Mini Review of Liberty 11/17/07

[kathyemma]

Okay - I am not really into doing a long review - so I will just post my daily highlights - If you have any questions let me know!

 

Friday - pre-criuse

 

We flew down Friday night and got to FLL around 5:30. I had reserved a car thru Tri County to take us to the holiday inn. The car was wonderful! The cost was $65 (can't remember if that included tip or not). The Holiday Inn was fine - location was great. The pool was very small - but since we got in so late didn't get a chance to use it.

 

Saturday -

 

Got a taxi a few minutes before 11. We stopped at the store to get my case of diet coke and then off to the ship. We walked right on. There were NO lines ANYWHERE. I had a drink in hand before 11:30. It was PERFECT! We walked around the ship and got some lunch. Around 2 we went to our room - which was decorated for my dd's bday and our champagne and strawberries were waiting for us. After the drill we went up to the top deck for sailaway. My dd was tired so she took a little nap on a lounge chair. We ran into some ccers at sailaway (thanks to the cc shirts - we were easy to spot!)

 

Sunday -

 

We just spent the day hanging around the pool. The H2O was a lot of fun for my dd - but she is getting a little to old for it (she just turned 9). One piece of advice - if you are going to sit by the H2O zone - don't sit right next to the pool. Anytime the wind blows - the water blows and everything gets wet. Sit one or two rows back. We never had a problem finding a chair by the pool - any of the pools - even on a sea day!

 

Monday - Labadee

 

Labadee was wonderful. We did the zip line while dd hung out kids club. I had a ticket for the 9am zip line. I was able to drop her off at kids club right at 9 and then make it to the zip line by 9:02. The zip line was great...won't do it again - but it was great. And YES you can wear flip flops - they just have you remove them at the last minute and attach them to your harness. You can also bring any type of camera you want - it just has to have a wrist strap. I didn't bring mine - but wish i did. My dd had a blast at the kids club and didn't want to leave. But since we had tickets for the aqua park she did. I didn't go in the park - used that time to sit, relax and drink. She loved it. Her face was getting a bit too much sun so after that we had lunch and went back to the ship.

 

Tuesday - Mo' Bay

 

My dd and I stayed on the ship cuz the weather wasn't the best - kept raining on and off. Malcolm went off and did the canopy tour - he LOVED it. Said the crew running it were wonderful.

 

Wednesday - Grand Cayman

 

We did the Stringray/Snorkle tour thru Captain Marvins. Been there a bunch of times - but it was still fun. The waves got kind of big at times - so didn't stay out too long.

 

Thurday - Cozumel

 

We did the dolphin royal swim - it was WONDERFUL. My dd and I had a done it a few times before in the Bahamas - and I have to say the bahamas was better - so if you have the choice between cozumel and the bahamas do it the bahamas. But whatever you do - don't miss it. The dolphins were perfect in coz - i just thought the workers in the bahamas were better. After that we headed into town and went to a few bars and did some shopping

 

Friday - at sea

 

We finally got the chance to do the flow rider!! Malcolm did the stand up and my dd and I did the boogie boarding. It was a lot of fun. The line wasn't too bad and moved fast. I recommend going early to sign the waver - that was the line that was long and slow.

 

As for the food - it was the usual. I loved all the main meals - except for thanksgiving (i don't eat turkey) and the others options didn't sound all that great. The lobster was very good. The desserts didn't sound good at all so I didn't even try them. Twice we skipped the main dinning room and ate at WJ (of course, one of those nights was when they served the warm chocolate cake - which is the only dessert i like on board and I missed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Sorentos had wonderful pizza and my dd loved going there late night (okay, i did too!). The promande also had some wonderful desserts - which helped my chocolate cravings. Sprinkles - the soft serve ice cream didn't work most of the week. At first it was closed to replace the tile floor under it and then at the end of the week it was broke. My dd (and I) were not happy. We love having the ice cream by the pool.

 

We only went to two shows - one was in the air. I really wanted to leave but since that is rude I stayed. The preformers were wonderful - I just didn't like the music or the costumes. We also saw the comedy magician - he was a lot of fun.

 

Leaving - how sad.

 

Leaving was pretty painless. We hung out in WJ until after our color was called. When we got down to the bags they were waiting for us. We took a cab back to FLL airport. The cab sucked and cost 15 more than the car thru tri county. Next time I will reserve a car for the trip home.

 

It was wonderful meeting so many from the boards. Not a lot came to the meet and mingle and not much mingling was done (all the kids - okay - the adults too - wanted to get out by the pools). Next time I think we should plan an unofficial meet and mingle at the pool bar.

 

I am sure i left a ton of stuff out - so if I think of anything else I will be sure to post. If you have any questions just ask.

 

Kathy

 

PS forgot to add - i paid with my b of a debit card. I just looked up my acct online today and they have 3 holds on my account - one for the charges from thurday, one from friday and one for my next cruise booking. There are no holds from earlier days (guess those have been released) and nothing has actually been taken out of my account. I assume they will take the full amount out on Monday.

[kerrydee]

a few questions:

who was the cruise director?

was there norovirus onboard?

thanx,:)

[kathyemma]

a few questions:

who was the cruise director?

was there norovirus onboard?

thanx,:)

 

James Andrews was the cruise director - he was wonderful. He was a lot of fun but not up in your face fun. A great guy.

 

Yes, there was Noro on board. Not sure how many got it - but by mid week they had the wipes ALL over the place. Every 30 minutes they were changing the serving spoons in the WJ. Guess it never got bad enough for them to stop the self serving though. I don't know why they don't put a container of the wipes on the tables. Thay way if there was anything on the serving spoons you could clean up again before eating. Of course, that is assuming the wipes can even get rid of it.

 

Kathy

[cruzkitty]

Thanks for the Review, Kathy! Can't wait to go on her in Sept!! Do you have any pictures to share with us?

[kerrydee]

James Andrews was the cruise director - he was wonderful. He was a lot of fun but not up in your face fun. A great guy.

 

Yes, there was Noro on board. Not sure how many got it - but by mid week they had the wipes ALL over the place. Every 30 minutes they were changing the serving spoons in the WJ. Guess it never got bad enough for them to stop the self serving though. I don't know why they don't put a container of the wipes on the tables. Thay way if there was anything on the serving spoons you could clean up again before eating. Of course, that is assuming the wipes can even get rid of it.

 

Kathy

thank you so much. did they have the quest?

is james andrews permanent? or was he just taking ken rush's place temporarily? we board on 12/8.

thanx:)

[ontheopenseas]

Thanks for your review! Can you share a little more information on the zipline? Was it more scary or less scary than you thought it would be (or maybe you didn't think it would be scary)? Did it seem to require a lot of muscle strength (I have pretty spindly arms)? How was the landing? How long did the ride down last? Sorry for all the questions. I plan to do this in April with my kids (while DH relaxes on the beach) but am trying to go in with as much information as possible (maybe that's a bad idea ?!?:eek: ). Thanks for any input you can give. Glad you had a great trip!

[kathyemma]

not sure if James Andrews is there for good or not.

 

as for the zip line - if i could do it anyone can do it. It requires NO strength AT ALL. I was scared out of my mind - but I survived and you will too. They strap you into a harness and hook that to the line - in fact they wouldn't even let you hold on for the long zip line - they wanted you to keep your arms and legs out so you wouldn't go too fast.

 

Quest - YES - they had it and it was wonderful!! I am in the process of uploading photos and videos now. When they are up i will post the links.

 

Have fun!

[ShillyShally]

Instead of starting a new thread I'll piggyback onto Kathy's - as we were also on the 11/17 voyage. It was me, my dh and 3 kids, 15, 12 and 10 and also my ex-dh and his wife.

 

Friday - dh, me and 3 kids flew down Friday and 7 out of 8 bags arrived with us :eek: - BUT we did end up getting the last bag prior to boarding thanks to my ex-dh who flew down Saturday morning and who grabbed it at the airport. I was however very thankful to have come down a day early. We stayed at the Holiday Inn - it was fine although they tried to change my rate (thankfully I had my confirmation) and they tried to charge me for the 12 year old's breakfast buffet after I stated many times she was 12 and thus free (I would have produced passports with age if they had kept it up) but overall it was fine and across from the Bayside shops which was helpful since I picked up a few items in case my bag didn't show before sailing.

 

Saturday - we were at the pier and onboard by 12 - fabulous! However they obviously had new people working the embarkation because they wrote all our room numbers on our seapass cards - uh no! They also didn't have 4 out of 5 C&A status on the cards even though it was triple confirmed it was in the system prior to leaving. We had to see the pier coordinator though to switch people from one cabin to another so we just had our cards reprinted. They couldn't give us spare room keys there or fix the C&A so we had to go to Guest Relations once on board - fortunately being on the boat early helped that - but they had our accounts screwed up most of the week - no biggy just annoying. As for the C&A they never got that right - we never got the reception invite, we had to track down the coupon books and we only got 1 gift - I don't know that I wanted 5 of those bags but it was the principle of it really.

 

Dining - they put all 7 of us at a table for 6 and I heard from many others there were 9 at tables for 8 and similar. For a ship that should be designed to sail at capacity the fact they tried to squeeze us into a small table was ridiculous. My dh is 6'6" and often uses a cane and has back/hip issues so having space to stretch out is key, also my ex's wife is pregnant and the smaller table had us all sitting further back then was fun. We checked our table right when we got on the ship and immediately put in a request to be switched but they said it would be a long shot. So we tried it the first night and then my dh and my ex's wife went to the head waiter the next morning and they were able to switch our table which was wonderful because we had Leo and Gopak who made our evenings - even when we didn't like the menus we went just to be with them - they were fabulous! We had 2nd seating.

 

Sunday - this was when we noticed the new towel system which we thought was silly and a hassle - it wasn't a big issue but I really did miss having them exchanged in my room and not having to think about it and it seems to me the new system is more prone to errors then the in room system. We loved the "fresh" water though and had a lot of fun in pools and H2O zone although it is more for the younger crowd. My kids enjoyed sprinkles as well but were surprised that was the only place on ship to get soft serve when they recalled more places on the Navigator.

 

Monday - my oldest daughter and I went parasailing and they cancelled it while we were in the air due to the bad swells - we were happy we were able to do it but were so sea sick we headed back to the boat and just chilled on board. My younger 2 stayed on Labadee with my ex and his wife and had a blast. My dh and I did try a Labadoozie and loved them although I realized I was drinking it at 10:45 in the morning! LOL!

 

Tuesday - I have been to MoBay and we just decided to stay on board and it was one of our favorite days - the boat was still which helped because we all felt the motion more this time then last - so we slept in and then just enjoyed the boat and the flowrider in the pouring rain! I think the flowrider is a great addition, as well as the H2O zone - still think the boxing ring is wasted space though.

 

Wednesday - the 5 of us rented a private charter and did stingray city, tubing and a beach - this was wonderful and our favorite day overall - we loved Grand Cayman and none of us wanted to go back to the boat.

 

Thursday - the 7 of us went to Playa Del Mia and had a great time - it was more of a chuck-e-cheese beach break but not in a bad way - open bar was nice and well used :).

 

Friday - sea day was crowded because they had the blowout sale on the pool deck and the last day always flies by.

 

Overall - we had a fabulous time! I'll post again about other onboard stuff.

[kathyemma]

Instead of starting a new thread I'll piggyback onto Kathy's - as we were also on the 11/17 voyage. It was me, my dh and 3 kids, 15, 12 and 10 and also my ex-dh and his wife.

 

Friday - dh, me and 3 kids flew down Friday and 7 out of 8 bags arrived with us :eek: - BUT we did end up getting the last bag prior to boarding thanks to my ex-dh who flew down Saturday morning and who grabbed it at the airport. I was however very thankful to have come down a day early. We stayed at the Holiday Inn - it was fine although they tried to change my rate (thankfully I had my confirmation) and they tried to charge me for the 12 year old's breakfast buffet after I stated many times she was 12 and thus free (I would have produced passports with age if they had kept it up) but overall it was fine and across from the Bayside shops which was helpful since I picked up a few items in case my bag didn't show before sailing.

 

Saturday - we were at the pier and onboard by 12 - fabulous! However they obviously had new people working the embarkation because they wrote all our room numbers on our seapass cards - uh no! They also didn't have 4 out of 5 C&A status on the cards even though it was triple confirmed it was in the system prior to leaving. We had to see the pier coordinator though to switch people from one cabin to another so we just had our cards reprinted. They couldn't give us spare room keys there or fix the C&A so we had to go to Guest Relations once on board - fortunately being on the boat early helped that - but they had our accounts screwed up most of the week - no biggy just annoying. As for the C&A they never got that right - we never got the reception invite, we had to track down the coupon books and we only got 1 gift - I don't know that I wanted 5 of those bags but it was the principle of it really.

 

Dining - they put all 7 of us at a table for 6 and I heard from many others there were 9 at tables for 8 and similar. For a ship that should be designed to sail at capacity the fact they tried to squeeze us into a small table was ridiculous. My dh is 6'6" and often uses a cane and has back/hip issues so having space to stretch out is key, also my ex's wife is pregnant and the smaller table had us all sitting further back then was fun. We checked our table right when we got on the ship and immediately put in a request to be switched but they said it would be a long shot. So we tried it the first night and then my dh and my ex's wife went to the head waiter the next morning and they were able to switch our table which was wonderful because we had Leo and Gopak who made our evenings - even when we didn't like the menus we went just to be with them - they were fabulous! We had 2nd seating.

 

Sunday - this was when we noticed the new towel system which we thought was silly and a hassle - it wasn't a big issue but I really did miss having them exchanged in my room and not having to think about it and it seems to me the new system is more prone to errors then the in room system. We loved the "fresh" water though and had a lot of fun in pools and H2O zone although it is more for the younger crowd. My kids enjoyed sprinkles as well but were surprised that was the only place on ship to get soft serve when they recalled more places on the Navigator.

 

Monday - my oldest daughter and I went parasailing and they cancelled it while we were in the air due to the bad swells - we were happy we were able to do it but were so sea sick we headed back to the boat and just chilled on board. My younger 2 stayed on Labadee with my ex and his wife and had a blast. My dh and I did try a Labadoozie and loved them although I realized I was drinking it at 10:45 in the morning! LOL!

 

Tuesday - I have been to MoBay and we just decided to stay on board and it was one of our favorite days - the boat was still which helped because we all felt the motion more this time then last - so we slept in and then just enjoyed the boat and the flowrider in the pouring rain! I think the flowrider is a great addition, as well as the H2O zone - still think the boxing ring is wasted space though.

 

Wednesday - the 5 of us rented a private charter and did stingray city, tubing and a beach - this was wonderful and our favorite day overall - we loved Grand Cayman and none of us wanted to go back to the boat.

 

Thursday - the 7 of us went to Playa Del Mia and had a great time - it was more of a chuck-e-cheese beach break but not in a bad way - open bar was nice and well used :).

 

Friday - sea day was crowded because they had the blowout sale on the pool deck and the last day always flies by.

 

Overall - we had a fabulous time! I'll post again about other onboard stuff.

 

 

Funny - I read thru your review and nowhere did you mention your staring roll in the quest!!! I got the dvd - haven't watched it yet - I really hope you are on it!!

 

Kathy

 

PS We should all plan a happy hour one night to drink away our PCD.

[ShillyShally]

Shows - we avoided most of them so I can't really comment. The comedian wasn't bad though and I actually enjoyed skipping the shows - I really felt this time I did everything I wanted to do which included not doing the stagetype shows so that worked for me. I saw enough by peeking in to know for me I wasn't missing anything on any of them.

 

Bars - my ex joked at the beginning of the week we could hit all 21 bars on board if we did 3 a day.... We succeeded, LOL! Some were much more elusive then others - that's why I saw a bit of the ice show because we needed the studio B bar and it wasn't open except for that in the last few days. LOL - I don't know that we will all attempt that goal again but it really helped us explore the boat and we met some great bartenders we may not have known otherwise and by the end of the week when we couldn't fathom another of the same many of them created new drinks for us.

 

Quest - uh, uh, if you have the Cruise in Review from our sailing you can't miss me. Yes, I was the sock biter... :) And was recognized by many after that night. It was too funny to be leaving the karaoke longue and hear "hey, is that the sock biter" called out, LOL!

 

Crew - I noticed many more American crew members and overall all the crew I encountered were great.

 

Kids - it really didn't feel like the boat was overrun with kids this week. They did try and take over the elevators though but security was enforcing the curfew every night and also stopping them on the elevator as well. None of my kids are into the kids clubs so I can't comment on those.

 

Food - we lover sorrentos and Cafe Promenade but overall we felt the food was not as good. We didn't have anything we wanted more of and no desserts really stood out although I think we ate half the kitchen's supply of strawberry bisque - LOL! We just adored our waiters though so it made it all good. And with the one and only soft serve place broken the kids were bummed.

 

The Ship - it really is pretty and new but it doesn't really feel much bigger then the Voyager class and we did wonder if some of the lack of service was for being bigger and a packed sailing. None of it detracted from our great time but things were definetly noticeable, especially on many of the elevators that had broken buttons or were broken all together.

 

Cash - you cannot get cash from your sea pass account at all at guest relations and only for casino use from the casino. the only option is the atm - since i wanted to avoid the cash advance fee from the atm we got it from the casino for our port day where we needed it - I would have paid the fee from guest relations but they wouldn't do it at all.

 

Overall we had a great time and it is a great ship - for our next cruise I think the 5 of us just want to try something different though so it won't be RCCL or it won't be a Voyager/Freedom class (the layout felt way too similar). It also felt like they were cutting more corners and nickle and diming more and so I may just want to go elsewhere just to compare but I would recommend this ship and of course RCCL to anyone.

 

Any questions I'll be happy to help.

[ShillyShally]

Funny - I read thru your review and nowhere did you mention your staring roll in the quest!!! I got the dvd - haven't watched it yet - I really hope you are on it!!

 

Kathy

 

PS We should all plan a happy hour one night to drink away our PCD.

 

LOL - that was in my second post - and yes we definitely should - it was great meeting you all and of course having Malcolm as my co-captain for all my glory at the Quest, LOL!

[ShillyShally]

I forgot to mention that I saw everything go this cruise in terms of dining room attire - jeans, shorts, t-shirts on formal night - the full gamut. I tried to dress appropriately all nights but was surprised at how many didn't. Just walking around the photo stands you could see all the dining room photos from the formal nights and the range of clothes people would wear!

 

Also, the temperature on the Liberty was unpredictable - some areas were very warm and some very cold and most in between but some elevators and elevator waiting areas were very warm and worse when in a crowd.

 

And yes, after the first night you got a hand wipe EVERYWHERE - even if you just wanted to peek in on the Cafe to see what they had. No biggie and I had heard they were on Code Red, we made it more of a joke that we wouldn't know how to eat once home without a hand wipe first. :)

[kathyemma]

LOL - that was in my second post - and yes we definitely should - it was great meeting you all and of course having Malcolm as my co-captain for all my glory at the Quest, LOL!

 

Guess we were posting at the same time. I will have to watch the dvd tonight - you are really the only reason i got it! I have all the other stuff on my video - but really wanted a memory of you and the sock! Classic!!!

 

Kathy