Liberty 3/31-4/7...Great trip except for the gift!

[Got Out There]

Sailed Liberty of the Seas 3/31 - 4/7 out of Galveston and had a great time.  Little background, we are a couple in our 50's and have cruised far more cruises than our age ;).  We are pretty loyal to Royal although we do stray from time to time mix it up a little.  This was a last minute trip that we booked less than two weeks before departure.  We booked thru a travel agency online, their pricing for an inside was nearly half of what the RCCL website was stating.  There were only insides and a few ocean views available when we book, however on Wednesday before we sailed a balcony room became available for a very small amount, so we moved to a balcony.  Interesting enough when we call the travel site we booked through, they could not see the rate that I could on their own website.  We sent them a screen shot and they called RCCL and got us upgraded at the rate we wanted.  It was then we realized that it appeared that we were book under a special travel agency rate for travel agents and friends.  The only thing we could imagine is that these rates were loaded incorrectly for the public to see on some travel agency websites but not on RCCL.  Regardless, they honored the rate we saw online, which was by far one of the lowest fares we have paid for a one week cruise on RCCL...especially during spring break season.

 

We drove down from Dallas the night before and spent the night in Houston to avoid the longish (5 hours) drive the morning of the cruise.  We were alerted by RCCL that I45 would be closed due to construction at some point in between Houston and Galveston.  This allowed us to be adventurous and take a route through Seabrook and Kemah in highway 146 Sunday morning.  From the hotel we stayed at by IAH airport, the drive took a little over an hour and we arrived at 12:30.  Parked across the street at one of the private lots and walked to the terminal.

 

Arriving at the terminal the security line was about 100+ deep lined up outside the terminal and another couple hundred deep once you got inside.  The priority line for security at Galveston is now only for Suite, Pinnacle, and Key members....and there was no one in this line when we got inside of the building.  In the past they also include D+, however with the addition of the Key program it appears that they have stopped this for D+.  A little disappointing but the total wait for security was only about 45 minutes.  They still have the priority check in lines available once you have passed through security, in fact there was no line for D and above, we walked right up.  Check in was all of maybe five minutes and we were on board immediately.

 

We ended up with a balcony room mid-ship on deck 7.......here's a tip, use the forward elevators throughout the week.  There are two less elevators forward versus aft, but it seemed the vast majority of people used the aft elevators.  The forward elevators were much quicker unless you hit them when a show was finishing in the main theater.  Our room was in great shape and we received the usual excellent service from the cabin attendant.  As a note the entire ship was in excellent share and constantly being cleaned throughout the day.

 

Out cruise consisted of two sea days, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, and a sea day.  We were really looking mainly for some quality downtime together and time around the pool and beach.  On sea days we were at the pool by 9 and stay to 4 or 5 in the afternoon.  The first sea day was the busiest and by 11 most chairs on the deck above the pool were taken.  The other two sea days there were always a few empty chairs on the deck above the pool available.  As far as the chairs on the pool deck, these were generally taken well before we arrived.  For comparison, there are really only about 150 pool chairs on the pool deck that get sun during the day, while one deck above around the main pool there are several hundred chairs.  Additionally, there are all sorts of chairs around the kids area, sports area, solarium, even up by the miniature golf.

 

We purchased the Deluxe Drink Package ($46 per day +18%) in advance, I think on the ship it was $66 per day plus 18% gratuity.  We ended up spending all three sea days and two of our port days up on deck 12 above the main pool....they did have bar servers coming around taking orders, but it was not a frequent as in the past.  No big deal, a short walk to the bar and we were quickly served.  We did not get off the ship in Roatan and Belize, instead just stayed at the ships pool and pretty much had it ourselves (think less than 50 people for most of the day)!   Roatan we typically go over to West Bay but decided to stay on the ship and really relax.  In Belize we also stayed on the ship....if you have been here before you know it is a nice tender ride into the dock and there are no natural beached on the mainland.  In the past we have take the ship excursions to snorkel and a small private island which was nice.  One time we were very adventurous and tendered in, took a cab to a small airstrip, flew to Ambergris Cay, cab to small resort for the day and then the reverse.  Fun to do and not too pricey, but the thought of not making back to the ship does stay with you most of the day.....

 

Cozumel we got off around 8:30 and went to Paradise Beach Club for the day, $15 cab ride each way.  We have been here countless times and probably will not be back anytime soon...we loved this place when it first opened and over the years, but honestly it has become a victim of it's own success....it is way to crowded and the service has really suffered as a result.  They have added and all inclusive rate for the day, I think it is $63, or you can do the $3 and spend $10 minimum.  They have a great setup for the water inflatables and the pool is one of the best on the island...just way too many people. 

 

The entertainment was pretty good throughout the cruise and throughout the ship.  Comedians were very funny for both the main show and the late night adult shows.  Saturday Night Fever was okay.....the first performance the stopped 20 minutes into the show due to technical issues and then cancelled that show and the late show....the rescheduled it to the last night of the cruise.  We have seen this a few times before on the Liberty and this was one of the less talented casts...still good but just not as good as previously.  They had a cover band that was really good one night as the main show and then the next night they sang/performed in the schooner with Phil Anderson, this was really fun.  If you have been on this ship before you may know Phil, he does a great job keeping the crowed engaged at the schooner bar.

 

Food was typically RCCL.  This cruise we did not do any specialty dinning...we were going to but we ended up with some great table mates in the MDR.  We had all of our dinners in the MDR, food was okay to really good.  Windjammer we hit for breakfast and lunch and did the trick for us.

 

Overall it was a great trip and an outstanding price.  The Gift ....We are both fanatic hand washers and have never gotten sick on a cruise...well until now.  Fortunately it was on the way home that one of us started to get sick and it was not on the ship....visit to the doctor yesterday and tested positive for the Flu, both type A and type B!  Could have  picked it up in Cozumel, but more likely on the ship.

 

Anyway, I typed a lot and probably provided nothing new...but I would be happy to try and answer any questions you may have.  Sorry about all of the typos :).

[sandebeach]

Nice review but sorry you got sick!

[Got Out There]

9 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

Nice review but sorry you got sick!

Thanks!.

 

I did want to also mention a change in departure procedures when you arrive back in Galveston.  If you are doing self walk off (with all of your luggage), you need to be sure to have a departure flyer with a letter on it.  We have not seen this before and on Saturday when we heard of it they were up to letter H, which the stated time was 9:30.  They were not very accommodating when I asked for an earlier time to 'self walk off', however the concierge readily gave us a flyer with the letter A.  They stated that you should meet in the designated departure lounge five minutes before assigned time (8am).  We arrived at the main theater at 7:10 and they made sure that we had a letter A, not sure what they would have done if it was a higher letter.  As we were anticipating they started early...guessing 7:20, we were in the car driving by 7:45!