6-16-2007 Liberty Review- Part 1

[ss2007]

My husband and I had a great time on the Liberty of the Seas- here is our review. We are in our 30's and dont have kids yet, so obviously I dont know much about childrens activities- but all the kids we saw seemed to be having a blast. Not checking for spelling, or proof reading, so forgive my writing. :-)

 

Saturday- we took a cab from Miami airport to the Pier (about 24 dollars). we arrived at about noon. When we got there the whole process of checking in took no more than 15 minutes, but we were given an sheet of paper saying that the cruise before us had had some cases of noro. We were asked to sign a paper stating that we did not have any symptoms. They also mentioned that they were cleaning the ship a little bit more and would not board until 1pm, so we sat in a room with numbers. After reading so many posts and concerns about Noro, I was very nervous, I had my clorox wipes, my antibacterial gel, etc. I wish I would have let it go a little. Wash your hands before you eat and after the bathroom and all should be fine. We boarded at exactly 1pm as they called our numbers. They told us our rooms would not be ready until 3pm.When we got on- WOW, what a boat! First thing we did was go to Chops and Portofinos to make reservations. I knew which nights we wanted, Monday and tuesday (neither formal nor lobster nights. Also not nights we would be meeting or saying good bye to our waitstaff and table mates). MAKE RESERVATIONS TO THESE RESTAURANTS_ THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!!! We then had lunch at windjammer. We ate on the buffet line of Jane and also the Windjammer-Jade is a part of the windjammer- it is a buffet table that serves more ethnic foods- but it is still the windjammer/buffet not a specialty restaurant or anything. Then we went to tour the ship. We went to the gym ( I am a runner and loved the fact that I saw tons of treadmills all facing the front of the ship- the water, and some funny pinguin figures), checked out the spa treatments (did not get any, as the line was long and my husband does not like massages), checked out the pools, and had a drink at the pub (hoof and claw). Then we went to our rooms.

The rooms- They are small, new ship does not mean big rooms or bathrooms, but it was fine. We had a balcony, so worth it and it did make the room feel a little larger. We had a couch, a flat screen tv that plays about 20 channels of tv that include movies, cnn, and ship channels. The bathroom is small, typical ship bathroom. LADIES: BRING YOUR OWN SHAMPOO/CONDITIONER, I am not picky about my hair but was so glad I did bring my own. If you are picky about soap, bring your own. Unlike hotels, they dont give you any thing else except for soap and this shapoo/conditioner mixture that is in a dispenser. The bed linens were fine, the pillows were fine, you get about 3, and our wonderful room attendant made our bed up twice a day. Of course we also got our little towel animals- so much cute to come to the room and see what animal he had made that night!

WE went to the 12 deck for the sail away, we ordered some pina coladas and watched us sail away from Miami.

We unpacked.

The first night was a comedian, did not go to the show, but watched it on tv later and it was so good, all of the entertainment was very good. The 2,3,4 nights were the best- Ever After, Once in a time (I think that is the name)and the ice show. Maybe the voices and acting are not at par with broadway, but the production, costumes and setting were.

Went to dinner- we had the late seating. We met our table mates and our servers. The service in the restaurant was great, and the food was good, not great but good to very good.

That night we partied- we hit the bars. We went to boleros to have some Mojitos (they are very good), we went to the nautically inspred bar (sch...something or other), vintages the wine bar, and ended up at the Catacombs. The dance club. We were one of the few 30 and over people at that place, alot of 20 somethings- but I love to dance, so we spend quite some time there.

 

Sunday- this was the first sea day. The ship had over 4000 people on board, really sea days were the only day we felt cowded. We woke up and ordered room service. The service was good, the food was not. We worked out. Got a treadmill right away, even on sea day. Then we went to the pool. Now this is where you felt the amount of people on board. There were no lounge chairs at the main pool or at the solarium (adult pool). We ended up getting chairs on the 12th deck overlooking the ocean which was fine with us. The main pool plays current music/live band and this is where all of the contests take place, sexy legs, belly flop, etc. There is a pool next to that for kids (H20 Zone)- lots of kids in there. THe adult only pool has 2 whirlpools with nice views,and a small pool and they have cushions on the lounge chairs making them more comfortable- they play soothing music, jazz music here. ON the sea day we ate pizza, sorrentos pizza was good, they usually have 3 types at least, cheese always an option, I also liked the antipasto and desserts they have here. A few hours later, we also went to the buffet, and ate some there. Again this was somewhat crowded as it was sea day, but we were able to find a table and not wait long on buffet lines. The food is good, there is always something you can eat. There was always salad, hamburgers, pizza, pasta as well as many other options. This is more options than there are in my home for dinner, so we always found something to eat, and as it was lunch were not too picky.

Yes, on this sea day we ate lunch twice....I am usually a very healthy eater and am small and fit, so on the first day my husband and I decided to work out twice (this only happend the first day!! :-)) In the afternoon the gym was pretty empty.

This was the first formal night. So we got dressed up. We stood in line to have our picture taken, but the lines were really long, so we went to dinner. After dinner there were no lines, so this is when we got our picture taken. We went to a show, again, very good, and went to sleep. There are posts on this web site with the exact menus, and they are accurate. I cant remember what we ate.

 

Monday:This was Labadee day. It was tendered. It was hot-97! We got off the ship and went and sat by the beach for a while. It is a very pretty beach. For those looking into the zip line, it is open, people loved it. We went and did the wave runners. Its a specific tour, you go as a group all around. My husband drove our wave runner and I ended up being a back seat driver: so my advice is get your own each! It was really fun.We then went back to the boat and enjoyed our balcony. We had early reservations for Portofinos. We made them for 6pm by a window. What a great idea, it was beautiful to dine looking out into the ocean. And the food was incredible. We LOVED IT. The service was incredible. We liked it SO much we made reservations for Thursday night again. We saw another wonderful show after this.

 

Tuesday: They cancelled our tour for Monetgo Bay, and did not tell us until we got on the ship and checked our excursions. So we decided to do our own thing. There is a shuttle service (the cruise will tell you all about it, as it is ment to be a shopping shuttle) that you get on it at the cruise terminal for 12 dollars each and it takes your to craft market, city center, margaritaville, and doctors cave beach. We went to city center to check out the shopping. The ship shopping people make you think that you are getting wonderful duty free deals, you really dont, or at least I did not, but I still bought some jewlery as mementos of our trip. We then went to margaritaville...had a marg and went back to the ship. This night we went to the ICe Show, NOT TO BE MISSED and to chops. Chops was very good- it is similar to a good steak house, Mortons maybe, I dont know, I still think I like Mortons better, but very close. Wondeful service. We made this reservation for 8:30, so even though we had a table by the window we obviously did not have a view- dark.

 

 

I will write more later, have to get to my work out class and loose some of my cruise ship pounds!

[ss2007]

Wednesday:Caymans. This was the one excursion we had with the ship. Next time we will do our own private accomadations.It was a zoo, to get all those people organized. We finally made it to sting ray city. What a great experience. Amazing, you can touch, pet and feed those things, they act like pets! Even though there were many people at this attraction, we still got a chance to hang out with these amazing animals. This was the second formal night and for you lobster lovers, it was lobster night. I did not think the lobster was great, but it was fine. This night there was a show called In the Air- it was good, but not as good as the others. THis night the solarium also became an outdoor night club- that was fun for us.

 

Thursday: Cozumel. Again we did our own thing. We explored downtown, but we had been here before so we took advantage of the ship. We went rock climbing, this was fun. Also, we did the flow rider. We did both the stand up and the boogie one. Same ride, just 2 different ways of being on the board. It took about 10-20 minutes of standing in line. This evening we went to Portofinos again, at 6:30 and sailed away eating dinner. It was lovely. The evening show was a comedian who was pretty funny.

 

Friday: This was the last full day and a sea day. We slept in and hung out by the pool. Again it felt crowded. Said our goodbyes to crew and other passangers. That evening the show was another comedian, who was ok.

 

Saturday: we chose the option where you get of the ship on your own. THis was a great option for us as we could carry our own luggage (we had 2 bags each) and we were off the ship in about 15 minutes. We figured we would only get half hour of sleep more anyway and we could just have breakfast at our hotel. We did not have to wait lines or for our bags.

 

 

Overall: I had a wonderful time. I find you get out of your cruise experience what you want of it. With a cruise ship this size and with this many people there are many small things you could fixate on and complain about but we chose not to. Also, any time we started thinking about them not having our preferred $100 bottle of wine, the perfect time for reservations or appointments, the perfect menu of the day, we reminded ourselves that we did not pay a premium for our cruise. If we wanted that type of premium vacation there are cruiselines or other vacations that offer it, for a price. Overall we thought the service was great, the food was good (and at the specialty restaurants great), the entertainment was good (its amazing that a cruise ship can have an ice rink) and we had a great time.

 

I am sorry I did not organize this review very well, nor did I check spelling/proof read. I do know I was rambling on, but I was trying to remember as much as possible. I would be happy to answer any questions.

[Carol4158]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Greatly appreciated!

[TamaLee]

Thanks for your review. We don't sail for over a year but still enjoy the anticipation.

[ED MARY ANN]

Thanks for posting your review it is very informative.

[WannaCruise365]

Thank you for the excellent, honest review...We've been away from RCI for a few years,,but we just had to check out the new girl on the sea..was a little hesitant about the size of the ship,,and MoBa stop,,seems like you had a nice cruise,, and no fears of leaving the ship in Montego Bay..Thanks

[threeofus]

which Montego Bay Excursion was canceled...and was any other excursion cancelled?

[SailingDeanna]

Enjoyed the review. Thanks for taking the time to post!

[ss2007]

We had Rose Hall Mansion tour in Mo Bay along with a visit to a beach - we were not told until we were on board that it was cancelled. I know a few other excursions were cancelled, not sure which ones.

[kittymom65]

Enjoyed your review.

Thanks for taking the time to post!

[CruiseCrAzieS]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review!! You added some very good info. You got us even MORE excited...I didn't think that was possible!! :D :D