Back at Sea Again ~ Liberty of The Seas 4 Day Western Caribbean ~ Photo Review

Hi friends!

I'm back from another cruise, this time I changed it up a bit and gave the enchantment a break and sailed on a 4 day western route cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, along with two sea days. My last 4 cruises this year has all been on ships without a royal promenade, so I was eager to get back on a larger ship, like Liberty of a The Seas.

I brought along my girlfriend, who I might add is a first time Royal Caribbean cruiser, so I'll try and add some views from her perspective also.

Michael & Courtney

I'll be very interested in your review Michael. We are on the same exact cruise in March.:) The young people in our group will want to know if the Quest is still being held.

Subscribed and interested in your take on bar service (which bartenders and where) among other things!!

We woke up from South Georgia at 4am Thursday morning, drove one hour to Atlanta airport and fly to Fort Lauderdale. I booked with southwest at $200PP, but our flight was actually Air Tran, but no issues there flight actually arrived 15 mins early.

Yes, we flew in the day of the cruise, but this way I didn't have to use any vacation days = more cruises! :D

I'll be very interested in your review Michael. We are on the same exact cruise in March.:) The young people in our group will want to know if the Quest is still being held.

Thanks Bob! I'll warn you day 1 review is going to be a bit rocky, but it gets a lot better.

So I actually talked with my girlfriend Courtney if I should include everything from today's event (day 1), because I cannot stand people who are captain negative in their reviews. I am going to try and be as honest as I can and report everything as it occurred. I will say, in all my 19 cruises I've never experienced a day like this and hope I never have to again...

For those wondering I'm 29 & Courtney is 24.

Here we go!

... I will say, in all my 19 cruises I've never experienced a day like this and hope I never have to again...

Now you've got me very curious.

I am looking forward to your review we will be on the liberty in December.

Keen to hear about your trip and see the photos. I am on Liberty next April. Hope you post the full review in one go rather than over several days.

So I actually talked with my girlfriend Courtney if I should include everything from today's event (day 1), because I cannot stand people who are captain negative in their reviews. I am going to try and be as honest as I can and report everything as it occurred. I will say, in all my 19 cruises I've never experienced a day like this and hope I never have to again...

 

For those wondering I'm 29 & Courtney is 24.

 

Here we go!

Hey mpoole! Got to sail with you guys someday... always love your reviews and photos! Ya, you're usually upbeat. You've got my respect as I know you're not an alarmist complaining about everything on your other trips. So say it like it is whatever the issues were so we can learn from them too :)

Keen to hear about your trip and see the photos. I am on Liberty next April. Hope you post the full review in one go rather than over several days.

I will try hard to post as fast as I can. Only half of the pictures are edited, posting these reviews takes hours, but I'll do the best I can. :D

Enjoy!

Very interested in your review. I followed your last one, and it was great and pictures were awesome. We will be on the Liberty when it comes to New Jersey next year. Hope we will not be disappointed.

BTW, you really make a cute couple. ;)

Gwen :)

Day 1: (written at champagne bar)

As I mentioned we woke up early and flew to Fort. Lauderdale. Many people post on here to never fly in the day of the cruise, but it works for me and knock on wood; because I've had no issues to date. We were lucky enough to be the first ones from the flight to get our bags and hopped in a cab with zero lines! This has never happened to me before, usually I'm the last bag and the line is 100 deep for a cab! I'm thinking today is working out perfect, little did I know...

Cost of cab: $23 - we hit some port traffic, which is why it was $5ish more than usual.

I arrived at pier 25 around 11:30am and there she was!

We hit the usual traffic on any sail away day. I brushed through security with no lines!

I was yelled at for trying to take photos for all my virtual friends, but I just played dumb. "This is homeland security, there is no picture taking!"

So to this point, everything about today has been perfect. I was actually rushing to this point, because I knew people arrive much sooner than 11:30 to the pier.

Who doesn't want to be first on board? Okay, maybe I'm the only one?

Very interested in your review. I followed your last one, and it was great and pictures were awesome. We will be on the Liberty when it comes to New Jersey next year. Hope we will not be disappointed.

 

BTW, you really make a cute couple. ;)

 

 

Gwen :)

Thanks Gwen! I'm not sure I can live up to my last review pictures, but I'm going to try! I do have one perfect sunset photo again!

I'll be following your review! Have a great cruise! :D

Then it happened, I saw hundreds of people in chairs waiting to get on board, I took a quick look at my watch to ensure it was 11:30 and it was! So hundreds of people packed in chairs like sardines were first time cruisers & gold members.

Trying to kill time, tweeting all my cruise friends what was going on, waiting until when??

(Those of you who have read my past reviews, I wear this shirt every sailaway day)

I can't wait to see your complete review as well as I cancelled my reservation on that exact cruise to go on the Enchantment again that same week to go with another couple (against all the advice to do Liberty instead ) and it was the first time we had lousy weather and missed cococay :(

We waited until 12:23 to board, yes I looked at what time it was. I thought it was strange that they never made any announcement as to why we waited so late to board. My guess is a US Coast Guard inspection, since they are just 5 days back from Europe.

Has anyone ever waited this long to board before?

As we started walking I could see downstairs at the lines, holy cow! People everywhere!

FINALLY! It was time to start our vacation!

Once onboard I looked over to see hundreds of people standing outside. My guess is they listened to Royal's emails requesting us to come based on our deck number. Rookies!

I thought my DH was the only one with a "sailaway"shirt. Makes the welcome aboard pictures interesting to look at!

Our cabin was on deck 7 starboard side, E2 balcony on the hump. This room was an upgrade from Adam Goldstein's office. I reached out to them and asked if they had any upgrades available, and they responded with, "Pick any balcony room you want!" I said, "Perfect I'll take a JR suite!" That didn't work so much but was worth a try. I was originally booked in an Inside cabin at $209PP. Royal has been so great to me over the years, with a trip to NY, solo bridge tours, and upgrades. I must say, I'm extremely grateful for all they do for me, and won't every think about another cruise line.

My Travel Agent always has a little surprise gift waiting for me. Sometimes it's the little things...

My girlfriend decided to stay in cabin for a nap, she actually woke up at 2am, so was ready to crash. I went exploring around and inquired about the holiday bubbles promotion I read here on Cruise Critic. For those who didn't see the thread, it's unlimited Moët & Chandon by the glass + a bottle to the room included in the ultimate package at $55 per day. This is a very nice glass of champagne at $17 a glass. I asked three different bars about the promotion, including the table selling the drink packages.

Does it surprise you that no one had a clue about this?...and many gave me the crazy look when I asked. After posting here on CC that they were not running this promotion, our good friend Bob suggested I show guest services Royal's website displaying the promo. Sure enough, I got the quick response, "Oh, that has to be booked online only" I just laughed and said, "Let's try again, because I'm not looking for the run around." After two phone calls to the bar manager, they honored the unlimited bubbles add-on, but only at the champagne bar. I did have to upgrade to the higher package, as I purchased the premium package online prior to the cruise.

The lovely line I got to stand it...

Around 2:30 my girlfriend texted me to let me know that more champagne had just been delivered to the cabin. I decided to head up before I got carried away with bubbles at the champagne bar! :) So I have no idea who this bottle was from, because it was separate from the Unlimited Bubbles promo, as I just upgraded my package. But let's be honest, who cares who it was from?!

Weird my girlfriends bag came but not mine... Still early so I'm sure it's on the way, right?

We took time to explore the ship, as Courtney was pretty excited to explore. I had to take her to the evening dance venue I'd been talking to highly about. I hope they don't remove these, like they did on the Navigator.

Yes this is me practicing my dance moves for tonight!