited in a line.  We were seated in the suite area after check-in.  All of the cruise and port personnel were friendly and helpful.  We were able to board the ship at about 10:30.  We headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast/lunch and to wait for our rooms.  At the entrance to the Windjammer there was a gingerbread village that was very cute.  We all ate then many of us wandered the ship until our rooms were ready.

 

What a beautiful ship!  The Promenade on deck 5 is gorgeous.  There was a giant Christmas tree, garland, and poinsettias decorating the promenade. There were also some Christmas Trees made by the crew from recycled materials.  It was fun to look at them and see if we could identify the materials.  The pool areas are very nice, I especially liked the water park for the kids.  Many hours were spent there by the kids in our group. Many of us did the slides later during the trip and most  said it was fun, but the joints in the tubes kind of hurt.  I think the Tidal Wave was the most fun of the slides.  None of us did the Flow Rider.  The Serenity pool is lovely and mostly peaceful.

 

We got to go to our rooms at about 12:30.  Really nice rooms, they were huge compared to other Jr Suites we've sailed in, and I really loved the walk-in closet.  It was nice having that second dressing room and all of that storage space.  After getting settled in the room we went off to explore the ship some more and take advantage of the drink package!  I think most days we got our money's worth out of the drink package.  We always got a latte in the morning, and multiple bottles of water throughout the day, plus four or five cocktails or beers in the afternoon and evening. 

 

The seven and 13 year olds both tried Adventure Ocean.  The seven year old loved it and went back often.  I don't think the 13 year old had a lot of fun, but he enjoyed lots of time with all of his cousins.

 

The one rule when we are all sailing like this is that we all have to go to dinner each night.  We can all do whatever we want the rest of the time, but we all get together that one time each day.  We had three tables, one for 10, and two for six.  We would all shift around each evening to mix up who we were sitting with.  We had wonderful wait staff, Mark and Irelle are rock stars.  The Maitre D' checked on us a few times and ensured we could keep our same tables and wait staff both weeks.  I'm sure if we had wanted a change that would have been arranged too.  Most of the food in the dining room was good.  The menus week to week were mostly the same.  The stand out meals were the lobster, the ravioli, the Wellington, and the beef tenderloin.  I also really enjoyed the crab cakes, the shrimp cocktail, the Caeser salad,  the warm chocolate cookie, Grand Marnier soufflé, warm chocolate melting cake, and the coconut shrimp.  Our waiter, Mark, also worked in the Cafe Promenade early, then moved over to Sorrentos for lunch.  He always treated us as family and we got extra attention from him.  He was a delight.

 

I was most impressed with the Headliner shows we attended.  I think the entertainment as a whole was the best of any ship I've been on.  We went to ice shows, comedy shows, small venue music, and In the Air.  We didn't make it to Saturday Night Fever.  Really, I was impressed with the quality of the entertainment.  We also played trivia quite often.  We never win, but we have fun playing.  I think trivia should be moved to a bigger venue, the Schooner Bar just isn't big enough for everyone and if you're out on the edges it's really hard to hear.  The game shows we saw were mostly fun and entertaining, as they should be.  The only one I wasn't impressed with was the Family Feud and we left early.

 

Our first port was Roatan.  12 of us did the BOSS Underwater Adventure.  It was fun, but I don't think I'd do it again.  We were herded around to see a reef and the staff were feeding so we had a lot of fish around.  The air pressure filling the helmet was constantly bubbling out so it was loud.  After the BOSS we could swim and snorkle, and that part was a lot of fun.

 

Our second stop was at Costa Maya.  It was a rough sea day so most shore excursions were cancelled.  We had reservations at Maya Chan Beach and were able to add those of  us with cancelled excursions to our group.  When we found out about the cancelled excursions I emailed and texted the numbers provided and got responses back from both.  They were happy to add more to our palapa.  I really enjoyed this day.  It's a small, kind of funky, beach club.  There was a lot of sea grass that day, and it was windy, but we had a great time anyway.  The food was excellent, the drinks were strong, and we were well cared for.  I would go there again tomorrow if I could.

 

Next we headed to Cozumel.  16 of us went to Mr. Sancho's.  Mr. Sancho's is always fun and we all had a good time.  The coconut shrimp is outstanding, as is the shrimp cocktail.  The whole fried fish was really good too.  The mixed drinks are very weak, but they'll bring you all you want.  Most of us paid the extra $12 for the water park and there was a lot of climbing and splashing going on.  The beach massages are also really good here.  I had a relaxing massage, 45 minutes for $60.  It was worth every penny.  The seas were still a little rough, but not too bad.

 

After a couple of sea days we did turnaround day back in Galveston.  We each received a note in our cabins explaining the procedure.  We could either go down to guest services early and get our new SeaPass card if we wanted to get off in Galveston, which some of us did.  Or we could meet in the Star Lounge to be escorted off and through customs.  Most of us did this.  It was all pretty smooth except that customs was a mess.  It took over an hour to get through so that we could get back on the ship.  After clearing customs we were invited to a private lunch in the dining room, which was very nice.  There were maybe 30 of us that chose this option.  With our new Sea Pass cards we were all given In Transit cards so that we could go back to our rooms before the rest of the rooms were ready.

 

Our second cruise had one sea day then our first stop back in Cozumel.  This time all 20 of us headed to Mr. Sancho's.  More playing in the ocean, food, cocktails, and massages.  Another good day in paradise.

 

We then set sail for Grand Cayman.  My four went to Sting Ray City on the Deluxe Stingray City Sandbar excursion.  I would do this again, but I would try to find a smaller group. Our group had 102 in it and it just wasn't enough individual time.  As a bonus we got to watch a small boat sink on the sandbar!  We were all torn between watching the rays and watching the drama of the sinking boat.  They were safe as they were on the sandbar, but I don't think their day got better after that.  The police were there when we left.  One of our guides was mad they were even there because they didn't have the right permits and then they sank a boat right in the middle of the sandbar.

 

Our final port was in Falmouth, Jamaica.  I had a heck of a time deciding what to do here.  Most of the excursions are a long bus ride and many of them we had done before.  I finally found Jamaica Culinary Tours here on Cruise Critic.  It was outstanding! Our tour guide, Steve, met us inside the port.  My four were joined by another couple and we set out.  Some of the others in our family had tried to go out and walk around without a guide, but were constantly surrounded by people wanting to sell them something, braid their hair, take them in a taxi, etc.  Because we had a guide that didn't happen to our group.  Steve knew a lot of the people we saw and introduced us to many of them.  We learned about the history of the area from the Taino natives to the slave and sugar trade to the Georgian architecture.  We also stopped at street stalls for fresh fruit and sugar cane, coconut water and coconut, beef pattys (which are like an empanada or pasty,) we also had jerked chicken at Pepper's, and finished up with cookies in a lovely garden.  The walking wasn't bad, you'd walk a few blocks then stop to eat something or stop to talk about a building or event.  Really, really well done.  I would do this again in a heartbeat!

 

The last two days were sea days and we all got to relax and enjoy the ship before packing up to head home.  As a whole, it was a fabulous trip. If we plan another big family trip like this we would consider the Liberty again.

[BSocial]

Enjoyed reading your review! 

[mcgore83]

Enjoyed your review.  Thank you for posting.

[CruiseGirl4ever]

Thank you for your helpful and enjoyable review!