Liberty of the Seas - and cruising in general

[maxnest]

My wife and I just completed a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Liberty of the Seas (August 30 - September 6). I don't feel that a full review is necessary, since the ship and ports (Labadee, St. Maarten and San Juan, PR) have all been reviewed previously by many cruisers. However, I would like to make a few observations about LOS, RCCL and cruising in general.

 

- We were at sea during Gustav (cloudy, windy, a bit of rain at departure from Miami), Hanna (significant rain and wind while in St. Maarten and Labadee - even some lightning one evening), and Ike (no effect). We'd cruised near a Caribbean hurricane about 10 years ago, but some of the weather on this cruise was at least as bad as that. However, there was virtually no noticeable effect on the stability of the LOS. You probably wouldn't have known the weather was bad if you were inside. (On the other hand, wave heights were small, despite the 30-40 mph winds.)

 

- We've cruised on most of the Voyager class ships and have become less fond of them over time. However, we liked the Freedom class LOS. It felt less crowded than Voyager class ships, perhaps due to some of the Freedom class additions e.g., the excellent H20Zone for kids.

 

- For such a large crowd - a significant percentage of who were non-US citizens - it was an unusually quiet, well behaved cruise. In particular, kudos to a group of several dozen teenage girls (from Venezuela, I believe). A large group of teenagers on a cruise can sometimes get rowdy, but this group seemed to have a good time without drawing undue attention to themselves.

 

- We were assigned a wonderful table for two on a window in the main dining room. About two weeks before the cruise, I had sent an e-mail request for such a table to rcldining@rccl.com. The next day I had received a response that said my request was "confirmed." I'd like to believe that the e-mail was the reason we got the type of table we requested, but I don't know for sure.

 

- The main theater show "Something in the Air" is probably the best we've seen in 26 cruises. Although it got a bit slow in the second half, it's the first time that I've thought "I'd pay to see this on land..." about any show on a ship.

 

- As Diamond members, we enjoyed the Diamond Club lounge almost every evening. However, there were so many Diamond and Diamond+ members on the cruise that the lounge was usually overcrowded. On a previous cruise (last November, Navigator of the Seas), the Catacombs (two level nightclub on decks 3 and 4) was also opened to handle the large number of Diamond members. It would have been great if they had done so on LOS. We asked, but the answer was no.

 

- Food was available everywhere, all the time. It was almost an embarassment of riches. In general, it was good, never great. However, there seemed to be a "sameness" to the food after a few days. It made me think of how much dining has changed over the years. For example, when we started cruising in the early 90's, dinner was divided into five courses. On this ship, there were three courses, although the "first course" choices on LOS included soup, appetizer and salad, allowing you to order more than one item/course. Another change is the lack of crackers on the table. I didn't notice it until we had soup one evening. Not a big deal, but having a choice of crackers at dinner was a nice touch. Others changes over the years include discontinuation of a true sommelier at dinner, discontinuation of baked Alaska (for safety reasons, or so we've heard) , and the singing of Auld Lang Syne on the last formal night (replaced by "Hey, Look Us Over" on LOS). BTW, LOS has the worst shrimp cocktail sauce I've ever tasted. Last, our wait staff was responsible for a large enough number of tables that there wasn't enough time to engage them in conversation as was possible in our earlier cruises. Their interaction with us was friendly, but perfunctory. None of this is unique to RCCL, just a bit disappointing in general.

 

- Photograph prices are getting out of hand. However, the quality of photos on this ship seemed better than most. Also, the interactive kiosks to find your photos (in addition to the printed copies on display) were pretty neat. Unfortunately, the prices of kiosk photos were more than the same printed copies.

 

- There seemed to be less live music provided concurrently in public areas and bars on this cruise.

 

- There were very few "permanently reserved/never used" pool chairs on this cruise. I presume this is due to the $20 charge for not turning in towels. On the other hand, many passengers didn't come up to look for chairs until between 10 and 11am.

 

- Some very appreciated features of LOS: Freedom (and Voyager) class cabins have the best non-bathtub showers (e.g., clamshell doors, more space than normal). The best exercise facilities at sea. It's fun to watch folks on the Flowrider. The Sprinkles frozen yogurt machine on the pool deck is neat. Above average comfortable beds. Fast elevators. Overhanging hot tubs in the adult pool area are very nice, hanging out farther than the bridge extensions. Padded chairs in adult pool are nice. Very friendly staff throughout the ship.

 

- On the other hand, more outdoor eating areas e.g., at the top/back of the ship as on many other ships, would be nice. And can they turn down or eliminate music in the Windjammer and adult pool areas? At times it's okay, but not all the time (e.g., breakfast).

 

- While there is an "announcement channel" volume control on the desk in each cabin, why are most public announcements not provided on the announcement channel? Also, why is there music playing on the announcement channel when announcements are not being made? The ideal situation would be that all - and only - public announcements are made on the channel. That way, it could be left on all the time.

 

- When presented with a choice, we requested an 8:30 disembarkation time on the last day. However, we received color tags for 7:30-8:00am. On disembarkation day, our color was called at 7:15 (but our luggage didn't appear until 7:50am). It made us wonder why RCCL (and other lines) can't implement the "stay in your cabin and disembark when you want to, as long as you disembark by 11am" process provided by NCL (at least on newer ships).

 

- A passenger nicknamed "Super Mario" was introduced on the ship. This was his 149th cruise, his 33rd on LOS (out of total of 68 LOS cruises to date). Wow.

 

- We like RCCL and will continue to cruise with them when the combination of price/ship/itinerary is better than the alternatives. However, when all else is equal, they've become our third choice (tied with NCL, after Princess and Celebrity).

[shancan911]

LOL, "Super Mario" was on our February sailing aboard LOS, too. Could you imagine? I want his life, for a month or 2:rolleyes:

[SAgosto]

- For such a large crowd - a significant percentage of who were non-US citizens - it was an unusually quiet, well behaved cruise. In particular, kudos to a group of several dozen teenage girls (from Venezuela, I believe). A large group of teenagers on a cruise can sometimes get rowdy, but this group seemed to have a good time without drawing undue attention to themselves.

 

Are you sure you went on the Liberty Of The Seas?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=841497

[Boo Boo]

Great points - a very good type of trip report, I think (to the point).

 

Thank you :)

 

Boo