Just off Liberty

[ddled]

There were 5 of us-ages 70-14. All Diamond level on Royal. This was our 4th time on Liberty. We drove to  Galveston so no. air answers here except it is a long ways from the airports and the Royal shuttle looked good to me.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation were easy and smooth. Less than 30 minutes from start to finish and no complaints. We used porters. 

 

How is Covid handled? Pretty well. Masks are worn in hallways, and anywhere that is not V or vaccine only. Most venues are V. The ship was 62% full which eliminated most lines.  Kids were common being Thanksgiving week, but caused few problems. Once they get vaccinated it will be better. Masks were worn by almost everyone, in the Grand Promenade and everywhere else. They are doing as well as they can.

 

Food was very good. Windjammer, MDR, Chops, and Giovannis were very good. Service throughout the ship was fantastic and better than we have seen. Always smiling and helpful. Wi-Fi was spotty, going out from time to time. One night we streamed a football game,  next morning could not. Sometimes it just dropped. The app was helpful when it worked which was most of the time.

 

The biggest problem is the entertainment. Ice show Encore was shown 7 times!  El Gaucho was a main line act-has been around forever. The On Air and Saturday night Fever have been on forever and should be changed. Sailing out of Galveston usually means only 5 or so possible ports, they need to spice up the cruise with different acts. Sorry-Love and Marriage is not a  main act.  Music was thin. On the days that a band had off, their venue was quiet. Not enough bands to go around. Been that way for a long time. A Galveston cruise should have country music on it. Carnival does and Liberty used to  Guitar in Pub was ok, others bad.  Dancing is hard to find. Trivia is everywhere. It is cheap. Otherwise it was pretty empty of good entertainment  Bring a couple of books. 

 

The ships is showing its 20 plus years in places. We were on 10 and the carpet in the hallway was stained and worn.  Some bathrooms were closed for hours or more. All in all though it was a fun cruise Ports were Cozumel, Belize and Honduras. We had been to each numerous times and did not get off. I did ride the Tidal Wave with my granddaughter and that was a blast. The mini golf was well restored and attended. Pool chairs were never a problem, even the lower ones. They did fill out after 10:00. 

 

Would I go again? Yes. They are working out of the pandemic and they are getting back to normal. 

 

 

 

 

[ssb]

Did you participate in the Hush Music event ? 

[Omax4]

Don’t forgot that Liberty was supposed to get Amplified before the pandemic occurred but now all of the amplification have been put on hold. That would have helped a lot with the worn out carpets and such. It had a technical dry dock this year but that was only ship and engine stuff. It’s understandable it was put on hold as Royal had no money coming in but I hope that they address this soon and fix up these older ships. I personally think it’s more important then new ships and would hold off on construction until the amplification is complete but that’s just my opinion.

As for the entertainment, I totally agree. I’ve been on Liberty four times and I’m tired of all the same shows. Really looking forward to Allure coming just to see some new shows. But sailing Carnival is not an option as I just don’t like Carnival’s vibe so I just sail Royal again and again. Maybe I need to start sailing form Florida. LOL. 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Omax4

[AustinCruise]

All Royal ships keep the same shows forever. If they cannot find a way to change them, they should rotate ships. Not a big deal for Florida with lots of options, but not good for a small port.  Was nice to be on Independence in August to see something different.

 

Our MDR service was fantastic and most of the food was good. A few minor exceptions that were addressed quickly. We did my time, but had same table all week. 

 

Didn’t see the guitar player in the pub, but spent some time in the schooner bar and the star lounge. 

agree on the remodels over new ships. But new ships bring premium prices. 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by AustinCruise

[denamo]

Thanks for the review.  We'll be on her in February.  We also have seen all of these shows.  Saturday Night Fever we've seen with different cast members.  One performance during a cruise had a phenomenal cast. Another one reminded us of a high school production. But, hey, we'll be on a cruise.  

[WeMissSeaView]

2 hours ago, ddled said:

There were 5 of us-ages 70-14. All Diamond level on Royal. This was our 4th time on Liberty. We drove to  Galveston so no. air answers here except it is a long ways from the airports and the Royal shuttle looked good to me.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation were easy and smooth. Less than 30 minutes from start to finish and no complaints. We used porters. 

 

How is Covid handled? Pretty well. Masks are worn in hallways, and anywhere that is not V or vaccine only. Most venues are V. The ship was 62% full which eliminated most lines.  Kids were common being Thanksgiving week, but caused few problems. Once they get vaccinated it will be better. Masks were worn by almost everyone, in the Grand Promenade and everywhere else. They are doing as well as they can.

 

Food was very good. Windjammer, MDR, Chops, and Giovannis were very good. Service throughout the ship was fantastic and better than we have seen. Always smiling and helpful. Wi-Fi was spotty, going out from time to time. One night we streamed a football game,  next morning could not. Sometimes it just dropped. The app was helpful when it worked which was most of the time.

 

The biggest problem is the entertainment. Ice show Encore was shown 7 times!  El Gaucho was a main line act-has been around forever. The On Air and Saturday night Fever have been on forever and should be changed. Sailing out of Galveston usually means only 5 or so possible ports, they need to spice up the cruise with different acts. Sorry-Love and Marriage is not a  main act.  Music was thin. On the days that a band had off, their venue was quiet. Not enough bands to go around. Been that way for a long time. A Galveston cruise should have country music on it. Carnival does and Liberty used to  Guitar in Pub was ok, others bad.  Dancing is hard to find. Trivia is everywhere. It is cheap. Otherwise it was pretty empty of good entertainment  Bring a couple of books. 

 

The ships is showing its 20 plus years in places. We were on 10 and the carpet in the hallway was stained and worn.  Some bathrooms were closed for hours or more. All in all though it was a fun cruise Ports were Cozumel, Belize and Honduras. We had been to each numerous times and did not get off. I did ride the Tidal Wave with my granddaughter and that was a blast. The mini golf was well restored and attended. Pool chairs were never a problem, even the lower ones. They did fill out after 10:00. 

 

Would I go again? Yes. They are working out of the pandemic and they are getting back to normal. 

 

 

 

 

Liberty is only 14 years old with a 2007 build date.  Liberty is past due to be refurbished since the two sister ships were refurbished in 2019 and 2020.  Currently on the Liberty.

[Cruise a holic]

We are sailing on the Oasis of the Seas- we have been on that ship previously.  Our show is CATS- all of the other shows are so much better- we will skip CATS.  I wish they would bring Hairspray back- it was great.

[packedandready]

I see that some events are divided into (E) for everyone and (V) for vaccinated. If we go to the Ice Show (V), does that mean when we get seated we can remove our masks? Also, at the Headliner and Production shows, if we sit in the (V) area can we remove masks?

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by packedandready

[Biker19]

18 minutes ago, packedandready said:

If we go to the Ice Show (V), does that mean when we get seated we can remove our masks? Also, at the Headliner and Production shows, if we sit in the (V) area can we remove masks?

Yes.

[Btank]

Thx for the review, we'll be boarding in 9 days!

 

     --bruce T.

 

[HBE4]

8 hours ago, Heymarco said:

Liberty was one of the first ships to receive the “amplification”. They may not have called it that yet, but she did receive the water slide upgrade, change to night club, and additional cabins on deck 12.

 

I think that's when they added the Sabor Mexican restaurant as well.  It was a Mini-Amp just before they announced the grand (almost) fleet-wide Amplification program.

Edited December 3, 2021 by HBE4

[AustinCruise]

9 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

I think that's when they added the Sabor Mexican restaurant as well.  It was a Mini-Amp just before they announced the grand (almost) fleet-wide Amplification program.

 

Deck 12 cabins, Sabor, the bar on the pool deck near the splash pads, the double slides, the raft slide (which had lots of problems so they didn't put on other ships from what I can tell), moved mini-golf, and they reconfigured decks 3&4 to slip in some more rooms. 

 

I believe they did it right after Mariner - which dropped the roller blading in favor of a flow rider.

 

Don't remember exactly.

 

Liberty would benefit from the amplification stuff.

 

Hope they will do Allure before it moves to Galveston?

[HBE4]

26 minutes ago, AustinCruise said:

the raft slide (which had lots of problems so they didn't put on other ships from what I can tell),

 

I remember the "technical issues" as well. Too bad, the raft slide is a blast. If you do it right, it feels like you're going to fly off the ship into the ocean. Makes all the other slides boring.

 

36 minutes ago, AustinCruise said:

Liberty would benefit from the amplification stuff.

 

Hope they will do Allure before it moves to Galveston?

 

I've read on certain other RC cruise blogs whose name I can't mention here that the Amplification project will continue but no timeline given. My WAG would be not until all ships are sailing at or near capacity & the money is rolling in. Plus, Allure as it is right now will be a big upgrade over Liberty so Royal should have no problem filling it up.  They are not going to upgrade her until the "need" to.

 

Total speculation on my part.

[libertybelle41]

13 hours ago, ddled said:

 

 

 A Galveston cruise should have country music on it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a native Texan and..........Noooooo, Please NO.  🙂

[firefly333]

53 minutes ago, AustinCruise said:

Hope they will do Allure before it moves to Galveston?

I'm a no on this too. I booked the end boardwalk cabin for the aft view and diving and prefer not having to look thru the abyss. 

[cynt]

12 hours ago, Omax4 said:

Don’t forgot that Liberty was supposed to get Amplified before the pandemic occurred but now all of the amplification have been put on hold. That would have helped a lot with the worn out carpets and such. It had a technical dry dock this year but that was only ship and engine stuff. It’s understandable it was put on hold as Royal had no money coming in but I hope that they address this soon and fix up these older ships. I personally think it’s more important then new ships and would hold off on construction until the amplification is complete but that’s just my opinion.

As for the entertainment, I totally agree. I’ve been on Liberty four times and I’m tired of all the same shows. Really looking forward to Allure coming just to see some new shows. But sailing Carnival is not an option as I just don’t like Carnival’s vibe so I just sail Royal again and again. Maybe I need to start sailing form Florida. LOL. 

 

That's why we do fly to FL to board Royal's ships. We can't wait for Allure to make it's arrival to Galveston. Our Christmas cruise will be the 2nd time we have cruised out of Galveston on Royal. We always go to FL for Royal. We enjoy the Oasis class ships, the better itineraries and entertainment so it's a no brainer for us.

 

When we just want to jump on a ship we go to Galveston for Carnival. 😁

[cynt]

14 hours ago, ssb said:

Did you participate in the Hush Music event ? 

 

What is this?

[cruiselvr04]

We are back on Liberty for the 8th time in July.  Yes she’s tired and worn.  I hate the green furnishings in the rooms.  However, we will still enjoy Saturday night fever and In the Air.  It does depend on the quality of the cast.  We don’t care for Sabor so dining options are limited.  Still, we love Liberty and our memories on her.  
 

We go for R and R and the price was right for quad points in a jr suite. We love that we can drive.  We fly to Florida a couple times a year and then use Galveston for any other cruising we do.  That is, until Europe and beyond are more open post covid. We will enjoy our week but can’t wait for Allure to get here and have her booked for 2023.  We will have so many more options!  We had originally booked Allure for a back to back in November of this year before covid.

 

Liberty is still a great vacation option in Texas.  Her crew is great too. 

[Mapleleafforever]

3 hours ago, packedandready said:

I see that some events are divided into (E) for everyone and (V) for vaccinated. If we go to the Ice Show (V), does that mean when we get seated we can remove our masks? Also, at the Headliner and Production shows, if we sit in the (V) area can we remove masks?

 

At this point yes but if it will be the same in a few weeks/months no one knows. Gotta love them variants. 

[sddsddean]

I appreciate that you didn't get off at the ports, but are there any restrictions/tests etc if you did, especially in light of the new variant? Just wondered how things were being handled 'across the pond'!

 

Simon

[firefly333]

19 minutes ago, sddsddean said:

I appreciate that you didn't get off at the ports, but are there any restrictions/tests etc if you did, especially in light of the new variant? Just wondered how things were being handled 'across the pond'!

 

Simon

Nothing I've read lately out of usa but Don's blog earlier today on a ship that left africa, not s. Africa for Argentina has 1 case of covid and argentina put the whole ship in isolation until it can be determined what kind of covid... .its a HAL ship ... but the over reaction is starting. The ship out of Galveston is going to roatan Honduras, not that far away. Let's hope this is a isolated incident.

[c-leg5]

16 hours ago, ddled said:

A Galveston cruise should have country music on it.

No country music would be a big plus for us. I can’t believe there was no country music on Liberty, lol!
 

It has to be the only ship we have been on where you get to hear three versions of the same country song in three different venues on one night.

[satxdiver]

8 hours ago, cynt said:

 

What is this?

The hush music event is  like a disco but where participants wear headphones to hear the music.  Pax without the headphones cannot hear the music.  It really is strange to watch all these pax dancing with headphones on and not hearing any music.  

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, satxdiver said:

The hush music event is  like a disco but where participants wear headphones to hear the music.  

More people know this by the Silent Disco name. 

[satxdiver]

7 hours ago, sddsddean said:

I appreciate that you didn't get off at the ports, but are there any restrictions/tests etc if you did, especially in light of the new variant? Just wondered how things were being handled 'across the pond'!

 

Simon

 

We are on the Liberty right now.  There is no special measures being taken at this time.  All three ports (Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel) only required masks be worn.  RCCL requires anyone not vaccinated to only take a ship excursion and not wander around the port or take a independent tour.