August 27th Cruise to Canada/New England on Liberty

Just got on ship. Wanted to post The Planner for those who are OCD like me. Will follow up with more detailed review when we get back.

Sorry don't know why photo was so blurry. Something with the app!:confused:

Great, please keep it coming.

Please, please if possible post a clearer picture of the Planner. Thank you so much....

We got back today and fly home to Florida this afternoon. Tomorrow I will scan it and post it right away. I will also write a review with my thoughts, tips and pics of the planners over the course of next week.

If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer them.

Here is the cruise planner for the week and the entertainment schedule. Hope this helps! :)

Entertainment Schedule.pdf

Cruise Planner.pdf

Here is the cruise planner for the week and the entertainment schedule. Hope this helps! :)

 

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Pthank you sooooo much. I can't wait!!!

2015 RCCL Liberty of the Seas, August 27, 2015 New England/Canada

Pre-Cruise

Just for a little background. In the past, I normally did not write any reviews for my past cruises until last year when we were heading for an Alaskan cruise. Because I could not find a whole lot of reviews with cruise dailies/compasses, I decided to write one for that cruise. I had the same problem for this cruise so I decided to write one as well because I could not find a whole lot of updated information for this itinerary. Yes, I am a planner :D

My husband and I are in our late 30’s/early 40’s and this is our 10th cruise and we are from Florida. We normally cruise a lot but it had been over a year since our last cruise because we got a new german shepherd puppy and he has kept us busy :) So needless to say, we need this cruise bad!!!

We left on Wednesday morning and flew up to Newark with no problems and did not even have to pay for our bags on our United flights which was really exciting and saved us $50!

Even though you can get a free shuttle, we did not want to wait so we took a cab to the Hilton Newark Penn Station. The staff allowed us to check in early at 10:30 a.m. The rooms had modern furnishings but you can still tell this is an old hotel. Everything was clean and the internet worked great with no problems. There is a Starbucks on property and a convenience store in the hallway connected to Penn Station with snacks, drinks, etc which was helpful to pick up before we headed out to the cruise. After we checked into our room, we took the short walkway to the train station to take the PATH to the World Trade Center station. The train ride took about 20-25 minutes and dropped you right in the center of things. This was extremely convenient.

We have been to NYC numerous times so we just wanted to focus on the few things that we had not seen or don't get when we are at home. For me, it was gluten free dim sum!!! I was diagnosed with celiac disease five years ago and have to maintain a strict gluten free diet. As a result, very few Chinese restaurants other than PF Changs have gluten free Chinese food. Add to the mix that my husband is Chinese, it has been a rough couple of years so we were really excited to find a gf free dim sum restaurant in New York. Because Chinatown was a little far away, we took a cab to the Nom Wah Tea Parlor and filled ourselves full with traditional Chinese dishes. We then walked around the 9/11 Memorial. Words cannot describe it. I highly recommended a visit.

We then headed back on the PATH to the Hilton. For an extra $14, we paid for the concierge floor. This upcharge gave us free drinks and appetizers and a continental breakfast which was perfect because we knew we would eating enough throughout this cruise!! We would highly recommend staying at this hotel for both the service and the convenience of getting into NYC.

Day One

We woke up had our free continental breakfast and headed downstairs around 10:30 to catch a cab to the port. The lobby was packed with cruise goers that were waiting on a shuttle. The bellman called us a cab and we headed out to beat the rush of people waiting on their transport. Boy are we glad we did. It was a crazy madhouse when we got there and it was only 11 a.m. The security portion moved extremely quick but it was the check in process to get your seapass cards that the wait was extremely long. We are platinum members of RCCL so we were able to get priority check-in. We were in line and onto the ship within 30 minutes. We had no problems but I overheard someone saying that it took them several hours to get through the regular line and onto the ship.

TIP: Get to the port early to beat the crowd because the lines are long!

We first headed to the dining room to ensure we got a table for 2 and my gluten allergy was noted. Our usual tradition is to head up to the pool deck and get our cocktails! For my husband it is a Tom Collins and for me it is a frozen mojito! Then we walked around the ship and got lunch at the Windjammer with everyone else (me not so much due to my allergy). After the mandatory muster drill, we headed back out to the pool deck for the sail away. The Dreamworks crew was out on the pool deck to get everyone in the spirit. It wasn’t appealing to us so we headed up to the Olive or Twist.

TIP: Make sure you stand/sit on the left hand side to get the great views of the NYC skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

We then went to the room to unpack and get ready for the evening activities. At the Welcome Aboard Show, we were introduced to the cruise director, Dru Pavlov and the comedian Don Gavin who was hilarious. I highly recommend seeing him at his shows throughout the cruise. We then went to dinner and had the best server duo of Sushamant and Omkar. They served the Mojo menu. We both had the prime rib which was the best we have had of the other RCCL ships. After a couple of drinks at the Champagne Bar, everyone went to bed rather early given everyone’s long day of travel.

On a separate note, this cruise we stayed in a promenade room. We normally get a balcony but we could not rationalize spending an additional $1000 for a balcony. We missed this tremendously throughout the cruise which I will explain why later.

Day One, Cruise Compass Boarding Edition.pdf

Day One, Cruise Compass 1-2.pdf

Day One, Cruise Compass 3-4.pdf

Day Two, Sea Day

We woke up after a good night’s sleep and headed to the main dining room (MDR) for breakfast. I like going to the MDR because I know it is safe for me to eat. We requested a table for two. Yes, we are anti-social :) My husband and I have legal jobs that require us to communicate all day so we really don’t want to have to socialize unless we want to so it is nice that RCCL will accommodate us either way. I was able to either get gluten free french toast or pancakes which is a rarity for me when I go out to eat (except for Disney!!)

We then attended the morning trivia and a history lecture on Boston. This sea day a lot of folks were around the pools and in the solarium. It was the best weather day for the pool because it was warm enough. The rest of the sea days it was kind of chilly for pool weather.

We had lunch in the MDR. I had a gluten free hamburger and my DH had a turkey wrap; both were good. DH took a nap while I read for the rest of the afternoon.

We got ready and went out for pre-dinner drinks. All of the bars and lounges had friendly and excellent service. We are drinkers but did not buy a beverage package for this trip because of the numerous port days. At the end when we got our bill, we did not spend enough to pay for the package so we were happy about that savings.

We had dinner also in the MDR. The saffron menu was served. I ordered my meal in advance for my allergy which consisted of the duck and my husband ordered the ravioli. His meal was good. My meal was plain dry duck, a baked potato and broccolini and carrots. You will see the problem of this later in my review.

We then went to the Up in the Air show. This show was really beautiful and the music fit perfectly for all of the cirque like dancing. I highly recommend this show and we are picky when it comes to the cruise shows.

TIP: Go see Up in the Air show!

We ended the night with some karaoke. We love karaoke! Our only critique of the On Air venue was that the lights were too bright for the participants and audience. People on the Allure seemed more likely to sing and cheer in the darker venue.

It was another great day on the Liberty.

Day Two, Cruise Compass 1-2.pdf

Day Two, Cruise Compass 3-4.pdf

Day One

We woke up had our free continental breakfast and headed downstairs around 10:30 to catch a cab to the port. The lobby was packed with cruise goers that were waiting on a shuttle. The bellman called us a cab and we headed out to beat the rush of people waiting on their transport. Boy are we glad we did. It was a crazy madhouse when we got there and it was only 11 a.m. The security portion moved extremely quick but it was the check in process to get your seapass cards that the wait was extremely long. We are platinum members of RCCL so we were able to get priority check-in. We were in line and onto the ship within 30 minutes. We had no problems but I overheard someone saying that it took them several hours to get through the regular line and onto the ship.

 

TIP: Get to the port early to beat the crowd because the lines are long!

 

We first headed to the dining room to ensure we got a table for 2 and my gluten allergy was noted. Our usual tradition is to head up to the pool deck and get our cocktails! For my husband it is a Tom Collins and for me it is a frozen mojito! Then we walked around the ship and got lunch at the Windjammer with everyone else (me not so much due to my allergy). After the mandatory muster drill, we headed back out to the pool deck for the sail away. The Dreamworks crew was out on the pool deck to get everyone in the spirit. It wasn’t appealing to us so we headed up to the Olive or Twist.

 

TIP: Make sure you stand/sit on the left hand side to get the great views of the NYC skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

 

We then went to the room to unpack and get ready for the evening activities. At the Welcome Aboard Show, we were introduced to the cruise director, Dru Pavlov and the comedian Don Gavin who was hilarious. I highly recommend seeing him at his shows throughout the cruise. We then went to dinner and had the best server duo of Sushamant and Omkar. They served the Mojo menu. We both had the prime rib which was the best we have had of the other RCCL ships. After a couple of drinks at the Champagne Bar, everyone went to bed rather early given everyone’s long day of travel.

 

On a separate note, this cruise we stayed in a promenade room. We normally get a balcony but we could not rationalize spending an additional $1000 for a balcony. We missed this tremendously throughout the cruise which I will explain why later.

I'm loving reading your review!!!

I'm loving reading your review!!!

Thank you so much! :)

Day #3, Boston

We have been to Boston and done a lot of the touristy stuff. As a result, we decided to have a leisurely day there. We went to breakfast in the Windjammer. My DH is a huge lox fan so every breakfast he would come back with plate full of it. I am just a fruit and yogurt person at home and I continued this tradition on the ship for the most part!

Then around 10:30, we left the ship to take a trolley tour through Old Town. To get to the nearest trolley station, you have to walk all the way to the beginning of the port and right outside is a parking lot with the trolley stop. This stop is only available when the cruise ships are in. This trolley route is only the seaport route. The tour will drop you off at another line that will take you all over the city. We stayed on the trolley the entire route and then got off at the end which was around 2. The success of these tours always depend on a good tour guide. We had a great one and she even took us to areas that were not on the tour so we could see it. It was well worth it and she had us crying from laughing so hard.

TIP: If you book independently online, you save $4 per person and it is a hop on/hop off. If you book this as a cruise excursion, you do not get to hop on/hop off.

It was a Saturday so the city was slammed with locals and tourists. We wanted to eat at the Neptune Oyster Bar but it had a 2.5 hour wait so we decided on our back up plan which was Legal Harborside. It is right on the water and not far from the port. I would highly recommend this restaurant. We did not have reservations but we were able to get in within 20 minutes. The ambience on the water was beautiful and the food was really great. For appetizers, we had gluten free calamari and raw oysters. I had gf scallops and my husband had lobster pizza. We were both stuffed but it was ridiculously amazing. The service was also top notch and I was thrilled to have a knowledgeable server about my allergy.

TIP: Plan for lunch reservations in Boston if you can because it is a Saturday.

We then attempted the 20 minute walk with extremely full stomachs back to the ship. My husband wanted to take a cab but I was too cheap and an overachiever. It was a big mistake because after the long hot walk with full bellies when we got to the ship there was a huge line wrapped around waiting to get back. It took us about an hour to get on the ship and it was hot! We did not let it bother us but there were quite a few elderly people that needed assistance and were not given it which was unfortunate. Eventually, the cruise staff did bring out water for the passengers.

Apparently, it was due to the tides and the port not allowing RCCL to dock a certain way. As a sidenote, there were these little hiccups throughout the cruise because this was the first time the Liberty and a cruise ship of this size had visited these ports.

By the time we got back to our cabin, we were wiped. We took a nap and slept for 3 hours! We missed dinner so we went and grabbed some snacks from the Café Promenade. Then we headed to one of our cruise favorites, Battle of the Sexes and then of course, we ended our night with more KARAOKE!

This was also the night of Intimate Jazz Night and I was sad that I had to pick between this and the Battle of the Sexes.

Day Three, Cruise Compass 1-2.pdf

Day Three, Cruise Compass 3-4.pdf

Day Four, Portland

On this day, we had nothing formally planned. If you haven’t already noticed, we like to eat so of course, all of our plans in Portland centered around food! We got off the ship with no problems. It was a little hot and humid which was surprising for us. We were hoping to leave this weather in Florida.

I had planned a walking tour for us that hit some of the highlights in town. I found a suggested one on this conference website.

http://ivla.org/conference/2012/Portland_WalkingTour.pdf

We first headed to Holy Donut. The restaurant serves donuts made out of potatoes. When we got there, a line was out of the door which is a good sign. I was able to get a couple of gluten free dark chocolate with sea salt donuts and my DH got the flavors of wild blueberry and maple glazed with bacon. Boy, were they yummy and filling. We could only eat one.

Then we continued to walk around the city attempting to burn off the donuts we just ate. We stopped in the Portland Museum of Art to both cool off and rest. It is really a great little museum with works by Homer, Monet and others. I would recommend it. We then finished walking around downtown a little after lunchtime. It is really walkable city with some unique sites and shopping.

We ate lunch at Duckfat. My DH was on a mission to eat poutine and this place was known for it and their fries that are cooked in duck fat. I ordered the fries with a truffle ketchup and horseradish mayo dipping sauces. My husband ordered the traditional poutine that consisted of fries, cheese curds and gravy. We thought the food was really good but did not notice a difference in them cooking everything with duck fat.

We returned to the ship with no problems getting on. This evening we had the mystery dinner. It was so fun and the food from the Portofino was fabulous. We did learn that the Portofino will be turning into Giovanni’s during drydock so go eat there when you can before it is no longer available.

TIP: Mystery Dinery, the event last over 3 hours so plan accordingly because we missed some of the events because of it. Go eat in Portofino it is leaving at next drydock!

We did not mind the length of the mystery dinner because we had a great time with some wonderful tablemates.

We headed to bed after a long day and knowing we will have another busy day in Bar Harbor, aka Bah Habah!

Day Four, Cruise Compass 1-2.pdf

Day Four, Cruise Compass 3-4.pdf

Excellent review, so enjoy reading it. Thanks....please keep it coming. Helps a lot in planning. I am also a planner :)

Will be on LOS on Sept 10 sailing ....Yippee!

By the way, are there any repeats in terms of dinner menu? Which night is lobster night?

Thanks in advance.

I am enjoying your well written review.:)

Day 5, Bar Harbor

We woke up early and headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast. We decided to go ahead and get in line for the tender to shore around 8:50. We had a nightmare tender experience in Alaska so I am always paranoid about it. I booked a tour with Ollie’s Trolley for the 11:00 a.m. because I was worried that the 10 am tour would be too early in case the ship was late to begin the tender process to shore. I was right!

We ended up in the hallway on deck three. After about an hour wait, we were on the boat around 10 a.m. heading to Bar Harbor. The tender boat we were placed on was the largest boat they had for the whale watching excursions so it was able to fill a lot of people.

Once we arrived to shore we traded in our vouchers at the gift shop that is located right at the pier. We then walked over to where the trolley pick up location is which is just a few blocks away. The weather was beautiful, high 70’s, no humidity and a nice breeze. It really could not have been better than this and everyone was in great spirits to be there.

We paid for the 2.5 hour trolley tour with Ollie’s that made several 15 minute stops to see the major highlights. Our tour guide was a local that truly loved his job and living there in Bar Harbor. While, the tour was wonderful, I now wish that we could have rented a car and drove around on our own so we could have had more time to look at the different stops. Fifteen minutes was not long enough to look around at Cadillac Mountain and some of the other lookouts. We are already making plans to return. I highly recommend this tour if you have limited time to see everything.

TIP: If you take the Ollie’s Trolley tour, I would sit on the left hand side to get better views.

After the tour, we walked one block to the West Street Café. This by far was the best food we had on the trip. For $21, I got lobster that literally fell out of the shell. It was the easiest lobster that I have deshelled in my life and the most fresh, best tasting one too. My husband also for $21 had the lobster roll, clam chowder and blueberry pie. I could not believe how inexpensive the food was and the service was fabulous too. I was ecstatic that my server had a gluten allergy as well so he was knowledgeable about what I could and could not eat. It was a crazy coincidence.

We headed back on the tender sitting on the top still enjoying the weather and getting some great photos of the ship on the return.

We showered and got dress and headed to the early show of Saturday Night Fever. My DH and I realized that we had never seen the entire movie. Either way, we truly enjoyed the show. The music and singing was well done and it was fun for us to see some of the same actors from the mystery dinner in the show as well. The show lasted 82 minutes.

We then headed to dinner with our favorite serving staff. The menu theme was Sage. I had the roasted chicken and my husband had the mustard crusted roast beef. We both did not really like our food. My chicken was dry again with no sauce, another baked potato and the same broccolini and carrots. Very disappointing.

After dinner, we headed to the Dancing with the Stripes in Studio B. Cruise passengers are partnered with cruise staff to compete in a Dancing with the Stars like competition. This was the best event for us of the cruise. We were crying so hard from laughing at the contestants and their partners.

Other than the tender issue in the morning, it was a fun and beautiful day.

Day 5, Cruise Compass 1-2.pdf

Day 5, Cruise Compass 3-4.pdf

Excellent review, so enjoy reading it. Thanks....please keep it coming. Helps a lot in planning. I am also a planner :)

Will be on LOS on Sept 10 sailing ....Yippee!

 

By the way, are there any repeats in terms of dinner menu? Which night is lobster night?

 

Thanks in advance.

Thank you so much. They served lobster on day 7, the 2nd sea day. We did not see any repeats in terms of the dinner menu and we ate there for 7 of the 9 nights.

Day Four, Portland

 

On this day, we had nothing formally planned. If you haven’t already noticed, we like to eat so of course, all of our plans in Portland centered around food! We got off the ship with no problems. It was a little hot and humid which was surprising for us. We were hoping to leave this weather in Florida.

 

I had planned a walking tour for us that hit some of the highlights in town. I found a suggested one on this conference website.

 

http://ivla.org/conference/2012/Portland_WalkingTour.pdf

 

We first headed to Holy Donut. The restaurant serves donuts made out of potatoes. When we got there, a line was out of the door which is a good sign. I was able to get a couple of gluten free dark chocolate with sea salt donuts and my DH got the flavors of wild blueberry and maple glazed with bacon. Boy, were they yummy and filling. We could only eat one.

 

Then we continued to walk around the city attempting to burn off the donuts we just ate. We stopped in the Portland Museum of Art to both cool off and rest. It is really a great little museum with works by Homer, Monet and others. I would recommend it. We then finished walking around downtown a little after lunchtime. It is really walkable city with some unique sites and shopping.

 

We ate lunch at Duckfat. My DH was on a mission to eat poutine and this place was known for it and their fries that are cooked in duck fat. I ordered the fries with a truffle ketchup and horseradish mayo dipping sauces. My husband ordered the traditional poutine that consisted of fries, cheese curds and gravy. We thought the food was really good but did not notice a difference in them cooking everything with duck fat.

 

We returned to the ship with no problems getting on. This evening we had the mystery dinner. It was so fun and the food from the Portofino was fabulous. We did learn that the Portofino will be turning into Giovanni’s during drydock so go eat there when you can before it is no longer available.

 

TIP: Mystery Dinery, the event last over 3 hours so plan accordingly because we missed some of the events because of it. Go eat in Portofino it is leaving at next drydock!

 

We did not mind the length of the mystery dinner because we had a great time with some wonderful tablemates.

 

We headed to bed after a long day and knowing we will have another busy day in Bar Harbor, aka Bah Habah!

Holy Donuts is a must do on my son's list. Would you be able to give me an idea of the quickest route to get there? Apparently we'll be racing there :)

Holy Donuts is a must do on my son's list. Would you be able to give me an idea of the quickest route to get there? Apparently we'll be racing there :)

Sounds like a smartie! You will love them.

You are going to get off the ship at India and Commercial Rte 1A. For us we turned headed left down Commercial until Pearl Street to avoid the tourists. Most passengers stayed on Commercial. We turned right on Pearl and walked one block up to Fore Street. We then turned left on Fore and walked until Exchange Street. It is on the right up the hill on Exchange Street. It was about 10 minute walk at most. We had to wait about 10-15 min in the line.

Day Six, Saint John, New Brunswick

I had made plans for this port day and then the itinerary changed from an 8-5 itinerary to a 12:30 – 12:30 a.m. which was a little annoying because it limited the number of daylight hours to tour around and changed the ability to see the tidal difference like I wanted. It all worked about which I will explain later.

We slept in that morning since we had the later arrival to port. We quickly grabbed some breakfast from the Windjammer. We decided to not attend the Crown & Anchor Welcome Back Party hoping that there would be another one later in the cruise. Instead we hung around and watched the DreamWorks Parade which is always fun to watch. On our last cruise on the Allure, there were several parades throughout the week. This was the only one for the week.

TIP: There is only one DreamWorks Move It Parade so go see it on this day if it is something you are interested in. It is a lot of fun!

The ship arrived around one. We were able to head off before they made the big announcement and this allowed us to beat the rush off the ship. We decided to rent a car and tour around on our own. We rented from Avis which was an easy short two block walk down Water Street. We were probably the 2nd ones there which was wonderful! They gave us a really nice car with a sunroof allowing us to enjoy the amazing weather.

We headed out of town and on our way to St. Martin’s. On the way there, my adventurous side took over and we headed off Route 111 and took Route 825 to Coleraine Road then to Shore Road and then back to 111. This road went along the water and much to my husband’s initial horror ended up being the best part of the day!

We then ended up in St. Martin and got some snacks from a convenience store to drive onto the Bay of Fundy Parkway. We stopped briefly in St. Martin to walk around and see the caves at high tide. Much to the help of other cruise critic posters, I learned that you want to view the caves either 2 hours before or after during high and low tide.

We then headed onto the Fundy Trail. It was around $14 to get in for the both of us. We paid with American dollars or you could also pay with a credit card. The trail is about 12 miles in length with hiking trails, overlooks, and a suspension bridge providing some spectacular views along the way. I would high recommend it. Due to the limited daylight, we did as much as we could there but you could easily spend a full day there.

We drove back to St. Martin and ran into all of the cruise excursion buses. We did not see any buses on the Fundy Trail so I am not sure how far the cruise excursions go past St. Martin. Although the low tide was around 8:50 pm, we hit the area around 6ish and you could still really see the difference in the tide and tourists were starting to walk out near the caves. So even though the itinerary changed, we could still see the tidal differences almost 3 hours before the low tide. It was pretty cool to see.

We headed back to the ship and returned the car with no problems.

Dinner that night was the Portobello menu. This is when I had my lovely fit! I pre-ordered the Chilean Sea Bass and my DH ordered the NY Strip Steak. Guess what came out, plain sea bass, a baked potato and broccolini and carrots. This was the fourth night of a plain protein, a baked potato and broccolini. Now, I have traveled numerous times on RCCL with lots of gluten free meals that came with beautiful sauces, varying starches and vegetables. My server realized by this point, I had stopped eating because my food was overcooked, dry and flavorless. Out came the head waiter wanting to assist me. He then sent out the Sous Chef. The Sous Chef seemed indifferent but promised to do something for me. I was not real hopeful. Tomorrow we were eating in the Portofino and I was grateful for it. I ordered my food in advance for day 8.

We then headed to one of our other RCCL favorites, The Love & Marriage Game Show. This is was the most uncomfortable shows we have seen. They couldn’t find couples to participate so the cruise activities staff was begging for participants. We were excited that they selected a gay couple to participate. Well a number of audience members then began making homophobic comments. The normal lingo the cruise director says had to been changed because he did not want to presume the husband/wife statements. It was just overall an odd experience and we found some of the folks around us offensive.

Afterward, the all white pool party was to occur. The staff ended up moving it to the Royal Promenade because it was too cold to be outdoors. Bad planning on their part because we are in Canada and it was cold on the ship when it was out at sea.

We had a great day on the Bay of Fundy; the cruise ship evening was just an off night but not a deal breaker for us.

Day 6, Cruise Compass 1-2.pdf

Day 6, Cruise Compass 3-4.pdf

Bay of Fundy Trail.pdf

Sounds like a smartie! You will love them.

 

You are going to get off the ship at India and Commercial Rte 1A. For us we turned headed left down Commercial until Pearl Street to avoid the tourists. Most passengers stayed on Commercial. We turned right on Pearl and walked one block up to Fore Street. We then turned left on Fore and walked until Exchange Street. It is on the right up the hill on Exchange Street. It was about 10 minute walk at most. We had to wait about 10-15 min in the line.

Hi is a smartie :) He's 29 years old and a real OCD planner like me. Our goal is to have many lobster rolls (and probably other seafood as well) and Holy Donuts.

I put your directions in my cell phone, so we're READY now. I can't wait for our cruise on the 24th. Thank you, thank you for the wonderful information :)

My big concern now is temperature. We live in South Florida. That says it all, right?

jude8-

Love your scans of the Cruise Compass. Hope you do the rest. We're on the September 24th Cruise.

I hope to finish tomorrow and then add some photos later in the week.